A much-needed, creative, and captivatingly different take on fairy tales.
Ever since she escaped the tower she was trapped in, Rumaysa has been searching for her parents.
Rumaysa is back in this sequel to Rumaysa: A Fairytale (2023), this time with a spin on the classic fairy tale “Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.” The purple onyx necklace gifted to her by her friend Sulieman takes her to “enchanted lands and troubled people,” those who are most in need. Among other adventures, she helps a mermaid escape captivity and saves Little Red Riding Hijab from a wolf. Yet, all Rumaysa wants is for the necklace to return her to her parents. After she rescues a young boy from a scaly, clawed beast, she learns he’s Prince Aydin, the brother of Queen Saira White of Bishnara. The queen gratefully invites Rumaysa to her palace, which is made of gold. There, Rumaysa learns the queen’s story: Her stepmother tried to kill her, but Saira White fell through a trapdoor into the underground home of “seven outcasts.” When the magic necklace starts to pull at Rumaysa, she follows its lead, discovers a surprise, and learns she’s in danger. At points in the story, readers also get to hear the perspectives of Naina and Samar, Rumaysa’s parents, as they search for their daughter. Hafiza again portrays strong, independent girls and women in a story that focuses on familial love and being true to oneself. Black-and-white illustrations complement the text.
A much-needed, creative, and captivatingly different take on fairy tales. (Fantasy. 8-11)Pub Date: April 23, 2024
ISBN: 9781529091311
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Macmillan Children's Books
Review Posted Online: March 9, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
Dizzyingly silly.
The famous superhero returns to fight another villain with all the trademark wit and humor the series is known for.
Despite the title, Captain Underpants is bizarrely absent from most of this adventure. His school-age companions, George and Harold, maintain most of the spotlight. The creative chums fool around with time travel and several wacky inventions before coming upon the evil Turbo Toilet 2000, making its return for vengeance after sitting out a few of the previous books. When the good Captain shows up to save the day, he brings with him dynamic action and wordplay that meet the series’ standards. The Captain Underpants saga maintains its charm even into this, the 11th volume. The epic is filled to the brim with sight gags, toilet humor, flip-o-ramas and anarchic glee. Holding all this nonsense together is the author’s good-natured sense of harmless fun. The humor is never gross or over-the-top, just loud and innocuous. Adults may roll their eyes here and there, but youngsters will eat this up just as quickly as they devoured every other Underpants episode.
Dizzyingly silly. (Humor. 8-10)Pub Date: Aug. 26, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-545-50490-4
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: June 3, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A dramatic, educational, authentic whale of a tale.
After a tsunami devastates their habitat in the Salish Sea, a young orca and her brother embark on a remarkable adventure.
Vega’s matriarchal family expects her to become a hunter and wayfinder, with her younger brother, Deneb, protecting and supporting her. Invited to guide her family to their Gathering Place to hunt salmon, Vega’s underwater miscalculations endanger them all, and an embarrassed Vega questions whether she should be a wayfinder. When the baby sister she hoped would become her life companion is stillborn, a distraught Vega carries the baby away to a special resting place, shocking her grieving family. Dispatched to find his missing sister, Deneb locates Vega in the midst of a terrible tsunami. To escape the waters polluted by shattered boats, Vega leads Deneb into unfamiliar open sea. Alone and hungry, the young siblings encounter a spectacular giant whale and travel briefly with shark-hunting orcas. Trusting her instincts and gaining emotional strength from contemplating the vastness of the sky, Vega knows she must lead her brother home and help save her surviving family. In alternating first-person voices, Vega and Deneb tell their harrowing story, engaging young readers while educating them about the marine ecosystem. Realistic black-and-white illustrations enhance the maritime setting.
A dramatic, educational, authentic whale of a tale. (maps, wildlife facts, tribes of the Salish Sea watershed, environmental and geographical information, how to help orcas, author’s note, artist’s note, resources) (Animal fiction. 8-10)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-06-299592-6
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: June 30, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2020
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