While no new ground is broken, this enjoyable time-hopping escapade runs like clockwork.
A North Carolina girl encounters an amnesiac boy at a museum who uses a curious book that enables them to time travel via notable art and architecture.
Fantasy/SF author Torgent centers her middle-grade novel on the North Carolina Museum of Art. There, Abigail Hawk, 12-going-on-13 and left friendless by her divorced mom’s relocation to Raleigh, is setting her precocious sights on an art career among the paintings and sculptures. Then she comes across Daniel Truly, a boy about her age, talking in the peculiar argot of a bygone era and carrying a strange red book. He is clothed as if in antiques “from a dusty trunk he’d found in his grandparent’s attic in an old farmhouse in New Hampshire.” Their initially inauspicious meeting gets more interesting when, while beholding a Rodin masterpiece, Daniel utters an incantation and the kids are zoomed back to 1300s France. Yes, Daniel is a time traveler—but one who is largely amnesiac. He knows that he has a 19th-century origin and that the red book points his way to landmarks and artworks that serve as time/space portals—when they function, which they often do not. Daniel tests gateway after gateway to get back home while simultaneously trying to avoid creating paradoxes and altering history in ways that could maroon him and Abigail in another era. Oh, and they are being pursued by a mystery woman in black. On middle-grade shelves there are more tween time-travel tomes than one can shake a TARDIS at, but Torgent’s flighty narrative is an enjoyable one, intelligent in its language and well tuned to readers who have matured above the Magic School Bus chapter books. Adding a pleasant edutainment touch is the detail that the real-life art propelling the protagonists through centuries aren’t just the usual Mona Lisa and van Goghs but less celebrated works. The author also invokes three distinct time periods and cultures in quick, exciting, but effectively descriptive brush strokes.
While no new ground is broken, this enjoyable time-hopping escapade runs like clockwork.Pub Date: Sept. 27, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-948449-12-0
Page Count: 228
Publisher: Blue Ink Press
Review Posted Online: June 22, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Halloween is used merely as a backdrop; better holiday titles for young readers are available.
A ghost learns to appreciate his differences.
The little ghost protagonist of this title is unusual. He’s a quilt, not a lightweight sheet like his parents and friends. He dislikes being different despite his mom’s reassurance that his ancestors also had unconventional appearances. Halloween makes the little ghost happy, though. He decides to watch trick-or-treaters by draping over a porch chair—but lands on a porch rail instead. A mom accompanying her daughter picks him up, wraps him around her chilly daughter, and brings him home with them! The family likes his looks and comforting warmth, and the little ghost immediately feels better about himself. As soon as he’s able to, he flies out through the chimney and muses happily that this adventure happened only due to his being a quilt. This odd but gently told story conveys the importance of self-respect and acceptance of one’s uniqueness. The delivery of this positive message has something of a heavy-handed feel and is rushed besides. It also isn’t entirely logical: The protagonist could have been a different type of covering; a blanket, for instance, might have enjoyed an identical experience. The soft, pleasing illustrations’ palette of tans, grays, white, black, some touches of color, and, occasionally, white text against black backgrounds suggest isolation, such as the ghost feels about himself. Most humans, including the trick-or-treating mom and daughter, have beige skin. (This book was reviewed digitally with 11-by-16.6-inch double-page spreads viewed at 66.2% of actual size.)
Halloween is used merely as a backdrop; better holiday titles for young readers are available. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-7352-6447-2
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Tundra Books
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
A spectacular return to a magical world.
Following the events of Impossible Creatures (2024), a devoted Guardian teams up with a brave princess to fight her power-hungry uncle and save the Archipelago’s dragons from a strange new threat.
Jacques the dragon summons Christopher Forrester back to the Archipelago from the human world: Dragons are dying, and no one knows why. Meanwhile, on the island of Dousha, Princess Anya’s grandfather, King Halam, has been murdered, and her father accused—though she knows he’s innocent. When Christopher and Anya take refuge on the islet of Glimt, the Berserker Nighthand helps them see how their twin missions to save the dragons and free Anya’s father are connected. They work together to create an antidote for the poison that’s killing the dragons and to keep Anya and her father safe from her murderous uncle. Meanwhile, Nighthand and Irian, the part-nereid ocean scholar, pursue their own important secret mission. Divided into three parts—“Castle,” “Dragons,” and “Revenge”—and containing elements of fairy tales, fantasy, and Shakespeare, this story continues the storyline established in the series opener, yet because it introduces new characters and obstacles, it could also stand alone. Dark-blond Anya (“five feet tall and all of it claws”) is a match for white-presenting Christopher, who, though he still misses Mal, finds that “it made a difference to have someone to move through the world with again. A friend changed the feel of the universe.” Mackenzie’s delicate, otherworldly art adorns the text.
A spectacular return to a magical world. (map, bestiary) (Fantasy. 10-15)Pub Date: Sept. 11, 2025
ISBN: 9780593809907
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 30, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2025
PROFILES
© 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.
