"Celtic" music in fantasy

I am back on-line after a weekend spent with friends in a small, small town in western Virginia, where Irish music was played 12 hours (at least) every day, and there was much hilarity and consumption of beverages. But I missed not having a computer...sad.

Irish music has shown up recently in two fantasy books--The New Policeman, by Kate Thompson, and Lament, by Maggie Stiefvater. In both books the music adds a depth to the story; a sort of thick description (ala Geertz, an anthropologist who coined the term to describe the sort of ethnography he advocated) that makes a fantastic story real (or another culture come to life in the reader's mind. Ethnography and fantasy have lots in common).

Two older books by R.A. MacAvoy (a name that is doubtless familiar to others who read lots of fantasy in the 1980s--the Damiano books were the best known) feature an Irish fiddle player--Tea With the Black Dragon(1983) and Twisting the Rope (1986). I haven't read them for ages, but I remember them as enjoyable (but obviously not eminently re-readable) mystery/music/dragon magic combinations.

Northumbrian small pipes have shown up in fantasy as well, in The Little Country (1991), by Charles de Lint, and it is the piping, I think, that makes this one memorable, although the cover shows a fiddle. Irish pipes, I know from living with my husband's set, look like strange squids when lying in grassy fields like this fiddle is, and perhaps Northumbrian pipes do too, and this wasn't the effect they wanted. Or perhaps there was important fiddle playing too, that I just don't remember...

As far as I know, that's it for "Celtic" music in fantasy. I'd be curious to see any examples anyone else knows...or any examples of YA or middle grade regular fiction.

Wizards

At the Guardian Book Blog today, there's a debate about who is the greater wizard, Gandalf or Dumbledore. I am not convinced by any of the arguments. Sure, Gandalf's "magical powers" are pretty unimpressive, but, if I am remembering correctly, he himself never claims himself to be a "wizard," and Tolkien never thought of him as a magic user, so it's a bit apples and oranges-ish.

My own favorite "wizard" is Ogion the Silent, from Ursula Le Guin's Earthsea books. Or possibly Howl from Howl's Moving Castle, by Diana Wynne Jones, simply because I like him. And after coming up with these two, I think that my favorite wizards are those that have the most personality, whether of the flamboyant sort or its complete opposite.

A wizard who I find somewhat pointless is Dalben, from Lloyd Alexander's Prydain books. All he does is read bits of a book, and throw sticks in front of his pig.

There's a list of wizards in fantasy here on wikipedia, but it seems awfully short...not that I had time to actually study it.



Edited to add: I just saw this picture, concept art from The Voyage of the Dawn Treader movie, over at Fantasy Book Review, and it reminded me of how much I liked that particular wizard! And his ability to mix food and magic.

For some reason, though, I always think of his house as very light and airy, not nearly as dark as this movie version...

And speaking of Howl's Moving Castle, isn't this paper model, from the studio that did the anime version, marvellous? Those who are not as paper challenged as I am might enjoy making their own with the instructions provided.

New Releases of Science Fiction and Fantasy for Children and Teens--end of July edition

Here are a few books that came out in the last days.

Exciting note: The sequel to Skin Hunger, by Kathleen Duey (an utterly riveting fantasy that was on the Cybils short list a year before last) --Sacred Scars--was due to come out August 4, but is actually being sold on Amazon right now! I have just placed my order, and now must quickly go read Skin Hunger again. If you haven't read it at all yet, do. It won't disappoint (well, I liked it lots, at any rate), especially now that you will be able to start right in on the second book...


Middle Grade:

The Book of Ghosts, by Michael Hague. A collection of ghost stories.

Rapacia: The Second Circle of Heck, by Dale E. Basye. Sequel to Heck: Where the Bad Kids Are, a wacky take on the underworld.

Watch the Skies: Daniel X,by James Paterson. The latest adventure of Daniel X, a superpowered alien.

YA

After Dark, by Nancy A. Collins. Vamps, Book 3.

Bite Me! by Melissa Francis. Seventeen-year old vampire girl has to save humankind.

The Eternal Kiss: 12 Vampire Tales of Blood and Desire, edited by Trisha Telep.

Evil? by Timothy Carter

I want to say right at the beginning that Evil?, by Timothy Carter (Flux, 2009, 256pp, YA, coming Aug. 1st), is a very funny book, and I enjoyed it lots. The description that follows mightn't make it clear, but it's important to keep in mind that this is an over-the-top story bordering on farce.

Stuart was surprised by the attitude of his small and intensely religious community when he came out. Instead of hatred and contempt, the news that he was gay was taken in stride.

But then came Masturbation.

Overnight, the Sin of Onan (biblical spiller of seed) became a big deal. And Stuart had just been caught by his little brother committing it in the shower. Now a self confessed "spiller," Stuart is facing an intensity of loathing he'd never expected. The new obsession means that every kid has to keep their hands on their desks, in plain sight, but only Stuart is required to have a teacher go into the toilet stall with him.

The fanatical hatred of the townsfolk grows exponentially, until Stuart and a few other kids who've come under suspicion must flee from the church, where they've taken refugee, as the angry mob outside howls for their blood with fearsome cries for the "spillers" to come forth.

Why the insanity? A fallen angel is to blame, one that grew so obsessed with this particular sin that he could no longer function angelically, and now has taken up a crusade against it in Stuart's town.

A fallen angel can be pretty convincing, putting thoughts in the heads of otherwise normal people that drive them to great excess of zeal. But Stuart has a little bit of supernatural help of his own. His hobby happens to be raising demons, with all the proper safety mechanisms in place. Fon Pyre, his demonic acquaintance, might have what it takes to rid the town of the masturbation hating angel. The only problem with this is that Fen Pyre also has rending and other nastiness in mind when he looks at Stuart....

Carter has taken fanaticism to ridiculous extremes. Stuart's lightly delivered narrative ("There are few things I hate more than tomatoes, but burning to death is one of them." p 153), and the fast-paced and tense story, make Evil? hands down (pun intended) an enthralling read. The demonic Fen Pyre is a fine addition to the cast of characters, nicely removing the story from the real world and adding comic relief. I don't usually pass the YA books I read on to my husband, but I gave him this one to read, and he too enjoyed it very much.

Yet, without ever betraying the farcical elements of the book, Carter makes thought-provoking points about tolerance and the dangers of over literal, de-contextualized, biblical interpretation. It is most emphatically not an antireligious book, but it is one that might well make the reader question the definition of "sin."

Here's another review, at Boy With Books.

