Review of The Grace of Wild Things, by Heather Fawcett, read by Aven Shore

Children's Fiction Review, Fantasy, Starred Review 0

The Grace of Wild Things

by Heather Fawcett
read by Aven Shore

Balzer + Bray, 2023. 8 hours, 29 minutes.
Review written June 1, 2024, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review

Here’s another one I loved oh, so much! This is Anne of Green Gables, if Anne were a witch child! It’s even set on Prince Edward Island.

The world is somewhat different from ours, though. Our orphaned heroine, Grace, has a natural gift for magic and the strange heartbeat that marks out witches — so she leaves the orphanage and finds a witch to apprentice herself to.

The witch lives in a beautiful cozy house by a brook, but she doesn’t want an apprentice and tries to bake Grace in her oven. Once Grace gets out of that she convinces the witch to make a pact with her. If Grace can perform all one hundred and a half spells in the witch’s grimoire before the cherry trees bloom, she can stay and become the witch’s apprentice. Otherwise, Grace must give up her magic.

So the stakes are high. But Grace is gifted and Grace is imaginative — and she chatters on about her imaginings just like Anne of Green Gables. Fortunately, Grace has a knack of making friends, and once she finds a best friend at the neighboring farm, she gets some help at figuring out the grimoire.

This is not a retelling but a reimagining, so the parallels are quite loose — though I did enjoy the way magic got Grace’s best friend tipsy and the witch told her mother she’d mistaken currant wine for raspberry cordial. The magic in that world is playful and fun, and I enjoyed the boy who offends Grace early – rather like Gilbert – but is actually a fairy who makes all the humans forget about him.

Anne loves poetry, and she loves to read poetry to Wind Weaver, her familiar (who is a crow). So each chapter begins with poetry from that time period, and I was surprised how many appropriately flowery poems the author found.

Completely delightful! I highly recommend this book to any fan of Anne of Green Gables. Revisit Prince Edward Island — with a little magic.

heatherfawcettbooks.com

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Fiction/grace_of_wild_things.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

What did you think of this book?

Review of Impossible Creatures, by Katherine Rundell

Children's Fiction Review, Fantasy, Starred Review 0

Impossible Creatures

by Katherine Rundell
read by Samuel West

Listening Library, 2024. (Print edition first published in the United Kingdom in 2023.) 8 hours, 55 minutes.
Review written October 7, 2024, from a library eaudiobook (referencing an advance reader copy).
Starred Review

I’m not sure how this book got all the buzz, but it turns out I didn’t order nearly enough print copies or ebook copies or eaudiobook copies for the library. Perhaps because it was first published in the UK, people knew how good it is? I even had an Advance Reader Copy I’d been meaning to read, but didn’t get to it before I needed to start reading Young Adult Speculative Fiction for the Cybils Awards, so I got in the queue to listen to the Audiobook version.

This book completely deserves all the hype! It’s one I plan to read again some day in the finished print form – probably buy myself a copy – because it’s illustrated, including a map and an illustrated bestiary at the back. The advance reader copy has some finished illustrations, but mostly sketches that show what will go there. (The book has Art by Ashley Mackenzie.) However, the audiobook is delightful, and Samuel West has the wonderful voice of someone reading you a fairy tale – which completely fits this epic quest.

I pulled out the Advance Reader Copy to write this review so that I could quote you the incredible beginning. (Wasn’t sure I’d get it exactly right without referring to it.) Then as I reread, the whole first chapter, called “The Beginning,” is perfect:

It was a very fine day, until something tried to eat him.

It was a black doglike creature, but it was not like any dog he had ever seen. It had teeth as long as his arm and claws that could tear apart an oak tree.

It says, therefore, a great deal in Christopher Forrester’s favor that he refused — with speed and cunning and courage — to be eaten.

The second chapter, called “The Beginning, Elsewhere,” begins like this:

It was a very fine day, until somebody tried to kill her.

Mal had returned home from her journey, flying back from the forest with arms outstretched and coat flapping, buffeted by the wind.

After the opening chapters, the book backtracks from that very fine day to give us some background on Christopher and Mal. Christopher lives an ordinary life – except that animals flock to him and want to get close to him.

Mal does not live an ordinary life, having learned to fly by using a coat given to her by the seer who named her. And she lives somewhere where that doesn’t surprise her neighbors, with her great-aunt who has so many rules, Mal can’t possibly keep them all.

