A safe yet magical adventure with plenty of heart.
This debut middle-grade fantasy sees four young cousins enter an enchanted wood and become privy to the thoughts of animals.
Elinora Wolton, 15, and her 14-year-old sister, Tillie, live an idyllic existence at Kellandale, a landed estate in Eldmoor (a fictitious country not dissimilar to 19th-century England). Elinora is apprehensive about leaving home to pursue her education, but the only real constraint on the girls’ lives is that they are forbidden to go into Kellandale, aka “Wyches,” Wood, which is reputed to drive people mad. The siblings have reluctantly obeyed this edict, but when they spy a sack being dumped into the river, Tillie insists that they go in search of it. The sisters venture deep into the wood. They find the sack and, wrapped up inside it, a hapless Morlish Wolfhound puppy, whom they rescue and name Henry. In doing so, they discover that the wood is enchanted—in the best possible way. It allows them to share Henry’s feelings and memories and those of the other woodland creatures. Henry becomes their best friend; yet he has been torn from his mother, brothers, and sisters. Can Elinora and Tillie—and their cousins Graham and Jamie—help Henry save his lost family? Spyker’s omniscient narrative harks back to the wholesome escapades once popularized by such authors as E. Nesbit and Enid Blyton, albeit updated to a 21st-century view on gender and race. (The protagonists remain born of privilege but even this is commented on.) The author has an easy prose style and a storyteller’s flair for characterization. While the retro dialogue is mannered, timid, sensible Elinora and bold, impetuous Tillie will appeal to modern readers, and they work beautifully together as protagonists. Henry deserves an immediate induction into the literary pantheon of canine heroes, and it is he, not the children, who provides the narrative glue. As the series opener unfolds, the cast grows perhaps a little too large, but even this is thematically apt. Spyker delivers a strong message of inclusiveness, love, and respect for all creatures. When the plot moves from the shelter of the forest to the darker reality of Coddlefin’s circus (and animal cruelty), the kids’ good intentions only grow.
A safe yet magical adventure with plenty of heart.Pub Date: March 31, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-73661-970-4
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Tulip Tree Creative Studios
Review Posted Online: Aug. 20, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A delectable treat for food and literary connoisseurs alike
Eleven-year-old Mira “Mimi” Mackson is a baking prodigy from a small Massachusetts town called Comity (a thinly disguised Concord).
Mimi is the youngest member of a large family: Her Indian American mom is a successful software consultant, her white dad is a renowned food writer and critic, and her three older siblings (all biracial, like Mimi) excel at acting, dance, and soccer. Although Mimi enjoys creating new treats for her family and experimenting with uncommon flavors, she sometimes feels out of place and invisible amid her accomplished siblings. When a new bakery in town, the While Away Bakery and Café, announces a baking contest for children, Mimi is excited to compete and show off her talents. Things get complicated, however, when Mimi’s father falls under an enchantment that causes him to not only lose his refined sense of taste, but also eat everything in sight. Loosely based on A Midsummer Night’s Dream and inspired by TV shows like The Great British Baking Show, LaRocca’s debut is original and compelling. The realistic characters and complex family dynamics augment the tightly knit plot, and the mouthwatering descriptions of food are guaranteed to make readers hungry. Three recipes at the end of the novel (based on the characters’ concoctions) are an added bonus for those interested in developing their culinary skills.
A delectable treat for food and literary connoisseurs alike . (Fantasy. 8-12)Pub Date: June 4, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4998-0888-9
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Little Bee Books
Review Posted Online: April 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2019
Imaginative, fast-paced, and fun.
Character Indira Story lives in the fictional town of Origin and aspires to a plot of her own.
She works hard to make her dream come true: to travel to the city of Fable and attend Protagonist Preparatory, a school where famous characters such as Alice (from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland), Fitzwilliam Darcy, and Romeo Montague train aspirants to become successful characters in actual stories. Ultimately, succeeding at Protagonist Preparatory would result in Indira’s being chosen by an Author in the Real World for their novel. Indira is determined to become a protagonist so that she can find her brother, David, a laborer in the town of Quiver, where he mines story nuggets. However, Indira fails her audition and begins to train as a side character. To make matters worse, her best efforts at school are sabotaged, and Fable itself is threatened. The question arises: Can a side character become a hero? Reintgen’s middle-grade debut is at once a fantastic adventure and a tribute to famous and popular literature. The plot feels rushed at times, but witty references—to literary characters and elements of the act of reading itself, like dog ears (envisioned as one-eared dogs who steal watches from anthropomorphic bookmarks)—make this novel enjoyable and laugh-out-loud funny. There is nothing intrinsically Indian about brown-skinned Indira (as her name suggests but as her equally brown-skinned brother’s does not), but her-far-from positive experiences remind readers of the importance of working hard at their own stories.
Imaginative, fast-paced, and fun. (Fantasy. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 17, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-525-64668-6
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
