Gods and Warriors (MG)

Gods and Warriors. Michelle Paver. 2012. Penguin. 320 pages.

The shaft of the arrow was black and fletched with crow feathers, but Hylas couldn't see the head because it was buried in his arm. 

 If you love action and adventure, you should really consider picking up Michelle Paver's new book, Gods and Warriors. This middle grade novel is set in ancient Greece during the Bronze Age. It stars a young boy, Hylas, who may or may not fulfill prophecy. But he isn't the only one readers will meet, two other (human) characters have a role to play: Telamon, the son of a chieftain and Hylas' best friend at the start of the novel, and Pirra, a young girl betrothed to Telamon against her wishes. The other star of this one is not human, she is a dolphin named Spirit.

I loved this one!!! I just loved it! I loved learning about Hylas, Telamon, and Pirra; but especially about Hylas and Pirra. It was very interesting to see this relationship develop. For they are thrown together in desperation. Both needing the other to survive, both having strengths and weaknesses, both uncertain about so many things. It was interesting to see how circumstances helped them come to trust one another, to become friends despite their differences. I also loved Spirit, the dolphin, who has a very significant role in the novel!

Action, adventure, and drama!!! This one has it all. I'd definitely recommend it!

Read Gods and Warriors

• If you like action/adventure stories with light touches of fantasy and mythology
• If you like plot-driven stories with fast pacing
• If you are looking for a new series to begin

© 2012 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Black Beauty

Black Beauty. Anna Sewell. 1877. 245 pages.

The first place that I can well remember was a large pleasant meadow with a pond of clear water in it. Some shady trees leaned over it, and rushes and water-lilies grew at the deep end. Over the hedge on one side we looked into a plowed field, and on the other we looked over a gate at our master's house, which stood by the roadside; at the top of the meadow was a grove of fir trees, and at the bottom a running brook overhung by a steep bank.

Black Beauty is such a GREAT book. I really LOVED, LOVED, LOVED it. Which surprises me, I must admit since I generally don't like animal stories, and I'm even more reluctant to read horse books than dog books. But. I loved it. There was something timeless and wonderful about it. I can see why it became a classic, I hope it remains a beloved classic. 

Black Beauty is a great narrator, a great character. I really came to care for this horse right from the start. I had a feeling that life wouldn't always be so easy and gentle for him. I knew that they'd be dark days and nights ahead. And that proved true. As he is sold from one owner to another to another to another to another and so on. But he's so very, very, very good and understanding and wise. There were so many times he proved himself noble and worthy. And Black Beauty wasn't the only character I loved. I loved so many of the human characters too! John Manly, for example, comes to mind, as does James Howard, Joe Green, Jerry Barker, Farmer Grey, Farmer Thoroughgood, etc. Ginger's story is touching, as well, Ginger being one of many horses Black Beauty befriends.

Black Beauty also had a LOT to say about society, about virtues and vices. It had a LOT to say in regards to how animals should be treated--with respect, kindness, understanding, with dignity. It had a LOT to say about how humans should treat one another too. I was surprised at how deep this book was, how wise.

My favorite quotes:

“There is no religion without love, and people may talk as much as they like about their religion, but if it does not teach them to be good and kind to man and beast, it is all a sham.”

“Only ignorance! only ignorance! how can you talk about only ignorance? Don't you know that it is the worst thing in the world, next to wickedness? -- and which does the most mischief heaven only knows. If people can say, `Oh! I did not know, I did not mean any harm,' they think it is all right.”

“My doctrine is this, that if we see cruelty or wrong that we have the power to stop, and do nothing, we make ourselves sharers in the guilt.”

 “If a thing is right it can be done, and if it is wrong it can be done without; and a good man will find a way.”

“We call them dumb animals, and so they are, for they cannot tell us how they feel, but they do not suffer less because they have no words.” 

Read Black Beauty

    •    If you want to read one of the best children's books ever
    •    If you're a fan of animal stories, horse stories,
    •    If you enjoy historical fiction
    •    If you enjoy classics


© 2012 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

The One and Only Ivan

The One and Only Ivan. Katherine Applegate. 2012. HarperCollins. 301 pages.

I am Ivan. I am a gorilla. It's not as easy as it looks.

 Want to read one of the best, best books of the year? May I suggest Katherine Applegate's verse novel, The One and Only Ivan. I can't promise that every reader will come to LOVE Ivan, Ruby, Stella, Bob, Julia, and George, but you might end up loving them just as much as I did. (Ivan is a gorilla; Ruby and Stella are elephants; Bob is a dog; George and Julia are two of the most sympathetic human characters in the novel.)

So what is it about? It's about a small group of animals on display at Exit 8 Big Top Mall and Video Arcade. Ivan, the gorilla, is an artist whose works sell in the gift shop. He's been captive almost thirty years. Stella is one of his dearest friends, she's an elephant who knows quite a few tricks. She's a great storyteller, but, many of her stories are bittersweet. She's had a hard life to have such a great memory. Bob, the stray dog, is Ivan's other best friend, he's not really on display--not wild enough, not talented enough--but to Ivan, well, he's the best dog in the world. One day, Mack, the owner, brings someone new: a baby elephant named Ruby. Her arrival changes EVERYTHING for Ivan. For at long last, he has someone to protect. 

Within pages, I was hooked. Here is the second poem:

names


People call me the Freeway Gorilla. The Ape at Exit 8. The One and Only Ivan, Mighty Silverback.


The names are mine, but they're not me. I am Ivan, just Ivan, only Ivan.


Humans waste words. They toss them like banana peels and leave them to rot.


Everyone knows the peels are the best part.


I suppose you think gorillas can't understand you. Of course, you also probably think we can't walk upright.


Try knuckle walking for an hour. You tell me: Which way is more fun?

The narrative voice is so strong, so rich, so observant, so right. Here are just a few examples:

Humans speak too much. They chatter like chimps, crowding the world with their noise even when they have nothing to say. (3)

Anger is precious. A silverback uses anger to maintain order and warn his troop of danger. When my father beat his chest, it was to say, Beware, listen, I am in charge. I am angry to protect you, because that is what I was born to do. Here in my domain, there is no one to protect. (10)

It was Julia who gave me my first crayon, a stubby blue one, slipped through the broken spot in my glass along with a folded piece of paper. I knew what to do with it. I'd watched Julia draw. When I dragged the crayon across the paper, it left a trail in its wake like a slithering blue snake. (16)

Humans don't always seem to recognize what I've drawn. They squint, cock their heads, murmur. I'll draw a banana, a perfectly lovely banana, and they'll say, "It's a yellow airplane!" or "It's a duck without wings!" That's all right. I'm not drawing for them. I'm drawing for me. (17)

My visitors are often surprised when they see the TV Mack put in my domain. They seem to find it odd, the sight of a gorilla staring at tiny humans in a box. Sometimes I wonder, though: Isn't the way they stare at me, sitting in my tiny box, just as strange? (23)

