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Stellaluna. Reprinted with
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Reviews

Middle Grade—Fiction

AGE GUIDES: these are approximate recommendations:

  • Middle Grade Books-7-11 years old
REVIEWERS: Alida Allison, Chris Bell, Eric Bowling, Aria Fani, Kira Hall, SarahEllen Hickle, Joyce Ho, JoAnn Jonas, Naomi Lesley, Kimberly Kennelly, Emily Moore, Ellen Nef, Taylor Nelligan, Marie Soriano, John Whitt

* denotes San Diego writer and/or illustrator
** Age levels, when provided by the publishers, are included in the bibliographical information. Otherwise, category placements are our best approximations.

Alvarez, Julia. Return to Sender. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2009. ISBN: 978-0-375-85838-3. $16.99 US/$18.99 CAN. Ages 11-14.

Tyler loves his family’s farm in Vermont, and more than anything, he wants to be able to stay there. So when his parents hire a family of Mexican migrant workers to help out after his father gets in an accident, Tyler is willing to accept their presence and to be friendly with the three school-age daughters. However, he knows something about the whole business is funny. His parents have asked him not to talk about their new farmhands at school, and he hears taunts at school and angry speeches at town meetings. Immigration and Homeland Security officers start conducting raids on nearby farms, and Tyler soon figures out that many people in town, including his parents, are hiring undocumented workers. Since Tyler has always been raised by these same adults to believe in patriotism and the rule of law, he’s not sure what to think anymore. He knows that his parents are doing something wrong, and he’s pretty sure that a lot of other adults are, too; but he also wants to keep his farm, and the more he gets to know the new family, especially the oldest daughter, Mari, the less he’s sure that the law keeping them out is a good one. For one thing, Mari’s two younger sisters were born in America, and if Mari and her father are sent back, then the family will be torn apart. For another thing, Mari’s mother is already missing, possibly lost on the dangerous journey over the border, and Mari is worried that if the family leaves, her mother will never find them again.

The novel alternates between the perspectives of Tyler and Mari, with Mari narrating in the form of letters to her mother and to the President of the United States. Mari’s letters contain a great deal of background information and exposition; Tyler’s chapters are more convincingly narrated, allowing the reader to discover the complexities of the immigration issue along with the character. Both characters are sympathetic, and Alvarez creates a spectrum of ancillary characters who reveal nuances of public opinion and of the difficulties in finding a solution to the issue. This novel will provide young adult readers with a good starting point for discussion of border issues and immigration; Alvarez offers much information and several points of view in an engaging format.

Naomi Lesley

Anderson, John David. Standard Hero Behavior. New York: Clarion Books, 2007. ISBN-10: 0-618-75920-4 $16.00 Ages 9-12. 273 pp.

“Mason was a bard for heroes without victories, old men looking for immortality, young ones looking for self-esteem [. . .]. They came to him with accidents, and he turned them into acts of courage, prettied them up to mask the fact that nothing exciting ever happened anymore” (9). Nothing exciting has happened in the City of Darlington for a very long time, in fact, ever since the young Duke Darlington came into power and the many heroes that the town had been famous for had found themselves out of work and left the town. But 15-year-old Mason Quayle is tired of being stuck in his uninspiring job, and wants to tag along with real heroes, in hopes that he may eventually get noticed and make something of his life. He shows up on the duke’s door one day asking for a job, and is sucked into a quest to bring back the real heroes in order to save the town from an imminent and villainous attack. And in an effort to come to terms with his own identity, he’ll also be searching for hints about his missing father’s true past along the way.

John David Anderson’s first book is mainly a lighthearted and humorous (but sometimes heavy-handed) romp exploring diverse stereotypes of fantasy and adventure fiction, though it does have its moments of poignancy—especially as concerns Mason’s feelings for his father. Anderson might have done well to take the story a little farther and deeper, because as-is, things tend to stay on the surface-level, and that approach is somewhat distancing for the reader.

SarahEllen Hickle

Bauer, Marion Dane. The Green Ghost. Illustrated by Peter Ferguson. New York: Random House, 2008. ISBN 978-0-375-84083-8. $11.99.

The narrative begins in the winter of 1938, and tells the story of nine-year-old Lillian. She lives the simple life of a farm girl but dreams of more extravagant things, like the beautiful green velvet cloak she sees in the store window clearly meant for a girl of higher social status. She also wants a big, beautiful Christmas tree, unlike the ugly junipers her father brings in from year to year. Lillian asks her father for permission to take over chore of the cutting down the Christmas tree. She has no intention of choosing one of the junipers close to the barn. She intends to cut down “the best tree in the forest,” a large pine.

The story then shifts to present day and introduces Kaye, a girl about Lillian’s age. She and her parents are on their way to grandmother’s house for Christmas when they get caught in a terrible snowstorm. When things get really precarious after the car gets stuck in the ditch, a mysterious light leads Kaye and her parents to a kind old lady’s house. The lady, Elsa, is the younger sister of Lillian, whose flashbacked story is interspersed between the present-day chapters.

Using this narrative technique, the fate of Lillian is slowly revealed. The reader begins to make the connections between the events of 1938 and present day. Without giving the secret away, I must say that this story is beautiful and touching. Marion Dane Bauer has crafted a work that respects the intelligence of her readers by making the structure challenging but rewarding and the language poetic yet accessible.

The black and white pencil illustrations by Peter Ferguson, who also illustrated The Red Ghost, are gorgeously rendered. They are a wonderful compliment to the text, both in making the world of the narrative more fully realized and in adding emotional depth to the touching story. One example of the former application occurs when Lillian wonders whether the pine tree she has chosen to cut down will fit into their modest farmhouse. The illustration shows a tree that towers at least ten feet over the head of Lillian.

I cannot remember a time I was more moved by a book intended for middle school aged children. The characters, their story, and the beautiful words and illustrations will stay with you long after the last page has been read.

Highly recommended.

Kira Hall

Bauer, Marion Dane. On My Honor. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1986. ISBN-13: 978-0-899-19439-4. Newberry Award Winner.

In On My Honor, Marion Dane Bauer presents a moral dilemma most everyone has faced: hide the truth to protect one’s self or tell the truth and face the consequences. Most readers, however, will be unable to personally relate to the situation in the book involving this familiar dilemma.

Twelve-year-old Joel is forever being challenged by his best friend Tony to prove he is “no chicken.” When Tony bets Joel to swim in the treacherous Vermillion River, Joel reluctantly gives in. The warning signs appear everywhere: by swimming in the river, Joel breaks a promise to his father not to stop anywhere on the way to the park, the river is known to be full of dangerous currents, and Joel can tell that Tony is a weak swimmer. Despite these warnings and unwilling to appear afraid, Joel ups the ante and proposes a swim race to the sandbar. By the time Joel realizes Tony is not following behind him, it is too late. Joel frantically searches for his missing friend, but the horrible truth creeps in—Tony has drowned in the river.

Wracked with guilt and scared of the consequences of his actions, Joel decides to lie, telling everyone that he does not know where Tony is. But soon pressure from the outside (parents, police) and the inside (his conscience) force him to rethink his decision. Can he find the strength to tell the truth?

On My Honor won the Newberry Award, and it is easy to see why. Marion Dane Bauer never loses sight of what it feels like to be a child, and the children that inhabit her narrative could just as easily inhabit our lives. The emotions are also truthfully and meticulously rendered. And while there can be no happy ending to a book steeped in tragedy, the child reader will be rewarded in another, perhaps profounder, way.

Kira Hall

Blume, Judy. BFF: Just as Long as We’re Together; Here’s to you, Rachel Robinson. New York: Delacorte Press, 2007. ISBN 9780440210948. $18.99. Ages 11-14. 496 pp. www.judyblume.com.

This book combines two of Judy Blume’s classic novels about friendship into one convenient book. Just as Long as We’re Together, and Here’s to You, Rachel Robinson, revolve around the friendship and junior high experiences of best friends, Stephanie, Rachel, and Allison. In these books these three friends deal with issues of family, boys, school, body image, and jealousy over each other. But no matter what sort of fights these girls get into, or whatever personal or family problems they are going through, these girls are there for each other and get through the very tough years of junior high school.

Stephanie must deal with her parent’s separation, weight issues, and a little brother who cannot sleep because of his fears about war. Rachel is a brilliant overachiever who has trouble being a normal pre-teen sometimes because of the standards she sets up for herself. She also has to deal with her jealousy over Stephanie’s growing friendship with Allison. Allison is the new girl in school who is the adopted daughter of a famous actress. She has to deal with insecurities of whether or not she is popular for being herself or because of her mom. And she has insecurities about whether her adopted parents will always love her since she is not their real daughter.

Just as Long as We’re Together is told from Stephanie’s first person narrative perspective while Here’s to You, Rachel Robinson, is from Rachel’s. Perhaps someday Blume will write a book from Allison’s perspective.

These two books were among my favorite books growing up. The issues these girls go through are so real. And the friendship between Stephanie, Rachel, and Allison is special. It is enjoyable to read about girls who have each other to rely on through all the hardships of seventh grade. Even though these books were written in the early 1990’s, the issues and experiences these girls go through are still valid. Many contemorary girls will still relate to what Stephanie, Rachel, and Allison go through. I highly recommend this book collection.

Joyce Ho

Brashares, Ann. 3 Willows: The Sisterhood Grows. New York: Delacorte Press, 2009. ISBN: 978-0-385-73676-3. $18.99 US/$21.99 CAN. Ages 11-14.

Ama, Polly, and Jo are not like the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, famed in their Bethesda high school. They tried, but they just couldn’t find any pants that fit them all. Even worse, as they went through middle school, they just seemed to drift apart. Jo fell in with the popular crowd and never had time for the others anymore. Ama has been spending more and more time at the library, keeping her grades up so she can be like her genius older sister. And Polly just seems to have been left behind, not only by her old friends, but also by her mother, who spends more and more time at her art studio and who seems to have less and less time for Polly. Back in third grade, the three friends did plant willow trees. But they haven’t been to water them in years, and all three figure the trees are probably dead by now.

However, during the fateful summer before they all start high school, Ama, Polly, and Jo rediscover how much they still do need each others’ friendship. Jo finds herself in the middle of her family’s breakup and also in the middle of an overly dramatic summer romance. Am gets stuck on a miserable two-month hiking trip with a tent-mate who seems to fool around with every guy in the group. And Polly decides to slim herself down for a new glamorous life as a model.

Many of the strengths of the Traveling Pants series remain in this new sisterhood novel. The characters are sympathetic, and the reader is allowed to discover their flaws slowly, at the same pace as the characters themselves do. Brashares effortlessly weaves together the three plot lines, keeping the readers curious about the outcome of one while simultaneously engrossed in another. Teen and adult readers who enjoyed the Pants will cheer the arrival of this new book, with a similar formula but fresh characters.

Naomi Lesley

Buckley, Michael. The Sisters Grimm, Book Four: Once Upon a Crime. Illus. Peter Ferguson. New York: Amulet, 2007. ISBN 0-8109-1610-X. U.S. $14.95/ CAN. $17.95. Ages 8-14. www.sistersgrimm.com, www.hnabooks.com

Michael Buckley’s Sisters Grimm series is a fantastic treasure, and like the previous books, Once Upon a Crime keeps readers guessing, on the edge of their seats and sometimes rolling in the aisles. This time the fairy-tale detectives solve two mysteries in the Big Apple.

The fourth novel begins where the third left off. To save their injured friend Puck ( as in the Trickster from A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Sabrina and Daphne Grimm along with Granny Grimm and Mr. Canis (formerly The Big Bad Wolf) travel to New York City to the land of Faerie.

There the sisters are in for a number of surprises. First, Faerie itself. Imagine A Midsummer Night’s Dream meets The Godfather. Second, Puck isn’t on good terms with his dad, Oberon, Godfather of Faerie, and there’s a question of whether he’ll help Puck at all. Third, the sisters learn that their mother, Veronica Grimm, was secretly involved in helping the Everafters, the fairy tale and children’s book characters that her husband was determined to avoid. They learn their mom was planning to give a speech, a recommendation on how the ever-struggling Everafters could eke out better lives for themselves in the world, when she and their dad were kidnapped by the Red Hand, the Everafter militant organization bent on destroying the Grimms’ legacy and taking over the world. What was Veronica Grimm going to tell the Everafters of NYC? But a more pressing question arises when they find the Godfather’s dead body. Who murdered Oberon?

Like the other novels, this is a comical mystery and it’s Sabrina’s coming of age story. Again she struggles between the Grimm family tradition and wanting a normal life. When she finds out her mother, the woman she idealized as the epitome of normalcy, was involved with the Everafters, Sabrina is thrown for a loop. Will she give up being a detective for a tame, “normal” life or follow in her mom’s footsteps?

Whether you’ve read fairy tales or are only familiar with the Disney versions, you’re in for a treat because Buckley has done his research, and it’s wonderfully obvious throughout the series. He adds depth to these characters; they’re three dimensional, not flat. You can read Once Upon a Crime without having read the other books since Buckley smartly works in a summary of what’s happened in the series thus far. However, you would miss out on how the characters have grown from the start of the series.

In addition, Peter Ferguson’s illustrations are worthy of framing. With detailed charcoal drawings he captures the wacky and often scary adventures of the Sisters Grimm. They complement the text beautifully, keeping with its tone and characters. It’s as exciting to see how Ferguson has depicted a scene as it is to find out what happens next in the story.

Marie Soriano

Carmody, Isobelle. Little Fur: A Mystery of Wolves. New York: Random House, 2007. ISBN 978-0-375-83858-3. $12.99 U.S./ $16.99 CAN. Ages 8 and up.

Half-elf, half-troll girl Little Fur lives in the wilderness with her animal friends, helping and healing any animal in need. When she has a dream that her beloved cat-friend Ginger might be in danger, she goes on a search for him that takes her through snow-covered mountains and across icy fjords to a secret pack of wolves. With the help of curmudgeonly Crow, shy baby owl Gem and wise, old wolf Graysong, Little Fur finds her missing friend and foils a misguided plot to bring the age of humans to an end.

Australian author Isobelle Carmody writes beautifully. In the character of Little Fur she’s created someone who is child-like in her innocence and curiosity but who is also self-reliant and brave. Readers who enjoy nature and love animals will like this novel. The author has created a world, like our present-day modern world, in which humans rule. Consequently, there is no magic left, and most of the animals are wary of humans. Carmody does have a message about conservation and how badly humans treat the environment; however, she doesn’t wield it with a heavy hand. Her book is thoughtful, not preachy.

As for the illustrations that grace most of the book’s pages—I absolutely love them. Some readers might say they are unprofessional and amateurish. The black and white pictures that seem to be done in pencil, pen and watercolor are child-like themselves, drawn in wobbly lines. These illustrations complement the story perfectly because they capture Little Fur’s innocence. They are adorable.

Although Little Fur: A Mystery of Wolves, published in Australia as The Legend of Little Fur, Book 3, A Mystery of Wolves, is the third book in the Little Fur series, those who have never read the first book, like myself, will have no trouble understanding the plot or the characters. The other novels in the series are The Legend Begins and A Fox Called Sorrow. The next book will be A Riddle of Green (2009). If you’re interested in other novels that have a pro-conservation message, I highly recommend Carl Hiassen’s Hoot, a Newbery Honor book, and Flush.

Marie Soriano

Chalifour, Francis. Call Me Mimi. Toronto: Tundra Books, 2008. ISBN 978-0-88776-823-1. $12.95 U.S./ $14.99 Can. Ages 11 and up.

Mimi, the heroine of Francis Chalifour’s young adult coming-of-age novel, is on a quest. The summer before college, she journeys from Montreal to Toronto to find her unknown sperm donor father. In the process, she hopes to regain some of the self-confidence she has lost in high school. Although her first statement to the reader is “Call me Mimi,” Mimi seems to think of herself as being less like Ishmael and more like the whale; Mimi has spent the past several years as an overweight scholarship student at an elite private high school in Montreal. She has been persecuted for her class and her appearance, and in her loneliness, has retreated to a series of fantasy lives in which she wins beauty contests, befriends Celine Dion, and offers sage advice to the Queen of England.

Over the course of her summer adventures, Mimi lies to her mother, to her estranged aunt, and to several strangers. However, she also makes real (as opposed to fantasy) friends, comes to terms with her weight, and begins to recognize the effects her lies and her fantasies have on the real people around her.

Call Me Mimi is a straightforward girl’s novel which incorporates many topical concerns; Mimi struggles with body image, her status in a single-parent household, and her marginalization as a French-speaking Canadian who is uncomfortable with the dominant language of her country. Many other essential elements of the genre are also here: a witty, self-deprecating tone, clever side characters, heartwarming moments, and lessons about self-acceptance and responsibility. There are few surprises in this book. However, nobody picks up a book of this kind asking for surprises, and Chalifour gives readers exactly what they will want and expect. Call Me Mimi is well written and entertaining, and deals with problems relevant to a young adult audience. Reading it is a fine way to spend a few enjoyable hours.

Naomi Lesley


Cottrell Boyce, Frank. Framed. New York: HarperCollins, 2005. ISBN 978-0-06-073404-6. U.S. $6.99. Ages 8 and up. ALA Notable Children’s Book, Book Sense Pick, Kirkus Reviews Best Children’s Book, School Library Journal Best Book. www.frankcottrellboyce.com

Nine-year-old Dylan loves two things more than anything else in the world: his family and the British town of Manod where they live. Sadly, not everyone feels the same. Manod is steadily shrinking as families leave for bigger places with more economic opportunities, until finally Dylan is the only boy in the town left. Eventually Dylan’s family has trouble making ends meet with their gas station and mini-mart. Dylan, his older sister Marie, his younger sister Minnie, his Mam, his Dad, and their friend and employee Tom desperately try to think up new ways to attract more business, but nothing seems to work. That’s when Dylan’s dad decides to sell his mini-cooper. But that doesn’t work, either. And when the mini-cooper gets stolen and his dad is questioned by two suspecting insurance agents, Dylan’s family becomes another casualty of Manod. His dad leaves and his mam falls into a depression, leaving Dylan, Marie, Minnie, and Tom to keep the family business running.

