The Final Blog Stop of The Stowaway--Fantasy for Younger Readers

Welcome to the final blog tour stop of R.A. Salvatore and Geno Salvatore, who are here to chat about their new book The Stowaway: Stone of Tymora, Volume I (Mirrorstone 2008, 287 pp), a fantasy adventure novel for middle-grade readers on up.

R.A. Salvatore is famous for his Forgotten Realms series and the DemonWars Saga, most notably his series of books about Drizzt Do'Urden. I feel a little chagrined to admit that I haven't read any of them. I played Dungeons and Dragons myself, back in the early 1980s, and by the time the Forgotten Realms books came out, I dismissed them as something I had outgrown. And I very well might not have picked The Stowaway to read, if left to myself. But fate intervened.

The Stowaway was nominated for the Cybils Awards in the Science Fiction/Fantasy Category. I am one of the panelists charged with picking shortlists of books, and so a copy duly arrived for my reading pleasure. I enjoyed it, much more than I thought I would.

The Stowaway was written deliberately to bring a younger audience into the Forgotten Realms. It is marketed as a Young Adult title more to make it visible to the older readers than because it has "young adultish" themes or content. The book should easily engage its target readers-- boys--and since girls are happy to read books about boys, many girls may well enjoy it too.

12 year old Maimum seems to pursued by violence. Orphaned early in life, he was raised by a wise woman in the woods, until she too is murdered. A mysterious stranger helps him flee, and gives him a magical stone, telling him it is his birth right. But others want the stone--a demon attacks, gravely wounding Maimum's protector. Running for his life, Maimun stows away on a pirate hunting ship, where he meets the dark elf Drizzt Do'Urden, and a host of other characters, some good, some not so nice...

Maimum tells his own story, and it is a fast-paced, action packed one. A lot happens, much of it exciting. On the down side, in my opinion, there's not a lot of emotional resonance, or character development, or the moments of beautiful writing that lift a story above the quotidian world. But I'm not a 12 year old boy.

One of the criteria that I bring to judging a book is whether I will keep it, or pass it on to the library. This book is not exactly perfect for me, but I did put it on the "keep" shelf, selfishly thinking that in a few years it will be just right for my oldest son (who's now 8).

And so it is a great pleasure to welcome R.A. (Bob) Salvatore and Geno Salvatore here today, for the final stop on The Stowaway blog tour. Many questions have already been asked and answered at the earlier blogs stops (see below). Here on this final stop I wanted to talk to the authors about how The Stowaway fits into the larger picture of current fantasy for younger readers.

Me to Bob: "Why did you decide to write for a younger audience? It's not as if your other books weren't read by teenagers, and even ten-year-olds, the intended audience for this book, but this is your first book specifically targeting kids. Did you have to keep reminding yourself, as an author, who you were telling the story to? Did it help that you were working with your own son, who, even though he is of course a grown up, is still your kid?"

Bob: Honestly, the idea came from Wizards of the Coast, and I expect, from the bookstores. For years now I’ve been hearing from various bookstores that they want to give the kids and young teens who have just finished Harry Potter one of my books, but they don’t know where to start. So we decided to make it easier on them by offering an obvious starting point. I absolutely agree that my Dark Elf books are read by many younger readers – I always have that in mind when I’m writing the books, so there are times when I draw the shade, so to speak, on certain encounters.

The easy part of this project was that no, I certainly did not have to keep reminding myself of the audience. Geno and I just told a story; we told it through the eyes of a 12-year-old to make that immediate connection with a younger reader, but make no mistake about it, the older readers who enjoy the Drizzt books are missing out if they don’t read this one.

As for working with Geno on this, I never really thought of him as my son on the project. He’s my co-author. I do believe that the fact that he’s only in his early 20’s didn’t hurt the process, as he remembers vividly the perspective of a bright and curious 12-year-old – certainly better than I (I’d have to think back to the days of Richard Nixon and Vietnam!).

Me: I am an avid reader of fantasy, and I have been so happy in the last couple of years with all the lovely new fantasy books shelved in the children's and young adult sections of the book stores. I hardly bother to see what's in the "real" science fiction section any more (which could be a sign of my own mental weakness). Whether we have Harry Potter to thank or not, I'm glad of it. From what you say above, this trend in fantasy publishing to actively reach out to young readers, played an important role in the birth of The Stowaway. And while the two of you were writing it, were you reading other books being written for the 10-year-old boy target audience? If so, are there any that stuck in your minds?

Bob: Here’s the thing, the reason I keep writing, the very best part of my job, is when I get letters that begin with, “I never read a book until…” or “I couldn’t get my son/daughter to read until I gave him/her one of your books.” That’s it for me. That’s my motivation. That’s when I feel like maybe I’m doing a little good in the world with this work.

I remember that feeling on the other end, after all, when I was a freshman in college and Tolkien whisked me away to a wonderful place and a wonderful adventure.

And sure, Harry Potter sticks in my mind. I’m completely jealous of J.K. Rowling, of course, but I also want to thank her from the bottom of my heart. Not only has her work taught millions of kids that it’s okay to use their imaginations, not only has her work widened the fantasy genre as a whole and brought a new audience to my work, but I truly believe that she has done as much for the literacy rate in this country as all the money we dump into public education. Just like I’m convinced that July 20,1969 (“one small step for Man, one giant leap for Mankind) did more for science and math scores on SATs than any classroom ever could.

Me: The Stowaway is only a teensy bit colored by Dungeons and Dragonish elements. There are character types and monsters and settings that are D. and D. ish, but this didn't feel at all to me like a book tied to gaming. How deliberate was this?

Geno: Setting is detail, in my mind, and not story. The story can function in other settings, or without setting at all. That this book is set in the Forgotten Realms determines certain things – geography, history, religion – are predetermined, but the story is enhanced by, not determined by, these aspects.

Me: Fantasy seems to be a great way to get boys to read (girls too, but somehow that is less desperate an issue). I'd call The Stowaway a Boy book. To illustrate what I mean by that, here's a few snippets the now somewhat famous quote from a 13-year-old from Publishers Weekly a few weeks ago:

"However much I mock the literature of yesteryear, it definitely had it right when it came to vampires. The vampire was always depicted as a menacing badass. That is the kind of book teenage boys want to read. Also good: books with videogame-style plots involving zombie attacks, alien attacks, robot attacks or any excuse to shoot something."

Obviously, you all weren't writing a vampire book. But a "boy" book to me is one that is heavy on action, with a lot of things, often violent, going on—The Stowaway. So is this sort of book what you had in mind?

Geno: The book we had in mind was a Drizzt book aimed at a younger audience. This does not necessarily mean a “boy” book – there are plenty of female Drizzt readers, and hopefully plenty of girls will find and enjoy The Stowaway. But it does mean a book high on action.

Bob: Also, I think vampire books are more aimed at teenage girls now, by far. Fantasy is almost becoming gender neutral, which is a great thing. When I started writing, I’d guess that more than 90% of my readers were male. Now, it’s probably closer to 50-50. When I started playing Everquest in the late 90’s, you always knew that the female character you ran into was being played by a guy. Now, if you see a female in World of Warcraft, it’s probably a female player.

Me: That being said, I liked the strong girl character very much, and I trust we will see more of her in the next book (or books)?

