Middle-Grade/Teen Review – The Carpet People

I wasn’t sure how to classify Terry Pratchett’s charming fantasy The Carpet People. It was originally written for a general audience, published as a serial in the newspaper, by the now-famous writer when he was only 17 years old. I think it will appeal to all ages, from middle-grade readers all the way up to adults, especially those who like whimsy and clever, fanciful adventure.

As the name suggests, The Carpet People is about a whole population of tiny beings who live unseen among the carpet fibers. In fact, there are different races and tribes of people and even animals living in the wilds of the carpet. This story focuses on a tribe called the Munrungs, which is part of the Dumii Empire. Specifically, the story is about two brothers. Glurk, a physical and slow-thinking man, took over as Chieftan when his father, old Grimm Orkson, died. Glurk’s younger brother, Snibril, is more of a cerebral young man who was taught to read and write by Pismire, the tribe’s shaman.

When danger threatens their village, the nomadic Munrungs set off on a journey across the carpet. It’s a dangerous journey, and along the way, they meet other people whose customs and habits are much different than the Munrungs. Eventually, they must overcome their fears of each other and band together to defeat their common enemy.

To be honest, I’m not normally a fan of classic fantasy stories with made-up people and beasts and worlds, but Pratchett’s unique story is very clever, filled with humorous word play and lots of action. It easily kept me entertained while I listened to it on audio, read by a talented narrator who conveyed Pratchett’s sense of whimsy. The audio also included a note from the author at the beginning, explaining how he first wrote The Carpet People and then recently revised it for this reprinting, and the unedited version of the original serial story included at the end.

Later, I found out that the paper version is actually filled with Pratchett’s own illustrations, amusing line drawings that bring the Munrungs to life on the page, so this might be a case where the book has an advantage over the audio. I also suspect that I may have missed some of the clever word play in listening rather than reading, though the audio was very entertaining. You can take a peek at some of the illustrations or listen to a sample of the audio at the Amazon link included at the bottom of this post.

Overall, I enjoyed this clever and thoughtful story about tribes of tiny people living in the carpet.  Believe it or not, this was my very first Terry Pratchett novel (his books have sold over 80 million copies!), so I think I will be reading more of his work.

Listening Library

 

Middle-Grade Review: The Real Boy

I am a long-time fan of Anne Ursu. My son and I both loved her Cronus Chronicles trilogy, starting with The Shadow Thieves, and I enjoyed her middle-grade novel Breadcrumbs so much that I bought a copy for my niece for Christmas the year is was released. I just finished listening to her latest middle-grade novel, The Real Boy, on audio, and it is another winner, filled with magic coupled with very real human emotion.

Oscar is a young shop boy who works for Caleb, the most powerful wizard in the village. He is ridiculed by Caleb’s apprentice, Wolf, but otherwise, Oscar lives a very quiet and content life, taking care of Caleb’s plants and herbs, collecting them and preparing them for the great wizard. Oscar has a fabulous memory and is an expert with herbs, but when it comes to people, he doesn’t know what to do or say and doesn’t understand normal human interactions.

Oscar is perfectly happy with his quiet, sheltered life, but it doesn’t last. Some sort of mysterious and violent force is at work in the village, and all of the wealthy, perfect children from the nearby city are getting sick. Suddenly, Oscar needs to step outside of his comfort zone and take on a larger role. Fortunately, he’s got a new friend, Callie, who is the Healer’s apprentice, by his side.

Ursu has created a unique, magical world in this novel, one with a frightening and mysterious past and an uncertain future. She has also created a unique and sympathetic character in Oscar, who would probably be diagnosed with autism in our world. Oscar’s insecurities and difficulties make him more endearing to readers, especially children. I thought it was very clever how Ursu took a young character with autistic characteristics and dropped him into a magical, fantasy world. Seeing Oscar struggle with his challenges and grow as the story moves forward can perhaps give real-life children some insight into their classmates or neighbors who seem “different.”

Beyond that, though, The Real Boy is simply a great story, well told. It will certainly appeal to children who enjoy magic and fantasy and is perfect for the middle-grade age group, with just the right amount of intrigue and suspense to engage them without scaring them. Children are always empowered to read about characters their own age who take control of their lives (and their fears), and Oscar and Callie make a wonderful pair of heroes. It’s also a story about friendship and finding your place in the wider world. I can’t wait to see what Ursu comes up with next!

352 pages, Walden Pond Press

HarperAudio

For more information about Anne Ursu and her books, check out her website. 

Disclosure: I received this book from the publisher in return for an honest review. My review is my own opinion and is not influenced by my relationship with the publisher or author.

 

Note: This post contains affiliate links. Purchases from these links provide a small commission to me (pennies per purchase), to help offset the time I spend writing for this blog, at no extra cost to you.

Listen to a sample of the audiobook here and/ordownload it from Audible ($.99).

 

Or get this audiobook from Libro.fm and support local bookstores (audio sample here, too).

 

Print and e-book from Amazon.

 

You can buy the book through Bookshop.org, where your purchase will support the indie bookstore of your choice (or all indie bookstores)--the convenience of shopping online while still buying local!