(Disclosure: copy received from the publisher)

Why Shel Silverstein's mother thinks I'm absurd

At The American Scene, there's a short post about the two worst children's books ever, The Giving Tree being one of them. Shel Silverstein's mom (or someone pretending to be his mom) left a vigorous defense of the book in the comments, which included this statement: "It would be absurd if a fully grown and completely developed adult human being loved a plant." As one who speaks to precious plants in baby talk, and has been known to snivel when they "pass" to the compost heap, I know where that puts me. But if that's the attitude to plants his mother taught him, it's no wonder he wrote the book he did.

So, what children's books are there where plants are loved? The Secret Garden is the only one that comes to my mind-my favorite part of the book is the bit where Mary clears the encouraging vegetation away from the shoots of the bulbs. And An Episode of Sparrows, by Rumer Godden. Oh, and The Little Prince.

Mare's War, by Tanita Davis

It rained again this morning, so no weeding. The children and house guests slept late, and the house was tidy. So I got a lovely two hours in which to read a book I've been saving for just such a window of opportunity--Mare's War, by Tanita Davis (2009, Alfred A. Knopf, 343pp). And the two hours flew by in happy, deeply satisfied reading...

Mare's War tells of two journeys. In a car speeding (or not, depending on the driver) across America to a mysterious reunion are two teenage girls (who had their own, more teenagerishly appropriate plans for the summer) and their grandmother, Marey Lee (known as Mare), who planned the trip. On the way, their grandmother tells them the story of her own great journey, seventy or so years before, when she escaped from her home in Bay Slough, Alabama and went to war.

The two sister, Octavia and Talitha, squabble, fret, drag their feet, and send occasional postcards of complaint to friends and family (shown in the book, in a nicely light touch), but as the miles pass, and their grandmother's story unfolds, the tone of the postcard messages changes. Their grandmother's life as Marey Lee, an African American teenager in the Women's Army Corps has them fascinated. The friendships she made, the prejudice she encountered, and the historical pageant of which she was a part are spellbinding stuff. This is an eye-openingly powerful narrative that educates without being didactic, filling a blank space in the history of World War II without ever loosing sight of Marey Lee, the girl.

It was a story that sure kept me enthralled (although I'm glad I didn't have to drive 2,340 miles from California to Alabama in summer with my sisters and grandmother to hear it).

Davis manages to make her teenagers in the present interesting people in their own right, and not just vessels created to receive Mare's story, but their sibling relationship and 21st century teenage angsts pall in comparison to what their grandmother went through (to give them credit, they realize this). In essence, Mare's War is first rate historical fiction, set in a modern narrative that, I think, makes it much more accessible and appealing to teenagers than Marey Lee's story, served straight up, might have been.

So today I moved my Madeline L'Engle books down to the playroom, and shelved Mare's War in the section I think of as "British Girls Books," even though they aren't by any means all British. They are, though, all books that put girls front and central--books about girls doing things, and communities of girls, and career stories. And that, in my mind, is where Mare's War belongs. I'll be recommending this book at a yahoo group I belong to (Girls Own), that focuses on British girls' boarding school books--the relationships between young women, their education, the career choices they made, and the windows they often offer on life as a girl many years ago are all here in Marey Lee's story.

I'm also more than happy to recommend this to fans of World War II historical fiction--it's a great addition to that genre. And while I'm at it, it's a great road trip story too!

Anyway. I hope Mare's War will be happy shelved next to Hester Burton's books (more great historical fiction), and one shelf up from Helen Doyle Boylston...who is best known for intrepid nurse Sue Barton, but who also wrote a rather interesting memoir of her World War I experiences--Sister: The War Diary of a Nurse.

Other reviews of Mare's War can be found at Reading in Color, Reading Rants, The HappyNappyBookseller, Jen Robinson's Book Page, and Colleen Mondor.

Disclosure: Tanita Davis is a blog friend of mine, and I was lucky enough to win a copy of the book from one of her giveaways. So, although I was very glad to write what I think is a glowing review (at least, it's meant to be) of her book, I just want to make it clear that I would have written this even if I had never met her (in an online sense).

Someone else's list of more books I should have read already, after a self-pitying preamble, followed by thoughts on keeping books

I didn't read anything yesterday, and I haven't yet today. Instead, I was running a yard sale at my library. Another member of the Friends of the Library really really wanted to have one, and was going to organize it all, and then let me know a few weeks ago that she'd actually be out of town today. la la la. So it became my yard sale. The world was peaceful at four this morning, washed clean by (yet another) heavy rain, that had soaked the tarps lovingly draped last night over the piles of yard salage (like silage, only junkier). Oh well. We made enough money to pay for 2 summer reading programs, 2 books I want to read, and some left over for the savings account (my dream is to have the hard cash on hand to buy the library solar panels some day. Think of all the money currently spent on air conditioning that could be used for books instead...).

So there was no time to read yesterday or today, which was sad.

And then I find lists like this, taken from Fantasy Book Reviews, over in the UK:

Must-reads

The following reviews are of books that begin the very best fantasy series available.

• The Curse of the Glomeglozer
• The Spook's Apprentice
• Gardens of the Moon
• A Game of Thrones
• A Wizard of Earthsea
• Ship of Magic
• Assassin's Apprentice
• The Colour of Magic
• Duncton Wood
• Legend

I have read two (Wizard of Earthsea and Ship of Magic). If I must read the others, so be it. I will try.

Speaking of reading, does anyone else pick what to read on the basis of what is going to happen to the book next? I am currently trying to read "books that will leave the house." Second choice: "books that will be neatly put on shelves." This sounds good, but unfortunately there is no shelf space left in the "recent books that have personal meaning to me," "British girls' books" and "general science fiction and fantasy." There is some space left in "early 20th-century English poetry," but that is not useful.

I had hoped to create more shelf space by disposing of sundry toys, puzzles, and videos at the library yard sale, but while I was away, time and space collapsed in the playroom, and the little clearings I had made are gone....perhaps to pay me back for not making space by getting rid of my own books. Once I've decided to keep a book, I keep it. This is why, even though I have little desire to read it again (although I might re-read its sequel), I still have my copy of Nancy Springer's The White Hart, and it will probably end up in the nursing home with me someday (if I have enough shelf space). But I can't get rid of it, because I do want to keep the next book in the series, The Silver Sun, simply because I loved it so much when I was a freshman in high school....


(Here, by the way, is the one line I remember from The White Hart (last read c. 1981): "My loins long for you." This took my innocent twelve-year old self somewhat aback. Still does).

Paris Pan Takes the Dare, by Cynthia Liu

Paris Pan Takes the Dare, by Cynthea Liu (Putnam, 2009, 246pp, middle grade), balances on a razor's edge (well, perhaps not quite) between supernatural chills and the angst of being the new kid at a very small rural middle school in Sugar Lake, OK. It's so small that every girl has to play on the basketball team. From my point of view, that is the true horror of the book, but for Paris Pan, that unpleasantness palls beside the fact that, if she wants to keep her two new friends, she will have to take THE DARE.