Meanwhile, something mysterious is happening in Manod. Big vans and fancy cars are driving up Manod’s hillside to the quarry. What could be going on? The town gets the answer when the head of this secret operation, Quentin Lester, mistakes Dylan for an art aficionado. London’s museum has been dealing the aftermath of a flood and has sent many paintings to be kept at Manod’s quarry caves, just like in World War II which shakes the people of Manod out of their creative ruts and boredom.

Will Dylan and Minnie pull off the heist of a lifetime to save their family business? How will art transform the town of Manod? And will Dylan’s dad ever come home?

Framed is a charming, funny heartwarming novel. Boyce has written the novel in first person from Dylan’s point of view. You feel for Dylan. He’s innocent and truly loves Manod and cannot understand why others don’t love it as much as he does. It’s that kind of innocence that makes you chuckle and sometimes cry at the sweetness of children. Sometimes he’s so innocent that he does something that he thinks will make things right, but it doesn’t work out and seems to make the situation worse. He also feels as though everyone in the family is talented but him. He wants so much to be good at something, to help his family in a big way, to make his family proud. He’s a sweetheart. His younger sister Minnie who’s obsessed with leading a life of crime balances his innocence with her feistiness. I do feel the novel has one weakness and that is loose ends. In this story, Cottrell Boyce develops other characters in the town. But once Dylan’s dad returns home, the focus is only on the family and there are so many questions left. What happens to Tom? Do Mr. Lester and Ms. Stannard stay together? How do the people react when the paintings are taken away? The ending was not completely satisfying. However, I have to say that despite the ending, I enjoyed the story overall, and I don’t regret reading Framed. It will win your heart over.

Marie Soriano

 

Cox, Judy. The Mystery of the Burmese Bandicoot. Illus. Omar Rayyan. Tarrytown, NY: Marshall Cavendish, 2007. ISBN 978-0-7614-5376-5. Ages 8-12.

It’s amazing how many kids’ books there are about rodents. With so many you’d think, do we really need more? The answer is yes! The Mystery of the Burmese Bandicoot is a delightful romp.

Frederick and Ishbu are two rat brothers who live in Miss Dove’s fifth grade classroom. But thanks to one conniving student, the principal plans to exterminate the sweet, adorable rats. So, when they find their cage door open Freddy and Ishbu make a run for it. They’re making their way across the playground when a wayward soccer ball sends Freddy flying into the sewer. Ishbu follows his beloved brother, and the adventure begins.

Reunited in the sewer they discover a secret organization of rodents and other wild animals called the Bilgewater Brigade, devoted to causing the suffering of humans. The head of the Brigade, a possum known as the Big Cheese, offers the brothers a deal—if they retrieve an ancient gold, jeweled statue called the Burmese Bandicoot, they can live in the lap of luxury just like him. When Freddy and Ishbu politely decline the offer, the Big Cheese doesn’t take it too well and sends his goons after them. Ironically, to escape the criminal clutches, the rats run aboard the very ship the Big Cheese wanted them on, headed for India to retrieve the statue. Soon they find themselves involved with a pirate cat, holy temple rats in India, and an insipid plot to poison humans. Will Frederick and Ishbu ever make it back to Miss Dove’s classroom?

Cox keeps the clever, hilarious and warm-hearted story moving. Once you start reading it’s hard to put the novel down. She has created the sweetest rats you’ve ever met and the other animal characters are a lot of fun, too, such as the pirate cat Fishbone Molly and Louie the marathon-training albatross. The Russian femme fatale rat Natasha was a bit much for me, but part of Cox’s humor seems to be playing up the campiness of the characters like Fishbone Molly who speaks just like you imagine a pirate would (Ahoy, matey!). In addition to adventure and mystery, the novel offers character development. The story is told mainly from Freddy’s point of view. He’s the brainy, adventurous sibling while Ishbu is the food-obsessed lazy one who just wants his creature comforts. Sometimes Freddy struggles between wanting to explore the world and wanting to be with his brother.

The only thing that had me scratching my head was the geography. Freddy and Ishbu make a trip around the globe, but it’s difficult to follow their movement because Cox never places Miss Dove’s classroom in a specific locale until the end of the story when she reveals that they are in fact in San Francisco. It would have been helpful to have had that information from the beginning, so I could picture the setting and their voyage clearly in my mind.

The illustrations by Omar Rayyan are small, and they only appear at the beginning of every chapter, but they are detailed and beautifully rendered. You can’t help but ooooh and awwww at the drawings of Freddy and Ishbu. Who could resist those little rat faces?

Marie Soriano

Crilley, Mark. Akiko: Pieces of Gax. New York: Delacorte Press, 2006. ISBN 978-0-385-73044-0. $9.95. Ages 8 and up. 209pp.

Have you ever wished that you could escape reality to go on a grand adventure to visit another planet simply leaving a robot clone to take your place so that nobody realizes you’re missing? Well, while you can’t really literally do that, you can join Akiko and her friends in this entertaining story about her adventure to the city of Gollarondo on the planet Smoo.

Akiko’s best friends are not ordinary people. In fact, they’re not really even people. They are aliens and robots from Smoo. Every once in awhile they come to earth to sweep Akiko away on an adventure. This time it is a trip to the city of Gollarondo, a city where everything is upside down. It is all fun and games at first, until Gax, the robot of Akiko’s friend Spuckler, falls into the Moonguzzit Sea where he becomes the property of the notorious Nugg von Hoffelhiff, who rules the sea. He takes Gax apart and sells the pieces to disrespectable people. Now Akiko and her friends have to race all around the planet to gather up the various pieces of Gax before it is too late, and he cannot be put back together.

This is the ninth book in Crilley’s Akiko series. While in the beginning of the book Akiko explains her connection to her friends from Smoo, I am sure that the background of her adventures, as well as the personalities and different races of these zany characters make more sense if you have read the earlier books. Still it is a fun and entertaining story and relatively easy to follow. Anime fans will especially enjoy it. As Crilley spent many years working in Taiwan and Japan, elements of Anime have found their way into his writing and art. Crilley himself did the cover illustration and the illustrations in the story. According to his biography, it was in Japan that he came up with the idea for Akiko’s series. All in all, it is an enjoyable read. I would not mind reading any of the other books in the series.

Joyce Ho

Cummings, John Michael. The Night I Freed John Brown. New York: Philomel, 2008. ISBN 978-0-399-25054-5. $17.99 U.S./ $20.00 CAN. Ages 8 and up.
www.johnmichaelcummings.com

Josh Connors is a sweet, sensitive, artistic thirteen-year-old living in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, a historic town, with his two older brothers, mother and father. He’s a good boy with an unhappy home-life. His father verbally, emotionally and physically abuses his sons, particularly Josh who his father sees as spoiled and over-protected by the boy’s mother. To say Mr. Connors has anger issues is a gross understatement. Mr. Connors also controls his sons, forbidding them to go into town for anything.

Josh’s two older brothers have rebelled by becoming juvenile delinquents. Josh, on the other hand, has managed to remain a nice kid. He loves to draw more than anything and wants to become an artist. Josh finds a mentor in his friend Luke’s dad, Mr. Richmond, who’s not only a nice man but interested in the arts as well. It also doesn’t hurt that the Richmonds live in a house that’s not run-down, unlike the Connors.

But nothing is as it seems. Mysteries surround the Richmonds and Josh’s father who forbids Josh to enter the local church and talk with the new priest, even though Mr. Connors used to be a devout Catholic. Is the Richmond family as happy and as prosperous as they seem? Why is Mr. Connors so angry?

John Michael Cummings is a seasoned writer of short fiction and has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize a number of times, so it’s no surprise that his novel is so well-written and engaging. Overall, I enjoyed the book. That being said, I did have one issue with the book:
Mr. Connor’s transformation. I don’t want to spoil the book for potential readers, suffice to say Josh’s father shows signs of turning over a new leaf, doing a complete 360, after being an abusive jerk to his family for over a decade. I just couldn’t buy this sudden redemption. It didn’t jive for me. I feel like Cummings wrote an ending that is supposed to leave me feeling warm-hearted and optimistic, but instead I end up shaking my head and wishing this family would get psychological and family counseling. But perhaps I am too cynical.

Cummings’s novel reminds me of Katherine Paterson’s Bridge to Terabithia. Paterson’s novel, too, has a sensitive protagonist living in the country. His family is also poor, and his only hope for becoming an artist seems to be leaving the country for the city. Because his father thinks that liking art makes his son gay, the boy hides his pencils under his pillow and secretly draws under his covers at night. Similarly, Josh struggles with his class and living in the country. The father in Terabithia differs, however, in that while he disapproves of his son’s artistic pursuits, he’s not abusive. In fact, he’s hardly home because he’s always out working to support the family. In both novels, the city represents open-mindedness and freedom. This country versus city theme is interesting, since in other books such as Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher, the child protagonist finds redemption in the country rather than in the city.

Marie Soriano

Curtis, Christopher Paul. Elijah of Buxton. New York: Scholastic, 2007. ISBN 0439023440

Eleven-year-old Elijah is the first "free-born" child in Buxton, the Canadian settlement of runaway slaves. He is a gentle, "fra-gile" boy who listens and learns from everything around him. In this coming of age story, Elijah is tricked and tried, and learns from his experiences. He details his confusion about how to be "growned up.” His adventures, almost being sold to the carnival by the Preacher and welcoming new "free-folks" into the settlement by gentle non-direct methods, all build to a culmination when he and his friend Mr. Leroy ride across the border into "Mitchigan" to find the stolen money earned to buy Mr. Leroy's family out of slavery. In the final chapters, Elijah encounters a family of slaves that have been recaptured and are being returned to slavery in chains; Elijah shows his matured understanding of his own freedom.
Great historic fiction brings a time and a place to life and that happens in Elijah of Buxton, by Newbery Medal winner Curtis. Elijah’s strong respect for his parents, their way of life, and their community sets a tone. This is a slow paced yarn, with so much heart and history captured in dialect, it may be difficult for some young readers, but it is worth the effort. The beauty of the story builds to a strong and satisfying ending that lasts. This is a strong Newbery contender and a great gift of a book from Curtis.

JoAnn Jonas

Curtis, Christopher Paul. Mr. Chickee’s Messy Mission. New York: WendyLamb, 2007.
ISBN 978-0-440-22922-3. $6.50. Ages 8-12.

Award-winning children’s author Christopher Paul Curtis has written a sequel to his zany and silly book Mr. Chickee’s Funny Money. If you think things couldn’t possibly get any stranger, think again.

In Mr. Chickee’s Messy Mission, the Flint Future Detectives, Steven, Russell and new president Richelle, go on a crazy search for Russell’s dog, Rodney Rodent, that brings them to a new dimension of adventure. Literally.

When Rodney Rodent disappears into a notorious billboard of a scary-looking gnome, Russell, Steven and Richelle are not keen on going after him, but with no other way to rescue Russell’s beloved pet, they go in. They find the billboard is a portal to another dimension, and who should they find there but none other than Steven’s friend Mr. Chickee. In that dimension called Ourside, the kids discover that the Old Souls have a few missions in mind for them, to help the people there understand the prophecies of the Chronicles of Zornea-Hu. Steven, Russell and Richelle have thirty days to complete their tasks. Thirty days in Ourside is equivalent to one second in Yourside or the kids’ dimension in modern day Flint, Michigan; however, any second more than thirty days equals 99 years, 9months and 9 days. While Richelle is the smartest kid at Clark Elementary School (she can speak Swahili!), Steven and Russell are not the sharpest tools in the shed. How will they even accomplish one mission let alone a few?

Don’t let the serious sounding plot fool you. Mr. Chickee’s Messy Mission is the epitome of zaniness. If you’re determined not to take yourself seriously, you might want to read Messy Mission, and if you’re searching for other authors with a similar sense of humor, you might want to try reading Daniel Pinkwater’s books.

Interestingly, the humor in Curtis’ novel involves playful put-downs. If you remember Black American television sitcoms from the 1970s such as The Jeffersons, Good Times and What’s Happening?, you’ll know what I mean. Even the characters who like each other can’t resist a witty jab at one another’s expense. I’ve noticed most often in the novel adults take jabs, and sometimes rather sharp ones, at the kids. (Kids really meaning Steven and Russell. Richelle is so smart she only earns praise.) Even though the adults seem to be reinforcing their authority with their sarcasm, readers are also privy to what the kids are thinking, and although they never say them aloud, the kids have some pointed observations/ remarks of their own, which then undermine the adults’ authority.

Marie Soriano


Dale, Anna. Dawn Undercover. New York: Bloomsbury, 2005. ISBN 1-59990-002-5. $7.95 U.S. Ages 8-12. www.bloomsburyusa.com.

Anna Dale’s debut novel Whispering to Witches was absolutely delightful and not surprisingly, so is her second. She has again written characters that’ll steal your heart and make you guffaw. Move over James Bond. Meet Dawn Buckle.

Dawn Buckle is an extraordinarily ordinary girl. So much so that she blends into the woodwork, so to speak. No one notices her, not at the crosswalk, not at school, and not at home, either. Her father is usually down in the cellar fixing and tinkering with clocks, while her mum is a workaholic who doesn’t know how to slow down. Dawn’s grandfather, whom she’s closest to, watches quiz shows all day in front of the T.V.

Then one day someone notices how unnoticeable she is. That someone is spy Emma Cambridge from P.S.S.T., Pursuit of Scheming Spies and Traitors, a section of S.H.H., Strictly Hush Hush, a British Intelligence agency. She thinks Dawn would make a fantastic spy, and once Dawn’s parents sign the consent forms, Dawn is whisked away to P.S.S.T headquarters, hidden on the second floor of a quaint apartment house. There she meets the other adult members of P.S.S.T. who train her in all they know, preparing her for the mission no operative has been able to succeed at yet: find missing agent Angela Bradshaw and capture the elusive Murdo Meek.

Dawn is trained and ready to go. It seems everything is going smoothly. Until the missing agent’s grandson Felix with his incompetent dog Haltwhistle, infiltrates P.S.S.T. headquarters and insists that he lead the mission. Of course, he meets opposition, and he’s sent away. (As if that would work!)

Finally, Dawn, accompanied by P.S.S.T. secretary Trudy Harris, head for the quaint town of Cherry Bentley, where the missing agent was last seen and heard from. But when they arrive they find, much to their dismay, that Felix and Haltwhistle were stowed away in the car. Unfortunately, there’s no time to drive the pesky duo back. Will Dawn be able to accomplish her mission with Felix and Haltwhistle mucking about? Will she be able to remain undercover with two big dopes drawing so much attention?

In Dawn Undercover, Anna Dale has created charming characters and a tightly woven plot. This is indeed a good mystery, and a whimsical one at that. It’s hard to read the acronym “P.S.S.T.” with a straight face. I’m happy to say there are more where that came from; there’s a glossary of them in the back of the book. Guess what A.H.E.M. and C.O.O.E.E. stand for! I must also say that this is, in fact, the best spy novel I have ever read. And I’ve actually read a James Bond novel by Ian Fleming. (No offense, Mr. Fleming. R.I.P.)

On a more analytical note, the novel is mainly a mystery and adventure story, but it is interesting in its character development and family relationships. The ending is like that in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum. When Dorothy returns from Oz, the farm is no longer the dull grey place it used to be. Who changed, Dorothy or the farm? Who changes in Dawn Undercover, Dawn or her folks? What is so intriguing about Dawn is that even when people ignore her, she doesn’t mope or wallow in self-pity; she’s an optimistic girl who is patiently waiting for her chance to make a mark on the world. Just being surrounded by people who believe in her, namely the P.S.S.T. agents, and having the chance to shine gives Dawn more confidence, which is reminiscent of the Charles Perrault fairy tale “Ricky of the Tuft.”

Marie Soriano

Divakaruni, Chitra Banerjee. The Mirror of Fire and Dreaming: Book II of the Brotherhood of the Conch. New York: Aladdin Paperbacks, 2005. ISBN 978-1-4169-1768-7. US $5.99/CAN $6.99. Ages 8-12.

The Mirror of Fire and Dreaming is a classic epic fantasy which happens to be set in India. The protagonist, Anand, is a boy with special, but undeveloped, magical powers, who is beginning his apprenticeship as a Healer in the magical Brotherhood of the Silver Valley. Although Anand is not very good at his magical lessons, he is able to see premonitions of evil which the other apprentices and healers cannot. One of his visions sends his mentor, Abhaydatta, on a mission to combat an evil magician. When Anand has a vision of his mentor in trouble, he breaks the rules of the Brotherhood, takes the sacred conch which he has been appointed to protect, and convinces his friend Nisha to join him in a quest to find Abhaydatta and save him. Anand uses the conch to travel back in time; however, in the process, he becomes separated from both the conch and from his companion Nisha. On his own, Anand must combat the evil wizard and also find his conch, his friend, and his mentor.

This is the second book of a series. There are references throughout to events and information from the first book, but a reader new to the series (as I was) can still follow the action. Divakaruni includes a great deal of exposition, both about the magical world of the brotherhood and also about Indian customs. This information is helpful, especially for young readers who may be unfamiliar with Indian history or with Hindu and Muslim traditions. However, it is often put in the form of dialogue, which makes the writing clunky and awkward at times.

Divakaruni places most of this exposition at the beginning; once Anand is transported back in time to the Mughal nawab’s palace, the action picks up, and the reader is free to enjoy Divakaruni’s imaginative magical objects, friendly elephants, and evil spirit-eating jinns. Furthermore, the richly described historical setting does make this book an interesting new contribution to the fantasy genre.

