Old Favorite: Romeo and Juliet Together (and alive!) At Last

It’s the rare book that will make a variety of readers unexpectedly laugh out loud.  But when you do find one, it’s a book to treasure.  The Vicar of Nibbleswicke and The BFG always make me laugh, (especially the chapter called Frobscotters and Whizzpoppers in The BFG.  I challenge anyone to read that aloud without completely cracking up.)  Actually, most Roald Dahl books have a few LOL chapters!  There are moments with Beverly Cleary’s Ramona Quimby and Henry Huggins that make me chuckle, and Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing and Fudge-a-Mania always make me grin foolishly.  But nothing has ever caught me off guard and made me laugh out loud (in my dentist’s office, no less!) than Romeo and Juliet Together (and alive!) At Last, by Avi.

* * *

Peter Saltz likes Anabell Stackpoole. It’s a new thing (only two days old, in fact) but that doesn’t change the fact that he’s in love.  Ed Sitrow has been Peter’s best friend for forever, and when Peter confesses his love to Ed, Ed knows he has to do something to get them together.  The idea hits him in English class, where they’re studying Shakespeare.

Have Peter and Anabell act out the greatest love story of all time: Romeo and Juliet.

Ed gets together his friends Hays, Radosh and Lucy, then asks Priscilla Black to join them because she’s Anabell’s best friend. Hamilton, the kind of obnoxious kid every class has, overhears their “secret meeting” and manages to butt his way into the group.  Together, Ed and his friends decide that the best way to get Saltz and Stackpoole together is to put on a play of Romeo and Juliet, with Peter and Anabell in the starring roles. It will be a lot of work, but for Saltz, they’re willing to do it.  They figure they can get costumes, build some sets, write an abridged script and have enough after school rehearsals in to present a polished performance in, well…two weeks.  Their teachers seem a little doubtful that they can pull it off, but the kids know they can do it. Of course, they still have to talk Peter and Anabell into the lead roles.  And come up with the costumes.  And the script and sets.  And find time for rehearsals.

Easy, peasy!  Er…maybe?

Between sets that feature ice-covered log cabins, fight scenes between mortal (for middle school, anyway) enemies, wobbly balconies and extremely shy lead actors (who know they’ll have to, eventually, kiss) the production is soon underway.  Nobody quite knows what is going to happen, but it will definitely be THE most memorable production of Romeo and Juliet ever put on by an eighth grade class!

* * *

Romeo and Juliet Together (and alive!) At Last is the sequel to S.O.R. Losers, which is also about Ed and Peter…and their not-so-winning soccer team.  You don’t need to read that book to enjoy this one, but  S.O.R. Losers is another Old Favorite  which is definitely worth reading.

I loved Romeo and Juliet Together (and alive!) At Last when I first read it (and laughed in the dentist’s office) and each and every time I’ve read it again since then.  Avi has the voice of his eighth-grade characters down pat, as well as their well-meant but bumbling efforts as matchmakers, playwrights, actors and stuntmen.  If you know Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet, it adds an extra element of fun to the book, but it’s not necessary.  I guarantee you’ll laugh out loud at least one time, and probably throughout the whole performance of the play.

When I read this book, it made me wish that I had friends like Ed and Lucy and even Hamilton when I was in middle school.  Even if their efforts didn’t produce exactly the result they were intending, they certainly made an impression on everyone involved.

I often wish Avi had written a few more books featuring the kids at the S.O.R Middle School, but instead he went on to win several notable children’s literature prizes with other books instead, like Newbery Honors for The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle and Nothing But the Truth, as well as a Newbery Medal for Crispin: The Cross of Lead.  I guess he can’t be faulted for that!  Still, if he’d like to revisit Saltz, Sitrow, Stackpoole and the other kids of S.O.R. Middle School, I’d be cheering!

Romeo and Juliet Together (and alive!) At Last is a short book…only 123 pages. It features eighth graders, but the story is accessible to kids in fifth grade and up. And anyone who has ever loved Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet seriously owes it to themselves to read this book.

(and let me know if you laughed out loud too.)

::Kelly::

LOL!

Old Favorite: Megan Meade’s Guide to the McGowan Boys

Happy Valentine’s Day!  Okay, for this week’s “Old Favorite” I’m cheating.  Megan Meade’s Guide to the McGowan Boys isn’t really that old (2005) but…it’s so perfect for this week that I couldn’t think of anything else I’d rather write about.  And it definitely is a favorite.  So…Here we go.  Megan Meade’s Guide to the McGowan Boys, by Kate Brian.

* * *

Megan Meade is happy at Fort Hood.  Her parents have finally stopped their lifetime of traveling from army base to army base and settled down for good.  Megan has spent three consecutive years at Fort Hood, a record in her wandering life.  She’s making good grades, she’s on the state championship soccer team, she has her learner’s permit, she has a best friend named Tracey and she’s finally worked up the courage to talk to Ben, the guy she’d love to date, right before the start of her junior year.  She’s *happy*!

And then her parents sit her down and announce that her Dad has earned another transfer. To South Korea. For two  whole years.

