An appealing combination of animal magic and low-key hero fantasy.
A hungry fox and a girl with a lively personality wield magic together.
Events unfold from the viewpoint of the narrator, a fox named Shadow who lives near the shore of Lake Superior. Food is scarce, she’s thin and has patchy fur, and the loss of her sister some months before is constantly on her mind. Shadow steals shoes from rooms at a nearby motel—she has 257 piled in her den—and distrusts all humans except for one. But Nan, the white-haired woman from the motel who used to feed her, is inexplicably gone; a red-haired girl is there instead. Bee, Nan’s granddaughter, is a bit wild and out of step with others herself. To Shadow’s initial annoyance, she and Bee forge a bond that turns out to be deep and magical; indeed, Bee can understand and give human voice to Shadow’s thoughts. Meanwhile, the island of Whistlenorth, accessed through a portal on Lake Superior, is the site of imminent (and foretold) devastation—and Bee and Shadow must attempt to thwart the danger. The Night Islanders’ greedy and indiscriminate reaping of the environment to distill “ultra-concentrated magic” has laid waste to much of what grows in the magical islands and threatens Minnesota’s forests. As Shadow navigates the dangerous territories of trust and power, the fox has a compelling voice that’s prickly, proud, and subtly funny. The book convincingly depicts a singular brand of northern, woodsy, wild magic.
An appealing combination of animal magic and low-key hero fantasy. (Fantasy. 8-11)Pub Date: Oct. 29, 2024
ISBN: 9781536228960
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Walker US/Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Aug. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2024
However the compelling fitness of theme and event and the apt but unexpected imagery (the opening sentences compare the...
At a time when death has become an acceptable, even voguish subject in children's fiction, Natalie Babbitt comes through with a stylistic gem about living forever.
Protected Winnie, the ten-year-old heroine, is not immortal, but when she comes upon young Jesse Tuck drinking from a secret spring in her parents' woods, she finds herself involved with a family who, having innocently drunk the same water some 87 years earlier, haven't aged a moment since. Though the mood is delicate, there is no lack of action, with the Tucks (previously suspected of witchcraft) now pursued for kidnapping Winnie; Mae Tuck, the middle aged mother, striking and killing a stranger who is onto their secret and would sell the water; and Winnie taking Mae's place in prison so that the Tucks can get away before she is hanged from the neck until....? Though Babbitt makes the family a sad one, most of their reasons for discontent are circumstantial and there isn't a great deal of wisdom to be gleaned from their fate or Winnie's decision not to share it.
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1975
ISBN: 0312369816
Page Count: 164
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: April 13, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1975
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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