Ranger in Time: Hurricane Katrina Rescue, by Kate Messner, for Timeslip Tuesday

Hurricane Katrina Rescue, by Kate Messner (Scholastic June 2018), is my first venture into  the Ranger in Time series for elementary/younger middle grade kids (this is the 8th book).  Ranger is a rescue dog who failed at the last step of his training because of squirrels.  But with the help of a magic first aid kit, which he keeps carefully stashed away from his human family, he travels through time to put his skills to good use.

In this most recent installment of the series, a girl named Clare is struggling to survive the horrific catastrophe of Hurricane Katrina, which has flooded her home in the Ninth Ward.  She must keep herself and her grandmother alive while the water rises, until they are trapped first in the attic, and then up on the roof of the house....Ranger can't make all the dangers go away, but he can help, and does, and gradually Clare, her grandmother, and the dog make it to safety, in small, risky steps. Full page illustrations make it even easier to visualize what Clare is going through, although Kate Messner's writing makes everything vivid on its own!

It's the sort of time travel I think of as educational--using the conceit to coax kids who wouldn't be drawn to straight-up historical fiction into learning about the past.  Ranger adds tons of kid-appeal, and is helpful, but the story could exist without him in it.  This isn't a criticism of the book, just a thought on what sort of time travel it is!  Of course, another adventure to having a friendly rescue dog around is that it keeps the horror from being overwhelming; the fact there's a happy ending helps too.

As a story, it's a vivid portrayal of the devastated Ninth Ward, starring a particularly brave girl. A fast, gripping read.

A paean to the great girls of FirstSecond's graphic novels

Of course I said "yes please!" when asked if I was interested in being a stop on FirstSecond's celebration of their girl power graphic novels.  These are great books, about which more later in the post.

But in thinking about what I wanted to say about these books, I find myself wanting to talk a bit about graphic novels with strong girls as not just wonderfully empowering stories for girl readers, but as a wonderful opportunity for boys.

In all sincerity, one of the absolutely best things that came from starting a book blog was being on the receiving end of review copies from FirstSecond.  I hadn't really had any awareness that such books existed before blogging, and thanks to this realization, and the review copies that began arriving, my older son began to be a reader.  Before graphic novels I worried about him; he was a capable reader, but not a keen one, and I was afraid he would be deprived of the mind-expanding wonder of discovering imagined worlds in the pages of books.  Not only did graphic novels make him a reader (primarily of graphic novels still, but they are as real as any other books), but he ended up starting his own graphic novel blog (A Goblin Reviews Graphic Novels), and gained the self-confidence that comes of allowing oneself to have opinions, and the invaluable writing practice that comes in expressing them.

And he got to see a whole bunch of strong girls, having adventures, saving the world, saving themselves and their friends, naturalizing that this is what girls can be.  I don't think he will ever save a damsel in distress; I think he would expect the damsel to be able to save herself, though he'd help if needed/asked.  (I just went upstairs to ask him if in fact reading about strong girls had made him think of real girls as strong; he said "That is a stupid question.  I think of people as strong or weak people, not as strong or weak male or female people. Can I be left alone now please?" which is basically the same point....).

But regardless of the inner workings of my son's mind, if you have a boy who has been tricked into thinking that boys shouldn't read books about girls, give that boy a great graphic novel starring a strong girl and they may well love it.  And then they might read more and more books about girls, internalizing girls as persons, not as stereotypes, which is a good thing.

So happily FirstSecond is still going strong, and still sending us books (yay!).  Here's what's new in the way of girl power.  (links go to my more detailed reviews where applicable).

Monsters Beware is the third volume in the Chronicles of Claudette series by Jorge Aguirre and Rafael Rosado (the first two being Giants Beware and Dragons Beware.  Set in a vaguely medieval French world with magic and monsters, Claudette dreams of being a famous warrior and monster slayer.  Her adventures are full of humor, charm, and danger, but what I love about this series most is not just that Claudette is fierce in her sword-waving, but that the two kids who are the main supporting characters, her princess-best friend and her little brother, a would-be chef, get to be just as fierce without the sword part.  They also play an essential role in counterbalancing Claudette's action-oriented zeal.  While being a fun romp that's entertaining as all get out, this series is also a really pleasing exploration of different ways to have strength of character.

The City on the Other Side, by Mairghread Scott and Robin Robinson

Isabel is growing up in sheltered comfort, looking out her windows at San Francisco, a city still recovering from the great earthquake of 1906.  She's not allowed out to explore it, though she would love to.  Her mother is distant and unloving, and sends Isable off to spend the summer out in the country with her sculptor father, who she doesn't know.  There she stumbles through the barrier separating our world from that of the fairies.  In the other world, the two factions, Seelie and Unseelie, are at war.  Isabel is plunged right into the middle of the conflict, when she's entrusted by a dying Seelie warrior with a magical gem that could restore balance...if she can get it to the captured Seelie Princess.  Fortunately Isabel find friends--a mushroom fairy, Button, and a Filipino boy, orphaned by the earthquake, who's also crossed the barrier.  Exploring the city on the other side is magical, but dangerous and scary...but there's never any doubt that it will all work out.  Connections between the two world add weight to Isabel's mission--unbalance on one side of the barrier affects the other.

It's a fine story, and the main characters are charming, but what makes this one truly stunning is the artwork.  It is utterly magical and magnificent and full to bursting with curious denizens of the fairy world.  Gorgeous.

