The Princess and the Page

December 15, 2016
A magical pen leads 12-year-old white Keira Harding on a dark fairy-tale adventure. During a robbery at her home, Keira runs to her parents' bedroom to find a phone and call for help. Instead, she finds a glowing antique pen and, in desperation, writes a list of what to do. To her amazement, everything on the list appears to come true. Keira keeps the pen (hiding her possession of it from her parents) and uses it to write a fairy tale for a story contest--in direct contravention of her mother's seemingly unreasonable command that she not write any stories ever. When her story wins the contest and Keira, her mother, and Bella, Keira's brown-skinned, black-haired best friend, go to France to stay for a week in the Chateau de Chenonceau as the prize, the girls are thrilled--at first. At the castle, strange events transpire, and Keira cannot help but notice that they have an eerie resemblance to the fairy tale she wrote. Keira's first-person, present-tense narration, with a close eye to detail, oscillates between mature observations and lighthearted girl-stuff. It works. The story's overarching theme of the power of words is timely and poignant--but the book's cover art imparts a cliched Disney-esque look that may turn off more serious readers. A smart, peppery, action-packed plot teams up with playful, astute characters. (Fantasy. 9-12)

COPYRIGHT(2016) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

February 1, 2017

Gr 4-6-A lackluster novel of magic, history, and the power of a well-written tale. Keira is frustrated with her family and their strange rules. Her mother does not allow pens or stories in their house. With the help of a friend, Keira secretly enters a writing contest. It turns out that she holds the power to write stories that come to life. When winning the competition takes her to an amazing castle in France, Keira goes on an adventure of a lifetime with her grandmother's magical pen. Readers may not be all that enchanted, as each character is a tired archetype seen in many middle grade fantasies. The plot is uninteresting and reinforces stereotypical portrayals of French culture. The pacing is muddled by a myriad of escapades and minutia about the rules of the magical world Keira inhabits.

Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 15, 2017
Grades 4-7 Keira's life is dominated by her mother's strict rules: no stories, no fantasies; only facts and science. But when she discovers her grandmother's magic pen, her mother's rules go out the window, because the pen makes anything she writes come to life. What a perfect time to enter a fiction-writing contest! Winning the contest earns her a trip to France, and while she's living a real-life fantasy, she starts to realize that she and others are in danger. Meanwhile, she's trying to save the princess she wrote about, but there are potential consequences: she may end up trapped in her own story. The tale unfolds slowly in short chapters, which might make this a challenging read for some, though the pace is effective for building a deep sense of mystery. Slowing down works for the overall mystery, though, particularly since, in Keira's first-person narrative, readers will discover clues right along with her. Drawing inspiration from many classic fairy tales, this would be a good pick for fans of Melissa de la Cruz's The Isle of the Lost (2015).(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)