The Sea of Always (Thirteen Witches #2), by Jodi Lynn Anderson, for Timeslip Tuesday

 

Yay me!  I have my Timeslip Tuesday book read--The Sea of Always (Thirteen Witches #2), by Jodi Lynn Anderson.   It's the second book in the series, and though it does a decent job standing alone, it  works better if you've read the first, and there's no reason why you wouldn't want to start at the beginning!  It has a totally unique time travel premise, as one of the characters points out:

"There have got to be lots of possible futures.  The time-travelling whales make that possible." (p 215). 

 Yes, here we have a time-travelling whale, who's graciously conveying our heroine, the young witch hunter Rosie, her best friend Germ, the ghost of a young boy, and another young witch hunter from the future, on an impossible quest through time and space.  The kids are desperately trying to save Rosie's twin brother, stolen at birth by the Time Witch, and, while they're at it, it would be really nice if they could foil the evil plot of the Time Witch and the other witches to destroy all that is good in the world.

Rosie's witch-hunting skills are still a work in progress, the witches are incredibly powerful, and the whale unpredictable.  And the Time Witch has set a clock ticking that will end Rosie's life if she doesn't win her brother back.  She can't directly confront the witches all at once, so she set off, with her companions, to steal their hearts, one by one, to destroy en masse when time runs out.

It's a desperate game of chance against horrible odds, but with determination and love, there's hope....

So the journey hunting witches, via the magical whale that transports them through the Sea of Always, is full of fun/disturbing time travel.  Fun because it's time travel, disturbing because the witches are really horrible.  The whale is perhaps the most entertaining part of the story though--it provides the characters with all the comforts and distractions it can, producing party decorations, snacks, music, and the like.  

The main strengths of the book are the vivid pictures it creates in the mind's eye, and in Rosie's inner journey--I really liked her character development.  In particular, it's great to see her, encouraged by her friends, embracing the weirdness of her imagination that makes her magic powerful.   

On the downside, with twelve witches to hunt down (the 13th was dispatched in the first book), there's a lot of travelling through time and place, during which the kids are primarily spectators of the past, and though I found it interesting, there may well be readers who will find it frustrating that there are no Big Happenings and Wild Excitement.  And I found the ending something of a let down--there's a bit of deus ex machina involved that saves the day, without which the kids would have been doomed, and all the hard work of heart stealing didn't, in the end, seem as worthwhile as I was assuming it would be.  

There's a third book coming, so of course not everything is resolved at the end of this one....I will look forward to it, even though it will probably not have time travelling whales!

Winnie Zeng Unleashes a Legend, by Katie Zhao

Winnie Zeng Unleashes a Legend (Winnie Zheng #1) by Katie Zhao is an excellent one for the young reader who loves their mythology and demon fighting mixed with tasty cooking!  

Winnie is anxious about starting middle school, and is dismayed when her nemesis, David, shows up in her class.  Nemesis is perhaps too strong a word; David is just utterly obnoxious, has beaten her in recent piano competitions, and is her arch rival at Chinese school.  Winnie's also dealing with a lot of pressure to succeed from her parents, and is sad that her big sister has pulled away from her.  She feels that she's never good enough, and it's eating at her. At least she still has her mother's tasty Chinese food (although the other kids at school don't react kindly to her lunches...).  

When Winnie finds her grandmother's old cook book and follows the recipe for mooncakes, all her other problems fade when her grandmother's spirit shows up and possesses her pet rabbit.  Her grandmother is a spirit hunter, and is about to take Winnie on as an apprentice shaman.  The first malevolent spirit that shows up is easily vanquished with the mooncakes she unwittingly made with magic baked in, but mooncakes aren't a match for more powerful demons.  And then it turns out that David is also a shaman in training too, and is (of course) more advanced than she is, and utterly obnoxious about it all.  But teaming up with him is the only way to keep her town safe.

Of course it's cool to be part of a magical organization, with legends coming to life around you.  Winnie isn't at all sure, though, that this is what she wants her life to be....

It is super fun!  The real world and the magical world balance each other beautifully, and Winnie is such a believable, relatable heroine!  (Especially the part where she questions whether "heroine" is what she really wants to be...).  I liked how the sister relationship played out--communication between the two girls improves, and helps them tighten their bond again. The food was great too--I now want to try red bean paste brownies, which I've never had (Winnie makes them for the class bake sale, and it's touch and go for a while before suspicious kids realize how tasty they are!).

A great "kid discovering she's part of a line of mythological heroes" story that's more firmly tied to the real world and  the day to day challenges of being a middle school kid than the Rick Riordan Presents line of books.  Also weaponized mooncakes ftw!

I'm looking forward to seeing what Winnie (and David) do next!

Freddie vs. the Family Curse, by Tracy Badua

Freddie vs. the Family Curse, by Tracy Badua (middle grade, May 3, 2022, Clarion Books) is a great one for readers who relish the intrusion of fantasy into the real world! Freddie, the titular hero of the story, does not relish this intrusion at all, with good reason.

It was bad enough when he just had to endure the family curse of bad luck; not for nothing is he nicknamed "faceplant Freddie." But when he finds an amulet in the garage that comes with the trapped ghost of his great-great-uncle, Ramon, things get much worse than hideous embarrassment! Ramon "borrowed" the good luck amulet from his best friend, Ingo Agustin, back when they were teenagers fighting in the Philippine army in World War II. Instead of good luck, Ramon got cursed and died, and now that Freddie has the amulet, its angry spirits have turned their attention to him. He has only a few days to get the amulet back to Ingo, and get Ingo's forgiveness for Ramon, or he too will die...

Freddie is in a dreadful pickle. His great grandmother believes him (and enjoys getting the chance to hang out with her brother again), but his parents are deeply opposed to believing any Filipino folklore, and so won't help him find Ingo and get the amulet to him. Fortunately, he has his cousin Sharkey to help; she's related on the maternal side of the family, so isn't cursed with bad luck. And also fortunately, they find that Ingo's in a nursing home near Las Vegas, where Sharkey will be headed with her break dancing team for a competition. When Freddie's luck spills over and Sharkey sprains her angle, the cousins decide that Freddie (whose original audition for the team ended badly) will take her place.

Now Freddie has to overcome his penchant for disaster and learn the dance...and get across town to Ingo with just minutes to spare....

It's a great read, blending Filipino folklore and a nicely integrated bit of history that many kids will be unfamiliar with (I don't recall any mention of the Philippines in my WW II lessons) with real world struggles, making your own luck, and the cultural balancing act of multigenerational immigrant families. It's simultaneously a moving story and a funny, cring-ish one. Freddie is a character to cheer for, and Ingo's forgiveness of what Ramon did, and Freddie's ultimate success in the dance competition, bring the story to a very satisfying close!

disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher

The Patron Thief of Bread, by Lindsay Eager

The Patron Thief of Bread, by Lindsay Eager (May 17th 2022, Candlewick) is a heart-warming and heart-wrenching story of a orphan girl's journey towards a safe place in the world.

