In the 2020 portal fantasy Over the Woodward Wall by A. Deborah Baker (a pseudonym for the prolific Seanan McGuire), two children, Avery and Zib, climbed a granite wall that had inexplicably appeared in the road and were transported to a magical world, the Up-and-Under. It’s much like the land of Oz but with far sharper teeth, and Avery and Zib are anxious to find their way home to our world. They are told to follow the improbable road to the Impossible City, and there ask the Queen of Wands for help getting home.
Following the improbable road is easier said than done, with mudslides, dangerous rulers, and misunderstandings and hurt feelings hindering their path. Worse yet, the Queen of Wands has disappeared, upsetting the balance of power and endangering the entire Up-and-Under. But along with the dangers there are new friends, like the brave Crow Girl and Niamh, a drowned girl from a city beneath the sea ice, not to mention Avery and Zib’s growing friendship for each other.
As Along the Saltwise Sea begins (after a long introductory chapter that recaps the first book), Avery, Zib, the Crow Girl and Niamh, bedraggled and footsore from walking the improbable road for so long, drink from a well of water and then, for no particularly good reason, tumble down to the bottom of the well. Some helpful kelp (at least Niamh calls it helpful; the children aren’t so sure) pulls them underwater and eventually to a cave that leads — after another too-long walk — to a beach and an empty cottage. It would certainly be too much to expect the exhausted children to pass up the chance to sleep in a clean, comfortable bed.
When a ship appears the next morning, captained by the owner of the cottage, our uninvited guests find they have a debt to pay off to the pirate queen, Captain Alas. As members of her crew on the ship Windchaser for the next week, they sail off toward more adventures and, hopefully, toward their goal of finding their way home. But there are storms and dangers at sea, and on the ship there’s a narrow staircase that appears and disappears, and a tattered, underfed woman locked behind a door at the top of the stairs, who nobody on the ship wants to talk about.
Along the Saltwise Sea is the second book in THE UP-AND-UNDER series and, like many second books in a series, suffers from Middle Book Syndrome. The ongoing story of Zib and Avery’s journey is pleasant and occasionally even exciting, and sailing on the Saltwise Sea in a pirate ship makes for a nice change of pace from walking the improbable road. But in the end, little forward plot movement actually happens in this book.
If you enjoyed Over the Woodward Wall and are agreeable to more magical adventures that don’t as yet have an ending in sight, you’ll like Along the Saltwise Sea too. The wise, perceptive narrator is still narrating insightfully — I do very much enjoy the nuggets of truth that are strewn along the path. And the characters are appealing even when (and perhaps even especially when) they’re afraid and lash out at each other. Avery and Zib are on a long quest here, both physically and in their personal growth, and for now the reader needs to just relax and enjoy the journey.
A dead body is an awful thing to find on the floor of a bakery, especially when you’re a fourt4.5 stars! Review first posted on FantasyLiterature.com:
A dead body is an awful thing to find on the floor of a bakery, especially when you’re a fourteen-year-old baker’s assistant with just a minor talent in magic, enough to make gingerbread men dance and biscuit dough turn fluffy on command. It’s worse when the city inquisitor decides to accuse you of the murder, for no particularly good reason. It’s even worse when you realize that there’s a mysterious assassin on the loose, targeting people who have magical powers, no matter how insignificant.
Mona is an orphan who works in her Aunt Tabitha’s bakery, using her talent with baking (and a little magic) to help with her job. It’s not an easy life, but Mona loves being an apprentice baker … and there’s the fact that her magical powers only work with bread products. But the city government and constables are turning against wizards, even minor ones like Mona, and the assassin seems to have a nose for tracking down and killing anyone with magical powers. Soon all wizards, great and small, are abandoning the city, and Mona is on the run.
A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking is T. Kingfisher’s latest in a run of excellent middle grade fantasies featuring intrepid children and young teens, including Summer in Orcus and Minor Mage. The baking details give this fantasy an unusual and down-to-earth spin. It’s fun to see Mona bringing a rather stale gingerbread man to life, but to have the gingerbread man unexpectedly develop its own personality is, well, icing on the cake.
Something patted my cheek. I looked down and saw the gingerbread man on my shoulder. He was steadying himself with a hank of hair in one hand, and with the other he reached up and caught the tears I hadn’t known I was crying.
Kingfisher’s fantasies are reminiscent of Robin McKinley’s work, with whimsical details and amusing parenthetical remarks. The main characters are well-rounded and come alive on the page. Often charming and personable animals are part of both authors’ formulas, but here instead of an animal sidekick we have animated gingerbread men and other bakery products with minds of their own, not to mention Bob the belching sourdough starter. Bob is a scene stealer, which is something I never would have guessed I would say about a gloppy bucket of yeast and dough that extends tentacles.
A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking is, like Minor Mage and Summer in Orcus, somewhat darker than may be the norm for middle grade fantasies. While people (even good ones!) die and those adults who should be in charge are fallible, this is still ultimately an uplifting and empowering tale. It’s about people who don’t really want to be heroes — who shouldn’t even have to be heroes — but still rise to the occasion when others have failed, because they’re needed.
A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking is whimsical and dark and imaginative and fantastic. It gets my enthusiastic recommendation for readers both young and old.
Thanks so much to the author for the review copy!...more
Why did Dad take so long on his errand to go grab a bottle of milk for the breakfast cereal? [image] Well, he'll tell you.
The answer is convoluted and hWhy did Dad take so long on his errand to go grab a bottle of milk for the breakfast cereal? [image] Well, he'll tell you.
The answer is convoluted and hilarious, involving a stegosaurus professor in a hot air balloon with a time machine, aliens, pirates, volcanos, ocean piranhas, vampires wumpires, and much, much more. [image]
His two kids are pretty dubious but willing to go along with it for the most part ("Hang on. Piranhas are a freshwater fish. What are they doing in the sea?"). And occasionally they have requests for ponies or "handsome, misunderstood wumpires" to be in the story.