Geno: Oh yes.

Bob: Absolutely!

Me: The Stowaway is the first book of the Stone of Tymora series; I see at the Random House website that this is a trilogy. How are the next books coming? Will you kept all three at the same age level, or does the series become progressively for older readers (perhaps ending with a nudge to the grown up sci fi section of the bookstore)?

Bob: We’re constantly evaluating that and trying to make the best decisions. There was indeed some confusion in the Drizzt readership – they couldn’t figure out where to find the book (and those giant bookstores can be kind of confusing, after all). There will certainly be debates about where or when to position the books. Is it better to launch one of these alongside a Legend of Drizzt novel, as we did this year, or would we be better off moving them apart, particularly in a tough economy?

It’s not my call. All I can say is that Book Two is written and going through the editing process now.

Me: I've already confessed that I haven't been keeping up on my adult science fiction/fantasy reading (although by the end of today I will have read 100 2008 books nominated for the Cybils). What about you two? What good science fiction/fantasy (for kids or grown ups) have you read recently?

Bob: I’m just starting ”The Hobbit” again – it’s been four years since I read it, so I have to go back. That’s about it. One of the problems with being a busy author is that I don’t have much time for reading, and the reading interferes with my own work.

Geno: That’s so true. I was reading a book a week until I started writing. I hardly remember that last book I read. I’ll recommend Terry Brooks’ “Running with the Demon,” though. I think it’s his best work.

Me: Thanks, Bob and Geno! And best of luck with your future projects.

For more interesting conversation about the Stowaway, visit these earlier blog stops:

Monday, Dec. 8 Becky's Book Reviews

Tuesday, Dec. 9 Bilge Munky

Wednesday, Dec. 10 SF Signal

Thursday, Dec. 11 SciFiDimensions

And if you want to read it yourself, leave a comment by December 31st, to be eligible to win one of two copies with signed bookplates...

Margery Gill Obituary in today's Guardian

I didn't know how familiar I was with the illustrations of Margery Gill until I read her obituary in today's Guardian. It includes a link to several of her drawings, including this illustration for Andrew Lang’s Fifty Favourite Fairy Tales:


But now that I have linked the name to the style, I realize she created many, many people who still live in my mind--The Little Princess, the children in Over Sea, Under Stone, the children in my edition of Noel Streatfeild's Apple Bough. I am overcome by nostalgia, and a strong desire to collect hardcover first editions, that (thankfully, given that my children still need to eat) will almost certainly not last. And, speaking of valuable collections, I also would like to know what the Dustman did with his....(click on the link).

The obituary is also well worth reading for its description of the development of children's book illustration in the second half of the 20th century.

Give the gift of a very different New York

Maybe you have a someone on your present buying list who just happens to be from New York City. Maybe they might like to look at their home in a whole new way...and here are three 2008 books, all excellent reads in their own ways, that do just that.

Masterpiece by Elise Broach, is a lovely book about a young beetle who shares a New York apartment with a lonely boy. On his birthday, the boy gets a pen and ink set, but has no interest in drawing...not so the beetle, whose new found artistic talent leads not only to friendship with the boy, but to an exiting adventure in the dangerous world of art theft! For the younger reader (say, 6th grade-ish), this would make a lovely present, an even better one paired with a pen and ink set, with possible add-ons including a book of Old Master etchings, a promise of a trip to the local gallery, an original pen and ink sketch by Da Vinci, etc. Or perhaps a book about beetles!

Maybe you think you know Manhattan. But this book, by Scott Mebus, offers a New York that will knock your socks off, because it is filled with gods--hence the title, Gods of Manhattan! Small gods, like the God of the Good China, and big gods, like seventeenth-century Dutch governors, 19th-century socialites, and the spirits of the Native Americans, cruelly imprisoned as part of the plot of one particularly nasty divinity to take total control of the city...and standing against that evil god is a young boy, who can see things most kids can't. Like small warriors disguised as cockroaches. Great fun, and a very good one for the 12+ year old who likes action-packed fantasy.

Maybe you've wondered what New York City would be like if there were fewer people in it. Maybe, after you read this book--The Dead and the Gone, by Susan Beth Pfeffer, you will be glad for all the people whose shoulders you bump on your morning subway ride. Because (as the title, um, subtly hints at) most of the folks are not there anymore. Leaving one teenage boy struggling to look after his sisters and to stay alive in a post apocalyptic nightmare. This is a follow up to Life as We Knew It, but since it tells of different characters in a different place, it is a true stand alone. Not exactly festive reading (Young Adult rated, on account of death, disease, and destruction), but it should make your giftee appreciate having family, which is, after all, one of the points of the holiday season.

And here is a Free Wrapping Tip, Worthy of Martha Stewart, if I say so who shouldn't--you could use an old tourist map of the city, with an apple ornament tied festively to the ribbon! Or not.

All three of these books have been nominated for the Cybils in Science Fiction and Fantasy--please feel free to use the Amazon link thingy at right, to support these wonderful blog-given awards.

Give the Gift of Demon Lovers

This holiday season, why not give the gift of a demon lover? (or more accurately, wanna-be lover). It's been a great year for them! Here are four that I enjoyed. Please note: none of the people described as "fairies" in these books are in any way "pink" or "glittery." Or "nice." Any of these would make a great gift for a teenage girl who likes Twilight, but is perhaps ready to more on...Forget about vampires--bad-ass fairy books are much cooler.

Impossible, by Nancy Werlin (Here's are reviews from my co-Cybilians at The Puck In the Midden, and at The Compulsive Reader).

I loved this novelization of the lyrics of Scarborough Fair. Lucy must complete three impossible tasks (as given in the song), or go mad and end up enslaved to a vengeful fairy lover...


Lament, by Maggie Stiefvater (reviewed by me, and The Compulsive Reader)

The people who published this story of a teen-aged girl becoming entangled with the fairy realm called it the "soulless fairy assassin book." But the assassin has much more to offer than his ability to kill...



Ink Exchange, by Melissa Marr (reviewed at Em's Bookshelf, and at Becky's Book Reviews)

Another fairy entanglement, with complexity of plot and character that impressed me. This is the sequel, in a way, to Wicked Lovely, but it focuses on a different character and is, after a first bit of awkwardness, a stand alone read.


Need, by Carrie Jones (here are a few reviews--by Kate Messner, by The Story Siren, and me)

And finally, here's one that isn't even quite out yet, but you can still get it in time for Christmas. I especially recommend this one for gift giving because of the festive gold sparkle lip gloss. The setting--cold snowy woods of Maine--is also seasonally appropriate, and provides an interesting background to the scheming of a baaddd pixie...

Did I miss any 2008 demon lovers? Let me know!

All these books but Need have been nominated for the Cybils in the Science Fiction/Fantasy Category (Need has to wait till next year). I'll be offering more gift recommendations from our list of nominees in the next week or so...

mice thoughts, for poetry friday

We live in an old house with porous borders, and have an inadequate cat. So as the weather has gotten colder, the number of mice with whom we share our house has grown. We recently Took Steps, and bought a humane trap, which is working. Now our lives are even more full and rewarding, as we drive car-loads of mice around looking for places far away where we can dump them (late one night, the police followed my husband as he turned into an abandoned parking lot, and demanded to know what sinister errand had brought him there..."Oh, just disposing of mice, Officer!")