Megan, for the first time in her life, puts her foot down.  She refuses to go. She even has a bit of a temper tantrum, something that she’s never done before.  Her parents offer a compromise; she can to go Boston and stay with her father’s med school roommate, John McGowan, and his family.  Megan still will be changing schools and locations, but she’ll still able to join a championship soccer team, and she can live in one place for the two years and finish high school in the U.S.

The drawback?  John McGowan has sons.  Lots of sons. And Megan doesn’t exactly have the best memories from their previous meetings. When they were kids, the boys were one unidentifiable group, who had sticky faces and missing teeth. They lassoed her to a tree, hung her upside down, had worms in their pockets and pulled her hair.  Megan at sixteen is barely able to talk to boys, but now she’s supposed to live with seven of them?  Still, soccer. And living stateside. And high school!

When she meets them again, Megan finds that the McGowan boys have grown up a lot since she last saw them. They’re…gorgeous.  There’s Evan, who once blew snot bubbles at her and hit her over the head with a wiffle bat but who now looks like an Olympic god.  There’s Finn, who’s in her class, also a Greek god, and an artist.  There’s Sean, the mysterious brooder who works on bikes and is in a band.  Doug, who looks like the second coming of Eminem. Miller, the sports fan. And Ian and Caleb, the two youngest, the only ones who won’t be in the high school with Megan and the older brothers. The seem to be a little more like the boys she remembers, but they’re still cute.  Maybe it won’t be that bad?

But real life drops Megan right in the middle of boy chaos, and she finds that the McGowans haven’t grown up enough.  Megan’s first morning with includes dropping her bathroom supplies in front of the older boys and getting teased,  finding all her t-shirts defaced with anatomical drawings and having her bra stolen by the younger boys.  Megan revises her opinion; the McGowans are monsters!

Megan’s e-mails to her friend Tracey start to include observations on the McGowans.  It’s the only way to keep her sanity!

When Megan starts the school year, she does find out that there are advantages and disadvantages to having seven ready-made brothers. From soccer to assignments to parties and friends, the McGowans are everywhere she turns, in the house and outside of it. Only Megan discovers that she really doesn’t want to think of them as brothers, because any way you look at it, those McGowan boys are hot.  So she makes her observations to Tracy and learns everything there is to know about boys.  Or so she thinks…

* * *

Megan Meade’s Guide to the McGowan Boys is funny and touching, and exasperating and full of truths.  It’s a great read about boys and girls and the differences between them, about brothers and about what makes a good boy friend.  Or maybe, a good boyfriend.  Also soccer and girl friends and sisters and friendship.  (And if you’re a girl who doesn’t  have brothers, this is a “must-read”.)

Kate Brian is the author of the Private series and the Privilege series.  She’s written several other books that are popular, among them Sweet 16, The V Club, and Lucky T.  Her newest book, Shadowlands, about two sisters who have to go into the Witness Protection program, just came out in January.  Kate Brian is a pseudonym, and under her real name, Kieran Scott has written several other titles, including the I Was a Non-Blonde Cheerleader trilogy and She’s So Dead to Us series.

There’s not much history to Megan Meade’s Guide to the McGowan Boys, since it’s not even ten years old.  There’s only one cover, even!  When we did our most popular teen checkouts for the past ten years, it came out in the top 75, right before A Wrinkle in Time.  That may be because our staff recommends it frequently, but it might also be because most of the teens who read it recommend it to friends. It’s has huge word-of-mouth popularity.

There is some frank (and funny) discussion between Megan and Tracey about the motivations behind boys’ behavior.  There’s also several scenes on the consequences of “hooking up” at a high school party, and a bit of drinking, but nothing graphic.  Still, for those reasons, this is probably more appropriate for upper middle school and high school readers.

So if we’re snowed in again this winter, or if you want a fun Valentine’s Day read, grab Megan Meade’s Guide to the McGowan Boys. See if you like it as much as we all do.

::Kelly::

Old Favorite: A Solitary Blue

Did everyone hear who won this year’s most prestigious American Children’s book awards?  The Newbery winner was Katherine Applegate, for The One and Only Ivan and the Caldecott winner was Jon Klassen for This is Not My Hat! I’m happy to say that both of these books were on my short list of potential winners!  (Basically, our staff listed our favorites as our Holiday Gift guide books, back in early December in these posts.)

There are plenty of blogs out there listing the winners; if you’d like to know more, Google the awards or go to the American Library Association’s page here, and read about these awards and all the others.  There were over 20 award-winning books announced last Monday, and with anywhere from one to five honor books named in those awards, there are quite a few books to catch up on!

* * *

This week’s Old Favorite was a Newbery Honor book back in 1984.  (Knowing how the awards are voted on and given, it is my firm belief that the Honor Books are often better than the winner.)  It is a book I’ve read several times, and each time I see or feel or understand something different.  So here we go: A Solitary Blue, by Cynthia Voigt.

* * *

Jeff Greene was only in second grade when his life changed forever.  He got home from school to discover a note from his mother, Melody, telling him that although she loved him, she was leaving him to work to make the world a better place for animals and other children.  Jeff didn’t really understand why Melody felt like she had to take care of the whole world before taking care of her family, but that had always been the way she was.  He and his father, The Professor, discussed their options, and decided on a good course of action.