Middle-Grade Review: The Game of Sunken Places

The Game of Sunken Places by M.T. Anderson has been sitting on my to-be-read shelf for a long time, ever since my teen son read it a few years ago. I’ve heard good things about Anderson’s books, but this was the first one I ever read. It’s a mystery/fantasy story for middle-grade readers that is sort of like a cross between The Hardy Boys and Jumanji.

Thirteen-year old Gregory’s eccentric adopted uncle invites him and a friend to spend their school holiday at his house in Vermont. When Gregory and his best friend, Brian, arrive at the old mansion in the woods, they find that Uncle Max is even stranger than they’d thought. He and his home seem to exist in a different century, and Uncle Max insists that the boys dress in tweed knickers and stiff-collared shirts while they are visiting. Meals are quiet, formal affairs attended by servants at a big dining room table with Uncle Max and Gregory’s cousin, Prudence.

The boys poke around the deserted nursery and decide to ease their boredom with an old board game they find, The Game of Sunken Places. This game, though, is like none they’ve ever played before, and as they explore the area around the mansion, more and more spaces on the board become visible. This strange game takes them far beyond the game board and nursery, as they explore the woods around the house and discover things they never dreamed existed in real life – trolls, spirits, and other fearsome creatures – all locked in an age-old battle that now includes the two friends.

The tone of this novel, especially at the beginning, reminded me very much of old Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys mysteries – two old friends discovering a mystery. It’s an us-against-the-world feeling, with plenty of good-natured joking between the boys (Gregory is especially prone to wise cracks). Then, the action turns more toward fantasy, as the mysteries surrounding Uncle Max and the old house turn out to involve all sorts of otherworldly beings, unseen worlds, and ancient conflicts.

I’m not a huge fan of fantasy normally (my son is), but I enjoyed this fast-paced and thoroughly unique story. It is filled with action, suspense, a good dose of humor to lighten the mood, and surprises around every corner. Kids who enjoy fantasy stories about strange creatures and other worlds will love this novel.

260 pages, Scholastic

(M.T. Anderson wrote another 3 books in this series, titled The Norumbegan Quartet)

 

Teen/YA Review: The Far West

After years of my son urging me to read Patricia C. Wrede’s Frontier Magic trilogy, I finally read TheThirteenth Child and Across theGreat Barrier in quick succession. He was right! It’s an excellent series that crosses the Old West with magic. I recently finished the final book of the trilogy, The Far West, and found it just as good and a fitting end to a great series.

For those who haven’t read the first two books yet, I will avoid any spoilers. The author does a good job of filling in essential information for new readers, but I would still recommend reading the series from the beginning. The story focuses on Eff who is now a young woman and finished with her schooling. Eff loves the wilderness west of the Great Barrier Spell, which keeps out dangerous wildlife – both magical like swarming weasels and Medusa lizards as well as nonmagical species. She has already made several trips out there in the previous novels, as an assistant to the professors of the local college.

Eff gets another chance to head out west at the start of this novel as part of a government-sponsored expedition, but this trip will be even more dangerous than previous ones because they’ll be attempting to travel further west than anyone has ever gone (and returned from). Her family is not happy with this plan, but Eff knows that this is what she wants to do with her life. Traveling with a large group of scientists, magicians, and soldiers, Eff encounters new and dangerous wildlife, learns more about her own unique kind of magic, and discovers more about herself. When the team encounters something that could threaten the entire continent, they will need all of their skills – including Eff’s – in order to avert disaster.

This series succeeds on so many different levels. Wrede has created an intriguing fantasy world, populated by strange and wondrous creatures and talented magicians, but the novel is also set against the fascinating backdrop of the pioneer West in a U.S. that is quite similar – though with subtle differences – to our own history. Finally, it is populated by in-depth characters whose lives you come to care about, and is a coming-of-age story of young Eff, as the series follows her from a small child to a grown woman who knows what she wants from her life. All of these elements are wrapped together in an exciting, fast-paced adventure story.

378 pages, Scholastic

NOTE: If, like me, you are fascinated about where the action in the Frontier Magic trilogy takes place relative to our own version of the nation, click on this link and scroll down to the bottom for two maps of North Columbia and the Mill City area.

In this brief video, Wrede talks about why she loves writing, with references to her Enchanted Forest series:



 

Middle-Grade Review: Wildwood

Well, it took me many months, but I finally finished listening to the middle-grade audio book Wildwood by Colin Meloy. It’s an intricate fantasy filled with talking animals, bandits, mystics, and even an evil queen-wannabe.

Young Prue McKeel has a very ordinary life, living with her parents and little brother, Mac, in Portland. Then, one day when Prue is out with her brother, Mac is stolen right out of his wagon by a group of crows and carried into the tangled forest along the edge of the city. Prue takes off into the woods with her friend, Curtis, to find her baby brother, but the pair encounter far more than they could have imagined.

They come across coyote soldiers and animal constables, but finding Mac proves difficult. It turns out there is a whole secret world in the forest that the residents call Wildwood. That world is in turmoil, balanced on the precipice of a major war between forces of good and evil, and Prue and Curtis find themselves – and Mac – in the middle of the conflict.

