Pee Wee's Tale

Pee Wee's Tale by Johanna Hurwitz

This book starts out as one of the most depressing stories I have read for kindergarten through 3^rd graders. Meet PeeWee the guinea pig. He was born in a cage in a pet store. His mother used to be a class pet in a first grade classroom and I am not sure what events led to her being in a pet store, but it is suspicious if you ask me. PeeWee was the last of his brothers and sisters to be chosen for a home. The man that bought him gives him as a gift to his nephew Robbie. Robbie does not want a guinea pig; Robbie wants a dog. PeeWee does his best to be as puppy-like as possible for a rodent. Unfortunately, Robbie’s mother is terrified of PeeWee to the point of jumping on chairs when he is in the room. When Robbie is away at a sleepover, Robbie’s mother tells his father to dispose of PeeWee! Then they plan to lie and tell Robbie that PeeWee escaped his cage and must have found his way out of their apartment. In reality, Robbie’s father releases PeeWee into New York’s Central Park. Disheartened yet?

Fortunately, the opening of the book goes rather quickly. The majority of the book is setting up a new friendship. This Monarch Nominee from the very first Monarch list is the beginning of a series known as the Park Pals Adventures. Too adorable PeeWee is our book-smart rodent. His mother learned to read in her 1^st grade classroom and she teaches PeeWee when he shows an interest in the newspapers that line their cage. He knows his letters, sounds and can read the words on the newspaper print. Regrettably, the newspaper is shredded so he never gets to read full sentences until he comes across a complete newspaper left in Central Park. He cannot make out the meaning of the words used in the Sports Section (me neither), but he can fully understand the article outlining the elimination of eight trees in the Park to make way for a new children’s play area!

One of those trees belongs to his new friend – his first friend – Lexington, Lexi, the Squirrel. Lexi is our street-smart rodent. He cannot read, but he knows “look before you eat,” “a leap in time is mighty fine,” and “an apple a day keeps the aches away.” He knows all the rules to survive in Central Park and he is ready and willing to dispense his wisdom to the naïve PeeWee. If it weren’t for Lexi, PeeWee would have been trampled by a dog on his first day at the park. He also wouldn’t be aware that apples, nuts and grass are far superior foods to his pellets back home. And if it weren’t for PeeWee, Lexi would have lost his home to the construction crew.

I short book with pictures, PeeWee’s Tale works equally well as a read-aloud or as a beginning chapter book for the early elementary set. They will be concerned about the welfare of all of the animals. And they will enjoy meeting Sewer Drain… my favorite part. They will also be interested in finding out if PeeWee ever finds his boy, Robbie, again. And is he willing to give up his freedom for the security of a home. Apples or pellets? What do you think?

Enchanted

Enchanted by Alethea Kontis

The best part about this book is the characters:

    1.      Jack Woodcutter is a seventh son and a teller of tales extraordinary. Just not always the truth.

    2.      Seven Woodcutter is a seventh daughter and a sister to fairy godmothers. Whatever she speaks will come to pass and thus has learned to speak very little.

3.      Jack Junior is the dead or vanished eldest son of the Woodcutters. He is the famous Jack of all the fairy tales and nursery rhymes as well as a hero in the King’s Court.

4.      Peter is another Woodcutter son with yet to be well-established magical abilities although he seems to lean towards sculpting, woodworking, and runes.

5.      Trix is an adopted son to the Woodcutter clan. He is a changeling left by the fey. He is wild and forever young and you can never predict what will happen with anything he touches. He might even sell the family cow for magic beans.

6.      Monday Woodcutter is the eldest daughter. She is fair of face and the Princess who discovered the pea beneath a mound of mattresses. It did not end happily ever after.

7.      Tuesday is Monday’s twin who is full of grace. She danced holes into the soles of all her dancing shoes until her mother requested shoes that would never wear out. Unfortunately, they wore Tuesday to her untimely death.

8.      Next is Wednesday, full of woe. She is more fey than her sisters and speaks in poetic verses. She lives in the tower of her family’s house far above the rest. She will capture the eye of the ageless King.