Jeff and his father muddle through third grade, fourth grade and fifth grade with the help of a yearly graduate student and a lot of planning.  In sixth grade, The Professor made friends with Brother Thomas, a teaching fellow at the seminary school.  When Jeff gets sick with bronchitis, it’s Brother Thomas who forces The Professor to face up to things like doctor visits, dentists, and finally talking about Melody.

The Professor finds Melody and gets in touch with her. The summer before seventh grade, Jeff is sent to spend a few weeks with his mother in Charleston.  He also meets Gambo, Melody’s grandmother, his great-grandmother and two more elderly aunts, Aunt Booty and Aunt Dodo.  Melody is nothing like the mother he vaguely remembers, and exactly like what he remembers.  He spends the summer in a daze of wonder, learning about his mother, her causes, and his southern heritage.  At the end of the visit, he’s sent back to Baltimore and The Professor.

Getting back home takes some getting used to, and The Professor seems surprised about what Jeff learned in Charleston about Melody, Gambo and everything else. Surprised and not too pleased, in some cases. But as the school year passes, Jeff and The Professor finally start to see each other as people, not just an old man and a young man who happen to be connected by blood and live in the same house. Jeff becomes interested in music, and The Professor becomes less distant, more interested in Jeff.  They talk. And Jeff goes to visit Melody the next summer.  And everything changes. Again.

* * *

A Solitary Blue is one of those books about life and choices and learning where you belong.  It’s introspective and questioning. It’s full of details and feelings and disappointment and happiness. It’s about learning that your parents are people too, with their own hopes and dreams.  It’s about survival and music and love and life.  Jeff learns that there aren’t any easy answers to the questions he has for both his parents.

A Solitary Blue is part of Cynthia Voigt’s Tillerman Cycle, but it really does stand alone. The cycle starts with Homecoming, about Dicey Tillerman and her journey to get herself and her younger siblings halfway across the country in an impossible journey to find family to care about them.  Dicey and Jeffrey are friends and kindred souls; however, there is no reason you couldn’t read A Solitary Blue first.  The story is sort of a parallel to the events in Homecoming and Come a Stranger, about another of Dicey’s friends. In fact, A Solitary Blue is my favorite book of the Tillerman cycle.  Dicey’s Song, the second book, won the Newbery Medal in 1983.  Homecoming and The Runner, set ten years before Homecoming and about Dicey’s uncleare also award-winners.  Voigt’s book The Callender Papers won and Edgar Award for best juvenile mystery and two other books, Izzy Willy-Nilly and Tell Me if All Lovers are Losers won prestigious awards as well.

I do love the way Cynthia Voigt writes. Her descriptions of places and how people are feeling puts the reader right in that spot with the character.

A Solitary Blue is in both our Juvenile and Teen Collections. It is not an easy book, it requires some careful reading and a willingness on the part of the reader to open themselves up to  emotions, to put themselves into another person’s perspective.  It is, however, well worth that effort.  Jeff ages from seven to seventeen over the course of the book.  I would recommend this book to thoughtful readers in grades five through nine.

So, if you’re ready for something less action-packed and more introspective, try A Solitary Blue. And let me know what you think.

::Kelly::

 

 

Old Favorite: The View from the Cherry Tree

Mayhem, mystery and…murder!  Everyone enjoys a good mystery, especially one with a character that’s believable, a dangerous situation, and a setting that’s realistic.  And that’s what you will find in today’s Old Favorite, The View from the Cherry Tree, by Willo Davis Roberts.

* * *

Rob is stuck at his house this summer, “helping” his older sister Darcy get ready for her wedding. Most of his help seems to involve staying out of the way, not making any noise, and being ignored by everyone.  It’s not a happy experience, no matter what the blushing bride and his bustling parents say.

Rob takes to hanging out in the middle of the backyard cherry tree, high above the chaos below, spying on all the comings and goings of Darcy, her fiance, their parents and all of Darcy’s friends and ex-boyfriends. He’s heard a lot of secrets as he sits up in the tree, hidden from sight, eating the cherries and spitting out the pits out toward the people walking below.  When he “borrows” his father’s binoculars, he can even see further, into the surrounding yards and houses.

Including the house of Mrs. Calloway, the cranky old lady next door.  When Rob was young, he believed the stories about how she caught children and ate them, just like the witch in Hansel and Gretel.  Now, however, he knows that she’s just a mean old lady who lives alone and doesn’t like anyone. She calls his parents frequently to complain about Rob, their guests, the cat, and any perceived issues with her property.

She hates Rob’s cat S.O.B.  Of course S.O.B. isn’t exactly the nicest cat in the world, and the hate seems to be mutual.  Sometimes, S.O.B. seems to try to anger the elderly neighbor, like the day he jumped into her house through an open window and scratched her when she threw him out.  His defense of S.O.B. leads to a confrontation with Mrs. Calloway and her broom, and a black eye for Rob.  His family is disappointed in his behavior and Darcy starts wailing about wedding photos.  Rob is grounded.

