by Michelle Schusterman ; illustrated by Kathrin Honesta ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 31, 2018
An excellent melding of horror and heart, this complex story will appeal to a wide range of readers.
The boundaries between puppet and person blur and break in this fairy-tale–inspired middle-grade novel.
Chance, 11 years old and “a natural-born pessimist,” loves volunteering at the Museum of the Peculiar Arts. But his white, upwardly mobile family is moving to a suburban horrorscape of “identical houses, all curved upward like bland smiles,” and the museum is shuttering in the city’s post–World War II boom. Fortunato, the museum’s owner, reluctantly lets Chance take a mannequin named Penny, who is just about Chance’s height, exquisitely carved out of walnut, and conscious during every moment of her inanimate existence. When Chance touches the strange silvery strings that control Penny’s limbs, he hears her voice in his head, and this discovery launches Chance, Penny, and his big sister, Constance, on a high-stakes, dangerous adventure of soul-thievery and mystical portals. The beautifully creepy plot deftly weaves together old-time–y fears with fresh outlooks through richly realized characters who feel immediate and modern despite the 1952 setting. Especially well done is the approach to gender, as Chance, Penny, and Constance all struggle with different realities of embodiment and expression without resorting to cheap sentiment or heavy-handedness.
An excellent melding of horror and heart, this complex story will appeal to a wide range of readers. (Fantasy. 8-14)Pub Date: July 31, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-399-55070-6
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: March 26, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2018
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by Soman Chainani ; illustrated by Iacopo Bruno ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 21, 2015
Ultimately more than a little full of itself, but well-stocked with big themes, inventively spun fairy-tale tropes, and...
Good has won every fairy-tale contest with Evil for centuries, but a dark sorcerer’s scheme to turn the tables comes to fruition in this ponderous closer.
Broadening conflict swirls around frenemies Agatha and Sophie as the latter joins rejuvenated School Master Rafal, who has dispatched an army of villains from Capt. Hook to various evil stepmothers to take stabs (literally) at changing the ends of their stories. Meanwhile, amid a general slaughter of dwarves and billy goats, Agatha and her rigid but educable true love, Tedros, flee for protection to the League of Thirteen. This turns out to be a company of geriatric versions of characters, from Hansel and Gretel (in wheelchairs) to fat and shrewish Cinderella, led by an enigmatic Merlin. As the tale moves slowly toward climactic battles and choices, Chainani further lightens the load by stuffing it with memes ranging from a magic ring that must be destroyed and a “maleficent” gown for Sophie to this oddly familiar line: “Of all the tales in all the kingdoms in all the Woods, you had to walk into mine.” Rafal’s plan turns out to be an attempt to prove that love can be twisted into an instrument of Evil. Though the proposition eventually founders on the twin rocks of true friendship and family ties, talk of “balance” in the aftermath at least promises to give Evil a fighting chance in future fairy tales. Bruno’s polished vignettes at each chapter’s head and elsewhere add sophisticated visual notes.
Ultimately more than a little full of itself, but well-stocked with big themes, inventively spun fairy-tale tropes, and flashes of hilarity. (Fantasy. 11-13)Pub Date: July 21, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-06-210495-3
Page Count: 672
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: June 25, 2015
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by Soman Chainani ; illustrated by Iacopo Bruno
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by Wanda Coven ; illustrated by Anna Abramskaya ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 5, 2024
Fun middle school antics with a dollop of light magic and considerations of loyalty.
Heidi Heckelbeck is a witch and first-year student at Broomfield Academy, a boarding school that educates magical and nonmagical kids alike.
Heidi’s an ordinary tween, concerned with clothes, friendships, crushes (currently on Nick Lee, who’s not in the School of Magic), and her tenuous relationship with Melanie, her often-mean “broommate” and acquaintance from home. She’s also excited about learning witchcraft and is pleased to receive private magic lessons from Mrs. Kettledrum. Her teacher instructs her in calming meditation techniques as a prelude to mind-reading and emergency spells. Sometimes Heidi writes spells enthusiastically but incorrectly, however, with unintended consequences. She also faces a difficult decision about revealing a big secret about new friend Isabelle. Heidi pushes the boundaries of appropriate behavior (both in the real world and the magical one) and must think hard about self-discipline. Breezy and fun, this volume will satisfy devotees who have enjoyed following this engaging character since she was in elementary school, with each entry slowly but surely moving up in complexity as Heidi grows and becomes a little more serious. Her latest adventures are delivered with the usual humorous grayscale illustrations and fonts that vary in size and style, moving the story along quickly. The volume will entice new fans, welcome reluctant readers, and please those who have been awaiting Heidi’s latest exploits. Isabelle reads Black; other central characters are cued white.
Fun middle school antics with a dollop of light magic and considerations of loyalty. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: March 5, 2024
ISBN: 9781665948340
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Simon Spotlight
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2024
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