#mrl4

[books4yourkids]

Masterpiece by Elise Broach, illustrations by Kelly Murphy 288 pp RL4

MASTERPIECE is now in PAPERBACK!!!

This is such a fabulous book, and a great read-out-loud for the 5 and under crowd who are ready for a more complex story that is still gentle and only a little suspenseful...

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In the great tradition of EL Konigsburg's masterpiece of children's literature, From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs Basil E Frankweiler, with a little Cricket in Times Square thrown in, comes Elise Broach's fantastic new mystery, Masterpiece, with superb illustrations by the wonderful Kelly Murphy, doing double duty as the illustrator of the text and the artist behind the creations of Marvin, the beetle with a true artistic gift.

Masterpiece involves drawings by the great German artist Albrecht Durer, art theft, forgery, the FBI and beetles, not necessarily in that order. Marvin is a beetle living the good life in the walls of the Pompaday aprtment in New York City. He has loving and attentive parents, a large extended family and William Pompaday, an unruly baby who drops plentiful (for beetles) amounts of food on the floor of the kitchen. When we first meet Marvin, he is being awakened from a deep slumber to come to the aid of his family and Mrs Pompaday, who has dropped a contact lens down the drain of the bathroom sink. Like the Borrowers and The Littles, the beetles repay the food and objects they take from the humans by performing helpful tasks around the apartment, such as repairing small appliances and helping locate lost items. This is an act of self-preservation as well, as it keeps electricians, plumbers and the likes from poking about and possibly uncovering the beetles' homes, ensuring the next visitor to the apartment would be the exterminator. Marvin takes his peanut-shell-floatie and gamely hops down the drain and retrieves the contact lens, which is deposited in a not too obvious spot after being excavated from the drain pipe.

Marvin is a cautious, thoughtful and observant beetle who, despite the insistence of his parents otherwise, believes that humans can be friends with bugs based on the time he has spent watching James, Mrs Pompaday's son from a previous marriage to the abstract painter, Karl Terik. Mrs Pompaday takes her career as a relator a little too seriously and is always mixing business with pleasure. James' eleventh birthday party, brilliantly described as a "boisterous disaster" by Broach, takes place shortly after the contact lens incident and is attended by the children of Mrs Pompaday's clients, or people she would like to be clients and none of James' friends, if he in fact has any. The disappointing afternoon is topped off with a visit from James' father and the gift of a pen and ink set that his mother feels will result in a horrible mess for sure. Dispiritedly, James makes a few experimental scribbles and writes his name with the pen then goes to bed, leaving the bottle of ink open. When Marvin goes to James' room that night to deliver his birthday present, he sees the ink and is overcome by the desire to try drawing with it. He dips his arms into the ink and produces a remarkable miniature sketch of the scene outside James' window. And this is where the story really takes off!

James discovers Marvin and his picture in the morning and is delighted. But, he is even more taken with Marvin himself. Amid the excitement of his parents over what is perceived to be James' drawing and his newly uncovered artistic potential, James and Marvin forge a friendship and a form of communication (Marvin cannot talk, to James anyway) that allows them to get along pretty well, despite several life threatening situations for Marvin and many nights passed without his parents knowing where he is, if he is alive or dead. In one of many climactic scenes in Masterpiece, Marvin is faced with the choice of letting his friend down or disobeying his mother, who is standing right next to him. Like Lynne Jonell's enthralling Emmy and the Incredible Shrinking Rat, Broach goes back and forth between the insect/rodent world and the human world, bringing up important issues to be resolved in each, and making important points about choices, actions and decisions in each as well. Broach sprinkles her story with important observations about the nature of life, beauty and art throughout. The imaginary Virtue drawings by Durer are representations of Fortitude, Justice, Temperance and Prudence, and being an important part of the story, they get discussed somewhat philosophically throughout Masterpiece, with Plutarch and Nietzsche's names even being bandied about. But one of my favorite lines in Masterpiece is spoken by Marvin's mother who, when asked by Marvin why beetles don't get divorced after he has been pondering feelings that James shared with him about his parent's divorce answers, "Well, our lives are so short, darling. What would be the point? We have so little time, we must spend it as happily as possible...And we expect a lot less than people do. If we get through a day without being stepped on, with a little food to fill our bellies, a safe place to bed down for a few hours, and ou family and friends close by - well, that's a good day, isn't it?" Simple as it is, I feel like I would do well to adopt a more beetle-ish outlook on my own life...