Not to long ago, the girl who lived in Paris' new house disappeared on her thirteenth birthday. Her body was later found, or at least, most of it was found. Her killer, if killer there was, was not. Ever since, according to Mayo, the alpha girl in Paris' tiny class, it has been a rite of passage to follow that girl's footsteps into the dark woods, and spend the night where she died.

Now Paris is hearing spooky noises outside, strange artifacts of the dead girl's life are turning up in the garden, and Mayo is pressuring her to commune with the spirit world...All Paris wants is to have friends after a life of shunting briskly between schools, but she really, really, doesn't want to take The Dare.

Great characterization, especially with regard to the relationship between Paris and her Chinese-American family, a snappy plot, and a creepy atmosphere combine to make this a very enjoyable book, that girls, in particular, from fourth grade or so on up, should enjoy. I've labeled it fantasy, because there is a supernatural plot line, although, of course, there is no such thing as ghosts. Or so Paris tries hard to believe...

Other reviews can be found at BookDragon and Practically Paradise, and here's a chat with Liu at Cynsations.

Kudos to Liu for using the launch of her book to raise money in not inconsiderable quantities to support a needy Title I school in Oklahoma. It was this fundraiser that prompted me to buy the book--Liu donated all her royalties during the fundraising period to this effort.

Book Blogger Appreciation Week

The second Book Blogger Appreciation Week (brainchild of My Friend Amy) runs September 14th through the 18th. Here's how to take part.

Head over to the Book Bloggers Appreciation Week Directory, register your blog, and visit some of the many other book blogs that, if you are like me, you haven't heard of. Or you can fill out the registration form here.

Next, nominate favorite book blogs for awards by August 15. There are lots of different categories, some of which may not apply to everyone--I, for instance, have no favorite mystery/suspense blog. The hardest part will be picking my entry for Best Kidlit blog....

As part of the celebration, many of us will be having giveaways, which you can sign up to do here.

Thanks, Amy, for organizing all of this!

Twilight of Avalon, a Novel of Trystan and Isolde, by Anna Elliott

Here's a book for those who love dark historical fiction with a touch of fantasy, and who are fascinated by the legends of King Arthur--Twilight of Avalon, a Novel of Trystan and Isolde, by Anna Elliott (Simon and Schuster, 2009, 426pp, technically a book for adults, but one with YA appeal as well).

"if you know who I am," [Isolde] said after a moment, "then you known, also, who my father was. Modred-the traitor. Cause of King Arthur's death and seven years of land-bleeding civil war."

Isolde is still young, widowed after the death of her young husband, Constantine, who became king when the civil war ended. From her grandmother, Morgan, she inherited the gift of sight, but she cannot see her own future. Caught in the struggle for power that has followed Constantine's death, trapped inside Tintagel Castle, and suspected of witchcraft, Isolde struggles to save what is left of Britain from the Saxons, and from those who would betray it. At last she escapes into Cornwall, and finds that her fate is tied inexorably with that of Trystan, a former prisoner with a dark past of his own. But will they be able to secure a future for themselves and their kingdom?

This is dark, atmospheric, and heavy stuff. Slowly Elliott makes clear the walls of intrigue and hatred that surround Isolde inside Tintagel, and she is not sparring in her details of the harm men and women do to each other. It is not until page 206 that she escapes Tintagel, and so well has Elliott created a claustrophobic setting of incredible tension that it comes as a great relief to the reader, as well as Isolde, to have left it behind. But then her visions return to her, and draw her back to the violence that continues within its walls...

The romance aspect of the book comes slowly. I imagine that it will be more front and central in the next book of the series, The Dark Moon of Avalon, coming in Spring 2010. The magical element of Isolde's visions gives color and interest to the plot, but does not take the story so far into fantasy as to be a turn-off to those who like straight historical fiction. Despite the link between Isolde and the old magic and beliefs of Celtic Britain, Elliott presents the tensions between older beliefs and the relatively new Christian religion even-handedly.

Although the pace of the book is slow and strongly focused on Isolde's minute by minute experiences, which might not appeal to all readers, Elliott has done a fine job bringing a relatively unexplored story of the Arthur legend to life, creating an Isolde who is believable and brave--an actor in her own right.

Tintagel Castle is a truly stunning place, by the way. I've been a few times, and am always impressed. I'm curious to know if Elliott has ever been--one of my few specific quibbles with the historical accuracy of the book (and this is actually high praise, as I read books about periods I know something about somewhat suspiciously) was with her descriptions of the castle.

Longer reviews can be found at Carla Nayland Historical Fiction and Tanzanite's Shelf and Stuff.

Note: copy received from the author.

The Tomorrow Code, by Brian Falkner, for Timeslip Tuesday

Most timeslip stories are fantasy--the travel through time is left a mystery that science can not explain. Sometimes, though, scientific principles drive the passage of people, things, or messages from one time to another, and sometimes very good books are the result. One such book is The Tomorrow Code, by Brian Falkner (2008, Random House, 347 pp, upper middle grade/YA, an import from New Zealand).

"The end of the world started quietly enough for Tane Williams and Rebecca Richards, lying on their backs on a wooden platform on Lake Sunnyvale. Which wasn't really a lake at all." (page 3)

Tane and Rebecca have been friends forever, the sort of friends who spend an evening on the flooded playing field of their old elementary school, looking up at the night sky and arguing about time travel. Rebecca's super smart, logical mind rejects the idea, but Tane, thinking outside the box, wonders if it might not be possible to send messages back into the past....

It is possible. Soon, the two of them have received, as a gift from the future, winning lottery numbers. But there are strings attached--the messages they are getting (encoded in gamma ray bursts) are an SOS from their future selves. The Chimera project, whatever that is, must be stopped, and Tane and Rebecca must race to decode the instructions they are getting before humanity is destroyed.

The first step is to buy a state of the art submarine. The second, to break into a top secret biolab. The third, to stop the mysterious fog enshrouded horrors that were unleashed despite their plans, horrors that are steadily depopulating New Zealand.

And finally, Tane, Rebecca, and Tane's big brother ("Fatboy"), have to set up the device that will let their future selves change the past. Not easy to do, when death delivering fog surrounds the site where the machine must go...

This is a tremendously exciting story (as well as submarine fun and decoding mysterious messages, there is a great battle scene that made me sniff a little bit), and it hangs together very nicely plot-wise. A criticism I sometimes have of fast packed adventures is that charging around saving the world leaves little room for character development, but that is most emphatically not the case here. Even though they are involved in a desperate struggle, the three teenagers are still strongly individual, working out their relationships with each other and their thoughts about themselves, their families, and their world.

