Review: MAX THE BRAVE (Ed Vera)

4.09  STARS by 165 GoodReaders

MAX is a cute kitten.  A kitten who would chase mice if he only knew what they looked like.

There is a tiny element of 'Are You My Mother' here as Max explores his world and seeks out these elusive mice.  He keeps inquiring of birds and fish if they are mice and of course they aren't.

**SPOILER** 

THE TWIST here is that when Max finally meets the mouse, the mouse tells him that a monster is a mouse.

Max is surprised that 'the mouse' is so large but that doesn't stop him from trying to wake and engage the creature.  After being swallowed and sneezed out Max wisely decides to chase the tiny 'monster' instead.  (that's the mouse!)

--one thing to note is that some small children might not like the idea of Max, or anybody for that matter, being swallowed.

**END of SPOILERS**

THE ART

Ed Vera's world and critters are simply drawn.  As you can see from the images Max is black and white with a cute little blue nose.  Most of the other animals, except for the monster, are similarly drawn. 

This simplicity works really well because of the striking background colors.  Sunny yellows, striking oranges, greens and blues... make MAX THE BRAVE a bright attractive book that is very kid-friendly.

TEACHABLES

Point-and-Name: There are a number of beasties that you can name: kitten, of course. Also, a fly, fish, birds, elephant, and the elusive mouse.

For older children who are beginning to read or who are at the pretend-read stage there's a game you can play with the words that are bold print. You can challenge them to read those words; which include: not, mice, must, you, mouse and BIG.  Even if they aren't actually reading they can practice by memorizing what the word should be.

MAX THE BRAVE is for the 5 and under crowd. I think they will enjoy the story because... well, it's got kittens and monsters!

Pam~


MAX THE BRAVE

ISBN13: 9780723286691
by Ed Vere  

Reading Information:
Page Count: 32
no reading information currently available 
--review copy
--amazon link
--available now in the international edition at Amazon

Review: LOLA GOES TO THE DOCTOR

I love this book. It just has so much to offer.

First though, before I talk about the content, let me say that just about everything about LOLA GOES TO THE DOCTOR has kid appeal.  Lola the Yorkie is adorable, and the photos are bright and colorful and filled with dogs, pigs, a human baby, a chicken, older kids, and toys!  Even the end-papers show a little dog playing doctor. 

Point-and-Name: The first way to use this book is as an advanced point-and-name resource. Stethoscope, Yorkshire Terrier, Pig, Veterinarian, chicken, scale, are some samples of words you can teach little ones.

Doctor Fears: Many little ones have concerns about doctor visits.  This book with a doggy that is even smaller than they are, might help to alleviate some of those fears.  Lola talks about what she is afraid of and then she sets a good example.  

And for children facing their first visit for school, Ms. Goldman's book can serve to familiarize them with the doctor's office and what to expect.

If you have a child who is fearful of doctor visits --either for themselves or for their pets-- give LOLA GOES TO THE DOCTOR a try.  Everything is handled in a calm and affirming manner.  And the gentle humor that is thrown in doesn't hurt.

Pam~


LOLA GOES TO THE DOCTOR
by Marcia Goldman

Reading Information:
Page Count:  32
no reading information currently available 
--review copy

DIRTMEISTER'S NITTY GRITTY PLANET EARTH (National Geographic Kids)

Yeah!  Science is Fun!!!

HOW IT'S MADE, COSMOS, DIRTY JOBS, BILL NYE, MYTHBUSTERS and... the DIRTMEISTER!  There is just so much cool science that is available now for kids (and adults). And it's NOT just science and math, but edu-tainment.

What I love about edu-tainment is how easy it makes it for kids (and moms) to absorb information.  By making it fun and colorful you get science in easy to understand and digest nuggets.  

In this book readers will flip their way through all kinds of earthly questions and answers. They'll find out about Earthquakes, Minerals, Volcanoes, Fossils and more. The format is colorful and like a sophisticated comic book with plenty of action and information. Even the paper is pleasant to touch with it's heavy slick feel.

