Libyrinth, by Pearl North

Libyrinth, by Pearl North (Tor, 2009, YA, 321pp)

In a not-earth place far in the future, there is the Libyrinth--an immense, underground warren of books, jealously guarded by the Libyrarians. It is an island of literacy on a world where books are threatened. As the book opens, books are being burned to placate the powerful Eradicants, who seek to destroy the evil they feel books represent, and bring every one into the Song, sharing knowledge with the poor and illiterate, instead of keeping it locked away in a fortress of books.

When a word is spoken, it is born, when it is written, it dies. Sacred fire of life, free the shackled dead. (page 1)

Haly, a young clerk in the Libyrinth, takes each book burning especially hard. For Haly, books aren't just words on paper; they literally speak to her inside her head, so that as she wanders through the stacks, she hears a constant chorus of words.

The world of the Libyrinth is one where technology has been lost, and knowledge scattered. One book, The Book of the Night, is said to hold the secrets of the ancients, that might bring back some of the skills Haly's people have lost. But the stacks of the Libyrinth are a maze (Haly's Libyrarian parents died down there), and the book, so eagerly sought by both Libyrarians and Eradicants, who want to know its secrets before they burn it, is lost.

Haly flees from the Eradicant besieged Libyrinth with her companions (Selene, a Libyrarian, Clauda, a kitchen helper, and Nod, a reclusive library imp) in a desperate bid to find help from Selene's royal family. On the journey, Haly hears the voices of the books trapped in a lost branch library buried underground, and finds a copy The Book of the Night.

But soon the Eradicants, the book haters, who imprison and torture anyone found with a book, find Haly. And Selene and Clauda find themselves caught in a web of intrigue that builds to a violent power struggle. And... you can go read the book if you want to find out more.

It's good stuff--the sort of girl gang adventure where smart and strong young women face down people that want to oppress them, in a fantastical place that gives the story room to grow in fantastical ways. Things move along at a brisk pace. One regret I have regarding this book is that there's not more--more background about the planet, more about the ancients, more time in general to enjoy the plot, and more time spent in the company of the very engaging characters. With more, I might have fallen in love with the book, rather than simply enjoying it just fine.

That being said, this is a book for the book lover. Quotations from books speaking to Haly swirl delightfully through the story (Charlotte's Web, The Joy of Cooking, Fox in Socks, etc), and they are all listed in an appendix at the back. Giving this story some depth is a hint of Le Guin-ish-ness, in the tension between oral vs written knowledge, and the effects of this on culture. An especially powerful moment comes when Haly reads The Diary of Anne Frank, a testament to the importance of the written word if there ever was one, to the leaders of the Eradicants.

Libyrinth might well appeal to fans of both fantasy (the adventurous journey side of things) and science fiction (the lost technology side of things). But there's one thing that I bet would raise the hackles of the hard-core science-fiction reader, and which requires suspension of disbelief even by the Luddites among us--why the heck are there all these printed books in a library on another planet? Where are the kindles? Although, if there were kindles, they probably wouldn't work any more...and there would be no story.

Viz diversity in sci fi/fantasy--the cover speaks for itself (and you can read the cover story here, at Melissa Walker's blog). The first draft of the cover is at right--the final Haly is much stronger and more rooted, and, if you look closely, you can see they've added Nod the imp, for a touch of magic. I'd also like to add, speaking of diversity, that reference is matter-of-factly made to women falling in love with women--this is a normal part of some of the social groups in this world.

"Pearl North" is the pseudonym of a published sci fi/fantasy author, and I am consumed with curiosity. Edited to add: thanks to Memory, I now know that Pearl North is really Anne Harris. Why did she feel that she needed a pseudonym??? I hope it's not because this is a YA book...

Here are other reviews and discussions, at Blog Critics, Tor/Forge's Blog, Stella Matutina, and The Book Smugglers.

And here's an interview with "Pearl North," at Writing It Out.

A Samuel Delany link, an Ursula Le Guin link, plus a third bonus mystery link

Wesleyan University Press has released a new edition of The Jewel-Hinged Jaw: Notes on the Language of Science-Fiction, by Samuel R. Delany, with revisions and expansions of the original essays and a new introduction by Matthew Cheney, a columnist for Strange Horizens. It sounds fascinating. At Omnivoracious, Cheney interviews Delany about, among other things, writing non-fiction about science fiction.

(Speaking of the language of science fiction, here's a diverting post from Eva's Book Addiction about the language of fantasy...)

And here's a chat with Ursula Le Guin, from the New Yorker last July, in which she discusses The Left Hand of Darkness. Topics include the fact that the main character is described, in a very off-hand way, as black, the inclusion of stories within the story, sex, and gender.

She really is in a class all by herself, in my opinion. Wouldn't it be cool if she won the Nobel Prize? Although my money would have to be on The Graveyard Book (it having won just about everything else).

My Unwilling Witch Sleeps Over, by Hiawyn Oram

My Unwilling Witch Sleeps Over, by Hiawyn Oram, illustrated by Sarah Warburton (Little Brown--Hachette, hardcover edition published 2009, young middle grade, 112 pp)

Rumblewick's job is enough to set his whiskers on edge. Other cats have witches who are witches--Rumblewick is the familiar to a young girl witch who isn't witchly in the least. A witch who can't stand to harm essential ingredients (slugs, toads, etc). Worse than that, a witch who is fascinated by the "other side," where girls do gymnastics, have sleepovers, and do a lot of giggling.

But Haggie Aggie (HA) doesn't let the strict code of witch behavior stand in her way, and she's off to the other side to hang out with her human friends, leaving Rumblewick working frantically to keep the other witches from learning the shocking depths of HA's unwitchly-ness...

Told in the form of Rumblewick's diary, with lots of black and white illustrations and a few magical spells, this is a fun and fast book for the young middle grade reader. Rumblewick's smart and funny point of view keeps the story going briskly, and (in as much as he has no interest in the girl doings of the other side) keeps the books from being just one big girl fest. Although it's aimed at girls, my nine-year old boy read it with enjoyment, and my six-year old boy listened to me read it with interest (helped, I think, by the non-pinkness of the cover--it doesn't scream Girl Book. Even though it really is).

I'm making a point of this because good, entertaining, copiously illustrated, easy books for a kid who is unwilling to plunge into "real" chapter books are so darn useful. These are the books I label Not Quite Middle Grade, if anyone is looking for other examples.

This is the second book about HA and Rumblewick, the first being My Unwilling Witch Goes to Ballet School. (Which also has a rather non-girly cover. Although the spine color teeters on the edge...), and there are several more in the series. They were first published in paperback a few years ago, and are now being reissued in hardcover, which I think adds to their not-quite-middle-grade reader appeal, and possibly to the parent-wanting-child-to-read-real-book appeal too. Hardcover books make nicer presents.

