Reading picture books to my ten-year-old son - a sentimental post about why it's been rather a nice thing to do

My ten-year-old is the youngest child, and so all the picture books ended up on the shelves in his room...so many, many picture books.   But now that shelf space is needed for books of his own choosing (he wants his own copies of all the Ranger's Apprentice books, for instance) and the picture books have to go.  Of course I had already deaccessioned many of them--Thomas the Tank Engine bit the dust years ago, but there were still lots and lots.   I couldn't stand to just bundle them off the shelves like they were dead fish, so instead, I have been reading them to him again one last time, one or two books a night, snuggling in bed together the way we used to.

We are both find it very comforting.  Ten is a tricky age to be---the prospect of Growing Up is looming on the horizon, but in many ways you are still a child who wants to be little and loved and safe.   It seems to me that re-reading the picture books of his childhood to my son is a way of saying  that just because you are older, it doesn't mean you can't love the things you loved when you were little, and also a way of saying to him that even though he is much bigger now, I am still the same Mama that I was back in the day (more or less, and give or take).   It has also struck me that many of the books on his shelves were about little kids facing change, like starting school or making new friends.  The uncertainty of sixth grade in a new school with new kids is distressing, and I like to imagine he is being reassured, just as he was when he started kindergarten, especially since that  worked out just fine (we read Wemberly Worried last night).

It is also very nice indeed to read picture books to an older child for more intellectual reasons--you can have little chats about the fourth wall, artistic technique, how the words and the pictures are used together, and other little critical divertissements.  Plus at a certain point I stopped bringing picture books into the home, and I have been enjoying reading them again so much I am thinking of getting fresh ones from the library (and this will also beautifully model the fact that grown-ups are allowed to like "childish" things, which is a soothing thought).

Though many of the books are now going to go up to the attic, or on to the library book sale, some he has made the decision to keep in his room (for now, at least).  And I think that's one of the best parts of growing-up (if you are lucky enough to have had a happy childhood, of course, and the marketing surveys I conduct every so often seem to indicate that mine are) --the chance to look back at your past, and pick for yourself the memories that you want to keep, so that going forward you can still have a sense of love and warmth and safety.

(NB:  I never ever ever read my kids Love You Forever. Just saying.)


So here's my ten year old's best loved picture book from his youth:  Archie and the Pirates, by Marc Rosenthall.    Here's the post I wrote about it, back when my son was six and the book arrived in our house. 

I myself still have two picture books from my own childhood--The Sun Shone on the Elephant, and I Had Trouble In Getting To Solla Sollew.  (Both these books are about the failure of escapist fantasy to bring comfort, which disturbs me a tad...).

Rose and the Lost Princess, by Holly Webb, with bonus (very short) list of magical servant books

Rose, by Holly Webb, was a huge hit in my house--both my boys (10 and 13) read it with tremendous enjoyment, and I liked it rather a lot myself, and helped shortlist it for the Cybils Award.  It was therefore a rather obvious choice to ask for the sequel, Rose and the Lost Princess, as a birthday present, via the magic of The Book Depository--it was released in 2010 over in the UK, and is coming out here in the US from Sourcebooks Jabberwocky on April 1, 2014.

In Rose, set in a fantasy version of Victorian England, we met the titular young orphan, whose magical talents begin to blossom when she become a servant to one of the most prominent magician's in the land.  Rose and the Lost Princess picks up just a week after Rose and her friends thwarted a nasty bit of magical murder.  Now Rose is both an acknowledged apprentice, and (because she doesn't want to be a charity case) still working as servant.

But her colleagues below stairs are afraid of magic and its practitioners, and Rose, neither fish nor fowl, is in a most uncomfortable situation.  And not just inside the house--popular sentiment has swung wildly against magic users, and the mood of the people is ugly indeed.   To make things worse, an unnaturally early winter has the city in a tight grip...and then the beloved young princess falls victim to a magical plot. 

Thought that danger is quickly resolved, it is just about the last straw turning people against magic.  But without magic to protect her, the princess is still vulnerable.  Rose is installed in the palace as an undercover magical guardian...but Rose is by no means sure her untrained magic will be of much use against the powerful adversary threatening the kingdom....

It was not a cozy comfort read.  There was an atmosphere of strained tension throughout, that kept me from relaxing.   This is not to say that I didn't like the book.    It  was very gripping, and I am very fond of Rose and her friends, and I read it briskly and with conviction.  Fans of the first should have little to complain about (unless they want to join me in complaining about the tension of  it all, and I do realize I am a particularly pathetic reader in that regard, so probably not many will).

And I have gone ahead and ordered the third book-- Rose and the Magician's Mask, and also, because it looked even more appealing, the first in the companion series about another girl, named Lily.  From Amazon UK: 

"In a world where magic is outlawed, Lily runs wild and neglected. Once rich and powerful magicians, now Lily's family hide away in their crumbling house, while her older sister, Georgie, is trained secretly in magic.  But when Lily discovers her parents' dark plan to use Georgie in a terrible plot to restore the country to its magical glory, she knows she must rescue her sister - and flee..."

In any event, Rose and its sequels utterly deserve to find a wide audience over here in the US, and it was a tad surprising to me, with regard to getting copies of it for Cybils consideration, that it wasn't more widely available in libraries (thanks, Sourcebook, for sending copies to us!).   Tons of kid appeal, enhanced by the US covers, which are much more boy friendly (UK cover at right).

If you enjoy books starring kids who are servants with magical powers in historical fantasy worlds, here are the ones I know about:

Rose, by Holly Webb (of course)
The Silver Bowl, by Diane Stanley
Magic Below Stairs, by Caroline Stevermer
Conrad's Fate, by Diana Wynne Jones (Disclaimer:  it has been ages since I read this one, and can't quite promise Conrad himself is magical.  Update:  it has now been confirmed that Conrad is magical.)

Are there others?????

William and Mary, by Penelope Farmer

Penelope Farmer is best known to me as the author of Charlotte Sometimes, a book I hold dear.   Back in the day, when I was young, I only knew of one other book by her--William and Mary (1974).  It was a frequent summer-at-grandparents library re-read (though not a best beloved one), and so I was very happy indeed when my sister gave it to me for my birthday this year.

And I was even more happy to find that it held up rather well, and in fact I think I like it more now than I did then.

Mary is the only girl at the English boarding school run by her parents; its a lonely life, especially when the school is empty during vacation, and it's made her somewhat socially awkward and diffident.   William is the somewhat older boy forced to spend part of his holiday at the school while his parents contemplate divorce, and to Mary's surprise, he actually seems happy to be friends with her.

