Did you know that the library is still doing Virtual Storytimes every weekday?
Check out a few here:
The Mouse and the Moon by Gabriel Aborozo
Mel Fell by Cory Tabor
Spike the Mixed-Up Monster by Susan Hood, illustrated by Melissa Sweet
And then join us every weekday on our Facebook Page for more!
::Kelly::
Easy Chapter Book? Check!
Quirky characters? Check!
Quick and funny read? Check!
It’s Flatfoot Fox and the Case of the Nosy Otter by Eth Clifford!
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Flatfoot Fox is the smartest detective in the whole world…and he knows it. With his assistant, Secretary Bird, he follows the clues and solves the mystery. So when Mrs. Chatterbox Otter knocks on the door of the office and tells them that her son Nosy has been kidnapped, they are on the case!
There are suspects, and there are witnesses. Some of the suspects are witnesses! Crabby Crow, Terribly Worried Woodchuck and Lame-Brain Swan are all helpful…but maybe it’s because they’re trying to cover something up?
It doesn’t matter! Flatfoot Fox and his assistant Secretary Bird are determined to solve the case!
* * *
Flatfoot Fox and the Case of the Nosy Otter was originally published in 1992, so it’s not quite as old as some of the other Old Favorites. However, in the world of easy chapter books, it’s ancient! Only forty-eight pages, it packs a lot of clever word play and detective tropes into it’s pages…along with very nice illustrations by Brian Lies.
The Flatfoot Fox series is a step above early readers like Nate the Great, and step below fictional mysteries like the Chet Gekko series. They’re cleverly done, with characters whose names are pretty representative of their characters, and the repetition and humor makes it a favorite of mine.
There are four more books in the series: Flatfoot Fox and the Case of the Missing Eye, Flatfoot Fox and the Case of the Missing Whoooo, Flatfoot Fox and the Case of the Bashful Beaver and Flatfoot Fox and the Case of the Missing Schoolhouse. I wish there were more!
Eth Clifford is the author of the Mary Rose and Jo-Beth mysteries, which start with Help! I’m a Prisoner in the Library! –one of my go-to books for early AfterSchool BookClubs. She was very popular in the 1980s and 90s, but is less known these days. She was born in 1915, and will be celebrating her 105th birthday this year! She’s not nearly as well known as Beverly Cleary, who is a year older, but her chapter books have a similar feel. It’s a shame that Eth wasn’t quite as prolific or as well known as Beverly.
Brian Lies is a very popular illustrator these days with his Bats Series (including Bats in the Library), but the Flatfoot Fox series was his first published book illustrations. Bot the author and illustrator have won several awards for their books.
Flatfoot Fox is best for kids transitioning from early readers to chapter books–first through third grades. Some read alikes are Pigsticks and Harold by Alex Milway, The Chicken Squad by Doreen Cronin, Detective Gordon by Ulf Nilsson, Inspector Flytrap by Tom Angleberger and Tales from the House of Bunnicula by James Howe.
So grab your magnifying glass and your partner in crime…er, in solving crime…and solve a case with Flatfoot Fox and the Case of the Nosy Otter!
Happy Reading!
::kelly::
Follow the clues and solve a mystery. Follow the directions and make a tasty treat.
It’s Encyclopedia Brown Takes the Cake by Donald J. Sobol!
* * *
Idaville looks like any other normal town–on the outside, anyway. Inside, it’s like no other place in America. For more than a year, no one has gotten away with breaking the law there.
Idaville’s chief of police, Chief Brown has a secret. Whenever he or his officers come up against a case too difficult for them, he brings the case home. And over dinner, his ten year old son, Leroy, solves the case for him.
Leroy doesn’t tell anyone about the cases he solves over dinner. He doesn’t want to seem different to other kids. But there’s nothing he can do about his nickname–Encyclopedia. An encyclopedia is a set of books filled with facts from A to Z…just like Encyclopedia Brown’s head. He’s read more books that anyone, and never forgets what he’s read. He’s like a bookmobile, running on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
From fall to spring, Encyclopedia helps his father capture crooks. During the summer, he helps out the kids in the neighborhood. He even has a sign:
BROWN DETECTIVE AGENCY
13 ROVER AVENUE
LEROY BROWN, PRESIDENT
No Case Too Small
25 Cents Per Day Plus Expenses
Every day during the summer, he hangs his sign on the garage, and kids come.
