This Appearing House, by Ally Malinenko

 

So today I found amongst the electronic detritus of my gmail a B. and N. gift card I hadn't used, went out to spend it, and after much thought and wandering came home with This Appearing House, by Ally Malinenko (August 2022 by Katherine Tegen Books).  And then I neglected household tasks and read it, so yay for me!

The House appears one day, at the end of a cul-de-sac.  Jac tries to accept without question that it is there, when it wasn't the week before.  

And what with the tensions already in her mind--the ordinary new kid in school sort, and the bigger trauma of her five year anniversary of cancer diagnosis, with a mom who's constant concern is becoming smothering. Every clumsiness, every nervous shaking of her hands, could be a sign that she isn't free and clear after all.

The House calls to her.  

Two of the boys who are class bullies dare Jac and her friend Hazel (a boy named after the rabbit, which the bullies have a field day with), to go inside.  All four end up going in. They find nightmare built on nightmare. 

Jac knows the House wants something from her...and until she figures out what that is, it won't let her go.

Was it pleasure reading?  Not exactly--horror isn't my thing, and the House is a horror-poloza.  It is a good mix of the profoundly disturbing, the terrifying, and the repulsive. I think young horror lovers will enjoy it. I have to admit I didn't linger on all the different nightmarish encounters, because my mind has a bad habit of playing disturbing images from horror books and movies back to me in exquisite detail which I don't appreciate.  (content warning--tooth trauma)

Before I could turn off the keen, alert, reading part of my mind, though, there was a tooth thing. If you, like me, knocked your front teeth out at a young age and subsequently had recurring nightmares where you bit into apples and saw your teeth imbedded in them, be warned!  This is the closest I can remember to feeling physically ill because of a scene in a book.

But behind the smoke-screen of the grotesque, this is a moving and thought-provoking story, about acknowledging trauma, but not letting that be all-defining.  Being angry, sad, and terrified about having gotten a crap deal, but being able to start letting life flow onward is good to think about. I rarely call books "heartfelt" because it seems a nebbishy thing to say, but in this case it feels valid-- Jac's story came from the author's heart and her personal experience, and it resonated with my heart and my personal experience (the teeth aren't my only past trauma--I had a bad patch of way too many MRIs myself.  Seven months pregnant, told I had a tumor behind my right eye, no way to know till baby was born if it was benign or not.....then baby and brain surgery simultaneously.  All better now, I hope, knock on wood....)

However, all that being said--short answer is that this is a good mix of horror, a really strong MG friendship (Hazel is great) and good and useful things to think about when one feels introspective.  

This Appearing House is eligible for this year's Cybils Awards in Elementary/Middle Grade Speculative Fiction, and is still waiting to be nominated!  If you would like to take care of that, here's the nomination page--Cybils Awards Nomination Form

The House in the Waves, by James Hamilton-Paterson, for Timeslip Tuesday

A vintage UK time travel book this Tuesday--The House in the Waves, by James Hamilton-Paterson (1970).  This is time-travel through medically administered drugs (a first in my timeslip reading) that send Martin, a mentally-ill boy, to a late 16th century fishing village near the old manor house in East Anglia where he has been institutionalized. 

Martin. taken from his abusive father when he was six, and been in foster care and institutions ever since, has withdrawn almost totally from reality. He requires assistance with eating and bathing, and makes no effort to interact with anyone. Only his imaginings of ancient oceans and the fossil shells now on dry land are real to him.

But then he finds a handmade balloon (not a party balloon, but handmade with parchment like stuff pieced together) stuck in a tree, with a note attached from a boy pleading to be rescued from imprisonment in a tower. Martin's attention is caught, and so he journeys illicitly from the institution to find and help the writer of the note.

And he finds himself in the 16th century, in a fishing village about to walloped by a tremendous storm. Following a few leads from the (suspicious, but preoccupied) villagers, he comes to the ancient and crumbling house of a mad alchemist. Locked up in a tower by the alchemist, his uncle, is Will, who has been sending out messages on balloons he has made from the skin of mice.... As the storm hits, the alchemist's house collapse, and Will and Martin barely escape.

It was very good time travel, with Will's desperate predicament vividly described, and  a beautifully creepy, yet moving, picture of the crazed alchemist uncle. It is a transformative experience for Martin, who cannot help but be engaged in the trauma of it all.

But then he wakes up in his own bed back in the institution, not having left it at all. It was a dream, a Freudian dream that has cleared his mind, and he is no longer detached from reality.

It was very gripping, and I read it in a single sitting, but there is much that made me uncomfortable re mental illness and children suffering from it. The detail and care with which the fat body of another child who seems to have a development delay was unpleasant, for example. And then there's the magical healing of mental illness being cured through drug-induced time travel and a few pointed remarks from the doctor pointing out elements of Martin's story that resonate with his real life.....not a very satisfying conclusion for the modern reader.

On the other hand, the theme of oceans, and drowned shells, and the fishing village and alchemist's house devastated by waves, makes the story strangely cohesive.  The alchemy part was fascinating.  And it was pleasing to see Martin come out of his isolation, and I did read it in one engrossed gulp. Well worth the $5 I spent on it.

This week's round-up of middle grade sci fi and fantasy from around the blogs (loosely defined to include instagram, podcasts, etc) 10/2/22

Good morning from Rhode Island. Here's what I found in my hunt for mg sci fi/fantasy reviews this week; please let me know if I missed your post.

but first--nominations for the Cybils Awards are open, and ANYONE from around the world can nominate books! (but authors and publishers--if you want your own book nominated, don't do it yourself just yet; you'll get a chance after the public nominations close October 15).  Eligible books are those published in the US or Canada October 16 2021-October 15 2022.

It would be possible to make a brilliant shortlist of seven books from what got nominated yesterday, the first day.  But there are so many wonderful elementary/middle grade speculative fiction books that NEED to be nominated!  I've put asterisks next to books in today's round-up that are eligible and still waiting for love. (feel free to let me know if I made a mistake!)

