Review of Pip’s Trip, by Janet Morgan Stoeke

Animal Characters, Delightfully Silly, Picture Book Review, Starred Review 0

Pip’s Trip

by Janet Morgan Stoeke

Dial Books for Young Readers, 2012. 32 pages.
Starred Review

Janet Morgan Stoeke is coming to our library! (That’s the City of Fairfax Regional Library on Monday, May 13, 2013 at 3:30!) I’m excited because I remember discovering her books when I first worked in a library back at Sembach Air Force Base. Her Minerva Louise books are perfect for preschoolers who enjoy someone sillier than they are.

Her recent book, Pip’s Trip, features more silly chickens, the three hens from The Loopy Coop Hens, Midge, Dot, and Pip.

Pip’s Trip is written as an easy reader, with simple vocabulary and short sentences. There are even seven very short chapters to give a child a sense of accomplishment. The format is still the large one of a picture book, which is all the better for storytime.

Midge, Dot, and Pip see the farm truck, and Pip notices there’s plenty of room in the back for them. Pip talks them into going for a ride, but after she gets in, Dot and Midge decide they should ask Rooster Sam first. So Pip is alone in the back of the truck.

We can see from the pictures that the driver has the hood of the truck up and is working on the engine. Pip, in the back of the truck, is very alarmed:

”Oh, no! It is getting loud.
This is bad.
I don’t want to see the wide world!
Oh, no! Oh, no! Oh, no!”
Pip shuts her eyes.

When Pip peeks out, “the wide world looks just like Loopy Coop Farm!”

Pip’s friends set her straight when Pip talks about the ride she went on. But they all agree that she was very brave.

This is another fun story where preschoolers can enjoy someone who is far less wise in the ways of the world than they are. And with repetition, simple structure, and lots of one-syllable words, they’ll be reading it themselves before you know it.

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Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Picture_Books/pips_trip.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.

Source: This review is based on a library book from the Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I write the posts for my website and blogs entirely on my own time. 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.

Review of Navigating Early, by Clare Vanderpool

Children's Fiction Review, Historical 2

Navigating Early

by Clare Vanderpool

Delacorte Press, 2013. 306 pages.

Let me say right up front that I don’t review books I don’t like. Navigating Early was a wonderful reading experience.

The book is set shortly after the end of World War II. Jack Baker and his Mom bore up when his Dad had to go to war. But then, at the end of the war, his Mom died in her sleep. Now Jack has been taken far from home in Kansas to boarding school in Maine. His whole world has changed.

Jack is a well-drawn character. The kids he meets at school aren’t intentionally mean; they seem like real kids. Jack often pretends to know about things like rowing that he knows nothing about; that seems realistic, too. Jack meets Early Auden, an autistic boy, before that word was really used. He simply comes across as strange. Early plays records of a different musician on different days of the week. He’s obsessed with the number pi. He’s a demanding coxswain and he knows how to rebuild a boat.

Then it’s fall break, and Jack’s Dad’s shore leave is postponed. Early had already invited him to go on a crazy quest to find the Great Bear of the Appalachian Trail. In a wave of disappointment and loneliness, Jack and Early set out on an epic adventure.

There were quite a few places where I had to stretch my belief a bit. I’ve read Born on a Blue Day, so I could accept that for some people, the digits of pi are like a landscape of colors and shapes. For Early, the digits of pi tell a story. That was a bit of a stretch, but I could believe it.

Then the story Early tells, from the digits of pi, mirrors what happens to the two boys on their quest. That’s a bit of a stretch, too, but I could suspend my disbelief.

The people they met on their quest all seemed pretty eccentric. Nobody asked why they were out in the wilderness on their own. Nobody insisted on taking them back to school. That was a bit of a stretch, but I could accept it.

Lots of different people in the story were dealing with some kind of grief. That was maybe a coincidence, but one that enhanced the story. In fact, the different shades of grief, experienced in the lives of the various characters, was a strength of the book.