Wildwood is a classic fantasy tale with its young protagonists at the center of an epic battle between good and evil, fighting not only for their own lives and freedom but for the liberty of all of Wildwood. Author Colin Meloy, lead singer of the Decemberists, has created an original and whimsical world. The audio book was very well done and enjoyable, but I suspect the book is also excellent, accompanied by illustrations by award-winning artist Carson Ellis.

HarperCollins Audio

Listen to a sample.

AUDIO:     

Teen/YA Review: Across the Great Barrier

I enjoyed The Thirteenth Child by Patricia C. Wrede so much that when I finished it, I immediately picked up the second book in the trilogy, Across the Great Barrier. I flew through it and loved it just as much as the first book. Wrede’s world of the Wild West with magic added in is fascinating and peopled by real, in-depth characters

In this second novel, Eff finishes high school and continues working for a professor at the Northern Plains Riverbank College in her town. Because of her experience the previous summer, she is asked to join a scientific expedition heading West, past the Great Barrier Spell, to further identify flora and fauna in the unexplored areas and check on regrowth after a devastating insect infestation in the settlements the previous year. Eff is thrilled to be heading back out into the wilderness, though her mother fears for her safety.

Meanwhile, Eff’s brother Lan (who is a seventh son of a seventh son and therefore a very powerful magician) and their best friend, William, continue their studies in magic in great eastern universities. Eff continues to be wary of her magical powers. She now knows that there is nothing inherently unlucky about being a thirteenth child, but she is still having trouble getting past the mental roadblocks that have been in place since early childhood.

Out West, Eff and the rest of the expedition discover things they’ve never even known could exist, struggle against obstacles (including saber cats and Columbian sphinxes), and try their best to help the settlements when unforeseen dangers crop up. As in the first book, Across the Great Barrier is filled with adventure and magic in the setting of the Wild West. Through the hardships and mysteries they encounter, Eff continues to grow not only physically but emotionally and magically as well, as she learns more about her own particular brand of magic and how to control it. It is an exciting, fast-paced story full of likable characters that I finished quickly. Now I am ready for book #3 – I can’t wait to see what happens to Eff and Lan next!

339 pages, Scholastic

NOTE: As with the first book in the series, Across the Great Barrier is marketed toward teens but is perfectly appropriate for older middle-grade readers as well, especially those who enjoyed the Little House and Harry Potter books!

    

Middle-Grade/Teen Review: The Thirteenth Child

Ever since my son read The Thirteenth Child by Patricia C. Wrede in 2010, he has been telling me, “Mom, you just have to read this book – it’s so good!” With my overflowing piles of books waiting to be read, it took me a while, but I finally found time to read it at the end of 2012. My son was right, as usual! It is a well-written and unique novel, a sort of combination of Harry Potter and Little House on the Prairie that I enjoyed so much that I immediately started reading its sequel when I finished.

Eff (don’t ever call her by her full name, Francine) was the thirteenth child born in her family, a circumstance that is considered not only unlucky but disastrous in her culture. Her twin brother, Lan, born just a few minutes later, was not only the fourteenth child in the family but the seventh son of a seventh son which makes him not just lucky but also gives him extra-special magic powers. While her entire community discriminates against Eff from the very start of her life, Lan is treated with reverence and even a bit of fear.

As enticing as that beginning sounds, the setting of this novel is even more fascinating. It is set in the United States during the time of pioneers and western expansion, but it is an alternative history, where magic is an integral part of everyday life. Certain facts of history are the same as our own history but other aspects differ. For instance, there was still a war between the states, but it was known as the Secession War, and it occurred several decades earlier than our own Civil War.

The Great Barrier Spell protects all of the states and territories east of the Mammoth River (aka Mississippi River) from both natural and magical wildlife. The bears and mammoths, sphinx cats and steam dragons, and all the other dangerous wildlife are unable to cross the barrier, allowing people to live peacefully and without fear.  But, after the war, westward expansion booms as the nation’s need for more space grows, and more and more families join settlements west of the Great Barrier Spell. Each settlement is required to have its own magician, someone professionally trained to help maintain the settlement’s protection spells.

In that setting, Eff (living in a town just east of the Great Barrier Spell, on the edge of the western frontier) struggles to overcome the challenge of her birth order, with her family’s support. She and Lan go to school, become friends with their next-door neighbor, and learn magic, but Eff is constantly worried that something terrible will happen to her or those she loves.

This novel has everything: adventure, magic, friendship, and family, with details of pioneer life added in. It is fast-paced and exciting with a warmth and depth uncommon in many adventure stories. Kids that enjoyed the Little House books or Hagrid’s Care of Magical Creatures class in Harry Potter will especially love Eff and Lan’s world. And when you finish The Thirteenth Child and are dying to hear more, there are two more sequels already released to keep you reading happily.

NOTE: The Frontier Magic trilogy is officially labeled as teen fiction, but I’m halfway through the second book and think they would be perfectly appropriate for older middle-grade readers, too.

