Children’s Fiction Review – Page 59

Sep 30, 2008October 13, 2008

Review of The Wizard Test, by Hilari Bell

The Wizard Test

by Hilari Bell

eos (HarperCollins), 2005. 166 pages.

http://www.harpercollischildrens.com/

www.sfwa.org/members/bell

I’ve definitely become a fan of Hilari Bell’s writing. Like The Prophecy, The Wizard Test is a fantasy for middle grade readers that takes a classic idea and digs deeper.

Dayven does not want to pass the Wizard Test. He does not want to have the powers of wizards and be taken as an apprentice. Everyone knows that wizards can’t be trusted. His grandmother, who may have passed her wizard talents on to him, was a traitor to her people.

No, Dayven wants to be a Guardian like his father.

But what if the Guardians ask him to go ahead and apprentice to the wizards? After all, they need someone to find out what the wizards are up to. The only trouble is that Dayven finds things a little more complicated than he had been led to believe.

This is another excellent story. I didn’t find myself as absorbed in it as I was in The Prophecy. My personal theory is that Dayven didn’t pass the Not Whining Test. Where Perryndon of The Prophecy accepted difficult circumstances with pluck, Dayven grumbles and complains. However, this book was written earlier than The Prophecy, so I think it goes to show that Hilari Bell went from very good writing on to greatness. I’m looking forward to reading more of her work.

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Sep 25, 2008October 13, 2008

Review of Alvin Ho: Allergic to Girls, School, and Other Scary Things, by Lenore Look

Children's Fiction Review, Contemporary, Humorous 0

Alvin Ho

Allergic to Girls, School, and Other Scary Things

by Lenore Look

pictures by LeUyen Pham

Schwartz & Wade Books, New York, 2008. 172 pages.

Alvin Ho: Allergic to Girls, School, and Other Scary Things, reminded me of Diary of a Wimpy Kid, only for younger kids. It has similar cartoon drawings generously illustrating the story, and a similar attitude toward school.

Alvin Ho is starting the second grade. He does not like school. He says, “If there were no school, my troubles would blast away, just like that. I would dig holes all day. I would play catch with my gunggung. I would watch cooking shows. I would keep an eye on things. It would be fantastic!”

Alvin tells us that before he went to school, he was a superhero. “I was Firecracker Man! I ran around our house, full speed ahead, screaming at the top of my lungs while beating on a garbage can lid. I was as noisy as a firecracker on Chinese New Year! . . .

“But now I am Firecracker Man only on weekends and holidays. There is just no time for it.

“Being a superhero is hard work. You have to save the world. But going to school is even harder. You have to save yourself. Most days I can hardly even make it to the school bus. And when I arrive at school, I can’t think. I can’t read. I can’t smile. I can’t sing. I can’t scream.

“I can’t even talk.”

It turns out that Alvin has never said one word at school. He can talk anywhere else, even on the school bus. But at school, his voice simply doesn’t work.

Not talking at school makes it hard to make friends. It makes it hard to avoid annoying girls who want to be your desk buddy. It makes it hard to join in a game of Minutemen and Redcoats. It makes it hard to explain to a substitute teacher why you aren’t responding to her questions.

This book is a lot of fun, with a nice set of school-related scrapes, and Alvin learning to confront his fears.

I did think the chicken pox adventure, where the whole class gets chicken pox after paying to visit the first kid who caught it, was funny, but sadly out of date. My 14-year-old son was required to get a chicken pox vaccination before he went to school, and I think that’s pretty standard now. So today’s children, poor things, will never know the joys of two weeks off of school along with the fun of showing off ones spots.

There are some great quirky characters. Alvin’s Dad likes to use Shakespearean imprecations when he’s angry. The annoying girl Flea wears an eyepatch. Alvin’s sister loves to dig holes. And Alvin himself is a big collection of entertaining quirks.

Alvin Ho is longer than a beginning chapter book, but makes fun, non-threatening reading with lots of pictures for a kid ready to laugh at the trials and tribulations of facing scary things like school and bullies and girls.

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Aug 15, 2008October 13, 2008

Review of Coraline, by Neil Gaiman

Audiobooks, Children's Fiction Review, Fantasy 0

Coraline

written and performed by Neil Gaiman

with original music by The Gothic Archies

HarperCollins, 2000. 3 hours, 3 compact discs.

