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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Less charming than the opener but does feature a thimbleful of moral quandary at its center.
Armed only with her magical sewing needle, foundling mouse Delphine sets out to confront the cruel rat king in this duology closer.
As vicious rat armies pillage the mouse realms in search of her and her pointy, long-hidden treasure, Delphine finds herself waging an inner war that parallels the outer one. According to dusty documents and other reputable sources, the needle’s good powers can be perverted, but she sees no other way except killing to stop evil rat King Midnight. While struggling with a grim determination to go over to the dark side that sets her at odds with her own fundamentally loving nature, Delphine threads her way along with loyal allies past various scrapes—only to come, climactically, face to face with not only her nemesis, but her own past. Moon stitches in flashbacks to fill out the details of a tragic old love triangle that reaches its fruition here and sews her tale up with a return to Château Desjardins just in time for Cinderella’s wedding and a celebratory rodentine ball in the chandelier overhead, and she leaves a fringe of epilogue hinting at further installments to come.
Less charming than the opener but does feature a thimbleful of moral quandary at its center. (secret codes) (Animal fantasy. 10-12)Pub Date: March 1, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-368-04833-0
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Review Posted Online: Dec. 6, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
For animal lovers, defenders of the environment, and fans of female-powered stories.
A girl and a polar bear forge a unique, loving friendship.
April Wood and her widowed scientist father travel to uninhabited Bear Island in the Arctic, where April’s dad has been commissioned to spend six months studying the effects of global warming on the area. Lonely April hopes to get closer to her distracted father, who still grieves his wife’s loss. Instead, incredibly—as dad had said there were none left—she bonds strongly with the island’s lone, injured polar bear, whom she dubs Bear. How April and Bear become best friends, how she cares for him, learns his ways, and masterminds a harrowing rescue effort to save Bear and deliver him home to Svalbard comprises the bulk of this unusual, amiably written tale. The novel incorporates facts, capably raises awareness about the perils of global warming, and makes a strong case for humans’ negative impact on the Arctic. April is an intelligent, independent, resourceful animal lover who staunchly advocates for the environment. Like-minded readers will relate to her and her desire for positive change in the world—and her yearning for loving relationships. The novel’s conclusion is touching and poignant, but some plot elements strain credulity or feel clichéd, and April’s dad is not a fully realized character. Sparse, unexciting, black-and-white illustrations fail to capture the setting’s grandeur. An author’s note includes information and websites.
For animal lovers, defenders of the environment, and fans of female-powered stories. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Feb. 2, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-06-304107-3
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Nov. 16, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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