Naomi Lesley


Dowd, Siobhan. The London Eye Mystery. New York: David Fickling Books, 2008. www.siobhandowd.co.uk, www.randomhouse.com/kids. Ages 10+

When Ted’s aunt Gloria and cousin Salim come to visit Ted’s family in London on their way to live in New York, no one expects anything seriously bad will happen . . . except for the potential family spat. However, when Salim takes a ride by himself on the London Eye and fails to exit the famous Ferris wheel, it is up to Ted and his big sister Kat to find him.

This distraught family calls the police and Salim’s father Rashid to help in the search, but it looks like Salim may be gone for good. Though Ted and his sister do not always get along, they put their differences aside to come up with eight theories to explain Salim’s disappearance—including everything from Salim sneaking off the Eye (unlikely since Ted and Kat were watching for him to exit) to Salim spontaneously combusting (also unlikely and far-fetched, according to Kat)—in order to help track him down. Can Ted and Kat find Salim before it’s too late?

This is a wonderful mystery not only for the clues but for the characters. Ted is especially interesting because his brain is “wired differently” than other people’s. (The book alludes to his Asperger’s Syndrome without over-emphasizing it.) Ted is also very interested in meteorology and the reader can learn several factoids about the weather throughout the book. An excellent mystery!

Kim Kennelly

Dragonology Pocket Adventures. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick, 2007. $9.99. ISBN 978-0-7636-3700-2. 4 small hardback books packaged as a collection.

I asked my undergraduate children’s literature students whether they remembered the series from decades ago, “Choose Your Own Adventure. They do. Candleswick’s Dragonology pocket adventures are much the same, but in a swankier production. Each of the four small books offers readers many chances to opt for different twist plots—what will the hero/reader do next?
The handsome little books feature fine drawings, maps, insets, and slick, expensive paper. The collection is a whole lot of fun in a small box for a reasonable price.

A. Allison

Druitt, Tobias. Corydon & the Fall of Atlantis. New York: Alfred A. Knopf-Random House Children’s Books, 2007. www.randomhouse.com/kids. $15.99 U.S. $21.00 CAN.

The sequel to Corydon and the Island of Monsters, Tobias Druitt’s Corydon & the Fall of Atlantis retells the stories surrounding the fall of the mythical city of Atlantis, complete with Greek and chthonic gods and goddesses, mythical creatures, and monsters such as dragons, Gorgons, the Minotaur, and a five-headed hydra.

Corydon (peaceful shepherd and son of the chthonic god Pan) journeys to the war-torn city of Atlantis with Gorgos (son of Medusa and Poseidon), the Snake Girl, the sisters Euryale and Sthenno, and the Hydra, Lady Nagaina. This action-filled quest to rescue the Minotaur, who has been kidnapped by the Atlanteans, takes our mythical heroes (and anti-heroes) across land and sea on a treacherous journey that grows beyond trying to save their friend. The protagonists discover they are entangled in the heart of the battle that will determine the fate of Atlantis.

Interestingly, Tobias Druitt is actually the pen name for a mother and son writing team (Diane Purkiss and Michael Dowling). Their entertaining novel, which is the second book in a trilogy, deals with the complicated relationships between parents and children, friendship, loyalty, and learning to accept others’ differences. This novel of myth and legend will delight lovers of Greek mythology (as well as those who are new to these tales) as Druitt brings these vivid characters to life.

Emily Moore

DuPrau, Jeanne. The Diamond of Darkhold, the Fourth Book of Ember. New York: Random House, 2008. ISBN 978-0-375-85571-9. $16.99 U.S./ $19.99 CAN. Ages 8-14. www.booksofember.com

Hopefully this latest Book of Ember is not the last book in Jeanne DuPrau’s stunning science fiction series. As in the earlier novels, DuPrau weaves a story of friendship, struggle and hope.

The people of the city of Ember have now joined the people of Sparks and face their first winter above ground. They’ve never experienced the cold winter before, and there’s a shortage of food. The Emberites and people of Sparks don’t know how they’ll possibly make it through the season. Facing such harsh circumstances, thirteen-year-old Emberites Lina and Doon feel homesick for their old city, and when a shepherdess comes to town to trade, she unknowingly presents the kids with an excuse to visit their beloved old home and a possible way to help everyone in Sparks get through the winter.

Doon spots a book on the shepherdess’s wagon, a beaten up old book the woman has been tearing pages from to feed her fire and use when nature calls. Doon suspects this might be a book from Ember, a book of instructions written and left by the people who designed and built the city, not unlike the instructions Lina finds in the first novel in the series. Homesick and needing a bit of adventure and distraction from real life, Doon and Lina devise a plan to secretly return to Ember to try to solve the book’s mystery and gather supplies for Sparks. They make the three-day trek to their destination. Everything seems to be going as planned—until Doon is taken prisoner by a wicked family that’s invaded Ember. Will Lina be able to find her way back to Sparks in time to get help? Will the book’s mystery ever be solved?

My love for this series has grown with each novel. DuPrau is a brilliant writer. The Diamond of Darkhold, like the other novels in the series, is a fine balance between action/ adventure and character interiority and introspection. The chapters are written from different characters’ perspectives, namely Lina, Doon and Kenny. The ending to The Diamond of Darkhold has a finality about it, which left me feeling sad. DuPrau ends the novel by describing the far futures of Lina, Doon and other characters, but I hope DuPrau will continue writing stories about this imagined future she has vividly created.

What I find most interesting about the whole series is that it’s really an immigration story. DuPrau addresses the complex feelings that arise when one has to leave one’s homeland: homesickness, fear, hope, frustration and confusion in assimilating and adjusting to a new way of life. She also writes about immigrants’ struggles to be accepted in their new homeland. These issues are at the heart of Books 2 and 4 in the series, The People of Sparks and The Diamond of Darkhold. Readers might be more interested in the post-apocalyptic-science fiction aspect of the novels. The idea of a future in which civilization has been destroyed because of nuclear war and a small group of survivors have to rebuild is fascinating. In these tumultuous times of the early 21st century with the Iraq War, terrorism and global warming, DuPrau’s novels strike a chord. An excellent adult science fiction novel with a similar plotline is The Postman by David Brin.

Futuristic novels for kids, children and young adults, tend to be dystopic and dark. Lois Lowry’s The Giver, M.T. Anderson’s Feed and the Scott Westerfield series beginning with Uglies follow this trend. DuPrau’s series differs from the trend in that its tone isn’t as dark, and it isn’t about totalitarianism but more about inter-dependence and the need to resolve conflict peacefully.

Marie Soriano

Farmer, Nancy. A Girl Named Disaster. 1996. New York: Puffin Books, 1998. ISBN 0-14-038635-1. U.S. $6.99/ $9.99 CAN. Ages 10 and up. Newbery Honor Book 1997.

Nhamo lives in a small, traditional village in Mozambique, Africa, in the early 1980s. Her mother was killed by a jaguar and she has never known her father. When a plague hits the village, the Elders believe the sickness is caused by a muvuki, an angry spirit, who is demanding retribution for Nhamo’s father’s crime (he accidentally killed a man in a fight). To appease the spirit, the Elders decide to marry Nhamo to the dead man’s older brother—before Nhamo’s twelfth birthday. Her grandmother helps her to escape and Nhamo begins her journey alone to find her father in Zimbabwe. She must learn to survive on the river and jungle before she reaches a completely alien world—civilization. Nhamo must bridge the gap between her traditional ways and western ways in order to find acceptance.
This book would make an excellent survival guide for a trip to Africa! Not only does Nancy Farmer provide a good story, she also explains African culture and history through the character of Nhamo. Farmer’s extensive research is evident through the glossary of terms, bibliography, and two short sections on “The History and Peoples of Zimbabwe and Mozambique” and “The Belief System of the Shona” found at the back of the book.

Kimberly Kennelly

Farmer, Nancy. The Sea of Trolls. 2004. New York: Simon Pulse, 2006. ISBN 978-0-689-86746-0. U.S. $8.99/ $12.50 CAN. Ages 10 and up.

The year is 793 A.D. and eleven-year-old Jack has just become an apprentice bard in his Anglo-Saxon village. Although the work is hard, he enjoys learning the magic of song—until Viking Berserkers raid his village and steal his six-year-old sister Lucy. Jack allows himself to be captured and becomes a thrall, a slave, on the Northmen’s ship bound for the land of trolls. With help from an intelligent crow named Bold Heart, Jack must find a way to rescue his sister in this “enthralling” adventure.
Nancy Farmer artfully blends Scandinavian and Anglo-Saxon history and mythology into a tale of daring action. She includes an appendix with historical tidbits, a pronunciation guide, and a list of sources. An excellent quest story!

Kimberly Kennelly

Fleming, Candace. The Fabled Fourth Graders of Aesop Elementary School. New York: Schwartz & Wade, 2007. ISBN 978-0-375-83672-5. $15.99 Ages 6-10. www.randomhouse.com/kids

The Fabled Fourth Graders of Aesop of Elementary School is a gem of hilarity. In her latest novel for kids, Candace Fleming has given readers puns, word play and characters you swear you went to school with.

None of the teachers want to take on the fourth grade class of Aesop Elementary. The fourth graders are just a bit…rambunctious. The principal Mrs. Struggles is at the end of her rope when in walks the enigmatic and wacky Mr. Jupiter who is crazy enough to take the job.

To their surprise nothing the students do seems to faze him. Mr. Jupiter has a great sense of humor, a lot of Zen, the patience of a saint, and stories so out of this world even the unruly students are captivated.

The novel is not really about how Mr. Jupiter tames the class and handles each of the students’ unique personalities, although that is part of the story. Each chapter focuses on a particular student or teacher, usually with an issue or predicament s/he has to resolve. Essentially, the chapters are fables, hence the “Aesop Elementary,” after the ancient storyteller. At the end of each chapter Fleming presents us with a moral, for example, “Those who pretend to be what they are not, sooner or later find themselves in deep water” (162).

Didactic children’s literature, literature written specifically to teach children morals, has a reputation for being condescending, boring or, in some cases deeply disturbing, as in the case of Struwwelpeter (Shock-headed Peter), in which horrible endings befall children who indulge in uncouth behaviors, like sucking their thumbs. The Fabled Fourth Graders of Aesop Elementary School is none of these things. And while Fleming may be trying to teach morals to child readers, the stories are just…good stories. They’re zany and fun.

Every fourth grader has a personality trait that is problematic in some way, but rather than making the kids unlikable, the trait ends up making them endearing. As I was reading I was reminded of my own fourth grade class and the teachers at my school because, despite the silly humor and exaggerations, the book feels emotionally real.

My one warning about the book is that it is very punny. Be prepared for names like Lil Ditty, Paige Turner, Rose Clutterdorf, and Victoria Sovaine. I think the wordplay is fun, but others may not be so amused.

Marie Soriano

Hardinge, Frances. Fly by Night. New York: HarperTrophy, 2005. ISBN 978-0-06-087630-2. $7.99 U.S. Ages 10 and up. School Library Journal Best Book, ALA Best Book for Young Adults, New York Public Library’s “One Hundred Titles for Reading and Sharing” www.franceshardinge.com

The cover of the novel features the main character holding her pet goose and the promo “Imagine a world in which all books have been BANNED!” Hardinge has created a universe in which books have been banned but the novel is no Farenheit 451 or 1984. Hardinge’s novel is a unique blend of political intrigue, social critique and absurdity.

Mosca Mye is a precocious twelve-year-old orphan desperate to get away from her abusive aunt and uncle. Never one to miss an opportunity, Mosca offers to free the con man Eponymous Clent from the stocks in exchange for a job as his secretary. Together, along with her goose Saracen, they go on the run, leaving the village of Chough behind. They travel to the city of Mandelion, where Mosca discovers that Mr. Clent isn’t just a con man—he’s secretly working for the Company of Stationers, the guild in charge of censoring the written word, banning works, approving works, and controlling printing presses. Mosca has no loyalties to Mr. Clent, especially since he acts like he doesn’t want her around. Thus, she decides to spy on him for Lady Tamarind, sister to the Duke of Mandelion, who promises to reward Mosca with a job in the palace. But the political intrigue doesn’t stop there. When the Stationers find evidence of an illegal printing press, they go after the Company of Locksmiths, creating man-hunting chaos in Mandelion. Mosca has to figure out who her true friends are and where her loyalties lay before she becomes a victim of others’ political schemes.

Frances Hardinge has created a unique, absurd and sometimes confusing but mostly funny universe. Mosca and Mr. Clent’s world is based on that of Regency England, that is 18th century England. Picture people wearing puffy white wigs and lots of white powder, horse drawn carriages and crazy and disgustingly decadent royalty. Hardinge has named this universe “The Fractured Realm.” The Parliament has never been able to decide on a king or queen, and the common people have their own favorite candidates, much like favorite sports teams. Hence, the Guilds—the Company of Stationers, the Company of Watermen and the Company of Locksmiths hold most of the power. Unfortunately, they hate each other.

The Fractured Realm is an intriguing fantasy world. Hardinge has a great imagination as well as sense of humor. Publishers Weekly writes that the book’s tone is similar to that of Monty Python, and I have to agree. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Monty Python, let me quickly give you a summary. Monty Python is a British comedy troupe made up of actors such as John Cleese and Terry Gilliam. They had a television show called Monty Python’s Flying Circus, and they went on to make a number of films including Monty Python and the Holy Grail, The Life of Brian and Jabberwocky. Their work is adult-oriented, but Hardinge manages to capture that same sense of the absurd in Fly By Night. I do like the novel, although I must say that I was disappointed by a couple of the novel’s weaknesses. First, the political factions are so confusing, it was hard to keep track at times. I kept referring to the “Notes about the Fractured Realm” at the back to make sure I got the different Guilds straight. Second, I had expected Mosca and Mr. Clent to banter more and have more of a relationship. She’s precocious and he’s a wordsmith. That’s usually a formula for laughs, but not here. They do start communicating honestly at the end of the novel which sets it up for a sequel. (In this case, I suspect the sequel would be better than the original.) If you’re willing to read a novel that gets off to a slow start, your patience will be rewarded in the end with Fly By Night.

Marie Soriano

Hirahara, Naomi. 1001 Cranes. New York: Delacorte Press, 2008. ISBN 978-0-385-73556. $15.99 US/$19.99 CAN. Ages 10-12. www.naomihirahara.com

Angie Kato feels like she has been abandoned by both of her parents. They are in the process of divorcing, but they won’t tell her anything; and in order to get her out of the way, her mother has sent her to live with her grandparents and aunt for the summer. Angie’s parents, assimilated (and formerly radical) Japanese-Americans, have never had much respect for her grandparents’ combined business—her grandfather runs a flower store and her grandmother and aunt make 1001 crane displays for Japanese-American weddings. Yet all of a sudden, Angie is paying her way in the household by helping out in the store and folding paper cranes, which turns out to be harder than it looks. Her grandfather is gentle and sweet, but Angie can never do anything right for her grandmother, who clearly loves a local adopted girl more than she loves Angie.

Angie knows she doesn’t belong in this town, and she doesn’t want to. The only person she can trust is a cute skateboarder named Tony, and her grandparents don’t want her anywhere near him. In the meantime, other people in town are trying hard to reach out to her, and she finds herself the quiet observer of everyone else’s family dramas and pain. Still, although she can recognize destructive behavior in other people’s families, she doesn’t seem to be able to recognize it in herself, until an emergency when she is forced to rise to the occasion.

Angie is a convincing character—just sympathetic enough to make the reader want to continue reading, and just self-absorbed and stubborn enough to make us cringe and cover our eyes at witnessing her missteps. Hirahara weaves together various story lines effectively, creating a story that is simultaneously about accepting change, preserving tradition, the conversion of a spoiled adolescent, and learning to recognize and cherish love. This is a highly readable, warm and fuzzy first novel that young teens (and their parents) will enjoy.

-Naomi Lesley

Hoban, Russell. The Mouse and His Child. Illus. David Small. New York: Arthur A. Levine Books, 2001. ISBN: 978-0439098267. $16.99 U.S. Ages 9 – 12.

Renowned author Russell Hoban’s novel The Mouse and His Child is a story meant for all audiences, ages, creeds, and backgrounds. On the surface, a mouse and his child form a distinctively unique toy, bound at the hands and are only able to move when wound. They seek a means to permanent automation without having to rely on the wind. This takes them out past the comfort of the toy store and into the real world with a myriad of adventures and wonderfully wacky creatures. From Muskrat, a pseudo-philosopher on a quest for a specific value in his never ending theorem to Manny Rat, a thief and criminal of days long since past, contribute to this over-the-top and heartwarming tale. The father and son duo traverse the outside world, searching and persevering in the midst of sheer, oppressive opposition, leading them back to where they first started.

The Mouse and His Child is not simply children’s literature. It must be explored by adults and children alike. Fathers and sons will find this story especially relevant if read together. Though there are intense philosophical undertones that would be applicable to discuss and ponder in an upper-division philosophy course, Hoban’s book can be interpreted and perceived on many different levels. The illustrations by David Small work to bring the reader into the world, though at times they can be especially gloomy, highlighting ever present danger awaiting the protagonists. The shading alone adds an eerie note of uncertainty and bridges reality fantastic circumstance in the novel. The metaphorical niceties and the dark, complex overtones fold into an ultimately rewarding tale and experience.

John Whitt

Hoeye, Michael. Time Stops for No Mouse. New York: Speak, 1999. ISBN 0-698-11991-6. U.S. $7.99 / CAN. $11.99. Ages 8 and up. www.hermux.com.
A Booklist Top Ten Mystery for Youth, A Book Sense 76 Selection

In the vein of Russell Hoban’s A Mouse and His Child, E.B. White’s Charlotte’s Web and Terry Pratchett’s The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents, Michael Hoeye’s Time Stops for No Mouse is a novel many would probably dismiss as childish because of the anthropomorphism, but is actually quite profound.

