(2) YA In contemporary London, AJ Flynn, working as a junior clerk at a law firm, discovers a key that leads him to the past--a past in which there are opaque connections between his 1830s acquaintances and his contemporary employers. Murder, madness, forgery, poverty...it's all here. Gardner's prose, peppered with colorful metaphors and period language, moves the plot along quickly.

Reviewer: Deirdre F. Baker | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2016

(3) 4-6 Wings & Co. series. Illustrated by David Roberts. The Wings & Co. fairy detectives have a new set of mysteries to solve in book three, including the disappearance of a six-year-old giant girl's father, an inexplicable trip to the seashore, the murder of a ballroom musician, and a stolen diamond. The quirky characters, droll dialogue, zany plot, and whimsical line drawings should be readily appealing to series fans.

Reviewer: Grace Enriquez

(2) 4-6 Wings & Co. series. Illustrated by David Roberts. As an infant, Emily Vole was impulsively adopted by the (deliciously nasty) Dashwoods. After the birth of their own triplets, the Dashwoods demote Emily to Cinderella status. Fortunately, when Emily is nearly nine, an elderly neighbor and her talking cat change everything. While reaching a satisfying conclusion, this first brisk, entertaining series entry leaves enough dangling threads to make readers eager for the next.

Reviewer: Monica Edinger | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2014

(3) 4-6 Wings & Co. series. Illustrated by David Roberts. Five months after inheriting a fairy detective agency, nine-year-old Emily Vole and her eccentric fellow detectives still haven't had any cases to solve. But something fishy is definitely happening when three cases involving magical wishes gone wrong appear all at once. Imbued with many dry Briticisms and peppered with whimsical line drawings, this second quirky mystery will have readers begging for more.

Reviewer: LIly Kessinger

(1) YA Gardner here imagines an alternate, dystopic UK: a repressive 1950s regime that calls itself the Motherland and consigns undesirables to the derelict housing of Zone Seven. When his friend Hector disappears, Standish sets out to rescue and avenge him and uncovers a grotesque government hoax. Standish's tale has the energetic tension of poetry, rolling out with irony, tenderness, horror, or love, but always vividly.

Reviewer: Deirdre F. Baker | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2013

(2) YA Yann (The Red Necklace) returns to the horrors of revolutionary France. His exploits in Paris are interrupted by the return of Count Kalliovski, long presumed dead. Gardner employs lush prose and a colorful cast of characters. She uses magic as a method of illuminating good and evil and to throw the complexity of history into stark relief.

Reviewer: Megan Lynn Isaac | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2009

(3) 4-6 In Girl, the daughter of neglectful magicians realizes that, despite previous indications to the contrary, she does have a magic power: shrinking. Boy is about a child whose wish to fly takes him in unexpected directions. These light fantasies, packaged together as a flip-the-book, are enhanced by plentiful and lively black-and-white drawings.

Reviewer: Elissa Gershowitz

(2) YA Gardner (I, Coriander) evokes pre-revolutionary Paris's growing frenzy. Yann is a young itinerant magician; Sido, a young heiress. Both capture the unwanted attention of powerful Count Kalliovski. Omniscient narration brings in a Parisian theater owner and a dwarf magician, among others. Vivid historical re-creation intersperses with sometimes breathless adventure and prophetic Romany magic in this tale of loyalty and courage.

Reviewer: Megan Lynn Isaac | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2008

(3) 4-6 In this flip book, two tales about the importance of family are enhanced with a touch of magic, in the case of eight-year-old Josie's astounding strength (Girl) and with a dollop of adventure, in the tale of Sam's alien encounter (Boy). Lively and plentiful line drawings illustrate both stories.

Reviewer: Megan Lynn Isaac

(3) 1-3 Tales from the Box series. With the help of a nice mouse couple and friends, five dolls left in a box in the park must learn how to survive. The snooty Countess doll offends everyone, until a daring rescue from a cat and a kindly puppet-maker's repair cause her a (literal) change of heart. Old-fashioned photo and paper-doll collage illustrate this quirky tale.

Reviewer: Anita L. Burkam

(3) 1-3 Tales from the Box series. This second installment in the story of lost dolls left to forage in the park with their mice friends features Boolar, who agrees to help out in the park's puppet theater and ends up (temporarily) forgetting those who depend on him. Collage-style photo and black-and-white illustrations on every page break up the text of this readable tale of friendship and loyalty.

Reviewer: Anita L. Burkam