Wild Born, Spirit Animals Book 1, by Brandon Mull

Wild Born, Spirit Animals Book 1, by Brandon Mull (September 2013), is the first book of a new multi-authored series from Scholastic.   When this book arrived in the mail, it's kid-appeal was just bursting out of its cover image--brave, multicultural kids with cool spirit animal companions--and my ten-year-old pounced on it.

In a fantasy world modeled loosely on our own, with equivalents of Europe, Asia, the Americas and Africa, some children form mystical bonds with spirit animals, who become their companions for life.  These children become Greencloaks, traveling the world to help others safely bond with spirit animals.  But this year, four children summon spirit animals that no child before them ever has.  They are four of the twelve Great Beasts--mythical beings of legend--the Wolf, the Leopard, the Panda, and the Falcon, who died long ago in battle against two of their kind who had turned rogue.

Now Connor, a shepherd boy from the European equivalent, Abeke, from the African, Meilin, from the Chinese, and Rollan, from the colonial North American, must learn to trust their spirit animals so that they can tap into their powers.  The two defeated Great Beasts from long ago are rising again, and war is engulfing the world...

This is primarily an introductory book---we meet the kids and their spirit animals, we get a bit of back story on the past conflict, and we share the protagonists frustration as the Greencloaks withhold information (for no good reason that I can see).   Some tension comes from the fact that Abeke has been co-opted by a group that opposes the dominion of the Greencloaks, and the reader, like Abeke, is not sure what side is Right (clue--people with "nice" spirit animals are good, people with snakes and bats and crocodiles, not so much).

The story is propelled forward into a quest adventure when we learn, about halfway through, that each of the 12 Great Beasts has, or had, a talisman of power.  Both sides want the talismans, and so the three young protagonists who were co-opted by the Greencloaks set off with their spirit animals, and their Greencloak mentor, to find the Great Ram and procure his talisman.   The opposing side, along with Abeke, is (coincidentally) headed to the same place, and they meet and fight, and Abeke realizes that the folks she's with are the bad guys, abruptly the somewhat interesting ambiguity. 

So there is indeed, as I had suspected, much kid appeal here.  The gradual development of the bonds between the spirit animals and the kids they have chosen, and frustrations the kids experience as they try to make sense of what is going on makes for good reading.   The larger plot, with its ancient evil and magical talismans, will seem much more fresh and inventive to the younger reader than to an experienced veteran of fantasy.

There's a pleasing diversity to the main characters, which goes beyond window dressing--the cultural backgrounds of the protagonists have contributed to who they are.  My son, who I have trained to approach book covers critically, was happy to see that the African girl not only has the coolest, most actively being used, weapon, but also the most powerful and appealing spirit animal, and this pleased me too.  I was a bit disappointed that Brandon Mull fell into the trap of stereotype, though, when describing his alternate North America, as "untamed land controlled mostly be beasts and the Amayan tribes" (page 68), as not only is it wrong to describe pre-contact North America as "untamed" (a lot of New England, for instance, was pretty carefully managed and rather park-like), but lumping together "beasts" and "tribes" is distressing.  

Short answer: not one for adult readers, but 8-10  year olds embarking on their exploration of fantasy worlds and quests and companion animals will quite probably enjoy it.

The next book in the series (Hunted, coming January 2014) is written by Maggie Stiefvater...I prefere her writing to Brandon Mulls, so I will await it with interested optimism; my son will await it with unbridled eagerness. 

disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher

Waiting on Wednesday--Greenglass House, by Kate Milford

Kate Milford caught my interest with The Boneshaker, and utterly captivated me with The Broken Lands (my review), and very thoughtfully, has written a new book that sounds like it will appeal to me even more--Greenglass House, coming ages from now in August of 2014, which is a long way away, but still worth thinking about!

The publisher's description: 

"A rambling old inn, a strange map, an attic packed with treasures, squabbling guests, theft, friendship, and an unusual haunting mark this smart middle grade mystery in the tradition of the Mysterious Benedict Society books and Blue Balliet's Chasing Vermeer series.

It's wintertime at Greenglass House. The creaky smuggler's inn is always quiet during this season, and twelve-year-old Milo, the innkeepers' adopted son, plans to spend his holidays relaxing. But on the first icy night of vacation, out of nowhere, the guest bell rings. Then rings again. And again. Soon Milo's home is bursting with odd, secretive guests, each one bearing a strange story that is somehow connected to the rambling old house. As objects go missing and tempers flare, Milo and Meddy, the cook's daughter, must decipher clues and untangle the web of deepening mysteries to discover the truth about Greenglass House-and themselves."

 

I cannot wait to see what Kate Milford does with one of my favorite fictional things, the attic packed with treasures....

Waiting on Wednesday is a meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.

The Shadow on the Dial, by Anne Lindbergh, for Timeslip Tuesday

The Shadow on the Dial, by Anne Lindbergh (1987), is an example of time travel that teaches a modern kid how to be a Better Person.   Two not especially likeable siblings, 12-year-old Dawn and her little brother Marcus, are dumped on their great-uncle, who lives in a retirement community in Florida, while their parents go off on a vacation.  Their uncle doesn't really know what to do with them and the kids are bored.  Dawn fantasizes about all the wonderful things she'll accomplish in music and dance, but doesn't do any practicing  (this is clearly what needs to be changed about her), and their uncle expresses bitterness that he never learned to play the flute.

However, their visit soon turns much more interesting than they'd expected.  Marcus has pilfered a coupon for One Heart's Desire, Deliverable on Demand, with the cryptic instruction--"just dial."  And it turns out that fooling with their uncle's sundial counts, and it turns out that it's the heart's desire of someone else being offered, so...they travel back in time to all the moments when things went wrong for their uncle viz flute playing, from kid to adult, and by the end of it they've changed the past enough so that he had a happy career in the Boston Symphony and ended up married.   And Dawn has learned that daydreams aren't enough to make a happy future for yourself, and so the reader goes off to practice their own musical instrument or whatever.

The time travel is actually rather nicely done, and is what makes the book readable, and even enjoyable.   The visits to the past, and one to the future, are fun--interesting characters and situations.  It's also interesting to see how the chain of events spins itself out.  It's not one thing alone that kept the uncle from learning how to play the flute, but a whole sequence of attitudes and events, from his father's attitude that no son of his would do such a sissy thing, to a beautiful girl who tells him he looks stupid when he plays, to an audition almost missed because of walking a girl home (and a few more).  And Dawn and Marcus are challenged each time to figure out a way to keep the impediment from having long term consequences, and rise to the occasions successfully and believably.

Huh.  School Library Journal thought somewhat differently--"The manipulation of so many events to accomplish such astonishing changes is not convincing."  It's one of those books where you have to just accept the premise that lots of changes will happen (because that's the point), and go with it.  I don't think the SLJ reviewer had read much time travel.  And indeed, back in the eighties there wasn't much to be read; out of the 200 or so time travel books for kids and teens I've reviewed here, there are maybe five from the eighties, 2 of which are 1980, and so don't count, and 2 of which are from outside the US.  I have a vague plan to someday try correlate the quantity of time travel books being written with social and political trends.  The Reagan years seem especially unconducive to time travel fiction--is there a connection????