It's a fun children's or early middle-grade story, and the illustrations absolutely make it. This would be a great read-aloud book for kids who like wildly imaginative adventures. [image]
The spooky adventures of Lucy and Oliver Tinker continue in The Alchemist’s Shadow, a sequel to last Final review, first posted on Fantasy Literature:
The spooky adventures of Lucy and Oliver Tinker continue in The Alchemist’s Shadow, a sequel to last year’s middle-grade haunted house novel by Gregory Funaro, Watch Hollow. The Tinker family — 11-year-old Lucy, 12-year-old Oliver, and their father — are settling in at the rural Rhode Island mansion, Blackford House, where they vanquished a supernatural foe in Watch Hollow. The Tinkers, originally the caretakers of Blackford House, now own the home, complete with its enormous clock that magically powers the house. At least, the Tinkers thought they owned the house, until the orphaned 12-year-old part-Japanese Kojima twins, Agatha and Algernon, show up with their British governess to take up residence, claiming that they’re the rightful heirs to the prior owner.
That’s bad enough, but within a day or so a terrifying minotaur-like monster appears in their beloved house, the twins’ governess disappears (killed by the monster, the children suspect) and the house itself begins to gradually transform into a labyrinth. After all, as Agatha observes, what’s a labyrinth without a Minotaur? Brick and wooden walls turn to grayish stone and seal off passageways, trapping the children in dangerous situations. Lucy and Oliver reluctantly realize that they’ll need the help of the twins to escape the new dangers that threaten to destroy their treasured magical house … and perhaps even them.
The Alchemist’s Shadow is a suspenseful, fast-paced story, if not quite as charming as the first book. The appealing carved wooden animals who form a part of the house’s magic clock, and who come to life, move and talk under the right (magical) conditions, play a lesser role in this sequel. The plot is a little disjointed and jumpy and doesn’t always make complete sense, like when the children decide to split their group apart in the now-haunted and monster-infested house. It felt like a horror film with teenagers inexplicably going off on their own when a killer’s on the loose. Still, there’s a lot to be said for scenes like the dining room chairs sprouting eyes and jagged teeth and chasing the kids around like a pack of wild dogs.
The children in The Alchemist’s Shadow include a couple of particularly memorable characters. Lucy is deeply devoted to her wooden clock animal friends. She’s impulsive, excitable, and struggles with making friends in her new town and getting along with other kids. Algernon doesn’t speak at all, due to the past trauma of losing his parents in a car accident. He always carries around a sinister-looking marionette called Samurai Kenzo, or Kenny. Lucy, steeped in the magical atmosphere of Blackford House, is convinced that Kenny is watching her and planning some evil.
Younger readers who like exciting, creepy tales should enjoy The Alchemist’s Shadow. It’s scary, but shouldn’t be too intense for all but the most sensitive middle-grade readers. There’s a heartwarming message of love and unselfishness that wraps up the story, along with a last-minute twist that opens the door for the next book in this series.
I received a free review copy from the author. Thank you!...more
One chilly autumn night, seven fox kits beg their mother for a scary story, “so scary our eyes fall out of our heads.” Don’t go to the Bog Cavern, she tells them, because the old storyteller lives there, and the tale she would tell them would be so scary it would put white in their tails. So naturally the seven kits scamper off through the woods to the Bog Cavern as soon as their mother is asleep, and beg the spooky-looking storyteller for a scary story.
“All scary stories have two sides,” the storyteller said. “Like the bright and dark of the moon. If you’re brave enough to listen and wise enough to stay to the end, the stories can shine a light on the good in the world.”
But, she warns, kits who lose heart and don’t stay until the end of the stories may lose all hope and be too frightened to ever leave their den again. Then she embarks on a series of eight tales. There’s a beloved teacher who turns into a gooey-eyed monster who attacks Mia and her brothers, the fox kits who adore her. There’s also Uly, a runt with a crippled forepaw and six cruel sisters who torment him … but they’re not as bad as the white-fanged Mr. Scratch. And more, including the underwater monster Golgathursh, a skin-stealing witch, and a creepy, crawling disembodied hand fox paw. The stories soon tie together to become one overall tale of the terrible — and occasionally good — adventures of Uly and Mia.
Scary Stories for Young Foxes, a 2019 Newbery Honor book, is a little like a middle-grade version of Watership Down, except with foxes rather than rabbits, and a liberal dose of fox-type horror. Each of the stories in it riffs on a different classic horror trope. For example, the first story — one of the most horrific ones — is a type of zombie tale, in the form of foxes contracting rabies, turning into monsters, and stalking and killing other foxes. A sadistic fox father, with no patience or love for a crippled son, takes on the role of Dracula. Beatrix Potter assumes the role of a scary witch who captures wild animals, steals their essence by writing a story about them, and then kills and stuffs them. (According to Heidicker, Beatrix Potter really did do amateur taxidermy as part of her nature studies, but from the fox’s point of view, of course, it’s horrific.)
One of the main attractions of Scary Stories for Young Foxes is that, despite their close ties to time-honored horror tales and tropes, these stories are generally realistic. Each story revolves around a life-and-death situation that could actually happen to a young wild fox. Heidicker does take a few liberties with real life, though: rabies spreads between the foxes far more quickly than is natural, an alligator shows up in a part of England where it has no business being, and Beatrix Potter’s story here (aside from painting her as villainous, which is certain to offend some readers) diverges somewhat from her actual life history.
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Scary Stories for Young Foxes is beautifully and evocatively told, with lovely and frequently creepy charcoal pencil illustrations by Junyi Wu. As the old storyteller said, there’s an affirmative message underlying the stories, but getting to the end is harrowing for both the fox kits and the reader. Foxes die. Baby foxes die. So it’s not for every reader, but for those who, like the bravest little fox kit, can stick it out, it’s a rewarding set of tales.
Initial post: My teenage son was sleuthing around on my Goodreads account for Christmas present ideas for me and landed on this one. Awww! So now I have a lovely hardback copy of this Newbery Honor book to read, with really wonderful illustrations. Can't wait!!...more
Another great YA fantasy from T. Kingfisher, now a Hugo nominee for the Lodestar Award (for best YA book). Final review, just posted on Fantasy LiteraAnother great YA fantasy from T. Kingfisher, now a Hugo nominee for the Lodestar Award (for best YA book). Final review, just posted on Fantasy Literature:
Oliver is a minor mage in two senses: he’s only twelve years old, and he only has three magical spells, and the one to control his allergy against armadillo dander doesn’t count for much. The aged and increasingly absent-minded village mage wasn’t able to teach Oliver much before he died. But he’s all the magic his village has, so when a severe drought strikes, Oliver is ordered by the frightened villagers to go to the distant Rainblade Mountains to somehow “bring back rain.” No one, including Oliver, is at all clear on exactly how this is to be done, but they are clear on the concept that it’s a mage’s job. The villagers conveniently wait to gang up on Oliver until his mother, a retired mercenary, is out of town.