Bob's tail makes me dizzy and confused. It has meanings within meanings, like human words. "I am sad," it says. "I am happy." It says, "Beware! I may be tiny, but my teeth are sharp." Gorillas don't have any use for tails. Our feelings are uncomplicated. Our rumps are unadorned. (35)

Homework, I have discovered, involves a sharp pencil and thick books and long sighs. (44)

But hunger, like food, comes in many shapes and colors. At night, lying alone in my Pooh pajamas, I felt hungry for the skilled touch of a grooming friend, for the cheerful grunts of a play fight, for the easy safety of my nearby troop, foraging through shadows. (133)

It's an odd story to remember, I have to admit. My story has a strange shape: a stunted beginning, an endless middle. (144)

The One and Only Ivan is definitely an EMOTIONAL read. It's a book about how humans treat or mistreat animals. It tells the story of several animals: Stella, Ivan, Ruby, etc. In some cases relating how they got to their current "domain" (cage, or prison). For the most sensitive reader, it may prove a little too much in a few poems. Overall, I think it's a great read. Powerful, compelling, beautifully written.

Read The One and Only Ivan

• If you love E.B. White's Charlotte's Web
• If you love Kathi Appelt's The Underneath
• If you love animal stories
• If you love gorillas, elephants, dogs
• If you love GREAT writing

© 2012 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

The Princess and Curdie (MG)

The Princess and Curdie. George MacDonald. 1883. 272 pages.

Curdie was the son of Peter the miner. He lived with his father and mother in a cottage built on a mountain, and he worked with his father inside the mountain.

The Princess and Curdie is the sequel to George MacDonald's The Princess and the Goblin. It is set several years after the events of the first book. And those are years that Curdie has spent away from Princess Irene--the young princess and the great-great-great-great-grandmother Irene. He hasn't completely forgotten the Princess and her father, the King. But he's a growing boy, a busy boy, and well, he needs a bit of a wake up call perhaps.

He has his own encounter with the old woman--the grandmother Irene. And it changes EVERYTHING. For she gives him a very unique gift--with the touch of his hand, he can know what a man or woman truly is: if they are truly human, or if there is a "beast" inside. If it sounds confusing, well, it is in a way. It definitely requires you to suspend your disbelief, to fully engage in this FANTASY world. This one excerpt will do a better job than I ever could in describing what this book is like, and what to expect from this adventure-fantasy-quest.

'Curdie,' she said in answer to his eyes, 'you have stood more than one trial already, and have stood them well: now I am going to put you to a harder. Do you think you are prepared for it?'
'How can I tell, ma'am,' he returned, 'seeing I do not know what it is, or what preparation it needs? Judge me yourself, ma'am.'
'It needs only trust and obedience,' answered the lady.
'I dare not say anything, ma'am. If you think me fit, command me.'
'It will hurt you terribly, Curdie, but that will be all; no real hurt but much good will come to you from it.'
Curdie made no answer but stood gazing with parted lips in the lady's face.
'Go and thrust both your hands into that fire,' she said quickly, almost hurriedly.
Curdie dared not stop to think. It was much too terrible to think about. He rushed to the fire, and thrust both of his hands right into the middle of the heap of flaming roses, and his arms halfway up to the elbows. And it did hurt! But he did not draw them back. He held the pain as if it were a thing that would kill him if he let it go—as indeed it would have done. He was in terrible fear lest it should conquer him.
But when it had risen to the pitch that he thought he could bear it no longer, it began to fall again, and went on growing less and less until by contrast with its former severity it had become rather pleasant. At last it ceased altogether, and Curdie thought his hands must be burned to cinders if not ashes, for he did not feel them at all. The princess told him to take them out and look at them. He did so, and found that all that was gone of them was the rough, hard skin; they were white and smooth like the princess's.
'Come to me,' she said.
He obeyed and saw, to his surprise, that her face looked as if she had been weeping.
'Oh, Princess! What is the matter?' he cried. 'Did I make a noise and vex you?'
'No, Curdie, she answered; 'but it was very bad.'
'Did you feel it too then?'
'Of course I did. But now it is over, and all is well. Would you like to know why I made You put your hands in the fire?' Curdie looked at them again—then said:
'To take the marks of the work off them and make them fit for the king's court, I suppose.'
'No, Curdie,' answered the princess, shaking her head, for she was not pleased with the answer. 'It would be a poor way of making your hands fit for the king's court to take off them signs of his service. There is a far greater difference on them than that. Do you feel none?'
'No, ma'am.'
'You will, though, by and by, when the time comes. But perhaps even then you might not know what had been given you, therefore I will tell you. Have you ever heard what some philosophers say—that men were all animals once?'
'No, ma'am.'
'It is of no consequence. But there is another thing that is of the greatest consequence—this: that all men, if they do not take care, go down the hill to the animals' country; that many men are actually, all their lives, going to be beasts. People knew it once, but it is long since they forgot it.'
'I am not surprised to hear it, ma'am, when I think of some of our miners.'
'Ah! But you must beware, Curdie, how you say of this man or that man that he is travelling beastward. There are not nearly so many going that way as at first sight you might think. When you met your father on the hill tonight, you stood and spoke together on the same spot; and although one of you was going up and the other coming down, at a little distance no one could have told which was bound in the one direction and which in the other. Just so two people may be at the same spot in manners and behaviour, and yet one may be getting better and the other worse, which is just the greatest of all differences that could possibly exist between them.'
'But ma'am,' said Curdie, 'where is the good of knowing that there is such a difference, if you can never know where it is?'
'Now, Curdie, you must mind exactly what words I use, because although the right words cannot do exactly what I want them to do, the wrong words will certainly do what I do not want them to do. I did not say you can never know. When there is a necessity for your knowing, when you have to do important business with this or that man, there is always a way of knowing enough to keep you from any great blunder. And as you will have important business to do by and by, and that with people of whom you yet know nothing, it will be necessary that you should have some better means than usual of learning the nature of them.
'Now listen. Since it is always what they do, whether in their minds or their bodies, that makes men go down to be less than men, that is, beasts, the change always comes first in their hands—and first of all in the inside hands, to which the outside ones are but as the gloves. They do not know it of course; for a beast does not know that he is a beast, and the nearer a man gets to being a beast the less he knows it. Neither can their best friends, or their worst enemies indeed, see any difference in their hands, for they see only the living gloves of them. But there are not a few who feel a vague something repulsive in the hand of a man who is growing a beast.
'Now here is what the rose-fire has done for you: it has made your hands so knowing and wise, it has brought your real hands so near the outside of your flesh gloves, that you will henceforth be able to know at once the hand of a man who is growing into a beast; nay, more—you will at once feel the foot of the beast he is growing, just as if there were no glove made like a man's hand between you and it.
'Hence of course it follows that you will be able often, and with further education in zoology, will be able always to tell, not only when a man is growing a beast, but what beast he is growing to, for you will know the foot—what it is and what beast's it is. According, then, to your knowledge of that beast will be your knowledge of the man you have to do with. Only there is one beautiful and awful thing about it, that if any one gifted with this perception once uses it for his own ends, it is taken from him, and then, not knowing that it is gone, he is in a far worse condition than before, for he trusts to what he has not got.'
'How dreadful!' Said Curdie. 'I must mind what I am about.'
'Yes, indeed, Curdie.'
'But may not one sometimes make a mistake without being able to help it?'
'Yes. But so long as he is not after his own ends, he will never make a serious mistake.'
'I suppose you want me, ma'am, to warn every one whose hand tells me that he is growing a beast—because, as you say, he does not know it himself.'
The princess smiled.
'Much good that would do, Curdie! I don't say there are no cases in which it would be of use, but they are very rare and peculiar cases, and if such come you will know them. To such a person there is in general no insult like the truth. He cannot endure it, not because he is growing a beast, but because he is ceasing to be a man. It is the dying man in him that it makes uncomfortable, and he trots, or creeps, or swims, or flutters out of its way—calls it a foolish feeling, a whim, an old wives' fable, a bit of priests' humbug, an effete superstition, and so on.'
'And is there no hope for him? Can nothing be done? It's so awful to think of going down, down, down like that!'
'Even when it's with his own will?'
'That's what seems to me to make it worst of all,' said Curdie.
'You are right,' answered the princess, nodding her head; 'but there is this amount of excuse to make for all such, remember—that they do not know what or how horrid their coming fate is. Many a lady, so delicate and nice that she can bear nothing coarser than the finest linen to touch her body, if she had a mirror that could show her the animal she is growing to, as it lies waiting within the fair skin and the fine linen and the silk and the jewels, would receive a shock that might possibly wake her up.'
'Why then, ma'am, shouldn't she have it?'
The princess held her peace.
'Come here, Lina,' she said after a long pause.
From somewhere behind Curdie, crept forward the same hideous animal which had fawned at his feet at the door, and which, without his knowing it, had followed him every step up the dove tower. She ran to the princess, and lay down flat at her feet, looking up at her with an expression so pitiful that in Curdie's heart it overcame all the ludicrousness of her horrible mass of incongruities. She had a very short body, and very long legs made like an elephant's, so that in lying down she kneeled with both pairs. Her tail, which dragged on the floor behind her, was twice as long and quite as thick as her body. Her head was something between that of a polar bear and a snake. Her eyes were dark green, with a yellow light in them. Her under teeth came up like a fringe of icicles, only very white, outside of her upper lip. Her throat looked as if the hair had been plucked off. It showed a skin white and smooth.
'Give Curdie a paw, Lina,' said the princess.
The creature rose, and, lifting a long foreleg, held up a great doglike paw to Curdie. He took it gently. But what a shudder, as of terrified delight, ran through him, when, instead of the paw of a dog, such as it seemed to his eyes, he clasped in his great mining fist the soft, neat little hand of a child! He took it in both of his, and held it as if he could not let it go. The green eyes stared at him with their yellow light, and the mouth was turned up toward him with its constant half grin; but here was the child's hand! If he could but pull the child out of the beast! His eyes sought the princess. She was watching him with evident satisfaction.
'Ma'am, here is a child's hand!' said Curdie.
'Your gift does more for you than it promised. It is yet better to perceive a hidden good than a hidden evil.'