I LOVED:: the bright colorful format and the titles of the different sections. The section on carbon dating, for example, is called 'The Clocks in the Rocks'. It's a cleverness kids and adults can appreciate.

OTHER CONDENSED NOTES
--I don't having reading numbers on this book yet. They just aren't out.

--If your reader is young you might have to sit down with them for a moment and go over the format. In places the 'dialog' and flow of the story is split on the same pages. For example, in Chapter 3 in the top half of the pages show the DirtMeister is talking to his buddy, Digger, and they are setting up probes along a fault line. The bottom half of the pages has a dialog between the Meister and a girl from Japan that wants to find out what causes earthquakes. The backgrounds of the two storylines are different so that you don't get confused, but a new reader might need to be shown this.

--the science comes in levels. To stick with our Earthquake example, kids can keep to the simple stuff, or they can learn about S-waves and P-waves. There's even an experiment to use to help lock-down understand of the differences.

RECOMMEND. This would be a good book for the home or classroom shelves. Libraries, of course.

Pam~

DIRTMEISTER'S NITTY GRITTY PLANET EARTH

Reading Information:

Page Count: 128

no reading information currently available 

--review copy

 **do check out national geo's videos
http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/videos/

Review: JUST LIKE I WANTED

Eerdmans Books for Young Readers (August 24, 2015)

JUST LIKE I WANTED is not a favorite book of mine. I adore the artwork which is by Aya Gordon-Noy, but the translation comes off as a little 'thick'.  But that said, there are elements of this book that are going to be useful for some parents and this is why I decided to include it on this blog.

The concept is simple enough, there's a little girl who wants to draw the perfect piece of art. She wants it to be better than Lauren's (a girl in her class).  But we all know how that goes; perfection is elusive.

The little girl tries and tries and gets frustrated.  So she wads up her work and tosses it and starts again.

On the one hand, I like that she doesn't give up.  She starts over and over.  On the other hand I think having her compare herself to Lauren isn't a great thing.  Households differ in how they deal with competition, but in our home we tend to focus on improving ourselves, not beating some other child. (That type of competition comes naturally enough so OtherAdult and I feel no impetus to add importance to it.)

The story ends very well, with the little girl improvising. She uses the mistake to modify her drawing and then she cuts out the parts she likes best.  I think this is a good healthy approach.

As a mom of a perfectionist I appreciate books that can be used to discuss how everyone makes mistakes and that sometimes mistakes can be serendipitous.

Pam~

JUST LIKE I WANTED
by Elinoar Keller and Naama Peleg Segal

Reading Information:
Page Count: 26
no reading information currently available 
--review copy 

Review: THE PIRATE'S BED (Nicola Winstanley)

 3.26 Stars from 47 GoodReaders

**SPOILERS** **SPOILERS** 
I FEEL I need to talk about the plot in this book so I'm giving you a heads-up that I will be spilling the beans.

THE PIRATE'S BED struck me as a cute story that would work best for my crew as a bedtime read. The book begins by talking about the pirate and how he dreams and snores at night, and how the tossing seas don't bother him a bit.  Which is in quite a contrast to his bed, which finds it all very unnerving.

Pirate and Bed are soon parted and what threw me for a loop is that we left the pirate behind on a nice island and followed Bed on it's adventure!

At first bed is delighted to be free of the pirate who snores and never changes his socks.  But then as days past, even though he has fun with dolphins and seagulls Bed begins to lament his loss, his not having a purpose.

Fortunately for Bed, he is found and begins to be used by little boys who dream of being pirates.

The ending of this story is really quite sentimental and cute and is by-far the best part of the story. The pirate's dreams are all well and good but the book gets muddied down a bit when it comes to the bed's adventures --even though I like it's large goofy eyes.

The ending though, with the bed getting handed down from boy-grown-to-father to boy is very nice.  As is the sentiment that children will always have their own big adventurous dreams... even if they aren't about pirates.

ARTWORK
As you can see from the sample pages the artwork is 'busy' and active, with complicated lines and textures.  Generally speaking very young booklovers like simpler images, so I would say that the art is more suited for Kindergarteners and older kids.