And then the magic starts.

William has half a shell, that can transport the two of them into any undersea scenario inspired by art, music, photograph...and so, interspersed with the mundane but not uninteresting story of two kids racketing around an English school and its seaside environs are a series of underwater adventures.  Some are beautiful (coral reefs), some scary (the fall of Atlantis), some amusing (a whale hotel).  And in the meantime, the clock is ticking--will William and Mary find the other half of the shell in time?

It seems to me that in  most books of today, girls are not often realistic adolescents, and it further seems to me that this is a major difference in feel between kids in older UK fantasy (1960s and 70s) and books of today.  Mary mopes.  She is prey to the adolescent despair that reduces one to tears, even when there is no particular cause.   She has no special abilities, talents, or even a major role in the fantasy adventure.   As an adolescent myself, when reading it back then, I think I found this kind of dreary, and insufficiently escapist.  As a grown-up, I thought it added interest, though I wish Farmer had spent a bit more time allowing Mary to think about what she wants out of life next.

William, on the other hand, is somewhat too good to be true...He is extraordinarily mature, and never gets fussed at all.   It is quite a contrast, and almost a bit much.

As far as the fantasy goes, I do have a reservation, which is that the adventures really vignettes, not tied thematically to a larger story, and they don't progress to any point.  They just happen.   So they are pleasant, but not emotionally powerful, and they have no effect at all on events in reality.  However, because they are such a sudden, shocking change from a somewhat chilly and overcast reality, they are bright and engaging as all get out.

So it's still not a best-beloved book, but it made a nice change from heroic epicness and special kids.   Anyone who's a fan of magic invading ordinary life should look for it, although it's not in many libraries any more.  Arlington Central Library, where I first read it, got rid of all their old books when they remodeled, which I will always feel a little sad about.   However, I was pleased to see that the Rhode Island library system has a Penelope Farmer book for kids I haven't read yet--Year King--and that is now on my stack.

After Eden, by Helen Douglas, for Timeslip Tuesday

Warning:  there will be spoilers.  Before I get to that part, though, I will say that After Eden, by Helen Douglas (Bloomsbury, 2013), is a YA romance in which the central tension of the romance comes from time travel.  If you are looking for a (pretty much insta-love) romance involving a beautiful guy, best friend issues, and a heroine who seems to exist only to fall in love with the beautiful guy; a romance that is light on physicality, but given considerable interest by time travel, this book is for you!

On with the spoilers.

So Eden is the girl referenced above, an ordinary English school girl in her last year before university, and a new boy arrives in town.  A very cute boy named Ryan, who seems to want to be friends....and who maybe, just maybe, wonders Eden as time passes, wants more than her friendship....

Eden can't help but notice that Ryan is a little different, but it's not until she accidentally takes one of his books home by accident that she finds out the truth.

Last chance to avoid spoilers!

The book reveals that Ryan is from the future, and he has come back to Eden's time to stop a chain of events that leads to the future destruction of life on Earth.  Eden's best friend, Connor, is about to discover an exoplanet...and this will wreck havoc back on Earth.  So Ryan and Eden find themselves not only allies in foiling Conner's discovery, but falling in love, knowing that they will never be together.  Ryan will head back to the future just as soon as the foiling has been completed.

And he will leave Eden behind, though she knows far too much about the future to be safe from its enforcers...

The time travel part of the story was fine-- it was interesting to see Eden and Ryan busily working together to change things, and the suspense at the end, when Eden is in danger, was exciting.  

But. 

For starters, Eden was pretty much a non-character, with no life or interests outside of hanging with her friends and falling in love with Ryan (she's supposed to be a runner, but she only runs for the sake of running once).   We learn that she is a decent, unambitious person who can't draw.  She's basically not interesting.  And yet Ryan is going to go to extreme lengths to make sure they have a happy ending...and I really have trouble with two teenagers just Knowing that they want to be with each other for the whole rest of their lives.  Especially when one has made a major sacrifice to make it happen.

For seconds, the bad guy from the future smokes (hard to believe that in an almost desiccated Earth they are still growing tobacco), and his mutation into Bad Guy is abrupt, exaggerated, and unconvincing. 

So no, it didn't work for me.  But if you are in the mood for a kind of fluffy romance with a bit of a sci fi twist, it might be just the thing for you!

Working toward a better blog--in which I try out Grammarly (with a giveaway of a $25 Amazon Gift Card)

I have just used Grammarly's free plagiarism checker, not really expecting that anyone wanted my words, but it happens....no one is.

But that is not all Grammarly does. I agreed to review Grammarly in exchange for compensation because I am keenly aware that my blog is not proof-read adequately; many is the time I have noticed errors in past posts, and winced in pain.  Many is the time I have read the words of others, and felt that their crisp professionalism made my own blog look a little....wilted.  Un-professional.  Run up by loving hands at home.  So I was eager to see how helpful Grammarly would be in solving (at least some of) my problems. 

Grammarly is a grammar and spell checker--you copy the text you want checked into the box, and select the style of your writing--(general, business, academic, creative, casual, etc.).  Though I would like my blog to be "creative," and though "academic" also comes easily, I decided that "casual" was the best fit.   It is incredibly easy to use--you just paste your text into the box and hit the 'start review' button, and all possible issues are clearly and rapidly brought to your attention.  As well as seeing each error with your document in real time, as it were, you can save or print a copy of the report, which would be useful for longer docments. 

The post I selected for my first try was my review of The Misadventures of the Magician's Dog.   The Casual grammar check gave me a score of 82 out of 100, with seven issues found.  It's major issue with my writing was my generous use of commas.   In some cases I disagreed-- for instance, in "Every time he uses it,  anger moves closer to the surface" I feel that the comma is valuable.  But I did take out the comma in "he risks loosing himself, and harming his family."

Next I tried it on  my review of the novel version of My Neighbor Totoro.   A 70 out of 100, with one that made me shudder:   "So the whole package is just lovely and the illustrations by Miyazaki, are charming."   I have fixed this. 

For  my final try, I ran my review of Jinx's Magic.  Eeks!  57 out of 100.  But phew--most of them were words the spell check didn't recognize.  However,  I took out a nasty little extra space, which I'm glad is gone.   Grammarly and I disagreed again about commas.  I can't help it--I like to put them in where I would pause in talking.  I think it sets a nice conversational tone.