Oliver is frightened but willing; he was planning to do it anyway, though he resents being forced. (At least, he thinks, now his mother will be mad at the villagers and not him.) So off he goes, with only his armadillo familiar at his side, through (mostly) deserted fields with a few scattered empty farmhouses, like hollowed-out jack-o-lanterns, and then through bandit-infested forests. At least his armadillo familiar can speak, though it’s often rather snarky.
On his journey Oliver meets Trebastian, a teenage wizard with only one, singular magical talent: he is compelled to make magical harps out of the bones and hair of murder victims. The harps then shriek when their murderer is in the room. Now a murderer accused by a harp Trebastian made of the bones of two young girls, who happens to be the popular mayor of the last town Trebastian was in, is chasing after him with a posse of his friends and relatives. But since Oliver is being chased by cannibalistic ghuls (ghouls), they figure it’s even, and Trebastian falls in with Oliver and his armadillo on the journey to the Rainblade Mountains.
This is the story of their adventure. There’s magic, greedy bandits, flesh-hungry ghuls, evil humans and misguided ones. There are also some new friends and some life lessons learned.
“It didn’t matter that I was young, my village sent me anyway.” And he still resented that, but love and pity and resentment were all mixed together and he didn’t have any way to untangle them.
“Yes, … That is the price your village paid. You will never love them with your whole heart again. The shadow of what they did in their fear will lie between you forever. But they will be alive, nonetheless, and learning to bridge that shadow — or decide not to — is the work of adulthood.”
Oliver is a well-rounded, believable main character. He’s more noteworthy for his determination and honor than for his magical talent. He’s resolved to do what is right, even when it’s difficult and dangerous for him. It’s heroism in a small, resolute package.
T. Kingfisher excels in both the magical details, like gremlin-infested bread that has a tendency to explode and the gritty reality of making magical harps out of bones, and in the human ones. Oliver makes mistakes along the way, fervently wishes he could do more powerful magic, and frequently second-guesses his decisions — especially when they lead to someone’s death, though they were his enemies. His armadillo familiar Eglamarck is a delightful sidekick and a source of sound advice and love as well as sarcasm.
Kingfisher comments in her afterword that she debated with her editors over whether Minor Mage was really a children’s book. She maintains that it is, and I agree, but it might be too intense for some young or sensitive readers. Oliver’s journey is sometimes harrowing, with encounters with a remorseless murderer, brutal bandits, and ghuls that bite into people’s throats (it's kind of gory). With that warning, Minor Mage is a solid fantasy quest adventure with some introspective and thoughtful aspects to it, a treat for readers from middle grade age to adult.
I received a free copy of this ebook from the author for review. Thank you!...more
I was a child when I first saw Disney’s 1971 movie Bedknobs and Broomsticks and have fo[image] Final review, first posted on www.FantasyLiterature.com:
I was a child when I first saw Disney’s 1971 movie Bedknobs and Broomsticks and have fond memories of it. So when I found out that the book that inspired the movie, Mary Norton’s The Magic Bed-Knob, was nominated this year for a 1944 Retro Hugo award, I was excited to read it. It’s charming and old-fashioned … but not everything I had hoped for. Also, it’s not much like the Disney movie, which is both a positive and a negative thing.
During the London Blitz, three siblings ― Carey (“about your age”), Charles (“a little younger”) and Paul (“only six”) ― are sent to Bedfordshire to stay with their Aunt Beatrice. (Tangentially, it’s worth noting that in recent editions of The Magic Bed-Knob, all references to the war have been redacted, perhaps in an effort to make the story less tied to a particular era.) One day the children find their very proper neighbor, Miss Price, has fallen and hurt her ankle. As they help her back to her house, Paul lets slip that he’s been watching Miss Price practice flying on her broom at night, and that falling off her broomstick ― not her bike ― is why she’s now injured. She’s a newbie witch, it turns out, and is learning her craft through a correspondence course.
Miss Price is appalled that her secret’s been found out by the children, and is almost ready to cast a spell that will silence them permanently (perhaps by changing them into frogs, which she temporarily does to Paul). But the children manage to convince her to bribe them into keeping her secret instead. So Miss Price casts a spell on a bed-knob that Paul is conveniently carrying in his pocket. If they twist the knob when it’s attached to the bed and make a wish, the bed will (almost) instantly fly to where they wish. Or, as it turns out, where Paul wishes, since it’s his bed and bed-knob. Paul’s older siblings are a bit appalled, but Paul himself is ecstatic.
The Magic Bed-Knob is rather dated, as might be expected from a children’s fantasy published in 1943, but still retains much of its old-fashioned charm. The interactions between the three children are realistic, particularly with Carey and Charles treating Paul rather dismissively because he’s several years younger. Paul is resentful of this treatment, which makes the fact that he’s the only one who can work the bed-knob magic so much sweeter to him. Miss Price, interestingly, is shown to have some struggles with the kind side of her nature vs. the wicked streak that the study of witchcraft apparently brings out in her.
I’ll admit to some disappointment that the talking animals and the uproarious soccer game on the magical island of Naboombu in the Disney movie wasn’t in the original book; instead we have a rather mundane, boring trip to their closed-up home in London and a less boring but somewhat wince-inducing run-in with stereotypical cannibals on the island of Ueepe. How Carey immediately identifies the natives as cannibals after a single glanced is never explained, but the correctness of that assumption never comes into question. The Star of Astaroth never makes an appearance, but we do get an extended run-in with the London police.
The Magic Bed-Knob has limited creativity and lacks much of the excitement of modern children’s fantasy, but there’s a sweetness at its heart.
“Keep your warm hearts, your gentleness, and your courage. These will do,” said Miss Price, sniffing audibly, “just as well as magic.”
Recommended for fans of old-fashioned children’s fantasy.