From The Case of the Missing Garlic Bread to The Case of the Overstuffed Pinata to The Case of the Chinese Restaurant (and all the other cases in between) Encyclopedia Brown will listen to your case, pick up on all the details, and solve the mystery!
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There are twenty eight Encyclopedia Brown mysteries, starting with Encyclopedia Brown, Boy Detective, published in 1963. The final book, Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of the Soccer Scheme was published in 2012. There are also eighteen related puzzle, game and trivia books.
In each of the twenty eight regular books, there are at least ten mysteries, with all the information you need to know to solve that case. You have to look for the clues and inconsistencies and solve the mystery. Encyclopedia Brown solves them…can you? To see if you’ve come up with the right solution, you can check the answer is at the back of the book.
Donald J. Sobol was a newspaper writer who started a syndicated series called Two Minute Mysteries in 1959. It was wildly popular and ran for ten years. The mysteries starred an adult criminologist named Dr. Haledjian and ran the gamut from robberies to murder. Some of the cases with thefts, pranks and mischief were adapted to begin Encyclopedia Brown’s case files.
The Encyclopedia Brown books has been made into a comic strip, an HBO series and a movie. They’ve never been out of print, and have been translated into twelve languages. In 1976, Encyclopedia was given a special Edgar Award by the Mystery Writers of America.
Encyclopedia Brown Takes the Cake is actually number 15 1/2 in the series. It’s the only one that has a co-writer…Glenn Andrews. It’s my favorite because all the cases in the book are related to food…and every case has several recipes to make after you solve the case. It’s the first cozy kitchen mystery I ever encountered! (Kids–that’s a genre some adults love. I’m one of them.)
The recipes are actually pretty good. My copy of the book has food stains in it on some of the pages. (I think it was actually my younger sister’s copy, but I somehow ended up with it on my bookcase.) The cookies and brownie recipes have become family staples, but some of the others are quite yummy too.
The Encyclopedia Brown books are great mysteries for kids from third through fifth grades. They’re great short read alouds, and since the clues are laid out, the reader can join the listeners in trying to figure out the solution…before checking in the back of the book to see if you got it right!
Some read alikes are The Brixton Brother Mysteries by Mac Barnatt, The Ballpark Mysteries by David Kelly, The Key to the Treasure by Peggy Parish, and All the Wrong Questions series by Lemony Snickett.
So grab your magnifying glass and get out your notebook and solve a mystery with Encyclopedia Brown!
Happy Reading!
::kelly::
Check out our Librarians reading stories, every weekday at 3:00 on our Facebook Page!
Check out our latest: Owly
Even with technical difficulties and a barking dog in the background…it’s not bad! 😀
Back with a blast from the past! With the Library closed due to the covid19 virus, new entries (and I’m going to try to do one a day from now until we open again!) are limited to books that are currenly on hand. So for the next few entries, we’ll be featuring books that are on my home bookshelves that are also in the Library’s collection. Thus…many more Old Favorites! (although a few newer “old favorites” may creep in…)
With that said, on with Howl’s Moving Castle, by Diana Wynne Jones!
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Sophie Hatter lives in the land of Ingary. She is resigned to her life being boring; after all, she is the eldest of three sisters. In a land where seven-league boots exist, and magic is used regularly, being the eldest of three means that she will fail at whatever she tries. And not only fail, but fail the most spectacularly. Her sisters Lettie and Martha aren’t as willing to take this as fate, but Sophie just knows that she is destined for a boring life as a hat maker.
When their father dies, quick-witted Lettie is sent to apprentice at a bakery, and beautiful, social Martha is apprenticed to a witch. Sophie is set to stay at the hat shop, apprenticed to her kindly but business-like stepmother.
But all is not well in Ingary. The Witch of the Waste has shown up and threatened the king’s daughter. The king sent Suliman, the royal wizard, to deal with the Witch. But Wizard Suliman has vanished, and the Witch is still at large. When a large black castle appears in the hills around the town of Market Chipping, with four spires billowing thick dark smoke, everyone is sure that the Witch has decided to terrorize the countryside as she did fifty years ago. When the castle starts moving around the hills, most people are sure of it, and keep to themselves.
