Despite starting slowly, this dream-world fantasy encourages readers to exercise critical and creative thinking.
A kidnapped boy and girl discover that their dreams contain clues for an escape plan.
This middle-grade fantasy sequel about a young boy named Sandy, who visits a “dream space” called the Knight School, contains a worthwhile message. Dreams and even nightmares can be a conduit to problem-solving. But readers may wonder what the book’s title has to do with the story’s beginning. Over several expository pages, Randall introduces Sandy’s pooch, Mr. Tweed, describing the canine’s background and idiosyncrasies. As a dog story, it is well written and entertaining. As a stage-setter for what turns out to be Mr. Tweed’s involvement in later events, it is too lengthy a prelude to an adventure that doesn’t begin in earnest until Chapter 5, when Sandy is captured by a pair of bungling kidnappers. This narrative delay also encompasses an introduction to Sandy’s huge, old house in Boston’s Beacon Hill, seemingly meant to establish a mysterious atmosphere. Yet the house is not integral to the plot, and there’s too much information about squirrels (although Sandy’s dream about the animals proves to be significant). But if readers stay with the tale, they’ll find the momentum picks up when Sandy’s dramatic kidnapping leads to his return to the Knight School (introduced in the author’s 2007 series opener, The Dream Wizard Conquers His Knight Mare), where a cadre of sleeping kids meets. There, a benevolent adult named Reed Sundance helps them interpret elements in their dreams that can provide solutions to predicaments in their waking lives. “Dreaming is like a storm in your mind. You can spin up lots of new ways of thinking,” Reed says. When a girl Sandy meets at the Knight School turns out to be a fellow abductee, they mine their dreams for ways to thwart their kidnappers. These are more convenient than credible, but many readers will find value in Randall’s guide to thinking differently about dreams and demystifying nightmares. The text is accompanied by several full-page illustrations pleasantly rendered in pencil by Lovely.
Despite starting slowly, this dream-world fantasy encourages readers to exercise critical and creative thinking.Pub Date: Jan. 12, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-64803-910-2
Page Count: 94
Publisher: Westwood Books Publishing
Review Posted Online: Nov. 15, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
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
More hijinks-filled adventure than mystery, this is sure to win an audience.
Ben Silverstein’s summer with Grandpa is about to go wild.
When his parents need to “work out some troubles,” 10-year-old Ben gets shipped off to tiny Buttonville, where everything seems to be closed or out of business since the button factory was shuttered years ago. Ben’s used to spending summers in the pool in his Los Angeles backyard with his friends, and Buttonville looks positively coma-inducing. When Grandpa’s mouser Barnaby deposits what has to be a baby dragon on Ben’s bed, Ben and his new friend Pearl (whom the whole town calls “troublemaker” on account of a few innocent incidents) decide to visit the new “worm doctor” who has moved into the abandoned button factory. (Ben had heard her strange assistant Mr. Tabby buying ingredients for “dragon’s milk” at the grocery....) When their visit unleashes a hairy, pudding-loving imaginary beast on the town of Buttonville, Ben and Pearl volunteer to catch him. Selfors kicks off her Imaginary Veterinary series with a solid, entertaining opener. Ben and Pearl are Everykids that readers will relate to, and the adults of Buttonville are often delightfully weird and clueless. Twenty-five pages of backmatter include information on wyverns and sasquatch as well as the science of reptiles and a pudding recipe.
More hijinks-filled adventure than mystery, this is sure to win an audience. (Adventure. 8-12)Pub Date: April 2, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-316-20934-2
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2013
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