Review of What-the-dickens, by Gregory Maguire

Children's Fiction Review, Fantasy 0

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What-the-dickens

The Story of a Rogue Tooth Fairy

by Gregory Maguire

Candlewick Press, 2007.  295 pages.

Dinah and Zeke and Rebecca Ruth are stuck in a disaster.  They are home alone in the middle of a storm of epic proportions with only their cousin Gage, who’s barely an adult himself, to look after them.

Gage decides to tell them a story, to take their mind off their hopeless plight.  He tells them about a skibberee, more commonly called a Tooth Fairy.

What-the-dickens was in a fix himself, from the moment he was born, not in a colony like most skibbereen.  He didn’t even know that the first words he heard weren’t intended to be his name.

After several adventures and narrow escapes that he doesn’t realize are narrow escapes, What-the-dickens meets a tooth fairy on a job.  Her name is Pepper, and she’s having trouble getting her license to become an Agent of Change.  She brings What-the-dickens back to the colony, but he doesn’t fit in very well.

With the dire situation of Dinah and her brother and sister, this book is a bit dark.  But the intriguing story gives you the feeling of a light in a dark place.

Definitely not your run-of-the-mill fantasy tale.  Ideal for upper elementary school readers who want to try something different.

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Find this review on the main site at:

www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Fiction/what_the_dickens.html

Review of The Tales of Beedle the Bard, by J. K. Rowling

Children's Fiction Review, Fantasy, Stand-outs, Starred Review 0

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The Tales of Beedle the Bard

by J. K. Rowling

Translated from the Ancient Runes by Hermione Granger

Commentary by Albus Dumbledore

Introduction, Notes, and Illustrations by J. K. Rowling

Children’s High Level Group in association with Arthur A. Levine Books (Scholastic), 2008.  111 pages.

Starred Review.

Sonderbooks Stand-out 2009:  #3, Children’s Fiction

J. K. Rowling is truly a master of mixing the light-hearted with the profound.  This book collects five original fairy tales.  They truly feel like folktales, with the twist that they are set in the Wizarding World created by J. K. Rowling.  She’s captured the simplicity and magic of folktales, with her signature touch of the bizarre.

I wasn’t crazy about the commentary by Dumbledore.  It felt a little like trying to drive home the moral too hard, and I get tired of hearing that Malfoys have been Muggle-haters for centuries.  However, there are some delightful and hilarious touches that made me laugh out loud.  For example, Dumbledore says that The Tale of the Three Brothers was the story he requested most often at bedtime as a child.  “This frequently led to arguments with my younger brother, Aberforth, whose favorite story was ‘Grumble the Grubby Goat.'”

Another example is where she tells about Beatrix Bloxam, who tried to turn the tales into something pure and precious.  “Mrs. Bloxam’s tale has met the same response from generations of Wizarding children:  uncontrollable retching, followed by an immediate demand to have the book taken from them and mashed into pulp.”

The proceeds from the sale of this book go to The Children’s High Level Group, which is one more reason to buy a copy of this delightful collection of tales.  I am going to try to talk my son into letting me read him the tales at bedtime.  You can’t outgrow these stories.

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Find this review on the main site at:

www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Fiction/tales_of_beedle_the_bard.html

Review of The Light-Bearer’s Daughter, by O. R. Melling

Fantasy, Teen Fiction Review 0

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The Light-Bearer’s Daughter

The Chronicles of Faerie

by O. R. Melling

Amulet Books, New York, 2007.  348 pages.

http://www.ormelling.com/

http://www.amuletbooks.com/

Twelve-year-old Dana barely remembers her mother, who disappeared when Dana was three years old.  Now her father wants to leave Ireland for a job in his native Canada.  If they leave Ireland, how will her mother ever find them?