Atop the unfinished cathedral of the town of Odierne sit its gargoyles, themselves unfinished.  All but one spend the days gossiping about what they see below; the outlier stares out like the others, but has no patience for ideal chatter.  He is full of frustration; gargoyles are supposed to protect, but he is a lump of stone who was unable to save a woman who jumped from his perch long ago to escape arrest.  She and the baby she carried were swept away, leaving the gargoyle to bitter musings.

The baby was fished from the river by a gang of kid thieves, lead by a fiercely intelligent and fiercely lawless boy named Gnat. Little Duck, as they called her, is the youngest of the group, and it's not till the gang's roamings bring them to Odierne, making the cathedral ruins their home, that she's trusted to take on a direct heist on her own.  She must pass a false coin at the baker's, and if she fails to bring back bread, she's sure she'll be cast out.  

And she is successful, winning a more secure place in her young family of thieves.  But then Gnat comes up with his most cunning plan yet--if Duck is apprenticed to the baker, she'll be in a lovely position to syphon off bread and coin to her family....But when Duck is welcomed by the baker, Griselde, and given a room of her own, and given trust as well, she starts down of a path of divided loyalties that almost breaks her.  Over the next year, the pulling on her heart intensifies, and at last she is forced to chose who she will betray...the family of kids who raised her, or the woman who is willing to give her love and safety and a living doing what she loves.  All the while the gargoyle watches, and finally is able to fulfil his destiny as a protector.

I loved all the details of being apprenticed to a baker (I am a big fan of books in which there is lots of making and crafting), and such a lovely baker too! Griselde is really the one of the best mother figures in any middle grade book I've read for ages, and I really liked that she needs Duck in her life to love just as much as Duck needs her. But the overall situation was so tense and discomfiting this was not at all a comfort read...the tension is strung out from beginning to end, tightening to a breaking point where I had to start skimming a bit (reading the end didn't help, because I knew, it being middle grade, things would almost certainly work out, but the process of things working out was very stressful for me the reader!)

It's not action-packed, but more character driven, so don't go into it expecting lots of middle grade fantasy high jinx! It is fantasy, in as much as it's an alternate world, with the sentient gargoyle providing a depressed gargoyle's point of view (in alternate perspectives with Duck's story), but it's not full of magic. Just found family and bread, and worry....lots of love, and, indeed, the happy ending I was hoping for (although it comes with some interesting twists, and a high cost).

Short answer--one I can easily imaging wanting to re-read in a year or so, and I'll enjoy it even more the second time around (this is why I like re-reading....)

disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher.

Monsters in the Mist, by Juliana Brandt--review and interview

If you (or other young readers in your life) are looking to make spring spookier, Monsters in the Mist, by Juliana Brandt (May 3, 2022, SourcebooksKids, is just the book you need!  

Whenever Glennon's dad goes away for work, his mom moves him and his little sister out of the house.  They used to go stay with their grandma, but now she has died, and their mom has taken them to stay with a relative they've never met who's a lighthouse keeper on a remote island in Lake Superior.  Glennon counts the days till they get off the island.  

With just a few more days to go, the island is slammed by an early winter storm.  A ship wrecks on the nearby coast, and the three survivors shelter in the lighthouse.  And Glennon becomes convinced that something more than an ordinary Lake Superior tragedy has happened.  One of the survivors seems horribly...not right. 

This is right at the beginning of the book, so there is no build up of suspense--it is right there at the start!  But there is definitely build up of the creepy--things are more and more Wrong, and more impossible to explain away, until Glennon and his sister realize they are in mortal peril from supernatural forces, trapped on an island that will not let them leave.   And the gothic horror ratchets up even further to a tremendous climax with twists I didn't see coming!

As the supernatural horror builds, so does the readers understanding of the verbal abuse and anger Glennon's gotten all his life from his father; it's clear early on that he and his sister have PTSD, and that not all is well with their mother either.  Having to deal with an unbearably awful situation on the island, though, helps Glennon start to untangle himself from years of damaging undermining from his father, and this real-world positive progress is a welcome contrast to the gothic darkness crashing around the cursed island. (There's an author's note at the end, clarifying how Glennon's memories of his father's words that surface during the story are real abuse, discussing how this has affected him and his sister, and encouraging young readers in similar positions to seek help from trusted adults).

In good middle grade fashion, Glennon and his sister are the catalyst for their escape, but they couldn't have done it without grown-ups willing to put themselves at risk to make it happen.  Also as is the case with many good middle grade books, there's an intelligent cat who helps for a given value of cat-help. Both things I liked.  I also liked all the ghost ships (what a wide variety of obsolete vessels there are in the harbor these days! think the kids, more or less,  and yet no transport is available off the island....) and the nods to real maritime misfortunes of Lake Superior.  The awful undead rats swarming around the island, are, however, not likeable....

In short, though I personally would have liked a bit more about life on the island before it became a place of nightmares, to ground the story in reality before the reality explodes, Monsters in the Mist is a powerfully spooky and thought-provoking read, and one I appreciated lots, 

Monsters in the Mist is Juliana Brandt's third book, the first two being The Wolf of Cape Fen (2020) and A Wilder Magic (2021), both from SourcebooksKids.  As well as being an author, she's a kindergarten teacher with a passion for storytelling that guides her in both of her jobs. She lives in her childhood home of Minnesota, and her writing is heavily influenced by travels around the country and decade living in the South.

And now it is my pleasure to welcome her to my blog! (my questions are in bold)

What was the inspiration for Monsters in the Mist? (hopefully not a disastrous boat trip on Lake Superior).

Goodness, the inspiration came from many places, although no, it definitely didn't come from a disastrous boat trip on Lake Superior! I did find a lot of direct inspiration from Lake Superior itself, though, mostly from Split Rock Lighthouse - a lighthouse in Two Harbors, MN. I toured this lighthouse in October on a very blustery day. I knew immediately that I needed to use this setting for a book. I created my own version of that lighthouse and stuck it on an island that is a very real (and yet very fake!) island on Lake Superior. In the 1700s, a mapmaker drew an extra island on Lake Superior. Mapmakers kept inserting the same island on their own maps, even though no such island actually existed on the lake. It took a few decades before cartographers realized it wasn't real. I thought that history was fascinating, and it made me wonder what that island would be like if it were actually real.


What bit of the book do you hope your readers will love most, and/or perhaps be most horrified/scared about?

I hope readers love the spookiness of the story. I tried to create my own monsters for this book, and I hope they're both scary and fascinating. I wanted my monsters to be sympathetic; I wanted people to understand how they'd become so monstrous and why they'd chosen the path they had. And also that while we can be sympathetic toward the monsters, it doesn't mean that their behavior or their choices are excused. I would very much like readers to walk away with the message that the words we choose to use with one another matters deeply.

