Slight missteps with puns and humor do not detract from this charming children’s fantasy that deftly integrates real-life...
The natural world of the redwood forest and a fantasy world of fairy-like creatures combine in Powers’ children’s tale of a treasure quest and justice served.
The faexie, the tiny winged folk that helm Powers' debut, live on Redwood Isle, where they are ruled by Queen Darkwing. All are able to fly but young Tara, who lost her wings in a mysterious incident; as a consequence, where other faexies live high in the towering redwoods, Tara and her family make do on an ancient stump on the forest floor where they operate pumps that feed water to the redwoods’ roots. But a build-up of dead plant material is making the water pumps less efficient after the queen banished banana slugs from Redwood Isle. Without them, an important symbiotic part of the redwoods’ ecosystem is missing. When the queen announces that she will burn away the plant matter on the forest floor—taking Tara’s tree stump home with it—the little faexie is propelled on a quest to save her home and the environment. Along the way, she is aided by a motherly salmon, an injured red-tailed hawk, a banana slug named Benny and other new friends of various species. Powers wastes some time initially by setting the scene with a financial crisis in Redwood Isle due to “seedy financial schemes” at the “Goldwing Sacks Bank.” Heavy-handed puns abound, most of which are not applicable to the story. Nor is the tale enhanced by illustrations that appear to be homemade crayon drawings. However, younger readers—and adults too—will have fun with the fantasy and much of the humor, best evoked in scenes depicting a tangle of worms offering plays on the word “banana,” a stinkbug using his natural talents in a boat race and the faexies storing pollen in the “Fort Knots Treesury.” The author also excels at weaving real information about the flora, fauna and life cycle of the great redwood forest into the fabric of his tale.
Slight missteps with puns and humor do not detract from this charming children’s fantasy that deftly integrates real-life facts about an important ecosystem.Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-9853817-0-7
Page Count: 121
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: March 12, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Broccoli: No way is James going to eat broccoli. “It’s disgusting,” says James. Well then, James, says his father, let’s consider the alternatives: some wormy dirt, perhaps, some stinky socks, some pre-chewed gum? James reconsiders the broccoli, but—milk? “Blech,” says James. Right, says his father, who needs strong bones? You’ll be great at hide-and-seek, though not so great at baseball and kickball and even tickling the dog’s belly. James takes a mouthful. So it goes through lumpy oatmeal, mushroom lasagna and slimy eggs, with James’ father parrying his son’s every picky thrust. And it is fun, because the father’s retorts are so outlandish: the lasagna-making troll in the basement who will be sent back to the rat circus, there to endure the rodent’s vicious bites; the uneaten oatmeal that will grow and grow and probably devour the dog that the boy won’t be able to tickle any longer since his bones are so rubbery. Schneider’s watercolors catch the mood of gentle ribbing, the looks of bewilderment and surrender and the deadpanned malarkey. It all makes James’ father’s last urging—“I was just going to say that you might like them if you tried them”—wholly fresh and unexpected advice. (Early reader. 5-9)
Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-547-14956-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An absorbing fantasy centered on a resilient female protagonist facing growth, change, and self-empowerment.
In Florence’s middle-grade fantasy novel, a young girl’s heart is tested in the face of an evil, spreading Darkness.
Eleven-year-old Lydia, “freckle-cheeked and round-eyed, with hair the color of pine bark and fair skin,” is struggling with the knowledge that she has reached the age to apprentice as an herbalist. Lydia is reluctant to leave her beloved, magical Mulberry Glen and her cozy Housetree in the woods—she’ll miss Garder, the Glen’s respected philosopher; her fairy guardian Pit; her human friend Livy; and even the mischievous part-elf, part-imp, part-human twins Zale and Zamilla. But the twins go missing after hearing of a soul-sapping Darkness that has swallowed a forest and is creeping into minds and engulfing entire towns. They have secretly left to find a rare fruit that, it is said, will stop the Darkness if thrown into the heart of the mountain that rises out of the lethal forest. Lydia follows, determined to find the twins before they, too, fall victim to the Darkness. During her journey, accompanied by new friends, she gradually realizes that she herself has a dangerous role to play in the quest to stop the Darkness. In this well-crafted fantasy, Florence skillfully equates the physical manifestation of Darkness with the feelings of insecurity and powerlessness that Lydia first struggles with when thinking of leaving the Glen. Such negative thoughts grow more intrusive the closer she and her friends come to the Darkness—and to Lydia’s ultimate, powerfully rendered test of character, which leads to a satisfyingly realistic, not quite happily-ever-after ending. Highlights include a delightfully haunting, reality-shifting library and a deft sprinkling of Latin throughout the text; Pit’s pet name for Lydia is mea flosculus (“my little flower”). Fine-lined ink drawings introducing each chapter add a pleasing visual element to this well-grounded fairy tale.
An absorbing fantasy centered on a resilient female protagonist facing growth, change, and self-empowerment.Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9781956393095
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Waxwing Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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