Then on the fateful day referred to at the beginning, their worlds come together. Christopher has learned from his grandfather that he is inheriting the guardianship of a magical place, called the Archipelago, hidden from our world and full of magical creatures. But the magical tree at the heart of the Archipelago is failing and animals are dying. Griffins are believed to be extinct.

And then a baby griffin comes through the lake on the mountain by his grandfather’s house, followed by a giant black dog with flaming ears. But a girl comes through the lake after the dog and shows him how to extinguish the ears and kill the beast. The griffin is hers (It’s Mal!) and she tells Christopher that someone tried to kill her and she needs help. So she leads Christopher back through the door that has opened in the lake to the Archipelago.

And so begins an epic quest, a quest to heal the tree, the source of magic. And both Christopher and Mal have crucial parts to play.

I usually don’t like stories that lead the characters from one thing to another, taking detours all along the way. But I think since this one was all in service of the goal to help heal the magic, it didn’t bother me. First they want to get to the sphinxes to find out what to do. No, I take that back – first, they try to tell the authorities in the Azurial Senate about the problem and get them to fix it. There’s a comical scene when they are spurned for being children. But a scholar who has detailed information about the problem is also spurned. Both they and this woman are going to be arrested and imprisoned for disrupting the court – when someone comes to their rescue, and they end up joining forces with the scholar and their rescuer. Then they go to the sphinxes, because if the human leaders don’t know, the sphinxes are the wisest ones who may be able to help.

Getting to the sphinxes is an adventure in itself, and that leads them to the next adventure, which leads them to the next adventure, and so on until it’s finally Christopher and Mal trying to heal the magical tree.

And the whole story is epic and wonderful and magical and full of wonderful people and danger and beauty and peril.

My only sadness is that this book was first published in the UK, so it’s not eligible for the Newbery Medal.

And I was delighted just now when I pulled out the Advance Reader Copy to notice “Book One” on the spine! That settles it – by the time Book Two comes out, I’m buying myself finished copies of both books and rereading this one in print for the joy of it. It’s that good.

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Fiction/impossible_creatures.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

What did you think of this book?

Review of Plain Jane and the Mermaid, by Vera Brosgol

Children's Fiction Review, Fantasy, Graphic Novel, Starred Review 0

Plain Jane and the Mermaid

by Vera Brosgol

First Second, 2024. 364 pages.
Review written September 30, 2024, from a library book.
Starred Review

I’ve appreciated Vera Brosgol’s graphic novels since reading her middle school memoir Be Prepared the year I was on the Newbery committee. And her picture book Leave Me Alone! has won Caldecott Honor. I like both her art and her stories, and she knows how to put them together well.

This graphic novel for kids deftly shows that some things are much more important than good looks. And as with all Vera Brosgol’s books, it delivers its message in a quirky and thought-provoking way.

Jane is a very plain looking girl from a wealthy family, but as the book opens, a lawyer tells her that since her parents died and her little brother is dead, their stately home is going to pass to her cousin. Her cousin proves to be an odious and greedy man. Jane, still a teen, will have to move along to “wherever women go.” They give her a week to move out, but the lawyer tells her that if she were to marry, she’ll get a dowry, enough to live on quite comfortably.

So there’s nothing else to do. Jane goes down to the harbor, where the fisherman’s son whom she’s long had a crush on works – or rather pretends to work while he spends his time looking beautiful. Jane reasons that he might be willing to marry her if it means he can quit working, and he seems quite agreeable to that idea. But before they can seal the deal, a mermaid comes up out of the water and pulls the boy into the sea, the mermaid also being taken with his good looks.

Jane vows to save him, and she finds a crone in a shop by the sea who gives her magical items to help her on her way. But still, Jane’s quest is dangerous and difficult. She gains further help along the way, and before she arrives, the boy learns that the mermaid’s planning to marry him and then eat him in order to stay beautiful. But it’s not going to be easy to get him out of her clutches.

The fun thing about this tale is that by the time it’s done, we see that there are wonderful things that go much deeper than beauty. There’s a satisfying ending as Jane herself sees that love can be based on more than looks. I love the fairy tale elements (three magical objects to help – though there’s a twist in how Jane uses them) that are presented in Vera Brosgol’s unique way to give us a modern story with a classic fairy tale feeling.

firstsecondbooks.com

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Fiction/plain_jane_and_the_mermaid.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

What did you think of this book?