Rob keeps his cool, but decides to keep an eye on Mrs. Calloway, either to catch her doing something mean or to get an idea for getting even.  He tries a few tricks, but it only gets him in more trouble.  Rob develops the habit of peeking into Mrs. Calloway’s house through her windows whenever he’s in the cherry tree, just in case.  He never expects to hear Mrs. Calloway arguing with a tall man, nor to see the man push her out the window.  And then, she’s dead. He runs into the house and gets his family, and they call the police about her “accidental” death.

Rob tries to tell his family that he saw her murdered, but no one believes him.  Rob is on his own.  He tries talking to his family one on one and in groups, trying to convince them of the truth, but people just get mad at him, and think he’s trying to distract them from Darcy’s wedding.  And then it gets worse.  Because it seems like the murderer knows he was seen, and is trying to kill him too…

* * *

Willo Davis Roberts actually wrote The View from the Cherry Tree with an older audience in mind; by 1974 she was an established adult mystery author with 35 books published in twenty years.  However, when her editor read the manuscript she urged Mrs. Roberts to submit it as a mystery for younger readers. She recognized that Rob and his point of view made it more accessible to  a younger audience. It was also good timing because younger readers were ready for more realistic situations in their books.

After a year of stamping her feet (by her own admission!), Mrs. Roberts submitted it as a book for young readers. It was published in 1975, and won a Children’s Book of the Year Award from the Library of Congress.  Her career took an unexpected turn after The View from the Cherry Tree was published, and she became a highly praised, award-winning and popular author of mysteries and adventures for middle grade and teen readers.  She was working on her 100th book when she died in 2004; more than half of those books were for teens and middle grade readers.

The View from the Cherry Tree is my favorite of her books, and one of my all-time favorite mysteries. I read it when it was first released–I remember there was a waiting list for it in our library system.  It’s a thrilling mystery, and it was one of the first that I read that didn’t seem to talk down to the reader.  Other books written by Willo Davis Roberts that I loved include The Girl with the Silver Eyes, Twisted Summer, Jo and the Bandit and Baby-sitting is a Dangerous Job.  Hmm…maybe some future Old Favorites!

The View from the Cherry Tree is appropriate for fourth through sixth grade readers.  It does deal with a murder, so readers of a sensitive nature will want to remember that. (I’ve also been told that I should give a warning for spiders, because of something that happens later in the book. It didn’t bother me, but I can see the reason!)  It would be a fun book to share with a class or to read for a mystery genre assignment.  It is a fast read, and very suspenseful.  So read The View From the Cherry Tree and see what you think.  I think you’ll like it.

::Kelly::

*I apologize for the weirdness with the posting. WordPress somehow lost the post and reverted back to the first draft.  I had to rewrite most of it, so if you got a mailed copy, the original post was a little different.*

Old Favorite: Flaming Arrows

When I was a kid, historical fiction was my favorite genre for quite a few years.  The more danger the characters were in, the more I liked the book.  My favorites were books on frontier and pioneer life…the kids in those books seemed to be more self-sufficient and danger-prone than they were at any other time in history!  Plus there was the whole survival thing added on to the danger.  As I read,  shivering in anticipation, I thought how I would manage to deal with being in the same situation…  Of course, being in the safety of my own house, it was easy to second-guess or plan better.

My own frontier survival skills were honed by reading William O. Steele’s books–The Buffalo Knife, Winter Danger,  The Lone Hunt, Trail Though Danger.  My real favorites were Tomahawks and Trouble and The Year of the Bloody Sevens, but Minuteman Library Network doesn’t own a copy of either.  So this week’s Old Favorite is my third favorite of Mr. Steele’s titles: Flaming Arrows.

* * *

It’s 1785, and Chad Radburn and his family live in one of the Tennessee Cumberland wilderness settlements.  Pappy is a fine hunter and farmer, and Mammy an excellent homemaker. The family’s little cabin is secure and homey for Chad, his sister Sarah and his brother Amos.  All the kids help with chores, but as the oldest, Chad has extra responsibilities.  He even has a musket now, to hunt with and to help his father protect his mother and the younger ones from the Chickamauga raiding parties that sometimes attack the settlements.

Chad’s family learns that all the settlers are in danger when one of their neighbors comes to tell them the Chickamaugas are raiding. Mr. and Mrs. Radburn and Chad load up everything they can carry, and take themselves, the younger children and their livestock to the fort. The fort is small and crowded, but it’s safe and welcoming. Or is it?

When the Logan family tries to enter, most of the men in the fort want to turn away the mother and her three young sons.  Her husband is Traitor Logan, who sometimes trades with the Indian tribes and is known to have lived with them.  Though the family is skinny and weary-looking and they’re sure to be killed if they’re left outside, the frightened settlers don’t want anything to do with a traitor, even if he’s not with them. But Chad’s father convinces the rest of the families in the fort to bring the Logan family inside.  He promises to take responsibility for them.