The Reviews

*Alliana, Girl of Dragons, by Julie Abe, at alibrarymama 

Amari and the Great Game by B.B. Alston, at Log Cabin Library and Kiss the Book

*Beneath the Sand (Unicorn Island #2), by Donna Galanti, at Children's Books Heal

*Charlie Hernández & the Golden Dooms, by Ryan Calejo, at Feed Your Fiction Addiction

*Eden's Everdark, by Karen Strong, at Charlotte's Library 

*The Fire Star, and The Wolf's Howl (Maven and Reeve, books 1 and 2), by A. L. Tait, at Charlotte's Library

The Girl, the Ghost and the Lost Name, by Reece Carter, at Book Craic and Library Girl and Book Boy

The Ghost of Midnight Lake, by Lucy Strange, at The Children's Book Review 

*Ghostcloud, by Michael Mann, at The Bookwyrm's Den 

*Haven: Small Cat’s Big Adventure, by Megan Wagner Lloyd, at Semicolon 

*It's The End Of The World And I'm In My Bathing Suit, by Justin A. Reynolds, at Original Content

Jack Zulu and the Waylander’s Key, by S.D. Smith and J.C. Smith, at Redeemed Reader

Leila and the Blue Fox, by Kiran Millwood Hargrave with Tom de Freston, at Sifa Elizabeth Reads 

*LightCasters, by Janelle McCurdy, at eviebookish

The Little Match Girl Strikes Back, by Emma Carroll, Illustrated by Lauren Child, at  Magic Fiction Since Potter

Minor Mage, by T. Kingfisher, at Hidden in Pages

The Ogress and the Orphans, by Kelly Barnhill, at fatin.rosnan

*Omega Morales and the Legend of La Lechuza, by Laekan Zea Kemp, at The Bookwyrm's Den and Unconventional Quirky Bibliophile

*The Patron Thief of Bread, by Lindsay Eagar, at Kiss the Book

Sky Song, by Abi Elphinstone, at Kiss the Book

The Spectaculars, by Jodie Garnish, at Book Craic and Mr Ripley's Enchanted Books

*The Supernatural Society, by Rex Ogle, at Kiss the Book

*The Vanquishers, by Kalynn Bayon, at Ms. Yingling Reads and The Story Sanctuary

*The Whispering Fog, by Landra Jennings, at Say What?

The Wintrish Girl, by Melanie La’Brooy, at  wendy_orr_author

A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking, by T. Kingfisher, at Hidden in Pages

Authors and Interviews

Lois Lowry at The New Yorker

George Jreije (*Shad Hadid and the Alchemists of Alexandria) at MG Book Village

Katherine Applegate (*Odder) at The Yarn podcast

Lindsay Currie (*The Girl in White) at Teen Librarian Toolbox. and Novel on my mind

The Fire Star, and The Wolf's Howl (Maven and Reeve, books 1 and 2), by A. L. Tait

The Fire Star and The Wolf's Howl are the first two books of a new series by Australian author,  A. L. Tait (August 2022, Kane Miller in the US), and since I'd enjoyed others of her books, I was very pleased when they arrived in the mail..  And then I was very sad when I got to the end of book 2 and there was no book 3.  Here's an image of them from the author's website (and I totally agree with the Kirkus quote!)

Two young teens--Reeve, a new squire, and Maven, the companion/servant of a noble lady==are thrown together in a castle full of secrets. When a precious jewel goes missing, they both are desperate to solve the mystery; Reeve because his new lord has told him to find it, and he's desperate not to be dismissed, Maven because the jewel was to be her ticket to freedom.  Even though it takes a while for them to trust each other, and to learn each other's secrets, they make a great team (sparks fly, mutual respect grows), and it was delightful seeing all the intrigue and deception swirling around them through their eyes.

The Wolf's Howl sends them on a journey, accompanying Reeve's lord and Maven's lady (newly married) to demesne off in the cold and windy wilds.  There they find another mystery to solve, and once again I enjoyed them doing so lots!

I just hate it when I have a really solid book comparison to offer, and then I see the clever little marketers have beat me to it-- "39 Clues meets Ranger’s Apprentice in bestselling fantasy author A. L. Tait's new medieval adventure series. "  But then I read this in my own review of Tait's earlier duology, The Ataban Cipher--"Especially recommended to younger Ranger's Apprentice fans." I am the winner, and can now say how very much Ranger's Apprentice fans might enjoy this new series--likeable, smart main characters who are clearly the good guys being brave and having adventures and solving mysteries in an alternate medieval Europe-ish sort of place.  The Ranger's Apprentice books have better food and their main characters have better fighting skills than Reeve, but Tait's books take a deeper dive into the oppression of women in a patriarchal society.  And though I'm sad to reject the food, I'll take actively subverting the patriarchy. 

Dunno about the 39 Clues comp. though...seems a bit of a stretch to me, and my elation of just a moment ago changes to disappointment as I fail to think of a better comp of my own.  I can't think of any middle grade books that have illicitly educated girls solving mysteries in medieval court settings (but with no magic, dragons or ghosts). Surely more must exist?  I shall ask twitter.

In any event, The Wolf's Howl ends up setting the next book up beautifully, and I hope I get to read it sooner rather than later.

disclaimer: review copies received from the publisher

Eden's Everdark, by Karen Strong

Eden's Everdark, by Karen Strong (September 6th 2022,Simon & Schuster), is a creepy ghostly middle grade horror story; but that being said, it is also a story of love and grief, family and history.

Eden's mother never took her to visit Safina Island off the Georgia Coast, home to generations of her family who were first enslaved there and then made it their own place, where they owned land and became a strong community.  But after her mother dies, her father takes her to see her family there.  Not only does Eden find love from her kin in this beautiful island full of history, but discovers it's dark side, a darkness that was the reason her mother and grandmother left when her mother was still a girl.

Her mother left behind a sketchbook full of terrifying images--monsters, strange and spooky children, and more.  And Eden discovers these weren't drawn from imagination, but from real life.  When she finds a rift into the darkness, she feels strangely drawn to it, and goes through.  Just as the witch who rules this land of ever darkness, where the sun never shines, wanted.

The Everdark is a spectral overlay on the real world, and in the grand house built by the descendants of the plantation owners, the witch, who calls herself Mother Mary, exercises near total control of the ghosts she's captured.  Two ghost girls have been made her children, and she want's Eden to be her third dear daughter.  Eden is still alive, though...though possibly not for long....and she's determined to escape.  

But getting free means figuring out the sources of Mother Mary's power, and how to break it before she herself is broken.  And it means uncovering the secret of her mother's magic--the family gift of making things grow--and finding it with herself as well.

The warm and loving first section of the book is a sharp and very effective contrast to the horror of the Everdark, with its creeping rot, trapped ghosts, Mother Mary being terrifying inside, and monsters lurking outside.  But her survival and ultimate escape comes in no small part from the warmth and love in her own self.  Added interest comes from the identities of all the ghosts (who come from many different times) that Eden meets. Mother Mary's backstory packs an especially intense punch--she isn't just a cardboard villain, but someone who was badly wronged who really does want her "children" to love her.

There's no miraculous end to Eden's grief as a result of her sojourn among the dead, but the story does end back in a place of warmth and light.  It's gorgeously atmospheric and enthralling, so much so it kept my mind firmly its grip, which is especially noteworthy because I read it in a single sitting while my car was failing inspection and The Price is Right blared very loudly over my head.....

