This enticingly titled first novel is hardly flawless: Its point of view is wobbly, it flirts with melodrama, and it bristles with stage villains. But pre-teens who enjoy historically based fantasy -- the story is purportedly set centuries back but reeks of Dickensian England -- will find The Black... -
Secrets, Toys, Mice and a Beetle
This enticingly titled first novel is hardly flawless: Its point of view is wobbly, it flirts with melodrama, and it bristles with stage villains. But pre-teens who enjoy historically based fantasy -- the story is purportedly set centuries back but reeks of Dickensian England -- will find The Black...-
By Elizabeth Ward