Added bonus features: diversity--Tane and his brother are Maori, and this is important to the story; environmentalism--the question of human impact on the world is central to the plot; gender balance--both girl and boys are important and have their own strengths to give to the group effort; and finally, good solid writing, without run-on sentences (I would never be caught dead writing run on sentences, she says ironically) or unnecessary latinate words.

In short, I think this is a pretty darn good book.

viz age range--it's perfectly suitable for middle grade readers in that there is no sex (although there are emotional attachments swirling around), drugs, 0r bad language, but people do die in large numbers (although not disgustingly), and there are pretty weighty issues addressed. I'll be giving this to my son when he's around 11, I think. It's even suitable for adult readers of science fiction (I'm feeling a tad sore, even after weeks have passed, about some very condescending reviews of YA science fiction/fantasy I happened to read).

I pretty much read whatever AFortis and Tanita over at Finding Wonderland tell me to, and, as usual, this one didn't disapoint--here's the review that added this one to my list.

Other reviews at Create Readers, where I found the New Zealand cover at right, which is described by Readplus (an Australian review site) as "bland." Although the book got a great review there too.

The book has a great website, where you can learn more about the science behind the book, Morse code, the geography and culture of New Zealand.

The winner of the Mythopoeic Award for best children's book is...

The winners of the Mythopoeic Awards have been announced! Here were the finalists in the Children's Category:

Graceling, Kristin Cashore (Harcourt Children's)
The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman (HarperCollins)
House of Many Ways, Diana Wynne Jones (HarperCollins)
Savvy, Ingrid Law (Dial)
Nation, Terry Pratchett (HarperCollins)


And the winner is:



GRACELING! (which makes a nice change from The Graveyard Book*).

All five of these are excellent books, but it seems to me that the award committee would have had a fairly easy time picking the winner. They have very specific criteria, after all--from the awards' website: "The Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Children’s Literature honors books for younger readers (from “Young Adults” to picture books for beginning readers), in the tradition of The Hobbit or The Chronicles of Narnia." I think Graceling falls much more squarely into that tradition than the other four.

Charles Butler's book, Four British Fantasists, won in the Myth and Fantasy Studies category. It is an excellent look at Alan Garner, Susan Cooper, Penelope Lively, and Diana Wynne Jones, and therefore of great interest, I assume, to
anyone who reads my blog (except all the people that come here wanting to know
when the next Ricky Ricotta book comes out, for whom I have no help. If I knew, I'd share).






*And Gaiman already won in the adult category in 2006 for Anansi Boys. Jones, btw, won in 1999 for Dark Lord of Derkholm, a book I love (it is funny).

New releases of science fiction and fantasy for children and teenagers

Here are the new releases of fantasy and science fiction for children and teenagers, from July 14 to July 21 (although actually none of them look like science fiction...). I pretty much want to read them all. Such a good thing I have unlimited time and money and no other books at home waiting to be read (ha ha).

9-12 year olds:

The Bag of Bones: The Second Tale from the Five Kingdoms by Vivian French. I loved The Robe of Skulls, so I'm very happy to see this! "The Tales from the Five Kingdoms series returns with the story of Trueheart (that is, very good person) Gracie Gillypot, identical twin princes, talking bats, and a slow but brave troll. The witches who tried to wreak havoc in the first tale (The Robe of Skulls, 2008) are back, and readers will also be introduced to a nasty orphanage overseer and a pack of friendly rats. Collins’ spidery black-and-white illustrations amplify characters’ inner traits as well as the tall-tale nature of the story."

The Hotel Under the Sand, by Kage Baker. This sounds very intriguing. "Nine-year-old Emma loses everything she has in a fearsome storm and finds herself alone in the wilderness of the Dunes—an area desolate since the mysterious disappearance of a resort known as the Grand Wenlocke. Finding a friend in Winston, the ghostly bellboy who wanders the Dunes, Emma learns that it has been more than 100 years since the hotel with an unsavory reputation vanished; but, unbeknownst to either of them, the long slumbering resort has just begun to stir. Allying herself with a motley crew of companions—the ghost bellboy, a kindhearted cook, a pirate with a heart of gold, and the imperious young heir to the Wenlocke fortune—Emma soon learns that things are not always as lost as they seem..."

Sea of the Dead, by Julia Durango. "Kehl has always known certain things about the world. First and foremost is the certainty that the Teshic Empire is its center, and that everything -- and everyone -- beyond the empire's borders has been created ultimately to be brought under Teshic dominion. Furthermore, because Kehl is being trained to follow in his father's warrior footsteps, he is all too aware of the expectations placed upon him to never show weakness or fear, to instead show an unwavering loyalty to the Teshic Empire and its often severe beliefs and demands. But when Kehl is abducted by a seafaring band of rebels and taken beyond the borders to the enigmatic Sea of the Dead, a whole new world begins to open up before him. A new world filled with challenging beliefs and dangerous ideas. A world where Kehl's future -- as well as his past -- may be linked to the renegade crew of a ship named Carillon's Revenge and the Fallen King who captains her."

Timescape (book four of the Dreamhouse Kings series) by Robert Liparulo. A mysterious house with time portals, and two boys trying to put a stop to an evil villain.

When You Reach Me, by Rebecca Stead. "Shortly after sixth-grader Miranda and her best friend Sal part ways, for some inexplicable reason her once familiar world turns upside down. Maybe it's because she's caught up in reading A Wrinkle in Time and trying to understand time travel, or perhaps it's because she's been receiving mysterious notes which accurately predict the future."

YA:

Coffeehouse Angel by Suzanne Selfors. "When Katrina spots a homeless guy sleeping in the alley behind her grandmother’s coffee shop, she decides to leave him a cup of coffee, a bag of chocolate-covered coffee beans, and some pastries to tide him over. Little does she know that this random act of kindness is about to turn her life upside down. Because this adorable vagrant, Malcolm, is really a guardian angel on a break between missions. And he won’t leave until he can reward Katrina’s selflessness by fulfilling her deepest desire. Now if only she could decide what that might be..."

The Hundred-Towered City, by Garry Kilworth. "When a stranger from the past arrives in the middle of the night with shocking news, Jack, Annie, and Davey are catapulted into the wildest adventure they've ever had. Their parents have been arrested on suspicion of being spies. Not only in a different country but in a different time—Prague, 1903. The children travel back in time and find themselves face to face with danger, mystery, and the magic of a strange place. Where are their parents and who has stolen the key to the time machine? Will our young heroes be in time to save their parents from siniser Karlstein Castle? And even if they do, how will they return to the present day without the key? Alchemists, mythical creatures, and a man with a hook for a hand hold the answers they’re looking for."