Scarlett Hart: Monster Hunter, by Marcus Sedgewick and Thomas Taylor

Scarlett Hart isn't legally old enough to be monster hunter.  But with her parents, two legendary monster slayers in their own right, dead, she has to do something to bring in a bit of money.  So her loyal butler drives her to locations where monsters have been spotted, supports her in the slaying part (though being tough as nails and a dab hand at weapons and ropes, she doesn't need much help in this department), and delivers the monster corpses to collect payment. But her parents' arch-rival, Count Stankovic, is determined to cut her out of the business, and if she gets busted, she'll loose her ancestral home.  And then she finds out the Count has even more horrible schemes afoot, and the monsters keep getting bigger and fiercer....

Fortunately Scarlett is up to the challenge of both the Count and the monsters!  It's fun adventure, Scarlett's a heroine to cheer for, and I found the illustrations very easy on the eye--clear and crisp.  Give this one to young fans of Jonathan Stroud's Lockwood and Co. series.

The Ripple Kingdom, by Gigi D.G. (Cucumber Quest 2)

The Cucumber Quest series tells the saga of a young rabbit boy (Cucumber) whose plans to study magic got derailed by a quest to save the world.  Fortunately for the world, his little sister, Almond, goes with him; she actually has useful fighting skills, whereas Cucumber's magic hasn't yet fully come into its own, and she's much more keen on the whole quest business in general --finding the fabled Dream Sword and defeating the Nightmare Knight.  This installment finds the rabbit siblings and sundry companions battling a tentacled monster with both sword and magic, and learning more about the nature of their mysterious quest.  It is good fun for elementary school kids, and for older kids who aren't in a hurry to grow up!  And Almond and Cucumber subvert gender stereotypes of heroes very nicely indeed.

The League of Lasers (Star Scouts 2), by Mike Lawrence

Avani is happy just being a Star Scout, but when she is invited to join the League of Lasers, for the most elite scouts, she can't say no.  And the moment she accepts, she's whooshed to outer space, and sent on an initiation challenge.  Things go wrong, and she ends up stranded on a methane planet.  With her arch-enemy, the alien Pam.  Happily, Avani and Pam realize that they need to work together, and become pretty good partners...just in time to make first contact with the aliens who live on this planet.   In the meantime, Avani's dad has realized his daughter's missing, despite the efforts of her alien Star Scout friends to convince him otherwise.  And he's ready to travel through space himself to find her again....

It is a very enjoyable survival/friendship/alien encounter story!  It's so much fun to see the girls working together, in good scouting fashion; Avani is an especially good roll model of practicality and determination.   The story moves briskly, and there are plenty of touches of humor to both the story and the illustrations.  It's a bit tense at times, but never really scary...even the most alien of the aliens is rendered in a non-horrifying way.


That's the round-up of the new releases being featured in this particular blog tour, but I can't write about FirstSecond's girl power books for kids without mentioning the queen of them all--Zita the Space Girl!  She blasted into the world back in 2011, and if I were a betting blogger, I'd put my money on her to be a classic for the ages.

Thank you, FirstSecond, for both the review copies and for publishing awesome books!

Two fun new upper elementary fantasies by Vivian French

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

The Adventures of Alfie Onion

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

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

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

The Cherry Pie Princess

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

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

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

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

disclaimer: review copies received from the publisher

Intergalactic P.S. 3, by Madeleine L'Engle

When I heard there was a new book published in the Wrinkle In Time series, I was thrilled.  But then I discovered that Intergalactic P.S. 3 (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Feb. 2018, 112 pages) was just the starter point for what would become the second book in the series, A Wind in the Door.  L'Engle published it for Children's Book Week in 1970, and it's more a long short story than a full book.  L'Engle tells, in Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art, that she struggled with the plot of A Wind in the Door, with the characters coming clear to her mind but the story being more troublesome.  Intergalactic P.S. 3 was an early stab at the story, and so it doesn't fill in an actual gap in the series, but simply is an alternate version of what "really" happened.

Charles Wallace is about to start school, and he and his family are convinced it is going to be a disaster, because the stereotypical small town mentality where they live is going to make it impossible for a little genius like C.W. to survive without getting beaten up.  The conversation is a lot more direct than it is in a Wind in the Door, and I couldn't help but feel that his parents were setting C.W. up for failure without actually doing anything useful, like trying to talk to his teachers, or possibly moving so he could have a fresh start without negative preconceptions shadowing him.  Meg is determined to save her brother from the hell of public school kindergarten, and so with the power of will and wishing she summons the three Mrs. W, who whisk C.W., Meg, and Calvin off to school on another planet.  

There they are each paired with an alien child, and although Calvin's dolphin-headed partner didn't make it into the final version (no great loss), Progo the cherubim and Sporos, not yet a mitochondrian, are paired with the others, and Meg has to undergo her "which is the real Mr. Jenkins" test.

When I read a Wind in the Door at the age of nine, the Mr. Jenkins test blew my mind.  The story of Calvin's shoes, especially the pathos of Mr. Jenkins trying to make the new ones look a bit used, so as to spare Calvin's feelings, had a huge impact on me (and maybe even made me a better person....at any rate I spent considerable waiting to fall asleep time trying to love the principal of my own school, with little success but perhaps it was good for me).  So reading a much-less developed version of the story did nothing for me.

Basically this book isn't a thrilling expansion of the known universe of A Wrinkle In Time, but simply a look at how the final story of A Wind in the Door developed.  Not without interest to fans, but not exactly a treat.  If, on the other hand, there are young kids today who want to read "the next book" but are not ready to independently read A Wind in the Door, this would be just fine--it's a lot shorter and easier to read, and has friendly illustrations by Hope Larson (who did the graphic novel version of Wrinkle).

