Intriguing mythology with a prehistoric twist and an endearing family focus.
Amid literal and emotional droughts, two sisters must find their mother and themselves during a road trip.
Eleven-year-old Texan Haven and her older sister, Margie, are connected in odd ways to magic by their Scottish heritage. Their maternal grandparents came from Orkney, and Margie and Mama share red hair and eyes that change color with their moods. Meanwhile, Haven has started seeing the ghosts of prehistoric animals whenever she touches fossils, which her mom has an uncanny knack for finding. Her mom has been depressed and distant since her parents died a year ago, and after Haven glimpses her looking frighteningly inhuman, Mama leaves in the middle of the night. Meanwhile, Haven discovers that whenever she comes into contact with salt water, she transforms into a kitskara, or scaly cryptid that can breathe underwater. To get answers and find Mama, Haven and Margie (who has her learner’s permit) join new neighbor Rye, who volunteers his dad’s coffee truck for the search. Black and Mexican Rye, who’s upset that his parents moved them from Austin to the middle of nowhere, is up for an adventure. On their journey to the Gulf of Mexico, Haven’s developing powers dovetail well with themes of preserving past love while making room for change. Though Haven’s closeness with Rye feels rushed, the sometimes-contentious but overwhelmingly supportive sibling dynamic grounds this story about healing and growth.
Intriguing mythology with a prehistoric twist and an endearing family focus. (Fiction. 9-13)Pub Date: Aug. 15, 2023
ISBN: 9780593465578
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: May 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2023
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
Charming, poignant, and thoughtfully woven.
An aspiring scientist and a budding artist become friends and help each other with dream projects.
Unfolding in mid-1980s Sacramento, California, this story stars 12-year-olds Rosalind and Benjamin as first-person narrators in alternating chapters. Ro’s father, a fellow space buff, was killed by a drunk driver; the rocket they were working on together lies unfinished in her closet. As for Benji, not only has his best friend, Amir, moved away, but the comic book holding the clue for locating his dad is also missing. Along with their profound personal losses, the protagonists share a fixation with the universe’s intriguing potential: Ro decides to complete the rocket and hopes to launch mementos of her father into outer space while Benji’s conviction that aliens and UFOs are real compels his imagination and creativity as an artist. An accident in science class triggers a chain of events forcing Benji and Ro, who is new to the school, to interact and unintentionally learn each other’s secrets. They resolve to find Benji’s dad—a famous comic-book artist—and partner to finish Ro’s rocket for the science fair. Together, they overcome technical, scheduling, and geographical challenges. Readers will be drawn in by amusing and fantastical elements in the comic book theme, high emotional stakes that arouse sympathy, and well-drawn character development as the protagonists navigate life lessons around grief, patience, self-advocacy, and standing up for others. Ro is biracial (Chinese/White); Benji is White.
Charming, poignant, and thoughtfully woven. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Jan. 12, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-06-300888-5
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2020
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