by Liesl Shurtliff ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 12, 2016
Fairy-tale fun with resonant depth makes for another solid outing.
In another of her fairy-tale mashups, Shurtliff brings inventive new dimensions to Granny and Red, whom readers met in the companion book, Rump (2013).
Granny, a witch, is none other than Rose Red, whose sister, Snow White, married a bear-prince. Red has powers, too, but she’s been afraid to practice after a particularly disastrous spell almost killed Granny years ago. So when Granny becomes deathly ill, Red sets off to find the strongest magic: eternal life. Red’s narration is dry and sassy, her mishaps colorful, her quest eventful and populated with other denizens of fairy-tale land. Accompanied by new friends Goldie and Wolf, Red follows directions provided by a disgruntled dwarf: there are three ways to stop death. What he fails to reveal are the pitfalls, allowing Red to debate the advisability of immortality as she witnesses the effects of each method. The most grotesque is The Magic Hearts, offered by the Huntsman—the same who saved the other Snow White (the one with the dwarfs) from her jealous stepmother and was cursed as a result. The adventures are thrilling, even frightening, and, while good and bad magic abound, what is most heartening is how Red and Goldie grow and brave it all together, selflessly helping each other.
Fairy-tale fun with resonant depth makes for another solid outing. (Fantasy. 8-12)Pub Date: April 12, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-385-75583-2
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Jan. 8, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2016
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by Peter Brown ; illustrated by Peter Brown ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 26, 2023
Hugely entertaining, timely, and triumphant.
Robot Roz undertakes an unusual ocean journey to save her adopted island home in this third series entry.
When a poison tide flowing across the ocean threatens their island, Roz works with the resident creatures to ensure that they will have clean water, but the destruction of vegetation and crowding of habitats jeopardize everyone’s survival. Brown’s tale of environmental depredation and turmoil is by turns poignant, graceful, endearing, and inspiring, with his (mostly) gentle robot protagonist at its heart. Though Roz is different from the creatures she lives with or encounters—including her son, Brightbill the goose, and his new mate, Glimmerwing—she makes connections through her versatile communication abilities and her desire to understand and help others. When Roz accidentally discovers that the replacement body given to her by Dr. Molovo is waterproof, she sets out to seek help and discovers the human-engineered source of the toxic tide. Brown’s rich descriptions of undersea landscapes, entertaining conversations between Roz and wild creatures, and concise yet powerful explanations of the effect of the poison tide on the ecology of the island are superb. Simple, spare illustrations offer just enough glimpses of Roz and her surroundings to spark the imagination. The climactic confrontation pits oceangoing mammals, seabirds, fish, and even zooplankton against hardware and technology in a nicely choreographed battle. But it is Roz’s heroism and peacemaking that save the day.
Hugely entertaining, timely, and triumphant. (author’s note) (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2023
ISBN: 9780316669412
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 26, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2023
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by Aaron Reynolds ; illustrated by Peter Brown
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by E.B. White illustrated by Garth Williams ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 15, 1952
The three way chats, in which they are joined by other animals, about web spinning, themselves, other humans—are as often...
A successful juvenile by the beloved New Yorker writer portrays a farm episode with an imaginative twist that makes a poignant, humorous story of a pig, a spider and a little girl.
Young Fern Arable pleads for the life of runt piglet Wilbur and gets her father to sell him to a neighbor, Mr. Zuckerman. Daily, Fern visits the Zuckermans to sit and muse with Wilbur and with the clever pen spider Charlotte, who befriends him when he is lonely and downcast. At the news of Wilbur's forthcoming slaughter, campaigning Charlotte, to the astonishment of people for miles around, spins words in her web. "Some Pig" comes first. Then "Terrific"—then "Radiant". The last word, when Wilbur is about to win a show prize and Charlotte is about to die from building her egg sac, is "Humble". And as the wonderful Charlotte does die, the sadness is tempered by the promise of more spiders next spring.
The three way chats, in which they are joined by other animals, about web spinning, themselves, other humans—are as often informative as amusing, and the whole tenor of appealing wit and pathos will make fine entertainment for reading aloud, too.Pub Date: Oct. 15, 1952
ISBN: 978-0-06-026385-0
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1952
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by E.B. White illustrated by Fred Marcellino
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by E.B. White illustrated by Garth Williams
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