An enchanting tale of love.
Two 12-year-olds find the friendship they’ve craved and unite to save their magical town.
Winifred has grown up in Honeycrisp Hill, Rhode Island, where her family is despised, thanks to her biological mother’s curse. The only place she feels at home is the family bakery, but as the cost of enchanted ingredients rises, business is suffering. Wini’s plan to help involves executing a slightly illegal love spell from her family’s grimoire. Her first goal: finding her dad the perfect man. Meanwhile, Kaliope is from Boston, where she couldn’t practice magic. She welcomes the move to Honeycrisp Hill, hoping it’ll mean more time with her frequently absent father, but the grandfather she knew nothing about shows up to help them reopen the town’s haunted bookstore. Next, an Enchantment Agency officer arrives to investigate “a wickedness that’s been called to town.” Despite a bumpy start, Wini and Kal become friends; together they try to banish the wickedness and even play matchmaker between their dads. YA author Dow’s middle-grade debut is brimming with magic—and enticing recipes for readers to try. She holds space for the loneliness that both girls experience and for Kal’s struggles with anxiety. Her superb worldbuilding and the authentic dialogue between the quirky, beguiling characters will draw readers in, while the heart-pounding tension and strong pacing will lead them to the satisfying conclusion. Wini and her family are Black; Kal’s dad is white, and her birth mom is from Chile.
An enchanting tale of love. (author’s note) (Fantasy. 8-12)Pub Date: Oct. 10, 2023
ISBN: 9781250829115
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2023
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
The three way chats, in which they are joined by other animals, about web spinning, themselves, other humans—are as often...
A successful juvenile by the beloved New Yorker writer portrays a farm episode with an imaginative twist that makes a poignant, humorous story of a pig, a spider and a little girl.
Young Fern Arable pleads for the life of runt piglet Wilbur and gets her father to sell him to a neighbor, Mr. Zuckerman. Daily, Fern visits the Zuckermans to sit and muse with Wilbur and with the clever pen spider Charlotte, who befriends him when he is lonely and downcast. At the news of Wilbur's forthcoming slaughter, campaigning Charlotte, to the astonishment of people for miles around, spins words in her web. "Some Pig" comes first. Then "Terrific"—then "Radiant". The last word, when Wilbur is about to win a show prize and Charlotte is about to die from building her egg sac, is "Humble". And as the wonderful Charlotte does die, the sadness is tempered by the promise of more spiders next spring.
The three way chats, in which they are joined by other animals, about web spinning, themselves, other humans—are as often informative as amusing, and the whole tenor of appealing wit and pathos will make fine entertainment for reading aloud, too.Pub Date: Oct. 15, 1952
ISBN: 978-0-06-026385-0
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1952
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