Hermux Tantamoq is mild-mannered mouse. He lives alone in a small apartment with his pet Ladybug, Terfle. After working in his watch shop, he comes home to make himself acorn casserole and a pot of tea. He lives a quiet and content life.

His world is forever changed when aviatrix and adventurer Linka Perflinger walks into his shop to have her watch repaired. Absolutely smitten with Ms. Perflinger, he eagerly waits for her to return. When she doesn’t return to pick up her watch, Hermux becomes uneasy. His feelings are confirmed when a sleazy rat comes into the shop trying to claim it. The quick-thinking Hermux follows the rat to Ms. Perflinger’s home. Hiding behind a rhododendron bush Hermux sees a drugged and tied Linka Perflinger being escorted into a limo against her will and driven away by shady looking characters.

Unable to get the police to take him seriously, Hermux sees no other alternative than to find Linka on his own. He uncovers an intricate plot involving a demented plastic surgeon, a cosmetics mongul with a penchant for bad taste and installation art, and a formula for everlasting youth.

Time Stops for No Mouse is a superb example of why children’s literature is worthy of serious study. It is chockablock full of discussion about art, philosophy and life. Hermux questions what beauty is, where it is and if he has any sense of it. Is there only one kind of beauty? How seriously should we take art? For that matter, what is art? Can a woman empty her purse on the floor and declare that art? If we took a closer look at some of those things we take so seriously such as art and fashion, we might find that they are, in reality, quite ridiculous and absurd, like a novel about a man who seeks revenge on a white whale, for example, or like this novel, and yet somehow that does not make them any less beautiful or meaningful. Hoeye’s novel also explores the tyranny that results when one person tries to make everyone conform to his/her standard of beauty.

What starts out as a simple story about a mouse who gets embroiled in a mystery ends up being a musing about the nature of beauty and art.

Marie Soriano


Howe, James. Totally Joe. New York: Alladin Mix, 2005. ISBN 0-689-83958-8. U.S. $5.99 / $6.99 CAN. Ages 9-13. www.simonsayskids.com, www.nonamecallingweek.org.
Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year 2005, ALA Notable Book 2006, Lambda Literary Award nominee 2006


This is the kind of book that touches you so deeply that you want all your friends to read it, too, and you talk about it to everyone you meet. It’s the kind of book that makes you feel a little sad when it ends and hopeful that there will be a sequel. James Howe’s first book was Bunnicula, the tale of the vampire bunny, and the Bunnicula series is the work I’m more familiar with. But when I picked up Totally Joe I suspected Howe wouldn’t disappoint, and I was right.

Meet Joe Bunch. He’s a twelve-year-old boy who is smart, thoughtful…and gay. Flamboyantly so. And it would be safe to say that he’s in touch with his feminine side. As Joe points out, he is not a “guy-guy.” Joe is different; he doesn’t conform to traditional gender roles, and sadly, some of the kids at school don’t handle diversity very well. From his point of view we get what it’s like to grow up gay—being bullied, being called a “faggot,” not being able to hold hands with your boyfriend for fear of humiliation or ridicule. Luckily he has a family who supports and loves him, and he has a group of friends that do completely accept him as he is.

Totally Joe depicts the hardships gays experience without being tragic. It is optimistic yet not simplistic, trite or corny.

The novel is intelligently set up in the form of an English assignment: an autobiography from A to Z. It’s told in a first person narrative that is often laugh-out-loud funny as well as bravely honest (Howe certainly proves his talent for humor) and absolutely unique.

Although this is a story about a gay kid, I think you can relate to Joe whether you’re gay or not. He reveals,

About three weeks into the sixth grade, which is so different from the fifth grade they should give you a passport, I started spending a lot of time in the nurse’s office with these mysterious stomachaches. While I was lying there on that little bed, thinking about whose head had been on the pillow before mine and if they had coughed a lot and what disease they had, and while I was also trying to look pitiful enough not to be sent back to class, it occurred to me that the real reason for my stomachaches was that not being popular actually hurts! I didn’t want to have to change in order to have everybody like me, but that didn’t stop me from wanting to be liked. (p. 132-133)

James Howe’s novel isn’t just about being gay; it’s about the desire each and every one of us has, child and adult alike, to be liked and accepted, and it’s about the challenges we sometimes face when we do dare to be authentic and genuine. Who can’t relate to that?

Marie Soriano

Jarrell, Randall. The Animal Family. Illus. Maurice Sendak. New York: HarperTrophy, 1996. ISBN: 978-0062059048. $8.95 U.S. Ages 9 – 12.

The Animal Family is a tale about exactly that, a family comprised of animals. The story begins with a lonely hunter who lives near the forest amidst the break of the shore. The log cabin in which he dwells was built from his own two hands, and he hopes one day to build a family. One night the hunter hears the voice of a mermaid compelling him to search her out. Once he finds her, they at first cannot communicate due to their differences in language. The mermaid and the hunter patiently teach each other their dialects and soon fall in love. Dismayed at the prospect of living without a child, the hunter acquires a bear cub to raise as a son. Still not completely satisfied with his family’s construction, the hunter endeavors to raise a spotted baby lynx. Unexpectedly, however, while scavenging for birds, the lynx brings home an infant child. Each addition to the family adds a unique and challenging trial to the hunter’s preconceived notion of his perfect family.

The comparisons of the underwater world to that of the land-dwelling world stand as starkly contrasted as the characters themselves. Randall Jarrell’s book is a compelling, poetically written, ethereal fantasy applicable to any and all audiences. Originally authored in the 1960’s, an undercurrent depicting freedom from persecution in relation to socio-economic standing and ethnicity runs through the novel. Jarrell is also author of notable books such as The Bat Poet and The Gingerbread Rabbit that share similar themes of community, individuality and the toleration of differences. The illustrations by artist Maurice Sendak are strikingly beautiful and wonderfully vivid, adding to the all ready fairytale-like atmosphere.

John Whitt

LaFevers, R.L. Theodosia Throckmorton and the Serpents of Chaos. Illus. Yoko Tanaka. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2007. ISBN 0-618-75638-8. $16.00. Ages 9-12.
www.theodosiathrockmorton.com

Picture it: London, England 1906. Eleven year old Theodosia Throckmorton (Theo for short), is the precocious daughter of a curator father and archaeologist mother. She spends most of her time in the Museum of Legends and Antiquities, waiting for her workaholic parents to be parents and trying to protect them from curses. As it happens, many of the artifacts Theodosia’a mother finds are cursed! Mr. and Mrs. Throckmorton, however, can’t sense the curses or see them as Theo does, nor do they take Theo’s concerns seriously. Fortunately, Theo can handle most curses on her own, being well-read in books on Egyptian magic and curses. Only this time, Theo encounters a curse like no other. From her latest dig in Egypt, Theo’s mother brings an artifact called the Heart of Egypt. Although her folks have told no one but the other curators about the artifact, a fellow named Snowthorpe asks to see it. That’s when they discover the Heart is missing.

Determined to solve the mystery and prove her usefulness to her parents, Theo follows Snowthorpe, who herself is followed by her younger brother Henry and the precocious pickpocket Sticky Will. Through the streets of London the three of them track Snowthorpe and then yet another accomplice. When the three kids witness an attempted murder, the search for the Heart of Egypt takes an ominous turn (as if its curse wasn’t enough!) and leads Theo on a journey that she will have to brave alone to save not only her family, but all of Britain.

Reading Theodosia Throckmorton and the Serpents of Chaos would be a great way to spend a rainy day. The novel has humor, mystery, and intrigue; it’s the perfect novel to curl up with on a stormy night. It’s for the kid (or adult) who dreams of exploring museums or being an archaeologist or a secret agent. Sadly, there are only a few illustrations by Yoko Tanaka. Tanaka plays with shadow and light, more shadow than light really, so the mood of the pictures is mysterious. They make the reader feel there is something sinister going on; there’s something lurking in the shadows. These pictures help to build anticipation and suspense.

Theo’s character is probably the most intriguing aspect of the book. Theo has the unique ability to sense curses which her parents do not which puts her in the role of parent to her parents, protecting them in their ignorance and naivete. She wants so much to confide in her parents but can’t. Theo seems almost too independent. Sometimes she spends nights sleeping in a sarcophagus in the museum while her parents work late there. Even while she takes pride in her self-reliance, she desires nothing more than to be hugged and nurtured by her mother and father, something even adults can relate to, perhaps.

Marie Soriano

Look, Lenore. Alvin Ho: Allergic to Girls, School, and Other Scary Things. Ill. Leuyen Pham. New York: Schwartz and Wade Books, 2008. ISBN: 978-0-375-83914-6. $15.99 US/$20.00 CAN. Ages 6-10.

Alvin Ho used to be a superhero named Firecracker Man. But since he started going to school, he seems to be scared of everything. He is scared of teachers, scared of other kids, and scared of disasters happening. He is so scared he can’t even talk. Alvin is a bit ashamed of being so scared; his older brother and younger sister can talk to anyone, and he knows that his ancestors back in China were brave warriors who weren’t scared of anything. But Alvin is.

This book is the story of how Alvin learns to be a bit less scared and to make friends. The only person who is nice to him even though he doesn’t talk is Flea, who is not only a girl (eek!) but also wears an eye patch and limps. Flea is so sympathetic to Alvin that she even writes a helpful book for the teacher illustrating Alvin’s eye expressions and what they mean so that the teacher can read what Alvin would be saying if he could talk. Naturally, Alvin wants nothing to do with her. Instead, he tries to buy the friendship of various class bullies by swiping his dad’s prized Johnny Astro toy and by trading in baseball cards in return for attention.

Alvin is a smart, funny, and likeable narrator. His transformation over the course of the book is, realistically, not complete, as he remains scared and small; however, the progress he does make is satisfying. Alvin’s decisions, even when they are clearly mistakes, feel inevitable and necessary, and both adult and child readers will cheer him on as he learns to do scary things like apologize and admit his mistakes. Leuyen Pham’s cartoonlike pen-and-ink drawings effectively bring out the humor of the story.

Naomi Lesley

Lovelace, Maud Hart. Betsy-Tacy. Ill. Lois Lenski. 1940. New York: Harper Trophy, 2000. ISBN 978-0-06-440096-1. US $5.99/$7.50 CAN. Ages 7-10.

Everyone in town thinks of Betsy and Tacy as one person; they are that inseparable. But they had not always been friends. This book is the story of how Betsy met Tacy. The two cannot be more different; Betsy is robust, cheerful, and sociable, while Tacy is quiet and painfully shy. But when Tacy moves into the house across the street from Betsy’s, with all of her siblings, Betsy is determined that she and Tacy will be best friends, no matter how much Tacy may run away from her at first. And best friends they soon become.

Together, Betsy and Tacy set up a piano box fort in Betsy’s backyard, climb the hill to their special bench, play with cutout paper dolls, and go calling dressed in their mothers’ castoff clothes. Betsy helps Tacy get through her first terrifying day of school, and Tacy convinces Betsy that the arrival of a new baby might be fun. By the end of the novel, the two friends meet the third member of their trio, Tibs, who appears in subsequent novels of the series.

This republication of the well-known series from the 1940s is well worth revisiting. Lovelace narrates memories of her turn-of-the-century childhood with her best friends in gently humorous prose which will appeal to adults and children alike. The book is structured loosely as a series of vignettes that range from funny to imaginative to sad, and although there is little plot, the varied adventures of Betsy and Tacy provide enough interest to pull readers through the book. Lois Lenski’s expressive pen-and-ink drawings provide the perfect complement to the vignettes and capture the characters and the period settings beautifully.

Naomi Lesley

Lowry, Lois. The Willoughbys. Boston: Houghlin Mifflin Company, 2008. ISBN 978-0618979745. (Ages 9-12)

From the author of The Giver—a mysterious novel that haunted me as a fourth grader—comes the thoroughly enjoyable story of The Willoughbys, a metafictional delight that is sure to entertain children and grown-ups alike. The four Willoughby children are Tim, the twins Barnaby A and Barnaby B, and Jane. These siblings want nothing more than to live the kind of lives that “old fashioned” children do, especially the kind of children that populate the stories of Roald Dahl and Charles Dickens. The Willoughby children’s parents ignore them, and the children wish desperately that the parents would go off and die a tragic death so that they might be orphans. Their wish is granted when the parents (taking their cue from the wicked stepmother of Hans and Gretel) decide to leave the children while they go see the world. What they don’t disclose is that they are simultaneously putting the house up for sale. With the aid of their cunning and lively Nanny, the Willoughbys fend off prospective buyers and go in search of a new family—preferably, one with the same kind of “old fashioned” values as they have.

Lowry’s novel is an utter joy to read. Young readers who have already been exposed to the works of Louisa May Alcott and Mark Twain will get a thrill out of recognizing the many literary references that populate the story, while readers unfamiliar with such classic adolescent literature as Heidi and The Secret Garden will finish Lowry’s book with a whole new reading list to delve into. The Willoughbys are a fun and often hilarious group of siblings, whose uncaring parents have not only not bothered to give the twins different names, they have only given them one sweater which they must take turns wearing every other day. Without the nurturing care of their parents, the Willoughby children develop into an imaginative bunch, but ultimately find love and acceptance at the end.

Lowry has a penchant for making the absurd seem normal and the normal seem absurd, in much of the way that the Wayside School books do, and with comical results. When prospective buyers come to the house, the children and their nanny all conceal themselves among the furnishings, posing as decorations. Jane disguises herself as a lamp, Barnaby A as a cactus, Barnaby B as a coat tree, and Tim as a rug. Nanny, blushing, reveals that she disguises herself as a statue of Aphrodite, powered to look like alabaster. The children ask if this means she poses naked, and Nanny answers, “Statues are never naked. They are nude. Anyway, I drape myself. I use a sheet” (69).

The genius of Lowry’s novel is that she takes an experience that many children have in common—feeling isolated or ignored by their parents—and turns it into something whimsical and comical. She does this by taking the feelings of the Willoughby children seriously…after all, she is clearly on their side, rather than on the parents’ side. The Willoughbys and those that do understand them live happily ever after in the story. The unfeeling parents, meanwhile, are enshrined in ice while climbing the Swiss Alps. If it sounds like a terrifying fate for the parents, don’t worry—it’s only because they are the villains. The good grown-ups (Nanny and the Willoughby’s melancholy neighbor Commander Melanoff) have happy endings as well.

Overall, Lowry’s novel works on many levels—emotional, intellectual, and comical. She seamlessly weaves together the various stories concerning the children, their parents, the tragic Commander Melanoff, and a mysterious mother and son who have survived an avalanche in the Swiss Alps, whose connection to the Willoughbys you will just have to figure out by reading the novel. I did have a concern while reading: the youngest Willoughby child, Jane, is a sensitive and bookish girl who gets pushed around by her bossy oldest brother, Tim. Jane is a rather passive character, and my concern was that Lowry would make light of her meekness, thereby reinforcing the idea for young girls reading the book that they shouldn’t stand up for themselves. However, I needn’t have worried. Jane ultimately emerges as a strong character. In a brilliant twist at the end, Lowry reveals to us that upon growing up, Jane goes on to become a professor of feminist literature. How rare that an author of a children’s book should acknowledge such a usually adult topic as feminism, and how refreshing!

At the end of the book, Lowry has included a glossary of the harder words that she uses in the novel, such as “malevolent,” “obfuscate,” and “cryptic.” As someone who still constantly references the dictionary while reading novels or articles, I find this inclusion to be a brilliant move. It demonstrates that Lowry holds the intelligence of her young readers in high regards—enough to use words that they may not be familiar with—while simultaneously providing them with a resource to educate themselves about new vocabulary. Additionally, The Willoughbys includes a final bibliography of all the literature referenced throughout the novel. These two indexes are wonderful additions to the book, as they encourage further education and exploration beyond its pages.

Overall, The Willoughbys is an excellent read for literature lovers of all ages. As this is the first humorous book of Lois Lowry’s that I have read, I am now interested in seeking out more of her work. This is truly the mark of a great author—that they challenge, entertain, and inspire you, and leave you hungry for more.

Taylor Nelligan

Mahy, Margaret. Maddigan's Fantasia. New York: Margaret K. McElderry Books-Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Division, 2007. Ages 10 and up.

Twelve-year-old Garland Maddigan, a tightrope-walker in Maddigan's Fantasia (a traveling circus community), lives in the "rebuilding" period of a post-apocalyptic future. Three siblings – Timon, Eden, and their infant sister Jewel – travel back in time and end up joining with Garland and the rest of Maddigan's Fantasia to try and prevent the evil Nennog from coming into power. To accomplish this, the Fantasia struggle against tremendous odds to survive the long and perilous journey to obtain a solar converter for the city of Solis.

This book is full of fantasy and adventure, but also deals with realities with which many young people struggle: navigating loyalty and love, responsibility and freedom, and trying to recover from the loss of a parent. Garland suffers after her father’s murder by the Road Rats, an event which is complicated by the opportunity for Garland to travel back in time so she can try to prevent it. McElderry contrasts the children’s motivations for time traveling – trying to prevent one’s personal loss of a loved one vs. trying to save an entire civilization. The protagonists may belong to a traveling circus, but they learn that life has so much more to it than fun and games, and the show must go on. Like many works belonging to the time-travel genre, Margaret McElderry’s novel questions the morality of changing the past in the attempt to create a better future.

A very entertaining read, with non-stop adventures and strong female characters – Maddigan’s Fantasia will be sure to please.

Emily Moore

Matthews, L.S. A Dog for Life. New York: Delacorte, 2006. ISBN 0-385-73366-6. U.S. $14.95/ $21.00 CAN. Age 10 and up. www.randomhouse.com/kids

A Dog for Life is another poignant journey story by Fish author L.S. Matthews (see following review).

