Princess Juniper of the Anju

March 15, 2016
A child queen seeks to extend her rule. Juniper was merely the princess of Torr until she requested and received a (temporary) country for her 13th birthday (Princess Juniper of the Hourglass, 2015). She and her subjects (a handful of kids) have worked for the past three weeks making Queen's Basin an idyllic settlement. Now, tracking down horse thieves, Juniper comes face to face with the Anju, a tribe that was her late mother's family, community, and culture. This "reclusive mountain tribe" has just lost its "chieftain," and because Juniper's a blood relation, she's eligible to enter their competitive trials to become their new chieftain. The series' central premise of Juniper-as-ruler--which in Hourglass reads harmlessly, charmingly like children's playacting--goes too far here. While neither culture is specified as dark-skinned (and the cover illustration represents Juniper as white), Paquette's indigenous coding of the Anju gives Juniper's desire to rule them--and her success at winning that rule--a whiff of settler colonialism. Although Juniper's half-Anju by blood, she's an outsider by experience, and she plans to overrule Anju values by using this explicitly "peaceful tribe" as an "army" of "warriors" to oust Torr's conquerors. In the end, Juniper decides not to keep the chieftaincy she wins, so even the Anju's right to self-rule is Juniper's decision. A story with old-fashioned flavor, not always in good ways. (Fantasy. 8-11)

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April 1, 2016

Gr 3-5-When readers last saw Princess Juniper, she had regained control of the Queen's Basin in its protected valley, imprisoned her treacherous cousin Cyril, and restored peace. But she and the kingdom of preteen subjects are troubled by the knowledge that their homeland has been invaded by the dreaded enemy Monsonia. Priority, however, falls on finding horses previously stolen, which leads their small search party up a cavernous path through the surrounding mountains. On the other side they find the people of Juniper's mother: the tree-dwelling Anju. By strange fate, Juniper finds herself entering the three-day challenge to become the Anjus' next leader. In the midst of this, she saves her subjects from a boiling flood and reveals her true motivation for wanting to gain leadership: forming an army of peace-loving Anju to go rescue her imprisoned father, King Regis. This installment contains unexpected twists in plot and unforeseen turns in character development, adding depth and keeping readers' interest piqued. Though Juniper sometimes seems a flighty princess one moment and then completely intelligent and focused the next, this small inconsistency in characterization does not detract from the adventure or prevent readers from cheering for her to succeed. Indeed, a strong theme throughout the series is about making mistakes and taking action to redeem oneself. VERDICT Full of princesses and dragons, the latest volume in this series offers adventure that will set readers' hearts racing and put smiles on their faces.-Clare A. Dombrowski, Amesbury Public Library, MA

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