Princess Academy: Palace of Stone

Princess Academy: Palace of Stone by Shannon Hale

Back in 2006, readers were introduced to Princess Academy by Shannon Hale when it gained attention for acquiring a Newbery Honor Award. It was loved considerably more than the Newbery Award Winner that year, Criss Cross by Lynne Rae Perkins which I could no longer summarize for you without taking a gander at the book jacket. But Princess Academy? All of the girls and their mothers and grandmothers were enchanted. Even the cover art from the original publishing was endearing. It was no surprise that it ended up on the Rebecca Caudill list of nominees two years later. Before you pick up the sequel, Palace of Stone, you simply must start with the best.

In the first novel, we meet Miri, a common mountain girl born in the poor community of Mount Eskel. While her mind is sharp, her body is small and she must stay at home and tend the goats while the rest of the family heads to the quarry to mine the local stone known as linder. When traders arrive to exchange supplies for linder, they have a guest among them. It is a royal magistrate, speaking on behalf of the royal family, and he has an announcement to make. On the prince’s last birthday, the priests divined that his bride-to-be would be found on the steps of Mount Eskel. 

The next day, the girls of eligible age from each home are rounded up and marched off to a makeshift Princess Academy. Miri is among them. All of the Eskelite girls are required to learn the history of their kingdom, Danland, as well as the etiquette of a noble’s life in court. More importantly, they also learn to read. Miri’s sharp mind absorbs the information readily and quickly. Not only is she able to save the students of the Princess Academy when disaster strikes, but she is also able to improve the economy of Eskel. She discovers that the traders have been cheating the Eskelites for centuries. Linder is precious in the lowlands and fetches a pretty price. 

Princess Academy was perfect as a stand-alone. It was delightful and nothing additional was required. But it did leave you hungry for more novels written by Shannon Hale. Thankfully, there have been plenty! And if you have a penchant for princess tales, look no further! Ms. Hale is your author. And yet seven years later, the story of Miri continues. While it is not quite as brilliant as the first, I still loved it. And while it could also stand on its own… why skip one of the best children’s/YA books published recently? 

Not long after the princess elect was chosen and spirited off to Asland, the royal seat of the kingdom, the graduates of the Princess Academy are called upon to be ladies-in-waiting and assist the bride-to-be for her upcoming nuptials. They are brought down from their mountain and introduced to the life of lowland nobles. The girls are given a dorm room in the castle and are expected to help in creating a trousseau for the princess-to-be.

The girls are overwhelmed by the glory that is the castle. It is made entirely out of linder from Mount Eskel. Walking upon and under and through and around the castle is like being at home. They are also overwhelmed by the tasks at hand. Very shortly, the girls are given respite from sowing and embroidery to look after their own skills and amusements. One girl goes to work in a forge. One girl begins to play with the musicians. One girl seeks a noble husband and another discovers medicine within the books of the Queen’s library! 

Then there is Miri who is fortunate to be able to attend the Queen’s Castle, a University, because of the bridal dowry. She is introduced to mathematics, science, engineering, law, music, art, astronomy, history, logic, rhetoric, theology, and ethics. But she is also made aware of the inequality between the nobles and the common people – the privileged and the shoeless. Miri’s reputation has preceded her. She is already a hero and a legend among the common man for standing up to the traders for a fair market value in trade for the linder stone. And the would-be revolutionaries are looking for someone to lead them.  

As much as Miri agrees that things must change before the King seeks an impossible tribute of the still humble people of Mount Eskel, she doesn’t want to do anything to jeopardize the already tenuous position of the bride-elect… 

I agree with my sister. I do not care for the new covers. They are dull and will quickly date themselves. However, there is so much more than a fairy tale within the cover of this sequel. Learn a bit about ethics, economy, rebels and revolutionaries! Highly recommended SERIES to girls 6^th grade and above!

The Third Wheel

The Third Wheel by Jeff Kinney

I want to be one of those people who recognize that it is best to end a good thing before it goes bad. I will agree that this is difficult. Case in point – I thoroughly enjoyed Diary of a Wimpy Kid (DWK) book 5, The Ugly Truth, and book 6, Cabin Fever. My reviews are proof to me when I wouldn’t have believed otherwise. I was gushing about this series.

Book 7, The Third Wheel, isn’t gush-worthy. In fact, it is unmemorable. I didn’t find it funny. I didn’t laugh out loud. As a parent, I would advise other parents not to waste $8 on a book that will be read in under an hour that doesn’t live up to its predecessors – borrow it from the library. (Actually, I would always advise borrowing over buying.) We have plenty. I have also read that the digital version has not been usable with all Kindle products, but that is really the only bad review of this sequel that I have read.

