A quiet story of perseverance and hope, exquisitely written with words and images that demand savoring.
The interconnected tale of two girls, one human and the other a water sprite, determined to save their beloved sisters.
On Perigee, the night of the nearest moon, a sudden log jam creates a dam along the river. Luna’s community lives on the edges of the expanding swamp, building houses on ever higher stilts and believing that the evil spirit who caused the dam lurks under the water. All who taste the water sicken, dying in exactly three weeks. When water splashes into Luna’s sister’s mouth, Willow contracts the wasting sickness, and Luna breaks every one of her mother’s rules to save Willow. In alternating chapters, Perdita’s story is told: the adventurous sprite missed the window of time when the doors to a new world opened for the sprites to leave the world that humans have polluted. She fumes in misery beneath the dam. Her twin, Pelagia, had fashioned two lockets, one for each of them, to keep them close. The charmed locket, initially lost by Perdita, holds the key to both Perdita’s reunion and Luna’s saving her sister and her community. This lyrical story has a once-upon-a-time quality and, like the best of fairy tales, an evil to be overcome, a magic charm, and a lesson to be gleaned. Crowder’s language is sumptuous, written with an elegiac quality that suits the wistful longings of her protagonists.
A quiet story of perseverance and hope, exquisitely written with words and images that demand savoring. (Fantasy. 9-12)Pub Date: Sept. 8, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4814-4148-3
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: May 17, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2015
Poet Alexander deftly reveals the power of the format to pack an emotional punch.
Basketball-playing twins find challenges to their relationship on and off the court as they cope with changes in their lives.
Josh Bell and his twin, Jordan, aka JB, are stars of their school basketball team. They are also successful students, since their educator mother will stand for nothing else. As the two middle schoolers move to a successful season, readers can see their differences despite the sibling connection. After all, Josh has dreadlocks and is quiet on court, and JB is bald and a trash talker. Their love of the sport comes from their father, who had also excelled in the game, though his championship was achieved overseas. Now, however, he does not have a job and seems to have health problems the parents do not fully divulge to the boys. The twins experience their first major rift when JB is attracted to a new girl in their school, and Josh finds himself without his brother. This novel in verse is rich in character and relationships. Most interesting is the family dynamic that informs so much of the narrative, which always reveals, never tells. While Josh relates the story, readers get a full picture of major and minor players. The basketball action provides energy and rhythm for a moving story.
Poet Alexander deftly reveals the power of the format to pack an emotional punch. (Verse fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: March 18, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-544-10771-7
Page Count: 240
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: Dec. 17, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2014
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
A strong start to a new series in the ever-popular Warriors world: Legions of fans will purr.
Increased evidence of encroachment by Twolegs and other ominous signs of change roil the five feline Clans of the lake territories in this kickoff of a new story arc.
In intertwined storylines, a distracting voice in a young apprentice’s head takes on increasingly scary strength, disturbing visions inform an experienced warrior that she’s been chosen by the spirit guides of StarClan to play an unwanted role in impending troubles, and a wise but weakening Clan leader faces being voted out of office due to her age. Meanwhile, the enigmatic Twolegs are tearing up a forested area, poisoning an important stream, and possibly threatening all the established territories of the five Clans. Avid series fans will welcome encounters with older versions of Leafstar, Tawnypelt, and other stalwarts whom they met in previous episodes. Detailed maps labeling the terrain in both cat and Twoleg terms appear at the beginning of the book, along with a cast list of truly imposing length, helping any readers who need reminders to keep track of the dozens of relationships and Clan affiliations. Better yet, expertly mixed in among dreams and discussions that crank up the general level of anxiety, the book has enough incidental action and individual wrestling with personal issues to help the main characters stand out from the furry crowd.
A strong start to a new series in the ever-popular Warriors world: Legions of fans will purr. (Animal fantasy. 9-12)Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9780063357068
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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