A safe yet magical adventure with plenty of heart.
This debut middle-grade fantasy sees four young cousins enter an enchanted wood and become privy to the thoughts of animals.
Elinora Wolton, 15, and her 14-year-old sister, Tillie, live an idyllic existence at Kellandale, a landed estate in Eldmoor (a fictitious country not dissimilar to 19th-century England). Elinora is apprehensive about leaving home to pursue her education, but the only real constraint on the girls’ lives is that they are forbidden to go into Kellandale, aka “Wyches,” Wood, which is reputed to drive people mad. The siblings have reluctantly obeyed this edict, but when they spy a sack being dumped into the river, Tillie insists that they go in search of it. The sisters venture deep into the wood. They find the sack and, wrapped up inside it, a hapless Morlish Wolfhound puppy, whom they rescue and name Henry. In doing so, they discover that the wood is enchanted—in the best possible way. It allows them to share Henry’s feelings and memories and those of the other woodland creatures. Henry becomes their best friend; yet he has been torn from his mother, brothers, and sisters. Can Elinora and Tillie—and their cousins Graham and Jamie—help Henry save his lost family? Spyker’s omniscient narrative harks back to the wholesome escapades once popularized by such authors as E. Nesbit and Enid Blyton, albeit updated to a 21st-century view on gender and race. (The protagonists remain born of privilege but even this is commented on.) The author has an easy prose style and a storyteller’s flair for characterization. While the retro dialogue is mannered, timid, sensible Elinora and bold, impetuous Tillie will appeal to modern readers, and they work beautifully together as protagonists. Henry deserves an immediate induction into the literary pantheon of canine heroes, and it is he, not the children, who provides the narrative glue. As the series opener unfolds, the cast grows perhaps a little too large, but even this is thematically apt. Spyker delivers a strong message of inclusiveness, love, and respect for all creatures. When the plot moves from the shelter of the forest to the darker reality of Coddlefin’s circus (and animal cruelty), the kids’ good intentions only grow.
A safe yet magical adventure with plenty of heart.Pub Date: March 31, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-73661-970-4
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Tulip Tree Creative Studios
Review Posted Online: Aug. 20, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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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