Renee Pelton (Children's Literature)
Felix used to be an ordinary boy with an unfortunate illness, but since his vacation to Costa Rica, life has become rather extraordinary. His parents planned the trip to Costa Rica because he wanted to see the Continental Divide, the dividing line between water that runs to the Atlantic or to the Pacific oceans. While standing on the Divide, Felix faints, which, along with a few other coincidental events, transports him into another world where he meets creatures that he always believed were mythical. In this new world are live firebirds--known as Phoenixes--Brittlehorns (Unicorns) and Brazzles (Griffins). Felix meets a friendly Tangle-child, an elf-like creature, named Betony. Through his friendship with Betony, and with the help of many of the other creatures, he searches for a cure to his illness and a way back to his own world. Well-known mythical creatures, vampires, dragons, pixies and more, pop up throughout the book with magical twists. The book shows the value of having friends who are different, the impact of new technologies on other cultures, and the importance of an open mind. 2003, The Chicken House/Scholastic, $15.95. Ages 7 to 13.

Kirkus (Kirkus Reviews, June 15, 2003 (Vol. 71, No. 12))
This journey to a parallel world is competent but unexceptional. Thirteen-year-old Felix, traveling despite his potentially fatal heart condition, stands on the Costa Rican Continental Divide, passes out, and ends up in a dimension where mythical creatures are real and humans are thought to be mythical. He makes friends with a tangle-child herbalist, and they work with others to stop an evil japegrin from marketing dangerous medicinal potions. Interwoven is Felix's personal quest for a potential heart remedy. Felix finally returns to his own world, but so does the evil japegrin, promising a hazard to humans that will probably begin the series' next entry. Pedestrian new names for classic mythical beings (pixies are "japegrins," unicorns "brittlehorns") are distracting, but worse is the unexamined question of why English is the explicitly acknowledged language of this realm entered through Costa Rica. Fine, but less creative than it sounds. 2003, Chicken House/Scholastic, $15.95. Category: Fiction. Ages 8 to 12. © 2003 Kirkus Reviews/VNU eMedia, Inc. All rights reserved.

Paula Rohrlick (KLIATT Review, November 2003 (Vol. 37, No. 6))
Felix, a 13-year-old with a dangerous heart condition, is on vacation with his parents in Costa Rica. He is eager to visit the spot that marks the Continental Divide, which separates the Atlantic from the Pacific, but on arriving at it he passes out with one foot on each side. He comes to in an alternate universe, where magic and mythical beings like unicorns and griffins are real (though known by other names, listed in a glossary at the front) and science and humans are only a legend. He meets up with a tangle-child (elf) named Betony, and together they search for a cure for his illness while trying to combat an evil japegrin (pixie) who is trying to sell potions that purportedly heal but instead can be fatal. In the end, Felix is cured and finds his way back to his own world. However, some of the evil beings from the other world have found their way there as well, so a sequel may be on its way. This British fantasy is an entertaining light read for younger YAs, with both suspense and humor. The unusual cover, which opens up in the middle of the front (appropriately, a divide) to reveal huge eyes, may help attract readers. Category: Hardcover Fiction. KLIATT Codes: J--Recommended for junior high school students. 2003, Scholastic/The Chicken House, 318p. illus., $15.95. Ages 12 to 15.

Amy Young (The ALAN Review, Winter 2004 (Vol. 31, No. 2))
Alone in the world, separated from true friends, and isolated by his parents, Felix struggles with a heart condition that threatens his life. Torn between life and death, Felix and his parents set out to Costa Rica in search of a chance for life. Against his parents' wishes, he escapes briefly to view the Great Divide (where the Atlantic and Pacific oceans split) only to discover himself in a world unlike any he has ever known before. In a mythical world where legends live and humans don't exist, Felix discovers many magical and amazing creatures fascinated by science but living in a world of magic. He is led on an adventure beyond his dreams as he and his new friends search to find him a cure. Lost in the challenge of a mythical world, Felix is faced with the chance to discover something greater than his cure, and he begins to see the hope to a brighter future. Category: Fantasy/Adventure. YA--Young Adult. 2003, The Chicken House, 318 pp., $15.95. Ages young adult.Mesa, AZ