LANGUAGE
There are probably going to be some new words for you to introduce.  In fact, over at GoodReads some of the mothers were not very happy with all the new vocabulary.  Words like: sickle-shaped and unencumbered.

What I usually do is to just read the story and not stop to define any words the first time through unless they ask what a word means.  Children are fairly clever at putting words into context.  But that said, sometimes they are wrong.  So what I do is to pick one or two new words and define them during a reading session. Then the next time we read the book I ask them if they remember what the word means.  In subsequent readings I'll choose a new word and start the cycle again.

This seems to work without making the whole process too tedious.

So fun book.  I won this one at LibraryThing and want to thank them for the giveaways they sponsor.  I don't win anything often but it's still a great way to be introduced to new books that are coming out.

Pam~


THE PIRATE'S BED
by Nicola Winstanley
illustrations by Matt James

Reading Information:
Page Count: 32
no reading information currently available
--find it at Amazon
~review copy

Review: POLAR BEAR'S UNDERWEAR (Tupera Tupera)

3.79 Stars from 43 GoodReaders

Underwear? Really? To be honest with you I wasn't sure at first that this book was going to be a winner.  But after 2 pages it absolutely grew on me and the little ones loved it from the start.  It's so goofy and fun and they loved shouting out their guesses as to whom the undies belonged to.

The story is about Polar Bear and how he's lost his undies. Perplexed, he and his good friend Mouse begin a search.

What you get are big bright pages in sets. The first page of the set has Mouse and Polar Bear talking about whether what they spy on the next page could be PB's underwear. What children see is a page with a cut out and a bright 'mystery' pattern. One pattern, for example, has different kinds of food; while another has 'I Love Mice'. When you turn the page you get to see who it is.

I particularly like the itty-bitty cutout for the itty-bitty underwear, but kids will have their own favorites.

Besides the fun you can use this book to teach about patterns and to name animals like Pig, Mouse, Cat, Zebra....

A delightful and sturdy book made with thick paper.

Pam~


POLAR BEAR'S UNDERWEAR
by Tupera Tupera  

Reading Information:
Page Count: 32
no reading information currently available
--amazon
--review copy

Review: I LOVE YOU, BLANKIE

4.67 Stars from 6 GoodReaders

I had a turtle. Tommy Turtle that was my nighttime buddy when I was little.  My neighbor Karisa though had a blankie and she took it everywhere.  And I have to admit that when we played it was very convenient.  Blankies can be capes, you see, or rocket ships or places for picnics. Even boats.

I think Sheryl Haft must have been a similar blankie lover in her life --perhaps it was her!\-- because the sweet darling in this boardbook uses his/her blankie as a ship, parachute, balloon and more.  

I thought the gentle colors and the sweet artwork by Jane Massey would appeal to little ones.  And hopefully the rhythm of the text and and the transition of the story from adventure to sleepy-time will work their magic and help your little one get ready for sleep.

Pam~


I LOVE YOU, BLANKIE
by Sheryl Haft
Jane Massey (Illustrator)

Reading Information:
Page Count:  22
no reading information currently available
--find at amazon 
--review copy

Review: WALK ON THE WILD SIDE (Nicholas Oldland)

3.88 Stars from 60 GoodReaders

Adorable. At my house we've long been fans of Nicholas Oldland's art and this book doesn't let us down. Moose, Bear, and Beaver are cute and funny and just generally appealing.

Review: THE TORTOISE & THE HARE by Jerry Pinkney
Review: That’s Why We’re all so Glad He Came with the Couch . . .
Review: The Boy, The Bear, The Baron, The Bard
Review: MR. TIGER GOES WILD 

In this book the three animals are buddies out for a day of fun. They set off and somewhere along the line they decide to make the trip 'more exciting'. And so they set off in a hurry only to run into some mishaps because... well, when you rush you can't be as careful.

So they slow down and discover what many of us already know.  That you can find a different sort of excitement at a slower pace: dinosaurs bones and spooky caves!