And so I have been thinking of this most famous of mouse poems, by Robert Burns (coupled awkwardly, thanks to stupid old blogger, with my own thoughts)






The Poetry Friday Round Up is at Mommy's Favorite Children's Books.

Ottoline and the Yellow Cat

Ottoline and the Yellow Cat, by Chris Riddell (Harper Collins, 2008, 171 pages but a lot of them are pictures).

I remember as a child how I pored over the illustrations of the Eloise books—there is so much to see in them, and they are so much more than the words but so part of the story. Ottoline and the Yellow Cat offers a similarly wonderful reading/looking experience, but with a very different type of heroine.

Ottoline is the young daughter of eccentric collectors, who travel the world looking for such wonders as four spouted teapots. She stays home with Mr. Munroe, her Norwegian bog troll friend and chaperone, and a host of service personnel who visit at regular intervals, and she passes the time working on her own collections, writing in her notebook of observations and clever plans, and splashing in puddles. The bear in the laundry room is interesting, but the mysterious lost lap dogs and jewel thefts in her neighbor hood offer more scope for an intelligent young girl and her troll companion, who set off into the strange city to crack the case….

That’s the bare bones of the plot; frankly, the mystery didn’t intrigue me all that much. But the book is so much more than its story, because there is more pictured than is told—lavishly detailed drawings (black and white, with bits of red) everywhere, some of which take up both pages, with maps, and three-dimensional cutaways, and an odd sock collection and, of course, lots of pictures of Ottoline and Mr. Munroe. And many of the pictures have little labels, some relevant to the plot, some apropos of nothing much, such as the one pointing out “a mouse called Robert that Mr. Munroe came across in the kitchen last Thursday.” It is absurd, it is smart, and it is also rather sweet.

The reading level is about the same as the Eloise books. It is perfect for the accomplished five-year-old girl (me as a child). And it works really, really well as an independent reading book for an eight-year-old boy with an iffy attention span (all the bits of writing in the drawings are perfect), who can read long words just fine, but who has not yet become comfortable reading longer, more chaptery, books to himself, and who needs reassurance that yes, he is a reader (this was proven at my house last week). Another book that works well this way is Mammoth Academy, by Neil Layton (also from the UK), reviewed here by Jen Robinson.

There are two more books about Ottoline coming—Ottoline Goes to School, and Ottoline at Sea. This makes me happy, because I like smart, spunky Ottoline very much, and I love Mr. Munroe, who is now my second favorite fictional troll (no one can top Moomintroll).

Ottoline and the Yellow Cat has been nominated for the Cybils Awards in the Science Fiction/Fantasy category.

A nice thing about looking to see who else has reviewed a book is finding new blogs that intrigue--here's a review at Children's Books: What, When, and How to Read Them. And here's another review from my co-panelist Amanda, at Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs.

Incidentally, Chris Riddell is one of the co-creators of the Edge Series, which I have never read, but which seem like a good thing to try on my 8 year old in the coming months...opinions, and other recommendations, welcome!

Relevance (which sounds like a book title but isn't)

One reason why I don’t read books for grown ups is that too many of them are Relevant, in that they are about the “grown up experience in early 21st century America,” which is presumably what I am experiencing. Of course, since I don’t read them, they may be about something else altogether. I am a weak-minded escapist, and one thing I look for in a book is irrelevance, often soothing, comfortable irrelevance (and if you are a re-reader, like me, you find that even books that are at first thought-provoking, like Ender’s Game, become soothing with repetition).

I’m thinking about relevance because at the author of the blog The LiteraBuss just called Sarah Plain and Tall “another outdated story that has no relevance to today's kids” and said about Little House on the Prairie “It's from a different time, and if you're reading it for historical perspective, there are much more meaningful ways to go about that.”

I’m happy to agree that both these books do not particularly deserve to be required reading, but I’m a little surprised that they should be dismissed so vehemently because of not being relevant and modern. To me, modern is not a selling point in and of itself, and the themes of family and home that characterize these books are kind of, um, central to the human experience. And I find, in my own irrelevant reading, that when books that take such central, powerful themes and display them in an alien setting, those themes can be seen more clearly, and thought about more thoughtfully than would otherwise be the case (a classic example being the books of Ursula Le Guin). Through irrelevance, relevance.

By way of interesting contrast, there’s a post at the Guardian book blog today that celebrates old books, entitled “Why girls’ books still build their dreams around home.” It points out the strong and unforgettable sense of home and family in many classic girls books—Little Women, the Chalet School books, Ballet Shoes, and the Little House books. And it suggests that these themes might actually still have relevance to kids today.

Such books appeal to me. But then, I’m already starting to daydream about going Home for Christmas, and singing carols around the piano with my family, and decorating the tree, and making cookies with my boys using the same cookie cutters I used as a girl…

New service offered--Ask an Archaeologist!

I just finished reading The Alchemyst, by Michael Scott (because its sequel, The Magician, is a Cybils nominee). I enjoyed it. Fast paced, nicely detailed, interesting plot. I'm looking forward to reading The Magician.

But I really wish people wouldn't put archaeologists into their books without knowing what archaeologists actually do!

Josh and Sophie, the two main characters, have parents who are archaeologists, and this is what Scott says about them:

“They were known worldwide for their discoveries, which had helped reshape modern archaeology. They were among the first in their field to discover the existence of the new species of small hominids that were now commonly called Hobbits in Indonesia. Josh always said that their parents lived five million years in the past and were only happy when they were up to their ankles in mud” (pages 63-64).

The only "discoveries" that would actually reshape the whole field of archaeology are things like figuring out new dating techniques, or new ways to extract information from artifacts and dirt. Discovering a new species of hominid does very little to change the shape of modern archaeology as a discipline.

And perhaps Josh is joking with his comment about five million years in the past, because, since archaeology involves the study of human behavior, archaeologists don't care about things that old. Scott seems to be making the classic oh-so-annoying error of confusing archaeologists and paleontologists, as sh0wn by this remark:

“Dad found a dozen Pseudo-arctolepis sharpi in near perfect condition,” she reported. Josh looked blank. “A very rare Cambrian crustacean,” she explained” (page 64).

This same confusion of archaeologists and paleontologists also shows up a few pages later, with a new species of dwarf dinosaur and 165 million year old dinosaur tracks being given as examples of extraordinary archaeological discoveries.

This could have been avoided, and I would have enjoyed the book more (always an important consideration) if Scott had only asked an archaeologist.

Addendum (as noted by TV in a comment): On page 121 of The Magician, Scott makes the parents paleontologists as well as archaeologists. So someone must have said something to him...

So I am offering, FREE OF CHARGE, my services. As a professional archaeologist, I will read any bits of your book that deal with archaeology, and critique them as to their portrayal of the discipline. This will ensure that, when I have the finished book in my hands, I am not thrown out of your fictional world in a fit of annoyance. Sadly, I can't actually be helpful regarding descriptions of past people, places, and civilizations (real archaeologists specialize--I'm pretty good with 17th-century northeastern America, and a few other times and places, but know almost nothing about, say, the Incas).

