I am off to England next Sarturday, where I will be giving at talk on Timeslip Ties that Bind at the 20th Century English School Girls and Their Books conference in Bristol. I have not yet written this talk, and the clock is ticking, so that is what I will be doing today....
See you all later in August!
Four English boarding school kids, 2 girls (one of whom is the narrator) and 2 boys, come across an African Drum in the school's "museum." When Oliver, the musician of the bunch, starts playing it, the kids find themselves observers of an English expedition in central Africa. One of the Englishman has just stolen the drum.
Oliver plays it again. The kids see another episode in the explorers' journey. Edith, our first person narrator, finds it disturbing. She finds it more and more disturbing as the events seen during the drum's windows to the past are echoed in the boarding school present. Oliver drums on. It culminates with disaster striking both expedition and school.
Through this, the kids argue about what's happening--is the drum a window to the past or a fantasy, is it causing the connections between past and present, or predicting them? These arguments are not interesting.
Edith is also not interesting. She has no rich inner life. Possibly the author thought it would make her humorously relatable to constantly put herself down "I am an ordinary person" "I was ashamed of myself" "I keep making mistakes." If so, the author was wrong. It just made me not to spend time with her dull pov self.
Some episodes are mildly entertaining, when Edith is describing external events and not sharing the oatmeal-like working of her thoughts. There were not enough of these episodes.
The actual timeslip via drumming was fine (again, this was in large part due to Edith describing and not thinking...). Yes it was stereotypes of Africa presented by a 1950s Englishman, but it wasn't as so grotesquely awful as to be unreadable. What was happening to the expedition was not uninteresting. And the kids at least recognized that stealing the drum was a wrong thing to have done.
short answer--I will not be re-reading it. But since I did enjoy another book by the author, I will not give up on him if I find his books going cheaply.
Wicked Marigold, by Caroline Carlson, at Log Cabin Library
The Wishkeeper’s Apprentice, by Rachel Chivers Khoo, at Pages Unbound
A Whisper of Curses, by J. Elle, at The Story Sanctuary
Witchspark, by Dominique Valente, at Scope for Imagination
Authors and Interviews
Deva Fagan (A Game of Noctis) and Jenn Reese (Puzzleheart) in conversation at Teen Librarian Toolbox
Other Good Stuff
"Let in the Magic" is this month's Hot Off the Press theme at CBC
What's new in the UK, at Mr Ripley's Enchanted Books
That was the longest break I ever took from blogging! But the desperate times of moving out of work are pretty much over, and so here I am again, ready with a time travel book for this Tuesday!
The boy's family extends to Tom all the hospitality they can, though they have little food to share. The Monaghans do, though, have love for each other, and this is something that's been in short supply in Tom's life. Abandoned as a baby, he's spent his life bouncing between foster parents. His current ones are awful, abusive, and spitefully mean.
He returns to his own time, but is drawn back to the Monaghans, briefly living episodes of their life (being evicted from their home, the starving journey to find passage to Liverpool, the sickness and despair they find in the city once they reach it). But though he keeps returning to his own life, he spends enough time with this family that they become his family as well. Two of them even survive (like I said, not a comfort read).
And back in the present, Tom finds himself more protective of the special needs boy he's fostered with, until Brian too is family. Even more miraculously, because he travelled in time, he's able to find his birth parents, and so there is a happy ending that would not have been possible if he hadn't suffered alongside the Monaghans.....
Can't say I enjoyed it, but I think it is a good book--the writing is very vivid, the character growth satisfying, and there is enough relationship between past and present to make the story hang together well. It is grim, but not as depressing as you might expect; Tom's first person point of view is lively and sharp, and entertaining except for in the darkest moments. I may well have enjoyed it more if graves dug up for construction projects weren't something I have to think about for work.
(this might be the worst cover of all the 400 or so time travel books I've reviewed. Who thought his hair sticking up in that weird way added anything of value????)
I'm taking a break on the round-ups because of work--we have to vacate our building for six months starting in July and move everything out, and for me that includes all the artifact boxes in the state's repository, and it is getting to be crunch time. So I'm about to go into work to move boxes.....I might get some review posts written, but Sunday mornings need to be all about moving.
See you again July 14th!
