Summer 2004 Review:

Just when trouble seemed to calm down a bit for young Felix Sanders and his friends in their own magical world, a vexing villain known as Snakeweed returned with even crazier mad money schemes to become rich and famous. At first, he merely sought after the spell that would allow him to cross the divide and return to his own world. Then his greed led to turning both of Felix's parents into stone for amusement. Eventually, he stole brazzle gold, an otherworld land rover, and various other items without any concern for others. While this was occurring, another japegrin named Fleabane was busy ridding himself of the king and queen of Andria in order to become president of the city. After taking over the palace, he captured all the workers as prisoners and threatened to burn down the famous library. Moreover, Harshak, the most vicious and feared sinistrom, thought to be dead for hundreds of years, was once again released into the midst of the city to return to ripping apart flesh and bone. In an effort to save both Andria and Felix's parents, Felix and his previous friends, as well as several new acquaintances, worked together in numerous adventures to return everything to its natural state. 

Elizabeth Kay's The Return to the Divide creatively allows readers into a magical world of various creatures that interact with each other through events in the novel. For the most part, readers ranging from age eight to twelve would benefit most from Back to the Divide; however, other readers should also learn something from this amazing book. It provides plenty of interesting adventures throughout the magical world, as well as a variety of settings, and the characters continuously come across new problems that allow the plot to remain exciting. Furthermore, once again, Snakeweed and his evil plans always seem to prevail unjustly until near the end of the novel when the characters eventually defeat him. In this intriguing novel containing fascinating magical creatures and locations, as well as various allusions to the natural world and things of the past, Back to the Divide is an excellent continuation of its prequel that truly captivates the true meaning of friendship. 

~Rebecca Theophanous, 10th grade, Boardman High School, Boardman, OH