Stuck in the hat shop, Sophie finds she is quite adept at making hats. And if she talks to them while she’s creating, well who’s to know? She’s mostly alone in the shop, missing her sisters and listening to the gossip of customers. Gossip about the King’s brother, Prince Justin, who has also disappeared, and about the Witch, and about the dark castle, which doesn’t belong to the Witch at all, but to a wizard–the Wizard Howl, who has no heart and who, it is said, steals those of young girls.
Although she tries to avoid customers, Sophie finds herself in the middle of a boom in business. Her hats are all the rage, and everyone in town is talking about how beautiful they make their wearers. But after an eye-opening meeting with her sister, Sophie starts to feel like the hat shop might not be her destiny. After a chat with her stepmother, she is almost sure of it. Unsettled and angry, Sophie becomes more plain-spoken and forthright in her dealings with customers. That ends one day, when a glamorous woman comes into the shop, looking for a magical hat. Not realizing who she is, Sophie is honest to the point of rudeness with the woman, who turns out to be the Witch of the Waste.
And suddenly, Sophie turns around to find herself turned into a old woman.
She leaves the hat shop and heads out over the hills, where she runs into the moving castle of Wizard Howl. At the end of her strength (and her temper) Sophie breaks into the castle and makes herself at home.
What will happen when the Wizard Howl returns? Can Sophie return to her own body, or is she stuck as an old woman for the rest of her life? What are her sisters up to? Why is a scarecrow chasing the castle? Can the Witch of the Waste be allowed to roam unchecked? How can the castle be in four different places at the same time? Is the Wizard Howl as bad as people say he is? And who…or what…is Calcifer?
Read Howl’s Moving Castle and find out!
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Originally published in 1986, Howl’s Moving Castle was a Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor Book and ALA Notable Book and Best of the Year in Young Adult Fiction. It is my favorite of Diana Wynne Jones’s books, and one I love to re-read. I had to double check that I hadn’t already done an entry…but apparently not. There’s magic, and humor, and sly little references to fairy tale standards. But at heart, this is the story of a plucky young woman who sets out on a magical journey that will change her life.
The characters are wonderful…from Sophie to Howl to Calcifer. This review barely mentions Howl, but he is a great character! Talented, vain and “slithery-outerly” (according to Sophie) , he is a wizard in every way. The mysterious Calcifer is just as intriguing. Even minor characters, like Martha and Lettie and Michael and a turnip-headed walking scarecrow are fully rounded with their own stories. The language is wonderfully evocative, and there are so many twists and turns to the plot that you will be left guessing about everything.
Now, Howl’s Moving Castle is not without problems, but really, they’re all visual. Look at these covers! There is not one that actually says anything about the story, and most of them are kind of…ugly! The only one I actually like is the last one, with the silhouettes. Whenever I recommend Howl’s Moving Castle, I have to say “Now, don’t look at the cover–it has the world’s worst cover for a really great book.” (I do honestly say this! I have to!) I don’t know why it’s so hard to illustrate. Maybe it’s because the words and story are so magical that it just can’t be caught in an illustration? Whatever it is, I think it needs to be republished with a great, fun cover illustration.
Howl’s Moving Castle is also a wonderful audio book; eight hours and thirty-four minutes long. The narrator, Jenny Sterlin, does a wonderful job of bringing the story to life. She’s also quite adept at the voices of each character. Even though I’ve read the book multiple times, listening to it was also enjoyable.
There was an Oscar nominated animated film made of Howl’s Moving Castle by Hayao Miyazaki. I really enjoyed the film, but it’s not really much like the book. The character names are the same, and some of the motivations and situations. It is a really a great Miyazaki film, but it’s not Diana Wynne Jones’s book. However, if you enjoyed the movie, you should read the book too. It’s like a whole different experience and story!
So if you’re looking for something magical and mysterious and joyful and fun while you’re stuck at home this spring, check out Howl’s Moving Castle. If it’s not sitting on your shelf at home, it is available as an e-book though the Weston Public Library. It’s also a great family read-aloud! I’ve read it several times to my AfterSchool BookClubs with kids from second through fifth grades, but it would be enjoyed by all ages.
Some read-alikes might be anything else by Diana Wynne Jones, The Door at the End of the World by Caroline Carlson, Tuesdays at the Castle by Jessica Day George, and Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine.