Second Skin, by Jessica Wollman. "Appearances can be deceiving. Sam Klein’s found that out firsthand. All she wanted was to be popular. But sometimes what we want is the absolute worst thing for us. Sam discovers that Kylie, It-girl of Woodlawn High, owes her popular status not to her expensive clothes, highlighted hair, and spot on the cheerleading squad but to a magical second skin. Nobody can actually see it—but they can feel it. And if you’re wearing the skin, you feel incredible. Invincible. Popularity is yours. So Sam stole the skin from Kylie. Now she’s the most popular girl at school, while Kylie’s social life takes a serious hit. Sam can barely recognize herself. Her old geek clique is history—but are her new friends really people she can count on? The skin is clinging tighter to her each day . . . can Sam get it off before it’s too late?

Sideshow, edited by Deborah Noyes. Ten stories of oddities and magic--my review.

Three Witches. by Paula Jolin. "Three seemingly ordinary girls, studying together in the same ordinary high school. All have their own reasons to summon Trevor Saunders after his car goes over a cliff. Aliya brings the mystical seances of Syria. Gillian contributes the voodoo arts from her native Trinidad. Miya shares the secret magic of ancient Japan. Will they be able use their powers to bring him back one more time? Should they?"

This Side of Magic, Keyholders Volume 1, in honor of my boy's ninth birthday

My boy turned nine today. This past year he has become a true reader--falling so hard into books that he is deaf to his mother's voice, reading in the car to the point of car sickness, walking to the library by himself and coming home with more books than he can comfortably carry (and not necessarily ones I'd have picked for him--James Watson and the Double Helix, for instance, is probably not going to get read, but if checking it out helps him define himself, more power to him). I was anxious for a while about his reading--he didn't read early, he didn't read books that challenged him, he was essentially unwilling to spread his wings. He still doesn't read long books, although he has the skills to do so, but I've decided to just let him go at his own pace, and to keep lots of easier books on hand for him--the sort of books that I think of as non-quite-middle grade, like Encyclopedia Brown and the A-Z mysteries.

My most recent spectacular book offering success was This Side of Magic, the first volume of a new fantasy series aimed at this reading bracket (May 2009, Tom Doherty Associates (Tor), 133 generously fonted pages). It's written by the same team that brought us the Bailey School Kids (which don't interest my son for reasons unknown to me)--Debbie Dadey and Marcia Thornton Jones. I brought it home from the bookstore, and a little more than an hour later he had finished it and was clamoring for the next volume (which his grandma got him for an early birthday present a few days later).

I've read it now too, and I was pleasantly surprised by how readable it is for an adult. I'd go as far as to say that I enjoyed it a lot myself. It tells of two ordinary kids, Penny and Luke, who find themselves charged with the awesome responsibility of guarding the border between our realm and the lands of magic. Dark forces are impinging on the border, and only one old man remains of the three former guardians, the Keyholders. Now Penny and Luke are this man's apprentices, with companion fantastical creatures to link them to the magic (a unicorn and a dragon, respectively). Then the third member of their trio is chosen--and much to their dismay, she is a spoiled and unpleasant child they have loathed all their lives. But boggarts are already making themselves felt around the town, and there are worse things to come....

This is similar in feel to the Spiderwick Chronicles, but a few degrees easier (I tried those on my son too, but he only got to halfway through book 3, again for reasons unknown to me). The writing is pleasant, and the story is interesting. I can imagine it being read to bits pretty quickly in a second or third grade classroom. And now I have to go read volume two, The Other Side of Magic. I want to know what happens next (or, of course, I could curl up with James Watson, and learn about DNA...).

Here's my son's very own review, from his blog, Pickled Bananas.

Diversity in speculative fiction-- three covers

Bi-weekly Ali at Worducopia and the folks at Color Online host a meme designed to encourage readers to broaden their reading habits--to add color and diversity. Today's assignment, posted at Color Online-- "Spotlight science fiction and fantasy titles where people of color are the leads, works by people of color in these genres or discuss your thoughts about race in these genres."

Mr. Linky is collecting people's responses. Here is mine.

One of Shannon Hale's most beloved stories is Book of a Thousand Days, a fantasy set in an alternate Mongolia, featuring a strong, loving, intelligent heroine by the name of Dashti. The original cover was gorgeous, but did nothing to convey that the heroine was non-European.

Over at her blog, Shannon has just unveiled the cover of the paperback edition. Viz adding diversity to the shelves of speculative fiction, I think it speaks for itself:



This is a book that will be face-out at the bookshelves, a book that many people are eager to buy. Much as I love the hardback cover, I am glad to see Dashti's face.

Next up is a book that came out this may that I predict will be read by thousands and thousands and thousands of 3rd grade kids--This Side of Magic, by Debbie Dadey and Marcia Thornton Jones, authors of the Bailey School Kids. I am in the middle of reading this myself, to review tonight for a (planned but not guaranteed)wrap-up post of the reading year of my just-turned-nine-today year old son. So I have it next to me as I type. There's no physical description of the kids, but the illustrator of the cover and interior has given us a girl who looks Hispanic. Good for them! I recently tried to walk into bookstore and buy books for a boy this age that had people of color on the covers, and found it virtually impossible. I find it ironic that I then bought this book last week without even registering that the girl on the cover was not white.

And my final cover is not from a new book, but it's a favorite of mine, and it's one of the most direct discussions that I know of in the speculative fiction genre--Four Ways to Forgiveness, by Ursula Le Guin (1995). It is four related novellas, set on twin planets where the light-skinned people were enslaved by the dark-skinned people, and the road to revolution and freedom, and its aftermath.

Le Guin has created many characters of color, but this book is her most overt fictional discussion of relationships variously forced, nuanced, and given depths of meaning by the skin color of the people involved. I don't much like the cover, though. Where are the relationships? What's with wind?

(Non-diversity in speculative fiction related postscript: I am especially fond of this book because I was reading it when I met my husband to be, and so was he. The next time I read it was just after my son was born--not good timing, because there is a sad, sad baby story and I was useless all day from sniffing. That being nine years ago, I am overdue for a re-read...)

And in an on-topic second postscript, I would like to recommend what Tanita at Finding Wonderland has to say about Malorie Blackman.

(I would also like, in a third postscript, off topic, to complain about blogger's strange ideas about spacing, which I fight with every time I have more than one picture).

Seeing Red, by Anne Louise MacDonald

I am reading five books at the moment. Five books that are just fine, but haven't quite done it for me. And so when I got home last night, I went to The Pile and took from it a book that I have wanted to read ever since I saw it reviewed at Finding Wonderland--Seeing Red, by Anne Louise Macdonald (Kids Can Press, 2009, 220pp, upper middle grade).