The Last of the High Kings, by Kate Thompson, is another book with archaeologists nominated for the Science Fiction/Fantasy Cybils. Thompson does a fine job--archaeologists will not find her descriptions painful to read.

The best fictional portrayal of archaeologists in a children's book, however, is Nancy Bond's Country of Broken Stone (about digging up Romans near Hadrian's Wall). An excellent story, and good archaeology.

Ivan Southall

The Australian writer Ivan Southall has died; here is his obituary.

I know him primarily as the author of Hill's End, which I think is the best "group of children surviving a catastrophe without grownups to help" book ever. Here's what I said about it last year...

My reading life

My stack of Cybils nominated books waiting to be reviewed is growing larger...the stack of beautiful books I haven't read doesn't seem to be growing appreciably smaller. This despite the fact that I seem to have lost several books somewhere inside the house. I have been reading in every room we have (we have an old Victorian house, so there are quite a few), and rather than go and find the same book over and over again, loosing valuable reading time (it seems to take at least 10 minutes to go upstairs and retrieve a book, partly because, ala Poe's Purloined Letter, the book I want is hiding in a pile of books, partly because I am easily distracted and go off on tangents, and start to put laundry away etc). So rather than do all that, I have simply been manically starting new books. This is also a help in evaluating the books I'm reading--I figure if I love it I will go upstairs and get it, even at the risk of meeting odd socks.

But anyway, so far I have "lost" Moonstone and The Crimson Thread. Sigh. It was not as good a reading weekend as I had hoped it would be. Saturday was lovely--Bliss (Lauren Myracle) in the early morning (nothing like a bit of horror with the breakfast coffee), followed by Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit (Nahoko Uehashi) in the later morning (a very good adventure story), and then a large chunk of Moonstone (Marilee Brothers), which I have now (see above) misplaced. Heaven forbid it should have been put on a shelf (where it is always hard to find books), but this is sadly possible because we had Company on Sunday. Which was all very well and good, but it meant that instead of reading I had to a. clean the house b. talk to the guests. Oh well, they were lovely people and the house is cleaner, which means there are beautiful clear surfaces (coffee table, dining room table, windowsills) on which to put spread books out, so that they don't become en-piled.

But at any event, Sunday I only got one read--Thornspell (Helen Lowe), and I looked for Moonstone, but couldn't find it, so started Crimson Thread which I looked for this morning and can't find either, but I bet it's in the computer room/room of unmatched socks.

And I also on Sunday manged to read my oldest a few chapters of the first Fablehaven book (because a later book has been nominated), and I read a bit more of the Alchemist (Michael Scott) whose sequel has been nominated (there are lots of sequels nominated this year, which is a bit vexing, because of not having read many of the earlier books). I would have finished The Alchemist earlier, because I'm enjoying it a lot, only it had gotten lost (under the passenger seat of the car. A bad, bad, place).

This weekend I also read The Last Basselope (three times), Sergio Makes a Splash, Dr. Seuss' Sleep book, The Happy Hockey Family Move to the Country, and other picture books, as well as a random book for young readers about heredity. I refused to read several craft books that were pushed in my direction. One of my children really enjoys having craft books read out loud to him. The crafts themselves, not so much. But it is hard to really care, to really lose oneself in the text, when one is reading--"attach two pipe cleaners to each end of the cardboard tube....."

Sergio Makes a Splash, by Edel Rodriguez, on the other hand, is a fun read. And it deserves a detailed review...just as soon as I'm caught up.

Must Love Black

Must Love Black, by Kelly McCylmer (2008, Simon and Schuster, 167pp, YA)

Here's what the advertisement said: "Nanny for 10-yr-old twins. Maine coast. Own room. Must love black." Philippa thought it sounded like the perfect way to escape her father's honeymoon with his cheerfully, un-black-loving new wife. The job seemed even better when the limousine, complete with hot young driver (who doubles as the estate's gardener), showed up to take her away from the wedding.

The mysterious mansion on the cliffs, being run as a deluxe spiritual health spa, is strange, perhaps, but certainly luxurious, and the twins, girls with the somber names of Triste and Rienne, don't seem like they'll be too much trouble. Philippa's main challenge is to get them to play, to enjoy life in a childlike way.

Like Philippa, however, the twins are still grieving for their dead mother. And their father has no time for them, his every minute managed by the mysterious and possibly clairvoyant woman who is one of the resort's main attractions. Then there is the small matter of the ghost, or ghosts...

And will Philippa end up in the arms of the gardener?

The cover of this book is rather misleading. Sure, it's gothic--foggy mansion with secrets type gothic, but Phillipa, even though she likes black, isn't particularly a Goth girl. And there are no pirates at all, despite the skull and crossbones. What this book is--an enjoyable read about bereavement (which sounds strange, but is true), being a nanny, and teen romance, in an interesting setting. The ghosts get very short shift. I kept expecting to plunge more deeply into the supernatural, but it didn't happen, and in general I was disappointed at the rather sudden ending.

Must Love Black is a Cybils nominee in the Sci. Fi./Fantasy category (because there are, after all, a few ghostly moments), but mainly it's a good, clean, fast YA read. I liked little Triste and Rienne very much!

Unicorns vs Zombies

So you might already have heard that Simon and Schuster is putting out a book (in 2010, a long ways away), entitled, catchily, "Zombies vs Unicorns."

Unicorns. John Green calls them "horned beasts of suck." How this would have hurt my 11 year old self, who loved them passionately (although strangely my unicorn rug, book ends, unwritten in journals, pillowcase, cushion, etc. all failed to make it inside my grown-up house. I think my poor mother is still trying to use up unicorn notepads back at home). Heading up Team Unicorn is Holly Black--here's just one of her arguments: "Unicorns are interesting because there is something to subvert, something to transgress. No one wants to see the zombie transgressed. Well, only crazy people."

Zombies. I just don't much care for the undead. Possibly because, before Pet Cemetery was even written, I had recurring nightmares (well, at least 2) about digging up my dead cat. In the Zombie camp is Justine Larbalestier ("Why Zombies Rule"): "You can fight them off. You can get away. But in the end? Not so much."

Read more about this epic battle here.

2010 is a long time to wait to see which side will prevail. So what, you might ask, is the status of Zombies vs Unicorns this year, now, 2008? Thanks to my position as reader of the 168 or whatever books nominated for the Science Fiction Fantasy Awards, I can answer that question with Hard Data.

In the zombie camp are Zombie Blondes, by Brian James, and Generation Dead, by Daniel Waters. If you are a reader who craves books about Zombie Cheerleaders, 2008 was great great great and will probably never be surpassed. Then there's Playing With Fire, by Derek Landy, the second Skulduggery Pleasant book (is a sentient, "living" skeletal creature a zombie?) There is also an undead hamster from hell (The Curse of Cuddles McGee, by Emily Ecton). He is perhaps more ghost than zombie, although his bones move, instead of staying sweetly in one place, the way a ghost's do, and I have now decided (mainly so that I can include this book) that if your bones move, you're a zombie.

Final count: 4 zombie books (I have read 2)

Unicorns are represented by Dark Whispers, the third book of the Unicorn Chronicles, by Bruce Coville, and Charm for a Unicorn, by Jennifer Macaire. I haven't read either of these; once I do, if I have anything interesting to add, I'll come back and say it.

