Fair Bay, by Eleanor Frances Lattimore, for Timeslip Tuesday

 

A vintage time travel book this week-- Fair Bay, by Eleanor Frances Lattimore (1958).  All her life Trudy's grandmother has told her stories of Fair Bay, the South Carolina island where she spent her summers.  When Trudy goes to stay with her great aunt Gertrude at the family plantation house, she asks about the island, hoping to visit, but is told that it was washed away in a storm, leaving only a strip of sand with a few palmetto trees.  Her grandmother had told her of the storm, but wanted to talk more about happier times.  Millicent, the cook, who was also a  little girl on the island when the storm came, tells her how her great aunt Christina was almost lost to the storm when she went back to the house to look for her precious music box, but won't tell her much else about it, and Aunt Gertrude doesn't want to talk about it either.   

Though Fair Bay is still much in her mind, Trudy spends her days happily exploring on horseback (this is pleasant reading in a not very exciting way).  Then one day she wakes up early and decides to go riding before breakfast, and her horse gets a mind of her own and her down an old road she'd never seen before.

The road leads to the old causeway to Fair Bay, and the tide is low....so Trudy succumbs to temptation and crosses over.  Wandering the strip of beach, she finds the old music box, and slips through time.  The island is whole, with all its houses and its church, and the children are playing on the beach.  And Trudy watches the day unfold, seeing her aunts and other children playing on the beach (rather horrible, a group of them are digging up a turtle's nest) knowing what's going to happen to them in a few hours.

Though Trudy feels perfectly corporeally present, she can't be seen or heard.  This inability to interact with anyone back in the past dims the emotional intensity of the experience.  She's just a passive on looker, and though it's not uninteresting, it's also not nearly as interesting as it could have been.  I felt from the way the survivors won't talk much about the horror of the storm that there must have been some tragedy involved, but Trudy discovered nothing new, and I felt a bit cheated. In fairness, it's only 123 pages of generous font, written for younger children than me, but still.

I wish the date of the hurricane was made clear; I think it might well have been inspired by the Great Storm of 1893 which hit the islands of South Carolina coast hard, but it doesn't match exactly--that storm hit at night, and the coastal islands hit hardest were homes mostly to black families, not rich white ones....And reading about the Great Storm and its horrors, I'm even more disappointed about the cop out on Lattimore's part that no one in Trudy's time wants to talk about it.  It could have been a much more powerful book than it was.  Oh well.

In short, though I didn't mind reading it at all, and quite possibly would have loved it when I was a seven or eight year old horse loving Charlotte, it didn't hit hard for me reading it today.

Eleanor Frances Lattimore is best known for her Little Pear books, about a Chinese boy, written for younger children, which don't really seem like something I'd love. That beings said, and although this one didn't quite make me desperately want to read others of her books, I will certainly pick up any that come my way.  She is very good at describing, which I like, and I may well revisit Fairy Bay in memory (especially whenever I read about sea turtle conservation efforts....to their credit, the girls involved wanted to rebury the eggs so they could hatch, but the boys wanted to take them home, and of course these particular eggs were doomed anyway, but still).

A Dreidel in Time, by Marcia Berneger, for Timeslip Tuesday

A Dreidel in Time, by Marcia Berneger, illustrated by Beatriz Castro (2019, Kar-Ben Publishing), is a short (88 pages) chapter book that tells the story of Hannukah through the eyes of two American kids who travel back in time to live through it, helping the Maccabees in their fight. When we first meet Devorah and Benjamin, their minds are preoccupied with the thought of Hannukah presents, and when their grandparents give them a large old dreidel instead of shinning expensive new gifts, they are disappointed.

But the dreidel is magic, and when they spin it, they are transported back in time, and find themselves in the community of the Maccabees, who are getting ready to escape the religious persecution of Syrian ruler King Antiochus.

The time travel is rather easy--they find themselves dressed appropriately and speaking Hebrew. Though they quickly make friends with other kids, it's a bit of a challenge getting the community to trust them. But it's important that they do, because what the kids remember about the Hannukah story is crucial to making sure it happens as it's supposed to. The dreidel spins again, and the kids find themselves a few years further on in the story, and again, until the final spin take them home again.

It's an interesting and entertaining read, though the teaching the story part (and the there's more to the holiday then presents moral lesson) overshadows the time travel and character development parts, and the dialogue was a bit awkward at times. But the illustrations add charm, as do the elephants, and it was a very entertaining way to learn more about a story I didn't know that well. 

Grimwood, by Nadia Shireen

Grimwood, by Nadia Shireen (May 30, 2023 by Andrews McMeel Publishing) is great summer reading for kids who love funny illustrated books who are still getting their reading feet firmly planted!

It's the story of two young foxes, who must flee the city after little brother Ted accidentally bites off the tail of Princess Buttons, the vicious ruler of the town dumpsters.  Big sister Nancy is determined to keep Ted safe until their parents come back to find them, so they  make their way to Grimwood, a forest full of animals living in harmony.   It takes a while for Nancy, a true city fox, to get used to having no cell phone service, but Ted jumps right in, making new friends and happy to be part of the community.