And it turned out to be just what I wanted, the sort of book that makes you forget you are reading. The sort of book that deafens you to the shrieks/complaints/polite requests of spouse, children, and cat. The sort of book that, when you close it, makes you sigh both for the pleasure of having read it, and the sadness that you won't get to enjoy it for the first time ever again.

9th-grader Frankie Uccello is normal. Soul-crushingly un-outstanding. He doesn't excel at anything--even skateboarding, which he loves, is something he has had to work hard at to be decent. There is one thing, though, that sets him apart--his dreams. Vivid, colored dreams that come true.

The book begins one stormy night, when Frankie dreams of flying on black wings. A vicious wind comes up and throws him toward the ground.

"Then I saw the riding ring. Soft sand. Yes! At the last second I saw the horse- a black horse with a rider dressed all in red.

"Look out!" I screamed. The black hose bolted sideways. The red rider fell. Down. Down. Head first. Thud. I screamed again- an empty, useless dream scream." (page 6).

When he wakes, his first thought is that his friend Tim, who rides a black horse, is in terrible danger. The frantic dash to school (skateboarding through storm debris, running late) is more frantic than usual. But when Tim comments that he won't be riding in that weekend's horse show after all, Frankie wonders if the dream means something else entirely.

The storm brought more than fallen branches. A grey lump of what looked like garbage, lying on the pavement, turns out to be a storm tossed bird, a petrel. All the other birds he's tried to save have died, but this one might be different--after all, he had just dreamt of flying. Because of the bird, he is thrown into the life of Weird Maura-Lee, whom he has avoided like the plague all his life since they were small children.

"She never giggled. She was quiet--and alone--breaking the biggest rule of all: "Never be seen standing alone." Maura-Lee was always by herself--in the schoolyard or cafeteria. She was Weird Maura-Lee. And kids said she could read minds." (page 41)

But Maura-Lee can get the petrel the fish it needs to stay alive.

Then Frankie is forced by his father to help out a therapeutic riding clinic, despite his terror of horses. And there he finds Maura-Lee, training her own horse to read her mind, and seemingly able to read Frankie like a book.

And his dream still hangs over his head, waiting...

This is a great story about friendship, with twang (zest, forward momentum, interest) provided by the understated supernatural gifts of two main characters. It reminds me a bit of The Wednesday Wars, in that it has the same sweetness of plot--a sensitive boy growing up in his way of understanding the people around him.

As well as recommending this in general to any introspective older middle grade reader, I'd also recommend it those looking for books with charming and happily married parents (rare), horses, friendships between boys and girls that are just friendships, and poignant bird sub-plots (I myself am a sucker for poignant bird sub-plots).

The official blurb for A Conspiracy of Kings!!!! Sophos with a peashooter!!!

Over at the YA YA YAs, Tricia spotted that the blurb of A Conspiracy of Kings (coming 3/23/10) has changed since its first incarnation. It is even more to squee for now. Here's what it says on its page in the HarperCollins catalogue:

"Sophos, heir to Sounis, doesn’t look like much of a prince. At least, according to those in power. At least, to those who do not know him or the size of his heart and the depth of his courage, loyalty, and love. But Helen, Queen of Eddis, knows him, and so does Gen, the queen’s Thief, who is now King of Attolia. Gen and the queen believe that Sophos is dead. But they also believe in hope, especially since a body was never found. So when Sophos is discovered in Attolia, climbing a lamppost, peashooter in hand, the obvious question becomes: where has Sophos been all this time?"

squee.

The cover has also changed. Sophos, with eye cropped off and beard added, looks much less elfin. You can see the first one here.

Update (7/22): Greenwillow, perhaps consternated by the wild speculation on Sounis (The Queen's Thief Livejournal community) regarding the peashooter and the lamppost, has removed this part of the blurb...

Waiting on Wednesday--Bitterblue has a release date (sort of)!

From an article at Publisher's Weekly:

"Cashore is currently working on a third book in the series, one that follows the story of Bitterblue, a character introduced in Graceling. Dawson is aiming for a 2011 release."
There were other words in the article, about the publication of Fire (a nice story about publishers playing nicely together), but the words I quoted are obviously of greatest importance. 2011 is less than 17 months away.

And actually, I still have Fire to look forward to...

The Battle for Duncragglin, by Andrew H. Vanderwal

This Tuesday's timeslip is a new arrival to the genre-- The Battle for Duncragglin, by Andrew H. Vanderwal (Tunda Books, 2009, 310pp, middle grade). I would have pounced on this as a child--time travel to medieval Scotland!--and, in fact, I was rather eager to read it as an adult.

Twelve year old Alex has been raised by a reluctant uncle since the mysterious deaths of his parents. Now his uncle has decided to ship him off to an aunt in Scotland, who wants him even less. So little, in fact, that he never meets her--instead, he finds himself billeted at the home of a local farmer and his three children, two boys and a girl near his age. Like his own parents, their mother mysteriously disappeared.

The farm lies near a rocky coast, whose cliffs are guarded by the ruins of Duncragglin castle, the site of a bloody battle waged by the great Scottish rebel William Wallace. And beneath the castle, the stories say, are mysterious tunnels in the ground, from which no explorer returns. Naturally, the tunnels are forbidden, but the four children find the temptation irresistible, and one dark night they set off to see for themselves what secrets the underground labyrinth holds.

What they find is a mysterious chamber, covered with tangled carvings. Their exploration triggers a shift in the rocks, blocking the way they came, but creating a new passage. A passage that leads to 14th century Scotland.

There, in the past, Alex and his friends find themselves embroiled in the cause of William Wallace, fighting a brave campaign against the tyranny of the English. It is a grim past, full of the sad consequences of oppression and war. To continue his fight, Wallace must capture Duncragglin, and Alex realizes that the knowledge of the tunnels he and the others have brought from the future might be the key...and all the while, the children search the past for their lost parents.

This is the sort of timeslip where the past provides a colorful theatre for action and adventure. It is more a book for the battle-lover, whose heart races when the arrows start to fly, than it is for the romantic daydreamer (ie me), who likes best the timeslip stories that focus on character and intricate world building. Vanderwal's 14th-century Scotland remained somewhat two-dimensional to me (and I had a few quibbles, fact-wise--medieval Scottish peasants wouldn't have smoked pipes, for instance). I also had a hard time swallowing the time travel chamber, which exists without satisfactory explanation or context. It gave the whole time travel experience a slightly "choose your own adventure" feel, that I found unmagical.

