An absorbing treatise on living fully and truthfully.
Emotional honesty wins the day.
Everyone’s happy in the town of Serenity. It’s right there in the guidelines for residents: “CHOOSE HAPPINESS.” And that’s exactly what 12-year-old Mackenzie Werner and her friends do. Things are a little more complicated for Mackenzie; her feelings manifest as a colorful haze around her body. She’s mostly able to control her emotions (“Every day can be sunny and bright if you decide to make it that way”) until a new family moves to Serenity to work on a documentary about the town. Suddenly Mackenzie is confronted with some tough questions: Is being happy all the time really possible? The weight of projecting outward positivity takes its toll, and suddenly Mackenzie’s colors explode out of her during an interview for the documentary. Now everyone within the blast range has a haze like hers and must contend with the fallout of having their emotions on display. Though some aspects of the story are less effective than others (for instance, the chapters written from the perspective of places and emotions), overall this is an intriguing exploration of the effects of conformity and suppressing emotions. While readers get brief glimpses into other people’s lives through the documentary interviews, character development is generally light. The writing is well paced and engaging, and the book ends with helpful grounding techniques as well as resources for helping adults and tweens cope with overwhelming emotions. Mackenzie’s family presents white, though there’s racial diversity among her friends.
An absorbing treatise on living fully and truthfully. (Speculative fiction. 9-13)Pub Date: May 7, 2024
ISBN: 9781662620614
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Astra Young Readers
Review Posted Online: March 9, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2024
A pleasing premise for book lovers.
A fantasy-loving bookworm makes a wonderful, terrible bargain.
When sixth grader Poppy Woodlock’s historic preservationist parents move the family to the Oregon coast to work on the titular stately home, Poppy’s sure she’ll find magic. Indeed, the exiled water nymph in the manor’s ruined swimming pool grants a wish, but: “Magic isn’t free. It cosssts.” The price? Poppy’s favorite book, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. In return she receives Sampson, a winged lion cub who is everything Poppy could have hoped for. But she soon learns that the nymph didn’t take just her own physical book—she erased Narnia from Poppy’s world. And it’s just the first loss: Soon, Poppy’s grandmother’s journal’s gone, then The Odyssey, and more. The loss is heartbreaking, but Sampson’s a wonderful companion, particularly as Poppy’s finding middle school a tough adjustment. Hartman’s premise is beguiling—plenty of readers will identify with Poppy, both as a fellow bibliophile and as a kid struggling to adapt. Poppy’s repeatedly expressed faith that unveiling Sampson will bring some sort of vindication wears thin, but that does not detract from the central drama. It’s a pity that the named real-world books Poppy reads are notably lacking in diversity; a story about the power of literature so limited in imagination lets both itself and readers down. Main characters are cued White; there is racial diversity in the supporting cast. Chapters open with atmospheric spot art. (This review has been updated to reflect the final illustrations.)
A pleasing premise for book lovers. (Fantasy. 9-12)Pub Date: May 2, 2023
ISBN: 9780316448222
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2023
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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