The Problem With Prophecies ((The Celia Cleary Series #1) by Scott Reintgen, at Say What?
Gemma Fowler (City of Rust) at Mr Ripley's Enchanted Books
Ms. Yingling Reads is hosting a 48 MG readathon this weekend, and having completed my tasks for the day, I'm ready to plunge in!
I won't be reading for 48 hours, but I do hope to enjoy these books.
The ones I bought:
This will make no appreciable dent in my tbr pile of course, but some progress is better than no progress...
Val has grown up in a family of monster protectors, dashing across the country with her parents and three older siblings whenever they hear of a sighting. Her father was raised to be a monster hunter, dealing with incursions by killing the monsters, but rejected that. Instead, he has taught his family to trap the creatures and send them back to their home world. But when he's killed by an ora puma (a mountain lion with wings and a scorpion tail), her mother takes the family to a small town where they can have a normal life. Andie, the oldest sister, leaves home almost immediately to join the monster hunters in a betrayal Val can't wrap her head around. Lola and Rome seem to be cool with going to school. But Val is a frustrated, miserable mess, and gets herself into heaps of trouble when she tries to deal with monsters she thinks she sees at school.
But on the last day of school, there really is a fire breathing lizardish chipmunk up a tree...and the situation that ensues not only gets Val one last detention, but it brings her and her siblings a little bit closer. Then Val sees an online clip of a kid showing off his "dragon" egg, and recognizes it as an ora puma egg. Determined to live up to her family's creed, she decides, in good middle grade fashion, that she will drive the family monster hunting van cross country to get hold of the egg, and send it back where it belongs.
Fortunately, Lola and Rome aren't going to let her go alone.
And this is really where the book gets going! Lots of adventures, new friends, narrow escapes, magical creatures, and more, and it is all most satisfactory. Val's determination and zeal might get her into trouble at school, but it is just what is needed to not only bring her family back together and hold them to the ethical standards by which they were raised, but also to take down a nasty organization that wants to profit from monsters, and will stop at nothing to do so.
Sweetening the pot for the target audience is Val's guilty secret. She has befriended a cute little sugar loving monster instead of sending it home, and it is rather adorable.
In short, lots of magical creatures and lots of heart! I enjoyed the whole ensemble lots, especially once the road trip started.
disclaimer: review copy received (aka snatched by my greedy little paws) at ALA for review.
Good morning all! Here's what I found this week; let me know if I missed your post!
Here's a reminder that being a Cybils judge is a wonderful thing with which to fill your idle hours this fall! Look for the call for panelists in mid August.
The Reviews
The Child of Fire and Earth, by Barry Ryers, at Books are 42The Last Cuentista, by Donna Barba Higuera, at Leaf's Reviews
The Last Mapmaker, by Christina Soontornvat, at Children's Books HealThe Lonely Ghost, by Mike Ford, at Ms. Yingling Reads
Mapmakers and the Lost Magic by Cameron Chittock & Amanda Castillo, at Pages Unbound
The Marvellers, by Dhonielle Clayton, at alibrarymamaThe Mysterious Disappearance of Aidan S. (as told by his brother) by David Levithan, at proseandkahn (audiobook review)
The Prince of Nowhere, by Rochelle Hassan, at Charlotte's Library
I was lucky enough to be at ALA this past weekend in D.C., and enjoyed not only seeing friends, but filling tote bags with (mostly) kids books. Now that me and my books are home again, I'm determined to get on top of reviewing the finished books in particular, so that they can get on the library shelves and into the hands of their target audience!
So here are two fun dog picture books that even a cat person can appreciate (although cats won't; my cat, needy after my ALA absence, didn't like how much room they took up in my lap....)
I'll start by saying how much I adore the side-eye of this book's fictional dog narrator! He's a dog who grew tired of being a pet--the costumes he was forced to wear, the tricks he had to perform, the lack of toilet privacy, etc. And so he snapped one day, and took off on his own, looking askance at the missing dog posters adorned with his image, scrounging for food, and finally pooping without an audience. But then he sees his little girl loving a new dog. Though he tries to just nonchalantly accept that she's moved on to another relationship, when he realizes she was just pet-sitting, and when he sees her weeping while looking at his missing dog picture, he gives being a pet again another chance. Fun and adorable, and thought-provoking too with regards to relationships, with illustrations that made me grin.
