Lilybet Green gets something extraordinary for her 13th birthday: the chance to become a leprechaun keeper. All she has to do is pass three tests—of blood, cleverness and loyalty. But Lily does not want to be keeper of the leprechauns’ gold, at least until she learns that her beloved Grandmother, Gigi, who died last year, was the previous keeper and had intended for Lily to follow in her footsteps. If Lily fails the tests, not only will she not become keeper, the leprechauns will erase her memories of everything connected to them, including Gigi. So Lily decides to give it her all. During her tests, Lily learns that while many leprechauns cannot be trusted, she must trust herself and the clues that her grandmother has left behind for her. Lily is likable and well-drawn, but most of the other characters and the leprechaun world seem like quick sketches with most of the detail missing. Give this light fare to those graduating out of Magic Tree House and not yet ready for Percy Jackson or Molly Moon. (Fantasy. 9-12)
Pub Date: Jan. 12, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-385-73558-2
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2009
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A yarn as full of magic and intrigue as any fairy tale or pirate song.
Two friends team up to save their town from an ancient supernatural evil in this suspenseful middle-grade novel.
In his latest work, Smith (The Owls Have Come To Take Us Away, 2019, etc.) weaves together an eerie adventure narrative as nail-biting and mysterious as Roald Dahl’s The Witches. Set in a downtrodden seaside town appropriately named Gloom, the tale follows a single mother and her son. Desperate to help in the endless struggle to make ends meet, Rory, a young dark-skinned biracial boy who takes after his father instead of his white mother, regards a job notice advertising a valet position at the opulent Foxglove Manor as a godsend. He’s so eager he overlooks the townwide speculation that the manor contains some malevolent spirit. Before long, Rory can no longer ignore the sinister butler whose face looks inhuman, the mysterious dinner guests who aren’t served food yet leave behind a pile of bones with the marrow sucked out, and a human heart found buried in the back garden. When Lord Foxglove, his enigmatic employer, discovers Rory snooping, he is forced to flee for his life. Together with best friend Izzy, a white girl who lives next door, Rory sets out to unravel the mystery of the manor and save Gloom from whatever lurks inside. Anchoring this well-paced story is a solid cast of characters whose central relationships feel authentic and grounded.
A yarn as full of magic and intrigue as any fairy tale or pirate song. (Suspense. 10-12)Pub Date: Feb. 11, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-328-84161-2
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 9, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2019
A complex, hopeful, fresh retelling.
A fugitive from prison must evade his pursuer, the prison warden’s daughter, while potentially joining a revolution.
Pong has lived his whole life in Namwon Prison until a chance escape leaves him free in the city of Chattana. Pong quickly finds that freedom does not come so easily: Since the Great Fire, Chattana is under the strict control of the Governor, who creates the magical lights that run the city and that are the only lights allowed. Marked as a prisoner, Pong has nowhere to turn. Worse, the prison warden’s daughter Nok is on his trail, intent on proving both her worth and that of her family with his capture. Meanwhile, larger forces in Chattana are stirring, as not everyone is happy with the Governor’s rule. Set in a fantasy analogue of Thailand, all characters are presumed Thai, and Thai life and culture permeate the story in everything from the mangoes Pong eats in prison to the monks he meets beyond the prison’s walls. It’s also a retelling of Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables, and Soontornvat has maintained the themes of the original while making the plot and the characters utterly her own. Pong’s and Nok’s narratives are drawn together by common threads of family, loyalty, and a quest to define right and wrong, twining to create a single, satisfying tale.
A complex, hopeful, fresh retelling. (Fantasy. 9-12)Pub Date: March 24, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5362-0494-0
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Jan. 11, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2020
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