It’s an ambiguous but ominous warning that Ollie Adler gets fromReview first posted on Fantasy Literature:
Avoid large places at night. Keep to small.
It’s an ambiguous but ominous warning that Ollie Adler gets from two different people and an old book. But why?
Olivia (Ollie), age 11, is having a tough time dealing with a recent personal tragedy, and getting sympathetic looks from her father and teacher only makes it worse. She’s withdrawn from activities like the softball team and chess club that she once loved. Ollie still finds comfort in books, though, so when she comes across a distraught woman about to toss an old book into a creek, she snatches the book and runs away with it, but not before the woman gives her some unasked-for advice about keeping to small spaces at night.
The worn-out book, titled Small Spaces, turns out to be a personal history written by Beth Webster in the late 1800s. Her tale starts out charming, as Beth writes about the two brothers who both wanted to marry her. But then the story turns ominous as conflict erupts between the brothers, one disappears and the other makes a deal with a mysterious, smiling man.
When Ollie goes on a school field trip to a nearby Vermont farm the next day, she’s a little alarmed to find that the history of Misty Valley farm is suspiciously similar to Beth Webster’s story in the stolen book. Creepy-looking scarecrows are everywhere she looks on the farm, with trowels or rakes for hands. Then the school bus breaks down in the fog going home, their teacher disappears in the mists, and their strange bus driver ominously warns Ollie to get moving … and to keep to small spaces at night.
Small Spaces is Katherine Arden’s follow-up to her medieval Russian fantasy series, the WINTERNIGHT TRILOGY. I never would have guessed that the author of The Bear and the Nightingale wrote this creepy middle grade horror novel! It’s written in a completely different style, and is clearly for a younger set of readers. Small Spaces doesn’t compare to the WINTERNIGHT TRILOGY in depth or complexity, but it’s not meant to do so, and it has its own brand of spine-tingling appeal.
The three tweens who are the main characters, Ollie and her classmates Brian and Coco, are realistically drawn and relatable, but unusual enough to be memorable. Coco is the cute, tiny new girl in town who’s teased to tears by the boys; Brian is a black athlete from Jamaica who sticks out in small-town Vermont, but he’s not only found a good set of friends but is willing to extend his concern to others outside of his circle. Each of them has her or his human flaws but also shows some surprising strengths.
“How is she the clumsiest person ever on the ground, yet a squirrel when she’s climbing?” muttered Ollie.
Brian grinned. “You’re kind of grumpy most of the time, but when things get bad, you’re the bravest. People can surprise you, Ollie-pop.”
Ollie and her two classmates learn how important it is to help and trust each other. Through their terrorizing experiences, Ollie also finds strength to deal with her personal loss of a loved one. Unlike too many YA and children’s novels, Ollie’s parents are a concerned and loving presence in her life, helping her in whatever ways they can. Her relationship with them is heart-warming.
Small Spaces is a page-turning supernatural thriller that is superficially like an R.L. Stine GOOSEBUMPS novel, but there’s much more substance to this tale (and better writing). Hand a copy of this book to a tween who likes scary stories … or enjoy the thrills and chills yourself!...more
Gregory Funaro’s just-published Watch Hollow is a charmingly spooky (or perhaps spookily charmiOn sale now! Review first posted on Fantasy Literature:
Gregory Funaro’s just-published Watch Hollow is a charmingly spooky (or perhaps spookily charming) contemporary fantasy featuring an 11-year-old girl, Lucy Tinker, her 13-year-old brother Oliver, and their clockmaker father … and also a fearsome giant, a boy who mysteriously appears and disappears, and a full dozen magical talking animals sure to warm the hearts of middle grade readers.
After a brief prologue with a heart-stopping chase involving the giant, a traitorous crow, and a rat named Fennish Seven, the story shifts to our main characters, Lucy and her brother Oliver. Between their mother’s death from cancer two years earlier and their father’s lack of business acumen, the Tinker family is teetering on the brink of financial disaster. So it feels like a huge windfall when a stranger, Mr. Quigley, appears in Tinker’s Clock Shop and offers Mr. Tinker a fortune in gold coins to come to Quigley’s old, abandoned mansion, Blackford House, deep in the woods in Rhode Island, and fix a huge clock that’s built into the home and is the source of electrical power for the home. To sweeten the deal, Lucy and Oliver are invited along.
The Tinker family finds Blackford House an ominous place, dingy and dilapidated, with black twisted trees pressing in on every side. The broken clock is ten feet in diameter, with twelve animal-shaped holes where the numbers on the face of the clock would normally appear. Lucy finds two wooden statues of a snarling cat and a cute little dog that are the perfect size to fit in the clock face, but the animals’ positions are the wrong shape. The answer to that mystery is explained (at least in part) that night, when the wooden dog turns into a real one and begs Lucy for her help. Blackford House is sentient but weakened by an evil giant called the Garr who lurks in the woods. The house, its magical clock and animals, and even the Tinkers themselves are in danger.
Watch Hollow is an appealing magical adventure with just enough tension and creepiness to keep things exciting for younger readers. Both boys and girls will find the Tinker siblings sympathetic; they’re well-rounded characters with both strengths, like their courage and love, and problems, like Lucy’s tendency to get in fights with a bullying classmate and Oliver’s anxiety about his acne. The animal characters are also delightful, with some distinct personalities. Torsten Six, the little dog, is anxious but loving and eager to trust; Meridian the cat is far more suspicious of the Tinker family.
Funaro’s writing has improved noticeably since he wrote his first middle grade novels a few years ago, Alistair Grim's Odditorium and Alistair Grim's Odd Aquaticum. While Watch Hollow isn’t quite as crazily fantastical as those books, I found Watch Hollow more coherent in its plot, with improved flow and characterization. Funaro still occasionally does some telling rather than showing, but overall the plot flows well, with enough depth and interesting details to keep the reader engaged.
"Everything here was designed to work together in perfect balance ― sunstone and shadow wood, light and dark, day and night. For in such balance there is potent magic.
Watch Hollow is the type of book that would lend itself to reading aloud to younger children, as well as being given to middle grade readers who love fantasy, animals, or both. The story ends on an open note (not a cliffhanger, thankfully), with a second book, Watch Hollow: The Alchemist's Shadow, expected in early 2020. I look forward to the further adventures of Lucy and Oliver.
