Lively, endearing, and full of character.
A tween dabbles in dark magic, hoping to do one good deed.
In Tierra del Sol, criaturas are feared and reviled. Some are dark spirits while others, relatively harmless, shape-shift into animals. At 7, Cece wanders too far into the desert and encounters the Criatura of Stars and Devouring, Tzizimitl, who turns out to be more kindly old woman than scary beast. She walks Cece home only to be met with angry, murderous townsfolk. Before Tzizimitl flees, freed by Cece, she observes that Cece has a soul like water—perhaps not what you want as Sun god descendants. Now 12, Cece encounters the Bride Stealer El Sombrerón, another criatura, whose magic guitar bewitches young women. Before Cece can stop him from playing, her sister, Juana, is entranced by his song and kidnapped. Her family mourns, but Cece is determined to get Juana back—but she’ll have to enter the Bruja Fights for aspiring dark witches to get into Devil’s Alley, where El Sombrerón lives. There’s the small problem of her not wanting to actually bea dark witch, but she’ll just fake it and no one will be the wiser, right? Set in a fantasy world filled with figures from Aztec mythology, this culturally rich adventure weaves Spanish and Nahuatl throughout the text. With strong ties to Mesoamerican lore and culture, the story hits the sweet spot between dark and light.
Lively, endearing, and full of character. (glossary) (Fantasy. 8-14)Pub Date: April 13, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-06-294755-0
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Feb. 8, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
A captivating book situated in present-day discourse around the refugee crisis, featuring two boys who stand by their high...
Two parallel stories, one of a Syrian boy from Aleppo fleeing war, and another of a white American boy, son of a NATO contractor, dealing with the challenges of growing up, intersect at a house in Brussels.
Ahmed lost his father while crossing the Mediterranean. Alone and broke in Europe, he takes things into his own hands to get to safety but ends up having to hide in the basement of a residential house. After months of hiding, he is discovered by Max, a boy of similar age and parallel high integrity and courage, who is experiencing his own set of troubles learning a new language, moving to a new country, and being teased at school. In an unexpected turn of events, the two boys and their new friends Farah, a Muslim Belgian girl, and Oscar, a white Belgian boy, successfully scheme for Ahmed to go to school while he remains in hiding the rest of the time. What is at stake for Ahmed is immense, and so is the risk to everyone involved. Marsh invites art and history to motivate her protagonists, drawing parallels to gentiles who protected Jews fleeing Nazi terror and citing present-day political news. This well-crafted and suspenseful novel touches on the topics of refugees and immigrant integration, terrorism, Islam, Islamophobia, and the Syrian war with sensitivity and grace.
A captivating book situated in present-day discourse around the refugee crisis, featuring two boys who stand by their high values in the face of grave risk and succeed in drawing goodwill from others. (Historical fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Aug. 7, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-250-30757-6
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: June 10, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018
This delightful debut welcomes readers in like a house filled with love.
A 13-year-old biracial girl longs to build the house of her dreams.
For Lou Bulosan-Nelson, normal is her “gigantic extended family squished into Lola’s for every holiday imaginable.” She shares a bedroom with her Filipina mother, Minda—a former interior-design major and current nurse-to-be—in Lola Celina’s San Francisco home. From her deceased white father, Michael, Lou inherited “not-so-Filipino features,” his love for architecture, and some land. Lou’s quietude implies her keen eye for details, but her passion for creating with her hands resonates loudly. Pining for something to claim as her own, she plans to construct a house from the ground up. When her mom considers moving out of state for a potential job and Lou’s land is at risk of being auctioned off, Lou stays resilient, gathering support from both friends and family to make her dream a reality. Respicio authentically depicts the richness of Philippine culture, incorporating Filipino language, insights into Lou’s family history, and well-crafted descriptions of customs, such as the birdlike Tinikling dance and eating kamayan style (with one’s hands), throughout. Lou’s story gives voice to Filipino youth, addressing cultural differences, the importance of bayanihan (community), and the true meaning of home.
This delightful debut welcomes readers in like a house filled with love. (Fiction. 8-13)Pub Date: June 12, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5247-1794-0
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Wendy Lamb/Random
Review Posted Online: March 3, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2018
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