Final count: 2 unicorn books (I have read 0)

In general, I am on Team Unicorn (although I will of course read the zombie books on the Cybils list with respect and careful consideration). How can one not be. Think of some of the classic books with unicorns, like Elidor, by Alan Garner, or The Last Battle, by C.S. Lewis, or even (although it's not really a favorite of mine) The Last Unicorn, by Peter Beagle. Now think of the powerful, beautiful, moving books with zombies, books destined never to fall out of print. I can't think of any. But maybe my parents, busily buying me unicorn notepaper, kept such darkness from me...

Traveling around the world, looking for books...

Over at Tone Deaf in Bangkok, Janet is guiding us around the used bookstore of Thailand. I am envious--what if she discovers a huge collection of British girls books, including such gems as Joy's New Adventure, by Elsie Oxenham, A Wind is Blowing, by Monica Edwards, and Words and Music, by William Mayne (all of which are books I cannot afford). I have left her a comment asking about this, wondering if I need to add Thailand to my global book buying itinerary.

It's easy enough to go to the UK to go book shopping, but the problem with the UK is that there are a lot of people there who also are going book shopping (no offense). Much better to be the first collector, of, say, Elsie Oxenham, to visit some obscure outpost of Empire. I've missed two good chances--Kenya and Bermuda, where I went for archaeological reasons long before I knew about many of the authors I now love. It's true that in Kenya I was up in the north, near the Ethiopian boarder, where there were no book stores, and in Bermuda I was on a small island, with few trips into town. But still, I have had known then what I know now, I would have tried. And when I was in Pakistan, visiting friends and family, why didn't occur to me to ask if there was anywhere to buy books? Sure, I came home with a lovely camel hanging and some cushion covers, but what if there had been books, and I blew my chance.

And I am sure that somewhere in Nigeria there is a cache of English children's books, waiting... Sadly, I've only ever been to French West African countries, so pas de joie, as they say (?). But someday I shall go to the British Virgin Islands (sure, it's a couple hundred dollars more than the American ones, but worth it). And someday I shall visit the used book market of Cairo...

If you zoom in, you can see something that looks like an Oxenham...or maybe not.

The City in the Lake

The City in the Lake
by Rachel Neumeier (2008, Alfred A. Knopf, 294 pp).

There is a city on the shores of a lake, where live a king and his beloved son, the heart of the country. Within the waters of the lake lies another city, much more than a reflection of what is real. And Neill, the bastard, the king's other, older, son, stops one evening on the bridge, to watch for its appearance...to see if the carved stone tigers come alive in the water.

In a village far from the city, Timou has grown up in peace, learning to be a mage from her distant but loving father. But her peace is shattered when her father disappears, echoing the mysterious disappearance of the king's own son and the desolation that has befallen the kingdom. She leaves her home to find answers, journying through the Forest, into the city, and past its walls into the city in the lake. And the answers she finds, that bind her to Neill and to the fate of the kingdom, are a maze of magic and danger spun by an ancient sorceress--"an echo in a old story. A name in a history older than the Kingdom."

But another young man, who loves Timou, has followed her into the enchanted forest. There he meets a power strong enough to defeat the ancient evil that has awoken, but it is a power that might claim him forever...

This is a lovely story, beautifully told. It is a slow read, in the best sense of the term, because to rush through it would be to waste its wealth of detail. Fans of Patricia McKillip, in particular, will love it; the cadence of the prose, and the sense of history, mystery, old magic, and things seen at the edge of sight that characterize McKillip are also to be found here.

As well as all that, one of the things that I personally really liked about the book is that the main characters are all people I would enjoy knowing in real life. This could be a sign of my own mental weakness, but I so much prefer to read about people I can care deeply about. So in a nutshell, here you have lovely world-making, people I like, and a satisfying plot.

The City in the Lake has been nominated for the Cybils Awards in the Science Fiction/Fantasy category. My co-panelist Nettle also reviewed this book today (I just read it, wanting to wait until after I wrote my own). And here are a few more reviews, at The Well Read Child, at Book Obsession, and at Elizabeth Bunce's blog

I have so many, but I want more, more, more...

(Ali has invited people to share their holiday book wish lists, so here's mine).


A little while ago, my sister asked a little wistfully (or possibly just curiously), "Now that you are reading so many books that have just been published, do you still care about the old books?" Because my sister and I have for years been peacefully reading old and out-of-print girls books, mainly English, and it is true that blogging has brought me into a different sort of book world. I enjoy being part of the excitement of ARCs and new releases, but I do think from time to time of giving more of my blogging to the books that live on the shelves of my bedroom--the old and the beloved (new books that I feel friendly toward but don't quite love live in downstairs book shelves). My wish list for Christmas reflects that book side of my character, although I always put some new ones on so as to give people easily found and affordable choices (and of course to support the publishing industry). I don't have time to explain who all these authors are, but if you recognize any of the more obscure ones, and are a fan yourself, do say hi!

Miscellaneous out-of-print English books (sorry publishing industry, I know this isn't really going to help you much):

Monica Redlich Jam Tomorrow
William Mayne Words and Music (although I don’t actually expect anyone to get this for me, seeing as it’s about $700), Cradlefasts (sequel to Earthfasts)
Noel Streatfeild The Children on the Top Floor, The Bell Family.
Sutcliff, Rosemary The Armourer’s House (illustrated by C. Walter Hodges)
Stevenson, D.E. Spring Magic, Four Windows, hardcover of The Four Graces, hardcover of The Tall Stranger (and then my Stevenson collection is complete! However, this isn't going to happen. These have been on my wish list for about 8 years.)
Saville, Malcom All Summer Through, Christmas at Nettlefield, The Secret of Buzzard’s Scar
Ewing, Juliana Mary’s Meadow and Other Tales of Fields and Flowers
Elinor Lyon The Golden Shore

Some ballet books:

Jean Estroail Drina Ballerina (another one that sells for hundreds and hundreds of dollars, if there’s even a copy for sale which there mostly isn’t).
Nada Curcija-Prodanovic Ballerina
Robina Beckles-Wilson A Time To Dance

Two about Dunkirk (I love WW II childrens and YA fiction):

Philip Turner Dunkirk Summer
Jill Paton Walsh The Dolphin Crossing

Some recently published ones (which I really want, not just because I care about the publishing industry):

Phillipa Pearce A Finder’s Magic
Patricia McKillip The Bell at Sealy Head
Michelle Magorian Just Henry
Joan Aiken The Serial Garden

And in addition to these, several books published this year from Girls Gone By Publishers and Fidra Books.

Ratha's Courage

One of the great things of having a reading list with more than 160 book on it is finding yourself reading, and enjoying, books you wouldn't have picked out for yourself (yet strangely this didn't happen with many of my high school reading lists). One such book is Ratha's Courage, by Clare Bell, the fifth book of the Named series (2008, Imaginator Press). This book could be described as Watership Down Meets Clan of the Cave Bear (only with prehistoric cats as the main characters, and a different plot, feel, and style from either, she adds helpfully). But seriously. Watership Down is the only "sentient animals as characters" book I love, and Clan of the Cave Bear was amazingly successful at capturing prehistoric life, and Ratha's Courage works for me in similar way.