And what a whacky community it is!  Any semblance of actual nature goes out the door, there are high jinx galore, and the looming threat of Princess Buttons is the only shadow over Ted's life.  

There's some violence (like Princess Buttons' tail being bitten off), but it's swirled into a mix of more wholesome friendship and community.

Narrated by a cockroach bus driver, and very generously illustrated, it's easy to imagine this tickling the funny bones of young readers!  The perfect beach read for goofy 8-9 year olds.

disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher.

Unicorn Island: Beyond the Portal, by Donna Galanti

Unicorn Island: Beyond the Portal, by Donna Galanti, illustrated by Bethany Stancliffe (April 4, 2023 by Andrews McMeel Publishing), is the third and final book in one of the strongest new fantasy series for the younger range of middle grade (8-10 year olds, or even 7 year old voracious readers like young me).  That being said, there aren't, actually, all that many books for this demographic compared to all the series for kids 10-14, which means these books really feel a felt need, and kids who loved all the magical vet books like the Pip Bartlett series, the Imaginary Veterinary Series and the like will find the Unicorn Island a good place to continue their fantasy reading! Here are my reviews for Unicorn Island and Secret Beneath the Sand, the first two books- the series really needs to be read in order both to understand what's happening and appreciate the steadily deepening plot.

Discovering Unicorn Island, a sanctuary for magical creatures, and learning the father she'd never met before was its caretaker was just the start of Sam's adventures.  In this final book, she's determined to find her biological mom, who vanished through a portal into the land that was the unicorns original home, a place where they were hunted almost to extinction.   Her best friends, Tuck, and a young unicorn, Barloc, go with her.  They have only a narrow window to find Sam's mother....and when they discover, to their horror, that unicorn hunting is still being practiced, and Barloc is captured, things become very tense indeed!  And then Sam finds that her mother is the community unicorn hunter, who takes their horns from them, and all her hopes for bringing this stranger back into her life are upended.

But things aren't black and white.  The community needs the magic of the unicorn horns to survive; they aren't just hunting them for fun.  She can't let Barloc be robbed of his magic, but she wants to help the townsfolk too....fortunately, with a little luck, lots of determination, and unicorn magic, she and her friends find a way to save not only the town but the de-horned unicorns.

It's not a deeply complex story, as expected, but it is a satisfying and memorable one, full of unicorn goodness, an interesting ethical dilemma, and the mending of a family.  The full color illustrations add to the charm.

disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher

The Revenge of Zombert, by Kara LaReau

The Revenge of Zombert, by Kara LaReau (July 2022, Candlewick), is the third installment about a cat who escaped from torment in a lab and the girl who adopted him sees the two of them pitted in a final showdown against the evil corporation, YummCo, that's misusing science to take over the world.

Bert the cat escaped from the YummCo lab, in terrible shape and twisted past normal cat-ness by the experiments to which he was subject.  Mellie adopted him, and the two began to work together to uncover the dark secrets of YummCo.  It becomes an even more urgent crisis in this third book--YummCo. food products are turning everyone who eats them into zombies, desperate to consume more.  And a scratch from Bert's claw has infected Mellie with the same alterations that have made him super smart and super hungry....With the help of friends and some surprising allies, Mellie and Bert use their wits and determination to bring YummCo. down once and for all!

It's very good sci fi adventure for the younger elementary set (ages 8-10).  The cruelty of animals will fire up kids, and some might also appreciate the evil of the corporation so greedy for market control that it will stop at nothing.  The writing is brisk and to the point, capturing each moment in the adventure clearly, and dropping just information about what's really happening to keep readers on their toes.

I was very pleased indeed when this came in the mail so that I could finally find out how it all ended! When I read the first Zombert book book,  The Rise of Zombert (my review), I had the following comment:

"It was an abrupt shock to reach the end of this book only to find that we don't get the answers yet! I myself am suspicious of YummCo Foods, and their economic hold on the town....The sudden stop makes me want to read the next book, but it also was very harsh to be just left there with all the questions. This might annoy some young readers greatly."

Ha!  I was prescient re YummCo!  And now that all three books are out in the world, no annoyance is necessary, unless you read the first one and the other two are checked out or not purchased for you briskly enough....We are given a satisfactory ending, but there is room for more.....and I wouldn't say no!

disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher

The Button Box, by Bridget Hodder and Fawzia Gilani-Williams for Timeslip Tuesday

The Button Box, by Bridget Hodder and Fawzia Gilani-Williams (April 2022, Kar-Ben Publishing), is a lovely time travel story for upper elementary/younger middle grade readers (which is to say 8-10 year olds).  It entertains, it educates, it offers wisdom and promotes tolerance, and it has a cat...

Fifth grade is turning sour for Ava, who's Jewish, and her cousin Nadeem, who's Muslim, when a classmate starts bulling them about their religions.  When they tell their Grandma, instead of picking up the phone to talk to the principle, she tells a story about one of their Sephardic ancestors in 8th century North Africa, a girl named Ester whose family are spice merchants.  And she brings out a crystal button box, full of buttons cherished for generations.  Granny's cat, Sheba, somehow triggers its magic, and one of the buttons takes Ava and Nadeem back to Ester's time....

