The Time Thief- Linda Buckley-Archer

Second in The Gideon Trilogy, The Time Thief does not disappoint. Peter has been left behind in the 1700’s; Kate is home but desperate to find a way to go back for Peter. But she encounters some unexpected obstacles from her father and Dr. Pirretti, who are terrified of the ramifications of time travel. So Kate has to take matters into her own hands, and she does so, with the help of Peter’s father, Mr. Schock. Arriving back in the 1700’s, they are dismayed to find that someone has adjusted the setting on the anti-gravity machine, and the time they have arrived in is thirty years later. When Peter discovers them, he withholds from them the truth of who he really is, with the belief that they have come back to rescue 12 year-old Peter, not a contemporary of his own father. A very interesting look on what it might be like to be your own age and meet one of your children at the same age.

If that isn’t intriguing enough, we also continue to follow the exploits of the Tar Man in modern day London. Although we might not be too surprised by the findings of the 1700’s by Kate and Mr. Schock, it is truly an adventure to see the modern century through the eyes of someone who has been thrust from that time period into our own. Thankfully, this is just a trilogy. I am not usually a fan of series that go on and on. Don’t tell anyone, but I never did get further than the first three of the Harry Potter books. They did not draw me quite like these do. Ah well, someday! The statement on the cover of these novels suggest they might be good recommends for the Harry Potter fans. I believe they are masterful fantasy and will find many fans in our middle years readers right through high school. Adults. a fun choice for us as well.

The Spellgrinder’s Apprentice- N.M. Browne

Sometimes I wait a little too long with a review and some of the books begin to blur a little. So I had to re-visit this briefly to jog my ageing memory. The Spellgrinder’s Apprentice is a very unique fantasy offering. Orpahned Tommo has been apprenticed to grind spellstones, which can offer great magical powers. Unfortunately, the apprentices themselves have a thankless task; the work is hard, the food is poor, and the health risks enormous. When Tommo has an opportunity, he makes his escape. The chance of his success is almost non-existent, until he meets Akenna, who grudgingly provides him with some help. It becomes clear that Akenna is also more than she seems; although she is totally unaware of her potential. When Tommo claims sanctuary, which allows him a brief and unlikely time frame to escape, it draws the interest of Fallon, despotic ruler of the land. His keen interest in capturing Tommo also gives rise to the belief that there is more afoot than readily meets the eye. With lots of unusual characters, not least of which are the flock of birds with human faces, this is quite engaging. I believe this might be suitable for your fairly strong fantasy readers and that it might need a little tenacity to begin; but once embroiled in the story, it becomes a saga of mystery and intrigue.

Snatched- Pete Hautman and Mary Logue

I’m never quite sure how you co-author a novel, but this team seems to have done a fine job. Here is another offering for your mystery lovers; a nice companion for those students who like the Chloe and Levesque novels as well as those featuring Robyn Hunter by Norah McClintock. I really liked the quirkiness of the main character, Roni Delicata. As reporter for the school newspaper, she takes her job very seriously and when Alicia, new girl in town, disappears, she springs into action. Enlisting the help of Brian Bain, whose mother happens to be the town cop, they embark on a number of sometimes risky adventures in order to get to the bottom of this crime. Hautman and Logue do a remarkable job of creating suspense and leading you to believe what appears most likely, and then surprising you with the ending. Altogether, a fine addition to our mystery genre. Snatched is part of The Bloodwater Mysteries series. I would recommend this for grade 6 right through to early high school as the main protagonist is in grade 11.

Three For A Wedding- Mary C. Sheppard

All right, I don’t often rave about a book or series but I am about to. I just read Three For A Wedding ,having read One For Sorrow previously. The calibre of this writing is extraordinary. I have been doing some thinking lately about “classics” and what current books might fit into that category. I believe this is a classic series. It reminds me of the “Anne” books, at a somewhat higher interest and reading level. I’m not sure of the genre; historical fiction isn’t quite right as there isn’t a central historical truth. I think of them more as a “period” piece, where through the exquisite writing and character development, you are effortlessly transported to another time period. One of the things I admire greatly about Sheppard’s writing is the relevancy for today’s readers. It becomes very clear, although Three For A Wedding takes place in the ’80’s, that youth of then had many of the same interests, troubles and friendship concerns as youth today. They are coming-of-age novels, and have given me a flavour and picture of Newfoundland which I have never had before.

Three For A Wedding focuses on Violet Blue and her family. Her older sister Jenny is getting married; a bit of a surprise as she had lost her fiancee some years before. Unknown cousin Grace-Mae, arrives early for the wedding and she and Violet could not be more different. Grace-Mae is the typical rich kid, lazy and expecting everything to fall into her lap, which it generally does. Violet keeps her distance but suspects there are things about this cousin she does not know. Throw in the handsome twins for the love interest, Violet’s ongoing battle with her mother over career choice, and all the antics that occur in the planning of a small town wedding, and you have a recipe for fascination. I would recommend this highly for grade 6 right through high school, and an exceptionally fine adult read as well.

Over the next while, I would like to develop a new list of classics. Maybe about 10 for Picture Books, Middle Years and YA. By classics, I mean books you think every child should read. I know there are many more than 10, but if we stick to publications of the last ten years, perhaps we could come up with our own “must read” list. Can you help? Can you give me your ideas on best books for kids? I’d love anyone’s help with this.

Being Impossible- Hiawyn Oram

So, here goes for one of the most unusual books I have ever read. Being Impossible starts out like many a typical family story- middle child trying to find her place, distant musical genius father, mother absent due to illness of a relative. So Logan feels that the only way she can stand out is to become impossible. So she makes her “impossible” list and begins to put that into place in the hopes that she will find out where she belongs. Her creative energies are poured into the creation of a miniature theatre with which she hopes to catch the eye of a genius boy at school who might be able to help her with the lighting, etc.

Then along comes Tiff, a stray cat- great, some animal therapy thrown in. The new housekeeper is very averse to cats and off it goes to the animal shelter. But here is where it turns weird/interesting/strange. Tiff is a talking cat and yet this doesn’t come across as fantasy in any way. Tiff is simply a cat with unusual abilities and only some people are tuned in to understand her, Logan being one. Logan, of course, rescues Tiff from the home who literally saves the day by improving, through her amazing piano-playing abilities, her father’s generally unpopular music. And the parrot dies and mom comes home and the romance goes nowhere between Logan and Gerald and Tiff eventually goes off to seek someone else who needs her help. Could you suspend your disbelief sufficiently to enjoy this? I did, but only because of the quality of the writing and an amazing ability of the author to make you wonder! I think this would be most suitable for about grades 5-7, but some of your YA students may get a kick out of this as well. I have a few students in mind to recommend this to, so we’ll see what feedback I get from them. I do recommend it for your libraries.

Battle of the Books

Some of you might not be following School Library Journal’s Battle of the Books, but these results are very interesting. They are certainly books I’ll be looking at for my library. Here is the link if you want to follow some of the ongoing battle. The judges are fabulous, with Lois Lowry making the final determination.

Check out the current status here.

The Case of the Missing Marquess- Nancy Springer

I rarely set aside a book unfinished (and, no, it wasn’t the above title.) The one I just couldn’t go back to is called A Step From Heaven by An Na. I’m sure the theme of an immigrant to the United States from Korea is a most worthy one. Na writes in the voice of young Young Ju and you can trace the voice changing as the protagonist grows older. But it just did not have any drawing power for me. So I picked up another one, The Case of the Missing Marquess, an Enola Holmes mystery, and was drawn right in. I believe this would appeal to many of our girls who are enjoying the Lady Grace mysteries, as the time period is somewhat similar. Springer does a masterful job of invoking the sights, sounds and smells of Victorian England. For me, it brought to mind the writings of Anne Perry, an adult Victorian author whose mysteries I sometimes enjoy.