(review copy received from publisher)

Night Runner, by Max Turner

Night Runner, by Max Turner (St. Martin’s, Sep 1 2009, YA), is a vampire book filled with excitement, tension, death, mayhem, and a bit of first love. It's a fast, easy read. And, setting it apart from many other books that fit this description, the main character is a boy.

Zack has spent years living in a mental institution. After his parents died when he was a child, he developed strange allergies that required a liquid diet of red stuff, and left him unable to tolerate sunlight, and so the authorities thought it best to give him an institutional home where he could be looked after. So Zack has the night-time freedom of the place, and life is tolerable....until a strange guy in a motorcycle crashes through the front of the building and tries to whisk him away.

Boy, I failed as a reader here--I don't think it's particularly spoilerish to assume that most people can put two and two together and end up with a teenaged vampire, but it was a surprise to me...and, more importantly, to Zack. He had no idea.

Now Zack is running for his life in a scary world of vampires and vampire hunters, not sure who he can trust, and not at all sure how to live as one of the undead himself. He turns to his best friend Charlie for help, and meets a girl he might like to fall in love with (chaos and threat of imminent death permitting), but they too become drawn into the violent stream of events that is overwhelming Zack as he races to find the mystery of his parents' death...

The characters are interesting, the tension high, the writing crisp.* A good one for the proverbial reluctant teenaged boy reader, or anyone who wants a dark, fast, read. It will leave readers wanting more, so thankfully there's a sequel on its way.

*Today's definition of crisp writing--lots of short, to the point sentences. No unnecessary wittering about feelings, although these are made clear. Not much description for the sake of description. Little, if any, time spent by the characters remembering the past in big chunks. I just read on another blog that "if you love Twilight, you will love this book." I do not think this is the case.

You can win a free copy of Night Runner here at The Vampire Librarian (ends August 31st).

Other reviews at Genre Go Round, Hip Librarians Book Blog, and Tara's Blog.

And now I've read other reviews, I feel that I was so caught up with the plot that I didn't realize this was also, on a deeper level, a book about growing up and finding out who you are etc. Which I suppose it is, but that's not what I was busy noticing. I was wondering, right there along with Zack, if he would a. survive b. get any cool vampire super powers c. hook up with the nice girl.

And here's a quiz you can take, based on the book, to see if you are a vampire, or "just another teenager."

(ARC received from publisher)

IT'S CYBILS TIME AGAIN!!!!!

The Cybils are starting again! The Cybils are awards bestowed on worthy, kid-friendly children's and YA books by us, the bloggers, and I think this produces the best shortlists of any awards around--I have yet to read a Cybils shortlisted book that disappointed me.

Since the books are chosen by us, the bloggers, obviously bloggers are needed to read the books in all the various genres covered (YA, Middle Grade, Easy Reader, Poetry, Sci Fi/Fan tasty, Picture books, two levels of Non Fiction). The call has gone out, and now is the time to submit yourself if you would you would like to be one of the panelists (who create the shortlists) or the judges (who pick the winners).

The details are all at the Cybils website, but I've copied a large piece of it here, with a few annotations from me in [parentheses]:

Overview
There are two rounds of judging, and two types of judges.

Panelists:

Duties:

Panelists are the first-round judges. You start work when nominations close on Oct. 15th, sifting through scores of nominated books in your chosen genre. [if you are reading something like sci fi/fantasy, which had 161 books last year, you start reading and requesting library holds the moment you find out you made the cut, and as nominations start rolling in, you gather as many together as you can. It is a very serious commitment, especially in December, when it becomes clear that you did not read the fifty books you had planned for November. The wordiest, largest genres (ie the biggest commitment reading time wise) are middle grade, sci fi/fantasy, and YA].

You’ll join a Yahoo! Group or similar list and use a database to keep track of what you’ve read.
Although we make every effort to obtain review copies for you, you may have to track down some copies via interlibrary loans, or plop yourself on the floor of your bookstore of choice (we cannot reimburse you for purchases). [the Yahoo Group part is the BEST. It was so much fun last year talking books with the rest of my gang! You don't have to talk about every book you've read, but the comments group members make, the more rewarding it is for their co-panelists who procrastinate by checking their email too often, and it's fun to get snarky or serious lines of discussion going. Seriously, this is the best chance to have cool online discussions of books in your favorite genre that I know of. I also liked looking at the database to see how many books had been read. Not that I'm competitive, or anything].

One word: e-books. Get used to them! Publishers are getting stingy with the dead tree kind. Review copies were horribly scarce last year. [although we still got lots--when there are 161 books to read, even if you only get 1/4 of them, mail time is still exciting]

We have a 50-page rule. Each panel commits only to making sure every nominated book is read to at least the 50th page by at least one person. This prevents wasting time on marginal books.
You turn in a shortlist of 5-7 titles in late December and then collapse in an exhausted heap. This isn't an exaggeration! [the chat at the end, where you argue about your shortlist, is fun too...]

[there's no requirement that you have to blog about the books you read, but I tried to make an effort to do so, especially for books that were sent by the publishers]

Judges:

Duties:
Judges pick up where panelists leave off. You start work on Jan. 1, 2009 and will present us with a winner by Feb. 12th.

While we make a Herculean effort to get review copies to you extra speedy fast, it is UP TO YOU to make sure you read EVERY SINGLE BOOK ON THE SHORTLIST in a timely fashion. [from the panelist's point of view, reading and discussing 5-7 books in 6 weeks seems easy peasy].
We have plenty of librarian volunteers who can familiarize you with interlibrary loans, and there’s always that cozy spot on the floor of your bookstore of choice. Sorry for the harsh tone, but it’s been an issue, y’know?
You don’t need to be Super Extrovert Blabbermouth, but you should be willing to engage the other judges as soon as you’ve read 2 or 3 of the finalists. Jump in there. Go ahead. Please.


Getting rejected:
Please don’t stop the love if we cannot find a place for you on a panel. We’re not judging your looks. It doesn’t mean all your blogging efforts have come to naught.
But, yes, it’s ultimately a subjective decision who to take on and where to place them. Here are a few of the more obvious criteria, in no real order:

A demonstrated expertise in the genre;
A demonstrated enthusiasm for blogging;
A blog that has built a following (not necessarily a huge one -- loyalty counts too);
The blogger’s prestige (ie, you might be an award-winning illustrator, or have a Ph.D. in children’s poetry)

(end of description lifted from Cybils website)

So, if this sounds like something you'd like to do, here's the Cybils post that tells you how to put your name forward. Good luck!

The Court of the Stone Children, by Eleanor Cameron, for Timeslip Tuesday

Today's Timeslip Tuesday book is one that I have been re-reading ever since I was young. I am not alone in liking this book--The Court of the Stone Children, by Eleanor Cameron (Penguin, 1973, middle grade, 191 pp), won the National Book Award when it was first published.

