Narwhal: Unicorn of the Sea for Non-fiction Monday

Some non-fiction books are best read out loud to wide-awake children--the sort of books with lots of sidebars, jammed packed with information, color, and detail. Other non-fiction books work beautifully at bedtime--the sort of books where the non-fiction is presented in a coherent narrative, with the facts part of a story.

Narwhal Unicorn of the Sea (Smithsonian Oceanic Collection), by Janet Halfmann, illustrated by Steven James Petruccio (Soundprints, 2008, 32pp) falls into the later category. It tells of a baby narwhal, growing up in the cold arctic ocean, in clear prose with pleasantly detailed, yet unfussy, pictures. There's is danger in these waters, not just from predators, such as polar bears and killer whales, but from the ice itself. The narwhal pod becomes trapped in a small patch of open water by thick ice, and it's not clear that they ever be able to reach the open ocean. But instinct and luck save the day, and the young narwhal makes it to adulthood.

We've read and enjoyed other animal books by Janet Halfmann (about polar bears and alligators, and, my favorite, hermit crabs). If you have an animal-loving child, about five-years old, with an appetite for non-fiction, her books are the best I know of for peaceful, shared learning at the end of the day.

On the other hand, because of the narrative style of these books, without all those fact-packed sidebars, the curious adult reader might be left with questions. How, for instance, did the narwhals know the ice extended further than they could swim?

The Non-fiction Monday Roundup is at The Miss Rumphius Effect today!

Any Which Wall, by Laurel Snyder

I've revisited this post--here's the more current version!

Fans of Edward Eager who might be reading this, run, don't walk, to get your hands on this book when it comes out on May 26, in both the US and the UK! Eager might have written his last book (Seven Day Magic) back in 1962, but Any Which Wall, by Laurel Snyder (Random House, 2009, 242pp, middle grade), continues Eager's tradition in really delightful way.

Since Eager, and before Snyder, there don't seem to have been any books written about common, ordinary magic--books with normal, everyday children stumbling across magic in the everyday world, and gradually learning its rules, and taming it, and bending it to their wills...Laurel Snyder set out to pay homage to Eager by writing just such a book, and succeeds brilliantly.

Henry and his little sister Emma, Henry's best friend Roy and his big sister Susan (who has to "look after" the others) are not particularly looking forward to a long, hot, Iowa summer. Then they find the Wall, a wall in the middle of a cornfield, a wall that isn't walling anything...a wall that is magic, and will take them to any other wall that ever might have been. Wizards, pirates, outlaws, a lovable, and enormous dog who needs a home, and more, await them, in a splendiferously fun journey through time and space in the best Edward Eager tradition of great characterization, brisk writing, and snappy dialogue among the children.

Any middle grade kid, boy or girl, with a sense of humor and a sense of adventure should enjoy this lots.

I was reading the book so briskly that I skipped the illustrations, which are by LeUyen Pham. Like the words, the pictures are both contemporary, and slightly old-fashioned, and suit the story beautifully. Here's the picture of the kids meeting Merlin:

But there is more to this book than the fun of the magical adventure, and I'm not quite sure what kids will make of this other aspect. It is, almost, a moral.

Keen readers will notice that the oldest girl, who is "friends" with the beautiful girls of her middle school, and who disposed of her unicorn collection a while ago, is named Susan--shades of other fictional Susans who were also the older, less imaginative, and less fun girls (Narnia, Swallows and Amazons). Before the magic entered her life, this Susan was well on her way to becoming a boring, normative, and judgemental wearer of lipstick (like the Narnia Susan). In the course of the various adventures, she realizes that she can be, once again, an imaginative child, and that this might be a better thing to be. She is keenly aware of this transformation in herself, and Snyder, authoritatively, makes sure the reader is aware of it too.

An audience of folks in their forties (or so), with families and jobs who nonetheless love children's books, will cheer for Susan and think fondly of their own unicorn (or zombie?) collections. I dunno what a kid, unencumbered by any grownup-ness, would make of this. Will it knock them out of the story? Will they be oblivious? Will they say, Yes! Let me have fun, and believe, and enjoy life....I still had my unicorn collection until I was 15, so maybe I would have found this part of the book validating. I don't think, though, that I would have appreciated Snyder's somewhat intrusive authorial aside (several pages in italics) toward the end of the book, in which she extols the importance of plain old fun (even though I agree with what she says).

But that being said, it is so awfully nice to have books like this one, that are themselves good, plain fun (and smart and funny). And I hope it sells really really well so that the vague promise of more to come at the end (in the best tradition of this sort of book) becomes reality.

Mini Author Interview (thanks Laurel!)

Me: Did you name Susan "Susan" on purpose?

Laurel: Yes, and no. Susan was named for my best friend, since the others were named for my own sibs. At the same time, I thought a lot about Lewis' Susan, and about how kids always have to "outgrow" magic. So I think the name actually affected the story...

Me, hopefully: Sequel????

Laurel: Sequel, yes, in the planning stages. I'm not really a sequel person, but I feel tempted to follow Susan and Roy (as their father gets a job) to Baltimore. If the sequel happens, it will be about how an older kid might "use" Common Magic, when confronting a more adult view of a new (problematic) place. It's (in my head) called "Anywhere Green" and hops around the parks of Baltimore City.

Me: Yes, please.



If anyone can think of any other fantasy books that are ordinary in the same sense, where the magic doesn't have anything to do with good and evil, or strange realms beyond our own, or children with magical gifts, do let me know. I want to read them).

Links:
Here's a link to an article that Snyder wrote about Jewish Kid's Lit, and her own last minute change to Any Which Wall that resulted from her thoughts on the matter.

Here's a link to an interview with Snyder from this week's Summer Blog Blast Tour, that tells how A.W.W. came to be written.

Here's another review of A.W.W. at Jen Robinson's Book Page, and another at Never Jam Today.

Disclosure: copy received from the publisher at the request of the author, who knew I was an Eager fan and therefore predisposed to like the book already--but I think I would have anyway!

Summer blog past tour posts of particular interest to readers of fantasy

The Summer Blog Blast Tour is an organized cluster of author interviews at various blogs that lasts for a week.

Here are the interviews of particular interest to me, and presumably to other readers of fantasy! The full tour schedule can be found here.

Monday:
Carrie Jones at Writing & Ruminating

Tuesday:
Carolyn Hennesy at Little Willow

Wednesday:
Maggie Stiefvater at Writing & Ruminating
James Kennedy at A Fuse Number 8 Production

Thursday:
Alma Alexander at Finding Wonderland
Laurel Snyder at Shaken & Stirred
Cindy Pon at The Ya Ya Yas

Friday:
Jenny Davidson at Chasing Ray
Lauren Myracle at Little Willow
Friday: Kristin Cashore at HipWriterMama

A fantasy prize pack to beat all fantasy prize packs at Presenting Lenore

I tried not to drool on the keyboard. I knew that this would be bad for it. But looking at the list of books in the Penguin Fantasy Prize Pack being given away by Presenting Lenore, it was hard not to. It ends June 3rd.

May 19th releases of children's and ya science ficiton and fantasy

Two new releases of YA paranormal fantasy today:

Vampire Kisses 6: Royal Blood, by Ellen Schreiber
"Summer break is over, and Raven is hardly eager to be returning to Dullsville High. Not only does school mean daily interaction with preppy pest Trevor Mitchell, but her sleep-filled days and romantic nights with her immortal boyfriend, Alexander, must come to an end. Plus the shock of morning classes isn't the only change in store.

An unexpected letter turns up at Alexander's mansion—announcing his parents will be coming to town. And once they arrive, just about everyone has had a sighting of the macabre couple except Raven. What could be delaying Alexander from introducing Raven to them? Could Alexander be hiding something about his parents' homecoming?"


Swoon, by Nina Malkin
"Torn from her native New York City and dumped in the land of cookie-cutter preps, Candice is resigned to accept her posh, dull fate. Nothing ever happens in Swoon, Connecticut...until Dice's perfect, privileged cousin Penelope nearly dies in a fall from an old tree and her spirit intertwines with that of a ghost. His name? Sinclair Youngblood Powers. His mission? Revenge. And while Pen is oblivious to the possession, Dice is all too aware of Sin. She's intensely drawn to him -- but not at all crazy about the havoc he's wreaking."

There's a review of this one at The Story Siren today.

May 26 is going to be a good day, though. However, it is rather daunting, the way all the books that I want to read are snowballing....

An effort to add color to my son's book shelves

I spent yesterday in a different online world from my usual kidlitosphere. My review of Thirteenth Child got picked up in a gathering of online comments concerning "mammothfail," the name that's been given to Patricia Wrede's decision to keep Native Americans out of her alternate America. Reading all the various reactions-- thoughtful, enlightening, contentious, and extreme--led me to thinking about race in children's fantasy and science fiction, and, more specifically, that particular sub-genre's overwhelming whiteness.

This led me to my eight-year old's bedroom. I stared at his bookshelves. The picture book collection, which is beautifully multicultural, has been passed on to his brother, leaving him with hundreds (literally) of books that used to be mine (like my Nesbits, and Edward Eagers), and a few shelves of his own books-- Dragon Slayers Academy, A-Z mysteries, some graphic novels, like Jellaby and Bone, and lots of non-fiction.

There were two books with African-American characters, from Lerner's Graphic Myths and Legends Series--Marwe: Into the Land of the Dead: an East African Legendand Sunjata: Warrior King of Mali: a West African Legend. There was one book set in China, The Remarkable Journey of Prince Jen, by Lloyd Alexander, which he hasn't read yet (Prince Jen never struck me as particularly Chinese, anyhow). There was also a book about ancient Nubia, that he picked up at a library book sale, but it's in French, which is not much use.

When I asked him if he could think of a book in which a character's skin color happened to be different than his own (the inside of a plain bagel, untoasted), he suggested an aberrantly white character in the V book of the A-Z mysteries, who is taken for a vampire.

Gah. On so many levels, gah.

My son suggested that I write a series of books about an African boy who battles dragons, but this is not practical. Nor is it feasible for me to start publishing multicultural fantasy books for the third-grade reader. However, I have a credit card, and the possibly naive belief that if people buy books with non-white characters in lucrative droves, publishers will publish more, and better.

Ready to do my bit, I went first to my local independent bookstore, and started looking for fantasy books for third graders that have central characters who aren't white. Here is what I found.

Time Surfers #1: Space Bingo (The Time Surfers), by Tony Abbott (author of The Secrets of Droon), 1996. Not quite what I was looking for, as the white boy in the center overshadows the other girl and boy. Although the girl is identified as Japanese by her last name, Naguchi, the boy isn't described, so making him dark skinned seems to have been the publisher's decision.


I also bought Ghost Island, a Choose Your Own Adventure for the young, based on the cover, which shows two kids, one black, confronting a ghost together. False advertising. I am returning this. The black kid is not a character, just a trick to make shoppers like me buy the book. It is neo-colonialist garbage.

That was it for the reading level I wanted.

Later I visited Borders. where I bought Tiger (The Five Ancestors, Book 1), by Jeff Stone, the first in a series about five young Chinese (?) masters of different fighting styles.

End result: just one degree from complete bookshopping-fail.



I also asked the Child Lit group if they had any suggestions. Here are the responses:

Raising Dragons, by Jerdine Nolen and illustrated by Elise Primavera (a longer picture book)
The Wizard of Washington Square, by Jane Yolen
The Dragon and the Unicorn, by Lynne Cherry (another longer picture book)

I will look for these.

And I know that there are various early chapter fairy books with faeries of color. I cannot, in conscience, buy these for my boys (because they wouldn't read them).

And this is all I could come up with. If anyone can think of anything else, please let me know. Things get a little better for fourth-grade readers, I think--I'll be revisiting this again next year!

I wrote this post to support Fen of Color United (Fen being the irregular plural of fans). I learned yesterday that today is a day of protest--a day to listen to the voices of people of color in science fiction and fantasy, to speak out against making people invisible.*


Please, can't we add a bit more color in our fantasy early reader and chapter books? Fantasy is such an important gateway into bigger books for so many children, and it is much too monochromatic.

When my six-year old brings book bags home from school, there's a box of skin color crayons for the kids to use in their pictures. The colors range from a deep dark brown to a pinkish peach (and a white, which is odd. Possibly to color melanin-challenged people who are mistaken for vampires).

The major publishers of fantasy for kids, on the other hand, don't seem to be coloring with a full set of crayons.

Here are some good kidlitosphere places that promote reading inclusively: The Brown Bookshelf, Paper Tigers, Mitali's Fire Escape, American Indians in Children's Literature, and Black Threads in Kid's Lit.

And you could also go to the Happy Nappy Bookseller, to read this beautiful and powerful rant.

*From the live journal community organizing today's event:

"On Monday May 18, 2009, we are asking anyone who identifies as a POC/non-white to post this banner, their speculative short stories, artwork, poetry or simply write a post on their favorite fandom on their blogs as an act of protest to show we will not be silent or invisible. The day of protest is entitled Fen Of Color United or more aptly, FOC_U.

White allies can also show solidarity for this event by posting this banner and expressing the need for diversity and speaking out against the bigotry in the genre, through posts and/or their creative work as well."

I've never lusted after stamps before today

But I've never seen mythological creatures stamps before today either. And, if you order the presentation pack, it comes with a short story for each creature written by Neil Gaiman...

They are UK stamps. But if you do not live in the UK, do not worry--they can be ordered internationally. I have unselfishly done this, so as to be able to share my experience with any others who might want to order them. I do not yet know, on the other hand, if they will, in fact, arrive.

Thirteenth Child, by Patricia Wrede

Thirteenth Child (Frontier Magic Book), by Patricia Wrede (Scholastic, 2009, 344 pp, upper middle grade to YA).

Little Eff is the thirteenth child, and that means she's walking bad luck, according to some. Her extended family sees Evil manifesting itself in every accident of her childhood. She doesn't feel particularly bad, but she can't help but worry that there's some truth in what they say. After all, it's true that the seventh son of a seventh son, like her twin brother, Lan, will have great magical prowess and good luck all his life. So when her father takes a job teaching magic out in the Wild West, leaving several older siblings behind, Eff's relief at being able to hide her secret knows no bounds.

In the western frontier of 19th-century Columbia, an alternate United States, mammoths and saber-tooths co-exist with magical and dangerous creatures. No-one has made it to the Rockies and come back to tell about it. The Lewis and Clark expedition was doomed. The university town, however, is safely behind a great magical barrier, created by Jefferson and Franklin, and so Eff and her family are hardly touched by what lies beyond. Stampeding woolly rinoceri might destroy settlements, swarming weasels and spectral bears might kill the unwary explorer, but life for a child living behind the Great Barrier is just school (which includes learning magic) and chores (made easier by magic). Lan is a powerful wunderkind at the magic part of life, being a double 7th, but Eff's anxiety about her possible propensity for ill-luck keeps her from realizing that her brother is not the only talented one.

I enjoyed reading about school and chores, a sister getting married, friendships developing (although Eff is always something of a loner, being unable to shake her feeling that she is cursed), another sister eloping, learning "Aphrikan" magic as well as "Avropan," and having rheumatic fever. I liked this aspect of the book--it was pleasant reading, in much the same way that many 20th-century books about a upper middle-class girl growing up, with little of the external world impinging on her life, are pleasant reading. (I thought of the Betsy-Tacy books, and tried to unthink it, because there are so many, many differences, but couldn't, quite, because the chummy sort of voice seemed so similar to me).

