Empowering encouragement about claiming what makes you distinct.
A teen reckons with navigating family magic and disability.
Bernadette Crowley’s family are an esteemed Missoula, Montana, clan of Irish American witches led by powerful and spirited Grandma Orla. But their specialty—using blood for summoning demons—has become more complicated since 13-year-old Ber’s diabetes diagnosis. Because she must prick her finger to check her glucose levels, she’s begun summoning by accident. Big sister Maeve cooks up a plan to find a demon that can serve as a glucose monitor—but the girls get more than they bargained for in the form of Finley MacIntire, a Mystery demon whose growing entwinement with Ber isn’t enough to stop a torrent of magical chaos in the wake of their arrival. Debut author Edge uses space that could have been spent building intriguing relationships among the characters or expanding on Ber’s characterization to focus on details of the complex lore of witch culture that slow the story’s momentum. Nevertheless, the ways in which Ber’s diabetes interact with her powers are resonant, and her combative, prickly dynamics with Fin are enjoyable. Ber’s world expands as she begins to come into her own in regard to being both fat and diabetic. She relishes new bonds with other magical kids, and through these interactions, Edge interrogates the prejudices inherent in a system of hereditary magic and explores how new generations can end them. The escalating adventure will leave readers curious about events to come in future series entries.
Empowering encouragement about claiming what makes you distinct. (Fantasy. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 17, 2024
ISBN: 9781335006974
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2024
Plays to Rowling’s fan base; equally suited for gifting and reading aloud or alone.
A 7-year-old descends into the Land of the Lost in search of his beloved comfort object.
Jack has loved Dur Pig long enough to wear the beanbag toy into tattered shapelessness—which is why, when his angry older stepsister chucks it out the car window on Christmas Eve, he not only throws a titanic tantrum and viciously rejects the titular replacement pig, but resolves to sneak out to find DP. To his amazement, the Christmas Pig offers to guide him to the place where all lost Things go. Whiffs of childhood classics, assembled with admirable professionalism into a jolly adventure story that plays all the right chords, hang about this tale of loss and love. Along with family drama, Rowling stirs in fantasy, allegory, and generous measures of social and political commentary. Pursued by the Land’s cruel and monstrous Loser, Jack and the Christmas Pig pass through territories from the Wastes of the Unlamented, where booger-throwing Bad Habits roam, to the luxurious City of the Missed for encounters with Hope, Happiness, and Power (a choleric king who rejects a vote that doesn’t go his way). A joyful reunion on the Island of the Beloved turns poignant, but Christmas Eve being “a night for miracles and lost causes,” perhaps there’s still a chance (with a little help from Santa) for everything to come right? In both the narrative and Field’s accomplished, soft-focus illustrations, the cast presents White.
Plays to Rowling’s fan base; equally suited for gifting and reading aloud or alone. (Fantasy. 8-12)Pub Date: Oct. 12, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-338-79023-8
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Oct. 20, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A worthy combination of athletic action, the virtues of inner strength, and the importance of friendship.
A young tennis champion becomes the target of revenge.
In this sequel to Legacy and the Queen (2019), Legacy Petrin and her friends Javi and Pippa have returned to Legacy’s home province and the orphanage run by her father. With her friends’ help, she is in training to defend her championship when they discover that another player, operating under the protection of High Consul Silla, is presenting herself as Legacy. She is so convincing that the real Legacy is accused of being an imitation. False Legacy has become a hero to the masses, further strengthening Silla’s hold, and it becomes imperative to uncover and defeat her. If Legacy is to win again, she must play her imposter while disguised as someone else. Winning at tennis is not just about money and fame, but resisting Silla’s plans to send more young people into brutal mines with little hope of better lives. Legacy will have to overcome her fears and find the magic that allowed her to claim victory in the past. This story, with its elements of sports, fantasy, and social consciousness that highlight tensions between the powerful and those they prey upon, successfully continues the series conceived by late basketball superstar Bryant. As before, the tennis matches are depicted with pace and spirit. Legacy and Javi have brown skin; most other characters default to White.
A worthy combination of athletic action, the virtues of inner strength, and the importance of friendship. (Fantasy. 9-12)Pub Date: Aug. 24, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-949520-19-4
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Granity Studios
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
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