The two modern kids are recognized as the cousins whose visit was expected, and the time-travel magic provides them with appropriate clothes and language skills, so although they are a bit anxious about getting home again, it's not traumatic.  They are pretty sure that there's going to be something they have to do in the past, and sure enough, there is.

The Umayyad dynasty who ruled Syria has been overthrown, and one of the only surviving princes, Abdur Rhaman, aka Abd al-Rahman, is running for his life.  He's desperately trying to get to Spain, just a few miles across the water.  Ava and Nadeem know that he is responsible for a Golden Age where science and art flourishes, and Muslims, Jews, and Christians live peacefully together.  But from where they are standing in North Africa, with an mob trying to capture the prince to claim the bounty on his life, this future seems like it might never happen, which would mean that Ava and Nadeem were never born.

But Ester has a plan to save him, and Ava and Nadeem are in the right place at the right time to help her....

And as an added bonus for the two kids, Abdur Rhaman is able to share wisdom with them that will help them with their modern bully, and they in turn are able to give him the assurance he will need to lead his kingdom.

The past is vividly described, and I very pleasurably learned an important bit of history I was never taught (I have now done a lot of  further online reading and have quickly planned a trip to Andalusia, Spain).   It very thoughtfully offers a view of Islam and Judaism that's respectful and heartfelt, and holds wisdom for the receptive reader without being dogmatic or preachy. And it does all this in only 129 pages.

Please give this to the kid who has just outgrown the Magic Tree House books after reading them all, whose mind is ready to be stretched a bit! Or any other 8 or 9 year old you happen to have around.  Or if you are an adult willing to appreciate a book that might at first seem to young for you but actually isn't, give it a try!  

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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

Parsifal Rides the Time Wave, by Nell Chenault, for Timeslip Tuesday

Parsifal Rides the Time Wave, by Nell Chenault (1962, Little Brown), is a rather charming time travel book for young readers, 6-9 ish. And even though it is short (with only 85 pages of large text, I read it in 20 minutes), I enjoyed it!

Parsifal is a Poddley, a magical creature who travels to world helping children in need. He's so good at the job he's part of the Poddley Emergency Squad, who take on the toughest cases. And when he arrives at a hospital to see a boy making no effort to get well again, he knows he'll have to be on top of his magical game. And so he un-invisibles himself, and starts to get the bottom of Colin's troubles.

It's a sad story. Colin chased a ball into the street, and didn't see the truck coming. His old collie, Lad, his best friend forever, found the strength to force his old bones to run, and knocked Colin mostly out of harms way. Colin ended up in the hospital, with no reason not to make a full recovery, but Lad was killed. And now Colin is sunk in a pit of self-blame and sadness, and refuses to eat or try to get better.

So Parsifal sets to work to rekindle Colin's interest in life. And what better way to do that than to time travel to medieval Scotland, to meet Robert the Bruce!

Parsifal, being magical, makes time travel easy--Colin arrives appropriately clad and speaking Gaelic. And he saves Robert the Bruce from a treacherous attack, with the help of Robert's own dog, Ban. And sadly, like Lad, Ban is killed saving his master. To thank Colin, Robert gives him as special gift--Ban's son, a lovable puppy.

The puppy can't travel through time, but when Colin gets home he finds his parents have gotten him a puppy just like little Ban Jr. And he is happy again.

It's a sweet and pleasant story despite the sadness of dog death. The time travel is fun and exciting, and although I worried that I might find the whole Poddley thing too twee to stomach, I was perfectly fine with it. Though it's an old book it's not particularly dated in feel, and I'd happily give it to an early chapter book reader who loves both dogs and all things medieval.

Thanks Sherry, at Semicolon, for reviewing the book and putting it on my radar! And thanks, fate, for leading me to a used bookstore in Maine where I found a cheap copy!

Super Potato's Mega Time-Travel Adventuire, by Artur Laperla, for Timeslip Tuesday

Here's a fun graphic novel for younger kids (6-9 year olds ish) for this week's timeslip Tuesday-Super Potato's Mega Time-Travel Adventure, by Artur Laperla (August 6th 2019 by Graphic Universe). Yesterday I also read a YA book that I thought would be today's post (Hello Now, by Jenny Valentine, which was billed as time travel by the library system), but I decided that interdimensional eternal existence isn't time travel, and I didn't actually like it much in any event, so I fell back on my fall back plan, which was spending ten minutes reading Super Potato, and here I am.

I actually enjoyed Super Potato (S.P.) very much.  Though this is the third book in the series, I had No Trouble At All grasping the backstory--macho, good looking, egomaniac superhero, Super Max, turned into a  potato with the same superpowers by a bad guy.  Several years have passed.  Now Scientists have made a time machine, to give S.P. a chance to go back and foil the bad guy before the transformation happens, so S.P. travels back in time (which makes him very sick to his stomach.  Suspension of disbelief is required, because of course potatoes don't have stomachs...)

