The courageous heroine and titular mantra will resonate with those who recognize the dynamic.
In this tale translated from Spanish, a mouse endures an abusive relationship—until she doesn’t.
Mousy was happy to move in with Buck. Now, the stylish creature has mournful eyes. The male rodent is belligerent and controlling, proffering presents, like a nightgown, that cater to his preferences, not hers. Buck contextualizes his behavior as love, wanting her to say that she is his and his alone. The passage of time is periodically noted with “The days went by” followed by increasingly disturbing descriptions. Strong colors and patterns comprise the sophisticated scenes, and shadows reveal emotions. In a particularly poignant scene, Mousy’s shadow cries, and a real puddle forms at the base of the wallpaper. Her fear escalates as Buck grows bigger, his eyes more menacing; she thinks she hears him meow. In a climactic confrontation, he asks what she did to obtain a promotion at work, and as he tries to snatch her, she flees. Murmuring, “I am mine and mine alone,” Mousy ponders what real love is as she walks toward a new life and friends: Their collective outline forms the shadow of a dog. Adult characters and innuendos raise the question of intended audience. The pictures are both essential to the story’s impact and a potential barrier to an older readership, but many older children, teens, and even some adults who have encountered similar situations will find it an affirming balm. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
The courageous heroine and titular mantra will resonate with those who recognize the dynamic. (Picture book. 10-14)Pub Date: April 25, 2023
ISBN: 9788419253590
Page Count: 40
Publisher: NubeOcho
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2023
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 TO SCREEN
An endearing protagonist runs the first, fast leg of Reynolds' promising relay.
Castle “Ghost” Cranshaw feels like he’s been running ever since his dad pulled that gun on him and his mom—and used it.
His dad’s been in jail three years now, but Ghost still feels the trauma, which is probably at the root of the many “altercations” he gets into at middle school. When he inserts himself into a practice for a local elite track team, the Defenders, he’s fast enough that the hard-as-nails coach decides to put him on the team. Ghost is surprised to find himself caring enough about being on the team that he curbs his behavior to avoid “altercations.” But Ma doesn’t have money to spare on things like fancy running shoes, so Ghost shoplifts a pair that make his feet feel impossibly light—and his conscience correspondingly heavy. Ghost’s narration is candid and colloquial, reminiscent of such original voices as Bud Caldwell and Joey Pigza; his level of self-understanding is both believably childlike and disarming in its perception. He is self-focused enough that secondary characters initially feel one-dimensional, Coach in particular, but as he gets to know them better, so do readers, in a way that unfolds naturally and pleasingly. His three fellow “newbies” on the Defenders await their turns to star in subsequent series outings. Characters are black by default; those few white people in Ghost’s world are described as such.
An endearing protagonist runs the first, fast leg of Reynolds' promising relay. (Fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Aug. 30, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4814-5015-7
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Caitlyn Dlouhy/Atheneum
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2016
PROFILES
SEEN & HEARD
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