What I absolutely could not believe? Well, Early’s obsessed with the number pi, right? Toward the beginning of the book, their math teacher tells them about a man named Professor Douglas Stanton:

He’s a mathematician at Cambridge who is on a quest of his own. He has spent much of his career studying this number and has a theory that, contrary to popular belief, pi is not a never-ending number. That yes, it is an amazing number that has over seven hundred digits currently known, and thousands more that haven’t been calculated yet. But he believes it will, in fact, end.

The fact is, pi was proven in 1761 to be irrational. That means it’s not a matter of “popular belief” that it doesn’t end. It doesn’t end, and mathematicians know it doesn’t end. They have proof. A serious mathematician would never entertain a theory like that with no possibility of it being correct.

It gets worse. At the culmination of the Fall Math Institute at the end of the book, Professor Stanton presents his “proof”:

Professor Douglas Stanton wrote out more than two hundred digits, which he explained, were the most recently calculated numbers of pi. He talked long and loud and wrote lots of symbols and equations on the chalkboard, highlighting the fact that there were no ones in the most recently calculated digits of pi. He explained that, based on this disappearance of the number one, he’d concluded that other numbers would also disappear and that pi would eventually end.

Early ends up refuting this so-called “proof” by showing that the calculations were wrong, and there actually should have been ones in the recently calculated digits.

Okay, this is wrong on many levels. I’ve been told that since pi is infinite, every conceivable sequence can be found among its digits if you go out far enough. There probably is a stretch of 200 digits somewhere that has no ones. And that would not prove anything! And a mathematician would know that it wouldn’t prove anything.

If Early finds an error in a published expansion of pi, great. But that wouldn’t disprove anything, either. The proof that pi is irrational (published in 1761) had nothing to do with its calculated decimal expansion.

Based on the Author’s Note at the end, the author knows that pi is irrational. I simply could not even come close to believing that a respected mathematician would seriously put forth a “proof” or even a conjecture that pi is a rational number. If this had been set in 1700, maybe. Or some alien, medieval-type world. In a historical novel set in 1945? No way.

I’m not sure if I think it’s good or bad that that particular plot point could be completely taken out of the book without any harm to the plot. (And I really don’t think that telling you what happens is a spoiler.)

I am afraid that once I noticed this, it’s bordering on a little obsession for me to point out that it’s incorrect. I suspect it bothers me, with a Master’s in Math, a lot more than it will bother most readers, particularly kids. But that bothers me, too. Mathematicians would never act as this Professor Stanton is portrayed acting, and I feel like it gives mathematicians a bad name. I don’t like kids getting the impression that pi’s irrationality is open to debate or that mathematicians aren’t absolutely certain about it. I would way rather she came up with something mathematicians actually might set out to prove, like the distribution of different digits in the expansion of pi. (How likely is it that a stretch of 200 digits has no ones? Now that’s an interesting question!)

Another question: How much do we hold writers of fiction to the facts? If her presentation of rowing terms were all wrong (I have absolutely no idea if they were or not; I assume they were correct.), would that be considered a flaw in the book? And would I accept the word of an expert who told me it was incorrect? I think this presentation of a mathematician claiming to “prove” pi is a rational number is completely unbelievable (Shall I say “irrational”?) in a book set in 1945. Will those without advanced mathematical training agree with me? Will they take my word for it? I can’t help but think of the much-decorated book The House of the Scorpion, by Nancy Farmer, which had a huge plot point turn on the completely impossible scenario of a clone having the same fingerprints as his “father.” There is absolutely no way that would happen. And how much does a flaw like that affect your opinion of a work of fiction?

Did I mention that the writing is lovely and the characters are well-drawn? Yes, I enjoyed this story. But I was annoyed every time it mentioned the idea that a mathematician thought pi would end. And now I find myself annoyingly obsessed with making sure that people know that WOULD. NOT. HAPPEN!

It’s a good book, though! And, please, tell me what you think. Did this bother you? I’d love to hear from non-mathematically-minded and mathematically-minded alike. Would it not have bothered you if I hadn’t pointed it out? Does it not bother you despite the fact that I pointed it out? I’m really curious if I’m the nutty one here!

randomhouse.com/kids

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

Source: This review is based on a library book from the Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I write the posts for my website and blogs entirely on my own time. 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.