As I said, there is a mystery in this book that involes James posing as the artist of a forged Durer to be used as bait for an art thief. Beyond that, I can't say much more without giving away too many surprises. And there are surprises. I gasped out loud at one point and couldn't stop reading until I finished the book after that point. Broach does a masterful job of weaving many fascinating elements into her superb story.

Don't miss these other fantastic books by Elise Broach!

 one of the best picture books of 2008, and all time, really...

 When Dinosaurs Came with Everything

a fantastic and rare mystery for middle schools, and one that involves Shakespeare!

Shakespeare's Secret 

And don't miss the Superstition Mountain Trilogy, of which the first two books have been published:

Source: Purchased

[books4yourkids]

Running Out of Time by Margaret Haddix Peterson, 192 pp RL 4

I read Running Out Time by Margaret Haddix Peterson, a former journalist, after a week of reading Lois Lowry's books The Giver, Gathering Blue and The Messenger. I didn't start to think about similarities between them until I noticed a quote on the back of Haddix's book by Newbery winner Richard Peck (A Year Down Yonder, 2001) that reads, "If Ray Bradbury had written The Giver, the result might rival Margaret Peterson Haddix' Running Out of Time." I don't think I agree with this assessment but, before I launch into my opinion, I'll lay out the plot.

Jessie Keyser is a young girl living in Clifton, Indiana. The year is 1840 and Jessie is happy with her life. Her mother is a midwife and she accompanies her when she visits the sick sometimes. Her father is the town blacksmith, and a very good one at that. Jessie is a daredevil, not like her older sister Hannah, who is already sweet on a boy. One night after going with her mother to the house of yet another sick child who needed to be quarantined, Ma pulls her aside and tells Jessie to meet her at remote rock out in the woods tomorrow and to tell no one. Within the first 21 pages of the book Jessie learns that she is not really living in 1840 as she and all of the other children of Clifton believed, but in 1996. Their home is really in the middle of a forest preserve that houses the tourist attraction that is the village of Clifton, not at the edge of an unsettled frontier, and there is a diphtheria outbreak that is not being treated properly because there was no cure for it in 1840. Jessie is the only person who can fit into the contemporary clothes that her mother smuggled into the village with her when they moved in twelve years ago, so she is the only one who might be able to escape and save the children.