Nina and her parents moved to San Fransisco four months ago from a tiny town up in the mountains, leaving cat and friends behind. Now she is lonely and discontented, hating the strange city. Things change when Nina learns about the nearby French Museum--she knows she must go there, now, immediately. Exploring the garden with its statues of long gone French children, and wandering through the period rooms, that recreate a Napolionic era chateau, Nina begins to imagine herself in the past....and realizes she is not alone. There, curled up on one of the beds, is Dominique, a mysterious French girl who seems perfectly at home in the museum. With reason--the rooms are from her home, a home that she left over 100 years ago. And she needs Nina's help to unravel the mystery that clouded her life.

From the journal of another French girl, who lived at the same time as Dominique, strangely vivid dreams, and listening to Dominique, Nina begins to piece together what happened one fateful week, long ago.

It is a gently eerie story, with intense descriptions of place and atmosphere. Perhaps it is more "ghost story" than time travel story, but the nature of time is a central theme of the book (the characters talk about it a lot, which I as a child found very interesting). Chagall's painting, Time is a River Without Banks, hangs in the museum, and this is the sort of fluid time that lets past and present meet in Nina and Dominique's friendship.

Although I enjoyed the story very much in all my re-readings, it is the setting that makes this a book I love. This particular museum a lovely place--"a long, pale yellow building-no, not yellow; more a pale gold in this brooding storm light--that stood in a sweep of lawns scattered with trees" (page 8). Nina longs to be a curator when she grows up, and begins her apprenticeship here, letting the reader in with her behind the scenes (and in my mind, behind the scenes of a museum is a fascinating place, even now that I've done it quite a bit in real life).

It's hard for me to say if an adult reading this for the first time would enjoy it, and I wouldn't recommend it for the young reader looking for exciting action and adventure (perhaps the descriptions would be a bit much? The characters too eager to tell to much about the workings of their minds to each other (this gets on my nerves a bit, re-reading it as an adult)? The plot a bit slow?) but for an imaginative girl, fascinated by the past, who likes to daydream that magic and mystery might be just around the corner, this book is pretty perfect.

One thing that annoys me, and I wish they had changed it in the more recent edition:

"Why do you want to be a curator?" the boy asked. "Women can, I suppose. I mean, there's no law against it..." (page 4). This seems incredibly dated even for the 1970s.

Diversity in Science Fiction--the lastest failure, and scattered thoughts on feminism in children's fantasy

There was a bit of a stink recently when it was revealed that a new anthology, The Mammoth Book of Mindblowing SF, edited by Mike Ashley, had in it not a single story by a woman or a person of color--here's the table of contents, and some interesting reading in the comments. I found at Feminist SF-The Blog this quote from Ashley, explaining that this "...probably has something to do with my concept of “mind-blowing”. Women are every bit as capable of writing mindblowing sf as men are, but with women the stories concentrate far more on people, life, society and not the hard-scientific concepts I was looking for."

As a counter to this, Feminist SF is soliciting suggestions of mindblowing SF by women here, and The Angry Black Woman is doing the same for People of Color here. The lists to date can be seen here at the Tor blog.

Thinking about feminist SF lead me to muse about feminist fantasy for children and young people. This is hard for me, because I find it difficult to read children's fantasy books critically, in part perhaps because I am weak-mindedly trying to recapture my naive childhood reading self.

I'm also working my way here toward defining feminism with regard to children's and YA fantasy. I think that in general it's a lot easier to point out books that aren't feminist, than to find those that clearly are. Many fantasies with strong female characters exist, but I'm not sure I'd call them all "feminist," exactly. If an important female character knows how to use a sword, or uses her wits to extricate self and others from a few situations, is that enough to make a book feminist? No. (I'm thinking David Eddings' Belgariad here, for instance).

I think there has to be some meaningful defiance of the social, economic, and political ramifications of patriarchy, or, by presenting the heroine as a denizen of a land without patriarchy, some degree of less direct subversion of the normative male-dominated culture so ubiquitous in fantasy. The examples from my own childhood reading that stand out here are Dragonsong* and Dragonsinger, the story of how Menolly defies the gender stereotypes of her culture to win a place for herself at the Harper Hall (and boy do I hate Masterharper of Pern for totally obviating the whole point of Menolly's story).

Now I am trying to decide if I think Graceling is feminist or not...

And I am also wondering if in fact I really want l to try to catch my fiction reading self up to my critical academic anthropologist/archaeologist self...and risk loosing my innocent pleasure in a good story. Which in turn leads me to thinking about Ursula Le Guin's short story, "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas." A story, incidentally, that blew my mind.

*this is the cover that was on my copy of Dragonsong, and all the other covers are not as nice.

Edited to add: here is a post from Sarah Rees Brennon's blog that is both relevant and amusing.

The Demon's Lexicon, by Sarah Rees Brennan

"There are demons living in another world....a world side by side with ours, and they are hungry.

They are hungry for the sounds and sights and sensations of our world. None of them can get in, though. None of them can touch you, unless a magicians' circle builds a bridge for the demons. Stay safe. Stay away from magicians." (page 17)

The Demon's Lexicon, by Sarah Rees Brennan (Simon and Schuster, 2009, YA 322 pp) tells of two teenaged brothers who have spent their lives on the run from demon-raising magicians, caring for their mother (who was driven mad by magic), and fighting off magical attacks. Nick, the younger of the two and the central character, is a fierce fighter who cares only for his older brother, Alan. Alan is his opposite--a loving, gentle, book-loving young man who spreads his compassion widely. When a Jamie, a boy from Nick's school, and his sister show up at their door, desperate for help, it is Alan who takes them in. And when Alan takes on part of the demonic sign that has appeared on Jamie's skin, saving the boy's life but opening himself up to death by demonic possession in the process, Nick is furious. He'll do anything to help his brother--including hunting down the most dangerous magician of them all...

It is a fast-paced story of demonic danger set in a nicely realized imaginary world within our world, that features good use of sharp weapons, among other excitements. Nick is one of the more fascinating central characters I've come across in a fantasy novel. His single-minded fierceness, and his inability to understand basic human emotions, might make him an unlikable character, one not easy to empathize with. But Brennan has written him richly and believably, and he is tremendously interesting. So is the relationship between the brothers, and the story itself.

Sure, there's trouble with demons and magicians and people being marked for death, but this is a funny book too--there are quite a few welcome moments of levity that lift the reader out of the dark testiness that is Nick's point of view. Here's an example:

Jamie, at one point on a rather dangerous wizard hunting expedition, is chatting to Nick as they stalk. "I mean, I don't want to offend you, but it's not just that you summon demons. It's not even about the fact that you've got more knives on you right now than a fancy restaurant has in its silverware drawer. You, um, you don't smile, and you look through people, and you're--"
"Quiet," Nick said.
"Yes, you're very quiet," Jamie agreed, "and I have to say, I find it a little disturbing."
"I mean," Nick said, "shut up. I think I see something."
At the left corner of the bar was a magician. He was buying a bag of crisps." (p 154)

(I love it).