Please use the comments if you’ve read the book and want to discuss spoilers!

Review of Bomb, by Steve Sheinkin

Award Winners, Children's Nonfiction Review, History, Starred Review, Suspense 0

Bomb

The Race to Build — and Steal — the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon

by Steve Sheinkin

Roaring Brook Press, New York, 2012. 266 pages.
Starred Review
2013 Newbery Honor Book
2013 Sibert Award Winner
2013 YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction Award Winner

Okay, this is a book that deserves all the acclaim. It’s exciting. It’s important. It’s well-researched. And it’s true. What’s not to like?

Steve Sheinkin takes three threads of history: The Americans’ race to build a bomb in time to make a difference in World War II, the efforts to stop the Germans from developing a bomb first, and the Soviet effort to steal the technology, with repercussions in the arms race that followed. He weaves all those threads together in a gripping page-turner that captures the tension of the time, even though you know how it all turned out.

I was surprised by how much I didn’t know. For example, I’d had no idea a team of Norwegians sabotaged a German heavy water factory and ultimately hampered Germany’s chances of beating the Allies to a bomb. I also wasn’t clear on the different types of atomic bombs and the obstacles in producing them. He made it all seem so simple!

And a whole lot of the book is about the spying and espionage surrounding the bomb. Talk about drama! Steve Sheinkin makes you feel the tension and intrigue, even while sticking to what’s known.

The one thing that bugged me? I fully realize this is incredibly minor, but I also strongly hope that it will be fixed in subsequent printings (and I’m sure this book will have many, many printings). Not once, but twice, someone was quoted talking about their “principle concern.” Eventually, people did have concerns about the principles involved, but in that context they were talking about their “principal concerns.” It bugs me to have an error like that in what seems to be an impeccably researched book. We discussed on Heavy Medal, do we hold Nonfiction books to higher standards? Well, I can assure you that would have bugged me in any book, but, yes, probably a little more in Nonfiction. But I can also inform you that I was too absorbed in the story to jot down the page numbers.

Despite those two annoying spots for nitpickers like me, this is a groundbreaking history book that I recommend for adults, teens, and children alike. You’ll learn something, and you’ll be on the edge of your seat learning it.

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Nonfiction/bomb.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.

Source: This review is based on a library book from the Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I write the posts for my website and blogs entirely on my own time. 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.

This review is posted today in honor of Nonfiction Monday. This week’s Round-Up is hosted at Apples with Many Seeds.

Sonderling Sunday – Day 13, Das Buch der Tausend Tage

Sonderling Sunday 0

It’s Sonderling Sunday! That time of the week when I play with words by looking at the German translation of children’s books. Okay, Sunday is almost over, and I probably should forgo Sonderling Sunday until February is done and I’ve gotten moved. But I’m copying CDs anyway, and it really is fun. I’ll just do a little bit….

This week, I’m going to go back to Das Buch der Tausend Tage, The Book of a Thousand Days, by one of my favorite authors, Shannon Hale.

Last time I looked at this book, we covered Day 6 and Day 11 of Dashti’s journal in the tower. Today we’ll tackle Day 13.

This is much more prosaic than what we find in Der Orden der Seltsamen Sonderlinge, but it’s a bit more useful:

“While I was washing up tonight” = Als ich heute Abend den Abwasch machte

I like this sentence. The word for “toe” of a shoe is different than the word for the part of your foot, Zeh.
“She wears fashionable shoes with the toe long and curled toward her ankle.”
= Sie trägt modische Schuhe mit einem langen Schnabel, der sich zu ihrem Knöchel krümmt.
(Literally, according to Google Translate, that would translate back as, “She wears fashionable shoes with a long beak, that to her ankles curl.”)

“Ancestors” = Ahnen

“I feel like a mucker from the ends of my hair to the mud of my bones.”
= Ich fühle mich von den Haarspitzen bis ins Mark meiner Knochen wie eine Aratin.
(German uses “marrow” of my bones, which makes sense, but loses the colorful language Shannon Hale used.)