9.      Thursday has far to go. Actually, she has already gone. She is the Pirate Captain to the Pirate King. She uses her magic spyglass to keep in touch with her family.

10.  Friday is loving and giving. She makes clothing for the poor with her magic needle. She puts all others before herself.

11.  Saturday is the Warrior Princess and works hard for a living. She joins her father and brothers in the woods with her magic ax and never tires though always works.

12.  Sunday is doomed to be blithe and bonny and good and gay. She is our main character and the seventh daughter of the seventh daughter. Similar to her mother, whatever she writes comes true and so she always writes about the past – what has already happened. But no one is interested in the past except for an enchanted frog she meets in the forest by the fairy well.

13.  Prince Rumbold is that Prince. He is known as Grumble to Sunday. They love each other and sure enough, a kiss from Sunday magically restores the Prince, only she doesn’t see it. Unfortunately, Prince Rumbold is the cause of the Woodcutters’ sorrow. He must win her heart despite former deceit.

14.  Fairy Godmother Joy is the Woodcutter Aunt who has blessed each child with a magical gift in the hopes of setting all past wrongs – right.

15.  Her sister is Fairy Godmother Sorrow who is the ageless King’s closest advisor. She is perhaps instrumental in his power and longevity.

16.  The King has forgotten his own name and so have his people. It is time for him to take a new wife.

17.  Rollins is the Prince’s right hand man who recognizes his return from enchantment. He will follow the Prince outside of windows and onto clouds even though he is deathly afraid of heights.

18.  Erik is one of the Castle Guards and another man who gives his allegiance to the Prince. He was there with Rollins and the Prince’s cousin when Jack Junior and the Prince were cursed.

19.  Velius is the Prince’s royal cousin. He is mostly fey and full of his own magic. He is well aware of the magic, loyalties, politics and danger in the air. He is also able to supply the Prince with strength and energy when needed.

These characters are what tempted me to acquire this book and devour it immediately. And they make the book worth the trouble. I only wish the plot was more succinct. Many times, there were so many characters and plot lines and fairy tales and intrigues and back stories that I was confused. Many times, I tried to go back to clarify what I believed to be true. And many times, a closer reading did not clear anything up any better. I almost would prefer for each of the sisters and even the fairy godmothers to have their own book. I am positive they would be interesting. We still don’t know what truly happened to Jack Junior… and the Prince for that matter.

If you enjoy fairy tales retold, you will have to read Enchanted. I think the author has abundant potential. I wish she would have spent a bit more time on this one. Maybe an extra draft or two would have helped. Or perhaps if she hadn’t tried to shove so much in this one…

This belongs in young adult even though sometimes it reads as a middle school novel. There is no sex, but there are allusions to scandalous affairs… Some would let their tween read it. I probably would not. She will have to wait.

Shadow of Night

Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness (audio book)

It has been fourteen months since I read my last adult novel. The last one was A Discovery of Witches, the first in the All SoulsTrilogy. I remember loving it and being excited for the future publications. Shadow of Night is the second.

My first concern was the new book’s setting – Elizabethan England – Europe in 1590 to be both more general and precise at the same time. The original book worked so well because it was about a thoroughly modern woman in contemporary times. Diana Bishop was intelligent, ambitious, active, self-sufficient and set in her ways. Women were not like that in the sixteenth century. If they were, they would be notable or stand out like a sore thumb.

Truth be told, I actually enjoyed the setting once I got into it. I preferred Prague to England by far, but then that’s my own ancestry speaking. The author is obviously very knowledgeable – a history professor no less. I enjoyed the sights, sounds, smells, and clothing of an earlier time. While I thrived by reading about this setting, the main character drowned.

There were two choices available for the author and her character. Diana could have chosen to remain hidden while Matthew did the work or brought it to her. Or she could have attempted to fit into society while Matthew did the work or brought it to her. The problem was that Diana didn’t have time to prepare for the greatest role of her life and that kind of negated the second choice.