S.P. has only a limited window of time in the past...but when a nasty sewer swamp villain shows up, boasting about kidnapping Olivia, who was constantly getting kidnapped and rescued by Super Max, S.P. can't just do nothing.  So it's off to the sewers to save the damsel in distress, who is pretty fed up about it all and gets an awesome kick in to show she's not altogether helpless.

But this adventures makes S.P. miss his date with destiny, and he is still a potato when the time machine brings him back to the present.   The thoughtful reader (which would be me) thinks that he let himself get distracted by the side quest because he's actually happier as a potato; it's clear he has mixed feelings about his past self (with good reason!).

And indeed, he is much nicer as he is now.  He is an awful winsome little flying potato dude, and I found him charming!  (nb--the cover doesn't do the cuteness justice, because it's zoomed in on him so much.   In most of the illustrations, he is a small potato drawn to scale, so much cuter, flying around in his little cape...)

Rise of ZomBert, by Kara LaReau

Rise of ZomBert, by Kara LaReau, illustrated by Ryan Andrews (Candlewick, July 14 2020), is an excellent light horror story for 8-9 year-olds (although it's not actually horror unless you are a small woodland creature). It fits nicely into that slice of reading confidence development that falls between early chapter books and full throttle middle grade, with plenty of illustrations, but plenty of text as well.

In a cold, dark laboratory, a cat, Y-91 escapes its cage and makes it to the freedom of the world outside. Weak and starving, the cat finds shelter in a dumpster outside the YummCo Foods factory. The Big Boss of the lab is furious, and demands the cat be found.

The cat is found, but not by the lab assistants. Two nine-year old kids, Mellie and her best friend Danny, are using the factory as the setting for one of the horror movies Danny likes to make. Mellie's heart goes out to the poor animal when she see him in the dumpster, and she names him Bert and takes him home, even though her parents probably won't let her keep him. If she bothers to ask them, that is. So she doesn't, counting on them to be so wrapped up in their food and family blog, which stars her little twin siblings, that they don't even notice.

Mellie, a responsible new pet owner, hits the books to find out how to care for cats, and buys high quality cat food. Bert will have none of it, but demands to be let outside. He is a hunter, and the next day Mellie finds the distressing evidence of his prowess--headless corpses. Bert trusts her, though, and returns to her room to rest. And though Mellie is disturbed by the corpses Bert tries to share with her (his fondness for brains is rather zombie-like, and extends to the decapitation of her stash of stuffed animals), she loves him.

But the Big Boss and his minions are looking for Bert, and it's clear from the chapters told from the cat's point of view that he is not an ordinary animal. The lab is a place where bad things happen, the Big Boss is not nice at all, and Bert is in danger....

The story is delightfully creepy and full of dark mystery, and also full of friendship and family life. Mellie's relationship with her parents, strained by their obsession with creating food and family moments to document for the blog, improves; though they seem not to be paying much attention to her, they actually are better parents than she's giving them credit for. Her partnership with Danny is top notch, and it's his horror movie fixation that sets their minds turning to zombies...Bert is a character in his own right (though he stays always and clearly a cat, and never seems to be a thinking human person in cat form, which I appreciated). I also appreciated that as a result the reader is left not knowing just who or what he is...

The possibility that Bert's a zombie is creepy, but it quickly becomes obvious that the real horror is what's happening in the lab. Part of me wants to recommend the book to animal lovers, who will be right there with Mellie looking out for Bert, but sensitive animal lovers might be distressed by the all too real nastiness of experiments on lab animals (hinted at, though not explicitly described).

It was an abrupt shock to reach the end of this book only to find that we don't get the answers yet! I myself am suspicious of YummCo Foods, and their economic hold on the town....The sudden stop makes me want to read the next book, but it also was very harsh to be just left there with all the questions. This might annoy some young readers greatly.

But that being said, it's really easy to imagine lots of third grade kids loving Zombert, and I will be right there with them grabbing his next book!

disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher

Equality Girls & the Purple Reflecto-Ray, by Aya de Leon

Equality Girls & the Purple Reflecto-Ray, by Aya de Leon (published by the author, May 2020) is a really fun chapter book full of radical girl power!

Daniela's an ordinary fourth-grader, disappointed that budget cuts means there's no coach for her soccer team.  Then there's a freak accident, involving her dog and her mom's top secret science experiment.   She doesn't think much about it, but when she and her friends ask if they can play soccer with two 7th grade boys, and are met with sexist stereotypes, she becomes furiously angry, and purple beams shoot out from her eyes!

When the boys get hit by them, suddenly they are embodying the very stereotypes they'd taunted the girls with--one tries to use flowers as makeup to make himself pretty, and the other becomes obsessed with  a little cat.  The effect has worn off the next day, and the girls think it's maybe a one time thing, until Daniela gets angry again at the man presenting sexist puppet show at school.  Once more the purple beams flash out, and once more their target starts acting out the stereotype, begging to be saved from the fierce girls!

