Nimbus, by Jan Eldredge

If magical cats are a thing you like, Nimbus, by Jan Eldredge September 2023, Balzer + Bray) is an obvious and excellent choice!  

Nimbus was rescued by Fletcher's family when she was a wounded, abandoned kitten, unwanted because of being a black cat.  Nursed back to health and dearly loved by Fletcher, Nim thought her bad luck was a thing of the past.  But then Flecher opens an old jar which had imprisoned a nightmare demon.  Nim instantly fought the demon when it attached Fletcher, and thought she'd one, though she'd been badly injured.  But Fletcher's cat-hating Aunt Caroline, roused by the commotion, assumed Nim had been the one to attach the boy, and took her off to a dump and left her there.

Happily, a friendly rat helps Nim reach the safety of a witch's home.  Agatha has a soft spot of cats in need (she has four already), and tries to help Nim heal (though Nim is so desperate to get back to Fletcher to make sure he's safe that this is rather frustrating for Agatha).  While at Agatha's, Nim discovers she's taken the demon's ability to dream walk, and at night she finds herself in the dream world, where her travels through the dreams of her new cat companions, and her own dreaming, help her to figure out how to defeat the demon for once and for all.

It's about more than just cat vs demon, though....a large part of the story is set at Agatha's house, an interlude of little direct action and much about Nim learning from the other cats, and understanding their stories.  It's also about the brave rat friend who helped Nim, who has his own important role in defeating the demon.  I found this enjoyable reading, though kids who come for demon fighting action might find it a bit slow....

That being said, the final demon showdown is great, with Aunt Caroline making a humorously grotesque appearance! 

Nim is a very sweet brave kitten, and the supporting cast of rat, cats and witch are great too!  I enjoyed it, and it would be a great gift for a kid who read all the Warriors books last year and still doesn't want to part with them.

Catalyst, by Sarah Beth Durst

Happy book birthday to Catalyst, by Sarah Beth Durst (Clarion, June 9, 2020), a must read for young fans of magical animals!

After the unfortunate skunk episode, just turned 12 year old Zoe's been forbidden to bring any more animals home.  But when she finds a little scrap of a kitten, cowering and alone, she can't resist. Pipsqueak is adorable, and Zoe promises to take care of her always and forever, and, with the a few well chosen arguments from her older brother, her parents relent, as long as she proves she's a responsible pet owner.

But then Pipsqueak begins to grow.  In just a few days, she's too big to share Zoe's bed.  In a few more, the shed outside is too small.  Zoe's afraid her now humungous kitten will set off a media firestorm if she's seen, and will be taken away to be "studied."  Not only is she huge, but she's talking (and reading!).  With the help of her friend Harrison, Zoe tries to keep Pipsqueak safe, but when it's clear that's no longer possible, the two kids and the giant kitten hatch a desperate plot.

Zoe's aunt is estranged from her family because of her fringe beliefs in the reality of magical creatures, but clearly these might not be so fringe after all!  Getting her help is hard, since she has no phone number and lives up in the White Mountains of New Hampshire....but Zoe and Harrison convince their parents they want to go to a camp up there (to which the teenage girl who keeps an eye on them will ostensibly drive them).  They won't actually be driving there; instead, they will travel on Pipsqueak's back, bounding from roof to roof till they're out of the city, and then running through the countryside (and up the cables of a ski lift!) and camping out at night.

They are joined on their journey by two other impossible animals--a rainbow hamster with butterfly wings, and a flying green dog with sharks teeth and multiple tails--both very friendly, and able to talk, like Pipsqueak.  It's an uncomfortable, and not always fun, journey, but they make it to Aunt Alecia's house....only to find that she's not home!

She's left instructions about where they should go--further into the wilderness. To keep going means their plot to keep their parents in the dark will crumble, but Zoe and Pipsqueak are willing to risk it if it means they can find a way to be together.

Pipsqueak is absolutely adorable, and the bond between her and Zoe will warm any pet-lovers heart. They were both thinking that she would become a little kitten again, and life would be normal, but that proves impossible (though the ending is happy).   And this leads to the central message of the book, that being different is not a bad thing, and that being your true self is better than trying to squash yourself into the box of being normal, which is something many kids need to hear loud and clear.  If you are a giant cat who reads and talks, is reverting to being an ordinary kitten (even if you are loved and cherished) really the best outcome?  If you are a flying rainbow hamster, find your people and soar!

There's plenty of humor, mixed some tension (mostly anxiety about Pipsqueak being caught and taken away, some about the deception of the camp cover story).  Zoe's parents are present and supportive (even when Zoe comes clean to them in the end), and Harrison is a great companion (though his carefully planned camping supplies are perhaps not the most practical ever...).  It's a totally stand alone story, though once the reason for all the magical animals showing up is revealed, there's plenty of room for more magical menagerie fun... which I would not object to at all!

So, just to reiterate--animal loving, fantasy loving 9-11 year olds need this book!

disclaimer: review copy

The Kitten Kingdom is a fun new fantasy series for elementary readers

I don't tend to seek out books for early elementary grade kids, but I'm by no means averse to reading them when they come my way (not just because it's a fast way to notch a few more books read with an eye to meeting my Goodreads goal for the year).  I just read the first two books in a new series for kids 5-8ish--Kitten Kingdom: Tabby's First Quest, and the second book, Tabby and the Pup Prince, by Mia Bell (Scholastic, May 2019) and am happy to recommend them!

Tabby is a kitten princess, but she and her brothers sometimes find it hard to behave with royal decorum (they are kittens, after all).  And Tabby dreams of having wild adventures...One day an adventure falls into the kittens' paws when the evil lord of the rats, Gorgonzola, steals the magic scroll that confers the power to rule on their parents.  If it isn't recovered, the rats will take over the kingdom of Mewtopia!  So Tabby squelches a bit of self-doubt and transforms herself and her brothers into heroes (the Whiskered Wonders) and leads her brothers on a quest into the subterranean rat realm to find it....and saves the day.

In her second adventure, Tabby and her brothers are apprehensive when a state visit from the neighboring dog royalty means they'll have to entertain a puppy, something they've never even met before.  Fortunately the cat royals have a magic orb that will allow them to produce all the food cats and dogs love best.  But then the orb is stolen by Gorgonzola and his rat minions!  The puppy prince joins the Whiskered Wonders, using his gifts of sniffing and fetching to bring the orb back safely.

These are entertaining books, with fast paced adventures and entertaining illustrations.  The text is substantial without being overwhelming for readers still finding their feet, and the second book has the added bonus of the kittens and puppy working together despite their differences.  There's no nuance in the villainy of the rats, but Gorgonzola is an age-appropriate enemy.