Anyway.  The Shadow on the Dial isn't particularly dated, and if the modern young reader feels slightly warmer to the two spoiled brats dumped on their poor uncle by thoughtless parents than I do, and is able to get past the cover illustration, they might well enjoy the time travel part.

Presenting the 2013 Cybils Elementary and Middle Grade Speculative Fiction Panelists!

It was my job this year to choose the 2013 Cybils Elementary and Middle Grade Speculative Fiction Panelists...and after much blog reading and careful thought, I picked 7 newcomers and 5 Cybils returnes.   There were good people I just didn't have room for this year--to you I say, please feel free to try again next year!

Isn't this just a superb line-up of EMG SF readers?  I'm so excited.

First Round

Melissa Fox, Book Nut
www.thebooknut.com
@book_nut

Kristen Harvey, The Book Monsters
http://www.thebookmonsters.com/
@bookgoil

Allie Jones, In Bed With Books
http://inbedwithbooks.blogspot.com
@wearedevilcow

Cecelia Larsen, The Adventures of Cecelia Bedelia
http://ceceliabedelia.blogspot.com
@celialarsen

Brandy Painter, Random Musings of a Bibliophile
http://randommusingsofabibliophile.blogspot.com
@brandymuses

Charlotte Taylor, Charlotte's Library
http://charlotteslibrary.blogspot.com
@charlotteslib

Stephanie Whalen, Views from the Tesseract
http://shanshad1.wordpress.com

Second Round

Gina Ruiz, AmoXcalli
http://amoxcalli.biz
@ginaruiz

Sarah Potvin, Librarian of Snark
http://librarianosnark.blogspot.com
@librarianosnark

Sondra Eklund, Sonderbooks
http://sonderbooks.com
@sonderbooks

Laura Phelps, Bibliothecary Prescriptions
http://bibliothecaryprescriptions.blogspot.com
@elfhelps

Sarah Bean Thompson, GreenBeanTeenQueen
http://www.greenbeanteenqueen.com
@greenbeanblog

How I Became a Ghost, a Choctaw Trail of Tears Story by Tim Tingle

How I Became a Ghost, a Choctaw Trail of Tears Story by Tim Tingle (The RoadRunner Press, June 2013, 160 pages, Middle Grade and up) is a stunner of a book that deserves to be widely read, not just by kids but by grown-ups.   I'd heard of the Trail of Tears, and knew it was horrible, but now it has been made real to me.   And it was a really good story, with lots of magical, exciting, adventure.  

Isaac, the narrator of the story, is a ghost.  But when his story begins, he is an ordinary kid, growing up in a close-knit Choctaw community.

"I'm ten years old and I'm not a ghost yet.  My name is Isaac and I have a mother and a father and a big brother, Luke.  I have a dog, too.  His name is Jumper, and he is my best friend.  We go everywhere together.  We swim in the river together; we chase chickens together."

Only the date at the top of the chapter, 1830, tells the reader this is a long ago story.

Isaac's life is about to be destroyed.  The Choctaw are about to be driven out on the long forced march from their ancestral homeland in Mississippi to Oklahoma--on foot, in winter.  Many will die, and Isaac finds himself seeing visions foreshadowing who, and how.  And he knows that he will be among those who do not make it, and that he will become a ghost.

But though what happens is almost unbearably harsh, Tim Tingle accomplishes something remarkable with the way in which Isaac tells his story.   Without diminishing the import and impact of the suffering and death, he manages to make his characters more than just the sum of their horrible experiences, and their story more than just a litany of darkness.  Part of this comes from Isaac's voice--he's very much a lovable, somewhat naive kid; a typical ten-year-old boy (who happens to be a ghost), telling his story in a matter-of-fact way with touches of humor. Another escape from darkness comes from the resilience of the Choctaw people, who face the horrible hand they've been dealt with heroism, determination, and the strength of their community, one that includes the ancestors and the recent dead as well as with the living. And because death does not sever the bonds of family, the fact that Isaac becomes a ghost is desperately sad, but not as emotionally devastating as it might be. 

And the final thing that keeps the weight of the subject from crushing the reader is that Isaac's story is also a gripping adventure, one that finds him on a desperate mission to save a teenage girl from the soldiers forcing the march onward...with the help of an unexpected ally, a shape-shifting panther boy.   This adventure is one with tremendous appeal for younger readers (shape-shifting panther boy! desperate escape involving schemes and subterfuge!), making the pages turn fast and furiously.

And an even more final, small, thing--Isaac's dog Jumper is a joy.

This is historical fiction doing what the best historical fiction does--making part of the past come alive, jolting the reader into new knowledge of the past and its atrocities while keeping them engrossed in a great story.   And it's the best sort of historical fiction for kids--teaching without preaching, telling a story that's exciting and entertaining, while packing an emotional punch that leaves the reader stunned and changed.  It's the first of a trilogy, and I am looking forward to the next book lots.

Note on age of reader:  I'm going to go with 10 years old and up on this one, with the caveat that a grown-up should be nearby.   Bad things happen to people in this book--blankets deliberately infected with smallpox, for instance, are given to the people of Isaac's town, and people die.  So many ten-year-olds have a keen sense of Justice, and they will be outraged and angry, and might (thinking of my own child) want to throw the book violently down because they are so furious that people could do such things to other people.  But I think the fact that the horror isn't underlined with a heavy hand, and Isaac's friendly voice, and his friendly dog, and the growing excitement of the story (if the young reader gets to the shape-shifting panther boy, they'll be hooked for good), will balance that out.   There's a lot of gradual buildup to Isaac becoming a ghost, too, so it doesn't come as the sort of horrible shock, making it difficult to keep reading, that sometimes happens with deaths of characters one is fond of.  In any event, I will try it on my boy, and will watch with interest to see if he says I am a terrible mother for making him read something so sad, and gives up, or if it sings for him....

I have no reservations at all about recommending it to grown-ups.

Tim Tingle is himself an Oklahoma Choctaw and storyteller, who has been recording the stories of the Choctaw elders for the past decade, and whose great-great-grandfather walked the Trail of Tears. 

So.  There is the book, and it is an excellent book, and it defies easy categorization.  Is it realistic fiction, in that the elements of the book that might seem supernatural (shape shifting, ghosts, visions) are a real part of the world of its characters, or is it Speculative Fiction, in that things far beyond mundane "reality" are an integral part of the story (like the fact that it is being narrated by a ghost)?  I would like very much to nominate this book for the Cybils come October 1, but where?  I am thinking I will email Tim Tingle, and ask him where he thinks it would be most at home....

