This magical, action-packed journey is layered with challenges and enriched by friendship.
What’s the point of having a crew? Having folks who tough it out with you.
Twelve-year-old poet Keynan “Keymaster” Masters is content with his neighborhood, life with his mom and baba, and attending virtual school. When he gets a surprise acceptance letter from the Peerless Academy of Movement, Art, Genealogy, Instrumentation, and Composition, he’s resolute about not attending, because it would mean leaving Bizzy Block, his tight-knit co-op community. Full of family, food, and fun, Bizzy Block is safe—well, except for the raging storms that seem to come from nowhere and threaten to swallow everything up. After a particularly destructive storm roars through, Keymaster decides to go to Peerless after all, hoping they’ll have the knowledge to help him stop the storms. But Peerless holds more secrets than that, among them the fact that there is broken magic out there that must be held at bay lest it destroy everything. Magic is hard to contain, however, and Keymaster inadvertently rhymes up trouble. He and his creative crew—artist Amari and dancer Leah—face the biggest threat they’ve ever seen. Collectively, their artistic talents keep Peerless safe, but there’s more trouble in store, as Keymaster learns when he returns home for the summer. Sanders’ debut is a culturally and linguistically rich journey through a magical world populated by young Black creatives, featuring diverse portrayals of Black youth. The fast pace will keep readers absorbed.
This magical, action-packed journey is layered with challenges and enriched by friendship. (Fantasy. 9-13)Pub Date: Oct. 17, 2023
ISBN: 9781335458049
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Inkyard Press
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2023
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
BOOK REVIEW
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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