My Stop on the Dragon and Dangerous Princess Blog Tour

Way back in May of 2008, I interviewed Jim Averbeck on the occasion of his first book, In a Blue Room.  Even though I've moved on, since that time, to focus on middle grade sci fi/fantasy, I still have a soft spot in my heart for great fantasy picture books, and so it's a pleasure to welcome Jim back for a blog tour celebrating not only the release of his latest book, Oh No, Little Dragon, but the publication of Dangerously Ever After, by Dashka Slater (which I reviewed here)

First, the books:

Oh No, Little Dragon!  "With a PHOOSH and a Grrrrrr and a CANNONBAAAALLLLLL! Little Dragon tears through his day (and the house). But even when he gets a little too rambunctious, there’s no OH NO! that Mama’s kiss can’t fix."

Dangerously Ever After  "Princess Amanita laughs in the face of danger. Brakeless bicycles, pet scorpions, spiky plants--that's her thing. So when quiet Prince Florian gives her roses, Amanita is unimpressed . . . until she sees their glorious thorns! Now she must have rose seeds of her own. But when huge, honking noses grow instead, what is a princess with a taste for danger to do?"

And now, over to Dashka and Jim, talking about fantasy picture books and childhood reading!
 

JIM:  Hi Dashka.  This has been really fun touring the blogosphere with you. Mostly we’ve been interviewed by others, but here we have a chance for a little conversation. Charlotte’s blog focuses on fantasy and science fiction, and I think our stories fall under that heading, though for a much younger age group than usually considered for these genres.  So my first question for you is: Do you think introduction to fantasy themed books like DANGEROUSLY EVER AFTER or OH NO LITTLE DRAGON! lead kids to a lifelong openness or fascination with the fantasy genre?

DASHKA: I’m sure that there are people who read fantasy as kids and grew up to read nothing but annual reports and software manuals. But I think those people are the exception (at least I hope so). In my case, the books that I read as a child decorated the inside of my head with a landscape and a set of characters and an entire aesthetic that will be with me always. Once you begin to believe in a magical universe, it’s hard to stop.

JIM: What sort of books were your favorite earliest books? Do you see a connection between them and the stories you read as an adult?

DASHKA: I loved fairy tales of all kinds -- one of my favorite books was a picture storybook of Beauty and the Beast with Klimt-like illustrations by Hilary Knight and an afterward by Jean Cocteau. Spooky and cool (though my mother always insisted that the Beast was more attractive than the Prince.) I’m certain that the mixture of danger and absurdity present in that book influenced DANGEROUSLY EVER AFTER, as did the wry humor of E. Nesbit’s books, which I read over and over.

I was also raised on the Oz books, all 33 of them, which were conceived as being a new kind of quintessentially American fairytale. They were my father’s favorite childhood books and no child, grandchild, or even great grandchild of his is allowed to reach maturity without having read them. Having grown up reading books about magic, I was delighted to discover magical realist books like ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF SOLITUDE and BELOVED as an adult, which in turn inspired me to write a magical realist novel of my own. I’ve never stopped believing that mysterious and inexplicable things can happen to ordinary people, and I’m always excited when I find other writers who believe that too.

JIM: The first Oz book was published over 100 years ago. Do you think DANGEROUSLY EVER AFTER reflects quintessential American values?

DASHKA: In DANGEROUSLY EVER AFTER, the main character, Princess Amanita, has reinvented the role of princess, which is a very American thing to do. She’s not bound by traditional ideas of who she should be and so she’s decided that she can be a bicycle-riding, broken glass-collecting, dangerous-plant-growing princess -- without giving up her stylish outfits or her ruby-studded wheelbarrow.

What about Little Dragon? Is he a quintessentially American dragon?

JIM:  I think so. In the opening  pages of OH NO, LITTLE DRAGON! we see pictures that Little Dragon has drawn. He has a very all-American family with strong ties to their own roots.  This is illustrated by the fact that they have their very own castle, right there in the middle of suburbia, complete with a skull-foot tub and a viking-cap shower. They have their little corner of America, to which they've brought their immigrant experience. I think Little Dragon himself is second generation American.

DASHKA: I’ve told you about my childhood literary influences, now I want to hear about yours. Are there certain childhood books that you feel formed your tastes as a reader or as a writer?
           
JIM: I think I must have been a pretty cheap child to bring up, at least when I was very young, because I don’t remember having a ton of books. The one I remember best, however, had 366 stories- one for each day of the year (plus an extra for leap year).  It was illustrated by Richard Scarry. If you know anything about his work you know that it’s mostly animals in waistcoats. I’m sure this early grounding in fantasy led me later to WATERSHIP DOWN and THE HOBBIT, both of which prominently feature talking animals. And, of course, THE HOBBIT  led directly to THE LORD OF THE RINGS, which I have read annually every year since I was 14. That’s 35 times for those who are counting. All of this is to say, I really like fantasy.

DASHKA: So we were both heavily influenced by fantasy -- which shows up in our fairy-tale themed books. What do you think makes fantasy and fairy tales such an enduring source of inspiration?

JIM: I’m going to have to stand with Dr. Carl Gustav Jung on that (as filtered through Joseph Campbell).  I think fairy tales trade in archetypes. The Big Bad Wolf is our shadow self, the wise woman a sort of anima, etc and they all reside happily in the collective unconscious.  Fantasy stories tap into that unconscious directly, so they have a feel of being at once familiar and new, and on some level completely right. So they inspire us.

DASHKA: Where else do you go for inspiration? Do you have any remedies for the days when -- like Little Dragon -- your creative fire has been snuffed out?

JIM:   For me, writing is a process of synthesis. I tend to pull ideas from a lot of sources, let them stew around a bit in my head and  come out as something new. I get inspiration from dreams, news articles, observation.  For picture books in particular, I get inspiration from form.  Picture books have fairly constrictive set of rules and I like figuring out how to tell a story within those constrictions. It's a challenge.

When I am feeling uncreative, I like to soak in a hot tub. It's important to relax to get the creative juices flowing. Hot tub writing is why so many of my manuscripts have blotchy smeared ink words on rippled paper.

By the way, I like what you said earlier: “I’ve never stopped believing that mysterious and inexplicable things can happen to ordinary people.”  Can you share a mysterious and inexplicable occurrence that happened to you?

DASHKA: I’ve had many inexplicable occurrences happen around my books, maybe because if you put that much effort into creating an imaginary world, a little of it can’t help but leak out into the real world. After my book BABY SHOES was accepted for publication, for example, I received a box of hand-me-downs that included a pair of formerly white baby shoes that had been splashed with all different colors of paint so that they looked just like the  “speckled, spotted, polka-dotted, puddle-stomping, rainbow-romping” shoes at the end of the book. To this day I have no idea where they came from or what the origin was -- maybe someone put their baby to work painting the house.

When, THE WISHING BOX, my novel for adults, came out, I gave a reading attended by a man who looked exactly as I’d always imagined the protagonist’s father, a ne’er-do-well named Bill Harris. He heckled me during the Q&A and then stormed out of the bookstore. I guess he felt I hadn’t treated him all that well in the novel.