Built by Miles Clifton twelve years earlier, Clifton Village is like the restored, working village of Williamsburg, VA, except that the tourists view the villagers through two-way mirrors and on special video feeds rather than interacting with them. Clifton is also a little bit like the PBS reality shows of a few years back, The 1900 House, which focused on one modern British family that agreed to live (in front of the cameras) for three months exactly as their ancestors had one hundred years earlier. This is an EXCELLENT series, by the way, and I highly recommend it for family viewing. PBS also produced Frontier House set in 1883 Montana, which focused on three very different families who had to build their own homes and survive for six months and, of course, had more bickering and personal issues as part of the drama than a show with only one family at the center. Next came Colonial House, which was set in "The New World," 1628 and focused on village life as well as individual struggles of of contemporary people trying to survive in the past and then Texas Ranch House, set in 1867. Once Jessie escapes, the rest of Running Out of Time is taken up with her race to get help and escape the person her mother said would be sure to help her. The explanation at the end of the book, which a reporter helps a hospitalized Jessie, who herself has come down with the disease, unravel, was a bit unsatisfying. It turns out that Mr Clifton, a millionaire, was urged by a scientist to use Clifton Village as a front for an experiment in how to breed a race of super strong humans who could survive epidemics. The hope was that the children born in Clifton would be experimented on with viruses and those who lived would be the strongest and go on to create an even stronger generation of children when they married and reproduced. I actually described it more specifically than Haddix does in the novel. Everything is pretty much detailed for an 8 - 10 year old mentality, which, considering the subject matter, is probably a good thing. I just can't help thinking how Lois Lowry managed to broach similar topics in a more philosophical, elegant way and in as many pages in her book The Giver. By using metaphors, like the loss of the ability to see color or hear music and the significance of memories, Lowry manages to pose so many important "what ifs" as well as incorporate suspense and danger into her story. Running Out of Time is Haddix's first book for young adults. Two years later, JK Rowling's Harry Potter and the Sorcers's Stone would be published in the United States and the world of fantasy and even science fiction books for children would be changed forever. Yet, young adult literature was not necessarily a fallow field waiting to be seeded, either. The Giver won the Newbery in 1994, proving that thought provoking, philosophical themes could be read and enthusiastically grasped by young readers. In that light, Running Out of Time was a bit of a disappointment for me. As with her newest book, Found, the first book The Missing Series, I felt like Haddix had a home-run idea with a great plot twist, I just didn't care for how she executed her ideas and this has presented me with a great challenge as a book reviewer, especially one of children's books. I do not ever want to be in to position of discouraging any child from reading a book and, were I at work, I certainly would never tell a child who picked up this book that I didn't enjoy it. I am an adult reader and I have different tastes, naturally. As a reviewer of children's books on a blog that I assume is read mostly by adults, my goal is to introduce parents to books and authors I think are valuable in terms of creativity, writing skill, and ability to imbue their characters with emotions and actions genuine to children. However, I also want to provide parents with as many options as possible. As the parent of a voracious reader, I don't mind (too much) when my daughter reads a book that I consider to be "less than literary" because I know that she will read something more challenging and enriching one or two books later. As the parent of a child who only grudgingly reads fiction, I am happy when he reads almost anything from start to finish and for both those reasons I think there is value in reviewing this book and calling it to your attention. But, I also think that it is important to share my criticisms, especially after starting the review with Richard Peck's quote. Comparing Running out of Time and The Giver is a little like comparing a made-for-television movie with an Oscar winner, or a Hostess cupcake with a homemade chocolate lava cake...

So, while I was disappointed that my needs as an adult reader were not met while reading Running Out of Time and I kept thinking of ways Haddix could have expanded and explored the great plot idea further while giving dimension to her characters, I am grateful that this book is short and simple enough to be read by a fourth grader or even a high reading third grader and maybe even get a reader's wheels spinning a little.

[books4yourkids]

The Castle Corona by Sharon Creech, illuminated by David Diaz, 320 pp RL 4

The Castle Corona is now in paperback and I would like to call this wonderful book to your attention - again! My apologies to those of you who have already read this review, and to those of you who haven't, I hope it inspires you to seek out this beautiful, gentle story. And, I am happy to report that the paperback has all of the gorgeous, colorful, illuminated manuscript style artwork of the hardcover.

I am embarrassed to admit that this is the first book by Newbery Award winning author Sharon Creech that I have read. I picked this up thinking that it would be a good candidate for Fairy Tale Fridays, but after reading it I'm not sure if it fits that description since there are no fairy folk, magical creatures or even magic and there is no true evil, villainous character, either. It is more of a parable, a story with a moral lesson. Usually, I shy away from kid's books that claim to teach "life lessons," but this book makes no claim of that sort and its lesson is both subtle and natural, fitting well with the setting and plot of the story. And, having read this in the same week that I read Kate DiCamillo's The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, which is a story with a moral lesson that is the opposite of subtle, I find Sharon Creech's story telling skills even more amazing in comparison.