In addition, there is a spelling feature that not only catches your common or garden errors, but which alerts you to embarrassing confusions of to too and two, and affect and effect, which fills a gap in most spell checkers.

Final verdict--I think this would be a very useful tool to a professional writer who doesn't have a proof-reader on hand; if I ever were to start writing seriously myself, or if I were still in graduate school, I would definitely consider subscribing.   I think it would be incredibly useful for a writer who wasn't a native speaker of English.   And (deliberate grammatical error) for as long as I have my trial subscription, I will run my posts through it.  

I think that bloggers who schedule posts in advance might well find it more handy than bloggers like me who press "post" when they realize that, once again, the kids are going to be late for school if they don't get up now.  That being said, such bloggers are the ones who might benefit most, since proofreading becomes a sometime thing.

(What I really need, though, is something that checks to make sure that I have characters' names and the spelling of fantasy places correct in my posts.  It took 10 months before someone was kind enough to point out that in Jinx it's really the Urwald, not the Urwold, wince wince.)

If you want to try it yourself, you can sign up for a free seven day trial.  An annual subscription is $11.66 a month; monthly and quarterly subscriptions are slightly more.

Final word--I have just run this post through Grammarly.   It now has three fewer commas.  Sigh.

Disclaimer:  this post was written in exchange for compensation from Grammarly.  To share that with you all, just leave a comment (proof-reading related) by midnight next Sunday, to be entered to win a $25 Amazon gift card.

This week's round-up of middle grade sci and fantasy from around the blogs (1/12/14)

Another week, another round-up!  Let me know if  I missed your post!

The Reviews

Back to Blackbrick, by Sarah Moore Fitzgerald, at The Book Monsters

Bliss, by Kathryn Littlewood, at A Reader of Fictions

The Bridge to Never Land, by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson, at Carstairs Considers

The Cavendish Home for Boys and Girls, by Claire Legrand, at Beyond Books

The Creature Department, by Robert Paul Weston, at Reading is Fun Again

The Dragon's Boy, by Jane Yolen, at Sharon the Librarian

The Drowned Vault, by N.D. Wilson, at 300 Pages

Fablehaven, by Brandon Mull, at Book Nut

Falling In, by Frances O'Roark Dowell, at Book Banshee Reviews

Ghost Hawk, by Susan Cooper, at So I'm Fifty

The Grimm Conclusion, by Adam Gidwitz, at One Great Book

How To Catch a Bogle, by Catherine Jinks, at The Adventures of Cecelia Bedelia

Jinx's Magic, by Sage Blackwood, at Waking Brain Cells and Charlotte's Library

The Lives of Christopher Chant, by Diana Wynne Jones, at Tales of the Marvelous

Magic Marks the Spot, by Caroline Carson, at Nayu's Reading Corner

The Misadventures of the Magician's Dog, by Frances Sackett, at Charlotte's Library

North of Nowhere, by Liz Kessler, at The Ninja Librarian

Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy, by Karen Foxlee, at The Reading Nook Reviews

The Path of Names, by Ari B. Goelman, at The Haunting of Orchid Forsythia

Peaceweaver, by Rebecca Barnhouse, at Not Acting My Age

Rose, by Holly Webb, at Geo Librarian

Secrets of the Terra Cotta Soldier, by Ying Chang Compestine and Vinsonat Compestine, at Ms. Yingling Reads

Skellig, by David Almond, at Bookshelves of Doom

The Storm Makers, by Jennifer E. Smith, at Mister K Reads

Taylor Davis and the Clash of Kingdoms, by Michelle Isenhoff, at This Kid Reviews Books

The Third Door, by Emily Rodda, at Charlotte's Library

Whatever After: Fairest of All, by Sarah Mlynowski, at The Reader's Perch

When Did You See Her Last? by Lemony Snickett, at The Book Monsters

A Wizard of Earthsea, by Ursula Le Guin, at Here There Be Books


Authors and Interviews

Karen Foxlee (Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy) at The Reading Nook Reviews


Other Good Stuff

Project Mayhem pays tribute to Eva Ibbotson

EMG SF Cybils panelists reflect on books they loved that didn't end up on the shortlist, at Views from the Tesseract,

Anyone who wants to add to their list of MG fantasy and sci fi to look forward to is advised to check out this list at Views From the Tesseract.

And a quick shout out to Mother Daughter Book Reviews, where there's a new weekly round-up of kidlit, where I found several of the links above.

Not middle grade, but I want to put the link where I might find it again:
Last year I vowed to read more sci fi/fantasy for grown-ups....and that kind of turned into reading all of Discworld and not much else.  This year I will try again, with the help of the List of Awesome from Io9 of "All the Essential Science Fiction and Fantasy Books Coming in 2014."

A lot of us wring our hands about diversity in sci fi/fantasy books and fandoms; author and director Balogun is doing something about it.  He's organizing a symposium this spring in Atlanta --"a full day of Black speculative fiction workshops, performances, art, games, contests and vending – all for our youth." More (somewhat preliminary) information here at Chronicles of Harriet.

Finally--Story Time from Space!
"Story Time From Space, with support from CASIS, will send children’s books & demonstrations to the International Space Station.
While in space, astronauts will videotape themselves reading books to the children of Earth.
The videos will be edited and placed in the Story Time From Space library. The library will be housed here on the Story Time From Space website.
Astronauts on the ISS will also conduct and videotape educational demonstrations to complement the science concepts in the Story Time From Space books."

The Third Door, by Emily Rodda

The Third Door, by Emily Rodda (Scholastic, 2013)  is the concluding volume of a Middle Grade fantasy series (the first two books being The Golden Door, and The Silver Door).   That being the case, it seem to me rather pointless to try to recap the whole plot--suffice to say, the plot of the series as a whole is basically plucky kids with magical powers taking on bad guys, who also have powers, and saving their world.   There are interesting twists to the world-building--for instance, the kids in question come from a township deliberately shut of from the rest of the world long ago, setting up a nice mystery, and the revel about the magic of the three titular doors was much more exciting than I had anticipated.   And these mysteries (along with other twists), keep the pages turning nicely.

Those who enjoyed the first two books will be more than satisfied by this installment!  The plot thickens in a satisfactory way, with new characters, dangers, and mysteries, and the central characters once again must rise to the challenge. 

It's a fine fantasy series good for nine or ten year olds--there's some violence, but it's not distressingly graphic, some romance in the air, but it's not the point.  The central hero is a good, decent person, and the girl who is his partner in adventure gets a chance in this third book to truly shine.  As an added bonus, fans of Emily Rodda's Deltora series will doubtless be tickled to find that this particular land is linked to that series. 