Thanks to the author for sending a copy of this book to me for review!...more
[image] This is a fictionalized account of a real-life girl in post-WWII Japan, who begins to suffer the aftereffects of radiation poisoning from the b[image] This is a fictionalized account of a real-life girl in post-WWII Japan, who begins to suffer the aftereffects of radiation poisoning from the bomb that hit Hiroshima at the end of the war. Her quest to fold a thousand origami cranes begins with the gift of one gold paper crane.
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Sadako Sasaki is an energetic 12 year old Japanese girl, who was just a toddler in 1945 when her town of Hiroshima was hit by the atomic bomb. Now it’s 1955, and Sadako is starting to have dizzy spells. Diagnosed with leukemia, a long-term after-effect of radiation poisoning, Sadako pins her hope on the legend that if a sick person folds one thousand origami cranes, the gods will grant her wish to be healthy again. Sadako sets to work, diligently folding hundreds of paper cranes, but she’s getting weaker and weaker.
It's a tearjerker of a story, bolstered by an anti-war message. Seriously, I needed several tissues for the last half of the book. Unfortunately the story is fictionalized in some key respects(view spoiler)[- most significantly, the story says that Sadako dies before she completed her goal, and that her schoolmates finished up for her; Sadako’s brother has stated that she actually folded about 1400 cranes before she died (hide spoiler)]. The book and its message are simple and straightforward. Whether or not you think the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was necessary to end WWII, it’s a powerful reminder of the cost of war and its innocent victims.
[image] The Hiroshima Peace Memorial, topped with a statue of Sadako and a crane.
This book was a Christmas gift from a friend who’s a teacher. Thanks, Janet!...more
This is a short story about a feisty, loving dragon family. It’s a prequel to The Dragon with a Chocolate Heart, which is a delightful middle grade noThis is a short story about a feisty, loving dragon family. It’s a prequel to The Dragon with a Chocolate Heart, which is a delightful middle grade novel about the adventures of Aventurine, a young dragon with a weakness for chocolate.
In this very brief prequel story, Aventurine is causing mischief for her proper, poetic older sister, Citrine. Citrine considers burning up everything Aventurine owns in revenge, but a better plan is suggested. Nice family dynamics with a good (if not very subtle) moral.
Stephanie Burgis follows up last year’s award-nominated middle grade fantasy The Dragon with a C3.5 stars. Review first posted on Fantasy Literature:
Stephanie Burgis follows up last year’s award-nominated middle grade fantasy The Dragon with a Chocolate Heart with The Girl with the Dragon Heart, the second book in her TALES FROM THE CHOCOLATE HEART series. The Dragon with a Chocolate Heart followed the escapades of Aventurine, a chocolate-loving young dragon enchanted into the shape of a young girl. The focus now shifts to Aventurine’s friend Silke, a dark-skinned girl with short black curly hair. More importantly, Silke is also brave, quick-thinking and fast-moving, and has a great talent for creating stories, including her own.
Silke, an orphan, spends most of her time waitressing at the Chocolate Heart, one of Drachenburg’s finest chocolate houses (where Aventurine is an apprentice), helping to market their shop by creating and passing out promotional handbills, and keeping the hot-tempered Aventurine out of trouble. But Silke, who’s lived on the streets for years, feels compelled to create a life that has more security and permanence. So when the crown princess of Drachenburg offers Silke a challenge ― pretend to be one of the relatives of the royal family, spy on a delegation of visiting fairies from Elfenwald, and find out what they’re up to and why they’re visiting humans for the first time in over a century ― Silke is delighted to accept, and make herself over as one of the nobility. But is she really ready to leave her friends at the Chocolate Heart behind?
Also, what Silke doesn’t tell Princess Katrin is that six years ago, when Silke was only seven years old, she traveled through Elfenwald with her parents and older brother Dieter in a caravan of refugees. In the middle of the night the group had an encounter with the fairies that ended badly. Dieter and Silke’s parents suddenly disappeared, and the rest of the group rushed out of the forest, taking Dieter and Silke with them. This assignment from Princess Katrin is just the chance Silke has been waiting for, to find out what became of her parents and whether they’re still alive.
The Dragon with a Chocolate Heart is a solid sequel to The Dragon with a Chocolate Heart. The fairies are perhaps not quite as exciting as the dragons in the first story, but they’re a devious group that presents some unexpected challenges for Silke, particularly when her sometimes-dragon-sometimes-girl friend Aventurine gets involved. The story emphasizes the importance of love, acceptance, and loyalty to both friends and family ― both biological and “made” families.
There’s lots of racial diversity in Drachenburg, not only a minority heroine with a can-do attitude, but characters from both the lower and upper classes of society. Horst and Marina, the couple who run the Chocolate Heart, are a mixed-race couple, as are the king and queen of Drachenburg. Skin color is mentioned in passing but doesn’t ever play a role in how people are viewed and treated by others; it’s a refreshingly color-blind society.
I appreciated Silke’s story-telling point of view, and her determination to create her own story.
I wouldn’t feel this helpless again. I had sworn that a long time ago.
I’d been seven years old the first time I’d felt that taste of sick danger in the air: the feeling of an angry crowd transforming into a mob. By then, I’d already lost my parents and any illusion of safety. … But I wasn’t that powerless girl anymore. I was not. I was the heroine of my own story, and I would make my story work.
It’s a powerful theme in the story, and young readers will enjoy Silke’s adventures and appreciate her courage.
For fans of this TALES FROM THE CHOCOLATE HEART series, Burgis also has a couple of cute short stories set in this world that are available to read for free on her website: “A Chocolate-Flavoured Bargain” and “The Dragon with an Unbearable Family.”
Thanks to the author and publisher for an ARC of this book!...more
3.5 stars for this MG/YA fantasy. Full review first posted on Fantasy Literature:
Anya is an orphaned young princess, about twelve or thirteen years ol3.5 stars for this MG/YA fantasy. Full review first posted on Fantasy Literature:
Anya is an orphaned young princess, about twelve or thirteen years old, and a bookworm (as many of the best princesses in literature seem to be). She and her fifteen year old sister Morven are orphans under the dubious care of their stepmother, a botanist who is enthusiastic about plants but completely uninterested in and uninvolved with the girls, and Duke Rikard, their stepstepfather (which is what you get when your stepmother remarries after your father dies). Morven is supposed to be crowned as the queen when she turns sixteen in three months, but she’s far more interested in handsome princes than in ruling. This suits Duke Rickard just fine: he’s a black-hearted sorcerer who’s intent on making his control of the Kingdom of Trallonia permanent.