It was one of the rare occasions when I got a huge kick out of someone hating one of my books! What’s your favorite thing that anyone has said to you about your books? What, to you, is the ultimate compliment?  

JIM: The ultimate compliment for me is when I see a child make a connection to my book. But sometimes they can surprise you.  OH NO, LITTLE DRAGON! has a repeated phrase "Oh, No!" which I imagined kids would call out when the book was being read aloud to them. Judging from the many school visits I've done with the book, it turns out that they love the sound of Little Dragon making fire: "phoosh."  They call it out whenever they see illustrations with fire in the book. I love that they are making this connection with the book and the character of Little Dragon.

DASHKA: I love that! To me, the way children can fall in passionately in love with a book is the reason that writing for them is the best job in the world. Thanks for inviting us to visit your blog, Charlotte!

 

Thank you, very much, Dashka and Jim, for stopping by!

Caught (The Missing: Book 5) by Margaret Peterson Haddix, for Timeslip Tuesday

It's a little hard to believe that over four years have passed since I read and reviewed Found, the first book of The Missing series, by Margaret Peterson Haddix (I think my reviews are in general much better now!).  It's stuck in my mind vividly--the mysterious plane filled with babies, who we find out are children kidnapped from history--children who would otherwise have died.  The children are adopted by 21st century families, and all is well....until agents of time enforcement arrive to stabilize history by returning the children to their rightful places. 

When Caught, the fifth book of the series (Simon & Schuster, 2012) begins, Jonah (one of the time kidnapped kids) and his adopted sister, Katherine, have travelled back in time on numerous occasions, accompanying children being returned.  But it hasn't helped Time recover at all--instead, due to the machinations of hostile individuals, and the difficulties of time travel, history is in worse shape then ever, and Jonah and Katherine have been told that their time travelling is finished for now.

Not true.  Albert Einstein has gotten off on the wrong research path--he's hotly pursuing time travel, instead of general relativity, and Jonah and Katherine must travel back in time to somehow set that right.   But when they arrive at Einstein's house, they are confronted with a more immediate mystery involving the out-of-wedlock daughter of Albert Einstein and his first wife, Mileva, who has been kept a secret, hidden with Mileva's parents in Serbia.  Back in 1903, Lieserl, the daughter, isn't missing yet, but she is dying of scarlet fever.  Jonah and Katherine, shadowing Mileva, arrive in Serbia just in time to see Lieserl being kidnapped by the unscrupulous time travellers responsible for the whole mess (Einstein's daughter would fetch a good price on the adoption market of the future).

But the 21st century version of Lieserl is back in time too, as a twelve year old named Emily.   Mileva (a formidably intelligent woman) figures out what's happening, and is faced with a horrible choice.  Does she keep her daughter, and let time go to heck, or can she (without a whole lot of help from the 21st century kids) somehow find a solution that will unsnarl time, without destroying every hope of her own happiness?

Although the sci fi fun and games of technology-driven time travel still are an integral part of the plot, this book is primarily Mileva's story  And it's worth reading in its own right, even if you haven't read the others, for her complex, conflicted character, especially in relationship to Albert Einstein.  It's emotionally powerful, and educational to boot (and not just because it has a fascinating author's note!).

I have to confess that at this point in the series I am letting the time catastrophe aspect of things just drift by in the background, without making much mental effort to Understand what's happening.   But on a more straightforward time travel level, Haddix does an excellent job making vivid differences in attitudes and social mores between the present and the past.

In short--this is my favorite book of the series so far, and one that can be read as a stand alone by a reader willing to let a certain amount of confusion wash over them.

(disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher for Cybils consideration)

Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness, by Susannah Cahalan

I am fascinated by the workings, and not workings, of the brain--for instance, Oliver Sacks' newest book, Hallucinations, is on my Christmas wish list.  So naturally I said yes, enthusiastically, to the offer of a review copy of Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness, by Susannah Cahalan (Free Press, November 2012).

Susannah was a healthy, vibrant young reporter when, slowly and insidiously, her brain betrayed her.   At first the signs were subtle--manic mood swings, paranoia, and a sense of not-rightness, but progressively thing got worse.  Fortunately for Susannah, she began having seizures, making it clear that there was something actually, physically, wrong.   And so, instead of being committed to a mental hospital, she spent a month of madness as a neurological mystery.

A team of doctors tested and assessed and observed, and Susannah's condition progressively worsened.  Her self was masked by a cascade of impairment, but her family and her boyfriend continued to believe that the Susannah they loved was still there.

Most fortunately, a new doctor, Souhel Najjar took up her case, one who just happened to be familiar with examples of other young women suffering from similarly catastrophic mental collapse.  Susannah finally had a diagnosis--a newly discovered autoimmune disorder in which the body attacks the brain. With diagnosis came treatment, restoring Susannah to her self.   And Susannah decided to write this book.

Though she herself has few memories of her month of madness, she set out to chronicle with journalist attention to finding out facts just what happened to her.  It is gripping as all get out. 

Susannah's descent into illness is not comfortable reading.  Though I was absorbed, it was a lot like watching a train wreck happening...and I was much more comfortable once the new doctor arrived on the scene, and the tone of the narrative becomes one that's more hopeful, and one that's more focused on the scientific non-fiction aspect of her illness, and less on watching her mind collapse.

And it is fascinating to speculate, along with Susannah, just how this illness, and others like it, might be responsible for misdiagnosed mental dysfunction...and it's scary as all get out to think that had Susannah's first doctor been the only one she saw, a complete and utter misdiagnosis of too much alcohol consumption might have been on her charts as her brain became completely consumed by her sickness.

Highly recommended for those like me who are fascinated by medical mysteries with the human element front and center!

This week's mg sff round up (November 25, 2012)

Hi.  Here's what I found this week--enjoy!  And let me know if I missed your post.