But there is, as I said, plenty of action of a medieval kind:

"Alex crouched against the stone barrier of the elevated roadway with Annie and Katie. He knew they were still exposed to arrows from some of the archers, but hope they would be overlooked. Alex shielded Katie's body body with his. Annie lay beside him, her arms over her head and eyes squeezed tight.

It sounded like the end of the world. Screams, moans, and battle cries mingled; arrows clattered against the stones. Through the chaos, a soldier cried out from within one of the guard towers: "The gates! Open the gates! Sir James approaches with his men!" (p 264).

My favorite part, however, was toward the middle of the book, when the children are camped on their own by the shore. I like "children surviving outside alone" rather a lot as a plot line...and I wish there had been more of this!

In short, although this is not a book I loved myself, it's one I can imagine engaging young readers, happy to storm the castle along with Alex.

Fluorine for Non-Fiction Monday, and how a fictional chimp made me feel inadequate

For our recent train trip from Providence, RI to Washington D.C., I packed an enticing selection of books with which to entertain the boys. The winner, for most times read (coming and going) and depth of interest sustained, was Fluorine (Tom Jackson, 2004), one of a series called The Elements published by Benchmark Books (Marshall Cavendish). We poured over the diagram showing what happens when fluorine gas is added to uranium tetrafloride, were intrigued to learn that fluorine might become an ingrediant in artificial blood (sounds risky), and studied, as is our wont, the Periodic Table of Elements.

Being less scientifically minded than I might be, I posed challenging questions along the lines of "If you were an element, which element would you like to be?" I want to be one of the Nobel Gases, possibly Argon, in as much as I'm an introvert and don't react with others as much as more extroverted elements. Fluorine, for instance, is an incredibly pushy element--"It gets the girls," said my son, which led to a brisk discussion on the dangers of metaphors that incorporate gender stereotypes. And anyway, "Fluorine" sounds like a girl's name to me.

The Elements is a a fine series for non-fiction loving children, with human interest galore alongside the straight chemistry. It was not my idea to start checking them out, but my 8 year old has always had a passion for chemistry, and my 6 year old is happy to go along for the ride, so there we are (one of their most bitter public fights occurred at a library booksale, when they were 5 and 2, and both wanted a chemistry textbook--one because it was chemistry, the other because it was red). We are now reading Gold.

I feel very lucky to have children who like to learn, because it means I get to learn too, and no one is more aware of how much I don't know than I myself. The depth of my chemical ignorance was made clear to me when I first read The Uplift War, by David Brin, many years ago. In this book (an excellent story, incidentally), an "uplifted" female chimpanzee, who isn't considered especially intelligent or worthy of reproduction, manages to recognize the chemical formula for hemoglobin--C738H1166N812O203S2Fe--and saves the day. Not me. I can do H2O and CO2, but that's about it. I vaguely wonder if one reason I like fantasy better than science fiction is that it takes a lot more technological and scientific know-how to succeed as a science fiction character...Sigh. But if we keep on checking those element books out of the library, perhaps my children will be spared their mother's shame.

The Non-fiction Monday Roundup is at In Need of Chocolate today!

This week's new science fiction and fantasy for children and teenagers

Here are this week's (more or less) new releases of science fiction and fantasy for children and teenagers, taken, as ever, from Teens Read Too.

For 9-12 year olds:

Libyrinth, by Pearl North. "Haly is a Libyrarian, one of a group of people dedicated to preserving and protecting the knowledge passed down from the Ancients and stored in the endless maze of books known as the Libyrinth. But Haly has a secret: The books speak to her. When the threat of the rival Eradicants drives her from her home, Haly learns that things are not all she thinks they are. Taken prisoner by the Eradicants, who believe the written word to be evil, she sees the world through their eyes and comes to understand that they are not the book-burning monsters that she has known her entire life. The words of a young girl hiding in an attic—written hundreds of years before Haly’s birth—will spark the interest of her captors and begin the change necessary to end the conflict between the Eradicants and Libyrarians. With the help of her loyal companion Nod, a creature of the Libyrinth, Haly must mend the rift between the two groups before their war for knowledge destroys them all."

The Undrowned Child, by Michelle Lovric. "A captivating magical fantasy in a secret watery underworld, The Undrowned Child tells how eleven year old Teodora is swept into the storybook world of invisible children whose task is to save the dying city of Venice. Working alongside the mermaids Theodora's task is immense. Together can they save the city before the water destroys it?"

Young Adult:

Blue Moon: The Immortals, by Alyson Noel. Sequel to Evermore. "Just as Ever is learning everything she can about her new abilities as an immortal, initiated into the dark, seductive world by her beloved Damen, something terrible is happening to him. As Ever’s powers are increasing, Damen’s are fading—stricken by a mysterious illness that threatens his memory, his identity, his life. Desperate to save him, Ever travels to the mystical dimension of Summerland, uncovering not only the secrets of Damen’s past—the brutal, tortured history he hoped to keep hidden—but also an ancient text revealing the workings of time. With the approaching blue moon heralding her only window for travel, Ever is forced to decide between turning back the clock and saving her family from the accident that claimed them—or staying in the present and saving Damen, who grows weaker each day..."

Eyes Like Stars: Theatre Illuminata, Act I, by Lisa Mantchev. "Welcome to the Théâtre Illuminata, where the actors of every play ever written can be found behind the curtain. They were born to play their parts, and are bound to the Théâtre by The Book—an ancient and magical tome of scripts. Bertie is not one of them, but they are her family—and she is about to lose them all and the only home she has ever known."




The Glittering Eye, by L.J. Adlington. "Shabti wakes in a barley field with nothing but a hoe in his hand and a head full of fragmented memories. A vicious master torments his days, working in the fields with no way of escape, until a hole suspended in mid-air, leads him to a room. Two shiny gold eyes glitter back at him. Questions. Who is he? And to where does this room lead? Amy arrives in Egypt to join her archaeologist father on an excavation. All around her tombs are unearthed, opened, entered. Left to her own devices, Amy discovers a rock. But not just any rock. A great tawny cat stares back at her from its smooth surface, its shiny gold eyes glittering. Questions. Where did it come from? And what should she do now? When past, present and future collide, it's clear that some things are best left buried..."

Monster's Proof, by Richard Lewis. "Livey Ell is the only normal person in a family of geniuses. She's a cheerleader with an absentminded professor father and a math genius of a little brother, and she's sure that life couldn't get any weirder than it already is. But when her little brother, Darby, brings his childhood imaginary friend Bob to life through a mathematical proof, things start to get really strange. Bob, a creature of pure math, hates chaos and disorder in any form. And as his power grows stronger, he becomes determined to fix our disorderly world in any way possible. But that's not the only danger. People know that Bob is in our world -- including a top-secret government organization that wants to control him, and a cult of Pythagoreans who worship him."