This week's round-up of middle grade sci fi/fantasy posts from around the blogs (9/15/13)

Welcome to this week's gathering of blog posts of interest to fans of middle grade sci fi/fantasy!  Please let me know if I missed your post or the posts of your loved ones.

The Reviews:

13 Gifts, by Wendy Mass, at Not Acting My Age

The Accidental Time Traveller, by Janis Mackay, at Biblio Links

The Adventures of Nanny Piggins, by R.A. Spratt, at Between These Pages

Back to the Titanic, by Beatrice Gormley, at Time Travel Times Two

The Cavendish Home for Boys and Girls, by Claire Legand, at Melinda VanLone

Curse of the Broomstaff (Janitors Book 3), by Tyler Whitesides, at Indie Book Review

Deadweather and Sunrise (Chronicles of Egg, book 1), by Geoff Rodkey, at Carstairs Considers

The Endless Pavement, by Jacqueline Jackson and William Perlmutter, at Views from the Tesseract 

Fallout, by Todd Strasser, at Ms. Yingling Reads

The False Prince, by Jennifer Nielsen, at Annette's Book Spot (audiobook review)

The Ghost of Fossil Glen, by Cynthia DeFelice, at The Secret DMS Files of Fairday Morrow

Gustav Gloom and the People Taker, by Adam-Troy Castro, at Akossiwa Ketoglo

How to Catch a Bogle, by Catherine Jinks, at Bookends

The Hypnotists, by Gordon Korman, at Back to Books

The Icarus Project, by Laura Quimby, at Challenging the Bookworm

The King's Ransom (Young Knights of the Round Table), by Cheryl Carpinello, at Tales of a Bookworm and swlothian

Last Stand of Dead Men (Skulduggery Pleasant, Book 8), by Derek Landy, at The Book Zone

Magic Marks the Spot, by Caroline Carlson, at thehopefulheroine,  A Reader of Fictions, and Recovering Potter Adict

The Monster in the Mud Ball, by S.P. Gates, at Charlotte's Library and Ms. Yingling Reads

The Mouse with the Question Mark Tail, by Richard Peck, at Semicolon

The One and Only Ivan, by Katherine Applegate, (not) reviewed by Donalyn Miller at Nerdy Book Club

Other Worlds (Guys Read), edited by Jon Scieszka, at Ms. Yingling Reads, Sonderbooks, and Candace's Book Blog

The Planet Thieves, by Dan Krokos, at Reading Rumpus

A Question of Magic, by E.D. Baker, at Jean Little Library

The Real Boy, by Anne Ursu, at Random Musings of a Bibliophile and Teach Mentor Texts

Rooftoppers, by Katherine Rundell, at Waking Brain Cells

Rose, by Holly Webb, at From the Mixed Up Files, The Styling Librarian, To Read Or Not to Read, and Jean Little Library

The Savage Fortress, by Sarwat Chadda, at The Book Monsters

The School for Good and Evil, by Soman Chainani, at The Write Path

Scotland's Guardians, by Katharina Gerlach, at Mother Daughter Book Reviews

The Screaming Staircase, by Jonathan Stroud, at The Social Potato and Charlotte's Library

The Shadow of Camelot, by Wendy Leighton-Porter, at Mother Daughter Book Reviews

Substitute Creature, by Charles Gilman, at Ms. Yingling Reads

The Thief, by Megan Whalen Turner, at Tales of the Marvelous

Timothy and the Dragon's Gate, by Adrienne Kress, at Once Upon a Bookshelf

The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp, by Kathi Appelt, at Next Best Book

Wild Born (Spirit Animals Book 1), by Brandon Mull, at Pass the Chiclets

The Year of Shadows, by Claire Legrand, at Reading Nook

Zoe and Zach and the Ghost Leopard, by Lars Guignard, at Geo Librarian (audiobook review)


Authors and Interviews

Cornelia Funke at The Secret DMS Files of Fairday Morrow

Ellen Booraem (Texting the Underworld) at Cynsations

Caroline Carlson (Magic Marks the Spot) at Literary Rambles

Sarwat Chadda (Ash Mistry and the World of Darkness) at The Enchanted Inkpot

Claire Caterer (The Key and the Flame) at Books for YA! 

Caroline Carlson (Magic Marks the Spot) at Onefour Kidlit

Thomas Torre at This Isn't Rocket Science  (about writing MG sci fi)

S.P. Gates (The Monster in the Mudball) on what does a monster looks like, at The Open Book

Steve Whibley (Glimpse) at The Haunting of Orchid Forsythia

Other Good Stuff 

Head over to the Cybils website tomorrow to see the lists of panelists for this year!  As head of the newly independent elementary and middle grade speculative fiction panel, I had the difficult job of selecting panelists...Thank you, all who applied, and I'm sorry I didn't have room for all of you!  And remember that book nominations are open from Oct. 1-15; anyone is welcome to nominate early and often!

A nice dragon post by Rachel Neumeier at My World...in words and pages

For those in School Mode--ten fun sci fi/fantasy school stories at Views From the Tesseract

The Stars so far  (the books that got stars, not space travel) at Shelftalker

Draw a Quarkbeast contest!  (with thanks to book4yourkids for the screen shot)

Smash: Trial By Fire, written by Chris A. Bolton, art by Kyle Bolton, with special graphic guest post!

Smash: Trial By Fire (Candlewick, Sept. 10, 2013) is a great superhero graphic novel for kids, created by two brothers, Chris A. Bolton and Kyle Bolton (Chris did the words, Kyle did the pictures). 

Andrew is a huge fan of the superhero Defender, a larger-than-life crime fighter who's constantly thwarting the plans of the evil Magus.  Andrew himself dreams of being the Defender's sidekick, but in reality he's constantly on the thwarted side of things--fifth-grade is full of bullies, his big brother isn't being exactly nurturing, and his Defender costume for Halloween was made by his mom (and looks that way).

But one day everything changes.  The Magus defeats the Defender...but the Defender's superpowers miraculously are transferred to Andrew.   Andrew's ready and willing to take up the fight against evil.  But the learning curve for superpowers is a heck of a lot steeper than he'd anticipated....and the bad guys are a lot tougher than he'd thought they'd be.

Packed with action and excitement, with larger than life heroes and villains in classic superhero comic book style, this is pretty much non-stop adventure, full of Excitement! Desperate Escapes! Minions! Robots! and the problems of homemade costumes, a steeper learning curve for flying than expected, and a police force who don't exactly welcome a fifth-grade defender with open arms...

In short, great fun for the superhero loving kid who dreams big.

It's my pleasure today to feature a Special Guest Post from the brothers Bolton, in which they share the story of their collaboration (click to enlarge).

Thanks, Chris and Kyle!  I will share this with my own boys, and perhaps they will follow in your footstep!

disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher

Fifth grade readers (The School For Good and Evil, Dreamdark, Astronaut Academy)

So yesterday my ten-year-old said, "I want to read The School for Good and Evil."