I appreciated that the town librarian specifically recommends Howl's Moving Castle, by Diana Wynne Jones, to the kids--an excellent choice. Was there a specific reason you picked this book?

Howl's Moving Castle is my absolute favorite book! It's one that's stuffed full of all the things I enjoy most about stories - magic and surprising twists and a wonderful monster. In the scene where the book is mentioned, the librarian is talking about reading what makes you happy, and for me, Howl's is a book that never fails to make me happy. I was so excited to include mention of it in my own book because of how much it's meant to me over the years.

Monsters is your first book since things are moving toward normal again, fingers crossed.... Your first book, The Wolf of Cape Fen, will always have a special place in my mind (Here's my review). Not only did I enjoy it lots, but when it came out, just a few weeks into the pandemic in the spring of 2020, it was the first book I picked to order from my local independent bookstore as a show of support for authors and indies, so I have powerful memories tied to it. What was it like, having your debut book come out at such a fraught time?

It certainly wasn't easy. The shift from planning in person events and making plans for trips and book tours to cancelling everything and switching to online events (before we really knew what online events could look like!) was a difficult transition. It certainly wasn't the experience I thought debuting would be. At the same time though, I was incredibly supported in the book community and by my friends and family. I truly felt like everyone rallied around me. It's also helped me truly appreciate everything I'm able to experience with Monsters in the mist, now that I'm able to schedule in person events again.

With your third book, are you able to get a chance to do more of the author-ish things that the pandemic shut down?

Yes! I have wonderful events planned throughout May and into the summer. This past week when Monsters in the Mist published, I was able to have my first in person book launch. It was everything I wanted to experience the first time around, and I'm so glad to have finally been able to have that! It's truly wonderful to be able to talk with people in person and celebrate books in an actual bookstore, instead of online. I have school visits and writing classes and bookstore events scheduled. It's all an absolute delight to be able to plan.  (here are her upcoming events)

and finally, what are you working on now?

Secret projects! I have a few manuscripts in the works, but as of now, they're all in the "in between" moment. Hopefully they'll become projects that I can announce publicly soon.

and even more finally, is there an interview question that you have a really good answer for that I haven't asked? 

At my bookstore event, I was asked a very good question that I've never been asked before. "How have my books changed me?" We talk about readers being changed by books, but books change authors too! I think that my books have helped me become a braver, more honest person. Writing a book is such an introspective process, for me, and with each one I write, I end up asking deep questions of myself, about who I am and who I want to be. It really can be a transformative experience.

thanks so much, Juliana!  And best of luck with your ongoing projects!  And now I shall go listen to The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald--"The lake it is said, never gives up her dead when the skies of November turn gloomy..."

The Blood Trials, by N.E. Davenport

The Blood Trials, by N.E. Davenport, is a fierce read about a young woman consumed by grief and anger who is determined to bring her grandfather's killer to justice, and who ends up setting herself against a world controlled by rival evil (and incredibly powerful) governments.  Though readers of YA may well appreciate it, it's a book for adults--there is considerable, very detailed, violence, and a graphic sex scene. 

Ikenna was ready to give up on her ambition to become one of the elite Praetorian Guard after her grandfather's death throws her into acute depression.  But when she finds out she was murdered, she becomes fueled by rage and determination to find the killer, and becoming one of the Guard will help her do that.  The trials the would-be guard members, the best and brightest of the military recruits, are put through are brutal, and often fatal (which seemed really wasteful as a military strategy; this thought kept distracting me).   Ikenna gives and gets horrible injuries, the body count is in the hundreds, and things seem pretty hopeless for her at many points in the story.

Ikenna, having inherited the dark skin of her grandfather's family, faces awful racism, is a woman in a misogynist society, and is often self-sabotaged by her lack of emotional control born from anger and grief, but she has a secret advantage--she has a blood gift, from the old gods...one that her country's greatest enemy uses as a terrible weapon.  She can't risk having it discovered, but she can't help but uses it when needed, to ferret out secrets and heal herself from the many injuries the trials inflict on her.

In the course of the trials, surrounded by people she cannot trust, many of whom hate her (even without knowing about her blood gift) more death and guilt add to her burden, and a night of forbidden passion doesn't help.  But she perseveres, leaving a blood-stained wake, until, like opening a series of nesting dolls, she realizes at the end of the book that the fight she's undertaken for justice, and her own right to exist, is much greater than she'd imagined.

Ikenna's strong emotions are perfectly understandable, but don't leave much room in her headspace for the reader to get to know other dimensions of her personality.  (I would have liked more intelligence, and less emotional response....).  And the pretty much non-stop violence of the trials, and the hate she gets thrown, and the betrayals she endures, don't make for easy reading; it was all a bit much for me.  I didn't actually enjoy it much, though I never considered not finishing the book, because of wanting to know what happened.  But having reached the end of the book, with the stakes becoming increasingly higher, Ikenna at last has reached a point where she has people on her side, and no longer has to hide who she is, so I'm pretty willing to give the second book at try.

So not a book for me, but if you look at the Goodreads reviews, plenty of people loved it.....

disclaimer: review copy received from the publicist.

The Mirrorwood, by Deva Fagan, for Timeslip Tuesday

Happy book birthday to the lovely middle grade fantasy, The Mirrorwood (April 12, 2022,  Atheneum Books for Young Readers), by Deva Fagan! What with all the new mg fantasy books this week, and the scramble to get reviews up, I was worried that Timeslip Tuesday would interfere with my plans....happily The Mirrorwood has enough timeslip in it that I can in good conscience count it as today's offering!

Fable's family lives near the impassibly thorny border separating the Mirrorwood, full of dangerous blight magic, from the safe, ordinary world. But blight still gets through, twisting whatever it touches into something impossible. And Fable was touched by it when she was born. She has no face of her own, but must borrow other's faces.... wearing them until they start fading into featureless gray, taking her life force with them. Her family loves her, and share their faces, but she can't go far from their farm, because those who are blighted are feared, and even hunted and killed.

And when a father/daughter blight hunter team sets their sights on her, the only way to escape is to try to get through the thorns into the Mirrorwood, where she had been heading to try to find a way to free herself of her curse. She's accompanied by the daughter, Vycorax, who hadn't been able to killer despite her father's orders. The two girls agree to truce as they set off to explore the world beyond the thorns.

There they find a world lost in a spell, cast by one of the Subtle Powers, the twisty immortals who can grant wishes, or make bargains that could snare the unwary. The people of the Mirrorwood have been trapped in a time loop; every day time resets and they live the day again for the first time. The only people who know of this trap are those who have themselves, like Fable, been blighted. They can see the horrible reality.... but can't do anything to fix it.

Fable and Vycorax are found by one of the Subtle Powers, the wish granter, who tells them how the Mirrorwood came to be cursed. The true prince has been caught by the time warp, and a blighted demon imposter has taken his place. If the demon is killed, the curse will be lifted, but it is an almost impossible task. Which the girls, in true mg fantasy form, set off to undertake regardless.... there really isn't a choice. Fable has made a wish of her own, as well--that she could have her own true face.

