A smart, captivating crowd pleaser.
Hale’s well-loved Newbery Honor–winning 2005 novel gets an alluring graphic re-imagining with illustrations.
Young Miri (who, with her light skin and brown hair in two long braids, resembles Anna from Disney’s Frozen) lives in Mount Eskel, a small, struggling village where most people mine linder stone and constantly worry about making ends meet. Miri’s overprotective Pa won’t allow her to work in the quarries, to her great consternation. When the 18-year-old Crown Prince Steffan announces that he plans to wed a Mount Eskel girl, the draconian Tutor Olana sets up an academy for the girls of the village to learn refinement. Living and studying together in the old stone minister’s house, the girls develop close bonds—and rivalries. Learning to read gives inquisitive Miri newfound leverage in the exploitative linder trade and a dawning notion of how she could save her beloved home. Miri is torn over the prospect of being chosen to be a princess: Providing for her family would mean entering a world where she would be regarded as a social inferior. Hale’s fun, feminist, original fairy tale translates well to the graphic medium. Ying’s bright colors and cleanly wrought panels create a cinematic feel, with strong appeal for a new generation of fans. The visual representation of a violent encounter with bandits ramps up the story’s intensity. Decades later, Hale’s story feels timeless in its exploration of friendship, family, and empowerment.
A smart, captivating crowd pleaser. (Graphic fantasy. 10-14)Pub Date: April 7, 2026
ISBN: 9781547612024
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: Dec. 26, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2026
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
Guaranteed to enchant, enthrall, and enmagick.
An elderly witch, a magical girl, a brave carpenter, a wise monster, a tiny dragon, paper birds, and a madwoman converge to thwart a magician who feeds on sorrow.
Every year Elders of the Protectorate leave a baby in the forest, warning everyone an evil Witch demands this sacrifice. In reality, every year, a kind witch named Xan rescues the babies and find families for them. One year Xan saves a baby girl with a crescent birthmark who accidentally feeds on moonlight and becomes “enmagicked.” Magic babies can be tricky, so Xan adopts little Luna herself and lovingly raises her, with help from an ancient swamp monster and a chatty, wee dragon. Luna’s magical powers emerge as her 13th birthday approaches. Meanwhile, Luna’s deranged real mother enters the forest to find her daughter. Simultaneously, a young carpenter from the Protectorate enters the forest to kill the Witch and end the sacrifices. Xan also enters the forest to rescue the next sacrificed child, and Luna, the monster, and the dragon enter the forest to protect Xan. In the dramatic denouement, a volcano erupts, the real villain attempts to destroy all, and love prevails. Replete with traditional motifs, this nontraditional fairy tale boasts sinister and endearing characters, magical elements, strong storytelling, and unleashed forces. Luna has black eyes, curly, black hair, and “amber” skin.
Guaranteed to enchant, enthrall, and enmagick. (Fantasy. 10-14)Pub Date: Aug. 9, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-61620-567-6
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Algonquin
Review Posted Online: May 13, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016
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