The Last Dragonslayer

Quick ROW80 update:
Goals: hahahaha Yeah, I didn't really do my goals too well this week. I'm not changing them, because they really had been doable. It was all me. At least I managed the book review, and it was nice to see so many people stopped by to read it, if only to also check out my ROW80 goals. I wrote on my story one day last week, and I commented on 2 or 3 people's goal posts, though I read a few additional ones beyond that. On to this week now and better self-discipline...

The Last Dragonslayer by Jasper Fforde

The cover art and title make the book sound like a serious sort of book, despite the fact that I found it in the MG section of my library. Think about it. The last dragonslayer. And the cover is this antique gold color with a green scaled tail wrapping around from front to back. And resting on the tail is the front shot of a red Volkswagen Beetle. And there are dim copper swirls and stars around the title and edges of the cover....Okay, maybe not totally serious, but still, I wasn't expecting the whimsical zaniness of the story. Didn't matter though; I was hooked with the jacket description and first few pages.

In the good old days, magic was indispensable; it could both save a kingdom and clear a clogged drain.

But now magic is fading. Drain cleaner is cheaper than a spell, and magic carpets have been reduced to pizza delivery. Fifteen-year-old foundling Jennifer Strange runs Kazam Mystical Arts Management, an employment agency for magicians--but it's hard to stay in business when magic is drying up. And then the visions start, predicting the death of the world's last dragon at the hands of an unnamed Dragonslayer. If that's true, everything will change for Kazam--and for Jennifer. Because something is coming. Something known as...Big Magic.

The writing reminded me a little of Floors, which I reviewed back in April, and a bit like Diana Wynne Jones' books. Jennifer herself is the strong-willed and mature acting manager of Kazam for all that she's only 2 weeks shy of her 16th birthday and technically an indentured servant to the Great Zambini until she's 18. But since he disappeared about 6 months ago, she's been running the business for him until he returns. She's rather good at her job and firmly believes that behind every great wizard in history, there'd been a talented agent.

She's the sort of girl I'd have loved to have as a friend or to be myself. She's loyal, caring, and determined, and those prove to be among her greatest strengths. Her friends and allies would agree with me. Fellow foundling Tiger, newly arrived at Kazam to help Jenny, becomes fiercely loyal to her, even taking on the wrath of Lady Mawgon, one of the residential wizards on contract with Kazam, over an ethical dispute in order to protect Jenny's position the way a younger brother might for an admired older sister.

I highly recommend this story for MG readers, and I plan to share it with my son. It's similar enough in style to some of the other books he's enjoyed with me, so I think he'll like it.

Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher

Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher by Bruce Coville

If Howard Morton and Freddie the Frog Killer were trying to hold you down so that Mary Lou Hutton could kiss you, you might run as fast as Jeremy Thatcher did the day he stumbled into Mr. Elives's Magic Shop.

And if you stumbled into that strange shop, you too might be asked to make a choice. What would you buy? The Chinese rings? The Skull of Truth? Or the dragon's egg? And if you did buy the dragon's egg, what would you do when you found you were supposed to hatch it?

This wasn't the first book I'd read by Coville. That would be My Teacher Is an Alien, followed by My Teacher Glows in the Dark, My Teacher Fried My Brains, My Teacher Flunked the Planet, and Aliens Ate My Homework. As you can see, I'd already formed a fondness for his stories. This was the first for me of his fantasies though. (But not the last)

Jeremy loves to draw, but his art teacher seems to hate him. Nothing he does ever seems to be good enough. It doesn't help that Mr. Kravitz read the embarrassing note Mary Lou had left for Jeremy out loud to the class but didn't punish her in any way. Majorly unfair.

In trying to get away from Mary Lou after school, Jeremy ends up in a strange magic shop he doesn't remember ever seeing before. While wandering around, he notices several curious objects, including a multi-colored ball with changing hues. Mr. Elives allows him to buy it for a quarter, saying that it had chosen him. Whatever that means.

When he gets home and reads the folded paper Mr. Elives had given him with it, he finds out. It's instructions for hatching an egg. That is only the beginning of it all, too. He's expected to care for it. It isn't easy to hide a baby dragon in his house, even with a multitude of pets around since his dad is the town vet. And what is he going to do when it gets bigger? How big can it grow?

One of the things I find so appealing about this story is that Jeremy's issues are anchored in the real world. He's an ordinary 6th grader who has to balance his normal issues with that of dragon caretaker. Any of us could have found ourselves in Jeremy's shoes. And let me tell you, I'd wanted a dragon like his so bad even though I would've had to go through the same heartache he did when the dragon was old enough to go her home world.

It's well worth reading.

F is for Floors

Floors by Patrick Carman

There's no other place on Earth quite like the Whippet Hotel. Each and every floor has its own wacky design -- and its own wacky secrets. The guests are either mad or mysterious. And ducks are everywhere.

Leo Fillmore should know everything there is to know about the Whippet Hotel -- he is the janitor's son, after all. But a whole lot more mystery gets thrown his way when four cryptic boxes are left for him...boxes that lead him to hidden floors, strange puzzles, and an unexpected friend or two.

Join Leo as he takes the ride of his life, without ever having to step outside. As the hotel starts falling apart and the mystery thickens, there's only one thing Leo can know for sure: The future of the Whippet Hotel depends on him.

