Milla, Violet, Yaz and Katie-Rose continue to charm; here’s hoping they have more hijinks in store.
The flower friends play matchmaker in Myracle’s (Violet in Bloom, 2010, etc.) third volume in the Flower Power series.
With last month’s Snack Attack behind them, fifth-graders Milla, Violet, Yasaman (Yaz) and Katie-Rose are ready to take on a new project. Milla’s teacher, Mr. Emerson, is goofy and charming, but he’s always telling the class that he has “no one to go home to accept a dust bunny named Maude.” Yaz adores her teacher, Ms. Perez, and knows that she’s looking for her “Mr. Right.” Yaz is positive they’d be perfect for one another, so the girls launch Plan Teacherly Lurve to set them up. But romance isn’t the only thing on the flower friends’ minds. Violet struggles to adjust to her mom’s return from a mental hospital; Milla wants to rescue a classmate from the clutches of mean girls Modessa and Quin; Yaz finds herself unexpectedly enrolled in trapeze lessons; and Katie-Rose worries that they’re growing up too fast—although a certain boy has caught her attention. Myracle perfectly captures the nuances of fifth-grade life, where stinky farts are another form of flirting and brownies can make everything better. Readers will certainly relate to the girls’ struggles to grow up but not leave childhood behind just yet.
Milla, Violet, Yaz and Katie-Rose continue to charm; here’s hoping they have more hijinks in store. (Fiction. 9-13)Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-4197-0019-4
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Feb. 4, 2012
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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