But what actually happened was neither. Diana and Matthew never attempted to hide and they only attempted, rather ill-ly, to fit in to society. And everyone knew something was wrong. Diana couldn’t hide from daemons, vampires or witches. She stuck out like that sore thumb! And yet, since she was already doing such a bad job of fitting in, she didn’t choose option three to just be herself. No, instead she became a rather awkward sixteenth century lady who mainly tried to please her husband.

Matthew wasn’t doing a very good job either. In fact, my two favorite characters from the first book were entirely non-existent in the second. They were rather irritating actually. I did not enjoy them. And they were competing with the most notable men, and occasionally women, of the century! Walter Raleigh, Christopher Marlowe, Queen Elizabeth and Rudolph II to name only a fraction of the famous cast.

I could write pages and pages of what I did not enjoy about this book, but I’ll end with this. Diana and Matthew went back in time to find and retrieve Ashmole 782 and to find an experienced witch to teach Diana how to use her magic. In five hundred, seventy-seven tedious pages, they were unable to actually accomplish their mission. They found the book eventually and lost it. They found teachers and left them behind when something seemingly more important came up. So the book blessedly ended, but the plot never advanced.

I read books so you don’t have to. Go back to your Anne Rice collection. Where vampires are actually vampires and not political spies.

Gooney Bird Greene

Gooney Bird Greene by Lois Lowry

I am my own worst patron. I can be a horrible judge of a book. I should learn to trust the author’s I adore more.

Lois Lowry is one of my favorite writers. I praise her primarily for The Giver. Whereas Alice in Wonderland is my chosen favorite classic book of all time, The Giver is the work of fiction that has most influenced me. And I read it as an adult. The Giver is that archetype by which all other works of dystopian literature are measured for me. And, of course, you all ought to read it. And read it again. And its companion novels, Gathering Blue and Messenger.

But Lowry is a prolific author. She has written historical fiction, contemporary realistic fiction, fantasy and more. She has written for the beginning chapter book reader as well as the teenager. She has written for the voracious reader, but also for the reluctant reader. And she has won the awards to guarantee that her contributions to juvenile literature will be remembered. Without my help.

A decade ago, she published Gooney Bird Greene and I was a ghastly snob. I’m not joking. I looked down my nose. Why would she be joining the ranks of writers that gave us Junie, Judy, Mallory, and Elisa. You know the ones… I’ve been reviewing them. They fulfill a need, most certainly, but can be soooooo boring – been there. Done that. I want magic!

I disliked the cover. I disliked the title. I don’t even remembering reading the jacket. It wasn’t The Giver and I was pouty. I hope you never see me when I’m like that. I’m truly pathetic.

Well, it was nominated for the Monarch Award and that is why I finally stooped to pick it up. Because the premise was entirely new to me, that is why I don’t think I ever read the jacket summary. From the cover: “…author Lois Lowry introduces young readers to the concepts and elements of storytelling. By demonstrating some of the simple techniques that writers use to reveal the extraordinary in everyday events, this book is sure to encourage the storyteller in everyone.” Someone tell me, how I missed that!!

Here is a character who likes to be “right smack in the middle of the room, because [she likes] to be right smack in the middle of everything.” But she is the kind of character who is in the middle of the action for all of the right reasons rather than for all the wrong ones. She is an exemplary role-model for her classmates as well as for her teacher. And when she says she only tells “absolutely true” stories, you can believe her no matter how far-fetched they sound. She really did ride on a flying carpet from China.

This is a series that I am confident I will return to. In 88 pages, I watched the second-grade classroom grow incrementally and I am very curious how they will continue to blossom. For example, there is one girl who never speaks and never even looks up from her desk. I want to know why. There is a story there and I am certain we will hear it as all of the children begin to tell their own stories based upon Gooney Bird’s splendid example!

I left the book out by my computer. My very own second grader was inquisitive. She has commandeered my copy without so much as a nudge from me. Perhaps the cover didn’t catch this adult, but it grabbed its intended audience.