Ha! I saw this and thought they were talking about e-mail for a second!
“enamel tiles” = Emailziegeln

Hmm. In German, they say the lord’s house is as beautiful as baumen, trees, in Autumn, instead of “beautiful as a mountain in Autumn.” Again, I think it’s losing a little of Dashti’s voice.

“women were wailing, men were yelling” = die Frauen heulten, die Männer brüllten

“waiting for someone to be sensible” = wartete auf einen vernünftigen Menschen (“waiting for a reasonable man”)

“errand boys” = Botenjungen (“request-youths”)

Here’s a good one!
“squinting” = mit zusammengekniffenen Augen (“with together-slitted eyes”)

“puffy” = verquollen

Again, not quite as picturesque language:
“straight as a tent pole” = stocksteif (“stock-stiff”)

“muddle of her hair” = ihre zerzausten Haare

“fur or felt” = Fell oder Filz

“embroidered” = bestickt

“sunset” = Sonnenuntergang (“sun’s exit”)

I like this, too:
“as if fighting off a fit of sobs” = als wollte sie einen Weinkrampf unterdrücken
(“as if she wanted to a crying-spasm push under”)

“lovely” = liebreizend

“bleating” = plärrst

“your mess” = dein Schlamassel

“a touch of sympathy” = ein Hauch Mitgefühl

“from duty” = aus Pflichtgefühl

“cowards” = Feiglinge

“useless” = überflüssig (“overflowing,” “superfluous”)

“birth splotches” = Storchenbissen (“stork bites”)

“rummaging” = wühlte

“hooks” = Bügeln (Hmm. I bet that’s where Bugles got their name, from their shapes.)

“enviable” = beneidenswerte

“rebellion” = Auflehnung

“suspicious of the sun” = voller Argwohn gegen die Sonne (“full of suspicion against the sun”)

“a heap of sticks and felt” = ein Haufen Stangen und Filz

“blessed” = guthie?en (“good-called”)

That’s it for Day 13. Believe me, I didn’t do it aus Pflichtgefühl, but for fun. But now it’s getting late. I don’t want to do this so long, I end up mit zusammengekniffenen Augen. (That one’s a tongue-twister as well as a cool word.) Zum Bett! Until next week, if all goes well…

Review of No Crystal Stair, by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson

Award Winners, Biography, Historical, Teen Fiction Review, True Stories 0

No Crystal Stair

A Documentary Novel of the Life and Work of Lewis Michaux, Harlem Bookseller

by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson
Artwork by R. Gregory Christie

CarolRhoda Lab, Minneapolis, 2012. 188 pages.
2012 Boston-Globe Horn Book Award Winner for Fiction
2013 Coretta Scott King Author Honor Book

This is a “Documentary Novel.” In the Author’s Note at the back, Vaunda Micheaux Nelson tells us, “Researching this family history was exciting and challenging, though nonexistent and conflicting information complicated the project. I did my best to tell Lewis’s story using facts where I could, filling gaps with informed speculation, making this a work of fiction. My goal was to leave readers with the essence of the man, an understanding of what shaped him, and a picture of how he and his National Memorial African Bookstore influenced a community.”

I think she admirably achieved this goal. The book reads like a work of nonfiction, so will be more interesting to kids who like nonfiction. It doesn’t read quite like a novel, but the absorbing information may be all the more interesting because it really happened. The author includes photographs and documents and even a copy of the FBI files on Lewis Michaux.

The story is inspiring. Lewis started out as something of the family troublemaker, growing up in his brother the preacher’s shadow. And it took awhile for him to find his own calling. Here’s where Vaunda Micheaux Nelson has him realizing what he should do:

I keep coming back to the same thing. Knowledge. Our people need to continue on the climb Douglass started. They need to read. I’m talking about books you don’t find in just any bookstore. Books for black people, books by black people, books about black people here and all around the world. The so-called Negro needs to hear and learn from the voices of black men and women.