Curdie sets out on his mission/quest to visit the city of Gwyntystorm--where the King and Princess Irene live. He doesn't know exactly why he's going--what the desired outcome is. But he trust that he's been sent for a reason, for a higher purpose and that is more than enough for him.

I will warn you that Irene, the heroine from The Princess and the Goblin, does not appear until the novel is halfway over. This isn't her story, this isn't her adventure. The adventure belongs more to Curdie and Lina than anyone else. 

This is more fantasy than fairy tale. There is definitely a struggle between good and evil. But I definitely liked it. At times I even loved it.


Read The Princess and Curdie

• If you're a fan of George MacDonald
• If you enjoy children's classics
• If you enjoy children's fantasy
• If you enjoy C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien
• If you enjoy adventurous fantasy novels with quests; the ongoing struggle between good and evil

© 2012 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Princess and the Goblin (MG/YA)

The Princess and the Goblin. George MacDonald. 1872. 259 pages.

There was once a little princess whose father was king over a great country full of mountains and valleys. His palace was built upon one of the mountains, and was very grand and beautiful. The princess, whose name was Irene, was born there, but she was sent soon after her birth, because her mother was not very strong, to be brought up by country people in a large house, half castle, half farmhouse, on the side of another mountain, about half-way between its base and its peak. 

I just LOVED The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald. I'm not sure if I could say I loved it more than A Light Princess, but, I'm not sure I could say I loved it less either!!! George MacDonald is just pleasing me these days! I would definitely recommend this one to just about everyone!

It isn't the easiest novel in the world to describe, but, I'll do my best to do it justice. Princess Irene is the heroine. She lives a very, very sheltered life. She hardly ever goes outside the safety of the castle, but, when she does she often stumbles across Curdie, a young boy with hero-potential. If the castle and/or the kingdom is at risk, if their peace is threatened, they are unaware of it. But Curdie stumbles into danger and unveils a plot. GOBLINS. Goblins set on revenge, goblins who want war, goblins who want to overthrow the kingdom and perhaps steal the princess.

Here's the introduction to goblins:

Now in these subterranean caverns lived a strange race of beings, called by some gnomes, by some kobolds, by some goblins. There was a legend current in the country that at one time they lived above ground, and were very like other people. But for some reason or other, concerning which there were different legendary theories, the king had laid what they thought too severe taxes upon them, or had required observances of them they did not like, or had begun to treat them with more severity, in some way or other, and impose stricter laws; and the consequence was that they had all disappeared from the face of the country. According to the legend, however, instead of going to some other country, they had all taken refuge in the subterranean caverns, whence they never came out but at night, and then seldom showed themselves in any numbers, and never to many people at once. It was only in the least frequented and most difficult parts of the mountains that they were said to gather even at night in the open air. Those who had caught sight of any of them said that they had greatly altered in the course of generations; and no wonder, seeing they lived away from the sun, in cold and wet and dark places. They were now, not ordinarily ugly, but either absolutely hideous, or ludicrously grotesque both in face and form. There was no invention, they said, of the most lawless imagination expressed by pen or pencil, that could surpass the extravagance of their appearance. But I suspect those who said so had mistaken some of their animal companions for the goblins themselves—of which more by and by. The goblins themselves were not so far removed from the human as such a description would imply. And as they grew misshapen in body they had grown in knowledge and cleverness, and now were able to do things no mortal could see the possibility of. But as they grew in cunning, they grew in mischief, and their great delight was in every way they could think of to annoy the people who lived in the open-air storey above them. They had enough of affection left for each other to preserve them from being absolutely cruel for cruelty's sake to those that came in their way; but still they so heartily cherished the ancestral grudge against those who occupied their former possessions and especially against the descendants of the king who had caused their expulsion, that they sought every opportunity of tormenting them in ways that were as odd as their inventors; and although dwarfed and misshapen, they had strength equal to their cunning. In the process of time they had got a king and a government of their own, whose chief business, beyond their own simple affairs, was to devise trouble for their neighbours. It will now be pretty evident why the little princess had never seen the sky at night. They were much too afraid of the goblins to let her out of the house then, even in company with ever so many attendants; and they had good reason, as we shall see by and by.