Ratha is the leader of a clan of prehistoric, sentient cats, who has led her people into a settled existence as herders rather than hunters, with fire tamed to serve them. But this peace is threatened when delicate diplomatic relations with another clan of hunter cats collapse...for the hunters share a group mind, and how can one society, that prizes the contributions of each individual, coexist with another in which the song of tradition dictates every action?

After a few doubts about sharing a story with sentient cats, I found myself swept into Ratha's world. I hadn't read any of the previous books, but this was not an issue. The cats became real characters in my mind, and their problems were gripping.

Ratha's Courage has an interesting publishing history. The first four books were written in the 1980s and 1990s, and this book was written 14 years later, when the first four were reissued. But due to publishing issues, it didn't see daylight until an independent publisher, Imaginator Press, took it on. I see in the front of the book that other new Ratha books have been written, and I am a tad surprised (given that I still don't consider myself a fan of sentient animal books) at how much interest I have in reading them....and, of course, in going back to books 1-4.

But it will have to wait, because, like I said, I have this reading list--all the wonderful, sweet, strange, and fascinating books nominated for the Cybils Awards in the science fiction/fantasy category (which you can see here).

In the Company of Whispers

I just finished In the Company of Whispers, by Sallie Lowenstein (2008, Lion Stone Books, 360 pp). I am shaking a little, and sniffing. Oh my gosh. I don't think a book has had this much emotional effect on me since I first read Lois Lowry's The Giver* a few years ago (although unlike The Giver, this book is for young adult, or even adult, readers--not because of content, but because of pace and style).

In the Company of Whispers is a dystopia, set in the Greater East Coast Metropolis in 2047. The roaches are doing well; people, less so. High school student Zeyya comes home one day to find her apartment sealed, yellow quarantine tape across the door, and no parents. Ever again. She takes refuge with her grandmother, in what might be the last single family house in the hellish city. And there she meets Jonah, whose intricate tattoos apparently let him commune with his ancestors...who says he is from another place, another people, for whom the past is always present.

Zeyya's story is interspersed with flashbacks to her grandmother's childhood in Burma, told with pictures, letters, and quotations from historical and contemporary accounts of Burma. For the first half of the book, I found this distracting, and I wasn't quite sure I was going to like the book in general. But then, as I let myself simply take it in, I began to understand the point--the intersections of past and present, love and loss that are at the heart of the stories.

And somewhere past page 250 I began to cry off and on as I read...but I was careful not to let any tears actually fall on the book itself, for this book, qua book, is a thing of beauty. It is heavy and luxuriant, the pages are glossy, the reproductions of old photographs beautiful. And I think these choices in book-making serve the story well.

In the Company of Whispers is beautiful (and I'll add a picture of the cover when I get a new mouse...)

This book has been nominated for the Cybils Awards in the Science Fiction/Fantasy category, and I'd like to thank the publisher, Lion Stone Books, for sending each of us panelists a review copy.

Here are two other reviews, at Wands and Worlds, and at Becky's Book Reviews.

*Other reasons why I am reminded of The Giver, besides the dystopian part and the focus on the transmission of memories, are the obvious similarities of character name (Jonah here and Jonas there), and also the important role played by a wooden sled...

DNA for Nonfiction Monday

I have a child who constantly wants me to teach him. "Tell me more about x,y, and z!" he begs. Only problem is, Mama might know a lot about ancient history, archaeology, and geography, but Mama's knowledge of the hard sciences is pretty darn patchy.

So what to do? Going back to college is not an option. Google is a possibility, but it does not quite foster the sofa-centric model of intellectual growth that I prefer. So I am very grateful to publishers of quality non-fiction for the young, like Lerner. A series I especially like is their "Science Concepts," which covers a variety of hard science topics-- such things as "matter," "photosynthesis," and "symbiosis." They are at about my level (grades 5-9), in that I can comprehend them as I go, and translate them to an 8-year-old's understanding (I hope).

Most recently we enjoyed reading DNA, by Alvin Silverstien, Virginia Silvestein, and Laura Silverstein Nunn (revised edition, 2009). We rushed quickly through the rather tricky second chapter, "What is DNA?"--it was a bit hard for us to understand. But we thoroughly enjoyed more anecdotal topics such "How Heredity Works," "When the Code Goes Wrong," and "The Genome Project." As well as the smoothly written body of the text, we appreciated interesting sidebars about such things as the first cat ever cloned (did you now that cloning dogs is harder than cloning cats?), sickle-cell anemia, the fact that chimps are closer to humans than to gorillas. These sorts of things are candy for my boy's mind, and their presentation in this book, meant for older, independent readers, is of the unpatronizing variety that makes him feel that his interest is respected.

So, the upshot of this post--go to the library and bring books home that are too hard for your kid. Read them with her or him, be honest about the parts you don't understand, and delight together when you learn new and fascinating things! (This sounds so good on paper that I feel I should do more of it. But, alas, all too often I am busily modeling independent reading behavior).

And your five year old, drawing idly on the living room floor, might surprise you with his drawing of genetic transfer at the molecular level during the mating process (mostly circles and lines, but still...) We are going to be saving that piece of paper forever.

And thanks, Lerner, for the review copy of DNA, which led us to seek out other titles in the series.

My second favorite fictional room

Yesterday I wrote about Maria's room, in The Little White Horse, by Elizabeth Goudge. My second favorite fictional room is also from a Goudge book--Linnets and Valerians. I love this room mainly because Nan's happiness in it rings so true...

"Nan sat down in the little armchair and folded her hands in her lap. A parlor of her own! She had never even had a bedroom of her own let alone a parlor. It was quiet in here, the noises of the house shut away, the sound of the wind and rain outside seeming only to intensify the indoor silence. The light of the flames was reflected in the paneling and the burning logs smelled sweet. Something inside her seemed to expand like a flower opening and she sighed with relief. She had not known before that she liked to be alone. She sat still for ten minutes, making friends with her room, and then she got up and moved slowly around it making friends with all it had."

An introvert's dream come true.

For those who haven't read this book--it is about a family of four motherless Edwardian children whose military father has left them with their grandmother in England. Escaping from her stern attentions, the children end up at their uncle's house, in a Devon village at the edge of the moors. There they find magic, both good and evil, and end up righting ancient wrongs....and the descriptions of places, people, food, and gardens are utterly and wonderfully wonderful. I read it when I was eight. It knocked my socks off. Still does.

The Secret of Moonacre

The trailer is up for the movie version of The Little White Horse, by Elizabeth Goudge, retitled The Secrets of Moonacre. You can find it here (it's on the third page). And here is what Maria's room looks like:


It is beautiful, but... I read The Little White Horse when I was eight, and fell hard for it. Maria's room was, to me, the be all and end all of rooms. Here are bits of Goudge's description:

"It was at the top of the tower, and the tower was a round one, so Maria's room was circular, neither too large nor too small, just the right size for a girl of thirteen...It had three windows, two narrow lancet windows and one large one with a window seat in the thickness of the wall...In each of the windows stood beautiful silver branched candlesticks with three lighted candles burning in each of them...The walls were not paneled with wood, as in Miss Heliotrope's room, but the silver-grey stone was so lovely that Maria was glad. The ceiling was vaulted and delicate ribbings of stone curved over Maria's head like the branches of a tree, meeting at the highest point of the ceiling in a carved representation of the sickle moon surrounded by stars.