Well I remember the relief I felt when my boys would find a new series they liked, and I could relax for a bit about what to give them to read next! Books 3 of Kitten Kingdom, Tabby and the Catfish, is out this July, and book 4, Tabby Takes the Crown, comes out in October.

Charming fun.

disclaimer: review copies received from the publisher

The Cat and Mrs. Cary, by Doris Gates

The Cat and Mrs. Cary, by Doris Gates (1962), came into my home last weekend when my sister was visiting.  Every visit she sends me a list of a few books to check out of the Rhode Island library system (less ruthlessly weeded than those of many other states) for her, and this was one she'd read as a child and wanted to revisit.  So of course I read it too, and enjoyed it very much.

It's the story of an oldish woman, Mrs. Cary, a widow who has bought herself a little house by the sea, where she lives alone in perfect order.  Then one day a cat enters her life, a cat who can talk to her, and only her.  She'd never wanted a cat, but The Cat is a force to be reckoned with, and he has decided to stay.  Soon after she finds herself agreeing to  host her nephew, who's been badly ill, so that the sea air can revive him, even though she's very doubtful about this.

Brad, the nephew, is doubtful as well, but when he turns out to be a bookish, good-natured boy, Mrs. Cary is much relieved (as Brad is too when he finds out the same about her).  And Brad likes cats very much, so he and The Cat get along like a house on fire, even though they can't speak to each other.  Brad finds Mrs. Cary's one-sided conversations vastly amusing, though some of the neighbors have been startled by them....

The author clearly felt that Plot was needed, so into this gentle story comes Danger and Suspense, in the form of a (small) ring of....wait for it...Parakeet Smugglers!  Brad, Mrs. Cary, The Cat, and a girl also visiting the town foil the smugglers, and all ends well, with The Cat and Brad going home together and Mrs. Cary getting three kittens.

Although ostensibly a children's book, Mrs. Cary is definitely the main character (perhaps the children's book-ness is why her first name is never given), but this story of a woman more lonely than she admits to herself finding companionship has as much, if not more, appeal for grown-ups. Prefect reading when you need something companionable and undemanding, with bits of humor, if you can cope with/more or less ignore parakeet smuggling as a plot point.  I'll be returning it tomorrow, if any fellow Rhode Islanders are in the mood for such a book....

Two fun new upper elementary fantasies by Vivian French

Two fun new upper elementary fantasies by Vivian French are now available here in the US! UK author Vivian French has written many enjoyable books for kids 8-10, and she really deserves to be better known here in the states.  The Adventures of Alfie Onion and The Cherry Pie Princess (both from Kane Miller) are top notch fantasies that are satisfyingly rich in plot and detail, but not so long as to intimidate elementary school readers who aren't ready for Harry Potter.

The Adventures of Alfie Onion

Alfie Onion's mum wanted a fairy tale ever after, but since there was no handy prince to marry, she settled for a seventh son, thinking her own seventh son was sure to be a hero and win wealth enough to keep her in style!  So she pinned all her hopes on her seventh son, Magnifico, and son number eight, little Alfie, got short shrift.  And when Magnifico, spoiled and lumpish, turns 14, his mother sends him off to find his fortune.  Alfie gets sent along too, to carry the luggage.

Magnifico is ill-equipped, both by temperament and physique, to be a hero.  It's a good thing that Alife is along to save the day and defeat the ogres outside the castle holding the enchanted princess!  And it's a good thing for Alfie that he has the help of a bevy of talking animals--a horse, two mice and two magpies, and the help as well from the trolls the ogres have been oppressing, and even from the ogre daughter, who is sick of the abuse her dad and brother have been inflicting on her.

The reader knows right away that Alfie's the hero, and it's a treat to follow along on his adventures, cheering for him and wondering just how pathetic Magnifico is going to be next.

The Cherry Pie Princess

Peony is the youngest of seven princesses, and unlike her sisters, she doesn't find being a princess particularly satisfying.  She wants to do things, like bake (cherry pies are her specialty) and check out books from the town's library, that are forbidden.  When she borrows a cookbook from the library, the king has the librarian arrested for "speaking out of turn."  And when she speaks up to her father about this, she herself lands in the castle prison, a place she never knew existed.

In the meantime, her baby brother's christening is approaching; three good fairies have been invited, and one bad one has not.  With the help of her fellow prisoners, Peony escapes, just in time to foil the bad fairy's enchantments with the help of a talking cat, and her father has a change of heart about her activities...only partly  because she bakes such delicious cherry pies!

It's a pleasant book, good for kids who enjoy baking in particular.  The king is perhaps a bit too much of a jerk for his change of heart to be believable, but Peony is a great heroine with enough integrity and strength of will to make up for her father!

It's a testament to Vivian French's way with words that I enjoyed reading these myself, in a quick, lighthearted way, and the target audience should be even more pleased.  There's nothing too scary for an even younger reader than 8....I would happily give them to my 7 year old ex-self!

disclaimer: review copies received from the publisher

Audacity Jones Steals the Show, by Kirby Larson

I have not read the first book about Audacity Jones, denizen of Miss Maisie's School For Wayward Girls (Audacity Jones to the Rescue) but that did not stop me from enjoying her second outing! 

Audacity Jones Steals the Show, by Kirby Larson (Scholastic, January 31, 2017), Audie is once again taken on as a detecitve's sidekick.  "Cypher", the mysterious gentleman responsible for Audie's first outing, now has been hired by the Pinkerton Detective Agency and needs a set of young eyes and some quick wits to help him on another case.   Accompanied by her best friends, a fellow Wayward girl and a most unusual cat, they set off for New York.

There Harry Houdini is about to pull off his biggest magic trick yet-he plans to make an elephant disappear!  But someone is trying to sabotage him, and its up to Audie and her friends to make sure that the absent-minded genius who's the brains of this trick isn't "taken care off" by a jealous rival before she can complete her work for Houdini.  And in the meantime, there's the elephant himself--a young and mistreated animal, who must be saved!

It's  fun visit to turn of last century New York.  There's enough historical detail to make it convincing, without weighing the story down.  The highly intelligent and highly unusual cat brings a touch of fantasy to the mix, which makes it all the more intriguing; that being said, it's subtle enough so that those who are looking for more realistic fiction won't be bother, but those who are looking for full blown cat fantasy will be pleased but might perhaps want more!

Animal lovers, magical cat lovers, and fans of upper elementary level detective stories with strong girl leads will love it.  It's not a long or dense book, so it's good for the third to fifth grade set.

disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher.

Scarlett: A Star on the Run, by Susan Schade and Jon Buller

Scarlett: A Star on the Run, by Susan Schade and Jon Buller (Papercutz, November 2015), is a graphic novel/text story hybrid of great charm, that I have been meaning to write about for ages (I got a copy at last fall's Kidlitcon down in Baltimore courtesy of the publisher, and enjoyed it very much).

