An enthralling romp that touches on the origins of legends.
Two siblings search for an ancient figure in this fifth entry in The Magic Mirror series.
As the book opens, Marko and Mira are being investigated for their vastly improved academic attainment, which has affected the whole school’s grades. The kids tell the truth about the magic mirror that enables them to travel through time to the era they are studying, but authorities do not believe them. Meanwhile Marko and Mira receive a new assignment from Ye Ye, their paternal grandfather, in the form of an old scroll encased in an intriguing container. When Mira becomes distracted by social events, Marko attempts to engage her by researching the assignment. It turns out that the scroll is tied to The Journey to the West, a seventh-century novel that is well known in East Asian cultures. The pair must restore the scroll to explorer Xuanzang, who is said to be at the Nalanda University in India and will become the protagonist of The Journey to the West. The quickly evolving narrative explains how the siblings find themselves transported to the middle of a vast wilderness, meeting the scholar/explorer as he heads toward the university and accompanying him on his adventures. The fast-paced combination of time travel, history, and action makes for an appealing, quick read and an engaging introduction to a formidable literary tradition. Aside from Ye Ye, the children’s Chinese heritage is downplayed in this installment.
An enthralling romp that touches on the origins of legends. (author's note) (Fantasy. 8-11)Pub Date: Sept. 30, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-4788-6930-6
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Reycraft Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
File under “laugh riot.”
A rogue spell-check program’s bid to transform all life-forms into that eminently useful office item, the paper clip, touches off a fresh round of lunar lunacy.
Predicated on the entirely reasonable premise that eliminating all spelling and grammar errors everywhere would logically lead to the necessity of exterminating carbon-based life in the universe, this third series entry combines high stakes with daffy banter and daring exploits. CheckMate—a chipper, jumped-up editing program—has invented the Transmogratron, a giant laser that will fulfill its ultimate goals in both the cyber world and “meatspace.” Facing challenges as random as prankster lunar unicorns and a disarmingly motherly Motherboard, scowling First Cat joins a motley crew of diversely carbon- and silicon-based allies, led by the pearlescent Queen of the Moon. They’re in a race to the finish—diverted occasionally by, for instance, a relentlessly punny comic-book interlude featuring a pair of literal and figurative Pool Sharks. They ultimately triumph thanks to teamwork and moxie. Following a celebratory party and toasts to “new friends…and steadfast comrades” (and, of course, “MEOW”), the story’s energetic, brightly colored panels close with a reveal of the next volume. (“I always hate it when comics end by announcing a sequel. SO CRINGE!” declares an authorial stand-in.) It can’t come too soon.
File under “laugh riot.” (Graphic science fiction. 8-11)Pub Date: Nov. 5, 2024
ISBN: 9780063315280
Page Count: 272
Publisher: HarperAlley
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
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