Kids are going to like the art and adventure; and adults are going to be able to point out that you have to sometimes slow down to smell the roses.

Pam~


WALK ON THE WILD SIDE
(Kids Can Press)
by Nicholas Oldland

Reading Information:
Page Count: 32
no reading information currently available
--sample pages available
--received as free review copy

Review: THE WHISPERING SKULL (Lockwood & Company #2) by Jonathan Stroud

4.33 STARS from 1,224 GoodReaders

"Don't look now," Lockwood said. "There's two of them."

I snatched a glance behind me and saw that he was right. Not far off, on the other side of the glade, a second ghost had risen from the earth. Like the first, it was a pale, manshaped curtain of mist that hovered above the dark, wet grass.  Its head, too, seemed oddly skewed, as if broken at the neck.

I glared at it, not so much terrified as annoyed. For twelve months I'd been working for Lockwood & Co. as a Junior Field Operative, tackling spectral Visitors of every horrific shape and size. Broken necks didn't bother me the way they used to. "What?" I said. "Where did he come from?"

There was a rasp of Velcro as Lockwood pulled his rapier clear of his belt. "Doesn't matter. I'll keep an eye on him. You keep watching yours."

I turned back to my position. The original apparition still floated about ten feet or so from the edge of the iron chain. It had been with us for almost five minutes now, and was growing in clarity all the time. I could see the bones on the arms and legs, and the connecting knots of gristle. The wispy edges of the shape had solidified into flecks of rotted clothing: a loose white shirt, dark tattered breeches ending at the knee.

Waves of cold radiated from the ghost. Despite the warm summer night, the dew below the dangling toe bones had frozen into glittering shards of frost.

THE WHISPERING SKULL is the second installment in Stroud's Lockwood & Company series. And if you loved the first book you'll be pleased as punch with this one too.

If you remember, in THE SCREAMING STAIRCASE we were left with a hint that George's Skull in a Jar wasn't done talking with Lucy. And indeed, in this book he does play a fuller role. And in fact we find out who the skull belongs to. Not that he dominates the story in any sense, but the skull becomes an active player, as does a very peculiar Flo Bones.

Flo --who Lucy describes as a grubby, shambling figure -- is a relic-woman who works the shores of the Thames looking for bits of haunted material that she can sell. She is one of Lockwood's informants.  She joins the cast of familiars which include Quill Kipp and the rest of the Fittes crew. 

I swung the rapier up.

The mouth gaped, the sockets flared with greenish fire. With terrible speed, it flung itself forward. I screamed, jumped back. The ghost collided with the barrier a few inches from my face. A bang, a splash of ectoplasm.  Burning flecks rained down on the muddy grass outside the circle.

Now the pale figure was ten feet further back, quivering and steaming.

"Watch it, Lucy," George said. "You just stepped on my head."

Lockwood's voice was hard and anxious. "What happened? What just happened back there?"

I'm fine," I said. "He attacked, but the iron drove him off. If he does it again, I'll use a flare."

The whispering skull might whisper but the item that is the center of a massive hunt is a mysterious black glass mirror housed in a casing of bone. Haunted bone, of course. And this mirror has been missing since the night Bickerstaff was forced to look into it. He died that night and the be-robed parties that waited expectantly to find out what he saw, fled. Some went home or abroad, while some merely went mad.  

And when the mirror once again comes to light, DEPRAC sends Kipps and his Fittes team, and Lockwood and Company searching for it.

I didn't find THE WHISPERING SKULL quite as tension fraught as the first book. I suppose this might be due to the fact that I'm more convinced of the team's abilities. The writing, of course, is excellent and the world totally convincing and believable.

Highly recommend this series.

Pam~


The Whispering Skull
(Lockwood and Company #2)
(Disney/Hyperion)
by Jonathan Stroud

Reading Information:
Word Count: 105,585
Page Count:  400
Accelerated Reader: 5.2 / points: 16.0
AR quiz: 168794
Lexile: 670L
--sample pages and reviews available

See the Review and Reading info for THE SCREAMING STAIRCASE

updated December 2014

Review: BREAKING BUTTERFLIES

3.30 avg rating — 156 ratings

BREAKING BUTTERFLIES is one of the books that I'm revisiting at the end of year.

From ChickenHouse/Scholastic, BREAKING BUTTERFLIES is one of those books that has somehow been overlooked by too many readers. Not to mention dissed by quite a few at GoodReads.  

I-personally thought the writing was excellent and that the characters were very well drawn. The story unfolded with subtlety, and an every increasing sense of creepiness kept me turning pages.

The story begins with a description of Sarah's (Sphinxie's mother) childhood and how she met the charismatic Leigh.  It's a relationship founded on dominance with Leigh being the brighter star and Sarah being the awkward child desperate for friendship and acceptance.  Their relationship evolves over time as they become adults, but strikingly they are compelled to stick to their childhood plan. That they would each marry and each have a single child. And that those children would grow to adulthood and marry.

This is the legacy that Sphinxie and Cadence have inherited. A plan that they were indoctrinated with; that they accepted the way children will accept the plans of the parents. And it all goes according to plan until the children hit their 10th birthdays. Then Cadence does the unthinkable. He hurts Sphinxie. He takes a knife and cuts her face. And after that Leigh escapes to England with the boy, harboring the hope that a different environment and school system will change Cadence.  For in truth there is something wrong with this beautiful, intelligent child.

But nothing changes and the disturbed boy begins to see a series of doctors and at the end they deliver two diagnoses.  As we suspect, one is that he is a brilliant psychopath.  The other though is unexpected.  Cadence is dying and has only weeks to live.

It's the death of Cadence and the ultimate death of 'The Plan' that brings the four characters together again.  For one last time.

WHO WOULD GO?  I think that's the question that plagued some readers. They couldn't accept that anyone would go and visit someone so dangerous. Someone who had already proven that they would hurt them.  

But I understood why Sphinxie would.  She had loved Cadence and still loved him. Moreover she had been indoctrinated from babyhood with 'The Plan'. And now it was over. It would be impossible for The Plan to come to fruition, and perhaps she was hoping that given a chance, Cadence would redeem himself at the last moment.

Needless to say that won't happen.

I found BREAKING BUTTERFLIES to have a powerful voice in Spinxie, and I thought this book was an amazingly subtle work of literature. The subtlety of the plotting, the subtlety of the characters and how this drama unfolds: M. Anjelais builds a world that's convincing. Her/his characters are brilliantly drawn. So fatally weak.

Pam~


BREAKING BUTTERFLIES
(Chicken House/Scholastic)
by M. Anjelais

**all ratings from GoodReads 
**all links to Amazon.com

Reading Information:
Page Count: 272
no Accelerated Reading information currently available
Lexile: 870L
--sample pages and reviews available

Review: WINTER CANDLE

WINTER CANDLE is a gorgeously illustrated book. Stacey Schuett has done her drawings in deep rich colors that evoke the warmth of the story.

Ashford's story is appealing and the type of tale I liked to read to my children when they were younger. (They can read it themselves now :)

It's the story of a one-building neighborhood, where neighbors share and where all sorts of fall and winter celebrations take place. What ties all the neighbors together is their need for a light. Specifically, they need a candle, and it's a single candle that gets shared by one family and then the next.

Nana Clover is the first person who needs the candle. She is all prepared for Thanksgiving... except that she forgot to pick up candles at the store.  She borrows a single candle from her neighbor and makes it sufficiently festive by surrounding it with pinecones and leaves.

Two weeks later it's a Jewish family in need. And so they borrow the candle from Nana Clover for their Sabbath celebrations.

I love that Jeron gives us these delightful examples of diverse families and celebrations. There is Thanksgiving and Kwanzaa, Saint Lucia's day --which is a Scandinavian winter celebration--and the Sabbath. But he also gives us something more. The last episode is about a winter storm that leaves the neighborhood in the dark. The newest family on the block is waiting for the dad and the moving van.  And they use the candle to light the way home.  