It's hard to think of how to describe this book. It was delightfully zany. The Whippet Hotel has room such as the Robot Room, the Pinball Room, and the Cake Room. Leo's adventure started on the hundredth day after Mr. Merganzer W. Whippet had gone missing. During the regular task of duck herding Leo found a purple box in the duck elevator addressed to him. Upon opening it, he found that he was given a mission to find 3 more boxes in just two days with the help of a duck and a friend in order to save the hotel and all it stands for. A pretty big mission to lay on a ten year old, but Leo had been friends with Merganzer and would do anything for the hotel he loved.

If you combine Wonka's factory with Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium with the mystery of The Westing Game (by Ellen Raskin), you might come close to the fun that is Floors. It's wacky and zany and trying to solve the puzzle left behind by the inventive and mysterious Mr. Whippet will take you all over and through the hotel to figure out what is going on.

E is for Erratum

Erratum by Walter Sorrells

Erratum. n. a writer's or publisher's error in a publication; pl. such errors or a list of them with corrections.

Jessica Sternhagen is not like other kids. She's taller, faster, and...well, weirder. Turns out, Jessica has a destiny, with a capital D. When she walks into an antiquarian bookstore and finds a strange book entitled Her Lif waiting for her, she thinks it's some kind of joke. Who left the book for her? And shouldn't the title be Her Life? What seems like a small printer's error, or erratum, turns out to be the first in a series of bizarre happenings. Her Lif tells the story of Jessica's life, ending with her murder only seconds after she finishes reading the book. Jessica narrowly escapes the predicted murder only to find that the book itself has now changed. The new ending? Jessica has to save the universe. What she discovers is that Her Lif is a word machine, a powerful device which can be used to change reality--only this book happens to have some minor printer's errors in it. And if the book falls into the wrong hands, it could be used to destroy the universe.

This book stuck with me for a couple days after I finished it. The story itself is well written and involves parallel time streams, though only one is supposedly the true and correct universe. In all the twists and turns of the story, people telling her she has to save the world or to leave it be. In the end, it will come down to a single choice she makes. And it's just as they told her, too, though neither she nor I paid those hints much attention.

Jessica is a fun girl. I would've loved to have had her as a friend when I was 11. She loves books, possibly even more than me. And she doesn't like bullies. Her friendship with Dale started when he was being tormented because his dad had lost a hand during an accident at the nearby sausage factory. Even though his home life is rough and Jessica has such loving (if boring) parents, they stick together.

If you enjoy parallel time stream stories, bizarre happenings, and/or stories revolving around books that can change the world, this might be right for you. And I'll have to track down his other books. Sorrells is far cleverer than I thought in the beginning with the parallel between what I was reading with what Jessica read when she first opened Her Lif. Well done.

B is for Beyond the Dragon Portal

Beyond the Dragon Portal by Melissa Glenn Haber

Sadie is alone in an alien land of Dragons and fierce winged warriors. All she knows is that her little sister, Phoebe, has been taken as a pawn in a terrible, age-old conflict. She has only her own determination to find Phoebe and take her home, back through the Dragon Portal to Earth.

Beyond the Dragon Portal, nothing is as Sadie expects. The Dragons are at war with the fierce Barbazion, who have kidnapped her sister So is the tribe of brave desert nomads she meets. Sadie is burning to join them. But as the battle rages, Sadie slowly realizes that she cannot take sides. And most unexpected of all, she will have to save Phoebe on her own.

Since this was a MG book, it was a quick read for me. However, the story stuck with me when I finished. Like the Healing Wars trilogy by Janice Hardy, this story take on a serious theme and works with it on an age appropriate manner. War is not as clear cut as propaganda would have you believe. Both sides see validity in their perspective. Both sides can be both right and wrong at the same time.

Sadie may only be 11, but she is determined to save her sister. Dragonland looks so much different from the stories Phoebe had told, back when Sadie had thought they were only stories, not actual memories. There's lots of desolate grounds, devastated cities, and the ever-present fear of Barbazion attack. What she finally realizes makes her more heart-sick than any of that. And that war is more terrible than she thought, and she might be the only one who can prevent the massive battle that's about to happen.

I really felt for Sadie. She is like most kids her age, ordinary, interested in enjoying time with her friends, especially Picker. They'd planned to build a robot together. She's not a hero. She often felt inadequate to the task of finding and then saving her sister. Even when she came up with a plan, she knew it was full of holes, winging it so to speak. But love is a better motivation than hate and fear in determining who has the best claim, and Sadie does her best, even though she doesn't feel smart enough to succeed. Her best quality is that she is determined, indefatigable as her father once called her. I give this story 4 stars, and I plan to read this to my son after I get through the other books already on our list. Very good book.

Reading, writing, and crafting...oh my!

A month's gone by since I posted, but I haven't forgotten my ROW 80 goals. I'm about a 50% overall I think. I've written on half the days, exercised...mmm...less than half ;), but read many books. I won't try to give a full review on all of them, but here's a listing of what I've read this month (including non-spec fic) and the ratings I gave them on Goodreads.

The New Kid at School (Dragon Slayer's Academy #1) by Kate McMullan
4 stars - both my son and I enjoyed it.

Letters to Jenny by Piers Anthony
5 stars - I tried to write a review on this, and I flounder with the words. A must read. Very touching and a wonderful insight into a writer's life.