Read this book! You will be happy to did. And let me know if you loved it as much as I do. Until we’re all back in the Library…stay healthy!
Happy Reading!
::Kelly::
Another fun book for a car ride or plane trip! This is the second book in the Pip Bartlett series, but I liked the first one so much, I picked up the second one as soon as we got it in at the library. If you like humor and fantasy, with a little mischief and crazy situations mixed in, this book is for you and your family.
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Pip Bartlett’s Guide to Unicorn Training, by Jackson Pearce & Maggie Stiefvater
Read by Cassandra Morris & Peter McGowan
4 Hours, 20 Minutes – 4 CDs
Pip Bartlett is still in small-town Georgia for the summer with her veterinarian aunt and her cousin Callie. Aunt Emma’s Cloverton Clinic for Magical Creatures is still a pretty exciting place to be, even after she and her new friend Tomas have solved the mystery of the fire-starting Fuzzles. (This is all in the first book, Pip Bartlett’s Guide to Magical Creatures.) Even though Pip is a little worried that all of the adventures of the summer are over, she’s soon proven wrong when she finds out that the Triple Trident–the most famous unicorn show in the country–is being held right in Cloverton!
Because of her common sense during a crisis at the vet clinic, Pip is hired by Ms. Gould to keep her Rockshines (a sheep like animal that go invisible with any stress) calm and visible before the show. Pip is eager to get a chance to get behind the scenes at the Triple Trident, and even if Rockshines aren’t very glamorous, they’re still magical! And when she’s helping, Pip can watch the unicorns, her very favorite magical creature. Even if they are rather vain, they are beautiful.
Pip finds out that Regent Maximus, the only unicorn she knows personally, is entered in the show and goes to see him. But poor Regent Maximus is the complete opposite of what show unicorns are supposed to represent. Instead of being proud and majestic, he’s fearful and cowering. Mr. Henshaw, his owner, promptly hires Pip and Tomas to train him to be able to walk across the threshold of the stable and into the show ring. Two jobs!? Can they manage to help both adults with their magical animals?
Training is well underway with Regent Maximus and the rockshines when disaster strikes! Someone cuts off the beautiful tail of one of the unicorns. On purpose! Is someone trying to cheat so their unicorns win? Or is there a mysterious person trying to sabotage the show? Pip uses her own special talent–talking to magical creatures–to investigate. If they can discover who is responsible, they can figure out why. But even the magical creatures are flummoxed.
Can two kids manage to do everything that needs to be done? Can Pip still train Regent Maximus to compete with this creepy unicorn stalker on the prowl? Will Pip and Tomas solve the mystery before it’s too late?
The audio recording for Pip Bartlett’s Guide to Unicorn Training is absolutely delightful! There are two readers; one for Pip’s narration, and one to read the entries for Jeffrey Higgleston’s Guide to Magical Creatures.
I love both voices…Cassandra Morris sounds exactly like a girl who could talk to magical creatures, but she also sounds perfect as Aunt Emma, Callie, Mr. Henshaw and every other character who comes into the story. She does a wonderful voice for all the magical creatures, Regent Maximus in particular is perfect! Her voice is wonderfully paced for the action.
I would highly recommend both of the Pip Bartlett books, both as books and as audio. The book has lots of great pictures from Jeffrey Higgleston’s guide, with Pip’s comments and changes. So if you do listen to the book, you should also check out the print copy for all the extras! I don’t know how many more Pip Bartlett books are coming, but I hope that the series goes on for many volumes!
Pip Bartlett’s Guide books are probably best for third through sixth grade readers, but the audio is good for all ages–kids as young as five should enjoy both the humor and the mystery. Some similar titles are Fridays at the Castle by Jessica George, The Imaginary Veterinary series by Suzanne Selfors, and The Familiars series by Adam Jay Epstein and Andrew Jacobson.
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As always, if you need help finding a book or need suggestions for books to read, just ask one of our librarians!
::Kelly::
Almost time for the next school vacation! And if you need a book for a long car trip, I’ve got a good one!
