Grimm favorites continue to battle for control of an enchanted kingdom in this satisfying series outing.
Gilly, the cobbler’s delinquent daughter, is still at reform school, still searching for her runaway sister, and still fighting the evil Rumpelstiltskin.
Even though Gilly has successfully petitioned for a change in the Fairy Tale Reform School’s rules to allow partially reformed students to stay and hone their skills, she continues to be her own worst enemy. Whether it is accidentally releasing a band of pirates into their new library, zoning out during one of Prince Sebastian’s (aka the Beast’s) lessons, or trying to help Jack (as in the beanstalk) escape the school, Gilly cannot stay out of trouble. What she needs to focus on is finding Rumpelstiltskin and her missing sister, but she keeps getting distracted by her falling grades, new friends, and old enemies. The danger is real, but the faculty and staff—composed of fairies, werewolves, mermaids, and more—seem unwilling or unable to protect Enchantasia. Now into its fourth volume, this fast-paced mashup of fairy tales successfully tackles real-life issues such as prejudice, gender-role conformity, and self-esteem. Gilly is white, but Jack’s brown skin demonstrates that Calonita is not limiting herself to the European default of the source material. More adventures are to come for Gilly, but in the meantime, a preview of a new, linked series, Royal Academy Rebels, is included to whet readers’ appetites.
Grimm favorites continue to battle for control of an enchanted kingdom in this satisfying series outing. (Fantasy. 9-12)Pub Date: March 6, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4926-5164-2
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2018
However the compelling fitness of theme and event and the apt but unexpected imagery (the opening sentences compare the...
At a time when death has become an acceptable, even voguish subject in children's fiction, Natalie Babbitt comes through with a stylistic gem about living forever.
Protected Winnie, the ten-year-old heroine, is not immortal, but when she comes upon young Jesse Tuck drinking from a secret spring in her parents' woods, she finds herself involved with a family who, having innocently drunk the same water some 87 years earlier, haven't aged a moment since. Though the mood is delicate, there is no lack of action, with the Tucks (previously suspected of witchcraft) now pursued for kidnapping Winnie; Mae Tuck, the middle aged mother, striking and killing a stranger who is onto their secret and would sell the water; and Winnie taking Mae's place in prison so that the Tucks can get away before she is hanged from the neck until....? Though Babbitt makes the family a sad one, most of their reasons for discontent are circumstantial and there isn't a great deal of wisdom to be gleaned from their fate or Winnie's decision not to share it.
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1975
ISBN: 0312369816
Page Count: 164
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: April 13, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1975
Is this the end? Well, no…the series will stagger on through at least one more scheduled sequel.
Sure signs that the creative wells are running dry at last, the Captain’s ninth, overstuffed outing both recycles a villain (see Book 4) and offers trendy anti-bullying wish fulfillment.
Not that there aren’t pranks and envelope-pushing quips aplenty. To start, in an alternate ending to the previous episode, Principal Krupp ends up in prison (“…a lot like being a student at Jerome Horwitz Elementary School, except that the prison had better funding”). There, he witnesses fellow inmate Tippy Tinkletrousers (aka Professor Poopypants) escape in a giant Robo-Suit (later reduced to time-traveling trousers). The villain sets off after George and Harold, who are in juvie (“not much different from our old school…except that they have library books here.”). Cut to five years previous, in a prequel to the whole series. George and Harold link up in kindergarten to reduce a quartet of vicious bullies to giggling insanity with a relentless series of pranks involving shaving cream, spiders, effeminate spoof text messages and friendship bracelets. Pilkey tucks both topical jokes and bathroom humor into the cartoon art, and ups the narrative’s lexical ante with terms like “pharmaceuticals” and “theatrical flair.” Unfortunately, the bullies’ sad fates force Krupp to resign, so he’s not around to save the Earth from being destroyed later on by Talking Toilets and other invaders…
Is this the end? Well, no…the series will stagger on through at least one more scheduled sequel. (Fantasy. 10-12)Pub Date: Aug. 28, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-545-17534-0
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: June 19, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
