An adventurous, entertaining fable that taps into longings for a cleaner Earth.
Two children come to the rescue of a sanctuary world for Earth’s mistreated creatures in this debut middle-grade fantasy.
In the near future, after a plague and climate change disasters, sixth grader Ashley of Irish/Native American extraction meets freckled, green-eyed Joshua, who’s in the third grade. They follow the bouncing trail of Joshua’s newly discovered glowing blue ball through a shimmering portal into another world. Yondhaven “welcomes the ignored, the discarded, the mistreated, and many odds and ends from your Earth,” including animals and magical beings, explains Horace Guinea Pig—speech is one of the many blessings the land affords its denizens. But Yondhaven is threatened by Orts, monsters that embody Earth’s pollution. With the help of a flying unicorn, the children and Horace set out on a dangerous journey to the wise and powerful Gaela. As they dodge Orts and the wicked fairy Sicorax, they’re helped by Yondhaven’s motley creatures. But when they reach Gaela’s remote island, she’s gone into hiding. Ashley and Joshua must ascend to a mountaintop where their blue ball can return them to Earth—and work a miracle for Yondhaven. In her book, Wellman offers a portal adventure, the familiar plot structure enlivened by its parallels to pressing contemporary problems. While imparting a clear lesson about pollution and climate change, the novel generally avoids being overly preachy by providing dramatic episodes of danger and challenges. Joshua, for example, faces a test of character not unlike Edmund’s in C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Debut illustrator Gribok-Lipari supplies pencil drawings that charmingly depict scenery and animals, though human figures are less skillfully rendered.
An adventurous, entertaining fable that taps into longings for a cleaner Earth.Pub Date: May 7, 2021
ISBN: 979-8-70-297049-3
Page Count: 282
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: July 28, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
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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