What I'm really left with is the desire to re-read Wind in the Door, and a horrible feeling that I don't know where I shelved it...and the old feeling of "those eyes are really scary."
(this isn't my copy, but mine is the same edition in about the same state...I re-read it a lot.)

Cucumber Quest: the Ripple Kingdom, by Gigi D.G.

I have a soft spot for the graphic novel series Cucumber Quest because my little one (now not so little) was very fond of it when it was still a webcomic....Now it is a book series from FirstSecond, and the second book, The Ripple Kingdom, has just been released (the first book, The Doughnut Kingdom, came out last fall).  Those wise grownups who realize that reading kid-friendly graphic novels is a great way to get kids reading, especially when it's a series that's fun and bright and both a bit silly and quite a bit exciting, should be happy to have it to offer any young readers (7-10 year olds) who they might have kicking around the place.

Cucumber is a young rabbit boy whose plans to study magic got derailed by a quest to save the world.  His little sister, Almond, goes with him, and she's thrilled to have her fighting skills put to the test on their quest to find the fabled Dream Sword and defeat the Nightmare Knight.  Cucumber is much less thrilled, and his thrill level goes down even more when misfortune at sea strands him on a lonely beach.  Almond and their companion, the rather hapless Sir Carrot, are no where to be seen.   But on the beach, Princess Nautilus is being menaced by a gang of crab bullies, and Cucumber is able, to his own astonishment, to use his magic to save her.  The two join forces to rescue Almond, Carrot, and Queen Conch from the giant tentacled Splashmaster, and manage, improbably, to succeed.

It's lots of fun, with colorful illustrations that have touches of silliness, and little bits of random story (like a pop-in visit from the superhero Captain Caboodle, Champion of Justice).  And though the perspective hops around from Cucumber to Almond, the adventure is easy to follow, and quite gripping!  A more serious thread runs through it too--can the Nightmare Knight, who makes an appearance at the end of the book, ever really be defeated when there are always evil, power-hungry folk who will call him back to life????

Cucumber and Almond, and the hapless Carrot, must do their best, and so it's onward to their next adventure in the Melody Kingdom, coming this May!

disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher

My Rotten Stepbrother Ruined Cinderella, by Jerry Mahoney

My Rotten Stepbrother Ruined Cinderella, by Jerry Mahoney (Capstone, August 2017) is a fun one for younger middle grade readers (9-10 year olds) who enjoy a fun fractured fairy tale.

Maddie is a big fan of Cinderella, and she's proud of the diorama she made of the story for school.  But her stepbrother Holden is not impressed with either, and points out the many logical flaws in the story; for instance, surely Cinderella isn't the only girl with that particular shoe size!  And soon Maddie's diorama has changed to something not in the real story, and all the book versions have gone horribly wrong too.  Holden's logic has broken Cinderella, and her happy ending is no more!

Holden and Maddie magically enter the story (not of their own volition; it just happens), and once there Madddie's determined to set things right.  Holden, though, is an uncertain ally at best, because he's more interested in things making sense, which isn't so useful when dealing with fairy tales. But the two of them manage to start tidying things up, starting with the stepsister who's now going to marry the prince; this wasn't her idea (she'd rather go to art school).  The stepmother is the villain of the piece, and getting her out of the way of Cinderella's happily ever after  turns out to be rather a tricky job. But once Cinderella and her stepsisters (one of whom is now Maddie, disguised by enchantment) put their past behind them and start working as a team, and once Holden and Maddie do the same, things fall into place.

It's a lot of fun, and interesting to visit a well known story through Holden's fresh, critical eyes.  The author also adds a rational explanation for the vexing question of why the prince needed the shoe fitting to recognize his true love again--he has face blindness.  The resulting story is quite a bit more interesting than the original, although happy ever after is once again achieved (I found myself cheering more enthusiastically from the emancipated stepsister, now free to pursue her own dreams, than I did for Cinderella, who's romance still remains founded on the flimsy foundation of insta love...).

There are many bits of very kid friendly humor, and the illustrations entertain as well. It's the sort of book you can start reading aloud to kids even younger than 9, and then leave lying around as bait for independent reading.  Kids who enjoy this sort of disrupted fairy tale will then be happy to read the other books in the series, in which Holden ruins other stories in similar fashion.  It is also a good teaching tool about thinking critically about plot, and learning to recognize plot holes; Holden makes many valid points!

disclaimer: review copy received from the author

The Doughnut Kingdom (Cucumber Quest #1), by Gigi D.G.

The Doughnut Kingdom (Cucumber Quest #1), by Gigi D.G. (FirstSecond October 2017), is a cute and fun graphic novel for young readers.

My younger son, now 14, has been a fan of Cucumber Quest webcomic for years, and he and I were both very exited to get the book in our hands--he because books are more fun to read, and me because books are all I read, and I was very curious to see what this Cucumber Quest thing was all about.  It's the story of a young rabbit person, Cucumber, whose plans to spend peaceful years at magic school are derailed when a mysterious oracle tells him he has to go save the kingdom.  He knows he's not up to the task of overthrowing the evil queen, and so does his little sister, Almond.  Fortunately Almond sets off after him, determined to be an epic hero in her own right, and her sword skills save him from almost immediate defeat.

She's thrilled to be off on a quest for the fabled Dream Sword; Cucumber less so.  And Carrot, the really rather pathetic excuse for a knight who's joined them, doesn't add much to Cucumber's  confidence.  As for the oracle, she turns out to be much more interested in keeping up with her tv shows than she is in helping quests along, and in fact has carelessly handed the Dream Sword over to an infamous young thief, Saturday.  Can the brave (and less brave) bunnies really succeed against the powerful enemies who are threatening world domination?  Almond thinks yes, Cucumber not so much.

