One can almost hear the Tim Curry narration.
A brother and sister find themselves trapped in a frightening school that threatens to destroy their minds in this dark comedy.
Tobias, 12, and Charlotte, 11, don’t like their awful nanny, but when they play one trick too many on her, their father becomes enraged, drives them out to the desert and leaves them by the side of the road. Readers soon learn that their dad feels guilty and rushes back to retrieve them, but events intervene, and the siblings wind up virtually imprisoned in the terrible Witherwood Reform School. Apparently run by the odd-looking Mr. Orrin, the school looms like a prison. Tobias fashions a makeshift key that allows the two to sneak around at night, where they meet another student, Fiddle, a boy constantly and unsuccessfully working a Rubik’s Cube. He clues them in on some of the school’s secrets, which makes them all the more determined to escape. Skye writes in very much the same vein as Lemony Snicket, with menacing dark humor and outlandish characters. The volume opens a new series, so after plenty of suspense and revelations about the truly awful school, readers can be assured that the siblings will still face precarious circumstances in the next installment.
One can almost hear the Tim Curry narration. (Adventure. 9-12)Pub Date: March 3, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-8050-9879-2
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: Dec. 5, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2014
Fun at (ahem) times, but readers of the opener are going to be let down by the revelation that it didn’t count.
Six months after tackling invading aliens in Finn and the Intergalactic Lunchbox (2020), young Finn now takes on a time-traveling monster at the behest of his much older self.
A jumble of clever twists and goofy set pieces that never quite coalesce into coherence, the tale sends Finn Foley and buddies Lincoln Sidana and Julep Li on a long series of short time hops to eras past and present—in some of which they participate in or watch running battles between their older selves and an armored monster named Paradox who proclaims a vague intention to destroy time, or rule the universe, or something. Meanwhile, hotly pursuing Time Rangers who dress and talk like cowboys place hastily made clones that look like the trio but act like cats in the present day to serve as stand-ins…to the consternation of Finn’s baffled but take-charge little sister, Kate. In the climactic battle, Paradox survives attacks from saber-toothed tigers and armies of Revolutionary War soldiers as well as futuristic energy weapons but unravels at last when Finn reboots the entire timeline. Unfortunately, that puts a number of significant events in the previous volume in the “never happened” category. Their surnames cue Julep and Lincoln as Asian; some Rangers are people of color, and the rest of the cast presents as White.
Fun at (ahem) times, but readers of the opener are going to be let down by the revelation that it didn’t count. (Science fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: March 30, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-525-64691-4
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: Dec. 14, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Pratchett-like worldbuilding centers immigrant kids in a story filled with culture, humor, and heart.
At home in Haiti, 10-year-old Gabrielle Marie Jean loves the rain, scary stories, beating the boys in mango-eating contests, and her family, most of all.
When her parents’ paperwork issues mean she must immigrate to the United States alone, every heavenly thing she believes about America can’t outweigh the sense of dread she feels in leaving everything she knows behind. A preternaturally sensitive child, Gabrielle feels responsible for not only her own success, but her whole family’s, so the stakes of moving in with her uncle, aunt, and cousins in Brooklyn are high—even before Lady Lydia, a witch, tries to steal her essence. Lydia makes her an offer she can’t refuse: achieving assimilation. Arnold skillfully fuses distinct immigrant experiences with the supernatural to express a universally felt desire for belonging. Gabrielle desperately wants to fit in despite the xenophobia she experiences every day and despite making new, accepting friends in Mexican American Carmen and Rocky the talking rat-rabbit. But in trying to change herself, Gabrielle risks giving Lydia the power to conquer Brooklyn. Gabrielle is a charming narrator, and of course, good guy (girl) magic wins out in the end, but the threat to immigrant lives and identities is presented poignantly nonetheless in this richly imaginative origin story of one Haitian American girl that offers a fantastical take on immigrant narratives.
Pratchett-like worldbuilding centers immigrant kids in a story filled with culture, humor, and heart. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Feb. 2, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-358-27275-5
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Versify/HMH
Review Posted Online: Nov. 26, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2020
PERSPECTIVES
PERSPECTIVES
PERSPECTIVES
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