An introduction that might tempt readers to explore Poe’s own nightmares.
What kind of horror might Edgar Allan Poe perpetrate in today’s world?
Angry at the way his life changed after his father left, eighth-grader David Cray beats up a bully in his new school and then retreats to a secret room in the old house in downtown Baltimore his mother has rented. There, unknowingly, he awakens Poe’s spirit, who feeds on David’s rage to re-enact dreadful details of the 19th-century author’s most famous stories. For much of this suspenseful tale it’s not clear who’s responsible for the horrific events: a classmate mummified and nearly killed by a ceiling fan; a dead cat found in a locker; a swinging scythe that threatens another bound classmate. The police and even his mother suspect it might be David. Luckily, new friend Libby Morales (cued as Latina with her name but otherwise culturally indistinct) thinks better of him and works with him to solve the mystery. David’s first-person narrative is presented in short, fast-paced chapters, with occasional commentary from Poe himself. Kidd makes use of authentic setting details—the Enoch Pratt Free Library, Poe’s elaborate grave, and crab cakes from the Lexington Market—but seems to ignore the most salient one: David would probably have been the only white student in his school. A concluding author’s note explains that this is a “dream Baltimore,” where Poe gets the death he deserves.
An introduction that might tempt readers to explore Poe’s own nightmares. (Fantasy. 9-13)Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-8075-6805-7
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Whitman
Review Posted Online: May 9, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2017
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
A real gem.
A 10-year old girl learns to adjust to a strange town, makes some fascinating friends, and fills the empty space in her heart thanks to a big old stray dog in this lyrical, moving, and enchanting book by a fresh new voice.
India Opal’s mama left when she was only three, and her father, “the preacher,” is absorbed in his own loss and in the work of his new ministry at the Open-Arms Baptist Church of Naomi [Florida]. Enter Winn-Dixie, a dog who “looked like a big piece of old brown carpet that had been left out in the rain.” But, this dog had a grin “so big that it made him sneeze.” And, as Opal says, “It’s hard not to immediately fall in love with a dog who has a good sense of humor.” Because of Winn-Dixie, Opal meets Miss Franny Block, an elderly lady whose papa built her a library of her own when she was just a little girl and she’s been the librarian ever since. Then, there’s nearly blind Gloria Dump, who hangs the empty bottle wreckage of her past from the mistake tree in her back yard. And, Otis, oh yes, Otis, whose music charms the gerbils, rabbits, snakes and lizards he’s let out of their cages in the pet store. Brush strokes of magical realism elevate this beyond a simple story of friendship to a well-crafted tale of community and fellowship, of sweetness, sorrow and hope. And, it’s funny, too.
A real gem. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: March 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-7636-0776-2
Page Count: 182
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2000
SEEN & HEARD
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