So if you have a young devourer of fantasy on hand, this is a nice briskly paced and imaginative series to offer.  That being said, it isn't one I'd recommend to grown-up readers of middle grade fantasy--the individual elements, while all good, and quite often gripping as all get out, never came together quite enough to make the story truly magical for me. 

Disclaimer: review copy received from the publish

Hot (as is temperature) fantasy and sci fi for a cold winter's night

Wet, cold Air Mass Alphonse (not its real name) has brought nasty winter mix to southern New England, and although High Pressure System Daisy (not its real name either) should arrive in a few days, it is Not Nice at the moment.  And so my mind has been escaping to nice warm books in which the desert, with all it's lovely dry heat, is front and center.

Of course, for most of the characters wandering around in your average hot fantasy, it kind of sucks--there really aren't  many books in which people are happy to be hot, mostly because they are (with reason) worried dying of thirst.  But that's their problem.  (I could have included jungle fantasy here too, I guess, because jungles are hot, but I'm trying to avoid dampness too.  My shoes got plenty damp walking home from the bus).

In any event, here are the hot, dry, speculative fiction books I'd recommend unreservedly:

The one hot book I can think off that's escapistly pleasant (as in, no actively unpleasant thirst) is The Blue Sword, by Robin McKinley:  "The desert, with the black sharp-edged mountains around it, was a different from what she was accustomed to as any landscape could be; yet she found after only a few weeks in Istan that she was falling by degrees in love with it:  with the harsh sand, the hot sun, the merciless gritty winds" (p 19).   And the first half of the book in particular is filled with lots of lovely warm riding around the desert, enough to banish any chill.

Mirage, by Jenn Reese, is another diverting read featuring a girl charging around in a desert.  In this case, the lack of handy water is made more, um, concerning by the fact that the girl in question is a sea-person.   This one, though, is the second of a series, so you will have to read Above World, the first, to truly enjoy its pleasant warmth.

The Dispossessed, by Ursula LeGuin, is set on a planet with barely enough water to sustain its people, and the idea of Winter Mix never crosses their minds.  It's also a lovely, complex challenging book about a society in which, along with never being cold, people are never supposed to "own" anything--it is an society that strives to be an ongoing anarchy.   I can't recommend it highly enough.

Vessel, by Sarah Beth Durst, starts with a village running out of water, and goes on to sandstorms and sandwolves and plenty of life-draining heat.  It's a book of lovely world building and fascinating characters and magic...with no winter mix in sight.

Parched, by Melanie Crowder, lets you know right off that there's going to be heat and thirst, and it delivers in spades.   This story of two kids trying to survive in a future Africa hit hard by global warming and rising sea levels will take your mind off the cold, and make you grateful for water.

And though it is not set in the desert, The Thief, by Megan Whalen Turner, involves plenty of trekking across a hot, arid landscape....with olive groves shimmering in the heat etc. 

Jinx's Magic, by Sage Blackwood

So on January 7, the release day of Jinx's Magic, by Sage Blackwood (Katherine Tegen Books, 2014), I carefully gathered together all the receipts from my year of purchases at my local independent bookstore (where you get 10% back in January) and when right to where I hoped it would be, and lo! it was there, and I took it home very happily (and I even had 40 cents left over from my receipts).  Jinx  was one of my favorite books of 2013, and I had high hopes...

And though it was all a bit more Worrying than I would have liked, I enjoyed it just fine, and I think readers who are made of tougher stuff will enjoy it even more than me!

Jinx's life has been left somewhat snarlish after the events of book 1.   He has become a Listener, able to hear the voices of the trees of the Urwald, and the trees are not happy--incursions of tree fellers are wrecking havoc.   His companions of his first adventure, Elfwyn and Reven, are headed toward their own adventures, in Reven's case, reclaiming his rightful kingdom (which involves plans to acquire more and wealth through deforestation).  And Simon, Jinx's surly yet charismatic mentor/guardian, is determined to take down the Bonemaster, the bad guy of Book 1.  He won't let Jinx come help him, but instead sends Jinx to the desert land of Samara, to track down useful knowledge there.   In Samara, Jinx must infiltrate an organization of scholars to track down the book of magic Simon needs (this was my favorite part of the book) but in Samara, magic is a crime punishable by death.

And all the while, Jinx is realizing that somehow he's found himself in the position of being the one who must ultimately defeat the Bonemaster and save the Urwald....but he has pretty much no clue how to do these things.  So he sticks, in this book, to finding Sophie, and trying to save Simon, and trying to learn as much possible before everything goes even more awry, and he's very realistically a 13 year old boy trying to figure out just what he should be doing, without much help from any grown-ups.

The absolute best part of Sage Blackwood's writing is how much dialogue she uses to tell her story--her characters Talk to each other, and at each other, lots, and their conversations beautifully advance both plot and character development (and there are many characters who are utterly deserving of the page time they get, including two new young Samarians, both appealing and interesting).  The reader learns nothing directly from the author--all the lovely rich worldbuilding is done through the lens of Jinx's real-time experience, and it works beautifully.  

As in the first book, I almost felt it was a bit of a pity that there had to be danger--I would happily read page after page that was just Simon and Sophie and Jinx at home, preferably with visits either to or from several of the other characters.  I begrudged the fact that there was never really a time in which the characters weren't worried, or in mortal peril.  I realize, with the logical part of my mind, that the adventure/danger element of the story really does have to be there, and that it really does have lots of appeal as a Good Story, and those elements of the story give the characters a chance to shine.   So I'm not actually complaining, just saying.   And though I became very worried about the tree chopping down almost immediately, and this kept me from feeling comfy and happy, I also realize that this is a very personal reader reaction (I am fond of trees), and maybe when I go back and read it again (after the forest has, one assumes, been saved in future books) I will not be as distressed.

Jinx's Magic is not a stand-alone, but since Jinx is lovely in its own right, this is a non-issue.

And as in the first book, there's one description of Jinx as having dark skin, making this one for my multicultural sff list!

Other reviews at Random Musings of a Bibliophile and Waking Brain Cells.

Waiting on Wednesday--The Winner's Curse, by Marie Rutkoski

There just isn't enough time in the day to read quietly, in part because it's been too cold to take the bus (each bus trip = 45 minutes of reading), and the other problem with cold weather is that everyone, including me, wants to be in the same room as the woodstove, and the happy chatter can get awfully, horribly happy.  I try hard to be glad the dear children are so happy.