But Brennan only puts in just enough humor to lighten the story without distracting--Nick and Alan's journey remains dark, and ominous, and completely gripping, in a "character-driven magical violence and suspense" kind of way.

Viz age of reader--sure, there's scary stuff, a smidge of torture, and a couple of hints of demonic lust lurking around, but not really that much more than is in the Harry Potter books (although, after typing it, I am hard pressed to think of any hints of demonic lust at all in those), but anyway, my point is that younger readers, seventh or eight graders (girl or boy) might really be as thrilled by this as the rest of us.

A sample of other reviews and reactions: Read This Book, Carrie's YA Bookshelf, A Chair, a Fireplace and a Teacozy, and LiyanaLand.

Ripley's Seeing is Believing

Did you know that elephants in India have been trained to carry cameras into the jungle? Because elephants and Bengal tigers are used to sharing their habitat, the elephants were able to get unparalleled pictures of the rarely photographed cats.

Did you know that mooses' antlers act as hearing aids?

That a mother duck, after her babies were swept down a storm drain, followed the sound of their desperate peeping more than mile above ground? (I think this would be a great picture book).

These are a few of the very diverting things I read about about on my bus ride home yesterday. An all new Ripley's Believe It or Not book had arrived--Seeing is Believing (Ripley, 2009), and it added much enjoyment to my commute. As the examples above show, I was especially fascinated by the section on animals (less ethically problematic for me than the section on human curiosities), but the book contains a wealth of curious and eyebrow-raising snippets about a wide range of subjects--extreme earth, incredible feats, travel tales, amazing science, and strange sites, to name a few chapter headings. It's copiously illustrated, and the bullet format of the entries makes it easy to dip into in a relaxed way.

This sort of information is fun to read for its own sake, and the non-fiction loving middle grade kid should find much to enjoy here. But (bringing this into my blog's topic) the subject matter of this book can also serves as a springboard to the imagination--many of the tidbits of fact seem like things out of fantasy or science fiction, and many entries would make great story prompts for young writers creating their own unbelievable stories.

I'd advise some parental discretion--there are some pretty disturbing stories and pictures here, that verge on nightmarish--an x-ray of a kitten swallowed by a snake, some of the strange things people do themselves, human sideshows (baby ducks crying for their mama....it doesn't actually say that the mother ever found her babies, and I'm a bit afraid she never did). That being said, an older kid could conceivably spend hours poring over this, learning and marvelling and shuddering over the almost unbelievable things this book offers. And is rather appealing as well to some of us older readers, who might sometimes procrastinate a bit too enthusiastically by reading odd news on line...I always click on links to articles about two-headed chickens.

(review copy received from the publisher)

"I'll help save the world, but just let me finish this chapter..." Girls who read in fantasy books

I recently got an email from a blog I follow (Grasping for the Wind) soliciting responses to the question: What fantasy world do you want to live in? This is a rather hard question, because I would like very much to live in a world where a girl can read, and has access to books--"Oh, all right, I'll come help you save the world--just let me finish this chapter..." (I also would like to live in a world where I wasn't in immanent danger of difficult deaths, demonic possession, zombies oozing guck onto the pages of my book, etc., which narrows it down somewhat).

So I have been casting my mind through the fantasy books I can remember, looking for girls who read. Here's what I have come up with.

Paula, in Cybele's Secret, by Juliette Marillier. This sequel to Wildwood Dancing features a smart, book-learned and intellectually curious girl (and it's a great mystery/adventure/coming of age story). The medieval setting, however, means that light fiction is not an option.

Beauty, in Robin Mckinley's book of the same name. This is a tempting one, as inside the Beast's castle there is a library that includes books not yet written. Lots to read! But do they all vanish when the enchantment ends? That would stink.

Ash, in Malinda Lo's book of the same name. Ash doesn't have many books, but she does have her favorite book of fairy tales, that she loves and re-reads...There's also a library in the town house she lives in, so it's clear this world has publishers. And it appears to be in general a civilized place, with a nice whaft of magic around the edges--a possibility.

Nepenthe, in Alphabet of Thorn, by Patricia McKillip. Here's a girl who was raised by librarians, and who works as a translator...it's a fine library, but rather scholarly, so little chance that she's reading fantasy. McKillip's Riddle Master series also seems like a world in which a girl can read, but I can't recall any girls doing so.

Haly, in Libyrinth, by Pearl North. I'm just starting this one, but it begins with Haly mourning for the loss of Charlotte's Web. Of course, the reason she's mourning it is that a nasty anti-book mob has demanded that it be burned, so this is a bad world for a reader...

Rhis, from A Posse of Princesses, by Sherwood Smith. She has a tower room, in which there is "a small case containing all her favorite books." This sounds hopeful--the implication being that there are lots of other books in her world that aren't her favorites. Also there are no zombies in her world, reducing the chances of unpleasant stains.

That's all I can think of right now--any more fantasy books with girls who read? I feel that there are several others, lurking on the edge of my mind.

Edited to add: Indeed, I left out quite a few.

Deva Fagan suggests Inkheart, and also

"Hermione, but she mostly reads non-fiction from what we see. But she certainly loves books!

Lireal (Garth Nix) is a reader and librarian.

Flora Segunda reads the sensational accounts of her heroes, if I recall, though that's not exactly novels." (I am rather ashamed to say that I haven't read Inkheart, any of the books about Lireal, or Flora...).

Becky reminded me of Charmain Baker, of Diana Wynne Jones' House of Many Ways, who "loved books more than anything else in the world" (page 8) and who wrote the following letter: "Your Majesty, Ever since I was a small child and first heard of your great collection of books and manuscripts, I have longed to work in your library" (page 7). Of course, Charmain's world comes with giant predatory supernatural insecty things, which I could do without...but it would be rather fun to bump into Howl.

And Penthe reminded me of a book I truly love--"Voices by Ursula le Guin, where reading and books are both beloved, and also help to save the day. Memer loves to read in her grandfather's hidden library." I knew there was a Le Guin I wanted to remember!

Els (aka Librarian Mom) suggests "the oldest sister in The Secret World of Og, by Pierre Berton, who reads a series of books about daring adventurer Lucy Lawless [not to be confused with the real-life actor Lucy Lawless of Xena Warrior Princess fame...] [and Og is Canadian and almost unknown in the U.S. but it's still in print & I highly recommend it!]" Sadly, Og isn't in the Rhode Island Library system...

Memory adds "Talia, the main character in Mercedes Lackey's ARROWS OF THE QUEEN, steals time away from her chores so she can read purloined novels. And both the female and male characters in Anne Bishop's Black Jewels books kick back with romances and mysteries."

Please let me know of any other examples of reading girls in fantasy; I'll keep adding to the list (which is now rather longer than I thought it would be) as needed.

And for the advanced challenge, are there any fantasy worlds that have good used bookstores?