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Pip Bartlett’s Guide to Magical Creatures
By Jackson Pearce and Maggie Stiefvater; Read by Cassandra Morris & Peter McGowan
4 Hours, 12 Minutes; 4 CDs
Pip Bartlett has an unusual talent…she can talk to magical animals. Miniature Silky Griffins, Bitterflunks, Unicorns, Emerald Dunking Ducks…if she meets it, she can talk to it. The problem is…no one believes her! Not her parents, not her classmates, not even her aunt, a veterinarian who specializes in magical creatures. So Pip has to keep her abilities a secret.
Then comes Career Day, when all the parents come to school to talk about their professions. Piece of cake, right? Pips parents are geologists and bring geodes for kids to examine; there’s a dad who’s a chef, a mom with the stringed instrument quartet, an antique dealer dad….and then there’s Marisol Barrra’s parents. Who raise unicorns. Pip LOVES unicorns! But unfortunately, unicorns love no one more than themselves, which Pip finds out from a vain unicorn named Raindancer as he tramples geodes, grills, violins and (almost) classmates and other unicorns, with Pip on his back!
After The Unicorn Incident, Pip is exiled to Cloverton, Georgia, to spend the entire summer with her Aunt Emma and cousin Callie. The best part to Pip will the the chance to help in the small vet clinic Aunt Emma runs. It seems like a vet clinic for magical creatures would be the perfect place for her, but it’s more difficult than you might think NOT to talk to creatures when they’re right in front of you. Things get a little heated when mysterious tiny fuzzles start popping up all over town, followed by fires that start small and grow to endanger everyone. Pip and her new friend Tomas jump from the frying pan into the fire when they realize that the fuzzles they’re trying to rescue are actually starting the fires. If that’s not bad enough, Mrs. Dreadbatch, from the Supernatural/Magical Animal Care, Keeping and Education Department, tries to close down Aunt Emma’s clinic and have the fuzzles exterminated. Can Pip and Tomas save the town from fire, the clinic from Mrs. Dreadbatch, AND the fuzzles from themselves? It’s a mystery and a rescue mission, all rolled into one!
I loved Pip Bartlett’s Guide to Magical Creatures! It was a fun and fast story, with lots of humor, an intriguing mystery, some great flights of imagination, and a wonderfully original character right in the middle of it all. Cassandra Morris narrates the story with lots of enthusiasm and great characterizations, while Peter McGowan jumps in to narrate the selections from Jeffrey Higgleston’s Guide to Magical Creatures, Pip’s source of information for everything magical…which she adds to once she meets a creature and agrees or disagrees with the description. In fact, if you listen to the audio book, you should definitely pick up the print book as well, so see the illustrations for each creature entry. Pip’s additions are humorous, and the illustrations are beautiful. If you don’t want to listen to the book on CD, Pip’s story would be a fun read-aloud for a family to read together.
Pip Bartlett would be a great family car trip book for everyone…kids as young as five or six would probably enjoy the story as much as adults, and it’s perfect for third through fifth graders. A second book just came out–Pip Bartlett’s Guide to Unicorn Training. I’m looking forward to reading and/or listening to that one too!
So come down to the library and check out Pip Bartlett’s Guide to Magical Creatures! And if someone else beats you to it, put it on hold and pick up something else while you wait. Similar titles would be Tuesdays at the Castle by Jessica Day George, Hatch! by Bruce Coville, or Ten in a Bed by Alan Ahlberg. Or ask one of our librarians for help finding something perfect, just for you!
::Kelly::
Tuesday is Two-for-One Fun Reads!
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The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig, Written by Eugene Trivizas, Illustrated by Helen Oxenbury
Everyone knows the story of the three little pigs and the big bad wolf. But how many people know about the three little wolves and the big bad pig?
This story starts off the same as the three little pigs story does, but wolves are apparently a little smarter than pigs, because these three little siblings START with a house of brick. Unfortunately for the wolves, big bad pigs are also a little smarter than big bad wolves. This big bad pig brings a sledgehammer in his bag of tools. What can three little wolves do when a big bad pig can destroy something made of concrete? Think again, and this time, go for smarter.
A fun reversal of the fairy tale. Kids in the know will appreciate the changes, and kids still finding out about fairy tales will enjoy the plot. And everyone will enjoy the humor!
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Somebody and the Three Blairs, Written by Marilyn Tolhurst, Illustrations by Simone Abel
One Sunday morning,
Mr. Blair, Mrs. Blair and Baby Blair were just sitting down to breakfast when they decided to take a walk before eating. That’s what most families do on a nice day, right? Mr. and Mrs. Blair want some fresh air, while Baby Blair just wants to “feeda ducks!”