Duke Rickard is also given to transforming unlucky servants and hapless princes into frogs. Morven asks Anya to do the dirty work of changing his latest frog victim, Prince Denholm, back into a human with a kiss (kissing frogs, even if they’re really handsome princes, is definitely not on Morven’s agenda). Luckily their librarian has a magical Transmogrification Reversal Lip Balm that will reverse the transformation spell without the otherwise necessary ingredient of true love. Unluckily, Anya kisses the wrong frog with the last of the lip balm, and although that prince was happy to no longer be a frog, it does still leave Denholm in a frog-sized bind, and making more lip balm involves assembling several tricky ingredients, like a pint of witches’ tears and six pea-sized stones of three-day-old hail from a mountaintop.
Coincidentally, at the same time Duke Rickard announces to Anya that he’s sending her far away to a school for royalty, on a journey that seems likely to be fatal for Anya and leave Morven alone and in danger. Tanitha, the senior royal dog, tells Anya that she must leave the palace and seek help from others to defeat the Duke. So Anya embarks on a twofold Quest: searching for the elusive ingredients to the Transmogrification Reversal Lip Balm, and also searching for those who can help to overthrow Duke Rikard and stop his evil plans. Anya is assisted in her quest by Ardent, a young and excitable royal dog; Shrub, a junior thief who’s also been shape-changed by a sorcerer into a huge, bright orange talking newt ...
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(two shout-outs to Monty Python and the Holy Grail for the price of one!); a Good Wizard who tries to evade her obligation not to directly help Anya; Snow White ― who is NOT what you’d expect ― and seven dwarves; and many others. Anya’s quest turns out to encompass more than she expected, as several people that she meets strongly encourage her to do even more to change their society ― in particular, to bring back the All-Encompassing Bill of Rights and Wrongs.
Garth Nix has a lot of fun with Frogkisser!, weaving in various fairy tales and fantasies, both old and new, and twisting them in humorous ways. Besides the aforementioned Monty Python references, there’s a Robin Hood figure, Bert (short for Roberta, which is only a couple degrees of separation from Robin), leader of the Association of Responsible Robbers, who steal from the rich and give to the poor in time-honored fashion. I never read Lloyd Alexander‘s CHRONICLES OF PYRDAIN series, so it took me a while to realize that there was a shout-out to Gurgi behind the Wallet of Crunchings and Munchings that Anya is offered by the semi-helpful Good Wizard.
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And OF COURSE magic carpets have to wrap you up in a tight roll so you can hardly breathe don’t fall off them when they’re zooming around. [image] Frogkisser! is a little long-winded for a middle grade novel, but then winds up in an unexpectedly rushed manner. It didn’t entirely captivate me, and I never really lost myself in the story. But it’s a reasonably fun middle grade fantasy with some weightier elements. Nix pays attention to diversity: the Good Wizard, like Bert, is dark-skinned woman; Snow White is an old man (nicknamed for his snowy white beard) who previously was known by another familiar name; the seven dwarves include three females. Nix also works some important life lessons into the plot.
Bert and Dehlia had planted the seed of thought in her mind, and it was growing away busily and putting out new shoots of thought, all of which were quite bothersome, because they were about things like responsibility and fairness, and thinking about others, and why being a princess perhaps should be about more than just having a nice library and three meals a day, particularly when other people didn’t have these things …
These periodic discussions of the previously unexamined privilege that Anya enjoys as a wealthy princess, her responsibility to others, and the need to recognize their rights, can get a little clunky and heavy-handed, but the book’s heart is in the right place.
Frogkisser! was a finalist for the 2018 Locus Award for Young Adult Book and is a current nominee for the 2018 Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Children’s Literature. ...more
A young, golden-eyed dragon named Aventurine is chafing at the restrictions her family has plac4.25 stars. Review first posted on Fantasy Literature:
A young, golden-eyed dragon named Aventurine is chafing at the restrictions her family has placed on her: dragons aren’t allowed outside of the caverns until they’re 40 or 50 years old, when their wings are strong enough for flight and their scales have hardened enough to protect them against arrows and swords. Aventurine’s mother encourages her to “find her passion” in studying history, math or philosophy, but Aventurine just wants to go explore and be free. How can she not, with a name like Aventurine?
So one day she sneaks out of their caverns. When she finds a stray human on their mountain she thinks she’s in luck: bringing a tasty human back to the cavern will surely impress her family! The human is suitably terrified of her and Aventurine is about to pounce when … wait … what’s that delicious-smelling food he’s cooking? It’s hot chocolate, which Aventurine has never heard of before. She agrees to wait to eat the human until he can finish making the chocolate. Unfortunately for Aventurine, though not for the human, he’s a food mage, and the spell that he quickly puts on the hot chocolate turns Aventurine into a twelve year old human girl when she drinks it.
Aventurine is distraught: the mage won’t change her back, despite her (now not-so-scary) demands, and she can’t go back to her caverns in human form ― her family will eat her before she’s able to talk to them. But since she’s stuck in human form, she decides to travel to the big city and find more of this delicious chocolate stuff. Mmmmm …
Lots of adventures await Aventurine in the city: The difficulties of finding an apprenticeship at a chocolate house, Aventurine’s dream job. Encounters with a greedy, conniving woman who tries to shame and discourage Aventurine so she’ll accept a position with her as an unpaid servant. And unusual sightings of dragons in the air, which bring the king’s battle mages out in force.
The Dragon with a Chocolate Heart (2017), the first book in Stephanie Burgis’s new TALES FROM THE CHOCOLATE HEART series, is a delicious confection, a middle grade/YA fantasy novel that blends dragons and the art of chocolate-making with adventure and some significant life lessons. The tale started off a little slow, but gelled once Aventurine finds her place in the city. It all went down smoothly in one evening’s reading, though the wonderful descriptions of chocolate creams, chocolate tarts and spicy hot chocolate made me a little hungry by the end of it.