Still, I was very glad when I got to page 245, and Eff, now a teenager, finally crossed the Great Barrier and had an adventure involving magical creatures and her own untested abilities. The 244 pages before this point had begun to seem like a very long world-building and character-building preamble, and although (as I said), I enjoyed it, I was ready for Happenings to happen to make all of this world building and re-naming and wooly rhino-ing mean something, as opposed to being very interesting, but under utilized, bagatelle.

But you know the problem with many 20th-century books about white upper-middle-class girls growing up with enough money and education and all? They aren't the sort of books that open the eyes of the white upper-middle-class girls reading them to what other lives are like. They don't care to disturb the universe by raising difficult questions of a social justice sort, and, instead, sweep things under the carpet.

The Thirteenth Child suffers sadly from this, and, as a result, it's generating a fair bit of controversy. In Wrede's alternate United States, there's a pretty big erasure. There are no Native Americans. None. I hope I would have noticed this myself, but I'll never know- - I found out when I was only on page 20 after reading the comments on Jo Walton's review.

The erasure of an entire continent's worth of native peoples is disturbing in fiction, because it is too scarily close to what happened in fact (both in the past and in the educational/cultural system of the present). It is especially jarring in this book because people like Jefferson, Lewis, and Clarke are named by name, tying this alternate America inextricably to our own. If only this story were set in a place more elsewhere, one could enjoy the basic "settling an empty world with hostile magical creatures" premise, without the troubling elimination of all the many peoples living here, who were, for whatever reason, deemed irrelevant to the story.

It is possible that beyond the Rocky Mountains there are Native Americans, with their own type of magic, and that Eff will meet them in subsequent books. I would like this. It is also possible that there aren't, based on hearsay in one of the comments on Jo Walton's review.

Other reviews: Eva's Book Addiction, Bib-Laura-Graphy, Abby (the) Librarian, Book Aunt, and Persephone Reads.

Win a copy of Luke on the Loose, my favorite TOON book!

A while ago, I wrote the following review of one of this year's TOON books (easy readers in hardcover comic book format).

"Luke On The Loose, by Harry Bliss, is a wild and wacky pigeon chase through the streets of New York. In Central Park one day, young Luke's father strikes up a boring conversation with another adult. A flock of pigeons catches Luke's eye, and with a blood curdling YAAH! he sends them flying. Off he goes in pursuit-YAAH! YAAH! flap flap flap through Manhattan and into Brooklyn, leaving a trail of feathers and startled byststanders. His father and the police and the firefighters set off to the rescue...Fun!"



I love this book (YAAH! YAAH!). So do my kids. It has a great, fast moving plot, it's an Easy Reader that's easy to read, and it's funny.


And TOON Books has given me a copy to give away! Just leave a comment, making sure there's a way back to you) by May 21st (a week from today).

Some of the recent contests I've seen have asked that participants make videos of baking disasters, write their own short stories, or hunt through all the local bookstores with camera in hand, looking for a particular book that isn't released yet (and wouldn't the bookstore think you were some sort of spy for their enemies?). I just ask for comments. However, anyone who promises to send me an ARC of Fire, by K. Cashore, will get 1,000 extra entries (just kidding. But I do wish I had one).

AND THE WINNER IS: Aerin!

My boys have enough books, but these guys don't.

My boys are probably going to be drowning in books for the rest of their lives. Other boys aren't as lucky, book-wise, and life-wise. Guys Lit Wire is urging all of us who care about books and helping boys to put our money where our mouths are. Please visit their Book Fair for Boys to help the teens incarcerated in the LA County Juvenile Justice System get books. There you will find instructions on how to buy something from the Guys Lit Wire wishlist at Powells, and the address to which the books should be sent.

I have been visiting the wishlist on and off through the course of the day (it beats checking my blogstats), and it is great to see more "fulfilled" notices next to great books, and to know that those books are going to readers who need them so very much. This runs for thirteen more days, and I am looking forward to continued checking on it.

I bought My Family and Other Animals, and Holes. I do hope that the boys who read the first one, in particular, will enjoy it as much as I do. Who knows, maybe it will inspire someone to be a zoologist.

New releases of chidren's and ya fantasy/sci fi for May 13,14,and 15th

Here are the children's and YA fantasy and science fiction releases for May 12,14, and 15th, taken, as always, from Teens Read Too, with blurbs from Amazon.

9-12 year olds:

Doc Wilde and The Frogs of Doom, by Tim Byrd. "There is never a dull moment when it comes to Doc Wilde and his family of swashbuckling explorers. Brian and Wren have been trained from an early age to keep up with their worldfamous father. With their driver Declan mac Coul and their butler Phineas Bartlett in tow, there is no obstacle they can’t overcome, no evil they can’t defeat, including mutant frogs from another dimension."


Gods of Manhattan II: Spirits in the Park, by Scott Mebus. "A month has passed since Mannahatta—the spirit city that coexists alongside Manhattan—was revealed to Rory, when an earthquake rocks New York. The island itself is attempting to shake off the Trap around Central Park, and only Rory has the power to open it before even greater catastrophe strikes. But centuries-old wounds must be healed before Rory turns the key. With New York’s most notorious figures—including Captain Kidd and Bill the Butcher—at his side and on his trail, Rory discovers that the answer to peace lies with the one man he never wants to see again: his father."

Young Adult:

Academy 7, by Anne Osterlund. "With a past too terrible to speak of, and a bleak, lonely future ahead of her, Aerin Renning is shocked to find she has earned a place at the most exclusive school in the universe. Aerin excels at Academy 7 in all but debate, where Dane Madousin—son of one of the most powerful men in the Alliance— consistently outtalks her. Fortunately Aerin consistently outwits him at sparring. They are at the top of their class until Dane jeopardizes everything and Aerin is unintentionally dragged down with him. When the pair is given a joint punishment, an unexpected friendship—and romance—begins to form. But Dane and Aerin both harbor dangerous secrets..." This is on my wants list.

The Doomsday Mask, by Simon Rose. "The legendary crystal ceremonial mask of Kulkaan, high priest of Atlantis, was believed to have been endowed with incredible powers. During the destruction of that ancient civilisation, the mask was thought to have been shattered and irretrievably lost. Eventually, the mask was forgotten and considered a myth - but its crystal fragments have now been found by the shadowy Crystalline Order. In a wild race against time, it is now up to two children, Josh and Erica, to prevent the mask from falling intact into their hands - and to save the world from catastrophe.

Dull Boy, by Sarah Cross. "What do you do if you can deadlift a car, and you spend your nights flying to get away from it all? If you’re fifteen-year-old Avery Pirzwick, you keep that information to yourself. When you’re a former jock turned freak, you can’t afford to let the secret slip. But then Avery makes some friends who are as extraordinary as he is. He realizes they’re more than just freaks—together, maybe they have a chance to be heroes. First, though, they have to decide whether to trust the mysterious Cherchette, a powerful wouldbe mentor whose remarkable generosity may come at a terrible price."

The Hourglass Door, by Lisa Mangum. "Abby's senior year of high school is going according to plan: good friends, cute boyfriend, and college applications in the mail. But when Dante Alexander, foreign-exchange student from Italy, steps into her life, he turns it upside down. He's mysterious, and interesting, and unlike anyone she's ever met before. Abby can't deny the growing attraction she feels for him. Nor can she deny the unusual things that seem to happen when Dante is around. Soon Abby finds herself drawn into a mystery whose roots reach into sixteenth-century Florence, and she uncovers a dangerous truth that threatens not only her future but the lives of those she loves."

Quantum Prophecy: The Reckoning: Book Three, by Michael Carroll. "Not long ago the world thought its superhumans dead.... Now, new heroes—and new villains— have miraculously emerged in the form of teenagers. The new heroes find themselves on the cusp of WWIII, caused by their very existence. One hero is torn between right and wrong as he falls under the spell of a former ally turned villain, while another must come to terms with his dark role in the battle, as predicted by Quantum’s prophecy years ago. If the planet is to survive, our new heroes will need to prove stronger than even they can imagine."

Strange Angels, by Lili St. Crow. "Dru Anderson has what her grandmother called “the touch.” (Comes in handy when you’re traveling from town to town with your dad, hunting ghosts, suckers, wulfen, and the occasional zombie.) Then her dad turns up dead—but still walking—and Dru knows she’s next."



A few more to come on the 19th.

The Book of Time, for Timeslip Tuesday

Wandering through the most recent Scholastic book fair at my sons' school, my eye was caught by Book Of Time, by Guillaume Prevost (2007, 213 pp, originally published in France). I have been thinking for a while that I needed to throw more modern stories into my timeslip mix, and so here I go.

Fourteen-year old Sam is not happy. In the immediate future, he has to face the brutally tough kid Monk in the upcoming judo tournament. In the larger scheme of things, his life has been depressing since his mother's death. He's had to move in with his grandparents, aunt, and twelve-year old cousin Lily, while his father, an antiquarian bookseller, disappears for days at a time. But never for as long as the most recent disappearance has lasted...

When the judo tournament is unexpectedly postponed, Sam heads over to the empty bookstore. Looking for something that might shed some light on his father's whereabouts, he finds a hidden room in the basement. There he discoverers a keyhole shaped stone, decorated with a carved stone. When he fits an old coin into the slot, he begins an adventure that will take him through time and space, into a quest to save his father, a prisoner hundreds of years in the past.

His journey takes him to a monastery in Scotland, about to be raided by the Vikings, to a World War 1 battlefield in France, to ancient Egypt, and to renaissance Belgium. Gradually Sam begins to learn the secrets of the stone, but will he be able to learn enough to find his father before time runs out?

It's a fun adventure. I had no problem reading briskly to the end, and I am sure that there will be plenty of kids, looking for a fast-paced and exciting story, who will like it lots.

But. The vignettes of times past almost all passed too quickly--there was little of the full immersion in the past that I particularly enjoy. Because Sam stays so briefly in each time, the people he meets don't have a chance to come alive vividly. The author is a history teacher, and I felt there was a touch of didacticism in the book--of the "lets encourage kids to learn about history by putting it in an adventure story!" kind (and in the author interview included in the Scholastic edition, he makes no bones about this being his hope).