I love books like this because they open up an opportunity to discuss how families are different and yet the same.  And I really like the subtle message of resilience that the author works into the story.  In each scenario there is a feeling of impending disaster!  And in each case, calming down and looking for a solution works out nicely.  A good lesson for all of us.

Pam~

WINTER CANDLE
by Jeron Ashford
Stacey Schuett (Illustrations)

3.62 Stars from 47 GoodReaders

Reading Information:
Page Count: 28
no reading information currently available
--sample pages available
--amazon
--review copy

Review: HALF A KING by Joe Abercrombie

The deceived will become the deceiver.

The betrayed will become the betrayer.

Will the usurped become the usurper?

JOE ABERCROMBIE is a very popular author. His THE BLADE ITSELF (The First Law, #1) has earned a 4.1 Star rating from 44,566 GoodReaders. And HALF A KING is his first foray into the Young Adult Market, and it's definitely full of betrayal, murder and mayhem!

BACKSTORY

HALF A KING has a fantasy medieval setting. There are grand castles, small magics, and long gone elves, along with all too real brutal warlords and overlords.  

Young prince Yavri is the 'spare heir' of the kingdom so as this tale begins he is being readied for the kingdom's equivalent of the priesthood. Which really means he is destined to be a Minister. Someone who stands beside the King and advises them.

And Yarvi is about to take 'The Test' for said position when his father and only brother are brutally murdered. Events froth and roar out of control from there, and far from getting to sit on the throne, the Yarvi finds himself a slave rowing on the ship of pirate queen.

Yarvi as a prince and slave and person in general is defined by his handicap, which happens to be that he was born with a hand that is missing some fingers.  As you would expect in a medieval society this makes him the butt of jokes, but there is nothing wrong with his mind.  Unfortunately he has half a spirit as well, which is something he'll have to overcome if he wants to revenge his father's and brother's deaths and regain the throne.

LET ME GIVE YOU THE GOOD AND BAD

There are going to be adults and young-adults and middle-graders who love this book. It's filled with betrayal and sword work. It has unrelenting action, and a young man who slowly accrues a team of castoffs.  

BUT... HALF A KING is the equivalent of a B-movie.  It's fun but it's not top notch stuff. For one, prince Yarvi is a Maury Sue.  Oh my goodness, all the advantages of being a royal and he lets one little handicap define his life.  So he's got half a hand. Big deal. Get over it. You were born into power, learn to use it.  (I blame his parents. They did a poor job of raising him. He was such a whiner.)

The other problem some readers might have is the writing and plotting.  I haven't read Mr. Abercrombie's other books --though I plan to rectify that this summer-- but this YA novel is thinly done. No one is really well described and there is nothing here that you wouldn't find in most middle-grade adventures.

Which means... traditional plotting is going to entertain those in the mood for this quick, fluffy (or should that be blood-thirsty!) read.  The ending has a nice twist. Guy-friendly read.

Pam~
 

HALF A KING
(Shattered Sea #1)
by Joe Abercrombie

Reading Information:
Page Count:  352
no reading information currently available 
--yummy sample chapters

Review: IN THE SHADOWS by Kirsten White

4.1 STARS from 68 GoodReaders

Really liked IN THE SHADOWS.  It's a well written "gothic" novel with good characters placed in a creepy and mysterious seaside setting.

[Suitable for Middle-graders, YA, and Adults]

IN THE SHADOWS also happens to be a hybrid novel. By which I mean that there are many graphic pages. And if I'm understanding these pages correctly, they are telling a slightly parallel story set partially in the future.

 
BACKSTORY #1

Cora and Minnie are sisters.  They live with their family in a small New England town at the turn of the last century.  After the death of their father, their mother opens their home to boarders, which is how they meet Thomas and Charles, and the mysterious, Arthur.

BACKSTORY #2

Thomas and Charles are brothers. Thom is older and interested in girls and the new music, Jazz. Charles is younger and dying.  We aren't told specifically what his ailment is, but I suspect it's tuberculosis. He is weak and has coughing spells.