The kids still love it. The kids still want more. Overwhelmingly.

The first half of the book is squandered on what Greg Heffley experienced in the womb and as a baby. This effort doesn’t ring true with the rest of the series. In past books, both adults and children can identify with Greg primarily because we have had the same experiences in school, with parents or as parents. We don’t remember listening to Mozart in the womb or its effects on our I.Q. in later life. We don’t remember hearing our father talk about his (tedious) day through a microphone attached to the headphones strapped to our mother’s belly. And we certainly don’t remember being disappointed to find out we weren’t the first born.

The rest of the book is devoted to the junior high Valentine’s Dance. The kids have to raise money for it, get elected to committees for it, and ask around for a date to it. There are plenty of side stories woven in, but they don’t add to the overall story. In the end, Greg is no longer a wimpy kid, but a jerk. He has no redeeming qualities. He is selfish and clueless. There is no longer much to like about him.

In past books, Greg’s mother, father and older brother provide quite a bit of the comedy. In fact, Greg’s big brother helps to make Greg pull off the title of wimp. These three characters are practically non-existent. Younger brother Manny only serves to show that the parents treated the two boys differently in an effort to guarantee future success. Parents will understand. You do everything “right” with the first child. You are much more lenient with the second.

I don’t see an end in sight for this series. Let us hope the St. Patrick’s Day festivities are more successful.

The Corn Grows Ripe

The Corn Grows Ripe by Dorothy Rhoades

I wish I would have had the time and foresight to review this book on December 20^th. This Newbery Honor book from 1957 is about a Mayan boy living on the Yucatan Peninsula. In 83 pages, this novel dispenses knowledge of agriculture, weather forecasting, Mayan folklore, religion and superstitions. It provides a foreword with a brief yet concise history of how the discovery of corn enabled the rise of the Mayan Civilization. And there is a glossary of Spanish, Mayan and Mexican words that are used throughout.

This slight book is all of that and more. It is a story of the coming of age of a twelve-year-old boy nicknamed Tigre – Tiger obviously, but jaguar locally. His mother believes the nickname is well-suited because the boy is spirited, mischievous and curious, not to mention he has skin the honey color of the great cat. Great-Grandmother agrees, but for a very different reason. She believes her great-grandson to be as lazy as the cat as well. She endlessly taunts the boy for not working for his keep… for living a “privileged” life of leisure – sleeping in.

Tigre means well. He has a good heart, but his internal clock doesn’t keep time with the harvest. In truth, he is better suited to school. He enjoys learning and he has a tendency to question everything. For instance, the common people believe that it is their gods who prevent the burning of the bush from spreading to the village. Tigre realizes quickly that the fresh wood of the trees surrounding the bush will not catch fire because of their sap, hence protecting the people.

The Mayans in Central America have two seasons. There is the dry season when the farmers choose their plots of land. They choose large enough to support their family, but no more. They cut the trees and bush and vines down – by hand. The felled vegetation spends the season drying out for the burn. After the plot is burned, the farmers wait for the beginning of the rainy season. Once the rains fall, the farmers plant. Right before the dry season returns, they harvest. It is the beginning of the dry season when Tigre finally eschews school to join his father in preparing their plot.

Not soon after they begin, Tigre’s father is injured and can no longer work the land and prepare it for planting. Not only does Tigre step up and take over to support his family like a man, but he arranges to continue his school work after hours. It is astonishing what a boy can do when he is challenged and he accepts. I believe we have not challenged our own privileged children enough.

This is a book that should not be forgotten. There is so much to learn in so many areas in so few pages. A useful piece of historical fiction. I am duly impressed!

Bruiser

Bruiser by Neal Shusterman (audio book)

I have been looking at Bruiser for literally months. It is an Abraham Lincoln Nominee and I had planned on reading it forever ago, but my desire to read a Young Adult novel must have been low, while my need to keep up with the sequel machine was desperate. Oh if I had only ignored that desperation and reached for my requirement. Bruiser is a winner in my book despite future Abraham election results!

The novel introduces sixteen-year-old twins, Tennyson and Brontë. Yes, it is quite obvious that their parents are professors of literature at the local university. Their chapters are punctuated by the power words that their parents have force fed them since birth. Tennyson is the aggressive super athlete who describes every situation with sarcastic humor. He is a bully although he doesn’t recognize the negative character trait within himself.