When her father takes Dana to visit some friends, protesting the felling of a stretch of forest, Dana gets a message from faerie.  Before long, she’s recruited for a quest, a quest to save faerie from the Destroyer who’s entered the land.  If Dana accomplishes the quest, she can make a wish, and she knows what she wishes for more than anything else — to find her mother again.

The quest is dark and difficult and full of surprises.  Dana encounters several surprising helpers along the way, and the end is not what she expected.

This is a lyrical tale, set in modern-day Ireland (even including places I have visited!), peeling back layers of magic and mystery.  The author weaves in Gaelic songs and old Irish history, including St. Kevin in Glendalough, giving the reader a sense of place.  Reading this book is like taking a magical trip to Ireland.

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Find this review on the main site at:

www.sonderbooks.com/Teens/lightbearers_daughter.html

Review of Beastly by Alex Flinn

Fairy Tale Variant, Fantasy, Romance, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

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Beastly

by Alex Flinn

HarperTeen, New York, 2007.  304 pages.

Starred review.

http://www.alexflinn.com/

http://www.harperteen.com/

Here’s a wonderful retelling of Beauty and the Beast, set in modern-day New York City, told from the beast’s perspective.

I just saw the Twilight movie, and now I’m going to recommend Beastly to people who like the movie but don’t want to wait for 900 people on the request list for Twilight.  Although there are no vampires, Beastly has the same flavor of supernatural romance, told with beautiful writing.

Kyle Kingsbury knows he is the sure winner for ninth-grade prince of the spring dance court.  No one can compete with his looks and his dad’s cash.  When a creepy goth girl challenges the whole idea of voting based on looks, he reacts.

“She pissed me off, so I jumped on her.  ‘If someone’s so smart, they’d figure out how to get better-looking.  You could lose weight, get plastic surgery, even get your face scraped and your teeth bleached.’  I emphasized the you in the sentence, so she’d know I meant her and not just some general sort of you.  ‘My dad’s a network news guy.  He says people shouldn’t have to look at ugly people.'”

Later, Kyle thinks of a way to get her back for her disturbing words.  A way to utterly humiliate her at the spring dance.

The author convinces us that he completely deserves his curse:  to become a beast until he finds “someone willing to look beyond your hideousness and see some good in you, something to love.  If you will love her in return and if she will kiss you to prove it, the spell will be lifted, and you will be your handsome self again.  If not, you’ll stay a beast forever.”

When Kyle’s Dad is convinced that doctors can’t cure him, he rents Kyle a house in another part of the city with a housekeeper and a tutor, with thick shutters against the outside.  Kyle slowly shows the beginnings of transformation as he learns to grow roses and loves them.  So then when a junkie crashes into his greenhouse….

I love the way Alex Flinn worked in all the elements of the traditional tale.  I also loved the believable way she showed us Kyle changing, transforming.  And of course there’s the wonderful blooming of true love.

Between all that drama, there are hilarious interludes of transcripts from a chat room, the Unexpected Changes chat group, hosted by Mr. Anderson.  There’s a mermaid called SilentMaid, a former prince called Froggie, and someone called Grizzlyguy who’s met these two girls, Rose Red and Snow White (not *that* Snow White).

All this adds up to a truly delightful book that I hope will become wildly popular with teens.  And any adults who will admit to enjoying Twilight, let me urge you to give Beastly a try.

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Find this review on the main site at:

www.sonderbooks.com/Teens/beastly.html

Review of Wicked Lovely, by Melissa Marr

Fantasy, Teen Fiction Review 0

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Wicked Lovely

by Melissa Marr

HarperTeen, 2007.  328 pages.

http://www.harperteen.com/

http://www.melissa-marr.com/

Aislynn has always been able to see faeries, much to her horror and disgust.  Faeries walk among us, and they are not very nice.  Grams has warned her, again and again, not to attract their attention, not to let the faeries know she can see them.  That’s one reason Aislynn likes to visit Seth — he lives in an old train car, made of steel and safe from the disturbing presence of faeries.

