A worthy and engaging fantasy tale.
Richardson tells a tale of a youngster in a realm of magical creatures in this debut children’s fantasy novel.
Victoria McKay is a happy 4-year-old only child until her sister, Ashley, is born, which changes her world. On the way to the hospital to meet her new sibling, Victoria hears wind chimes and sees an unusual creature. She tries to follow it, but her father quickly puts her in a taxi. At the hospital, she hears the chimes again. The creature reappears and slips Victoria an odorous piece of paper that reads, in part: “We are unknown to mankind, except for a lucky few who have been granted a wish. You are now one of those lucky people.” It’s from something called the High Magical Council. Years later, Victoria, now 11, is angry at her sister for breaking a beloved picture frame, thus ruining an image of her adored grandfather. She shouts, “I wish you’d never been born!”—and the wish is mysteriously granted: Ashley ceases to exist, and only Victoria knows that Ashley ever existed. Feeling guilty, she searches for information on the High Magical Council until she finds The Tome of Hidden Creatures, which describes all the creatures of the magical world, including a “lawfur,” the wish giver. Determined to undo her wish, Victoria figures out how to get to Scotland and the Black Wood of Rannoch, where her adventures begin with the help of Emma, a strange furry creature called a cardenere. Richardson crafts a vivid, detailed and creative imaginary world in these pages: “Buildings large and small either jutted into the air or clung to the ground…Some were built from mildly odd metals painted in eye-dazzling colours, while others looked to be made of mushroom or tree bark.” Richardson uses a “Dear Reader” framing device as an effective tool to have Victoria share her personal revelations, which further draws the reader into the story. One lesson they learn is that sibling rivals still have great love for each other. The uncredited illustrations are creative black-and-white sketches of imaginary creatures that support the text nicely. A cliffhanger ending will have readers looking for Richardson’s next book.
A worthy and engaging fantasy tale.Pub Date: July 7, 2023
ISBN: 9798889929864
Page Count: 274
Publisher: Many Realms Media
Review Posted Online: July 25, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
Is this the end? Well, no…the series will stagger on through at least one more scheduled sequel.
Sure signs that the creative wells are running dry at last, the Captain’s ninth, overstuffed outing both recycles a villain (see Book 4) and offers trendy anti-bullying wish fulfillment.
Not that there aren’t pranks and envelope-pushing quips aplenty. To start, in an alternate ending to the previous episode, Principal Krupp ends up in prison (“…a lot like being a student at Jerome Horwitz Elementary School, except that the prison had better funding”). There, he witnesses fellow inmate Tippy Tinkletrousers (aka Professor Poopypants) escape in a giant Robo-Suit (later reduced to time-traveling trousers). The villain sets off after George and Harold, who are in juvie (“not much different from our old school…except that they have library books here.”). Cut to five years previous, in a prequel to the whole series. George and Harold link up in kindergarten to reduce a quartet of vicious bullies to giggling insanity with a relentless series of pranks involving shaving cream, spiders, effeminate spoof text messages and friendship bracelets. Pilkey tucks both topical jokes and bathroom humor into the cartoon art, and ups the narrative’s lexical ante with terms like “pharmaceuticals” and “theatrical flair.” Unfortunately, the bullies’ sad fates force Krupp to resign, so he’s not around to save the Earth from being destroyed later on by Talking Toilets and other invaders…
Is this the end? Well, no…the series will stagger on through at least one more scheduled sequel. (Fantasy. 10-12)Pub Date: Aug. 28, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-545-17534-0
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: June 19, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2012
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