Thomas dotes on Charles and loves him fiercely, which makes his slow death hard to live with. So he escapes sometime to the clubs to get some relief. It's coming back from a midnight escapade that Thom happens upon his father talking to a mysterious woman. For the only time he can recall, Thom notes that his father sounds afraid.  The subject of the conversation isn't clear, but there is talk about a debt that must be paid, and that the sacrifice must be a large one.  Shortly afterwards, Thomas and Charles are packed up and sent to Maine, where the meaning of the threat slowly becomes clearer.

BACKSTORY #3

Arthur is perhaps the most mysterious character of the five young people.  We know little about him except that he is older than both Cora and Minnie and orphaned.  He arrives at the boarding house with a suitcase that he frets over. In fact, as he settles in to be part of the family, Arthur buries the case in the back yard.  He is a boy that lives in the shadows.

------------------------------------------------------------------
Review: MISTWALKER 
Review: THE GHOST BOX 
Review: LIV, FOREVER
------------------------------------------------------------------

THE ARTWORK
Here's an example of Jim Di Bartolo's striking artwork. 

IN THE SHADOWS is full of action and suspense. It's a tale of love and friendship, good and evil, and I'd recommend it to readers looking for a good classically spooky story.

Pam~


In the Shadows
(Scholastic)
by Kirsten White

Reading Information:
Page Count:  384
no reading information currently available
--sample pages and reviews available

Review: A DEATH-STRUCK YEAR by Makiia Lucier

3.94 STARS — 245 GoodReaders

**Starred Review** SchoolLibraryJournal

A DEATH-STRUCK YEAR reminds me of some of the American Girl books. It's well-researched and works hard to convey the essence of an era. It's also written to appeal to a female audience.

THE BACKSTORY

The backstory for this book is the deadly Spanish Flu and World War I. 

Cleo Berry, our heroine, lives with her much older brother, Jack, and his wife, Lucy. Cleo's parents were killed in a car accident when she was younger, and she's fortunate in that her brother is well off and she is able to go to a private girl's school and even dream of going to college. Her biggest problem is that hasn't a clue what she wants to do in the future.

THE STORY

As the story begins Jack needs to do some business traveling and because his and Lucy's wedding anniversary is coming up, they've decided to extend his travels and celebrate the anniversary in San Francisco. Cleo is to be moved temporarily to her school, which boards many of it's pupils, until they return.

Unfortunately, while Jack and Lucy are gone, the deadly Spanish Influenza, which had been on the East Coast only, jumps to Oregon. As the death's begin to mount the school is closed. Children like Cleo are expected to stay in residence, but Cleo has other plans and she returns home. 

Shortly afterwards, she decides she can not stay barricaded in the house, and she signs up to become an assistant with the Red Cross. This is obviously the start of her adventures.

~

The writing in A DEATH-STRUCK YEAR is good. It's crisp and straight forward. The plotting is logical.

The book has earned kudos and starred reviews and that's not really surprising as it's obviously well researched, and it has enough excitement, and a satisfying enough ending for a middle-grade read.

In my own mind, I see this book fitting into the average category. Basically because to my adult sensibilities the story is predictable and lackluster. It's perfectly obvious, for example, from the first introduction who the love interest will be. This would not, however, keep me from recommending it to my own middle-grader. It's a good example of edu-tainment.

Special Tweens Note:  there is some swearing, a tiny bit of drinking --which is used to introduced the notion of prohibition-- and of course, there are sick people, dying people, and dead people of all ages. In addition there is a one-time mention of a birth control pamphlet.

Pam~


A DEATH-STRUCK YEAR
by Makiia Lucier

Reading Information:
Page Count:  288
no reading information currently available
--sample pages and reviews available

Review: TAKE BACK THE SKIES by Lucy Saxon

TAKE BACK THE SKIES is a girl-hides-as-guy adventure with a steampunkish feel. It's a book geared for the Middle-grade market, which makes it sort of a hit-and-miss for the adult audience.