When the siege continues for days with no signs of stopping, Chad starts to feel the weight of his father’s responsibility on his own shoulders.  It seems like the Indians know right where to go, and rumblings start about the Logan family.  Is all the danger outside the fort, or is someone from inside helping the enemy?  If peace is to be kept and the settlers are to survive, Chad has to take action.

* * *

William O. Steele was born in 1917.  When he died in 1979, he had written 39 books for children and young adults.  He won several awards for his titles, including a Newbery Honor  for The Perilous Road.  Almost all his books take place along the frontier and feature young pioneers (real and fictional) dealing with the conflicts of making their way in the wilderness.

Flaming Arrows was originally published 1n 1957, when awareness of cultural differences between the native tribes and the settlers wasn’t often acknowledged, let alone recognized.  Indians are portrayed as the “bad guys” with no explanation about why they might be unhappy about being invaded by strangers taking over their land. We know now that there are better explanations for the violence that erupted on the frontier, but people living in those times didn’t have the benefit of our current knowledge and sensitivity.

There is a very good foreword by Jean Fritz  in the modern editions, republished in the 1990s.  She mentions that the history reflects the feelings, the worries and the dangers of the time.  Jean Fritz is a well-known author of historical fiction and non-fiction who was also a contemporary of William Steele.  Anyone reading these titles should definitely read the foreword.  It would be a good jumping-off point for a discussion on historical fiction and the way points of view and “known” history change over the years.

Flaming Arrows, like most of Mr. Steele’s books, is most appropriate for fourth and fifth graders, or for readers interested in or studying frontier life.  They are adventures and survival stories, and can be a little violent, like the times which they reflect.  They’re definitely good for historical fiction book reports!

So pick up any one of William O. Steele’s books if you’re interested in a good adventure story.  And let us know what you think!

::Kelly::

Old Favorite: The Silver Kiss

Raise your hand if you’re planning on seeing the last part of the Twilight saga this month.    Hmm…quite a few hands out there!

Although Stephanie Meyer’s vampires might be the most popular crowd of undead out there, they are not the first blood-suckers to grace the world of YA books.  Vampire legends go back hundreds of years; and although Dracula was arguably the most famous literary vampire, there were other books that came before his 1897 debut.

Twilight is just the latest in a line of vampire books that goes back over a hundred years.  Some current favorites came before Edward was even a sparkle in Meyer’s eyes.  Books like L.J. Smith’s Vampire Diaries, Ellen Schreiber’s Vampire Kisses, Darren Shan’s Cirque du Freak, several books by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes, and one of my old favorites: The Silver Kiss, by Annette Curtis Klause.

* * *

Zoe’s life has been nothing but chaos for over a year.  When she gets home from school, her house is empty, and she just knows that her mother is in the hospital again.  When the phone rings, she’s afraid it might be her father, calling to tell her that it’s too late.  But instead, it’s her best friend Lorraine.  Calling to tell her that her father has gotten a new job and that the family is moving across the country.

Lorraine has always been Zoe’s refuge…the person who will talk to her and help her get through dealing with her mother’s health issues.  What is she going to do without her?  Zoe tries to talk to her father, but he’s too preoccupied.  Zoe’s mother would understand…but if Zoe’s mother was there, she wouldn’t need Lorraine.

Simon is beautiful.  Silver hair, pale skin and dark eyes.  And an unfortunate appetite for blood.  Rat’s blood, mostly.  It’s how he gets by.  Animal blood only lasts so long though, and he’s due for a bigger kill to survive.  So he waits, and watches.

Zoe and Simon meet by accident in a park near the hospital.  As they come together more frequently and talk, they realize that the thing they have in common is the pain and loneliness of death.  Their lives (so to speak) become more wrapped up in each other.

As Zoe’s mother takes a turn for the worse, bad news seems to haunt their town. A serial killer seems to be on the loose, and there have been several suspicious deaths.  Zoe wonders when she sees Simon with blood on his hands.  As Simon’s deadly mission becomes clear to Zoe, her mother starts losing her battle.  Zoe turns to Simon for support, and he tells her the truth about himself…and a secret that could change her life.  And her mother.

Will Simon be able to help her?  Or will Zoe help him?  As a deadly enemy stealthily approaches, Simon and Zoe will have to learn how to trust and accept each other.

* * *

The Silver Kiss was written in 1990, well before Bella and Edward appeared in libraries and bookstores.  Their relationship is based on a mutual need and fear.  The Silver Kiss blends horror, suspense and romantic longing. Although Zoe and Simon are attracted to each other, their worlds are very, very different.  They each have something to offer the other, but if they act on their instincts, it would change them forever.

When the book came out, it was one of the first vampire novels written expressly for teens.  It was praised as a “darkly seductive thriller with heart and a message”.   Annette Curtis Klause’s writing was praised as fluid and graceful, and was called “a well-drawn, powerful and seductive novel.”  Unlike the vampire novels of this millenium, The Silver Kiss is short; only 198 pages.  It’s a wonderful read, and the final image will stay with the reader for a very long time.

The paperback version of The Silver Kiss that was released in 2009 includes two additional short stories–one about Simon during The Summer of Love, the second about Zoe, a year after the novel, dealing with A Christmas Cat.  Both short stories expand on what makes Simon and Zoe tick, and what draws them to each other.

