Heartbreaking, uplifting, and absolutely beautiful.
In this reimagining of Russian tales of Baba Yaga, Yagas act as benevolent Guardians of The Gate between the worlds of the living and the dead.
Orphan Marinka descends on both sides from the first Yaga, whose house plied the Russian steppes. Her grandmother Baba, who is also a Yaga, is training her to take over this important job when the time comes. But the 12-year-old doesn’t want to be a Yaga. A Yaga’s life is secret and lonely; her (or his) only friends are the dead who stop in nightly for a celebration of their lives before the Yaga guides them back to the stars from whence they came. Then two life-changing events happen in succession: Marinka learns a devastating truth about her life and Baba disappears. Marinka has to find a way to get Baba back, but her plan may change everything forever. Anderson has fully and lovingly developed her Yaga mythology. Although the Yaga story originates in Eastern Europe, these Yagas travel all over the world to guide the dead. Marinka’s story takes her to England’s Lake District, an unidentified desert, a marketplace in North Africa, and to the Russian steppes. Yagas are kind, and their chicken-legged houses aren’t merely a means to get from place to place. They are sentient creatures, expressing emotion and magically meeting their inhabitants’ needs. Some diversity is implied based on location, and Marinka’s Russian descent likewise implies that she is white.
Heartbreaking, uplifting, and absolutely beautiful. (Fantasy. 8-13)Pub Date: Sept. 25, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-338-20996-9
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Readers can still rely on this series to bring laughs.
The Heffley family’s house undergoes a disastrous attempt at home improvement.
When Great Aunt Reba dies, she leaves some money to the family. Greg’s mom calls a family meeting to determine what to do with their share, proposing home improvements and then overruling the family’s cartoonish wish lists and instead pushing for an addition to the kitchen. Before bringing in the construction crew, the Heffleys attempt to do minor maintenance and repairs themselves—during which Greg fails at the work in various slapstick scenes. Once the professionals are brought in, the problems keep getting worse: angry neighbors, terrifying problems in walls, and—most serious—civil permitting issues that put the kibosh on what work’s been done. Left with only enough inheritance to patch and repair the exterior of the house—and with the school’s dismal standardized test scores as a final straw—Greg’s mom steers the family toward moving, opening up house-hunting and house-selling storylines (and devastating loyal Rowley, who doesn’t want to lose his best friend). While Greg’s positive about the move, he’s not completely uncaring about Rowley’s action. (And of course, Greg himself is not as unaffected as he wishes.) The gags include effectively placed callbacks to seemingly incidental events (the “stress lizard” brought in on testing day is particularly funny) and a lampoon of after-school-special–style problem books. Just when it seems that the Heffleys really will move, a new sequence of chaotic trouble and property destruction heralds a return to the status quo. Whew.
Readers can still rely on this series to bring laughs. (Graphic/fiction hybrid. 8-12)Pub Date: Nov. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4197-3903-3
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Nov. 18, 2019
SEEN & HEARD
A warm bundle of holiday cheer.
In a funny, feel-good tale, 12-year-old twins separated at birth meet by chance and try to pull off a family switch during the December holidays.
The girls, who are cued white, agree that it would be a delicious prank, but each has a personal motive, too: Aviva Davis, who was adopted by a culturally Jewish mom and a Black dad who was raised Christian, wonders what it’s like to celebrate Christmas. Budding author Holly Martin, who was adopted by a white-presenting single mom, sees a golden opportunity to gather experiences for a school writing assignment about facing her fears. In a plot as sweet as a Hanukkah jelly doughnut and twisty as a Christmas cinnamon roll, the pair just manages to bail one another out of a string of sticky situations—both hilarious and otherwise. They both learn something of the customs and meaning of the two holidays while working through tears and laughter—not to mention conflicts sparked by their very different personalities. Everything culminates in a holiday performance at a local senior center that will have readers rising up to cheer them on. Though their history remains tantalizingly mysterious, for the protagonists, who narrate alternating chapters, it’s mission accomplished and more: Aviva emerges feeling more secure in her Jewish identity, while anxious Holly discovers unexpected depths of courage.
A warm bundle of holiday cheer. (song lyrics) (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Oct. 29, 2024
ISBN: 9781250360670
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2024
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