A sweet tale spun around friendship, sisterly love, and dragon kittens, with a nod to another Edwardian classic.
Long-separated orphan sisters bond as tensions rise over mysterious attacks on magic in early-20th-century Manhattan.
Following up on The Gilded Girl (2021), a riff on A Little Princess, Colman crafts a companion tale. Referencing Frances Hodgson Burnett’s titular secret garden, this entry is set in 1907 and centers on 11-year-old Maeve O’Donnell, younger sister of Izzy and struggling student at a new, controversial magic school that is—thanks to her sister’s heroic actions in the previous book—open to children of all social classes. Along with further developing the theme of class struggles (one of the school’s rabid opponents is tellingly named Mrs. Nimby), the author stirs in disturbing reports of magic being somehow burned up in certain buildings as well as a rash of disappearing house dragons (think talking magic cats) and a walled garden in the Tarnish tenements where three rare and superlatively cute dragon kittens are hiding. It’s in that garden (once she discovers it) that Maeve gets over not only her fear of her own uncontrolled magic by helping new friend Avi Sigal conquer his anxieties, but her conviction that her loving sister’s affections are being stolen by the previous episode’s co-protagonist, Emma Harris. Ultimately the mysteries all twist up into a tight, tidy climax that leaves the villain exposed and other storylines happily resolved. Most of the cast reads as White.
A sweet tale spun around friendship, sisterly love, and dragon kittens, with a nod to another Edwardian classic. (Fantasy. 8-13)Pub Date: April 5, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-374-31395-1
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Jan. 10, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2022
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
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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