"Why?"

"Because S. and C. [his two friends-who-are-girls] are reading it."

"Do they like it?"

"Well.  If you call talking about it constantly, reading each other bits of it, and playing it at recess liking it, yes."

I guess I shouldn't have been so quick to return it to the library.

He himself is in the middle of Blackbringer (Dreamdark Book 1), by Laini Taylor, and enjoying it...C. was curious, and when his back was turned at school, she picked it up and started it herself...and now our copy has two bookmarks in it, his and hers. 

His friend  J. (a boy) came home with him after school...and had a nice time reading our Astronaut Academy books.

Happy childhood.

Fairy Tale Comics, edited by Chris Duffy, with interview of contributor Bobby London

Once upon a time, First Second Books, creators of lovely graphic novels for kids, published a book called Nursery Rhyme Comics, and it was good.  Now they have  filled a felt need with a second book in the same vein--Fairy Tale Comics (coming Sept. 24), and it, too, is a book well worth adding to your child's library (after enjoying it yourself).

17 stellar cartoonists were gathered together to present, in graphic form, 17 fairy tales in kid-friendly fashion.  The majority are well-known stories (Red Riding Hood, Snow White), but several are from outside the European tradition (like The Boy Who Drew Cats, which you can preview here, and The Prince and the Tortoise).  There's a nicely balanced mix of girl and boy and animal heroes.  Some stick right to the traditional versions, others put little twists in (a female woodcutter, a boy who realizes he has no qualifications for king-ship, and refuses the crown, sparking a democratic revolution).   In short, there's lots of fun.

Graphic novels for kids are excellent offerings for any reluctant readers you might have on hand.  Some of the stories here have slightly denser text than others, but there's nothing here that's unsuitable for a young reader of 7 or 8, and many are great for emergent readers; that being said, even 13 year old boys will read it repeatedly (from personal observation) and grown-ups will enjoy it too.

This one is not just great for the reader, but also one for the budding graphic artist.  When you have 17 different artists all gathered together, it's a fantastic way for a kid to see and learn different approaches to telling a story visually and rendering reality in comic form.

And I really do think this particular collection of fairy tales serves a felt need.   Raising my boys, I've worried a bit about their fairy tale literacy--I've read stories out-loud to them, sure, but they've never voluntarily curled up with the Brothers Grimm, and so many of the fairy tale picture books are girl-oriented, and they weren't that interested.   However, when something is presented in comic book form, its boy appeal soars....and voila, they become familiar with the stories.   I hope there are more books to come!


It's my pleasure to be part of the Blog Tour for Fairy Tale Comics, and to have interviewed one of the contributors--Bobby London, whose story "Sweet Porridge!" kicks off the book.

Charlotte: So it's my understanding that Chris Duffy, the editor, read lots of fairy tales, picked the ones he thought would make a nice book with Calista Brill, the senior editor at First Second, and then found "cartoonists who would be a good match for particular stories"  (from this interview at the Westfield Comics Blog).

Bobby: More often than not, he'll just rely on his poker buddies. 

Charlotte: Were you surprised to be asked to illustrate this story?  Did you get a specific version of the story that specified "porridge," or did you get a chance to browse through versions with different food-stuffs (such as pasta)?   Had you in fact had any previous experience drawing porridge, or other gelatinous substances, that might explain why you were picked for this one?

Bobby: I was surprised to be asked to draw the lead story,  I'm usually found at the back of the bus,  when I'm not busy being thrown under it. As for sampling grits, rice krispies or any other forms of breakfast cereal for the story, no, I did not; I don't think the Grimm Brothers would appreciate me changing the title of their story to "Sweet Pasta"; we're talking about the Grimm Bros. here, not Carlo Collodi.

It's true  I had to be adept at drawing any number of funky substances to keep my spot in National Lampoon, but for Fairy Tale Comics I had to work very closely with Mark Martin, the talented cartoonist who translated my color layouts to Photoshop, to get precisely the right color of  porridge yellow. Too much green or brown and I would have proven I taught the guys at Ren & Stimpy everything they know. And, no, it wasn't type casting; I prefer to think was chosen for this project because of my literary heritage, i.e. my familiarity with the works of Cervantes, Rabelais and Jonathan Swift.

Charlotte: I've been reading up on your past history as a cartoonist....how you have moved from comic strips for grown-ups to children's media, and now to graphic illustration for kids.   Did you enjoy creating your version of the story?

Bobby: My past history is rather poorly represented in the media and generally in the context of the lives of other artists. My Wikipedia page has been vandalised - er, that is, I mean, "edited' and "rewritten" - over 2 dozen times by total strangers, fans of other cartoonists and people  to whom I owe large sums of money. For instance, nobody knows that I didn't start out as an adult, have been drawing cartoons well since age 4 and submitting to Highlights For Children at 12. Of course, I was attempting to illustrate the Kama Sutra as soon as puberty set in but I couldn't have made the segue to kids comics without having a successful career  illustrating for mainstream newspapers and magazines and I brought those characters with me to Nickelodeon Magazine via my comic strip, Cody. It's a very liberating experience drawing comics for kids.

Charlotte: When you were working on Sweet Porridge, did thoughts of the youthful age of the possible audience affect choices you were making, or did you let things just happen?

Bobby: No, I don't have to think about it. My girlfriend will attest to my true age level being about 6. When writing for adults, I often used to get tired of having to shock myself so this is a holiday. And, you know,  I get my nasty grownup ya-yas out drawing Dirty Duck so I don't feel compelled to sneak naughty messages into kid stuff, like some perverted creeps I know.

Charlotte: What will be next?   Do you think you'll do more graphic illustration for kids, maybe even your own graphic novel?

Bobby: I'm working on an autobiography but it's not a graphic novel, I couldn't bear drawing *some* people I've had to work with over the years ( I'm a cartoonist, not a Witch Doctor). Yes,  I'd love to write and illustrate a storybook or two if they'd still have me, and Chris Duffy has been nagging me to do a Cody graphic novel. Animation offers have come in, too. Believe me, it's a dream come true to still be in demand at age 63  but  I think I'll have to hire an assistant. If that means I'm a sellout, so be it, I also get the Senior Discount at Chili's.

Charlotte:  Thanks Bobby!  And good luck with the autobiography.

And thanks also to First Second for the review copy of Fairy Tale Comics.

More Than This, by Patrick Ness

More Than This, by Patrick Ness (Candlewick, Sept.2013, YA)

Seth is drowning when we meet him, smashed against rocks by the brutally cold waves of the Pacific North West.  But then he wakes...and finds himself weak and naked outside the house in England where he grew up, before tragedy drove his family to move to the US.  The house and town seem to have been deserted for years, and he is all alone in a silent world choked in dust.

During the day, he survives on canned goods scavenged from abandoned shops.  And at night, the dreams come, and Seth vividly relives his memories of the recent past, back when he was a high school kid, with a group of best friends, one of whom was a boy who was much more than friend.

