An uneven melodrama.
Three tween girls dabble in witchcraft but discover the magic of friendship.
Eighth grader Sophia, along with friends Mia and Alexis, attempt to use Mia’s knowledge of witchcraft (gleaned from the internet) to cast spells. Together, they sit in a circle and call upon elemental spirits, each hoping to find a solution to their emotional wounds. Mia struggles with self-harm, Alexis grieves for her deceased dog, and Sophia is heartbroken thanks to feckless ex-boyfriend Aidan’s cheating, prompting her to cast a love spell to get him back. One by one, the spells appear to come true, but Sophia’s friends help her realize that she deserves a more empowering journey toward self-love. The narrative, told from Sophia’s first-person perspective, develops parallels between her absentee father and Aidan, sources of rejection that prompt her recovery. Sophia’s voice is humorously exaggerated and obsessive when referring to Aidan. The confessional style, written with reluctant and struggling readers in mind, features repetitive dialogue with little exposition. The narrative moves disjointedly through time, however, jumping between the present and flashbacks, before leaping two years into the future, which may cause confusion. The secondary characters unfortunately feel typecast rather than like well-rounded people. Mia’s sudden healing, for example, skips over the nuances of self-harm and her need for non-magical solutions. The book’s physical design offers greater accessibility for those with dyslexia. Main characters read white.
An uneven melodrama. (Fiction. 12-14)Pub Date: April 2, 2024
ISBN: 9781454954880
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Union Square & Co.
Review Posted Online: Jan. 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
Despite the stale fat-to-curvy pattern, compelling world building with a Southern European, pseudo-Christian feel,...
Adventure drags our heroine all over the map of fantasyland while giving her the opportunity to use her smarts.
Elisa—Princess Lucero-Elisa de Riqueza of Orovalle—has been chosen for Service since the day she was born, when a beam of holy light put a Godstone in her navel. She's a devout reader of holy books and is well-versed in the military strategy text Belleza Guerra, but she has been kept in ignorance of world affairs. With no warning, this fat, self-loathing princess is married off to a distant king and is embroiled in political and spiritual intrigue. War is coming, and perhaps only Elisa's Godstone—and knowledge from the Belleza Guerra—can save them. Elisa uses her untried strategic knowledge to always-good effect. With a character so smart that she doesn't have much to learn, body size is stereotypically substituted for character development. Elisa’s "mountainous" body shrivels away when she spends a month on forced march eating rat, and thus she is a better person. Still, it's wonderfully refreshing to see a heroine using her brain to win a war rather than strapping on a sword and charging into battle.
Despite the stale fat-to-curvy pattern, compelling world building with a Southern European, pseudo-Christian feel, reminiscent of Naomi Kritzer's Fires of the Faithful (2002), keeps this entry fresh. (Fantasy. 12-14)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-06-202648-4
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2011
A charming adaptation.
A miscommunication leaves Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert responsible for a plucky, effusive orphan girl instead of the boy they’d expected to help maintain their farm.
Retold in traditional manga format, with right-to-left panel orientation and detailed black-and-white linework, this adaptation is delightfully faithful to the source text. Larger panels establish the idyllic country landscape while subtle text boxes identify the setting—Prince Edward Island, Canada, in the 1870s. The book follows redheaded Anne Shirley from her arrival at Green Gables at 11 to her achievement of a college scholarship. In the intervening years, Anne finds stability, friendship, personal growth, and ambition in Avonlea and in the strict but well-intentioned Cuthbert siblings’ household. The familiar story is enhanced by the exciting new format and lush illustrations. A variety of panel layouts provides visual freshness, maintaining reader interest. Backmatter includes the floor plan of the Green Gables house, as well as interior and exterior views, and notes about research on the actual location. A description of the process of adapting the novel to this visual format indicates the care that was taken to highlight particular elements of the story as well as to remain faithful to the smallest details. Readers who find the original text challenging will welcome this as an aid to comprehension and Anne’s existing fans will savor a fresh perspective on their beloved story. All characters appear to be White.
A charming adaptation. (Graphic fiction. 12-14)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-947808-18-8
Page Count: 308
Publisher: Manga Classics
Review Posted Online: Aug. 18, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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