Woof! The Truth about Dogs, by Annette Whipple, illustrated by Juanbjuan Oliver (June 2021 by Reycraft Books)This non-fiction book is perfect for young dog-lovers wanting to learn more about their beloveds, but also great for kids who aren't familiar with dogs. Information about all sorts of dog topics is presented in a kid-friendly question and answer format, such as "How do dogs help people?" with lots of pictures of dogs doing their various jobs (helping, guarding, herding, and loving) as well as basic information in the text focusing on service jobs.A somewhat hasty roundup, as I am here in Washington D.C. to simultaneously visit my mother adn go to ALA! so let me know if I missed your post.
The Reviews
Aru Sha and the Nectar of Immortality, by Roshani Chokshi, at Sifa Elizabeth ReadsFreddie vs the Family Curse, by Tracy Badua, at Always in the Middle
Kiki Kallira Conquers a Curse, by Sangu Mandanna, at Valinora TroyThe Shelterlings of the title are rejected familiars, creatures that made the trek to the mountain pool that awakens magic in those who bath in it. Wizards evaluate the magic that's sparked in each aspirant, keeping those whose new gifts are deemed useful, and dismissing the others to a home for the useless. Holly, a squirrel, is one of the later animals. The wizards laughed at her when she conjured pastries, and though the sting and disappointment (she longed to go on useful and exciting magical quests with a wizard partner) are still fresh in her mind, the Shelter for Rejected Familiars has become home, and it's misfit mélange of creatures, with strange and wonky powers, are her family.
Then Charlie, a rejected beaver who conjures flowers, shares his plan to redo the magic spell that gave the pool its magic, so that this time around it would give them proper gifts such as familiars should have. He needs help from the other creatures to collect the various ingredients, and so Holly and the other animals set out on genuine quests. Not only do their quirky magical talents turn out to be essential for the success of the various missions, but Holly starts to realize that there was nothing keeping them from venturing out any time they wanted to; quests can happen without wizards (and, it turns out, talking animals can hop on trains no questions asked to travel in search of adventure....the world is their oyster!)
After a very satisfying recounting of questing adventures and the powers deemed useless being used to great effect (I loved this part of the book especially!), things become darker. There is betrayal, and grave danger to the Shelterlings...but then a happy ending.
Obviously there's a message at the heart of the book, that you don't have to believe it if you are told you aren't valuable and that your gifts are worthless, and that "useless" gifts can be precious. I also appreciated that the down side of being used by those in power, as the wizard familiars are, is presented (one of the chosen familiars quits and comes to live with the rejected). I saw this message coming almost immediately, but that's because I'm an old and experienced reader, who loves stories in which minor magic is creatively used to save the day. The target audience might not see the message coming. It was all very nicely done, and I didn't find it belabored (it's also a nice message to hear, even if you aren't the target audience...self-doubt is an enemy at any age!).
Adventure, friendship/found-family, and magical fun, all described with lovely clarity meant that I read this in just about a single sitting with my mind's eye busily making it all real with no effort at all on my part! Especially (with just tons of conviction!) recommended for the younger MG set, the 9-10 year olds.
Rosemary, the main character of the first book, has only a walk on part here--in the present day of the book, she's anxious to find a magical cupboard that played a part in her first time slipping adventure in 18th century America (at least, I guess the cupboard did, but I don't actually remember it....). In any event, we soon leave Rosemary to see what's happening in 18th century New England.
The cupboard, a beautiful thing, with intricate carvings, has been stolen by a nasty preacher and his wife, who have made a living profiting from witch trials and embezzled orphans. One of these orphans is Felicity, who crawls inside the cupboard one cold night when she's supposed to be keeping watch over the preacher's belongings as they travel west in search of new money making schemes.
Wonderfully, Felicity finds herself in a warm and comfortable room, with strange "dragons" whizzing outside...she doesn't know it, but she's in Rosemary's time. It is all to brief a visit for my taste, but it does set up events for the cupboard to be returned in the present to the family from which it was stolen.
Much of the book involves the evil schemes of the parson and his wife, and the journey west. Felicity is a fine orphan, making good and finding love and prosperity after much adversity.
I enjoyed it, but wish we'd seen more time travel, and more of Rosemary!