This office would be perfect for a bookstore. My bookstore.

The author takes voices from people all around Lewis Michaux to show how he changed people’s lives. Through books.

lernerbooks.com

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Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Teens/no_crystal_stair.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.

Source: This review is based on a library book from the Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I write the posts for my website and blogs entirely on my own time. 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.

Please use the comments if you’ve read the book and want to discuss spoilers!

Review of The Adventures of Nanny Piggins, by R. A. Spratt

Animal Characters, Children's Fiction Review, Fantasy, Humorous, Starred Review 0

The Adventures of Nanny Piggins

by R. A. Spratt
illustrated by Dan Santat

Little, Brown and Company, New York, 2010. First published in Australia in 2009. 239 pages.
Starred Review

Move over Mary Poppins! Nanny Piggins is not a nanny who teaches her charges valuable lessons. In fact, the Disclaimer at the front warns you of things to come:

You are about to read a wonderful book. Nanny Piggins is the most amazing pig ever. It has been a privilege to write about her. But before you begin I must (because the publisher has forced me) give you one small warning. . .

Unless you are a pig, do not copy Nanny Piggins’s diet IN ANY WAY.

You see, pigs and humans have very different bodies. Pigs are a different shape (mainly because they eat so much). Plus, Nanny Piggins is an elite athlete so she has a freakishly fast metabolism that can burn a lot of calories.

So please, for the good of your own health, do not try to eat like Nanny Piggins. There is no doubt that chocolate, cake, cookies, tarts, chocolate milk, sticky cream buns, candy, ice cream, lollipops, sherbet lemons, and chocolate chip pancakes are all delicious, but that does not mean you should eat them seven or eight times a day.

Also, you really must eat vegetables, no matter what Nanny Piggins might say to the contrary, or you will get sick.

Yours sincerely,
R. A. Spratt, the author

P.S. The publisher also wants me to mention that you really should not try a lot of the things Nanny Piggins does either. For example, throwing heavy things off roofs. Firstly, because you might give yourself a hernia lugging it up there. But mainly, because if it landed on someone that would be terrible. So please do not copy Nanny Piggins’s behavior (unless you are under the close supervision of a responsible adult pig with advanced circus training).

Yes, Nanny Piggins is a pig. A pig who has left the circus, where she was a flying pig shot out of a cannon. Mr. Green hires her to watch his children because she only charges ten cents an hour. Yes, Nanny Piggins’s behavior is completely outrageous — and therefore tremendous fun to read about. Sensitive parents who aren’t sure their children would fully understand why they do not apply Nanny Piggins’s methods might find this book would make an excellent family read-aloud. (Then the parents can include wise instruction as to why such behavior is not advisable. They can also enjoy the fun along with their kids.)

Here’s an example that made me laugh, from when Mr. Green gives Nanny Piggins money to buy uniforms:

Happily, as it turned out, Nanny Piggins’s idea of a good investment was to buy four tickets to an amusement park. The children had the most wonderful day. They went on all sorts of terrifying rides. On some they were flung high into the air until they were convinced they were going to die. And on others they were spun around and around until they were utterly sick.

In fact, Michael was sick. Fortunately the ride was going at full speed at the time, and the vomit flew cleanly out of his mouth and into the face of the person behind him. So Nanny Piggins did not have to trouble herself with cleaning up his clothes.

“Well done, Michael,” Nanny Piggins complimented him. “With aim like that you could get a job at the circus.”

Here’s the way Chapter Four opens:

It was seven o’clock at night, and Nanny Piggins and the children were happily crouched on the floor of the cellar, holding a cockroach race, when they heard the distinctive harrumph sound of a throat being cleared behind them.

Now, one of the first things Nanny Piggins had taught the children was what to do if someone walks in on you when you are doing something bad. So the children did exactly as they had been trained — they stayed absolutely still and did not say a word, completely ignoring the four cockroaches as they scattered across the floor in front of them. Nanny Piggins made a mental note to recatch hers later because it was a big one with long legs and it would be a shame to let it run wild. Apart from making excellent racers, cockroaches can be tremendously handy for shocking hygenic people and clearing long lines at the deli.

