A pair of appealing adventures with an edgy through-the-looking-glass feel.
Bernard presents two connected children’s novellas of adventure in dystopian lands.
In If You Ride a Crooked Trolley, 9-year-old Peter Myshkin Stephenson from the fictional northern New England town of Halloway is well acquainted with unhappiness and confusion. He wonders about the origins of his orange hair (his parents are both blond), his levels of intelligence and attractiveness, and if he’s to blame for his parents’ bickering. However, he puts all this in proper perspective after he finds himself in an unfamiliar, war-torn region after a ride on a yellow trolley takes him to an unexpected destination. There, a girl in a red coat named Sharlotta initiates Petey into the world of Otherwise, teaching him about the warring Paona and Korgan peoples and a “Spell” that makes it possible to “go back into past and change into future.” She needs Petey to help her find and rescue her family members, who are in a tent somewhere in a Korgan camp. In The Judgement of Biestia, Petey finds that no one believes his story of his Otherwise experience after he returns home—not even his best friend, Chace Fusillade. Later, at the beach, Chace and Petey encounter a huge wave and find themselves treading water in the open ocean. As in many tales for children, this one has Petey embarking on his adventures without proper parental supervision, and he must learn to rely on friends and his own judgment. The worlds that Petey enters are alternate versions of our own in which history panned out differently; for example, the boys’ seagoing rescuers in The Judgement of Biestia have never heard of America. Many of the people he encounters are also realistically hardened by their conditions. Characters’ dialects are also different from standard English, lending the work further authenticity. Petey’s exits from these worlds, though, are rather abrupt; perhaps more direct comparisons to Petey’s everyday life in Halloway would have made these journeys and transitions more meaningful. Two color illustrations by Batra and Seabury, respectively, feature characters and settings from each story.
A pair of appealing adventures with an edgy through-the-looking-glass feel.Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-58790-669-5
Page Count: 285
Publisher: Regent Press
Review Posted Online: April 29, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A spectacular return to a magical world.
Following the events of Impossible Creatures (2024), a devoted Guardian teams up with a brave princess to fight her power-hungry uncle and save the Archipelago’s dragons from a strange new threat.
Jacques the dragon summons Christopher Forrester back to the Archipelago from the human world: Dragons are dying, and no one knows why. Meanwhile, on the island of Dousha, Princess Anya’s grandfather, King Halam, has been murdered, and her father accused—though she knows he’s innocent. When Christopher and Anya take refuge on the islet of Glimt, the Berserker Nighthand helps them see how their twin missions to save the dragons and free Anya’s father are connected. They work together to create an antidote for the poison that’s killing the dragons and to keep Anya and her father safe from her murderous uncle. Meanwhile, Nighthand and Irian, the part-nereid ocean scholar, pursue their own important secret mission. Divided into three parts—“Castle,” “Dragons,” and “Revenge”—and containing elements of fairy tales, fantasy, and Shakespeare, this story continues the storyline established in the series opener, yet because it introduces new characters and obstacles, it could also stand alone. Dark-blond Anya (“five feet tall and all of it claws”) is a match for white-presenting Christopher, who, though he still misses Mal, finds that “it made a difference to have someone to move through the world with again. A friend changed the feel of the universe.” Mackenzie’s delicate, otherworldly art adorns the text.
A spectacular return to a magical world. (map, bestiary) (Fantasy. 10-15)Pub Date: Sept. 11, 2025
ISBN: 9780593809907
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 30, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2025
PROFILES
Hugely entertaining, timely, and triumphant.
Robot Roz undertakes an unusual ocean journey to save her adopted island home in this third series entry.
When a poison tide flowing across the ocean threatens their island, Roz works with the resident creatures to ensure that they will have clean water, but the destruction of vegetation and crowding of habitats jeopardize everyone’s survival. Brown’s tale of environmental depredation and turmoil is by turns poignant, graceful, endearing, and inspiring, with his (mostly) gentle robot protagonist at its heart. Though Roz is different from the creatures she lives with or encounters—including her son, Brightbill the goose, and his new mate, Glimmerwing—she makes connections through her versatile communication abilities and her desire to understand and help others. When Roz accidentally discovers that the replacement body given to her by Dr. Molovo is waterproof, she sets out to seek help and discovers the human-engineered source of the toxic tide. Brown’s rich descriptions of undersea landscapes, entertaining conversations between Roz and wild creatures, and concise yet powerful explanations of the effect of the poison tide on the ecology of the island are superb. Simple, spare illustrations offer just enough glimpses of Roz and her surroundings to spark the imagination. The climactic confrontation pits oceangoing mammals, seabirds, fish, and even zooplankton against hardware and technology in a nicely choreographed battle. But it is Roz’s heroism and peacemaking that save the day.
Hugely entertaining, timely, and triumphant. (author’s note) (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2023
ISBN: 9780316669412
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 26, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2023
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