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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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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.

Pub Date: July 11, 1960

ISBN: 0060935464

Page Count: 323

Publisher: Lippincott

Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

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DISTANT SHORES

by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 1, 2002

Soft-focus story moves right along with few surprises. This time around, Hannah avoids the soap-opera complications of her...

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Another middle-aged mom in a muddle.

After years of false starts and big hopes, Elizabeth’s ruggedly handsome husband Jack, a former football star, just landed a spot as a sportscaster on national news. He still loves her, even though much younger women are giving him come-hither looks. Heck, he doesn’t want to betray the love of his life after she helped him kick drugs and stuck by him even when he was a struggling has-been. And won’t it seem hypocritical if he fools around with his sexy assistant while he does in-depth reporting on a rape case involving a famous basketball center? Well, he fools around anyway. Elizabeth, nicknamed Birdie, knows nothing of this, but she withdraws from Jack when her hard-drinking, salt-of-the-earth father has a stroke and dies. Now no one will call her “sugar beet” ever again. Time to return home to Tennessee and contend with Anita, the sort-of-evil stepmother so trashy she wears pink puffy slippers all day long. Naturally, it turns out that Anita actually has a heart of gold and knows a few things about Birdie’s dead mother that were hushed up for years. Mom was an artist, just like Birdie, and an old scandal comes to light as Anita unrolls a vibrant canvas that portrays her secret lover. Perhaps, Birdie muses, her mother died of heartbreak, never having followed her true love or developed her talent. Has she, too, compromised everything she holds dear? Hoping to find out, Birdie joins a support group that promises to reconnect confused women with their passion. She and Jack separate, prompting a how-dare-you fit from their grown daughters. Will Birdie fly her empty nest? Will she go back to college for a degree in art? Will her brooding watercolors ever sell?

Soft-focus story moves right along with few surprises. This time around, Hannah avoids the soap-opera complications of her previous tales (Summer Island, 2001, etc.).