A thought-provoking read that will linger long after the last page.
Family dysfunction receives mystical resolution in this Swedish import by Astrid Lindgren winner Sandén.
Thomasine finds herself living in the enormous house of her dying great-great-aunt Henrietta with her depressed and grieving father, her awkward academic uncle and his children, Signe and Erland, and her angry aunt and her daughter, Wilma (the oldest of the cousins). The children sense the palpable tension among the adults over Henrietta’s pending death, but when silent, 5-year-old Signe returns from a wardrobe during a game of hide-and-seek and talks about a girl she met in it, Thomasine finds this hard to believe. But as each of the cousins visits the wardrobe, it positively transforms them, and although Thomasine doesn’t realize it until nearly the end of the novel, these wardrobe visits also connect them with their family history. While emphasizing death as an essential part of life, this story places children at the center of the emotional healing process for the adults, which at times means that the child must tell the adult to be quiet, listen, and pay attention. Both macabre and hopeful, this Swedish gothic, with Schulman’s wispy illustrations depicting the characters as white and adding to its mystery, will remind readers of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Coraline, and perhaps other fantasies in which a quotidian household object becomes a portal into another world.
A thought-provoking read that will linger long after the last page. (Fantasy. 9-12)Pub Date: March 28, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-78269-121-1
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Pushkin Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 16, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2017
Thrills galore for gamers willing to go along for the ride.
A new virtual-reality theme park goes haywire on a crowd of young victims, er, visitors in Alexander’s latest screamfest.
Having scored one of just 100 coveted preview tickets to a cutting-edge, kids-only venue dubbed ESCAPE, budding amusement park fan and designer Cody Baxter is looking forward to a life-changing experience. What he gets is more of a life-threatening one, as games and rides with names like Triassic Terror and Haunted Hillside not only pit him against a monster and then zombies—or sometimes a monster and zombies—as well as ruthless competing players, but seem tailored to play on individual personal terrors. And, in some never explained way, the VR quickly turns into real battles that inflict real wounds even as the real settings shift with sudden, dizzying unpredictability. Teaming up with loyal new friends Jayson Torn and Inga Andersdottir, the former described as being Japanese and White and the latter as Norwegian, Cody (who seems to default to White) struggles for survival, learning ultimately that ESCAPE was created by an evil genius with an ulterior motive who is convinced that he can teach children a salutary lesson. The plot’s no more logical in its twists and contrivances than the premise, but the author’s knack for spinning out nightmarish situations is definitely on display here as the tale careens toward a properly lurid outcome.
Thrills galore for gamers willing to go along for the ride. (Light horror. 9-12)Pub Date: June 7, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-338-26047-2
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: March 15, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2022
Fans of the first book will find much to appreciate in this heartfelt story of growth and change.
Coyote hits the highway again in this follow-up to 2019’s The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise.
Set one year later, at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, this sequel finds Coyote Sunrise and her father, Rodeo, both cued white, having settled into a house in Oregon, with Rodeo receiving counseling and Coyote attending school for the first time in five years. But with school canceled for three weeks, it’s the perfect time for father and daughter to traverse the country in their bus. They’re off in search of a lost volume of poetry by Mary Oliver in which Coyote’s mother wrote down the location where they should scatter her ashes. As before, the pair accumulate a motley assemblage of fellow travelers who fall under the spell of the quirky duo. Coyote’s narrative flair propels the novel, but the emotional underpinnings have shifted. Thirteen-year-old Coyote’s parentified role has lessened, and, aggravated by challenges with classmates, she displays a believably volatile early-adolescent tone in her narration and behavior. Her friend Salvador, who’s Latine, is an empathetic, well-developed character. Thanks to Gemeinhart’s trademark compassion, each character participates in moments of poignant humanity, but many supporting characters feel more lightly sketched in, including Thai American former corporate lawyer Wally, who experiences anti-Asian racism related to the unfolding pandemic; purple-haired coder Candace, Rodeo’s new girlfriend; and a grieving older Englishwoman named Doreen.
Fans of the first book will find much to appreciate in this heartfelt story of growth and change. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: March 5, 2024
ISBN: 9781250292773
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: Dec. 6, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2024
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