An LGBT fantasy-tinged story collection that, despite a few stumbles, delights and entertains.
The stories in this collection track a philosophical imp who harvests teeth, a strange creature from the New Jersey Pinelands, a magical yearbook and something sinister in the sewer.
Cecil is an African-American gay teen conflicted about his identity. After a fight at school between another gay youth and a homophobic bully in which the gay lad loses a tooth that Cecil picks up, a tooth sprite shows up in Cecil’s bedroom. He helps Cecil to understand both himself and people’s need to define everything through words. Jameson is a gay youth whose boyfriend sees something down the sewer, something that may be related to an old urban legend. Amelia is a young lesbian who feels she may not have an imagination until she meets Stephanie, who spurs her imagination in the most extreme way possible. These are just a few of the characters in these 13 LGBT young-adult stories. Berman’s Vintage: A Ghost Story (2008) was a finalist for the Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy; he brings the same fertile imagination that he employed in that story to many of the entries here. The characters are all gay teenagers. Except for a few, most are happy and secure with themselves and are confident young people, either with a loving partner or seeking one. Thus, like many classic fairy tales, these stories star strong men and women who seek love and happiness in an uncertain world and must overcome obstacles (a fire-breathing dragon or magical yearbook) to find them. The collection shines when it mixes the commonplace with fantasy; without the flash of the unusual, as in “All Smiles” and “Cruel Movember,” the plots fall flat. Stories that abandon the modern aspect completely, such as “Thimbleriggery and Fledglings,” seem forced in their use of imagery and plot. Several tales set in the modern day, such as the quiet, subtle “Three On A Match,” pulse with the excitement and surprise of the best fairy tales.
An LGBT fantasy-tinged story collection that, despite a few stumbles, delights and entertains.Pub Date: Feb. 14, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-59021-282-0
Page Count: 216
Publisher: Lethe Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 21, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Opening episodes of a comic-book series created by an American teacher in Japan take a leap into chapter-book format, with only partial success. Resembling—in occasional illustrations—a button-eyed, juvenile Olive Oyl, Akiko, 10, is persuaded by a pair of aliens named Bip and Bop to climb out her high-rise bedroom’s window for a trip to M&M-shaped Planet Smoo, where Prince Fropstoppit has been kidnapped by widely feared villainness Alia Rellaport. Along with an assortment of contentious sidekicks, including brainy Mr. Beeba, Akiko battles Sky Pirates and video-game-style monsters in prolonged scenes of cartoony violence, displaying resilience, courage, and leadership ability, but not getting very far in her rescue attempt; in fact, the story cuts off so abruptly, with so little of the quest completed, and at a lull in the action to boot, that readers expecting a self-contained (forget complete) story are likely to feel cheated. (Fiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: Feb. 8, 2000
ISBN: 0-385-32724-2
Page Count: 162
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 1999
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A dog story in the best tradition of the genre: he’s enormous, under threat, and will prove himself a hero. Sirius isn’t just any dog; he’s an enormous Newfoundland who swims the breaststroke, hauls firewood across ice, locates a lost brooch on demand, and faithfully follows his master’s commands. Maggie, 12, has just heard that all non-shepherding dogs have been outlawed; if found, Sirius will be shot on sight, even though he has never killed any sheep. Hiding her beloved dog in a cave, Maggie eventually has to expose his existence to save the lives of 100 people trapped aboard a capsizing steamer. Sirius’s ability to swim is required to exchange lines from the boat to shore; using a pulley-and-chair system, every last passenger is brought to land safely. Sirius is elevated to hero status and his future is assured. Readers will be captivated by the scope of this story, which includes events of 1912, e.g., the sinking of the Titanic, as well as Newfoundlander language and customs, facts about the dogs, and details of the island, known as “the Beautiful Rock.” (map) (Fiction. 9-12)
Pub Date: March 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-689-82905-1
Page Count: 150
Publisher: McElderry
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 1999
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