My Second Impression of You, by Michelle I. Mason, for Timeslip Tuesay

My Second Impression of You, by Michelle I. Mason (Sept. 20th, Bloomsbury), is a fun YA romance (and even upper Middle Grade readers) fueled by a very interesting time slip plot.

16 year old Maggie is sure that her perfect boyfriend, Theo, is going to ask her to prom when he suggests meeting up at a coffee shop, but instead, he breaks up with her.  Stumbling back to her car, she falls and hurts her foot.  Theo does nothing to help, but his best friend, Carson, who Maggie has never liked, is there and drives her home.

Maggie turns out to have broken a foot bone, and needs surgery, and her life, which centers around drama and dances, crashes down to mingle with the loss of Theo.  She wallows in self-pity.  So when she gets a text offering her the chance to revisit the best day of her life, she can't revisit, and installs the app.  She'll go back to the wonderful, giddy, fairytale day when she and Theo first met.

But this time around, the app keeps intruding, showing her the day from other points of view.  Her best friend has a secret that might ruin the love and trust between them.  Theo is not exactly the romantic hero Maggie had thought.  Carson is more than just Theo's unwelcome wingman.  And so Maggie is forced to think about things that in her self-centered way had never occurred to her....All that she missed the first time around pushes her into being a better, more aware person, and gives her the gift of someone much better than Theo....

The app doesn't deliver it all in one day, so Maggie's real time life keeps getting knocked out of kilter by bits of new information, making her character growth more believable.  She has to work hard to process and act on what she learns, and though the reader might want to shake her (she's isn't very likeable for the first half of the book or so), she does get there in the end.

Michelle Mason is the author of Your Life Has Been Delayed, another fascinating and thought-provoking YA time slip/romance (my review), and I appreciated the interesting twist on time travel she's come with here too.  Maggie was really in the past, and the app had to poke her to keep her from changing things, so it was more than just watching a movie. The app isn't explained at all, and I can't help wonder why Maggie was the chosen one....

It's a really fun premise, well delivered, and the developing romance was sweet.  It was a fast and absorbing read, with the bonus of me wondering what I would do if I were Maggie, and what day I'd want to go back to if I were Maggie....and what I might learn.

This week's round up of middle grade sci fi and fantasy from around the blogs (9/25/22)

The MG SFF round is back again; it was painful to go through my feeds when I got back from vacation to see all the posts I missed in the previous two weeks, but it was a nice and much needed vacation.  Please let me now if I missed your post from this past week!

The Reviews

*Alliana, Girl of Dragons, by Julie Abe. at Mom Read It

Amira and Hamza Series (Books 1 and *2), by Samira Ahmed, at The Bookwyrm's Den

The Battle of the Snake (The Adventures of Crimson and the Guardian #1) by Karen Cossey, at Say What?

*Children of Stardust, by Edudzi Adodo, at Say What?

*Darkroom, by K.R. Alexander, at Ms. Yingling Reads

*Dragon Destiny, by Kevin and Katie Tsang, at Sifa Elizabeth Reads

*Frigg’s Journey to Anasgar (Chronicles of Nadavir #1) by Deb Cushman at Say What?

The Girl and the Ghost, by Hanna Alkaf, at By Singing Light

*The Girl in White, by Linday Currie, at Charlotte's Library

Green Ember series, by S.D. Smith (books 2-4) at Valinora Troy

*Healer and Witch, by Nancy Werlin, at Children's Books Heal

The Little Match Girl Strikes Back, by Emma Carroll & Lauren Child, at Scope for Imagination

Little Women: Mermaid Edition, by Megan Lois Whitehill, at Independent Book Review

*Ravenfall, by Kalyn Josephson, at Ms. Yingling Reads

Relativly Normal Secrets, by C.W. Allen, at Say What?

*Serwa Boateng's Guide to Vampire Hunting, by Roseanne A. Brown,  at  Nerdophiles, The Bookwyrm's Den, and Ms. Yingling Reads

*Shad Hadid and the Alchemists of Alexandria, by George Jreije, at Say What?

*The Sisters of Luna Island,by Stacy Hackney, at Lazy Day Literature

*Tall Tales (Once Upon Another Time, #2) by James Riley, at Bookworm for Kids

A Tangle of Spells (A Pinch of Magic #3) by Michelle Harrison, at Say What? 

*A Taste Of Magic (Park Row Magic Academy #1), by J. Elle, at Charlotte's Library

*The Tiltersmith, by Amy Herrick, at Always in the Middle

The Treekeepers,by Kieran Larwood, at Magic Fiction Since Potter

War of the Wind, by Victoria Williamson, at Book Craic

A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking, by T. Kingfisher, at Hidden in Pages

Authors and Interviews

Margi Preus (*Windswept) at The Horn Book

L.T. Getty (The Mermaid and the Unicorns) at Jazzy Book Reviews

Sarah Allen (The Nightmare House) at MG Book Village

Mike DiCerto (A Nick of Time) at Nuttin' But Books

Other Good Stuff

The public nomination period for the Cybils Awards runs Oct 1-15, followed by a week for publishers and authors to fill in gaps.  As always, I want All the Books nominated, and so please start thinking about what books you want to show love for! I've put * next to the books in this round up that are eligible (published in the US or Canada from Oct 16 2021 to October 15 2022); as always, let me know if you see a mistake.  NB -- Elementary/Middle Grade Speculative fiction doesn't take books only available digitally.

A Taste Of Magic (Park Row Magic Academy #1), by J. Elle

This year has been absolutely stellar for magical middle grade school stories; each one I've read has surprised me with its twists of the genre!  And A Taste Of Magic (Park Row Magic Academy #1), by J. Elle (August 30th 2022, Bloomsbury) is no exception--it is a fresh, delightful read!

12-year-old Kyana is pretty happy with her life in her neighborhood of Park Row.  Sure, her mom has to work way to hard because money is tight, and she's under pressure to well at school, even at math...but she has her very dear best friend, Nae, to make school better, and her very dear grandma to love and cook with at home.  Then she discovers she has magic, and she has to spend every Saturday at Park Row Magic Academy, even though the first day of class there is Nae's birthday party....and she can't tell anyone about the magic.

Kyana is determined to excel at magic, especially the Charms part of it, which seems most likely to help her mom out financially.  But even as she gets better at magic, she gets deeper into a web of lies with Nae about where she is on Saturdays, pushing their friendship to the breaking point.  To add to her worries, her grandma's mind is slowly being swallowed by Alzheimer's.  And then the bomb drops--the Park Row magic school is going to be closed due to lack of funding.  The other city magic schools, in whiter and richer neighborhoods, will stay open, and if Kyana can come up with several thousand dollars, she can finish her initial training at one of them.  If she can't (and her mother can't work any harder than she does, so it seems impossible) she'll loose her magic, just as she's finding out what her own special gift is and overcoming her self-doubt.

