Thoroughly enjoyable and engaging, filled with magic, mystery, strength, and love.
In 16th-century France, 15-year-old Sylvie is more than just a healer.
Sylvie might be a witch. She has more than just a talent for healing people like her midwife mother, Jeanne; Sylvie possesses mysterious powers like those of her Grand-mère Sylvie. However, when her grandmother dies before she can train Sylvie to use her powers for good, Sylvie commits a grave error: Trying to relieve Jeanne of her grief, Sylvie accidentally removes all Jeanne’s memories of both her mother and daughter. Now Sylvie is venturing beyond her small village of Bresnois to find a magical teacher to help her correct her mistake and heal Jeanne. When the farrier’s son, Martin, insists on joining Sylvie on her quest, the two of them pose as siblings and set off, eventually reaching Lyon. Unfortunately for Sylvie, not everyone in the large towns and cities of Catholic early modern France appreciates a woman with unusual powers, and inquisitors pose a real threat. Sylvie and Martin need to work together to figure out whom they can trust and how they will eventually get home—if they return home at all. This historical fantasy is a delightful page-turner that will entice readers of historical fiction and fantasy alike. It’s a refreshing stand-alone novel with a resilient protagonist who realizes the greatest magic of all is being true to oneself. Characters read as White.
Thoroughly enjoyable and engaging, filled with magic, mystery, strength, and love. (Historical fantasy. 10-14)Pub Date: March 22, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-5362-1956-2
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Dec. 23, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
Luminescent, just like the artwork it celebrates. (Historical fiction. 10-14)
Traumatized by his father’s recent death, a boy throws a brick at an old man who collects junk in his neighborhood and winds up on probation working for him.
Pearsall bases the book on a famed real work of folk art, the Throne of the Third Heaven, by James Hampton, a janitor who built his work in a garage in Washington, D.C., from bits of light bulbs, foil, mirrors, wood, bottles, coffee cans, and cardboard—the titular seven most important things. In late 1963, 13-year-old Arthur finds himself looking for junk for Mr. Hampton, who needs help with his artistic masterpiece, begun during World War II. The book focuses on redemption rather than art, as Hampton forgives the fictional Arthur for his crime, getting the boy to participate in his work at first reluctantly, later with love. Arthur struggles with his anger over his father’s death and his mother’s new boyfriend. Readers watch as Arthur transfers much of his love for his father to Mr. Hampton and accepts responsibility for saving the art when it becomes endangered. Written in a homespun style that reflects the simple components of the artwork, the story guides readers along with Arthur to an understanding of the most important things in life.
Luminescent, just like the artwork it celebrates. (Historical fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Sept. 8, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-553-49728-1
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: June 9, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2015
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