A refreshing fairy tale that breaks the passive-heroine mold.
Two sisters quest to break a spell, even as one of them succumbs to the same curse that kept their mother asleep for 100 years.
Demure Princess Aurora and reckless Princess Luna are shocked to discover that their fragile mother is the Sleeping Beauty of fairy-tale fame. They are even more surprised to learn the reason for their sheltered upbringing is that 11-year-old Aurora has also been sentenced to sleep 100 years by the same vengeful fairy who cursed their mother. The girls hope they’ll have time to undo the spell, but Aurora pricks her finger and is soon fighting the pull of enchanted slumber. Thus the sisters embark on a choppily paced sea journey to find the long-lost fairy godmother they hope can lift the curse. Along the way, they make new friends, encounter a disembodied spirit, man-eating beasts and a sea monster, among other dangers. Aurora narrates the story—even through her inevitable sleep—and though the conclusion seems sudden and a bit too easy, Aurora’s and Luna’s growth is satisfying and real. The problems—including awkward references to stories from our world—distract, but fantasy readers should be willing to overlook the flaws for the satisfaction of reading a story about girls with agency who, though aided by others, find the solutions to their own problems.
A refreshing fairy tale that breaks the passive-heroine mold. (Fantasy. 9-13)Pub Date: Aug. 27, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-06-200496-3
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 21, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2013
Charming, poignant, and thoughtfully woven.
An aspiring scientist and a budding artist become friends and help each other with dream projects.
Unfolding in mid-1980s Sacramento, California, this story stars 12-year-olds Rosalind and Benjamin as first-person narrators in alternating chapters. Ro’s father, a fellow space buff, was killed by a drunk driver; the rocket they were working on together lies unfinished in her closet. As for Benji, not only has his best friend, Amir, moved away, but the comic book holding the clue for locating his dad is also missing. Along with their profound personal losses, the protagonists share a fixation with the universe’s intriguing potential: Ro decides to complete the rocket and hopes to launch mementos of her father into outer space while Benji’s conviction that aliens and UFOs are real compels his imagination and creativity as an artist. An accident in science class triggers a chain of events forcing Benji and Ro, who is new to the school, to interact and unintentionally learn each other’s secrets. They resolve to find Benji’s dad—a famous comic-book artist—and partner to finish Ro’s rocket for the science fair. Together, they overcome technical, scheduling, and geographical challenges. Readers will be drawn in by amusing and fantastical elements in the comic book theme, high emotional stakes that arouse sympathy, and well-drawn character development as the protagonists navigate life lessons around grief, patience, self-advocacy, and standing up for others. Ro is biracial (Chinese/White); Benji is White.
Charming, poignant, and thoughtfully woven. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Jan. 12, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-06-300888-5
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A sly, side-splitting hoot from start to finish.
The dreary prospect of spending a lifetime making caskets instead of wonderful inventions prompts a young orphan to snatch up his little sister and flee. Where? To the circus, of course.
Fortunately or otherwise, John and 6-year-old Page join up with Boz—sometime human cannonball for the seedy Wandering Wayfarers and a “vertically challenged” trickster with a fantastic gift for sowing chaos. Alas, the budding engineer barely has time to settle in to begin work on an experimental circus wagon powered by chicken poop and dubbed (with questionable forethought) the Autopsy. The hot pursuit of malign and indomitable Great-Aunt Beauregard, the Coggins’ only living relative, forces all three to leave the troupe for further flights and misadventures. Teele spins her adventure around a sturdy protagonist whose love for his little sister is matched only by his fierce desire for something better in life for them both and tucks in an outstanding supporting cast featuring several notably strong-minded, independent women (Page, whose glare “would kill spiders dead,” not least among them). Better yet, in Boz she has created a scene-stealing force of nature, a free spirit who’s never happier than when he’s stirring up mischief. A climactic clutch culminating in a magnificently destructive display of fireworks leaves the Coggin sibs well-positioned for bright futures. (Illustrations not seen.)
A sly, side-splitting hoot from start to finish. (Adventure. 11-13)Pub Date: April 12, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-234510-3
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Walden Pond Press/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
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