The Guardian Test (Legends of Lotus Island #1)
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4.9 • 9 Ratings
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- $4.99
Publisher Description
From three-time Newbery honor recipient Christina Soontornvat comes a thrilling fantasy series about kids who can transform into amazing animals!
Young Plum is shocked to discover that she’s been accepted to the Guardian Academy on Lotus Island, an elite school where kids learn how to transform into Guardians, magical creatures who are sworn to protect the natural world. The Guardian masters teach Plum and her friends how to communicate with animals and how to use meditation to strengthen their minds and bodies. All the kids also learn to fight, so they can protect the defenseless if needed.
To her dismay, Plum struggles at school. While her classmates begin to transform into amazing creatures, Plum can’t even seem to magic up a single feather! If she can’t embrace her inner animal form soon, she’ll have to leave school ― and lose the first group of real friends she’s ever known.
Perfect for reluctant readers:
• Under 200 pages
• Interior illustrations
• Magic and adventure
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Soontornvat (The Tryout) deftly combines a Thai-inspired setting, familiar fantasy tropes, and themes of nature conservation to craft a mystical series kickoff. Tween Plum, who's grown up on her grandparents' farm in the Santipap Islands, can hardly believe that she has been chosen to become a Guardian, part of a group of magical animalian shape-shifters who protect and nurture the natural world. She's soon sent to Guardian Academy on Lotus Island to train for her first test: discovering her animal shape. At school, Plum faces bullying based on her rural upbringing, and forges an immediate friendship with knowledgeable, take-charge classmate Cherry. Despite her quickly improving abilities, however, Plum is unsure whether she will be able to unleash her inner power. Plum's struggles with her self-worth are compassionately wrought, and her unique ability to communicate with animals and plants suitably plays into the narrative's focus on environmentalism. Descriptive scene setting and humorous dialogue offer a solid foundation for interpersonal conflicts, while Hong's animated grayscale illustrations elevate Soontornvat's leisurely unfolding, intriguing Guardian mythos. Ages 8–12.
