Dance, drama, and a star turn make this a page-turning tale.
Ballet is beautiful for a mouse ballerina.
Irina, a white, Russian girl whose parents work backstage at the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg, loves ballet. Esmeralda, a Russian mouse who lives in the Mariinsky, also loves ballet. It’s 1892, and The Nutcracker: A Ballet in Two Acts with music by Pyotr Ilich Tchaikovsky is set to premier. The mice also have a company, the Russian Mouse Ballet Company, and are planning their own production to the same music. But Esmeralda faces a terrible conflict. Can a mouse troupe dance to a scenario that features evil mice who are defeated in battle? Kladstrup has crafted a dual tale filled with charm, humor, conflict, and danger. The humans (most of them, at least) are out to exterminate the mice; Tchaikovsky is especially rodentophobic, while Irina is especially sympathetic and helpful. Esmeralda emerges as the perfect main character. She faces trials as a dancer—managing her tail properly is difficult. She displays courage and know-how in obtaining costumes from Irina’s doll, crafts an appropriate mouse version of the story, and best of all, she finds her dance muse in the gloriously enchanting score. The synopses for both ballets are included. Helquist’s full-page panels in shades of black are delightfully expressive and are filled with charming details.
Dance, drama, and a star turn make this a page-turning tale. (author’s note) (Animal fantasy. 9-12)Pub Date: Oct. 24, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-7636-8519-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2017
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Entrancing and uplifting.
A small dog, the elderly woman who owns him, and a homeless girl come together to create a tale of serendipity.
Piper, almost 12, her parents, and her younger brother are at the bottom of a long slide toward homelessness. Finally in a family shelter, Piper finds that her newfound safety gives her the opportunity to reach out to someone who needs help even more. Jewel, mentally ill, lives in the park with her dog, Baby. Unwilling to leave her pet, and forbidden to enter the shelter with him, she struggles with the winter weather. Ree, also homeless and with a large dog, helps when she can, but after Jewel gets sick and is hospitalized, Baby’s taken to the animal shelter, and Ree can’t manage the complex issues alone. It’s Piper, using her best investigative skills, who figures out Jewel’s backstory. Still, she needs all the help of the shelter Firefly Girls troop that she joins to achieve her accomplishment: to raise enough money to provide Jewel and Baby with a secure, hopeful future and, maybe, with their kindness, to inspire a happier story for Ree. Told in the authentic alternating voices of loving child and loyal dog, this tale could easily slump into a syrupy melodrama, but Pyron lets her well-drawn characters earn their believable happy ending, step by challenging step, by reaching out and working together. Piper, her family, and Jewel present white; Pyron uses hair and naming convention, respectively, to cue Ree as black and Piper’s friend Gabriela as Latinx.
Entrancing and uplifting. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Aug. 13, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-06-283922-0
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: April 9, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2019
A strong start to a new series in the ever-popular Warriors world: Legions of fans will purr.
Increased evidence of encroachment by Twolegs and other ominous signs of change roil the five feline Clans of the lake territories in this kickoff of a new story arc.
In intertwined storylines, a distracting voice in a young apprentice’s head takes on increasingly scary strength, disturbing visions inform an experienced warrior that she’s been chosen by the spirit guides of StarClan to play an unwanted role in impending troubles, and a wise but weakening Clan leader faces being voted out of office due to her age. Meanwhile, the enigmatic Twolegs are tearing up a forested area, poisoning an important stream, and possibly threatening all the established territories of the five Clans. Avid series fans will welcome encounters with older versions of Leafstar, Tawnypelt, and other stalwarts whom they met in previous episodes. Detailed maps labeling the terrain in both cat and Twoleg terms appear at the beginning of the book, along with a cast list of truly imposing length, helping any readers who need reminders to keep track of the dozens of relationships and Clan affiliations. Better yet, expertly mixed in among dreams and discussions that crank up the general level of anxiety, the book has enough incidental action and individual wrestling with personal issues to help the main characters stand out from the furry crowd.
A strong start to a new series in the ever-popular Warriors world: Legions of fans will purr. (Animal fantasy. 9-12)Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9780063357068
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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