A compelling, lighthearted adventure for young fans of fae.
Eliza discovers that she has an elfin fairy double who needs her assistance.
Plagued by hiccups, Eliza seeks help from her neighbor Mr. McQuestion, who tells her that the hiccups may be the result of elves trying to get her attention. Later, Eliza finds a half mussel shell; when she glances at it, she sees someone reflected in the shiny interior who looks just like her, except with pointy ears and a strange hat. Her elfin doppelganger explains that her name is Zelia, that she is in trouble, and that only Eliza, her double, can help. “Please come to Elfindor. Right away,” she says before disappearing. As in previous installments, Eliza uses the fairy door in her secret hideaway under the stairs to enter a magical realm—this time, the elves’ land of Elfindor. Once there, she meets many elves, including Zelia, but is it the real Zelia? This fun early-chapter-book installment features evil spells, mistaken identity, and the true connection between like minds. McDonald’s prose has a charming lilt (“Moonbeams and mushrooms!” thinks Eliza), complemented by Wen’s colorful and bustling illustrations that bring to life both Eliza’s cozy Cape Cod neighborhood and the entrancing fairy world. Eliza presents East Asian; Mr. McQuestion is brown-skinned.
A compelling, lighthearted adventure for young fans of fae. (Chapter book. 5-8)Pub Date: Sept. 15, 2026
ISBN: 9781536225396
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A jam-packed opener sure to satisfy lovers of the princess genre.
Ice princess Lina must navigate family and school in this early chapter read.
The family picnic is today. This is not a typical gathering, since Lina’s maternal relatives are a royal family of Windtamers who have power over the weather and live in castles floating on clouds. Lina herself is mixed race, with black hair and a tan complexion like her Asian-presenting mother’s; her Groundling father appears to be a white human. While making a grand entrance at the castle of her grandfather, the North Wind, she fails to successfully ride a gust of wind and crashes in front of her entire family. This prompts her stern grandfather to ask that Lina move in with him so he can teach her to control her powers. Desperate to avoid this, Lina and her friend Claudia, who is black, get Lina accepted at the Hilltop Science and Arts Academy. Lina’s parents allow her to go as long as she does lessons with grandpa on Saturdays. However, fitting in at a Groundling school is rough, especially when your powers start freak winter storms! With the story unfurling in diary format, bright-pink–highlighted grayscale illustrations help move the plot along. There are slight gaps in the storytelling and the pacing is occasionally uneven, but Lina is full of spunk and promotes self-acceptance.
A jam-packed opener sure to satisfy lovers of the princess genre. (Fantasy. 5-8)Pub Date: June 25, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-338-35393-8
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: March 26, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2019
First of a tasty if not immediately nourishing new series.
When Dr. Bunsen, Gabe, Laura, and Cesar's mad-scientist neighbor, tries out his growth machine on Gabe's plastic animal toys, there's an unexpected result—they come to life.
Second-grade whiz kids Gabriel Martinez, Laura Reyes, and Cesar Moreno meet their strange neighbor while fundraising for a science-club field trip. Known to their classmates as “the Data Set,” they each have individual passions: Gabe loves animals; Laura loves to tinker and invent; Cesar loves to read and eat. There’s room for all these activities in their well-equipped treehouse. Together, their fantastic adventures will be the stuff of four titles scheduled for 2016 and aimed directly at first- and second-graders already devouring books. This episode introduces the characters, sets up the problem (the cute but rapidly growing baby animals), and finds a solution (sneak them into the zoo) in 126 fast-paced pages written with plenty of dialogue and copiously illustrated with appealing drawings. With these Latino protagonists—Cesar has dark skin and curly hair, while Laura and Gabe have lighter skin and straight hair—and a STEM-infused plot, this would seem to have been made to order for today’s elementary school students. While the emphasis is far more on plot than STEM, the kid-friendly fantasy should captivate readers, who will certainly want to gobble up the next installment. (Tantalizingly, the opening pages are included.)
First of a tasty if not immediately nourishing new series. (Adventure. 5-8)Pub Date: April 5, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4814-5729-3
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Little Simon/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Jan. 8, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2016
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