The bright pictures and zippy story carry readers along very nicely indeed.  It's funny, and a tad subversive (Almond's heroic potential is dismissed at first, but she's not going to let anyone keep her from the fun!).  This first volume is something of a stage-setter, and apparently things will get even more exciting in future adventures.  Enthusiastically recommend to fantasy loving eight to ten year olds, who will, if they are like my own child, eat up the zesty sweetness of Cucumber's adventures!

disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher

The Infamous Ratsos Are Not Afraid, by Kara LaReau, illustrated by Matt Mayers

Brothers Ralphie and Louie return for more early chapter book fun in The Infamous Ratsos Are Not Afraid, by Kara LaReau, illustrated by Matt Mayers (Candlewick, September 2017).   The rat brothers are faced with twin challenges in this outing.  The first is to build their own arcade in a vacant lot near their home, which involves moving lots of junk, a lot of ingenuity, and a lot of cooperation from their various animal friends.  And of course it involves lots of fun!

The second type of challenge is a tougher one.  Louie, the older brother, has to confront his fear of the "haunted" house next to the lot.  When part of one of the games flies off and breaks the window of the house, Louie screws his courage to the sticking point and rings the doorbell.  Much to his relief, instead of a ghost there's a lonely old squirrel gentleman, who becomes a friend.

Ralphie must be brave too, when a sticky social situation develops at school.  Ages ago he gave a classmate a mean nickname that stuck and made her life miserable, and now that he and Louie have given up cultivating tough, mean personas (as described in The Infamous Ratsos) he realizes how very wrong this was.  So he has to find the courage to admit his fault and make things right by speaking out in public.

So yes, there's a moral point at work alongside the fun of building the arcade.  But it is a fact that kids have to confront fears all the time, and to see two boy rats doing so, and living through it, will be both comforting and inspiring for young readers.  Big Lou, the boys' dad, who's as tough as they come, admits to being afraid sometimes himself, and gives pithy advice on working through fear and coming out the other side that's both wise and useful.

My own early reading is the source for many of the life lessons that rattle around in my brain as verbatim quotes, and  I'm all in favor of early chapter books like this one, that nest such lessons into fun and charming stories.

My only personal regret with this one is that I would have loved to spend much more time in the vacant lot cleaning the junk up and making the games etc.  It's a lovely premise and sounds like tons of fun.  Which actually has made another thought occur to me--it's nice to see a book about not well-off (at least they don't seem to be, and the neighborhood, with dilapidated houses and vacant lots full of junk, supports this assumption), urban kids making their own fun and having a loving supportive parent.

Disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher

Hamster Princess: Giant Trouble, by Ursula Vernon

I am a huge fan of Harriet the Hamster Princess, whose fairytale mashup adventures take her and her riding quail, Mumphrey,  into all sorts of magical dangers.  In Giant Trouble, her fourth outing (Dial, May 2017),  Harriet meets the story of Jack and the Beanstalk when a mysterious cloaked chipmunk tries to sell her magic beans.

Harriet knows enough not to trust the chipmunk and his beans, but Mumphry pecks one up.  That night, when the bean comes out the other end of Mumphry, it sprouts into a gigantic beanstalk.  Her first reaction is concern; a beanstalk several miles tale could cause considerable damage to her family's kingdom if it fell.  Cutting it down isn't an option, and when she hears harp music wafting down from it, she decides to go up it to see who's there.

She and Mumfry find a giant's cabin in the clouds at the top, and inside the cabin is a captive harpster--a girl who is part hamster, part harp.  Appalled at the injustice of the harpster's captivity, force to play lullabies when really she wants to start a rock band, Harriet starts thinking of how to rescue her.  But then the giant comes home, and proves to be a formidable advisory, too much for Harriet to handle on her own.

Fortunately her friend Wilber has come up the beanstalk to find her, and fortunately, Strings the Harpster and even her co-captive goose can take part in their own rescue.  But what was just a simple rescue attempt becomes a dangerous and touch and go escape attempt, involving a desperate race across the clouds.

It's as exciting and charming as all of Harriet's adventures, but rather more tense. Harriet really can't pull this one off on her own, and it's good to see her working as part of a team.

If I were working in a bookstore, I'd be trying to handsell this series to every 8-10 year old girl who walked through the door.  Harriet is just about the most kickass female role model going for kids this each, and with the acknowledgement that even the most kickass hamster can't do everything alone, her story becomes even stronger.  Plus she's going to play drums in String's band.

The Wish List: The Worst Fairy Godmother Ever!

If you are looking for a sparkly magic story for a seven or eight year old who wants a bit of magical fluff, The Wish List: The Worst Fairy Godmother Ever! by Sarah Aronson (Scholastic, May 30 2017)is a good one.  Though there's magical sparkles a plenty, there's enough heart to it by the end of the book that it leaves a nice warm glow.

Isabelle is a fairy-godmother-in-training, but she's by no means the best student in her class. In fact, she's pretty much the worst....she's the only one who hasn't done the assigned reading of all the rules and regulations and instructions, and though she's enthusiastic about the whole thing (almost obnoxiously so) it's touch and go if she'll be assigned to a practice princess or not.

When she does get her assignment, she's disappointed and taken aback--her princess is an ordinary girl, who doesn't even seem to have made a wish yet!  But as Isabelle spends time with Nora, she comes to appreciate her, and when she realizes that Nora's wish is to have a friend, Isabelle thinks the job's a good as done.  When she tells Nora her wish has been granted, though, Nora is understandably put out that friendship with her has been a job for Isabelle.  Isabelle is perceptive enough to realize this, though, and manages to make everything work in the end in fine fairy godmother style. 