Benji Zeb is a Ravenous Werewolf, by Deke Moulton, at Fuse #8
Braided (Sisters Ever After #5), by Leah Cypess, at Charlotte's Library
Cat's Magic, by Margaret Greaves, at Charlotte's Library
The Cursed Moon, by Angela Cervantes, at Kiss the Book
Echo, by Pam Muñoz Ryan, at Michelle Isenhoff
Farrah Noorzad and the Ring of Fate, by Deeba Zargarpur, at Mark My Words
Greenwild: The City Beyond the Sea, by Pari Thomson, at The Story Sanctuary
The Haunting of Fortune Farm, by Sophie Kirtley, at Scope for Imagination
Heroes of the Water Monster, by Brian Young, at Kiss the Book
The Last Dragon, by Polly Ho-Yen, at Scope for Imagination
Lei and the Invisible Island, by Malia Maunakea, at Mark My Words
The Minor Miracle, by Merideth Davis, at House full of Bookworms
Murray Out of Water, by Tracy Taylor, at Cracking the Cover
The One and Only Ruby, by Katherine Applegate, at Children's Books Heal
The Raven Throne, by Stephanie Burgis, at Sifa Elizabeth Reads
Tidemagic: The Many Faces of Ista Flit, by Clare Harlow, at A Journey of Words
The Whisperwicks: The Labyrinth of Lost and Found, by Jordan Lees, at Bookworm for Kids
The Witching Wind, by Natalie Lloyd, at YA Books Central
Authors and Interviews
Interview with Meredith Davis about THE MINOR MIRACLE – MG Book Village
Other Good Stuff
Congratulations to the winner and the short listed books for Andre Norton Nebula Award for Middle Grade and Young Adult Fiction, with an especial nod to The Ghost Job (my reviewmy review) for representing middle grade!
The Winner--To Shape a Dragon’s Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose
The Inn at the Amethyst Lantern by J. Dianne Dotson,
Liberty’s Daughter by Naomi Kritzer,
The Ghost Job by Greg van Eekhout
And congratulations to me for another successful library book sale outing yesterday! My mother, as is her wont, commented "you need more books like you need a hole in your head," but need and want are two different things....
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Cinna is thrilled when Rapunzel is rescued and comes home again, but Rapunzel seem less than thrilled by the role of princess that's she's expected to assume. Yes, she has the family's magical hair, that enables the kingdom to confine the fey (more or less) to their own realm (as does Cinna). But unlike their mother, the Queen, who devotes all her energy to this task, Rapunzel just doesn't seem to see the point.
Cinna wants Rapunzel to be the big sister she's always wanted, but Rapunzel wants more for Cinna, and for herself, than being trapped by a giant wall of responsibility. And Rapunzel must return to the fey realm after only three days....
The bond that the two of them manage to build, and the magic and wits that they have in plenty, will save them both, despite fierce challenges both from the fey realm and from their own circumstances.
I loved the sisterly part of the story lots, especially all the letters that Cinna wrote (but never sent) to her missing sister that start each chapter), It was both sweet and emotionally rich, and when combined with dragons (as shown on the cover), some monsters, wonderful hair magic, and the machinations of both the fey and the people of the court, the result was a lovely gripping story! Cinna, and the reader, must question what is good and what is evil, and what they owe to others, and what they owe to themselves.
Young readers just meeting this series with Braided will almost certainly want more!
Louise is an orphan, and the money set aside by her mother to keep her at boarding school has run out. Now she must go stay with an aunt in the middle of the English countryside, in a somewhat dilapidated farm house. I would like this, but Louise does not, and she is keenly aware that Aunt Hester is not thrilled about it either. Aunt Hester expects Louise to pull her weight, but Louise has no desire to pull anything, and no desire to read the works of Sir Walter Scott as Aunt Hester suggests, but prefers the escapist fluff for girls she has to keep hidden in her room lest Aunt Hester throws it away.
But all is not terrible. A friendly village boy, Charlie, teaches her how to ride a bicycle, which Aunt Hester has dragged out of one of the barns, and although we don't get a lot of fun rural expeditions (which I rather like), it was a bright spot in her life. More importantly, though, she rescues a kitten slated to be drowned. And miraculously Aunt Hester lets her keep little Casca.
Even more miraculously, the ancient Egyptian cat goddess, Bast, appears in her room that night to reward her for her cat kindness. She offers Louise a boon, and Louise impulsively says that she'd just rather be anywhere else. So she gets the gift of being able to travel anywhere she wants. Bast is good at place, but being an immortal goddess is more than a bit loose with regards to time. When Louise asks to be sent to Egypt, she ends up in ancient times, where Casca, who's travelled with her, gets a good chunk of worshiping and Louise has a slightly hungry, but interesting, visit to the past.
At this point I was thinking it was just going to be episodic time travel, but I was pleased that this was not the case. Her next jaunt takes her to a Victorian seaside town, where she befriends another orphan, who serves as an unpaid drudge at her (much more unpleasant) aunt's boarding house. It is a miserable situation, and Louise decides to rescue her from the villainous aunt, and takes her back to the present.
There is more back and for between this past and the present before everyone gets happily settled, and it was rather good reading. Aunt Hester and Louise gradually warm to each other, which was nice. And though the author doesn't give deep consideration to culture shock and bureaucratic challenges, there's plenty of detail and cozy found-family-ness. So though it didn't hit hard emotionally (mostly because it stayed on the surface level of things), I enjoyed it. (Casca the cat played a very small role, so don't expect much kitten cuteness if you do pick this up. But if miserable Victorian orphans are your jam, there's pleanty of that).