Now Daniela and her friends know what she can do, they decide to tackle the sexist in chief, the president of the United States, who's coming to town to judge a beauty pageant.  He's not named, but he certainly evokes our current president (here's the back cover, that makes that clear!).  And it's lovely to see him get his comeuppance for his sexism, when he gets zapped and wants to take part in the pageant himself, wearing his own bikini bottoms and proclaiming that he's the loveliest of all.

It might seem heavy handed and didactic, but it's actually a lot of fun, and I chuckled out loud several times (kids will probably find it even more entertaining!)  The sci fi powers are cool, though little effort is made to explain them, and though there's not a lot of page time for characterization, Daniela and her diverse group of friends manage to be believable.   And as well as the more egregious examples of sexism, the girls talk to each other about the issue, in healthy ways, such as this conversation:

“What is beauty anyway?” Malaya asked. The crew walked past a pair of
girls taking pictures, both of them wearing “Miss Tween” T-shirts.
“I think it’s just an idea somebody made up to get girls to worry about
things that don’t really matter,” Daniela said.
“But sometimes I like putting on fancy clothes and enjoying how I look,”
Jalisse said.
“That’s different,” Malaya said. “That’s about enjoying fashion and color
and style. There’s so much creativity in that. You sew a lot of your own clothes.
It’s not about competing with other girls for who some guy thinks is prettiest.” 

So in short, I enjoyed it lots, and if I had a kid 7-9 years old on hand, I'd certainly offer it to them. And I'd certainly enjoy reading more adventures of the four equality girls!

disclaimer: e-arc received from the author's publicist.

Polly and Buster, books 1 and 2, by Sally Rippin

Polly and Buster are the main characters in a series of early chapter books written and illustrated by Sally Rippen (Australia's highest selling female author).  The first two books about the pals, Polly the Witch and Buster the Monster, are The Wayward Witch and the Feelings Monster, and The Mystery of the Magic Stones (published in the US by Kane Miller Fall 2019).

Polly and Buster are next-door neighbors, and they have been best friends practically all their nine years.  But theirs is a world in which witches and monsters are not encouraged to be friends.  Monsters go to a different school, and have to sit in the back of the bus.  But Polly knows Buster is the kindest, mostly loyal friend she could ever want....which can't be said of Polly.

When smart and popular fellow witch student Marjorie seems to be willing to be friends with her, Polly goes along with badmouthing monsters, and hurts Buster pretty badly.  Still, when she sees Buster being bullied by other monsters, she comes to his rescue with a burst of magic more powerful than she's ever been able to pull off before.  

This gets twisted by the media into a story of Polly using magic to save Marjorie from a monster attack...and an anti-monster movement springs up, feeding on the already existing distrust and dislike of the witches for the monsters.

In the second book of their adventures, Polly and Buster are on the run.  The leader of the anti-monster movement (Marjorie's mother) is hunting them, the monsters are organizing a movement of their own, and Polly is being summoned by the magical stones her dead father left her on a dangerous quest to the haunted mines where he died.    With Buster at her side, Polly sends an ancient evil back to sleep, and then with Polly at his side, Buster saves Marjorie when her life is in danger.  The anti-monster mania dies down, but when book two ends, it's clear there will be more... 

Though there's magical adventures, these books are first and foremost a story about prejudice and a friendship that shows how stupid prejudice is.  Polly and Buster really are best friends, and that's great.  But although I appreciated their adventures, and found their world interesting, these books made me uncomfortable.  Buster is the more child-like of the two, the one who stuffs his face with sweets, plays games with ghosts instead of defying ancient evil, and provides comic relief.  He's also more animal-like, what with having fur and claws and stinky armpits.  Yes, he's a monster, and these attributes wouldn't have raised my eyebrows in a different sort of story.  But here, the parallels to real-world systemic racism are so clear that I felt it was going into harmful stereotype territory (Buster's not the only monster we meet, but the others troubled me too....).   

So basically, I think these books are well-intentioned, and not without charm, and I liked the stories and was interested in the magic, but I don't feel comfortable with the victims of racism being allegorically portrayed as monsters, no matter how good-hearted the monsters are.

disclaimer: review copies received from the publisher

Brown (My Alter Ego is a Superhero, book 1)

One of the joys of being a first round Cybils Awards panelist is getting to read charming books that weren't on your radar at all.  A case in point, for those of us reading for Elementary/Middle Grade Speculative Fiction, was Brown, by Håkon Øvreås, illustrated by Øyvind Torseter (American edition 2019, Enchanted Lion). This is the first book in the best-selling, award winning, and much beloved My Alter Ego is a Superhero series, and it's a great one to offer the elementary school aged kid who's past early chapter books, but for whom the generously illustrated, fewer words per page books are just right.

Rusty's beloved grandfather has died, and to make things worse, bullies are wrecking the fort he's built out in the woods with his best friend, Jack. What Rusty needs is a superhero to save the day, and so he becomes one himself! With his brown clothes and cape, and armed with cans of brown paint and advice from his grandfather's ghost, he gets revenge as the superhero Brown. Things escalate, though, and so Brown is joined by two other heroes--Jack as Black, and Lou, a neighbor girl who isn't quite as good a friend yet, as Blue. Together they target the bullies with their paint...and though there's plenty of trouble for them to get into, at last they are victorious.

