Humor and heart entwine in this hilarious and wildly creative adventure.
Stunned to learn she’s a witch, trans girl Rebecca Slugg goes questing for magical ink ingredients to free her bespelled mother.
Though Becca yearns for an exciting life, her “timid little noodle” of a mother, who runs the Cape Disappointment Beach Inn, seems determined to keep things as boring as possible. Then dramatic Aunt Malatrice—previously unknown to Becca—swoops in, casting a spell that gets Mom to sign a document allowing Malatrice’s Ascension to Witch-Queen. An astonished Becca learns that witches exist, they create magic with ink, and that she herself is a witch. Also, the tarantula living by the dumpsters is her mother’s familiar, Natalya, and the ice troll Oddvar lives in the motel’s ice machine. With her robotlike mother stripped of her free will, Becca goes in search of mermaid caviar, powdered troll tooth, and the Witch-Queen’s treasure. With these items, Natalya promises, they can make ink to restore Becca’s mother to normality—if they don’t die in the process, that is. This fast-paced, laugh-out-loud fantasy will appeal to fans of Roald Dahl and Terry Pratchett. Overflowing with evocative sensory descriptions, the top-notch worldbuilding includes unique creatures and locations and a creative magic system. The characters are distinct, flawed, and delightful—or delightfully awful. Adding thoughtful ballast to the hijinks are environmental messages, Becca’s feelings about being trans, and questions about what it might mean that she sometimes agrees with the power-hungry Malatrice. Human characters read white.
Humor and heart entwine in this hilarious and wildly creative adventure. (Fantasy. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 16, 2025
ISBN: 9780316585934
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: June 27, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
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
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
BOOK REVIEW
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