Tennyson and Brontë are both smart and athletic, but that is where the similarities end. Brontë is sufficiently popular to be both comfortable and confident enough to feel that she can make a difference and change her world for the better. She has a habit of collecting strays. She has had success in the past with animals and she is ready to move on to boys…

Enter the central character, Brewster Rawlins, aka the Bruiser. The teen voted most likely to get the death penalty. He is a hulking brute and loner. He lives on the wrong side of the tracks with a questionable family situation. Everyone stays well out of his way until Brontë discovers he has a passion for angry poetry, (she volunteers in the high school library.) The more she learns about him, he has a photographic memory for instance, the more thinks she can remake his image. The first step is making him her boyfriend.

Brewster, Brew, lives in a ramshackle shack with his Uncle Hoyt and his little brother Cody. Neither of the boys ever knew their (different) father which was probably for the better. Their mother died young of ovarian cancer and their Uncle took them in not knowing what he was getting. But no one can spend any amount of time around Brew without noticing that life is different, better, calmer, healthier. Doesn’t mean it is perfect though.

One day after Tennyson decides to make a decisive stand against Brew dating his sister, he walks in on the massive teen in the locker room. Brew is just pulling on his shirt, but Tennyson catches a glimpse of his back which is covered in welts, bruises, scars. Tennyson cannot imagine what kind of violence would inflict such painful-looking marks, but begins to think that Uncle Hoyt is a child abuser.

I want to say right here that Uncle Hoyt isn’t. But he is. Just not in any possible way you can imagine. And I don’t want to spoil this intriguing captivating story. The best way I can describe it… this novel is a precursor, in my opinion, to Lois Lowry’s The Giver. Let us just say, before there was Jonas, there was Brewster.

A note: This book is intended for the Young Adult audience. It is almost entirely free of vulgar language. There are no sexual situations. Alcohol and drugs used by minors is absent. But there is one adult situation that is integral to the storyline, not including the child abuse. The twin’s parents are going through the first moves toward separation. Their father committed some unmentionables in the not so distant past and mother, “God rest her soul,” is suffering by no longer truly living. Until she gets herself a boyfriend.

Highly recommended to young adults and adults. This novel proves once again that one cannot experience happiness without also sharing in the pain. There must be balance.

The Boggart

The Boggart by Susan Cooper (audio book)

Before there was Harry Potter or Percy Jackson, there was Will Stanton. Those with a love for children’s literature will recognize him as the unlikely hero from Susan Cooper’s Dark is Rising sequence. The series includes Over Sea, Under Stone; The Dark Is Rising (Newbery Honor Winner;) Greenwitch; The Grey King (Newbery Award Winner;) and Silver on the Tree. This is children’s classic fantasy at its best. Think Chronicles of Narnia and The Hobbit. As an indication of how well we know this series and how often we recommend it, I will give you a word of advice. We often direct the child to start with the second book of the series where there is more action and magic. The first book takes a voracious or determined reader to stick with it. The series is an excellent choice for fantasy lovers, grades 4 through 8 and it is not as thick as a typical Rowling or Riordan tome.

From the same author, we have this 1995 Caudill Nominee, The Boggart. If Dark is Rising is epic, The Boggart is summer reading pleasure. But it also comes with two pieces of advice. Many children are fully aware of what to expect from a Harry Potter boggart. A Harry Potter boggart “is a shape-shifter that takes on the form of its intended victim's worst fear. It generally likes to hide in dark, enclosed places, such as in closets, under beds, or in hollow trees.” (Webster’s Online Dictionary) To combat this boggart one must cast a spell upon it while thinking of something riotously funny. In contrast, Cooper’s Scottish boggart is “a very ancient, mischievous thing, solitary and sly, born of a magic as old as the rocks and the waves.” The boggart delights in playing tricks upon those with which it keeps residence. The boggart loves those who enjoy and even welcome his escapades. Big difference.

Here is the second piece of advice. This book was published in 1993. Twenty years ago, technology was amazingly, vastly different. One of the book’s main characters, nine-year-old Jessup, is a young computer genius who has his very own computer club that is designing its very own computer game called Black Hole. As you can imagine, that significantly dates the book. Eight inch floppy drives are used and even I have never had one of those! Huge, heavy blocks of plastic and glass form the black and white monitors. But the book is delightful! I almost wish the author could update that portion of the novel. Technology plays a huge role.

That said… The boggart lives in Castle Keep on a small island in a small lake in Scotland. He shares his residence with the current MacDevon, an elderly man, and his beloved dog Fergus, equally elderly. The boggart loves the MacDevon and when he dies the boggart keeps the locals restless with his mourning and keening wails before he chooses to sleep a long sleep in his crack in the library walls. But his rest is interrupted.