344 pages, Scholastic

 

Teen/YA Review: Everfound

Happy Halloween (one day late)!  I have been preparing for Halloween by reading some spooky books this month (see my review of Magisterium), and what is spookier than ghosts?  Everfound by Neal Schusterman, the third and final book in his Skinjacking trilogy that started with Everlost, was a satisfying conclusion to an excellent series.

This is going to be tricky (get it?  tricky on Halloween?), but I’m going to try to tell you about the third book without giving away what happens in the first two books because if you haven’t read this series yet, you are really missing out….and you need to start at the beginning.

Everlost is the world that exists in between the living world and the dead world.  It is populated only by children and teens who are not yet ready to head into the light and “get where they are going.”  There, kids can see the real world but can not interact with it or change it.  The exception are skinjackers, a certain minority of the kids in Everlost who can temporarily take over a living body and thereby interact with the living world.

Many of the same main characters from earlier books play key roles in Everfound:  Allie the Outcast, Nick the Chocolate Ogre, Mary Hightower, and Mikey the McGill.  They are joined in this third and final book by two new characters.  Jix is a furjacker – a skinjacker who likes to take over big cats – sent by the Mayan King of Everlost to find out more about Mary.  Mary, as before, is intent on controlling all of Everlost, though her plans have become more sinister than before. Some of the skinjackers, led by Milos, have figured out how to bring more children into Everlost to increase the size and strength of Mary’s growing army.  All of the kids are terrified by the appearance of a scar wraith, the most feared type of being in all of Everlost, a person who is half in the living world and half in Everlost and whose touch is said to be capable of extinguishing the Everlost child he touches forever.

As Mary’s power grows and her army of skinjackers becomes more powerful, Allie, Nick, Mikey, Jix, and the others realize they must set aside their differences in order to save Everlost – and the living world – from Mary’s evil plans.  As with the first two books, Everfound is fast-paced and full of suspense, with plenty of likeable characters to root for.  I loved it, and my husband and son can’t wait to read it next!

500 pages, Simon & Schuster

Simon & Schuster Audio

 

Disclosure: I received this book from the publisher in return for an honest review. My review is my own opinion and is not influenced by my relationship with the publisher or author.

 

Note: This post contains affiliate links. Purchases from these links provide a small commission to me (pennies per purchase), to help offset the time I spend writing for this blog, at no extra cost to you.

 

Listen to a sample of the audiobook here and/or download it from Audible.

 

Or get this audiobook from Libro.fm and support local bookstores.

 

You can buy the book through Bookshop.org, where your purchase will support the indie bookstore of your choice (or all indie bookstores)--the convenience of shopping online while still buying local!

 
  

Teen/YA Review: Magisterium

I wanted to read some spooky books during the month of October, and Magisterium by Jeff Hirsch kicked off my creepy reading perfectly!  This new novel from the author of The Eleventh Plague starts out as your typical post-apocalyptic/dystopian novel, but it also has a hefty dose of (dark) magic and lots of surprises.

Sixteen-year old Glenn Morgan lives a quiet life.  Her mother left when she was six, and her scientist father is immersed in his project out in his workshop, leaving Glenn on her own most of the time.  She goes to school, hangs out with her mohawked friend, Kevin Kapoor, and dreams of the day when she can apply to a space academy and escape her lonely life.  They live in a world based on technology and science, but Kevin has heard rumors of a different world, filled with magic and monsters, just beyond the Rift that borders their backyards.  Glenn insists that there is nothing beyond the Rift but a barren wasteland, as they’ve been taught in their history classes.

One day, their quiet, dull lives are upended when Glenn’s dad finally finishes the project he’s been obsessed with, a metal bracelet, and the Authority, their police force, come to arrest him.  Glenn and Kevin grab the bracelet and escape to the only place they can – across the border.  What they find there, on the run from the government, is crazy and confusing and hard to believe, but Glenn must continue her quest to save her father.

I don’t want to say much more about the rest of the novel because it is filled with suspense and lots of twists and turns.  It is an imaginative and action-packed adventure story about a dystopian world much different than others I have read about (and I have read a lot of dystopian novels this year!).  Glenn and Kevin are both strong, admirable characters whom I was rooting for.  I devoured the book quickly, and now my 18-year old son wants to read it!

310 pages, Scholastic

 

Middle-Grade Review: Breadcrumbs

When I heard that Anne Ursu had a new middle-grade novel coming out last year, I knew it would be something special.  I’m a fan of Ursu’s, having enjoyed one of her grown-up novels, The Disapparation of James, and her middle-grade trilogy, The Cronus Chronicles, which cleverly combines fantasy and wit.  I recently listened to her latest, Breadcrumbs, on audio, and this magical story did not disappoint.

Ten-year old Hazel has had a rough time lately – her father left her and her mother, they don’t have a lot of money, and Hazel doesn’t feel that she fits in with the other kids at school.  All of that is OK, though, because Hazel has her best friend, Jack, who lives next door.  Together, they create fantasy worlds, go sledding, and play superhero baseball, so it doesn’t matter if the other kids don’t want to hang out with her at recess.  Suddenly, though, Jack seems to have changed and Hazel feels him pulling away from her.  When Jack disappears, she puts her hurt feelings aside and goes after him because she knows she is his only hope.