The One and Only Family, by Katherine Applegate, at Ms. Yingling Reads
Puzzleheart, by Jenn Rees, at Cracking the Cover and A Library Mama
The Secret Society of Very Important Post, by Alexandra Page, at Book Craic
The Spirit Glass by Roshani Chokshi, at Pages Unbound
Telephone of the Tree, by Allison McGhee, at ReadWonder
Terra Electrica: The Guardians of the North, by Antonia Maxwell, at Mark My Words
Villains’ Realm (Kingdom Keepers Inheritance #2), by Ridley Pearson, at Carstairs Considers....:
The Wanderdays: Journey to Fantome Island, by Clare Povey, at Book Craic
It begins in a hellish, massive dump, in which a lost, starved, unwanted child called Creep wanders not knowing what he is doing. It is unclear if it is past or present, and unclear who Creep is. The wasteland abuts a canal, and Creep finds refuge in an old canal boat, which starts him on a journey.
Then the point of view shifts to Christopher, a boy who is desperately hunting for Creep, his half-brother. Christopher is definitely in the present of the book (which of course is in the distant past for modern kids), and gives the reader more information--turns out, this is Creep's first time outside ever; part of the house has collapsed, opening the cupboard where he has been confined all his life. Christopher looked after Creep as much as he could, risking his mother's anger, and cares about what danger he might be in, enough so that he's on the verge of breaking all his mother's brainwashing and going to the authorities.
Then Creep, in the narrowboat, flows down the canal, on a journey into the child labor horrors of the Industrial Revolution. As a grown-up I recognized that this was now the past, but it wasn't spelled out to the child reader and I bet I wouldn't have known at this point that Creep was time travelling (I was, for instance, a great re-reader of Joan Aiken and would have probably taken it all in my stride without question). Creep acquires two great comrades in his journey, a girl and a boy who he helps escape from the dangerous misery of their labors (the boy has been pickaxed in his bottom, and the girl fell face down into a fire). The girl can write a little, and carves "Creep" into a bridge stone to show him.
This carving Christopher, after more than a day and night of searching, sees, and realizes that it was done long long ago. He has a realization that Creep has gone where he can't be found (I hope child reader me would have picked up on the time travel at this point, but you never know).
Creep and his two friends have a relatively nice bit of work at a pottery (they aren't in mortal peril, though it is grueling work) and are able to make the canal boat homelike, but this interlude is shattered (literally, by broken pottery). Tom, the boy, goes off on his on to be a miner, and Creep and the girl find (horrible, dangerous) work in a mill.
All this time, only children have ever been able to see Creep, and he's never felt any need to eat or drink, and he's never laughed. When he does finally do so, he's solid and real back in the past...and on his way to a (mercifully) happy ending. And Christopher back in the present, still desperate to find his poor brother, starts doing historical research, and finds that Creep himself wrote the story of his life (confirming, in case child me still needed it, that time travel, quite possibly in the form of a canal boat with something of a mind of its own, had taken Creep away).
It was a bit too much "let's go on a journey through child labor horrors (burns, beatings, torture) while simultaneously being confronted with a tortured child in the present for my personal taste, which much preferred "canal boat home making," "found family," and "library research." And there was lots and lots of description, a lot of it about unpleasant things, that either brought everything vividly (too much so?) to life, or slowed the story down, depending.
Still, once I was into it and not much confused, I found it fast reading, and became invested in what was happening. And it does have a happy ending in which found family in the past becomes real family, and Creep and Christopher's mother is being investigated by the authorities who have found Creep's birth certificate....
Best friends Rachel and Joon, ready to spend the summer together practicing their espionage skills, are fed up with their parents keeping secrets from them--when eavesdropping, Rachel learns her mom and boyfriend are going to get married (which she fine with except for feeling left out), and Joon has just learned he's about to move. But the eavesdropping also sets them off on a more exciting mission than they'd dreamed off--Rachel's soon to be stepdad is a descendent of a Revolutionary War spy, Anna "Nancy" Smith, and he's going to give Rachel a ring that once (according to family lore) belonged to her.
The ring has a clue to the start of a hunt set up by Nancy centuries ago, and maybe if Rachel and Joon can solve all the puzzles, they'll find actually proof that Nancy was indeed part of Long Island's Culper Spy Ring!
The kids have grown up vaguely aware of the Spy Ring, an important local driver of tourism and civic pride, but now they go into a deep dive of historical research and investigation of all the historic sites they'd never given much thought to. The clues are nicely cryptic, but believably solvable, and the adults encounter along the way are nicely varied in their responses, from skepticism to helpful eagerness. The history of the Spy Ring, and the challenges of actually proving something in the past was true, is well woven into the modern-day hunt, and I really enjoyed learning about it. I also appreciated that the story is about a woman whose historical importance many people were skeptical about, which is always a good chain of thought to put into young readers mind, in my opinion....
Give this one to any puzzle-loving, history loving, kids-riding-around-on-bikes loving, young readers you might have on hand, maybe paired with a trip to the actual Long Island town where the story is set, to go on a hunt yourselves for all the interesting historical places mentioned in the book! (I am rather tempted to do this myself....)
She's exited to share her discovery with her best friend Kevin, who didn't even notice she was gone (her body went on doing its thing while she rested), and at first he's very intrigued....but the magic doesn't work on him. And as J.P. starts skipping three days here and there more and more often, relying on him to catch her up (her body double doesn't pass on memories), he is less and less supportive, and urges her to skip less often.
