An imaginative, fun adventure that’s just the beginning of a new amalgamated mythology.
Fantasy adventure spins between terror and comedy when teen siblings battle supernatural forces lurking in the forest and their computers.
When 15-year-old Logan and his 13-year-old sister Mindy wake up after a neighborhood picnic, they find themselves in a strange house near a beach and woods. Their first thoughts are practical—“Where are Mom and Dad?” Their next are childish; they tease each other about the funny pajamas they find themselves in. The pair soon discovers that while familiar kids live in nearby houses, there are no adults. In Lord of the Flies fashion, the youngsters split into teams of good guys and bad guys. Generous and brave Logan realizes that he can magically enter the computer in his bedroom, play games and then return. Things go horribly wrong when Kyle, the neighborhood bully, sets evil in motion after being tempted by the shadowy Silhouettes who visit at dawn and dusk. Animals in the nearby woods speak to each other about the children and some try to help. When Logan and Mindy become trapped inside the computer world, the sinister Lord Torrent of the Deep Shadows hatches a plot to gain a powerful staff hidden there by the mysterious Bill Purdy. Various pixel characters the siblings meet while inside the computer (including versions of their parents, an uncle, the bumbling comic Detective Danby, the hapless gambler Nick Roman and a fortune teller) help and hinder their struggle to get home to the “real” world. After a satisfying conclusion, the promise of more adventures looms when the newly forgiven Kyle muses that “deep down, he knew he had enjoyed being a bully….something in his brain triggered happiness when he inflicted grief on others.” This well-written tale combines two imaginary worlds popular with younger readers—fantasy and computer games. Plus, the tale isn’t really over; this is the first of an eight-book series. No need to say goodbye to Mindy and Logan, a young pair with the smarts and spunk to overcome whatever the future brings.
An imaginative, fun adventure that’s just the beginning of a new amalgamated mythology.Pub Date: July 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0615439259
Page Count: 298
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: April 20, 2011
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Broccoli: No way is James going to eat broccoli. “It’s disgusting,” says James. Well then, James, says his father, let’s consider the alternatives: some wormy dirt, perhaps, some stinky socks, some pre-chewed gum? James reconsiders the broccoli, but—milk? “Blech,” says James. Right, says his father, who needs strong bones? You’ll be great at hide-and-seek, though not so great at baseball and kickball and even tickling the dog’s belly. James takes a mouthful. So it goes through lumpy oatmeal, mushroom lasagna and slimy eggs, with James’ father parrying his son’s every picky thrust. And it is fun, because the father’s retorts are so outlandish: the lasagna-making troll in the basement who will be sent back to the rat circus, there to endure the rodent’s vicious bites; the uneaten oatmeal that will grow and grow and probably devour the dog that the boy won’t be able to tickle any longer since his bones are so rubbery. Schneider’s watercolors catch the mood of gentle ribbing, the looks of bewilderment and surrender and the deadpanned malarkey. It all makes James’ father’s last urging—“I was just going to say that you might like them if you tried them”—wholly fresh and unexpected advice. (Early reader. 5-9)
Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-547-14956-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An absorbing fantasy centered on a resilient female protagonist facing growth, change, and self-empowerment.
In Florence’s middle-grade fantasy novel, a young girl’s heart is tested in the face of an evil, spreading Darkness.
Eleven-year-old Lydia, “freckle-cheeked and round-eyed, with hair the color of pine bark and fair skin,” is struggling with the knowledge that she has reached the age to apprentice as an herbalist. Lydia is reluctant to leave her beloved, magical Mulberry Glen and her cozy Housetree in the woods—she’ll miss Garder, the Glen’s respected philosopher; her fairy guardian Pit; her human friend Livy; and even the mischievous part-elf, part-imp, part-human twins Zale and Zamilla. But the twins go missing after hearing of a soul-sapping Darkness that has swallowed a forest and is creeping into minds and engulfing entire towns. They have secretly left to find a rare fruit that, it is said, will stop the Darkness if thrown into the heart of the mountain that rises out of the lethal forest. Lydia follows, determined to find the twins before they, too, fall victim to the Darkness. During her journey, accompanied by new friends, she gradually realizes that she herself has a dangerous role to play in the quest to stop the Darkness. In this well-crafted fantasy, Florence skillfully equates the physical manifestation of Darkness with the feelings of insecurity and powerlessness that Lydia first struggles with when thinking of leaving the Glen. Such negative thoughts grow more intrusive the closer she and her friends come to the Darkness—and to Lydia’s ultimate, powerfully rendered test of character, which leads to a satisfyingly realistic, not quite happily-ever-after ending. Highlights include a delightfully haunting, reality-shifting library and a deft sprinkling of Latin throughout the text; Pit’s pet name for Lydia is mea flosculus (“my little flower”). Fine-lined ink drawings introducing each chapter add a pleasing visual element to this well-grounded fairy tale.
An absorbing fantasy centered on a resilient female protagonist facing growth, change, and self-empowerment.Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9781956393095
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Waxwing Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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