When Hazel heads into the Minnesota woods alone, with her backpack filled with necessities (including an autographed baseball Jack gave her), she has no idea that she is literally stepping into another world.  In her quest to find Jack, Hazel encounters all kinds of strange characters, many of whom will be familiar to fans of Hans Christian Anderson’s fairy tales.  In a classic struggle of good versus evil, Hazel uses her wits and her connection with Jack to seek out the Snow Queen and bring Jack back home.  It’s a sometimes scary journey for Hazel, but somehow you always believe that things will turn out well in the end.

The genius of this novel is the way that Ursu weaves a realistic story of 10-year old best friends struggling with the kinds of challenges that real kids face together with a fantasy world populated by fairy tale characters.  The blending of fantasy and reality (which was also evident in The Cronus Chronicles) is sure to appeal to middle-grade readers.  Add to that Ursu’s considerable talent for prose, peppered with references to popular children’s literature, and even a dose of her trademark humor, and you have a magical, engaging story.

Although I enjoyed the audio production of this book, I think this is a case where the traditional paper book is best, thanks to Erin McGuire’s beautiful illustrations.  I bought a copy of the hardcover for my 9-year old niece for Christmas, and she paged through the book reverently, pausing to exclaim over each illustration and running her hands over the beautiful cover.  She even gently removed the jacket and gasped in delight at the embossed snowflakes on the book itself (a girl after my own heart!).  It’s a beautifully produced book that makes a lovely gift for any young reader.

336 pages, Walden Pond Press

HarperAudio

Disclosure: I received this book from the publisher in return for an honest review. My review is my own opinion and is not influenced by my relationship with the publisher or author.

 

Note: This post contains affiliate links. Purchases from these links provide a small commission to me (pennies per purchase), to help offset the time I spend writing for this blog, at no extra cost to you.

For more information about Anne Ursu and her books (including some of the illustrations from Breadcrumbs), check out her website. 

Listen to a sample of the audiobook here and/or download it from Audible.

 

Or get this audiobook from Libro.fm and support local bookstores (audio sample here, too).

 

Print and e-book from Amazon.

 

You can buy the book through Bookshop.org, where your purchase will support the indie bookstore of your choice (or all indie bookstores)--the convenience of shopping online while still buying local!

Middle-Grade Review: Nicholas St. North (The Guardians)

 Paging through the Simon & Schuster children’s catalog last spring, I was intrigued by a big 2-page spread for a brand-new series called The Guardians by veteran children’s authors William Joyce and Laura Geringer.  What caught my eye?  The copy said that a movie adaptation was in progress…and the first book of the new series hadn’t even been published yet!  Companion pictures books (beginning with The Man in the Moon) are also planned.  I decided to check out this new multi-media concept and requested a review copy of Book One: Nicholas St. North and the Battle of the Nightmare King.

The series concept is that each book will tell the legend of the beginning of various Guardians of Childhood: the Man in the Moon, Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, etc.  This first book, as you might have guessed, tells the story of St. Nick (and also the Man in the Moon), but you won’t recognize anything from other traditional stories you’ve heard.   As the inside flap says, “Here, in this first in a series of epic Guardian adventures, meet the legendary St. Nick.  You’ve known about him for years, but, it turns out, you don’t really know him at all…”

The story opens with a classic tale of good versus evil as the Nightmare King (evil, obviously) escapes from his state of frozen paralysis and also releases the spectral boy with his crystal dagger, powered by moonbeams (good).  Meanwhile, in the peaceful, isolated Siberian town of Santoff Claussen, a kind and powerful wizard named Ombric senses that something bad has happened and hastens to protect the people of his village.  Through a dream, he summons Nicholas St. North, a notorious bandit, to help him.  An epic battle ensues.

This is a fast-paced adventure story, full of imagination and fantasy, though it never did fully connect the St. Nick we know today with these early events that obviously helped to point him in that direction (perhaps the story will continue in one of the sequels).  I’m not familiar with Geringer but know that William Joyce is well known for his very creative stories, like George Shrinks, A Day with Wilbur Robinson (made into the movie Meet the Robinsons), and my family’s favorite, Dinosaur Bob.  This new middle-grade series has all the originality and imagination of those picture books and is illustrated by Joyce’s fanciful “illuminations.”  It’s sure to be a hit with kids who enjoy action and fantasy.

228 pages, Atheneum (imprint of Simon & Schuster) 

 

Teen/YA Reviews: Linger and Forever

 Let’s be clear about this from the outset: I am not a big fan of the trendy paranormal romance genre.  I have nothing against it; it’s just not really my thing.  So, it took me a long time to finally break down and read Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater because I heard it was about werewolves, and I had no interest in it at all.  All the fabulous reviews, though, finally wore me down, and, like everyone else, I loved it.  I have just finished tearing through the last two books of the trilogy, Linger and Forever, and I thoroughly enjoyed those as well. 