And indeed, life is going on during J.P.'s missing days...good things, meaningful things, and not just horrible gym class. Her friendship with Kevin is strained to a breaking point, because of how often she just isn't there for him. Her grandfather is dying of cancer, and she's skipping through that too. And when she realizes just what she has slept through, she knows she has to start facing life with no escape hatch, and try to mend all the lost spaces in her life as best she can.
It was hard for me to care all that much about J.P. at first, as she is very self-centered, and has trouble thinking outside her immediate concerns, mainly her poor body-image, but further into her story, her grandfather's decline. But her situation is a very relatable one--escapism is often appealing. And it's good to see her get some sense, and set out on the road to being a stronger, more present person.
It's a really interesting time-slip premise too--her body double fills in for her so well, and is in fact herself though she can't remember it. It's basically time-slipping as periodic amnesia. The treehouse door is never explained, although it makes sense in the story that it appeared for her because of her intense desire to have a respite from the negative rain inside her head.
And in many respects, this is one that a fair number of middle school kids will really see themselves in, and quite possible learn from J.P.'s experiences that the things in life that have meaning make up for the miserable bits, and that being there for those you care about, even if it also comes with mean girl bullying and grief, is worth it.
Morning all! Here's what I found this week.
The Reviews
The City Beyond the Stars by Zohra Nabi, at Mark My Words
Dangerous Allies (Forgotten Five #4), by Lisa McMann, at YABookNerd
Finn and Ezra's Bar Mitzvah Time Loop, by Joshua S. Levy, at Ms. Yingling Reads
Fyn Carter and the Agents of Eromlos, by Ian Hunter, at Scope for Imagination and Book Craic
Grimmword: The Witch In The Woods. by Michaelbrent Collings, at fundinmental
The Last Hope School for Magical Delinquents, by Nicki Pau Preto, at Mark My Words
North and the Only One, by Vashti Hardy, at Sifa Elizabeth Reads
Puzzleheart, by Jenn Reese, at Ms. Yingling Reads
The River Spirit, by Lucy Strange, at Scope for Imagination
Rwendigo Tales, by J. A. Myhre (series review), at Redeemed Reader
The Secret Society of Very Important Post, by Alexandra Page, at Scope for Imagination
Tariq and the Drowning City (The Spiritstone Saga #1), by Sarwat Chadda, at Book Craic
A Whisper of Curses (Park Row Magic Academy #2), by J. Elle, at Mark My Words
Two at Feed Your Fiction Addiction-- Greenwild, by Pari Thomson& Once There Was, by Kiyash Monsef
Authors and Interviews
Laura Segal Stegman (The Chambered Nautilus, Summer of L.U.C.K. #3), at Teen Librarian Toolbox)
Leah Cypess (Braided, Sisters Ever After series) at From the Mixed Up Files
Sandy Deutscher (The Haunting of Lake Lucy)-- How Writing in Verse Can Improve Your Prose, at Literary Rambles
Tim's wealthy parents have been spending lots of money on his education to make him into a successful adult--good boarding school, where he is prepared for Oxford like a goose being fattened, to be followed by joining his father in the advertising business. But Tim derails things by getting sick, with what sound like mono, and having to take a break from school in the new house in the country his mother thought she wanted. The remains of an old house were mostly demolished to make way for the new one, and Tim claims the one little surviving bit as his own room, which his mother doesn't understand (the first of many such no understandings in the story...). For the first time in years, there is no pressure on Tim, and so when a builder working on the old chimney in Tim's room finds a box full of old drawings hidden away, Tim has the chance to reflect on them at leisure.
Impossibly, inexplicably, the artist, a boy called Tom, starts to become real to Tim. He knows things about him he couldn't know. And he wants to know more about Tom, and the girl, Netty, he drew. He finds Tom's gravestone in the churchyard, showing that Tom died when he was just about Tim's own age back in 1910, and there he meets the vicar's daughter, Rebecca (also dealing with heavy parental expectations), who becomes his companion in both looking for Tom and Netty, and in figuring out what he wants to do with his life.
The story in the present is interposed with Tom's story in the past (trading school when still a kid for the hard life of a farm laborer, though still finding time to draw). It's not a time travel book, because there's no travelling, but there is time slipping in the connection between the two boys, which is lovely and magical, and a nice counter note to the sadness of Tom's story in the past (wealthy, self-centerdly oblivious Netty is a piece of work, and there is tragedy) and Tim's struggles in the present. Peyton's descriptions are utterly beautifully vivid, adding to the magic of the story. And it's great to see how Tim comes into his own.
Though it is set around 1970, the narrative of teenaged emotional growth is as germane today as it was then. It would have been a young adult book back then, with its bit of romance and the rebellion against parents (and it's very 1970 YA cover art), but I think the most appreciative audience, then and now, would have been dreamy, imaginative 12-14 year olds.
Hi all! Here's what I found this week. Let me know if I missed your post!
