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EXCERPTS FROM AN UNKNOWN GUIDEBOOK

CAVE IN THE ROCK

From the Excerpts From an Unknown Guidebook series , Vol. 2

An impressive narrative pace propels this grim but entertaining supernatural tale.

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This installment of Bastian’s middle-grade fantasy series features teens with special abilities determined to stop sinister forces from building an army of darkness.

Wendy Perrault, after traveling through an interdimensional portal, is back in her own time. She’s a “Folkteller,” a magical teller of stories tasked with helping others via narrative inspiration, complete with her own Guidebook, just like the ones that all Folktellers carry. Someone, unfortunately, has murdered the librarian who would have mentored Wendy in her new storytelling ability. While trying to decipher a puzzling message from the late librarian, Wendy teams up with schoolmate Eddie Little Bear. The two stumble across the nefarious Shadow People’s scheme to use portals to unite all their kind into an unstoppable army. Meanwhile, Folkteller Aaron Anderson, Wendy’s friend from another time, wields a remarkable new power that allows him to create stories for the Guidebooks. But this ability puts him in grave danger, since using the power incapacitates him and leaves him vulnerable to the Shadow People’s attack. It’s up to his non-Folkteller best friend, Jake Perez, to hop through a portal to recover a particular Guidebook and safeguard Aaron before it’s too late. In contrast to the Aaron-centric series opener Phases of the Moon (2021), Bastian’s follow-up shifts much of its focus to Wendy. The story smoothly alternates between dimensions as Wendy tries to solve riddlelike messages that pop up in the Guidebook and Jake unhesitatingly helps Aaron, despite the apparent risks of dimension-traveling. Vibrant metaphors and similes enliven the pages; complications involving interdimensional portals make Jake feel as if his “brain was in the final spin cycle of a washing machine,” while a disoriented Wendy has “limp, overcooked noodles” for arms. Although readers know only what the teens know about Folktelling, this sequel reveals a bit more about the youngsters’ capabilities and the astonishing Guidebooks. McEvoy’s stellar artwork once again shines, replete with instantly recognizable character traits (such as Wendy’s glasses and Eddie’s braids) and superb facial expressions, especially one villain’s gleefully malevolent grins.

An impressive narrative pace propels this grim but entertaining supernatural tale.

Pub Date: March 22, 2022

ISBN: 9781735305127

Page Count: 248

Publisher: Scribe Publishing Company

Review Posted Online: March 28, 2024

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THE LION OF LARK-HAYES MANOR

A pleasing premise for book lovers.

A fantasy-loving bookworm makes a wonderful, terrible bargain.

When sixth grader Poppy Woodlock’s historic preservationist parents move the family to the Oregon coast to work on the titular stately home, Poppy’s sure she’ll find magic. Indeed, the exiled water nymph in the manor’s ruined swimming pool grants a wish, but: “Magic isn’t free. It cosssts.” The price? Poppy’s favorite book, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. In return she receives Sampson, a winged lion cub who is everything Poppy could have hoped for. But she soon learns that the nymph didn’t take just her own physical book—she erased Narnia from Poppy’s world. And it’s just the first loss: Soon, Poppy’s grandmother’s journal’s gone, then The Odyssey, and more. The loss is heartbreaking, but Sampson’s a wonderful companion, particularly as Poppy’s finding middle school a tough adjustment. Hartman’s premise is beguiling—plenty of readers will identify with Poppy, both as a fellow bibliophile and as a kid struggling to adapt. Poppy’s repeatedly expressed faith that unveiling Sampson will bring some sort of vindication wears thin, but that does not detract from the central drama. It’s a pity that the named real-world books Poppy reads are notably lacking in diversity; a story about the power of literature so limited in imagination lets both itself and readers down. Main characters are cued White; there is racial diversity in the supporting cast. Chapters open with atmospheric spot art. (This review has been updated to reflect the final illustrations.)

A pleasing premise for book lovers. (Fantasy. 9-12)

Pub Date: May 2, 2023

ISBN: 9780316448222

Page Count: 320

Publisher: Little, Brown

Review Posted Online: Feb. 24, 2023

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2023

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BEYOND MULBERRY GLEN

An absorbing fantasy centered on a resilient female protagonist facing growth, change, and self-empowerment.

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In Florence’s middle-grade fantasy novel, a young girl’s heart is tested in the face of an evil, spreading Darkness.

Eleven-year-old Lydia, “freckle-cheeked and round-eyed, with hair the color of pine bark and fair skin,” is struggling with the knowledge that she has reached the age to apprentice as an herbalist. Lydia is reluctant to leave her beloved, magical Mulberry Glen and her cozy Housetree in the woods—she’ll miss Garder, the Glen’s respected philosopher; her fairy guardian Pit; her human friend Livy; and even the mischievous part-elf, part-imp, part-human twins Zale and Zamilla. But the twins go missing after hearing of a soul-sapping Darkness that has swallowed a forest and is creeping into minds and engulfing entire towns. They have secretly left to find a rare fruit that, it is said, will stop the Darkness if thrown into the heart of the mountain that rises out of the lethal forest. Lydia follows, determined to find the twins before they, too, fall victim to the Darkness. During her journey, accompanied by new friends, she gradually realizes that she herself has a dangerous role to play in the quest to stop the Darkness. In this well-crafted fantasy, Florence skillfully equates the physical manifestation of Darkness with the feelings of insecurity and powerlessness that Lydia first struggles with when thinking of leaving the Glen. Such negative thoughts grow more intrusive the closer she and her friends come to the Darkness—and to Lydia’s ultimate, powerfully rendered test of character, which leads to a satisfyingly realistic, not quite happily-ever-after ending. Highlights include a delightfully haunting, reality-shifting library and a deft sprinkling of Latin throughout the text; Pit’s pet name for Lydia is mea flosculus (“my little flower”). Fine-lined ink drawings introducing each chapter add a pleasing visual element to this well-grounded fairy tale.

An absorbing fantasy centered on a resilient female protagonist facing growth, change, and self-empowerment.

Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2025

ISBN: 9781956393095

Page Count: 288

Publisher: Waxwing Books

Review Posted Online: Oct. 14, 2024

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2025

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