So wining a city wide baking contest with a sweet cash prize seems to be the obvious answer, and her grandma's recipes, which have a magic of their own, are perfect for it. But when Kyana inadvertently contaminates her first round entry of cupcakes with inadvertent magic, she creates a problem she can't fix alone.  She'll need every friend she has--old, new, and unexpected--and a bit of help from magical (and adorable) cat-like beings to fix things.  And she has to keep on baking, because she's not about to loose hope.

The various very relatable tensions in Kyana's life, with their real world echoes made me anxious at times.  But they are lightened beautifully by the wonder of her entry into a world of magic, by friendship and love, by delightful cooking, and of course magical "kittens."   And I was left feeling  warm and cozy, so excited by the #1 in the title -- I can't wait for more!

A sweet treat of a book!

disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher

The Girl in White, by Lindsay Currie

I am back from vacation--a week and a half in Montana, mostly spent volunteering with the Forest Service fixing up some old buildings at a history tree nursery, and less time visiting used bookstores.  In case anyone is interested, here is my haul (the books whose titles can't be read are Great Day in the Morning, by Florence Crannell Means, and Janine, by Robin McKown).

More books coming home than I took with me (8 ARCs, mostly mg fantasy), and I enjoyed reading them. The result is that I am now behind on reviews....so I hope to review lots in the coming week.

First up is The Girl in White, by Lindsay Currie (September 6th 2022 by Sourcebooks Young Readers), a nice ghost story with which to kick off the spooky season of Fall!

Mallory has been uprooted from Chicago to Eastport, MA--a quaint ocean town. There's a twist to the quaintness, though--the town capitalizes it reputation on being a spooky hotspot. Mallory's parents have plunged into the thick of the spooky stories, opening a restaurant in a building where a casket came tumbling out of a collapsing interior wall. The horror of it is embraced by her parents, and the restaurant is thriving, but Mallory is almost completely fed up with non-stop ghost stories all the time, and totally fed up with the town's fetishization of one legend in particular--that of Sweet Molly, whose brother Liam was lost at sea in the 19th century when the townsfolk forced him to set out on a fishing voyage (for economic reasons) in stormy weather. After he was quickly lost at sea, Molly swore she'd get revenge on the town, and now she's become one of its most popular (aka moneymaking) cursed legends.

The anniversary of Liam's death is approaching, the town is planning one of its biggest ever Sweet Molly extravagances, and Mallory, to her horror, is being haunted by Molly's ghost.  It stinks to be Mallory, sleep deprived, even less in control of her life than being uprooted, to the point where she literally is in danger (the ghost makes her sleep walk) and forced to endure all the Sweet Molly madness of the town.

Mallory can't explain away her terrifying encounters with Molly, and she has no idea how to get them to stop. Fortunately, she has good friends, one of them a earlier victim of Molly's harassment, and in a race against time, as strange and terrifying weather hits Eastport, and the climax of the festival approaches, they work together to find the true story of Molly and Liam....

The mix of very creepy ghost, local history gone out of control, and real world complexities of loyalty to family and friends make this one I'm sure will please its target audience lots! It's all woven together very well, with both the spookiness of Sweet Molly strong enough to satisfy young horror readers, and the new kid in town story satisfying those who aren't reading it for the scares.

As a grown-up reader, I appreciated that Mallory and her parents and friends were able to work through the wrinkles in their relationships with good faith and little drama. I respected the horror element of the plot; it was very vividly described in good mg horror fashion. That being said, I wondered, as I often do, why ghosts have to be so gosh darn mean when communicating with the living. If you are a ghost who can write messages in blood red paint etc. why not just be explicit? But I guess Molly's one weapon in her quest to change the narrative was her ability to terrorize....peaceful protest wasn't an option, which is an interesting thing to think about.

Which leads to what, to me, an even more interesting aspect of the book--at the heart of the plot is the need to question established narratives, and to revise accepted history. And even though this particular revision is not actually all that weighty, it does matter to Molly, and to the town. It's the sort of book that might well put thoughts into kids' heads that will lead them to become good critical thinkers as they get older, which is a good thing!

disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher

Charlie Hernández & the Golden Dooms, with an interview by author Ryan Calejo

No MG sci fi/fantasy round-up today, as I am on vacation.  But I'm thrilled to have author Ryan Calejo visiting me here today!

Charlie Hernández & the Golden Dooms, by Ryan Calejo (September 13, Aladdin), is the third installment of the adventures of an ordinary kid who finds that all the many magical stories from the Spanish and Portuguese speaking countries his grandmother told him are true.  Not only that, but he has a starring role in an epic clash between order and malevolent chaos, he has the power to morph into animals, and he has no clue how to control his power or even, really, what he's supposed to be doing.  Happily, he has his friend Violet, a keen young journalist who more than pulls her weight figuring things out.  He also has the powerful witch Queen, Joanna of Castile (who you might know as Joanna the Mad), leader of the League of Shadows who try to keep the world from being overrun with monsters, on his side. 

If you enjoyed the wild ride of the first two books, full of mythical monsters that sent Charlie and Violet bouncing on perilous adventures, this one will not disappoint.   Its small, relatively mundane beginning in which Charlie is trapped by a skeletal girl begging for his help in the girl's bathroom of his middle school moves steadily on to its full blown mythologically murderous monster chaos of an ending, when Charlie and Violet must defeat a truly formidable foe in order to keep the border between life and death secure.  And all the while, in a rather endearingly clumsy middle school way, Charlie and Violet are falling for each other, Charlie's mother is going ballistic, and the reader gets a trip to Florida like no other!

Highly recommended to kids who enjoy mythological adventures, particularly because the myths and stories that come to life here I haven't seen in anywhere near so much detail and diversity in any other book series!

Not recommended to those traumatized by crocodilians....

And now it is my pleasure to welcome Ryan Calejo to my blog!

1. How did the idea for Charlie and his adventures first come to you?  Did you have any idea that this would be the start of a series, and if yes, how far into it could you see?