The Reviews
The Cats of Silver Crescent, by Kaela Noel, at Cracking the Cover and Ms. Yingling Reads
Beast of Skull Rock, by Matt McMann, at YABookNerd
The City Beyond the Stars, by Zohra Nabi, at Bookworm for Kids
Dread Detention, by Jennifer Killick, at Kiss the Book
The Dreamweavers, by G.Z. Schmidt, at International Examiner
Ember Spark and the Thunder of Dragons, by Abi Elphinstone, at Book Craic, Just Imagine, and Sifa Elizabeth Reads
Finn and Ezra's Bar Mitzvah Time Loop, by Joshua S. Levy, at Charlotte's Library
The First State of Being, by Erin Entrada Kelly, at Susan Uhlig
Gallowgate, by K.R. Alexander, at YA Books Central
A Game of Noctis, by Deva Fagan, at Pages Unbound
The Girl Who Couldn’t Lie, by Radhika Sanghani, at Book Craic
The House at the End of the Sea, by Victoria M. Adams, at Book Craic
Loki: A Bad God's Guide to Ruling the World, by Louie Stowell, at Mark My Words
The No-Brainer's Guide to Decomposition, by Adrianna Cuevas, at Mark My Words
Not Quite a Ghost, by Anne Ursu, at Fuse #8 and Feed Your Fiction Addiction
The Secret Library, by Kekla Magoon, at Cracking the Cover, Teen Librarian Toolbox, and Ms. Yingling Reads
The Selkie's Daughter, by Linda Crotta Brennan, at Redeemed Reader
The Sky King (Skyriders 2), by Polly Holyoke, at Mark My Words
Tap at the Window (Shiver Point), by Gabriel Dylan, at Twirling Book Princess
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, by Grace Lin, at Redeemed Reader
Authors and Interviews
Victoria Williamson (The Pawnshop of Stolen Dream and more) at Valinora Troy
Kekla Magoon (The Secret Library) at MG Book Village
Other Good Stuff
"7 sizzling books about dragons" at BookTrust
Ezra's Bar Mitzvah is an ordeal to be endured, what with family tensions, his little sister barfing on his shoes, and the painful struggle to get through all that is required of him. He's just glad he's reached the end on Sunday afternoon and it's over...when he finds himself back on Friday, having to do it all over again. And again, unable to figure out how to end the madness.
When he finds there's another boy in the same venue also caught in an endless Bar Mitzvah loop, he's relieved to have someone to join forces with. Finn has lots of ideas on things they can try to change things enough to make it out. But efforts to make things perfect don't work, asking for help from Rabbi Neumann doesn't work (although these conversations are thought provoking and I enjoyed them), and they are running out of ideas (but not out of time. They have lots of that.)
Then they notice that they are sharing the hotel with a convention of physicists, who surely must be able to help figure out how to break a time loop. And indeed, Dr. London is interested, once they've convinced her (by knowing things they couldn't know, learned in previous iterations) that they are telling the truth. It's tricky for Dr. London, because she has to keeping starting over and over every Friday, but the boys become skilled at helping her remember. (I really liked that the scientist who cracks the case is a woman, who's not eccentric or weird but just a good scientist).
To save her notes, she needs gold to build a science cage to keep her data safe from vanishing every Sunday, and with lots of repeated practice, Finn and Ezra carry out a bank heist, and things seem hopeful. But as they loop, not only are they getting to know each other really well, envious of things each has in his life that the other doesn't, they learn more about the people around them, most importantly, their families. And what they learn makes them uncertain that they are ready for time to start moving forward again....
The two boys are clearly defined characters, not just in the externals (Ezra lives in an Orthodox household crowded by siblings, making do but with no safety margin, and Finn is an only child of comfortably off parents, for whom religion is somewhat tangential) but in their personalities--Finn is a mad whirl of idea, and Ezra is a more thoughtful observer). This difference keeps each time loop feeling fresh for the reader, and Finn's wild ideas keep things fresh(ish) for the kids too, although they had to put in a lot of practice weekends for more complex undertakings, like the bank robbery....
There's a lot of entertainment to be had in the looping, with many days seen in detail, and others, that don't progress the story, tidily recapped. Some loops have poignant realizations, some have humor and excitement, and it's all good reading, although considerable suspension of disbelief is (not surprisingly) required (I had no trouble suspending mine). The kids have the freedom to waste their time, to savor moments while knowing they aren't going to be lost, to experiment with how what they do affects others. And so when time starts running normally again, they are prepared to live each day as if it will never come back again...which of course it won't.
disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher
A Game of Noctis, by Deva Fagan, at A Library Mama
Gargoyles: Guardians of the Source, by Tamsin Mori, at Valinora Troy
The Infinite Lives of Maisie Day, by Christopher Edge, at Sarah's Corner
The Island at the Edge of Night, by Lucy Strange, at Library Girl and Book Boy, Book Craic, and Scope for Imagination
The Labyrinth of Lost and Found (The Whisperwicks), by Jordan Lees, at Book Craic
The Mystwick School of Musicraft, by Jessica Khoury, at BookClub (vocal.media)
New Kid On Deck (Pirate Academy #1), by Justin Somper, at Twirling Book Princess
A Rover's Story, by Jasmine Warga, at Bookworm for KidsThe Sky Over Rebecca, by Matthew Fox, at Kiss the Book
Sleeping Spells and Dragon Scales, by Wendy S. Swore, at Kiss the Book
When the Wild Calls, by Nicola Penfold, at Bellis Does Books
The Witch in the Woods (Grimmworld 1), by Michaelbrent Collings, at Mark My Words
Wrath of the Rain God (Legendarios #1), by Karla Arenas Valenti and Vanessa Morales, at Cracking the Cover
Authors and Interviews
Jennifer Killick (Dread Wood, Crater Lake) at Sifa Elizabeth Reads
Nedda Lewers (Daughters of the Lamp), at Fuse #8
Other Good Stuff
New and recommend in the UK, at Mr Ripley's Enchanted Books
Hi all! Here's what I found this week; let me know of anything I missed.
The Reviews
Beneath the Swirling Sky, by Carolyn Leiloglou, at Susan Uhlig
The Day I Fell Into a Fairy Tale, by Ben Miller, at YA Books Central
Duet, by Elise Broach, at Dead Houseplants
The Haunting of Lake Lucy, by Sandy Deutscher Green, at Valinora Troy
The Magician Next Door by Rachel Chivers Khoo, at Family Book ClubOlivia Cole and Legend of the Silver Seed, by Ricky Melamed, at Witty and Sarcastic Bookclub
Peregrine Quinn and the Cosmic Realm, by Ash Bond, at Book Craic
Puzzleheart, by Jenn Reese, at Charlotte's Library
The Ship in the Garden, by Zetta Elliott, at Charlotte's Library
Things that Go Bumb, by Kathryn Foxfield, at Sifa Elizabeth Reads
Tidemagic: The Many Faces of Ista Flit, by Clare Harlow, at Mark My Words
The Tower Ghost, by Natasha Mac a’Bháird, at Scope for Imagination, Book Craic, and Nayu's Reading Corner
The Wanderdays: Journey to Fantome Island, by Clare Povey, at Scope for Imagination
Authors and Interviews
Ben Miller (The Day I Fell Into a Fairytale) at Writer's Digest
Twelve-year-old Perigee is worried about their depressed dad, and so they set in motion a visit to their grandmother's, where they have never been, which they hope will mend both the family and their dad's spirits (and maybe alleviate Perigee's growing concerns about finances...). And Perigee is eager to see for themselves the puzzle house bed and breakfast that their grandparents built between them, a house that is now sad and neglected with no new puzzles being added to its repertoire. (Literally the house is feeling this, as it is a self-aware being).
Though Perigee is happy to find a girl their own age, Lily, staying at the house to be a new friend, Grandma does not welcome them. She shows no interest in reconnecting with her son, who she sent off to live with relatives when Grandpa died, or in getting to know her grandchild. But the house is very interested, and Perigee quickly becomes aware that there some things in this house of puzzles that their science-loving brain will have to file on a new "unexplainable" shelf...
Grandma wants to shut the house down and sell the place. But to do so means solving the last of the house's puzzles, one that Grandpa set up to lead to the shut-off point. And Perigee and Lily set out to do this. The house is (understandably) not happy at the prospect of being shut down, and starts to fight back. The puzzles become deadly as the house literally starts tearing itself apart to save itself. But it's also figuratively doing the same--it is almost killing its family, and it can't stand what it is doing...or stop doing it.
The puzzles and traps and tricks, and wonderous rooms of marvels, make for great reading, brought to vivid life by great descriptive writing. But it's the emotional struggle of the book--to mend broken family ties, to see a path forward to a happier future, and in Perigee's particular case, to accept the mending other people isn't a burden they should be tearing their own self apart in order to bear--that gives the book it's powerful and moving heart.
So come for death puzzles (with bonus kittens), enjoy picking which of the marvelous bedrooms you like best, and stay for hearts healing. Also, if you are me, enjoy the metaphors wrapped into the Puzzle House itself (if I had to write an essay for class on this book, I'd write about this). Reese's A Game of Fox and Squirrels is still my favorite of her books (my review) but I like this one lots and lots too!
disclaimer-review copy received from the publisher.
It starts with a school field trip to Pollok House, build by an 18th-century Glasgow merchants whose fortune was based on slavery. The day is marred for Kofi when he's paired with Gavin, a racist tough who is determined to make him miserable. Kofi is also a new kid, followed by rumors about what he did to get suspended from his previous school, and he's also a kid living with the sadness of his beloved Ghanaian grandmother's sickness.
So things are already a lot for Kofi when the tour of Pollok House is full of weirdness with no logical explanation, including a shadowy doppelganger and sounds no one else hears (this part is great haunted house reading!). Then he explores outside and finds a book Gavin nicked from the house's library, smeared with blood, lying on the ground near the replica of an 18th-century merchant ship. And then Gavin doesn't show when it's time to get back on the bus to school.