 The story is essentially told through two perspectives that of Curdie, who overhears the plotting and later stumbles into the goblins' realm or kingdom--where he is imprisoned underground; and that of Princess Irene who is a lonely child who likes to explore the castle. One day she discovers her great-great-great-great-great grandmother. An old woman named Irene. The two become good friends, great friends, but the truth of the matter is that NO ONE believes in the existence of this old woman, no one believes that Irene has found a woman living up high in one of the now-forgotten castle rooms. Irene visits her a time or two, Irene listens carefully to every word, every instruction. And Irene is happy to be a believer even if it means her nurse laughs at her for her overactive imagination, even if it means her father chuckles at his little girl's dreams, even if it means Curdie calls her a fool.

What makes this book so wonderful is the writing. My description of it may not do it justice...at all...it may not sound like it would be a good story, a charming and delightful story. But MacDonald is such a great writer, that it just works. His writing reminds me of E. Nesbit, C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien. For example, this story is sprinkled--liberally--with poems and songs. And the book does have this adventuresome spirit to it. It's just a lively, delightful story. I think it's a must for those that enjoy fairy tales and fantasy stories.

Favorite quotes:

All mothers are nice and good more or less, but Mrs. Peterson was nice and good all more and no less. (99)

But that is the way fear serves us: it always sides with the thing we are afraid of. (112)

It is when people do wrong things willfully that they are the more likely to do them again. (120)

The right old age means strength and beauty and mirth and courage and clear eyes and strong painless limbs. (129)

People must believe what they can, and those who believe more must not be hard upon those who believe less. (187)

Seeing is not believing--it is only seeing. (190)

"We are all very anxious to be understood, and it is very hard not to be. But there is one thing much more necessary."
"What is that, grandmother?"
"To understand other people."
"Yes, grandmother. I must be fair--for if I'm not fair to other people, I'm not worth being understood myself." (191)

 Read The Princess and the Goblin

• If you love fantasy
• If you love adventure
• If you love fairy tales
• If you love old-fashioned stories with lots of description and detail
• If you love good storytelling 

© 2012 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

The Light Princess

The Light Princess. George MacDonald. 1864. 110 pages.

Once upon a time, so long ago that I have quite forgotten the date, there lived a king and queen who had no children. And the king said to himself, "All the queens of my acquaintance have children, some three, some seven, and some as many as twelve; and my queen has not one. I feel ill-used." So he made up his mind to be cross with his wife about it. But she bore it all like a good patient queen as she was. Then the king grew very cross indeed. But the queen pretended to take it all as a joke, and a very good one too.
"Why don't you have any daughters, at least?" said he. "I don't say sons; that might be too much to expect." 
"I am sure, dear king, I am very sorry," said the queen.
"So you ought to be," retorted the king; "you are not going to make a virtue of that, surely."
But he was not an ill-tempered king, and in any matter of less moment would have let the queen have her own way with all his heart. This, however, was an affair of state. The queen smiled. 
"You must have patience with a lady, you know, dear king," said she.
She was, indeed, a very nice queen, and heartily sorry that she could not oblige the king immediately. (1-2)

While this isn't technically my first completed read for A Literary Odyssey's Victorian Celebration, it is my first completed read by a Victorian author. George MacDonald's The Light Princess is a true must read. For anyone of any age who loves a good story. It reads like a fairy tale. It has all the elements that we've come to associate with fairy tales: a king and queen that struggle to have a child, the birth of a beautiful baby, a christening that does NOT go as planned, a "curse" upon an innocent baby, etc. And that's just the beginning.

This is the second time I've read this short novel. And I think it's a book that begs to be reread again and again because once in a lifetime could never be enough.

The Light Princess is such a DELIGHTFUL book. It seems obvious in a way to call it delightful and charming and oh-so-magical. But it's true. There are no other words that could do it justice. It's the story of what happens when this childless king and queen have a baby girl of their own. It's the story of what happens when one of the princesses (who is also a witch) is NOT invited to the christening.

The king tried to have patience, but he succeeded very badly. It was more than he deserved, therefore, when, at last, the queen gave him a daughter--as lovely a little princess as ever cried.
The day drew near when the infant must be christened. The king wrote all the invitations with his own hand. Of course somebody was forgotten.
Now it does not generally matter if somebody is forgotten, only you must mind who. Unfortunately, the king forgot without intending to forget; and so the chance fell upon the Princess Makemnoit, which was awkward. For the princess was the king's own sister; and he ought not to have forgotten her. But she had made herself so disagreeable to the old king, their father, that he had forgotten her in making his will; and so it was no wonder that her brother forgot her in writing his invitations. But poor relations don't do anything to keep you in mind of them. Why don't they? The king could not see into the garret she lived in, could he?
She was a sour, spiteful creature. The wrinkles of contempt crossed the wrinkles of peevishness, and made her face as full of wrinkles as a pat of butter. If ever a king could be justified in forgetting anybody, this king was justified in forgetting his sister, even at a christening. She looked very odd, too. Her forehead was as large as all the rest of her face, and projected over it like a precipice. When she was angry, her little eyes flashed blue. When she hated anybody, they shone yellow and green. What they looked like when she loved anybody, I do not know; for I never heard of her loving anybody but herself, and I do not think she could have managed that if she had not somehow got used to herself. But what made it highly imprudent in the king to forget her was--that she was awfully clever. In fact, she was a witch; and when she bewitched anybody, he very soon had enough of it; for she beat all the wicked fairies in wickedness, and all the clever ones in cleverness. (3-5)

Of course, the uninvited guest comes, and of course they bring an unwelcome gift. In this case, the princess-witch deprived the baby of gravity. So from the day of the christening on, she floated. The king and queen tried to find some positive aspects to it, but, really what could they do when their apologies failed? Just go on loving their daughter as she was with all their hearts.

But their daughter was different in another way too. She had no gravity in matters of the heart and mind too. She could not take anything seriously. Her reaction to life--to all of life--was laughter. Which is just as serious a curse as the other, in my opinion. For there was an emptiness in all her emotions, her actions.

The Light Princess is the story of what happens when she meets a prince. Will the young woman incapable of falling, be capable of falling in love?

I loved the young man who comes to the kingdom and befriends the princess. I love his conversations with the princess. And I do love seeing the big transformation at the end. It's quite magical.

I just LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this book!