Folklore and legends have always fascinated me. I like to think of them as the original Latinx superheroes/supervillains. So that was where the inspiration came from. My idea for the series was basically to create a big superhero royal rumble—something like the Avengers movies. I wanted to bring together all the coolest legendary beings/creatures, and just let them run wild down here in South Florida, because I was really excited to see how a story like that would play out. And one of the main reasons the idea appealed so much to me is because most of these characters originated in different countries and at different periods in time, and almost all of them only appear in their own stories, meaning there’s hardly any crossover. So that crossover potential, the idea of these legendary characters running into other legendary characters and trying to one-up and outsmart one another, I thought would be a lot of fun. When the idea first came to me, I was very hopeful that it would be the start of a series. I knew there was just no way I could cram all these wonderful characters into a single book! I always had a loose outline in my mind of what the overall series might look like. But the more books I’ve written, the more concrete the ideas for the future books have become.

2. Did you yourself grow up, like Charlie, with stories of the folklore and legends of South and Central America and the Iberian peninsula? If yes, did you have a childhood favorite? Or one that terrified young you the most?

 As a matter of fact, I did! Growing up, my abuelitas (my grandmothers) taught me all the same stories that Charlie’s abuelita taught him. It was my grandmothers who helped cultivate in me a love of legends and folklore—and even of reading. See, back then I wasn’t exactly the most well-behaved kid on the planet. (I’m being generous here.) And the only way they could keep me from running wild was to entertain me by telling me stories—all these wonderful legends and folktales they’d heard as children. There were definitely some terrifying ones, like El Coco and La Llorona. But if I had to pick my absolute favorite, it would probably have to be El Cadejo. It’s a sort of guardian angel that takes the form of a huge dog. When I was little, one of my neighbors had this ginormous German Shepherd that my grandmothers managed to convince me was the actual legendary Cadejo. And the funniest part was that whenever I rode my bike around the neighborhood that dog would always follow after me like it was protecting me, which made it pretty difficult to argue against my grandmothers’ claim. 

3. Your descriptions are incredibly vivid, and I’m curious about how this ties in to your writing process--do you see it all in your mind's eye in advance?

Thank you so much! Yes, I do usually see the story playing out in my mind’s eye. I’ve always had a pretty vivid imagination. I was most definitely a day dreamer growing up! I can’t even begin to count how many times someone had to snap me out of a daydream in the middle of math class (math and me don’t really get along). But that’s always been a big part of the fun for me—seeing the characters and story in my imagination. 

4. Places that are the foci of legends and myths are immensely important in Charlie’s adventures.  I just paid an online visit to the ancient monastery where Charlie first meets up with the League of Shadows.  Was that near to where you grew up? Have you visited any other real world places that appear in your books?

 The monastery was kind of close to where I grew up. Maybe half an hour away. In fact, almost all the south Florida locations in the books are places I loved to visit or hang out at when I was about Charlie and Violet’s age. For example, in the latest book, Charlie, Violet, and a friend sneak into the Venetian pool, which is one of the coolest public pools on the entire planet, and one of my favorite local spots. I love it when I get a chance to include little bits of my childhood in my books. Unfortunately, I haven’t had a chance to visit all the Latin American countries that appear in the series, but I definitely hope to!

 5. What are you working on now?  And will there be more stories about Charlie and Violet?

 I’m thrilled to say that there will be more stories! Simon Schuster’s Aladdin imprint has always been one of my favorite imprints, and my editor is absolutely WONDERFUL! I love working with her. So get ready for new adventures!

 I’m also working on ChupaCarter, which is a super fun series I’m co-authoring with the one and only George Lopez. The story follows the adventures of a spunky 12-year-old boy named Jorge who discovers a chupacabra living on his grandparent’s farm. I hope readers will enjoy that series as well!

Thank you so much, Ryan!  I will look forward to your next books!

Lark and the Wild Hunt, by Jennifer Adam, for Timeslip Tuesday

I am always very appreciative when fate works in my favor, and I'm happily reading a middle grade fantasy I'd been looking forward to and it turns out to be a timeslip book and I finish it on a Tuesday! So today for Timeslip Tuesday I offer  Lark and the Wild Hunt, by Jennifer Adam (July 2022, HarperCollins).

Lark has grown up along the border of the Fae world, helping her mother raise strange, part Fae, shadowy horses that carry the human riders who are brave enough to join the Wild Hunt each year.  She's watched her brother, her sister, and her mother ride off  in the grand company of the Winter King of the Fae, following the White Stag along the boundary between worlds and driving back Fae who are trespassing on the human side.  But one hunt goes horrible wrong, and Lark's brother doesn't come back.

Lark is determined to bring her brother home.  First she must trust the Fae boy and his raven, who set her to work assembling a mysterious silver timepiece, while the border starts to fray and the land of the Fae falls under the rule of the malignant Briar King.  And then she must cross into the land of the Fae herself, pitting her wits against the entrapments and entanglements the King throws her way, to save not just her brother, but balance between the realms...

It is a good story, but a long one--480 pages, and I feel it could have been condensed somewhat, with a tighter focus on getting from one plot point to the next.  That being said, although I didn't read it in a single sitting, and it took a week of dipping in to it to finish, there were always beats to the story that kept my interest going, the atmosphere and growing tension were great, and the final obstacle that Lark has to overcome was excellent.  All the details hang together, many vivid descriptions stick in my mind, and I was also, of course, interested in the silver timepiece.  

It turns out that the flow of time doesn't work in the land of the Fae, and only time slipping in from the human world allows change to happen there.  Which would have been time slippish enough for my Tuesday purposes, but Lark also is able to use the device at a key moment in the story to actually go back in time.  I was pleased.

Give this to dreamy kids already hooked on fantasy....10 year old me, untrammeled by the outside world, would probably have loved it.

This week's roundup of middle grade fantasy and sci fi from around the blogs (9/4/22)

 Here's what I found this week!  As ever, please let me know if I missed your post.

first--the deadline to apply to be a Cybils panelist is September 9th at 11:59 p.m. EDT.  If you are worried about the reading load being too much, Graphic novels or Easy Readers/Early Chapter Books might be your thing! And if you want to learn a lot this fall--High School non-fiction is such an important category, which badly needs applicants

The Reviews

Amari and the Great Game, by B.B. Alston, at Ms. Yingling Reads

ChupaCarter, by George Lopez and Ryan Calejo, at Say What?

City of the Plague God, by Sarwat Chadda, at Kiss the Book

The Clackity, by Lora Senf, at The Zen Leaf

Cress Watercress, by Gregory Maguire, at Not Acting My Age

The Curse on Spectacle Key, by Chantal Acevdeo, at Ms. Yingling Reads

The Dangerous Life of Ophelia Bottom, by Susie Bower, at Scope for Imagination

Daybreak on Raven Island, by Fleur T. Bradley, at Log Cabin Library and From The Mixed Up Files

Double O Stephen And The Ghostly Realm, by Angela Ahn, at Falling Letters

Empty Smiles, by Katherine Arden, at Pages Unbound

The Ink of Elspet (The Inkwell Chronicles #1), by J.D. Peabody, at Say What?