In general, though, it seems strange to me that books, which one presumes were written for readers, don't actually show people reading much at all. Here's what I am waiting for--books that show people reading their kindle-like thingys in space, and wondering what paper is. Although this may have already happened. It sure would have solved the problem in The Green Book, by Jill Paton Walsh, in which a family moves to a colony world--the children can only take one book each, and are sad about this. As well they might be.

Ash, by Malinda Lo

Ash, by Malinda Lo (Little Brown, 2009--officially Sept. 1, but Amazon says it's in stock now, YA, 264 pp in ARC form).

In a land where the old magic has become more story than reality, and the Greenwitches, the wise women who practice the old ways, are being challenged by the philosophers spreading a religion of rational thought, a girl grows up reading fairy tales. But Aisling (Ash for short) lives at the edge of the deep woods, where the night can carry the voices of inhuman riders, and the hoof beats of their horses...and she knows there is truth in the stories.

When Ash's mother dies, her father does not wait long before he brings home a new wife and her two daughters from the city. Ash, sad and lonely, is drawn to her mother's grave at night, despite of the warnings that this might draw the fairy folk to her, or perhaps because of them. Her father dies soon after, and Ash is taken from her home to work as a servant in her stepmother's town house. But one day she is pulled back through the woods, along an enchanted path that leads again to her mother's grave, and there she meets a man of the fairy kind, Sidhean.

"What are you seeking?" he said, and his voice was silky and cold. Though they were separated by several feet, she was disconcerted by the intensity of his gaze; she felt as if he could pull her open form afar.

"I came to see my mother." (page 66)

He cannot, or will not, bring her mother back, but he does carry Ash on his white fairy steed back to her stepmother's house. After, when Ash walks into the forest, at times they meet again, and a strange and otherworldly friendship develops...

In the real world, Ash cleans, and cooks, and grows up dressing her stepsisters for their matchmaking endeavours. Scattered through those years like bright lights are Ash's meetings with the King's Huntress, Kaisa, a young woman whose skill at tracking deer for the king's pleasure is unsurpassed. Ash and Kaisa slowly begin to seek each other out, never quite acknowledging that each is pulling the other toward her...and Ash decides that she will do anything to go to the prince's grand ball, where Kaisa will be. So she makes a bargain with Sidhean, and caught in the thrall of his fairy glamour, it does not seem such a bad one. Until she realizes that it Kaisa she truly loves, and she remembers that not one of the fairy tales she has read ends with the human woman coming home, unchanged.

This is a lovely reimagining of the Cinderella story, and I think it is one of the best fairy tale retellings I've ever read. It has a subtle medieval tapestry feel to it (leaping stags, and hunters in pursuit, dark woods imbued with magic--the sense of the numinous, just around the corner), that makes the story sing without overwhelming the narrative. It is told in the third person, which adds to the fairy tale feeling by giving the reader a subtle remove from the action that separates the story from the real world. The elements of the original Cinderella (complete with enchanted carriage) are present, but made fresh by the compelling characters that Lo has created, and the twists she adds to the plot. My one criticism is that I think there should have been more tension and drama at the end--things resolved rather too quickly and easily for my taste. And some readers might find that the book in general moves slowly, and feel that Ash doesn't actually Do enough. I would say, rather, that it was peacefully engrossing.

Lo's use of the third person was a good choice, I think, in as much as Ash falls in love with another woman. First person narrative requires the reader to become the character at a certain level, but by keeping Ash a step removed from this, even readers for whom this relationship might seem foreign are able to empathise with the giddy, dizzying sensation of falling hard in love--and Lo writes these feelings exquisitely! And for those who like to crush on the male lead, the relationship between Ash and Sidhean provides that opportunity. It is, incidentally, a clean read--although it is YA, there is nothing here that would keep me from giving this to an older middle school girl (it's about the same level, romance wise, of something like McKinley's The Hero and the Crown).

Lo has created a world in which heterosexuality is the norm, but where same sex relationships are unremarkable, adding diversity to the fantasy genre without in the least bit didactically belabouring the point. She has also quite simply created a beautiful book, one that I know I will be re-reading through the years.


ps. The cover is rather beautiful too, and kudos to Little Brown for giving us a heroine who is not necessarily white (I stared at for a while today, and decided it was too ambiguous to tell if she was Asian or not, and that each reader would have to make that call themselves). Here are Lo's thoughts about it, in the context of the ongoing discussions about representations of race in YA fiction (ie, Liar).

Other reviews can be found at The Compulsive Reader, In the Booley House, Killin' Time Reading, The Tainted Poet, and Presenting Lenore.

(ARC received from the publisher)

Friends in Time, by Grace Chatwin, for Timeslip Tuesday

Friends in Time, by Grace Chatwin (Macmillan, 1992, middle grade, 127pp).

Emma is facing yet another move--the loss of her best friend, and the lonely prospect of a new school full of strangers. Visiting the old abandoned Bently mansion next door for the last time, Emma wishes for a best friend forever, and, as if in answer to her prays, Abigail Bently appears. She's been whisked from 1846 to Emma's time by the power of a shaman's doll, appropriated by her merchant uncle on his last trip to Brazil.

Emma is thrilled to have a new friend, and delights in showing off such wonders as modern plumbing and electricity. Abigail wants nothing more than to use the doll to go home again...only Emma has hidden it, hoping to keep Abigail as a friend forever.

"Abigail will be much happier here and now, with me, she told herself. Emma thought again of all the fun she'd have, showing Abigail the present day. Going on bike rides together...

Tonight, the bathroom plumbing: tomorrow- the world!" (page 67)

But when at last the way through time opens again, Emma, to her horror, goes back with Abigail. There she must hope her "friend" forgives her enough for trying to keep her as a pet to send her home again.

This is, at its heart, a story of friendship, for which the timeslip serves as a setting and gives added interest, and it's rather successful in its portrayal of the difficult relationship between the girls and the hunger for a best friend that lonely girls often feel. But because this element of the story is more important than their time travelling adventures, the reactions of each girl to the other's time are somewhat superficial, and there's only a small touch, here and there, of the creepy disorientation that often comes with the genre. The doll from Brazil, the mechanism that causes the timeslip, is a somewhat disturbing device--it never quite goes beyond the neo-colonialist cliche of the Dark Magic of Native Peoples, so much so that I don't particularly want to recommend this book--but, to do it justice, it works rather well to make the story cohesive, providing both impetus and explanation.

In a nutshell, this isn't one I'd particularly recommend as a timelip qua timeslip, and I have issues with the doll, but in all fairness, it's a perfectly readable story of middle school friendship with the time travel element making it memorable.

Dead Girl in Love, by Linda Joy Singleton

In Dead Girl Walking, by Linda Joy Singleton (my review), a wrong turn at a local cemetery almost sent Amber on her way up and out of life. But with the help of her dead grandmother, she became instead a Temp-Lifer, inhabiting the body of another girl while that one's soul got a chance to rest. In Dead Girl Dancing, she did it again--this time becoming her boyfriend's older sister. Now, in Dead Girl In Love (Flux, 2009, 282pp, YA), Amber's assignment is a person even closer to her--her best friend, Alyce. When Amber wakes up as Alyce and finds herself in a coffin (fortunately still in the funeral home display room), she starts off on a journey into Alyce's life that shows her things about the person she thought she knew so well that she had never dreamed of. Two bad dates in Alyce's life later (and what will Alyce say when she knows!), Amber realizes what it is that Alyce is really looking for--the answer to a dark family secret.