Song of the Wanderer (Unicorn Chronicles #2) by Bruce Coville
4 stars - doesn't really read like an individual book but rather like Part 2 of one mega novel. But I still really enjoy the story.

The Ship Avenged by S.M. Stirling and Anne McCaffrey
3 stars - not as good as most of the Brainship universe books, but that's mostly because of content, not the writing. Bit on the dark gritty side. But I was expecting that. Picked it up to read another story with Joat.

How to Be a Pirate (How to Train Your Dragon #2) by Cressida Cowell
3 stars - my son liked it, but the differences in some of the characters and dragons from the How to Train Your Dragon movie was disorienting at first. For instance, in the movie, they were ride-able. In this book, they were small enough to ride on people's shoulders. Cute story though.

The Castle Corona by Sharon Creech
meh, granted it was written for kids but I've read intermediate books with tighter plot, even with keeping the whimsical feel that enticed me to pick it up in the first place. It had potential to be better.

Dark Whispers (Unicorn Chronicles #3) by Bruce Coville
4 stars- still not done yet with the overall story. Need to find The Last Hunt. I think that one is supposed to finish off the arc.

One Good Knight (Five Hundred Kingdoms #2) by Mercedes Lackey
4 stars - This book had some great twists both in plot and with the Sir George vs the Dragon tale. Great ending.

Princess of the Midnight Ball (Princess #1) by Jessica Day George
5 stars - Loved it! A fantastic spin on the story of the Twelve Dancing Princesses. The soldier didn't start off with the intent to find out why their shoes kept getting holes; he made friends with them first while working as a gardener at the palace. Friendship and concern made him finally take his turn to solve the mystery.

One Corpse Too Many (Cadfael #2) by Ellis Peters
4 stars - Pretty close to the movie version (movie #1) I've seen with Sean Pertwee as Hugh Beringer and Derek Jacobi as Brother Cadfael. This was recommended to me when I was looking for mysteries that were solved without modern tech. Very useful for people writing historical fantasies even when they aren't writing in this time period or setting.

The Sanctuary Sparrow (Cadfael #7) by Ellis Peters
4 stars - Yes, I'm reading them out of order. But it doesn't matter too much since I knew this and that the movies had been somewhat out of order as well. So I expected the change of Abbots from Monk's Hood. It has a few differences, but still very close in plot sequencing.

Monk's Hood (Cadfael #3) by Ellis Peters
4 stars - I haven't gotten to read A Leper of St Giles yet, but out of the three stories I have read and watched, this one had the most differences in plot. I rather liked the movie, but now that I've read the book, I think the book plot makes more sense and the characters more engaging. (And I like Brother Mark better than Brother Oswin as Brother Cadfael's assistant.) Still worth checking both versions out if you can find them.

Tripping Over the Lunch Lady: and Other School Stories edited by Nancy E. Mercado
4 stars - This collection of short stories was hilarious. Following each story was a blurb about each author's school years such as worst school smell, favorite field trip, and worst/favorite subject.

Harry and the Terrible Whatzit by Dick Gackenbach
3 stars - cute picture book. Harry's mom goes down to the cellar and doesn't come back up. He goes down and discovers the terrible whatzit. But he learns the whatzit isn't as terrible as he'd thought.

St Peters Fair (Cadfael #4) by Ellis Peters
4 stars - The town is still dealing with the effects of the fighting that had happened when King Stephen moved in on Empress Maud's forces earlier in the year (see book 2). A series of events seemed ordinary at first but they covered a deeper plot involving kingdom politics.

A Coming Evil by Viviane Vande Velde
4 stars - This intermediate level story is a historical fiction story...with a ghost. I wouldn't have picked it up since I don't normally read war themed stories-this one takes place during WWII in German-occupied France-but I liked the author's spins on Rumpelstiltskin in The Rumpelstiltskin Problem, so I gave this one a chance. Glad I read it, because it worked well, and she uses the ghost aspect in a unique way. A nice way to introduce young readers to some of the issues that some kids faced during the war without being in the middle of the worst parts.

As you can see, many books, a couple of which had been on my to-read list. I've also been doing lots of beading and crocheting, experimenting with pieces I'll want to sell once I open my Etsy shop. Some aren't too bad, but some things are too tedious or not working as well as I want. Even though all this crafting has taken up a bunch of my brain time, my ROW 80 goals have kept me from losing track completely.

Fantasy for kids

Still waiting for my library books to come in from the other libraries. For now, here's some more kids' books.

CHILD OF AIR by Grace Chetwin
I wanted to read this one because I enjoyed her books about Gom of Windy Mountain. This is set on a different world, but it has much of the same feel, though written for a younger age group. Mylanfyndra and her older brother Brevan live with their grandfather away from most of the townsfolk on their mesa. It is only after his death that they learn why and what secret he had been holding since they were babies.

The only thing I didn't really like was the very ending; it was too abrupt. Seriously, I turned the last page expecting one more to finish wrapping it up, and it was simply done. The last few paragraphs do conclude it, but I felt it was too quick. It needed just a bit more in reflection or something. Other than that, it is well worth reading, a good story for intermediate readers, 10-12 year olds primarily would be my guess. That's one book off my overall TBR list. Too bad I just added about 3 more today.