John and Tom Hawkins live with their mum in northern England. They are brothers with a close bond, so close they have each other’s dreams. That’s not all they share; they can also communicate with dogs, including their own wise and wise-cracking female dog Mouse. It’s a trait they inherited from their father who died when they were little.

Now another tragedy might strike their family. Tom, the older brother, falls gravely ill. To precaution against him getting infection, Mouse has to be sent away. Chances are she won’t survive the pound, but Mum is adamant. So Tom, John and Mouse come up with a plan of their own. John is to take Mouse cross country to their Uncle David, their father’s brother who lives far south. Not wanting to risk Mum’s interference or Uncle David’s refusal, the brothers keep their plan secret. John will take the train as far as he can, then walk and catch rides the rest of the way.

John carries out the first part without a hitch. It’s the second part that proves interesting and complicated. On his journey he meets a single mother of three who fancies herself an artiste and healer, a mad scientist with a sinister plan for ponies, and a gypsy family fleeing prejudice. Will John and Mouse make it to Uncle David’s without getting found out by the adults they come across or caught by the authorities?

L.S. Matthews has a knack for emotional depth. In a way, the novel is a character study. John’s perspective on characters is interesting because he’s astute and compassionate. Even though the people John meets are secondary characters, Matthews still gives them depth, and one way she creates that is through John’s observations about them. John is an interesting character as well. He’s a good kid, but certainly not a boring one. He has issues of his own. John lost his dad who shared his son’s psychic gift, and now he might lose his brother, the person he’s closest to.

Mouse the dog is interesting as well. She’s funny and down to earth. In human years she’s younger than Tom and John, but in dog years she’s older, and she’s wiser. In the tradition of hero stories, Mouse is John’s guide; she’s not a dog who follows her master’s heels. More like the other way ‘round. Anyone who has pets or has worked with animals knows they have their distinct personalities, and Matthews does a great job depicting that. The human characters aren’t the only ones who are three dimensional. Move over Scooby-Doo.

Marie Soriano


Matthews, L.S. Fish. New York: Yearling, 2004. ISBN 0-440-42021-0. U.S. $5.99/ $7.99 CAN. Reading Level 5.0. Ages 9-12. www.randomhouse.com/kids
Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year

Fish is a heartwarming adventure tale that will leave you feeling good about humanity.

Tiger lives with his parents who are aid workers in a war torn country. When word comes that the fighting is about to reach their village, they must cross the border into the next country. By walking. They have no car, no plane, no other mode of transportation than their feet.

As they prepare to leave Tiger finds a fish wiggling in the mud, struggling to live. Determined to save its life, he brings Fish with them in a cooking pot half-filled with water. The family of three (Mum, Dad and Tiger) pack up their belongings (think backpacks not boxes), and with the help of a native man, whom Tiger calls Guide, and his donkey, they leave on a trek for the refugee camps.

However, for the family and Guide getting to the border is not easy, and not only because of the distance. Because Mum and Dad delayed their departure to help villagers in need, they’ve missed the deadline to cross the border. When they reach the first crossing, the armed guards won’t let them through. Their only other chance is to reach the next closest border crossing…which is across the mountains, and through mud so deep your whole body could sink in it. And that’s when the journey really gets tough.

They walk on foot for days on end, carrying their backpacks filled with their clothes, belongings and rations (that’s right, no marshmallows or smores on this journey), beginning at dawn and not making camp until evening. Will they get through the sandstorms, past the cliffs, over the mountains, and manage to escape the rogue soldiers to finally reach the border? Can they keep Fish alive through so many perils?

L.S. Matthews has written a magical journey story. She does something unique in that she doesn’t describe what characters look like, nor does she reveal characters’ proper names or the name of the country they’re in. This gives the story a mysterious and mythic feel. And what the characters lack in description Matthews makes up for in character development. The characters are complex and beautifully written. You care for them. They are good-hearted, kind, thoughtful, brave people and you want them to succeed. In the end, their triumph is your triumph.

I am not even going to discuss what I think the fish symbolizes or represents or is a metaphor for. I leave that to the Reader. Why don’t you put down that classic piece of literature you really don’t feel like reading anyway, and pick up L.S. Matthews’ Fish Her prose will reel you in from the very beginning.

Marie Soriano


Matthews, L.S. Lexi. New York: Delacorte, 2007. ISBN 978-0-385-73574-2. $14.99 U.S./ $16.99 CAN. Ages 8-12.

British author L.S. Matthews is still going strong in her fourth novel for kids, this time exploring identity, poverty, hope, and miracles.

A girl wakes up in the forest with no recollection of who she is, where she’s from or what’s happened to her. She takes tentative steps, finding her way out of the forest to the city at the bottom of the hill, disoriented and struggling to remember where she belongs. Fate brings her help in the form of Joe, a former boxer who pushes her out of the way of an oncoming car. He takes her to the local shelter for the homeless and battered women and children. There the girl finds more allies in shelter workers Sarah and Beatrice. She also finds friends in Honey who’s at the shelter with her mother, and Daniel who’s parents are dead and whose older brother has recently passed away.

Beatrice thinks she recognizes the girl as Lexi, a girl who has stayed at other shelters with her grandmother. Beatrice manages to track down Lexi’s grandmother, Myrtle, but that’s not the end of the story. Myrtle doesn’t come alone…With her comes a girl who looks exactly like Lexi, a twin, and the answers to Lexi’s identity and the revelation of family secrets.

I like Lexi, the novel and the title character. The novel is written from the girl’s point of view in first person. Matthews has a way of creating these voices that hook you in and creating characters you care about. I also love the way the author humanizes the poor and people who aren’t so privileged. You feel for them and with them. In addition, I’m fascinated by the spirituality, stories and superstitions that the homeless children have in the novel. Honey and Daniel tell Lexi about the Warrior Angels, the Blue Lady and the Scarlet Prince; it seems these children have created their own religion or mythology to help them cope with their hard lives. Interestingly, characters in the book resemble these religious figures, so perhaps the children’s stories have some truth to them after all. I think some critics might argue that Matthews is being blatantly obvious with these sort of mythological figures that closely resemble figures in Christianity—the Scarlet Prince (Satan), the Warrior Angels (the Archangels), the Blue Lady (the Virgin Mary). Frankly, I don’t care. I wasn’t offended. I think the point is that these children are creating meaning out of their lives, and I am all for seeing miracles in the people and things around me, of which this novel is one.

Marie Soriano

Nelson, D.A. Dark Isle. New York: Delacorte, 2007. ISBN 978-0-385-73630-5. $15.99. Ages 8-12.

Dark Isle is a delightful first novel with all the elements for a good read—humor, mystery, suspense, and adventure. In a Scottish village, ten-year-old orphan Morag lives a life of drudgery and abuse with her sleazy foster parents, Jermy and Moira. They use her as their housekeeper and personal servant; they verbally and emotionally abuse her. But that is about to change. When Jermy and Moira lock Morag in the dark cellar in a fit of anger, the girl is in for a surprise as well as some new friends: Bertie, a talking Dodo, and Aldiss, a talking rat.

With their help, Morag escapes (wearing her pajamas, a housecoat and green wellies, I might add). After some begging and persuasion from Aldiss, Bertie agrees to let Morag go with them on their journey, for the two animals are on a mission to free the last dragon, Shona, who was turned to stone thirty years earlier by the evil warlock Devlish. With Shona as a guide, they can then find Devlish (actually the son of Devlish by the same name and just as evil) and defeat him. Of course, every fight against evil has its challenges. For Morag and her friends, the challenges are two Klapp demons, named Tanktop and Percolator, and a spot of bad luck.

Tired from their journey, Bertie, Aldiss, Shona, and Morag stop at an inn for a hot meal and somewhere to sleep. Despite the cozy surroundings, Morag has a bad feeling. That feeling is confirmed when she wakes up without her friends the next morning on a ship run by giants. Will Morag’s new friends be able to find her before something terrible happens? Will they be able to find Devlish let alone kill him?

I love this first novel by D.A. Nelson. Dark Isle is a fun caper. If you enjoy fantasy novels with talking creatures and hidden magical places, this book’s for you. I must say that the creatures steal the show. With their distinct personalities and bickering, Bertie, Aldiss and Shona are hilarious. Have you seen friends who argue all the time but love each other dearly. That pretty much describes the friendship between the three creatures. This kind of wise cracking humor reminds me of The Marvelous Land of Oz by L. Frank Baum, another fun fantasy novel. Morag seems a bit of a crybaby to me, and I wonder if that’s because I’ve read so many novels with tough girl protagonists. But, she’s still likeable. Morag does grow into a more confident girl by the end, and she’s not exactly a wimp considering she goes with Bertie and Aldiss to rescue Shona.

I would have to say that Dark Isle is more an adventure story than a mystery, although the novel does have that element. Morag has a small book that her parents left with a message written inside that they would be reunited with her somehow someday. Nelson could write a sequel in which Morag finds her parents. I do hope that Nelson writes some kind of sequel just so I can read more adventures about Bertie, Aldiss, Shona, and Morag. The Scottish author has proved her talent with Dark Isle.

Marie Soriano

Nix, Garth. The Abhorsen Chronicles: Sabriel, Lirael, Abhorsen, “Nicholas Sayre and the Creature in the Case.” New York: Eos-HarperCollins Publishers, 2009.

The prologue of Sabriel, the first book of The Abhorsen Chronicles, opens with the Abhorsen rescuing his newborn daughter from the realm of death. The first chapter begins in a similar manner, as Sabriel brings a rabbit back to life after it had just been run over. Right from the start, the reader knows that these books deal with the issues of life and death. Garth Nix’s The Abhorsen Chronicles bear some similarity to the Harry Potter series, in that they feature school-aged adolescents grappling with magic, the powers of good and evil, and the challenges of growing up. The series is also a mixed fantasy, taking place in three different, yet interconnected realms: the “regular” world where children attend school, the Old Kingdom of magic, and the world of Death.

The namesake of the series, the Abhorsen, is like a necromancer, in that he (and later, she) works with the dead. However, this character’s domain lies in leading the dead to peace, rather than in raising them to cause mayhem and misery, as an evil necromancer would. In Nix’s rich world, the Charter Mages work with the Abhorsen to protect their living realms from the Dead (who range from spirit beings to walking, rotting zombie-like entities) who try to cross the Wall (a physical barrier that is also maintained by the Abhorsen’s magic) separating Ancelstierre from the Old Kingdom.

The first book in this series, Sabriel, features a teenage girl who follows in the footsteps of her father, the Abhorsen. During Sabriel’s last month attending Wyverly College, a school for “Young Ladies of Quality” that teaches Magic (with parental consent) in addition to the standard school curriculum, her father disappears. Sabriel travels in the world of the living and in the world of Death as she searches for the Abhorsen, and meets Touchstone (a prince) and Mogget (a magical creature in the form of a cat), who join her in the fight against the evil Kerrigor.

The second book, Lirael, features a teenage girl who briefly contemplates suicide because of her despair at not fitting in with the Clayr, the enclave of psychics with whom she lives. Her despondency is short-lived, however, as Lirael begins to discover her purpose in life. While exploring the “off limits” areas of the Library, Lirael awakens two magical creatures: the evil Stilken (by accident) and the friendly Disreputable Dog (on purpose). The Disreputable Dog becomes her friend, and helps Lirael in her efforts to defeat the Stilken and other creatures that threaten the living.

Lirael also follows the adventures of Sameth (Sam), a teenage boy who, like Lirael, feels at odds with his place in life. As the Prince of the Old Kingdom, Sam worries about his parents’ expectation that he will one day become the new Abhorsen. Eventually, Lirael and Sam meet and work together against the forces of the Greater Dead.

Nix’s final book in the series, The Abhorsen, continues the tale of Lirael, Sam, the royal family, Mogget, and the Disreputable Dog, and the struggle to protect their world from those who would destroy it.

The Abhorsen Chronicles are excellent, and will leave readers wanting more. Fortunately, Nix has the foresight to include a spinoff novella, “Nicholas Sayre and the Creature in the Case,” featuring Sam’s friend Nick (a character who also plays a major part in The Abhorsen).

In Nix’s world, traditional roles are often reversed when women rescue men, and children save their parents. If you’ve been wishing for an excitingly complex fantasy series, look no further.

Emily Moore

Nunes, Lydia Bojunga. My Friend the Painter.

My Friend the Painter is about the life of a painter, and the strong impression he leaves on his young friend, Claudio. Each chapter is titled by a weekday. The book starts with “Friday,” and ends with “Sunday.” Claudio begins studying colors under the supervision of his “Friend, the Painter.” But their good times don’t last too long. On a Tuesday, Claudio finds the body of his Friend at his apartment. Claudio begins losing enthusiasm, and grows restless. The Painter’s clock stops chiming, the only sound that used to echo his presence for Claudio. The Painter’s enigmatic death is all Claudio thinks about. He learns that his Friend might have committed suicide, having left a letter for his friend, Dona Clarice. Clarice tells Claudio that, “he dies just as everyone dies one day.” The Painter has left Claudio a back-gammon board; he is pleased with the gift, but not satisfied with Clarice’s response. The more Claudio tries to convince himself that his Friend’s death had been natural, the more he finds his death as “something difficult to understand.” On “Tuesday,” Claudio hears from the caretaker, who has come with the police, that his Friend had committed suicide.

Claudio falls in love with different colors during his friendship with the Painter, as he profoundly understands each color’s impact and impression. But ever since the Painter’s death, the “color-of-longing” has taken over Claudio’s life. Claudio takes into question the mystery behind suicide for children, as he struggles to let go of his Friend’s memory. In a dream, Claudio sees three characters on the stage; one of them is the Painter, who is to play the ghost. The Painter shares with Claudio that he is very reluctant to play the role, so Claudio goes on stage and tells a story to save his Friend. The “misty” color of death remains in Claudio’s dreams. He recalls that one day his Friend had revealed to him that he likes “yellow” because it is the color of Clarice for him. Later Claudio finds out, “she was his first girl, and he was her first boy.” The three characters return to Claudio’s dream once again, as he continues learning about his Friend’s life. Each character appears as one of the Painter’s passions in life, “painting, politics, and Dona.” The characters run into a conflict, as each desires to establish itself in the Painter’s life as the main passion. After his dream, Claudio confronts Dona again about the Painter’s death. Dona confirms the Painter’s suicide, and explains to Claudio that she had lied about his death, so that Claudio would not look for “answers anymore.”

But it was already too late, as “whys” had stuck to Claudio’s mind. At the end, all the pieces of his Friend’s life, hovering over Claudio’s head, were mixed, just like colors, and for one last time, he looked at the Painter, fully. red, yellow, white, and of course, “misty.”

Aria Fani

O’Dell, Scott. The King’s Fifth. 1966. New York: Houghton Mifflin Books, 2007. ISBN 978-0-618-74783-2. $6.95 U.S. Ages 12 and up.
www.scottodell.com/index.html Newbery Honor Award 1967

On the 23rd September, 1541 Esteban de Sandoval, a cartographer imprisoned and on trial for keeping gold from the King, begins to write down his story. It is a story of conquistadors and gold, of savagery and corruption, but it is also the tale of a young boy and his struggle against the lures and promises of wealth untold: golden promises that have already poisoned and destroyed so many.

Rereleased in paperback to celebrate its 40th Anniversary, Scott O’Dell’s novel offers a powerful glimpse into the history of the Spanish explorations and discoveries of South America, and, more terrifyingly, into the horrors of depravity a soul will enter into for treasure. As the narrative shifts between two time frames—between Sandoval’s cell and his written memories with Captain Mendoza—O’Dell offers younger readers a challenging yet intricately composed structure that allows them to piece together the real story of what happened when the explorers found gold; and why only one man remains with a knowledge of where that gold now lies.

Scott O’Dell is the acclaimed author of Island of the Blue Dolphins, and in 1982 established the Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction to encourage other writers (of the “new world”) to focus on bringing historical fiction to life for young readers. Winners of this annual recognition include Louise Erdrich, Ellen Klages, and most recently Christopher Paul Curtis for his Elijah of Buxton.

Details concerning the Scott O’Dell Award can be found at http://www.scottodell.com/odellaward.html

Ellen Nef

Patron, Susan. The Higher Power of Lucky. Illus. Matt Phelan. New York: Atheneum, 2006. ISBN 978-1-4169-0194-5. $16.95 U.S./ $21.99 CAN.
Winner of the Newbery Medal

Ten-year- old Lucky Trimble wonders about her higher power. As the twelve-step groups meet in the Found Object Wind Chime Museum and Visitor Center, Lucky eavesdrops on their meetings, listening to their stories about how they “hit rock bottom” and subsequently found “their higher power.”

Lucky hasn’t had an easy life herself. Her mother died when Lucky was eight. Her mother had been a single mother, divorced from Lucky’s father because he didn’t want children. Following her mother’s death, Lucky’s father arrives for the funeral, and he later gives Lucky her mother’s ashes, leaving soon afterward. To take care of his daughter, he calls his first ex-wife Brigitte, a Frenchwoman, who leaves her homeland behind to be Lucky’s guardian in the small town of Hard Pan, which lies somewhere in the Mojave Desert. This part of the story is not part of the linear narrative of the novel. We only learn about Lucky and how she came to be with Brigitte as the novel unfolds and Lucky remembers.

The girl’s most immediate concern is Brigitte; she loves her guardian and doesn’t want her to leave. She notices Brigitte’s restlessness and becomes afraid that Brigitte will leave someday. Lucky’s fears seem to be founded when she finds Brigitte’s suitcase open with her passport inside. When that happens, it seems as if Lucky has finally hit rock bottom. Will Brigitte leave Lucky to return home?