In the meantime, Amber is getting into hot water on her own accord. The Dark Lifer who was out to get her in the earlier books is back, seeking Amber's help to find redemption. But although Amber is enthralled and attracted, what about her own boyfriend?

This series is smart and funny, with the light humor of the language and its wry portrayal of the potential pitfalls of being in someone else's body enough to thoroughly entertain, while touching on genuine problems and emotional issues.

This is a excellent series for kids at the beginning of adventuring into the YA section--it's not dark, violent, or relationship obsessed, but still has tang (zest? zip?). Having said that, I want to make it clear that hardened veterans of YA fantasy (me being a case in point) should enjoy it too, as a pleasantly diverting read.

Here's one of my favorite quotes:

"Walking among rows of flowers, shrubs, and trees with a dead guy who spouted poetry and stole bodies was weird, but finding out that he wanted me to save his soul was weird squared to infinity." (Page 88)

And here's the story, at Beside the Norm, of how the Dead Girl series took twenty years to come to life. And here are other reviews, at Jen Robinson's Book Page and at Sharon Loves Books and Cats.

(finished copy of the book received from Flux)

New Releases of Science Fiction and Fantasy for Children and Teens--the middle of August edition

Here are the new releases of science fiction and fantasy for kids and teens from August 6 to 18th. Actually, there is no science fiction on the list, but if there had been any released I would have included it (why isn't more sci fi for kids being written/published?)

The list is taken as usual from Teens Read Too, and the blurbs are lifted from Amazon, unless otherwise noted.

For 9-12 year olds:

THE ARCTIC INCIDENT: ARTEMIS FOWL GRAPHIC NOVEL by Eoin Colfer & Giovanni Rigano. "Now, in this second graphic novel installment of the series, fans can follow along as the world's youngest criminal mastermind rushes to save a man who has been kidnapped by the Russian Mafiya: his own father."




THE BLACK CIRCLE: THE 39 CLUES (Book 5) by Patrick Carman. "WHERE ARE AMY AND DAN CAHILL? The two kids were last seen in Egypt, hunting for one of the 39 Clues that could make them the most powerful people on earth. But no one has seen the siblings since. Has the ruthless Irina Spasky finally tracked them down? Or worse . . . the Madrigals?"



THE CURSE OF THE ROMANY WOLVES by S. Jones Rogan. "The creatures of Porthleven are suffering from a mysterious illness that looks like Febra lupi, the curse of the Romany wolves, which has no known cure. The dashing apothecary fox Penhaligon must find a cure or risk losing everyone he holds dear! Penhaligon uncovers a fragment of parchment that just might be a recipe for a cure—and it includes ingredients found only on the haunted Howling Island. But the obstacles Penhaligon must face on his quest for the cure make ghosts seem friendly: Pirates! Sea serpents! Double-crossing ferrets! Can Penhaligon make it back in time to save his village?"

THE HANGING HILL by Chris Grabenstein. "After narrowly escaping a malevolent spirit in The Crossroads, Zack and Judy are hoping to relax during the rehearsals for a show based on Judy’s bestselling children’s books. Little do they know that the director is planning to raise a horde of evil specters from the dead, and to accomplish this, he needs a human sacrifice . . . and Zack fits the bill perfectly."


JOURNEY TO ATLANTIS by Philip Roy. Sequel to Submarine Outlaw (2008), "Alfred, the intrepid young submarine outlaw, once again sets out to sea in his homemade submarine. In Journey to Atlantis, Alfred and his crew (his dog Hollie and his second mate the seagull Seaweed) sail across the Atlantic and enter the Mediterranean in search of the fabled lost island of Atlantis."

A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO VAMPIRES by Lisa Trumbauer. "How old is a vampire fledgling? Why do vampires avoid mirrors? What's the best way to slip into a vampire's home? New York Times best-selling author Lisa Trumbauer illuminates the twilight world of vampires in the next edition in the Practical Guide family of fantasy essentials."



THE POISONS OF CAUX by Susannah Appelbaum. "There's little joy left in the kingdom of Caux: the evil King Nightshade rules with terrible tyranny and the law of the land is poison or be poisoned. Worse, eleven-year-old Ivy’s uncle, a famous healer, has disappeared, and Ivy sets out to find him, joined by a young taster named Rowan. But these are corrupt times, and the children—enemies of the realm—are not alone. What exactly do Ivy and Rowan’s pursuers want? Is it Ivy’s prized red bettle, which, unlike any other gemstone in Caux, appears—impossibly—to be hollow? Is it the elixir she concocted—the one with the mysterious healing powers? Or could it be Ivy herself?"

RAGTAG by Karl Wolf-Morgenlander. "Warring birds battle over the city of Boston in an action-packed fantasy. In this engrossing story for older middle-graders, hundreds of birds of prey have been driven out of the Berkshires by encroaching human development. They head toward Boston, which is already occupied by the birds of the city—but that won’t stop the raptors. Soon the Talon Empire and the Feathered Alliance are at war, and as the battle ensues, an unlikely hero emerges to defend his home: a young swallow named Ragtag."

ROSE by Holly Webb. "Rose is an orphan, who has lived at St Bridget's Home for Abandoned Girls for as long as she can remember. One afternoon, a thin woman in a smart black coat comes to the orphanage looking for a maid-of-all-work, and chooses Rose. Rose is delighted. Miss Bridges looks stern, but she is surprisingly pleasant as they walk to Rose's new home -- a tall, thin town house in a smart square. When she's inside and being shown her small attic bedroom, Rose realises that the house is drenched in magic! Rose knows this because she has a certain amount of magic herself. She can tell thrilling stories that transform themselves into pictures on shiny surfaces as she speaks, and she rescues her alchemist master's apprentice from a mist-creature he has mistakenly conjured up. It is this magic that she will call upon in times of dire need, for children are going missing across the town, and none of them show any signs of returning..."

SYLVIE AND THE SONGMAN by Tim Binding. "Sylvie Bartram lives alone with Mr Jackson the dog and her eccentric composer father who invents strange and wonderful musical instruments. One day she returns from school to find a message left in toothpaste on the bathroom mirror; her father has been kidnapped. Later that night, the house is visited by a terrifying apparition - a half-man/half-creature who is searching for something and will not rest until he has found it . . .Sylvie uncovers an underground world of magic and evil, and with help from her friends, she must hold off a power that threatens the lives of all beings in the world. The Songman is at large, and is determined to steal music and use it for his own evil ends . . . " (from the Random House website).