But fate has other plans for Patrick, and Kate finds her self back in the 1980s, broken hearted.
I know this is a favorite time travel story for many, and I would have loved this if I'd read it the year it was published (I was a high school freshman then). The romance (with enough explicit details about nipples and manly bulges to push this to YA) would have been just right for young me, and I'd have learned a lot of history (the No-Nothing Party, the Yankee prejudice against the Irish, and what life was like as a mill worker).
As a much older reader, I appreciated the history (though it wasn't new to me) but found the romance kind of icky and not believable. What bothered me more is that Kate didn't do much with her time in the past, but just passively went with the flow of it all, too obsessed with Patrick to be a real part of her new family, and more and more convinced that she'll just stay in the past forever (she does miss her parents, but Patrick is her bright shinning sun). Right at the end, she does decide to become involved in the struggles of the mill workers, but doesn't get a chance to do anything before going back to her own time.
The time travel is never explained directly, but it turns out that Patrick is her great-great-grandfather, and the house Kate's mother has just bought in the present is the same one that Patrick and his family lived in. So kinship and over-lapping in the same house converged into time travel, which is as good a reason for time travel as any, I guess....though not pushed by the author into anything truly magical. It felt kind of pointless. Kate didn't change anything in the past (except souring Patrick's relationship with the girl he ended up marrying), and her return to the present is so brief there's no sense of Kate having changed (she just cries about Patrick).
All in all, a bit disappointing; I felt no particular sense of numinous magic or stirring of emotion, which is what I read timeslip stories for. But at 14, my take on it may well have been very different indeed. I might even have ended up crushing on Patrick myself....
Yay me! I have my Timeslip Tuesday book read--The Sea of Always (Thirteen Witches #2), by Jodi Lynn Anderson. It's the second book in the series, and though it does a decent job standing alone, it works better if you've read the first, and there's no reason why you wouldn't want to start at the beginning! It has a totally unique time travel premise, as one of the characters points out:
"There have got to be lots of possible futures. The time-travelling whales make that possible." (p 215).
Yes, here we have a time-travelling whale, who's graciously conveying our heroine, the young witch hunter Rosie, her best friend Germ, the ghost of a young boy, and another young witch hunter from the future, on an impossible quest through time and space. The kids are desperately trying to save Rosie's twin brother, stolen at birth by the Time Witch, and, while they're at it, it would be really nice if they could foil the evil plot of the Time Witch and the other witches to destroy all that is good in the world.
Rosie's witch-hunting skills are still a work in progress, the witches are incredibly powerful, and the whale unpredictable. And the Time Witch has set a clock ticking that will end Rosie's life if she doesn't win her brother back. She can't directly confront the witches all at once, so she set off, with her companions, to steal their hearts, one by one, to destroy en masse when time runs out.
It's a desperate game of chance against horrible odds, but with determination and love, there's hope....
So the journey hunting witches, via the magical whale that transports them through the Sea of Always, is full of fun/disturbing time travel. Fun because it's time travel, disturbing because the witches are really horrible. The whale is perhaps the most entertaining part of the story though--it provides the characters with all the comforts and distractions it can, producing party decorations, snacks, music, and the like.
The main strengths of the book are the vivid pictures it creates in the mind's eye, and in Rosie's inner journey--I really liked her character development. In particular, it's great to see her, encouraged by her friends, embracing the weirdness of her imagination that makes her magic powerful.
On the downside, with twelve witches to hunt down (the 13th was dispatched in the first book), there's a lot of travelling through time and place, during which the kids are primarily spectators of the past, and though I found it interesting, there may well be readers who will find it frustrating that there are no Big Happenings and Wild Excitement. And I found the ending something of a let down--there's a bit of deus ex machina involved that saves the day, without which the kids would have been doomed, and all the hard work of heart stealing didn't, in the end, seem as worthwhile as I was assuming it would be.
There's a third book coming, so of course not everything is resolved at the end of this one....I will look forward to it, even though it will probably not have time travelling whales!
Winnie is anxious about starting middle school, and is dismayed when her nemesis, David, shows up in her class. Nemesis is perhaps too strong a word; David is just utterly obnoxious, has beaten her in recent piano competitions, and is her arch rival at Chinese school. Winnie's also dealing with a lot of pressure to succeed from her parents, and is sad that her big sister has pulled away from her. She feels that she's never good enough, and it's eating at her. At least she still has her mother's tasty Chinese food (although the other kids at school don't react kindly to her lunches...).