Except that she hasn't read the rule book yet....opening the door to a sequel in which sparkle magic pose problems for both girls!

At first I was very dismissive of Isabelle, who seemed tremendously shallow, but her friendship with Nora deepens her, and I felt bad about judging her for not doing the reading when it was revealed that she needed glasses (then I felt mad at the adults who hadn't realized this before!).  I ended up enjoying the book much more than I thought I was going to, and I'm sure the target audience--the elementary school girl who enjoys a bit of friendship drama along with a nice dose of magic--will enjoy it even more!

disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher

Pip Bartlett's Guide to Unicorn Training, by Maggie Stiefvater and Jackson Pearce

Pip Bartlett's Guide to Unicorn Training, by Maggie Stiefvater and Jackson Pearce (Scholastic, Feb. 28 2017), is the second story of Pip and the magical creatures she's determined to become an expert on!  In Pip's world, creatures like unicorns are real, and she has the unusual ability of being able to communicate directly with them.  She also has an aunt who's a vet specializing in magical creatures, giving her a chance to get to know many of them up close (sometime too much so) and personal.

In her first appearance (Pip Bartlett's Guide to Magical Creatures), among other adventures she met a most unusual unicorn.  Instead of being a vain, self-absorbed snot like just about every other show unicorn, Regent Maximus is a neurotic mess, afraid of everything.  Yet Regent Maximus' owner has entered him into the competition that's basically the Westminster Kennel Club for unicorns, and even though the unicorns aren't the only creatures on display, and Pip was looking forward to expand her magical creature studies, she feels responsible for helping poor R.M. cope.

But her attention is distracted when other unicorns are attacked; someone is cutting off unicorn tales!  Though this increases R.M.'s chance of placing in the competition, Pip is determined to do what she can to stop the perpetrator, and since she can talk directly to all the magical creatures, maybe she can find a witness....

A nice little side story is Pip's hyper-allergic friend, Tomas, who finds a magical creature that he can (if he can convince his parents) keep as a pet....

These are great books for the 8 or 9 year old who loves fantasy creatures, and for whom "magical vet"  sounds like just the best job in the world! The unicorns have lots of personality (even though its not all charming personality), there are lots more fun creatures introduced here, and the mystery is satisfactorily resolved (it's a do evil that good might come sort of crime, adding a smidge of ethical thought provoking-ness to the mix). 

Short answer--fun and charming!

disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher

Ollie's Odyssey, by William Joyce

One of the things that happens to me every year when I'm a judge for the Cybils is a review backlog, and concomitant guilt, partly because I appreciate the publisher's making the effort to send review copies, and partly because the books I haven't reviewed are just sitting here at home instead of up the street at the public library making new friends (I've been doing it so long that books I donated to the library my first year of doing the Cybils are now being weeded....sigh).  But in any event, this evening I am posting about one of the review copies that came my way--Ollie's Odyssey, by William Joyce (Atheneum, April 2016)  one that I think the young library patrons and their parents will be very pleased with. 

It is a stuffed toy come to life book, but though that has been done before, Joyce has made a fresh and interesting story from it.  Ollie was made by Billy's mom to be his special friend, and they love each other very much.  But then one horrible day Ollie is kidnapped! And Billy must break his parents rules, and head out alone into the night, to find his most Favorite friend.

There's a whole back story to the kidnapper, a clown doll named Zozo, who presided over a carnival booth.  There he fell in love with a ballerina doll, who was taken from him to be the favorite of a little girl.  Warped by this loss, Zozo turned dark, and created an army of clockwork creeps to scour the world for favorite stuffed toys and dolls, hoping to somehow find the one doll he's seeking.  And Ollie, being a favorite, has fallen into Zozo's hands.....

But Ollie, being a very bright stuffed toy indeed, escapes, and finds himself in a junkyard.  There he finds unlikely allies, who agree to take on Zozo's army of creeps and save the other toys.  His new friends are a very odd crew indeed--including a bottle opener, a pet rock, and an aluminum can, but though odd they are stalwart.  As is Billy, still a very little kid making his way through the dark night to find his friend.

And all ends well, which is satisfying.

Joyce's charming illustrations, of which there are many, bring the characters to life, and though Zozo the clown doll is scary as all get out (as is the case with so many malevolent clown dolls), the sweetness of Ollie compensates.  The result is a lovely read to share with young kids who can cope with malevolent clown dolls!  I don't think it's one that most  4th and 5th graders would be interested in, but on the other hand, a 2nd or 3rd grader who is not in too much of a hurry to grow up themselves might well enjoy reading it to themselves. 

Rooster Joe and the Bully/El Galo Joe Y El Abusõn,l , by Xavier Garz

I'm proud to be part of the fourth (!) Multicultural Book Day, and to offer a middle grade book provided by Arte Público Press--Rooster Joe and the Bully/El Galo Joe Y El Abusõn, by Xavier Garz.  The story reads in English from one side of the book, and in Spanish from the other.

Joe loves to draw roosters, and he's gotten pretty good at them!  When his art teacher at school sees his work, she encourages him to paint as well as draw, opening up new possibilities and dreams for him.  His grandpa Jessie's a famous painter, and happy to help teach him too.  And then he crosses paths with Kiki, a classmate from fourth grade, who's now really cute and friendly, and who seems to like him..... But things aren't all good.  When Joe sticks up for Luis, who's being bullied by the biggest, meanest kid of the middle school and his henchmen, Joe becomes a target himself.

Turns out that Grandpa Jessie can help Joe with more than painting, and his advice is pretty spot on.