The Castle is inherited by the MacDevon’s only surviving relative – one Robert Volnik of Toronto, Canada. Robert, his wife, and two children travel to Scotland to visit the estate and realize very quickly that no matter how much they have fallen in love with it, there is no way they can maintain it from the other side of the ocean. They make arrangements to sell it, but both children are allowed to pick one piece of furniture to bring home. Unfortunately, the boggart is hiding and subsequently locked within the roll top desk that Emily chooses to bring home.

The boggart begins to wreak his usual havoc of throwing chairs, levitating glasses, toying with pets and stealing lunches. Both Emily and Jessup are convicted as the perpetrators of said havoc, first by each other and later by their parents as the mischief escalates. The boggart is enchanted with the new technologies available to him in the Americas. He plays with the light board at the theater run by Robert. He plays with the stop lights at a busy intersection. And eventually he finds his way into Jessup’s computer.

By this time, Emily and Jessup have discovered that the other sibling isn’t playing pranks. One of their father’s actors happens to be Scotch. He hears the tales that the children are telling and realizes that they have a boggart on their hands. But by then, it is almost too late. Emily is in a horrible accident. The kids are practically grounded. A local psychologist believes that Emily is haunted by a poltergeist. And the local media is closing in – the part of this book that is completely in sync with current pop culture.

Loved it! AND there is a sequel titled The Boggart and the Monster. Loch Ness anyone? 

The Name of this Book is Secret

The Name of this Book is Secret by Pseudonymous Bosch

This book is like an AOL news headline. They just want your click. How often have you read a headline that seemed off the wall… intriguing… promising, and you follow the link only to find that it was old news… sensationalist… not the information you were expecting? Or you watch a movie trailer and it looks hilarious… action-packed… innovative, only to find that the best lines, best action sequences, best CGI effects were in the trailer? When you get to the end… if you even get that far… you feel like you have wasted your time, your money, your time AND money!

Yeah. The name of this book is a secret. The author’s name is a secret. There is a secret inside, but it is never revealed. The more you read, the more you are told that you are not allowed to know anything – for your own good. Better to have taken the author’s advice and NOT READ THE BOOK.

Yes, this book is as close to Lemony Snicket’s Series of Unfortunate Events as it gets. I read ALL thirteen books in that series and really, the first three were enough to get the point. I continued to read that series for the final reveal and was disappointed beyond all measure. I felt strung along for the prize when there wasn’t one. Unlike the lottery, everyone should have the chance to win, and in the end, no one does.

(If you are looking for something similar to Lemony Snicket, let me instead direct you to the How to Train Your Dragon series by Cressida Cowell. I thoroughly enjoyed the movie, and let me say, it is NOTHING like the book. They are separate and distinct, but the book series is delightful and goes on for nine volumes so far. I just ordered #9. The girls and I have enjoyed them all. You still have a tongue-in-cheek narrator, but he is comedic rather than annoying or morbid.)

I was excited to read The Name of This Book is Secret. The title did its job. It was even fun for a few chapters in the beginning and even here and there. By midway, I was falling asleep. I struggled to maintain interest. I found the main story to be farfetched in the extreme. It seemed disjointed as well. When evil villains start selling the juices from the brains of lobotomized children… I become, well, quite turned off. Not for me or mine.

And yet, there is the group of children who have never seen a book like this before. They were too young for Lemony Snicket. They think they have found something new and irreverent. They clamor for the annoying… irritating… grating voice of a mischievous author who makes you think you are getting something special, while misleading you with his sleight of voice.

This book is a 2013 Bluestem Nominee… How about NomiNOT!

The Basilisk's Lair

The Basilisk's Lair by R.L. LaFevers

I said we jumped right in to book two, but didn’t think it was going to take this long to finish it. At fewer than 150 pages, it was our own fault that it took us as long as it did. It is that time of the year when we are busy with holidays, parties and the end of quarter homework. We just haven’t had the time for a chapter a night. And the book suffered because of it.

I believe that this book would be best read in one sitting. As an adult, I could probably read it in under an hour easily. The chapters are relatively short and very little happens in each one individually. It really required constant attention. Skipping two days in between a reading caused our memories of plot to suffer.

Certain circumstances in the sequel required better memory of the original novel, The Flight of the Phoenix, and there was inferior summary to aid us. I found myself looking back in the novel and even wishing I had the first book to guarantee that I was remembering correctly. The girls benefited from my recap of the former chapter as much as I did.