The Castle Corona has to be one of the most beautifully decorated chapter books published in recent years. Speaking about the book, Sharon Creech said that, having lived in Europe for nineteen years, she has long been fascinated by castles. That clearly influenced the medieval setting for the Castle Corona and the appearance of this book. David Diaz's gorgeous illuminated manuscript-like illustrations at the start of each chapter, along with other gold-leaf style decorations give this book a true historical feel. While there are no specific incidents from history in the book, the story clearly takes place during a time that is feudal, with kings in their castles and peasants in the village. Creech also imbues an Italian feel, with most of the characters having Italian names like Guido, Gianni, Vito and Fabrizia. While the village, castle and countryside are described vividly, this is very much a character driven story and there is a large cast of characters to meet. As Creech describes on the first page before chapter one begins, (followed by a beautifully illuminated page that reads, "Long ago and far away...") in the castle there is a king who longs for a nap, a queen who longs for solitude, a prince who loves poetry, a princess who loves herself, a spare prince who loves his sword and a hermit who is wise. In the village, there is a peasant girl who dreams of flying, her brother who dreams of horses, a master who dreams of turnips and an old woman who keeps secrets.

The secret, or not so secret desires and shortcomings of the royals are explored as they interact with each other, a pompous visiting Count and Countess, the hermit and, eventually the villagers. They learn about themselves and the importance of their choices and actions through the stories that the wordsmith tells them evenings after meals. When the king learns that a thief has been spotted in his kingdom he begins an immediate inventory to determine what has been stolen. This sets off a chain of events that brings two peasant children, Pia and Enzio, to the Castle Corona. Pia and Enzio are the servants of Pangini, a vegetable seller who overworks and underfeeds them. Sister and brother, they have almost no memories of their parents and life before Pangini, but they have a game they play where they imagine the lives that they wish they were living. When they find a pouch in the woods one day, a chain of events that changes their lives forever begins to unwind as well.

This story flows and rolls along like the sunflower covered hills of Tuscany in summer. The reader comes to feel sympathy for Pia and Enzio as well as the Queen, and there is never any real sense of danger that occurs. Although Pangini is just selfish and stingy enough to make the reader sympathize with the plight of the siblings, there are no horrible, cruel adults as in other fairy tales and children's books that give a sense of urgency to the story. The King is a bit simpleminded and the Queen is patient and well intentioned. The spare prince, Vito, can be a bit aggressive and menacing at times, but it comes to nothing. Princess Fabrizia, the spoiled brat, eventually tires of herself and seeks to change her ways. And, Prince Gianni takes tentative steps toward writing his own poetry. Pia and Enzio improve their situations as well, although I will not reveal what and how...

The Castle Corona is a refreshing change of pace from the usual fantasies with magic, witches and wizards and novels set in the present with sassy kids and harried parents. The chapters are short and great for bedtime reading. However, as an avid reader of the above described books, I found myself wondering where the climax of the story went. When the mystery of Pia and Enzio's parentage, as well as the explanation for the contents of the pouch occurs, it comes in the form of a story told by the wordsmith. It is roundabout, but at the same time reinforces the themes of imagination and self-discovery through story-telling. And this, I think, is the real subtle gift and genius that Sharon Creech achieves with this book.

If your reader likes this book, try any of Gail Carson Levine's Princess books, including Ella Enchanted. The Royal Realms will seem somewhat familiar. As will the setting of Cornelia Funke's Inkworld Trilogy. However, the scenario is a much darker one, with more medieval type battles and suffering...

[books4yourkids]

Ranger's Apprentice by John Flanagan, 249 pp Rl 4

This book was first published in the US in 2005 and the fifth book in the series is due out soon. Ranger's Apprentice is not my usual taste, although I would have gotten around to reading it to review at some point in the interest of finding good books for boys. However, I bumped this title to the top of my list after a chat I had with a customer. She was an older woman, a grandma maybe, with an armful of some really great young adult books. I commented on what she was purchasing and we fell into a discussion of kid's books. It turned out that she was buying the books for herself and her husband and they were both avid readers of young adult fiction. She went on to tell me that she and her husband both loved the Ranger's Apprentice series by John Flanagan and that her sixty year old, reserved husband was in tears at the end of book four. That sold me. I ran to the library and checked out the book and the audio, hoping I could entice my eleven year old son who does not enjoy fiction into giving the series a try. I'm not sure if he will read it, but my husband is hooked!