Ms. Lowry must have forgiven me… Son has been published! Making The Giver a quartet! Whew, she still loves me. Get in line!

(For the record. I was equally snobbish about Harry Potter. I am my own worst enemy.)

City of Lost Souls

City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare (audio book)

Clary Fray has left the love of her life, Jace, alone on the rooftop of the New York Institute with their dead “brother’s” body thinking that the latest crisis has been averted. Alas, dear me, it has not. Sebastian is not dead. The demon, Lilith, Sebastian’s mother, managed to complete her ritual inextricably linking Sebastian and Jace together with Jace subservient to Sebastian. The two have vanished without a trace and are untraceable even.

Knowing how dangerous Sebastian is, free in the world, the Clave of Shadowhunters had made finding him a priority until new and pressing dangers surface. The wards protecting our world from the world of demons are collapsing. When the Shadowhunters suspend their search, Clary and her team of teenagers determine to continue the hunt. Jace must be found and saved.

Not only are Sebastian and Jace bound to each other, much like Shadowhunter parabatai, but they are connected by flesh and blood as well. If a wound is inflicted upon one, the other will receive the same injury. Sebastian cannot be killed without Jace dying as well. The Clave is determined to capture and kill Sebastian and accept that Jace will be a casualty. Of course, this is unacceptable to Clary and her team.

Clary’s teams consists of the usual: her best friend Simon, the vampire who can walk in the sun’s light; Alec, Jace’s brother and parabatai; Isabelle, Jace’s feisty sister; Magnus, New York’s Head Warlock. Werewolves, Jordan and Maia, have taken on a somewhat greater role as members of the team as well. Clary provides herself as bait to lure Jace and Sebastian home. The rest of the team is given the challenge to find a way to separate the two once found and captured. Nothing on earth can break the link. How about something of Heaven or Hell?

Clare, the author, spends more time in this book advancing the relationships of the couples, than advancing the plot. In fact, some couples go so far as to actually have sex – I believe this is a first in the series. Not graphic, but certainly realized.

The author also makes big deals about doing things as if they have never been done before – raising demons and summoning angels – things that should be rare and rarely undertaken. But they actually occur many times within her series so it feels less than awe-inspiring or fear-inducing. Oh, and we also have to kill the main character. Several times. But don’t worry, they are always brought back to life.

Unfortunately, the same thing cannot be said about the series. It feels quite dead. Clary and Jace’s relationship has become quite static and boring which is a shame for it is their relationship that drives the whole machine.

Very clearly, the series did not need another volume and certainly not this one. The series should have remained a trilogy. The author should be concentrating on The Infernal Devices which is the more lovely of the two. Unfortunately, we already know that there is a sixth in the works. Angels help us.

The Infernal Devices Series: Clockwork Angel

The Mortal Instruments Series: City of Bones, City of Ashes, City of Glass, City of Fallen Angels

Mallory on the Move

Mallory on the Move by Laurie Friedman

Why I like Mallory:

       1.      She loves her cat.

       2.      She has a cat-a-day calendar.

       3.      She and her best friend say things in threes to show they are stylish.

       4.      She and her best friend paint their toenails the same color.

5.      Her best friend throws her a “Blue-without-you” going away party.

6.      She likes to make wishes.

7.      She likes to dangle her feet in the pond.

8.      She wants to learn how to skateboard.

9.      She doesn’t like boring houses that all look alike.

Why I don’t like Mallory:

1.      She tells jokes – bad jokes.

2.      She wastes 1 carton of orange juice, 2 cans of grape soda, 3 cups of chocolate milk, 4 spoonsful of tomato sauce, and 5 drops of blue food coloring to make Joke Juice.