The Land of Fake Believe, by Laurel Solorzano, at Bookworm for Kids and Valinora Troy

THE LOST GIRL KING by Catherine Doyle, at Sifa Elizabeth Reads

The Marvelous Land of Snergs, by Veronica Cossanteli based on the original story by E. A. Wyke-Smith, at Book Nut

Onyeka and the Academy of the Sun, by Tọlá Okogwu, at Book Craic

Ravenfall, by Kalyn Josephson, at The Bookwyrm's Den and Charlotte's Library

Relatively Normal Secrets, by C.W. Allen, Narrated by Ivy Tara Blair, at Sharon the Librarian (audiobook review)

Secrets of the Looking Glass (The Lost Wonderland Diaries #2), by J. Scott Savage, at Log Cabin Library

A Taste of Magic by J. Elle, at alibrarymama and Ms. Yingling Reads

A Time Traveler’s Theory of Relativity, by Nicole Valentine, at Magic Fiction Since Potter

The Treekeepers, by Kieran Larwood, at Book Craic and Books Up North

Which Way to Anywhere, by Cressida Cowell, at Mr Ripley's Enchanted Books

Two at alibrarymama--Wildseed Witch, by Marti Dumas, and Onyeka and the Academy of the Sun, by Tọlá Okogwu

Authors and Interviews

Angie Thomas (Nic Blake and the Remarkables) at Publishers Weekly

Other Good Stuff

What's new in the UK, at Mr Ripley's Enchanted Books

A nice list of magic school books as Miss Print

Ravenfall, by Kalyn Josephson

Ravenfall, by Kalyn Josephson (September 6th 2022 by Delacorte Press), was a truly delightful read, reminding me strongly why I really really like middle grade fantasy!  Rather than do my usual plot summary followed by thoughts, here are all the things that made me a happy reader:

The titular Ravenfall, run as a guest house, but primarily a home, is a magical house with tons of personality, always paying attention to its residents.  I love place centered stories, and this delivered!  

It is protected by a guardian jabberwocky, who mostly takes the shape of a cat, who also has tons of personality.

And it is home to a magical family.  Anna is the youngest child, and her gift has just manifested--when she touches someone, she shares their memories of deaths they have witnessed.  I loved how she compares her magic to the various gifts of the rest of the family, and feels disappointed and less than, but grows to realize that it is actually much more of a gift than she thought it was.  Very relatable.

Another kid, Colin, arrives at Ravenfall alone, in terrible trouble.  I loved how he is welcomed and how his grief isn't played down, and is still there even as he finds comfort and a sense of belonging (and his own magic).  

It was great shifting between Anna's insider pov and Colin's newcomer pov; it really made the place, the people and the magic three-dimensional.

And I loved how the central antagonist, and the growing threat he brings to Ravenfall, is huge and awful, but not exaggerated to the point where it seems impossible that the two kids can play a central role in defeating it....

But they are totally and unconditionally not just backed up but directed by all the grown-ups and older sisters, because the kids couldn't have done everything alone.  This made the plot very solid and satisfying to grown-up me. And yet even the grown-ups make mistakes...figuring out what to do requires teamwork, admitting mistakes, 

And finally I liked very much (though this is a smallish thing that the target audience might not appreciate as much as me), is that Anna's mother doesn't actually want to have been stuck running Ravenfall, but does it with good grace.  A nice bit of real world grown-up-ness that was another thing that made everything feel really solid.

Even more finally, I liked (lots) how, after I read the satisfying, closure providing ending, I saw there would be a second book!

So in short, a lovely immersive read that I highly recommend!

This week's round-up of middle grade sci fi/fantasy from around the blogs (8/28/2022)

Good morning, all, and welcome to the last round-up of Summer 2022.  It was a summer in which I learned how to replace rotten siding on my house (sigh), among other never ending historic house ownership work, and I did not read nearly as many books as I wanted to!  Fall is much better for reading (kids are back at college and it gets too cold to work outside) which is why being a Cybils panelist in elementary/middle grade fiction (or another category) is a lovely thing!  The deadline to apply is September 9th. 

as always, please let me know if I missed your post!

The Reviews

Alliana, Girl of Dragons, by Julie Abe, at Ms. Yingling Reads

Dark Waters (The Small Spaces Quartet, Book 3) by Katherine Arden, narrated by Renee Dorian, at 

Hidden in Pages

A Dragon Used to Live Here, by Annette LeBlanc Cate, at Rosi Hollinbeck

Dread Wood, by Jennifer Killick, at Valinora Troy

Fear Ground, by Jennifer Killick, at Scope for Imagination

Fenris and Mott, by Greg Van Eekhout, at proseandkahn

The Fire Star (A Maven & Reeve Mystery) by A.L. Tait, at Log Cabin Library

Daybreak on Raven Island, by Fleur Bradley, at Ms. Yingling Reads

Ghostcloud, by Michael Mann, at Say What?

Ghostlight, by Kenneth Oppel, at  Say What?

Homebound, by John David Anderson, at alibrarymama

The Polter-Ghost Problem, by Betsy Uhrig, at Ms. Yingling Reads

Room of Shadows, by Ronald Kidd, at Intotheheartwyld 

Space Blasters-Suzie Saves the Universe, by Katie and Kevin Tsang, at  alittlebutalot

The Tale of Truthwater Lake, by Emma Carroll, at Scope for Imagination

A Taste of Magic, by J. Elle, at Cracking the Cover and Nerds & Beyond

The Time-Traveling Fashionista and Cleopatra, Queen of the Nile (The Time-Traveling Fashionista #3) by Bianca Turetsky, at Charlotte's Library

Trex, by Christyne Morrell, at Sifa Eliabeth Reads

The Vampire Slayer’s Survival Guide, by Katy Birchall, at Book Craic

Authors and Interviews

Susie Bower (The Dangerous LIfe of Ophelia Bottom), at Library Girl and Book Boy

Erin Petti (Thelma Bee In Toil And Treble) at From the Mixed Up Files 

Landra Jennings (The Whispering Fog), at From the Mixed Up Files

Fleur Bradley (Daybreak on Raven Island) at (teenlibrariantoolbox.com)

John David Anderson (Homebound) at Nerdy Book Club

Christyne Morrell (Trex), at  Middle Grade Minded and Literary Rambles

Greg Van Eekhout (Fenris and Mott), at Middle Grade Ninja

Juliana Brandt (Monsters in the Mist) at Flip Your Script 

Refe Tuma (Frances and the Monster) at  Teen Librarian Toolbox.

