Blackberry Fox

March 25, 2024
A tween crosses into an alternate fantasy world in this enchanting adventure by German author Tordasi. While visiting her great-aunts Bramble and Rose in North Wales, 12-year-old Portia Beale awakens to find a fox rifling through her aunt’s desk. After Bramble chases it away, Portia discovers a key hidden in a secret compartment. Portia soon meets Ben Rees, whose mother insists that he show Portia around. But Ben is waylaid by an injured blackbird, and Portia, noticing the fox from earlier, follows it to a door in a clearing. Portia unlocks it using the key and enters the Borderlands, which separate the human and fae realms. Meanwhile, Ben’s blackbird turns out to be a tiny bird-man named Ridik who informs Ben that the fox is a shape-shifter, and that he’s woken the dreaded Gray King whose fog turns people into vacant shells. Following Portia into the Borderlands, Ben, accompanied by Aunt Rose, must seek the help of Queen Titania before Portia—and both worlds—are lost to the Gray King’s wrath. Tordasi makes up for somewhat bland characterization with inventive, articulately constructed, and lushly described worldbuilding steeped in Welsh mythology. Characters default to white. Ages 10–up.

April 15, 2024
Two children embark on a once-in-a-lifetime quest in this translated title from Germany. When London girl Portia Beale visits her aunts--Rose and her partner, Bramble--in the countryside of North Wales, she isn't expecting the adventure of a lifetime. Really, following the fox who appears one day seems like a harmless thing to do. But when the animal leads her to a mysterious door in a stone wall, Portia can't help seeing whether there's a magical world on the other side. Soon Rose and Ben Rees, a quiet local boy, are racing to close the door that Portia so innocently opened, beginning a quest to save both the human and faerie worlds from the powerful Gray King, whose sinister fog threatens to suck the memories and life from all it touches. Pulling characters and inspiration from a variety of sources, including Welsh mythology and Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, this fantasy relies on classic quest tropes as it meanders to the inevitable culminating battle between good and evil. The dual perspectives follow Portia's and Ben's journeys, which diverge at times, but this structure sadly doesn't speed up the slow pacing. Both protagonists have strong backstories, yet their motivations fail to inspire an emotional connection. It's unclear whether the unfortunate use of problematic terms such as spirit animal and chop, chop reflect connotations in the original text or were introduced in the translation process. All characters read white. A traditional fantasy for patient readers. (cast list, Welsh glossary) (Fantasy. 8-12)

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