TWO SILLY TROLLS by Nancy Jewell, pictures by Lisa Thiesing
This is an adorable picture book for very young readers. It says for K-3, but my son is in 1st, and I think he finds it a bit under him in reading level and story complexity. But that might just be him, too, considering he's been listening to me read Boxcar Children and Magic Treehouse books to him the past couple years. In any case, this I Can Read Book is simple and charming with its 5 micro stories about Nip and Tuck, the two silly trolls who start off the first story with a mushroom home until a bear cub sat on it.

GRANDPA WITCH AND THE MAGIC DOOBELATOR by Ethel and Leonard Kessler
My son really liked this one, even though the reading level wasn't much more complex than the silly trolls story. I think he just got a kick out of the fact that anytime Grandpa Witch messed up, he got a black cat. And once you get a cat, you can't send it back. The Doobelator doesn't really come in until the second half of the story, but Grandpa Witch and his two grandchildren, Wanda and Willy are cute as they prepare for Halloween night.

Glad to see that despite my 2 month absence, some of my readers are still here. If anyone has any other spec fic kid books they want to recommend, you can either just list them in the comments below, or email me your brief reviews to dapperdragon (at) gmail (dot) com. When I get a few of them, I'll do up a post just of your reviews. I know at least a few of you have kids of your own, so please share any favorites.

Unicorns and flowers, oh my!

I'm starting the new year off with a couple book reviews. This is more like what I'd intended the blog to be about, but I think I'll still keep up with writing updates as well from the ROW 80. Maybe a better blend of the old and new aims.

Over the holidays, I picked up a couple books from the library in the kids section. One my Goodreads list said I'd read before, but I didn't recognize the stories. Hmm. Well, I read it (again) and loved it. Twelve stories with unicorns of many forms fill A Glory of Unicorns edited by Bruce Coville. He also wrote the first story in the collection, The Guardian of Memory. Some of the stories take place in fantastical settings like in The New Girl, some might be our own backyard like in Tearing Down the Unicorns.

It's an interesting mix of stories that draw upon the legends of unicorns without being sappy. Authors in the collection are Bruce Coville, Janni Lee Simner, Gregory Maguire, Ruth O'Neill, Nancy Varian Berberick, Jessica Amanda Salmonson, Katherine Coville, Alethea Eason, Nancy with Greg Labarbera, Kathryn Lay, Gail Kimberly, and Sean Stewart.

For a lighter feel, I also picked up Once Upon a Marigold by Jean Ferris. As it says on the cover: part comedy, part love story, part everything-but-the-kitchen-sink. As you can imagine, it's a whimsical sort of tale. Front cover doesn't really hint that it's a fantasy, but the blurb on the back had, so I had to pick it up. I wouldn't want to read it all the time, but it was a cute story.

Christian is gaga for Princess Marigold. He's just a commoner, though, and no match for royalty. Heck, he lives in a cave with a troll! And now he's discovered another reason to put his love-soggy heart on ice: Queen Olympia is scheming to take over the kingdom--and she'll bump off Marigold to do it! Can Chris foil her diabolical plans?

I loved the whimsical feel of the story. Ed the troll is a fun supporting character. He's been trying to get into the tooth collection business, since the tooth fairy herself is falling behind on her duties but won't allow anyone to break into her monopoly. He doesn't want to take over, just get a piece of the action. He found Chris when the boy was a small youngster lost in the woods who refused to be taken back home. Somehow ending up like a parent, he does his best to teach Chris bits of etiquette from a book he'd collected at some point while not being strict enough to make the boy run away again as he'd done to end up in the woods to begin with.

The p-mail parts were another fun touch. Christian first makes contact with Marigold via pigeon, since Ed kept a pair of pigeons for sending messages of his own. And the cave they shared was just across the river from the castle where Marigold lived. Some of the messages are long enough that they are broken up into pieces in order to fit on the birds' legs. They are shown in order, but the book shows the breaks between pieces of paper.

So a fun pair of books. I hope you'll check them out. On the writing front, this week I got back to work on my trog and wizard story. During the holidays, I jumped in on a Word War with some of my writing friends online. I missed the first ten minutes because I'd forgotten about it, and my brain was starting off cold. But since I'd had some scene summary ideas jotted down for that story, I grabbed one and ran with it, writing about 850 words in 50 minutes, one of my best stints. So on Tuesday I picked up where I'd left off and added another 1250 words, though over the course of the morning rather than just an hour. Still a good day's work for me.

I didn't get much done yesterday since I was puttering on several other things as well, like trying to learn how to crochet a hex-base with beads. Still haven't gotten the hang of it yet even with the book and accompanying DVD. Best I've gotten so far looks like a horseshoe shape, like I haven't put on enough beads even though I have the correct number on. Sigh. Harder than it looks. I may have to try one suggestion I got which is to practice without the beads, since I think my problem is the closing the rings and stepping up to the next row (and first stitch after that).

That's enough for now, but I'll work on what sort of goals I want to focus on this month. I plan to post them on Sunday's ROW80 check-in. Maybe I'll have another book review for you then, too. I'm baaack! :D

Labyrinth

One of the classic movies I grew up with is Labyrinth. It was utter magic to me. Even though I faced different issues than Sarah was going through, I felt a certain understanding for her character. Maybe it was that we were both fantasy-absorbed. She was escaping her changed family life, and I was escaping my changed social life. (I discovered the movie a few years after it was released.)

