A fun, skillfully written adventure that ably blends historical fiction and fantasy elements.
In Fitzhugh’s paranormal middle-grade historical novel, a young girl uses psychic visions to help fight the British during the American Revolution.
After the tragic deaths of her parents, Emmeline, who’s gifted with the ability to see the future, is separated from her sister and forced into the service of the cruel and abusive Mr. Chitwood. He disguises the 11-year-old girl as a boy and forces her to perform a fortune-telling act for wealthy clients. Its success leads Chitwood to consider taking Emmeline from America to England to perform for the king, and she fears that she may never see her sister again. Recognizing the power of Emmeline’s gift, a kind woman helps her escape and sends her to Mr. Imason, a schoolmaster in Tarrytown, New York. Imason promises to hide Emmeline from Chitwood and his imposing manhunter, Doon, and while in his care, she’ll aid the rebel cause by using her visions to help predict troop movements as the Revolutionary War looms. Hidden in Tarrytown, she takes a new identity—Roo—and befriends two other children who are also living without their parents: Izzy, a chatty and headstrong student and school custodian, has lost her mother and remains separated from her soldier father; River, a formerly enslaved runaway, has lost his father and has been away from his mother for the past four years. As tension between Patriots and Loyalists escalates, the children get to know a colorful cast of characters in the community, including Helga, a reclusive so-called “witch”; Mo, a friendly miller; and a mysterious ghost known as the Lady in White. Over the course of the novel, Fitzhugh employs well-crafted prose and creative descriptions (“her rifle, green with age, looked about ready to sprout mushrooms”) to build an immersive world that will keep readers engaged. Although the narrative becomes somewhat unfocused in the middle, introducing many different players and incorporating several new subplots, the main characters’ compelling personalities and the fast-paced action will keep readers hooked.
A fun, skillfully written adventure that ably blends historical fiction and fantasy elements.Pub Date: Jan. 15, 2026
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 314
Publisher: Snail House Books
Review Posted Online: Dec. 9, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2026
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Rich and strange (and kitted out with an eye-catching cover), but stronger in the set pieces than the internal logic.
Chainani works an elaborate sea change akin to Gregory Maguire’s Wicked (1995), though he leaves the waters muddied.
Every four years, two children, one regarded as particularly nice and the other particularly nasty, are snatched from the village of Gavaldon by the shadowy School Master to attend the divided titular school. Those who survive to graduate become major or minor characters in fairy tales. When it happens to sweet, Disney princess–like Sophie and her friend Agatha, plain of features, sour of disposition and low of self-esteem, they are both horrified to discover that they’ve been dropped not where they expect but at Evil and at Good respectively. Gradually—too gradually, as the author strings out hundreds of pages of Hogwarts-style pranks, classroom mishaps and competitions both academic and romantic—it becomes clear that the placement wasn’t a mistake at all. Growing into their true natures amid revelations and marked physical changes, the two spark escalating rivalry between the wings of the school. This leads up to a vicious climactic fight that sees Good and Evil repeatedly switching sides. At this point, readers are likely to feel suddenly left behind, as, thanks to summary deus ex machina resolutions, everything turns out swell(ish).
Rich and strange (and kitted out with an eye-catching cover), but stronger in the set pieces than the internal logic. (Fantasy. 11-13)Pub Date: May 14, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-06-210489-2
Page Count: 496
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2013
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An absorbing fantasy centered on a resilient female protagonist facing growth, change, and self-empowerment.
In Florence’s middle-grade fantasy novel, a young girl’s heart is tested in the face of an evil, spreading Darkness.
Eleven-year-old Lydia, “freckle-cheeked and round-eyed, with hair the color of pine bark and fair skin,” is struggling with the knowledge that she has reached the age to apprentice as an herbalist. Lydia is reluctant to leave her beloved, magical Mulberry Glen and her cozy Housetree in the woods—she’ll miss Garder, the Glen’s respected philosopher; her fairy guardian Pit; her human friend Livy; and even the mischievous part-elf, part-imp, part-human twins Zale and Zamilla. But the twins go missing after hearing of a soul-sapping Darkness that has swallowed a forest and is creeping into minds and engulfing entire towns. They have secretly left to find a rare fruit that, it is said, will stop the Darkness if thrown into the heart of the mountain that rises out of the lethal forest. Lydia follows, determined to find the twins before they, too, fall victim to the Darkness. During her journey, accompanied by new friends, she gradually realizes that she herself has a dangerous role to play in the quest to stop the Darkness. In this well-crafted fantasy, Florence skillfully equates the physical manifestation of Darkness with the feelings of insecurity and powerlessness that Lydia first struggles with when thinking of leaving the Glen. Such negative thoughts grow more intrusive the closer she and her friends come to the Darkness—and to Lydia’s ultimate, powerfully rendered test of character, which leads to a satisfyingly realistic, not quite happily-ever-after ending. Highlights include a delightfully haunting, reality-shifting library and a deft sprinkling of Latin throughout the text; Pit’s pet name for Lydia is mea flosculus (“my little flower”). Fine-lined ink drawings introducing each chapter add a pleasing visual element to this well-grounded fairy tale.
An absorbing fantasy centered on a resilient female protagonist facing growth, change, and self-empowerment.Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9781956393095
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Waxwing Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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