The Silver Kiss is in our Young Adult section, and is appropriate for middle and high school students.  It is short, but there’s a lot packed into the story!  If you’re looking for a vampire book with heart, or if you’ve read all the Twilight books are are looking for something that will stay with you, try The Silver Kiss.  You’ll be glad you did.

::Kelly::

Old Favorites: Wren to the Rescue

Quests are always a fun topic for an adventure book. The more dangerous the adventure, the more exciting the read.  What’s not to like?  Daring heroes, impossible tasks, magical mischief, mistaken identities and more await every lucky reader.

Wren to the Rescue, by Sherwood Smith, is full of all of these elements…and more!

* * *

Wren was left at a mountain orphanage when she was just a baby.  At nine, she was transferred to Three Groves Orphanage because of overcrowding.  At Three Groves, she learns how to clean, cook, mend and do farm tasks.  Wren would rather learn how to read and write, act or go on adventures!  But Wren is stuck in life as an orphan; when she’s twelve, she’ll be hired out.  Until then though, she makes a name for herself creating stories and sticking up for other kids.  She meets another orphan, Tess, when she rescues her from some of the bigger orphanage bullies.  Three years later, Wren and Tess are still best friends, doing everything together.

So when Tess announces that she isn’t really an orphan at all, but a princess in disguise, Wren is amazed.  Tess has been under a curse and in hiding from an evil sorcerer the entire time she’s known her!  Wren is completely envious that Tess–quiet, shy Tess–is about to go to the palace to live in luxury and have grand adventures.  Tess though, would rather stay an anonymous orphan with her best friend. When she asks Wren if knowing she’s a princess changes Wren’s opinion of her, Wren tells her of course not. But she does think that their personalities are better suited to each others positions.  Fortunately, Tess isn’t angry–she knows it’s true.

Tess asks Wren to join her–not as a maid servant, but as her friend. Wren promptly agrees, and both girls are magically whisked away by Mistress Leila, one of the orphanage teachers who is actually Tess’ aunt, to the Magic School.  There, Tess meets with her parents and learns that she’s not completely out of danger.  But, reassured by the precautions the King and Queen have taken, the royal family and Wren return to the Palace.  But the curse seems to come true when, during the preparation for her 13th birthday, Tess vanishes. Kidnapped!

Wren saw the person who took Tess, and she saw the magic that was used.  But no one listens to her; they think she’s just a poor girl.  So Wren repeats the phrase she heard Mistress Leila use, waves her hand the same way, and is transported to the Magic School, where she meets a young wizard.  This wizard can’t seem to perform magic reliably, and is stunned to learn that Wren can do a difficult spell just from hearing it one time.  He also has a best friend, another boy training to be a warrior.  They’re willing to listen, so Wren tells them all she knows of Tess’s disappearance.  All three bond over their worry about Tess, and soon Wren, Tyron and Connor are defying the King and setting out on a quest to find and rescue her.

But Wren doesn’t know that both her traveling companions have secrets.  She also isn’t quite sure what to do with the magical abilities she seems to be developing; will they help or hinder in the search for Tess?

Facing evil magicians, enchanted beasts, and magical warriors led by an enchantress, Wren leads the boys over the mountains on a continuing mission to find Tess.  But when her magic backfires, will Wren be able to continue on her quest?  Only by finding Tess and confronting her evil captors will Wren find the answers to her questions.

* * *

Wren to the Rescue was written in 1990, and was followed by two other titles, Wren’s Quest and Wren’s War. The trilogy stopped with some unanswered questions, so I was happy to see that there is now a fourth book, Wren, Journeymage available online through the author’s website.

Although there are princesses and evil sorcerers, dragons (well, sort of) and potential romance aplenty, it’s refreshing to meet a heroine who starts out with no special status or powers.  She’s not a princess or a magician herself, but an ordinary girl with determination, stubbornness and  principles.  Wren is the power behind the quest, the one who organizes the other rescuers, the one who is motivated by to find her friend.  She consults with the boys, but is usually the one they turn to to make important decisions.

If you like quest stories, spunky heroines and magic, you’ll love Wren to the Rescue.  So what are you waiting for?  Read it and find out!

::Kelly::

Old Favorite: Sparrow Hawk Red

It’s that time of summer when the heat starts mounting and it seems like it will never be cool!  Sometimes, that makes me want to read about winter, and sometimes, it makes me want a book where the setting is even hotter. In Sparrow Hawk Red, by Ben Mikaelsen, not only is there a boy fighting for his own survival, there’s dry desert, no rain, heat baking through the parched earth…and no modern conveniences or relief in sight.

* * *

Ricky Diaz and his father live just over the border from Mexico, in southern Arizona.  Their life had been pretty normal until three years earlier, when Ricky’s mother died in a car accident. After that happened, Ricky’s Papa, Benito, quit his job with the Drug Enforcement Agency and became a rancher.  Benito had even stopped flying in airshows; something he’d loved doing since his days as a jet pilot in the Air Force. But the only flying he’s doing these days is illegally teaching Ricky, who’s too young for a pilot’s license, how to fly a biplane.