When Winnie finds her grandmother's old cook book and follows the recipe for mooncakes, all her other problems fade when her grandmother's spirit shows up and possesses her pet rabbit. Her grandmother is a spirit hunter, and is about to take Winnie on as an apprentice shaman. The first malevolent spirit that shows up is easily vanquished with the mooncakes she unwittingly made with magic baked in, but mooncakes aren't a match for more powerful demons. And then it turns out that David is also a shaman in training too, and is (of course) more advanced than she is, and utterly obnoxious about it all. But teaming up with him is the only way to keep her town safe.
Of course it's cool to be part of a magical organization, with legends coming to life around you. Winnie isn't at all sure, though, that this is what she wants her life to be....
It is super fun! The real world and the magical world balance each other beautifully, and Winnie is such a believable, relatable heroine! (Especially the part where she questions whether "heroine" is what she really wants to be...). I liked how the sister relationship played out--communication between the two girls improves, and helps them tighten their bond again. The food was great too--I now want to try red bean paste brownies, which I've never had (Winnie makes them for the class bake sale, and it's touch and go for a while before suspicious kids realize how tasty they are!).
A great "kid discovering she's part of a line of mythological heroes" story that's more firmly tied to the real world and the day to day challenges of being a middle school kid than the Rick Riordan Presents line of books. Also weaponized mooncakes ftw!
I'm looking forward to seeing what Winnie (and David) do next!
Let the Monster Out, by Chad Lucas at Teen Librarian Toolbox
The Marvellers, by Dhonielle Clayton, at The Washington Post
The Nightsilver Promise, by Annaliese Avery, at Page UnboundAtop the unfinished cathedral of the town of Odierne sit its gargoyles, themselves unfinished. All but one spend the days gossiping about what they see below; the outlier stares out like the others, but has no patience for ideal chatter. He is full of frustration; gargoyles are supposed to protect, but he is a lump of stone who was unable to save a woman who jumped from his perch long ago to escape arrest. She and the baby she carried were swept away, leaving the gargoyle to bitter musings.
The baby was fished from the river by a gang of kid thieves, lead by a fiercely intelligent and fiercely lawless boy named Gnat. Little Duck, as they called her, is the youngest of the group, and it's not till the gang's roamings bring them to Odierne, making the cathedral ruins their home, that she's trusted to take on a direct heist on her own. She must pass a false coin at the baker's, and if she fails to bring back bread, she's sure she'll be cast out.
And she is successful, winning a more secure place in her young family of thieves. But then Gnat comes up with his most cunning plan yet--if Duck is apprenticed to the baker, she'll be in a lovely position to syphon off bread and coin to her family....But when Duck is welcomed by the baker, Griselde, and given a room of her own, and given trust as well, she starts down of a path of divided loyalties that almost breaks her. Over the next year, the pulling on her heart intensifies, and at last she is forced to chose who she will betray...the family of kids who raised her, or the woman who is willing to give her love and safety and a living doing what she loves. All the while the gargoyle watches, and finally is able to fulfil his destiny as a protector.
I loved all the details of being apprenticed to a baker (I am a big fan of books in which there is lots of making and crafting), and such a lovely baker too! Griselde is really the one of the best mother figures in any middle grade book I've read for ages, and I really liked that she needs Duck in her life to love just as much as Duck needs her. But the overall situation was so tense and discomfiting this was not at all a comfort read...the tension is strung out from beginning to end, tightening to a breaking point where I had to start skimming a bit (reading the end didn't help, because I knew, it being middle grade, things would almost certainly work out, but the process of things working out was very stressful for me the reader!)
It's not action-packed, but more character driven, so don't go into it expecting lots of middle grade fantasy high jinx! It is fantasy, in as much as it's an alternate world, with the sentient gargoyle providing a depressed gargoyle's point of view (in alternate perspectives with Duck's story), but it's not full of magic. Just found family and bread, and worry....lots of love, and, indeed, the happy ending I was hoping for (although it comes with some interesting twists, and a high cost).
Short answer--one I can easily imaging wanting to re-read in a year or so, and I'll enjoy it even more the second time around (this is why I like re-reading....)
disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher.