This diverting story of forlornness further develops a winsome ongoing serial.
A shape-shifting boy makes efforts to befriend a mortal enemy in Butler’s fantasy chapter book, one in a series.
The Owl Boy, who can change from a young boy to an owl, has never spoken to a human. He doesn’t perceive loneliness in owl form, but as a boy he definitely feels it. Luckily, he meets third grader Ben, who knows someone much like the Owl Boy: Benita, who’s a Bird Girl. The Owl Boy accepts Ben’s suggested name of Owen, but quickly realizes that becoming friends with Benita will be much harder—she’s a crow, the natural enemy to Owen’s great-horned owl. To ease any tension, Owen is hoping to join Ben and Benita in their Bird Club, especially after he has a chance encounter with member Olivia. (The club’s youthful members are close in age, as no one older than 9 can see people like Benita and Owen.) Unfortunately, the Bird Girl has no desire to get close to an Owl Boy and wants him nowhere near her territory (“Stay away, or my band of crows will mob you!”). Butler’s follow-up to Ben and the Bird Girl (2024) continues the story that began with Ben and Benita. This sequel adds some engaging characters (including Olivia’s older brother, Jared) and expands upon previously established plot elements, namely the mental process of bird-human transformation. As in the first installment, the themes are understated and persuasive; Owen struggles to fit in with a group of friends, one of whom decides she doesn’t like him based solely on his natural self and how he looks. The story is playful as well; Owen’s cowlicks give him “hair horns.” The author’s no-frills sketches once again offer copious glimpses of nature, with several views of a waterfall standing out as the most indelible images.
This diverting story of forlornness further develops a winsome ongoing serial.Pub Date: Jan. 10, 2024
ISBN: 9780982034293
Page Count: 84
Publisher: Pinchey House Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 26, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Hugely entertaining, timely, and triumphant.
Robot Roz undertakes an unusual ocean journey to save her adopted island home in this third series entry.
When a poison tide flowing across the ocean threatens their island, Roz works with the resident creatures to ensure that they will have clean water, but the destruction of vegetation and crowding of habitats jeopardize everyone’s survival. Brown’s tale of environmental depredation and turmoil is by turns poignant, graceful, endearing, and inspiring, with his (mostly) gentle robot protagonist at its heart. Though Roz is different from the creatures she lives with or encounters—including her son, Brightbill the goose, and his new mate, Glimmerwing—she makes connections through her versatile communication abilities and her desire to understand and help others. When Roz accidentally discovers that the replacement body given to her by Dr. Molovo is waterproof, she sets out to seek help and discovers the human-engineered source of the toxic tide. Brown’s rich descriptions of undersea landscapes, entertaining conversations between Roz and wild creatures, and concise yet powerful explanations of the effect of the poison tide on the ecology of the island are superb. Simple, spare illustrations offer just enough glimpses of Roz and her surroundings to spark the imagination. The climactic confrontation pits oceangoing mammals, seabirds, fish, and even zooplankton against hardware and technology in a nicely choreographed battle. But it is Roz’s heroism and peacemaking that save the day.
Hugely entertaining, timely, and triumphant. (author’s note) (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2023
ISBN: 9780316669412
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 26, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2023
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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