by Marie Sontag ‧ RELEASE DATE: N/A
While offering a vibrant ancient world, this middle-grade adventure lacks strong narration.
Teenagers chase family secrets and political intrigue in the ancient Mediterranean.
In this third book of her Ancient Elements series, Sontag (The Alabaster Jar, 2015, etc.) follows her characters through Egypt, Crete, and Tyre as they pursue missing relatives, revenge, and redemption. Although the volume opens with a prologue set in 300 B.C., the rest of the novel takes place 1,400 years earlier, with 15-year-old Samsuluna still mourning the death of his adoptive father, Balashi. Carrying a silver coin Balashi gave him, Samsuluna leaves Egypt on a ship with his friend Keret to search for a relative. “They say it takes about seven days to sail from Egypt to the Phoenician city of Tyre,” Samsuluna tells Keret. “Once we get to Tyre, I’ll finally be able to complete my quest and reunite with my Uncle Zim-ri-lin.” An encounter with pirates leads to a detour to Crete, where Samsuluna falls in love with Princess Ari-adné. Meanwhile, Samsuluna’s father, Dagon, just released from prison, also heads to Tyre, where he plans to steal his brother’s treasure and take revenge on his family. In Egypt, Samsuluna’s adoptive sister, Amata, ends up in the midst of a coup attempt. All the characters eventually reunite in Tyre, seeking to resolve loose ends, including Samsuluna’s feelings of responsibility for the death of Balashi. An appendix provides curriculum-related questions for each chapter. Sontag’s Mediterranean world is a vivid one, and the story makes clear that even thousands of years ago, residents of the region were well traveled and knowledgeable about their realm. The book’s narration is less effective, with heavy-handed asides (“If I cut my scraggily hair and trimmed my long beard, I might look as respectable as this fellow”) and awkward metaphors (“He compared it to the difference between eating a piece of flatbread, and eating a piece of flatbread dripping in honey”). The book’s informational goals are at times too obvious (“Our peaceful society here on Crete thrives because of our excellent seamanship and extensive trading businesses”), and stilted dialogue (“I realize now that my need to treat your arm and relieve your physical pain is greater than my need to lessen my emotional pain”) can pull the reader out of the story. But individuals looking for curriculum-based fiction may find the book a valuable tool.
While offering a vibrant ancient world, this middle-grade adventure lacks strong narration.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Sunbury Press
Review Posted Online: May 31, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by Dan Saks ; illustrated by Brooke Smart ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2020
A joyful celebration.
Families in a variety of configurations play, dance, and celebrate together.
The rhymed verse, based on a song from the Noodle Loaf children’s podcast, declares that “Families belong / Together like a puzzle / Different-sized people / One big snuggle.” The accompanying image shows an interracial couple of caregivers (one with brown skin and one pale) cuddling with a pajama-clad toddler with light brown skin and surrounded by two cats and a dog. Subsequent pages show a wide array of families with members of many different racial presentations engaging in bike and bus rides, indoor dance parties, and more. In some, readers see only one caregiver: a father or a grandparent, perhaps. One same-sex couple with two children in tow are expecting another child. Smart’s illustrations are playful and expressive, curating the most joyful moments of family life. The verse, punctuated by the word together, frequently set in oversized font, is gently inclusive at its best but may trip up readers with its irregular rhythms. The song that inspired the book can be found on the Noodle Loaf website.
A joyful celebration. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-22276-8
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Rise x Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: Nov. 26, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2020
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by Loren Long & illustrated by Loren Long ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2009
Continuing to find inspiration in the work of Virginia Lee Burton, Munro Leaf and other illustrators of the past, Long (The Little Engine That Could, 2005) offers an aw-shucks friendship tale that features a small but hardworking tractor (“putt puff puttedy chuff”) with a Little Toot–style face and a big-eared young descendant of Ferdinand the bull who gets stuck in deep, gooey mud. After the big new yellow tractor, crowds of overalls-clad locals and a red fire engine all fail to pull her out, the little tractor (who had been left behind the barn to rust after the arrival of the new tractor) comes putt-puff-puttedy-chuff-ing down the hill to entice his terrified bovine buddy successfully back to dry ground. Short on internal logic but long on creamy scenes of calf and tractor either gamboling energetically with a gaggle of McCloskey-like geese through neutral-toned fields or resting peacefully in the shade of a gnarled tree (apple, not cork), the episode will certainly draw nostalgic adults. Considering the author’s track record and influences, it may find a welcome from younger audiences too. (Picture book. 5-8)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-399-25248-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2009
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