But in any event, I failed to finish my Timeslip Tuesday pick in time to review it yesterday, and this morning I must fall back on a Waiting on Wednesday post.  Happily, while indulging in a nice little round of adding forthcoming books with star reviews from Kirkus to my wants list,  I found a book I can wait for with a truly willing heart earlier today (though it strikes me that "a book I'm happy to wait for" is not even faint praise),

In any event.

Marie Rutkoski (she of  the Kronos Chronicles, the first book of which, The Cabinet of Wonders, is especially excellent) has a new book coming out that sounds most interesting.

The Winner's Curse (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, March 2014)

From Amazon:  "As a general’s daughter in a vast empire that revels in war and enslaves those it conquers, seventeen-year-old Kestrel has two choices: she can join the military or get married. But Kestrel has other intentions. One day, she is startled to find a kindred spirit in a young slave up for auction. Arin’s eyes seem to defy everything and everyone. Following her instinct, Kestrel buys him—with unexpected consequences. It’s not long before she has to hide her growing love for Arin. But he, too, has a secret, and Kestrel quickly learns that the price she paid for a fellow human is much higher than she ever could have imagined. Set in a richly imagined new world, The Winner’s Curse by Marie Rutkoski is a story of deadly games where everything is at stake, and the gamble is whether you will keep your head or lose your heart."

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

The Misadventures of the Magician's Dog, by Frances Sackett

So there are a number of stories about an ordinary kid who learns how to do magic, and a smaller number of these are set firmly in the real world.   Mostly the point of the story involves the magic somehow getting out of control, and various high-jinks ensuing.  Less often these stories involve the main character seriously thinking about the consequences of the magic that's invaded their ordinary life, and realizing that wonderful powers aren't necessarily a ticket to happiness.   The Misadventures of the Magician's Dog, by Frances Sackett (Holiday House, August 2013, middle grade), is that rare sort of story.  (At least I think it's rare....but I could be blanking on hundreds of them....)

Peter didn't want a dog--he didn't even like dogs-- but he had no choice.  He found himself compelled to ask for one, and, once at the animal shelter, found himself compelled to become the owner of a scraggly white mutt.   The Dog had picked him, for a particular purpose.

The Dog is no ordinary animal.  He had once belonged to a magician, and had acquired powers of his own, including the ability to talk.   He is a dog on a mission, one that involves awakening the powers lying dormant within Peter....not just so that Peter can become a magician in his own right, although this is what happens, but so that Peter can save the Dog's former master from an enchantment gone wrong.

And Peter, once he realizes that he can now do magic, becomes convinced that somehow he can bring back his father, off fighting far away.  Even if he can't do it himself, maybe the Dog's magician would be able to do it for him....

But the magic Peter uses draws on anger.  Every time he uses it,  anger moves closer to the surface.  If he gives in to the allure of his new powers, he risks loosing himself and harming his family....even though he is motivated by his love for this father.  

The Dog leads Peter to his former master, who's trapped in a magical mansion of madness.  He brings Peter's younger sisters too, in a deliberate effort to balance anger with love.  But the freeing the magician involves more than just Peter drawing on his new powers...and Peter's not sure at all that the magician is worth bringing back to life, especially when it will put his sisters, and himself, in danger.   Because the magician hadn't been able to hold on to the self he once was, back when he too was a boy, owner of a beloved dog.  He has become not nice at all.

Now, I am not a dog person, and so I was a tad slow to warm up to this story, especially when The Dog turned out to be a rather unattractive specimen!  But the story grew on me, with its slow build up of magical adventure, leading to the emotional crux of Peter's decision about how, or if, he should use his powers in his ultimate confrontation with the magician.  By the end, I was finding it both gripping and satisfying.  

It's one for readers slightly on the younger side of middle grade--9 year olds, give or take.  Any older, and there might not be sufficient tolerance for the more fantastical elements of the story (as indicated on the cover, for instance, dinosaurs come to life at one point); and indeed, some of the magical goings on felt a tad like set-pieces, that didn't desperately add all that much.   But I think the emotional heft of the story is pretty universal.  The anger every kid feels toward their parents and siblings at some point, balanced by love and loyalty to family, the desire to be special and powerful, and the love the Dog still feels toward the boy the magician once was, despite everything, will probably resonate for many in the young target audience.

Especially if they like dogs to begin with.

disclaimer: review copy received from the author

The first round-up of Middle Grade Fantasy and Science Fiction of 2014!

It was rather exciting to see, in this first round-up of 2014, books that I've never heard of, let alone read.   2014 is looking good, or at the very least, entirely acceptable.  I'd love to add more MG SFF books of 2014, so if you feel so inclined, please share the ones you are most looking forward to in the comments!  I myself have two ARCs on hand I'm looking forward to lots--The Riverman, by Aaron Starmar, and  Nightingale's Nest, by Nikki Loftin.

And as ever, please let me know if I missed your post this week!

The Reviews:

The 13th Sign, by Kristin O'Donnell Tubb, at The Book Monsters

The Abominables, by Eva Ibbotson, at Kid Lit Geek

Aesop's Secret, by Claudia White, at Literacy Love

The Apprentices, by Maile Meloy, at Becky's Book Reviews

Bigger Than a Breadbox, by Laurel Snyder, at Cannonball Read 5

Constable and Toop, by Gareth P. Jones, at Book Ends

Dead City, by James Ponti, at The Book Monsters

Doll Bones, by Holly Black, at Wandering Librarians

Ever After High: The Story Book of Legends, by Shannon Hale, at Beyond Books

The Eye of Minds, by James Dashner, at Ms. Yingling Reads

Fallout, by Todd Strasser, at The Book Monsters

The Flame in the Mist, by Kit Grindstaff, at Kid Lit Geek

Garden Princess, by Kristin Kladstrup, at Good Books and Good Wine

The Ghost Prison, by Joseph Delaney, at Charlotte's Library and Hidden in Pages

If the Shoe Fits (Whatever After 2), by Sarah Mlynowski, at Candace's Book Blog

Jinx's Magic, by Sage Blackwood, at Random Musings of a Bibliophile and Hidden in Pages

Leopards' Gold (Chronicles of the Red King 3), by Jenny Nimmo, at Charlotte's Library

Northwood, by Brian Falkner and Donovan Bixley, at Hidden In Pages  

Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy, by Karen Foxlee, at Views From the Tesseract and Reading and Sharing