Aventurine’s dragon family members are enjoyable characters: brave, intelligent and learned, if sometimes quick to anger, as one might expect of dragons. I appreciated how Aventurine kept many of her dragon characteristics even when she was in human form. When she gets angry she roars, or tries to, and is inclined to leap at enemies with her hands stretched out like claws. Aventurine’s name is delightful: it’s a green semiprecious stone (all of her dragon family is named after jewels: Jasper, Citrine, Tourmaline, and so on), it’s reflective of her adventurous heart, and it’s also wonderfully original. Aventurine learns about friendship from Silke, a dark-skinned girl she meets in the city; about not giving up when disasters happen from Marina, a feisty chocolatier; and about finding something in life that she can be passionate about through her own experiences.
The Dragon with a Chocolate Heart has been nominated for the 2018 Locus Award for Young Adult Books as well as the 2018 Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Children’s Literature. I enthusiastically recommend it for older elementary and middle grade readers, and it’s interesting enough to engage adults who enjoy fantasies that skew a little to the younger side of the YA spectrum.
All the stars!! One reviewer described this award-nominated novel as "Narnia with teeth," and that's a great summary. I had so much fun reading this pAll the stars!! One reviewer described this award-nominated novel as "Narnia with teeth," and that's a great summary. I had so much fun reading this portal fantasy! Review first posted on Fantasy Literature:
Summer is a young girl whose overly protective, clingy mother tries to protect her from every possible danger, although Summer is allowed to read books about magic and shapechanging and such. (“Summer’s mother believed that books were safe things that kept you inside, which only shows how little she knew about it, because books are one of the least safe things in the world.”) But Summer’s mother is no match for Baba Yaga! One spring day Summer is found by Baba Yaga ― actually, she’s found by Baba Yaga’s chicken-footed house, which manages to convinces Baba Yaga that Summer is the girl they want for some unstated purpose. [image] When Baba Yaga offers Summer her heart’s desire, Summer really isn’t sure what to answer, though shapeshifting or being able to talk to animals do come to her mind. Instead, though, Baba Yaga looks deep into Summer’s heart and mind, then hands over a talking weasel to Summer and shoos her out of the house. And suddenly Summer finds herself in a strange, magical world, not at all certain where she’s going or what she’s supposed to do there.
Initially she’s in a long hallway with purple stained glass windows featuring a mischievous-looking saint, whose book proffers some cryptic advice like “Don’t worry about things you cannot fix” and “Antelope women are not to be trusted.” A door then leads Summer to a forest in the magical land of Orcus, where she meets a trio of shapeshifting women and is charmed by dryad-inhabited trees whose leaves turn into mice or frogs as they drop to the ground. But: “There is a cancer at the heart of the world” the woman in the bear skin tells Summer, and Summer can see that the Frog Tree is dying. Entrusted with a tadpole acorn by the tree’s dryad, Summer takes on a quest to save the Frog Tree, and perhaps more. She finds help from several inhabitants of Orcus, particularly a shapeshifting wolf (at night he turns into, not a human, but a pleasant cottage) and a hoopoe bird with Regency manners and a helpful flock of small valet-birds in bowler hats. [image] But she also finds that she’s being pursued by the fearsome Zultan Houndbreaker and his aptly named servant Grub, who hunt her in the name of the Queen-in-Chains.
I am completely in love with Summer in Orcus, a charming portal fantasy by T. Kingfisher (a pen-name of Ursula Vernon). Summer in Orcus manages to be absolutely delightful, with vividly imagined details and a delicious sense of humor, while at the same time subverting several stock fantasy tropes. It references Narnia with clear affection, while remaining clear-eyed about the dangers and difficulties of being a child who’s actually in a fantasy portal world.
She thought, down in her very private heart of hearts, that she wanted to go home.
She felt immediately guilty for thinking it. In books, nobody who found themselves in a fantasy world ever wanted to go home. (Well, nobody but Eustace Clarence Stubb in Narnia, and you weren’t supposed to agree with him.)
She was definitely not feeling grateful enough for being on a superb magical adventure. She told herself this sternly several times and then wanted to cry, because it doesn’t help to yell at people who are cold and wet, even when the person yelling at you is you.
Summer in Orcus will be enjoyable for both younger and older readers. It’s written on a middle grade/young adult level, but its sly humor and frequent references to classic fantasy novels and fairy tales will keep adult readers engaged. While the life lessons learned aren’t particularly subtle, they have elegance and mesh well with the plot of the book. Very highly recommended!
Summer in Orcus has been nominated for the 2018 World Science Fiction Society (WSFS) award for best Young Adult book. Kingfisher originally posted this novel online in weekly installments, which you can read online here on her website. It’s also available in print and as a very reasonably priced ebook, which have appealing pencil illustrations by Lauren Henderson (I especially loved the tadpole acorn) that help to bring the story to life. [image]
Initial post: Amazing story!! I LOVED this charming portal fantasy, which manages to be completely delightful and subvert several tropes at the same time. Highly recommended! It’s by T. Kingfisher, aka Ursula Verson, the author of the wonderful award-winning stories Jackalope Wives and The Tomato Thief, which are both free online and which you should read IMMEDIATELY if you haven’t already done so.
Many thanks to the author for providing me with a free copy of this book for review!...more
Middle grade magic school type of fantasy. This is a magical adventure for younger middle grade readers, without a lot of depth or complexity. The wriMiddle grade magic school type of fantasy. This is a magical adventure for younger middle grade readers, without a lot of depth or complexity. The writing is pretty amateurish. I dnf’d it after a few chapters....more
4.5 stars - really a delightful middle grade novel, and it's standalone! Review first posted on Fantasy Literature:
[image] Fearless Girl statue
High up4.5 stars - really a delightful middle grade novel, and it's standalone! Review first posted on Fantasy Literature:
[image] Fearless Girl statue
High up in the mountains, in a marble house, live a stone girl and her animal friends, who are also carved from stone. In this world, magical symbols and marks carved into stone make the stone come alive, giving it the power to move above, see, speak and hear, think, and even fly. Mayka, the stone girl, and her family of living stone birds, rabbits, a cat, an owl and others, were all carved and brought to life by a kindly master stonemason. The marks tell their stories, and the stories give them life.
