Some dark doings, but far more charm and happy endings.
Ten familiar Western tales are buffed up, inventively recast, and infused with tenderness and warm good humor.
Opening with the parochial (her sources, characters, and settings seem to be exclusively Eurocentric) but lovely observation that fairy tales “are our living heritage, true fairy gold, except these stories do not disappear at sunset,” McKay begins with a tale in which, intercut with flashbacks, an older Rapunzel teaches her twin children about patience when they bring home a songbird that fearfully clings to its cage. A heart-rending version of “Rumpelstiltskin” featuring a lowly “hob” who aches for a child to love follows. Snow White artfully uses her own experiences to wean her granddaughter Sophie away from the notion that being prettiest of all is all that counts; peas and mattresses come into play when a newborn Prince Charming pulls the Dust-Gray Fairy’s nose. “Red Riding Hood” is stripped of its stranger-danger overtones and ends with a joyful wedding; in a clever bit of literary legerdemain, Gretel tells her tale with perfect coherence but back to front in a school report; and for the closer, an atmospheric retelling of the Grimms’ “Six Swans” proposes an answer to the powerful riddle: “If I have seven boys and a sister for each of them, how many children have I?” With rare exceptions—notably Gretel’s class picture, which features a lineup diverse in dress and skin tone—Gibb sticks to traditional white figures and antique or country garb in her frequent silhouettes and delicately detailed painted scenes.
Some dark doings, but far more charm and happy endings. (bibliography) (Fairy tales/short stories. 10-13)Pub Date: Feb. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5344-3284-0
Page Count: 304
Publisher: McElderry
Review Posted Online: Nov. 11, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2018
In this series debut, Maggie Sinclair tracks down a dognapper and solves a mystery about the noises in the walls of her Brooklyn brownstone apartment building. The 12-year-old heroine, who shares a middle name—Brooklyn—with her twin brother, Finn, is juggling two dogwalking jobs she’s keeping secret from her parents, and somehow she attracts the ire of the dogs’ former walker. Maggie tells her story in the first person—she’s self-possessed and likable, even when her clueless brother invites her ex–best friend, now something of an enemy, to their shared 12th birthday party. Maggie’s attention to details helps her to figure out why dogs seem to be disappearing and why there seem to be mice in the walls of her building, though astute readers will pick up on the solution to at least one mystery before Maggie solves it. There’s a brief nod to Nancy Drew, but the real tensions in this contemporary preteen story are more about friendship and boy crushes than skullduggery. Still, the setting is appealing, and Maggie is a smart and competent heroine whose personal life is just as interesting as—if not more than—her detective work. (Mystery. 10-13)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2010
ISBN: 967-1-59990-525-9
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: Sept. 15, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2010
Writing as authority “Miss Edythe McFate,” Blume reveals that, even in New York, fairy folk are all around—having adapted to the urban environment—and so city children had best take special care not to run afoul of them. In two-dozen short chapters she introduces many types, explains their powers and (usually mischievous) proclivities and dispels common superstitions. She also suggests doable practices and strategies to stay on their good sides, such as leaving dishes of warm water, flower petals and Gummi bears around the house and ushering inchworms and ladybugs (all of which are fairy pets) found indoors back outside rather than killing them. Along with frequent weedy borders and corner spots, Foote adds portraits of chubby or insectile creatures, often in baroque attire. Interspersed with eight original tales (of children rescuing brownies ejected from the Algonquin Hotel during renovations, discovering a magical farm behind a door in the Lincoln Tunnel and so on), this collection of lore (much of it newly minted) offers an entertaining change of pace from the more traditional likes of Susannah Marriott’s Field Guide to Fairies (2009). (Informational fantasy. 10-13)
Pub Date: Sept. 14, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-375-86203-8
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: July 29, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2010
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