There is no magic, per se, but the book is otherwise true to the best fantasy traditions for preteens.
Thirteen-year-old twin sisters Valor and Sasha have barely agreed to missions from Queen Ana when the queen herself vanishes—in broad daylight.
As in series opener Prisoner of Ice and Snow (2017), Valor, the narrator, is brave and impetuous—full of ideas that may or may not work—and Sasha, like their father, is bookish and better at diplomacy. Logically, their missions vary. Valor’s is to recapture the escaped Princess Anastasia—whose sinister behavior had previously led to Sasha’s wrongful imprisonment in the dreaded Tyur’ma. Sasha’s mission: reforming that prison. First, along with fellow escaped inmates Feliks and Katia, the girls find a way to release the wrongly held Prince Anatol, Anastasia’s brother. Their world turns upside down when they must turn their attention to finding the queen. Then the plot twists and turns as often as the brave little band of friends twists and turns through secret corridors in, under, and above grand marble institutions and dark alleyways alike. Moscow-like Demidova and its surrounding, cold-climate environs (populated by an all-white cast with Russian names) are brought to life through Valor’s observations. Feliks and Katia bring both subtle humor and questions about class distinctions to the text. References to women as scholars, prison guards, and rulers abound in this thrill-a-minute adventure story, which gracefully recaps Book 1. The end both satisfies and leaves space for a sequel.
There is no magic, per se, but the book is otherwise true to the best fantasy traditions for preteens. (Fantasy. 8-12)Pub Date: April 3, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-68119-133-1
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: Jan. 21, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
Charming, poignant, and thoughtfully woven.
An aspiring scientist and a budding artist become friends and help each other with dream projects.
Unfolding in mid-1980s Sacramento, California, this story stars 12-year-olds Rosalind and Benjamin as first-person narrators in alternating chapters. Ro’s father, a fellow space buff, was killed by a drunk driver; the rocket they were working on together lies unfinished in her closet. As for Benji, not only has his best friend, Amir, moved away, but the comic book holding the clue for locating his dad is also missing. Along with their profound personal losses, the protagonists share a fixation with the universe’s intriguing potential: Ro decides to complete the rocket and hopes to launch mementos of her father into outer space while Benji’s conviction that aliens and UFOs are real compels his imagination and creativity as an artist. An accident in science class triggers a chain of events forcing Benji and Ro, who is new to the school, to interact and unintentionally learn each other’s secrets. They resolve to find Benji’s dad—a famous comic-book artist—and partner to finish Ro’s rocket for the science fair. Together, they overcome technical, scheduling, and geographical challenges. Readers will be drawn in by amusing and fantastical elements in the comic book theme, high emotional stakes that arouse sympathy, and well-drawn character development as the protagonists navigate life lessons around grief, patience, self-advocacy, and standing up for others. Ro is biracial (Chinese/White); Benji is White.
Charming, poignant, and thoughtfully woven. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Jan. 12, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-06-300888-5
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Entrancing and uplifting.
A small dog, the elderly woman who owns him, and a homeless girl come together to create a tale of serendipity.
Piper, almost 12, her parents, and her younger brother are at the bottom of a long slide toward homelessness. Finally in a family shelter, Piper finds that her newfound safety gives her the opportunity to reach out to someone who needs help even more. Jewel, mentally ill, lives in the park with her dog, Baby. Unwilling to leave her pet, and forbidden to enter the shelter with him, she struggles with the winter weather. Ree, also homeless and with a large dog, helps when she can, but after Jewel gets sick and is hospitalized, Baby’s taken to the animal shelter, and Ree can’t manage the complex issues alone. It’s Piper, using her best investigative skills, who figures out Jewel’s backstory. Still, she needs all the help of the shelter Firefly Girls troop that she joins to achieve her accomplishment: to raise enough money to provide Jewel and Baby with a secure, hopeful future and, maybe, with their kindness, to inspire a happier story for Ree. Told in the authentic alternating voices of loving child and loyal dog, this tale could easily slump into a syrupy melodrama, but Pyron lets her well-drawn characters earn their believable happy ending, step by challenging step, by reaching out and working together. Piper, her family, and Jewel present white; Pyron uses hair and naming convention, respectively, to cue Ree as black and Piper’s friend Gabriela as Latinx.
Entrancing and uplifting. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Aug. 13, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-06-283922-0
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: April 9, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2019
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