A fun middle-grade story that will appeal most to kids who already love computers.
A modern, middle-grade take on the Lewis Carroll classic Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland that combines puns and wordplay with video games and computer terminology.
Sixth-grade smart aleck Alicia loves hacking into computers, and she’s the president of the Chaos Computing Club at her school. She never takes responsibility for anything she does, though, whether it’s losing her glasses or breaking a window; “It’s not my fault!” is her constant catchphrase. When she neglects to turn in her homework on time, she convinces her clueless teachers that computer-gnomes ate it and congratulates herself on getting away with a lie. But one evening, much to her surprise, real gnomes come out of her computer and take her through a hole in its camera—and into a virtual dream world. Alicia is transformed into a two-dimensional, miniature version of herself, trapped on the wrong side of the monitor. As she ventures deeper inside Computer Land, she meets the “bugs,” “worms,” “mice,” and other creatures that live there. She also inadvertently introduces a virus, hidden inside a real Trojan horse, which threatens to destroy the computer from the inside out. With the help of her avatar, White-Rabbit; her hacker friend, Caterpillar; and her video game–playing brother, Alicia must stop the virus before it erases her virtual self. She also learns how to take responsibility along the way. Vasquez Garcia (The Witch Narratives: Reincarnation, 2012, etc.) has created a zany mashup of elements from Alice and The Wizard of Oz, illustrated with well-known images from art and children’s literature, combined with pencil drawings. The story is crammed with clever puns based on computing terms, and a helpful glossary explains unfamiliar words (“spaghetti code”; “worm-flu”). Barreling forward at a frenetic pace, the nonsensical plot resembles that of a video game. However, its abrupt ending may leave readers wondering whether it was all a dream.
A fun middle-grade story that will appeal most to kids who already love computers.Pub Date: Nov. 16, 2014
ISBN: 978-1502913906
Page Count: 190
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Jan. 27, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An epic fantasy with timeless themes and unforgettable characters.
Two young people save the world and all the magic in it in this series opener.
When tall, dark-haired, white-skinned Christopher Forrester goes to stay with his grandfather in Scotland, he ventures to the top of a forbidden hill and discovers astonishing magical creatures. His grandfather explains that Christopher’s family are guardians of the “way through” to the Archipelago, where the Glimourie Tree grows—the source of glimourie, or the world’s magic. Black-haired, olive-skinned Mal Arvorian, a girl from the Archipelago, is being pursued by a murderer, and she asks Christopher for help, launching them both on a wild, dangerous journey to discover why the glimourie is disappearing and how to stop it. Together with a part-nereid woman, a ratatoska, a dragon, and a Berserker, they face an odyssey of dangerous tasks to find the Immortal, the only one who can reverse the draining of magic. Like Lyra and Will from Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials, Mal and Christopher sacrifice their innocence for experience, meeting every challenge with depthless courage until they finally reach the maze at the heart of it all. Rundell throws myriad obstacles in her characters’ way, but she gives them tools both tangible (a casapasaran, which always points the way home, and the glamry blade, which cuts through anything) and intangible (the desire “to protect something worth protecting” and an “insistence that the world is worth loving”). Final art not seen.
An epic fantasy with timeless themes and unforgettable characters. (map, bestiary) (Fantasy. 10-16)Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2024
ISBN: 9780593809860
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 30, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2024
SEEN & HEARD
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
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