The Higher Power of Lucky is a psychological novel. Not much happens in terms of action. It’s mostly about what Lucky is feeling and thinking. Lucky is likeable…mostly. She, like many kids, doesn’t have much patience, and she can be a bit mean. More than anything, she’s scared and vulnerable. Brigitte wants—maybe needs—something outside of that relationship. After all parents aren’t just parents; they’re people with their own needs, dreams and desires. However, Lucky doesn’t understand that yet.

Matt Phelan’s small, delicately detailed illustrations in pen, ink and pencil appearing on the corners of pages or to the side of the text are a nice touch and actually helpful in imagining the setting.

Marie Soriano

Pinkwater, Daniel Manus. Fat Men from Space. New York: Dell Yearling, 1980. ISBN 0-440-44542-6. $ 4.99. 57 pages. Ages 9 and up.

William is an ordinary boy who goes to the dentist for a filling. Everything begins from that day. He goes home “feeling a little numb,” with a “funny sour taste in his mouth that made him think of electricity.” William has no idea that he has just been given an extraordinary gift. His tooth receives radio programs! William goes to bed every night listening to the radio by playing with his tooth, against his parents’ will. Constantly changing the station, William accidentally tunes in to a station that speaks of aliens who like “a lot of potato pancakes.” At school, William keeps playing with the radio in the class, and eventually gets all his classmates in trouble. Mr. Wendel, William’s teacher, reprimands the class by suspending them for a day, after failing to find the student with the radio. William later discovers from Dr. Horwitz that what has happened to his tooth happens “once in a million fillings.” William feels extremely “special” with his extraordinary gift. William’s playfulness inevitably involves his parents as well, as he baffles his mother with the hidden radio. William’s fun does not last long as Dr. Horwitz finks on him. William is “angry and miserable” for his parents fail to see his “tooth” as special and distinctive, but rather they take it as a “joke.” While outside the house, William’s tooth comes in contact with the chain-link fence, which mysteriously enables him to hear the signals exchanged between spacemen! William’s ability connects him to the world of spaceburgers, only for him to find out that his own world, the earth, is in a serious danger!

Daniel Pinkwater tells a simple yet meaningful story to his attentive audience. William, whose unusual ability is not acknowledged, becomes the only person with the knowledge of the danger that threatens his community.

Aria Fani

Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. New York: Arthur A. Levine Books, 2003. ISBN: 978-0439554893. $24.95 U.S. Ages 8+.

J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series has reached mythic proportions. Once struggling to simply feed her family, the author is now one of, if not the, wealthiest women in all of England, thanks to the adventures of Harry, Hermione, and Ron. The Chamber of Secrets is the second novel in the series, which totals seven works. The story begins again with Harry’s struggle to live with his foster parents, the Dursleys, and their home in England during his summer vacation away from the majesty of Hogwarts School of Wizardry and Witchcraft. Harry eventually escapes from his cruel aunt and uncle’s house when Ron and the rest of the Weasley brothers arrive in their flying car. Once again acquainted during the school term, Harry, Ron, and Hermione must survive typical school happenings: exams, foes, and the occasional troll. Meanwhile, suspicious and ghastly events plague the school grounds, eventually leading to the reopening of the Chamber of Secrets. With that, a deadly monster escapes. Since discovering that only the descendent of one of the four original founders of Hogwarts could have opened the Chamber, Harry and company eventually learn of and confront the oversized monster and an apparition of the evil wizard Voldemort, the villain who had originally murdered Harry’s parents.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is an adventure novel on the surface with the heart of a morality tale. Rowling successfully depicts that good and evil can sometimes be differentiated in terms of black and white but is usually dealt and struggled with in shades of gray. Encounters with giant spiders, ghosts lurking the halls, potions and time-travel all generate an incredibly complex and entertainingly visceral experience. Subjects ranging from justice and loyalty to respect and courage are covered in ways even older readers would enjoy. The suspense and the humor coincide exceptionally well, adding to the book’s innate whimsicality and seriousness.

John Whitt

Sachar, Louis. Holes. New York: Dell Yearling, 1998. ISBN 0-440-41480-6. $ 5.99. 225 pages. Age: Middle School

Louis Sachar’s novel Holes revolves around Stanley, a naive teen who suffers from lack of self-confidence. Stanley is discontent with his life. He is ridiculed at school due to his obesity. Stanley often finds himself at the wrong time and the wrong place, making him believe that he carries a bad luck in his life. His family blames his bad luck on Stanley’s “no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather” who had been told by a gypsy that he and his descendants would be cursed for eternity.

One day, having taken a pair of sneakers he found in the street, Stanley gets caught by the police. Accused of theft, he is sent to a juvenile correctional facility, called Camp Green Lake. The one-hundred-year old Camp Green had once been a large lake in Texas, and is now a “dry, flat wasteland.” Every day, Stanley is forced to wake up at 4:30, pick up his shovel, and dig a hole that is five feet deep and five feet across in every direction. The Camp intends to teach the boys how to build their character through hard work. Having found a valuable gold tube with the initials KB engraved on it, Stanley realizes that the Camp authorities’ intentions might not be exactly what they said; he figures they are having the boys dig in the hopes a legendary treasure will be unearthed. Sachar’s story becomes multi-layered, flashing back to the story of the “KB” whose initials are carved in the tube Stanley finds. Sachar then links the past and present stories most imaginatively. When Zero, Stanley’s scrawny friend, runs away from the Camp, Stanley goes after him. Stanley and Zero then climb a thumb-shaped mountain, in search of water. After their difficult week in the mountains, Stanley and Zero decide to return to the Camp, grab some food, locate the hidden treasure, and run away. But they are up for the biggest challenge yet....

Perhaps not through digging holes, but Stanley does construct his self-esteem and character through learning how to remain active in adapting to his misfortune. Sachar’s poignant novel is about change, friendship, and optimism, in the face of oppression, injustice, rejection, and abuse. Holes is a fantastic read.

Aria Fani

Sage, Angie. Flyte (Septimus Heap Book Two.) Illus. Mark Zug. New York: Katherine egen Books- Harper Collins Publishers, 2006. ISBN 978-0-06-057734-6. $17.99 U.S. / $21.99 CAN. Ages 9 and up. www.septimusheap.com

Where Angela Sage's Magyk left off with an overwhelming celebration of family unity, the second installment of the Septimus Heap Series, Flyte, opens to an unexpected display of sibling rivalry gone awry. Jealous of Septimus' return and subsequent apprenticeship to ExtraOrdinary Wizard, Marcia Overstrand, Simon Heap creeps away from the warmth of Aunt Zelda's cottage and strikes a deal with the skeletal remains of Darke Wizard, DomDaniel: Simon will do all he can to Restore the Necromancer back to life and to his former position in the Wizard Tower in exchange for an apprenticeship into the craft of the Darke Magyk. As the next year unfolds, both brothers learn the secrets of their craft under their respective masters, yet darknesse begins to prevail in the land and the ExtraOrdinary Wizard is distracted in a pursuit to build the machine that will rid her of the murky shadow which follows her every move. During this distraction, Princess Jenna is kidnapped by her evil brother, and Septimus and Simon must pit good against evil once more in the land—only to discover that one of them has unearthed, and taken advantage of, the lost and ancient secret of Flyte.

Angela Sage's Flyte expands beyond the Castle and Marram Marshes of her first installment to reveal a fantasy world that is structured according the peculiar rules of its magic. It is a world that incorporates the same enchanted elements that have popularized the works of Rowling, Paolini, and even Tolkien: Magical eggs, reincarnated bad guys, talking trees; yet, it is a refreshing universe that incorporates humour, quirky characters, and enough hopeless-situations-that-seem-to-turn-out-right adventures to keep all ages amused.

Ellen Nef

Sage, Angie. Magyk (Septimus Heap Book One.) Illus. Mark Zug. New York: Katherine Tegen Books-Harper Collins Publishers, 2005. ISBN 978-0-06-057731-5.
$17.99 U.S. / $22.50 CAN. Ages 9 and up. www.septimusheap.com

Because Septimus Heap is the seventh son of a seventh son, he is the perfect candidate for a magical prodigy in his world. Perfect, that is, except for the fact that he dies within the first six pages of the novel (or so you think!) As the infant Septimus struggles between life and death, his father, Silas Heap, rushes back from the forest with the herbs he has been sent to find, only to have his journey interrupted by the discovery of a little bundle in the snow and a chance encounter with the Extraordinary Wizard, Marcia Overstrand. This little bundle turns out to be a new baby, one whom Silas is told to raise as his own, but little Jenna’s physical difference to her brothers soon exposes her true identity, and a wonderful adventure to keep her safe soon ensues.

With a magical blend of hidden identities, magical creatures and dastardly villains, Magyk is sure to captivate and enchant all readers looking for a new fantastical adventure series. Sage’s writing reveals a dynamic yet dry humour in parts (reminiscent of Terry Pratchett’s celebrated Discworld series), and carves out a new cacophony of characters that children will laugh at, engage with, and love to hate: including secret princesses, Gollum-like boggarts, evil-mages taking over the world, and a ridiculous ExtraOrdinary Wizard with a penchant for purple snakeskin boots. As with all good fantasies, good triumphs over evil at the end of Magyk and mixed up identities are all sorted neatly back into place. This, however, is only the first installment and even though the reader is left with a “whatever happened to…” for minor (and comical) characters in the plot, the bigger question is left still begging to be asked: Who is Septimus Heap really? And what further adventures does he have in store?

Ellen Nef

Sage, Angie. Physik (Septimus Heap Book Three.) Illus. Mark Zug. New York: Katherine Tegen Books-Harper Collins Publishers, 2007. ISBN 978-0-06-057737-7. $17.99 U.S. / $21.99 CAN. Ages 9 and up. www.septimusheap.com

In a world where magic and wonders are everyday realities, common sense dictates that a sealed portion of the palace is sealed for a very good reason! Such common sense escapes Silas Heap, however, and in unsealing a forgotten room, he unleashes the ghost of power hungry Queen Ethelreda: a particularly diabolical and shrewish member of royalty with a dastardly plan (and scarily available means) to gain eternal life.

In Physik, Angela Sage immerses the reader in a time travel adventure that adds a new dimension of complexity and depth to her characters, as well as a new wing of Magic that has gained significant interest in Children's and Young Adult fantasy—Alchemy. In this installment, Septimus will go through his greatest challenge yet under the tutelage of a new kind of teacher, Jenna will find new companions to aid in her essential quest to save Septimus and the dragon boat, someone will fall in love, and the postal rat will learn how to say “NO.” Kind of.

Angela Sage has again crafted an impressively weaved tale that pushes the known boundaries of the world of Septimus Heap even further than before—both in terms of geography and history. As with the previous books, the cover sleeve to Physik is beautifully designed to look like an ancient tome set with runes and magical symbols, yet inside the jacket of the third installment is a full colour map of Sage's world , the first to show the extent of her fictional realm, and the hallmark of all carefully constructed fantasy worlds following in Tolkien's footsteps.

Ellen Nef

Scott, Michael. The Sorceress – The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flammel. New York: Random House- Delacorte Press, 2009. 488 pages. ISBN: 978-0-385-73529-9. 10 years and up.

Michael Scott’s epic fantasy adventure continues. While armies of the dark Shadowrealms gather to invade the earth, their two human disciples- John Dee and Niccolo Machiavelli- conspire to defeat the 770-year old Alchemist Flammel and acquire the teenage twins Josh and Sophie Newman, who alone possess a mythical power that can spell either doom or salvation for all. In the twin’s quest to master the elemental power of water from the quite insane ancient king Gilgamesh takes them from the ruins of Notre Dame to Stonehenge as the odds against them shrink with each step forward.

Lots of enjoyment is had when the action and number of characters are scaled down to two or fewer. The plight of Perenelle Flammel, the Alchemist wife who has been exiled alone on Alcatraz Island with hundreds of deadly spirits and monsters, is the strongest one on the story. As the titular Sorceress, weakened from the events of previous books, gains allies and fights desperate battles to survive, the reader makes a better connection with her. Compared to the main storyline where the Twins, Flammel, and their new allies, the Crusader Knight Palamedes and magical muse William Shakespeare engage in one massive “last stand” fight after the other as they run from Dee and his supernatural minions, the less “busy” Perenelle storyline demonstrates Scotts’ talent with effective fantasy storytelling. Not that the aforementioned big battles aren’t well done in their own right and with a certain verve: they are thrilling, but repetitive.

As a sequel in a number of books in a series, it has a good advantage over the Harry Potter series. The plot points and characters of previous books in the Flammel series are integrated very well into the story of The Sorceress, so that one does not have to have read previous books in the series in order to understand it. This makes it a fine stand-alone read.

The Sorceress is not a provoking read. The fact that much of the plot and characters involve real historical persons, places, and legends, there is a lot of fun to be had. Those familiar with the content will find delight in how it incorporates into the Flammel mythos (the character of Shakespeare, who has a shaky start, really takes off once the reader discovers how his real-life background is revealed). Those not familiar with all the references will have an extra educational incentive to look them up. This will draw the reader into the story even more.

In the end, however, The Sorceress isn’t really a book for scholarly examination. It is perfect light, fun reading for young adults ages 10 and up. All who open its pages will find some magic worth investing in.

Eric Bowling

Seidler, Tor. A Rat’s Tale. Illus. Fred Marcellino. New York: FSG, 2008 (orig. 1986). ISBN 0-374-40031-8. $9.95 pb. 186 pp.

Since A Rat’s Tale is a wonderful and wondrous story, one wonders why it isn’t better known. Having thus opined, I am going on line to do some research on it. I am back and I still wonder. Seidler’s story concerns a rat whose world is turning upside down; extermination of kin and neighbors is possible. Our hero is captured by two cats and therein lie the rat’s tales. To save his life, he tells stories like Scheherazade; thus in the midst of the overarching story of this rat’s romance and basic survival, we have wonderfully retold tales from our general store of stories (what Salman Rushdie calls “the Sea of Stories”).

I thoroughly enjoyed this truly deep story. It merits more reading. Hats off to FSG for reprinting it in a fine paperback edition. The penciled b&w illustrations by Fred Marcellino are extraordinary providing depth, dimension, and expression to Seidler’s vivid language. A must read for lovers of rodent fiction—think The Wind in the Willows, The Mouse and His Child, I Was a Rat—this is on that list.

A. Allison

Service, Pamela F. Tomorrow’s Magic. New York, Random House Children’s Books, 2007. ISBN 978-0-375-84087-6, $15.99 U.S./$21.00 CAN. Ages 9-12

It has been 500 years since the nuclear holocaust and the British Isles are finally beginning to thaw from their icy grave. The few survivors are segregated into two groups: wild mutant creatures and a smattering of humans struggling to reestablish a world of order and rule. Though blue skies are finally seen again in the land, war appears to be brewing between the two groups, and the once shy mutants are being merged under one banner. In the midst of this discontent, all one boy—Wellington Jones—can concentrate on, is how to survive in a school where in truth, he is somewhat of a social misfit, fascinated by the history and oddities of the past, and eager for adventure outside of the confines of his school prison.

As the novel unfolds, Wellington’s adventures and curious friendships with the quirky Hannah McKenna and the mysterious Earl Bedwas reveal a wonderful and breathtaking secret: that Earl is actually the legendary wizard Merlin—who by some magical anomaly has aged backwards into adolescence. The young wizard's new quest now is to remember how to conduct magic and to travel back in time to enlist the help of the “Once and Future” King Arthur; who will return with him to the future and heal a fractured world under threat from an ancient evil.

Formerly released as two books: Winter of Magic’s Return (1985) and Tomorrow’s Magic (1987), Pamela F. Service’s Arthurian fantasy novels have been republished into one volume, and add a fascinating dystopian twist to the increasingly popular genre of fantasy and magic in contemporary children’s and young adult literature.

Ellen Nef

Service, Pamela F. Yesterday's Magic. New York, Random House Children’s Books, 2008. ISBN 978-0-375-85577-1, $16.99 U.S./$20.99 CAN. Ages 9-12

One year after the defeat of Morgan Le Fay's evil army, Arthur and Merlin are still striving to unite Britain, yet the clans and factions are suspicious as to the true identities of these legendary figures. Some doubt that magic is returning to heal what technology destroyed in the holocaust; some still reek of Morgan's evil influence; but others embrace the hope for a brighter future and the celebrations begin for Arthur and Margaret's wedding. Tragedy strikes, however, when a rare treasure given to Heather—a plastic lunch box from pre-devastation times—reveals itself to be a trap set by the evil Le Fay, and transports Heather to a dank dungeon, half way across the broken planet. What follows is an adventure that will introduce some new (yet familiar) characters from myth, legend, and folklore that will enchant readers both young and old. An adventure that will test the bonds of love and friendship and unify a entire human race.

Pamela F. Service's sequel appears twenty years after the publication of her Winter of Magic's Return and Tomorrow's Magic, yet her devastated world and unique characters have lost none of their fascination or charm. Hers is a future world that rises from the ashes of technological annihilation to reveal the centrality of mythology and history in defining a cultural identity; the stories of mankind creating a unity that is often lost in a modern world.

Ellen Nef

Shafer, Audrey. The Mailbox. New York: Delacorte, 2006. ISBN 0-385-73344-5. U.S. $15.95/ $21.00 CAN. Ages 8-12.

In Audrey Shafer’s first novel, The Mailbox, she gives us a lovely and profound novel about loneliness, love, connection, and redemption. Eleven-year-old Gabe comes home from school to find his guardian, Uncle Vernon, dead. In shock and not wanting to return to the foster care system, Gabe tells no one, and the next day he goes to school. But when he returns home, he gets another shock: his Uncle Vernon’s body is gone. In the mailbox Gabe find a mysterious note telling him not to be afraid. And in this anonymous note writer the boy finds a confidante.

For months Gabe lives alone and takes care of himself. Through flashbacks we see the relationship between him and his uncle who was a Vietnam vet, a relationship both loving and healing for both of them.