Parched, by Melanie Crowder, at The Book Monsters

A  Question of Magic, by E.D. Baker, at Charlotte's Library

The Real Boy, by Anne Ursu, at Becky's Book Reviews

Rise of the Darkings (The Invisible Order, book 1), by Paul Crilley, at The Write Path

The Rithmatist, by Brandon Sanderson, at Diary of a Text Addict

The School For Good and Evil, by Soman Chainani, at The Literary Omnivore

Sleeping Beauty's Daughters, by Diane Zahler, at The Book Monsters

A Snicker of Magic, by Natalie Lloyd, at Next Best Book

A Sound of Crying, by Rodie Sudbery, at Charlotte's Library

The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp, by Kathi Appelt, at The Adventures of Cecelia Bedelia

Wake Up Missing, by Kate Messner, at The Book Monsters

Zoe and Zak and the Yogi's Curse, by Lars Guignard, at Carpinello's Writing Page


Other Good Stuff:

The Shortlist of the Cybils Elementary/Middle Grade Speculative Fiction category was announced on the first:

Jinx, by Sage Blackwood

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

Rose, by Holly Webb

Sidekicked, by John David Anderson

The Rithmatist, Brandon Sanderson

The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp, Kathi Appelt

The Water Castle, Megan Frazer Blakemore

 

And you can see the other shortlists at the Cybils site, where the winners will be announced Feb. 14.

 

Courtesy of IO9, more books have been added to my wants list--here is an NPR article by Amal El-Mohtar in praise of Travel Light, by Naomi Mitchison, and now I want to read all her books in my copious free time la la la.

Anne Ursu shares some favorite Middle Grade reads at Bookyurt

A lists of the multicultural/diverse MG Sci Fi/Fantasy books of 2013 at Charlotte's Library

For those who like fairy tale comics, especially of lesser known fairy tales, there's a kickstarter of interest for the second volume of Erstwhile 2.

Katherine Langrish delves into the imaginary books she'd like to read in the library of the Unseen University at Seven Miles of Steel Thistles

And moving to unimaginary books-- From Zoe at Playing By the Book I learned that there are folks busily tagging the children's book illustrations amongst the 1 million or so images recently released into the wild by the British Library.  Here, from Zoe's blog, is the direct link to the ‘Children’s Book Illustration’ set: http://www.flickr.com/photos/britishlibrary/sets/72157638906393085/

She's also amassed a nice little trove of book related illustrations, like this lovely one:

My Birthday Books

I have read all but two of my Christmas books, and now I have unwrapped the Birthday books!  Here's what I got (plus bonus bit of cat of at the left.  I tried pushing the cat into the picture more, but she wouldn't stay.):

William and Mary, by Penelope Farmer (author of Charlotte Sometimes), which is about the magical undersea adventures of the titular characters.   It has been many years since I read this, but I remember finding it good back when I was young (it was one of the library books I looked forward to checking out when visiting my grandparents in the summer).  And it just now occurred to me to see if my library her has other children's books by her that I haven't read, and it does, so now I am awaiting the arrival of Year King....

Rose and the Lost Princess, by Holly Webb (sequel to Rose), and ordered all the way from the UK for me!  My 10 year old boy, who enjoyed Rose, was pleased to see it too....but will his interest survive the fact that the title includes the dreaded "p" word....

Katherine at Feather Ghyll, by Anne Bradley, which is an old one (1959) from the UK about a girl who spends her convalescence in an English country village in bed making crafts, and which so far is proving just as soothingly diverting as I had hoped.   I predict her recovery will be complete and her father will marry again.

Ondine--The Summer of Shambles, by Ebony McKenna   Here's Cat's review at Beyond Books from April 2011 that made me put this on my wish list...I'm glad to finally be about to read it!

The Sleeping Army, by Francesca Simon.  In a modern Britain where people still worship the Viking gods, a girl inadvertently brings 4 of the Lewis chessmen to life and they have to go quest etc. together.

The Ghost Prison, by Joseph Delaney

The Ghost Prison is an illustrated novella from Joseph Delaney, author of the Spook's Apprentice series, perfect for horror loving readers of 11 or so who are looking for a nice, fast, spooky read.

15-year-old Billy rushes through the night-time streets on the way to his first job in the old castle prison, home to murderers, witches, and...ghosts.   His head is full of fearsome stories, but he reassures himself that as a guard, and not a prisoner, he'll be just fine.  And the money he earns will get him clear of the Home for Unfortunate Boys, and set him on a path to better things.

But then the prison overseer assigns to him the feeding of whoever, or whatever, is held down in the dark depths in the Witch Well....and Billy fails to follow the most basic rule of jail-keeping--"never leave your key in the lock."  With most unpleasant consequence...

At only 92 pages of story, plus 2 of epilogue, most of which are heavily illustrated in lots of lovely black and white detail by Scott M. Fischur, this is a quick read--which makes it excellent for the uncertain reader.   And the story is full enough of ghostly horror to keep any reader's attention, and the twist at the end was truly gripping.  For the faster reader, there might be some disappointment that there's not more to it, but that's the faster reader's problem, not the book's.

Warning:  The ending is really truly horrible horror, so not for the faint of heart.   Young, sensitive me might well have been disturbed by both the pictures and the story, but I would have read it anyway.

Disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher for Cybils review consideration. 

Leopards' Gold (Chronicles of the Red King Book 3), by Jenny Nimmo

Leopards' Gold (Chronicles of the Red King Book 3), by Jenny Nimmo (Scholastic, 2013), continues the saga of Timoken, who left his African home 300 years ago, and who has now established a magical castle in Britain.   But even the magic of Timoken and all his companions can't keep his family safe from treachery.

Petrello is one of Timoken's younger sons, watching as his siblings come into their inheritance of magic, and wondering if he will ever manifest a gift of his own, and Leopards' Gold is primarily his story.   When his father is captured by an evil spirit, the more mundane forces of the real world close in, and it's no longer clear who within the castle can be trusted, Petrello finds himself in the role of hero....whether he wants it, or not.

This is one of those third books in a series that works best for those who have books 1 and 2 fresh in their minds.   Readers who remember everyone will enjoy seeing them again, and there is plenty of magic to add interest.   The plot is kind of a piling on of bad things, and not that subtle, but it works well enough.

