A tepid tale about a reluctant chosen one.
A 10-year-old living with her mother on a small farm in the idyllic kingdom of Alferra finds her life transformed overnight.
While watching the Perseids meteor shower with best friend Naznen, Aya is hit by a shooting star that leaves her with mysterious powers—steam puffs out of her ears, flames shoot out of her mouth, and flowers spring up where her tears fall. A confused Aya discovers that a prophecy that “a star would strike a special child” might be connected to her father’s disappearance when she was a baby. Meanwhile, rumors of abductions by a criminal gang circulate throughout Alferra, causing fear. After the evil, power-hungry witch Abnus the Great ambushes the royal family and claims the throne, Aya and her mother flee, hiding in neighboring Al Bahr. But when Ammu goes missing, Aya is compelled to return to Alferra to confront the witch and her army of demonic, red-eyed bhoots. Dreamy, artistic Aya, a brown-skinned Muslim girl who wears a headscarf, loves stargazing and is a likable protagonist; her transformation from diffident schoolgirl to brave hero will strike a chord. By contrast, many other characters, especially the antagonist, Abnus, feel flatter and less developed. The interesting premise is let down by slow pacing and a meandering narrative but is offset by a satisfying ending. The characters are predominantly brown-skinned. McKean’s striking gray-toned illustrations complement this uneven yet heartening story.
A tepid tale about a reluctant chosen one. (Fantasy. 8-12)Pub Date: Oct. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9781529038323
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Macmillan Children's Books
Review Posted Online: Sept. 13, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2025
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
The three way chats, in which they are joined by other animals, about web spinning, themselves, other humans—are as often...
A successful juvenile by the beloved New Yorker writer portrays a farm episode with an imaginative twist that makes a poignant, humorous story of a pig, a spider and a little girl.
Young Fern Arable pleads for the life of runt piglet Wilbur and gets her father to sell him to a neighbor, Mr. Zuckerman. Daily, Fern visits the Zuckermans to sit and muse with Wilbur and with the clever pen spider Charlotte, who befriends him when he is lonely and downcast. At the news of Wilbur's forthcoming slaughter, campaigning Charlotte, to the astonishment of people for miles around, spins words in her web. "Some Pig" comes first. Then "Terrific"—then "Radiant". The last word, when Wilbur is about to win a show prize and Charlotte is about to die from building her egg sac, is "Humble". And as the wonderful Charlotte does die, the sadness is tempered by the promise of more spiders next spring.
The three way chats, in which they are joined by other animals, about web spinning, themselves, other humans—are as often informative as amusing, and the whole tenor of appealing wit and pathos will make fine entertainment for reading aloud, too.Pub Date: Oct. 15, 1952
ISBN: 978-0-06-026385-0
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1952
PERSPECTIVES
SEEN & HEARD
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