The characters in the present aren't particularly three-dimensional either, and I found them, at times, unconvincing. For instance, when Lily (a bit of a brat when we first meet her) finds Sam in the bookstore, and he explains that he has been travelling, she accepts it quickly and without question, and right away is being helpful and supportive. I think a real twelve-year old might have found it just a bit harder to swallow than she does.

So this is one I'll keep for my boys, and which I would recommend for a ten or eleven-year old who likes fantasy and history, and is looking for an adventure story, but not one I would recommend to any of the grown-ups I know. For me, that is the real test of a book, regardless of the age of its intended readership.

The Book of Time is the first in a series. The second, The Gate of Days (which, according to Wikipedia, was more favorably received by the critics), came out last October, and the third, The Circle of Gold, comes out in September.

In an amazing coincidence, Becky happened to review this one today too--here are her thoughts.

This is, incidentally, the first modern French fantasy adventure for children that I've ever read, as far as I know (the original French cover is shown at right. I like it). I wonder what else is out there. What, for instance, are they writing in Italy these days?

May 12 release of fantasy/science fiction for kids and teenagers

Here are the children's and YA fantasy and science fiction for today. As always, the blurbs are mostly lifted from Amazon, and the list comes from Teens Read Too (if anyone sees any I missed, please let me know!)

It is a great day for 9-12 year olds (and for some of the rest of us too):

Alien Feast (Chronicles of the First Invasion), by Michael Simmons. "Things are getting better with the alien invasion. Sure it’s still not too uncommon to come home and find your step-parents reduced to a pile of unsavory feet—but at least now with the disease killing the aliens off, you have a relatively decent chance of making it through a day.... William knows this first-hand, having lost both his step-parents, but when the aliens kidnap his long-time crush Sophie’s scientist parents (and the government won’t help) it’s up to William, Sophie, and William’s bizarre Uncle Maynard to save them…and perhaps the rest of the world while they are at it. A hysterically twisted adventure that will knock your feet off!"

The Beast of Blackslope (The Sherlock Files), by Tracy Barrett. "Xena and Xander have been looking forward to their vacation in the peaceful country village of Blackslope. But when a huge monster begins to terrorize the town, the young detectives are faced with a mystery that seems impossible to solve. Sherlock Holmes, Xena and Xander’s famous ancestor, investigated the case of a horrible beast in Blackslope, but that was nearly a hundred years ago. It couldn’t be the same creature after all this time—could it?"

Darkwood, by M.E. Breen. "Darkness falls so quickly in Howland that the people there have no word for evening. One minute the sky is light, the next minute it is black. But darkness comes in other forms, too, and for thirteen-year-old Annie, the misery she endures in her Uncle’s household makes the black of night seem almost soothing. When Annie escapes, her route takes her first to a dangerous mine where a precious stone is being stolen by an enemy of the king, and later to the king’s own halls, where a figure from Annie’s past makes a startling appearance. All the while, reported sightings of kinderstalk— mysterious, wolf-like creatures that prowl Howland’s dark forests—grow more frequent."

Dragon Spear, by Jessica Day George. "As far as Creel is concerned, all is finally right with the world. The dragon king, Shardas, and his queen, Velika, have made a home for themselves on the Far Islands, and for the first time in centuries it seems dragons and humans might be able to live together in peace. So what better time for Creel and Luka to plan their wedding. But then Velika gets kidnapped by a band of rogue dragons in need of their own queen. And Creel and Luka leap to aid Shardas and rescue her—only to discover that Luka’s father has set his sights on taking back the Far Islands from the dragons."

The Magic Thief: Lost, by Sarah Prineas. Conn, the hero of The Magic Thief, is back in a second great adventure. "Conn may only be a wizard's apprentice, but even he knows it's dangerous to play with fire . . . especially around magic. His master, Nevery, warns him that it could all blow up in his face. Besides, they have bigger problems to deal with. There is evil afoot in the city of Wellmet, an evil that isn't human. But Conn is drawn to the murmurs he hears every time he sets off an explosion—something is trying to talk to him, to warn him. When none of the wizards listen, Conn takes matters into his own hands. His quest to protect everything he loves brings him face-to-face with a powerful sorcerer-king and a treachery beyond even his vivid imagination." Here's my review.

Operation Storm City: The Guild of Specialists Book 3, by Joseph Mowll. "Deep in the Sinkiang Desert in China, forces converge in the race to find Ur-Can — the fabled Storm City. Becca and Doug are desperate to reach the lost city and discover their parents’ fate, but enemies, old and new, threaten to arrive first and take control of the ancient machine located there. Can Doug and Becca solve the final mystery and stop the power-hungry General Pugachev from endangering the planet — or will they find their parents only to lose them forever? Weaving in maps, vintage photos, and gatefolds, this final adventure is filled with special features, including a foldout of a formidable zeppelin airship."