He does not know what has happened, he does not know what is real.  All he knows is that somehow, somewhere, there must be more than this...a feeling he has had for years, even before he went down to the ocean.

And there is.  But the answers, such as they are, don't come easily (either to Seth or to the reader).

Um.  Can't say anything more about the story, because it's a book in which the reader should follow Seth's journey with him.    But I can say that this is one with great appeal to readers of speculative fiction that asks hard philosophical questions, readers who enjoy not knowing, and slowly realizing,  readers who value character over easy resolution of plot threads, and, more mundanely, readers very interested in stories of kids surviving sans grownups in abandoned worlds (guess which part I liked best!).

It is both moving and, to me at least, frustrating.  Frustrating is perhaps the wrong word; I want one that conveys the sort of feeling that comes from being in a bad dream that slowly and steadily condenses into something more, taking its sweet time...and then, in true Patrick Ness style, zinging the reader's emotions and ratcheting up the tension, without any hand-holding. 

But it was somewhat frustrating in the more standard sense of the word...I felt I was being asked to accept things that weren't sufficiently supported by the premises and world-building.  For instance, even in the most empty of worlds, I think there would still be insects.   I had just a few too many little bleated "but...." moments for me to truly love this one. 

Which is not to say that this isn't a fine, memorable, powerful book, because it is.


Disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher

The Monster in the Mudball, by S.P. Gates

I must say that life was easier back before school started--before I had to leave for work, I had two or three beautiful hours of morning solitude, no socks to find, lunches to pack, buses to put children...which meant that blogging was easier.  And I would return from work to more peaceful relaxation time, without endless chivying of reluctant homework doers.  I guess I will have to try to write more posts on the weekends...

But in any event, here is a quick look at The Monster in the Mudball, by S.P. Gates, a new book for upper elementary/younger middle school kids from Tu Books, the multicultural sci fi/fantasy imprint of Lee and Low.

The mudball had sat, undisturbed, on the top shelf of closet in London for 20 years, until the day it fell to the floor, and came into contact with water.   The mud cracks, and out come feet with boney toes and talons...and young Jin watches in horror as the mudball runs off into the street.

Prisoned inside the mud was a Zilombo, an ancient monster from Africa.  Now it's found a den in a derelict waterfront district, near the warehouse where Jin's Chinese grandparents make glorious Chinese dragons for a living.   Zilombo had killed many times before, and now she is hungry again.  And Jin's baby brother, nicknamed Smiler seems like the perfect tasty morsel.

But A.J. Zauyamakanda, Mizz Z. for short, Chief Inspector of Ancient Artifacts, soon arrives on the scene, determined to recapture the monster.   But each time Zilombo returns to life, she has new powers...and Mizz Z., who has fought her before back in her native Malawi, might not be so lucky this time.

Jin and his big sister, Frankie, find themselves caught in a nightmare as they help battle Zilombo, desperately trying save their brother from her talons...

This is the sort of exciting Kid vs Monster book that has lots of older Elementary appeal.   There is a lot of monstrous ickiness, lots of danger, and lots of action.  Zilombo is almost too much monster to take--the new powers she's developed, though necessary for the plot, seem a tad excessive, though that probably won't bother the young readers, busily cheering Jin and Frankie on!  What makes Zilombo interesting is that she's also developing more personhood--with this new awakening, she's beginning to realize that she's lonely, and her nascent fondness for Smiler wars with her savage hunger.  Without that bit of monster character development, she would have just chomped him, so it's utterly necessary to the story and works rather well.

Jin is an unusual hero, in that he has dyspraxia, aka "clumsy child syndrome" -- and so he has to be more conscious and self-aware than your typical kid is during monster hunting.  He has to work at it, which is a nice twist.

This is one I'd give to a fourth grade boy, or thereabouts, who enjoys stories in which ordinary kids fight extraordinary monsters!  I'm not sure there's quite enough depth to satisfy much older readers, although Mizz Z.'s job as Inspector of Ancient Artifacts has intriguing potential...

(and here I am again with a label diemma--fantasy, because it's about a mythical type creature, or science fiction, because it's monsterous cryptozoology....I think I will go with the former).

Here's another review, at Ms. Yingling Reads

disclaimer: ARC received from the publisher

Lockwood and Co.: The Screaming Staircase, by Jonathan Stroud

Lockwood and Co.: The Screaming Staircase, by Jonathan Stroud (Disney-Hyperion, upper Middle Grade, September 17, 2013)

In an alternate England, something (not explained yet) went awry, and the country is plagued by ghosts.  Ghosts who can kill, which makes them especially troublesome.  Fortunately, they can be dispatched by those with the proper equipment and training (as shown on the cover).  Kids can see the ghosts better than grown-ups...and so they are the combatants in the front line of ghost hunting, which, of course, means that grown-ups can exploit them.   And replace them when the ghosts kill them.

But Lockwood and Co. is a different sort of ghost-hunting business.  Anthony Lockwood, still young enough to see ghosts himself, runs his own company.  And  when Lucy Carlyle, down her luck after her previous employment went sour in a deadly way, knocks on the door, he gives her a job.   Supported by a third teen, the somewhat nerdy George (the research arm of the organization), Lockwood and Co. is ready to take the ghost hunting world by storm...

Except that things go wrong.  Burning down a house by accident may be a surefire way to get rid of haunted room, but it's expensive.  To pay of the debt incurred after that mischance, Lockwood and Co. agree to take on the ghosts of one of the most haunted houses in England...a place that can kill a ghost hunting kid, no matter how smart or well-prepared he or she might be.

So that's more or less the set-up, but it doesn't doesn't do justice to the adventures of ghost hunting and all the details of the world-building and the near-death experiences and restless hauntings and old murder mystery etc.!

It's mainly Lucy's story--she's the newcomer to Lockwood and Co., and we meet the two boys through her, and what is especially great is that we don't know any more about them than she does, and it is clear that there is just tons more to them than we see in this first book!   The reader is given a chance to think and wonder, and I appreciated that.   I enjoyed their company, too--they are smart, and sarcastic, and more vulnerable than they'd like to think they are....

So great characters, great premise, exciting ghosts and I Cannot Wait till the next book, when more about the very charming Anthony Lockwood, and more about the geekily appealing George, might be revealed! We already know Lucy pretty well, but I'm curious about how her relationships with the boys might change...

Note on age of reader:  the ghosts are scary, the blood is bloody, and the deaths are real.  I'm not giving this one to my ten year old...maybe next year, and I certainly wouldn't recommend it to third or fourth graders.  But it definitely feels more Middle Grade than YA--it's plucky kids taking on the grown-up world, rather than teens becoming grown-ups and finding luv.  Give this one to a smart eleven- or twelve-year-old who likes a bit of violent supernatural gore, or the reader who likes zesty mysteries and intelligent writing, and who can tolerate supernatural gore, or some combination of the two.

