A fast-paced adventure sure to transport young history buffs and action enthusiasts.
When two seventh-grade boys leave for a summer of archaeological digging, they find themselves unexpectedly transported to the Middle Ages.
Tyler and his best friend, Brandon, are typical seventh graders with no plans for the summer. They learn that professor Fielding Atlas, a modern-day Indiana Jones and the boys’ television hero, plans to select two young assistants to accompany him on a free trip to England to search for the long-lost Summoning Dagger of Mercastus. When the boys are selected to accompany Atlas on the dig, they find that they’re not the only ones interested in the dagger: The professor’s rivals are prepared to use deadly force to beat them to it. When, at a critical moment, the dagger appears to save Atlas and the boys from certain death, they discover that they’ve been transported back to the 12th century. Atlas and the boys must overcome language and cultural barriers as they seek to understand why they were sent back in time and how to get home. When they come face to face with the wizard Mercastus himself, the former owner of the Summoning Dagger, they discover that they were brought there for a reason: If they ever wish to return to their own time, the three outsiders must save the small medieval village of Hallswich. In this historical-fantasy debut novel, Maguire makes history, science and technology fun as he weaves them into a witty medieval adventure story sure to entice young readers. While the use of dream sequences and time travel offer slightly unsatisfying resolutions to conflicts within the plot, the story’s flow isn’t compromised. Readers will be eager to join Atlas and the boys on another adventure in the series’ next installment.
A fast-paced adventure sure to transport young history buffs and action enthusiasts.Pub Date: July 13, 2011
ISBN: 978-1457505096
Page Count: 220
Publisher: Dog Ear
Review Posted Online: May 10, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away.
A Mexican American boy takes on heavy responsibilities when his family is torn apart.
Mateo’s life is turned upside down the day U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents show up unsuccessfully seeking his Pa at his New York City bodega. The Garcias live in fear until the day both parents are picked up; his Pa is taken to jail and his Ma to a detention center. The adults around Mateo offer support to him and his 7-year-old sister, Sophie, however, he knows he is now responsible for caring for her and the bodega as well as trying to survive junior year—that is, if he wants to fulfill his dream to enter the drama program at the Tisch School of the Arts and become an actor. Mateo’s relationships with his friends Kimmie and Adam (a potential love interest) also suffer repercussions as he keeps his situation a secret. Kimmie is half Korean (her other half is unspecified) and Adam is Italian American; Mateo feels disconnected from them, less American, and with worries they can’t understand. He talks himself out of choosing a safer course of action, a decision that deepens the story. Mateo’s self-awareness and inner monologue at times make him seem older than 16, and, with significant turmoil in the main plot, some side elements feel underdeveloped. Aleman’s narrative joins the ranks of heart-wrenching stories of migrant families who have been separated.
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: May 4, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-7595-5605-8
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A thoughtful and thrilling story of life, death, and meaning.
Two teens train to be society-sanctioned killers in an otherwise immortal world.
On post-mortal Earth, humans live long (if not particularly passionate) lives without fear of disease, aging, or accidents. Operating independently of the governing AI (called the Thunderhead since it evolved from the cloud), scythes rely on 10 commandments, quotas, and their own moral codes to glean the population. After challenging Hon. Scythe Faraday, 16-year-olds Rowan Damisch and Citra Terranova reluctantly become his apprentices. Subjected to killcraft training, exposed to numerous executions, and discouraged from becoming allies or lovers, the two find themselves engaged in a fatal competition but equally determined to fight corruption and cruelty. The vivid and often violent action unfolds slowly, anchored in complex worldbuilding and propelled by political machinations and existential musings. Scythes’ journal entries accompany Rowan’s and Citra’s dual and dueling narratives, revealing both personal struggles and societal problems. The futuristic post–2042 MidMerican world is both dystopia and utopia, free of fear, unexpected death, and blatant racism—multiracial main characters discuss their diverse ethnic percentages rather than purity—but also lacking creativity, emotion, and purpose. Elegant and elegiac, brooding but imbued with gallows humor, Shusterman’s dark tale thrusts realistic, likable teens into a surreal situation and raises deep philosophic questions.
A thoughtful and thrilling story of life, death, and meaning. (Science fiction. 14 & up)Pub Date: Nov. 29, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4424-7242-6
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: July 25, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2016
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