Seekers #3: Smoke Mountain, by Erin Hunter. "The burning Smoke Mountains are more treacherous than anything the bears have faced before, and tensions run high as they encounter obstacle after obstacle. A rushing river and hostile flat-faces separate them from their goal, and a bear is pushed to the brink of death. Signs and omens point in different directions, and the bears, though traveling together, must each follow his or her own star . . . causing one bear to leave the group forever. "

The Soldiers of Halla (Pendragon), by D. J. MacHale. "It has all been leading to this. Every victory. Every loss. All the thrills and sadness; the hope and despair. Bobby Pendragon's heart-pounding journey through time and space has brought him to this epic moment. He and his fellow Travelers must join forces for one last desperate battle against Saint Dane. At stake is not only the tenth and final territory, but all that ever was or will be. Everywhere. This is the war for Halla. Every question is answered. Every truth is revealed. The final battle has begun.

Winter Wood: Book 3 in the Touchstone Trilogy,by Steve Augarde. The third book of a series that began with The Various, about which I have heard much that is good, and that I really mean to read soon.





Young Adult:

The Burning: Triskellion 2, by Will Peterson. "After the shocking revelations in Triskellion, being guests of the "Hope Project" might seem like a relief. But Rachel and Adam soon figure out that they’re being held prisoner, and that the program has more sinister goals than archaeological research in mind. A hideous discovery at the funeral of their grandmother makes it clear that the teenagers must flee from England to Paris, Seville, and finally Morocco, evading not only their former benefactors but also the followers of "The Englishman," a zombie-like figure with a frightening agenda of his own."

Generation Dead: Kiss of Life, by Daniel Waters. Sequel to last year's Generation Dead. "Phoebe Kendall may be alive, but she feels just as lost and alone as her dead friends. Just when she reconciled herself to having feelings for a zombie -- her Homecoming date Tommy Williams -- her friend Adam is murdered taking a bullet that was meant for her. Things get even more confusing when Adam comes back from the grave. Now she has romantic interest in two dead boys; one who saved her life, and one she can't seem to live without."

Legacy of Blood, by Michael Ford. The Spartan Quest series continues with Lysander's next adventure, in which he and his comrades head off to bring an Italian trading port back into line. "In the heat of battle Lysander finds himself in front of the great statue in the main square, and is shocked to see that the figure is wearing the Fire of Ares. Is this Lysander’s ancestor? He must find out his connection to this town and its people, and in so doing reveal more of his mysterious heritage, hidden from him for so long."


And finally, here's a new release that's not fantasy or science fiction, but which I reviewed a few months ago: Hidden Voices: The Orphan Musicians of Venice, by Pat Lowery Collins.





A few more to come tomorrow. And come back around 6pm EST for today's Timeslip Tuesday...

Come to the Castle for Nonfiction Monday

Come to the Castle!: A Visit to a Castle in Thirteenth-Century England, by Linda Ashman, illustrated by S.D. Schindler (Roaring Brook Press, 2009), invites the reader to travel back in time to the late medieval ages, where the Earl of Daftwood is holding a grand fest.

What is pleasure for the earl, in his comfortable status as lord of the manor, is the opposite for those underneath him, and we see his servants (including the noble Privy Lord, the cook, the herald) scurrying to pull the party together. It isn't that much fun to be a knight, in an overheated tin can, either. But let the feast begin!

"Prepare the Great Hall-
The banquet's tonight!
Arrange the old trestles;
Drape them in white.

The goblets must sparkle,
The silver must shine.
Oh no, dear-don't wash them!
Some spit will do fine."

I've always had a penchant for the medieval, and so can't help but rave over the loveliness of the book design, illustrations, and illuminated initials that make this book a gorgeous physical object. It drew my boys to it instantly, and they were very taken with the pictures (full of detail) and they were very interested in the illuminated letters, which they had never seen before in a children's book (incidentally, these might be a challenge for the young independent reader, since they can be hard to figure out the first time through). And, of course, they were very taken with the illustration of the privy.

As the quote above illustrates, the book is told in verse. I was rather doubtful about this, because reading it to myself, the words seemed a tad forced. But reading it aloud to the boys, things moved much more swimmingly, and we enjoyed it a lot (although I never did fall quite in love with the words).

In short, a beautiful and educational book, great for reading aloud, and, I hope, inspiring young artists to draw their own more detailed fantastically medieval settings.

Here's another review, from Abby (the) Librarian, and a cool podcast at Just One More Book!

For more non-fiction books, visit the Non-Fiction Monday Roundup at Book Scoops!

Header art

For some time, I have been wanting a header that is pretty like other people's headers. Here is my first shot, lifted from a Hubble picture. I may be making further stabs at this (and most definitely tweaking the width of this one). I am rather fond the orange snail effect at the right, which was totally fortuitous.

Here's the original picture, N1808 in the Large Magellanic Cloud, from the HubbleSite Picture Album:



A long time can be spent looking at the HubbleSite Picture Album.

Dreamhunter, by Elizabeth Knox

A little while ago, Laini Taylor wrote enthusiastically about Dreamhunter, by Elizabeth Knox (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2006, 365 pp). Since I know and trust her opinions, I dutifully checked it out of the library, and enjoyed it very much.