While they were gone, Somebody came to the door. Somebody knocked, and when no one answered, Somebody tiptoed in…
Another fun fairy tale reversal, this time with the humans living in the house going out, and a friendly-looking bear coming in. And if you thought that Goldilocks caused some destruction? Wait until you see what Somebody is capable of! Parents will laugh, kids will giggle at the mayhem Somebody causes, and everyone will enjoy. This story is meant to be read aloud, so make sure you share it with your favorite listener!
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As always, ask one of our librarians if you need help looking for these books, or if you want our help with finding other great titles for the summer.
Happy Reading!
::Kelly::
Witches seem to be making a comeback in Children’s books this fall! Two old favorite titles and one author have all come back into print…after a couple decades of only being able to find them by scouring library book sales, family yard sales and used book stores. So exciting!
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Little Witch, by Anna Elizabeth Bennett was featured as an Old Favorite in this blog way back in our very first year! The book has now come out with a 60th anniversary edition, and it has lost none of it’s charm in all those years. Any reader who loves The Rainbow Fairies will enjoy this tale of Minikin Snickasnee, the daughter of a witch who wants only to make some friends. Of course, when friendship leads to testing out her mother’s potions, things get dangerous…fast!
Little Witch is consistently one of the top books on the “most in demand” annual list of out of print books. It’s wonderful that after thirty years, it’s back!
* * *
The Little Leftover Witch, by Florence Laughlin is another charming tale, back in print after over 40 years. Felina is a little witch who broke her broom on Halloween night, which left her stranded in a tree outside Lucinda Doon’s window. Lucinda manages to convince the little witch to come in and meet her parents, When Felina tells them that she cannot return to her witch world until the next Halloween, the Doons decide to give her and her cat Ichabody a home. But an untamed little witch does not make for a good house guest! Soon the Doons are helping Felina with everything from brushing her hair to learning not to curse…in the spell-casting kind of way. What happens over the course of that year will change Felina, Lucinda and the Doons forever.
* * *
And then there’s Ruth Chew, an author I adored when I was in elementary school. Her books have been out of print for a couple decades, and have been sought by the kids who read them since them. Not many survived, since they were mostly paperbacks, and the paper quality wasn’t the best. So I was extremely happy to hear that Random House is bringing back all her books, releasing two to three each season until her whole catalog is out again.
They’re starting with two favorites: What the Witch Left and No Such Thing as a Witch.
In What the Witch Left, Katy and Louse find a key which opens the forbidden bottom drawer of a dresser. The drawer was locked years ago when Katy’s Aunt Martha left some valuables there. The girls aren’t impressed with the “junk” they find in the drawer, until Katie tries on what looks like an old robe…and vanishes! It’s an invisibility cloak! As the girls find out what each item does, their adventures take them all around the world. Who knew that aunt Martha was a witch!
In No Such Thing as a Witch, Nora and her brother Tad have always been a little uneasy about their neighbor, Maggie Brown. The old lady seems nice, but strange things seem to happen around her house. Things like squirrels reading newspapers and talking dogs. It all seems to be connected to the fudge Maggie makes. Nora discovers that one piece makes you love animals; after two pieces you will be able to understand animal languages. Three pieces make people act like an animal, and four pieces..? You’re in trouble!
The next two titles will be released in the spring of 2014. I don’t know what they are yet, but I hope one of them will be The Wednesday Witch, which was my absolute favorite of all Chew’s titles. There are still a few libraries that own the original title. It’s definitely worth requesting from another Minuteman Library if you are a new Ruth Chew fan.
Even though they’re older books, the stories (especially Little Witch and The Little Leftover Witch) are timeless. I would say that they’re a solid third grade reading level, but are accessible to kids in second through fourth grades. They’re also fun to read-aloud, especially at this time of year. If you check our catalog (as I did this evening) you’ll find that the books are already checked out! So it might be best to put in a request if you want to read any of them.
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Because I was so excited about the return of these four titles, I made a witch display at the library to feature them! If you’re looking for one of these books, or any other tales featuring witches, come check it out. If you’d like to try a witchy recipe or craft, or see a booklist about witches, check out our first October Newsletter, featuring…witches, of course! And here it is:
(If you do happen to visit us at the library, check out Bella’s costume. She’s very proud of it.)
