An enjoyable story about magic, friendship, and being true to yourself.
A young witch learns the truth of her powers when she accidentally opens a portal to a realm full of chaos bunnies that threaten to take over her world.
Abby is a witch in training who spends her days helping out her mom by caring for her younger sister, Ella, and working in the family’s magical cafe. When Abby isn’t helping her family, she is hanging out with her group of supernatural friends, Gita (a wolf-girl), Silas (a pumpkinhead), and Hannah (a ghost). When Abby accidentally opens up a portal, unleashing chaos bunnies into their dimension, her friends help her as she learns to understand her powers and close the portal. The cartoon-style artwork and cozy fall colors set the tone for a fun and heartfelt adventure. The illustrations effectively use facial expressions, motion, and variety in panel layout to emphasize the action, emotion, and humor. While the story is sweet, it unfortunately takes on a more complex plotline than it can comfortably handle in a single volume. Abby and her family read as Black with no indication of Native heritage; her use of sage for cleansing can read as appropriative. Brown-skinned hijabi Hannah’s ethnicity is not specified, and, confusingly, her grandmother uses a pet name for her that is normally used by fathers in Arabic-speaking cultures.
An enjoyable story about magic, friendship, and being true to yourself. (latte recipe) (Graphic fantasy. 8-12)Pub Date: July 6, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-358-16899-7
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Etch/HMH
Review Posted Online: May 16, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2021
The young folk and (of course) the animals are engagingly wrought in this tale with a strong ecological message.
An orphan loner’s small town faces a hard future after it unwittingly disrupts a natural cycle.
Willodeen is lucky that elderly retired thespians Mae and Birdie took her in after the wildfire that killed her parents and brother, not only because they’re a loving couple, but because they let her roam the woods in search of increasingly rare screechers—creatures so vile-tempered and stinky that the village elders of Perchance have put a bounty on them. The elders have other worries, though: The migratory hummingbears that have long nested in the area, drawing tourists to the lucrative annual Autumn Faire, have likewise nearly vanished. Could there be a connection? If there is, Willodeen is just the person to find it—but who would believe her? Applegate’s characters speak in pronouncements about life and nature that sometimes seem to address readers more than other characters, but the winsome illustrations lighten the thematic load. Screechers appear much like comically fierce warthogs and hummingbears, as small teddies with wings. Applegate traces a burgeoning friendship between her traumatized protagonist and Connor, a young artist who turns found materials into small animals so realistic that one actually comes to life. In the end, the townsfolk do listen and pitch in to make amends. Red-haired, gray-eyed Willodeen is cued as White; Connor has brown skin, and other human characters read as White by default.
The young folk and (of course) the animals are engagingly wrought in this tale with a strong ecological message. (Eco-fantasy. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 7, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-250-14740-0
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: July 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2021
However the compelling fitness of theme and event and the apt but unexpected imagery (the opening sentences compare the...
At a time when death has become an acceptable, even voguish subject in children's fiction, Natalie Babbitt comes through with a stylistic gem about living forever.
Protected Winnie, the ten-year-old heroine, is not immortal, but when she comes upon young Jesse Tuck drinking from a secret spring in her parents' woods, she finds herself involved with a family who, having innocently drunk the same water some 87 years earlier, haven't aged a moment since. Though the mood is delicate, there is no lack of action, with the Tucks (previously suspected of witchcraft) now pursued for kidnapping Winnie; Mae Tuck, the middle aged mother, striking and killing a stranger who is onto their secret and would sell the water; and Winnie taking Mae's place in prison so that the Tucks can get away before she is hanged from the neck until....? Though Babbitt makes the family a sad one, most of their reasons for discontent are circumstantial and there isn't a great deal of wisdom to be gleaned from their fate or Winnie's decision not to share it.
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1975
ISBN: 0312369816
Page Count: 164
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: April 13, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1975
© Copyright 2024 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.