"All it take is one person, Joe," says Grandpa Jessie.
"One person?" I ask him.  "But what could one person possibly do?"
"You would think not much, but you would be wrong.  Just one person can inspire.  Just one person can motivate.  Just one person can give others the strength to take a stand, and be the voice that will inspire them to join in his or her cause. Then together these people can move mountains." (page 39)

So Joe draws on all the strength and fierceness of the roosters he loves to draw and paint, and stands up to the bullies.  And other kids come to stand with him, becoming something bigger and stronger than the bullies could cope with.  Joe's feelings are shown in a way that will resonate with the target audience, and kids will cheer for him as he takes his stand.

It's a quick read, only 64 pages, and the story is pretty straightforward, so Upper Elementary school kids (4th graders) would have no problem reading it.  Garzo's bold black and white illustration add pizzazz to the somewhat formulaic story.

Head over to the Multicultural Children's Book Day links page, for a whole slew of reviews!

And by way of information and thanks:

About Multicultural Children’s Book DayMulticultural Children’s Book Day 2017 (1/27/17) is its fourth year and was founded by Valarie Budayr from Jump Into A Book and Mia Wenjen from PragmaticMom. Our mission is to raise awareness on the ongoing need to include kid’s books that celebrate diversity in home and school bookshelves while also working diligently to get more of these types of books into the hands of young readers, parents and educators.
Despite census data that shows 37% of the US population consists of people of color, only 10% of children’s books published have diversity content. Using the Multicultural Children’s Book Day holiday, the MCBD Team are on a mission to change all of that.

Current Sponsors:  MCBD 2017 is honored to have some amazing Sponsors on board. Platinum Sponsors include Scholastic, Barefoot Books and Broccoli. Other Medallion Level Sponsors include heavy-hitters like Author Carole P. Roman, Audrey Press, Candlewick Press,  Fathers Incorporated, KidLitTV, Capstone Young Readers, ChildsPlayUsa, Author Gayle Swift, Wisdom Tales Press, Lee& Low Books, The Pack-n-Go Girls, Live Oak Media, Author Charlotte Riggle, Chronicle Books and Pomelo Books

Author Sponsors include: Karen Leggett Abouraya, Veronica Appleton, Susan Bernardo, Kathleen Burkinshaw, Maria Dismondy, D.G. Driver, Geoff Griffin,  Savannah Hendricks, Stephen Hodges, Carmen Bernier-Grand,Vahid Imani, Gwen Jackson,  Hena, Kahn, David Kelly, Mariana Llanos, Natasha Moulton-Levy, Teddy O’Malley, Stacy McAnulty,  Cerece Murphy, Miranda Paul, Annette Pimentel, Greg Ransom, Sandra Richards, Elsa Takaoka, Graciela Tiscareño-Sato,  Sarah Stevenson, Monica Mathis-Stowe SmartChoiceNation, Andrea Y. Wang

In Due Time, books 1-3, by Nicholas O. Time, for Timeslip Tuesday

For this week's Timeslip Tuesday I offer a new series of time travel adventures, great for the kid who loved Magic Tree House or the Time Warp Trio but who is now ready for a peek at middle school (which is to say, third and fourth graders who want to read about kids older than themselves, with a slightly more realistic fiction feel to the time travel shenanigans).

There are three books thus far in the series (from Simon Spotlight, all 2016):

Going, Going, Gone
Stay a Spell
Wrong Place, (Really) Wrong Time

The premise of the books is that a middle school librarian is the keeper of a book that serves as a time travel portal.  If the book is not used, its power wanes, so the librarian recruits kids she trusts to journey back in time, and (as we learn in the second and third books), there's an antagonist who wants to get his hands on the book, and alter history.  In the normal course of events, the book only allows for relatively minor positive changes.  In book one, Matt, Luis, and Grace travel back to the 50s to save Matt's grandfather from the accident that keeps him from being a pro baseball player.  In the second,  Jada and her two best friends go to 1977 Hollywood, and keep Jada's aunt from making the spelling mistake that foils her dream of becoming a fashion designer.  In the third book, Luis and a new friend, Andrew,  plan a journey with Captain Kidd, and then find themselves coping with visitors from the past in Luis' own home (and you really really don't want a Viking as a house guest!).

As the series progresses, the time travel lens widens, and the stakes get higher as the kids learn about the man who wants to get the book.  Things move beyond the tension of simple (as it were) time travel, to time travel with an enemy who needs thwarting! 

Along the way, the kids deal with a few regular middle school issues of a lighter sort (bad grades in spelling and making friends with a new kid sort, as opposed to weightier issues like dead parents and bullying).   This makes the books a good fit for elementary school aged readers--it won't make them anxious about 7th grade.   The protagonists are an engaging bunch, and Luis and Jada (who is black) bring diversity to the mix.  Something I especially like is that the kids don't fuss about gender when it comes to friendships; it's really nice to see books where boys and girls are simply good friends.

Time travel is relatively easy here--the librarian gives them scarfs that serve as time travel smoother-overs for those difficult linguist and clothing issues.  But of course that doesn't help Luis and Andrew when they have to keep a Viking, Charlie Chaplin, and King Tut from wrecking Luis' house! 

In short--these are fun, fast books that should please the target audience of 9 or so year olds.

disclaimer: review copies received from the publisher

Dino-Mike and the T. Rex Attack for Timeslip Tuesday

If you have a six to eight year old who loves dinosaurs and is reading at the Early Chapter Book level of large font and generous spacing and who really thinks it would be cool to have a Dino Jacket full of dino special effects and neat gadgets, by all means try Dino-Mike and the T. Rex Attack (Stone Arch Books, March 2015) , written and illustrated by Franco. It's the first in a series of dino-filled adventures staring Mike, who has just such a jacket, and who meets lots of dinosaurs over the course of his adventures.