This is a very solidly written book with engaging characters and lots of detail given to the art of combat as well as the skills needed to track and attack the enemy. This book could almost be historical fiction and reminded me often of Avi's Newbery winning Crispin: The Cross of Lead as well as Nancy Farmer's Sea of Trolls series.. However, there are the dangerous creatures ruled by Morgarath, the Wargals and the Kalkara. Book One: The Ruins of Gorlan is the story of Will, a fifteen year castle ward. Orpahns whose parents served the lord of the castle are taken in and cared for and given apprentice jobs at the age of fifteen, often jobs that their station in life, had their parents lived, would have been denied them. Will does not know his last name but he does know that his father died a hero fighting Morgarath, Lord of the Mountains of Rain and Night, in a huge battle that was barely won by the kingdom of Araluen. He believes his father was a knight and wants to go to Battleschool to follow in his footsteps. Unbeknownst to Will, the Ranger Halt has been watching him and wants him for his own apprentice. Rangers are mysterious, cloaked figures, one of whom lives in each of the fifty fifes that make up the kingdom. They have different ways from the knights, moving in secrecy and solitude. However, they also provided the intelligence that won the battle with Morgarath and, though feared by some they are also respected. Will is disappointed at first, but soon comes to thrive as Halt trains him in the ways of the Rangers. Simultaneously, his friends Jenny, Alyss, George and Horace are baing trained as cook, diplomat, scribe and knight. Horace, once a thorn in Will's side, finds himself being noticed for his skills at Battleschool by both the lords and upperclassmen with an axe to grind.

Because of the subject matter in this book, there is quite a bit of fighting - between Will and Horace, Horace and the bullies, boars and knights, knights and Wargals, Rangers and Kalkara. Fighting isn't really my thing and I'll be honest, I skimmed the fight scenes to find out who came out with the fewest wounds, and who came out at all. What I did enjoy was the hard won respect that Will and Horace achieved by the end of the book and the tiny beginnings of relationships with the other wards from the castle. Actually, I was thrown by a kiss at the end of the book between Alyss and Will. I had forgotten that they are fifteen year olds and, in medieval days would probably be marrying sometime soon. There is also a nice reveal at the end of the book with regards to Will's father - one that I didn't see coming.

I think this is a good enough series for a young boy (or girl) to read while he is waiting to be ready for Tolkein's Lord of the Rings or TH White's The Once and Future King. For now, Flanagan has staked out a niche, as far as genre and reading level goes, that has not been taken up by a series before. And, I suspect that his writing improves and becomes richer and more detailed with each book in the series.

[books4yourkids]

The Sisters Grimm by Michael Buckley, pictures by Peter Ferguson 284pp RL 4

How could I not love these books? How can I keep myself from going on and on about how much I love these books, especially since there are nine of them? I will try to contain myself to an overview of the series rather than reviews of the individual books and beg you to please visit the site Sisters Grimm to learn more about the series, but really, just go out and get book one, The Sisters Grimm: The Fairy Tale Detectives today! For those of you already knee-deep into the series, check out this video interview conducted by a young fan at the virtual field trip site, Meet Me at the Corner. For  AMAZING website for fairy tale lovers, Sur la Lune Fairy Tales.

With the Sisters Grimm series, Michael Buckley proves that he is so completely creative, ingenious and hilarious that I will be jealous of him until the day I die. I wish I had thought of this! Even more so, I wish I had thought of a story line that allowed me to play, in writing, with all of my favorite fairy tale characters. The overall conceit of the series is that the writings of Wilhelm and Jacob Grimm were not tales, but history books recounting the exploits of the Everafters, or the characters from fairy tales (as well as other books like The Wizard of Oz and Alice in Wonderland, to name a few.) When it seemed as though the Everafters were getting out of control and unable to coexist alongside humans the Brothers Grimm teamed up with the powerful witch from Slavic folklore, Baba Yaga, to cast a spell that would keep all of the Everafters contained in one city - Ferryport Landing, NY. The caveat to the spell is that a direct descendant of the Grimms must always live in Ferryport Landing and record the goings on of the Everafter as well as police them. Evil characters being a crucial element of fairy tales, of course there are several disgruntled Everafters who are not happy with this arrangement and always looking for a way out of Ferryport Landing. However, there are also a few Grimms who are not happy with the arrangement either... There are also Everafters who find other ways of getting into trouble and breaking laws and Granny Relda, widow of Basil Grimm (a nice aside, Buckely dedicates book one to his grandparents, Basil and Relda) is always there to crack the case and find out who is behind each crime.