Then the Summer King notices Aislynn, and chooses Aislynn.  Her fate seems to be sealed.  Keenan, the Summer King, is locked in an ages-long battle with his mother, the Winter Queen.  Once he chooses Aislynn, she must either become one of the empty-headed Summer Girls or dare to take up the staff and risk the Winter Queen’s chill.

Aislynn has seen the world of faerie and wants no part of it.  There must be some way out.  And what about Seth?  Keenan has never met a mortal so good at resisting his charms.

Wicked Lovely has some dark and gritty parts, exploring the dark side of faerie.  But the core of the story — a girl grappling with love and destiny — is intriguing and powerfully written.

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Find this book on the main site at:

www.sonderbooks.com/Teens/wicked_lovely.html

Review of Book of a Thousand Days, by Shannon Hale, Audiobook

Audiobooks, Fantasy, Romance, Stand-outs, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

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Book of a Thousand Days

by Shannon Hale

read by Chelsea Mixon and the Full Cast Family

Full Cast Audio, 2008.  6 compact discs, 7 hours, 30 minutes.

Starred review.

Sonderbooks Stand-out 2009:  #1, Audiobooks

http://www.fullcastaudio.com/

http://www.squeetus.com/

When I first read Book of a Thousand Days ( http://www.sonderbooks.com/Teens/book_of_a_thousand_days.html ), I wasn’t quite ready to declare it the best book I’ve ever read.  Could I really put it ahead of my long time declared favorites, The Blue Castle, by L. M. Montgomery ( http://www.sonderbooks.com/Fiction/bluecastle.html ), and The Blue Sword, by Robin McKinley ( http://www.sonderbooks.com/YAFiction/BlueSword.html ), or ahead of Shannon Hale’s own The Goose Girl (http://www.sonderbooks.com/YAFiction/goosegirl.html)?

Well, after listening to Full Cast Audio’s fabulous production, I can say without a moment’s hesitation that this is by far the best audiobook I have ever listened to, and the story itself is definitely one of my all-time favorite books.  Okay, I’m still equivocating with the print books (simply because of having so many so much loved old favorites), but in the middle of listening to this book, I found myself gushing like a teenager to my son that this is the “best book in the world”!

Full Cast Audio surpassed itself with this production.  The voices suited the characters perfectly.  I especially liked Lady Saren’s voice, seeming timid and tentative at the beginning, but growing in strength.  Chelsea Nixon, who read Dashti’s voice, was wonderfully expressive.  They even included the snatches of the Healing Songs that Dashti sings throughout the book.

Lady Saren has been condemned to be sealed into a tower for seven years because she refuses to marry Lord Khasar.  Her father decrees this on the very day that Dashti the mucker maid showed up to be Saren’s new lady’s maid.  So Dashti enters the tower with Lady Saren, and their adventures begin.

Saren is terribly afraid of something.  So afraid that when Khan Tegus, the man Saren secretly promised to marry, shows up outside the tower, Saren makes Dashti speak with him, pretending to be Saren.

This book is a magnificent piece of writing.  All of the growth and development is done gradually and masterfully drawn out.  Dashti grows as a servant and as a person.  She grows in her mastery of the magic of the Healing Songs.  She grows as she figures out what is really going on with the evil Lord Khasar.  Meanwhile, Saren grows as Dashti calms her fears.  And the love story blossoms, slowly, gradually, beautifully.

When my CD player finished the book and cycled back to the beginning of the last CD, I found I couldn’t bring myself to eject it, and I’m listening to that last wonderful section all over again.  I don’t want it to be over!

A magical and beautiful book.

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Find this review on the main site at:

www.sonderbooks.com/Teens/book_of_a_thousand_days_audio.html

Review of Saving the Griffin, by Kristin Wolden Nitz

Children's Fiction Review, Fantasy, Stand-outs, Starred Review 0

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Saving the Griffin

by Kristin Wolden Nitz

Peachtree, 2007.  184 pages.

