In the crowded teens-with-powers genre, this debut sails above the rest.
In this YA debut, teens with elemental powers train to battle monsters in a post-apocalyptic wasteland.
The world has been reduced to glass craters and tumbled ruins by the Burning. In scattered villages, survivors of the Confederacy send gifted children to Redbridge Academy, where they learn to harness the elements: water, earth, fire, and wind. Rayne is from Bluffstown, a coastal community. She and best friend Jules begin three years of training to become Guardians, who fight (and often die) against monsters in the Ziera Mountains. Reaching the academy, Rayne chooses to learn water casting, while Jules chooses fire. The teens also find romance at Redbridge; Jules dates Kiki, and Rayne meets Jay, who cares for the injured in the Mendery. When Rayne’s friend Cascade is hurt, she intuitively heals the girl with flesh casting. Jay tells Rayne to hide the ability, otherwise the school Masters will make her a permanent resident of Healersbay against her will. Jay also hints at a conspiracy, led by Grand Master Efthalia, to find two casters who can manipulate light and shadow—the sun children. These powerful individuals have the potential to destroy the world, much like it was during the Burning. Debut author Iverson combines motifs from Avatar: The Last Airbender and the X-Men comics for an exhilarating read that has no shortage of hairpin twists. As the cast swells with students and teachers, Iverson maintains everyone’s unique value to the plot, thereby performing some excellent sleight of hand as readers learn more about the sun children. The magic of casting is well-grounded in mortal drama, since “Your casting is fueled by your body, and your body is a finite resource.” The fights are enthralling, too, as when a sun child uses “the shadows that played across every crease of my uniform and every contour of my body.” The only drawback, if there is one, is the narrative’s familiar YA structure: sequels and school years are set up to proceed apace. Yet Iverson’s inventive plotting makes any direction seem possible.
In the crowded teens-with-powers genre, this debut sails above the rest.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Dog Ear Publisher
Review Posted Online: Oct. 6, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Uncomplicated fun that sets readers up for the earlier, more-complicated books to come.
Little Blue Truck and his pal Toad meet friends old and new on a springtime drive through the country.
This lift-the-flap, interactive entry in the popular Little Blue Truck series lacks the narrative strength and valuable life lessons of the original Little Blue Truck (2008) and its sequel, Little Blue Truck Leads the Way (2009). Both of those books, published for preschoolers rather than toddlers, featured rich storylines, dramatic, kinetic illustrations, and simple but valuable life lessons—the folly of taking oneself too seriously, the importance of friends, and the virtue of taking turns, for example. At about half the length and with half as much text as the aforementioned titles, this volume is a much quicker read. Less a story than a vernal celebration, the book depicts a bucolic drive through farmland and encounters with various animals and their young along the way. Beautifully rendered two-page tableaux teem with butterflies, blossoms, and vibrant pastel, springtime colors. Little Blue greets a sheep standing in the door of a barn: “Yoo-hoo, Sheep! / Beep-beep! / What’s new?” Folding back the durable, card-stock flap reveals the barn’s interior and an adorable set of twin lambs. Encounters with a duck and nine ducklings, a cow with a calf, a pig with 10 (!) piglets, a family of bunnies, and a chicken with a freshly hatched chick provide ample opportunity for counting and vocabulary work.
Uncomplicated fun that sets readers up for the earlier, more-complicated books to come. (Board book. 1-4)Pub Date: Jan. 2, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-544-93809-0
Page Count: 16
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: March 3, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift.
A paean to teachers and their surrogates everywhere.
This gentle ode to a teacher’s skill at inspiring, encouraging, and being a role model is spoken, presumably, from a child’s viewpoint. However, the voice could equally be that of an adult, because who can’t look back upon teachers or other early mentors who gave of themselves and offered their pupils so much? Indeed, some of the self-aware, self-assured expressions herein seem perhaps more realistic as uttered from one who’s already grown. Alternatively, readers won’t fail to note that this small book, illustrated with gentle soy-ink drawings and featuring an adult-child bear duo engaged in various sedentary and lively pursuits, could just as easily be about human parent- (or grandparent-) child pairs: some of the softly colored illustrations depict scenarios that are more likely to occur within a home and/or other family-oriented setting. Makes sense: aren’t parents and other close family members children’s first teachers? This duality suggests that the book might be best shared one-on-one between a nostalgic adult and a child who’s developed some self-confidence, having learned a thing or two from a parent, grandparent, older relative, or classroom instructor.
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943200-08-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Compendium
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
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