"There was no carpet upon the silvery oak floor but a little white sheepskin lay beside the bed...The bed was a four-poster, hung with pale blue silk curtains embroidered with silver stars, of the same material as the window curtains, and spread with a patchwork quilt made of exquisite squares of velvet and silk, of all colors of the rainbow, gay and lovely."

I begged my mother for a sheepskin rug, and was so happy when she gave it to me. I had a patchwork quilt on my bed too. And my sophomore year in college, I actually lived in a round tower room...

So this movie room is lovely, but it is hard to surrender my own mental image to it.

And where, in the trailer, is Robin????

My other favorite Elizabeth Goudge's are Linnets and Valerians, and The Valley of Song. I also am fond of the books about Henrietta--City of Bells, Sister of the Angels, and Henrietta's House, aka The Blue Hills. Someday I will write proper reviews of them...

Does anyone else have a favorite fictional room? I can't think of one that even comes close.

Wake, by Lisa McMann

Of all the books I've read this past month (around 40), Wake, by Lisa McMann, was the page-turniest, grippingest of them all. I am very glad that I woke up early this morning and read it cover to cover before my Dear Children awoke, because I would have not have been happy to put it down! (Although I would, of course, have done so with a smile...and gone into the kitchen to prepare nutritious breakfasts etc. etc.)

17 year-old Janie falls into other peoples dreams. In high-school, surrounded by sleep-deprived classmates, Janie suffers.

"A boy named Jack Tomlinson falls asleep in English class. Janie watches his head nodding from across the room. She begins to sweat, even though the room is cold. It is 11:41 a.m. Seven minutes until the bell rings for lunch. Too much time."

Because Janie, even though still awake, would have to dream right along with him.

But much worse than suffering through the humiliations and sexual fantasies of her classmates is the nightmare that finds her when she is driving home from work one night. And this worst dream of all belong to Caleb, a boy she finds herself drawn too...

Janie struggles to control her dreaming, struggles to understand Caleb and his secrets, and suffers. It doesn't help that she's poor, with an alcoholic mom. Caleb is the only person she knows who might bring her out of her own personal nightmare, but he seems caught in a nightmarish situation of his own...

Like I said, this was a page turner-I read it in less than an hour. It moves so briskly in part because it is written in third person present, in short sentences and episodes that take Janie back and forth from dream to reality. I think this was an absolutely brilliant choice of tense and voice--the reader is present with Janie moment by moment, but not inside her head--just like Janie's situation when she's stuck in other peoples' dreams.

And I liked Janie and Caleb. They didn't get a chance to do a whole heck of a lot besides dreaming (and a bit of, um, other stuff in a (very) mild YAish sort of way), but neither of them were whiners, despite having cause (lots of cause). Janie is focused on working her way through college, and doing well in school. She's a good friend, and a caring person.

And I really liked the plot! Suspense, mystery, dreams holding the key to unravelling it, a nice dash of romance-good stuff! It is really easy to imagine this one being recommend from reader to reader. I myself am anxious to read the sequel, Fade (coming in February 2009). A third book will be out in 2010.

Jen had much the same reaction as I did; so did Sarah, at Sarah's Random Musings, and here's a review by one of my Cybil's co-panelists, at The Compulsive Reader.

And now I am going to be very unselfish and tell you that there is a "freaking huge contest" at Lisa McMann's blog (ending Nov. 25, 2008) in which I would really like to be a winner....

Wake (2008 , Simon and Schuster) has been nominated for the Cybils Awards in the Sci. Fi./Fantasy category. Thank you, Simon and Schuster, for sending us panelists review copies (and of course for publishing the book in the first place, which always helps).

Humpty Dumpty Jr: Hardboiled Detective

My 8-year-old isn't ready for Harry Potter, but sneers at most easy reader type books. Fortunately, there do exist books to fill the gap, most recently two books in a new series--Humpty Dumpty, Hardboiled Detective, by the team of Nate Evans, Paul Hindman, and Vince Evens (Sourcebooks Jaberwocky, 2008). Think Guy Noir (from Garrison Keillor's radio show) as a hardboiled egg detective, in a warped fairy tale New Yolk city, with copious black and white drawings featuring lots of action.

"Once upon a Crime:
There was a detective.
Me.
Humpty Dumpty Jr., Hardboiled Detective. I'm a good egg who always cracks the case. One morning, sitting at my desk, I watched the sun rise out my grimy window..."

In The Case of the Fiendish Flapjack Flop, H.D. has to rescue the kidnapped baker Patty Cakes from a villain who wants to use her culinary creativity to make the ultimate baked good weapon! In The Mystery of Merlin and the Gruesome Ghost, H.D. and his sidekick, a human boy called Rat, infiltrate a mysterious school for princes to unravel a spookily terrifying tangle.

These are fun and fast-paced books that held my boy's interest, and that is a great thing in a book! I'll be passing my two books, received from the publisher (thanks!), on to my son's third grade classroom, where I'm sure they will find many new fans! Probably most of these fans will be boys--although the second book features a strong girl character, she is overshadowed by the shenanigans of the Egg Detective and young Rat.

You can enter by November 20th to win your own copies of these books here at Blood of the Muse, and here's a rave review of the first book at Blog Critics Magazine.

Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow

Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow, by Jessica Day George (Bloomsbury, 2008) is a fairy tale retelling of the Scandinavian story "East of the Sun, West of the Moon."

"Long ago and far away in the land of ice and snow," begins George in true fairy tale style, "there came a time when it seemed that winter would never end." And her telling continues to stay close to the old story of a girl who is married to a white bear, and taken far away to his castle. At night, in human form, he shares her bed. The girl pays a visit home, and is persuaded by her family to light the room and look at her bedfellow--but drops of tallow fall on the young man she sees, waking him, and he is whisked by magic far away....and the girl must search for him beyone the ends of the earth, helped by the four winds.

To this plot George brings homely details of the girl's life before the bear, living in poverty as a woodcutter's youngest daughter, so unwanted by her mother that she was given no name. George also brings engrossing detail to the bear's ice palace, introducing a variety of magical supporting characters. If you're a fan of Robin McKinley's Beauty, this part of the story, where bear and girl become friends in an enchanted castle, will seem pleasantly familiar! I wish the story had stayed longer in the castle--I truly enjoyed this part of the book. I was not so taken by the climax of the story, when the girl confronts those who cast the spells. The bad guys lacked enchantment for me, and a couple of the characters' emotional responses didn't quite ring true.

Some fairy tale retellings seem almost to get at the first story--the tale before it was collected and embellished, the almost-real heart of the matter (Elizabeth Bunce's A Curse Dark as Gold, for instance, or Robin McKinley's Deerskin). Some, like this one, take the story as told and use it faithfully as a model, while adding insight and originality to it with the richness of background and personality they create. Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow is a good example of the latter, with the story retold with verve and the un-named heroine made a strong and likable character, with magic of her own. I'd heartily recommend this one to fans of Shannon Hale, as well as all those who love Beauty!

Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow, has been nominated for the Cybils in the YA Science Fiction and Fantasy category.