Scarlett is a cat who is a movie star.  Her success on the big screen is not just because she's a good actress, but is the result of experimental animal tinkering.  She and her co-star animals can talk, and think, and be bored by reality tv shows.  They are also prisoners, shut up every night.  But one cold snowy evening a window blows open, and Scarlett heads out to explore for the first time.  Fortunately for Scarlett, before she freezes to death she finds shelter in the cabin of a grumpy old man.   And there she makes a new home for herself.  Soon she's joined by one of her co-stars, a friendly dog, and together they enjoy being just ordinary folks.

But the movie producer, who engineered Scarlett and co., of course wants them back.  And another co-star, the dog who plays the villains in the movies, shows up and makes things unpleasant. And on top of that, the old man falls ill, and it's up to Scarlett to keep up the appearance that everything is just fine in his shack so that no one bothers them.  That means using his credit cards to pay the grocery bills, and Scarlett, being a fastidious cat, takes it upon herself to clean and refurbish the whole house.

But fortunately an ally is close at hand. Erin, the girl next door, has been observing the animals, and figures out their secrets.  She's able to help them find a happy ending, where they no longer are hunted fugitives worried about being dragged back to a movie-production prison....

It's a charming story, and I enjoyed it lots (quite possibly because one of my own favorite things to read about is old houses being cleaned out and fixed up, and seeing a cat and a dog working together to do so was very entertaining).  The art is charming too, as is the relationship that builds between the animals and the grumpy man.

Part of the story is told in graphic novel panels, and a somewhat larger part is straight narrative from Scarlett's point of view.  As a result, I think this is one that would be great for an adult to read alongside an emergent reader child--the child could read the short bits of text in the graphic panels, and the adult could tackle that smaller fonted narration, which is not aimed particularly at young readers.  That makes it also good for middle grade and up readers (especially animal lovers), who enjoy fun graphic heavy stories to read on their own!

The Wrinkled Crown, by Anne Nesbet

Yay!  I have written a review, despite writing it in the same living room as two adolescent boys stressed about school work and breathing at each other in aggravating ways, followed of course by whacking each other etc.  I hate winter because we all end up in the room with the wood stove.  Clearly we need a second wood stove in another room far far away (like someone else's house).  So in any event I am very glad to have written about a book despite everything!  Especially glad to have written about a book I enjoyed, because it frets at me when I don't get to writing about books I think deserve to be written about....

And so-- The Wrinkled Crown, by Anne Nesbet (HarperCollins, November 2015).

Linnet's story starts up in the Wrinkled Hills, where the twisty landscape holds magic, and where girls aren't allowed to play, or even touch, the stringed instrument known as the lorka before they turn 12 because if they do, they will be taken off by the magic to Away.   Linnet knew this perfectly well, but it didn't stop her from making one for herself- her wanting was to great for caution to hold her back.   But the magic twists itself, and instead of Linnet being taken, her best friend's spirit is instead.  Her fading body is all that's left.

Linny's mother came from the city down below the Wrinkled Hills, where the twistiness of magical  foldedness met the straight and level Plains that could be surveyed and measured nicely.  She thinks it's possible that the sister she left behind when she adventured into the hills might have a remedy that will bring Linny's friend back.  So down out of the hills Linny goes...accompanied by Elias, her father's apprentice in lorka making  (whom Linny doesn't much care for, since he got to learn instrument making above board and with encouragement, and she didn't.)

There in the city divided between magic and science Linny finds herself greeted as if she stepped out of a legend.  And, while narrowly avoiding being used by a whole score of people with different ideas of how a living legend might be useful, she actually does what the Legendary "Girl with a Lourka" was supposed to do...

But being a Chosen One of Destiny was not why Linny came to the city in the first place, so she continues to search for her aunt, who is out even further from the magical hills of her home.  And there are fresh dangers and excitements, and there's the whole question of whether a "cure" for magic is a good thing or not,  but it's clear that it's a really good thing in the end that Elias came too, and it is also a really, really good thing that Linny has been adopted by a most extraordinary cat (a great cat, both sciency and magicy!) and in any event that's the gist of it.

So this is an interesting story of magic vs. science, but the "vs." part isn't there in Linny's mind because she can appreciate both, so it's also a story of appreciating different perspectives on reality.    And it's about factions trying to use legend to gain power.   It's not tremendously subtle political intrigue, and so that part of the book on its own isn't quite quite strong enough to make me throw the book eagerly in the direction of grownups who like MG fantasy (although it's pretty much just right for ten-year-olds).   But mostly the book is about a brave girl with very interesting magical and musical gifts (and a very interesting cat friend!) being clever and determined, and this I enjoyed very much, and so I happily can recommend The Wrinkled Crown very nicely indeed to both the target audience and to grown-ups who like the same sort of MG fantasy as I do.

(final thought--my 12 year old son is aging out of MG and is reading YA now.  Which I guess was bound to happen.  But I would have given him this one in a second two years ago, and now am not sure that it would grab him...which makes me a bit wistful.)

(second final thought--I always appreciate girls who take delight in sewing and make it something magical, because I rather like embroidery and get cross when we don't let girls do it anymore because they have to be off climbing trees or doing other "boy" stuff.  So I really liked that Linny's friend who gets magiced away is an extraordinary embroiderer, and that one thing she sewed is absolutely lovely and magical  and also a very useful thing for Linny to have taken down to the non-magic world).

The Forbidden Library, by Django Wexler

The Forbidden Library, by Django Wexler (Penguin, April 2014, middle grade) -- a review in three acts.

Act 1:  In which we meet Alice, and the Library

Alice, who quickly becomes an orphan once she
a.  realizes she's the heroine of a middle grade fantasy
b.  loses her father to a mysterious boat accident in which a nasty insect fairy person might have had a hand

is taken in by her "kindly" uncle who has
a.  a big house
b.  a big house with really strange and creepy staff of two and no clear reason for putting Alice in a maid's room at the top of the house
c.  a Forbidden Library

and Alice of course enters the Forbidden Library and starts becoming embroiled in its secrets.

Act 2:  In which there are magical secrets revealed
Setting:  a library with lots of mysterious bookish passages, nooks, etc, as well as (more unusually) places where the ambiance and environment contained within particular books leaks out, causing physical ramifications.

In the library, Alice meets
a. a cat
b. a boy
both of whom strike up conversations with her,

And finds that
a.  it is possible to read oneself inside certain books, after inadvertently doing so and almost being killed by the cute little deadly killers trapped inside.
b.  She's really good at reading herself into books, and now has psychic control over the whole host of cute little deadly creatures (this comes in useful in Act 3)

[The book is illustrated, but the picture of these little creatures is the only one I noticed because the cuteness is just too cute.  Does anyone else read so fast you can't remember if a book was illustrated or not?]