The Reviews:

Attack of the Vampire Weenies: and Other Warped and Creepy Tales, by David Lubar, at Karissa's Reading Review

Bartholomew Biddle and the Very Big Wind, by Gary Ross, at Sharon the Librarian

The Brightworking, by Paul B. Thompson, at Charlotte's Library

The Cavendish Home for Boys and Girls, by Claire Legrand, at Waking Brain Cells

Chase Tinker and the House of Magic, by Malia Ann Haberman, at The Bibliophilc Book Blog

Constable and Toop, by Gareth P. Jones, at The Book Smugglers

The Creature From My Closet: Wonkenstein, by Obert Skye, at GreenBeanTeenQueen

Eldritch Manor, by Kim Thompson, at Charlotte's Library

The Emerald Atlas, by John Stephens, at Charlotte's Library

A Face Like Glass, by Frances Hardinge, at Great Imaginations

The False Prince, by Jennifer Nielsen, at Pass the Chiclets

Ghost Knight, by Cornelia Funke, at The Guardian

The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There, by Catherynne M. Valente, at Fantasy Literature

The Graveyard Book, by Neil Gaiman, at Fantasy Literature

The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom, by Christopher Healy (audiobook review) at Nerdy Book Club

A Mutiny in Time, by James Dashner, at Time Travel Times Two 

My Very Unfairy Tale Life, by Anna Stniszewski, at Semicolon

The One and Only Ivan, by Katherine Applegate, at Geo Librarian

The Peculiar, by Stefan Bachmann, at Challenging the Book Worm

Project Jackalope, by Emily Ecton, at Semicolon

The Ruins of Gorlan, by John Flanagan, at Sonderbooks

The Ruins of Noe, by Danika Dinsmore, at Charlotte's Library

The Secret of the Ginger Mice, by Frances Watts, at Semicolon

The Seven Tales of Trinket, by Shelley Moore Thomas, at alibrarymama
and Challenging the Bookworm

The Spindlers, by Lauren Oliver, at Fyrefly's Book Blog

Splendors and Glooms, by Laura Amy Schiltz, at slatebreakers

Starry River of the Sky, by Grace Lin, at Sonderbooks

The Storm Makers, by Jennifer E. Smith, at Semicolon

Undertakers: Queen of the Dead, by Ty Dragon, at The Write Path

The Vengekeep Prophecies, by Brian Farrey, at Fuse #8

The Voyage of Lucy P. Simmons, at Good Books and Good Wine

Two from Fantastic Reads:  Nina and the Travelling Spice Shed, by Madhvi Ramani, and Bansi O'Hara and the Bloodline Prophecy, by John Dougherty (and I myself agree that this a really good book that more people should read)

And a comparison of two time travel series--the Mutiny in Time  and The Missing, at Semicolon

Authors and Interviews

Cornelia Funke (Ghost Knight) on the power of place at The Guardian

Philip Pullman (Grimm's Fairy Tales) at Educating Alice

More Good Stuff:

I don't make any effort to find giveaways for these round-ups, but here's one at The O.W.L. that's for three mg fantasy books.

A feasts in fiction quiz, from the Guardian

and also from the Guardian--London: fantasy's capital city

The Costa Book Awards (one of the most prestigious UK awards) shortlists have been announced; here are the Children’s Book Award shortlisted books, three of which are sci fi/fantasy:

Sally Gardner  Maggot Moon (Hot Key Books)
Diana Hendry The Seeing (The Bodley Head)
Hayley Long What’s Up with Jody Barton? (Macmillan Children’s Books)
Dave Shelton A Boy and a Bear in a Boat (David Fickling Books)

Pat Rothfuss has this year's Worldbuilders campaign up and running--donate to Heifer International, and be entered to win great book prizes!

Fantasy travel posters, from cedar myna at Etsy

And just as a postscript, because I do like baby hedgehogs! (full story, and more pictures, here).  What I wonder is what happens when Mama Cat's instincts tell her to lick her babies....

Eldritch Manor, by Kim Thompson

Eldritch Manor, by Kim Thompson (Dundurn, Oct. 1, 2012, middle grade) is a new Canadian addition to the sub-genre of fantasy in which a child encounters mythical creatures living amoung us.  The child in question is Willa, an ordinary 12 year old girl whose parents have asked her to spend her summer gainfully employed.  Willa is not, understandably, thrilled by the idea, but her first effort at work (trying to sell newspaper subscriptions) leads her to the door of the mysterious Eldritch Manor.

Miss Trang, the sinister chatelaine of this overgrown old home for the elderly decides to trust Willa enough to offer her a job as a house keeper...and slowly Willa begins to realize that five residents are not your ordinary oldsters.  Actually, it's not that slow--accidentally opening the door and finding a mermaid in the bathtub is rather sudden and obvious!   So Willa perforce is introduced to the residents in their true forms--as well as Belle, the mermaid, there's the fairy, the centaur, the sphinx-like gentleman who can morph into human/lion form, and the cat cook.   All living reclusive lives, retired from magic....

But magic is on its way to Eldritch Manor.  A dangerous force threatens its fragile peace--one that can rip the fabric of time itself.  Miss Trang sets off to find help, leaving Willa in charge...but a 12 year old girl and some rather creaky magical beings are not an obvious match for the powerful supernatural agencies.  And what to do with the dinosaur who's appeared in the back yard?

It's entertaining and crisply written, and shorter than many similar tomes, weighing in at a mere 160 pages (making it good for readers off-put by the standard 400 or so).  Willa is a not unsympathetic heroine, and (something I appreciate) she does not develop extraordinary powers or magic of her own!

It was never quite clear to me exactly why the sinister forces (nicely creepy) were attacking Eldrich Manor, but I was prepared to take it as given.   My only real reservation in terms of recommending this one to kids is that the mythical creatures are not tremendously appealing--they are somewhat cantankerous, and not exactly full to the brim with wonder and enchantment.   So those looking to be delighted by the sparkly magic of it all (ala Fablehaven) might be disappointed.

Disclaimer:  review copy received from the publisher for Cybils consideration

The Ruins of Noe, by Danika Dinsmore

Continuing with my resolution to review the books I've received for consideration in this year's Cybils Awards, here are my thoughts on The Ruins of Noe, by Danika Dinsmore (Hydra House, 2012, middle grade/YA, 253 pages).

This is the second book about a young  faery, Brigitta, who, after harrowing adventures described in Brigitta of the White Forest, is now apprentice to High Priestess Ondelle.   Things are not well in the White Forest--the Ancient Ones, who visit newborns and set their destinies in motion, and who free faery spirits after death, seem to have withdrawn, and so Ondelle and Brigitta, who is implicated in a prophecy, set off to the ancestral homeland of Noe to try to set things right.

There in Noe they encounter two warring clans of faeries, living miserably beneath the rule of two terrible tyrants.   When Ondelle is captured and rendered powerless, it's up to Brigitta to not only save her, and return home safely, but to set right the wrongs she encounters.  Fortunately, she makes allies among the disaffected faeries of Noe, and even more fortuitously, two ancient, dragon-like beings have been watching through the centuries for their foreordained opportunity to help.   So all ends well.

It's a complicated story, densely populated with (perhaps too many) faeries.  It was hard for me to keep track of who was who, and because action takes precedence over the development of the secondary characters, it was hard to know who I should care about, and I ended up being disappointed that I didn't care as much as I would have liked about any of them by the end of the book.   I was also slightly disappointed that the ancient dragon-like creatures, introduced in the prologue, had a somewhat anticlimactic role in setting things right.

Yet Brigitta herself is a character to cheer for, the setting and adventures are interesting enough to keep the reader absorbed, and Dinsmore raises interesting questions of free will vs  destiny.

The Ruins of Noe takes Brigitta toward YA territory--her concerns are becoming more those of a teenager, and there is a hint (a very small one) of romance.  Still, despite some violence, this, like it's predecessor, is still book that I think would be best enjoyed by the eleven to thirteen year old reader.

