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THE DAUGHTERS DARING

Name: THE DAUGHTERS DARING
Author: Steven J. Thompson
ISBN: 978-0-9967232-0-6

by Steven J. Thompson ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 25, 2015

Witty, competent daughters enjoy just enough danger as they learn useful lessons.

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Two sisters stumble upon the plans of an evil witch and her minions in this middle-grade fantasy debut.

In the kingdom of Highcynder, 12-year-old Emily Daring watches her younger sister, Elizabeth, practice archery. Their father is Duke Daring, the hero of Highcynder, whom Elizabeth hopes to impress. After Elizabeth accidentally hits their neighbor Nathan Wormington with a practice arrow, the duchess puts her daughters’ energy to use by sending them to the market. The girls visit Annie Whipperpeel’s Sweets Shoppe to buy “sweetberry” pie. Tragically—in their view—the bakery hasn’t had any sweetberries in a week. Annie believes that mischievous forest gnomes took them all. Unsure of Annie’s theory, the siblings decide to sneak into the Enchanted Forest to investigate. They follow gnome prints to a cave—however, it’s goblins they find. As the adventurous duo defends against an armed, beady-eyed enemy, gnomes arrive to give the girls backup. The leader, Randolph, explains that the goblins have been working with the ogre king to horde sweetberries. Further, a witch is commanding the creatures, adding the berries to what may be a sleeping potion. When Elizabeth suggests they sneak into the ogre’s lair, Emily argues. Harsh words cause the sisters to separate, but they soon realize that teamwork is the only way to survive their adventure, one of the valuable lessons the story holds for its young readers. Unlike nearby kingdoms—Dublari, for example, which is built on slavery—Highcynder prizes an individual’s skills above parentage or status. Yet the girls behave in suitably childlike ways when they fib to their mother about going off to the Enchanted Forest; the duchess is just happy to see her daughters getting along. The witch’s goal, to remove a measure of people's freedom “to be utilized for the greater good,” should make sense to children, though it does step toward larger philosophical and political conversations. The garden gnome Periwinkle, who travels in Emily’s backpack, provides occasional comedic relief. Depictions of violence are always brief and not too gory (“The ogre king was...run through by the iron spikes”). Ferchaud’s (Princess Yellow Boots Finds a Friend, 2019, etc.) excellent black-and-white pencil illustrations greatly enhance the novel.

Witty, competent daughters enjoy just enough danger as they learn useful lessons.

Pub Date: Sept. 25, 2015

ISBN: 978-0-9967232-0-6

Page Count: 176

Publisher: KECELJ Publishing

Review Posted Online: Jan. 24, 2020

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

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BETWEEN SISTERS

by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 2003

Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles...

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Sisters in and out of love.

Meghann Dontess is a high-powered matrimonial lawyer in Seattle who prefers sex with strangers to emotional intimacy: a strategy bound to backfire sooner or later, warns her tough-talking shrink. It’s advice Meghann decides to ignore, along with the memories of her difficult childhood, neglectful mother, and younger sister. Though she managed to reunite Claire with Sam Cavenaugh (her father but not Meghann’s) when her mother abandoned both girls long ago, Meghann still feels guilty that her sister’s life doesn’t measure up, at least on her terms. Never married, Claire ekes out a living running a country campground with her dad and is raising her six-year-old daughter on her own. When she falls in love for the first time with an up-and-coming country musician, Meghann is appalled: Bobby Austin is a three-time loser at marriage—how on earth can Claire be so blind? Bobby’s blunt explanation doesn’t exactly satisfy the concerned big sister, who busies herself planning Claire’s dream wedding anyway. And, to relieve the stress, she beds various guys she picks up in bars, including Dr. Joe Wyatt, a neurosurgeon turned homeless drifter after the demise of his beloved wife Diane (whom he euthanized). When Claire’s awful headache turns out to be a kind of brain tumor known among neurologists as a “terminator,” Joe rallies. Turns out that Claire had befriended his wife on her deathbed, and now in turn he must try to save her. Is it too late? Will Meghann find true love at last?

Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles (Distant Shores, 2002, etc.). Kudos for skipping the snifflefest this time around.

Pub Date: May 1, 2003

ISBN: 0-345-45073-6

Page Count: 400

Publisher: Ballantine

Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2003

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

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TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD

by Harper Lee ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 11, 1960

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A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.