Read The Light Princess

• If you love fairy tales, 
• If you love children's fantasy
• If you love good storytelling
• If you love 'light' romance
• If you love happy endings

© 2012 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Mrs. Noodlekugel

Mrs. Noodlekugel. Daniel Pinkwater. Illustrated by Adam Stower. 2012. Candlewick. 80 pages.

A tall building, with one apartment stacked on top of another--that is where Nick and Maxine came to live with their parents.

The cover is the best part about this book. That and the interior illustrations. This book *looks* like it would be comparable to Mary Poppins and/or Mrs. Pigglewiggle. The book *looks* like it would be a funny story for an age-group that doesn't get much attention. But. The writing just did NOT work for me at all. The writing--especially the dialogue--was so terribly unnatural and awkward. Trying much too hard to be Dick and Jane, maybe? I don't know.

A tall building, with one apartment stacked...moreThe cover is the best part about this book. That and the interior illustrations. This book *looks* like it would be comparable to Mary Poppins and/or Mrs. Pigglewiggle. The book *looks* like it would be a funny story for an age-group that doesn't get much attention. But. The writing just did NOT work for me at all. The writing--especially the dialogue--was so terribly unnatural and awkward. Trying much too hard to be Dick and Jane, maybe? I don't know. The writing just felt foreign, awkward, robotic. The book may promise, "signature wit and whimsy" but it doesn't quite deliver. (I can see the whimsy, I can. It just isn't enough to save this one, in my opinion.) 


Try it for yourself. Read the first few paragraphs:

A tall building, with one apartment stacked on top of another--that is where Nick and Maxine came to live with their parents. They had not lived there very long when Maxine said to Nick, "Come to my room. I have discovered something." "What?" Nick asked. "What have you discovered?" "You can see it out the window," Maxine said. "But you have to stand with your head in that corner." "But there is a chest of drawers in that corner," Nick said. "I know there is," Maxine said. "You have to stand on top of the chest of drawers and lean your head into the corner and look out the window and down. Then you will see it." "Is that how you saw it?" What were you doing standing on top of the chest of drawers?" "Just do it. Tell me what you see." Nick climbed onto the chest of drawers. He leaned his head into the corner. He looked out the window and down. "I see grass. I see trees and flowers. There is a little old-fashioned house." "It is nice," Maxine said. "The house is cute. Did you know there was a backyard to this building with a cute little house in it?" "I did not," Nick said. "We should go down there." "Yes," Maxine said. (1-4)

Read Mrs. Noodlekugel

• If you can look past the unnaturalness of the writing, especially the dialogue between this brother and sister
• If you are looking for a fantasy (talking animals--cat and mice) to share with young children

© 2012 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Flies Again (MG)

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Flies Again. Frank Cottrell Boyce. 2012. Candlewick Press. 192 pages.

Most cars are just cars. Four wheels. An engine. Some seats. They take you to work. Or to school. They bring you home again. But some cars--just a few--are more than cars.
Some cars are different.
Some cars are amazing.
And the Tooting family's car was absolutely definitely not one of those.
Not amazing.
Not different.
It was so undifferent and so unamazing, in fact, that on the last day of the summer term when Lucy and Jem strolled out of the school gates and into the holidays, they walked straight past it. They didn't even notice it was there until their father popped his head out of the window and shouted, Lucy! Jem! Jump in! I'm giving you a lift!"

 Did I love Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Flies Again? Not really. Not love. It's not that kind of book, at least not for me. Did I like it? Yes! Not that I'd go so far as to say I really, really, really liked it. But. It was definitely a fun, silly, predictably over-the-top adventure story--the sort that's perfect for family read alouds. The family is just wonderfully silly. There's a clever Dad who loves to invent or tamper with things. A cleverer Mom who thinks its a great idea if Dad tampers with a camper van instead of the house. And three children: Jem, Lucy, and Little Harry. Each has their role to play in the novel, as you might expect, but don't expect brilliant, amazing characterization. These characters feel like humorous character sketches created for our amusement. Jem was fun because as he worked with his Dad, his confidence grew and grew. And soon we have our own hero in the making. Lucy was also fun. You might think you know what Lucy does in her black bedroom, but, trust me, you don't know the half of it. Little Harry, well, no one takes him as seriously as they should. And he does provide the twist at the end!

If you enjoy adventure-fantasies that are completely over-the-top, then Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Flies Again is just the novel for you. I do think it would make a good read aloud. I do think it's a fun, playful, enjoyable read.

Read Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Flies Again

• If you enjoy fantasy-adventure novels 
• If you love humorous adventure stories that aren't quite believable but are oh-so-fun in the moment
• If you love family books
• If you are looking for books with biracial characters

© 2012 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Young Fredle (MG)

Young Fredle. Cynthia Voigt. Illustrated by Louise Yates. 2011. Random House. 240 pages.

"I'm not finished foraging," Fredle protested. There was something on the floor behind the table leg. It didn't smell like food, but you could never be sure. Besides, if it wasn't food, Fredle wondered, what was it? 

 Is the book itself as wonderful as the cover? Yes! Young Fredle does NOT disappoint. It was everything I wanted it to be...and more. It was such a delightful book, a fun book. How could anyone not love Fredle, our young narrator? His viewpoint is so wonderful, so charming. Not that this is a cute book without risk or adventure. There is in almost every chapter some reminder that you could become went at any moment. (Went being his word for understanding death and disappearances). He does live in a here today, maybe not there there tomorrow world. Actually, he starts his life as a kitchen mouse. But because of his curiosity, because of his gluttony, he loses his place. (If a mouse shows any weakness, any sickness, any loss of ability in foraging for themselves, then they're pushed out--literally.) So can a kitchen mouse survive outside the house?!

I loved this one. I just LOVED it. Fredle is a great narrator. I loved his viewpoint of the world. I loved seeing the world through his eyes. I did. Everything from his description of peppermint patties to the moon. I would definitely recommend this one!!!

Read Young Fredle

• If you're a fan of animal fantasies
• If you're a fan of fantasy for children
• If you're a fan of mouse stories

© 2012 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

A Cat of a Different Color (MG)

A Cat of a Different Color. Steven Bauer. Illustrated by Tim Raglin. 2000. Random House. 200 pages.