Other Good Stuff

On Science Fiction (Part II) – Children's Book Council 

When I saw "11 Middle Grade Series Updates for Eager Fans"  at SLJ, I thought I was getting continuations of Edward Eager stories...and was very surprised, but pleased...I am not, but there are still lots I'm looking forward too.

The Time-Traveling Fashionista and Cleopatra, Queen of the Nile, by Bianca Turetsky, for Timeslip Tuesday

The Time-Traveling Fashionista and Cleopatra, Queen of the Nile (The Time-Traveling Fashionista #3) by Bianca Turetsky (2013), fell victim to the fate that many books I actually buy--once I own a book I paid for, it's so easy for me to feel no urgency to actually read it.  But now I have (yay!) and it can go join the first to books in this fun middle grade series on my time travel bookshelf.

Louise, a young fashionista, has already travelled back twice in time, thanks to the mysterious Traveling Fashionista Vintage Sale (by invitation only).  She's tried on two dresses, one which took her to the Titanic and one which took her to the court of Marie Antoinette.  This time she slips into a lavender Grecian gown, and is plunged into the life of Cleopatra--with a twist.  She's now a worker in the costume crew for the epic Hollywood movie, staring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton!  But then she finds a necklace with a gorgeous pearl, and illicitly tries it on....and travels back in time again.

Now she's in the court of the real Cleopatra, a young woman fighting for power...and for her life.  Threats are everywhere, and soon Louise, now one of Cleopatra's handmaids, is wondering if she herself will make it home alive.  This isn't a time period I know all that much about, so I found nothing in the history to nitpick, and learned more about it in that graceful, pleasant way one learns history from reading fiction!

This is fairly easy time travel--Louise has an identity to fill in each different time, so language isn't an issue,  and although she has to keep her wits about her so as not to display her ignorance, she manages to muddle along well enough for her secret to be safe. 

It's a good story, with the magic of the time travel balanced by Louise's pragmatic thoughts. There's a touch of middle school angst in her real time that makes Louise seem very real and relatable...perhaps the bravest thing she does is to wear her vintage fashions to school.  

Something that really make these book stand out are the lovely illustrations by Sandra Suy-lovely dresses in particular!  And  of course the audience who will love this series most are the girls like Louise whose creativity uses fashion to flourish. This would not be me, but still I enjoyed them, and if there had been a fourth I would happily read it!

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this week's roundup of middle grade fantasy and science fiction from around the blogs (8/21/22)

Good morning and welcome to this week's round-up (this week with help from bloglovin for the first time in ages).  Please let me know if I missed your post!

First--the call for Cybils judges has gone out!  You have till the end of the day on September 9th.  It really is lots of fun, so do consider it!  Let me know if you have any questions. (I've put * next to the books included this week that are eligible for this year's Elementary/Middle Grade Cybils, which is books published in the US or Canada October 16, 2021 and October 15, 2022, to entice you to apply, and/or make a mental note that they can be nominated--anyone can nominate a book in each category starting in October.  Some are tricky because they are already out in the UK but not the US--as always, let me know if I've made mistakes!)

The Reviews 

*12 to 22: POV You Wake Up in the Future! by Jen Calonita, at Cracking the Cover

*Amari and the Great Game (Supernatural Investigations #2), by B.B. Alston, at Say What?

Anya and the Dragon, by Sofiya Pasternack, at Sonderbooks

*The Black Slide, by J.W. Ocker, at Ms. Yingling Reads

*Eden's Everdark, by Karen Strong, at Bookworm for Kids

*Fenris and Mott, by Greg van Eekhout, at Mom Read It

*Frances and the Monster, by Refe Tuma, at Say What?

*Goblin Market, by Diane Zahler, at A Backwards Story and Eli to the nth

Ghost Boys, by Jewell Parker Rhodes, at Colorful Book Reviews 

The Glen Beyond the Door, by Meta Mayne Reid, at Charlotte's Library

*Gravebooks (Nightbooks #2), by J.A. White, at Ms. Yingling Reads

The Hatmakers, by Tamzin Merchant, at Leaf's Reviews

The Lost Girl King, by Catherine Doyle, at Book Craic

*The Lost Ryu, by Emi Watanabe Cohen, at Jean Little Library

Mia and the Lightcasters (*?), by Janelle McCurdy, at Book Craic

The Outlaws Scarlett and Browne, by Jonathan Stroud, at Rapunzel Reads

*Paola Santiago and the Sanctuary of Shadows by Tehlor Kay Mejia, at The Bookwyrm's Den 

*The Patron Thief of Bread, by Lindsay Eagar, at Pages Unbound 

*Ravenfall, by Kalyn Josephson, at Say What?

*The Secret Benefits of Invisibility (The Falinnheim Chronicles #2), by C.W. Allen, at Eye-rolling Demigod's Book Blog

*Secret of the Shadow Beasts, by Diane Magras, at Charlotte's Library

*Stinetinglers, by R,K, Stine, at Ms. Yingling Reads

The Thirteen Secrets, by Michelle Harrison, at Sifa Elizabeth Reads

*This Appearing House, by Ally Malinenko, Ms. Yingling Reads

The Trials of Morrigan Crow (Nevermoor #1), by Jessica Townsend, at Simone and Her Books

The True Meaning of Smekday, by Adam Rex, at proseandkahn

*Wildseed Witch, by Marti Dumas, at Cracking the Cover

Wolfbane, by Michelle Paver, at Magic Fiction Since Potter

The Worlds We Leave Behind, by A.F. Harrold, illusrrated by Levi Pinfold, at Magic Fiction Since Potter

4 mini reviews at A Cat, a Book, and a Cup of Tea--Orla and the Wild Hunt by Anna Hoghton, The House of Shells by Efua Traoré, A Beginner’s Guide to Ruling the Galaxy by David Solomons, and  Mouse Heart by Fleur Hitchcock

Authors and Interviews

Greg van Eekhout (*Fenris and Mott) at Charlotte's Library

Rebecca King (Ember Shadows and the Fates of Mount Never), at Library Girl and Book Boy

Erin Petti (*Thelma Bee in Toil and Treble) at MG Book Village

J. Elle (*A Taste of Magic) at Middle Grade Ninja

Dan Poblocki  (*Tales to Keep You Up at Night) at From the Mixed Up Files and Ms. Yingling Reads

The Dragon Flyers | Chapter Book | ARC – A Dance With Books (wordpress.com)

Diane Zahler (*Goblin Market) at Teen Librarian Toolbox

Kate Gilby Smith (Olive Jones and the Memory Thief), at Mr Ripleys Enchanted Books

Marlo Berliner (agent) and Refe Tuma (author) (*Frances and the Monster), at Literary Rambles

Other News (not good stuff this week)

Barnes and Noble is cutting back hard on the number of hardcover mg books they'll have in stock, which is a blow to authors, especially debut authors. Here's a summary at Book Riot.  So now is a good time to order a book(s)....You can find lots (but not all) 2022 debuts here.

