Both cozy and inspiring, this eco-fable conveys both grim truths and a defiant call to action.
The best birthday present is a magical train full of talking animals—and a new job.
On Kate’s 11th birthday, she’s surprised by the arrival of rich Uncle Herbert. Uncle Herbert bears a gift: a train. Not a toy train, a 102.36-ton steam engine, with cars that come later. When Kate and her brother, Tom, both white, play in the cab of the Silver Arrow, the train starts up, zooming to a platform packed with animals holding tickets. Thus begins Kate and Tom’s hard work: They learn to conduct the train and feed the fire box, instructed by the Silver Arrow, which speaks via printed paper tape. The Silver Arrow is a glorious playground: The library car is chockablock with books while the candy car is brimful of gobstoppers and gummy bears. But amid the excitement of whistle-blowing and train conducting, Kate and Tom learn quiet messages from their animal friends. Some species, like gray squirrels and starlings, are “invaders.” The too-thin polar bear’s train platform has melted, leaving it almost drowned. Their new calling is more than just feeding the coal box—they need to find a new balance in a damaged world. “Feeling guilty doesn’t help anything,” the mamba tells them. Humans have survived so effectively they’ve taken over the world; now, he says, “you just have to take care of it.” (Illustrations not seen.)
Both cozy and inspiring, this eco-fable conveys both grim truths and a defiant call to action. (Fantasy. 8-10)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-316-53953-1
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: June 29, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Witches never actually step into sight, but their offstage presence adds shivery hints of danger to this lightweight opener.
Of all the magical residents in an Italian town long renowned for its various sorts of witches, the mischievous Janara may be the most mysterious—and troublesome.
By day disguised as neighbors or even relatives, the Janara become invisible with a spell (plus dabs of magic oil in the armpits) at night and set out to play such tricks as (ugh) feeding through a straw inserted up a sleeper’s nose and down into his or her stomach. Thus, when bossy young Rosa wakes one morning itchy of schnoz and starving, it’s time for her and her considerably less obnoxious twin, Emilio, to seek help. But all their efforts only result in further and more widespread “mischiefs,” until town idler Amerigo Pegleg reluctantly admits that oregano is like catnip to the Janara (and he should know). Shrugging off Rosa’s ill-tempered skepticism, Emilio rubs fistfuls of the herb around house and yard, and peace is soon restored. Loosely based on folklore and decorated with Blackall’s two-color drawings of elfin figures in country dress on nearly every page, the comical tale kicks off a projected series set in the picturesque town. Appendices on spell casting and on Benevento’s witchly history (not seen) will cap each episode. Volume 2, The All-Powerful Ring, publishes simultaneously.
Witches never actually step into sight, but their offstage presence adds shivery hints of danger to this lightweight opener. (town map) (Fantasy. 8-10)Pub Date: April 12, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-451-47181-9
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2016
Exactly what’s to be expected when you take candy from five-eyed purple extraterrestrials.
An investigative journalist saves his school from a fate worse than lunch.
“Jonny Jakes” (not his real name) has little trouble keeping his identity as publisher and chief reporter of the scandal sheet Woodford Word from his infuriated principal, Mr. Hardy. The stakes soar, though, when Hardy is replaced by “Mr. Jones,” a seemingly benign alien from the planet Huurl who passes out addictive, mind-altering candy followed by special hamburgers that instantly add rolls of fat to all who eat them. And soon everybody (including parents) has fallen under his spell except for light-skinned Jonny and recruited confederates Norris Morris and Julie Singh, both dark-skinned. What’s Jones’ game? The burgers also have the effect of producing, as Jonny puts it, “Gas. Both ends”—a phenomenon that’s not only described in loving detail, but fits nicely into a tale that also features blobby purple people eaters, gray food that smells like sweaty socks, references to puke and snot, clandestine meetings in boys’ and girls’ bathrooms, casual violence, and a climactic food fight that splatters the lunchroom with “chocolate fudge, raspberry bits, and luminous alien guts.” Along with a side dish of butt crack, Brown serves up cartoon images of secret messages, headlines, revealing photos, and characters. Though it’s a British import, the book’s action has been relocated to Massachusetts and the text Americanized.
Exactly what’s to be expected when you take candy from five-eyed purple extraterrestrials. (Science fiction. 8-10)Pub Date: March 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4965-2680-9
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Stone Arch Books
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2016
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