Ricky loves flying, and every time he’s up in the air, he promises his mother he’ll do his best to learn…and to keep his father happy. Both of the Diaz men miss her.

But when Ricky overhears his father being offered a new job with the DEA, he discovers that his mother’s accident wasn’t an accident at all…it was murder.  She was killed to distract his father from pursuing a case against a drug lord in Mexico. And it succeeded.  When the visiting agents tell Benito he’s the only one who has the skills and ability to help them, by crossing the border, posing as a Mexican drug buyer and sneaking into the headquarters of the drug cartel and steal their new radar-equipped plane, Benito refuses.  But Ricky knows that if he were his father, he would do it, to avenge his mother’s death.

And then Ricky realizes that he could do it.  He can fly a Cessna.  If he could sneak into the drug compound, he could get into the plane and fly it back to the United States. Who’s going to look at a kid, especially a kid who speaks Spanish and looks like a ratero–a Mexican street kid?  Ricky makes a plan and sneaks out of the house and into Mexico, bringing some money and a disguise with him.

But Ricky had only planned on playing the part of a street kid, not on actually becoming one. When he’s attacked by a group of real rateros, robbed of his money, his ID,  and even his American clothing; he’s left with nothing–and no way to get home.   Without money, proof that he’s an American, and looking like every other ratero, Ricky is stuck. What can he do?

Life on the streets is hard, and Ricky is barely surviving.  When a girl named Soledad helps him, Ricky is suspicious. What’s in it for her? But Soledad really does seem to care, and even better, she has a connection with someone inside the drug compound. Can Ricky still salvage something from his self-imposed mission?  Can he avenge his mother and help the Drug Enforcement Agency…and still get home?

* * *

Originally released in 1993, Sparrow Hawk Red still feels like it could be contemporary.  Ricky is a headstrong kid who wants to do the right thing, but who ends up in a really bad situation. Instead of giving up, he keeps on finding new ways to survive, adapting to his surroundings and fighting to keep what he has. He’s determined to survive and succeed.

Survival books are always fun to read, because you can put yourself into the place of the main character and think about what you might do differently.  In the case of Sparrow Hawk Red, if you were Ricky, would you have different skills that might help in his situation, or would you even be able to do what he did?  Author Ben Mikaelsen has written several great survival stories, all with interesting backgrounds and different scenarios.  Although Sparrow Hawk Red is my favorite, other good ones include Rescue Josh Maguire and the Spirit Bear series.

I’d recommend Sparrow Hawk Red to readers in grades four through six; it would also make a great read-aloud for a scout troop or a family with survival skills!  It would also be good to read if you’re trying to get a sense of what life is like for kids with no money in another country.  I wish it was available as a book on CD or a playaway, because it would be an excellent choice for a car trip.

So check out Sparrow Hawk Red, and see what you think!

::Kelly::

Old Favorite: We Dare Not Go A-Hunting

Time for a bit of local flavor!  This week’s Old Favorite is We Dare Not Go A-Hunting, by Charlotte MacLeod. Although the setting is fictional, it’s said to be based on Martha’s Vineyard, a place well known in this area!  If you want to read a mystery full of clues and characters, set on the historically accurate version of a local landmark, this book is for you!

* * *

Molly Bassett lives on Netaquid Island, somewhere off the coast New England.   It’s 1932, and the island has been in conflict since the previous summer, when the daughter of one of the summer visitors vanished.   Molly was one of the islanders who spent more than a week searching for Annette Sotherby, everyone growing more and more worried about the six year old’s fate.  When a ransom note was discovered, and the clues in it followed until the little girl was found, everyone on the island thought that the Sotherby family would be grateful, and that life would return to normal.  They didn’t count on Mr. Sotherby’s resentment of the islanders, his determination to make everyone suffer for what happened to his daughter, and the mistrust between the islanders and the summer folk.

Times are hard, and even though the islanders are fairly self-sufficient, the fact that the summer folk are bringing in all their own people, even for the most minimal jobs, has led to financial problems for almost everyone. Molly’s family could use some extra income; so when she hears that one of the summer folk, Mr. Truell, is looking for anyone, even an islander, to look after his son Sammy, she takes the job.  Sammy is a handful, but Molly has spent years minding her little brother Mike, so she knows just exactly how to deal with a rambunctious child. On her first day, Molly meets Barbara, who has come to the island with the newly returned Sotherby family as a babysitter for Annette.

Molly’s not quite as sure what to think about Annette, who manipulates everyone in her household–from the servants to her parents to the doctor they brought along to care for her flights of fancy–into doing exactly what she wants.  When Annette throws a temper tantrum, everyone panics and rushes to do her bidding.  Annette talks constantly about visiting the fairies the prior summer, and doesn’t seem to be “quite right in the head”, according to Mr. Truell. (Told to Molly completely in confidence, of course.) Since the Truells and the Sotherbys are friends though, Molly spends a lot of time with Barbara and Annette while she watches Sammy.

