Evidently hoping to tap into the Redwall audience, McAllister furnishes a cast of squirrels, hedgehogs and other small creatures with an island surrounded by magical mists, a pair of obscure prophecies, a castle atop a nearly forgotten reservoir of Evil and a kindly king who comes under the thumb of a murderous vassal. Into the intrigue scampers Urchin, an orphaned squirrel of an unusual color who, plainly destined for great things, rises from obscurity to become a Page at the Tower, undertake a seemingly hopeless mission and return just in time to take part in the climactic battle. No one here speaks in dialect, but the characters are all standard animal fantasy types, and the sudden appearance of a hitherto-somehow-unnoticed mercenary army isn’t the only plot propping that goes on. The tale’s competently told, but all in all, it’s same-old-same-old—and McAllister lacks Brian Jacques’s gift for vivid descriptions of food and pageantry. Voracious readers might pick up this series opener, while waiting for something better. (Fantasy. 11-13)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2005
ISBN: 0-7868-5486-3
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Hyperion
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2005
Harriet is a sixth-grader who feels abandoned by her mother, a musician who has parked her with a biologist uncle so she can tour Europe. Harriet finds nothing good about her new home in rural California until she sees her uncle feeding an injured bat. Disobeying his orders, she picks up an abandoned baby bat while on a field trip. Harriet hides it for weeks, waking up every two hours to feed it at night; he thrives while sleep deprivation begins to take a toll on Harriet. The bat helps her make friends, but disaster strikes when the terrified creature flies through the classrooms and disrupts the entire school. Harriet finally must make the painful decision to return her pet to the wild, and when she sees the baby reunited with its mother, she begins to understand her own mother better. Although the characters remain superficial, the author’s treatment of Harriet’s difficulties in her new school will strike a chord with children. The wealth of information offered about bats is engagingly presented. (Fiction. 8-12)
Pub Date: April 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-7614-5047-5
Page Count: 142
Publisher: Marshall Cavendish
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1999
Novak (The Pillow War, 1998, etc.) offers another blunt picture book parable. When a blue-skinned mechanical family moves into the old Wilson place, the neighbors are dismayed. The Robobots get a hostile reception in town, too, finding locked doors and signs such as “Weirdos go home” and “No freaks” posted on stores and the school. Distressed but optimistic, the Robobots invite an angry delegation into their radically altered home; after an exhilarating ride on the motorized furniture, plus a shared meal of cheeseburgers and chocolate-covered propellers, the tension floats away on a cloud of smiles. Children may laugh at the Robobots’ animated, pop-eyed furnishings and daffy ingenuousness, but they’ll laugh harder, and with more understanding, at Sam Swope and illustrator Barry Root’s less labored take on the theme, The Araboolies of Liberty Street (1989). (Picture book. 6-8)
Pub Date: April 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-7894-2566-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: DK Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1999
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