An imaginative, warmhearted, and often enjoyable tale of dangerous escapades.
In Lodge’s (The Crystal Navigator, 2014) latest middle-grade series installment, sixth-graders use high-tech wizardry to investigate a mysterious anomaly within a famous painting.
During a classroom video presentation about the Mona Lisa, Lucy Nightingale, 11, has a strange experience: “Her favorite painting seemed to be exploding before her eyes. Purple clouds swirled through the landscape, lightning ripped the sky, and Lisa was crying. Something horrible was destroying Leonardo’s portrait.” Apparently, only Sam Winter, her 11-year-old supergenius best friend, notices it, too. He diagnoses it as a “Zoom Seizure,” a “ghastly buzzing syndrome” that smashes the molecules of living things. But the painting isn’t alive…is it? The problem is perfect for SLARP—Sam and Lucy’s Anomalies Research Project—which exists to investigate weird phenomena. Luckily, Lucy’s parents have already planned a Paris vacation, which will give her a chance to visit the Louvre and, she hopes, find a way to protect the painting. Sam is tasked with tracking down a folio that may hold some answers, but first, he provides Lucy with a powerful, multifunctional gadget called a Quetzal that, among other things, can unlock any lock. At the Louvre, Lucy is surprised to see her classmate Melissa Blackwood, a frail, quiet girl who can also see the Zoom Seizure. Her efforts to steal the Mona Lisa necessitate a rescue by Lucy and eventually take both girls into the Parisian catacombs and far, far beyond. Lodge offers an intriguing blend of science, mysticism, art history, and adventure in this book. Her characters and dialogue are amusing, but they don’t lose sight of serious matters at stake—a style that’s reminiscent of such classics as Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time. Some events and characters, such as Wilbur, a “Wise One” in the form of a talking corgi dog, can be confusing; the series’ previous title isn’t mentioned in the front or back matter, so new readers may feel as if they’ve walked into a movie that’s already started. Also, story problems are often overcome by science that slides into anything-goes magic, such as Lucy’s ability to create things with her thoughts.
An imaginative, warmhearted, and often enjoyable tale of dangerous escapades.Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-9960885-6-5
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Wilwahren Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 23, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Broccoli: No way is James going to eat broccoli. “It’s disgusting,” says James. Well then, James, says his father, let’s consider the alternatives: some wormy dirt, perhaps, some stinky socks, some pre-chewed gum? James reconsiders the broccoli, but—milk? “Blech,” says James. Right, says his father, who needs strong bones? You’ll be great at hide-and-seek, though not so great at baseball and kickball and even tickling the dog’s belly. James takes a mouthful. So it goes through lumpy oatmeal, mushroom lasagna and slimy eggs, with James’ father parrying his son’s every picky thrust. And it is fun, because the father’s retorts are so outlandish: the lasagna-making troll in the basement who will be sent back to the rat circus, there to endure the rodent’s vicious bites; the uneaten oatmeal that will grow and grow and probably devour the dog that the boy won’t be able to tickle any longer since his bones are so rubbery. Schneider’s watercolors catch the mood of gentle ribbing, the looks of bewilderment and surrender and the deadpanned malarkey. It all makes James’ father’s last urging—“I was just going to say that you might like them if you tried them”—wholly fresh and unexpected advice. (Early reader. 5-9)
Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-547-14956-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An absorbing fantasy centered on a resilient female protagonist facing growth, change, and self-empowerment.
In Florence’s middle-grade fantasy novel, a young girl’s heart is tested in the face of an evil, spreading Darkness.
Eleven-year-old Lydia, “freckle-cheeked and round-eyed, with hair the color of pine bark and fair skin,” is struggling with the knowledge that she has reached the age to apprentice as an herbalist. Lydia is reluctant to leave her beloved, magical Mulberry Glen and her cozy Housetree in the woods—she’ll miss Garder, the Glen’s respected philosopher; her fairy guardian Pit; her human friend Livy; and even the mischievous part-elf, part-imp, part-human twins Zale and Zamilla. But the twins go missing after hearing of a soul-sapping Darkness that has swallowed a forest and is creeping into minds and engulfing entire towns. They have secretly left to find a rare fruit that, it is said, will stop the Darkness if thrown into the heart of the mountain that rises out of the lethal forest. Lydia follows, determined to find the twins before they, too, fall victim to the Darkness. During her journey, accompanied by new friends, she gradually realizes that she herself has a dangerous role to play in the quest to stop the Darkness. In this well-crafted fantasy, Florence skillfully equates the physical manifestation of Darkness with the feelings of insecurity and powerlessness that Lydia first struggles with when thinking of leaving the Glen. Such negative thoughts grow more intrusive the closer she and her friends come to the Darkness—and to Lydia’s ultimate, powerfully rendered test of character, which leads to a satisfyingly realistic, not quite happily-ever-after ending. Highlights include a delightfully haunting, reality-shifting library and a deft sprinkling of Latin throughout the text; Pit’s pet name for Lydia is mea flosculus (“my little flower”). Fine-lined ink drawings introducing each chapter add a pleasing visual element to this well-grounded fairy tale.
An absorbing fantasy centered on a resilient female protagonist facing growth, change, and self-empowerment.Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9781956393095
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Waxwing Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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