Although the kids have no actual super-powers, the ghost of Rusty's grandfather is an important character in the story, adding magic, good counsel, and love to the shenanigans. It would make a lovely one to offer a kid going through a similar grieving process. The many charming illustrations and the audacity of the kids' "superhero" antics help make this kid friendly, and they'll finish this one looking for the next book (at the Enchanted Lion website, I was pleased to see that Black is apparently "coming soon").

disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher

Mr. Penguin and the Lost Treasure, by Alex T. Smith

Mr. Penguin and the Lost Treasure, by Alex T. Smith (Peachtree, April 2019), will delight young readers (1st-4th grades) who enjoy easy to read, quirky, and funny mysteries.

Mr. Penguin has always dreamed of being an adventurer.  So when he sets up shop along with Colin, a spider friend, offering his services to the townsfolk, he expects to be inundated with requests for help.  Finally the phone rings.  Boudicca Bones, owner of the Museum of Extraordinary Objects (who's human) needs his help finding the treasure supposedly hidden in the museum.

So Mr. Penguin and Colin set out, and find that being adventurers isn't a walk in the park!  Beneath the Museum is a marvelous and dangerous landscape, full of things that could seriously damage anyone exploring there.  And then the danger gets even more dangerous, when the adventurers face a dastardly double-cross!  Fortunately, Edith (another human) who lives in the park with her pigeon friend, Gordon), thought Mr. Penguin might need some help, and comes to the rescue!  The day is saved, the bad guys are caught, and Mr. Penguin and Colin are famous (poor Edith gets a reward, but not the fame....).

It's a fun fast read, that should go down very nicely indeed for younger readers. I didn't see the twist coming, and it upped the level of tension beautifully! The illustrations are amusing, and Mr. Penguin, in his own unheroic and not tremendously useful way, is an appealing character (Colin is much more useful, and I actually liked him better!).  Young pedants might be annoyed that Mr. Penguin lives in a igloo and can't swim, but they can get over that.

And as is so often the happy case with series starters for the young, there's not too long to wait for the next installment--Mr. Penguin and the Fortress of Secrets comes out October, 2019!

disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher.

Dino Knights, by Jeff Norton

Today I'm part of the blog tour for Dino Knights, by Jeff Norton, illustrated by George Ermos (elementary/younger middle grade, Awesome Reads, June 6th 2019).  It's a good pick for elementary school kids--a step up from early chapter books, but not quite at true middle grade level, and it has tons of kid appeal for readers who love kids finding out they are special and saving the day, and of course, kids who love dinosaurs!

Henry is a humble dinosaur stable boy, who can only admire from afar the Dino Knights who protect his kingdom of Brecklan, though sometimes his admiration is shaken by the snooty arrogance of some of the knights in training, who are quick to lord it over him.  Henry has a way with dinosaurs, and when the lord he serves is menaced by a T-Rex, Henry rushes to see if he can help.  The savage T-Rex turns docile when Henry speaks to it, and to Henry's own surprise, lets him ride it.  Now Henry has been promoted to Dino Knight in training himself!

When the enemies of Brecklan sent a flock of pterodactyls to attack, and Lord Harding is kidnapped, Henry and the other Dino Knights set off to the rescue.  Once again, Henry's gifts save the day, and he learns the secret of his uncanny abilities.

The dino-riding is great fun, and Henry is a kid many readers will cheer for.  It doesn't break new ground, or have a whole ton of depth, but it's a charming story.  The generously spaced text make it friendly for young readers, and although I can't speak for the dino accuracy (my own knowledge is woefully out of date!), I don't think that even ardent young dino fans will find many bones to pick. And the illustrations heading each chapter are charming! So if you are looking for a good summer read for your rising 4th grader, this seems to me a good one to offer!

Eleanor Roosevelt's In My Garage, by Candace Fleming, for Timeslip Tuesday

Eleanor Roosevelt's In My Garage, by Candace Fleming, illustrated by Mark Fearing (Schwartz & Wade, September 2018) , is just the sort of entertaining time travel story the title suggests.  Nolan and his little sister Olive have had experience with time travel--they just hosted Ben Franklin for a visit (Ben Franklin's in my Bathroom).  Now the strange device that brought Ben forward in time, and took him home again, has done it again, and Eleanor Roosevelt shows up in their suburban Illinois home.  And just a little while later, she's joined by her family dog, little Fala.

Eleanor is, of course, a strong minded, level-headed sort of person, and she believes the kids when they assure her she'll get home safely.  But the device doesn't work automatically--some positive change has to be made by the time travelling visitor.  When Eleanor finds the local park is going to be made into a parking lot, she rallies the kids to the cause of saving it.  And though the locals aren't easily swayed to oppose the mayor's plan, Nolan and Olive rise to the occasion.

Saving the park isn't enough, though, to get Eleanor and Fala home.  Something more personal is required, just a small thing to change Nolan's life....