And this is where things really get interesting! Not only are the girls moving from enemies to loyal friends, but there's a twist to the whole demon prince thing.... the curse isn't exactly what the Subtle Power told them it was. Lyrian, the demon prince, proves to be a much more complex character than the girls had anticipated...

And also at this point is where I stopped just happily reading along, enjoying the story, and became grimly determined to read faster and faster so that I could see what would happen next! Twists and turns, new characters to meet and learn to care about, depth to the story and more about the darkness that preceded the curse, more impossible questing, riddle and illusions, alongside growth in Fable's character.

There's also an increase in the tension of the time warp; it's concentrated inside the castle, where instead of a day, those at the heart of the curse have only seconds of life repeating endlessly, those just outside have minutes or hours, not necessarily nice ones (one bit of this was immensely powerful, driving home the horror of what had happened.

It's clearly a riff on Sleeping Beauty, and it will please fans of reworked fairy tales just fine, but it's more than a reimagining; it's its own thing.  A lovely, gripping thing, with a strong message that it's what's inside that really counts.  Fable realizes that she is still her true self, no matter what her face is, and Vycorax learns that she can make her own choices, and not be bound to her single-minded killer of a father.  People who look like monsters aren't necessarily bad, and the converse as well.  

And as an added bonus, Fable's lovely cat, with whom she can speak, is along for the ride as well! 

The ending is satisfactory, making this a stand-alone, but I'd love to return to the Mirrorwood for more. Partly because it's such a wonderfully strange place, and partly because I'd like to see if the glimmerings of attraction between Fable and Vycorax, and a little between Fable and Lyrian, come to anything....I can't decide which I'd prefer!

short answer: I truly enjoyed it!

disclaimer: review copy received from the author, and deposited by the delivery person in shrubbery next to a door I don't use, so I was very glad I found it safely after who knows how long!

A Dragon Used to Live Here, by Annette LeBlanc Cate

A Dragon Used to Live Here, written and illustrated by Annette LeBlanc Cate (April 12, 2022, Candlewick) is an entertaining story within a story that I think would make a lovely read aloud for older elementary kids and the younger end of middle grade (7-10 year olds). Older kids, on their way to teen cynicism, might have to wait till they are grown-ups before they can enjoy it....

Thomas and Emily live in their parents castle, learning castle-y things, like archery, tapestry weaving, and courtly manners.  They are also skilled at writing and illustrating, and this comes in useful when they come across the den of the castle scribes while exploring a bit of the castle they'd never gotten around to before. The scribes, under the authority of a somewhat cranky woman called Meg (is she a witch? the children wonder), are happy to let the kids help with the heavy workload of party invitations.  And while they work, Meg starts telling the story of how the kids' parents met.

It's a story of a fierce dragon, who used to live in the castle, and knights of varying degrees of bravery, and elves; their mother was the dragon's captive, and their father helps with her rescue (she also helps herself).  As Meg's story unfolds (and is she telling the truth?), the kids stop thinking of her as possible witch, and more as a friend, and hearing how Meg and their mother used to be best friends before a terrible falling out makes them want to bring the two of them back together.   

There's a somewhat refreshing? jarring? unexpected? amusing? mix of modernity with the medieval. Yes it's castle life without modern technology, but there's a real world sensibility to it.  It ended up working for the story, but don't go into it expecting high fantasy.  And the dragon may or may not have been real; readers will have to decide for themselves! 

The writing is snappy and on point, carrying things briskly along.  Thomas and Emily don't just sit passively listening and scribing, but make plans, squabble, and do a bit of (mild) adventuring to try to move Meg and their mother back to friendship.   But Meg is definitely the star of the story.  She's a great character and a great storyteller, and I loved the den of scribes who are entertaining in their own right.  They are really good with paper and ink and sharp knives too--I loved their creativity!  And throughout the book there are many funny details and bits of dialogue that readers of all ages (but especially the target audience) will appreciate. Generous illustrations, also often amusing, add to the entertainment.

Story within story isn't my favorite framework, but when done well, as I think it is here, because I liked it, it is good entertainment!  For what it's worth, me and the Kirkus review are on the same page here--"Clever, multistranded, and off the charts in read-aloud potential."

but was the dragon real????? (and will Thomas continue to let himself enjoy drawing flowers...I hope so!)

disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher

Healer and Witch, by Nancy Werlin

I just gave five stars on Goodreads to Healer and Witch, by Nancy Werlin (mg* Candlewick, April 12, 2022).  I am chary with my stars--only 6 out of the 92 books I've read so far this year have gotten 5 of them--all books that not only are very good books, but very good reads that make reality vanish and remind me why I love reading!  Such as Healer and Witch.

Sylvie is a girl learning healing from her mother and grandmother in Renaissance France.  Her mother's skill as a healer is based on knowledge and understanding, but her grandmother can do more, to the point of being magical.  When Sylvie gets her first period, her own gifts blossom, and like her grandmother there a magical twist to them--she can enter peoples minds, and tweak their memories.  When her grandmother dies, Sylie can't stand to see her mother suffering in a morass of grief, and so tries to help with a bit of memory removing.  It goes horribly wrong, and her mother doesn't remember her own mother, or even Sylvie.

So Sylvie sets out alone into the world to try to find another wise woman who can teach her how to use her gifts, so that she can fix what she broke, and never make such a mistake again.  She is both healer and witch...and the later is a dangerous thing to be when suspicions of witchcraft can lead to death.  A much younger boy, the blacksmith's son whose always getting into trouble, follows her out of their village, and refuses to be sent home, and proves to be an important part of her journey (and a nice part of the story!).  A meeting with a wise woman in the nearest town sets her off to the city of Lyon, as part of a wealthy young merchant's caravan.  

But neither the wise woman or the young merchant are exactly who they seem, and Sylvie's gifts place her in great danger.  She must fight fiercely for her right to use her powers as healer/witch as she sees fit, figuring out how to use them ethically, and making sure she is making decisions for herself in a time and place that's often unkind to young women.  There's a nice romance too-- the powerful young merchant offers to protect her by marrying her, and she declines (and figures out how to protect herself), but in the course of travelling together they start trusting each other enough to share their darkest secrets.  It's a slow romance, but a sweet one.  

It's not a swirling fast-paced book full of Things Happening, and indeed a lot of what happens takes place in Sylvie's head, which was fine with me!  Sylvie is beautifully thoughtful and intelligent, and I appreciated her lots. There is trauma (in the young merchant's past too, from his desperate childhood as a thief "and worse") and of course in Sylvie's life--her love for her mother is unchanged though her mother doesn't know who she is.  But there is healing too, and (slight spoiler) I appreciated that magic isn't the answer for this.

It's good historical fiction too, with enough of the history part (especially social and economic history) to be interesting without info dumping on the reader. My only gripe is that the blurb says this is medieval France.  Not.  Clearly it's Renaissance- Henry VIII is on the throne in England, and the Medici family is busily doing their Medici thing down in Italy....

short answer--I really liked it!  