Plus it's a Jim Henson movie. Goblins are almost cute as muppets. From IMDB.com:

15-year-old Sarah accidentally wishes her baby half-brother, Toby, away to the Goblin King Jareth who will keep Toby if Sarah does not complete his Labyrinth in 13 hours. 

The labyrinth was never what she expected, but its changing ways--influenced by her choices and words--forced her to discover and accept changes in herself. If she had reached Jareth's castle easily, she might have still failed in saving Toby. It was her self discovery along the way that allowed her to succeed.

Not only was the story meaningful to me, but the music is catchy. In fact this post was going to be about something else, but then I popped on the Labyrinth soundtrack. I decided to share this favorite from my collection instead.

Who else is a Labyrinth fan? What is your favorite quote?

Here is one of my many favorites.
Jareth: Hello, Hedgewart.
Sarah: Hogwart.
Hoggle: Hog-gle!
(and 11 years later we get Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, hehe)

Here's another one: Too bad the image is distorted, but it's still a gem of a scene. Sarah gets advice from a worm.

The Wish Giver

I hope you all had a wonderful week while I was on vacation. I'll be working on catching up on my blog reading over the next few days. For a little something today, here is a book I read years ago and stumbled on again last week at Goodwill down near my mom. The Wish Giver by Bill Brittain is a quaint MG novel about wishing without considering the consequences. Set in New England, it carries the flavor of early Americana stories of strange happenings. 

It's told from the POV of Stew Meat, the owner of the Coven Tree General Store. Thaddeus Blinn promises him and the three youths willing to listen that he can grant them each any one wish for only 50 cents. They aren't sure he really can, but he suckers them into paying him. He gives them each a white card with a red spot on it. All they have to do is press their thumb on the spot and state their wish aloud. But he tells them to give it plenty of thought because he'll never be back again.

"Take great care when you wish," Blinn called after us. "For it will be granted exactly as you ask for it."

Though Stew Meat simply tucks his card away and laughs at himself for nearly believing the wild tale, the youngsters each find themselves willing to try out their cards. Blinn's warning was just as he said, for their wishes come true more directly than they imagined.

Be careful what you wish for.

I can see why The Wish Giver was made a Newbery Honor Book. Though some people get rather funny regarding magic in stories, I think this is well worth reading for the allegory aspect to it. Polly, Rowena, and Adam each learn something about themselves and the people around them. That's where the real story is. The wishes simply highlight each issue, and make them think more about their actions and abilities.

Did anyone else read this when they were growing up?

The Ranger's Apprentice

It's been awhile since I did any book reviews, even though I've read three terrific books over the past few weeks. The pixies demanded that I tell you about one of them today, so I'm picking the one I whooshed through yesterday.

The first book of the Ranger's Apprentice series: The Ruins of Gorlan was a lot of fun. John Flanagan kicks it off with big baddie Morgarath making plans to revenge his defeat 15 years earlier. It's clear from his thoughts that it was a good thing for the kingdom that he'd been defeated. He's not a nice guy. Morgarath plays little direct role in the first book, but it was important to show that he's preparing to make his move by sending his allies to take out some of those personally responsible for his defeat.

Most of this book is about Will's apprenticeship to Ranger Halt, a member of a secretive group with a very important role. They spy around the kingdom searching for information to keep the kingdom safe, sometimes even dealing with a problem directly. Without them, Morgarath would have succeeded in his goal to kill the young King Duncan and usurp rulership over Araluen.

Woven around Will's training and becoming involved in the overall plot is the subplot involving Will's long-standing issues with one of his fellow castle wards, Horace, primarily because Will is the smallest of their age group and the only one with no paternal name. Horace teases him whenever they get together. He thinks he's superior because he's big and strong and Will wasn't accepted into Battleschool to train as a knight.

Their animosity erupts into an outright fight during Harvest Day, despite their friends' attempts to smooth things over. Not even Alyss, who was apprenticed to become a kingdom diplomat, could prevent it. That combined with the intense bullying Horace was facing from three of the second-year warrior apprentices made me concerned for what Horace was going to do and become, especially with his potential clearly shown by Flanagan's skillful use of omniscient POV. I didn't like how Horace treated Will, but I liked him well enough that I didn't want him going bad. I won't tell you what happens, but I will admit to crowing with delight over how the issue with the bullies was resolved. It was perfectly satisfying, built out of changes both boys had made in themselves and with each other. Ranger Halt's role certainly helped, too. Muha muhaha.

All in all, this is a wonderful MG book. It's suitable for the 10+ age level and something I will enjoy reading with my son when he's a few years older. I know I would have enjoyed it when I was a tween, and the theme with improving social skills put it high on my recommendation list. It might be a little obvious in spots, but for the targeted readership, that isn't necessarily a bad thing. It's well worth buying for the story, the themes, and the wonderful example of how to use omniscient POV.

From grumpy to golden

I had plenty of sleep, honestly I did. I got to bed not long after 11 last night, woke up briefly around 6, got up around 7. But dreaming of being shunned/ignored/despised does little for one's mood or confidence. My son didn't notice. He managed to get enough sleep that he woke up on his own at the right time. He didn't even need that much coaxing to get ready. No rushing involved.

But I was still grumpyish and with the dog eating a dead bird (gross and not good for her), I didn't feel like doing anything, not even playing on the computer. So, I laid down on the couch to rest my eyes. Hardly restful since my brain took me back into similar disturbing visions, disrupted only when my hubby got home from work.

