An interesting if imperfect story commendable for its portrayal of a protagonist suffering from anxiety and possibly PTSD.
“Cursed” Annalise journeys through a labyrinth to reverse it.
A fairy tale–esque preface chronicles the birth of twin princesses in the Mazelands: the hated, pale-skinned Fate Spinner and the beloved, dark-skinned Spinner of Dreams. The story proper opens with the birth of Annalise Meriwether. Her “cursed” left hand, twice as large as her right, bears a broken black heart—the Fate Spinner’s mark—that occasionally shoots fire and is blamed for the town’s persistent miseries. Though her parents are incredibly loving and supportive, the townsfolk are abusive. Understandably traumatized, Annalise uses such mechanisms as counting to cope. Refreshingly, Annalise’s anxiety and coping strategies aren’t portrayed as obstacles or deficits. Hoping for “a normal left hand,” Annalise travels to the Mazelands to face the perils of the Fate Spinner’s labyrinth—and her misbeliefs about herself and her “wicked” hand. The plot itself is labyrinthine and its exploration of fate uneven. Moreover, the Fate Spinner’s evil comes across as simplistic, in contrast to the story’s other, more fully developed villains. The tiresome convention that equates dark with evil is turned on its head with the Spinner sisters’ skin colors, but most everything else, disappointingly, aligns with it. Annalise’s mother has brown skin, but Annalise herself is described only as having straight black hair and purple eyes. Mental health resources are provided in the backmatter.
An interesting if imperfect story commendable for its portrayal of a protagonist suffering from anxiety and possibly PTSD. (author’s note) (Fantasy. 10-14)Pub Date: Aug. 27, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-06-267395-4
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 7, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Is this the end? Well, no…the series will stagger on through at least one more scheduled sequel.
Sure signs that the creative wells are running dry at last, the Captain’s ninth, overstuffed outing both recycles a villain (see Book 4) and offers trendy anti-bullying wish fulfillment.
Not that there aren’t pranks and envelope-pushing quips aplenty. To start, in an alternate ending to the previous episode, Principal Krupp ends up in prison (“…a lot like being a student at Jerome Horwitz Elementary School, except that the prison had better funding”). There, he witnesses fellow inmate Tippy Tinkletrousers (aka Professor Poopypants) escape in a giant Robo-Suit (later reduced to time-traveling trousers). The villain sets off after George and Harold, who are in juvie (“not much different from our old school…except that they have library books here.”). Cut to five years previous, in a prequel to the whole series. George and Harold link up in kindergarten to reduce a quartet of vicious bullies to giggling insanity with a relentless series of pranks involving shaving cream, spiders, effeminate spoof text messages and friendship bracelets. Pilkey tucks both topical jokes and bathroom humor into the cartoon art, and ups the narrative’s lexical ante with terms like “pharmaceuticals” and “theatrical flair.” Unfortunately, the bullies’ sad fates force Krupp to resign, so he’s not around to save the Earth from being destroyed later on by Talking Toilets and other invaders…
Is this the end? Well, no…the series will stagger on through at least one more scheduled sequel. (Fantasy. 10-12)Pub Date: Aug. 28, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-545-17534-0
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: June 19, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2012
Some readers may feel that the resolution comes a mite too easily, but most will enjoy the journey and be pleased when...
Two sisters make an unauthorized expedition to their former hometown and in the process bring together the two parts of their divided family.
Dooley packs plenty of emotion into this eventful road trip, which takes place over the course of less than 24 hours. Twelve-year-old Ophelia, nicknamed Fella, and her 16-year-old sister, Zoey Grace, aka Zany, are the daughters of a lesbian couple, Shannon and Lacy, who could not legally marry. The two white girls squabble and share memories as they travel from West Virginia to Asheville, North Carolina, where Zany is determined to scatter Mama Lacy’s ashes in accordance with her wishes. The year is 2004, before the Supreme Court decision on gay marriage, and the girls have been separated by hostile, antediluvian custodial laws. Fella’s present-tense narration paints pictures not just of the difficulties they face on the trip (a snowstorm, car trouble, and an unlikely thief among them), but also of their lives before Mama Lacy’s illness and of the ways that things have changed since then. Breathless and engaging, Fella’s distinctive voice is convincingly childlike. The conversations she has with her sister, as well as her insights about their relationship, likewise ring true. While the girls face serious issues, amusing details and the caring adults in their lives keep the tone relatively light.
Some readers may feel that the resolution comes a mite too easily, but most will enjoy the journey and be pleased when Fella’s family figures out how to come together in a new way . (Historical fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: April 4, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-399-16504-7
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: Jan. 31, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2017
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