But this is a mystery novel as well as a drama. Who is sending Gabe notes? What was the note writer’s relationship to Uncle Vernon? Why won’t he show himself? And the biggest mystery of all: how long can Gabe keep his uncle’s death a secret?

Audrey Shafer’s The Mailbox is an emotional novel. You could even call it a tearjerker. It’s a different kind of love story reminiscent of Johanna Spyri’s Heidi in which an orphaned little girl suddenly finds herself left with her grandfather whom she’s never met before. Both stories feature a child and adult who are thrown together and form a loving, nurturing relationship, to everyone’s surprise. Also, as with Heidi, although the main characters experience pain and suffering, The Mailbox is not tragic. The ending is satisfying and happy, yet not trite or simplistic.

For those who don’t care for tearjerkers, readers might want to read the book for the mystery. Shafer does an excellent job creating mystery and not just with the notes in the mailbox. Gabe and Vernon are mysterious characters. We’re not given the background of their lives in the beginning of the book nor are we told how exactly these two came to be together, but because they’re intriguing characters, it makes you want to keep reading. And you do eventually get answers to all the mysteries.

It’s also easy to get hooked into Shafer’s understated and lovely prose:
“You ever wonder if there’s a heaven up there, Gabe?”
Streaks of light had marked the silent November sky as Gabe and his uncle lay on the back of the pick-up, legs stretched out over the tailgate to watch the Leonid meteor shower almost a year before. Vernon had roused Gabe from his bed at two in the morning, and they had dragged blankets to the truck. Gabe had been wrapped in the heavy plaid one. He’d wondered if that was why Vernon so frequently searched the sky—if he was trying to see heaven.
When Gabe didn’t answer, Vernon had continued. “Sometimes I gotta believe there is. It can’t all be for nuthin’—that’s a cruel, sick joke.”
“My momma’s in heaven.” Gabe had finally spoken. His quiet voice puffed small clouds in the chill.
Vernon had twisted to look at his nephew. “Yes, you’re momma’s in heaven. I guess you do understand after all, don’tcha.” (79-80)

Audrey Shafer’s The Mailbox is a beautiful, down-to-earth story and a fine first novel.

Marie Soriano

Shearer, Alex. Canned. New York: Scholastic, 2006. $16.99 U.S. ISBN 978-0-439-920309-7. Ages 9-13.

Nerdy and eccentric boy Fergal Bamfield has just taken up a new hobby—collecting unlabeled cans from the bargain bins in grocery stores. He loves the mystery and excitement of not knowing what’s in each one. Collecting cans seems like a perfectly safe hobby, then an intriguing one when Fergal opens one can to find a single earring. But collecting takes an ominous turn when he opens another can to find…a finger. A real one. The plot thickens when he meets fellow can collector Charlotte and discovers that she, too, has made a gruesome finding in opening cans—a human ear. The two kids know they must take action when they open yet another can to find a scrap of paper with a single word written on it: “help.” Knowing their parents nor the police will believe their story, Fergal and Charlotte decide to try to solve the mystery on their own.

The child protagonists are observant, intelligent and more in touch with reality than their parents. Ironically, the clueless parents patronize their children, thinking the kids are childish and incapable or inadequate when it’s really the other way around. Part of what makes Canned so scary and suspenseful is that Fergal’s parents, Charlotte’s parents and the police are so condescending and dismissive. The kids are truly on their own and have no one to turn to for help. But as scary as it is, it is also empowering. As detectives, the children have agency and prove to the adults and themselves that they are capable and powerful and can make a difference in the world. They have more depth, dimension and thoughtfulness than their parents give them credit for.

Alex Shearer’s Canned is a mystery novel worth reading. I do have to warn you that it’s a more a psychological novel rather than an adventure. It’s psychological suspense, really.

If you’d like to read another dark mystery featuring a young detective, try Down the Rabbit Hole by Peter Abrahams. It features a thirteen year old protagonist who’s just beginning to discover the darker side of human nature and the suburbs.

Marie Soriano

Singer, Isaac Bashevis. A Day of Pleasure. United States: A Sunburst Book, 1986. $8.95. ISBN 0-374-41696-6. 227 pg. Middle School & Up.

A Day of Pleasure is one of the last works of Isaac Singer, the Noble Prize winning author. Singer employs an unadorned language, delightfully mixed with wit and humor, to depict the childhood of a boy growing up in Warsaw. Itchele’s life is marked with countless religious, cultural, and social barriers, and yet no hindrances can overshadow the observations, explorations, and inquisitiveness of childhood years. Itchele grows up in a “house of learning,” but where there was nothing else “but the Torah.” Itchele soon realizes that everything in the world “provokes extreme curiosity” in him. His father is a respected Rabbi, and his mother an intelligent woman. The stories his parents tell him about devils, demons, and werewolves make him afraid to go out, but his “curiosity had no limits.”

Having explored the streets of Warsaw, Itchele observes those who do good deeds, and those who preach God’s love, yet hate anyone who isn’t their kind. Itchele’s identity is shaped in midst of faith and rebellion. He observes his brother rejecting his parents’ religious beliefs. Their discussions intrigue him. "In this household, as in mine, Jewishness and worldliness were forever at odds.” Itchele goes on reading non-religious books, “develop[s] a taste for heresy,” and expands his knowledge far beyond what Jewish children learn at Cheders. During the war, Itchele faces the “shortage of goods,” “lack of toilets and gas,” and more tragically, the fall of humanity. Nonetheless, Itchele grows up to be a worldly teacher.

The book also incorporates several stunning pictures from Poland of 1920s, bringing to life the vibrant image of Warsaw which was filled with the lively characters of Jewish boys, washwomen, bagel peddlers, metal workers, religious scholars, and street sellers. The pictures also brilliantly capture how markets, droshkies, and Cheders were intertwined with life in Warsaw. Stinger’s story teaches us to “continue watching everything with love and curiosity,” and cling to learning, when everything else seems to be in turmoil. A Day of Pleasure is a total delight.

Aria Fani

Skelton, Matthew. Endymion Spring. New York: Delacorte, 2006. ISBN 0-385-73380-1. $17.95 U.S. Ages 8-12.

Endymion Spring, like Inkheart by Cornelia Funke, is a magical novel for bibliophiles.

Blake Winters is not having the time of his life at Oxford University in England. The twelve-year-old is stuck there with his mother who’s doing scholarly research and his precocious younger sister Duck. Often his mother leaves Blake and Duck under the watchful eye of the librarian in St. Jerome’s College Library while she does research. Ooh, fun. Then Blake finds a book like no other.

Walking along a shelf, running a knuckle along the books, one of the volumes seems to bite him. Curiosity piqued, Blake opens the book entitled Endymion Spring, to find, strangely, blank pages. Then suddenly, a poem appears that only Blake can see. He soon finds out that the book is part of a mystery dating back to the time of Johann Gutenberg, inventor of the printing press. Endymion Spring has the ability to foretell the future and recount the past, and someone at Oxford with a dark heart wants it badly, perhaps badly enough to kill. Will Blake be able to keep the book out of the wrong hands, stay alive and decipher what the book is trying to tell him?

Skelton’s debut novel is an intriguing suspenseful mystery. The book is told from two points of view, Blake’s and Gutenberg’s young assistant who first rescues the book from evil hands and brings it to Oxford. The sections told from the assistant’s point of view give the reader background on how the book came to be, which is information even Blake and Duck don’t have and can only guess at. There’s a lot of neat historical detail as well. I think this is a story that bibliophiles and maybe history buffs will enjoy.

This is also a family drama as well as a mystery. Blake’s parents are not divorced, but they are having troubles. His father is home in the U.S. while he, Duck and his mom are at Oxford. Blake misses his father terribly, and he and Duck are afraid that their parents will separate permanently. Skelton smartly manages to tie in the parents’ reconciliation into the mystery of Endymion Spring. In addition, Blake’s and Duck’s relationship could use some improvement as well. She’s quick-witted and usually gets most of the attention and praise for being precocious while Blake tends to fade into the background. He’s much more quiet and unsure of himself. When Blake finds the book, Duck wants to solve its mystery by herself, but this doesn’t sit well with her brother who sees the book as a chance for him to accomplish something special.

Endymion Spring is certainly the start of something special for Matthew Skelton.

Marie Soriano

Smith, Betty. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. New York: Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2006. ISBN: 978-0061120077. $16.95 U.S. Ages 9+

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is a story about a young girl named Francie Nolan. Her tale is one of poverty in early 20th century Brooklyn, residing with her father, mother, brother and aunt. Her father, Johnny Nolan, is a comedic tragedy of sorts steeped in his alcohol-laden tribulations and her Aunt Sissy is a free-spirit. Francie’s only aesthetic source of entertainment is reading, where she fully escapes into the worlds of the characters depicted. Her other hobby or practice is that of observation. She carefully and humorously analyzes the world around her, including the interactions between the family members. Francie’s insecurities and strengths come to light as she delves deeper into her personal life. Her search for meaning in a world which readily produces more questions than answers becomes a unique and heartfelt narrative.

Betty Smith’s novel is a poignant and entertaining read. With the help of Francie and her odd family, she explores the complex world of the human condition, poverty, and acceptance. Innocence or a lack thereof and a richly detailed, vibrant depiction of Brooklyn act as a bridge between the reader’s reality and that of Francie’s. Perseverance is perhaps her most notable trait and younger readers will immediately connect with the struggles and trials of childhood. Even when rejected by her peers Francie pushes onward and concentrates on her own dreams, thankful for the bond that her family once provided. Applicable to all ages, especially young women, Smith’s novel will inspire those to move forward in the direst of circumstances.

John Whitt

Snyder, Laurel. Up and Down the Scratchy Mountains; OR, The Search for a Suitable Princess. Illustrated by Greg Call. New York: Random House, 2008. ISBN: 978-0-375-84719-6. $16.99 US/$20.99 CAN. Ages 8-12.

From the day she was born, Lucy the milkmaid has been a handful. The only thing that can quiet her down is her mother’s singing; and then, one night, her mother is abruptly “gone,” never to be spoken of again. By the time Lucy is twelve, she has learned to sing to herself, but she still wishes someone would speak of her mother, and she is still a handful. With her best (and only) friend Wynston, she argues, deserts her chores for berrying, gets her skirts dirty, and generally does what she wants.

The only problem is, Wynston is the prince, and he has to spend an increasing amount of time learning important skills such as how to eat fish soup with a tiny fork. Worse, when he turns twelve, his father insists that he begin choosing an appropriate princess—which, as the king informs Lucy, is definitely not her. Bereft of her best friend, Lucy decides to journey up the Scratchy Mountain to her mother’s birthplace. She brings a stubborn and recalcitrant cow, and soon adopts a prairie dog named Cat. At the top of the mountain, Lucy discovers no trace of her mother—but she does find a perfectly ordered, alphabetized, and rule-bound town, which, needless to say, she begins to disrupt. In the meantime, Wynston, who misses his friend, has followed Lucy up the mountain and begins to discover that he doesn’t like rules as much as a future king ought to.

Up and Down the Scratchy Mountains is a charming and humorous modern fairy tale. The feisty Lucy and the more pliable Wynston are believable and sympathetic, and their affection for arguing with each other will ring true to all children with either siblings or close friends. Snyder deals with the issue of death and family depression especially well, and reminds adult readers of the importance of speaking the truth to children. The black-and-white drawings by Greg Call are reminiscent of the classic fairy tale illustrations of Arthur Rackham, and match the tone of the book well.

Naomi Lesley

Spinelli, Jerry. There’s a Girl in My Hammerlock. New York: Alladin Mix, 1991. ISBN 1-4169-3937-7. U.S. $5.99/ $6.99 CAN. Ages 9-13. www.simonsayskids.com.
ALA Best Book for Young Adults

Girl likes boy.
Girl joins wrestling team to be near boy.

When she discovers her crush, Eric DeLong, is on the school wrestling team, 8th grader Maisie Potter decides to pass up girls’ basketball for…wrestling—on the all boys wrestling team. Grueling tryouts that leave her tired and soreness tests Maisie’s emotional and physical strength. To everyone’s surprise, including her own, Maisie makes the team.

But with that triumph also comes a bit of heartbreak. Even when the coach warns her how people will likely react, she isn’t prepared when the criticism comes. Her best friend breaks up with her and other students make fun of her. Parents threaten to pull their sons off the wrestling team if she doesn’t quit. Wrestlers and coaches from other schools don’t take her seriously. She gets booed at matches. In the beginning she wants to join the team for Eric DeLong, but when it becomes clear that being his girlfriend is not in her future, she has to ask herself, has it been worth the struggle?

An interesting part of the novel is Maisie’s doubts and thoughts about not being a more traditionally feminine girl. She struggles with the desire to be herself and to be liked, not unlike the protagonist in James Howe’s Totally Joe, the story of a boy in touch with his feminine side. In this case, Maisie’s in touch with her masculine side. Spinelli has written a novel that not only challenges traditional gender roles but explores what life is like for someone who doesn’t fit into them. Maisie has to decide how far she’s willing to go to attract someone she likes. Is she willing to sacrifice her self-respect?

I’m not a fan of sports, so I was reluctant to read the novel at first. However, its first person narrative and humor keep me hooked. What surprised me was that the hardest parts to read were not the wrestling scenes but the scenes in which Maisie compromises who she is. The ending is more open-ended, and although optimistic, is not romantic, which suits the novel perfectly. This is not a make-over/Cinderella story.

Jerry Spinelli’s work has earned numerous awards. Maniac Magee won the Horn Book Award and the Newberry Medal; Wringer is a Newberry Honor Book; Milkweed won the Golden Kite Award; Stargirl is a Parents’ Choice Gold Award winner. There’s a Girl in My Hammerlock is another fine novel in his career, noted a ALA Best Book for Young Adults.

Marie Soriano

Stead, Rebecca. First Light. New York: WendyLamb, 2007. ISBN 978-375-84017-3. $15.99 U.S./ $21.00 CAN. Ages 8-12.

First Light is an engaging debut novel that takes readers from New York City to Greenland and to a secret city beneath the ice….

Peter Solemn is a relatively normal twelve year old with two quirky, loving parents, Dr. Gregory Solemn who studies global warming and Rory Solemn a biologist. When the university receives a generous multi-million dollar donation, Dr. Solemn has the chance to study global warming in Greenland and take his family with him. With his dad’s assistant Jonas, Peter and his parents go to the cold country.

Soon it becomes clear that his parents are secretly looking for something. But what? When Peter finds a red circle stuck in the middle of the ice, he’s sure that it has something to do with the mystery. One morning, before anyone else awakens, Peter goes out to find the red ring again. He does find that…and a mysterious girl who holds the key to what his parents have been searching for and a family secret.

First Light is a fine first novel. It’s intriguing and hard to put down. One of the reasons it is so engaging is because it is told from two points of view—Peter and the girl he meets—in alternating chapters. The family dynamic is also one of its strengths. I appreciate the healthy relationship Peter has with his parents, especially his mother. In many kids’ novels, the mother is absent either because she died or is divorced from the father or has abandoned the family. Peter is not a mama’s boy, but he does have a close relationship with his mom. They actually talk and listen to each other.

It seems there are more fantasy novels for kids than science fiction, and fantasy seems to be more popular thanks to J.K. Rowling. Science fiction sometimes comes in the form of dystopias, worlds in which society is less than idyllic although it may seem perfect at first. An example would be The Giver by Lois Lowry. First Light doesn’t have the dark tone of a dystopic novel, and it doesn’t take place in the future as many science fiction novels do. Two other authors who have written science fiction for kids are Nancy Farmer and Jeanne DuPrau. DuPrau is the author of City of Ember which is also about an underground city and has two main characters, male and female. But unlike First Light, it is futuristic and post-apocalyptic.

Marie Soriano

Robert Louis Stevenson's Kidnapped. A graphic novel adapted by Alan Grant, Illus. Cam Kennedy. Ontario: Tundra Books, 2006.

A fun and exciting rendition of the classic Kidnapped is, brought to life by Alan Grant and Cam Kennedy—both familiar names in the world of graphic novels, having worked with DC comics and Marvel comics in their time.

Stevenson's novel, like his more popular Treasure Island, and The Strange Case of Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde, chills us with the darker side of human nature, as well as thrilling us with adventure and great bonds of friendship. It is the story of David Balfour, his wicked uncle, and a fight for David’s rightful inheritance set against the background of a turbulent 18th century Scotland. The graphic form works well, utilizing color and shadow to create the atmospheric tension, as well as dynamic, often larger than life, characters battling their way through danger and impossible odds.

With pirates, kidnapping, rebellion, and murder, this is not a visual book for young children; however, the vivid illustrations and carefully adapted plot are a great introduction for older kids into the world of classic stories. I highly recommend it and imagine it is a format that would appeal, especially to boys and all those who frequent the comic-book aisles looking for heroes.

Ellen Nef


Swift, Jonathan/Woodside, Martin. Classic Starts: Gulliver’s Travels. Illus. Jamel Akib. New York: Sterling, 2006. ISBN 1-4027-2662-7. $4.95 U.S./ CAN. $7.95. Ages 10 and up.

The original Gulliver’s Travels was, of course, written by the Irish Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) in 1726, not Martin Woodside. What Woodside has done is carefully abridge the classic, and he has done an admirable job. As anyone who has tried it, especially for a novel, would know, writing a summary or even paraphrasing a text is not always easy.

Although the classic work is adapted for children, don’t expect American slang and a modern feel. While Woodside changes some wording, the story is otherwise told in Swift’s words and style.

The plot is as follows: An Englishman is continuously lured away from his family to voyages on the sea by the prospect of adventure and new discoveries. Somehow he always manages to get shipwrecked or lost ashore, thereby encountering strange lands and even stranger inhabitants. He has four voyages: The first to Lilliput, land of the tiny people and political unrest; the second to Broddingdang, land of the giants, where Gulliver is kept in a box like a doll and fights killer wasps; the third to the neighboring lands of Laputa, Balnibarbi, Glubbdubdrib, and Luggnagg, where people think themselves into confusion; and finally, to the land of the Houyhnhnms, where horses talk, sit upright and hold Council.

