Nayak, Hemant A Magic Fierce and Bright. Simon, 2024 [384p]
Trade ed. ISBN 9781665921817 $19.99
E-book ed. ISBN 9781665921831 $10.99
Reviewed from digital galleys   R* Gr. 9-12

Sortino, Anna On the Bright Side. Putnam, 2024 [320p]
Trade ed. ISBN 9780593697863 $19.99
E-book ed. ISBN 9780593697870 $10.99
Reviewed from digital galleys   R* Gr. 9-12

Sumrow, Melanie Girls Like Her. Balzer + Bray, 2024 [368]
Trade ed. ISBN 9780063343283 $19.99
E-book ed. ISBN 9780063343306 $10.99
Reviewed from digital galleys   R*  Gr. 9-12

Thomson, Pari Greenwild: The City Beyond the Sea. Farrar, 2024 [400p]
Trade ed. ISBN 9780374391393 $17.99
E-book ed. ISBN 9780374391409 $9.99
Reviewed from digital galleys   R* Gr. 6-8

VanSickle, Vikki Into the Goblin Market; illus. by Jensine Eckwall. Tundra, 2024 [48p]
Trade ed. ISBN 9780735268562 $18.99
Reviewed from digital galleys   R* Gr. 1-4

See this month’s Big Picture for review.

Zentner, Jeff Sunrise Nights; by Jeff Zentner and Brittany Cavallaro. Quill Tree, 2024 [400p]
Trade ed. ISBN 9780063324534 $19.99
E-book ed. ISBN 9780063324558 $11.99
Reviewed from digital galleys   R* Gr. 8-12

Into the Goblin Market

Written by Vikki VanSickle and illus. by Jensine Eckwall

It takes a bold person to decide to adapt The Goblin Market—a 1862 poem whose author, Christina Rossetti, said wasn’t intended for children—into a picture book. The original poem is a wild romp, dramatic and dangerous as one sister falls prey to temptation and the other must save her from a fate worse than death. VanSickle’s version retains the adventure of exploring a fairy tale world where one sister must save another. But rather than Rossetti’s headlong dive into the delights and ills that would befall a Victorian woman who gave in to all temptations, here there is a tinge of violence and desire at the story’s edges, which carries through in the beauty and malice of Eckwall’s detailed artwork.

Millie and Mina are sisters who love each other but are entirely different. While Millie is quietly content with their bucolic life, Mina yearns for something more. Thus, when the goblin market is setting up nearby, Mina cannot resist her urge to see all that it offers. When Millie wakes up to find her sister gone, she is clearheaded in her resolve to save her: first researching in her books and then gathering up all necessary supplies before donning a sensible cloak (red, a visual rarity against the mostly black and white illustrations) and heading to the market. Her preparedness keeps her safe (cotton for her ears to block out the hypnotic tune of the piper, a bit of bread to keep her full enough to resist the extraordinary treats), but the night begins to wane, and Millie has still not found her sister. She is clever, though, and sharp enough to notice a hint of red that matches Mina’s hair ribbon in a very unexpected place; thus she risks a dangerous bargain with the goblins in the hope of saving both Mina and herself.

Eckwall’s woodblock-print style illustrations and extraordinarily detailed page borders are essential for establishing the otherworldly feeling of the goblin market, where shadows have an equal chance of hiding horrors or delights. Repeating symbols work brilliantly with the measured rhythm of VanSickle’s couplets to offer a comfort of familiarity in this enchanted space, even as dawn is close and both girls appear to be trapped forever. The distorted sizes in the goblin market are unsettling, with looming figures towering over the diminutive Millie, many with malicious smiles on their nearly hidden faces and an ownership of the space on the page that mirrors their confidence that they can outsmart Millie. Perspective is key, as Millie’s happiest moments are when she is facing the left, comfortable with what she already has rather than what may lay beyond the page turn, until the final spreads when she and her sister share a united vision of a future.

There’s just a touch of a moral here: riches are nothing compared to the steadfast support of someone who loves you enough to brave folkloric monsters for you, but VanSickle keeps message subtle. The heart of the story is in the adventure, in the savage beauty of a market that joyfully, and with a feral edge, exploits the weaknesses of humans, and in the one stalwart hero who manages to upend their hedonism with a measured, observant choice. The return to the countryside may lack some verve, and it is certainly far less sparkly, but Mina has a whole lifetime ahead to share with her sister instead of a relative instant in the temptations of the goblin market, however beguiling Eckwall made it appear.

—April Spisak, Reviewer