A transporting trip punctuated by absorbing twists and turns.
Four characters embark on the adventure of their lives in the frozen land of Joya.
After the Royal Couple who reside in the Ice Palace rescue a girl named Lee from a snowbank, Lee develops friendships with the couple’s menagerie of anthropomorphic animals: the pink pony Little Marvel, Garbonzo the mastiff and Beanie the pug. The exceptional creatures join together to help Lee recover. She feels a particular connection with Marvel, who caringly listens to her recollection of the family car accident that landed her in the snow. Unsettling details of her father’s drinking and driving, as well as Lee’s concern for her parents and baby sister, Claire, touch Marvel’s heart. Lee discovers that in order to get home, she must first locate the Treasure House, and she and Marvel set off on a journey, occasionally assisted by the Pink Cloud of Perfection. They face obstacles along the way, including rushing waters, a deep mine shaft, rats, the ominous Glume and the detestable creatures Spigot-Von-Glume and Orblock. Lee has periodic “other-worldly” experiences where she smells beer, hears Claire crying and feels eerily closer to her family. Along with the evil they bravely confront, there is bountiful good. Natural beauty abounds in the Heart of Joya, and the Middle Kingdom is blessed with a lavender sky and silvery water. Successfully outwitting Orblock, they enter the Treasure House, where a bright dove hovers above happy baby Claire, who remains frustratingly out of Lee’s reach. In a vivid, surprising conclusion, the scene changes to a hospital bed, where Lee is waking up from a coma. With her parents and brother nearby, she receives the heartbreaking news of Claire’s death. There is a disconnect here, as the mature issues Chester (Hidden Glory, 2007) presents are more suitable for older readers, yet the spacing and chapters will attract younger enthusiasts of fantasy. However, readers of all ages can appreciate Lee and Marvel’s ability to overcome impediments and reach their goals. The 13 short chapters are embellished with fine black-and-white sketches and softly hued illustrations grace the cover of this creative tale.
A transporting trip punctuated by absorbing twists and turns.Pub Date: July 15, 2008
ISBN: 978-1-59543-841-6
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Troubled teen meets totemic catalyst in Mikaelsen’s (Petey, 1998, etc.) earnest tribute to Native American spirituality. Fifteen-year-old Cole is cocky, embittered, and eaten up by anger at his abusive parents. After repeated skirmishes with the law, he finally faces jail time when he viciously beats a classmate. Cole’s parole officer offers him an alternative—Circle Justice, an innovative justice program based on Native traditions. Sentenced to a year on an uninhabited Arctic island under the supervision of Edwin, a Tlingit elder, Cole provokes an attack from a titanic white “Spirit Bear” while attempting escape. Although permanently crippled by the near-death experience, he is somehow allowed yet another stint on the island. Through Edwin’s patient tutoring, Cole gradually masters his rage, but realizes that he needs to help his former victims to complete his own healing. Mikaelsen paints a realistic portrait of an unlikable young punk, and if Cole’s turnaround is dramatic, it is also convincingly painful and slow. Alas, the rest of the characters are cardboard caricatures: the brutal, drunk father, the compassionate, perceptive parole officer, and the stoic and cryptic Native mentor. Much of the plot stretches credulity, from Cole’s survival to his repeated chances at rehabilitation to his victim being permitted to share his exile. Nonetheless, teens drawn by the brutality of Cole’s adventures, and piqued by Mikaelsen’s rather muscular mysticism, might absorb valuable lessons on anger management and personal responsibility. As melodramatic and well-meaning as the teens it targets. (Fiction. YA)
Pub Date: Feb. 28, 2001
ISBN: 0-380-97744-3
Page Count: 256
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2001
Bishop’s spectacular photographs of the tiny red-eyed tree frog defeat an incidental text from Cowley (Singing Down the Rain, 1997, etc.). The frog, only two inches long, is enormous in this title; it appears along with other nocturnal residents of the rain forests of Central America, including the iguana, ant, katydid, caterpillar, and moth. In a final section, Cowley explains how small the frog is and aspects of its life cycle. The main text, however, is an afterthought to dramatic events in the photos, e.g., “But the red-eyed tree frog has been asleep all day. It wakes up hungry. What will it eat? Here is an iguana. Frogs do not eat iguanas.” Accompanying an astonishing photograph of the tree frog leaping away from a boa snake are three lines (“The snake flicks its tongue. It tastes frog in the air. Look out, frog!”) that neither advance nor complement the action. The layout employs pale and deep green pages and typeface, and large jewel-like photographs in which green and red dominate. The combination of such visually sophisticated pages and simplistic captions make this a top-heavy, unsatisfying title. (Picture book. 7-9)
Pub Date: March 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-590-87175-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1999
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