Jonathan Swift was known for his satire. However, without any kind of knowledge about the novel’s historical context or about Swift, the satire will likely go over readers’ heads, adults and children alike. The Discussion Questions at the back of the book do prompt readers to analyze the text, but a Historical Notes section would be helpful.

Overall, even if the classics aren’t usually your cup of tea, I think you will enjoy this book, especially if you love adventure stories. What I had never realized before reading Woodside’s abridgment is that Gulliver’s Travels is a fine adventure story. Kids and even adults who are afraid of dipping their toes into the waters of classical literature can get their feet wet with this work.

Marie Soriano

Tubb, Kristin O’Donnell. Autumn Winifred Oliver Does Things Different. New York: Delacorte Press, 2008. ISBN 978-0-38-573569-8. (Ages 9-13)

Autumn Winifred Oliver is a spunky 11-year-old tomboy growing up in a small Appalachian town called Cades Cove in the early 1930s. The story opens with Autumn preparing to move with her family to nearby Knoxville, a big city compared to Cades Cove, when they learn that their hometown is slated to become a national park. This is in part the doing of Autumn’s own grandfather. The family stays put to help Gramps with his plans, which include opening an inn for the future influx of tourists to the park, when it becomes evident to Autumn that something isn’t quite right with the plans. Upon further investigation, Autumn discovers that far from making everyone in the Cove rich, as the oily government official Colonel Chapman promised, the park would actually force the residents of Cades Cove out of their community. What follows is a struggle between the big guys and the little guys, a struggle complicated by the fact that the “big guys” aren’t just a bunch of corporate villains—incorporating Cades Cove into the national park system will help preserve the land on which the community sits, land that would otherwise be destroyed by loggers.

In addition to dealing with such weighty issues as potentially losing her family’s home, Autumn also navigates new friendships, growing up, and learning important lessons about being a member of a community. But that doesn’t mean that the story lacks adventure or humor. As a narrator, Autumn is sassy, funny, and independent. It is refreshing to read a young adult novel with such a dynamic female narrator—one that many girls, including me when I was Autumn’s age, can relate to. The title says it all: Autumn does things her own way, which includes trying to scare off the government intruders in her community by playing tricks on them in a “haunted” church and wielding a stick of dynamite that she steals from a group of government employees that have come to clear the land. She does things different all right, and as a result brings her community together.

It is difficult to imagine whether or not young adult readers’ interest will be sustained by the plot of Tubb’s novel. The heart of the book lies in Autumn’s struggle to save her home from being destroyed, but there is a great deal of build-up that precedes this central plot point. The first half of the novel deals mainly with the community’s preparations for the new park, and though this is interlaced with Autumn’s adventures around town, it makes for slow reading. Once Autumn discovers that the new park may mean that her family and all of her neighbors will lose their houses, the book picks up considerable speed. There is a good deal of valuable history embedded in Autumn Winifred Oliver Does Things Different, and readers who stick with it will come away with new knowledge about life during the Great Depression and changes brought about by various New Deal programs. The historical aspects of the novel never feel boring or burdensome; rather, there is just enough historical detail to paint a vivid picture of small town life in the 1930s.

One hurdle that I had to get over while reading Autumn’s story was the folksy voice that Tubb writes in. Autumn’s colloquial Appalachian drawl as a narrative device comes off at first as slightly overwrought and artificial. While it may serve as a device to make Autumn’s narration sounds authentic, it makes for some tiresome reading. The novel succeeds most when Tubb lets Autumn just tell the story in a straightforward manner. The most poignant moments come when she tells it plain and simple, as when Autumn and her sister sneak into a town hall meeting and overhear their grandfather’s emotional apology to his neighbors for selling them on the idea of a national park:

I knew from where I crouched that my gramps had tears in his eyes. I’d never seen him cry before. Katie, crouched next to me, was the first person to let loose a big, heaving sob. She cried like those sobs of hers just might cleanse us of all these wrongdoings. I hugged her close. She smelled like honeysuckle in the springtime. (132)

At times Tubb’s prose is pure, direct, and moving. It is then that the narrative is most effective. However, it is also true that Autumn’s feisty personality is what moves the story along. So if you are like me and find the vernacular of the narrative difficult to follow at times, rest assured that there are plenty of genuinely touching moments to make reading Autumn Winifred Oliver Does Thing Different an overall pleasant experience.

In the end, although Autumn and her neighbors can’t stop the outside world from making its way into their community, the protagonist learns a valuable lesson about standing up for what’s right, even if it ultimately doesn’t work out. Even though the finale of the novel sees Autumn and her family preparing to move out of Cades Cove, there comes with the sadness of leaving her childhood home the excitement and possibility of entering a bigger world that she has not yet known. Thus, though the town’s efforts to halt the progress of the national park designation fail, they will move on and start new lives, perhaps for the better. Autumn will always carry a part of the Cove with her, whether in the drawings she saves or the rocks she has collected from her adventures in the Cove.

The metaphor of leaving a sheltered world behind to enter a new world full of danger and possibility is fitting for the intended age group of this novel, as readers in the 9 to 13-year-old range are navigating their own transition from childhood to young adulthood. Perhaps reading Autumn Winifred Oliver Does Things Different will give young readers hope that although the future can look scary sometimes, adventure lies ahead.

Taylor Nelligan

Urban, Linda. A Crooked Kind of Perfect. San Diego: Harcourt, 2007. ISBN 978-0-15- 206007-7. $16.00 U.S. Ages 8-12.
www.lindaurbanbooks.com www.HarcourtBooks.com

A Crooked Kind of Perfect is a small book with a lot of heart. If you have a bad case of the blues, read this book and your spirits will be lighter in no time.

Ten-year-old Zoe Elias dreams of being a child prodigy like the piano playing Vladmir Horowitz. But Zoe doesn’t get the piano she asks her parents for. Instead her dad buys her an organ, a Perfectone D-60 which comes with lessons from a Miss Person (pronounced southernly, per saahn). While trying to make the best of learning how to play the theme to Green Acres on the Perfectone D-60, Zoe is also trying to make the best of her school and home life. Her best friend since the third grade dumps her for a bunch of trendy jerks; her father, albeit a sweet nurturing man, has a horrible case of the “jitters,” i.e. an anxiety disorder; and her mother is a workaholic who doesn’t make much time to get to know Zoe let alone spend time with her.

Zoe may not be any closer to playing at Carnegie Hall, but her life seems to be on the brighter side when Miss Person suggests that she enter the Perfectone Perform-O-Rama held for a weekend in a hotel a long drive away. Because Zoe’s dad is too nervous to drive her, Mrs. Elias would have to take the wheel. But when a crisis at work requires Mrs. Elias’s attention…Zoe may not have a chance in the spotlight after all. Can Mr. Elias overcome his anxiety enough to bring Zoe to the Perform-O-Rama weekend? Will Mrs. Elias ever make time for the daughter who wants her love and affection?

This is such a satisfying story. It’s told in a first person narrative by Zoe. She’s funny and wise in that unusual way that kids can be. She describes her parents with affection, frustration and humor. There’s character development all around, and when you think the story couldn’t get any better, it does.

A few things to about the novel. For one thing, Zoe’s dad stays at home, and he’s more sensitive and emotional than his wife, a welcome change from traditional gender roles. Second, Zoe’s dad has a serious case of anxiety. Although it’s never stated in the text that he has an anxiety disorder, I think it’s safe to assume that he does. Some people really do suffer from this kind of disorder, and it’s portrayed with insight and compassion. Third, the adults in this novel are just as interesting as the kids. You can’t help but be curious about Mr. and Mrs. Elias. Were they always this way? How did they get to this point in their lives? But I guess that’s another novel.

Linda Urban’s quirky and sweet A Crooked Kind of Perfect couldn’t have been a more perfect debut.

Marie Soriano

Van Draanen, Wendelin. The Gecko and Sticky: Villain’s Lair. Illustrated Stephen Gilpin. New York: Knopf, 2009. ISBN# 978-0-375-84376-1. $12.99. Middle Grade Readers (up to Gr. 8).

Villain’s Lair follows thirteen-year-old Dave Sanchez and his talking pet gecko, Sticky, as they attempt to recover the ingots to an ancient Aztec wristband that have been stolen by the evil and dastardly Damien Black. The ingots give the wearer of the wristband special powers (e.g. flight and invisibility) when they are inserted into the molds of the wristband. Dave lives with his hard working mother and father and his little sister Evie. He receives good grades in school and operates his own bicycle courier business. Dave thinks it would be cool to use the powers of the wristband to fly or become invisible, but his major concern remains upsetting Damien Black’s plan of an evil takeover of the world if the wristband were to fall into his demented control!

Dave overcomes several fears in his journey to secure the fate of the world. First he must venture into Damien Black’s spooky mansion. There he finds a dark cave filled with bats and snails, trap doors and windowless rooms, and a dungeon with a komodo dragon hungrily waiting to eat our young hero. Yet this is not all of the fear he faces. Damien Black hires the Bandito Brothers to find Dave so he begins to worry about the safety of his family if the Bandito Brothers were to catch him. Later, Dave has to wear a disguise after he spots the brothers looking for him in his neighborhood. As these conflicts with fear surface as integral parts of horror stories, the implicit scenes of incest and gratuitous sex often find space in the genre as well. This story avoids those issues completely. Instead of distracting the reader with the presumed sexual fantasies of precocious readers, Van Draanen provides a tale of survival against evil by a hero whose sense of good and evil does not waver.

Overall, I recommend reading this book. Some of the language will challenge young readers, but I consider that to be a positive experience. Also, Dave and Sticky lace their dialogue with Spanish words throughout the text so a guide to these words is included at the end of the text. This is the first book in the Gecko and Sticky series and I hope that the remaining books are as enjoyable and insightful as the first.

Chris Bell

White, E.B. Charlotte’s Web. Illus. Garth Williams. New York: HarperCollins, 2001. ISBN: 978-0064410939. $8.99 U.S. Ages 9 – 12.

Charlotte’s Web is no ordinary, run of the mill “child befriends soon-to-be-eaten-or-killed animal” book. It is a timeless and ageless tale centered on a simple, yet incredibly endearing concept: friendship. E.B. White makes it clear that his characters, locales, and themes will be exactingly genuine and frank. Typically, classic literature of this genre tends to sway towards the theatrical and whimsical notions of life and death issues—black and white versions of a skewed reality. White’s story, however, is grounded in honesty and rooted in truth, which is perhaps a reason for its universal fame and acceptance.

Charlotte’s Web focuses on Wilbur, a pig raised on a farm, destined to be slaughtered and eaten. Eventually Wilbur comes to comprehend the world in which he lives. Listening to Wilbur’s dire predicament from atop his pen, a spider named Charlotte comes to his aid. By spinning a web that alludes to Wilbur’s supposed greatness and intelligence, she persuades the farmers not to kill Wilbur, instead parading him around county fairs for prizes. The characters readers encounter along the way are fully rounded beings, animals who have the best of intentions but end up doing more harm than good or others who are bent on wickedness yet find compassion. Even the heroine Charlotte is guilty of being a realistically portrayed character; she mercilessly sucks the blood out of flies, yet at the same time saves and befriends Wilbur.

White’s novel has transcended time and changes in audience. It has done so because of the universality of its primary themes. The stark realism engrained within the novel is refreshing; as a spider with a relatively short life span, Charlotte dies near the end of the book. Yet her offspring remain to guide Wilbur throughout his life. White’s prose is especially visceral, relying on remarkable descriptions of the rural world. The book also lends itself to differing levels of moral philosophy for both young and old. Many diametric scenarios about life, death and continuity brought up in the novel can be discussed and debated for lifetimes on end. The illustrations by Garth Williams are inviting and complement the story in a fashion suited to that of White’s realism.

John Whitt

Wilkins, Kim. The Sunken Kingdom 1: Ghost Ship. Illus. D.M. Cornish. New York: Random House, 2006. ISBN 978-0-375-84806-3. $ 5.99 U.S./ CAN. $ 7.50. Ages 8-12.

Life is uncertain for youngsters Princess Asa and Prince Rollo. They survived the attack on their family by the evil court sorcerer Flood and are hiding out at their Aunt Katla’s cottage. Flood still searches the lands for them using his fleet of ballooned ships, the Sky Patrol. He killed their parents, the King and Queen of the Star Lands, and their baby sister Una.

Or so they think, until the creepy man Egil Cripplehand pays them a surprise visit at Aunt Katla’s cottage. He tells them that their sister is alive, and she’s being held by Magritt, Flood’s half-sister. Cripplehand also reveals that the three royal children have magical powers. Asa can shape shift into a crow, Rollo can breathe underwater and Una can understand any language, even those of animals and other creatures. With this knowledge and the magical long ship Northseeker, Cripplehand leaves them to rescue their Una. Can Asa and Rollo get their sibling back without getting caught by the Sky Patrol?

The Sunken Kingdom: Ghost Ship is a quick read, one of those books you read when you’re sick in bed for a day, or maybe you want a story with a lot of adventure and not much depth. Wilkins plunges you right into the middle of the action. On the first page Asa and Rollo are already having to hide from the Sky Patrol. The book literally starts in the middle of the story, after the King and Queen have been killed, not at the beginning, so the reader has to piece together what happened. Although not brilliant or profound, it’s a good, entertaining, short read. It’s certainly not a shoddy piece of work. Both Kim Wilkins and D.M. Cornish are major artists in Australia. Wilkins is a well-known fantasy writer, and D.M. Cornish is known for writing and illustrating the Monster Blood Tattoo fantasy series.

Marie Soriano

Wojciechowska, Maia. Shadow of a Bull. New York: Aladdin, 1964. ISBN 978-1-4169-3395-3. U.S. $5.99/ $6.99 CAN. Ages 8-12.
*****Winner of the Newbery Medal, An ALA Notable Children’s Book, A Horn Book Fanfare

Manolo Olivar is haunted by his father, a brilliant and famous bullfighter who died when Manolo was only three years old. Now Manolo is nine, and everyone in his Spanish town, Arcangel, expects the famous bullfighter’s son to begin his training.

But Manolo isn’t so sure he wants to be a bullfighter. He doesn’t think he has the courage, and then after a group of aficionados take him to see his first bullfight, he’s not sure he has the heart, either. Rather than feel hatred for the bull, Manolo feels empathy and compassion and is horrified when the bull is killed.

However, Manolo keeps this all to himself. Then the date is set for his first trial bullfight to see if he has what it takes. Will Manolo have the courage to face the bull and to take control of his life?

Wojciechowska has written a psychological novel rich in cultural critiques. Most wonderfully she critiques the machismo in the Spanish town. Manolo is himself a challenge to traditional masculinity in his vulnerability and his empathy. Rather than control and destroy, he wants to free and heal. Wojciechowska also critiques social class. While the aficionados invest in Manolo, who has thus far not shown much enthusiasm for it, they ignore an older boy from a poor family who wants nothing more than to be a bullfighter. And lastly, she critiques family traditions and adult expectations of children. A child is his or her own person with desires and dreams of his or her own. They are not objects to be manipulated or vessels for adults to realize their own failed dreams. There isn’t much action, but we are privy to Manolo’s feelings and thoughts, allowing readers to empathize with him.

Kids who read this book will likely be able to relate to Manolo. What kid hasn’t been the victim of parents’/ teachers’/ adults’ ideas about what they think s/he should do and be? For that matter, what adult hasn’t?

On a more surface level, readers might be drawn to the Spanish culture described in Shadow of a Bull. Wojciechowska was a bullfighter, so she uses the technical terms for things like the matador’s moves, and she provides a glossary of bullfighting terms. With lovely prose and insight Maia Wojciechowska brings readers into the heart of a Spanish tradition and the people who love it.

Marie Soriano

Yep, Lawrence and Dr. Kathleen S. Yep. The Dragon’s Child: A Story of Angel Island. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2008. ISBN 978-0-06-027692-8. US $15.99/$18.99 CAN. Ages 8-12.

Gim Lew Yep’s family are wealthy celebrities in their village in the south of China. His father lives and works in America, the Golden Mountain, and because of him, Gim Lew and his family live well. Gim Lew must live up to his father’s reputation; he knows he must learn to be right-handed instead of left-handed, and more importantly, he must conquer his stuttering speech.

Gim Lew has only met his father once or twice; so when his father returns suddenly and tells Gim Lew to prepare to accompany him to Golden Mountain, Gim Lew is sullen and terrified. He must leave his mother and sister behind, and the village he knows. Even more disturbingly, he learns that the Americans will not want to let him into the country. They will interrogate him about every single aspect of life in the village in order to prove that he is really his father’s son. And they might take his stutter as evidence that he is nervous—and an impostor. In the meantime, his father seems to be taking Gim Lew’s mistakes as evidence that he is simply not trying hard enough.

Lawrence and Kathleen Yep have recreated this story out of hundreds of interview transcripts from Angel Island, through which the Yeps’ father and grandfather passed when traveling to and from China. Lawrence Yep notes that he learned things about his father (such as the stutter and the left0ahndedness) which he’d never thought to ask about while his father was alive; so each chapter begins with an imagined dialogue between Yep and his father, in which Yep asks a question that elicits a story.

This book is a compelling and effective mixture of oral history and historical fiction. Yep creates a convincing and engaging voice for the young Gim Lew which pulls the reader both into his personal doubts and emotions and also into the historical moment. Young readers are likely to be intrigued by the element of oral history and are also likely to be engaged by Gim Lew’s struggles with his father. Adult readers will appreciate the portrayal of an era in American immigration history which is too little discussed.

Naomi Lesley

 

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