An overstuffed kids’ book that might have realized its potential with more judicious editing.
In the first book of a fantasy trilogy for elementary-school-age children, a young girl learns that she has a role in secret efforts to restore an alliance between the people of the Earth and the moon.
Just before her sixth birthday, Zola gets surprising news from her parents and brother: according to a prophecy, she’s destined to be part of a movement to restore the peace that once existed when Earth and moon warriors ruled the galaxy together. She learns more when she receives an unexpected visit from moon resident Luna—Zola’s imaginary friend, who turns out not to be imaginary after all. Debut author Vasisht introduces likable protagonists and intriguing ideas in this book, as well as some colorful Earth- and moon-dwelling pets. However, the book’s cumbersome setup is overly packed with back story. For example, a mysterious “BOOK OF RULES” was used by the former galaxy rulers, which followed the teachings of a “powerful and kind Spirit called Brahm.” This rediscovered “BOOK” is now being used in an effort to restore an alliance that was severed after a “Great War,” led by an evildoer from another planet, ASUROS, destroyed “almost everything on Earth.” The text doesn’t clarify, however, how Earth people managed to survive the planet’s destruction, nor does it reveal the specific parts that Zola and Luna will play in the present galactic effort. Also, the author distractingly overuses capitalization (“Coats of Arms,” a “Secret Room,” an “IMMUNITY” process, a birthday “MOON CAKE”). With a stronger edit, this story might have offered suspenseful fantasy fun. For example, the author might have considered reserving some plot points for her second book, in order to balance the exposition with more action scenes. She also might have considered doing away with the picture-book format altogether, as the uncredited, full-page illustrations here are bland and far too childish in tone for the book’s content.
An overstuffed kids’ book that might have realized its potential with more judicious editing.Pub Date: Sept. 9, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4808-3534-4
Page Count: -
Publisher: Archway Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 9, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
The seemingly ageless Seeger brings back his renowned giant for another go in a tuneful tale that, like the art, is a bit sketchy, but chockful of worthy messages. Faced with yearly floods and droughts since they’ve cut down all their trees, the townsfolk decide to build a dam—but the project is stymied by a boulder that is too huge to move. Call on Abiyoyo, suggests the granddaughter of the man with the magic wand, then just “Zoop Zoop” him away again. But the rock that Abiyoyo obligingly flings aside smashes the wand. How to avoid Abiyoyo’s destruction now? Sing the monster to sleep, then make it a peaceful, tree-planting member of the community, of course. Seeger sums it up in a postscript: “every community must learn to manage its giants.” Hays, who illustrated the original (1986), creates colorful, if unfinished-looking, scenes featuring a notably multicultural human cast and a towering Cubist fantasy of a giant. The song, based on a Xhosa lullaby, still has that hard-to-resist sing-along potential, and the themes of waging peace, collective action, and the benefits of sound ecological practices are presented in ways that children will both appreciate and enjoy. (Picture book. 5-9)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-689-83271-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2001
Not for the faint-hearted—who are mostly adults anyway—but for stouthearted kids who love a brush with the sinister:...
A magnificently creepy fantasy pits a bright, bored little girl against a soul-eating horror that inhabits the reality right next door.
Coraline’s parents are loving, but really too busy to play with her, so she amuses herself by exploring her family’s new flat. A drawing-room door that opens onto a brick wall becomes a natural magnet for the curious little girl, and she is only half-surprised when, one day, the door opens onto a hallway and Coraline finds herself in a skewed mirror of her own flat, complete with skewed, button-eyed versions of her own parents. This is Gaiman’s (American Gods, 2001, etc.) first novel for children, and the author of the Sandman graphic novels here shows a sure sense of a child’s fears—and the child’s ability to overcome those fears. “I will be brave,” thinks Coraline. “No, I am brave.” When Coraline realizes that her other mother has not only stolen her real parents but has also stolen the souls of other children before her, she resolves to free her parents and to find the lost souls by matching her wits against the not-mother. The narrative hews closely to a child’s-eye perspective: Coraline never really tries to understand what has happened or to fathom the nature of the other mother; she simply focuses on getting her parents back and thwarting the other mother for good. Her ability to accept and cope with the surreality of the other flat springs from the child’s ability to accept, without question, the eccentricity and arbitrariness of her own—and every child’s own—reality. As Coraline’s quest picks up its pace, the parallel world she finds herself trapped in grows ever more monstrous, generating some deliciously eerie descriptive writing.
Not for the faint-hearted—who are mostly adults anyway—but for stouthearted kids who love a brush with the sinister: Coraline is spot on. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: July 1, 2002
ISBN: 0-380-97778-8
Page Count: 176
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2002
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