Janice M. Del Negro (The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, December 2003 (Vol. 57, No. 4))
Thirteen-year-old Felix has a rare heart condition that dooms him to early death. On a Costa Rican vacation with his concerned parents, he straddles the Continental Divide and suddenly slips through a rift between worlds. Upon awakening, he finds himself in a land where magic reigns and where sickness can be banished by the ministrations of unicorns. The boy teams up with Betony, an elf with somewhat unorthodox interests, in a dual attempt to cure his illness permanently and to prevent a sleazy pharmacologist from foisting untested potions on an unsuspecting public. Mythological beasts and magical beings in a world without mass-market advertising collide with corporate avarice in this story of a boy who just wants to live long enough to have a life. The plot is convoluted, and there’s a dissonance between the ancient magic and contemporary venality that the book never quite overcomes. It’s an involving story, however, and lively, humorous characterizations and the interweaving of the relationships between key players make it easy to follow the plot along its careening trajectory. The conclusion may be predictable--a cured Felix returns to his own world--but it ends the book on a joyous note that readers who’ve followed Felix’s adventures will appreciate. Review Code: Ad -- Additional book of acceptable quality for collections needing more material in the area. (c) Copyright 2003, The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. 2003, Chicken House/Scholastic, 320p, $15.95. Grades 5-7.

Horn Book (The Horn Book Guide, Spring 2004)
In crossing the Continental Divide, Felix travels to a magical land of elves (herbalist Betony) and griffins (mathematician Ironclaw) and helps expose a fraudulent spell company. Born with a fatal heart condition, Felix must also discover his cure. Humorous and lively, with nods to our own world (for the spell company, think pharmaceutical corporation), this energetic tale is amusing and diverting. Category: Intermediate Fiction. 2003, Scholastic/Chicken House, 318pp, $15.95. Ages 9 to 12. Rating: 3: Recommended, satisfactory in style, content, and/or illustration.

Virginia Gleaton (The Lorgnette - Heart of Texas Reviews (Vol. 16, No. 4))
The story in this very interesting but fairly complicated book revolves around a young boy named Felix. Felix is terminally ill, and his parents decide to go on a trip to Costa Rico, perhaps their last one together. While there, Felix stands at the divide where rivers split, flowing either to the Pacific or the Atlantic Ocean. As he is standing on the divide, he is somehow transported to another world. He is the “odd man out” in this place, the land called Tangle. All types of creatures live here--some good and some bad. Felix finds someone who will help him find a magic cure for his illness. This search becomes the focus of the story. This can be a fairly complicated book since the reader must keep up with strange names and characters. Students with great imaginations will like it. Any child who likes to read fantasy and Harry Potter-type books should like this one. Fiction. Grades 5 and up. 2003, Chicken House, 320p., $15.95. Ages 10 up.

Sherrie Williams (VOYA, August 2003 (Vol. 26, No. 3))
When thirteen-year-old Felix visits the Divide-the place where the Pacific and Atlantic oceans split-with his parents, he knows that he might not live long because of a failing heart. As Felix straddles the Divide, he is transported into another world. There, mythical creatures such as unicorns, gnomes, and pixies are real, and humans are creatures of myth. Magic is everyday fact, whereas science is legend. Felix soon enlists several creatures, all stunned to meet a human, to help him return home and to find magic to cure his heart. Things become deadly as evil residents of this new world seek to capture Felix and to travel back to his world to plunder. Felix is in a race for his life and for the fate of his home. The concept of entering a world where reality and myth trade places is an intriguing one, but it is not well executed here. There are troubling plot inconsistencies. For example, characters regularly go to crystal ball shops to check on the locations and conditions of friends and relatives in other towns, but when the police seek an escaped criminal, they use "wanted" posters. The characterization is thin, with the reader tending to lose sight of which characters are which as many are drawn into the story. Readers will not likely be gushing about this book, but some fantasy fans might enjoy the premise of the alternate worlds. This book is recommended for middle school libraries with avid fantasy readers, but it lacks general appeal. VOYA CODES: 3Q 2P M J (Readable without serious defects; For the YA with a special interest in the subject; Middle School, defined as grades 6 to 8; Junior High, defined as grades 7 to 9). 2003, Scholastic, 318p, $15.95. Ages 11 to 15.