Sutcliff's prodigious historical tapestry spell-bound with empathy for Lovel, the hunchback whose healing hands secure him a place in the world, and sympathy for crippled stonemason Nick Redpoll, whose healing is Lovel's fulfillment, his giving of himself, not just his skill, to another. Counterpoised is Rahere, early the King's Jongleur, approached furtively, compulsively, until there he "stood in the window embrasure, looking out into the stormy dark where there could not possibly be anything to see. . . and whistling like a starling under the eaves." Later he returns, to the hospice not the Guest Lodging, as a monk not a minstrel, and yet his vision of Saint Bartholomew had shown Rahere how to get the land he needed for a hospital from the devout, uncharitable King. Lovel has longed for his whistle, and now the summons comes, but Brother Anselm, his first champion, lies dying. . . "Think, Lovel," says Rahere, "are you prepared to trade your whole life for an old man's few days?" Fiction threes the choice, perhaps, but moral rigor dictates the decision. Subsequently Lovel will leave Winchester New Minster and join Rahere at Smithfield outside London where St. Bartholomew's Hospital and priory are abuilding — and while the one took shape in the mind of a harried odd-job boy, tire other grows before knowing eyes, and he lays out and plants Iris own physic garden. But remembering draws him to Nick Redpoll, and recognizing Nick's yearning to shape and set stones again decides him on the treatment that may not cure — that is bearable to Nick because "Brother Lovel, with a game leg of his own, and that humpy shoulder and all. . . knows." "A good miracle," Rahere pronounces it, half smiling. Brimful — and how good to have a Sutcliff with wide, young appeal.
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1970
ISBN: 0099750805
Page Count: 112
Publisher: Walck
Review Posted Online: May 10, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1970
Broccoli: No way is James going to eat broccoli. “It’s disgusting,” says James. Well then, James, says his father, let’s consider the alternatives: some wormy dirt, perhaps, some stinky socks, some pre-chewed gum? James reconsiders the broccoli, but—milk? “Blech,” says James. Right, says his father, who needs strong bones? You’ll be great at hide-and-seek, though not so great at baseball and kickball and even tickling the dog’s belly. James takes a mouthful. So it goes through lumpy oatmeal, mushroom lasagna and slimy eggs, with James’ father parrying his son’s every picky thrust. And it is fun, because the father’s retorts are so outlandish: the lasagna-making troll in the basement who will be sent back to the rat circus, there to endure the rodent’s vicious bites; the uneaten oatmeal that will grow and grow and probably devour the dog that the boy won’t be able to tickle any longer since his bones are so rubbery. Schneider’s watercolors catch the mood of gentle ribbing, the looks of bewilderment and surrender and the deadpanned malarkey. It all makes James’ father’s last urging—“I was just going to say that you might like them if you tried them”—wholly fresh and unexpected advice. (Early reader. 5-9)
Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-547-14956-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An absorbing fantasy centered on a resilient female protagonist facing growth, change, and self-empowerment.
In Florence’s middle-grade fantasy novel, a young girl’s heart is tested in the face of an evil, spreading Darkness.
Eleven-year-old Lydia, “freckle-cheeked and round-eyed, with hair the color of pine bark and fair skin,” is struggling with the knowledge that she has reached the age to apprentice as an herbalist. Lydia is reluctant to leave her beloved, magical Mulberry Glen and her cozy Housetree in the woods—she’ll miss Garder, the Glen’s respected philosopher; her fairy guardian Pit; her human friend Livy; and even the mischievous part-elf, part-imp, part-human twins Zale and Zamilla. But the twins go missing after hearing of a soul-sapping Darkness that has swallowed a forest and is creeping into minds and engulfing entire towns. They have secretly left to find a rare fruit that, it is said, will stop the Darkness if thrown into the heart of the mountain that rises out of the lethal forest. Lydia follows, determined to find the twins before they, too, fall victim to the Darkness. During her journey, accompanied by new friends, she gradually realizes that she herself has a dangerous role to play in the quest to stop the Darkness. In this well-crafted fantasy, Florence skillfully equates the physical manifestation of Darkness with the feelings of insecurity and powerlessness that Lydia first struggles with when thinking of leaving the Glen. Such negative thoughts grow more intrusive the closer she and her friends come to the Darkness—and to Lydia’s ultimate, powerfully rendered test of character, which leads to a satisfyingly realistic, not quite happily-ever-after ending. Highlights include a delightfully haunting, reality-shifting library and a deft sprinkling of Latin throughout the text; Pit’s pet name for Lydia is mea flosculus (“my little flower”). Fine-lined ink drawings introducing each chapter add a pleasing visual element to this well-grounded fairy tale.
An absorbing fantasy centered on a resilient female protagonist facing growth, change, and self-empowerment.Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9781956393095
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Waxwing Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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