Laura and Rose are cousins, raised like sisters on an island nation (vaguely New Zealand) off in the middle of nowhere, round about the early 1900s. Now that they have turned 15, they are eligible to try to cross into the Place, a dry, dead, realm of dust and ruins, that only a few can enter. In the Place, dreams can be caught, and shared with the sleep of others back in the real world. Crossing the boarder to hunt for dreams is a lucrative, but dangerous profession, as the lives of Rose's mother and Laura's father show. They are two of the first and greatest dream catchers, famous and wealthy. But Laura's father has learned things about the Place that have driven him to the brink of desperation, and he disappears the night before she is to try to enter it herself for the first time.

Laura passes through, leaving Rose behind. Nothing has changed in the place since her father's last visit--and Laura beings to dream the same dreams he had found there--nightmares that lead her to the dark secrets of Dreaming that corrupt members of the government are hiding. Laura, Rose, and Rose's father slowly begin to unravel the mystery of her father's disappearance, while Laura begins to learn that dreaming was not the only magical legacy her father left her. And at last Laura brings the dreams and the magic back with her, to challenge the real world...

I should have trusted Laini more, and had book 2 (Dreamquake) on hand, because just when things start reaching a boiling point, book 1 ends. And I didn't have book 2 yet bother bother.

And that's my main quibble with this book--I wouldn't have had it any shorter, but much of it does read like preamble to The Main Events, and so I think it might require a bit of patience for some readers. Adding to the preambe-lish feel were the numerous switches in points of view, that occasionally felt somewhat forced, in the author needing to share information sense. I myself, however, found dreamhunter Laura and school girl Rose such interesting characters, and the Place so compellingly creepy, that the only thing that required my patience was dealing pleasantly with interruptions. And now, of course, patiently waiting till I can get the second book.

This is one that I would recommend in particular to fans of Libba Bray's Gemma Doyle series, or Jenny Davidson's The Explosionist-- ie, people who like period fiction that is almost realistic but with a fantastical difference and mysterious circumstance, and which involves school girls/15 year old former school girls who have headed off into Adventures Lives.

Gwenda Bond, at Shaken and Stirred, wrote about these books back in August of 2007, in a bid to get them the attention she thought they deserved. I just checked--no one in the entire state has Dreamquake or Dreamhunter checked out of the library (except me). I don't really expect the people of Rhode Island to be reading reviews from 2007, but don't they read Laini's blog????

Button Up! Wrinkled Ryhmes

Button Up!: Wrinkled Rhymes, by Alice Schertle, illustrated by Petra Mathers (Harcourt 2009) came my way recently when I was lucky enough to win a copy from Tricia at The Miss Rumphius Effect. This is an utterly delightful book of poems about clothes, from shoelaces to jammies to sweaters and more! All the items of clothing (sparkling characters, one and all) are worn by small animals (of equal charm).

Here's the first verse of one of my favorites:

"Emily's Undies"

We're Emily's undies
with laces and bow.
Emily shows us
wherever she goes.
She doesn't wear diapers,
not even to bed.
Now she wears undies
with ruffles instead.

(the second verse is even better).

Here's another favorite first verse, from "Jennifer's Shoes:"

We are Jennifer's shoes.
We came home in a box.
Now we go walking
when Jennifer walks.
When Jennifer walks,
we step out too-
one of Jennifer's feet
per shoe.

Gosh, I would like to keep going--these poems are so fun! The pictures are so engaging (Jennifer is a small mole child, Emily a mouse).

Thanks, Tricia, for this lovely book! (And if you visit her post here, you can read "Tanya's Old T-Shirt." Perhaps the best poem about an old T-shirt ever written for children!!!

Poetry Friday is hosted today by Picture Book of the Day.

Five favorite books for my son's last day as a five-year old

Today is the last day of my life that I will have a five-year old. The change from five to six seems huge to me--when you are six, you are truly no longer a squidgy baby...sigh.

In honor of this, here are the five books that my son loved the best this past year.

The Last Polar Bears, by Harry Horse. The story of Grandfather and Roo the dog's journey to the North Pole struck some deep chord in him, and he was tremendously taken by the humor of it. He is getting the other three books in this series tomorrow.




United Tweets of America: 50 State Birds Their Stories, Their Glories, by Hudson Talbott. An entertaining and informative book about state birds. On the one hand, it was gratifying that this Christmas gift was embraced so enthusiastically, and it's great that he's learned so much about the USA. On the other, I am so gosh darn sick of this book. I have read it about fifty times, and that is just too many. It still makes him laugh, however. Especially the cardinals.


The First Dog, by Jan Brett. The story of how paleowolf, hungry and looking for left-overs, became the first dog. He likes the humor of this one too.






GON (Book I of IV), by Masashi Tanaka. The fierce intensity of this small but powerful dinosaur appeals greatly.






And finally, one that isn't funny at all, but which was his favorite book last summer:

Let's Explore a River (Books for Young Explorers), by Jane McCauley. A photojournal of three children taking a trip down a river. Out of all the books in a lovely used bookstore in Vermont, this is what he wanted...




There were many others that he loved as well, but he keeps these five on his special shelf, face out, because he loves them best (except for Let's Explore a River, which he had forgotten about. After reading it more times than I wanted to, it is still fresh in my mind).

Amd tomorrow, he will be getting many more books...