This is a series that transcends its genre, with well-written prose, an engaging and creative plot, and in-depth likeable characters that captured my heart.  In case you’ve been living in a cave for the past few years and haven’t read Shiver yet (not that I’m judging – I had to be convinced, too!), the trilogy is basically a love story, with elements of suspense and adventure. 

At the start of the trilogy, Grace is an older teen living in northern Minnesota who has been obsessed with wolves since she was a child.  She watches the pack that live in the Boundary Woods behind her house with fascination and longing, and she is particularly captivated by one wolf with yellow eyes who once saved her life.  During the warmer months (which isn’t many in northern Minnesota), that wolf with the yellow eyes is actually a quiet teenage boy named Sam who works in her favorite bookstore.

I don’t want to say much more about the plot in case you haven’t read Shiver yet because it is so much fun to discover for yourself.  Linger and Forever follow the story of Grace and Sam through many ups and downs to a final tense but satisfying conclusion.  The amazing thing about this trilogy is that somehow the author makes it all so believable and so real.  I had no trouble suspending my skepticism as teens and young adults changed from wolves to humans and back again.  There is nothing stale or trite about these books, and I don’t even like calling it a werewolf story because it is so much more.  In fact, I keep wanting to say, “These books aren’t about werewolves; they’re about people who turn into wolves.”

The reader gains insight into the real lives of these characters – their pains, their joys, their hopes and their dreams – as we are pulled into the story.  Sam’s love of music and poetry help us to understand his deepest feelings.  Stiefvater is a wonderful writer; she made me care about Sam and Grace and their friends.  There is plenty of suspense and tension in all three books, as the people and wolves battle not only their uncontrollable transformations but also a town of angry parents who want to hunt the entire pack after a teen is killed by wolves.  Just take my word for it – read it and you won’t be sorry!

Linger, 362 pages and Forever, 386 pages; Scholastic 

P.S. Just a brief word about the books themselves.  I was disappointed in the production quality of my paperback copy of Linger.  The text is printed in green ink, which would have been OK except that some pages were dark and some were so light they were hard to read.   The pages of the paperback were also bound roughly so it was hard to open all the way.  In contrast, the hardcover copies I read of both Shiver and Forever were very high quality and readable, even though the ink in Forever is a dark reddish-brown.

       

Middle-Grade Review: The Search for WondLa

 I had been eager to read the new middle-grade release from Tony Diterlizzi, co-author/creator of The Spiderwick Chronicles.  His latest is a middle-grade fantasy/sci-fi adventure called The Search for WondLa.  I ended up listening to the first half on audio and reading the second half on paper, with a rather mixed review of the two different approaches to telling this imaginative story.  Ultimately, I would recommend reading the book on paper but not listening to it on audio.

The story opens with 12-year old Eva Nine, a young girl who has grown up entirely isolated in an underground sanctuary with her robot mother (cleverly named Muthr, Multi-Utility Task Help Robot, a name I may adopt!).  Though Eva has been happy and well cared for, she sets off on a journey, eager to find others like herself.  Her only clue to help in her search is a scrap of torn paper that shows a girl like herself with a robot and an adult human with the torn words WondLa left.  The world she explores is filled with strange, wondrous, and sometimes frightening creatures.

I brought the audio on our California vacation this June, figuring it would be a perfect fit for our annual road trip, with all the elements my family usually enjoys: a young protagonist in a fantastical place on a fast-paced adventure.  We listened to about half of it before my kids finally said, “No more!” and my husband and I agreed.  Now granted, none of us are smack in the middle of the book’s intended audience of middle-grade readers (my sons are now 13 and 17 and their reading tastes have matured a bit), but all four of us felt that the audio production just wasn’t very good. 

The story was interesting, but the narrator (ironically a well-respected actress, Teri Hatcher of Desperate Housewives fame) just grated on us.  She read the main character, a twelve-year old girl, in a fake-sounding little girl voice.  My youngest son kept saying, “She just sounds too young!” And some of the other characters had similarly strange-sounding voices (granted, they are all strange, made-up sorts of beings).  It’s hard to describe, but we just found the overall effect annoying and finally gave up.

Upon returning home, I was determined to give it another try, this time on paper.  I finished reading the book and enjoyed it very much.  I think this is a case where the old-fashioned paper format is best, especially because Diterlizzi’s imaginative text is accompanied by lots and lots of his wonderful illustrations.  With so many unusual creatures and places in the story, the illustrations were additive, helping me to better imagine Eva’s adventures.  I found the rest of the book engrossing, loved the ending, and can’t wait for the next book in the planned trilogy!

NOTE:  The book and audio both have a unique feature.  You go to the WondLa website (where there is also a nice promo video of the story), click on the WondLa Vision icon, and follow the instructions to download special software (it took about 5 minutes).  Then, you hold up certain illustrations (3 different pages of the book or the pictures on the first 3 CDs) to your web cam, and up pops a 3-D map of Eva’s journey, each one adding to the last as the story unfolds.  It’s pretty cool.

