Exciting new adventures, risks, and mysteries for Emily Windsnap fans.
Following her adventures in Emily Windsnap and the Ship of Souls (2015), part-mermaid Emily finds an idyllic island vacation disrupted by an ancient prophecy.
Thirteen-year-old Emily’s “an adventure magnet.” After promising her mermaid best friend, Shona, she will “not be tempted by adventures, risks, or mysteries for at least one month,” Emily arrives on a secluded island with Shona, her parents, and her “semi-mer” boyfriend and instantly stumbles onto another adventure. During a boat tour to nearby Forgotten Island, thought to be uninhabited and inaccessible, Emily and Shona explore behind the waterfall and are literally swept into a “whole new world” where Emily overhears people discussing a prophecy about an impending disastrous earthquake. On a second visit to Forgotten Island, Emily becomes lost in a maze of tunnels and encounters the same people, who convince her she’s the answer to their prophecy about a girl with a fish tail finding a giant who saves the island. Conflicted by her promise to Shona and her desire to save the island’s inhabitants, Emily enlists her boyfriend’s help. Emily’s fast-paced, first-person narration lends immediacy to her latest quixotic quest, one that tests the bonds of friendship and closes with a surprising twist. Spot art reinforces the maritime theme; friendship and relationship angst ground the story emotionally. Both humans and mer-people seem to be white.
Exciting new adventures, risks, and mysteries for Emily Windsnap fans. (Fantasy. 8-12)Pub Date: March 20, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-7636-9574-3
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Dec. 10, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A pleasing premise for book lovers.
A fantasy-loving bookworm makes a wonderful, terrible bargain.
When sixth grader Poppy Woodlock’s historic preservationist parents move the family to the Oregon coast to work on the titular stately home, Poppy’s sure she’ll find magic. Indeed, the exiled water nymph in the manor’s ruined swimming pool grants a wish, but: “Magic isn’t free. It cosssts.” The price? Poppy’s favorite book, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. In return she receives Sampson, a winged lion cub who is everything Poppy could have hoped for. But she soon learns that the nymph didn’t take just her own physical book—she erased Narnia from Poppy’s world. And it’s just the first loss: Soon, Poppy’s grandmother’s journal’s gone, then The Odyssey, and more. The loss is heartbreaking, but Sampson’s a wonderful companion, particularly as Poppy’s finding middle school a tough adjustment. Hartman’s premise is beguiling—plenty of readers will identify with Poppy, both as a fellow bibliophile and as a kid struggling to adapt. Poppy’s repeatedly expressed faith that unveiling Sampson will bring some sort of vindication wears thin, but that does not detract from the central drama. It’s a pity that the named real-world books Poppy reads are notably lacking in diversity; a story about the power of literature so limited in imagination lets both itself and readers down. Main characters are cued White; there is racial diversity in the supporting cast. Chapters open with atmospheric spot art. (This review has been updated to reflect the final illustrations.)
A pleasing premise for book lovers. (Fantasy. 9-12)Pub Date: May 2, 2023
ISBN: 9780316448222
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2023
The three way chats, in which they are joined by other animals, about web spinning, themselves, other humans—are as often...
A successful juvenile by the beloved New Yorker writer portrays a farm episode with an imaginative twist that makes a poignant, humorous story of a pig, a spider and a little girl.
Young Fern Arable pleads for the life of runt piglet Wilbur and gets her father to sell him to a neighbor, Mr. Zuckerman. Daily, Fern visits the Zuckermans to sit and muse with Wilbur and with the clever pen spider Charlotte, who befriends him when he is lonely and downcast. At the news of Wilbur's forthcoming slaughter, campaigning Charlotte, to the astonishment of people for miles around, spins words in her web. "Some Pig" comes first. Then "Terrific"—then "Radiant". The last word, when Wilbur is about to win a show prize and Charlotte is about to die from building her egg sac, is "Humble". And as the wonderful Charlotte does die, the sadness is tempered by the promise of more spiders next spring.
The three way chats, in which they are joined by other animals, about web spinning, themselves, other humans—are as often informative as amusing, and the whole tenor of appealing wit and pathos will make fine entertainment for reading aloud, too.Pub Date: Oct. 15, 1952
ISBN: 978-0-06-026385-0
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1952
PERSPECTIVES
SEEN & HEARD
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