Other thoughts at:

Clockwork Reviews -- "Danika Dinsmore outdoes herself in the crafting of this new book. All of the elements that made Brigitta wonderful continue on in this book. It is still just as magical and engaging as the first book, exploring the trials and struggles of the now adolescent protagonist."

Close Encounters of the Night Kind --  "This story was amazing and the world itself was well imagined and incredibly creative.  This book will take you on an amazing journey through the growth of a very lovable and unassuming character."

Rise Reviews--  "Dinsmore did an excellent job at keeping me hooked, and sometimes even panicked, by the tale she wove."

disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher for Cybils consideration

I'm thankful for the books, but would be even more thankful for time to read them in!

Happy thanksgiving, all those celebrating.  Of course I'm thankful for the standard things of thank-filling-ness, but what's really on my mind is books.  Because today I had to move a tbr pile that was on the card-table in the still unfinished dining room, so that we could do more wall-papering, and this particular tbr pile (a mere baby of a pile, with only 26 books) is now under an end table in the living room. 

I have too many tbr books.  I thought about counting them today, but couldn't, because the wood rack that normally goes in the hall is in the downstairs bathroom, because the piano, that normally goes in the dining room, is in the hall, and the wood rack is blocking access to the bookshelves (that hold the bulk of my tbr pile) that have taken the place of the bathtub, that had to be taken out before we could renovate the dining room, since the people that had installed it had knocked one of the dining room walls out in order to fit it in (there was a bathtub holding box cupboard sticking into the dining room).

To make a long story short, I couldn't count my tbr books.

Which is probably a good think, because the overwhelming-ness of their quantity might have made me less thankful that I have so many books to read.

16 years ago, I had nothing to read.  It was a desert of re-reading, an anxiousness of not having another book on hand when I finished what I was reading.  Then I joined an online discussion group of fans of UK girls school stories, and that was good.  My sister is also on that list, and she would bring me piles of the books she'd heard about there, and it was very exciting to have new authors to collect and enjoy, and when we went to England to see my husband's family, I'd come home with lots of books.

However, the problem with vintage authors is that they are mostly dead, and so are not writing more books.  My sister had fewer books to bring me.  We stopped going to England as much.   I was worried.

But then came blogging, with all the books that came my way not just from publishers, but from the recommendations of all the like minded readers!   And then came the joys of Interlibrary loans, and Used Book Sale Finder.  Then came one particular library book sale of tbr doom--a nearby library was moving, and was selling off all their older children's and YA books for ten cents each.  I only spent about fifteen dollars....And on top of that, I run my own library's booksale, so I'm the first one to see all the donated books...and like cute little kittens, some of them just have to come home with me.

So yes, I am thankful that I will never go book hungry again.  But I'd be really thankful if the dining room was finished, so that I'd actually have more time to read....

The Brightworking, by Paul B. Thompson

This year I am going review the books I get for my Cybils reading in a brisk and timely fashion.  I will not end up with a pile of guilt.

So.

The Brightworking, by Paul B. Thompson (Enslow, middle grade, 2012), is the first book in the Brightstone Saga.  It is the story of how Mikal, the smith's son from a poor quasi-medieval village, becomes the apprentice to a mage.   The guild of magic workers in this world sends out an emissary periodically to glenn any children who show signs of magical ability, and Mikal is chosen.  Nothing is explained to him--he's just dragged off to the big city with a bunch of other children (attacked along the way by evil monsters of the night). 

But he is magically special, and soon he finds himself apprenticed to a powerful mage; not a cozy wise old man, but a younger sort, who's potentially vicious (is it true that the statues that adorn his quarters were once living people?) and whose approach to teaching is not exactly safe. 

Mikal makes an unusual discovery--a clockwork head that is a font of knowledge, answering any factual question asked it.  He puts it away again without appreciating the opportunity for learning it offers, and he doesn't seem to get much direct instruction in magic from his master either.  Still, he and a glenned girl, who has attached herself to his coat-tails, pick up bits of knowledge, including the disturbing rumors that Mikal's master really is no good, to the point of plotting treason.  And bang! In the last few chapters of the book, there's a war, with passes in the blink of a two sentence eye...and Mikal finds himself in rather dire straights.

It's a perfectly reasonable book, even one I'd recommend, for the young reader who is just starting their exploration of the fantasy genre who needs something on the shorter side with which to build fantasy reading confidence.  And it's both simple enough (structurally and in its short, direct sentences), and interesting enough, to hold the attention of the uncertain reader. 

But it's not one I'd urge older, veteran readers of mg fantasy, like myself, to avidly hunt down (which, since this isn't at all the target demographic, should be construed as a critisism!).  It doesn't break any new ground, and there were many details and bits of characterization that could have been pushed further, but which were left somewhat over simplified.  Still, I was sufficiently engaged to read it straight through.

I think the cover does the book a tremendous disservice--it doesn't look Exciting! and Flashy Magic Filled! at all; Mikal looks like a monk, and there's something off about his profile, and the skull is just creepy.  The book is much better than its cover, and I think if it had a different cover, I'd be recommending it much more enthusiastically.  It's just hard for me to imagine a kid wanting to read it.

Other thoughts at  For Those About to Mock:  "This book seems designed with reluctant readers in mind, from the conceptual level down to the simple, uncomplicated prose. And for that audience, I think it's remarkably successful."

and Semicolon:  " Unfortunately, the children who have been taken in The Gleaning are attacked by Night-gaunts on the way to Oranbold. Fortunately, Mikal finds that he has a special ability to evade magical spells. Unfortunately, a girl named Lyra tricks him on his first night in the guildhall. Fortunately, Lyra becomes a resourceful and loyal friend. Unfortunately, she’s also dirty, “not entirely brave, not entirely trustworthy.” I could go on, but you get the picture."

disclaimer:  copy received from the publisher for Cybils review

The Emerald Atlas, by John Stephens, for Timeslip Tuesday

I read The Emerald Atlas, by John Stephens, way back in April of 2011...and meant to review it for a Timeslip Tuesday...but it never happened.  Now the sequel, The Fire Chronicle is out in the world, and nominated for the Cybils in Middle Grade Sci Fi/Fantasy, and, in as much as I'm one of the first round panelists, I need (and want) to read it!

So I just went back and read The Emerald Atlas for a second time.  It's the sort of very complicated, twisty story that is clearer upon rereading, and I found myself enjoying it considerably more than I had the first time around.

It's the story of three children (Kate, Michael, and Emma) taken from their parents when they were little, and sent from orphanage to orphanage.  At last they end up as the only children in a mysterious old house by a mysterious lake...a house that just happens to be home to a wizard.