When the series begins, Sabrina and Daphne Grimm, ages eleven and seven, have spent the last year and a half in orphanages and foster homes since the disappearance of their parents, but are now on their way to live with a grandmother they had believed to be dead. Sabrina has taken on the role of protector and skeptic, understandable considering some of the foster parents they have escaped from, while Daphne remains sunny and inquisitive and pretty much the seven year old she is. The girls are welcomed lovingly to Ferryport Landing by Granny Relda, her companion Mr Canis and her Great Dane, Elvis, who is often comic relief. Granny Relda does not tell the girls anything about their father or extended family initially, and even deflects some of the girls' questions. She doles out information, bit by bit, over the course of the books mostly for the girls' own safety, but also because, knowing Sabrina is so skeptical, she wants to gain her trust and give her an accurate, favorable impression of the family and world she has unwillingly become part of. A secondary plot line involves The Scarlet Hand, an secret organization of Everafters and their evil machinations. And, in every book, there is always a different crime or mystery to be solved by Granny Relda and the girls and assorted Everafters.

This series full of action and adventure, but for me it is character driven, and perhaps it has to be since readers are somewhat familiar with almost all of the fairy tale characters who pop up in this story in one way or another. However, I find myself completely taken with the characters I haven't met before - Sabrina, Daphne and Granny Relda. Over the course of six books, thus far, Buckley has imbued Granny Relda with humanity, compassion, patience and understanding. She has a deep love for and acceptance of her family and their individual qualities, whether they love their lot in life or loathe it. She also has some nice quirks, like a rusted out jumble of an old car that has rope seat belts and is so loud that it is impossible to converse when the engine is running. She also fully embraces her role of guard, protector and keeper of Everafters and has a house full of books to keep her knowledgeable - Birds of Oz, Shoes, Toys and Cookies: The Elvish Handcraft Tradition, 365 Ways to Cook a Dragon and Architecture for Pigs, among many. Relda also has an arsenal of magical objects at her disposal, guarded by Mirror - the wicked step-mother of Snow White's magic mirror. Mirror is actually an eccentric, droll man who lives inside the mirror (which is an "arcane powered, multi-phasic, trans-dimensional pocket universe") and is always on hand to help the girls out of a scrape or lend them a flying carpet or ruby slippers from the Hall of Wonders, or, as Granny calls it, the world's biggest walk-in closet. Another nice touch is Granny's questionable culinary skill. The first meal she serves the girls, spaghetti and meatballs, consists of black noodles, orange sauce and green meatballs and smells both sweet and spicy at the same time. The characters of Sabrina and Daphne are rich with determination, stubbornness, and an evolving maturity that can be moving to witness. They also have lighter sides. One the funniest running gags is Daphne's continual excitement at meeting Everafters. Every time she sees one of her favorites for the first time she shoves her the heel of her palm into her mouth to keep from squealing. Another story line full of laughs involves Sabrina and Puck, the Trickster (Faerie) King of mythology and star of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. Despite her mistrust of and sometimes prejudice against Everafters, Sabrina finds herself with a bit of a crush on him.

Puck and Mr Canis are among the most richly written, detailed Everafter characters that Buckley evolved/created. Everafters, who are eternal, can choose to age and stop aging at will and, those who are animals, such as The Three Pigs, can take on human appearances at times. Puck has chosen to remain somewhere between age 11- 13 and, finding plenty of mischief to make in Ferryport Landing does not mind his imprisonment there. While he is initially jealous that the Sisters Grimm have usurped his role as sometimes-visiting-only-child in Granny Relda's home, he teams up with them to fight a giant in book one. As the books and his relationship with Sabrina and the Grimms progress, he changes and matures along with the girls. Reluctant protector and at odds with his mischievous nature, Puck gradually grows into his role and place in their family. However, he still pulls some really great gags on Sabrina (in the way that boys often tease girls they like) one of which involves a black Sharpie marker and the all-caps words CAPTAIN DOODIEFAICE.