However, the shear number of characters means it was hard be convinced I was caring about them as individuals.   The book really is excessive in this regard--surely nine siblings gives one plenty of scope, without having to bring in two more orphaned kids to add to the mix.   Though I have read books 1 and 2, it was a while ago....and I kept getting distracted from the main thrust of the story by a feeling that I was at a family reunion of someone else's family. 

I was also bothered by the fact that Timoken and his wife are pretty awful parents.   I myself would try to take steps not to let my kids grow up into psychopathic sadists with magical powers (and in fact I'm doing well on that front).  Some of these kids do nasty, bullying things to each other that everyone just shrugs off, and it was not nice.

So in any event, I enjoyed the first book of the series (The Secret Kingdom) lots, the second (The Stones of Ravenglass) was fine, but this third one just didn't work for me.

Disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher.

The Diverse Middle Grade Speculative Fiction Books of 2013

Here are the middle grade speculative fiction books from the bigger publishers that I know about that star young protagonists who aren't "white."   Feel free to let me know about any I missed!  And I'm keenly aware that defining "white" and making distinctions about who's diverse and who isn't is fraught as all get out, and is especially tricky when you're dealing with people who aren't from Earth, so please also feel free to disagree with me!  

The links go to my own reviews, if I've reviewed the book, or to other places, if I haven't.  I've put little stars (*) next to the books that were written by people who aren't white European types, in case anyone is looking for diverse authors, but goodness knows I have no idea about most of them.


Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and the Race Against Time, by Frank Cottrell Boyce (Candlewick)

The City of Death, by Sarwat Chadda (Scholastic)*

City of Death, by Laurence Yep (Starscape)*

The Creature Department, by Robert Paul Weston (Razorbill)

Darwen Arkwright and the School of Shadows, by A.J. Hartley (Razorbill)

Ghost Hawk, by Susan Cooper (Margaret K. McElderry Books)

The House of Hades, by Rick Riordan (Disney-Hyperion)

How I Became a Ghost, by Tim Tingle (The Road Runner Press)*

The Infinity Ring series (books 3-6 were published in 2013), various authors (Scholastic) *(for Matt de la Pena).

Jacob Wonderbar and the Intersellar Time Warp, by Nathan Bransford (Dial)

Jinx, by Sage Blackwood (Katherine Tegen Books)

Killer Species-- Menace From the Deep, and Feeding Frenzy, by Michael P. Spradlin

Leopards' Gold (Chronicles of the Red King Book 3) by Jenny Nimmo (Scholastic)

The Menagerie, by Tui T. Sutherland and Kari Sutherland (Harper Collins)

The Monster in the Mudball, by S.P. Gates (Tu Books)

My Neighbor Totoro, by Tsugiko Kubo (Viz Media)*

Paradox by A.J. Paquette (Random House)

Parched, by Melanie Crowder (HMH Books for Young Readers)

The Real Boy, by Anne Ursu (Walden Pond Press)

The Time Fetch, by Amy Herrick (Algonquin Young Readers)

The Unmaking, by Catherine Egan (Coteau Books)

The Water Castle, by Megan Frazer Blakemore (Walker Childrens)

The Wells Bequest, by Polly Shulman (Nancy Paulsen Books)

Wild Born (Spirit Animals Book 1) by Brandon Mull (Scholastic)

Zombie Baseball Beatdown, by Paolo Bacigalupi (Little Brown)


There are of course lots independently published books that star characters of color; here are two I know about because they were nominated for the Cybils:

The Adventures of Emery Jones, Boy Science Wonder: Bending Time, by Charles Johnson and Elisheba Johnson (Booktrope Editions)*

Song of the Mountain, by Michelle Isenhoff (CreateSpace)

That's 31 books, which is better than some years, but still a pretty small percentage of the total (which I feel I can say with confidence despite having No Idea how many middle grade speculative fiction books are published in a given year).

This is also the first list I've made that includes a middle grade speculative fiction book written by a Native American author (Tim Tingle).  It also includes the first middle grade dystopia set in a future Africa book I know of (Parched).

There's no point, I think, in seeing which publisher publishes the most, because some, like Scholastic and HarperCollins, publish more MG Spec Fic than others, so the odds are on their sides.

In any event, there they are, and may many more come in 2014!

The books of 2014 I want most

It is a sad thing having a January birthday, because it means that there are eleven and a half months in which to work on your Christmas book wish list (Mother's Day I get plants instead of books, because you can't get those in January, which is the other main reason Jan. birthdays are ick).   But, though presents might be thin on the ground, it is also fun to actually go to the store oneself with a goal in mind, holding one's money tight in one's hand (or credit card or whatever) and then taking the beloved book home and reading it right then and there (perhaps with cookies). 

However, I find books I buy for myself come with no pressure to read them at all, and all too often they languish sadly amongst the dust bunnies at the bottom of the bookshelf.  And so of the 318 I read last year, only 2 were books I bought new for myself--Handbook for Dragon Slayers, by Merrie Haskell, and The Summer Prince, by Alaya Dawn Johnson--and both of which, miraculously, I read within days of buying them. 

But in 2014, there are books that I have to read just as soon as ever I can, and there is no chance at all of the any dust getting a chance to settle on them....

These two are obvious:

Jinx's Magic, by Sage Blackwood.  Loved Jinx, Brandy loved this one, can't wait.  Can justify purchase as "back to school gift" for child, thus adding self-congratulation to the pleasure of the book itself.

The Islands of Chaldea, by Diana Wynne Jones, completed by Ursula Jones.  Nothing more need be said.

This one isn't a sure thing:

Pat Walsh is an English author who is writing lovely historical fantasy set in a medieval abbey.   The first two books are The Crowfield Curse and The Crowfield Demon, and they are excellent, and I am truly looking forward to the third book in the series, Crowfield Rising, which is supposedly coming out in 2014.   I am pleased.

But that is not what I am waiting for with Wantingness!  Here is what made me do little glee bounces when I read it at Pat Walsh's website:

"And now Brother Walter has his own books! The first book in a new series about the hob from the Crowfield stories will be available soon. It is set 200 years after Will’s story, and shortly after the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Something dark and evil lurks in the abandoned ruins of the abbey, and something is making the carved stones and wall paintings disappear…"

OH MY GOSH I love Brother Walter the Hob and anyone who loves the same books I do will love him too if they don't already.  

This one might not actually be available:

The sequel to Odd and the Frost Giants, by Neil Gaiman.   I was promised this in 2012 and I am starting to get restive.

This I'm not actually expecting, but you never know--the year is young and stranger things have happened:

The next Megan Whalen Turner book

There are lots and lots of other books I'm looking forward to, too many to list, but these are the ones I cannot put off reading any longer than I have too.