Review of Sylvia Doe and the 100-Year Flood, by Robert Beatty

Children's Fiction Review, Science Fiction, Starred Review 0

Sylvia Doe and the 100-Year Flood

by Robert Beatty

Disney Hyperion, October 8, 2024. 314 pages.
Review written June 26, 2024, from an Advance Reader Copy sent by the publisher.
Starred Review

Sylvia Doe and the 100-Year Flood is about a girl who’s grown up in an institution that insists it’s not an orphanage. Kids are supposed to get placed in homes, but every time Sylvia gets placed somewhere, she runs away to come back. She loves the horses there and helps the stable manager care for them.

And when a 100-year flood hits – the horses need help getting to the higher pasture. Sylvia and her own horse Kitty Hawk work heroically to save them. But along the way, Sylvia also saves a boy – a boy who says strange things. And they see impossible animals coming down the river – like a jaguar mother with her cub.

It becomes an adventure of figuring out what’s going on with the river, where these out-of-place people and things are coming from, and how to make things right – including with Sylvia herself.

It’s all told in an engaging way, with characters it’s a delight to spend time with. I loved Sylvia’s love for the natural world and the pictures from her notebook as she draws the animals she sees, even the ones that are out of place. This is an adventure story firmly set in the natural world – with a speculative fiction twist.

RobertBeattyBooks.com
DisneyBooks.com

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Fiction/sylvia_doe_and_the_100_year_flood.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

What did you think of this book?

Review of The Tenth Mistake of Hank Hooperman, by Gennifer Choldenko

Children's Fiction Review, Contemporary, Starred Review 0

The Tenth Mistake of Hank Hooperman

by Gennifer Choldenko

Alfred A. Knopf, 2024. 309 pages.
Review written August 13, 2024, from a library book.
Starred Review

Okay, disclaimer first. My timing with this book was most unfortunate. I read this one immediately after finishing And Then… Boom! by Lisa Fipps. The books set up a plot that is way too similar – both involving a mother who abandons her kids and a grandma who dies. Okay, in this one, Grandma died (recently) before the start of the book, but together with Louder than Hunger, by John Schu, which I read earlier this year, I’ve had quite enough of Grandmas dying, thank you very much! Can we put a pause on that?

This book and And Then… Boom! are both excellent middle grade novels, dealing with a super hard topic that honestly should be dealt with, and both do it well. But I do *not* recommend reading the books back-to-back. Both end happily, as they absolutely need to do for a middle grade audience, but both main characters go through a kid’s worst nightmare – the abandonment by their own mother, and having to face that their own mother is not responsible enough to take care of them.

The books are different. I prefer prose to novels in verse, because you get more detail, so I liked this one a little bit better, but I would not want to be on the Newbery committee this year, because I suspect there will be arguments about which one is more distinguished, and have a feeling some will gravitate to one and some to the other. (I could be totally wrong about this.)

Anyway, this book I read has a big bright spot in the character of Boo, Hank Hooperman’s three-year-old sister. It’s because of Boo, well, that and an eviction notice, that twelve-year-old Hank can’t keep trying to go it alone after his mother leaves and doesn’t come back.

So after some effort to figure out what in the world to do, Hank looks up the name Mom put on his field trip permission slip as an Emergency Contact, and it’s Lou Ann, a lady who was friends with his Grandma.

Lou Ann is happy to take care of Boo – she even does day care for preschoolers out of her home – but she isn’t so happy about taking care of Hank. She contacts Child Protective Services and gets Hank and Boo caseworkers. Meanwhile, while they’re trying to find Hank’s Mom and wondering how long Lou Ann will put them up, Hank attends a new school in the district where Lou Ann lives. He makes new friends and gets recruited for the basketball team, but he doesn’t want to tell anyone why he’s not sure how long he’ll stay.

Once again, let me assure you that it does end happy — because it would all be way too much to take if it didn’t. In many ways, it’s a tough read, and Hank is a kid you just want to make things better for. I kind of hate that Hank is hyperaware of the mistakes he makes because, doggone it, a kid shouldn’t have to have so much responsibility, and his mother doesn’t seem to be aware of her own mistakes at all.