Starred Review

Sonderbooks Stand-out 2008, #1 Children’s Fiction

http://www.peachtree-online.com/

http://www.kwnitz.com/

I’m finally reviewing my friend Kristin’s wonderful book.  Unfortunately, when it first came out, I was in the middle of moving and grad school and lots of things that led to stacks of books I meant to review but didn’t quite get around to.

I freely admit that I am biased about this book.  Kristin is part of my online writers’ critique group, the Sisters of Royaumont, so I saw early versions of this book and contributed some encouragement and suggestions.

However, I’ve gotten lots of feedback from kids that they love this book.  My nephew declared it the best book he’d ever read.  Recently, the Homeschoolers’ Book Group at my library chose Saving the Griffin as their first selection, and every one of them said they liked it a lot.

Kate and her family, with an older brother and a younger brother, are living in Italy for a month.  When a baby griffin interrupts their ball game, at first Kate thinks she must have looked at too many wild statues.  She and Michael try to keep the griffin a secret, while feeding him and helping him learn to fly and even to say a few words.

Their older brother, Stephen, thinks he’s too grown up for their “games,” and doesn’t realize what he’s missing.  But the little griffin gets spotted by a photographer and then gets lost in Siena.  Kate and Michael need to help him find his way home.

One of the things I like about this book is the perfect depiction of the sibling tensions between Kate and her brothers.  Stephen is suddenly acting too grown-up for them, but Kate remembers when he was her companion, and Michael was just a baby.  I also loved the way Kristin, who lived in Italy for a few years, beautifully integrated the Italian setting and words in Italian, giving the flavor of Italy.

The kids in the book group said they especially liked the way the book mixed magic with everyday life.

This book isn’t long, and would be a nice follow-up for kids who enjoy The Spiderwick Chronicles.  I admit I’m biased, but I did like Saving the Griffin better.  It has a more light-hearted feel.  You’re dealing with an adorable baby griffin rather than sinister angry characters.  However, there is still tension in trying to save the little griffin from the dangers of the human world.

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on the main site at:

www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Fiction/saving_the_griffin.html

Review of Wildwood Dancing, by Juliet Marillier

Fairy Tale Variant, Fantasy, Romance, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

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Wildwood Dancing

by Juliet Marillier

Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 2007.  407 pages.

Starred Review

www.randomhouse.com/teens

“I’ve heard it said that girls can’t keep secrets.  That’s wrong: we’d proved it.  We’d kept ours for years and years, ever since we came to live at Piscul Dracului and stumbled on the way into the Other Kingdom.  Nobody knew about it — not Father, not our housekeeper, Florica, or her husband, Petru, not Uncle Nicolae or Aunt Bogdana or their son, Cezar.  We found the portal when Tati was seven and I was six, and we’d been going out and coming in nearly every month since then: nine whole years of Full Moons.  We had plenty of ways to cover our absences, including a bolt on our bedchamber door and the excuse that my sister Paula sometimes walked in her sleep.

“I suppose the secret was not completely ours; Gogu knew.  But even if frogs could talk, Gogu would never have told.  Ever since I’d found him long ago, crouched all by himself in the forest, dazed and hurt, I had known I could trust him more than anyone else in the world.”

So begins a wonderfully intricate tale loosely based on “The Twelve Dancing Princesses,” but with many intricate plot threads woven through the tale.

Jenica and her four sisters spend the night of every Full Moon dancing in the Wildwood, in the Other Kingdom.  They have rules to keep themselves safe, like no eating and drinking while there, no wandering into the forest.

But things in the Other Kingdom begin to change when the Night People show up.  Rumors about them in the mountains of Transylvania are dark and sinister.  One of them shows a particular interest in Tati, Jena’s oldest sister.

