English madcap Arabel Jones and her cantankerous pet raven Mortimer (of Arabel's Raven and Arabel and Mortimer) in three further episodes: one energetically manic, one cliched and blah, one that has its ups and downs. The clear winner is "The Mystery of Mr. Jones's Disappearing Taxi"—wherein the taxi is stolen by sniffy under-librarian Mr. Grigg for nightly book-heists; fluttery Mrs. Jones misinterprets a kidnappers' ransom demand; Arabel and Mortimer find themselves marooned with the book-thief and the kidnappers and the rock-star kidnapee in an unoccupied housing tower. . . and all present make their escape (from building and flood) via hang glider. The yawner is the title story: Arabella's deaf, overpowering aunt comes to nurse Mrs. F., overturns the household, inadvertently packs Mortimer off (in a box labeled Mortimer's Cross) to a research station (at a place called Mortimer's Cross) where, true to form, he wreaks havoc and redeems himself. The story that has its moments, and some unusual color and detail, is "Mortimer's Portrait on Glass." The Joneses, caravaning in Ireland, rescue a local glassmanufacturer/lepidopterist from a bog. At his factory, Mortimer's perpetual "NEVERMORE"—in excitement, at the sight of his portrait in glass—shatters everything on the premises (except Mortimer's portrait). . . which leads Arabella to think of shattering the offshore iceberg with a laser beam (releasing the frozen dinosaur, which disappears in the original bog). This outlandish pile-up doesn't quite effervesce, and Mortimer's irresistibility has to be taken on faith throughout. Yet the blend of English whimsy and English farce does give the series a certain raffish character and verve.
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1984
ISBN: 0563363851
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Harper & Row
Review Posted Online: April 12, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1984
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Broccoli: No way is James going to eat broccoli. “It’s disgusting,” says James. Well then, James, says his father, let’s consider the alternatives: some wormy dirt, perhaps, some stinky socks, some pre-chewed gum? James reconsiders the broccoli, but—milk? “Blech,” says James. Right, says his father, who needs strong bones? You’ll be great at hide-and-seek, though not so great at baseball and kickball and even tickling the dog’s belly. James takes a mouthful. So it goes through lumpy oatmeal, mushroom lasagna and slimy eggs, with James’ father parrying his son’s every picky thrust. And it is fun, because the father’s retorts are so outlandish: the lasagna-making troll in the basement who will be sent back to the rat circus, there to endure the rodent’s vicious bites; the uneaten oatmeal that will grow and grow and probably devour the dog that the boy won’t be able to tickle any longer since his bones are so rubbery. Schneider’s watercolors catch the mood of gentle ribbing, the looks of bewilderment and surrender and the deadpanned malarkey. It all makes James’ father’s last urging—“I was just going to say that you might like them if you tried them”—wholly fresh and unexpected advice. (Early reader. 5-9)
Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-547-14956-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An absorbing fantasy centered on a resilient female protagonist facing growth, change, and self-empowerment.
In Florence’s middle-grade fantasy novel, a young girl’s heart is tested in the face of an evil, spreading Darkness.
Eleven-year-old Lydia, “freckle-cheeked and round-eyed, with hair the color of pine bark and fair skin,” is struggling with the knowledge that she has reached the age to apprentice as an herbalist. Lydia is reluctant to leave her beloved, magical Mulberry Glen and her cozy Housetree in the woods—she’ll miss Garder, the Glen’s respected philosopher; her fairy guardian Pit; her human friend Livy; and even the mischievous part-elf, part-imp, part-human twins Zale and Zamilla. But the twins go missing after hearing of a soul-sapping Darkness that has swallowed a forest and is creeping into minds and engulfing entire towns. They have secretly left to find a rare fruit that, it is said, will stop the Darkness if thrown into the heart of the mountain that rises out of the lethal forest. Lydia follows, determined to find the twins before they, too, fall victim to the Darkness. During her journey, accompanied by new friends, she gradually realizes that she herself has a dangerous role to play in the quest to stop the Darkness. In this well-crafted fantasy, Florence skillfully equates the physical manifestation of Darkness with the feelings of insecurity and powerlessness that Lydia first struggles with when thinking of leaving the Glen. Such negative thoughts grow more intrusive the closer she and her friends come to the Darkness—and to Lydia’s ultimate, powerfully rendered test of character, which leads to a satisfyingly realistic, not quite happily-ever-after ending. Highlights include a delightfully haunting, reality-shifting library and a deft sprinkling of Latin throughout the text; Pit’s pet name for Lydia is mea flosculus (“my little flower”). Fine-lined ink drawings introducing each chapter add a pleasing visual element to this well-grounded fairy tale.
An absorbing fantasy centered on a resilient female protagonist facing growth, change, and self-empowerment.Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9781956393095
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Waxwing Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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