Alexander's six short fairy tales, set in Prydain before the time covered in his Newbery-winning quintet, demonstrates both the author's special talent for spinning this kind of story and the extent of his need to borrow plots and motifs on which to build. The foundling of the title story is the enchanter Dalben as a child, adopted by three hags who send him off with his chosen gift of wisdom after he (recalling Taliesin) acquires knowledge by licking the fingers he has burned while stirring their magic potion. The other five stories are more generally familiar and their connection with Prydain more gratuitous: there is the firmer whose wish (here, never to grow older — and it happens to have been granted by Doli of the Fair Folk) turns out to be a curse when nothing grows on his land and his teething baby's dental development is similarly arrested; there is the princess (incidentally, Eilonwy's mother) who chooses — unsurprisingly — not the arrogant enchanters who make darkness and demons to impress her but a third, poor suitor who "enchants" the court with his poetic words; there is "The Rascal Crow" who is saved from a hunter by smaller animals he had previously scorned; the harper who, true to his calling, defies the Death-Lord, and "The Sword" (this must be the entry that the author claims "bears on our own time and concerns") whose growing stain reflects the evil deeds of a King who becomes more and more suspicious and reclusive, and his deeds more monstrous, as he attempts to cover up what started as a callous oversight and led next to a rash murder. All worth another hearing as Alexander tells them, but hardly an important contribution to a mythological landscape.
Pub Date: Nov. 12, 1973
ISBN: 0805080538
Page Count: 116
Publisher: Holt Rinehart & Winston
Review Posted Online: Oct. 27, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1973
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A solid series starter for tinkerers and adventurers alike.
Even robot cats have a mind of their own.
All 12-year-old Canadian Lacey Chu’s ever wanted was to become a companioneer like her idol, Monica Chan, co-founder of the largest tech firm in North America, Moncha Corp., and mastermind behind the baku. Bakus, “robotic pets with all the features of a smartphone,” revolutionized society and how people interact with technology. As a companioneer, Lacey could work on bakus: designing, innovating, and building. When she receives a grant rejection from Profectus Academy of Science and Technology, a school that guarantees employment at Moncha Corp., she’s devastated. A happenstance salvaging of a mangled cat baku might just change the game. Suddenly, Lacey’s got an in with Profectus and is one step closer to her dream. Jinx, however, is not quite like the other bakus—he’s a wild cat that does things without commands. Together with Jinx, Lacey will have to navigate competitive classmates and unsettling corporate secrets. McCulloch effectively strikes a balance between worldbuilding and action. High-stakes baku battles demonstrate the emotional bond between (robotic) pet and owner. Readers will also connect to the relationships the Asian girl forges with her diverse classmates, including a rivalry with Carter (a white boy who’s the son of Moncha’s other co-founder, Eric Smith), a burgeoning crush on student Tobias, who’s black, and evolving friendships new and old. While some mysteries are solved, a cliffhanger ending raises even more for the next installment.
A solid series starter for tinkerers and adventurers alike. (Science fiction. 8-13)Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-4926-8374-2
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Review Posted Online: Aug. 25, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2019
We challenge anyone to read this and keep a straight face.
Four misunderstood villains endeavor to turn over a new leaf…or a new rap sheet in Blabey's frenzied romp.
As readers open the first page of this early chapter book, Mr. Wolf is right there to greet them, bemoaning his reputation. "Just because I've got BIG POINTY TEETH and RAZOR-SHARP CLAWS and I occasionally like to dress up like an OLD LADY, that doesn't mean… / … I'm a BAD GUY." To prove this very fact, Mr. Wolf enlists three equally slandered friends into the Good Guys Club: Mr. Snake (aka the Chicken Swallower), Mr. Piranha (aka the Butt Biter), and Mr. Shark (aka Jaws). After some convincing from Mr. Wolf, the foursome sets off determined to un-smirch their names (and reluctantly curbing their appetites). Although these predators find that not everyone is ready to be at the receiving end of their helpful efforts, they use all their Bad Guy know-how to manage a few hilarious good deeds. Blabey has hit the proverbial nail on the head, kissed it full on the mouth, and handed it a stick of Acme dynamite. With illustrations that startle in their manic comedy and deadpan direct address and with a narrative that follows four endearingly sardonic characters trying to push past (sometimes successfully) their fear-causing natures, this book instantly joins the classic ranks of Captain Underpants and The Stinky Cheese Man.
We challenge anyone to read this and keep a straight face. (Fiction. 7-11)Pub Date: Jan. 3, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-545-91240-2
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Sept. 18, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2016
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