Enola Holmes lives with her somewhat eccentric and definitely free-thinking and often absent-minded mother, Enola has often felt very much like an afterthought having been born much later than her older brothers, Sherlock and Mycroft. Only when her mother disappears do the older brothers arrive and take charge. When they discover the state of affairs, they make plans to pack Enola off to boarding school. Bereft of all she holds dear, she disguises herself and runs away to try to discover her mother’s whereabouts and the reason for her leaving. Arriving in London, she becomes embroiled in the possible kidnapping of a young marquess and becomes prey to the seedier side of London’s inhabitants. Altogether, I found this to be action-packed, quaint without being absurd, and a celebration of the individuality of a young woman at a time when it was rarely appreciated. This would be a great read for children from grade 5 through 8; and possibly might capture some of our younger high school readers as well.

I am pleased to see that there are already several more titles in this series and will be happily recommending these to my students. They might also be a nice companion to Shane Peacock’s Eye of the Crow- a young Sherlock Holmes mystery, nominated for this year’s Snow Willow award.

Here Lies the Librarian- Richard Peck

Peck appears to be one of those authors who is able to re-invent himself and stay relevant. Just lately, I have been weeding my library shelves of the ‘Soup’ novels. They seem to have seen their day in terms of readership, similar to Gordon Korman’s ‘Bruno and Boots’ series. Peck has continued to pick up awards including the Newbery for A Year Down Under. Back to the book at hand- Here Lies the Librarian- what librarian could resist picking up a novel with htis title? And indeed, it does have some fine moments (a little sarcasm there) for librarians. The town library had closed after the discovery of the librarian, found dead under the card catalogue. Considering that she had banned Peewee (Eleanor) from the library FOR LIFE at the tender age of ten and was the kind of librarian who preferred to have her books sit neatly on the shelves, her demise was not to be overly grieved. Her tombstone reads:

SHH

HERE LIES THE LIBRARIAN

AFTER YEARS OF SERVICE

TRIED AND TRUE

HEAVEN STAMPED HER—

OVERDUE!!

Into the lives of Peewee and her older brother Jake stormed the most incredible bevy of rich, high society gals, who wonder of wonders, were studying in the area of library science at the university. When they all offered to take on the job of librarian and share the quite pitiful stipend, and with offers from their daddies to refurbish and stock the library, how could they be resisted. Jake, too, finds one of them in particular, quite irresistible. Grace takes a keen interest in motherless Peewee and discreetly and kindly leads her into becoming aware of her feminine side, but in no way diminishing her sense of independence. I really enjoyed this story. I think it may be a fine transition for our students who might tend to pick up the easy read into the reading of a novel with true literary merit.

feathers- Jacqueline Woodson

Kidsread has an excellent review on this slim Newbery Honor book. I read it some time ago and occasionally, seem to have difficulty in deciding what to say about a novel. Sometimes it’s because I really did not love it and have difficulty criticizing anyone who can actually write a book. I bow to authors everywhere. Other times, it seems to be because the book was enjoyable for myself, but I question its appeal for kids. That is why I started this out with a review from another site. Woodson is undeniably an excellent author. I use The Other Side and Show Way, mature picture books, with units on acceptance and slavery, respectively. Feathers is a novel with many layered themes, all excellent. Frannie attends a school of all black children when a white kid arrives on the scene. Not quite knowing what to make of him, they dub him “Jesus Boy.” Frannie begins to take an interest in him after discovering that he knows American Sign Language, familiar to her because her beloved older brother,Trevor,is deaf. There is a school bully, her mother’s sorrow over the loss of babies, and Trevor’s anger over not being able to fit in the “regular ” world. A poem about hope helps Frannie to realize that perhaps all of these things might yet work out in her life. So although I personally enjoyed this story, I can’t help but wonder how many children will pick it up and read it and on what basis it was chosen as an Honor book.

Here is a link to the author reading a portion of this book.