So, yes, this is a powerful book, with characters you’ll care about, and believe it or not, plenty of humor and kindness to get you through the hard things. But be ready for some gut wrenching along the way.

gennifercholdenko.com

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Fiction/10th_mistake_of_hank_hooperman.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

What did you think of this book?

Review of Splinter and Ash, by Marieke Nijkamp

Children's Fiction Review, Fantasy, Starred Review 0

Splinter & Ash

by Marieke Nijkamp

Greenwillow Books, September 2024. 345 pages.
Review written July 7, 2024, from an Advance Reader Copy.
Starred Review

Oh, this book is a delightful start to a middle grade fantasy trilogy. The title characters are both twelve years old. Princess Ash has just come back to her kingdom after years learning with her aunt. And the court doesn’t seem to think that she measures up. She has joints that always want to pop out, her health is fragile, and she walks with a cane and wears braces. In our world, I think we’d say she has Ehler-Danlos syndrome, but in her world she’s called a cripple, and not good enough to be a princess by the unkind. Even her own brother is disappointed in her.

Splinter wants to be a squire more than anything. But everyone says that girls can’t be squires. Splinter doesn’t feel like a girl, and the word “boy” isn’t quite right for them either – but Splinter does know that being a squire feels absolutely right and they want to protect the princess.

There is a war going on, and some nobles may be taking the side of the empire against the queen. When Ash becomes a pawn in intrigues against the crown, both Ash and Splinter get a chance to prove themselves – but it’s not going to be easy.

Not only did this book give us a great story about characters we’re rooting for, it also set up situations for the rest of the trilogy with the kingdom possibly in the balance.

The only trouble with starting a trilogy with an Advance Reader Copy is I’m going to have to wait far too long to hear more about these characters.

mariekenijkamp.com

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Fiction/splinter_and_ash.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

What did you think of this book?

Review of The Sherlock Society, by James Ponti

Children's Fiction Review, Mystery, Starred Review 0

The Sherlock Society

by James Ponti

Aladdin, September 2024. 336 pages.
Review written June 29, 2024, from an Advance Reader Copy sent by the publisher.
Starred Review

James Ponti has a series called City Spies that is wildly popular at our library – I have to keep ordering more copies. So when I saw that he’s starting a new series, I wanted to see what the fuss was about.

The Sherlock Society is a fun four-children-working-together middle grade mystery. I can understand the wide appeal. Brother and sister Alex and Zoe Sherlock decide to make money during the summer by solving mysteries, with the help of two friends and their grandpa – who used to be an investigative reporter, and has lots of tips – and a car.

The making money part may not work out so well for them, but while trying to unearth Al Capone’s treasure, they find a more pressing mystery – who is dumping chemicals in the Everglades? Is it their fault that following the clues leads them into danger? And can they find the evidence to actually land the crooks in jail?

The mystery has lots of action, good tips from their grandpa, and a believable story even with kid detectives. Four children on an adventure is classic middle grade fare, and I love the way this author pulls it off. I’m sure he’s got another hit on his hands.

JamesPonti.com
simonandschuster.com/kids

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Fiction/sherlock_society.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

What did you think of this book?

Review of Illuminations, by T. Kingfisher

Children's Fiction Review, Fantasy, Starred Review 0

Illuminations

by T. Kingfisher

Argyll Productions, 2022. 260 pages.
Review written April 17, 2024, from a library book.
Starred Review

I need to read more books by T. Kingfisher! I checked this one out because of how thoroughly I enjoyed A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking, and then picked it up and got it read after a librarian mentioned T. Kingfisher as one of her favorite authors. I wasn’t quite as big a fan of this one, but it’s got the same flavor of a whole lot of fun in a magical kingdom.

Rosa Mandolini is almost eleven years old, a member of Studio Mandolini, surrounded by artist family members who do the important magical work of illumination.

The Mandolinis painted pictures of radishes with wings to ward off sickness, and they painted great droopy-faced hounds with halos to protect against burglars. They painted flaming swords on shingles to keep storms from blowing the roofs off houses, and they painted very strange pictures of men with hummingbird heads to keep venomous snakes out of people’s gardens.

