Both cheer- and shiverworthy, strong in narrative and visual atmosphere. (cast of characters)
Love and loyalty are put to the test when a young aerialist becomes the pawn of a bereaved mother bent on vengeance.
Taking place after the events of KidGlovz (2015), this companion novel follows a closely knit group of traveling performers. They turn a road trip into a rescue mission when a pair of scene-stealing (and genuinely creepy) gloves once belonging to accordion virtuoso KidGlovz transform his best friend and midair marvel, 15-year-old reformed pickpocket Shoestring. He relapses, becoming a secretive, self-absorbed thief with less and less control over his actions. As before, both the all-White cast, which is largely composed of loving adults and unusually talented young people, and Newman’s sheaves of softly textured, technically accomplished pencil drawings immediately bring to mind Brian Selznick’s illustrated stories. So does the way the characters outshine the plot—though the story does take several surprising and imaginative turns on its way to a tense, melodramatic climax. Readers get to know Shoestring’s adoptive mother, May, Queen of Hearts; the cruel, vicious dowager Mistress Adamantine; and a host of other colorful characters. In the end, all, gloves thankfully included, receive just deserts…though even as they hiss the thoroughly fiendish villain, readers may feel a twinge of sympathy for the offender.
Both cheer- and shiverworthy, strong in narrative and visual atmosphere. (cast of characters) (Fantasy. 10-13)Pub Date: May 1, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-76029-721-3
Page Count: 368
Publisher: A & U Children/Trafalgar
Review Posted Online: March 30, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
This can’t be the last we ever hear of the Legendary Alston Boys of the purely surreal Logan County—imaginative,...
Can this really be the first time readers meet the Legendary Alston Boys of Logan County? Cousins and veteran sleuths Otto and Sheed Alston show us that we are the ones who are late to their greatness.
These two black boys are coming to terms with the end of their brave, heroic summer at Grandma’s, with a return to school just right around the corner. They’ve already got two keys to the city, but the rival Epic Ellisons—twin sisters Wiki and Leen—are steadily gaining celebrity across Logan County, Virginia, and have in hand their third key to the city. No way summer can end like this! These young people are powerful, courageous, experienced adventurers molded through their heroic commitment to discipline and deduction. They’ve got their shared, lifesaving maneuvers committed to memory (printed in a helpful appendix) and ready to save any day. Save the day they must, as a mysterious, bendy gentleman and an oversized, clingy platypus have been unleashed on the city of Fry, and all the residents and their belongings seem to be frozen in time and place. Will they be able to solve this one? With total mastery, Giles creates in Logan County an exuberant vortex of weirdness, where the commonplace sits cheek by jowl with the utterly fantastic, and populates it with memorable characters who more than live up to their setting.
This can’t be the last we ever hear of the Legendary Alston Boys of the purely surreal Logan County—imaginative, thrill-seeking readers, this is a series to look out for. (Fantasy. 10-12)Pub Date: April 2, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-328-46083-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Versify/HMH
Review Posted Online: Jan. 14, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2019
PERSPECTIVES
A very promising kickoff with arbitrary but intriguingly challenging magic.
A middle schooler discovers both up and down sides to being able to foretell the future.
Members of the Cleary clan in alternating generations have always been granted predictive powers on their 4,444th day of life, and Celia has been eagerly looking forward to her first vision—until, that is, it comes and reveals that cute, quiet classmate Jeffrey is slated to die in a hit-and-run. Weighing her horror against her wise Grammy’s warnings that fate is inexorable, she contrives a way to head off the accident…only to foresee another fatal mishap in his future. And another. By the time she’s saved his life five times in a row, she’s not only exhausted, but crushing on the hapless lad. (As, unsurprisingly, he is on her.) Reintgen generally keeps the tone of his series opener light, so even after Celia discovers that there’s ultimately a tragic price for her intervention, the ensuing funeral service is marked by as much laughter as sorrow. The author surrounds his frantic but good-hearted protagonist with a particularly sturdy supporting cast that includes gratifyingly cooperative friends as well as her Grammy and loving, if nonmagical, mom. There don’t seem to be many Cleary men around; perhaps that and certain other curious elements, like a chart listing particular Cleary specialties with names such as Dreamwalker and Grimdark, will be addressed in future entries. Main characters read as White.
A very promising kickoff with arbitrary but intriguingly challenging magic. (Fantasy. 10-13)Pub Date: May 31, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-66590-357-8
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Aladdin
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2022
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