The Cybils Shortlists are here!!!!

The shortlists for the 2013 Cybils Awards have been announced!   Just a few days ago, my fellow hardworking panelists and I met on-line in an epic struggle to narrow down the lists of books we loved in the Elementary/Middle Grade Speculative Fiction category (you can see the whole list of 149 books here) to just seven titles, and they are:

Jinx, by Sage Blackwood

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

Rose, by Holly Webb

Sidekicked, by John David Anderson

The Rithmatist, Brandon Sanderson

The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp, Kathi Appelt

The Water Castle, Megan Frazer Blakemore

 

The biggest surprise of this list to me was The Rithmatist, by Brandon Sanderson, which I had only just barely heard of going into my Cybils reading.  It teeters just on the edge of YA, but we agreed the tone of it was more upper Middle Grade, and its Chalkling magic just oozes with Middle Grade appeal.

 

My second biggest surprise was how much I enjoyed True Blue Scouts--I'm not naturally inclined to love animal fantasies, but this story of two raccoon brothers bravely saving their home has stuck with me just beautifully.

 

Thank you, Liviania, Stephanie, Kristen, Melissa, Cecelia, and Brandy for being such excellent first round panelists!  

 

Now the second round panelists must pick a single winner, and I don't envy them the task!  The winner will be announced February 14, 2014.

 

If you think it might be fun to be a Cybils panelist, look for the call for to join next August!  And start reading now....

The reading and reviewing I did in 2013

In 2013, I read 319 books, three more than last year, not counting picture books (and though I want to keep on reading more books every year, being rather competitive with all my various past selves,  I am trying hard to realize that this will inevitably lead to failure down the line and I should just Stop It).  133 were from the library, 118 were review copies, and the rest were my own books.  I reviewed (using the word generously) 192 books, about half of which were review copies.   But since I am chronically behind on reviews, this doesn't seem like enough....

There were only three books that I re-read--Jinx, by Sage Blackwood, and The King Must Die, by Mary Renault, and The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax, by Dorothy Gilman--which, given that I have spent most my life not having enough to read, and so re-reading desperately, gives me pause for thought (a hysterical thought along the lines of I Am Drowning In Books).  I miss re-reading, because many do get better and more beloved each time, and I still use "will I read it again" as my standard for Book Goodness.

Here are the books I read this year I want to read again, which is not at all the same as the books I think were the "best."

About half the Discworld books, which is basically all of them except the more stand-alone ones and the Rincewind ones.

Dream Thieves, by Maggie Stiefvater, because I bet when the third one comes out, it will be nice for me to go back to this one and the first one.

My Neighbor Totoro, by Tsugiko Kubo; a future comfort read.

Sorrow's Knot, by Erin Bow, in about five years, I think...it's still to fresh in my mind to imagine re-reading it sooner.

The Rithmatist, by Brandon Sanderson, because I love the chalklings, and when there's a sequel I'll want to make sure I remember everything.

The Screaming Staircase, by Jonathan Stroud, ditto, but minus chalking love of course.

The Dragon's Quest, by Rosemary Manning, which is an older book,  a companion to one I loved as a child (Green Smoke), but I do not know if I will ever be able to re-read it because it is Lost somewhere in the house.

Kill Fish Jones, by Caro King, because it was just really Tasty reading, though dark.

The Bards of Bone Plain, by Patricia McKillip.   So good.

But of course since I am going to get all caught up on my reading in 2014, I will doubtless have vast quantities of time in which to do all the re-reading my little hert desires, and re-read many more.....


Here's what else I did in 2013--brilliant modeled the fine qualities of Persistence and Determination for my children by working my way through 262 levels of Candy Crush in less than three months.   

A Sound of Crying, aka House in the Wood, by Rodie Sudbery, for Timeslip Tuesday

Today's Timeslip Tuesday book is an oldie but goodie--A Sound of Crying, by Rodie Sudbery.  It was first published in the UK in 1968 as House in the Wood, and published with the new title in the US in 1970 by Scholastic (with biscuits changed to cookies; sigh), and it's just right for 9-12 year olds, and I am cross I didn't find it back when I was that age.  It is one of those books that teeters between ghost story and time slip, but since the main character does travel to the past to witness the events that transpired (albeit in her dreams), I'm going with time slip.

Polly and her younger siblings did not want their mother to be ill, and did not want to be dumped on their aunt and uncle and cousin Frederick while she got better.  Frederick did not want them either; he wanted his peaceful life as a young scientist (poor kids today--no mercury to play with) to be unbroken.   But it happens, and if you are going to be dumped on relations, it is nice when they live in an old house at the edge of a wood....

It is not so nice when Polly hears the sound of ghostly crying.   And in the night, the dreams come, taking her back to the life of Sarah, a orphaned girl who lived in the house many years ago, who was a virtual slave to her insanely miserly uncle.  Polly is a passive observer in the past, horrified by Sarah's unhappiness,  and her life in the present is haunted by the story she's witnessing.  At last the dreams lead her to the point where Sarah's life changed dramatically, and Polly can finally convince her family that there is physical proof that Sarah's story was real.

It's a lovely mix of the supernatural and the everyday, with plenty of good family dynamics, a lovely setting, and an intriguing mystery in which the past spills over into the present.  As the story progresses, Frederick relaxes away from serious scientist who doesn't have room for fun into the good companion he used to be, and although the younger children are only lightly sketched, they serve their narrative functions just fine.   Even if you don't like ghost/time travel stories, do try this one if you like 1960s/70s English family stories.    I was very excited to learn that there are sequels, although they apparently have no supernatural elements.

Clearly I should have been following my little sister's reading on Goodreads more closely.  The reason I got this from the library is that she asked for the fifth book in the series, Warts and All, for Christmas; I'm not quite sure why she hadn't shared these books with me more directly (perhaps she thoughtfully didn't wish to burden my TBR pile).   I am even sadder now that the cheap copy of Warts and All I managed to fine was "damaged" in handling and was no longer saleable.  I suspect the seller had a change of heart viz the price. 

However, if you live in Rhode Island, you can at least read this one, which I am about to return to the library.

Question:  though the book is over forty years old, it did not feel especially dated to me (possibly because I am too), and there was no  instance in which a cell phone would have made a huge difference to the plot.   But do  you suppose modern young readers, so used to their electronics, would notice the complete absence of any electronics and feel that they were truly deep in the dark,dark past?