*note about target audience--recently there was a lot of chat on twitter from folks wanting more books for the 12-14 year old kids who are leaving middle grade (9-12 years old) but who aren't the target audience just yet for much of Young Adult. This is a book for those in-betweenish sort of readers, who want a bit of romance, who want books about independent young women (the heroine here is 15) figuring out what sort of person they want to be.  This isn't a book that I'd give to a 9 or 10 year old, but I'd give it in a flash to 11-13 year old me and other dreamy kids who aren't quite ready to grow up but are enjoying starting to think about it from the safe perspective of fantasy....and I think the cover does a great job at targeting this group of readers!

disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher

Out of Time, by Peter Lerangis, for Timeslip Tuesday

I just this minute finished Out of Time (Throwback #3) by Peter Lerangis, this week's Timeslip Tuesday book...I am not very good at keeping my own personal time well managed, and am always scrambling to do what needs doing.  In this case, the scrambling to finish the book (155 pages to go an hour ago) was actually very easy, since I was nicely absorbed.  It was certainly nothing compared to the desperate scramblings through time of the two main characters!

This is the third book of a series about a kid from New York, Corey, who finds out he's a time traveler, like his grandfather (there are more time travelers around than one would think...), as told in Throwback. Corey turns out to be a one of a kind time traveler, though--he can alter the past.  And so he does.  In the second book of the series (The Chaos Loop), he traveled to Germany right at the end of WW II to save his great uncle...but in doing so, he changed the past by keeping his grandparents from meeting, and so he was never born. The Corey who time travelled makes it back to his own present day in New York....but changed into a wolf.

His best friend, Leila (another time-traveler), is the only one who remembers the Corey who no longer belongs in the current time line, and she's determined to help him figure out how to become himself again.  They find help from a secret society of time travelers, who are able to take the gene that gives Corey his unique ability and transfer it to her.  Now the two of them, wolf and girl, head back to the cold winter at the end of Nazi Germany, hoping to give Corey's grandparents their chance to meet, while still keeping his great-uncle alive....

It is tremendously tense!  Wolf Corey's health is failing (a side effect of his situation), and Leila isn't certain she can change the past...but it all works out in the end, mostly thanks to Leila's bravery.

I didn't register it at the time of my reading, but the secret society of time travelers, which includes "trackers" who can tell when the past has been changed, shouldn't really want to be able to create other's with Corey's gift--they are creating for themselves the problem of altered realities that they are contending with (unless Corey and Leila are responsible for them all)....but no matter.  The story at hand is well worth reading regardless!

Time travel-wise, not only to we get to go back to Nazi Germany, but we also get a solo trip by Leila to witness the building of Central Park, and learn a bit of its history, which was very interesting.  

short answer--a solid series, that I can easily imagine middle grade kids loving!

Cameron Battle and the Hidden Kingdoms, by Jamar J. Perry

Cameron Battle and the Hidden Kingdoms, by Jamar J. Perry (February 1 2022 by Bloomsbury Children's Books) is a middle grade fantasy inspired by West African and Igbo history and mythology that I added enthusiastically to my tbr list when I first heard of it months ago.

It's the story of a boy whose mother read to him the magical Book of Chidani, full of stories about a kingdom whose queen called on the gods of the Igbo people of west Africa to seal themselves off from the world in order to save her people from the slave trade.  But Cameron's mother and father disappeared two years before the book begins, and his grandmother has hidden the book. 

But Cameron finds it, up in the attic, and when he and his best friends Zion and Aliyah open it again, the magic of the book draws them into Chidani.  All the magical stories are true, except that Chidini is in danger.  The three talismans that kept the queen and her people from aging, part of her bargain with the gods, have been stolen by her sister, and without them, Chidani will collapse, and be open to the world again.   Not only that, but the dark powers that the queen's sister has bargained with will flood into our own world.

And in true middle grade fantasy style, Cameron, heir to the magic of the book, must train to be a warrior and find the three missing relics.  He did not want to be a hero, but here he is.

So yes, this is familiar ground--the magical fighting, the griffins with whom the three kids form telepathic bonds, the chase after stolen objects of power while fighting terrifying wraiths.   But it's engrossing, and even if this was all there was to the story, it would be a fun (though not deeply memorable) read.  Several things, however, give depth and heart to the story, making it more than generic mg fantasy.

First there's the premise, that the magical kingdom was created in response to the horror of the slave trade,  that took Cameron's ancestors from their homes.  This weighted past, tied to the real world, makes it a place the the reader must come to with a certain gravitas, a taking-seriously-ness that most portal fantasies don't have.

Second, the queen's sister has at least one good reason to want to break down the bubble protecting Chidani--time stopped for everyone living there when it was formed, and no one has aged.  Four hundred years of stasis is not a pleasing thought; it is basically a prison.  I was hoping that the sister, once she made this point, would go on to have more nuance to her villainy than she did, but there was enough doubt in my mind to start questioning everything that was supposedly so wonderful, which added lots of interest!  There's a  goddess, for instance, who is basically the patron of the Chidanians, that I have my suspicious eye on.....

Thirdly, Cameron's parents died fighting in Chidani, failing to do what Cameron must now attempt.  Echoes of their struggle keep bringing his grief, anger, and frustration welling up, and make his assigned task as Savior and Hero a burden he's even more unwilling to bear.  There's a horrifying twist toward the end, too, which ups the dead parent stakes even more!

And Fourthly,  there's his friendship with Zion.  Are the two boys just really close and affectionate friends, like two brothers who love each other, sometimes even holding hands for mutual reassurance  (which would be great, because this sort of boy friendship is rare in fiction) or do all the possible hints mean its going to turn into more than friendship (which would also be great, because MG fantasy with gay boys is really rare!)?  

So yes, much of the story runs along familiar rails (which won't, of course, be as familiar to the target audience as they are to veteran MG fantasy reader, me, and so this is not a criticism but a personal statement), and I would have been happy with some of the fantasy filler descriptions and such pared down a bit (again, I'm not the target audience),  but seeing where  plot bits 2, 3, and 4 go next will have me come back eagerly for the next book!

disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher

A Comb of Wishes, by Lisa Stringfellow

A Comb of Wishes, by Lisa Stringfellow (February 8th 2022 by Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins), is a truly enticing mix of grief and magic.

Kela and her mother collected sea glass together on the beaches of their Caribbean island home of St. Rita.  Then her mother died.  Stuck in her grief, and with her last angry words to her mother playing on repeat in her head, she pushes away her best friend, Lissy, and gathers the "mermaid's tears" (as the bits of glass are called) alone, but the joy has gone out of making them into lovely jewelry for sale to tourists.  Lissy is the kind of awesome friend who keeps showing up though, and it's on a day when she goes to down to the beach too that Kela finds an old wooden box that pulls her.  It's on a protected part of the beach that's strictly off limits.  So when Kela take the box home, she knows she's transgressed, but can't imagine the supernatural and real world problems that are about to make her life very complicated indeed.

