A gripping adventure enhanced by a creative plot, lively dialogue, and strong female characters.
In this YA fantasy, teens undertake a rescue mission in a magical alternative world.
The third book in Supplee’s fresh, well-crafted Winnie and the Wizard fantasy series begins with the return of 14-year-old Winnie Harris, her 6-year-old stepbrother, Mikey, and teenage magician Kip to Winnie’s family beach house on Earth after a dangerous mission on an alternative “Frama” world known as Hutra. (The “Frama” worlds, introduced in Book 1 [Frama-12, 2022], are accessed through the use of “Frama-scopes,” magical devices once solely the province of powerful time guardians.) Winnie, famed on Frama worlds as army general Windemere, learns that the pet toad Mikey brought back from Hutra is actually an enchanted princess from Aylen Isle. In a dream visitation, Princess Gwen begs Winnie to take her home and undo the spell. Winnie can’t resist. She “had already encountered her share of crazies” during her previous Frama missions. “But a fairy-tale world? The possibility sounded too nutty to pass up.” Besides, Winnie needed to return another travel companion, a large bird, to its original world to ensure its survival, so she might as well do both. By mutual consent, the three adventurers and the toad/princess jump through a time portal to Aylen Isle. With an ear for well-paced, plot-furthering dialogue and a flair for worldbuilding, the author molds familiar fairy-tale tropes (tree sprites, “leafling” fairies, two princesses, and a kingdom in peril) into a dynamic adventure involving “mother” trees as healing havens, carnivorous plants, an attempted royal coup, a lethal, gatekeeping “Myst,” and sentient, magic “glow stones.” This vivid fantasy can be enjoyed on its own. Readers of the first two books, however, will find a rewarding progression of intriguing elements, including an amphibian military general that inhabits Mikey’s small body, Winnie and Kip’s thorny and evolving relationship, and the motivations of Winnie and Kip’s interfering nemesis, Krell, whom innocent Mikey still loves as his “non-Dad.”
A gripping adventure enhanced by a creative plot, lively dialogue, and strong female characters.Pub Date: July 24, 2024
ISBN: 9781509255955
Page Count: 294
Publisher: Wild Rose Press
Review Posted Online: July 6, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away.
A Mexican American boy takes on heavy responsibilities when his family is torn apart.
Mateo’s life is turned upside down the day U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents show up unsuccessfully seeking his Pa at his New York City bodega. The Garcias live in fear until the day both parents are picked up; his Pa is taken to jail and his Ma to a detention center. The adults around Mateo offer support to him and his 7-year-old sister, Sophie, however, he knows he is now responsible for caring for her and the bodega as well as trying to survive junior year—that is, if he wants to fulfill his dream to enter the drama program at the Tisch School of the Arts and become an actor. Mateo’s relationships with his friends Kimmie and Adam (a potential love interest) also suffer repercussions as he keeps his situation a secret. Kimmie is half Korean (her other half is unspecified) and Adam is Italian American; Mateo feels disconnected from them, less American, and with worries they can’t understand. He talks himself out of choosing a safer course of action, a decision that deepens the story. Mateo’s self-awareness and inner monologue at times make him seem older than 16, and, with significant turmoil in the main plot, some side elements feel underdeveloped. Aleman’s narrative joins the ranks of heart-wrenching stories of migrant families who have been separated.
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: May 4, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-7595-5605-8
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
A heavy read about the harsh realities of tragedy and their effects on those left behind.
In this companion novel to 2013’s If He Had Been With Me, three characters tell their sides of the story.
Finn’s narrative starts three days before his death. He explores the progress of his unrequited love for best friend Autumn up until the day he finally expresses his feelings. Finn’s story ends with his tragic death, which leaves his close friends devastated, unmoored, and uncertain how to go on. Jack’s section follows, offering a heartbreaking look at what it’s like to live with grief. Jack works to overcome the anger he feels toward Sylvie, the girlfriend Finn was breaking up with when he died, and Autumn, the girl he was preparing to build his life around (but whom Jack believed wasn’t good enough for Finn). But when Jack sees how Autumn’s grief matches his own, it changes their understanding of one another. Autumn’s chapters trace her life without Finn as readers follow her struggles with mental health and balancing love and loss. Those who have read the earlier book will better connect with and feel for these characters, particularly since they’ll have a more well-rounded impression of Finn. The pain and anger is well written, and the novel highlights the most troublesome aspects of young adulthood: overconfidence sprinkled with heavy insecurities, fear-fueled decisions, bad communication, and brash judgments. Characters are cued white.
A heavy read about the harsh realities of tragedy and their effects on those left behind. (author’s note, content warning) (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781728276229
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: Jan. 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
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