A backyard fable that explores the overrated joys of wish fulfillment and the subtle pleasures of putting in effort.
All magic and no hands-on learning makes Elliott a dull girl.
Light-skinned, brown-haired Elliott and her dog, Spinner, play in the woods together, using sticks to build forts, when Elliott finds “a stick that glow[s] like the moon.” With a flick of the wrist, Elliott wields antigravity magic and cleans her room, among other fantastical feats. And the pair don't need to hunt for sticks in order to build forts when a majestic treehouse is just a wish away! The instant gratification eventually becomes boring, until Elliott loses the wand, along with her sense of direction, in the darker woods. Without the wand, she finds her way home, reacquaints herself with all her favorite activities, and learns not to depend on quick fixes. Elliott’s world is charming, from the pink and magenta hues of her bedroom, where she and Spinner share a massive yawn, to the greens and blues of the friendly and foreboding parts of the forest alike. The objects that Elliott enchants—toys, homework, veggies, rocks, and wooden planks—glow with visual panache; readers will relate to Elliott’s satisfaction as she waves her wand. Even if some kids conclude that there are genuine uses for an omnipotent wand, the moral center of the book lies in creativity, exploration, and fun alongside a canine companion, and that magic is undeniable.
A backyard fable that explores the overrated joys of wish fulfillment and the subtle pleasures of putting in effort. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Oct. 6, 2026
ISBN: 9781536226355
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: July 6, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2026
A jam-packed opener sure to satisfy lovers of the princess genre.
Ice princess Lina must navigate family and school in this early chapter read.
The family picnic is today. This is not a typical gathering, since Lina’s maternal relatives are a royal family of Windtamers who have power over the weather and live in castles floating on clouds. Lina herself is mixed race, with black hair and a tan complexion like her Asian-presenting mother’s; her Groundling father appears to be a white human. While making a grand entrance at the castle of her grandfather, the North Wind, she fails to successfully ride a gust of wind and crashes in front of her entire family. This prompts her stern grandfather to ask that Lina move in with him so he can teach her to control her powers. Desperate to avoid this, Lina and her friend Claudia, who is black, get Lina accepted at the Hilltop Science and Arts Academy. Lina’s parents allow her to go as long as she does lessons with grandpa on Saturdays. However, fitting in at a Groundling school is rough, especially when your powers start freak winter storms! With the story unfurling in diary format, bright-pink–highlighted grayscale illustrations help move the plot along. There are slight gaps in the storytelling and the pacing is occasionally uneven, but Lina is full of spunk and promotes self-acceptance.
A jam-packed opener sure to satisfy lovers of the princess genre. (Fantasy. 5-8)Pub Date: June 25, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-338-35393-8
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: March 26, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2019
First of a tasty if not immediately nourishing new series.
When Dr. Bunsen, Gabe, Laura, and Cesar's mad-scientist neighbor, tries out his growth machine on Gabe's plastic animal toys, there's an unexpected result—they come to life.
Second-grade whiz kids Gabriel Martinez, Laura Reyes, and Cesar Moreno meet their strange neighbor while fundraising for a science-club field trip. Known to their classmates as “the Data Set,” they each have individual passions: Gabe loves animals; Laura loves to tinker and invent; Cesar loves to read and eat. There’s room for all these activities in their well-equipped treehouse. Together, their fantastic adventures will be the stuff of four titles scheduled for 2016 and aimed directly at first- and second-graders already devouring books. This episode introduces the characters, sets up the problem (the cute but rapidly growing baby animals), and finds a solution (sneak them into the zoo) in 126 fast-paced pages written with plenty of dialogue and copiously illustrated with appealing drawings. With these Latino protagonists—Cesar has dark skin and curly hair, while Laura and Gabe have lighter skin and straight hair—and a STEM-infused plot, this would seem to have been made to order for today’s elementary school students. While the emphasis is far more on plot than STEM, the kid-friendly fantasy should captivate readers, who will certainly want to gobble up the next installment. (Tantalizingly, the opening pages are included.)
First of a tasty if not immediately nourishing new series. (Adventure. 5-8)Pub Date: April 5, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4814-5729-3
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Little Simon/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Jan. 8, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2016
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