Furry fun, with much affectionate tweaking of local culture and attitudes.
Driven out of Scotland generations ago, a refined family of wolves returns to reclaim its heritage.
Inspired perhaps by recent calls to rewild Scotland, Gifford kits out young Boris Fenrir Wolfgang McLupus Greycoat and his equally hairy parents, Randall and Leonora, in fashionable tweeds and sends them from a comfy manor on the continent to visit their ancestral land. There, along with discovering the pleasures of Scottish food and country rambles, they fall in love with a decrepit castle near the village of Portlessie that is about to be sold and leveled to make way for posh villas. Although, as the author explains in one of several humorous sidebar comments on wolfish behavior, hunger will occasionally drive wolves to “Undignified Situations and Embarrassing Incidents,” in fact they generally have faultless manners and indeed soon win over all the understandably apprehensive locals except for a choleric real estate developer who serves as the villain of the piece. The castle is saved, of course, and prior to the closing map and recipe for bannocks, Boris has even begun to make sense of the local Scots Doric (“Awawiyethen,” says the friendly fishmonger). Along with charming pastoral scenes of the shaggy tourists and their McLupus ancestors in tartans, this delightful tale includes frequent comical tableaux that offer views of turreted castles, quaint shops, and cozy homes as well as resident humans of diverse hue.
Furry fun, with much affectionate tweaking of local culture and attitudes. (family tree) (Animal fantasy. 9-12)Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2023
ISBN: 9781684647194
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Kane Miller
Review Posted Online: June 21, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 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
Entrancing and uplifting.
A small dog, the elderly woman who owns him, and a homeless girl come together to create a tale of serendipity.
Piper, almost 12, her parents, and her younger brother are at the bottom of a long slide toward homelessness. Finally in a family shelter, Piper finds that her newfound safety gives her the opportunity to reach out to someone who needs help even more. Jewel, mentally ill, lives in the park with her dog, Baby. Unwilling to leave her pet, and forbidden to enter the shelter with him, she struggles with the winter weather. Ree, also homeless and with a large dog, helps when she can, but after Jewel gets sick and is hospitalized, Baby’s taken to the animal shelter, and Ree can’t manage the complex issues alone. It’s Piper, using her best investigative skills, who figures out Jewel’s backstory. Still, she needs all the help of the shelter Firefly Girls troop that she joins to achieve her accomplishment: to raise enough money to provide Jewel and Baby with a secure, hopeful future and, maybe, with their kindness, to inspire a happier story for Ree. Told in the authentic alternating voices of loving child and loyal dog, this tale could easily slump into a syrupy melodrama, but Pyron lets her well-drawn characters earn their believable happy ending, step by challenging step, by reaching out and working together. Piper, her family, and Jewel present white; Pyron uses hair and naming convention, respectively, to cue Ree as black and Piper’s friend Gabriela as Latinx.
Entrancing and uplifting. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Aug. 13, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-06-283922-0
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: April 9, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2019
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