Because the first book in the series was a Bluestem Nominee, I was lead to believe that the series was geared toward 3^rd through 5^th graders, but now I am of the opinion that series works better for a younger audience. I would recommend this book to a 3^rd grade reluctant reader, but probably not older unless the student was really struggling.

Truthfully, I’m bored with the series already, but the girls – both the second grader and the seventh grader – are enjoying the book regardless of my opinions. And yes, we have started book three. The majority of the chapters end in serious cliffhangers and the younger daughter will sit atop me and demand a second chapter. No honey, not at 9 o’clock at night. Promising. My theory for the older daughter’s enjoyment? It is like reading Harry Potter but not as intense. She gets the magical creatures that she loves without threat of danger hovering at every turn. And she can still sleep at night.

For this book to work for older children as more than a read-aloud at night, it simply needs more. I would almost suggest combining the first one to three books into a single volume. Less, but longer chapters. I almost think it would make a lovely little picture book. Let illustrations provide the descriptions and minimize the words.

I’m not invested enough in the two main characters. Nathaniel and his Aunt Phil. By far, I enjoy Greasle the Gremlin the most. She gets the most reaction… eating mosquitos with relish. EWWW! Aunt Phil is old and unexciting despite her profession. She needs to wear Indiana Jones’ hat and act the part. And Nate needs to get some backbone. Adventure is meant to be invigorating. Nate reminds me of Harry Potter IF Harry had decided to remain in his room under the stairs…

Caught

Caught by Margaret Peterson Haddix

She did it! She finally did it! She did it; she did it; she did it! She did it – did it – did it!! At last – At long last. Did I mention that she actually did it? I have been agonizing over how much I wanted to enjoy this series, The Missing. I have been gnashing my teeth because I haven’t been completely captivated by it. In fact, I’ve been increasingly disappointed in it. Until. This. Book. The. Fifth! I have documented proof of my downward spiraling dissatisfaction: Found, Sent, Sabotaged, Torn. But Caught might just be the turning point. After all, there are only two books left. Amen!

Jonah and Katherine are at school and counting down the seconds until lunch. And time is moving desperately slowly. Okay, it is frozen. Jonah and Katherine are the only students who are still able to move. Circumstances point to JB’s involvement. The kids set off to escape from the school grounds and seek out Chip who isn’t in school today. Is he frozen too? Jonah and Katherine run into Angela, another time traveler, at Chip’s home. She has an Elucidator and JB is speaking from it, but his words aren’t coming through clearly. Accidently, the four time travelers make contact with each other and Jonah and Katherine are catapulted back to 1903! Who knew that could happen?

Where do they find themselves? In Albert Einstein’s study. Einstein’s new line of thinking could ruin everything. He is supposed to be concentrating on the Theory of Relativity, but he thinks he has discovered a “split in time”. (A split in time caused in 1611 by Jonah and the time travelers?) His attention has been redirected to theories about time when he should be working on his groundbreaking discoveries that would be published in the scientific miracle year of 1905! Jonah and Katherine must insure that E=mc² will still be published.

The kids run into an obstacle in the form of Einstein’s wife, Mileva. She pays particular attention to detail and is fully aware that two somethings or two somebodies are in the Einstein’s apartment – invisible and hiding, sneaking through doors and stealing food. She acquires the Elucidator and holds it hostage even as she learns that her firstborn daughter is ill with Scarlet Fever. Mileva travels to Serbia to be with her child and Albert remains behind. Jonah is torn. Follow the Elucidator or stick with Albert?

It turns out that Mileva’s daughter, Lieserl, is one of the missing children in history and the girl the kids know as Emily. The healthy, thirteen-year-old Emily is forced to merge with her deathly ill, toddler self and no one, not Jonah, Katherine or especially Mileva want to see her die. Mileva deduces that the time travelers can save her daughter and she still has control over the Elucidator. In another accidental contact, four time travelers once again connect and they are hurled into a time hollow where time is frozen. Who knew that could happen?

Here is the most ingenious part! Mileva is every bit as brilliant as the male scientific minds of her time. She is Einstein’s assistant for all intents and purposes. She begins to see what the kids cannot and she takes charge. She freezes everyone, including JB. And she begins the lengthy task of setting things right even insuring that her child is safe. Fantastic!! Let’s hear it for the young woman!

Book five rocked! Haddix includes an Author’s Note that fills in the blanks – what is fact and what is fiction. She lists resources to learn more about Mileva Einstein and just how much she might have aided Einstein during 1905, his miracle year, when he published four extraordinary, life-changing, papers while working full time. I was hooked. Haddix makes modern history fascinating and perhaps she will hook the girls with this one. There is hope for books six and seven! Excited once more.