I loved the portrayal of Eleanor--she is just the determined, smart, brave sort of person that I imagine she would be if she found her self in the 21st century (although she's not all that curious about modern times, which is perhaps a wise choice).  Nolan isn't a particularly heroic or interesting kid, but his good-hearted and does his best.  Olive is a total brat, and I couldn't stand her efforts to be winsomely cute and get her own way all the time.  Fala is lots of fun.

It's not a preachy book--it's point is not life lessons, but rather to entertain while perhaps instructing a little.  Short graphic stories flash back to Eleanor's own time, from her girlhood trauma of being constantly put down by her mother, to the time she and her husband entertained the King and Queen of England in true American style.  The author's note at the end expends on the bits of history offered in the story.  So it's not at all necessary to know anything about her to enjoy the story, but by the end of it it's hard to imagine readers not admiring her!

Kids will enjoy the generously-fonted text and the humorous illustrations, and pick up a bit of history in the process!  A good pick for 7-10 year olds.  And I might well go get my hands on the first book....even though Olive is awful.  And probably the next book as well....

The Mysterious World of Cosentino, books 1 and 2--great for emerging readers

Here's  the start of a book series for kids 7-10 (ish) about a stage magician (with some real magic as well as some great illusions!) co-written by a real magician!  The Missing Ace (book 1) and Rabbit Rescue, by Cosentino with Jack Heath (Kane Miller, 2018 in the US) are fun adventures full of danger and excitement in a surreal world where many inanimate objects are actually alive and magic is everyhwere, although the practice of magic is forbidden to common folk.

Cosentino, a young stage magician, is a deft illusionist.  He has a secret book of real magical spells, and a kind heart, so when an Ace of Spaces (a living card) seeks sanctuary from the kings soldiers in his theatre, Cosentino tries to help him, but in so doing attracts the attention of the king's henchmen, and he's imprisoned in the royal dungeon!  Will his magic, both real and illusory, be enough to get him out again?

He butts heads with the king again in the second book, in which he and his friends set off to free the magical rabbits of the kingdom, who are about to be served up for the king's eating pleasure.  With help from the young princess, who's not fond of the king's policies, and other, odder friends, Cosentino bends reality to save the rabbits' day, putting his own livelihood at risk.

These are great easy reads for the elementary school aged kid still finding their reading feet.  The font is large, there are illustrations on every page (grey tones, with read highlights), and there is almost always something Happening, on stage or off..

There's no attempt at formal world building, so readers are simply plunged into craziness (which I found a tad off-putting, but I'm not the target audience, and perhaps many emerging readers are put off by explicit world building because it slows things down???).

It's an especially great series for kids who are fascinated by stage magic-- some of Cosentino's tricks are explained to the reader, and there are detailed instructions for a  magic trick at the end of each book.

disclaimer: review copies received from the publisher

Stuck in the Stone Age, by Geoff Rodkey, for Timeslip Tuesday

Stuck in the Stone Age, by Geoff Rodkey (Rodale Kids March 2018), is the sort of romp of a book, generously fonted, with lots of humor (sometimes slapstick) and some poop (not the stuff of jokes, but actually adding value to the story, about which more later) that many elementary/younger middle grade kids love!  In case that isn't clear, the cover art is a good indication of the type of book it is.

It's the story of two adults, the brilliant but social awkward young scientist, Marissa Morice, and the socially brilliant Tom Edison, who stinks at science, but loves it so much he becomes the janitor at the big think tank where Marissa works.  When one of her colleagues invents a working time machine, Marissa and Tom accidently use it, and find themselves stuck in the past, c. 10000 B.C.  Cave men are throwing rocks at them, and a saber tooth tiger is eating them, and the time machine has taken itself home again....

The two have very different takes on being trapped back in time.  Tom feels rescue will arrive, and invents the game of rock ball, which proves hugely popular.  Marissa is less sanguine, and applies herself to inventing agriculture (less popular), ,and using poop as fertilizer (and trying to introduce the concept of hygienic living in the process (also not popular).   Poop also comes in handy when the need for explosive devices arises…. She also single-handedly kills a sabre tooth tiger.

And the two do eventually get home again!  Marissa (shown on the cover as a black woman--so yay for an example of fictional brilliant black woman in a kid's book!)  finds success in science due to her brilliance, and she has learned to appreciate Tom's people skills, and he finds a role in which he can succeed as well.

So it's a fun, and funny, story, that should appeal to the target audience lots (despite the fact that the protagonists are grownups in age, they read a lot like kids, so that's not a problem), and is fine reading for a grownup in need of something light and undemanding!  It is not a book that will teach you anything about Neolithic culture; that part is primarily stereotype, but it's an entertaining example of struggling to survive in a very different culture....if you aren't looking for much nuanced detail about that culture.

What makes this of interest to educators is that it is the first in a series designed to inspirer young writers. Indeed, the premise of the book came from a real kid.  Pages 194 to 267 are a "Story Creation Zone," with lots of tips and helpful guidance for young writers, and in the actually story there are interjections (unobtrusive) that take readers to the section of the Story Creation Zone that deals with a particular topic (like setting) when relevant.  I think the presentation of amusing story and friendly story writing guidance is the sort of thing teachers and their students might well have success with!  

