Her name is Liberty, but she’s never been allowed to leave the house in her ten years of life, not even for school. Her inventor-father, Mal (French for “evil”), has imprisoned her and her obese mother so he (a “friggin’ genius”) can keep his magic concoctions safe from discovery. Libby dreams of escaping, and finally does when she drinks Mal’s precious lifting soda and flies up and away. Liberty is a decent, brave and hopeful girl, providing a welcome counterbalance to the disturbing tale of her cruel childhood and to the “outlandish adventures” (involving talking animals, kidnappers and lion tamers) that sometimes feel too wacky. A philosophical, Snicketian narrator expounds on topics from chaos theory to bad apples, as readers are warned to beware society’s abundant scoundrels. Liberty gets much of her frame of reference from books, so stories from “Hansel and Gretel” to The Little Prince help her navigate her wondrous foray into the outside world. Dashes of kindness and dollops of wordplay sweeten the oft-bitter pot, as do Swearingen’s expressive, comical pencil illustrations. (Fantasy. 9-12)
Pub Date: June 9, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-375-83771-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Wendy Lamb/Random
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2009
Intriguing but disappointingly derivative; here’s hoping future volumes find a groove.
In this graphic-novel series opener, a girl discovers her father is a Greek god—sound familiar?
When her mother gets the opportunity of a lifetime, Karen must stay with her estranged father, Zed, who lives on Mount Olympus. Upon her arrival, she learns that her father is obviously both affluent and influential, living in a palatial home and serving as both the mayor of the town and dean of her school. At Mt. Olympus Junior High, Karen quickly befriends Dita, Athena, and siblings Apollo and Artemis. When a classmate is turned to stone in the school library and Karen falls under suspicion, she and her new friends must find the culprit. Visually, Moon’s bright and expressive art propels Cooke and Fitzpatrick’s narrative, with tidy stylization and an alluring full-color palette. Karen, however, may be a polarizing character: She can be bratty at times and infuriatingly slow at others. At one point, her friends must practically spoon-feed her the concept that they are gods and goddesses—that their names are taken directly from the pantheon and that they live on Mount Olympus don’t seem to clue her in. Despite the high-interest format, this doesn’t bring enough novelty to set it apart from Percy Jackson. Nearly all the characters present White with the exceptions of Dita, who has a slightly darker skin tone, and assorted unnamed background characters.
Intriguing but disappointingly derivative; here’s hoping future volumes find a groove. (mythology notes, bibliography) (Graphic fantasy. 9-12)Pub Date: Jan. 5, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-358-29951-6
Page Count: 200
Publisher: Etch/HMH
Review Posted Online: Oct. 12, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2020
An entertaining and funny take on middle school drama with a light magical touch.
Heidi is a young witch attending middle school at Broomsfield Academy, a boarding school catering to both magical and nonmagical students.
Kids with magical powers must only use those skills for schoolwork, but Heidi can’t always control herself, like when she’s running late for class and needs to get dressed in a hurry. Her obsession with classmate Hunter McCann (aka Hunter McCutie) is threatening to take over her life. Melanie, her roommate and once her hometown enemy but now almost a friend, also has a crush on Hunter, who is actually a really nice boy. Heidi tries to hide her feelings from Melanie, but she pours out her heart to good friends Sunny and Annabelle. She also writes to Lucy, her BFF back home, about her situation. While Melanie is interested in flirting and makeup, Heidi’s closest friends give her good advice: “Just be yourself.” Nevertheless, Heidi keeps using witchcraft: first, growing long hair to attract Hunter (it backfires when her hair grows uncontrollably). She later attempts the love potion spell that inspires the title, hoping to isolate Hunter so that she can have him to herself. However, Heidi soon learns how harmful her behavior was. Readers looking for breezy fare will enjoy this second series installment, which uses varied size fonts, ample white space, and humorous digital grayscale illustrations. Most main characters present white.
An entertaining and funny take on middle school drama with a light magical touch. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Aug. 29, 2023
ISBN: 9781665937207
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Simon Spotlight
Review Posted Online: June 8, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2023
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