Inside the box is an old comb, beautifully made.  And out in the ocean is the mermaid whose comb it is, who desperately needs it back in order to stay immortal.  Ophidia, the mermaid, will stop at nothing to retrieve it.  And when she tracks Kela down, she offers a bargain, a wish in exchange for the comb.  Though Kela has grown up on stories of mermaid magic (her mother was a folklorist, and keeper of the island's stories), and knows that bargains with mermaids are tricky, her wish to have her mother back is irresistible.  But in making the wish, the comb breaks in her hand....and then is stolen from her.  

Her mother is back, and everyone but Kela seems to take it for granted.   It's as if she never died.  But she's not herself; she's tired and sad....and Ophidia is furiously trying to get her comb back, threatening Kela and lashing the island with storms.

Together Kela and Lissy set out to get the comb back from the thief....and find themselves not just in danger from Ophidia, but from a desperate man who has gone so far wrong that their lives are in danger.

(And then a sea monster, summoned by Ophidia, attacks...)

Reading this avidly, my mood vacillated between wonder and enjoyment of the mermaid magic and the folk tales of the island, with light touches of great fondness for Lissy (currently in 1st place for middle grade supporting friend of the year!) and anxiety and sadness for Kela, mixed with horror/sadness when her dead mother returns.  It says a lot for Lisa Stringfellow's writing that these two sides of the story stayed beautifully balanced, with scene shifts from one aspect to the other just when I as a reader needed them. It's told both from Kela's point of view and Ophidia's, which adds considerable interest--Ophidia is much more than a one-dimensional angry magical villain.

There's a touch of horror (the sea monster attack is rather gruesomely fatal), but there's so much warmth in the story that the horror fades like a bad dream.  Grief stays, as it must, but life and love go on.

side note--I loved that Kela's mom was both a keeper and teller of stories of  the island, and an academic folklorist (not something I can recall every seeing in a mg book before).  One of my favorite parts of the story was Kela and Lissy sneaking into the mom's office at the island's museum, and going through her files.  It was a nice way of showing young readers that stories aren't just for kids, but valuable parts of history and heritage, worthy of museum archives! One of my other favorite bits was when Lissy's grandmother tells a story, using the same traditional call and response beginning and end that frames the book's narrative, that draws the listeners (and readers) in....

I say Crick, you say Crack.

Crick.

Crack.

This is a story.

and ending thus--

Crick.

Crack.

The story is put on you.

It will stay with me for a long time.

Secret Beneath the Sand (Unicorn Island #2), by Donna Galanti, illustrated by Bethany Stancliffe

In my review of Unicorn Island: The Secret of Lost Luck, the first book in Donna Galanti's series for elementary school readers, I said:   "This is very much a "book 1," introducing the characters and setting the stage for the series. It's more than just an introduction--the new friendship, the discoveries, and the baby unicorn are a solid story--but readers might feel when then finish it that they were just getting started, and will want the next book right away!"  And now I have read the next book, Secret Beneath the Sand (March 8th 2022, Andrews McMeel Publishing). and can say once again that young readers will want the 3rd book straight away too!

Sam now knows her uncle's big secret--he's the caretaker of a magical island off the coast that's shielded by magical mist to keep it safe from discovery.  It's home to unicorns and other magical creatures, and Sam is gung-ho to pitch right in and help out!  But her uncle hasn't shared all his secrets.  When the magic of the island starts draining away, threating the unicorns, one of the darkest of his secrets proves to be responsible for a monstrous manifestation on the island must be confronted.  And Sam is the one who has to lead the charge, even though it upends her world.

This is a perfect series to give to an elementary school kid who loves fantasy and who is still getting their reading feet firmly under them!  The sparkly cover with its shiny stars and the pleasant interior illustrations add kid friendliness.  Although I enjoyed reading this, and appreciated that there was some complexity to the plot involving family secrets, I think the story doesn't have quite enough heft for the older "middle grade" age range of 11-12, but younger readers may well love it!  I would have devoured this joyfully when I was seven or so....so give it to the kid that's been binging Early Reader and young graphic novels about unicorns!

disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher

Girl Giant and the Jade War (Girl Giant and the Monkey King #2), by Van Hoang

Girl Giant and the Jade War (Girl Giant and the Monkey King #2), by Van Hoang, is not so much as sequel to Girl Giant and the Monkey King (2020) as the second half of the story.  In the first book, eleven-year-old Thom Ngo accidently frees the Monkey King, who promises to help rid her of her incredible strength.  Thom learns the hard way that the Monkey King can't be trusted, and learns as well that her father, from whom she inherited her preternatural strength, is one of the powerful Immortals.  The first book ends with the Monkey King, who has used Thom to bring back the full extent of his powers, about to attack the realm of the Immortals, Thom appalled by the mistakes she's made, and her mother transformed into a cricket....It's a gripping, fast-paced story that I enjoyed very much!

So I was eager to rejoin Thom as she tries to stop the Monkey King in his tracks.  It is a pretty difficult proposition--she has to find her way back into the Heavens, and figure out if there is any weakness she can use against the Monkey King.  Much of the story involves a quest for allies.  Accompanied by her dragon friend, Kha, and a fox demon who was once a fairy, Thom tries to find someone who will help her get back to the Heavens before the Monkey King and his demons take over...though she's not at all sure what she'll do when she gets there!

Interestingly, the more she thinks about what the Monkey King wants--respect, and a place for demons in the Heavens--the more she can understand his point of view, though she can't condone his approach.  Adding to her confusion are visits from the Monkey King's magical doubles--she can remember trusting him (though memories of betrayal are sharper).  Her friendship with Kha is strained, and when she gets to the Heavens, she has to get the person she herself betrayed most unforgivably, the daughter of the Jade Emperor, to believe she knows what's she doing.

There's all the cultural richness that filled the first book, and plenty of adventures, but it's a bit more thought-provoking, in a good way.   An excellent series for middle grade readers who enjoy kids having their lives upended by magical figures of legend, and a nice addition of Vietnamese mythology to the "books for kids who love Rick Riordan" genre. Thom is a very relatable kid (though the universal "finding one's self" middle school ARC is of course complicated by being the child of a deity, and also complicated by Thom's feeling out of place as a Vietnamese American kid) and even her sometimes questionable choices make sense for someone her age, and work well within the framework of the story.  

This second book closes everything nicely, but I wouldn't mind more....

The Midnight Unicorn, by Alice Hemming

Here's one that will please the younger end of middle grade fantasy who are capable of reading, skill-wise, just about anything, but whose imaginations are still best served by simpler, more fairy-tale stories than one finds moving up through middle grade towards young adult--The Midnight Unicorn, by Alice Hemming (Kane Miller, 2022).   (If you read between the lines of the above, you will pick up that this does not describe me, and indeed it was not a book for me....which doesn't mean it isn't one that will make other readers happy!).

