A fast, vibrant adventure.
Ruskin unwillingly enters a contest in the third dragon-centric graphic-novel spinoff of The Kingdom of Wrenly series.
Every 50 years a Red Moon rises, and that’s when a magic fire selects which Crestwood dragons get to compete in the Night Hunt, which they do in teams of two. Villinelle and the sinister figure scheming in the shadows see this as a chance to turn Ruskin and Cinder against each other, so Villinelle tampers with the ritual. This is how the ineligible Ruskin (he’s not a lifelong Crestwood dragon) comes to be teamed with the roguish Roke. Cinder, who wanted a chance to shine as brave and heroic, feels betrayed by Ruskin and is determined to win. Each team is given a different scavenger-hunt list, and the race is on! The obstacles the pairs face require teamwork and cleverness, which generates both action and amusement. But the tampering goes deeper than just who participates in the Night Hunt: Near the end of the contest, a secondary ploy unleashes a danger to all of the Crestwood dragons that only the Night Hunt participants can stop. Rounded, large-eyed draconic characters have distinctive silhouettes and colors that help distinguish them in the twilight nighttime settings. While the story arc centers on Ruskin and Cinder’s friendship, secondary characters Groth and Roke also shine. The triumphant ending also teases a new goal for the villains; a closing sneak preview of the next book also tantalizes.
A fast, vibrant adventure. (Graphic fantasy. 6-10)Pub Date: May 4, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-5344-7864-0
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Little Simon/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: March 30, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
Good, solid fantasy fun.
Nine-year-old Brooklynite Jaxon meets a witch, becomes her apprentice, and protects baby dragons all in one eventful day.
As the story opens, Jaxon and his mom are being evicted. While Mama tries to secure a place to stay, she leaves him with Ma, the woman who raised her. Ma clearly doesn’t want Jaxon around, but it becomes apparent that’s at least partially due to a mysterious package she’s received. Jax soon discovers that Ma’s a witch, his mom used to be Ma’s apprentice (a mantle he takes up), and that Ma’s package contains…baby dragons! The dragons need to be taken to the magical realm, but a transport malfunction strands Ma while Jax is sent back to Brooklyn. Desperate to save Ma, Jax enlists the help of his friend Vikram, whose little sister, Kavita, tags along. Curious—or is it nosy?—Kavita discovers the dragons and does the worst: feeds them. This not only increases their size, but bonds them to her. Thankfully, Trub, Jax’s maternal grandfather, is a magic user and helps Jax find Ma and get the dragons to the magical realm, where (discerning readers won’t be surprised) they discover one dragon is missing….What a breath of fresh air: a chapter-book fantasy with an urban setting, an array of brown-skinned magic wielders, and a lovable black protagonist readers will root for and sympathize with. Geneva B’s black-and-white illustrations depict a cast of color and appear every few pages.
Good, solid fantasy fun. (Fantasy. 6-10)Pub Date: Oct. 23, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5247-7045-7
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: July 15, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2018
A close encounter of the best kind.
Left behind when the space bus departs, a child discovers that the moon isn’t as lifeless as it looks.
While the rest of the space-suited class follows the teacher like ducklings, one laggard carrying crayons and a sketchbook sits down to draw our home planet floating overhead, falls asleep, and wakes to see the bus zooming off. The bright yellow bus, the gaggle of playful field-trippers, and even the dull gray boulders strewn over the equally dull gray lunar surface have a rounded solidity suggestive of Plasticine models in Hare’s wordless but cinematic scenes…as do the rubbery, one-eyed, dull gray creatures (think: those stress-busting dolls with ears that pop out when squeezed) that emerge from the regolith. The mutual shock lasts but a moment before the lunarians eagerly grab the proffered crayons to brighten the bland gray setting with silly designs. The creatures dive into the dust when the bus swoops back down but pop up to exchange goodbye waves with the errant child, who turns out to be an olive-skinned kid with a mop of brown hair last seen drawing one of their new friends with the one crayon—gray, of course—left in the box. Body language is expressive enough in this debut outing to make a verbal narrative superfluous.
A close encounter of the best kind. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: May 14, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-8234-4253-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Margaret Ferguson/Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Feb. 5, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2019
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