At the same time, everyday life is getting out of control.  For the sake of his health, their father must spend the winter in the city, and he leaves them in charge.  But Cezar, their interfering cousin, quickly makes it clear that he doesn’t think women capable of that responsibility, and he begins “helping” them by taking over.  They don’t hear from their father and cannot stop Cezar.  Meanwhile, Cezar has a grudge against the folk of the Other Kingdom and vows to destroy the Wildwood.

This tale is beautifully written.  Jena is resourceful.  She loves her sisters and loves her friend the frog.  She glories in her friends from the Other Kingdom.  She tries to protect them, and herself, from Cezar’s manipulations.

This wonderful and rich storytelling quickly captivated me.  It gives the flavor of Transylvania, going beyond the stereotypes to deeper myths.  A haunting tale of wonder and cleverness and sacrifice and true love.

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Find this review on the main site at:

www.sonderbooks.com/Teens/wildwood_dancing.html

Review of Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow, by Jessica Day George

Fairy Tale Variant, Fantasy, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

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Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow

by Jessica Day George

Bloomsbury, New York, 2008.  328 pages.

Starred Review

http://www.bloomsburyusa.com/

“Long ago and far away in the land of ice and snow, there came a time when it seemed that winter would never end.  The months when summer should have given the land respite were cold and damp, and the winter months were snow filled and colder still.  The people said the cold had lasted a hundred years, and feared that it would last a hundred more.  It was not a natural winter, and no one knew what witch or troll had caused the winds to howl so fiercely.”

Here’s a beautiful retelling of the fairy tale, “East of the Sun, West of the Moon.”

When a ninth child is born to a poor woodcutter in the far north, the mother is so disappointed the baby is a girl, she doesn’t even give the baby a name.  However, this lass is destined to change the family’s fortunes.

Jessica Day George beautifully fleshes out the story, putting us firmly on the side of this brave lass who cares about her loved ones enough to defy the powerful queen of the trolls.

The only thing that hurt my enjoyment of this story was that I already have read a much-loved retelling of this same fairy tale, East ( www.sonderbooks.com/YAFiction/east.html ).  It’s been a long time since I read that version, but it feels somehow disloyal to that book to like this new version so much.  These are both books I will want to reread, but I will have to alternate which one I read, in order to keep from comparing them.  Both are beautifully done, each with their own take on the story.

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on the main site at:

www.sonderbooks.com/Teens/sun_and_moon_ice_and_snow.html

Review of Princess Academy, by Shannon Hale (Audiobook)

Audiobooks, Fantasy, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

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Princess Academy

by Shannon Hale

Read by Laura Credidio and The Full Cast Family

Full Cast Audio, 2007.  8 compact discs.  7 hours, 21 minutes.

Starred Review.

Winner of a 2006 Newbery Honor Award.

http://www.fullcastaudio.com/

http://www.squeetus.com/

I read and reviewed this book in the print version when it first came out.  ( http://www.sonderbooks.com/YAFiction/princessacademy.html )

At the time, I wasn’t quite as enchanted with the book as with Shannon Hale’s other books.  I think it suffered just a little because my expectations were so tremendously high.  This time, listening to Full Cast Audio’s fabulous production (complete with songs sung in between the chapters), the book was even better than I remembered it.

I think the problem before may have been that I read the book too quickly.  There are some issues at the beginning where I wasn’t quite tracking with Miri.  She felt like her obviously loving Pa was ashamed of her.  She was prejudiced against lowlanders.  And she was trying to get out of going to the Academy even when it would get her family in trouble.

However, all of those issues are resolved, and as the story goes, it gets better and better.  I like the way Miri discovers the magic of the mountain and all the village girls learn to use it together.  I like the way friendships are formed, and Miri becomes proud of her heritage.  There’s danger and cleverness, and even a sprinkle of romance.

Full Cast Audio’s production, as always, enhances the book beautifully.  They truly use a full cast of different voices for different characters.  This production made an already wonderful book even better.

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on the main site at:

www.sonderbooks.com/Teens/princess_academy_audio.html