Just enough creepiness for a Halloween read-aloud.
“The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” gets a new treatment as Schnitzel, apprentice to the renowned wizard Sir Willabald, is loath to tackle the housekeeping.
The weedy, white youth, a self-described “lazy lout,” especially dislikes vacuuming, as he must use a temperamental, purple-tentacled beast of a machine. When a fanged salesman who resembles Bela Lugosi appears at midnight with a “Goooood evening,” the apprentice is more than happy to accept his offer to demonstrate the power of his fire-spewing vacuum cleaner. Echoes of The Cat in Hat abound, from the reference to the vacuum as “The Thing,” its red-and-white–striped bag, an umbrella stand, and the story itself, which the apprentice recounts in rhyming, first-person verse. The stranger is revealed to be a vampire when he threatens to bite the apprentice’s neck. Just in time, Sir Willabald restores order to the household with a great “POOF” of his wand in an expansive and very effective double-page spread. Primarily illustrated in gray-toned watercolors, splashes of color highlight the action. Pale, cartoonlike characters with outsized features match the lively text with exaggerated movements. Children will enjoy watching a housecat’s often hilarious reactions to the events throughout. An author’s note gives a brief history of the traditional story and some suggestions to children for writing their own versions.
Just enough creepiness for a Halloween read-aloud. (author’s note) (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-58536-957-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sleeping Bear Press
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2016
A jam-packed opener sure to satisfy lovers of the princess genre.
Ice princess Lina must navigate family and school in this early chapter read.
The family picnic is today. This is not a typical gathering, since Lina’s maternal relatives are a royal family of Windtamers who have power over the weather and live in castles floating on clouds. Lina herself is mixed race, with black hair and a tan complexion like her Asian-presenting mother’s; her Groundling father appears to be a white human. While making a grand entrance at the castle of her grandfather, the North Wind, she fails to successfully ride a gust of wind and crashes in front of her entire family. This prompts her stern grandfather to ask that Lina move in with him so he can teach her to control her powers. Desperate to avoid this, Lina and her friend Claudia, who is black, get Lina accepted at the Hilltop Science and Arts Academy. Lina’s parents allow her to go as long as she does lessons with grandpa on Saturdays. However, fitting in at a Groundling school is rough, especially when your powers start freak winter storms! With the story unfurling in diary format, bright-pink–highlighted grayscale illustrations help move the plot along. There are slight gaps in the storytelling and the pacing is occasionally uneven, but Lina is full of spunk and promotes self-acceptance.
A jam-packed opener sure to satisfy lovers of the princess genre. (Fantasy. 5-8)Pub Date: June 25, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-338-35393-8
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: March 26, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2019
A gentle adventure that sets the stage for future quests.
A lonely prince gains a friend for a quest to find a missing jewel.
Prince Lucas of Wrenly has everything a boy could possibly want—except a friend. His father has forbidden him to play with the village children for reasons of propriety. Adventure-seeking Lucas acquires peasant clothes to masquerade as a commoner and make friends, but he is caught out. His mother, the queen, persuades the king to allow him one friend: Clara, the daughter of her personal dressmaker. When the queen’s prized emerald pendant goes missing, Lucas and Clara set off to find it. They follow the jewel as it changes hands, interviewing each temporary owner. Their adventure cleverly introduces the series’ world and peoples, taking the children to the fairy island of Primlox, the trolls’ home of Burth, the wizard island of Hobsgrove and finally Mermaid’s Cove. By befriending the mermaids, Lucas and Clara finally recover the jewel. In thanks, the king gives Clara a horse of her own so that she may ride with Lucas on their future adventures. The third-person narration is generally unobtrusive, allowing the characters to take center stage. The charming, medieval-flavored illustrations set the fairy-tale scene and take up enough page space that new and reluctant readers won’t be overwhelmed by text.
A gentle adventure that sets the stage for future quests. (Fantasy. 5-8)Pub Date: April 1, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4424-9691-0
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Little Simon/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Feb. 11, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2014
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