Dragons in a Bag, by Zetta Elliott, for Timeslip Tuesday

Dragons in a Bag, by Zetta Elliott (Random House, October 2018), is an urban fantasy for older elementary aged kids (8-10 ish years old, younger if they are a bookworm type kid, older if shorter books are more enjoyable) who are past Magic Treehouse but not yet at Harry Potter.  The main character is a black boy who gets to have a fantasy adventure in his home city of Brooklyn.  There are not many good diverse, urban books, and it's great that this one is out in the world!

Jaxon's mom needs to go to court to fight against them being evicted from their Brooklyn apartment, and so, in desperation, she takes him to the home of an old woman she calls Ma.  Naturally, Jaxon thinks this is the grandma he's never met, but that's not who Ma is.   Instead, she's a witch, who needs a helper with her magical work.  Today the job is to deliver a clutch of baby dragons to a magical world where they can thrive; Brooklyn lacks the requisite ambient magic.  They can't be let out of the bag, or they'll imprint on humans, and they can't eat anything sweet, or they'll grow....

Ma takes Jaxon with her to the portal to the magical world, and they cross through.  But something has gone wrong--they've travelled back in time to the age of dinosaurs!  And the dinosaurs aren't ready to be friends.  Jaxon, at Ma's command, escapes back to Brooklyn with the dragons, and now he has to figure out how to get them where they belong, and find help for Ma, still stuck in the past.

His friends Vikram and Kavita have some experience with magic of their own, as described in Elliott's earlier book, Phoenix on Barkley Street, but they don't know the baby dragon rules...and break them both.  Jaxon's problems keep escalating! Fortunately, help comes in the form of his mother's father, who he's never met before...and Jaxon learns that his own mother once had the chance to be part of the magic community herself!

It's a brisk adventure, with grown-ups to help along the way, as is fitting for this age group.  There's a nice balance of magic and real-world happenings, and I appreciated Jaxon's mother's choice not to get involved with magic--that refusal made the magic more real and weighty to me--something not to be entered into lightly.  The dragons get enough time out of their bag to be cute (although I would have liked to have seen even more of them!), and the dinosaur time-travel element makes it clear how much magic there is out there.  It's great for young readers, and a quick fun read for grownups!  Brooklyn kids will especially love it, since the setting will be so familiar to them.

As I said above, it's great to have a book like this--there really aren't many.  In fact, the only other diverse urban fantasy books for this age group that I can think of (you get more moving into middle grade territory of books for 9-12 year olds) are Zetta Elliott's earlier City Kids books (with links to my reviews where applicable)--the aforementioned Phoenix on Barkley Street, Dayshaun's Gift, The Ghosts in the Castle, and The Phantom Unicorn (which I haven't reviewed yet, so it's a goodreads link).  These earlier books were all self-published.  While it's great to see Dragons in a Bag being traditionally published, with all the greater reach that offers, and I'm really happy about this, I am a teensy bit huffy about people saying Dragons is something new and different, when the other books are all excellent too, but the commenters maybe just don't know about them...

Knights vs Dinosaurs, by Matt Phelan, for Timeslip Tuesday

Knights vs Dinosaurs, written and illustrated by Matt Phelan (Greenwillow, Oct 2018) is a great one to give to kids who love Ursula Vernon's Hamster Princess books, but want a bit of a change!  It's a fun story, and it's a graphic heavy one, with generous line spacing and not too many pages (148), making it friendly for Elementary School readers into the Middle Grade ages (so basically, 7-10 year olds).

Here's the story--

King Arthur's knights roam around the countryside, looking for bad guys/dragons to fight, but mostly they come up empty handed.  Still, they have to boast about something when they gather around the Round Table, and one night Sir Erec boasts that he slew 40 dragons. Merlin decides it's time to teach the knights a little lesson about boasting....and challenges Sir Erec, and three other knights, to a very different sort of quest, one that involves battling giant reptiles...

The knights follow Merlin's instructions to a cave....and once inside, the four of them, plus one squire, Mel, are sent back in time to the age of the dinosaurs!  At last there real monsters to fight, and the knights agree that they must be vanquished to complete the quest before they can return to their own time.  The dragons chomp and chase and swing their spiked tails, the knights thwack and run away and swing maces and throw rocks and run away a bit more.

But after a bit of practice facing off against the dinosaurs, the knights start working together more effectively, and make it home again!

The coolest of all the knights, both brave and level-headed, is the Black Knight, who turns out to be a woman.  Mel the squire is a girl in disguise.  Gender equity in dino fighting!  Harriet the Hamster Princess I mentioned above would be right at home amongst all the wild rampaging.

It is not a great time travel book qua time travel book, because, as Matt Phelan admits in his instructional guide to prehistoric fauna at the end, he included species that weren't contemporaneous.  So it basically a generic "dinosaur past."   But still it is lots of fun, and Phelan's illustrations are delightful.  If ever Merlin planned a second adventure for these knights, I'd welcome it.