Young Adult:

EMPIRE OF THE SKULL: ALEC DEVLIN by Philip Caveney. "Mexico, 1924. At his father's hacienda, restlessly waiting for adventurer Ethan to arrive, sixteen-year-old Alec and his faithful valet Coates head out into the wilderness in search of an ancient archaeological site...only to discover that Mexico is every bit as perilous as The Valley of the Kings. Pursued by ruthless bandits, involved in a plane crash in the middle of remote rain-forest and finally an unwelcome guest in a lost Aztec city where the inhabitants still practice rituals of human sacrifice, once again Alec must use all of his skills and stamina to survive."

HEAVENLY by Jennifer Laurens. "I met someone who changed everything. Matthias. My autistic sister's guardian angel. Honest. Inspiring. Funny. Hot. And immortal. That was the problem. What could I do? I did what any other girl would do-I fell in love with him. Zoë's sister darts in front of cars. Her brother's a pothead. Her parents are so overwhelmed; they don't see Zoë lost in her broken life. Zoë escapes the only way she knows how: partying. Matthias, a guardian sent from Heaven, watches over Zoë's autistic sister. After Zoë is convinced he's legit, angel and lost girl come together in a love that changes destiny. But Heaven on Earth can't last forever."

FAIREST OF ALL: A TALE OF THE WICKED QUEEN by Serena Valentino. "For anyone who's seen Walt Disney's Snow White, you'll know that the Wicked Queen is one evil woman! After all, it's not everyone who wants to cut out their teenage step-daughter's heart and have it delivered back in a locked keepsake box. (And even if this sort of thing is a common urge, we don't know many people who have acted upon it.) Now, for the first time, we'll examine the life of the Wicked Queen and find out just what it is that makes her so nasty. Here's a hint: the creepy-looking man in the magic mirror is not just some random spooky visage-and he just might have something to do with the Queen's wicked ways!"

MERIDIAN by Amber Kizer. "Sixteen-year-old Meridian has been surrounded by death ever since she can remember. As a child, insects, mice, and salamanders would burrow into her bedclothes and die. At her elementary school, she was blamed for a classmate’s tragic accident. And on her sixteenth birthday, a car crashes in front of her family home—and Meridian’s body explodes in pain. Before she can fully recover, Meridian is told that she’s a danger to her family and hustled off to her great-aunt’s house in Revelation, Colorado. It’s there that she learns that she is a Fenestra—the half-angel, half-human link between the living and the dead. But Meridian and her sworn protector and love, Tens, face great danger from the Aternocti, a band of dark forces who capture vulnerable souls on the brink of death and cause chaos."

NEVER SLOW DANCE WITH A ZOMBIE by E. Van Lowe. "On the night of her middle school graduation, Margot Jean Johnson wrote a high school manifesto detailing her goals for what she was sure would be a most excellent high school career. She and her best friend, Sybil, would be popular and, most important, have boyfriends. Three years later, they haven't accomplished a thing! Then Margot and Sybil arrive at school one day to find that most of the student body has been turned into flesh-eating zombies. When kooky Principal Taft asks the girls to coexist with the zombies until the end of the semester, they realize that this is the perfect opportunity to live out their high school dreams. All they have to do is stay alive...."

SLEEPLESS by Thomas Fahy. "Emma Montgomery has been having gruesome nightmares. Even worse, when she wakes up, she isn't where she was when she fell asleep. And she's not the only one. One by one the students of Saint Opportuna High start having nightmares, and sleepwalking. And the next morning one of their classmates turns up dead. Something is making them kill in their sleep. Emma and her friends need to band together, to keep themselves awake until they can figure out what's behind the murders--before anyone else dies."

And here's one that's historical fiction, but sounds like it would appeal to readers of fantasy:

TROUBADOUR by Mary Hoffman. "A story of persecution and poetry, love and war set in 13th century Southern France. As crusaders sweep through the country, destroying all those who do not follow their religion, Bertrand risks his life to warn others of the invasion. As a troubadour, Bertrand can travel without suspicion from castle to castle, passing word about the coming danger. In the meantime Elinor, a young noblewoman, in love with Bertrand, leaves her comfortable home and family and becomes a troubadour herself. Danger encircles them both, as the rising tide of bloodshed threatens the fabric of the society in which they live."

A list of fantasy books with which I disagree, and a better list of my own

So this guy who writes for the New Yorker online sneers at the fantasy he's read to date (written at a fourth-grade level, he says), but for unknown reasons he wants a list of what he should read next ("I doubted whether the genre had more to offer adults—literary adults, adults who enjoy reading bonafide novels"), and his friend makes such a list for him, and you know what? It's not the list I would have made. There are good books here, but in general, the choices are too close to stereotypes, that probably will not sway the sneering reader of "real" books.

My own list (edited to add: of books that I would suggest to someone who reads bonafide adult novels, and sneers at fantasy; all though I like many of these, this is by no means a list of my own favorites, which are doubtless at a fourth-grade reading level).

I'm not exactly sure what a reader of bonafide novels likes (since clearly I'm not one), so I have created sub categories of possible readers.

1. For the reader who wants to be made vaguely unhappy by the reading experience, distrusts clear prose, and wants ambiguous complexity, here's a list of very well-respected, even beloved, fantasy novels that I would recommend:

Red Shift, by Alan Garner Miserable as all get out, but those who love it rave about the beauty and power of it. I found it not dissimilar to what I imagine being flayed by scorpions would be like.
Little, Big, by John Crowely. It's been a while since I read this, but I remember it being rather long, and me being not at all sure that I really cared. Many bonafide novels make me feel this way.
Fire and Hemlock, by Diana Wynne Jones. I have read it four times, and still am not clear what happened and why.
Tender Morsels, by Margo Lanagan. It's a beautiful book, and I enjoyed it lots (and so thought hard before including it in this list), but the violence, faint sense of detachment, and "feel" (she said articulately) give it a "bonafide novel- ness."

2. The reader who really likes beautiful prose and doesn't mind being confused

Ombria in Shadow, by Patricia Mckillip

3. The reader of bonafide novels who is a simply looking for another good book, regardless of genre, to read (these are the books I'd recommend to my mother):

Years of Rice and Salt, by Kim Stanely Robinson, The Yiddish Policeman's Union, by Michael Chabon, The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins, The Name of the Wind, by Patrick Rothfuss (the one book I have in common with the original list).

I haven't put any Ursula Le Guin on the list because the books of hers that I most recommend I would call Science Fiction.

And finally, I'd also like to defend the fourth-grade reading level. For pure enjoyable story-- magical, wonderful, stories that stay in the mind forever--fourth-grade reading is about as good as it gets.