But the fresh air (chilly) while doing the weekly garbage dump run helped clear the fog from my brain. Enough that when we got back, I pulled out another one of the library books from my reading list and started reading. (I finished Inkheart last night.)

Dragon Rider by Cornelia Funke was wonderful. I just finished reading it a little bit ago. Though Inkheart was good and made me curious enough that I will pick up Inkspell on my next trip to the library, Dragon Rider was even better. It grabbed me from the first chapter where IH took several chapters to pull me in.

Maybe it was the tone and type of threat. IH is more serious. After all, books and stories were in jeopardy. The villains were darker and threatened more than just a limited group; Capricorn and his subordinates were dangerous for the world even though only a small group realized it. Nettlebrand, on the other hand, was created long ago for the single purpose of killing the glorious silver dragons for an alchemist's greed.

After finishing Dragon Rider, I am feeling much cheerier and uplifted. How could I stay gloomy when I could soar with Ben and share his joy? Even with the use of prophesy and other fantasy tropes, the story relied on ingenuity and teamwork to save the day. The prophesy helped them in a few places with supplies, information, and directions, but when it came time to face up to the Nettlebrand, they had to figure out the strategy all on their own, one that had only been possible by the choices and discoveries made along the way by our brave travelers.

Dragon Rider carries some powerful joy within its pages. An uplifting tale to chase away the blues, I give it 5 stars and recommend you go soaring with Firedrake, Sorrel, Ben, and the other friends they make along the way.

The Thief

I picked up The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner while browsing the library shelves in the kids' fiction section. Sometimes books pop out at me and ask to be read. This was one of them. The cover has a pair of dirt-ingrained young man's hands holding a flattened spherical river rock with a glowing blue center. Also on the cover is the silver seal for being a Newbery Honor Book. Should be good, right?

Yes, it was. (What? Did you think I was going to give a different answer?)

Gen is in the king's prison. His bragging that he could steal anything, including the king's seal, led to his predicament. Oh, he successfully stole it. He just publicly showed it off in a wineshop to prove that he had. The guards mock him, asking when is he going to escape, and keep him chained at all times, even when other prisoners get to walk about in the prison courtyard for a bit of sun.

Now the king and his magus want Gen for his skills. The magus tells him, "There's something I want you to steal. Do this for me, and I'll see that you don't go back to prison. Fail to do this for me, and I will still make sure that you don't go back to prison." To add to the threat, the king shows him the small casket full of gold coins he will offer for Gen's capture if he tries to escape before recovering the desired object. A reward big enough that Gen would be hunted for life no matter where he goes. What else is a thief to do? Though he has no idea what he will be stealing yet (the magus says he'll learn that on the way), he accepts.

The Thief kept me engaged the whole way through. Gen is a fun character who entertained me with his interactions with the magus's apprentices and the guard accompanying them, and I loved the surprise reveal at the end of Gen's background and something he had done on the trip. Yet, the only thing that keeps me from giving this 5 stars is because of the reveal at the end. The book is in first person, so we should know things as we go about Gen. It's his thoughts we see. Yet, there are some places where it reads like Turner had either forgotten the true background or hadn't thought of that background yet. Small places like a page or a paragraph here and there or where there should have have some small clue or a different reaction.

Most of it works pretty well, because he isn't dwelling on the past, just contemplating his present. Turner does set up clues that he is more than he appears in the things that he notices, many of his comments, and that he does certain actions deliberately, like chewing with his mouth open. Something that someone from his supposed background would do, but not think about. And he finds it entertaining to see how it annoys the magus.

Since this was written for MG, I can forgive keeping so much of the true background a secret until the end, even with being in first person. Even though there are the bits that don't quite fit, overall, it was still a worthwhile read. The geography, the pantheon, and regional histories she created make the world a rich setting. She even included a section at the end about what inspired her world creation. I give this book 4 stars.

I think I will actually go look for the second book of Gen's adventures: The Queen of Attolia. I'm curious to see what he will do next, especially considering one of the things that happened near the end of The Thief.

Young Fliers

I'm sure many of us have dreamed of flying. I know I have. My flying dreams were among my more lucid ones. I'd dip and soar, going pretty much anywhere I wanted. But it's been a long time since I've had a flying dream. Maybe it's from getting older. Or maybe I've found a new way to fly that doesn't require dreams, such as my writing. Change doesn't have to be something to fear or regret. That is what Newton and Vanessa discover in The Things With Wings by Gregory J. Helch.

Angel Falls holds a secret, something connected to the Emerald Rainbow butterflies that stay for a week every spring on their migration path. Newton is a newcomer in town. Growing up with actors and constantly moving, he's become fearful of change, a watcher rather than a do-er. Vanessa has lived here all her life, and she wishes her middle name was Adventure. She tells him when they meet that she has always wanted to fly, has dreamed about it. When they realize their classmates have gone missing, her inquisitive and friendly nature pulls him into the middle of the mystery. But who is the strange man who keeps following them?

Now Newton must learn to accept that change cannot be stopped, nor should it be feared. Sometimes dreams can take wing through it. No one ever said growing up was easy.

The ending of this book almost made me toss it aside, looking like one of those "Was it just a dream?" endings. I promise it isn't. I'm glad I had the patience to finish, because despite the sense of sadness, a half-forgotten moment from the middle of the story allows for closure and hope that all is not lost. That change can be sad and promising at the same time. A good thing for tweens to remember as they enter their own big changes.

