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
As school begins, three teens form an unlikely but comforting friendship with some outside intervention. Lonely since her best friend moved away, eighth grader Lu is seventh grader Salman’s “designated buddy.” A foster child with no known parents, dark-skinned Salman wears worn clothes, a “hungry look” and stands out in the mostly white junior high. Determined to keep a low profile, Salman avoids Lu, but her persistent, easy friendliness gradually disarms him. Weird, tactless and gangly, Lu’s classmate Blos has “never learned how to fit in” and gravitates to kind-hearted Lu and Salman. Step by step, the three become friends despite their ostracization by classmates. Eventually their friendship is tested and proved when Salman’s living situation is threatened. The third-person narration alternates among the three teen protagonists, punctuated by the first-person voice of Puck, an interfering character transplanted from A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Unfortunately, Bauer’s introduction of this Shakespearean subplot proves unlikely, unconvincing and unnecessary in an otherwise genuine, heartwarming story of friendship with teen characters capable of standing on their own. (Fiction. 9-12)
Pub Date: July 27, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-375-85825-3
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: June 2, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2010
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Solomon (Solly for short) has lots of problems: a mean stepmother, two inconsiderate and lazy stepbrothers, an absent father, and an unresolved longing for mothering. Sound familiar? He also has a fairy godmother, but not the usual sort with wishes and wings and a wand. Freeble is a six-foot-tall talking lizard who conquers the highest levels of computer games and teaches Solly to transform himself into a lizard, too. Singer has created a fantastic, funny, but believable world in which intelligent alligators from planet Reptilia transform themselves into human shape when they perform on earth in the Circus Lunicus. Singer’s poetic talents are apparent in her language play with the talking lizard, who has an unusual but perfectly understandable manner of speaking. She skillfully weaves all the elements of the Cinderella mythic structure into her tale, along with the concept of a mother from another species who must return to her own kind. The story is told in short sentences and brief chapters with the appeal of a three-ring circus: laughter, suspense, and a little danger to keep the crowd wanting more. Solly wisely solves his own problems in his own way, finding hidden strengths within himself and help from unexpected sources, just like Cinderella. Luminous and humorous. (Fiction. 9-11)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-8050-6268-8
Page Count: 168
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2000
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