David and the Phoenix, by Edward Ormondroyd

A mention by Jennifer, over at the Jean Little Library, lead me to seek out David and the Phoenix, by Edward Ormondroyd (1957). This is one of those books that I wish I'd found as a child.*

When David and his family move to a new house, David is drawn to the "mountain" that rises above it. As soon as he can escape from the unpacking, he is climbing it. There he meets the Phoenix, a somewhat elderly bird with a great sense of his own wonderfulness. The two become friends, and the Phoenix promises to take David under his wing, and further his education in matters mythological. First, however, the Phoenix must get his wing muscles back in shape.

But while David and the Phoenix visit griffins, race a witch, and call on a retired banshee, danger is coming closer. A Scientist is hot on the trail of the Phoenix, fiercely determined to shot and stuff him to further the cause of science....

This is one of those gentle, engrossing, magical books that a 9 year old might fall for hard. I will boldly go so far as to say it is timeless. The Phoenix is funny, it is easy to imagine oneself in David's shoes, and the points the book makes--that fantasy is worth caring about, and that some things are more important than science, are ones that it is hard for me to argue against. And as is the case with many older fantasy books, there's an episodic structure to the plot that makes it a great one for reading aloud.

I'd especially recommend this one to fans of Rosemary Manning's Green Smoke, which probably won't mean a thing to American readers, but those in the UK will know what I mean. It's about a girl who becomes friends with an elderly dragon, and coincidentally was also published in 1957.

It can be downloaded for free, but was reprinted recently and is readily available.

So now I know of two books in the phoenix sub-genre of children's fantasy--this one, and E. Nexbit's The Phoenix and the Carpet. Any others?


*(mainly these seem to be by authors in the middle of the alphabet, because I would start every summer at the As and the Zs in my quest to read every book in the children's section).

Completely Dark Cover of Meaninglessness and more: the chart of 2008 fantasy cover art

At Bookshelves of Doom, I found a link to a chart at The Publisher Files of all the elements used in fantasy cover art in 2008. Unicorns had a bad year.

It's an amusing chart, but sadly doesn't seem to include YA...let alone children's fantasy. If I happen to find ten free hours this weekend (ha ha ha) I might make a stab at it.

Dragonbreath, by Ursula Vernon

Dragonbreath, by Ursula Vernon (Dial, 147 generously fonted and illustrated pages, young middle grade)

Danny's a lot like any other grade school kid--trying to live up to his parents' expectations, trying to defend his lunch from the school bully, trying to write a report on "the ocean" on his fifteen minute bus ride. But, since Danny is a dragon, attending a school for reptiles and amphibians, things are a little different. Mom and Dad breathe fire, Danny can only produce ashy belches. The bully is a vicious komodo dragon. And when he has to re-write his report, he turns to Cousin Edward for help. Cousin Edward is a sea serpent.

So Edward takes Danny and his best friend, a charmingly nerdy iguana named Wendell, down into the ocean. Provided with "breath mints," the two friends don't have to worry about breathing underwater as they explore a coral reef, a shipwreck, and descend into the dark depths--where danger (!) awaits...

Told with copious illustrations (in shades of green and black), with interludes of comic book style sections, this is a great independent read for a seven or eight year old, and a great read aloud for a younger child. It's extremely entertaining for the adult whose reading it out loud, too, although this example perhaps resonated more with me than with my children:

"Mrs. Dragonbreath looked up from her coffee, focused her eyes with some difficulty, and hissed like a cobra. (Cobras are also traditionally not morning people)." (p 12).

I was somewhat surprised that, after some time following Danny through the travails of school life, the book took an educational twist--although the undersea adventures are exciting, they have a more than somewhat "let's all learn about the ocean" feel. Which is fine, and gives added value, although it seems to me that most children these days know all the species of shark before they give up sippy cups. I don't think my kids noticed this aspect of the book at all. They were too busy being engrossed in Danny and Wendell's adventures.

The point of view shifts midway from Danny--eager and overconfident--to Wendell, anxious and overthinking. I love Wendell.

"Wendell pawed the last of the sea cucumber's guts out of he ears. "What? You want even weirder fish? It wasn't enough getting nearly eaten by a shark and barfed on by a- sea - slug- thing-"

"Actually, sea slugs are something else again," said Edward helpfully. "That was a sea cucumber, which is an invertebrate--"

"I don't care!" Wendell tried to throw his hands in the air, realized too late that he was underwater, and flailed rather aimlessly instead. Danny had to grab his tail to haul him back down to the reef. "There could be all kinds of monsters down there!"

"Well, of course there could be," said Danny. "What's wrong with that?" (p 62)

I am very much looking forward to the next Dragonbreath adventure--Attack of the Ninja Frogs. So are my boys. (Coming February, 2010. Sigh. I want it now! Not so much for myself, but because it makes me so happy to see my boys so enthralled by a book...)

Other reviews can be found at The HappyNappyBookseller, Pink Me, 100 Scope Notes, A Year of Reading, and Kid's Lit.

Timeslip Tuesday: Ravine, by Janet Hickman

Ravine, by Janet Hickman* (2002, Greenwillow, 215 pp). In the Dark Ages in northern Europe, Ulf toils for an evil queen, a foreign slave without hope in a harsh world. In present day America, Jeremy and his best friend Quinn play with their model warriors, still enjoying childhood. Jeremy's mother is engrossed in her work--translating an early medieval tale, and has little time to keep an eye on him, warning him to stay out of trouble.

But trouble comes. Jeremy's collie, Duchess, disappears down a forbidden ravine...and wanders into Ulf's time. Ulf is delighted to have the companionship, however brief, of the beautiful dog, but his need of her widens the path between past and future. Soon Jeremy and Quinn, with Quinn's unwilling big sister following, climb down the ravine themselves, looking for Duchess. In the dark and violent world where Ulf lives, where he is living through the very tale that Jeremy's mother is retelling, survival is a sometime thing, and getting home might prove more dangerous, and heartbreaking, than Jeremy had ever imagined.

This is a rather charming adventure story. It's not tremendously complicated, it's not a very good history lesson (I found it a bit vexing that I wasn't sure where in Europe I was, and if everyone was Germanic, or possibly some were Viking), and the magic isn't explored to any sort of conclusion. Yet the characters are real and worthy of the reader's care, and the story moves along an exciting and engrossing path. I wouldn't rush to recommend this one to adults, but I will be giving it to my boys in a year or two.

*best known for her 1994 book, Jericho.

Summer holiday quiz from the Guardian

Summer is here with a vengeance in Rhode Island, and, coincidentally, yesterday The Guardian ran a quiz on the best summer holidays in books.

Here's the one I missed--I'd never heard of the book before:

7. Why are the children in Ian McEwan’s The Cement Garden left unsupervised over the course of one long, hot summer?
They run away
Their mother dies
They kill their parents
They are shipwrecked on a desert island where they find buried treasure

I have just looked it up on Wikipedia (edited to add: and was very taken aback by the adult content in the description. Not jolly school children on holiday). I do not think I shall be seeking it out any time soon. However, fans of Flowers in the Attic might be interested...

On a more wholesome note, my favorite summer holiday book is Return to Gone Away, by Elizabeth Enright.