Kofi shares his worry that something's happened to Gavin with a Kaylee, a black classmate who seems like a possible friend. But Kaylee, who Gavin has also targeted because she is trans, refuses to care. So Kofi goes back to the garden alone....and meets an urisk, a strange and lonely Scottish magical creature. The urisk is trying to bring back his one friend, a Caribbean boy who was the enslaved page boy of the 18th century family. Gavin was the offering he used to try to make this happen....
And though I could go on and on synopsizing, because there's a lot of story in this relatively slim book, suffice it to say that Gave has travelled back in time into enslavement in the Caribbean, and Kofi is determined to bring him back (partly because he doesn't want the other enslaved people to have to deal with a racist young Nazi bully in their midst, but a bit also because he is horrified by the wrongness of the whole thing).
But to save Gavin, Kofi must resist the urisk's schemes and deflections, and he must be brave enough to face the great Water Mother herself and make a sacrifice that tears at his heart.....all for a racist bully, who, it turns out, is furious about being saved....
Although most of the story is Kofi's first person point of view in the present, we also get glimpses of Gavin's life in the past. It is tragic and grim, but it does give Gavin the chance to feel connection such as he lacked in the present. It's not a redemption arc in which Gavin is magically en-nicened, but an explanatory arc with hope for change. As for Kaylee, she's such a strong and vibrant character that when she's on the page we don't need to be in her head.
Like I said, there's a lot of story here, and it kept me reading past my bedtime with much interest and enjoyment. Older middle grade fantasy readers will probably do the same, and they'll get some learning of Scottish and Carribean history in the process, and have thoughts provoked about the present as well. There's weight here of past and present sadness, but the fantastical elements, likeable main character, and the vivid pictures created by the fine writing relieve enough of the pressure to make it a (thought-provoking) pleasure for the reader (me). I wish, though, (and this might be a matter of personal taste) that it had been less brisk and gripping, with more moments of inflection and reflection, smoothing the transitions, and giving space for the powerful moments to reverberate more clearly.
For more about Zetta Elliott and how she came to write this particular book, here's a talk she gave over at her website--“‘I AM MYRTILLA’S DAUGHTER’: WEAVING SCOTLAND, SLAVERY, AND SITHS INTO HISTORICAL FANTASIES” (well worth reading!)
Greetings from Rhode Island, where I've mostly read grown-up books this week for a change of pace....Please let me know if I missed your post!
The Reviews
Alex Neptune: Zombie Fighter, by David Owen, at Book Craic
The Crowfield Curse, by Pat Walsh, at Bookwork for Kids
Daughters of the Lamp, by Nedda Lewers, at Pages Unbound
The Day I Fell Into A Fairy Tale, by Ben Miller, at Bookworm for Kids and Crafty Moms Share
The First State of Being, by Erin Entrada Kelly, at ReadWonder
A Game of Noctis, by Deva Fagan, at The Book Search and Charlotte's Library
Gamer (Virtual Kombat #1), by Chris Bradford, at Ms. Yingling ReadsMomo Arashima Steals the Sword of the Wind, by Misa Sugiura, at Garik16's SciFi/Fantasy Reviews and Other Thoughts
North and the Only One, by Vashti Hardy, at Scope for Imagination
Pages & Co, by Anna James (series review) at United by Pop
The Sailor Cipher (Explorer Academy Vela: Book 1), by Trudi Trueit, at Mark My Words
The Secret of the Moonshard, by Struan Murray, at Valinora Troy
Authors and Interviews
Terry J. Benton (Blood Justice) at Geek Vibes Nation
Sam is kicking hard against her mother's expectations and aspirations. We first met her when she's deliberately being obnoxious during her parents' country club membership interview (and yes, I share Sam's views about country clubs and their grass maintenance issues, but still it was hard to like her at first). She and her mother, Priscilla, are clashing at every turn, and it comes to a head when Priscilla's mom, Sam's beloved Halomi, is hospitalized and in a coma. No, Sam doesn't want to be taken shopping for a Homecoming dress the next day. And tells her mother she hates her (and yes, I see where Sam is coming from, and there are failures of communication on both sides, but it strengthened my feelings about Sam being self-centered).
In any event, she has to find a ride back to school....and the driver who comes to pick her up ends up taking her back to the past.
So there's Sam, in the 1990s, in her mom's high school. Her mom is in the running for homecoming queen, and Sam knows she didn't win, and that somehow this situation soured the relationship between her and Halomi. Maybe this is what she needs to change...so she makes herself Priscilla's campaign manager.
The culture shock is real--Sam has never been more conscious of being Korean and is appalled by the racism her mom had/has to deal with daily. There's also the casual misogyny, lack of environmental awareness, and lack of technology. But sticking to Priscilla like glue, she finds her understanding of her mother deepening, finds her grandmother wasn't nearly as wonderful as a mother, and finds that they are actually becoming real friends. And on top of this, she finds herself falling by another new kid, a boy who seems almost as out of place as she is....
