“Wrong” in the right kind of way.
Three preteens uncover the secret, supernatural history of their Oregon town.
Following her mom’s disappearance in a fire, Eleanor relocates to too-perfect Eden Eld to live with relatives. She devises a “How To Be Normal” plan to give herself a fresh start: don’t talk about Mom or things that aren’t there, go to school, and smile. But, when Eleanor meets classmates Otto and Pip, she almost immediately starts to stray from her plan. Otto and Pip can see the things Eleanor sees—the “wrong things”—like the giant black dog with red eyes that seems to be everywhere. The trio’s strange connections go even deeper, proving to be more than mere coincidence. Local legends say that every 13th Halloween, on their shared 13th birthday, three children go missing. If the legends are true, Eleanor, Otto, and Pip will be the next to disappear. Can they stop fate before it’s too late? Marshall’s paranormal middle-grade debut reads like an expanded, kid-friendly version of Ursula LeGuin’s The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas(1973). Though the characters, both child and adult, perhaps too readily accept their eerie reality without question, the well-laid clues and interwoven original fairy tales compel the plot forward. The cliffhanger ending—filled with juicy, unresolved revelations—hints at a much-needed sequel. Otto is brown-skinned; the rest of the cast is assumed White by default.
“Wrong” in the right kind of way. (Suspense. 9-12)Pub Date: Aug. 18, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-11702-6
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: June 29, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2020
Fade to black and cue the applause!
From Selznick’s ever-generative mind comes a uniquely inventive story told in text, sequential art and period photographs and film.
Orphaned Hugo survives secretly in a Parisian train station (circa 1930). Obsessed with reconstructing a broken automaton, Hugo is convinced that it will write a message from his father that will save his life. Caught stealing small mechanical repair parts from the station’s toy shop, Hugo’s life intersects with the elderly shop owner and his goddaughter, Isabelle. The children are drawn together in solving the linked mysteries of the automaton and the identity of the artist, illusionist and pioneer filmmaker, Georges Méliès, long believed dead. Discovering that Isabelle’s godfather is Méliès, the two resurrect his films, his reputation and assure Hugo’s future. Opening with cinematic immediacy, a series of drawings immerses readers in Hugo’s mysterious world. Exquisitely chosen art sequences are sometimes stopped moments, sometimes moments of intense action and emotion. The book, an homage to early filmmakers as dreammakers, is elegantly designed to resemble the flickering experience of silent film melodramas.
Fade to black and cue the applause! (notes, film credits) (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: March 1, 2007
ISBN: 0-439-81378-6
Page Count: 544
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2007
SEEN & HEARD
Georgie's story will capture readers' imaginations with the very first sentences and then hold them hostage until the final...
In 1871, in the small town of Placid, Wis., a sister goes missing and a great adventure begins.
Disconsolate over the end of a promising courtship, Agatha Burkhardt runs off without so much as a goodbye to her younger sister, Georgie. When the sheriff attempts to locate and retrieve Agatha, he brings home not the vibrant sister that Georgie adores, but an unidentifiable body wearing Agatha’s ball gown. Alone in her belief that the body is not her sister’s, Georgie sneaks away in the dead of night, determined to retrace Agatha’s steps in order to solve the mystery of her disappearance and, she hopes, to bring her home. To Georgie's surprise, she’s joined on the journey by her sister’s former flame. And what a journey it is, fraught with mountain lions, counterfeiters and marriage proposals. The truly memorable characters and setting—particularly descriptions of the incredible phenomenon of passenger-pigeon nesting and migration—and the gradual unraveling of the mystery of Agatha’s disappearance make this one hard to put down. The icing on the cake, though, is Georgie’s narration, which is fresh, laugh-out-loud funny and an absolute delight to read.
Georgie's story will capture readers' imaginations with the very first sentences and then hold them hostage until the final page is turned. (Historical fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Jan. 8, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-375-86925-9
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Nov. 13, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2012
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