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YOUNGER FICTION
Sabatinelli, Elisa

The Secret of the Magic Pearl

92 pp. | Red Comet | October, 2021 | Trade ISBN 978-1-63655-006-0 $21.99 | Ebook ISBN 978-1-63655-007-7 $9.99
(2) 1-3 Translated by Christopher Turner. Illustrated by Iacopo Bruno. Hector hopes to be a deep-sea diver like his father and grandfather, but his plans are dashed when the deceitful Amedeo Limonta opens a competing business in their small Italian village. Limonta's scheme is to find and sell a legendary pearl, purported to be in the sea somewhere nearby. After receiving a diving suit for his birthday, Hector finds the mythical pearl. This initiates a series of events that ends, appropriately, with a face-off against Limonta, in a rowboat, in the midst of a massive storm. The heavily illustrated adventure story seems a successor to William Pène du Bois's offbeat, inventive tales, with Hector's first-person narration sounding as elaborate as the exploits. ("Angry with white foam, the sea looks like a white dog, frothing at the mouth. Lightning splits the sky like a zipper.") Bruno's detailed illustrations include a carefully labeled diagram of the components of an antique deep-sea diving suit, a colorful chart of nautical flags, and a stylized portrait of the scoundrel Limonta, leaning back and looking out at us over his handlebar moustache and portly belly. This is a handsome book, printed in gorgeous, rich-hued colors, with a thoughtful hero, a first-rate villain, magic, adventure, and a convincing happy ending.
Reviewer: Maeve Visser Knoth | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2022

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