And every one of these paintings worked, although they would wear out over time. Sometimes the illumination had to be very large. It was no good getting a tiny painting of a blue-eyed cat to keep mice away if you had a barn that was already full of rats. The tiny painting would keep mice out of your pantry, but to keep them out of a barn, you needed a painting six feet high with a blue-eyed cat the size of a tiger.

But one day, when Rosa is bored, she goes searching for a stuffed armadillo model for her uncle in their disorganized storeroom — and discovers a box with an illumination that makes her walk away and forget about it. When she manages to overcome the forgetting about it part, her next challenge is to figure out how to get the box open. When she does, the crow illumination on the box cover comes alive — and something inside the box escapes. The crow informs her that she’s just let loose an evil creature that’s been imprisoned for two hundred years and will proceed to suck the magic out of all of their illuminations.

The crow is absolutely right. And hijinks ensue. Eventually her whole family needs to get in on the act of stopping the evil mandrake root running around the corners of their studio.

It’s all told in a light-hearted way with eccentric characters, a creative magic system, and a kid who wants to not get in trouble — but also contribute to the family.

redwombatstudio.com

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Fiction/illuminations.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

What did you think of this book?

Review of And Then, Boom! by Lisa Fipps

Children's Fiction Review, Contemporary, Starred Review 0

And Then, Boom!

by Lisa Fipps

Nancy Paulsen Books (Penguin Random House), 2024. 244 pages.
Review written August 7, 2024, from an Advance Reader Copy sent by the publisher.
Starred Review

Lisa Fipps knows how to wrench your heart! She’s the author of Starfish, the Printz Honor-winning novel of a young girl who’s relentlessly bullied – even by adults – about her weight, as she learns to take up space. This book, And Then, Boom! is another novel in verse, this time about a boy dealing with poverty and hunger.

There’s a bit of foreshadowing at the beginning when our hero Joe explains that he’s not a superhero, even though he flew like Superman once. But like superheroes, he does have an origin story, and this book gives it.

At the beginning, he also explains why the world needs comic books – to give you hope and remind you that even when horrible things happen, it can all work out in the end. This statement is important to this book, because, honestly, I was angry at all the author put this kid through.

But yes! It works out in the end. All the same, this is the second book I’ve read this year where the grandma – the person who was the lifeline to the neglected child – dies and leaves him pretty much alone. Stop killing off Grandma, authors! I can’t take it any more!

And okay, I should probably give a spoiler alert – but it’s only about a third of the way into the book and maybe if you brace yourself, you can handle it better.

Joe has a mother who gets the Itch and leaves, so Joe’s been living with his grandma. And ever since they sold their house to pay his mother’s bail, they’ve been stretching to make ends meet. This is about that struggle.

Fortunately, Joe has some good friends looking out for him, a kind teacher who makes food available, and caring people in the community. But one thing after another happens to Joe, and let’s just say that I was tremendously relieved by the happy ending. But before the happy ending, he flies like Superman!

Now, it’s fair that Lisa Fipps put such hard things into a book, because I know full well that there are kids out there dealing with problems like this. May I take the story to heart and look for ways to make life better for kids in such situations. May this book give us all a little more empathy.

authorlisafipps.com

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Fiction/and_then_boom.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

What did you think of this book?

Review of Aviva vs. the Dybbuk, by Mari Lowe

Children's Fiction Review, Contemporary 0

Aviva vs. the Dybbuk

by Mari Lowe

Levine Querido, 2022, 172 pages.
Review written August 5, 2022, from a library book

This book tells about an girl named Aviva who lives with her mother in an apartment over a mikvah next to the shul in their Orthodox Jewish community. They’ve lived there since Aviva’s father died, and it’s all her mother can manage to take care of the mikvah.

But there’s a dybbuk, a mischievous spirit, in the mikvah, and only Aviva can see him. She can’t control him, but she can clean up after him.

Meanwhile, at school Aviva and her former best friend get in trouble and assigned to do a project together. Maybe that will build some bridges. But why is the dybbuk getting even worse in the trouble he’s causing?

There’s a lot of sadness in this book. But ultimately a hopeful ending as events in the book help both Aviva and her mother start to go beyond their sad loss with the help of their loving community.

levinequerido.com

Buy from Amazon.com

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

What did you think of this book?

*Note* To try to catch up on posting reviews, I’m posting the oldest reviews I’ve written on my blog without making a page on my main website. They’re still good books.