This breezy sequel to Princess for Hire (2010) continues a middle-school girl’s dream come true: She's magically transformed into various princesses and lives their lives for them while the real princesses take a vacation. Thirteen-year-old Desi wants to keep that glamorous and well-paying job, but she finds dealing with her magical employers almost as difficult as the work. She realizes that she herself has some magical ability and that it isn’t all supplied by the agency. She also hopes to meet wonderful Prince Karl again, although she knows the agency can fire her if she becomes personally involved with a royal. Meanwhile, Desi has been cast as Titania in A Midsummer Night’s Dream in the joint middle-/high-school play, and she’s learning that she has real talent. She’ll need it on her next major assignment, when her princess becomes involved a major, highly publicized scandal, then refuses to return to her real life. Will Desi be stranded impersonating a rich and glamorous celebrity for the rest of her life? And what about that adorable Prince Karl? Leavitt keeps the story dancing along with breathless, wish-fulfillment glee. Desi’s character stands out with her unsinkable confidence, but adult characters often act more like middle schoolers than the kids do. It’s a lively if lightweight romp that will please many young girls with glamorous dreams. (Fantasy. 8-12)
Pub Date: May 3, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-4231-2193-0
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Review Posted Online: April 3, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
In a novel that skillfully captures the nuances of small-town life, an elderly man reminisces about his annual trips from Chicago to his grandmother’s house in rural Illinois during the Depression. When the book opens, Joey and his sister, Mary Alice, nine and seven, respectively, learn that they will be spending a week every August with Grandma Dowdel. In eight vignettes, one for each summer from 1929—1935, with the final story set when Joey’s troop train passes through in 1942, Peck (Strays Like Us, 1998) weaves a wry tale that ranges from humorous to poignant. Grandma Dowdel, with her gruff persona and pragmatic outlook on life, embodies not only the heart of a small town but the spirit of an era gone by. She turns the tables on a supercilious reporter from the big city, bests the local sheriff, feeds the drifters of the Depression, inspires a brawl between elderly (ancient) war heroes, and more. Peck deftly captures the feel of the times, from the sublime bliss of rooting around the ice bin at the local store for a nickel Nehi during the dog days of summer, to a thrilling flight in a biplane. Remarkable and fine. (Fiction. 9-12)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1998
ISBN: 0-8037-2290-7
Page Count: 148
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1998
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The scion of a once-prominent, wealthy family, Hector Bell engages in ingenious bartering and wishful thinking to support his wife and sons, Cyrus and Darius, on the decaying estate, while he writes stories no one wants to read. Now it’s time to present the town with the Bell Gift, a requirement of the original land grant, but unlike his forebears, Hector has nothing to give. Exasperated by Hector, Cyrus is preparing to head off to university and study engineering, but his younger brother, Darius, longs to solve their father’s dilemma. When a small earthquake opens up a cave on the estate, Darius thinks he’s found the answer, but each step brings new challenges. He’ll need inventive ideas, resourcefulness and most of all help from his friends to meet them. Much of the pleasure in this ode to “life [as] what happens while you’re busy making plans” lies in Hirsch’s dry, understated humor and his subtly charming characters, who are willing to put up with one another’s foibles and eccentricities, however annoying, for the sake of friendship. (Fiction. 9-12)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-935279-65-5
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Kane Miller
Review Posted Online: July 29, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2010
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