In this lighthearted kids’ fantasy from debut author Syed, a young witch gets herself into a lot of trouble as the result of trying to get back at her younger sister for her bad behavior.
Thirteen-year-old Zara “Zoey” Williams, who comes from a family of wizards and witches, is tired of her little sister, Allie, causing trouble with magic. She gets particularly annoyed after Allie makes a mess in her room while trying to turn her pet frog, Lilly, into a puppy. In retaliation, Zoey decides to turn Allie into a bunny, which backfires when Zoey accidentally spills the potion needed to restore Allie to her original form; unfortunately, she has no idea how to fix the problem. This sets off a series of misadventures. Zoey gets help from the eccentric head of witchy society, who claims to be Cleopatra—according to her, she wasn’t killed by an asp; she merely time traveled. Eventually, Zoey travels to the future in order to get some needed though currently unavailable ingredients for reversing spells. There, she’s assisted by a girl named Jenny and her mom. This extremely imaginative book stars a clever, young first-person narrator who will greatly appeal to middle school readers. With remarkably strong prose, the author, an 11-year-old, manages to conjure up not only exactly the sort of magical adventure that would appeal to her age group, but also a protagonist to whom they can truly relate. While an older reader might have some trouble embracing the novel due to a few plot holes, such as how Zoey is able to keep her sister’s disappearance a secret from her parents for such a long time, and some far-fetched conceits—if Zoey has to go to the future (a presumably complex spell) to reverse a seemingly simple spell after spilling one potion, what do other magic-users do in even worse situations?—such concerns won’t likely bother the target age group, who will be delighted by the novel’s magic, humor and heart.
A warmhearted, fun children’s story that young fantasy fans will enjoy.
Pub Date: May 2, 2014
ISBN: 978-1494276966
Page Count: 210
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: July 24, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Rich and strange (and kitted out with an eye-catching cover), but stronger in the set pieces than the internal logic.
Chainani works an elaborate sea change akin to Gregory Maguire’s Wicked (1995), though he leaves the waters muddied.
Every four years, two children, one regarded as particularly nice and the other particularly nasty, are snatched from the village of Gavaldon by the shadowy School Master to attend the divided titular school. Those who survive to graduate become major or minor characters in fairy tales. When it happens to sweet, Disney princess–like Sophie and her friend Agatha, plain of features, sour of disposition and low of self-esteem, they are both horrified to discover that they’ve been dropped not where they expect but at Evil and at Good respectively. Gradually—too gradually, as the author strings out hundreds of pages of Hogwarts-style pranks, classroom mishaps and competitions both academic and romantic—it becomes clear that the placement wasn’t a mistake at all. Growing into their true natures amid revelations and marked physical changes, the two spark escalating rivalry between the wings of the school. This leads up to a vicious climactic fight that sees Good and Evil repeatedly switching sides. At this point, readers are likely to feel suddenly left behind, as, thanks to summary deus ex machina resolutions, everything turns out swell(ish).
Rich and strange (and kitted out with an eye-catching cover), but stronger in the set pieces than the internal logic. (Fantasy. 11-13)Pub Date: May 14, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-06-210489-2
Page Count: 496
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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BOOK TO SCREEN
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
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