Act 3--In which we learn that not everyone can be trusted and there were lots of things people weren't telling Alice

Turns out Alice is being used to do something magical that might have ramifications and there is Potentially Fatal Adventure involving the denizen of a very dangerous book indeed....

It's a perfectly fine fantasy adventure, with a nicely detailed and intricate plot and setting ( although I expected more actual bibliophilia).   Not a huge amount of emotional depth, but that's not a necessary prerequisite for middle grade reading enjoyment, and there was enough actual rational thought and sincere feeling on Alice's part to make her more than a place-holder.  She also gets points for pluck.

So basically, I enjoyed reading it just fine, can easily imagine lots of 11 year olds enjoying it, don't particularly want to urge it on adult readers of middle grade fantasy in a Read This Now because My God it is Brilliant way,  but wouldn't want to dissuade anyone from reading it either.   I will be reading the sequel; it ends at a good ending place but clearly there needs to be more.

Those who like The Books of Elsewhere series, by Jacqueline West (another trapped by magic story, though in paintings, not books, and another one with talking cats) might well enjoy this too. 

Here is the UK cover, which I personally prefer; the US cover makes me think of Poltergeist.

A Question of Magic, by E.D. Baker

The First Round of the Cybils is done--I handed in the blurbs for Elementary and Middle Grade Speculative Fiction today, and I do hope you all like our list!   It will be announced with virtual trumpets on the First of January, over at the Cybils website.   

My Cybils reading ended up far outpacing my reviewing (which happens when you have a list of 149 books to read), and so I am left with many fine books on hand that I received for Cybils reading purposes, many of which deserve to be read widely and well.   One of these books is  A Question of Magic, by E.D. Baker (Bloomsbury, Oct. 2013) which turned out to be my favorite of all E.D. Baker's books thus far. 

It is a reimagining of the Baba Yaga story.  After the death of the original bad witch, a string of young girls took her place over the years, heirs to her chicken-legged house with its fence of bones.   Serafina is the most recent girl to assume the mantle, and she does not want it one single bit.  She wants to peacefully marry her beloved, and live a simple life that does not involve magical responsibilities.  

For Baba Yaga, in this story, has the power to answer with the truth--one question per person per lifetime.   But for every question answered, Baba Yaga grows older, relying on a magical tea to restore her youth.  Lots of people have questions for her, from simple matters of the heart, to sweeping political questions....and so Serafina finds the truth coming from her mouth, finds herself in a cycle of aging and rejuvenating, and finds herself caught in the war that's swept through the kingdom.   And she misses her beloved something fierce, thought the skulls are friendly once you get to know them, and a magical cat who adds conversational spice.

Then the potion of youth is spilled.  The war grows worse.  And Serafina cannot refuse to answer the questions that keep coming...even though with each answer she grows nearer to death.......

But not to worry.  There is a happy ending.

What a nice premise is was, the whole question thing, and how nicely E.D. Baker used it!  There was just tons of variety in the questions and their consequences, and I enjoyed it very much.   With my mind still very much preoccupied with Christmas cookies, I would compare A Question of Magic to an American version of Pfeffernüsse (a sweet outside around a softly spicy inside).  Which may or may not be useful, review-wise, but there it is.

In any event, this is one I'd give in a sec to my nine year old self, in the absence of other handy nine-year-old girls.    It would not necessarily be easy to get a boy to read it--the cover is very girl marketed, what with the pink dress and the fairy (yes, there are fairies in the story) and, though I enjoyed it lots myself, I feel no need to insist with passionate conviction that my own son try it (but darn it, before he turns 11 I will get him to read The Runaway Princess, by Kate Coombs.  Maybe as a birthday present to me).

But A Question of Magic is good too.  Give it to fans of Diane Zahler and Gail Carson Levine (both obvious, because of also specializing in fairy tale retellings....), or to any girl who likes magical cats and has not grown too cynical for fairies.

Thanks, Bloomsbury, for the Cybils review copy.

The Cats of Tanglewood Forest, by Charles de Lint, illustrated by Charles Vess

The Cats of Tanglewood Forest, written by Charles de Lint, and illustrated by Charles Vess (Little Brown, March, 2013), was not quite what I expected.   I knew that it told the story of a girl who was bitten by a snake out in the woods, and saved from death when a community of cats turned her into a kitten.   And so I thought that she would be a kitten for most of the book, learning kitten-ways and such, until she was transformed back at the end (like Jennie, by Paul Gallico, only in the woods).

Nope.

Turns out the girl, Lillian, has a much more tangled path to follow--a fairy-tale journey, full of talking animal people, obstacles, forks in the road, and more than a bit of the "be careful what you wish for" motif.  And for most of the story, she journeys in human form.


Lillian lives with her aunt on the edge of Tanglewood forest, a place she knows is full of magic, though she's never seen any in all of her exploring.  One day her path takes her to the very heart of the old woods, and there, sleeping in the shade of an ancient tree, she is fatally poisoned by a snake bite.  But the wild cats of the forest save her, transforming her from dying girl to living kitten; the spell, though, is something they can't undo.  Though Lillian is not unappreciative, she wants to be a girl again, and so, guided by first a crow and then a fox, she makes her way to the home of Old Mother Possum, a bottle-witch who's part human, part possum.  And Old Mother Possum's magic lets her follow a different path, one in which the snake doesn't bite her.

Much to Lillian's horror, when she goes back home in girl form, she finds that in this reality, it is her aunt who has been killed by a snake.  Now she has another tangle to undo, one that will take her to the wise-woman of the Creek Indians who live near by, and then on to the incredible, and dark, world of the bear people, and on...

From one magical encounter to the next, Lillian travels in search of an answer, and at last she returns to the heart of Tanglewood Forest, where all is resolved.

It's very folk-lore-ish fantasy, with bits of magic and story taken from the desperate cultures (African, Native American, and European) that have converged in this forest.   The story is given some coherence by Lillian's determined quest, but is primarily episodic, in good fairy-tale like fashion.   The illustrations add to the dream-like feel of events, conveying the magic of the forest and its peoples rather nicely.

In short, I think this is a fine book to share as a read aloud with a child--some bits are scary, and darkly magical, so the younger reader might welcome the comforting presence of a grown-up.  American fantasy, exploring the convergence of different, is thin on the ground, so this is a welcome book in that regard.

Though I found it memorable, and interesting, and powerful in places, it wasn't quite one that worked for me.  I tend not to like episodic stories, and though it is good to have a variety of cultures represented, the jumps from bottle magic and mojo to stories of the Creek Indians were a tad abrupt, and I never felt quite grounded in the story.   This feeling was compounded by the fact that the story isn't set firmly in time (a feeling that came more from the illustrations than the story).

Lillian's dress, sleeveless and short (shown on the cover), looks modern (except that if it were really modern, wouldn't she be exploring the woods in jeans, and there's a reference to the Creek Indian "rez," which makes me think its contemporary.  The two Creek boys who help Lilian on her way could be contemporary kids, shown wearing denim overalls, but other members of the tribe are shown wearing traditional regalia.  There's one illustration that I found particularly jarring, in which members of the Creek community are shown looking like they're back in the 18th-century (reminding me unpleasantly of stereotypes of the timeless, romanticized Indian).    And yes, it is a fairy-tale sort of story, so firm time and place aren't necessary, but I would have preferred not having to be bothered wondering about it.....



That being said, most readers seem to have loved this one considerably more than I did--it got a starred review from Publishers Weekly, for instance.  

One last postscript about expectations--I kept waiting for the cats to get more page time than they did (which wasn't all that much), so be a tad wary of buying this for a kid simply because they love cats.  It's not at all like the Warriors books, for instance.  However, if you buy books simply because they have excellent fantasy foxes, this is one for you!

disclaimer:  review copy received from the publisher

Bad black cats--Behind the Bookcase, and Escape from Hat

Generally cats in children's fantasy are the good guys--magical friends and helpers. Sometimes, however, even cats can go bad...here are two books with black cats no one could love!

Behind the Bookcase, by Mark Steensland. When Sally's grandmother dies, the family heads to Pennsylvania to back up her house, and perhaps fix it up. Her mother is not at all happy about revisiting her childhood home--her own mother was more than a little odd. Turns out, Grandma Winnie had good reason for her peculiarities--her house holds passages to other realities.

When Sally finds one of these portals behind the bookcase in her room, she sets out to explore the land beyond. Befriended by a black cat, who seems to be her protector, she see no harm in acquiescing to the cat's desire to come home with her....But it's clear to the reader that this is a bad idea, not just because the illustrations of the cat make him look demonic, a suggestion re-enforced by his name, Balthazat. And indeed, Balthazat has a sinister scheme in mind, and no scruples whatsoever about cruelly transforming anyone who stands in his way--including Sally's little brother, Billy.   Sally must figure out how to stop Balthazat, journeying through a magical realm with rivers of moonlight, strange creatures, like a half bat/half boy who befriends her, and great dangers.

Although portal fantasies for older readers might be in short shrift, they are still a dime a dozen in kids books. This is a perfectly fine example--the reason for portal travel is fairly original, the denizens of the fantasy realm are suitably creepy and magical, and the heroine has a clear sense of purpose (partly because of her destiny as her grandmother's heir, though she's not a Child of Prophecy, thank goodness), and acts believably. If you enjoyed another recent portal fantasy, The Spindlers, by Lauren Oliver, you'll like this one too.

Escape From Hat, by Adam Kline and Brian Taylor, was nominated for the Cybils in middle grade sci-fi/fantasy by my own 12-year old.  It was a book that both he and his 9-year old brother pounced on when it arrived; the 9-year old has read it twice.  When I asked why they liked it, they opined that it was "fun and cute," and "I liked the turnip trap lots."

It's the story of a would-be magician who gets his hands on a hat that really is magic--any rabbit put into it is forced into the magical realm of Hat, a place run by bad-luck bringing black cats.   Many of these unfortunate rabbits were once luck-bringers to human children, caught up in an age old struggle of good bunnies vs bad cats.  One such rabbit is our hero Leck, who had worked hard to make sure that young Cecil Bean was protected from the malevolence of the black cat Millikin before finding himself a prisoner of Hat.

Millikin, driven by a desire to impress the girls with all his skills at bad luck, is determined to bring Cecil the worst luck possible, destroying Leck once and for all.  Leck, now trapped in the world of Hat, is equally determined to escape, and save Cecil from his fate....

Hat is full of dangers and strange creatures, but with the help of a brave girl rabbit, Morel, and a musical mouse, Leck might make it through to the fortress of the black cats, and escape the prison of bad luck....and in the meantime, Cecil, above ground, is searching for the actual hat, hoping free the rabbits imprisoned inside it.

It's a book that enjoys fantasy tropes and cliches very much; the language is very  highfaluting:

"Morel strode slow and soft to her companion and knelt by his tiny side.

"Leck, dear Leck," she whispered, "who art the luck-giver.  Oft have I watched, with spear in paw, as you have given luck to others and sought nothing in return.  And as I have borne witness to your small brand of courage, I have done naught but roll my eyes" (page 152).

I think it's one that has a lot more kid appeal than grown-up appeal--although I was engaged enough to read it straight through, I just could not thrill to the rabbits' adventures with the same enthusiasm of my boys.  And I could not help but be troubled by the inclusion of the Pigmies, a society of pigs embodying African tribal stereotypes in much the same "fun with cliche" way that the authors' bring to the quest narrative.  And I was also a bit bothered by the motivation of the villainous cat Millikin--he is all about getting the girls through showing-off, and ends up with a harem.  Yes, he's a villain, but still, not exactly the sort of thing I want my boys to accept unquestioningly.

 It does, however, end with useful moral that one makes one's own luck in the world, and the illustrations, several in full color, are very appealing in a fantasy cartoon way (as shown in the example at the right).  And like I said, my own boys enjoyed it lots.

(disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher)

So that's it for cats for now....tune in next Saturday for "Fantasy Moths."

The Ghost of Opalina, or Nine Lives, by Peggy Bacon

The Ghost of Opalina, or Nine Lives, by Peggy Bacon (1967), is an utterly charming cat ghost fantasy story.

It starts in my most favorite way: "Phillip, Ellen, and Jeb Finley lived in the city until young Jeb was five years old. Then their parents bought a house near the village of Heatherfield, and, in late August, they all went to live in the country.

The house was large, rambling, and very old, set down on thick soft lawns like green fur, with wads of moss under the big old trees. There were old barns, old gardens full of box, a lily pool, old-fashioned flowers and shrubs."

I love books about children moving to old houses with lovely gardens, so I was predisposed in the book's favor from the get go.

And then I met Opalina--an cat whose opinion of herself is worthy of an E. Nespit magical creature. She is the ghost of a cat who met an untimely end in the 18th century, and she manifests to the children, who are delighted to make her acquaintance. She regales them with tales of her various lives spent living in the old house, keeping a keen eye on its inhabitants, and haunting when necessary.

The book is episodic, in that each of Opalina's stories is its own self-contained unit of historical fiction, but that being said, the story of the house through time as told to its new inhabitants (who have their own difficulties to face fitting in to their new schools) makes a satisfying whole. Something of the same sort as happens, for instance, in The Sherwood Ring, by Elizabeth Marie Pope.