473 pages, Simon & Schuster

 

Review: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, book and movie

Last week was Harry Potter week at our house (and probably in many other houses, too!).   I re-read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows for the second time, and our whole family went to see the final movie at the theater on Sunday.  We don’t get out to the movie theater very often, but for years we have made sure to catch the annual Harry Potter movie, no matter what.  There’s not much I can say about the book or movie that hasn’t already been said, but I thought I’d just share some of my own thoughts on both.

If you haven’t read a Harry Potter book in a while (or…gasp…have never read one), I urge you to pick one up.  I had forgotten what an amazing writer J.K. Rowling is, how she has the ability to make her pretend world seem more real than your real world.  Her books are exciting and fast-paced, of course, but they are also imbibed with a wonderful, subtle sense of humor and plenty of warmth.  By this past weekend, I was at the point where I just could not put the book down (even though I’d read it before and knew how it ended!) – that sounds trite, but in reality, there are very few books that can really make me set aside my to-do list and just spend an entire day reading.

The movies have been remarkable also.  As any avid reader knows, the book is always better than the movie, and there is nothing worse than a poorly done movie adaptation of a favorite book.  My husband, older son, and I have all read all of the Harry Potter books, and we have all thoroughly enjoyed the movies as well.  Of course, as with any movie adaptation, especially of such long books, there are many small details missing and other details that need to be changed, but overall, the Harry Potter movies have stuck closely to the original books.  In this case, the movies have been additive, bringing our favorite characters and scenes to life in a way that pays homage to the books.

Harry Potter has been more than a story; it has defined a whole generation, creating a cultural phenomenon never before seen.  Before J.K. Rowling came along, could you even have imagined a book causing hundreds of thousands of fans to line up for hours?  Or bookstores staying open until midnight so that people could buy a book at the exact moment of its release?  Or kids willingly reading 800-page tomes?  Harry Potter caused all of that and more, paving the way for other mega-popular books and midnight release parties (Twilight comes to mind).

 

So, now it’s all over – the last book written, the last movie made.  Will my family ever go to the movies again?  Well, if we ever miss Harry Potter, we’ll find him alive and well on our bookshelves, in seven beautiful hardcover volumes, just waiting to take us back to the world of witchcraft and wizardry.

 

(NOTE:  I thought you might enjoy some more photos from my son’s 8^th birthday when we hosted a Harry Potter party:  there’s Professor Snape presiding over Potions class, Madam Trelawney in Divinations class, and all the kids ready for their Sorting Ceremony.  I also included a few photos on Monday’s post.)

 

Some of the Books Jamie Read on Vacation

As I mentioned in my Monday post, we just returned from a 3-week vacation, and my 16-year old son, Jamie, read about a dozen books in that time!  We had to ship a carton of books ahead of time to keep him stocked up, and the carton hasn't arrived back home yet, so I can't include a full list, but here are some of the books he read while we were away:

• Triss and Loamhedge by Brian Jacques, part of Jamie's effort to re-read the entire Redwall series (which he did!).
• The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass (His Dark Materials trilogy) by Philip Pullman - a re-read for Jamie.
• Books 3 and 4 (City of Glass and City of Fallen Angels) in The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare (and he enjoyed those so much, he is now re-reading books 1 & 2!)
• The Dragon's Apprentice, Book 5 in The Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica series by James A. Owen, where H.G. Wells asks J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and Charles Williams to be caretakers of an atlas of imaginary places, thus bringing into the stories the fictional locations of all of your favorite places from fantasy novels (a really wonderful series!)
• Fire by Kristin Cashore, the first novel either of us has read by this author.
• Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton, which Jamie had to borrow from my aunt because he'd run out of books for the flight home!  He was thrilled when I told him there were two sequels that we have at home.

So, that's just a portion of the books Jamie read while we were away.  As you can see, he is an avid book lover!  And, unlike his mother, he can read in the car without getting sick, so he spent all of our driving hours buried in fiction, lucky boy.

Teen/YA Review: Sapphique

Last year, the teen/YA audio novel Incarceron kept my family riveted during our spring break road trip to Louisiana and back.  Author Catherine Fisher had created a very unique world that combined modern technology with an old-fashioned veneer.  This spring break, as we drove to Oklahoma and back, its sequel, Sapphique, helped the miles fly by.  (I tried to avoid second book spoilers here, but if you haven’t read Incarceron yet, you’d be better off reading that review).

As in the first book, the action of this second novel switches back and forth between Incarceron, the grimy, industrial, living prison and the outside world, where nobility and peasants live as though it were an earlier century, despite the ignored existence of very advanced technology.  Now, really, if you haven’t read Incarceron yet, you might want to skip the next two paragraphs…

At the start of the novel, Finn is trying to adjust to life Outside with Claudia, but he finds that it has its own challenges and is not the utopia he’d thought it was.  Meanwhile, the friends he left behind in Incarceron, Attia and Keiro, continue to struggle within the prison, in search of a magical glove, said to have been the way that the legendary Sapphique escaped.  

