Whether or not it’s planned, readers will hope for a sequel.
Chills and chuckles abound in Durham’s latest for middle graders.
Penhallow Fitch wants to make one thing clear: he is a Grotesque—not a gargoyle. Moving his stone form is excruciatingly difficult, but he is easily able to travel outside of his stone body as a “wisp,” “an apparition that exists but can’t touch or be touched by the living.” Even though he’s about 130 years old, he tells readers that he still prefers to take the form of a preteen boy with skin that is “maybe…darker than yours, or lighter.” Every Grotesque is charged with protecting those who reside within their Domain—in Penhallow’s case, a Boston apartment building. Soon, however, Netherkin—evil spirits—begin encroaching on Penhallow’s Domain, drawn particularly to a new family in the building. And there are whispers about a creature called the Boneless King. Determined to protect his wards, Penhallow teams up with a girl nicknamed Viola who can, against all odds, see and hear him, and together they work to uncover the mystery of the Boneless King and his connection to Penhallow’s Domain. Penhallow’s dynamic first-person narration provides just the right mix of humor and horror to spook but not terrify. A tidy wrap-up, while heavy on exposition, satisfies while still leaving potential for further tales. A glossary of “goyle-isms” is appended. Human characters are nominally diverse—the Domain’s residents are multicultural, and Viola is described as having East Asian features—but there is no attempt at cultural specificity.
Whether or not it’s planned, readers will hope for a sequel. (Fantasy. 9-13)Pub Date: Jan. 9, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5247-0020-1
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Sept. 30, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2017
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
Good Guys and Bad get just deserts in the end, and Stanley gets plenty of opportunities to display pluck and valor in this...
Sentenced to a brutal juvenile detention camp for a crime he didn't commit, a wimpy teenager turns four generations of bad family luck around in this sunburnt tale of courage, obsession, and buried treasure from Sachar (Wayside School Gets a Little Stranger, 1995, etc.).
Driven mad by the murder of her black beau, a schoolteacher turns on the once-friendly, verdant town of Green Lake, Texas, becomes feared bandit Kissin' Kate Barlow, and dies, laughing, without revealing where she buried her stash. A century of rainless years later, lake and town are memories—but, with the involuntary help of gangs of juvenile offenders, the last descendant of the last residents is still digging. Enter Stanley Yelnats IV, great-grandson of one of Kissin' Kate's victims and the latest to fall to the family curse of being in the wrong place at the wrong time; under the direction of The Warden, a woman with rattlesnake venom polish on her long nails, Stanley and each of his fellow inmates dig a hole a day in the rock-hard lake bed. Weeks of punishing labor later, Stanley digs up a clue, but is canny enough to conceal the information of which hole it came from. Through flashbacks, Sachar weaves a complex net of hidden relationships and well-timed revelations as he puts his slightly larger-than-life characters under a sun so punishing that readers will be reaching for water bottles.
Good Guys and Bad get just deserts in the end, and Stanley gets plenty of opportunities to display pluck and valor in this rugged, engrossing adventure. (Fiction. 9-13)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1998
ISBN: 978-0-374-33265-5
Page Count: 233
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2000
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