Humans aren't the only ones to have dreams. In Troll King by John Vornholt, Rollo would love to be able to enjoy the daytime. He imagines smelling flowers, chasing dragonflies, and napping where it is warm and dry. But it is risky to be out in the sunshine. Ogre patrols punish trolls caught out in the sun without a good reason. The ones allowed to work in the daytime are heavily guarded. Rollo would love to get off bridge building but isn't sure daytime work is worth being hemmed in by their masters.

Changes come to the Dismal Swamp when Stygius Rex, the ancient sorcerer who rules over all the ogres, ghouls, and trolls living in the land of Bonespittle, decides he wants to expand his territory by making a bridge over the Great Chasm. He needs the trolls to build it for him. Rollo ends up an unintended volunteer and then a crew leader during their training. His team gets chosen to be the first trolls to be flown over Rawchill River, a major obstacle on the way to the Chasm. Even though it is the sorcerer's magic, Rollo discovers flying to be a fascinating as he imagined. Maybe they really can bridge the Chasm and make peaceful contact with the elves and fairies who live in the Bonny Woods!

Because of his ingenuity in training and leadership over his crew, the sorcerer picks Rollo to help him and General Drool scout the other side of the Chasm. Again the flying magic is used on him to get there. And he is learning control over it now. The magic is contagious.

When Stygius Rex and General Drool capture Clipper, the fairy Rollo has talked into considering peaceful terms, Rollo has to decide who he is going to help. That decision will fly him into big changes for himself and the other trolls.

Vornholt crafted functioning societies and vivid descriptions. Trolls are not quite what you'd expect. He plays with preconceptions and puts his own spin on them. Despite some of the lack-luster reviews on Amazon, I enjoyed it. And I am going to be looking for The Troll Queen and The Troll Treasure to find out what happens next in Rollo's adventures. The Troll King will probably have more appeal with boys, but girls who enjoy more than just pink, cute critters, and other "girly" stuff will have fun with this, too. I think I would have enjoyed this when I was a tween.

(For the record, I loathed pink back then, even though I did enjoy some of the girly stuff like My Little Ponies. I like pink better now, but I still prefer it in small doses and in specific hues. Not particularly relevant but it gives you an idea of my sort of taste: eclectic.)

A handful of children's fantasy

Instead of four individual posts, I am presenting these books together, two picture books and two chapter books. I thought they were all cute enough to share.

First the picture books.

The Toy Brother by William Steig is charming book about role reversal when the older brother accidentally shrinks himself while their parents are away for the week. My son picked out this book at the library, and we both enjoyed it. (Yes, I'm training him young to appreciate fantasy.)

Yours Truly, Goldilocks by Alma Flor Ada and illustrated by Leslie Tryon has a more complex story, told through a series of letters. Each character uses a different type of paper and handwriting style, with the pictures filling details on setting, mood, and events. In addition to being a cute story, I think it would make a great visual aid to teaching letter writing. Each letter has header, greeting, body, closer, and signature.

Now the chapter books.

Tollins: Explosive Tales for Children is written by Conn Iggulden, author of The Dangerous Book for Boys, and illustrated by Lizzie Duncan. I loved it. From the book: "Tollins are not fairies. Though they both have wings, fairies are delicate creatures and much smaller. When he was young, Sparkler accidentally broke one and had to shove it behind a bush before its friends noticed. Tollins are also a lot less fragile than fairies. In fact, the word 'fragile' can't really be used about them at all. They are about as fragile as a housebrick!" Sparkler is an oddball. He finds humans and their science fascinating. Though it is against Tollin law, his scientific studies may be just what they all need to save them from human encroachment and Dark Tollin takeover. The three linked stories in this book, beginning with "How to Blow Up Tollins," made me chuckle the whole way through. The accompanying illustrations add to the whimsy. Duncan's style goes perfectly with the stories.

Though I've never picked up The Dangerous Book for Boys, I'm interested now to see if Iggulden's non fiction has any of the same style his fiction does. DBB might come in handy as my son gets older.

Harvey Angell by Diana Hendry is a middle grade story and winner of The Whitbread Children's Book of the Year Award. Henry is an orphan living with his stingy Aunt Agatha. When their attic boarder leaves after a row with Aunt Agatha over her penny pinching ways (and banging his head once too often on the sloping ceiling), she interrogates new prospective boarders. Harvey Angell enchants her into accepting him with his small stature, lack of needing breakfast, and his sunbeam smile. Somehow, he begins to brighten the cheerless house. Henry just doesn't know whether to trust this "electrician" who wants to reconnect them to the circuit. Henry is determined to figure out what that means, because this strange man is up to something.

Fantasy really is for all ages. If you have children, you may want to consider these stories.

No One Noticed the Cat

Here's a cute little book for you. Yes, it's actually a little book, about 5 or 6 inches nearly square, 124 pages long. A quick read. Anne McCaffrey's No One Noticed the Cat is a whimsical fantasy, perfect for when you want a bit of light reading.

If you are regent to an adventurous prince with ambitious neighbors, what are you going to do when you know your death is approaching? Why, surround him with the perfect advisers, of course. Ones who will guide him without taking away his authority. However, Mangan Tighe's cleverest adviser he leaves for his nephew is no courtier, but a most extraordinary cat.

