AN ILLUSTRATED TREASURY OF SCOTTISH MYTHICAL CREATURES

Name: AN ILLUSTRATED TREASURY OF SCOTTISH MYTHICAL CREATURES
Author: Theresa Breslin
ISBN: 978-1-7825-0195-4

by Theresa Breslin ; illustrated by Kate Leiper ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 2015

A fine choice for reading aloud or alone, rich in creatures more magical than frightening.

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Lively yarn-spinning, delightful illustrations, and handsome bookmaking again make a winning combination in this follow-up to the creators’ An Illustrated Treasury of Scottish Folk and Fairy Tales (2012).

Breslin opens with a tale of St. Columba and the Loch Ness monster and closes with an encounter between a clever fox and a cleverer young girl—adversaries who previously met, with a similar result, in the other collection’s closer. In between, she dishes up fluently retold versions of tales featuring a child selkie, mermen, and Wee Folk; a Robert Louis Stevenson cameo; Thomas the Rhymer’s sojourn with the queen of Faeryland; and how Finn MacCool built the Giant’s Causeway in order to fight the Scots giant Benandonner. With the exception of a skinless Nuckelavee that unwisely tangles with an old wise woman and is in any case left unseen, the monsters here are mostly benign sorts—even the draconic Island Beast snoozes peacefully in its only appearance and is rendered in such warm red and golden tones that it seems more decorative than dangerous. Leiper likewise supplies all 11 tales with bright illustrations that generally run evocatively along the broad margins and off the edges of the pages, offering not scenes of violence but idyllic glimpses of finely modeled small animals and objects, appealingly distracted figures in historical dress, and grassy Scottish hills.

A fine choice for reading aloud or alone, rich in creatures more magical than frightening. (glossary) (Folk tales. 7-12)

Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2015

ISBN: 978-1-7825-0195-4

Page Count: 194

Publisher: Floris

Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2015

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2015

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

- BOOK REVIEW
AN ILLUSTRATED TREASURY OF SCOTTISH FOLK AND FAIRY TALES
by Theresa Breslin & illustrated by Kate Leiper

- BOOK REVIEW
REMEMBRANCE
by Theresa Breslin

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GHOUL STRIKE!

by Andrew Newbound ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 2010

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Three years ago, 12-year-old Brit Alannah Malarra's ghost-hunting parents vanished on a mission to the Scottish Highlands. She took up the family business, but with highly mercenary objectives. She uses her psychic powers to get rid of ghosts with the help of her lock-picking buddy, 11-year-old Wortley Flint, her housekeeper's son, but she snatches any treasures the ghosts guard. Certain they're alive, Alannah uses the fortune to fund the hunt for her parents. On a routine ghost hunt, Alannah stumbles upon a gate to the Dark Dimension and the A.N.G.E.L. agents (Attack-ready Network of Global Evanescent Law-enforcers) from a higher realm tasked with keeping it closed. Notorious Gnarl Krot is about to unleash his Gargoyles and Ghouls on Earth as a stepping stone to Evan City; only Alannah and A.N.G.E.L. agent Flhi Swift stand in his way. Newbound's debut effectively sets up the milieu for his projected series and keeps the pages turning with laughs and suspense. However, Alannah's avarice is a bit alarming at times despite her good intentions, and the title's change from the original British Demon Strike will mystify readers. (Funny paranormal adventure. 8-12)

Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2010

ISBN: 978-0-545-22938-8

Page Count: 320

Publisher: Chicken House/Scholastic

Review Posted Online: Jan. 4, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2010

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

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CLARA LEE AND THE APPLE PIE DREAM

by Jenny Han & illustrated by Julia Kuo ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 4, 2011

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Dreaming of being the Apple Pie Princess in her town’s Apple Blossom Festival, Korean-American third grader Clara Lee defies a classmate who claims to be more deserving and bravely makes a speech in front of the whole school to win the honor. This appealing family-and-school story focuses as much on Clara Lee’s relationships with her little sister, Emmeline, and her “dream genius” grandfather as it does on her friends and the competition. Han, who has previously written about teens (The Summer I Turned Pretty, 2009) and preteens (Shug, 2006), captures an 8-year-old’s perspective perfectly. The first-person narrative includes imaginative play, family squabbles, the school-bus experience and a touching speech about the special joys of small-town life. Her grandfather assures her: “One hundred percent American. One hundred percent Korean. Doesn’t make you less than anybody else. It makes you more.” The message shines through but doesn’t overwhelm this engaging chapter book that will be welcomed by middle-grade fans of Clementine. Final art not seen. (Fiction. 7-10)