An adventurous wartime tale that offers a very different version of familiar events.
Subity’s alternate-history middle-grade fantasy novel offers a reimagining of World War II’s “Miracle of Dunkirk”—this time with dragons.
It’s 1940, and 13-year-old Iris’ small English village used to have a herd of dragons living in the forest nearby. However, before she was born, humans drove them away, except for one orphan. Iris befriends Galahad, the young dragon who was left behind, bringing him food and trying to teach him how to fly. (“You’re a glorious creature of unmatched beauty and odor,” she jokes.) However, the creature is captured by angry villagers after eating a sheep intended for military rations, and Iris strikes a desperate bargain to save his life: If the British army will spare him, he’ll become a flying messenger for the war effort. Meanwhile, a young Belgian Jewish teenager named Max is forced to flee his village with his grandmother when the Nazis invade. The pair are heading for the Dunkirk evacuation; when they get separated, Max continues to make his way to the coast and runs into a British army regiment in which Iris’ brother is serving. They take Max in and work to harry the oncoming German troops. Iris’ father and the rest of the village’s men take their boats to answer the call to help the evacuation effort, but the girl is determined to get other dragons to help. Later, when Iris finds out her brother hasn’t arrived yet, she heads inland to mount a rescue. Subity’s writing is well suited to a MG audience and maintains a strong sense of narrative tension throughout. Iris and Max are both well-developed characters, and if they’re a little overly earnest at times, it makes sense, given their ages. The alternating third-person perspectives of the two main players work well to move the narrative forward. It’s a bit unclear why, in a world where magic and dragons exist, absolutely nothing else is different from real-life history, but the introduction of such elements into WWII is a fun way to engage young readers with historical content.
An adventurous wartime tale that offers a very different version of familiar events.Pub Date: Sept. 17, 2024
ISBN: 9781338885033
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: April 26, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
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
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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