Coraline is an exceedingly creepy story, in a delicious, shivery sort of way. (I recently read an author interview where he said that parents find the book more disturbing than kids do. I’m not surprised.)

There is a door in Coraline’s apartment that leads to a brick wall. Once it led to another flat, but when the house was split into apartments, the door was bricked up. However, one day Coraline follows a shadow through that door. She finds there a woman who says she is Coraline’s other mother. She wants Coraline to stay with her forever, and has some wonderful inducements. But they turn out to be less and less wonderful.

Everyone on the other side has black buttons where their eyes should be. Things look normal, but turn out to be seriously disturbing.

And leaving the other flat is not as easy as entering.

Neil Gaiman’s performance of this story is wonderful, enhanced by the incredibly creepy songs of The Gothic Archies. I chose this book to listen to on our trip to Florida because I thought my 14-year-old son would enjoy it, too. I do think I found the story creepier than he did. But tremendously well-written and well performed.

Not for the faint of heart.

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Aug 12, 2008October 13, 2008

Review of Lionboy: The Truth, by Zizou Corder

Audiobooks, Children's Fiction Review, Science Fiction 0

Lionboy: The Truth

Book Three of the Lionboy Trilogy

by Zizou Corder

read by Simon Jones

Highbridge Audio, 2005. 6 hours on 5 compact discs.

The Truth brings the Lionboy trilogy to a most satisfying conclusion. In the earlier books, Charlie’s parents were kidnapped, and Charlie went after them. In the third book, Charlie is the one kidnapped. His parents and the friends he has made along the way come to his rescue, but in the end Charlie’s own ingenuity, courage, and loyalty save the day for far more people and animals than just himself.

There are a few outrageous coincidences in this book, as there were in the earlier books. However, it’s all in good fun. This is a rather wild adventure tale set in the near future. The action takes Charlie across the globe to the very seat of the sinister Corporacy.

Charlie can still talk to cats, and in this book he becomes better acquainted with Ninu, a chameleon who can not only take on the colors around him, but also the languages. With Ninu’s help, Charlie can talk to any person and any thing.

Like the rest, this makes good listening material, and would be great for a family car trip. There is plenty of action to keep you diverted, and once again the narrator has a delightful voice (and accent) to listen to.

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Aug 1, 2008October 13, 2008

Review of Mercy Watson Thinks Like a Pig, by Kate DiCamillo

Beginning Chapter Books, Children's Fiction Review, Humorous 0

by Kate DiCamillo

illustrated by Chris Van Dusen

Candlewick Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2008. 74 pages.

Here’s another book perfect for a beginning reader who’s ready for chapters. Mercy Watson Thinks Like a Pig has 15 very short chapters. The pages are loaded with colorful, hilarious illustrations.

Mercy Watson is a pig, a porcine wonder. She is treated like a person by Mr. and Mrs. Watson, but sometimes she indeed acts like a pig. For example, when she smells the flowers her next door neighbors have planted, she can’t resist eating them. This prompts Eugenia Lincoln to call Animal Control Officer Francine Poulet, who has never dealt with a pig before.

In the hilarious chain of events that ensues, you can be sure that Mr. and Mrs. Watson retain their shining faith in their sweet Mercy, and that there is plenty of buttered toast.

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Aug 1, 2008October 13, 2008

Review of Down Girl and Sit: Smarter Than Squirrels, by Lucy Nolan

Beginning Chapter Books, Children's Fiction Review 0

Girl and Sit

Smarter Than Squirrels

by Lucy Nolan

illustrated by Mike Reed

Marshall Cavendish, New York, 2004. 64 pages.

http://www.marshallcavendish.com/

http://www.mikereedillustration.com/

With four chapters, lots of pictures, and lots of implied humor, here’s a book perfect for a child ready to read chapter books on his or her own.

Down Girl, a busy dog, narrates this book. She and the dog next door, Sit, have an important job.

Down Girl says,

“It is up to us to keep the world safe. Sometimes Sit and I wish we had help, but we’ve gotten used to doing the job alone.