In a village near a silver lake, at the bottom of a range of jagged mountains, three kittens were born in the same litter. Two of them were common enough. They had wide, astonished, watery blue eyes, and gray coats stippled with black, and paws as white as if they'd been dipped in heavy cream, and when the kittens were ten weeks old, those villagers who wanted a pet came round to the house where the kittens had been born and these two were quickly chosen.
Their names were Flumadiddle and Gigamaree, and until they grew to be a year old, they looked so very much alike that sometimes Mr. Mayapple, the man who chose poor Gigamaree, would call, "There you are, you worthless welp!" when he saw Flumadiddle. And sometimes Miss Gagney, who fussed and fiddled over Flumadiddle's feelings, for it was her brother Gigamaree who stalked the streets, while Flumadiddle was a close-to-the-fireside cat, and she knew it was Gigamaree whom Miss Gagney had seen. 
But from the start no one mistook the third cat for anyone but himself. He had fur that seemed to shift in hue in the slightest breeze--fur the color of burning leaves, then fur the color of smoke. His eyes were the palest amber, and the hair on his belly was as whorled as the shapes the villagers' breath made on winter mornings. When he was still a tiny kitten, he'd fallen from a footstool into a large bucket of water, and rather than panicking, he'd seemed quite content to be soaked clear through--which was very odd, for most cats hate even the thought of getting wet. The villagers called him the-cat-who-loves-water, or, in the dialect of that part of the country, Ulwazzer, and because he was so strange, so unlike any cat that anyone had ever seen before, no one would take him home. He was preternaturally calm, they said, and probably possessed, and who wanted a cat who might raise the hair on your neck by yowling in the dark, who might turn on you when least expected, or leap on your face in the night?

I loved this one. I just LOVED, LOVED, LOVED it. It may not be an 'important' book, an 'issue' book, but oh the joy this one brought me!!! It was so charming, so delightful, so funny. It was just the right amount of description too.

A Cat of a Different Color is set in the village of Felicity-by-the-Lake. It is the story of what happens when the town foolishly elects the wrong leader for the job of town mayor. Instead of the most qualified man getting the job, they elect the one who flatters them the most and gives away the tastiest treats. The new mayor is Jeremiah Hoytie. And he's got a wife, Prucilla, and a son, Sam. The couple also has a young distant relation staying with them, Daria Smart. It doesn't take him long for him to start making proclamations and decrees, changing all the rules and lying about it. Some of these proclamations are just over-the-top silly. I don't think I'll ever, ever forget this one:

Proclamation the Fourth: From this day forward, anything which does not belong to you belongs to Prucilla and Jeremiah Hoytie. (116)

The people are not happy about the changes, the new rules, but they're scared to protest, perhaps with good reason. (Who wants to be carried upside down through the town and made to pay a fine?) Fortunately for the town, Ulwazzer, the cat, returns from his roaming...and with a little (human) help is able to save the day...

Read A Cat of a Different Color

• If you love cats
• If you love animal fantasies
• If you love fantasy novels for children
• If you like funny books (and cats)

© 2012 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Over Sea, Under Stone (MG)

Over Sea, Under Stone (Dark Is Rising, #1) Susan Cooper. 1965. 208 pages.

"Where is he?" Barney hopped from one foot to the other as he clambered down from the train, peering in vain through the white-faced crowds flooding eagerly to the St. Austell ticket barrier. "Oh, I can't see him. Is he there?"

 I liked this one, I definitely liked it. But it wasn't quite love for me. Not love, love, love at any rate. Over Sea, Under Stone reminded me in so many ways of fantasy novels that I've read and enjoyed in the past. And it definitely had its charming moments, its cute moments. But sometimes a book needs just a little bit more than that. Still. I liked it. I liked the setting. I liked the characters. Perhaps the three Drew children (Simon, Jane, and Barney) weren't the most amazingly well-developed characters I've ever met. But Great-Uncle Merry (Gumerry) made me more than a little curious. And I definitely want to read more in this series.

Read Over Sea, Under Stone

• If you're looking for a classic fantasy novel
• If you're looking for children's fantasy
• If you're looking for a children's fantasy set in Britain
• If you like books with more than a little charm

© 2012 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Eyeball Collector (MG/YA)

The Eyeball Collector. F.E. Higgins. 2009. Feiwel and Friends. 250 pages.

"Tartri flammis!" cursed Hector as his stomach tightened in a knot and his chest jerked violently with every beat of his heart. He rotated slowly on the spot, panting from the chase. His nose tingled with the stench that filled the air. Already his ears were pricking to the menacing sounds around him: screeches and wails, scraping and dragging, and the ominous unrelenting moaning. So this is fear, he thought. In a strange way it excited him.

See what reading one great book can do?! It can lead you to reading other great books! Yesterday, I was oh-so-happy to have read F.E. Higgin's The Bone Magician. And I was oh-so-happy that I'd thought ahead to check out all of her books at the same time. Because I just couldn't wait to get to The Eyeball Collector! And it did NOT disappoint. It was absolutely wonderful!

Six or seven years have passed since the events of The Black Book of Secrets and The Bone Magician. The Eyeball Collector is set in the same town as The Bone Magician, the dreadfully unpleasant city of Urbs Umida. (One thing you might notice if you read both books is that it seems Beag Hickory has made it as a poet at last. This novel is not only dedicated to Beag, it opens with one of Beag's poems, and in passing a reference is made in a bookshop to a book of Beag's poetry!) The Eyeball Collector can definitely be read on its own as a standalone--it's nice to know just in case you've got access to one but not all. But I do think that after getting a taste of Higgins' writing, you'll want to read them all.

The hero of The Eyeball Collector is a young boy, Hector Fitzbaudly. He's from the good side of town. (All the somebodies live on the North side of town.) Which makes him being on the wrong side of town--the South side, the too-close-to-the-stinky-river-side--a big mistake on his part. But he wanted adventure, excitement, he wanted to see how the other side lived. He didn't quite expect to be so completely robbed. But if that was the worst that happened to young Hector, he'd consider himself fortunate. For it isn't too long after that he witnesses someone--a one-eyed someone--trying to blackmail his father. His father gives in to the blackmailer's demands, but the blackmailer sells his story to the papers anyway. So all was for nothing. Long story short, Hector's father isn't long for this world. And soon he's an orphan, an orphan determined to find the man responsible for his father's downfall and death. He's determined to find this one-eyed man and kill him.

Of course, that's just one aspect of the story...

I loved so much about The Eyeball Collector. I loved the atmosphere and setting, the tone of this one. There is something delightfully-and-charmingly creepy about this one. The villains and even the heroes are a bit eccentric, you might say. And the storytelling, well, it kept me reading.

Read The Eyeball Collector

• If you are a fan of F.E. Higgins
• If you are a fan of middle grade or young adult fantasy
• If you aren't quite a Dickens fan but you've always thought you should be
• If you like atmospheric shady-gothic reads full of eccentric characters
• If you're a cat lover who can forgive a book for killing off two cats

© 2012 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

The Bone Magician (YA)

The Bone Magician. F.E. Higgins. 2008. Feiwel and Friends. 274 pages.

How I have come to hate this place of evil, this city of nightmares. Urbs Umida they call it, Dank City, and well it deserves its name. It has taken everything that was precious to me. But I shall leave one day, soon, when I know the truth. I shall pass through those gates and it would please me greatly to not look back. Imagine, never again to inhale the stink of rot and decay, never again to see despairing eyes in the shadows, and never again to hear the name Deodonatus Snoad or to read the lies from his poisonous quill. 