In addition, I was charmed (unexpectedly, cause often I don't notice these things) by the illustrations (which are the author's own). This one, in particular, tickles me tremendously:

That's Opalina, haunting the dog that killed her in comet-like form.

I highly recommend it to any reader of children's books who is both a cat lover and old house lover! I'm awfully glad it was still in my state's library system (too expensively out of print to buy--$800 on Amazon!), and thank you, those commentors who recommend it to me when I reviewed Caterpillar Hall!

Claws, by Mike and Rachel Grinti

There are hundreds of YA books that tell of the Girl and the Fey/Angel/Demon/Vampire/Whatever Dude who fall in love. They are written for teenagers, and there is often Smoldering.

Claws, by Mike and Rachel Grinti (Chicken House, Sept. 1, 2012), is not one of those stories. Rather, it's a story for girls who still love their cats more than any boy, girls for whom Smoldering is few years away. Emma, the central character, is the little sister; it is her older sister, Helena, who's gone missing into a world that has been over-run with magical and mythological creatures. And Emma's parents have spent everything to find Helena, and so now they must live in a dingy trailer park, right on the line between human folk and magical.

Emma's new neighbors include a hag and a coatl (a serpent/human cross)...and a black cat who had been using her new room as his own. He's a cat who's lost all his magic...but he can help Emma take advantage of a treasure trove of cat magic that will not only give her the power to transform herself, but to draw a whole pride of magical cats into her quest through a land full of strange and often hostile creatures.

But now that Emma has enough power (perhaps) to save her sister, what will she do if her sister doesn't want to be saved?

Give this one to the eleven or twelve year old girl who loved the Warriors series who is only just starting to look with interest at the YA Paranormal Fantasy scene. It is a sure winner for that girl. It is also quite possible that a boy in similar circs. would be interested, as neither the story or the central characters are boy-unwelcoming. Emma isn't a girly girl, she's not thinking about boys or make up--she's just exploring new powers, meeting strange creatures, and saving her sister. Likewise the cover is nicely gender neutral.  Still I just can't help but feel that "adolescent cat-loving girls who are readers of fantasy" are, in this case, the quintessentially perfect audience.

(And following on from that thought, this isn't one that I personally as an adult reader took my heart. It didn't quite have the subtlety/emotional tension/shear wonder that makes a mg fantasy book appealing to grown-ups).

Bonus for those looking for diversity in mg fiction: Emma's parents are Vietnamese. It is a fact of her life, not an Issue; it's firmly there in the background as part of who she is. (And I just realized that this is the one hundredth multicultural sci fi/fantasy book for my list! Must add more.)

Here's another review at Ms. Yingling Reads

And here's a picture of our own little black kitten, who goes very nicely with the book:

Disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher

The Blue Cat of Castle Town, by Catherine Cate Coblentz

A while back I made a list of fantasy cat books for kids, and an anonymous commenter enthusiastically recommended one I'd never heard of -- The Blue Cat of Castle Town, by Catherine Cate Coblentz (1949--a Newbery Honor book the following year). So I requested it from the library forthwith.

The story of the titular blue cat begins when he is just a little blue kitten, born under blue moon long ago in a meadow by a river in Vermont. His anxious mother knows that blue kittens can hear the song of the river, and follow that song to strange fates. But despite her efforts, the kitten hears. The song praises the power of the individual to create beauty--"all that is doing, do well"-- and the river sends blue kitten on a quest to Castle Town, to sing that song to the people there who might have ears to hear. There is one man in Castle Town, though, that the river warns blue kitten against--Arunah Hyde, whose own song is all about moving quickly through the world racking up more and more money and power...

And so the kitten sets off. He finds in Castle Town that the songs of its great artisans have been stifled by Arunah's distorted priorities, but with his purring, encourages a pewter smith, a weaver, and a carpenter to create beauty. Arunah almost gets a hold of him, but the kitten (now a cat) escapes. His hardest task of all, though, is to bring the river's song to a girl who thinks she's ugly and unloved and worthless, encouraging her to create one of the most beautiful works of art in the whole town...a beautiful embroidered carpet.

The Blue Cat of Castle Town is a magical fable, with a beautiful message (and lots of nice descriptions of artisans at work!). I imagine that if idealistic, self-consciously pious (from time to time) little me had picked up this book I would have loved it, and striven to live up to its moral.

Even now that I am Hardened and Cynical, I still can feel its pull...and I want to go out myself and create something of lovely wonderfulness...(well, actually right this minute, I want to go get my last potatoes planted, but gardens count somewhat, even though no one I know has ever looked at some potato plants and been hit over the head by their stunning beauty). That being said, as a grown-up, I felt that the Message trumped the story to such an extent that I don't think I'll be re-reading it, though it will most certainly linger vividly in my mind!

I will offer it to my nine year old, who is reading cat books at the moment. He will love the beginning cute little kitten part, but I am not entirely certain he will appreciate the fable aspect...

The best part of the book, I think, is that the stories of these craftsmen are based on real people, who actually made the things described. The book was inspired by a trip the author took to Castleton, Vermont, where she heard of this rug, now in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (the blue cat is down at the bottom):


And she visited the Castleton church, and saw the famous pulpit (which I can't find a picture of, which I find hard to believe, and so I am now planning to go there myself (it's 3 hours and 49 minutes away) and take one....). I looked for a nice example of the pewter by the craftsman in the book--Ebenezer Southmayd--and (somewhat ironically, but not surprisingly) found that it is indeed lovey, and really, really expensive!

Here's the full text of the song of the river (page 16)
"Sing your own song, said the river,
"Sing your own song.
"Out of yesterday song comes.
It goes into tomorrow,
Sing your own song.
"With your life fashion beauty,
This too is the song.
Riches will pass and power. Beauty remains.
Sing your own song."
"All that is worth doing, do well, said the river. Sing your own song.
Certain and round be the measure,
Every line be graceful and true.
Time is the mold, time the weaver, the carver,
Time and the workman together,
Sing your own song.
"Sing well, said the river. Sing well."

And if anyone wants to sew their own little bit of this rug, there are kits...

A Well-Timed Enchantment, by Vivian Vande Velde, for Timeslip Tuesday

A Well-Timed Enchantment, by Vivian Vande Velde (1990, middle grade--that's the original cover shown at left).

Deanna is not happy to be spending her summer with her French relatives in the middle of the country, with only the cat, Oliver, for company. But she becomes even more unhappy when she accidentally drops her Micky Mouse watch down an old well...it was a treasured memento of the last time her father was a happy member of her family.

And she becomes still more unhappy when two rather snooty elves (although they don't think much of that term) appear, and proceed to scold her for having dropped the watch into a time-displacement vortex (the well is no ordinary well). Unless she can get it back, they inform her, it will alter the middle ages, and, in a domino effect, the entire course of world history will be changed.