I never did quite warm to Sam, who I found too pushy and thoughtless, but I did very much appreciate the way she becomes more aware of what her mother is really like as a person, and more understanding of the circumstances that made her who she became. This is really well done. And I found the romance sub-plot fun as well (and was glad to see Sam doing some critical thinking about her boyfriend back in the present; there were many red flags that she was ignoring). What was the most fun though were the trials and tribulations of being a modern girl back in the 1990s, and the target audience should get a kick out of this as well.
In short, an engrossing read with enough thought-provoking-ness to keep it from being just fluffy fun, and more than enough fun to make it more than an emotionally heavy mother-daughter relationship story.
Time travel wise--Sam lucked out here. She finds a place to stay with a kind woman who she knows in her own time as an assisted living resident with dementia, and this woman not only gives her food and shelter but also money. The mechanics of the time travel were satisfactory, and the changes made in the past did have ripples, but the biggest change was in Sam's greater understanding of her mother, her grandmother, and her (now ex) boyfriend.
a combination of eclipse viewing in Vermont (utterly magical. Clear skies, snow on the ground making the weird light effects even more so, mountain views, and three minutes of mind-blowing totality) followed by the worst traffic of my life leaving VT--10 hours at 11 mph, got off the highway at 2 to find a hotel) and house guests has left no time for blogging. Here's the world beginning to grow dim at Sentinel Rock Park, northern Vermont (where we actually sat we were surrounded by six inches of less trodden snow....)
see you next week!
Good morning all! Here's what I found this week--
The Reviews
Alyssa and the Spell Garden, by Alexandra Sheppard, at Book Craic
The Beatryce Prophecy, by Kate DiCamillo, at Susan Uhlig
ChupaCarter and the Screaming Sombrero, by George Lopez and Ryan Calejo, at Mark My Words
The Clockwork Conspiracy, by Sam Sedgman, at Mr Ripley's Enchanted Books
The Color of Sound, by Emily Barth Isler, at Charlotte's Library
The Deadlands Series, by Skye Melki-Wegner, at The Story Sanctuary
Ferris, by Kate DiCamillo, at The Book Muse
The First State of Being, by Erin Entrada Kelly, at Linda BrowneThe Minor Miracle, by Meredith Davis, at Bookworm for Kids
Olivetti, by Allie Millington, at The Book SearchSpindleheart: Trail of Shadow and Spool, by T.I. Avens, at Mark My Words
The Voyage of Sam Singh, by Gita Ralleigh, at Little Blog of Library Treasures
Two at Ms. Yingling Reads--The Lumbering Giants of Windy Pines, by Mo Netz, and City of Wishes (Legends of Lotus Island #3), by Christina Soontornvat and Kevin Hong
Other good stuff
from last month, but still good--How to design engaging book cover art --in which Tony DiTerlizzi walks us through the process of a new cover design for The Search for Wondla, a mg fantasy.
and feel free to wish me luck as I head north from RI this evening for an exciting Eclipse Day in Vermont (annoyingly with no open used bookstores to visit on the way, but hopefully the eclipse will make up for that disappointment....)
In Pia's home city, the Game is all that matters. Winning games gives you the de facto currency needed to survive, and if you fail as a player, you are relegated to a low status life of service jobs or exiled to a life of servitude outside the city. When Pia's grandfather's game rank falls below the minimum (he can't afford the new glasses he needs to be a competitive player) and he is taken away by the policing automatons of the city, Pia is determined to use her own skills as a game player to win enough to bring him home again. But it's a ridiculously large amount of game credit; even if she never loses, it would take years.
Except that wining the annual Great Game of Noctis would take care of it all. And so when she meets Vittoria, a girl her own age with a brash confidence in her gaming skill, who offers her a place on the team she's assembling to compete in the Game of Noctis, Pia says yes. Even though Noctis is a deadly game, played with Death herself as a piece on the board.
Vittoria's team, the Seafoxes, are underdogs in a competition dominated by the wealthy, but each member brings their particular skills beautifully to bear. And each has their own reason for needing to win, and their own journeys that have brought them to this point. But the Game of Noctis turns out to be rigged--those who have power and privilege are perfectly happy to bend to rules to keep it.
Pia and her teammates must question the underpinnings of their world if they are going to win. But challenging the status quo can be just as dangerous as playing games with Death herself. (And Death really is a real "person" who Pia meets outside of the game, giving extra fantasy depth to the story).
It was a tremendously entertaining read, with just the right amount of detail about the various matches in the Great Game--enough to make it all wonderfully clear without being pages of unbroken description. The characters to are allowed to reveal themselves and their stories gradually, so the reader gets to know them as real people alongside Pia, instead of them being intro-dumped. It was really well done!
I have to confess the premise of the world's economy built on game victories was initially hard for me to accept. But revelations about how it works, which are slowly revealed to both the characters and the reader, made it all make sense by the time it was ready to be blown to bits!
Highly recommended, in particular to fantasy readers who like games and competitions along with a touch of magic, and who are eager to cheer on a revolution. It's easy to imagine wanting to re-read it.
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