“The secret to our success is simple. We are smarter than squirrels.

I don’t think people realize how many birds and squirrels are out here. If they did, they’d never leave their houses.

Birds and squirrels steal almost everything in sight. What they don’t steal, they eat. They are very clever, but they are not as clever as we are. Guess where we chase them. We chase them up trees!

“You never see a dog in a tree, do you? That’s because dogs are smart. We know it would hurt to fall out.

“Birds and squirrels never remember this. It’s easy to keep the world safe from birds and squirrels.”

Down Girl’s master is named Rruff. It is obvious that Rruff loves Down Girl, since he shouts her name so often.

When a new creature comes to the neighborhood named Here Kitty Kitty, the dogs know their job has gotten more challenging. Fortunately, Down Girl and Sit cleverly rise to the challenge.

A look at life from a dog’s point of view. Lots of fun!

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Jul 17, 2008October 13, 2008

Review of Lionboy: The Chase, by Zizou Corder

Audiobooks, Children's Fiction Review, Science Fiction 0

Lionboy: The Chase

Book Two in the LionBoy Trilogy

by Zizou Corder

Read by Simon Jones

HighBridge, Minneapolis, 2004. 7.5 hours on 6 compact discs.

This time, instead of stopping in the middle of Charlie Ashanti’s story, as I did the first time I read Lionboy, I made sure I continued on.

I’m finding that when I listen to books on CD, I enjoy very different books than the ones I like to read. Although I enjoyed the first book of the trilogy the first time I read it, I didn’t find it gripping, the sort of book that keeps me up all night reading. So I never found myself compelled to pick up the second book in the trilogy.

Listening to the audio version of the book is a different situation. Because I only live ten minutes from my workplace, I enjoy a diverting, entertaining story. One that pulls me in, but that I don’t mind stopping after ten minutes. The audio books I’m enjoying, this one among them, are an entirely different category of books than my usual choices. Although I loved listening to some print favorites, such as Enna Burning and Fairest, I almost found it annoying that I couldn’t gobble up the story quickly, I liked it so much. With a lighter book, like Lionboy, or comedies like those by P. G. Wodehouse, the way listening takes so much longer than reading is part of the fun. I’m finding that listening to the audiobook is the perfect way to get around to reading a book that I couldn’t quite get myself to pick up and read with my eyes. After all, I’m just entertaining myself while driving!

Most of Lionboy: The Chase took place in Venice — a future Venice where much of the city has finally fallen into the sea. Still, the parts still standing are the same as they have been for hundreds of years, the same Venice I fell in love with myself, so I enjoyed vicariously spending time there while reading this book.

Charlie has gotten the circus lions away from the circus and away from Paris. In this book, he needs to get them away from what he thought was their safe haven, a palazzo in Venice. He still doesn’t know where his parents have been taken, and now there’s a reward offered for finding him and the lions.

The plot in this story did include some unbelievable coincidences, but mostly it was an entertaining adventure yarn to listen to. How will Charlie, who can talk to cats and lions, save his friends the lions, and himself? How will he find his parents? How will he escape Raffi, who continues to go after him?

Charlie grows in this book, faces tough challenges, and overcomes.

I appreciated that this book did not end in the middle of things. In fact, if they didn’t tell us in the epilogue that things are about to get much worse, I would have thought it was a nice, happy ending. I like trilogies better when they consist of self-contained books, and this one at least finished the saga of the first two books.

The narrator is excellent, maintaining a nice variety of voices, including distinct voices for lions and cats. Of course, I’m always a sucker for a British accent, and can listen to such a speaker all day long!

I intend to listen to Book Three while I am still thinking about the story.

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Jun 28, 2008October 13, 2008

Review of Lion Boy Audiobook

Audiobooks, Children's Fiction Review, Science Fiction 0

Boy

by Zizou Corder

read by Simon Jones

Audio Adventures. 8 1/4 hours on 7 compact discs.

I reviewed the print version of Lion Boy years ago at http://www.sonderbooks.com/ChildrensFiction/lionboy.html

Unfortunately, I did not go straight on to read the next two volumes of the story — so I completely lost the thread of what was happening. When Lion Boy was a selection for the Fairfax County summer reading program, it seemed like the perfect time to refresh my memory, so I listened to the book on CDs. (And I’m happy to report that I have already begun the second book, so I am not going to let it go this time.)