So without any choice in the matter, Deanna is plunged back to the middle-ages...but the elves have thoughtfully provided her with a companion--Oliver the cat, in human form.

The middle ages to which Deanna travels is something of a deliberate caricature, with bumbling would-be-knights, a vain and mopish lady of the castle, pigs, greasy chunks of meat, etc. And Deanna and Oliver have no clue how to behave--the elves failed to provide lessons in castle etiquette for Deanna (although they did bestow the gift of medieval French), and Oliver, being a cat, is even more at sea. Over-the-top medieval romance complicates matters, but more seriously, the castle is home to a rather terrifying alchemist who has some genuine magical abilities, and naturally, he's the one who ends up with the watch...

It's all a bit silly, with plenty of deliberate eye-rolling moments, some slap-stick, and flashes of the sharp humor I appreciate in Vivian Vande Velde. The best part of the book, by far, is Oliver the cat--we see through Deanna's concerned eyes as he struggles with being human. Sometimes this is poignant, and sometimes amusing, especially when dogs are mentioned:

"Well," [said Deanna], "you heard Leonard and Baylen were fighting to see whose fiancee is the fairest. It turns out since Leonard lost so badly, he figures his lady must be a real dog, so he wants to replace her with me."

Oliver stopped and stared at her. "Leonard is marrying a dog?"

Deanna sighed. She reminded herself that he had come to her rescue twice already today. She sighed again. "It's just another expression, Oliver." (page 57)

Not only does Oliver add great interest to the story, but he is also the catalyst for change in Deanna. She not a very strong character, being kind of lonely and passive, and she knows it, but her concern for Oliver does, by the end of the book, force her to greater depths of personality. "Will Deanna and Oliver fall in love?" becomes a much more interesting question than the slightly MacGuffiny story of the watch.

I found this a pleasant enough read of the faux time-travel sort (there's no point in expecting historical accuracy), and the cat-loving girl suffering through the blahs of sixth and seventh grade would probably enjoy it a lot more.

Fantasy cats (starring Golden Cat, by Albert Bigelow Paine)

We are, if all goes well, getting a kitten tomorrow! (Hopefully one that actually will catch mice. I have caught more mice with my own two hands than our current kitty has). So here's a short list of some cat books, in which magic, or at least the supernatural, plays a big part. I know I'm missing lots--please feel free to leave your favorites in the comments!

First off, in honor of Mother's Day--Golden Cat, by Albert Bigelow Paine, illustrated by Pelagie Doane (1934). This was my mother's most loved book when she was a girl, and she passed that love on to me and my sisters; as result, the book (that's the actual one shown at left) is now in pieces, but still cherished. It's the story of an orphan girl named Cathy, who lives with a cruel step-aunt. One night Cathy is wakes to find a large golden cat outside her room. A cat that can talk: "I come on an errand, a secret errand...you are supposed to help me." It turns out that Cathy's aunt is a wicked witch--and also a cat. With the help of a magic potion, she can keep her human form--but this magic potion is also desperately needed by a Fairy prince transformed into a cat by the witch's magic. So Cathy and Golden cat find the potion, and take it to Fairy Land, but through mischance, there's not enough of it to do the job properly, and Prince Florizel is left with a white paw. Cathy, Golden Cat, and a rough old Tom cat set off on a journey, partly in Fairy Land, and partly in our world, to find the ingredients of the portion, before it is too late.

It is full of lovely descriptions, and magic, and Cathy and her cat friends are charming characters. And it is just perfect for the eight year old or so cat-loving girl, especially with the added bonus of the lovely black and white illustrations!

Sadly, it's long of print, and rather expensive...but if you ever see a copy for a reasonable price, snag it!

Another favorite cat book from my own childhood (which you can get for two cents at Amazon) was The Little Broomstick, by Mary Stewart. A girl named Mary is sent to her Great Aunt's house deep in the English countryside; there are no children her own age, and the only two creatures at all friendly are the gardener and a black cat, Tib. Mary finds a little broomstick, Tib leads her to the rare Fly-by-night flower, and next thing you know, Mary finds herself flying through the sky... and the broomstick lands in the stable yard of a school for witches.

This is not a friendly wholesome school. Horrible magical experiments are being performed on animals, including Tib's brother Gib. Gib's own owner, a boy named Peter, is desperately searching for him, and the two children, and Tib, end up rescuing the animals from their cages, and escaping the evil witches and warlocks in an utterly brilliant chase sequence that is one of my favorite bits of fantasy ever.

And here are some I read as a grown-up, and enjoyed lots!

The Mousehole Cat, by Antonia Barber. A very charming and beautifully illustrated picture book about a cat called Mowzer who lives in the Cornish fishing village of Mousehole. When storms trap the fishing boats inside the harbor, Mowzer and old Tom, her personal fisherman, set out to test the power of the Great Storm-Cat, who's plays with fishing boats as though they were mice....The sweet songs of Mowzer tame the savage beast, and she and Tom make it home safely with a boat full of fish.

And here's another picture book by Antonia Barber--Catkin (Candlewick, 1994) A little girl has been kidnapped by fairies, and Catkin, her kitten, must journey under the hollow hill to save her. He knows not to drink from the willow stream, and never to give the fair folk his name, but will his wits be sharp enough to best the fairy king in a game of riddles that will determine his fate, and that of his friend? It's a beautifully illustrated fantasy, the type of picture book that is most excellent for the independent reader, as well as making a great read aloud.

Highway Cats, by Janet Taylor Lisle Three tiny kittens are dumped onto a highway median one night, and miraculously make it across the traffic to a scruffy patch of woods that's home to a community of cats. Hardscrabble, down-on-their luck cats, who make a living scrounging in the dumpsters of the strip mall (except for one wily Siamese, who runs a rat farm back among the trees). It's not much of a life, but the ones that are tough and self-centered survive.

This creed is disrupted by the arrival of the kittens, who melt the hearts of the toughest cats of all. And when the cats small and scraggly place in the world is threatened by a new highway ramp, it is the cats' love for the kittens (who are much, much more than ordinary kittens) that will save them all.

My older boy loved this one when he was ten.

Carbonel, The King of the Cats, by Barbara Sleigh (originally published 1955, brought back into print by the New York Review of Children's Books). Rosemary and her mother share a small flat, and there's very little money. So Rosemary decides that she'll clean houses during the summer to earn a bit herself, and sets off to the market to buy the broom she'll need. There she meets a strange old lady, who sells her a second-hand broom, one that comes with a cat...Neither the old lady (a witch) or the broom (it flys) or the cat are ordinary. The cat is Carbonel, a Prince of the Royal Blood, bound into servitude by the witch's magic, and desperate to become free so that he can save his cat people, denizens of the rooftops, from falling victim to tyranny and chaos. Rosemary and her friend John resolve to break the spell, with the help of the magic of the broom, and some tricks that Carbonel has up his paw...