Resurrection (Wicked), by Nancy Holder and Debbie Viguié. "The Cahors witches must come together and find Jer and Eli as both the Deveraux and the Cahors family lines face eradication. All the secrets of the Cahors will be revealed, forcing them to overcome their greatest weaknesses in order to achieve their most powerful strengths. And only united do they have any chance at victory. Before the end, sacrifices will be made, alliances forged, and old friends lost forever."



And here's one that's not fantasy or science fiction, but it sounds like it is absolutely up my alley (anyone else out there read Marion's Angels, the final book of K.M. Peyton's Pennington series? It's a book I love, and this plot summary reminds me of it).

Waterslain Angel, by Kevin Crossley-Holland. "In the village of Waterslain in Norfolk, in the 1950s, a fragment from a carved angel's wing is discovered. Maybe the wooden angels that once supported the church roof were not, after all, destroyed centuries ago, but spirited away to safety. Two children decide to find them. There are few clues, but a strange inscription on the church wall leads them into terrifying places - up to the top of the church tower, down a tunnel where they are nearly drowned. Annie dreams of the man who was sent in by Cromwell to smash up the church, and of angels flying and falling. For Sandy, whose father, an American airman, was recently killed, the angels bring comfort. The whereabouts of the angels become clear to them - but then they discover that other people are hunting for them, and are determined to stop the children at all costs. The friendship between the boy adjusting to a new life in his mother's village, and the girl whose family have always lived on their remote farm, the haunting atmosphere of the Norfolk saltmarshes, and the strong sense of the past still present, give richness to a tense and fast-paced story of detection for younger readers."

Misc fantasy/sci fi stuff with an international flavor, including one item of particular interest to fans of Diana Wynne Jones

Here's an account from the Guardian Book Blog of the first Diana Wynne Jones Conference held last weekend over in Bristol. But, great sadness--DWJ could not be there herself, as she has just been diagnosed with lung cancer.

Moving beyond the UK, there's a fascinating two part look at international science fiction at SFSignal (Part 1 and Part 2).

And going up to Canada, here are the Young Adult novels shortlisted for the 2009 Sunburst Award, which honors Canadian writers of speculative fiction:

The Summoning, Kelley Armstrong (Doubleday Canada)
Dingo, Charles de Lint (Viking)
Little Brother, Cory Doctorow (Tor)
Wild Talent, Eileen Kernaghan (Thistledown Press) (my review)
Night Runner, Max Turner (HarperTrophy)

The first four are friends from my Cybils reading last fall, and the fifth arrived in ARC form in my mail today. I am not at all sure which of the four I've read I'd pick. They are so very different from each other...

Keeping the international theme going with a German word, a festschrift celebrating Ursula Le Guin's 80th birthday is in the works--the call for contributions is here.

For those who like Manga, here are two cards from the Taiwanese Eastern Tarot Deck. Yes, the one on the right is "The Clonk." Very strange. I don't know Manga at all--is she supposed to look evil?

(from The Artwork of Modern Tarot, via Children's/Fantasy Illustrations).


Finally, and with no pretense of thematic cohesion, I'd like to thank JuJu, who just began to blog at Tales of Whimsy, for honoring me with The Kreativ Blogger Award.

The Chosen One, by Carol Lynch Williams

If you are looking for a terrifying dystopia, yet are leery of science fiction, or, conversely, if you are a fan of science fiction dystopias who enjoys strong characterization and meticulously detailed world making, who is leery of "young adult" books, I enthusiastically recommend The Chosen One, by Carol Lynch Williams (2009, St. Martin's Griffin, 213 pp, YA).

Thirteen year old Kyra grew up taking for granted the circumstances of her life--her father's three wives and her twenty brothers and sisters, the rules of life and belief in the Compound, dictated by the Prophet and his inner circle. When she was little, the rules were less strict. Books were permitted, as were visits into town. But now the son of the first Prophet is closing his fist ever tighter around the residents of the Compound. When this new Prophet decrees that Kyra must marry her sixty-year-old uncle (a nasty, lecherous man with six wives already), her spirit revolts. In the Compound, revolt means punishment, not just for Kyra, but for her beloved family, for Joshua, the boy she loves, and for the brave driver of the mobile library, whose books (surreptitiously gulped down in hiding) have sustained her over the years.

After gradually building up the horror that is life in the Compound, Williams brings Kyra's desperate situation to a head in a tremendously riveting chain of events. This is edge of the seat stuff.

While it is clear that the beliefs and dictatorship of the Prophet are grotesque, Williams manages to skillfully show how ordinary people, good and loving people, can stand be part of such a society. The bonds between Kyra, her mothers and father, and her female siblings (her brothers are ominously shadowy--young men are not valued here) are tight and loving. The original spiritual beliefs that brought the community together were not as distorted and evil as they later became. The progression of a planned religious utopia to a dystopia of truly dystopic proportions is fascinating and heartbreaking.

From page 151:

"Sit down," Father says. He puts his arm around my shoulder, pulls me close. I can smell leftover aftershave on him. I close my eyes and breathe deep the smell of my father. I'm leaning against his shoulder, just resting, just loving him, just wishing he could save me when he says, "Do you remember what happened to Brother Alex Delango?"

The smell of sage breezes past. "Yes," I say.

"Do you remember how he lost everything because he dared to contradict Prophet Childs?"

We sit for a moment, the quiet and cool night air between us.

"They took his children and wives and gave them to two other of the brethren. They made him leave, along with Brother Olsen and Brother Adamson. The three of them were run off, all of them losing their families because they crossed the Prophet. Do you remember?"

I nod. "Yes sir."

"Do you remember how those fathers were to those new wives and children?"

Again, I nod.

The night sky is full of stars. They look close enough to reach. If I didn't hurt so much, I bet I could touch one."

Having become rather deeply invested in Kyra (it's hard not to--she's an incredibly sympathetic, intelligent, and loving narrator), I would like a sequel (although it doesn't look as though that's in the works--see Lu Ann's Book Review interview, linked below). Williams has given her readers credit by not insulting them with a Happy Ending with all problems resolved...and I am still rather worried about Kyra.

There are scores of other blog reviews and reactions around; here is a sample: The Shelf Elf, The Compulsive Reader, Sara Zarr, Carrie's YA Bookshelf, and Jen Robinson's Book Page. Of particular interest is Melissa's reaction over at Here in the Bonny Glen, in as much as Melissa wonders how reading it as ebook changed her experience of the story...

And here's an interview with Carol Lynch Williams over at Cynsations, and another at Lu Ann's Book Review,

Incidentally, Patrick, the mobile librarian, is my nominee for Fictional Librarian of the Year.