What’s a girl to do when her mother is the fairy-tale world’s worst evil queen? Follow in her footsteps? Never!
At the beginning of this series opener, it’s the first day of school at Ever After High, where the offspring of famous fairy-tale characters begin their second year. For these students, Legacy Day beckons, at which time each will sign the Storybook of Legends and take the pledge to replay their parents’ roles. Once they ink their names, the stories they spring from will be safely preserved, but if one does not, rumors have it that the tale—as well as the student—will vanish in a posthaste “poof.” Most are all aflutter to fulfill their requisite destinies, but Raven Queen, the daughter of the exquisitely wicked Evil Queen, doesn’t have an evil bone in her body. If she signs, she is duty-bound to poison Apple White (Snow’s daughter), but she wants to create her own future. When Raven discovers that two fairy-tale sisters long ago broke their pledges, she enlists the sleuthing skills of her wacky roommate, Madeline (as in Hatter), and Apple herself to unravel the sisters’ ultimate fates. Hale has created a delightfully revamped, newly fashioned cast of fairy-tale characters (and in hipper clothes no less—unsurprising, as the book introduces a new line of Mattel dolls) and gives readers a terrific protagonist to root for. Magic and humor abound, and fairy-tale wordplay flies. Royal good fun. (Fantasy. 8-12)
Pub Date: Oct. 8, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-316-40122-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Oct. 10, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2013
The scion of a once-prominent, wealthy family, Hector Bell engages in ingenious bartering and wishful thinking to support his wife and sons, Cyrus and Darius, on the decaying estate, while he writes stories no one wants to read. Now it’s time to present the town with the Bell Gift, a requirement of the original land grant, but unlike his forebears, Hector has nothing to give. Exasperated by Hector, Cyrus is preparing to head off to university and study engineering, but his younger brother, Darius, longs to solve their father’s dilemma. When a small earthquake opens up a cave on the estate, Darius thinks he’s found the answer, but each step brings new challenges. He’ll need inventive ideas, resourcefulness and most of all help from his friends to meet them. Much of the pleasure in this ode to “life [as] what happens while you’re busy making plans” lies in Hirsch’s dry, understated humor and his subtly charming characters, who are willing to put up with one another’s foibles and eccentricities, however annoying, for the sake of friendship. (Fiction. 9-12)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-935279-65-5
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Kane Miller
Review Posted Online: July 29, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2010
As her single mother's mental state degenerates, a resilient little girl desperately tries to hold life together. Since her father vanished seven years ago in 1966, 11-year-old Esther has watched over her younger sister Ruth and pretended all's normal in their chaotic home. Frequently "out of sorts" and "off-kilter," their mother Valley angers "real fast, without much warning," forgets to take her pills, vanishes for days, manically redecorates and accidentally leaves Ruth overnight in a store. In her "finders-keepers" world, the resourceful Esther makes a game of scrounging food and clothing from Dumpsters, convinced all will stabilize if she can just find her father. Esther's matter-of-fact, grown-up voice chronicles her attempts to keep life going, fool nosey outsiders and protect her pathetic mother, but it's obvious the walls are literally crumbling around her and she's only a kid herself. Mature beyond her years, able to make the best of a bad situation and blessed with impressive survivor skills, Esther proves an admirable heroine in this poignant story. (Historical fiction. 9-12)
Pub Date: Oct. 12, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-8050-8882-3
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: Aug. 31, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2010
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