It's a charming story of magic intersecting the ordinary world, that fans of Edward Eager should enjoy. And there are two sequels, The Kingdom of Carbonel, and Carbonel and Calidor, which continue the fun.

And finally, Catwings, and it sequels, by Ursula Le Guin, are utterly lovable books. Winged kittens making their way through a dangerous world! So cute! So utterly engaging!

My nine year old is reading these now, and finding them very good. (He's also engrossed in the Warriors series, and I the new kitten, which is going to be his very own, is probably going to end up being called "something" kit).

And just to give a nod to Young Adult cat books--there's White Cat, by Holly Black, and Cat Girl's Day Off, by Kimberly Pauley. I'm not doing well with fantasy or sci fi cats for grown ups--all I'm coming up with is the flying cats of Ursula Le Guin's Rocannon's World.

Edited to add:

Thanks to an anon. commenter, I've now read The Blue Cat of Castle Town, by Catherine Cate Coblentz, which can be summed up thus: magical kitten as catalyst for creative joy and artistic integrity in an early 19th century Vermont town. Here's my full review.

Like I said up top, please feel free to share your own recommendations!

Cat Girl's Day Off, by Kimberly Pauley

Cat Girl's Day Off, by Kimberly Pauley (Tu Books, April 2012, 336 pages, middle grade/YA)

Natalie Ng suffers from invisible middle-child syndrome in spades. Sure, she can talk to cats (she lives in fear of her high school peers finding out and tormenting her with meows), but her talent seems a paltry one compared to the lavish gifts her two sisters have, and her parents (both with impressive paranormal talents of their own) barely seem to acknowledge her existence, let alone pay any attention to her science fair projects, etc.

But Natalie's gift is about to force her into the limelight. A movie is being made at her school (a Ferris Bueller's Day Off tribute), and her two best friends are star struck. When they force her to watch a clip of a celebrity blogger in action (with pink cat and little toy dog in tow), Natalie is shocked by what the cat is screaming:

"This is not my person! Save us! Stop barking and bite her, Fergie! Do I have to do everything myself? Stop laughing, you cretins! You there, fat man, drop the camera! Help us! She'll kill us all!" (page 22)

Nat's friends take her translation of the cat's desperate plea for help seriously...and the three of them are off to downtown Chicago! Kidnapping the cat from the swanky hotel where the false blogger is staying goes fairly smoothly (they leave the dog behind--Natalie doesn't, after all, speak dog). But that's just the first step in a wild race to uncover the Dark Truths of stolen identities, kidnapping, and even attempted cat murder! And all the while, the film must go on...and classes must be attended, parents deceived, and cats smuggled to school...and Natalie's glimmer of romance with the cute boy from trig class trig class seems to be doomed. The only hope for a happy ending is for Natalie to reveal her true self--Cat Girl.

The world of the book is very much our world, except that some people have paranormal gifts; this is taken for granted, and no explanations/detailed descriptions are offered. Although I'm curious about that side of things, I think this was a wise choice--it's not the point, and would have slowed things down.

As it is, Cat Girl's Day Off is fast and funny, with the spot-on cat comments that liberally sprinkle the pages being especially entertaining. Though Natalie is a well-developed character with genuine teenager-ish concerns, and people's lives actually are in danger, it's not a book that takes itself too seriously, which makes it a very pleasant break from reality.

Note on diversity: Tu Books publishes diverse sci fi/fantasy for kids and teens, and as is apparent from Natalie's picture on the cover, she's half-Chinese. One of her two buddies is gay, and half Asian himself, and although his character doesn't go much beyond wacky best-gay-guy friend, it's nice to have this additional bit of diversity.

Note on age of reader: Cat Girl's Day Off is ostensibly YA--it's a high school book. But it is one that a middle school kid could read without blushing--no sex, and only a bit of cat-fighty violence. In fact, it's a perfect one for the eleven or twelve year old cat-loving girl whose not quite ready for the steamy romance of most YA paranormal--this, instead, is a light-hearted mystery with a paranormal premise. Then in two more years (give or take) that reader can move on to Holly Black's Curse Workers series...

(disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher)

White Cat, by Holly Black

White Cat, by Holly Black (Simon and Schuster, 2010), is pretty close to my ideal of what a YA fantasy thriller should be. Mystery! Mayhem! Cool and unusual magic! Interesting characters!* It is the first book I can ever remember taking upstairs with me, and finishing in bed next to my little one "I guess Mama's not going to read to me tonight...." he murmured plaintively. But I only had five more pages, and I had to find out what happened....(and then I read to him).

(I know I overuse parentheses in this post (sorry!) but sadly I don't have time to de-parenthesize).

Cassel is not quite like the other kids at his prep school. For one thing, his family are curse workers--they possess magical (and very illegal) skills. His mother's in jail for emotional manipulation on a very high level (she can twist the feelings of anyone she touches, including rich men...). His grandfather is able to kill with a touch (a useful skill for a hit man). His older brother's gotten involved with a high level curse worker family--the mafia of the magical. Seventeen-year old Cassel himself has accepted that he has no curse working abilities himself, but he does have his own abilities as a con man, and runs a rather lucrative gambling ring at his school.

But when he wakes up trapped on the roof of his dorm, with no idea how he got there (or how to get off), Cassel's life begins a spiral out of control into a tangle of magic, crime, and twisted (very very twisted) family secrets. Cassel comes up against murder, transformation, the manipulation of memory, and more...and the reader (me at least) is left on the seat of her chair, reading hungrily to find out the answers to the mysteries that have exploded into his life.

Told from Cassel's point of view, the reader gets to unravel the plot threads along with him, making for satisfying reading (except for a bit at the end, where the author withholds information from the reader--I can see why she did it, but I felt a bit miffed, and began to wonder if I should Question what I had been told previously). Like Cassel, we aren't sure who we can trust, who is using whom, and why. Black makes her world of curse workers satisfyingly real, without resorting to information dumps. She's assembled a (mostly) stellar cast of supporting players, and she manages to make us care about (many) of her characters, while keeping all but one (not Cassel) morally ambiguous. (Although I was rooting for Cassel throughout).

This is the first YA book of Black's I've finished--I found Tithe much too gritty for my taste. This was also gritty, but not as much--there's considerable violence here too, and some of it is disturbing, but it doesn't take up too much page time, and I was able to accept it as necessary for the truly exciting story. There's a romantic sub-plot line, but it's not particularly gritty, or expansive.

(In short, I liked the book lots).

*It also has several scenes that involve cleaning out an old house full of junk. For some reason I am strangely attracted to such books.