And Kate, Michael and Emma are off on an adventure that takes them back in time fifteen years.  There in the past they must:

a.  save all the townsfolk from an evil enchantress and her legions of monsters
b.  figure out the secrets of the magic book, the Emerald Atlas of the title, that is the key to time travel (the magician knows lots, but isn't telling)
c.  stay alive, preferably not in the prison cells of the dwarves
d.  have faith in each other, and in their parents--because the hope that someday they'll be a real family again is sometimes all that keeps them going
e.  stay alive some more (tricky, what with all the monsters, wolves, breaking dams, and evil witchcraft that fills the story)

It's a busy, complicated story, and this is a drawback--there's a lot of explaining that needs doing, and though this is welcome, it's sometimes a bit jarring when tense moments become opportunities for exposition.   And there's a whole lot that isn't explained, which is frustrating to both the children and to me, the reader. 

The time travel, however, makes pretty good sense (though I won't go into the details, because it would take too long to explain).  In fact, were I to assign points to authors who make nice use of time travel to advance the plot of fantasy quest stories, adding mystery and intellectual complexity, I would give John Stephens quite a good score! 

Despite this, I felt the story as a whole was somewhat sprawling and unwieldy--perhaps because my own personal taste doesn't really run to books with lots of rushing around from one dangerous situation to another.  However, I am currently having a similar problem with Rick Riordan's latest, The Mark of Athena, which my nine year old read straight through with loving care and which is taking me much longer.  So I feel reasonably confident in suggesting that younger readers, with more frisky minds, might enjoy The Emerald Atlas more than I did back in 2011.

This second time though was much more enjoyable for me--knowing, more or less, what was happening freed my mental energies enough so that I could care more for the characters.  And now I can look forward to The Fire Chronicle in a cheerfully anticipatory spirit!

The best fantasy books for kids from 2012, according to Kirkus

Kirkus has just released its list of the best children's books of 2012, and there are a number of fine fantasies on it--



A GREYHOUND OF A GIRL, by Roddy Doyle
THE VENGEKEEP PROPHECIES, by Brian Farrey (I haven't read this one myself, but it does look good)
ON THE DAY I DIED, by Candace Fleming




IN A GLASS GRIMMLY, by Adam Gidwitz
SON, by Lois Lowry
THE SPINDLERS, by Lauren Oliver

COLD CEREAL, by Adam Rex

SPLENDORS AND GLOOMS, by Laura Amy Schlitz

THE SEVEN TALES OF TRINKET, by Shelley Moore Thomas

This week's round-up of middle grade sci fi/fantasy from around the blogs (Nov. 18, 2012)

Welcome to another week of what I found in my blog reading of interest to fans of mg sff!  Please let me know if I missed your post.

The Reviews:

Beswitched, by Kate Saunders, at Book Nut

The Boneshaker, by Kate Coombs, at Random Musings of a Bibliophile

The Brightworking, by Paul B. Thompson, at Semicolon

The Coming of the Dragon, by Rebecca Barnhouse, at Chachic's Book Nook

Constable and Toop, by Gareth P. Jones, at The Book Zone

The Cup and the Crown, by Diane Stanley, at Book Nut 

Darkbeast, by Morgan Keyes, at Semicolon

The Drowned Vault, by N.D. Wilson, at Book Nut 

Gravediggers: Mountain of Bones, by Christopher Krovatin, at Geo Librarian

Here Where the Sunbeams Are Green, by Helen Phillips, at My Precious

The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom, by Christopher Healy, at Jean Little Library

Horten's Incredible Illusions, by Lissa Evans, at Challenging the Bookworm

Ivy's Ever After, by Dawn Lairamore, at 300 Pages

Liesl and Po, by Lauren Oliver, at A Library Mama

The Lightning Thief, by Rick Riordan, at Tales of the Marvelous

Malcolm at Midnight, by W.H. Beck, at Page in Training

Margaret and the Moth Tree, by Brit Trogen and Kari Trogen, at Book Nut 

Max Quick: The Pocket and the Pendant, by Mark Jeffrey, at Time Travel Times Two 

Ordinary Magic, by Caitlen Rubino-Bradway, at Leaf's Reviews

The Ordinary Princess, by M.M. Kaye, at The Book Smugglers

Princess of the Silver Woods, by Jessica Day George, at Karissa's Reading Review (labeled YA, but I've always thought George's princess books were perfect for upper mg)

Sammy Feral's Diaries of Weird, by Eleanor Hawkin, at Nayu's Reading Corner

The Seven Tales of Trinket, by Shelley Moore Thomas, at Semicolon

The Sinister Sweetness of Splendid Academy, by Nikki Loftin, at Charlotte's Library

The Spindlers, by Lauren Oliver, at Challenging the Bookworm and Lily's Book Blog

Tilly's Moonlight Garden, by Julia Green, at Sharon the Librarian

Whatever After: Fairest of All, by Sarah Mlynowski, at Semicolon

The Whispering House, by Rebecca Wade, and A Greyhound of a Girl, by Roddy Doyle, at Semicolon

Authors and Interviews

Helen Phillips (Here Where the Sunbeams are Green) at From the Mixed Up Files

A video clip of M.T. Anderson talking about  Wardrobes and Rabbit Holes: A Dark History of Children’s Literature can be seen at Fuse #8

Other Good Stuff

The books for 2013's World Book Night have been announced--representing mg sff are The Phantom Tollbooth and The Lightning Thief.

Hobbit tourism in New Zealand, at the Guardian

Goblin Secrets, by William Alexander, wins the National Book Award

U is for Unicorn, with Katherine Roberts, at Scribble City Central

And just because nothing says Thanksgiving like cute hedgehogs (?), here's a festive dessert idea from The Cupcake Blog:

The Raven Boys, by Maggie Steifvater (a reaction, not a review)

I really, really liked The Raven Boys, by Maggie Steifvater (Scholasitc, YA, Sept. 2012). 

I'm cheerfully assuming that anyone reading this has already read reviews and summaries; since I don't feel like doing one myself, I'm skipping straight to my personal reaction as a fan of character-driven fantasy.

And boy, did The Raven Boys please me with its brightly sharp-edged cast of central characters, who are (like so many people) complicated, uncertain, variously lovable and not so much so.  Blue is the daughter of small town Virginia psychics, living in house of women's magic.  The four Raven boys are students at the ultra posh prep school that sits uneasily in town, each boy with his own complex back story.   The tangled-ness of self and other, the uneasy negotiations of loyalty and friendship, and the sense of precipices of hurt waiting to happen, combined with the fact that the majority of them are lovable, was enthralling.

These characters drive the story.  Sure, there's a plot with people racing around on a quest of great magical antiquity, and yes, there is a mystery,  and supernatural-nesses, and a strong sense of place, and all that was good, but I felt at some level that it was there so that the characters could exist.   Although I enjoyed the gradual em-piling of magic upon reality (and it was fascinating, interesting magic), that part of the story seemed to give the characters room to create themselves, rather than dictating their actions in external, quest-related, terms. Which is to say--the interpersonal relationships (which are by no means romance focused, although that's there) come first in reading primacy, followed by the actions involved in achieving the object of the quest. Which is just fine with me.