I was a pretty appreciative reader myself  (mostly because of being really interested in the characters).  Leila was too--here's her post at Kirkus.

Reviewed from an ARC procured for me at ALA by Anamaria of Books Together, to whom I am very grateful.

This week's round-up of Middle Grade Science Fiction and Fantasy from around the blogs (Sept. 8, 2013)

Here's what I found in my blog reading this past week of interest to fans of Middle Grade Science Fiction and Fantasy.  Once again, though at times I had hope, I was unable to find a book review for every letter of the alphabet, and so I continue to hold my review for "X" in readiness...a new Z, a difficult letter, has entered the scene (thank you, Mr. Bacigalupi), but V remains an intractable problem (although since The Shadowhand Covenant, the sequel to The Vengekeep Prophecies, by Brian Farrey, comes out this October, maybe one of you all will want to read book 1 and give me a V....).   No one is reviewing books beginning with A much either.  And B is so two years ago...

Oh well.

The Reviews

Breadcrumbs, by Anne Ursu, at Malin's Blog of Books

The Cats of Tanglewood Forest, by Charles de Lint, at Tales of the Marvelous

Congatious Colors of Mumpley Middle School, by Fowler DeWitt, at GreenBeanTeenQueen, Beth Fish Reads, This Kid Reviews Books, and Charlotte's Library (all with giveaways)

Chupacabra, by Roland Smith, at This Kid Reviews Books

Dragon Run, by Patrick Matthews, at Nerdophiles

Earthfall, by Mark Walden, at Nerdophiles

The Fallen Spaceman, by Lee Harding, at Views from the Tesseract

Frogged, by Vivian Vande Velde, at Charlotte's Library

Goth Girl and the Ghost of a Mouse, by Chris Riddell, at Mr Ripley's Enchanted Books

Handbook For Dragon Slayers, by Merrie Haskell, at Rachel Neumeier

Island of Silence, by Lisa McMann, at Ms. Yingling Reads

Janitors, by Tyler Whitesides, at The ABC Writers Guild

Kingdom of the Wicked (Skulduggery Pleasant 7), by Derek Landy, at Original Content

The Lost Heir, by Tui T. Sutherland, at CatEared Reviews

The Lost Kingdom, by Matthew Kirby, at Fantasy Literature and By Singing Light

Magic Marks the Spot, by Caroline Carlson, at Random Musings of a Bibliophile and On Starships and Dragonwings

Mr. and Mrs. Bunny- Detectives Extraordinaire, by Polly Horvath, at Librarian of Snark

Oliver and the Seawigs, by Philip Reeve and Sarah McIntyre, at Wondrous Reads 

Persephone the Daring (Godess Girls), by Joan Holub and Suzanne Williams, at Dee's Reads

The Phantom Toolbooth, by Norman Juster, at Becky's Book Reviews

The Quirks: Welcome to Normal, by Erin Soderberg, at Candace's Book Blog

Rose, by Holly Webb, at A Dream Within A Dream

The School for Good and Evil, by Soman Chainani, at Looking for the Panacea

The Screaming Staircase (Lockwood and Co.) by Jonathan Stroud, at thebookshelfgargoyle, Fairrosa Cyber Library, Nayu's Reading Corner, and Great Imaginations

Secrets of New Forest Academy (Janitors 2), by Tyler Whitesides, at Geo Librarian

Sidekicked, by John David Anderson, at Stop Hiting Your Brother

Sleeping Beauty's Daughters, by Diane Zahler, at GreenBeenTeenQueen

Tales from Lovecraft Middle School, by Charles Gilman, at Bookwyrme's Lair 

The Time Fetch, by Amy Herrick, at Alison's Book Marks

The Unwanteds, by Lisa McMann, at Ms. Yingling Reads

Wild Born (Spirit Animals 1) by Brandon Mull, at Akossiwa Ketoglo, Random Musings of a Bibliophile, and Book Ends

The Wizard of Oz, adapted from the movie screenplay by Beth Bracken, at Kid Lit Reviews

Young Fredl, by Cynthia Voigt, at Librarian of Snark (audiobook review)

Zombie Baseball Beatdown, by Paulo Bacigalupi, at Ms. Yingling Reads

Three Oz books--Tick Tock, Scarcrow, and Rinkitink, at Tales of the Marvelous


Authors and Interviews

Ellen Booraem (Texting the Underworld) at The Mod Podge Bookshelf

Janice Hardy (The Healing Wars) at Nicole Y. Walters

Claire Legrand (The Year of Shadows) at Nerdy Book Club and Great Imaginations

Diane Zahler (Sleeping Beauty's Daughters) at The Haunting of Orchid Forsythia

Caroline Carlson (Magic Marks the Spot) at Smack Dab in the Middle

Christine Brodien-Jones (The Glass Puzzle) at The Mod Podge Bookshelf

A.J. Hartley (Darwen Arkwright and the School of Shadows) at Nerdy Book Club

Susan Cooper, at Indy Week


Other Good Stuff

The Canadian Children's Book Centre Awards' finalists announced

Five Sci Fi pet peeves, at Views from the Tesseract

A nice list of Percy Jackson read-alikes at Bookshelves of Doom

Lee and Low's New Voices Award deadline is Sept. 30

A new digital magazine for Middle Grade readers is coming!  "The inaugural issue of Middle Shelf comes out this October. Features will include interviews with Margaret Petersen Haddix (author of Shadow Children and The Missing series), cover artist Gilbert Ford, and 12-year-old author MacKenzie Wagner. Top reads for the Halloween season will be included along with spotlights on non-fiction, graphic novel, poetry, and novelty titles."  Read more here.

(I'm hosting a giveaway of a YA time travel book, Infinityglass, by Myra McEntire, and very few people have entered, which makes me feel Sad, so even thought its not MG, maybe some of you might be interested?).

Frogged, by Vivian Vande Velde

Frogged, by Vivian Vande Velde (HMH Books for Young Readers, April, 2013), puts a fun spin on the old fairy tale of the princess who kisses the frog prince.   In this case, when young Princess Imogene kisses an enchanted frog one day at his request (without getting too freaked out about it--she is a sensible type, unsquemish viz amphibians), he does indeed transform back into a boy as expected.  But as she kisses him, Imogene transforms into a frog!  To her horror, she learns that the only way out of the enchantment is to pass the kiss, and concomitant frog-ness, on to another victim!

The ex-frog boy won't help her, the witch who enchanted him in the first place won't help her...and before Imogene can hop home to find her parents, she's kidnapped by a rag-tag bunch of travelling players.  A talking frog adds zest to any performance...but every day finds her farther from home, trapped in a bucket and eating flies, when she's not reluctantly entertaining the masses.