Fenris and Mott, by Greg van Eekhout (with interview!)

When my kids were little, we would talk about little baby Fenwis [sic] and how what he really needed was a Mama who loved him very much and gave good scritches....so it was rather delightful to see that flight of fancy come to life in Greg van Eekhout's newest book, Fenris and Mott (August 2, 2022, Harper Collins).

When Mott finds a scared little pup mweeping sadly in a recycling bin, her heart melts...dog's aren't allowed in her new apartment, but she can't just leave him.  But it turns out this isn't a puppy, but a wolf cub, who will need to be taken to live in the wild.  

The cub does not want to be leashed and taken into the wild, breaks free, and starts to bring about Ragnarok, the destruction of the world in Norse mythology.  The little mweeper is in fact Fenris, the fabled wolf who is fated to devour the sun and the moon....

And suddenly Mott's life becomes filled with Norse gods wanting to encourage Fenris, because prophesies are meant to come true. Fenris can't help the fact that the rune of annihilation is in his gut, and starts devouring on a (relatively) small scale--bits of city infrastructure and a famous actor disappear down his bottomless maw....Fortunately Mott and Fenris are found by Trudi, a Valkarie who is Fenris's protector, and the two of them join forces to try to stave off Ragnarok and save little Fenris.

It's an exciting story full of mythological mayhem crashing into the real world, balanced by the more quotidian story of a middle school kid in a new town with an absent father who doesn't' keep his promises and a best friend far away who's moving on without her.  It's also a fable of climate change (things can get plenty bad without a rune of annihilation on the loose) and so is extremely topical. The ending packs a zinger of a punch leaving my mind racing.....(nb-Fenris is fine in the end, and one hopes the moon will survive being slightly gnawed....). It's also sweet and funny and has an adorable puppy, so should be a huge hit with young fans of cute animals!  It's easy to imagine this one getting lots of love from its target audience.

And now it's my pleasure to welcome Greg here to my blog! I've been a fan of his since his very first book for young readers, Kid Vs Squid, which I reviewed back in 2010....

 

How did the idea for Fenris and Mott first come to you?

I thought it'd be fun to write a story about a kid who has to take care of some kind of cute and destructive creature. I didn't know if the creature would be an ordinary pet or an alien or a dinosaur or some kind of genetically modified beast or something else, but that was one of the seeds of an idea I first came up with. 

Was there anything that surprised you in the writing of it?

I didn't know the book was going to be in part about climate change, but you can't write about Ragnarök without writing about extreme weather, and to write about extreme weather without writing about climate change would have been weird and dishonest. 

 

This is your second Ragnorak book, the first being Norse Code, written for adults and published back in 2009.  Very different books, very different audiences….but as you were writing Fenris and Mott, did you have intrusive Norse Code flashbacks?

Not really. Norse Code and Fenris & Mott are such different books that it really wasn't hard to keep them completely separate in my head. Even when they have characters in common, like Loki and Odin and Hermod, they're very different versions of those characters. 

 

Will there be a sequel?  I can’t stop thinking about what Mott might do with her own pocket Ragnorak—nuclear waste cleanup, perhaps…..and will little Fenris be a good domesticated pet?

Oh, I would love to write a sequel! I had so much fun writing Fenris & Mott, and it'd be a blast to visit those characters again. As for Fenris as a pet, he'd be destructive and disruptive and a little bit horrible, just like my dogs!

And finally, what are you working on now?

I'm putting the final touches on a new middle-grade, The Ghost Job. It's about a crew of ghosts who do heists, and it's scheduled to come out next year.

Thank you Greg!  I will now proceed to start looking forward to The Ghost Job!

 

Greg van Eekhout is also the author of Voyage of the Dogs, Cog, and Weird Kid. He lives in San Diego, CA, with his astronomy/physics professor wife and two dogs. He’s worked as an educational software developer, ice cream scooper, part-time college instructor, and telemarketer. Being a writer is the only job he's ever actually liked. You can find more about Greg at his website: www.writingandsnacks.com.

 

The Glen Beyond the Door, by Meta Mayne Reid, for Timeslip Tuesday

A few weeks ago I joined a new Goodreads Group--"Forgotten Vintage Children's Lit We Want Republished!" and Meta Mayne Reid was one of the authors mentioned.  I'd never heard of her, and when I saw she wrote at least one time travel book, I was intrigued.  Fortunately I'd just earned an Amazon gift card with gas points (yay (?) for the high price of gas) that covered the cost of The Glen Beyond the Door (1968), and I was very excited to read it.  

Lisa's parents have just moved from Belfast to her grandfather's old home after his death.  She's recovering from polio, which has left her with a weak leg.  Soon her cousin Andrew comes to stay--his parents are off in America, and he's basically been dumped on them.  She's thrilled by the idea of having an almost brother, but Andrew is miserable.  Then, up in the attic of the house, where one wall is wood that burned in a fire centuries ago, the two kids find time travel magic.  

Together they explore the history of their family home, from the Stone Age up to the arrival of the Planters from Scotland, who took the Irish land for their own.  Each visit to the past gives them not just food for thought and wonder, but strengthening gifts--literally a stronger leg for Lisa, and a dog for Andrew, but Andrew is also helped make it through the bewildering mix of sadness and anger he's feeling.  And they are left with a tight connection to their family's home, where Planters and native Irish blended their lives together, and Andrew becomes officially welcomed into Lisa's family.

The time travel is the somewhat distant sort, in which the modern kids are mostly spectators, overlapping into kids from the past, but not changing what happened.  This made it feel more like a history lessons than part of a whole story (and I much prefer time travelers with independent volition), but it was not without interest.  Both the events of the past and the reactions of Lisa and Andrew were good (though not great) reading.  Andrew's present day emotional turmoil take center stage more forcefully than the past does, and although this too was good reading I was a little disappointed that Lisa becomes a secondary character.  

What I really liked was the layered past of this bit of Northern Ireland--there was a lovely sense of place.

So although I read it happily, and have added another of Reid's more affordable books, The McNeils at Rathcapple) to my Amazon cart, it might be a while before I use my hard won gas rewards points, Bing rewards, and Swagbucks gift cards for it.  I can actually afford to buy myself books with real grown-up money (and use this for new books), but I try not spend my wages on vintage books, because if it is too easy to buy them, I might well start buying too many.....and that way lies madness and penury.