I didn't quite love The Raven Boys,  because I was too anxious about people getting hurt.   It isn't a safe and cozy book, and I generally choose comfort reads over wrenching ones.   However, and this is a new thing, I am distressed to find that when I am confronted with vulnerable teenaged boys, I react as a mother (although my oldest son is still not quite 13....).   I fought it hard while reading this--asking myself which of the boys I'd have a crush on, and that sort of thing--but it was no use.  I felt maternal and wanted to hug them.  So utterly annoying.

I think that this is one that I will like lots more (perhaps even to the point of love) when I re-read it after I've read to the end of the series.  At that point I'll know the ending (unless Maggie Steifvater makes mean author choices), and I'll know all the things that we aren't being told, and perhaps I'll get to see Blue and a Raven boy or two happily settled into a peaceful life together or some such, and I won't have to spend my reading energy on fretting...

Just for the record:  out of Maggie Steifvater's books to date, this is only the second one that I really liked.   The first being Ballad, which is lovely (here's my review), and which I highly recommend even to those who haven't read the (less personally appealing) first book, Lament.   I couldn't finish The Scorpio Races, because it was too anxious, and the Wolves series just didn't interest me.


disclaimer:  review copy received from the publisher

The Sinister Sweetness of Splendid Academy, by Nikki Loftin

The Sinister Sweetness of Splendid Academy, by Nikki Loftin (Razorbill, 2012, middle grade).

Imagine the most beautifully breathtaking school you can--with a playground that sends a siren song into any child's heart, a cafeteria designed for fine dining, a school where each child has a dish of candy in their desks that never gets empty, and all seems designed to make every student happy....

That's Splendid Academy, where Lorelie and her brother are being sent; it's approved of by her new step-mother (not a universally welcome addition to her family).   And although sweet as all get out on the outside, Splendid Academy has a rotten core.  A kind of deadly, magical, rotten-as-all-get-out core....

Because all the lovely food, bags and plates and bowls of delicious food, pressed upon the students by the beautiful teachers, isn't for the benefit of the children growing fatter every day.

Lorelie, though, is not like other students.  She has a dark secret of her own, one that ironically will be her armour during the days can come, as, bit by bit, the horror of her new school unfolds.

I don't know if I would have seen it myself, because I can be Dim at times, but this is a retelling of Hansel and Gretal--and a good one too (not that I've ever read any book length retellings of it, but still).   The whole package of Splendid Academy makes a believable whole, magic and all....and Lorelie's own journey of discovery, the actions she took and her motivations, all made sense to me.

Her older brother was not, as one might expect, the "Hansel Figure."  In fact, the older brother was pretty much a non character, and the part of Hansel was played by another classmate, Andrew, a boy who arrived at Splendid Academy already overweight.   Loftin does, I think, a fine job with Andrew, avoiding fat kid stereotypes and making him an insightful, sympathetic character who does not miraculously have to become thin in order to be a valued, attractive, person.

It's a pretty dark book (about as dark as the original fairy tale), but it's a darkness of gradually building horror rather than grotesque violence.   I don't think, though, that the horror overwhelms the story.  Lorelie's strength of character, and determination to do the right thing, balances things out.   I liked it quite a bit.

(personal note:  I kept misreading Splendid Academy as Splenda (tm) Academy.  Which I thought was rather metaphorically apt.....)

Mal and Chad--The Biggest, Bestest Time Ever! for Timeslip Tuesday

Mal and Chad--The Biggest, Bestest Time Ever!, a graphic novel by Stephen McCranie, is one whose kid appeal is tremendous--my nine year old pounced on it, read it in a single sitting, and it disappeared for several weeks into the circle of his reading friends at school (which includes both boys and girls), who all liked it lots (it's perfect for nine year olds).    When I finally got it back, I enjoyed it very much myself!

Mal (short for Malcolm) is a kid genius who's determined to keep his super intelligence a secret--he doesn't want to be sent off to college.  So he builds his rocket ship and time machines off in the woods, works hard on answering questions in school with age appropriate language, and tries to keep it a secret that Chad, his very cute dog, has been taught to talk.

A class assignment on "What Do You Want to Be When You Grow Up" inspires Mal to use his time machine (a modified elevator) to travel back to the time of the dinosaurs to see if he wants to become a paleontologist (although the author says archaeologist....a pet peeve of mine).   The machine works, and Mal and Chad encounter dinos--including a very sweet baby--and they return unscathed, sort of.  The elevator gets charged by a dino right as they are leaving, and crash lands in a vacant lot.

The self-proclaimed smart boy of Mal's class sees it, and figures out it's a time machine---and uses it...with disastrous results.  A hole is ripped in space-time, and unless Mal can set things right, the girl he's crushing on will be trapped with the dinos forever...

It is a good, amusing, story with tremendously engaging characters.  Chad is now one of my favorite fictional dogs; though I myself am not a dog person, I could not resist the cuteness of his puppy eyes pleading expression (used very effectively on Mal to let him play with the baby dinosaur).  The dynamics of school life are also rather appealingly presented--Mal's struggles to appear normal, and his struggle to get the attention of the girl he's crushing on are rather moving.

I will be buying the next two Mal and Chad stories for Christmas presents, with perfect confidence that they will be welcomed and enjoyed.

Home Front Girl: A Diary of Love, Literature, and Growing Up in Wartime America

Home Front Girl: A Diary of Love, Literature, and Growing Up in Wartime America (Chicago Review Press, November, 2012, Young Adult) is the actual diary of Joan Wehlen Morrison (1922-2010), beginning in 1937, when she is fourteen, and continuing to February, 1942.    Joan Wehlen was clearly destined to become a writer--her diary entries, transcribed by her daughter after her death, are funny, coherent, thoughtful, and diverting.

Joan starts her diary as a high school sophomore in Chicago, at a time when the country was recovering (mentally and materially) from the Great Depression.   Her journal entries are full of the everyday doings of a bright, friendly girl--thoughts on her teachers, classmates, a bit about whether she's thin, what she thinks about religion, watching her paramecium inexplicably die in biology, her work on the school paper, boys she's crushing on....and darker things too.  She is tested for tb, and found to be on the borderline of having it--she must periodically have her chest x-rayed.   And even in 1937, the shadow of war haunts her nightmares. 

As the war in Europe progress, and as Joan grows up, she (naturally) moves beyond the light-hearted school girl she was.   Though I found these years less immediately entertaining, from a social history point of view, they were interesting as all get out.  I was powerfully reminded that it was not clear in the late thirties in the US that this was a war that we were inevitably going to have to fight. Joan is terrified by the thought of it, thinks of Winston Churchill as "pig face," and rejects patriotic fervor.   And then, only a few months before Joan puts down her diary, Pearl Harbor is bombed.  There's a forced brightness to these entries, with Joan talking more about boys than about the war, but under that gloss, it's clear that it's filling her mind.