This being a fairy tale re-imagining for the younger reader, Imogene does end up restored to her former self.   But rather disappointingly, it's not through her own agency or cleverness, but rather because another character decides to help her.  And so, though the premise of the story is fun, and Imogene's adventures as a frog are entertaining, it felt a tad flat in the end.  I kept waiting for Imogene to hatch a Cunning Plan, or something...and it never happened--though that being said, she does come up with the cunning a ha! moment that sets her free without be-frogging anyone else! 

Oh well.   Imogene's likeable, the frog spell and its implications are fun, and in short, it's a perfectly nice one to give a fairy-tale loving eight- or nine-year-old.

Here's a very small detail (one sentence worth) I liked--Imogene is a fairly typical un-princessly princess--she likes to run around and not worry about getting grubby.  However, she also enjoys embroidery, and it's nice to see sewing not as just one of the unpleasant things of princess girl life but as something worthwhile.

Book bubbles popped by pin pricks

Don't you just hate it when you are reading happily along, lost in the world of a story, and suddenly a small detail or choice of word throws you right out of the story?  This has happened to me three times recently, and I am still brooding about these three ridiculously small details, so I thought if I shared, maybe I could Put It All Behind Me.  These things are so minor that they don't (or shouldn't, for crying out loud) materially affect the overall quality of the story--other readers might glide happily over the same thing--so I'm not going to call out the books by name (though you might recognize them).

1.  So we have just slipped in time back to the early 1940s, and our protagonist is going down the stairs to breakfast.  She meets the maid, coming in with a basket of bedding from off the clothesline.    BUT--I hang my own washing up on a clothesline, and you can't bring things in early in the morning because they are damp with dew (I have had to stick my children's socks in the microwave on occasion so as to enable them to go to school with clean, dry socks).  Sheets and stuff you want to be really nice and dry (I have never microwaved a sheet).  So I spent ages, absolutely ages, wondering if it were possible--the main character has slept late (but her mother is still eating breakfast), the sun rises very early in Maine in summer (but is it early enough?),  maybe there was a stiff breeze, what did the family sleep on the night before--would they have had two sets of bedding (which implies more than just sheets...) etc.

2.  A girl wants to give a vampire a memorable kiss, so she bites her tongue till it bleeds.   I found myself chewing thoughtfully on my own tongue for several days--the tongue is quite tough, and to get a reasonable amount of blood you can't just nibble the side of it...but if you really bit down hard your teeth might go through...and wouldn't it just be so much easier to bite the side of your mouth, which I accidentally do a lot anyway, or possibly the lip, which is much more full of blood (as I have seen during the various occasions when my children fell on their faces)....

3.  Benjamin Franklin thanks other gentleman for "leaguing" with him.   What?  Leaguing is a verb (!??!!)  that might be used in the 18th century?  Or is it one of those bothersome noun-into-verb things (I will never "gift" anybody anything) that are so prevalent these days?   I had to stop reading and spent the rest of my bus ride brooding, and had to check the dictionary when I got home.   I didn't find anything that convinced me Ben would have used it as a verb.

Feel free to share your own small bothers!

The Contagious Colors of Mumpley Middle School, by Fowler DeWitt --- with giveaway of both the book and custom-made Contagious Colors band-aids!

The Contagious Colors of Mumpley Middle School, by Fowler DeWitt, illustrated by Rodolfo Montalvo (Atheneum, Middle Grade, September 3, 2013), is tailor-made for kids who like their wacky middle school science fun with glowing snot.  And glowing puke...

Young Wilmer Dooley wants to follow in the footsteps of his father, famous for his invention of SugarBUZZZZ, 12 fluorescent colored flavors of high energy fun.   So Wilmer has set his sights on the sixth grade science medal...and if he can get the beautiful Roxy to smile favorably on him, that would make his year even better.

When his classmates start flashing fluorescent colors of his own, and bouncing of the walls with manic energy (more so than usual), Wilmer knows he has his science project.  So he sets of to find the cause of this colorful contagion in true scientific style.  And yes, glowing snot and puke samples are an essential part of his data.   But there are those who want Wilmer to fail--his hostile science teacher (threatened by his intelligence) and his sixth-grade rival, Claudius, who's determined to take on the role of Evil Genius.

The stakes get higher when Wilmer discovers the source of the epidemic...and learns that, if left untreated, his classmates might well explode...

So yes, there's ick (not exactly appealing to the grown-up reader).  But there are kids out there who will doubtless find it funny as all get out.  The colorful contagion and its manifestations are divertingly presented.   Looking past the snot, the book actually offers a nice introduction to epidemiology and the scientific method, that should appeal to the scientifically-minded reader who can tolerate wackiness. 

I'm not quite sure that fifth and sixth grade boys, the most likely readers, will appreciate the amount of page time (considerable) given to Wilmer's unrequited crush--from my own experience, boys that age still shun open acknowledgement of that part of life (finding it more disturbing than glowing snot).  The book opens with Wilmer day-dreaming about Roxy, which might make it off-putting.

I also can't help be bothered by the minor but distressing fact that Wilmer took fourteen test-tubes home from his science classroom.  This gives his teacher, who suspects him, a legitimate reason to dislike him, and given that Wilmer's dad is a scientist, couldn't he have just asked at home?

Final answer: offer it to kids fascinated by gross science, with a tolerance for the absurd (this is one of those handy cases where readers who find the cover appealing will almost certainly enjoy the book).

Courtesy of the publishers, I'm hosting a giveaway of one copy of The Contagious Colors of Mumpley Middle School plus a box of custom-made Contagious Colors band-aids!  Just leave a comment to enter by midnight next Thursday, Sept.  12.



Here's another review (and giveaway) at GreenBeanTeenQueen

disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher

My son on his first day of school--a proud, but confused, Geek

Here's the tee-shirt my son wore for his first day of eighth grade:

You might recognize it from the Geek Your Library campaign; I was offered one by my library as a thank you for running the Friends group.

I think Geek Your Library is really cool, and I've enjoyed seeking all the Geek posters go up...but it is, perhaps, totally and utterly obscure to those who don't know what it's all about.

I thought I had explained it to my son....but he was, apparently, unable to explain it in turn to all the kids at school who didn't get it.  Oh well.


I just went back to the Geek Your Library site and geeked the Cybils!  Here's the section where you too can show off what you geek!

Infinityglass, by Myra McEntire (with Infinityglass book and poster giveaway!)

Courtesy of the publisher, I'm hosting a giveaway of a copy of Infinityglass plus an Infinityglass poster!  Just leave a comment by next Tuesday at midnight to enter.

Infinityglass (Edgmont, August 2013) is the third books of Myra McEntire's Hourglass trilogy--romantic suspense involving a power struggle over the control of paranormal abilities, including time travel.   In a nutshell, the discovery that some people have genetically determined supranatural talents has led to a conflict between various powerful individuals over control and profit.  And the teenagers who have the abilities, all drawn together by chance, or by the manipulation of their pasts, struggle to make sense of the secrets, lies, and plots that are shaping their lives, so as to make sure that the manipulation of time does not threaten their chance of a future.