3.      She has a mean big brother. Her next door neighbor also has a mean older sibling.

4.      She gets rewarded with food when she is meant to be punished.

5.      She can climb into her best friend’s window.

6.      Her cat’s name is Cheeseburger.

7.      She plays pranks – an unforgiveable prank in my opinion at one point.

8.      She and her best friend’s favorite game would not happen in my house unsupervised.

9.      She runs away from home.

There really are only so many beginning chapter books you can read before they all start to look alike. That is those of the contemporary realistic fiction variety. Another second grader who must be distinguishable from other second graders and yet display stereotypical characteristics of your average second grader. I have my very own second grader who happens to be a year younger than Mallory. And I certainly see similarities: the love of cats and bad jokes. And the differences: my daughter would never concoct in my kitchen without my permission.

I read this book thinking, will my daughter enjoy it? Probably. Do I want her to read it? Possibly not. Am I a spoil sport? Certainly. She will love it for the very reasons that I do. She will not notice that Mallory is rewarded with McDonald’s in an effort to perk her up after the Joke Juice fiasco. In fact, she will probably identify with it. How many times have I bribed her with a Happy Meal to purchase a smile? Do I think she would actually attempt to run away from home? I hope not. This book has a happy ending though. If she tried it, it might not. Why put the thought in her head in the first place?

This book is fine as far as books go. I am just looking for more than fine. I am always looking for magic. Like Waiting for the Magic. That was a special book dealing with a special topic – a parents’ separation. Mallory on the Move is about a girl who is forced by her parents to move away from her home and her very best friend. And she doesn’t handle it very well. I bet I can find a book that handles it better.

This book was a Monarch Nominee in 2006.

Artemis Fowl: The Last Guardian

Artemis Fowl: The Last Guardian by Eoin Colfer

It was 2001 when the Artemis Fowl series first began and the original readers are now college graduates. Finally, the series is complete with eight books:

Artemis Fowl
The Arctic Incident
The Eternity Code
The Opal Deception
The Lost Colony (my favorite)
The Time Paradox
The Atlantis Complex (the only one I have actually reviewed until now)
The Last Guardian

I hope it continues to find readers as it continues be a notable addition to the Children’s book shelves. It is hard to believe that the series never appeared among the Rebecca Caudill Nominees. It is certainly one of my favorites.

The books are unusual in that they are definitely for boys. It is not that girls do not enjoy them – there are many of us to be sure. But the books are about fairies and pixies and dwarves and there is magic, but there is also amazing technology and weaponry. Don’t think bows and catapults. Think modern weaponry and DNA scans. Take a smidge of The Lord of the Rings, employ the time setting of Harry Potter, and add a healthy dose of Alex Rider and you might have something that looks similar to Artemis Fowl.

The series began with a twelve-year-old Artemis. He was a criminal mastermind with a monumental pocket book. He was self-centered and determined to outfox everyone. He managed to capture a fairy and hold her for ransom. He might have been after the fabled pot-o-gold at the end of the rainbow, but he uncovered more than he had bargained for.

The series ends with a seventeen-year-old Artemis. He is every bit the wealthy genius he has always been, but somewhere along the line, he has grown a heart. Once again, the world is being threatened by the evil,  megalomaniacal pixie, Opal Koboi. And enormous sacrifices need to be made to prevent her from opening a 10,000-year-old lock that will mean the end of humans and the rise of fairies. And they have exactly one evening.

The first three or four volumes are really the best, but most readers are hooked and continue to come back for more. Number seven was strange at best, but the finale mostly made up for it. Diehards will be eager to point out inconsistencies and even deus ex machina. I was mostly disappointed that Opal showed up this, the third, time. Putting the best up against the best sometimes requires a deus ex machine to have a favorable ending. Or at least a dwarf named Mulch who can eat anything and expel it out his derriere just as quickly.

I eagerly recommend this series to 5^th grade boys and up. Even as the tween becomes a teen, the language stays clean and the romance stays below minimal. If anything, the unrequited romance has irked many. Kisses on foreheads are not enough even if they are integral to the conclusion.

Without thinking so hard that my brain would hurt – time paradoxes can be that way – I thoroughly enjoyed the conclusion of the series. Seems to have brought it full circle.