This is one I'd give in a second to anyone who loves historical school girl stories and stories of home front girls--I was variously reminded of Daddy-Long-Legs, Betsy-Tacy, and Rilla of Ingleside.   If you like those books, you will almost certainly join me in loving Joan's high school diary entries with a passionate intensity, laughing out loud at both her words and her doodles, and sharing with her the sometimes painful process of growing up.  I wish I could have been her friend, because she really does sound like a kindred spirit:

"Sometimes I wonder if I'm really laughing at the things I say or if I mean them.  I catch myself saying things and find myself grinning at something--inside I mean." (page 23).

Here's one example of a passage that made me laugh out load--Joan studying biology on her bus ride home in 1938:

"Then I went back to the difference between man and animals.  Very slight, it seems.  I was testing myself out to see if I was human.  Seeing if my thumb was opposable (by wiggling it) and if I had a definite chin (thrusting it out) and if my great toe was opposable (very hard in shoes). By this time, the man next to me also seemed to need proof that I was human and took quite an interest in my experiments.  In most points I seemed human so I gave up and went back to one-celled animals.  Man went back to his magazine" (page 77).

Joan may be naive in some ways, as so many young teenagers are, but she is not the product of a "more innocent time."  In one searing entry written in 1940 (pages 140 to 146), she reflects on her generation--how their parents, coming out of WW I "...had the awful feeling of being "timed"-that they must hurry and gobble life or it would leave them."  How "...though most of us were loved, we were, most of us, lucky not to be abortions."   Then came the Great Depression, and Joan tells how her family, like so many others, lost their house and became poor.  And how those lean years shaped the physical health of her generation.

"Oh you, my generation! --we were  lovely lot!  Sharp minds -- arguing all the time and brittle bodies and even more brittle laughter--and all the time knowing that we were growing up to die.  Because we weren't fooled, you know.  All through those bright-colored years of adolescence we knew we were growing up to disaster.  For at least four years--well, three, before it happened, we knew it was coming.  Some sort of inner sense of war lay upon us." (page 143)

And having read Joan's descriptions of her nightmares of war, I believe her.

In one of her last entries, she says that she thinks she's written her diary "with the intention of having it read someday....I rather like the idea of a social archaeologist pawing over my relics" (page 229). And indeed, this is one I'd recommend with great conviction to social historians. 

I just really truly wish she'd kept on writing in her diary!  The ending comes too soon (and I was expecting from the title that we'd see more actual "home front-ness), and though we know, from the introduction her daughter wrote, that Joan went on to a happy marriage, three kids, and a career as a writer, still, I would have liked more of her own words...and I would really have liked her thoughts on the 1950s and the Cold War!  She did, however, go on to write, with her son, a book about the sixties--From Camelot to Kent State: The Sixties Experience in the Words of Those Who Lived It (1987).

Review copy gratefully received from the publisher.  Will be kept for re-reading and sharing.

(I've thrown this into this week's Non-Fiction Monday round-up, hosted today by The Flatt Perspective)

This week's round-up of middle grade fantasy and sci fi (Nov. 11, 2012)

Welcome to this week's round up of what I found in my blog reading of interest to fans of middle grade sci fi/fantasy.  Please let me know if I missed your post!

First--please enter my giveaway of Philip Pullman's retellings of Grimms Fairy Tales--it's a lovely book! (giveaway ends next Wednesday night)

The Reviews:

13 Hangmen, by Art Art Corriveau, at Charlotte's Library

Above World, by Jenn Reese, at Semicolon

The Black Shard, by Victoria Simcox, at Geo Librarian

Caught, by Margaret Peterson Haddix, at Semicolon

Constable and Toop, by Gareth P. Jones, at Mr Ripley's Enchanted Books and My Favorite Books

Dark Lord: The Early Years, by Jamie Thomson,  at Good Books and Good Wine

Deadly Pink, by Vivian Vande Velde, at Book Nut

Demoneater, and Demoncity, by Royce Buckingham, at Awesome Indies

Geeks, Girls, and Secret Identities, by Mike Jung, at Books Beside My Bed

Ghost Knight, by Cornelia Funke, at Sonderbooks

The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making, by Catherynne M. Valente, at Fantasy Literature

The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There, by Catherynne M. Valente, at Charlotte's Library

Goblin Secrets, by William Alexander, at Bookshelves of Doom

Gustav Gloom and the People Taker, by Adam-Troy Castro at Book Nut

Here Where the Sunbeams are Green, by Helen Phillips, at books4yourkids and Jean Little Library

Horten's Miraculous Mechanisms, by Lissa Evans, at Semicolon

In a Glass Grimmly, by Adam Gidwitz, at Reads For Keeps 

Island of Silence, by Lisa McMann, at Semicolon

Joshua Dread, by Lee Bacon, at Random Acts of Reading

Kingdom of the Wicked (Skulduggery Pleasant Book 7), by Derek Landy, at SFCrowsnest

Mira's Diary: Lost in Paris, by Marissa Moss, at Ms. Yingling Reads

The Necromancer, by Michael Scott, at Book Sake

The One and Only Ivan, by Katherine Applegate, at Book Nut
and One Librarian's Book Reviews

The Peculiar, by Stefan Bachmann, at bewitched bookworms

The Spindlers, by Lauren Oliver, at Literary Rambles (scroll down) (giveaway)

Starry River of the Sky, by Grace Lin, at Random Musings of a Bibliophile and Nerdy Book Club

Secrets at Sea, by Richard Peck, at GreenBeanTeenQueen

The Sinister Sweetness of Splendid Academy, by Nikki Loftin, at Semicolon

The Six Crowns, by Allan Jones and Gary Chalk, at Ms. Yingling Reads (scroll down)

Snow in Summer, by Jane Yolen, at Charlotte's Library

Splendors and Glooms, by Laura Amy Schlitz, at Book Nut 

Summer and Bird, by  Catherine Catmull, at Wandering Librarians

Twice Upon a Time, by James Riley, at Semicolon

The Unwanteds, by Lisa McMann, at Akossiwa Ketoglo
and vikki vansickle

Winterling, by Sarah Prineas, at Nayu's Reading Corner

Four animal fantasies at Charlotte's Library

And five mg fantasy "quick picks" over at Book Aunt


Authors and Interviews

 Helen Phillips (Here Where the Sunbeams are Green) at books4yourkids 

A conversation with Philip Pulman at Mother Jones (via Educating Alice)

Adam Gidwitz (Through a Glass Grimmly) at The Detroit News


Other Good Stuff

Philip Pullman reads The Three Snake Leaves, one of the Grimm stories he retells in his new book, at the BBC (don't forget to enter my giveaway!)

T is for Troll, with Katherine Langrish, at Scribble City Central

The Graveyard Book is becoming a graphic novel

Who knew that Tenniel made an Alice chessboard? If you act quickly, you can buy a reproduction....

Animal fantasy fun

My reading is currently outstripping my posting, so, even though I really do like to do things one book-one post, today I am clearing the decks of a few of animal fantasies that were nominated for the Cybils in middle grade sci fi/fantasy.  I've organized them by animal type.