The story starts with two twin sisters being sent away in desperate haste by their mother, the Queen, when her wicked younger brother attacks to claim the crown for himself.  One girl, Alette, is sent off with the Queen's sorcerer, and the other, Audrey, goes with their nurse.   They have very different childhoods, with one raised in the wilds and learning magic, and the other raised in a peaceful village, learning baking.  But each feels the lack of their twin...even though they don't know of each other's existence.

Then Alette learns the truth, and sets out, with her father figure, the sorcerer, to find her missing half...and fate indeed brings them together.  Through the magic inherited from their mother, they can take the form of beautiful unicorns, which stands them in good steed on the fraught journey back to the city.  There they find unexpected treachery, but are able to reclaim the throne, though only one can be queen....

Transforming into a unicorn is something sure to delight many young readers (and indeed I liked it too).  And those readers will, I think, be more ready than I was to accept the unexpected magical encounters along the way (for adult me, one significant encounter presented me with much more magic than the world building thus far has led me to expect!).  Young readers also won't be surprised by how easy it is in the end for the girls to take control of the court, which has a noticeable lack of power-hungry nobles, flunkies, and indeed, any semblance of people actually running the place!

I enjoyed seeing the sisters figuring out their relationship after being raised so differently.  Fierce, wild, and magical Alette has trouble accepting Audrey, who has lots less flash and flamboyance, but strengths of her own. I always like a good sister story, and this did not disappoint in this regard.

Short answer--not necessarily one to read yourself if you are an adult fan of fantasy, but one that should delight the target audience.  It is also the first book in a series, which is a plus if you have a unicorn loving bibliophile to find books for!

disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher

Dust & Grim, by Chuck Wendig

When Dust & Grim, by Chuck Wendig came out last October (2021, Little Brown), it missed the cutoff point for that year's Cybils Awards by just a few days, and so I didn't read it last fall.  I'm glad I went back and filled in that gap, because I enjoyed it lots!  It's a fun fantasy full of monsters.

When Molly's rather wretched excuse for a father dies, a lawyer uncle she's never met shows up, and encourages her to fight for half of her (also dead) mother's estate.  He takes her to his mother home, where her older brother, Dustin is running the family funeral home business.  She is not welcomed at all, and in fact her brother and her mother's friend, an active participant in the business, make it clear they don't want her.  So she is rather sore and cross about it all.  Why did her mother pack her off with her father in the first place?  If she can get her half of the inheritance, it might be enough to make her dream of become a costume maker come true--she's not so much a co-player, but a co-designer, with a wardrobe full of personas she can slip into when her own rather sad shell of a person isn't enough.

It quickly becomes clear to Molly, egged on from a distance by her uncle, that there are secrets galore in her mother's house and the little woods on the property.  And indeed the family business is most unusual--it is a funeral home for monsters.  Although monsters is not the preferred term, as this excerpt makes clear:

“We're a funeral home for monsters,” Vivacia said

“Viv!" Dustin said, scandalized.

“Fine. The supernatural,” the woman corrected. To Molly, in a lower voice, she said: “Monster is a bit of no-no word. We prefer not to use it, and they certainly prefer us not to use it. But we need common ground here, and I hope it helps you to understand.”

“Monsters,” Molly said, repeating the no-no word.

“The supernatural,” Viv corrected again.

“The nonstandard citizens,” Dustin said sharply."

When Molly discovers the supernatural, magical cemetery off in the woods, again egged on by her uncle who's playing on her anxieties expertly, she gets hold of the key to its gate and all heck breaks loose.

And Molly, gradually growing into a semblance of a sibling relationship with her brother, feels horribly guilty and responsible.  Caught in a struggle to save the cemetery from being drained of its magic by a monstrous creature she's helped set loose in it, she finds not only nightmares but for the first time the comfort of being part of a team, part of something more than her lonely self.

There's a fun array of magical beings, fun references to the nerd culture that fills Molly's mind, and there's heart to it, too, as Molly and her brother painfully build a real relationship.  I did find the resolution to the conflict with the magical being rather facile; the baddie was so tremendously powerful that the key to its defeat felt like a letdown.  But I will forgive that for the fun of the whole set up!  It felt like the author was enjoying the writing of it lots, and that enjoyment comes through clearly.

A good one for the older MG range (11-12 year olds), who still enjoy the monsters of younger fantasy and aren't yet in the mood for the romance of YA, and who might be D. and D. players.

The Secret World of Polly Flint, by Helen Cresswell, for Timeslip Tuesday

Cutting it close to the wire this week, but I managed to get a timeslip story read-The Secret World of Polly Flint, by Helen Cresswell (middle grade, 1982, Puffin).  It's one that's been on my tbr heap for ages, too, which is Progress!

Polly is an imaginative only child of a coal miner father who's sympathetic to her sense of magic in the world (he is a great father, playing rhyming games with her, and with a keen awareness of the importance of a mind that can fly free).  Her mother is also a good mother, but much more practical.  They are happy...till the accident down in the mines that leaves her dad unable to walk.  The family must move to their aunt's house when he gets out of the hospital...and her aunt, stiff and set in her ways, is not fun to live with.

But her house is near a large park land with a beautiful lake.  And Polly learns that there was once an older village, that slipped down and away through the net of time and was lost.  As she explores the park and the margins of the lake, Polly hears children she cannot see, and on Sundays she can here the sound of the church bells rising up from the lost village below.

Finally, she meets some of the lost villagers ("time gypsies" as they call themselves)--a raggedy old woman, a man, a baby, and a boy about her own age (though centuries older, of course).  The villagers out of time can visit, unseen to everyone one but Polly, and return through a tunnel across the lake to their own place.  But something goes wrong, and the little group gets stuck in real world time.  Polly has to help figure out how to getting home...without coming unstuck in time herself.

The book started just lovely, with its sensitive heroine attuned to wonder, and the haunting story of the lost village.  (I also liked the quotidian moving to unsympathetic aunt's house too).  But somehow as things progressed it lost its touch of numinous magic (possibly because "time gypsies" made me feel uncomfortable, possibly because there was a whole group of them and the old woman was unpleasant).  Still, it was enjoyable reading all in all even if it's not a new favorite timeslip story.

Ferryman, by Claire McFall

 

I'm always a bit taken aback when I am able to post a review that's appropriate for a Special Day--today (with help from its publisher) I have an enjoyable YA fantasy romance for Valentine's Day--Ferryman, by Claire McFall (October 2021 by Walker Books US, 2013 in the UK) .

Dylan isn't the happiest teenaged girl in England--her best friend moved away, her relationship with her mother is currently prickly, and she has no great passions or interests in her life.  She has, though, just reconnected with her father, who she hasn't seen since she was five, and is going to be going to see him up in Scotland.  Fed up with a miserable day at school, she cuts out to take an earlier train than she'd planned on, and in so doing, changes her life (and death).

