A classic good-vs.-evil story set in a world ripe with opportunity for creative expansion.
In her debut novel, Hodgson invents a universe where nearly every star in the solar system contains life.
Teenage siblings Stella and Isaac lead a normal, if isolated, childhood on Earth. But after their parents’ sudden death, they learn that their mother and father were powerful royalty of the Zodiacs, the 12 constellations surrounding the sun. Stella and Isaac were raised in hiding after the evil Gershon overthrew the Zodiacs’ true rulers. (Their parents knew Gershon would never look for them on Earth, a place considered insignificant based on the low intelligence of its inhabitants.) Now, only Stella and Isaac possess the special skills to overthrow the vindictive regime and reclaim their rightful throne. While Isaac takes on the role of intrepid hero, Stella struggles with the circumstances: She lacks self-confidence and doesn’t believe she’s capable of saving the world. The characters’ feelings, spanning from incredulous to inquisitive to enlivened, are refreshingly believable within the book’s wholly fantastical setting. Despite their grief and naiveté, both teens prove to be natural leaders as they vow to avenge their parents’ deaths and to rescue the oppressed Zodians. But young Stella and Isaac don’t have to battle Gershon and his followers alone; winged horses from the Pegasus constellation volunteer to aid, as do dragons from Draco. Though they eventually face off with Gershon, Stella and Isaac spend the majority of the book practicing their powers—including an ability to travel as “Shooting Stars” from star to star—and learning the basics about the universe that is new to them, in preparation for a battle yet to come. There’s much that Hodgson can develop in future installments, and readers will be eager to learn more about this magical world.
A classic good-vs.-evil story set in a world ripe with opportunity for creative expansion.Pub Date: Jan. 25, 2012
ISBN: 978-1469931616
Page Count: 308
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: May 10, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
The seemingly ageless Seeger brings back his renowned giant for another go in a tuneful tale that, like the art, is a bit sketchy, but chockful of worthy messages. Faced with yearly floods and droughts since they’ve cut down all their trees, the townsfolk decide to build a dam—but the project is stymied by a boulder that is too huge to move. Call on Abiyoyo, suggests the granddaughter of the man with the magic wand, then just “Zoop Zoop” him away again. But the rock that Abiyoyo obligingly flings aside smashes the wand. How to avoid Abiyoyo’s destruction now? Sing the monster to sleep, then make it a peaceful, tree-planting member of the community, of course. Seeger sums it up in a postscript: “every community must learn to manage its giants.” Hays, who illustrated the original (1986), creates colorful, if unfinished-looking, scenes featuring a notably multicultural human cast and a towering Cubist fantasy of a giant. The song, based on a Xhosa lullaby, still has that hard-to-resist sing-along potential, and the themes of waging peace, collective action, and the benefits of sound ecological practices are presented in ways that children will both appreciate and enjoy. (Picture book. 5-9)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-689-83271-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2001
Not for the faint-hearted—who are mostly adults anyway—but for stouthearted kids who love a brush with the sinister:...
A magnificently creepy fantasy pits a bright, bored little girl against a soul-eating horror that inhabits the reality right next door.
Coraline’s parents are loving, but really too busy to play with her, so she amuses herself by exploring her family’s new flat. A drawing-room door that opens onto a brick wall becomes a natural magnet for the curious little girl, and she is only half-surprised when, one day, the door opens onto a hallway and Coraline finds herself in a skewed mirror of her own flat, complete with skewed, button-eyed versions of her own parents. This is Gaiman’s (American Gods, 2001, etc.) first novel for children, and the author of the Sandman graphic novels here shows a sure sense of a child’s fears—and the child’s ability to overcome those fears. “I will be brave,” thinks Coraline. “No, I am brave.” When Coraline realizes that her other mother has not only stolen her real parents but has also stolen the souls of other children before her, she resolves to free her parents and to find the lost souls by matching her wits against the not-mother. The narrative hews closely to a child’s-eye perspective: Coraline never really tries to understand what has happened or to fathom the nature of the other mother; she simply focuses on getting her parents back and thwarting the other mother for good. Her ability to accept and cope with the surreality of the other flat springs from the child’s ability to accept, without question, the eccentricity and arbitrariness of her own—and every child’s own—reality. As Coraline’s quest picks up its pace, the parallel world she finds herself trapped in grows ever more monstrous, generating some deliciously eerie descriptive writing.
Not for the faint-hearted—who are mostly adults anyway—but for stouthearted kids who love a brush with the sinister: Coraline is spot on. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: July 1, 2002
ISBN: 0-380-97778-8
Page Count: 176
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2002
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
bookshelf