BACKSTORY

Catherine Hunter lives a privileged life in Anglya. She has a robot servant, gorgeous clothes and a top-notch education, but all at the expense of her personal happiness, because being privileged in Anglya means she has little value except as a baby making machine and tool for political alliances. 

With a forced marriage looming in her future, she decides to run away, and thus it is that she finds herself a stowaway on the skyship Stormdancer. 

THE STORY  **Spoilers in this Section**

Catherine becomes Cat and stows away aboard a skyship.  She is soon discovered although it's not known that she is a girl. The ships crew accepts her/him as she proves herself useful.

As it turns out the crew, in addition to it's regular trading, is smuggling food and goods to the starving population of Anglya.  What's more, it becomes apparent that something is tremendously wrong because everything that Cat was told about the outside world is a lie.  And the children who were supposedly inducted into the military are obviously being taken to do something else.

Cat is furious about the lies and the suffering being inflicted upon her people and she inspires a full fledged mutiny.
**END of Spoilers**

Lucy Saxon wrote TAKE BACK THE SKIES when just a teen (16), and I have to say that the book is pretty darn good.  In fact, I have no qualms with the wordsmithing nor the voice, and I would recommend this book without hesitation to Middle Graders looking for an adventurous read. Cat's world is well developed and the love interest works extremely well.

For adults though, there might be a problem --unless you are in the mood to suspend that disbelief.  The adults in the book, for example, end up being directed by Cat, who is just 15.  To be fair, she has special inside knowledge which is vital to their plans, but it still rings a little false in that there are few if any protests.

Lucy Saxon is an author to bookmark.  I would have never guessed her age based on her writing. She is good.  And TAKE BACK THE SKIES is a good Middle Grade book.  Perhaps a little on the girlie side because of the love interest, Fox, but a solid enough story.

Pam~


TAKE BACK THE SKIES
(Tellus World)
by Lucy Saxon

Reading Information:
Page Count: 384
no reading information currently available
--sample pages and reviews available

Review: MISTWALKER by Saundra Mitchell

3.49 STARS from 194 GoodReaders

The Grey Man is here, my thoughts sang. 

The haze sharpened—it gathered. Like milk swirling into coffee, curves formed. Shades and shapes and angles, they became: black eyes, silver hair. A thin mouth, a sharp chin. A hand reached out to take mine. “I thought you would never come,” he said.

BACKSTORY

Willa Dixon's family are fishing folk. They live in a quaint little village where lobsters provide their livelihood. The family struggles to get along but are content until Willa's brother, Levi, is shot and killed.  Then her family slowly falls apart as the tragedy overwhelms them.

With the help of her best friend Willa might have been able to move past Levi's death if it weren't for the criminal trial. She and Levi were on the boat alone when a man came up and shot him. Willa is the only witness, although she isn't the only one who knows why the murder took place. The whole village knows. And the whole village is adamant about keeping the reason a secret.

In her grief and with the pressure of the trial mounting, Willa seeks out the Grey Man, a local ghost who is supposed to be able to grant your wishes. And he will grant her desire but only at a terrible cost.

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Review: IN THE SHADOWS
Review: THE GHOST BOX 
Review: LIV, FOREVER
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MISTWALKER is a ghost story for middle-graders and young adults.  It is told from the point of view of the Grey Man and Willa, and while it has some very good elements, it is not a book I can whole-heartedly recommend. 

Now part of this book was brilliant. Saundra Mitchell's descriptions were delicious. I could feel/smell/taste the small fishing village, the lobstering, the worming.  And the way that Willa and her boy friend and best friend interacted was so believable. I truly wish that the author had just written about these peoples' efforts to work their ways through and out of this tragedy, rather than pursuing the ghost angle.

Also, the choice to tell the story from both points of view didn't work for me.  It diminished the sense of creepiness, but this wasn't as big a problem as the pacing, which was very slow at times. 

So this is a try-it and see book.  And one of those times where I have to admit that a younger person might enjoy this novel more than I.

Pam~


Mistwalker
by Saundra Mitchell

Reading Information:
Page Count: 320
no reading information currently available
--sample pages and reviews available