Claudia worries about her father, who is now trapped within Incarceron, and her beloved tutor, Jared, whose health continues to worsen, and can’t help but have doubts as to whether Finn is truly the missing prince, though she wants to believe it.  When another young man shows up, also claiming to be the lost prince, Finn must somehow prove he is the true heir in order to save both his and Claudia’s lives.

I think we all favored Incarceron just a bit, perhaps for its surprising turns and new setting, but Sapphique had plenty of its own twists and surprises to keep us listening happily for hours.  Reader Kim Mai Guest did a marvelous job with both books, giving each character his or her own unique voice.  Fans of fantasy and dystopian novels (though this isn’t strictly dystopian) will thoroughly enjoy both books in Catherine Fisher’s imaginative and fast-paced set.

Listening Library

Listen to a sample of Sapphique:

   AUDIO: 

Teen/YA Fiction: Shiver

Let me just say upfront that I am not a big fan of that newest and hottest of YA genres, paranormal romance.  I really have no interest in reading about vampires and werewolves; I haven’t even read the Twilight books.  So, I was in no hurry to read Maggie Stiefvater’s Shiver, a novel about a teen girl who has a special relationship with one of the wolves who lives in the woods near her home and who is sometimes in the form of a teen boy.  The plot just didn’t appeal to me, but I kept reading reviews, from people whose opinions I respect, who said it was an excellent, well-written, engaging book.  So, I gave it a try (finally)…and I’m so glad that I did!

I was pleasantly surprised by Shiver.  I had no problem suspending belief in this group of teens and young adults who spend part of their lives as wolves, and I immediately liked Grace, the girl who feels such a connection to the wolves.  Grace was only eleven years old when the pack of starving wolves pulled her off the tire swing in her backyard and dragged her into the woods:

One wolf prodded his nose into my hand and against my cheek, casting a shadow across my face.  His yellow eyes looked into mine while the other wolves jerked me this way and that.

I held onto those eyes for as long as I could.  Yellow.  And, up close, flecked brilliantly with every shade of gold and hazel.  I didn’t want him to look away, and he didn’t.  I wanted to reach out and grab a hold of his ruff, but my hands stayed curled on my chest, my hands frozen to my body

I couldn’t remember what it felt like to be warm.

Then he was gone, and without him, the other wolves closed in, too close, suffocating.  Something seemed to flutter in my chest.

There was no sun; there was no light.  I was dying.  I couldn’t remember what the sky looked like.

But I didn’t die.  I was lost to a sea of cold, and then I was reborn into a world of warmth.

I remember this: his yellow eyes.

I thought I’d never see them again.

The wolf with the yellow eyes is Sam, and he feels that same undeniable connection to Grace that she feels to him.  Sam spends part of every year as a teen boy and the rest as a wolf, among a pack of similarly afflicted humans/wolves.  Sam and Grace fall in love, and Sam wants desperately to find a way to remain human so that he can be with Grace forever, but that seems impossible.  At the same time, events in their town put the entire wolf pack at risk.

Despite my initial reluctance, I was pulled into Shiver right from the first chapter and found it hard to put down.  It is a romance at its heart, but it also contains elements of suspense and adventure that kept me turning the pages. This is one of those books with such wide appeal it that transcends its genre.  I can’t wait to read the sequel, Linger, and find out what happens next in Grace and Sam’s lives.

390 pages, Scholastic Press

Where Are You Reading 2011:  Shiver takes place in the fictional town of Mercy Falls, in northern Minnesota, north of Duluth and near the Boundary Waters National Recreation Area.

If you want to learn more about the Wolves of Mercy Falls series - or just  can't get enough of it! -  check out Maggie Stiefvater's website and blog, where I just learned that the film rights have been purchased.

(You can also read my reviews of Linger and Forever, the second and third books in the trilogy.)

Middle-Grade/Teen Review: Pendragon 10: Soldiers of Halla

On our recent trip to Oklahoma after Christmas, I absolutely devoured Pendragon #10: Soldiers of Halla by D.J MacHale.  Then, the moment I finished it, my 16-year old son snatched it up and read the 600-page book in less than 24 hours!

The Pendragon series has been one of our all-time favorites for years, and it obviously still holds that rank in our household.  This series finale did not disappoint.

The star of these books is Bobby Pendragon, a 14-year old boy living in Connecticut with his family at the start of the series, and an 18-year old young man who is responsible for the fate of the universe by the end.  In between, it's a fast-paced adventure through space and time to different Territories, peopled by a wide variety of beings, all united in a race against time to defeat evil, in whatever form it appears in their world.

I'm not going to say much about the plot of this particular book because the twists and turns are an integral part of the imaginative story, and I wouldn't want to ruin it for anyone who wants to read the series from the beginning...which I highly recommend!  My son and I were both very satisfied with the series ending and the answers it provided.  I couldn't wait for him to finish it, too, so we could talk about it!

Pendragon will appeal to older kids, teens, and adults who enjoy adventure, science fiction, or fantasy with an intricate, suspenseful plot that makes you keep turning the pages long past bedtime.  I couldn't wait to read the final book, but now I'm sorry that it's over.  I'll miss Bobby and his friends!  Give this series a try - you won't be sorry.

608 pages, Aladdin