Dogs

There are not that many fantasy dogs. possibly because dogs are not traditionally associated with the mysterious, dark, night, or possibly because dogs have such open and transparent personalities (compared to cats) that they lend themselves less well to magical intrigue (wolves and foxes, of course, are a different story).

In my Cybils reading to date (83 out of 151 books nominated) I have encountered only one book featuring dogs-- Pipper's Secret Ingredient, by Jane Murphy and Allison Fingerhuth, and even this one is not a fantasy because it has magic, but it's a fantasy because dogs are doing very human things.  The heroine of the story is a dog named Pipper who has an incredibly popular cooking blog...and a case of writer's block.   At last, with the help of her doggy  friends (introduced in an info-dump early on) inspiration strikes, and she sets off on a trip around the world, searching for the secret ingredient that makes for a perfect treat.

It's charmingly illustrated,  and I enjoyed the inclusion of pages and snippet's from Pipper's blog.   It is, due to the nature of the plot, somewhat episodic--Pipper in Egypt, Pipper in Paris, Pipper in Peru, but there is a subplot that links things together involving a dastardly food tycoon's efforts to find out what Pipper might discover.  He sets a bumbling dog spy on her trail, adding humor and a bit of excitement to the story. 

This is one to give to readers who like cooking and dogs; I'm not sure it has much more general child appeal, especially since the dogs are grown-ups. 

(review copy received from the author for Cybils purposes)

Pigeon

Ravens and crows seem to be showing up everywhere on covers these days, but the humble pigeon has a place in fantasy as well. 

Signed by Zelda, by Kate Feiffer, is the story of a New York pigeon and its three human friends--Lucy, who's been dragged unwillingly away from Georgia by her parents, Nicky, the boy who lives in the room above hers, spending lots of time jumping off his bed while he's in time-out (which is often), and Nicky's Grandmother Zelda, who lives even further up the building.

This is fantasy because Pigeon actually communicates with the humans, but really it's a mystery that revolves around Lucy's expertise in handwriting analysis, and the disappearance of Grandmother Zelda under shady circumstances.  Definitely more appeal for mystery lovers than for fantasy lovers.

I myself liked the handwriting analysis aspect of the book lots (there are little snippets of handwriting analysis instruction),  and Pigeon added interest, but the family dynamics that are at the heart of the book didn't work for me.   I couldn't believe in the choices Nicky's father makes (they are bad ones), and the sudden forgiveness that happens at the end. 

This is a multicultural one--Lucy's family is from India, and though she's small on the cover, she's convincingly depicted:

Bunnies

Mr. and Mrs. Bunny--Detectives Extraordinaire!, by Polly Horvath, is really truly animal fantasy (though there is also a mystery, it's not a mystery to the reader, who sees everything unfolding).  Human girl Madeline is the practical member of her family--her parents are hippies, living a live of spiritual vegetarian flakiness, and she's the one that changes the light bulbs.  When her parents are kidnapped by evil foxes (it's a long story),  Madeline is fortuitously taken in by two eccentric bunnies, who, though scattered in their thinking, and operating primarily by instinct, have decided to become detectives.    Clearly their first case must be to find Madeline's parents....

The world of the bunnies mirrors the human world, and Mr. and Mrs. Bunny are tremendously appealing (perhaps more so for an older reader, who finds the bickerings and humorous accommodations of old married couples more easy to relate to!).  Though the humor was slightly one-note, it was still very diverting. 

(Goodness--I just checked the Amazon reviews of this one, and it managed to upset a number of people who take deliberate, over-the-top caricature to be deliberate propaganda against all that is decent.  Many were upset that Madeline's hippy father uses the word "crap" early in the book (I didn't register it), and indeed, it's a word I wish wasn't in my own kids' vocabulary, and I'm a bit surprised the editors let it pass).

Mountain Lion  

Wobar and the Quest for the Magic Calumet, by Henry Homeyer has an ancient mystery--a lost Native American silver peace pipe (the calumet of the title); a ghost--the Revolutionary War soldier who was supposed to give it to George Washington; a foundling boy named Wobar who was born with a mustache, and a mountain lion named Roxie with whom he communicate telepathically.

Together, Roxie and Wobar must make their way from upstate New York to New Orleans to find the calumet and set it off on its path to bringing about world peace.

The adventures of the mountain lion and the boy are interesting--in particular, the logistical difficulties of being a small boy (with a moustache) travelling with a mountain lion are enjoyably explored.  But I was never able to suspend my disbelief enough to thoroughly enjoy this one.  I'll say straight up that the mustache threw me off lots--it didn't advance the plot, and I found it grotesque.  Likewise, I didn't see why the main character had to be called "Wobar"--it's never explained why he's named that, or who he really is.  On top of that,  the calumet was very much a MacGuffin.  This sort of thing makes it hard for me to suspend disbelief enough so as to enjoy a book. 

I think this is a case where if you like the cover, with all the strange and exiting things that happen depicted in a somewhat unsophisticated style, you might well like the book.

(review copy received for Cybils purposes)

Snow In Summer, by Jane Yolen

What if Snow White wasn't a princess, but just a girl, named Snow in Summer, loved by her papa and mama and growing up good and beautiful in the mountains of West Virginia in the mid-20th century?  And what if her mama died, and her papa was so grief stricken he couldn't spare a thought for his little girl anymore...but was ensnared by the magic of a wicked woman, who became the poor child's evil stepmother?

Snow in Summer, by Jane Yolen (Philomel, 2011) is that story, and these twists of time and place and character make for a fascinating retelling.   It's a dark one, starting off right away in sadness with the death of Summer's mother, and working its way slowly and inexorably into horror, as Summer's evil stepmother cuts the girl off from the rest of the community, punishes her horribly, and finally, plans to kill her.  For the stepmother's magic is dark indeed, and it's a greedy, hungry magic that feeds on young life....

Summer herself is aware that things are horribly wrong, but can't seem to find any way out of the maze of cruelty that's been woven around her.  It's not until she runs for her life that she finds a refugee--in the home of a family of small German immigrant brothers-- and that isn't until page 195.  

It wasn't one I loved.  I found Summer a somewhat distant, unemotional narrator, and I never connected quite enough with her to care all that much.  On top of that,  I couldn't help but feel that the last bit of the book was rushed (we don't get enough time to really get to know the Seven Dwarf equivalents), and the romance at the end (not even a romance) was unsatisfactorily tacked on.   But I did appreciate the freshness of  Jane Yolen's reworking, and can recommend it to fans of fairy tales on that basis--it made a lovely change from the faux medieval that's so ubiquitous in retellings (though I think I'll always love those medievally ones best!).

Those looking for fairy tale retellings with pretty dresses should look elsewhere (they will find the pretty cover has deceived them), but older middle-school kids (seventh graders or so) who are almost ready to move on to darkish, more Young Adult books may well enjoy it.  

Note on age:  The lust (verging on attempted rape) of the teenaged boy who has been charged with killing Summer pushes this, in my mind, out of the range of younger readers.

A sample of other reviews:  Semicolon, Leaf's Reviews, and Book Aunt