Mayka and her friends live an isolated and contented life. Any harm or danger is far away in the valleys below them … except the danger of time. Their beloved Father, the stonemason, died many years ago, and gradually the magical marks etched on Mayka and her stone friends are wearing away and breaking. Harlisona the rabbit can’t speak any more ― her mark for speech accidentally chipped off ― and Turtle and most of the stone fish in their stream have stopped moving and turned back into ordinary stone.
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There appears to be only one solution: Mayka decides to go down into the distant valley to find another stonemason who will be willing to climb the mountain to their home and re-etch the magical marks into their bodies. It’s a scary journey into the unknown, even for a girl made of stone … but the quest will be even more difficult than Mayka imagines.
The Stone Girl’s Story (2018) is such a charming middle grade fantasy! Mayka, carved in the semblance of a twelve year old girl, is an admirable heroine with a can-do attitude and courage in the face of the unknown. At the same time, she’s also a kind and loyal friend, determined to do whatever is necessary to save the lives of her friends, but also seeing the bigger picture when a danger arises that could threaten the free will of all living stone animals, and even lead to harm for the humans who are their keepers. Her creative approach to solving a difficult problem will entrance readers.
This story includes lots of humor, most of it supplied by Jacklo, a gray stone bird with an irrepressible personality and a joy for life. [image] Jacklo and his bird sister Risa insist on joining Mayka on her journey down to the human lands.
“We were elected to come with you.”
“Oh? Who elected you?” Mayka asked.
“It was a small election,” Jacklo said. “Very small. Only two votes. But we won in a landslide! There was a lot of cheering.”
Sarah Beth Durst has a knack for describing the living stone carvings, their magical markings, and the Stone Quarter in the city of Skye, where the stonemasons live and work, with vivid details that bring them to life. Kalgrey the cat’s marks say, in symbolic language, “Sharp of tongue and claws, nimble of paws and mind.” Si-Si is a knee-high dragon carved of a lovely, translucent orange stone, but she struggles with knowing that she’s always been valued only for being decorative, and longs with all her heart to be able to fly like Jacklo and Risa. [image] And I won’t soon forget Kisonan the noble stone griffin, offended by the questioning of his loyalty and determined to do what is right. [image] The Stone Girl’s Story is a delightful, magical tale, with depth and insight as well as action and adventure. I highly recommend it for young readers in the 10-13 age range, and for those of any age who enjoy children’s fantasies.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, for review. Thank you so much!...more
$1.99 Kindle special, March 2, 2018, for this 2010 Newbery award winner. And karen gave it 5 stars! so I'm off to buy it now.$1.99 Kindle special, March 2, 2018, for this 2010 Newbery award winner. And karen gave it 5 stars! so I'm off to buy it now....more
On sale now! 3.5 stars, rounding up. Final review, first published on Fantasy Literature:
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With Tempests and Slaughter, Tamora Pierce launches a On sale now! 3.5 stars, rounding up. Final review, first published on Fantasy Literature:
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With Tempests and Slaughter, Tamora Pierce launches a new series set in her beloved Tortall universe, which includes over twenty books. Pierce backtracks several years to relate the youthful experiences of Arram Draper, who plays a key role in other TORTALL books, particularly the IMMORTALS series, as the powerful mage Numair.
When Tempests and Slaughter begins, Arram is a ten year old boy, just beginning a new year at the School for Mages, part of the Imperial University of Carthak. Arram is much younger than most of his schoolmates at his level, and he feels the age difference keenly; in fact, he claims to be eleven, but that does little to narrow the social gap. One day Arram gets in trouble in a water magic class for doing a spell far beyond the capabilities of most students at this level and then losing control of the water. He thinks he might be kicked out of the School for Mages, but instead he’s moved to more challenging classes, and to a more private room rather than a large dormitory. His new roommate is Prince Orzorne of Carthak, a thirteen year old boy who is the emperor’s nephew, and whose magic is particularly attuned to birds and animals. Arram and Orzorne develop a close friendship, shared by Varice, a lovely and clever twelve year old girl with an interest in magical culinary arts.
Tempests and Slaughter relates Arram's experiences over the next several years as he develops relationships with others as well as his magical craft. We get an in-depth look at several of Arram’s magical classes, particularly those that involve private instruction from various mage masters, such as water magic, fire magic, and healing. Arram’s only close friendships are with Varice and Orzorne, who is initially about eighth in line for the throne of Carthak … except that accidents keep happening to other heirs.
Tempests and Slaughter is a charming book, if episodic in its approach and rather meandering as we follow Arram through the years. In the last third of the book the plot begins to gel to some extent, particularly when Arram is drawn into a dark secret that may put him and others in danger. Carthak is a brutal country, with internal political conflicts, slavery, and popular gladiator battles to the death. Arram has the opportunity to help heal gladiators of their injuries and to assist the poor when there’s a major outbreak of the plague. Experiences like these help confirm his antipathy toward slavery and oppression. Arram believes he can influence his friend Orzorne for good, perhaps even convince him to end the practice of slavery in Carthak, but Orzorne has ambitions and ideas of his own.
Arram is an appealing if rather earnest boy who is sometimes incautious in his enthusiasm for magic and ferreting out the truth. The details of his magical instruction and experiences are engaging enough that I never got bored. Somewhat amusingly, Pierce elects to include some of the physical details about puberty from a boy’s point of view. It’s a very minor addition that struck me as a little clunky and off-beat in the context of this book, but perhaps a younger reader will appreciate it more than I did. We also get to know Varice and Orzorne quite well, as this new Tortall novel sheds light on two characters who will later play a significant role in the third and fourth books of the IMMORTALS series, Emperor Mage and The Realms of the Gods.
Tempests and Slaughter is written on an older middle grade level, but both young and older fans of the TORTALL books will enjoy learning more about Numair’s pre-teen and early teenage years. Now that the scene is set, I’ll be anxious to reading the next book(s) in this new NUMAIR CHRONICLES series.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher for review. Thank you so much!
Initial post: Guess what just arrived in the mail today? I am seriously excited!!...more
Tadiana ✩Night Owl☽
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