As the author warns us repeatedly, Do not try this at home! But you can certainly enjoy reading about it at home. And if you won’t feed your kids junk food at every meal, where’s the harm in letting them fantasize about a nanny who does? This book is full of silly, over-the-top, good-hearted fun.

raspratt.com
dantat.com
lb-kids.com

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

Source: This review is based on a library book from the Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I write the posts for my website and blogs entirely on my own time. 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.

Please use the comments if you’ve read the book and want to discuss spoilers!

Review of Jinx, by Sage Blackwood

Children's Fiction Review, Fantasy, Starred Review 0

Jinx

by Sage Blackwood

Harper, 2013. 360 pages.
Starred Review

Jinx is the first book I’ve read in 2013 that’s also published in 2013. (I was catching up reading 2012 books for Capitol Choices the first few weeks of January.) And I like it! I recently read lots and lots of middle grade fantasy for the 2012 Cybils shortlist, and this one stands out from the pack.

Jinx has world-building with faultless, albeit complex, internal logic. (Messed up internal logic is always my pet peeve with fantasy books. This one has no such problems.) Jinx has grown up in the Urwald. (That’s German for “primeval forest.”) Here’s how the book begins:

In the Urwald you grow up fast or not at all. By the time Jinx was six he had learned to live quietly and carefully, squeezed into the spaces left by other people even though the hut he lived in with his stepparents actually belonged to him. He had inherited it after his father died of werewolves and his mother was carried off by elves.

But then a spark from a passing firebird ignited the hut, and within a few minutes it had gone. The people in the clearing built another to replace it, and this new hut was not his. His stepparents, Bergthold and Cottawilda, felt this keenly. Besides, the harvest had been bad that autumn, and the winter would be a hungry one.

This was the sort of situation that made people in the clearing cast a calculating eye upon their surplus children.

With that beginning, you might get the impression the book is darker than it is. Yes, there’s danger pretty much throughout the book, but Jinx is so good-hearted, the overall feeling is much more positive. Jinx’s stepfather does try to abandon him in the Urwald, but he gets picked up and taken in by a wizard named Simon.

I like the complexity of the characters in this book. You’re not quite sure all along who is good and who is bad. And when you figure it out, the good characters still have plenty of flaws, and the bad characters have some good qualities.

I love Jinx’s magic. He can see the shape and color of people’s thoughts. He thinks everyone can do that. He’s also exceptionally good at listening, even to the trees of the Urwald. But he’s good at listening to other people and things, too, and quickly picks up a variety of languages. Simon and his wife are clueless about Jinx’s abilities, because they aren’t nearly so good at listening. I liked that little detail. And Jinx’s seeing Simon’s thoughts gives him good reason to wonder whether Simon is good or bad.

The biggest catch to this book is that it’s the start of a series. Yes, it ends at a good place, but Jinx and his friends are about to start off on an adventure, and that’s likely to be significant. There are some unfinished details we’ll want to find out about. But that’s also a good thing about the book — I’m happy there will be more to come.

This book lays the groundwork. It tells about Jinx growing up in Simon’s house and figuring out how things work. About halfway through the book, when Jinx is 12 years old, he sets off to seek his fortune. He gains two companions and sets off on an ill-conceived adventure. The adventure is ill-conceived, but I can believe the author’s explanation of how Jinx got pulled into it. The rest of the book deals with the consequences.

The big strengths of this book are the fascinating world Sage Blackwood has built (Hmm. Could that be a pseudonym? It’s almost too perfect for writing about the Urwald.) and the complex characters. Besides not knowing who is good or bad, I love the way Sage’s abilities affect his character. His two companions each have a curse on them, and that makes them all the more interesting, as well.

All in all, my 2013 reading year is off to a marvelous start!

harpercollinschildrens.com

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

Source: This review is based on an Advance Reader Copy I got at KidLitCon 12.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I write the posts for my website and blogs entirely on my own time. 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.

Please use the comments if you’ve read the book and want to discuss spoilers!