How my election day really turned out

As planned, I packed the children into the car to take them to vote yesterday, and started to tell them my usual stories about why voting matters. My older son is the type of child who says, "Mama, tell me the story of Rachel Carson and DDT again." So he was, as usual, a receptive audience. My kindergartner, not so much. "Mama," in a somewhat exasperated tone, "Mrs. Walsh read that to us already in our class magazine. I know all that already." Oh. Fine. Of course, she didn't--this is the same child who almost convinced his father, based on the amount of detail and narrative consistency, that instead of Spanish and Tech Ed. his class was having Ninja training lessons. But still it took the wind right out of my sails. And then we got to the polling place, and the line was immense, which I've never seen before, and I hadn't brought them anything with which they could occupy their sweet little selves, and I got stuck between McCain supporters, who were saying things such as "George Bush has made the country so much safer" so I left and came back in the evening without my children. Oh well. I tried.

I stayed up much later than my regular bedtime last night. Partly this is because my youngest announced just before bedtime that Mrs. Walsh had told them to make six model dinosaurs "from any material" and I didn't feel like arguing about it. But mainly, it was because I was glued to the New York Times website--I'm from Virginia originally and I just had to see if it went blue. So nail-biting, watching the last few counties reporting. Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus!

And now, seeing as I am up at my usual time anyway, I shall go read about Zombie cheerleaders for the Cybils.

Why Voting Makes Me Cry

On Tuesday morning, my boys and I are going to go vote (my husband would be voting to, if he were a citizen). It's a short drive to the elementary school just up the road, but it's long enough for me to tell them stories.

I tell them about the monks of Burma taking to the streets in peaceful protest a little over a year ago, and how we might never know how many disappeared or died. About Aung San Suu Kyi, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, locked in her house. About the military dictatorship that will kill and imprison anyone who tries to make their voice heard (I get a little teary).

Then I tell them how I watched, back in 1989, a young man in China block the path of a tank, simply by standing still (and this is where I generally start weeping in earnest). I tell them of people who risk everything for the rights we take for granted.


At this point we are pulling into the school parking lot. Sniffing hard, I tell my boys that it is to honor these people around the world, who would die to have our rights, that I vote every chance I get. That if I let my voice be silenced, out of laziness or inertia, I would be failing them.

And I tell my boys that maybe my one little vote, here in Rhode Island, won't make or break the national election. But if we throw away the chance to vote, as if it were of no importance, we dismiss the struggles of people past and present to get that chance.

We walk past the people holding signs for their various candidates (who aren't afraid of being dragged away by evil government agents), we walk to the nice folks handing out ballots (our friends and neighbors, who are doing their best to run a good and careful election), and I have to sniff again before being able to say my name.

"Voting always makes me cry," I explain, with my best attempt at an insouciant shrug. Because, darn it, it does.

On the way home, my older son says, "Mama, tell us the story about that wall in Germany that was torn down…" So I tell them a story about hope, that had a happy ending.

Today, bloggers in the kidlitosphere and beyond are blogging the vote--writing about why voting matters to them. Please head over to Chasing Ray, where you will find a compilation of quotes and links to those taking part. It's really neat!

The Remarkable and Very True Story of Lucy and Snowcap

The Remarkable and Very True Story of Lucy and Snowcap, by H.M. Bouwman (2008, Marshall Cavendish, middle grade).

Take a dash of Joan Aiken--feisty girls in long ago times battling over-the-top bad guys, add a bit of Ursula Le Guin--thoughtful reflection on the power of stories and the experience of culture contact, and combine with magic--not the waving wands around kind, but the kind held deep in the earth, and then set all this in a vividly realized imaginary setting with a generous dollop of historical fact. That is what The Remarkable and Very True Story of Lucy and Snowcap does, with great success. (The jacket flap draws a comparison with Princess Bride, that I disagree with--sure, both have lots of action, but Lucy and Snowcap aren't at all romantic princessy types destined for luv).

So here's how it starts.

Lucy' s newborn brother is the last child that will ever be born to the Colay Islanders, and with his arrival comes sadness. Twelve-year-old Lucy must take the newborn up to the Lifestone garden, to join the statues already there.

"Everyone said statues. It was the only word they could think of, but it was inaccurate, for statues were chiseled and carved. Sculpted from stone. These were more like rocks that just happened to be in the shapes of people--perfectly formed, without any signs of carving. Statues only if statues could grow themselves, like flowers."

The statues are all that remain of the Colay men and boys, who turned to stone eight months ago, and the new baby boy's feet have already grown cold....

Twelve years ago, in 1775, English ships carrying convicts to Virginia had been wrecked on the islands. The English organized themselves into a colony on the largest, with a decent leader, and life on the outer islands was not much changed. But that Governor and his wife died mysteriously in 1786, and two unscrupulous power hungry villains blamed it on the Colay Islanders. And now those same two are plotting to get rid of Snowcap, the Governor's daughter and heir.

"On the day that the last baby of Sunset was born, the twelve-year-old Child Governor of Tathenn was having a difficult time. To begin with, she was hungry. She had refused her breakfast because Renard, the steward (who had been, among other things, a magician in London), had poisoned it while Sir Markham, the Protector, stood by the door and kept watch for him."

Lucy or Snowcap are not the sort who sit quietly while fate does its thing. They set out on separate journeys that come together in a single quest, the results of which will change the islands forever...and on the way, they rescue a handsome stable boy and the English schoolmaster from savage beasts, while contending with the two English bad guys, for whom murder is a mere nothing, and the anger of the islands themselves.

Neither of the two girls is particularly likable at first (which put me off a bit), but they become much more sympathetic to the reader (and to each other) as the book progresses. By the end, I felt I would be happy to be friends with either of them (and I realize that this might indicate that I am Weak Minded, but in middle grade fiction books I really need to like at least one main character in order to like the book). There's also a very nice horse (Snowcap's), for those who like such things.

And I did like this book, very much. Enough so as to murmer the words "Newbery sleeper" questioningly to myself. But it is not a book that is going to fire up the reader not already addicted to text (and again I murmer, "Newbery"). A lot of adventure stuff happens, but this is not a "fast" book through which the reader gallops at breakneck speed (although the Kirkus Review said it was fast paced. Maybe they mean something different). I think it's too thoughtful for that. It is made slower by being told from three different points of view--those of Lucy and Snowcap, of course, but we also hear a lot from the English School Master. Although anyone interested in the construction of history in English colonies, and the writing process in general (which is to say, me), will be interested in his story, it might leave some kids cold.

In short, I recommend this book enthusiastically to all grown ups, and the kind of kid who loves Joan Aiken. It was published this September, and hasn't gotten much blog buzz yet--I'll be real curious to see what other people think, especially about this whole fast-paced business.

And one final thing--I don't think the cover art is a good fit with the book, and I don't think Lucy and Snowcap would think much of it either. These are two of the most un-girly girls I've read about in ages, and the cover makes them look like dolls.

The Remarkable and Very True Adventures of Lucy and Snowcap has been nominated for the Cybils Awards in the Science Fiction/Fantasy category (link to complete list of other very good books on right--boy, it is going to be a struggle to come up with our shortlists). Thanks, Marshall Cavendish, for sending us panelists review copies!