Don't judge a book by its cover. Just don't.  Especially don't judge this book by its cover. (I prefer the original cover, though even that doesn't seem like a good enough cover for the contents.)

In 2009, I reviewed F.E. Higgins novel, The Black Book of Secrets. And it was love. It really was. I fell in love with the atmosphere and tone created by Higgins. I just loved his writing. Sure it was a little over-the-top, but it worked really, really well. The way he created such quirky characters, how each quirky character had a name that suited them just so.

I was not disappointed with The Bone Magician. In fact reading the Bone Magician made me want to go out and reread The Black Book of Secrets. Not to mention picking up The Eyeball Collector and The Lunatics Curse.

So in this non-sequel, readers meet quite a cast of characters. The hero is a young might-as-well-be-an-orphan named Pin Carpue. (Pin's mother is dead; his father is just on the run, supposedly because he's murdered Pin's uncle, but Pin isn't really sure that is true and Pin's father could have just disappeared the day his uncle died by pure coincidence). And the heroine is a young girl with plenty of secrets named Juno Catchpole. I could tell you that readers first meet Pin after he's been drugged seemingly unconscious by Juno and her associates. I could tell you that Pin witnesses something incredible and unbelievable: he witnesses Juno 'raising' the dead corpse in the coffin on display at the undertakers. Or I could tell you about Benedict Pantagus, Madame de Bona, Deodonatus Snoad, Aluph Buncombe, or Beag Hickory. But I won't. I think the magic of this fantasy is in letting it surprise you.

I loved this one. I just loved it. I like the writing, the storytelling, the characterization. It is just charming and funny. True, the humor could be seen as being on the dark side. And perhaps dark dramas aren't usually considered to be all that charming. But in this case, it all works. It is not as dark and as creepy as the cover would have you believe. It is not a creepy-scary book. Even if it does feature the Silver Apple killer.

An example of the writing:

Whether or not Hickory Reds were the preferred choice of a potato thrower, it was certainly true that when it came to projecting medium-sized weighty objects through the air, there was no one to match Beag. It wasn't just the distance, you understand, it was also the accuracy with which he threw them.
Beag was a man with many talents and he had left his home village at a young age to see the world, to learn, and to seek his fortune. He was not going to let his lack of stature be an obstacle and by the ripe old age of twenty-four he had achieved two out of three of his fine objectives. He had certainly traveled extensively and had written songs and poems to prove it. Aluph was not wrong in saying he was an intellectual giant. Beag had acquired knowledge that few Urbs Umidians would believe, let alone remember, and he had forgotten more than most could even know. But on the third, the matter of his fortune, Beag had been well and truly thwarted. Of all the facts he had learned, the hardest had to be that there was no money to be made from poetry and singing. But perhaps there was a living to be earned from potato throwing. Certainly it was a talent that appealed to the stunted imaginations of the Urbs Umidians. (91-92)

Read The Bone Magician

• If setting, tone, and atmosphere are important to you; this one has it in abundance!
• If you enjoy quirky, charming, slightly-dark, but mostly-all-in-good-fun fantasy novels
• If you want to like Dickens but don't quite; OR if you love Dickens for his eccentric, shady characters
• If you're looking for a good YA fantasy

© 2012 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Bless This Mouse (MG)

Bless This Mouse. Lois Lowry. Illustrated by Eric Rohmann. 2011. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 160 pages.

Hildegarde sighed, a loud, squeaking, outraged sort of sigh, when she was informed that a new litter of mouselets had been born in the sexton's closet. Such bad timing! Such bad placement!

Bless This Mouse is such a charming book; it's completely delightful. The illustrations by Eric Rohmann just delighted me from the start. They are cute, but, they're also old-fashioned. They match the text oh-so-well.

Hildegarde is the Mouse Mistress of Saint Bartholemew's. It is her responsibility--her duty--to make sure that all the church mice are able to live together peaceably with the humans. She encourages the mice to be respectful. Not one of her mice would dare chew or nibble on a Bible. Why some of her mice even know the words to the hymns. No, her main duty is to make sure that the humans don't realize the truth--that the church is home to several hundred mice. She fears the Great X above all else.

But when some of the mice get foolish, it may just be up to Hildegarde and some of her finest, bravest, smartest friends to save the mice from the terrifying Great X.

I liked this one. I really, really liked it. It was just one of those oh-so-satisfying reads.

If you like animal fantasy, then Bless This Mouse is a must read!

Read Bless This Mouse

• If you're a fan of Lois Lowry
• If you're a fan of animal fantasy
• If you're a fan of children's books
• If you're looking for a family-friendly, faith-friendly read aloud

© 2012 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Rasco and the Rats of NIMH (MG)

Rasco and the Rats of NIMH. Jane Leslie Conly. 1986. HarperCollins. 280 pages.

Mrs. Frisby, a brown field mouse, hummed softly to herself as she folded her son Timothy's clothing: a sweater, a jacket, a red scarf. 

I really LOVED Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH. Which is why I was so excited to discover there was a sequel written by the author's daughter. I'm not sure I loved Rasco and the Rats of NIMH more than the original novel--it's been too many years since I first read it. But I definitely loved it. I just LOVE the world she has created. I loved the community--society--they've built in Thorn Valley.


This book just made me happy. It was purely satisfying. Granted, not everything that happens in this one is happy. There is a problem to be solved, a crisis to be averted. It will take a community working together--thinking together--to save Thorn Valley from a very human threat: progress. But. It was just a great little novel to spend an afternoon with.

Read Rasco and the Rats of NIMH

• If you love animal fantasies
• If you love stories starring mice and/or rats
• If you love Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH
• If you want to revisit the 80s--through a rat's perspective!
• If you love adventure stories

© 2012 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Dominic (MG)

Dominic. William Steig. 1972. FSG. 150 pages.

Dominic was a lively one, always up to something. One day, more restless than usual, he decided there wasn't enough going on in his own neighborhood to satisfy his need for adventure. He just had to get away. 
He owned an assortment of hats which he liked to wear, not for warmth or for shade or to shield him from rain, but for their various effects--rakish, dashing, solemn, or martial. He packed them, together with his precious piccolo and a few other things, in a large bandanna which he tied to the end of a stick so it could be carried easily over a shoulder.

Read this book. Trust me. It's worth it. It is such a delightful book. It's got adventure and charm. And it's full of quirky characters. And the writing, well, it's just SO enjoyable! So unique!

Dominic wanted more from life, so this dog sets out to have quite an adventure. He knows he made the right decision when he encounters an alligator-witch soon after leaving home. He does NOT want to have his fortune told to him, however. But he does choose to listen to her advice on taking the road to the left...

Who will he meet on the way? Who doesn't he meet?! This is quite a fun little story. A very quick read that just worked really well for me!