For reasons never made convincing (in this first book at least), some people think they should bring back the dinosaurs, using time travel to do so, resulting in a rouge T. Rex rampaging around the dig where Mike is hanging with his paleontologist dad.  For reasons that do not require explanation, there are other people working to stop the dinosaur lovers, and in this case a oprative named Shannon, a girl a bit older than Mike, has been given the task of capturing the T. Rex.  

T Rexs are hard to capture, especially so if there's an enemy agent working against you.  Mike and Shannon have lots of close calls and there are lots of exciting dinosaur chases (some dinosaur chasing kid, some kid chasing dinosaur).  The time travel part, though not explored in great detail, added interest, and leaves lots of room for further books.  Generously sprinkled illustrations of big eyed kids (and big toothed T. Rex)  add to the young-reader friendly-ness of the mix.

This book, however, made a mistake that annoys me no end. A paleontological excavation for fossils is not an "archaeological dig" and Mike's dad had no business saying so.

There are other books about Dino-Mike, one of which, Dino-Mike and the Jurassic Portal, sounds more time-travel focused than The T. Rex attack, which serves more as an introduction to the scenario, and so I will probably look out for it, though I'm not sure I feel the need to read all eight books in the series (six currently out, plus two more coming August 1, 2016)
 
So if you are the target audience, enjoy them!  I'm not, but still they seem to me the sort of books that are a good gateway to a life of geeky spec fic reading....

Mister Cleghorn's Seal, by Judith Kerr

Mister Cleghorn's Seal (HarperCollins, June 2016) is Judith Kerr's first children's novel in 37 years!  It is a charmer, a book that is especially lovely for reading out loud with a 5 or 6 year old, because it's the sort of story with shifts in direction at just the right sort of places to stop for the night, and because it has friendly, sweet illustrations (lots of the titular baby seal) that are great for sharing with a child.

Mister Cleghorn is bored and at loose ends after selling the store he ran for years and years.  So for the first time he says yes to an invitation to visit family by the ocean.  And there he meets a baby seal, who one of the family's kids has been visiting regularly.  They watch as its mother comes to feed and tend it...but then one day the mother seal doesn't come.  The fishermen have been shooting seals, who they see as competition for the fish.  And without a mother, the baby seal will starve.

So Mister Cleghorn decides to take it back to town with him, and find a home for it in the local zoo.

Travelling with the seal goes surprisingly well, but of course the zoo is closed when they get to town.  So Mister Cleghorn brings the seal home, and installs it in the bathtub, with the water dripping to keep it happy...and this results in him meeting the neighbor downstairs, when the tub floods! 

She's a very nice person, and fond of animals, and becomes his ally in seal keeping.  And he needs an  ally, for the zoo has fallen on bad times, with shiftless, careless owners, and it's no place for a young seal.  Mister Cleghorn's apartment isn't great either...especially since the caretaker forbids any animals at all.

Happily, a solution is found that makes everyone happy.  It's a really nice ending that solves the problem of the zoo as well, and includes Mister Cleghorn and his neighbor falling in love.  So it's a good story, nicely told, with just enough tension to keep it going, and without so much emphasis on the death of the seal mother to upset the sensitive young (although they might be, a little).

One reason I'm happy to recommend it is that I think it's good for kids to see old folks in stories having interesting lives, and trying new things, and starting new adventures, and falling in love.  It makes a refreshing counter-narrative to the stereotypes of old age!  Because it is about an "old" man, it might not appeal immediately to the independent reader, but if that reader is an animal fan, the charming seal drawings will suck them in....

So all in all, a pleasure!


disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Key Hunters--The Mysterious Moonstone and The Spy's Secret, by Eric Luper

Key Hunters is a new series by Eric Luper that's a good choice for older elementary kids not yet ready for fantasy door stopper books.  The font size and spacing fits my sense of  "chapter books for young readers," and the plots are such as will be more pleasing to the young reader who has little experience with genre fiction, for whom mystery solving in historical times and spy foiling with lots of technology involved are still new fictional ground.  The first two books, The Case of the Mysterious Moonstone, and The Spy's Secret, just came out (Scholastic, April 26, 2016).

Cleo and Evan were very fond of their old school librarian, who was also fond of them, and encouraged them to enjoy the library.  She's been replaced (without saying goodbye) by a new librarian, a nasty piece of work, who wants the kids to sit and be quiet, and nothing else, when they are in the library.  One day Cleo and Evan happen to be in the library when they hear  the bad librarian muttering to herself, then crying out and disappearing.  She's gone through a hidden doorway, opened by a book in the literature section, and Cleo and Evan head off down the secret stairs to find out what's going one.  In the room below, there's a note from the good librarian, saying she's stuck in a book, but has left clues to be followed to find her.  The Case of the Mysterious Moonstone lies on a table, and when the kids open the book, they find themselves whirling into its 19th century world, where they are characters helping to solve the mystery of a missing gem.  The bad librarian is there too, in the role of a villain.

But though the moonstone mystery is solved, Cleo and Evan don't find the good librarian.  So they head into another book, The Spy's Secret, where they are spy kids with lots of gadgets, trying to foil the plot of the evil Viper who's plotting world domination from his underwater lair.  The bad librarian is also there a villain, but somewhat more ambiguously so than she was in the first book, which adds interest.  Once again, they don't find the good librarian, but perhaps they will in the third book, The Haunted Howl, coming in September.

If you are older than ten or so, you can skip these, but they are good ones for the target audience.  These are books I'd give to any fans of the A-Z mysteries, for instance (do kids these days still read those?).  The many cartoonish illustrations will help uncertain readers along, and the stories move briskly.  And of course they are good gateways to all the books for older kids out there in which the characters fall into the world of stories; for instance, a nice next step might be The Island of Dr. Libris, or Chris Colfer's Land of Stories series, though the later, in particular, is a perhaps a bit of a jump in terms of number of words....

Here's what I personally appreciated--Evan and Cleo work together as equal friendly partners, and as the cover shows, Evan's a kid of color, a fact that has no bearing on the plot.

disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher

The Impossible Quest, by Kate Forsyth (series review)

The five books that make up The Impossible Quest series, by Austrailian author Kate Forsyth, are absolutly spot on for the eight or nine year old who loves fantasy, but who isn't quite ready for the middle grade big league--the sort of kid whose a really strong and eager reader, but not emotionally ready for truly harrowing violence or romance or, heaven forbid, cute little animals who die.  I don't often wish my now 12 year old was a 9 year old again, but after reading the books myself I did so wish I could send them back in time a few years for his third or fourth grade reading pleasure!

The story is fairly standard stuff--four kids (two boys, two girls) thrown together as unlikely allies when their homeland is invaded.  They are a young knight in training, the son of the castle cook, the witch's apprentice, and the daughter of the manor, and they have no clue what they are going to do about defeating their enemies.  They do, however, have a riddling prophesy to guide them on what seems at first to be an impossible quest...and so they set out on a journey that ends up making the impossible into reality.

Four mythical animals must be found--unicorn, gryphon, dragon, and sea serpent.  One is introduced in each book, and forms a special bond with one of the kids, and I think this aspect of the book in particular has just tons and tons of kid  appeal.  Each of the kids also has a magical item that they have to figure out how use properly, and each has special strengths that they bring to the group.  As dangers are overcome in each book, the kids are forced to make out of their four conflicting personalities and backgrounds a cohesive fighting force. And they actually come to genuinely like and care for each other, putting aside various preconceptions and old grudges.  The characters are each given turns as the primary point of view, which helps make each one unique and compelling; the adventure never overshadows the personalities, and worries, and hopes of the adventurers.

The adventures themselves are a fine introduction to fantasy questing, and Kate Forsyth does a very fine job at vivid descriptions.  The drowned city full of writhing sea serpents, for instance, was more than a bit memorable.  It is not a sweetness and light fantasy for the young, but it is written for young readers--there are things that are horrible (like the army of bog men, reanimated victims of past sacrifice), but the horror is not delved into so deeply or emotionally that it is distressing. 

In short, though this series doesn't add much in the way of diversity to the upper elementary fantasy available, and doesn't break wildly imaginative new ground, it is does fill a niche for younger readers wanting epic adventures. The books would also be fine for older middle grade kids who like fantasy but who aren't the strongest, most committed readers-- the short chapters, short overall length, and fairly rapid fire adventures will make the pages turn.

The books were released in Australia two years ago, and are now being published here in the US all at once by Kane Miller (which is very nice indeed from a parent's point of view, because if your kid likes book 1, you can trot out books 2-5 without waiting for ages between books!)

The books in the series are:
Escape from Wolfhaven Castle
Wolves of the Witchwood
The Beast of Blackmoor Bog
The Drowned Kingdom
Battle of the Heroes

(you won't find the US editions for sale on Amazon, as Kane Miller is a strong supporter of indie bookstores.  The links above go to Barnes and Noble; you can also get them through your independent bookstore in June).

disclaimer: review copies recieved from the publisher

Flashback Four: The Lincoln Project, by Dan Gutman, for Timeslip Tuesday

Dan Gutman needs no introduction for anyone familiar with kids books--the Genius Files, My Weird School, and the Baseball card Adventure series have won him many young fans.  And now he is turning his attention to time travel with Flashback Four: The Lincoln Project (HarperCollins, upper elementary/younger middle grade, February 23, 2016).

So four kids travelling back in time to an important moment in American history (in this case, the Gettysburg Address) isn't that remarkable a premise.  But Gutman, as one might expect, makes it interesting.

This is organized, planned, time travel with high tech science (and lots of funding) driving it.  The four kids receive individual invitations to be part of it (although at first they don't know what the invitations are really for.....).   A solid chunk of the beginning is setting up the whole How and Why and Where of the time travel, a reason is given for why kids were chosen to be the travelers (although there's no reason why these particular kids were picked), and they get coaching on 19th century idioms, food, and clothing.   Their mission is not to change history, but simply to take a photo of Lincoln delivering the Gettysburg Address--nice and easy.

Except it isn't easy.  They arrive a day early, and one of the team members, Julia, gets somewhat distracted by thoughts of selling souvenirs on ebay, causing difficulties.  They have no food and nowhere to stay.  But they muddle through, and there they are, ready to point and shoot at Lincoln, and then things get really quite tricky when they arrested for attempted assassination.  The tension doesn't last long, though, and they return safe home. 

It's a fun, easy time travel read, good for confidently reading second graders up to fifth grade or so.  It's mostly entertainment, but there are a few little touches of thought provoking comment on the historical context.  For instance, one of the four kids is black, and so we are given his reactions to certain events from the perspective of a position that is more dangerous than that of his white comrades.  The inclusion of actual historical photographs (including one of dead soldiers lying on the battlefield, which is sad but not grotesque) adds educational interest and pleased primary source-loving me.

Definitely one to give to the kid who loved the Magic Tree House books last year.

Disclaimer: ARC acquired from the publisher at ALA Midwinter