Happy Halloween!
::Kelly::
Time for a few more audio reviews! For some reason this month, they’re all fantasy-adventure stories. I guess I have a type.
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Earwig and the Witch
by Diana Wynne Jones, Narrated by Charlotte Parry
1 CD, 1 Hour
Earwig was left on the steps of St Morwald’s Home for Children as a baby with a note pinned to her shawl:
Got the other twelve witches all chasing me.
I’ll be back for her when I’ve shook them off.
It may take years.
Her name is Earwig.
Of course, Matron didn’t believe that anyone would name a child Earwig, so she called her Erica Wigg. That never stuck though, and Earwig became…Earwig.
One of the interesting things about living in an orphanage is when people show up looking to foster children. Earwig always manages to avoid being chosen though, because she likes living at St. Morwald’s. Where else would she be able to make everyone do whatever she wants? When potential foster parents come through, Earwig concentrates on looking unloveable. It’s always worked.
So when two strange people come in–the woman with one brown eye and one blue one in a mean face, with blue-rinsed hair and purple lipstick, wearing a brown suit with a green sweater and sky blue high-heeled boots, the man just a tall black blur in the air–looking for a child, Earwig looks unloveable. It doesn’t work. The couple seems to see right through her concentration, and they take her. Earwig tries to refuse, but she has no grounds for an objection. She goes to live with Bella Yaga and the Mandrake.
But the little house on Lime Street has some curious secrets. Why is it bigger on the inside than it is on the outside? Where are the doors to get out? How can Thomas the cat speak to Earwig? And what is Bella Yaga brewing in hter kitchen? Soon Earwig has her hands full figuring out the mysteries of her new home and practicing magic, as well as trying to make her place in the world.
The narration for Earwig and the Witch is quite charming…I love the narrator’s matter-of-fact approach to telling the story. All the characters have distinct voices and accents.
Earwig and the Witch was the last book Diana Wynne Jones completed before her death, and it’s an intriguing story. Somehow though, it feels like it was only the beginning of a tale that is much longer and more involved. I just wish she’d had the chance to write more about Earwig, Thomas and all the orphans at Saint Morwald’s. But for a quick car trip or to introduce Diana Wynne Jones to younger readers, this would be an excellent choice. I think kids as young as five would enjoy listening to Earwig’s story, and the book is aimed at second through fourth graders.
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Skulduggery Pleasant
by Derek Landy, Performed by Rupert Degas
6 CDs, 7 Hours, 30 minutes
Stephanie had always enjoyed her Uncle Gordon, even if he was a bit of a mystery. Part of that may be because he was a mystery writer, coming up with far-fetched horror plots where the hero never quite makes it through the book. But when Gordon dies and leaves the bulk of his estate to Stephanie, she’s as shocked as the rest of her family.
At the reading of the will, she meets the mysterious Skulduggery Pleasant. His only legacy from Gordon is a pithy piece of advice, but Stephanie is intrigued by his appearance. He wears a very fancy suit, gloves, a large hat, sunglasses and a scarf. There’s not a single bit of skin showing on his extremely thin frame. Stephanie and the rest of her family finds it very odd.
When Stephanie ends up alone in Gordon’s house–well, HER house now–overnight, she enjoys the time alone and the chance to read Gordon’s last manuscript. Just after midnight, when she’s finished reading, someone starts banging on the door. Stephanie tries to pretend she’s not there, but soon the prowler breaks into the house and attacks. He apparently wants something that he thinks Gordon left to Stephanie–something that is hidden in the house. Something Stephanie has no idea exists. She fights back, but Stephanie is no match for the mysteriously strong thug. She is saved by Skulduggery…who in the course of the fight reveals himself to be a living skeleton.
Stephanie is determined to learn what kind of craziness Uncle Gordon was involved in, and soon discovers that there is a whole other world which exists alongside the human world, populated by magic users, monsters and beings like Skulduggery, former humans transformed into something different by magic. As she works alongside Skulduggery, trying to find out who is trying to kill her, she learns that she has some magic skills of her own…
The CD recording of Skulduggery Pleasant is fun to listen to. I love the narrator’s accent, and his tone is full and rich. I was at first taken aback by the bridges between chapters and scenes…most of them feature spooky music but there are also rattling bones, echoing footsteps, and sudden screams. (My poor dog practically jumped out of the car the first time she heard the screams on a car ride.)