Niffy the cat follows Jamas everywhere, peruses every document, and somehow eases the burden of leadership. Jamas treats her with the same respect he gives to his human advisers, though most of the people around him think of her as simply his uncle's cat. Sometimes the perfect guardian is the one no one notices. Which comes in handy when a greedy king and queen in the neighboring kingdom decide they wish to annex Esphania. Niffy may be the only one who can keep her prince and kingdom safe.

This book is a charming story for young and old alike. It's well worth checking out.

The Search for Delicious

When Prime Minister Decree is told to write up a proper dictionary for the kingdom, he has to come up with ways to describe each word. All goes well until he reaches the D's. Civil war threatens to break out over the definition for "Delicious." The king sends Gaylan, Decree's foster son and Special Assistant, on a kingdom-wide poll. The Search for Delicious is on!

Natalie Babbitt takes us through this imaginative fantasy. No matter what obstacles Gaylan faces, he is determined to complete his task in order to save his kingdom. He meets a woldweller, a mermaid, and many of the ordinary folk and writes down each person's choice for the definition. The result may surprise everyone but Gaylan himself.

The Ordinary Princess

Here is one of my beloved childhood books. As an ordinary girl myself, The Ordinary Princess by M.M. Kaye appealed to my desire to find a fairy-tale ending despite the lack of princessly charms. The cover of my book is now a bit worn, its pages yellowing and smelling faintly of damp basement, but I still find the story appealing after all these years.

Despite precautions taken to ensure a successful christening for seventh daughter Princess Amethyst, the fairy Crustacea proclaims, "You shall be Ordinary."

And from that moment she was. From her mousy brown hair, freckles, and turned up nose, Princess Amy is nothing like her older sisters with their fair skin and golden hair. Ordinary suits her though. Amy has no interest in stuffy princes or boring princess activities. And she's quite willing to seek her own adventure to find happiness.

Sometimes ordinary can be the greatest gift of all. And that truth is the greatest treasure I know of to give a young girl struggling to find her own identity in a world dominated by the glamorous. It may be thirty years old, but this story still has relevance for today's tweens, perhaps more so than ever.

Silver Woven in My Hair

For a slight change of pace, here is a book for the Intermediate reader. Silver Woven in My Hair by Shirley Rousseau Murphy is a charming spin on Cinderella legends from around the world.

Thursey lives with her stepmother and two stepsisters in the small country of Gies. Their inn lies off the high road, the only one in a day's ride that offers shelter to the common traveler. Many a merchant has passed through bearing stories from other places, stories of Tattercoats, Cendrillon, Aschenputtel, and others like Cinderella. If she dreams of herself in that role, who could blame her when her family treats her with scorn and forces her to do the hard labor of maintaining the inn?

She longs to know the fate of her father, missing since he joined the war against the Balkskakian hordes. If he were home, he would make things right again. But no one who has returned knows if he is dead or alive. Her stepsisters claim that he died a coward, running from the Balkskak's troops during the push when the queen and young prince were captured. Only a coward afraid of the mill wheel would have lost two fingers, and such a man could never amount to much. But Thursey remembers how he kept her stepmother and stepsisters in better temper.

The kingdom now has reason to rejoice. Five years since the royal family had been rescued, their recovery from the foreign illness and the prince's wounds was finally nearing its end. Now they were returning home from the Isle of Carthemas to meet their people and reassure them that the prince would be healthy enough to take up his duties as a man. An Easter ball would be held for all to attend.

Thursey longs to go but knows her family would never allow her. And her heart is torn between her dreams and the handsome goatherd who tends the Carthemas goats whose milk is responsible for the prince's recovery. The goatherd who has become her dear friend and encourages her dreams. If the magic of the stories comes true, would it mean leaving him behind?

Even for a younger audience, I still find this enchanting. A hope that you never know when or how magic may find you to make your dreams come true.

The Shifter

Oh wow.

I picked up The Shifter by Janice Hardy last week, but between retail holiday hours at work (long and late) and studying mystery techniques/medieval forensics (ok, ok, binge-watching some of the Brother Cadfael episodes I'd borrowed several times each, having finally "discovered" how good they are, more on this in a later post), I finally got around to reading the book today. Again, I say, "Wow!"

What an amazing story. I couldn't put it down. The premise hooked me in; the story whooshed me through the pages. Imagine me with a "come hither" eyebrow wiggle and a wicked grin.

Nya is a Taker, a person who can heal by taking a person's pain. However, she's flawed. Unlike her sister, Tali, and others who become Healer's League apprentices, she cannot push that pain into pynvium, a special metal that stores it. Instead, she can shift that pain into other people. In the war-torn, occupied island of Geveg, this is a dangerous ability that could be used against her own people. But Nya is faced with ethical quandaries when her sister and other apprentices go missing. What lengths will she go to save them all and what will it cost her?

This is book one of The Healing Wars, and I am eagerly looking forward to book two. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in a different sort of healing magic and tough ethical choices, good for ages 10 and up. After hearing about this book on The Other Side of the Story, Janice Hardy's blog, I was excited to find this at the bookstore where I work. (Gotta love employee discounts. Makes my book habit more affordable.) It was well worth it. Check out her blog for more details and helpful, interesting articles on writing, querying, and publishing from a writer's point of view. And pick up her book!