Each book in the trilogy focuses on a different pair of teenagers, who must learn to work together and trust each other, while struggling to thwart dangers, ultimately falling into true love.   In a sense, all the tensions of the larger plot (the murders, the various bad guy characters, the hopping in and out of time) are sort of a static-y surround for this romantic focus--I, at any rate, ended each book with a much clearer understanding of the characters' relationships than I did of what the heck was actually happening in the bigger picture (this could be my failing as a reader).

This third book focuses on Dune, protégée of the Hourglass Institute (the good guys), who can manipulate water with his mind.  When he was a kid, he unwittingly used his ability to bring a tidal wave crashing into his Samoan island home...killing, among others, his own father.  Now a geeky, handsome teenager,  he stays as far from the ocean as possible, so going to New Orleans on a mission for the institute wasn't what he really wanted to do....But he is the one who knows the most about the Infinityglass, the legendary key to time travel, so off he goes.

The Infinityglass is no artifact, though--it's a living person.  A teenaged-girl named Hallie, whose father is basically a mob boss getting rich from the time travel retrieval of priceless artifacts.  Hallie is essentially imprisoned by her protective father (he has reason to keep her locked-up, as she is his one vulnerability, and plenty of people hate him), but now her powers as the Infinityglass are awakening...and her father's house can no longer hold her.

Dune has been installed as her bodyguard, though Hallie and her father both know why he's really there.   Dune and Hallie, forced together by circumstances, fall in love while danger swirls around them.

Although no-one in Infinityglass deliberately travels through time, there's plenty of time slippiness.  Ripples of the past, in the form of people and even whole scenes, spill into the world of those like Hallie who can see them.   But Hallie is unique--she doesn't just see the ripples, she can step inside these shadow people from the past, and they can possess her.   When the moments she lives with them are pleasant, it's not so bad, but this isn't always the case...

That is not all that sets her apart.  As the Infinityglass, she can transfer one person's power to another, and this makes her a most desirable weapon.  One the bad guys want, more than somewhat.

As I said before, the focus of this book, and the previous two, is the relationship between the two central characters.   So this is a series I'd recommend to the reader who loves romance with a paranormal twist (things get quite steamy between Hallie and Dune), not so much one I'd recommend to the reader of Time Travel.  That being said, the paranormal elements do add an intriguing backdrop for the romance, with pleasingly high stakes (even if I wasn't always sure I was remembering enough from book 1 to make sense of them).

(leave a comment with some way to reach you to enter the giveaway)

Identification help needed for two time travel books

This week's Timeslip Tuesday will go up shortly, but before that, your help is needed!

From time to time, I get requests from readers for help identifying time travel books.   Some I know, some I don't, and here are two of the later; let me know if you recognize them!

First one:  "When I was younger I read a book about a guy who time travels back to the time of the Battle of Naseby- (Roundheads and Cavaliers). Unfortunately I can't remember the title or Author! I know he was a motor- biker and he falls in love with a woman from the period he goes back to, but that is about all I can remember."

Second one:  "I do not know the title or the author, though I do know I was reading it before high school, which means it was published pre-1995, and since it was about time travel to the Revolutionary War, it was probably published sometime after 1783. Trade paperback pushes that date to sometime after 1950, though it might have been a reprint. It's probably a 9-12 year old reading level, though I am not sure.

The story is about a girl and her brother who find a watch buried on a hill, and when they wind the watch, it transports them back to the Revolutionary War. While they are attempting to return to their original time period, they end up being rescued and staying in the house of an (woman) clam digger, as they are hiding from Hessians."

Cool Creations in 35 Pieces, by Sean Kenney--fun with Lego for Non-fiction Monday

Cool Creations in 35 Pieces, by Sean Kenney (Henry Holt, Sept. 10, 2013), is exactly what the title (and subtitle) promise--it's a how-to book of Lego models you can build with (wait for it) just 35 pieces.  The same pieces, used over and over, can make robots, spacecraft (I like the Space Shark), buildings, furniture and household objects (included in this category is the Iridium Q-45 Space Modulator, which made me smile--I think I need one), and more. 

Sean Kenney is a Lego Master--he is a professional Lego artist who owns nearly 2 million pieces of Lego, makes ginormous Lego art, and has published several other Lego books for kids.   So he knows whereof he speaks, design-wise, and the creations he illustrates in the book demonstrate this.

This book is both useful and inspiring.  I don't think I'm alone in having a ginormous box of Lego bits, that are mostly unused.  It's not that my boys don't still play with Lego, because they do; it's just that they mostly move the minifigures, engaged in epic fantasy adventures, through a blasted wasteland of Lego bits.

Sample of playroom floor, with bonus Walrus:

And this is just fine, but they don't spend much time thinking critically and creatively about what they can build.  So this morning we tried this book.

The first, and most exciting, challenge, was to find the requisite 35 pieces (happily the book has a handy page with pictures of them all).

My son assured me that if we kept digging, we could find them all.

The interior of our Lego box, thousands of pieces not shown:

Lots of scrabbling and matching pieces to pictures later (which was rather fun), we had a complete set.

And my thirteen year old built one of the robots, and enjoyed doing so: 

I am glad he was willing to play along, because his opinion as a nine-year veteran of Lego building is useful.  He felt that the book was not just for beginners.  Although the title suggests that it's an introduction to building with Lego, and it is just fine as such, in fact there aren't explicit instructions for every single thing in the book.  So it offers a bit more of a challenge than one might think.  That being said, the creations are not extraodinarily complicated, and of course only use, at most, 35 pieces...

My ten-year-old opined on the cuteness of many of the Lego robots and animals, and was inspired by them to make a robot turtle, which he declined to share.

Note:  unless you are a long-time amasser of Legos, you might well not have the exact 35 pieces used in the book.   If you are giving this book to a kid who is particular about having exactly what he or she is supposed to have, it might be wise to make sure the specific pieces will be available.  You can order them individually, if you want to spend an extra bit of money just to be sure, and then you have a very nice present indeed.

On the other hand, you don't have to stick to the particular 35 pieces the author uses--if I were doing this for a Lego group at a library, I'd just give each kid 35 pieces of randomness, pass the book around for inspiration, and challenge them to see what they can do.

In short, I think this is a nice one for both the young entrant into the world of Lego, and one that sparks new creativity in the experienced builder.    Don't make the mistake of thinking it's just for boys--although some boy favorites, like vehicles, are included, girls like making spaceships and aliens just fine, and, though it does feel a bit like falling into gender stereotypes, the section on household furnishings might well have appealed to young girl me lots.

At Sean Kenney's website, there's a gallery where kids can share photos of their own creations (for free).  There's nothing there yet (since I'm writing this before the book has been published), but I bet it will be another handy source of inspiration.

Final answer:  My boys don't want me to pass the book on to the library.

disclaimer:  review copy received from the publisher.

This week's Non-fiction Monday is hosted by A Mom's Spare Time.