How to say this without sounding derogatory? I’m finding audiobooks perfect for the sort of light-hearted book that doesn’t absorb me quite enough to keep me reading late into the night. Yes, the book is very interesting, but since I generally only get to listen in fifteen-minute stretches, audiobooks work well with a book that keeps me mildly interested over a long period of time. I’m not sure I defined it exactly right, but I never did get around to reading the Lion Boy sequels, but I found myself eager to listen to them. I’m finding there’s a certain type of reading that I enjoy more as listening.

And again (as with all the audiobooks I’m reviewing lately), the narration was marvellous. The book had songs with music inserted in the text, and of course the audio version included these.

This is another good family story that would make great listening for a family vacation. The hero is a kid, but he gets into some tight places, and the whole family will find themselves hoping Charlie finds a way to save his parents, and his friends the lions.

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Jun 10, 2008October 13, 2008

Review of Ever, by Gail Carson Levine

Children's Fiction Review, Fantasy, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

Ever,

by Gail Carson Levine

HarperCollins, 2008. 244 pages.

Starred Review.

Hooray! A new book by Gail Carson Levine, author of Ella Enchanted and Fairest. In Ever, the author takes us to a different sort of world. Instead of magic and fairies, this world is inhabited by gods and goddesses.

Olus is a youthful god, the god of the winds. He is curious about mortals, and so travels far from his own country and disguises himself as a mortal, a herder of goats. He finds himself fascinated by the family of his landlord, especially Kezi, who makes beautiful weavings and beautiful dances.

Then, because of an unfortunate vow, Kezi’s life is to be sacrificed. Can Olus find a way to save her? Perhaps he can make her immortal like himself. Only this will mean both of them undergoing a terrible ordeal.

Here is an enchanting story about love and fate, about uncertainty and awareness.

As with her other books, Gail Carson Levine again achieves a mythic quality to her story that I love so much. We have a simple story with undercurrents of Truth. Delightful!

http://www.gailcarsonlevinebooks.com/

http://www.harpercollinschildrens.com/

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www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Fiction/ever.html

Jun 2, 2008October 13, 2008

Review of Larklight, by Philip Reeve

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

Larklight

Or: The Revenge of the White Spiders!

Or: To Saturn’s Rings and Back! A Rousing Tale of Dauntless Pluck in the Farthest Reaches of Space!

by Philip Reeve

Performed by Greg Steinbruner

Bloomsbury Children’s Books, 2006. 400 pages.

Audiobook: Recorded Books, 2007. 8 CDs, 8.75 hours.

Starred Review.

Imagine for a moment that outer space is not a black emptiness, but really the “aether,” and full of living things. Imagine that there’s life on Mars, life on Venus, life on Saturn, and even “ichthyomorphs” floating in the middle of space.

Now imagine that instead of just discovering gravity, Isaac Newton used alchemy to figure out how to make spaceships. Imagine that in the 1800s, the British Empire wasn’t just an earthly empire ruling the seas, but ruled the solar system.

Art and Myrtle Mumby grew up on Larklight, a large old house that orbited the moon.

At the start of the book, their house is attacked by space spiders the size of elephants. Their father is captured by the spiders, but they manage to escape and land on the moon. On the moon, their life is in danger from giant moths, but they are rescued by space pirates. The captain of the pirates is a teenage boy, but the crew are all aliens.

The pirates don’t want to obey Myrtle’s demands and take them to a British Embassy, and the children’s adventures are only beginning. The book presents narrow escape after narrow escape as Art and Myrtle travel the solar system and end up saving the world.

This story is indeed a “rousing tale of dauntless pluck.” I was put off at the beginning because I hate the thought of giant spiders, but before long I was lingering in my car to listen. Even though I knew Art would surely escape, several times I found myself wondering how on earth he would get out of the latest tight spot.

Once again, I was enchanted by the delightful accents of the British narrator. This audiobook would be a fabulous adventure to listen to for a family traveling on summer vacation. Although there are some fearsome situations, Art and Myrtle emerge unscathed from them all. Great fun!

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