An amusing story showcasing Métis humor at its finest.
Introduces a delightful Métis family that many Indigenous people will relate to, especially through their joking, and that all readers will love getting to know.
Twelve-year-old Maggie Lou’s brilliant ideas get her (and sometimes her siblings) into mischief and inspire her nickname, Firefox. After seeing Maggie Lou play fighting outside, Moshôm, her grandfather, offers to teach her how to box. However, boxing is not as exhilarating at first as she imagined it to be. She needs to “know how to listen and follow directions” and is put to work mopping the ring. She also gets picked on by some sexist boys and finds the drills boring. But she follows Moshôm’s teachings—and has the upper hand when it finally comes time to step in the ring. Over summer vacation, Maggie Lou keeps busy building things from her notebook labeled “Plans to Dominate the World,” and she gets Dad to allow her to help out with his construction crew. Surrounded by the women in her family, Maggie Lou learns how to shoot her mom’s Winchester rifle in preparation for hunting season. After an unsuccessful hunt with her uncle and older brother, all three become the center of their family’s teasing. Métis author Bowes weaves cultural elements, including Northern Michif words, into this charming story that skillfully captures sweetly hilarious and loving everyday moments. Black-and-white illustrations enhance the text.
An amusing story showcasing Métis humor at its finest. (author’s note, glossary) (Fiction. 9-13)Pub Date: Oct. 3, 2023
ISBN: 9781773068817
Page Count: 220
Publisher: Groundwood
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2023
Rich and strange (and kitted out with an eye-catching cover), but stronger in the set pieces than the internal logic.
Chainani works an elaborate sea change akin to Gregory Maguire’s Wicked (1995), though he leaves the waters muddied.
Every four years, two children, one regarded as particularly nice and the other particularly nasty, are snatched from the village of Gavaldon by the shadowy School Master to attend the divided titular school. Those who survive to graduate become major or minor characters in fairy tales. When it happens to sweet, Disney princess–like Sophie and her friend Agatha, plain of features, sour of disposition and low of self-esteem, they are both horrified to discover that they’ve been dropped not where they expect but at Evil and at Good respectively. Gradually—too gradually, as the author strings out hundreds of pages of Hogwarts-style pranks, classroom mishaps and competitions both academic and romantic—it becomes clear that the placement wasn’t a mistake at all. Growing into their true natures amid revelations and marked physical changes, the two spark escalating rivalry between the wings of the school. This leads up to a vicious climactic fight that sees Good and Evil repeatedly switching sides. At this point, readers are likely to feel suddenly left behind, as, thanks to summary deus ex machina resolutions, everything turns out swell(ish).
Rich and strange (and kitted out with an eye-catching cover), but stronger in the set pieces than the internal logic. (Fantasy. 11-13)Pub Date: May 14, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-06-210489-2
Page Count: 496
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2013
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Heartwarming fare for young pet owners who feel the love and loyalty going both ways.
Devotion permeates this tale of a small dog who’s swept up in a peasants’ revolt against a greedy king.
Inflamed with righteousness in the wake of yet another tax hike, 12-year-old Tom has defied his parents to slip away and join the revolutionary Reds. Stoutly declaring that he’s a good dog, 5-year-old Rebel chases after him to bring his beloved boy back—and discovers a wide new world beyond the farm, fraught with dangers but also rich in animal friends offering help and advice. Just as beguiling as the furry narrator’s dog’s-eye view of events are his ongoing arguments with Jaxon, a gruff feral hound he meets along the way, who urges him to find his wild inner True Dog. Jaxon’s refusal to be bound by emotional attachments ultimately clashes with Rebel’s big, uncomplicated heart. Following a brush with death, Rebel encounters a mystical Companion, who offers him glimpses of dog heaven; when the climactic battle arrives, Rebel declares, “I get to decide what I do with my one and only life. And if I use it for anything, I’m going to use it for love.” The author brings the odyssey to a satisfactory conclusion with one last, pure affirmation of love. In this story set in an alternate Britain reminiscent of its 17th-century Civil War, Rebel distinguishes humans in the cast by their voices, smell, and dress.
Heartwarming fare for young pet owners who feel the love and loyalty going both ways. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: May 27, 2025
ISBN: 9781536246797
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: March 8, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2025
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