The narrator’s voice is surprisingly deep, but there are so many menacing adult male characters in the story that his voice is perfect. One thing that did throw me was that Skulduggery’s voice changed from disc to disc…on the first two CDs, he had a very deep voice with what sounded a bit like an American accent…but on the third CD, it was higher and had the same accent as most of the other characters. It was a small flaw in an otherwise masterful recording.
Skulduggery Pleasant is both a mystery and a fantasy story. It has two sequels–Playing with Fire and The Faceless Ones. The books do feature some magical fighting and contain some violence, so it’s probably better for older listeners. I would recommend the books and the recordings to kids in fourth through seventh grade.
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Flora Segunda: Being the Magickal Mishaps of a Girl of Spirit, Her Glass-Gazing Sidekick, Two Ominous Butlers (One Blue), a House with Eleven Thousand Rooms, and a Red Dog
by Ysabeau S. Wilce, Performed by Danielle Ferland
10 CDs, 11.25 Hours
Flora Fyrdraaca has problems. She’s the only Fyrdraaca at home, which makes her the one in charge of Crackpot Hall. As if being fourteen and preparing for her Catorcena ceremony wasn’t enough, she has to clean a house with 11,000 rooms, muck out horses stalls, care for the family dogs and watch out for Poppy, her father who lives in his Eyrie away from everyone else at the top of the house, has temper tantrums that destroy rooms and cause more work for Flora.
Even if Flora’s Mamma was home, the responsibility would still fall to Flora. Mamma, after all, is the Rock of Califa, the Commanding General of the Army of Califa, second only to the Warlord who rules the country. She is much too grand and busy to worry about the upkeep of the house. It would be different for Flora if Mamma hadn’t banished the Fyrdraacan Denizen, the magical entity who IS the house. But she did, and that’s why nothing in Crackpot Hall works. Even though there are 11,000 rooms, only a handful are actually accessible regularly.
So when Flora takes a forbidden shortcut and ends up in the Library, a room she has never before seen, she just has to explore. And when a skinny boy comes out of the gloomy stacks and introduces himself as Valefor, the family butler, Flora is amazed at how much Fyrdraaca family history he knows. But when he tells her that she can restore him to the healthy magical Denizen of Crackpot Hall by giving him a tiny taste of her will, Flora is intrigued. The pot is sweetened when he offers to restore some of the conveniences of the house with the rebuilding of his Will. Flora will have help cleaning, and cooking, and have fresh towels and sheets and someone to talk to while her Mamma is away and Poppy is hiding in his Eyrie. Flora agrees, and Valefor takes some energy.
Flora thought that things would get easier with Valefor’s help, but then Mamma comes home and she has to hide his presence. Mamma leaves shortly, but not before Flora’s snooping in Mamma’s office reveals that one of her heroes, the Dainty Pirate, is about to be hung.
Flora enlists her best friend Udo to help rescue the Dainty Pirate. But can two teenagers take on the entire forces of the country (not to mention the overlords and enemies of that country) to save one pirate? Some surprising people come to their aid, and some unsuspected villains are revealed as Flora and Udo take their lives into their hands to do what they think is right.
I loved the narrator of the Flora Segunda CD. The language in the story is quite different from most books, with a little bit or exotic flavor. The narrator’s voice is quirky, and her accent is just right for this book. There are terms thrown around that are not what you expect to hear, and yet they sound perfectly natural. It feels like the listener is in an entirely different world.
Flora has to deal with some difficult issues in her life–her father has PTSD and drinks, her mother is away too much, her family tree is riddled with strange characters–yet her charm and innocence and determination comes through. But because of that, I would recommend both the book and the book on CD for kids in fifth through ninth grade.
And if you like Flora Segunda, try the two sequels: Flora’s Dare and Flora’s Fury.
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So if you’re in the mood for a good fantasy book of CD for a car trip, a bedtime listen, or just to play for fun, try one of these. They’re sure to be a hit with the right listeners.
If you need suggestions for your next book on CD, please ask one of our librarians. We’ll be happy to help you find the perfect story for your family!
::Kelly::
BellaOnBooks's Blog 