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HOW THE FAERIES DANCE

Expressive, gentle verses for young fans of fairy tales.

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A children’s picture book of poems about fairies and other magical beings.

Debut children’s author Fraser winningly introduces young readers to flitting fairies, elves, leprechauns, a cartoon-loving goblin, a dragon, a unicorn named Shakespeare, and more. These magical beings exist, for the most part, in a world of woods, wildflowers, animals, and insects reminiscent of Cicely Mary Barker’s Flower Fairies books. Watercolorist Vasileva’s delicate illustrations are variously sized and positioned around the poems, and fairy and human characters are pictured as Black, brown, and White. Fraser’s verses, written primarily as simple couplets and quatrains, beg to be read aloud (“I love to watch the faeries fly above the pine and yew. / I love to watch them Highland fling above midsummer’s dew”). The poetry paints evocative images; for example, a child imagines what it would be like to ride on a butterfly and play “among the cowslip and bluebells” (“To Be a Faery Child”). The shortest entry, “The Goblin,” tells an amusing story in 10 lines; funny-bone humor also infuses “Little Bubbles,” about a fire-breathing baby dragon who lives with a boy named Bobby-Joe, drives a go-kart, cooks burgers, and becomes overly excited playing ball, accidentally singeing the boy’s hair.

Expressive, gentle verses for young fans of fairy tales.

Pub Date: Oct. 13, 2021

ISBN: 978-1-03-911965-9

Page Count: 60

Publisher: FriesenPress

Review Posted Online: May 20, 2022

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2022

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IMPOSSIBLE CREATURES

From the Impossible Creatures series , Vol. 1

An epic fantasy with timeless themes and unforgettable characters.

Two young people save the world and all the magic in it in this series opener.

When tall, dark-haired, white-skinned Christopher Forrester goes to stay with his grandfather in Scotland, he ventures to the top of a forbidden hill and discovers astonishing magical creatures. His grandfather explains that Christopher’s family are guardians of the “way through” to the Archipelago, where the Glimourie Tree grows—the source of glimourie, or the world’s magic. Black-haired, olive-skinned Mal Arvorian, a girl from the Archipelago, is being pursued by a murderer, and she asks Christopher for help, launching them both on a wild, dangerous journey to discover why the glimourie is disappearing and how to stop it. Together with a part-nereid woman, a ratatoska, a dragon, and a Berserker, they face an odyssey of dangerous tasks to find the Immortal, the only one who can reverse the draining of magic. Like Lyra and Will from Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials, Mal and Christopher sacrifice their innocence for experience, meeting every challenge with depthless courage until they finally reach the maze at the heart of it all. Rundell throws myriad obstacles in her characters’ way, but she gives them tools both tangible (a casapasaran, which always points the way home, and the glamry blade, which cuts through anything) and intangible (the desire “to protect something worth protecting” and an “insistence that the world is worth loving”). Final art not seen.

An epic fantasy with timeless themes and unforgettable characters. (map, bestiary) (Fantasy. 10-16)

Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2024

ISBN: 9780593809860

Page Count: 368

Publisher: Knopf

Review Posted Online: May 30, 2024

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2024

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THE LION OF LARK-HAYES MANOR

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

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