Read Dominic

• If you love delightful children's books; quirky books with plenty of heart
• If you love adventure stories
• If you love animal-fantasies
• If you love satisfying, feel-good stories
• If you usually hate dog stories because you're worried that the dog will die
• If you love books with happy endings

© 2012 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Tuesdays at The Castle (MG)

Tuesdays at the Castle. Jessica Day George. 2011. Bloomsbury. 254 pages.

Whenever Castle Glower became bored, it would grow a new room or two. It usually happened on Tuesdays, when King Glower was hearing petitions, so it was the duty of the guards at the front gates to tell petitioners the only two rules the Castle seemed to follow. Rule One: the Throne Room was always to the east. No matter where you were in the castle, if you kept heading east you would find the Throne Room eventually. The only trick to this was figuring out which way east was, especially if you found yourself in a windowless corridor. Or the dungeon. This was the reason that most guests stuck with Rule Two: if you turned left three times and climbed through the next window, you'd end up in the kitchens, and one of the staff could lead you to the Throne Room, or wherever you needed to go. Celie only used Rule Two when she wanted to steal a treat from the kitchens, and Rule One when she wanted to watch her father at work. Her father was King Glower the Seventy-Ninth, and like him, Celie always knew which way was east.

I liked Tuesdays at the Castle. I really liked it. It definitely reads like a fairy-tale inspired fantasy novel. Celie, our heroine, is the fourth child of the King and Queen. And she is the one the Castle loves best of all, perhaps. Though the Castle has also chosen preference to the second son, Rolf. The Castle has indicated that Rolf will be the next King.

The novel opens with the children awaiting the return of their parents and oldest brother. Instead of a happy reunion, however, they receive some shocking news. There was an ambush. Their parents are dead. Their brother is dead. Many of the escorts are dead. True their bodies were not found. But it's just a matter of finding them now.

Celie is one of the people who refuses to believe the news and continues to hope. She feels that if her parents were truly dead the Castle itself would know it--and show it. Her parents rooms would have changed, and her brother's room would have changed too.

The Castle DOES want to show her something, but acting on what she's learned will be risky...

Read Tuesdays In The Castle

• If you're a fan of Jessica Day George's previous novels (Dragon Slippers, Dragon Flight, Dragon Spear, Princess of the Midnight Ball, Princess of Glass, Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow).
• If you're a fan of Shannon Hale, Gail Carson Levine, or Diana Wynne Jones
• If you're a fan of fantasy novels for children

© 2012 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

The Friendship Doll (MG)

The Friendship Doll. Kirby Larson. 2011. Random House. 208 pages.

The old doll-maker Tatsuhiko poured boiling water into the teapot with trembling hands and inhaled deeply. It was the last of his tea. He portioned out his breakfast rice and took a seat on a tatami mat. One of the blessings of growing old was that it did not take much to make his stomach content. And this morning his heart was so full that food seemed trivial.

One Japanese doll, Miss Kanagawa, sent in friendship in 1927, finds herself 'awakened' to the joys and sorrows of humanity in Kirby Larson's The Friendship Doll. Miss Kanagawa will be seen by many, many people in her travels. Especially at the beginning. When she's on display, when she's on tour, with the other friendship dolls. But can a doll touch others--touch human lives--if she herself can't be touched or played with?

The Friendship Doll is historical fiction with a touch of fantasy. (Readers will have to believe that a doll is capable of thinking and loving, etc.) The book is a series of stories, the main connection between the stories being the doll. Each story is set in its own time period. The first is set in 1927; the second in 1933; the third in 1937; the fourth covers a handful of years--1939 to 1941. (There is an epilogue that brings it closer to the present.)

For much of the novel Miss Kanagawa acts as a conscience for a handful of heroines. She does this without saying a word, of course. But Miss Kanagawa is more than just a scolding sort of doll. She becomes more 'alive' with each experience. She has always been observant, but she becomes wiser and more compassionate with each adventure. (More human, less doll-like).

Did I like this one? Yes!!! I definitely liked this one! It was interesting to see the different characters. I think I liked the 1933 and 1937 stories best of all. But I enjoyed all of them.

Read The Friendship Doll

• If you like stories about dolls. Like Hitty, Her First Hundred Years. Like Miss Hickory. Like The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane. Like The Velveteen Rabbit.
• If you like historical fiction set in the 1920s, 1930s, 1940s.

© 2012 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

The Cheshire Cheese Cat: A Dickens of A Tale (MG)

The Cheshire Cheese Cat: A Dickens of a Tale. Carmen Agra Deedy and Randall Wright. Illustrated by Barry Moser. 2011. Peachtree Publishers. 228 pages. 

He was the best of Toms. He was the worst of toms. Fleet of foot, sleek and solitary, Skilley was a cat among cats. Or so he would have been, but for a secret he had carried since his early youth. A secret that caused him to live in hidden shame, avoiding even casual friendship lest anyone discover--

I loved this one. I just LOVED, LOVED, LOVED it. I loved Skilley the cat. I did. I loved his secret. I loved the mice in the book. I especially loved Pip. I loved the adventure in this book. How Skilley and the mice worked together to save Maldwyn. And I loved the occasional appearances of humans in their lives--particularly that of Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins!

The Cheshire Cheese Cat: A Dickens of a Tale is a fun, charming children's book. It's such an enjoyable read. I definitely recommend it!!!

Read The Cheshire Cheese Cat: A Dickens of a Tale

• If you like OR love cats
• If you like stories starring mice
• If you like animal fantasies
• If you like funny, charming, cute children's books
• If you like Charles Dickens

© 2012 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

The Secret History of Tom Trueheart (MG)

The Secret History of Tom Trueheart. Ian Beck. 2006. HarperCollins. 345 pages.

Once upon a time, long ago, near the Land of Stories, lived young Tom Trueheart. He was the youngest of the famous Trueheart family of adventurers. 

I liked this one. I even really liked this one! I'm just not sure it's love for me.

Tom is the youngest in a long line of adventurers. All of his older brothers have already had plenty of adventures in the Land of Stories. All of his older brothers regularly are sent on missions by the Story Bureau. But for Tom, well, he's always the one left behind. True he isn't quite old enough, he hasn't had 'the birthday' yet. (I believe it's 12?) But his birthday is fast approaching. All of his brothers have promised--their mother--to be back in time for Tom's birthday. That will give them several weeks at least to finish the stories and report everything so that it can be written down and enjoyed by one and all. But Tom's birthday comes and goes, and there is still no word on his brothers. What could have kept them in their stories so long? Should they be worried?!

In this first adventure, Tom Trueheart receives his FIRST assignment. Enter the Land of Stories and find out what happened to his older brothers--I believe there are six brothers. It's not an easy mission, for something must be seriously wrong to keep all six brothers away from home so long. Does the Trueheart family have an enemy?!

As I said, I really really liked this one. I thought it was fun. Perhaps not quite as fun and clever as A Tale Dark and Grimm by Adam Gidwitz. Perhaps not quite as funny as the first few books in  The Sisters Grimm series by Michael Buckley. But I think the book is a fun treat all the same.

© 2011 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews