A rich, compelling tale that deftly explores bleak themes for young readers.
A tween comes to grips with the darkness in himself and others.
In this harsh but heartfelt middle-grade novel, it seems as if nothing can go right for 12-year-old Sam Nolen and his family. Their rural Australian sheep farm is suffering after six years of drought; money is tight; and Sam’s older brother Ben’s moodiness has progressed to outright anger. Later, there is news of a neighbor’s suicide; Sam loses his arm helping out on another farm; his father hijacks a water truck; and Ben dies under confusing circumstances. As Sam struggles to make sense of the problems in his family and community, adjust to the loss of a limb, and understand his own emotions, he decides that people have a “Monster” within them, shaping their behavior for good and ill. He sets out to understand the rules concerning these Monsters, including “Most people don’t know they exist.” Despite its Grapes of Wrath–esque grimness—the story includes a variety of tragedies, intentional and unintentional deaths, and maimings; and if things can get worse for Sam’s family, they nearly always will—the book is utterly engaging and rewarding. It is suitably funny at times, with Sam’s perfect blend of earnestness and cynicism bringing the narrative voice to life. There is an element of mystery, as Sam uncovers what happened to Ben, that fits seamlessly into the coming-of-age plot. The ending is redemptive, and Sam draws conclusions about human behavior from his study of Monsters, but it never feels forced, moralizing, or inauthentic. A strong cast of secondary characters—especially Cliff, a biker gang leader who becomes Sam’s mentor in amputee life—adds to the book’s layers. Readers who are unfamiliar with Australian life will have little trouble making sense of the story’s regionalisms, and a wealth of details, like the hierarchy of uses and reuses for the limited supply of water, makes the setting feel both desperate and real. Rostirolla balances evoking readers’ sympathies with avoiding maudlin emotions, successfully turning a novel about stark and painful topics into an enjoyable read.
A rich, compelling tale that deftly explores bleak themes for young readers.Pub Date: April 4, 2023
ISBN: 9780999189177
Page Count: 298
Publisher: Pinkus Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 5, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A successful call for creating and imagining, even if the story itself falls short.
In the dystopian, totalitarian world of 2099, 14-year-old Tessa and her family are desperate to solve the mystery of her twin brother Theo’s disappearance.
Tessa is growing up in a time when playgrounds are historical relics, surveillance cameras are everywhere, music is outlawed, and owning books is illegal. Under the absolute rule of Zokiris, the decadeslong leader of her territory, people are heavily controlled. When Theo vanishes under mysterious circumstances and his name is erased from the Territory Statistics list, Tessa’s 135-year-old neighbor, Miriam, gives the family contraband books that become central to figuring out Theo’s whereabouts. Most books have long since been seized and stored away in Building 903; Tessa is intrigued by their presence in her home, while her mother is terrified. Lowry, the acclaimed, award-winning author of The Giver (1993), shines in her creation of uncomfortably believable dystopian societies. Tessa’s painfully limited world is fully imagined, with its own history, laws, and norms. Her relationship with her brother reads as realistic and tender and is crucial to the mystery. Miriam is the most strongly developed character: wise and independent, unafraid and hopeful. While the climb to the book’s climax is captivating, the hurried resolution is disappointing. The powerful messaging around the importance of literature and imagination certainly resonates, however. The main characters present white.
A successful call for creating and imagining, even if the story itself falls short. (Dystopian. 9-12)Pub Date: Sept. 29, 2026
ISBN: 9780063515109
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Clarion/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 6, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2026
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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