The servants of the summer folk are suspicious of all the islanders, even a teenage girl.  Molly starts defending her fellow Netaquidders to the summer folk, thinking that no one on the island would be capable of kidnapping a child for a week.  But with a little more knowledge about what happened,  she realizes that only someone familiar with the island and all its hiding spots oulc have done it. And once that thought is in her head, all Molly can do is think about the possible suspects.

Was it one of her fellow islanders?  It doesn’t seem possible that it was one of the summer folk; they don’t know the island well enough.  But how could someone in the close-knit island community keep such a secret?  Where could Annette have been kept in secret for a week?  Where did the ransom go? Molly pours over the possibilities, even as she keeps track of Sammy and befriends Tom Nevers, a friend of her brothers.

But when Molly is the horrified witness to another kidnapping, this time of both Annette and Sammy, she knows that in order to solve the current kidnapping, she has to get to the bottom of what happened the summer before.  Molly is determined to find both children, even if it means putting herself in danger.  She has to, in order to  clear her name, and solve the mystery of Netaquid Island.

* * *

Although We Dare Not Go A-Hunting is not as well-known as some of the other books we’ve featured as Old Favorites, it is a fun book to read.  (In fact, unlike most of the other books, there’s only one cover!  I think that’s a first.)  Charlotte MacLeod is probably more well-known for her adult mysteries, many of them set in Boston.  She lived all over the Boston area though, and was actually a library trustee in Sudbury.  We Dare Not Go A-Hunting was the last juvenile mystery she wrote though, and was published in 1980.

My favorite part of We Dare Not Go A-Hunting is the flavor of Massachusetts that runs throughout the whole book.  There are also many details of life during The Great Depression, the way people spoke out on the islands, and how people managed to pull things together from very little. The sense of community is also very strong, and the feeling of two very separate life-styles on a very small island.

If you like mysteries and are going to visit Martha’s Vineyard or Nantucket, try reading We Dare Not Go A-Hunting first. Compare it to what you find there, and think about what life would have been like on the island without air conditioning, electricity and immediate transportation.  I’d recommend this book to kids in grades 4 to 7 who like mysteries and Massachusetts.

::Kelly::

Old Favorite: Catch as Catch Can

Summer seems like a great time for a mystery…especially if you’re far from home on vacation in some exotic setting.  Add to that  all those long, hot days with no school or scheduled activities to interfere with an investigation.  This week’s Old Favorite, Catch as Catch Can by Josephine Poole has all that and more.

* * *

Piers and his cousin Virginia are taking the train from London to their vacation spot in Lancashire, where Piers mother runs a small summer theatre.  The trip is the first time they’ve traveled on their own. Full of excitement and a little mischief, they slip into the first class compartment and try to stay unnoticed. A conductor sees them though, and tells them to return to their ticketed seats.  On the way back, a man pushes between them, forces open a door, and jumps off the moving train.

He’s obviously hurt, but the train rushes away from the scene. Both Virginia and Piers are obviously upset, and a woman from the first-class compartment rushes out to hug Virginia and comfort her.  Piers notices though, that her comfort is strangely cold. She hustles Virginia away for lunch, and seems annoyed when Piers follows. Over the luncheon, the woman questions them about the experience, her curiosity becoming uncomfortable.  Piers and Virginia are unsettled and leave. The woman never tells them her name, but manages to find out who they are and where they’re going.

When Piers is getting ready for bed, he discovers a slip of paper in his jacket pocket which hadn’t been there that morning.  On it is written several numbers, surrounded by an octagon. Piers realizes that the man on the train must have slipped it into his pocket before he jumped, but what does it mean?

The mystery of the paper turns more sinister when they read the paper the next morning and discover that the man on the train has died.  Piers is convinced that the numbers have something to do with the man’s death, but when he goes to the police, they don’t seem to believe him. But in a bizarre coincidence, the woman from the train shows up at their home, her burly and menacing chauffeur in tow. Piers and Virginia suddenly find themselves in danger from everything and everyone around them. Can they solve this mystery before they become the next victims?

* * *

Catch as Catch Can is a suspenseful, edge-of-your seat mystery that stands the test of time.  Piers and Virginia waver between knowing they are in danger and thinking that they’re imagining things…but they’re not.  The air of danger grows as the story goes on, right up to a terrifying conclusion. Readers have some of the clues, but not everything, so we’re trying to figure out what’s going on right along with Piers.

I read this book when I was in fifth or sixth grade, and it has stayed with me all these years. Whenever I want to rate a suspense story for children, Catch as Catch Can is the book I compare it to.  (I also realize that suspenseful mysteries were much more credible when back when everyone didn’t have a cellphone at hand.)

Josephine Poole published Catch as Catch Can in 1969, and received critical acclaim. She followed it up with several more successful suspense stories, including The Visitor and Touch and Go (neither of which are still in the Minuteman network).  Many of her suspense novels were made into television serials in England.  Her recent writing has been more biographies and fairy tales. She is an excellent writer, and I would highly recommend all of her books.

So if you want a well-written, suspenseful mystery, pick up Catch as Catch Can.  This would be an great summer read for kids in fifth through seventh grades.   Read it, and let me know what you think!

::Kelly::