Inside a tunnel there's a terrible accident.  And when Dylan becomes conscious, she's alone in the dark (she can't, mercifully, see what's around her, but there are no other living people....).  She makes it out of the train, and walks down the tunnel, hoping to find help, but instead she finds herself in a wasteland.  There is one other person--Tristan, a strangely unhelpful and uncommunicative boy her own age.  Having no better choice, she follows his lead.  As they walk on with no sign of civilization around them, warning bells start going off in her head, and at last she gets the truth out of Tristan--she is dead, and he is the ferryman tasked with taking her to her final destination.

As they journey from safe house to safe house through the wasteland, beset by ghastly beings that long to rip Dylan's soul from her, they both succumb to the irresistible attraction that is growing up between them.  It is an attraction that stems more from circumstance than from any deep knowledge of each other, and so as a cynical adult I have to admit I rolled my eyes, but given that Dylan has no strong anchors to her past life, and no information about what's next, and given that Tristan has spent uncounted centuries ferrying the dead with no chance to develop close personal relationships, it's understandable.  And so Dylan makes the one choice that she has--to reject what lies beyond, and try, desperately and dangerously, to go back to her old life, and take Tristan with her.

It's a fascinating set-up, and I enjoyed the journey through the wasteland very much.  I read it in one afternoon, with enjoyment.  And even though I had to not think too hard about the growing love between them, it was sweet, and even though there's not all that much character development, it was easy as a reader to fill that in given the bits given.  The ending doesn't resolve everything, but it is satisfying, leaving what comes next to the reader's imagine in a way that that is just fine.  That being said, there are two more books in the series...and those who took pleasure in this unusual love will want to seek them out quickly!

disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher

The Great Bear (The Misewa Saga #2) by David Alexander Robertson for Timeslip Tuesday

The Great Bear (The Misewa Saga #2) by David Alexander Robertson, this week's Timeslip Tuesday book, is a sequel to The Barren Grounds. This first book was a magnificent portal fantasy, in which two Native kids, Morgan and Eli, open a way through to the land of Misewa, and help save it, and the animal persons who call it home, from a never ending winter.  Though it's been over year since I read it, I vividly remember the cold and the hunger of the kids' journey across the barren lands, and how the animal persons they met there taught them traditional ways to be in the world.

Morgan and Eli have been continuing to visit Misewa every night, travelling through portal pictures Eli draws, and with each night in our world equaling two months there, it now feels like home. It's a place where Morgan is learning Cree ways of being in the world that she never had a chance too in "real" life, having been taken from her mother when she was two. It's a place where Eli reconnects to his own traditional childhood, and a place where being Cree is not something that gets him bullied as it does during the days at school. But their dearest friend in Misewa, the fisher animal person, Ochek, died during their first adventure, and has a left a huge hole in their hearts.

When their foster mom gives Morgan her mother's phone number, her emotions almost overwhelm her; she can't bring herself to call. Realizing how badly Eli is being bullied adds to her distress. And so when Eli draws a portal picture of a Misewa where Ochek is still a kid himself, and offers the chance to travel back to that time when he is still alive, Morgan can't resist.

It is strange and bittersweet to meet someone you know who doesn't know you yet, but gradually Morgan and Eli sink into the routines of the community and find peace. But the piece is shattered when the Great Bear moves down from the north. The bear attacks villages, taking all he wants with savage violence and destruction. And out on Ochek's family's trap line, they meet the bear face to face and recognize him as some one they love in the present time. No one has ever stood against him before, but the two kids and their adopted community find the strength to so to save their village and stop living with fear.

The first book was a journey and quest story; this one is more an emotional one (though not without tension and action). As such, it was moving and immersive and memorable. It ends with one heck of a cliffhanger, which I guess I'm cool with because I wanted more story, not just about Misewa but about Morgan in real life--the fantasy cliffhanger, frankly, interests me less than the prospect of Morgan meeting her birth family....


It works as a time travel book too--the kids openly discuss the ramifications of being in the past of their portal country, though they didn't expect what one of those ramifications would be. (Neither did I, though if I'd been trying to be clever, instead of just enjoying the book, I might have....)


This is this first time travel within a portal fantasy world that I've reviewed, and the only other similar situation I can think of is Prince Caspian, so perhaps I'll review that as time travel some Tuesday. This series gets compared a lot to Narnia, so it's interesting that both second books are time travel-ly (though one is to the past and one to the future). And it does seem that the third Msewa book will be a journey, perhaps echoing Voyage of the Dawn Treader....

The Longest Night of Charlie Moon, by Christopher Edge, for Timeslip Tuesday

 The Longest Night of Charlie Moon, by Christopher Edge, is a surreal little gem of a middle grade timeslip story that enticed me, confused the heck out of me (not in a bad way though), and then made me cry at the end.  

The enticing part was the forest, where Charlie's friend Dizzy led her one day to see the strange patterns of sticks he'd seen there.  Charlie has recently moved from London, and so the woods are a new thing, and Dizzy, who has a limp leftover from polio (the first clue to the time period), and who is, along with new kid Charlie, on the sidelines of the games played by the other kids, seems to be a good guide.   

But the class bully, Johnny, follows them there to scare them by pretending to be Old Chrony, the wild man rumored to live there.  Scare them Johnny does, but then when the kids realize they are lost, the fear of the dark woods grows more and more palpable.  There seems to be no way out, and though the three kids start to work together as a team, they can't figure out how to get home.

And thing grow more scary still, and more confusing.  Reality shifts, and twists, and the dangerous visions that rise up in the night might or might not be real.  And on top of that, Old Chrony turns out to be real...and very powerful indeed.

At which point the reader gets confirmation that time has been slipping, and that for kids in England in 1933, the future isn't going to be a safe and comforting place.  Which leads to me crying at the end.* 

It also lead to me forgiving the story for ever confusing me.  It all makes sense in retrospect, and I want my own copy now so I can reread it in a year or too. It's not a book for readers who want things explained, or for there to be Reasons and all the backstory to be spelled out.  But it is a book for young (or not so young) readers who want to journey into a terrifying wood beyond the boundaries of what is real, where time slips, and the only way out is through.

personal note--the reader doesn't find out for a while that Charlie is a girl, which I think was a bit of a distraction; it felt a little like a trick trying to be clever, and it throws one out of the story to have a gender switch in the middle of things.  

further note on Charlie--she's a good character for girls who like to code and decipher things to read about!

final note on Charlie--I always hated that nickname for Charlotte, so if you ever meet me in real life, please don't use it!

note on Johnny--though he's a bully, he's not a terrible one, and it's believable that he's able to work with the other kids as things progress.  

note on the time travel side of things--this is one in which time slips, and the future is glossed over the present; there's no actual travel to different times.

* the thing that made me cry is a spoiler! turn back now!

I wasn't expecting Dunkirk, and Dunkirk makes me sob every single darn time.