Mr Canis has his own interesting background and is a prime example of Granny Relda's compassionate nature. If you plan to read these books and want to be surprised STOP READING HERE!! If not, continue on for a description of Mr Canis' true nature.

Mr Canis, or The Big Bad Wolf, or Tobias Clay, has his story told in book six. I can't go into too many details because there are other story lines intertwined with his, but I can tell you that Mr Canis has almost no memory of the man he was, Tobias Clay, before a witch with a magical kazoo unleashed the insanity that she sucked out of a rabid wolf on him. The magical kazoo makes its way into the hands of the Three Pigs and eventually Sabrina and Daphne. Mr Canis, the man Tobias Clay becomes, spends centuries practicing a Zen-like meditation that allows him to keep his wolf-nature in check and serve as a body guard to the Grimms in an effort to atone for his crimes. While protecting them in book one he accidentally tastes the blood of Jack the Giant Killer and gradually loses control of himself over the course of the next four books. By book six we see him on trial for his crimes, utterly defeated and ready to die. But Granny Relda won't let him Despite a conviction on Sabrina's part that he should be left to hang - one that causes a deep rift between her and Granny - Relda digs and digs until she reveals the truth of his existence as the Big Bad Wolf.

I feel like I can't say this enough, so I will say it one more time. The Sisters Grimm series by Michael Buckey - with beautiful, sometimes moody, sometimes playful full-page black and white drawings in each chapter and more traditional, silhouettes at the heading of each chapter by Peter Ferguson - is, along the Artemis Fowl series by Eoin Colfer, the BEST fantasy series for children written since JK Rowling introduced us to Harry Potter in 1997. All three series have authors with amazingly creative imaginations and the writing skills to transfer those ideas onto paper, creating full blown characters and complete magical worlds that draw the reader in immediately. The genuine human qualities and personal growth that the characters exhibit cause you to care about them, maybe even fall in love with them and yearn to hear more of their stories with every book.

Five of the six books in the series are currently in paperback, and at the end of books one and two there is a great "Guide to Fairy Tales and the Sisters Grimm." It includes a letter from Michael Buckley about the creation of the books, brief descriptions of what fairy tales are and how they are different but also a bit the same all over the world, a bit about the Brothers Grimm, "Basic Ingredients" for fairy tales, a quiz and inspirations for kids to write their own fairy tales and a list of suggested fairy tale reading.

[books4yourkids]

Barnaby Grimes and the Curse of the Night Wolf by Paul Stewart, pictures by Chris Riddell, 240 pp RL 4

Barnaby Grimes and the Curse of the Night Wolf is the latest series by the duo Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell, who brought us Far-Flung Adventures for third grade readers and the Edge Chronicles for fifth and sixth grade readers. The Barnaby Grimes books fall nicely between these two. Written at a fourth grade reading level, this series is set in pre-1900s London and is full of curiosities like high stacking, tick-tock lads and cordials as well as a host of British names that trip over the toungue, Cadwallader and Jolyon to name a few. While the Edge Chronicles and the Far-Flung Adventures take place in wonderfully described, detail laden imaginary worlds that are populated by fictional creatures and odd human beings, Barnaby Grimes' story takes place in a real city, albeit one that is equally laden with details and creatures, all of which, except for one or two, are factually based.

At its heart, this book is a mystery and a thriller and it has a fair amount of blood and violence befitting its subject and time - werewolves and the grimy, impoverished world of a post-Industrial city. Stewart takes as much care describing the poorer and the poorest neighborhoods of London and their inhabitants as he does the werewolves and their rampages through the city. His eye for minutiae that made his imaginary worlds so totally livable in his other series is used here to draw you into the gritty, smelly streets of the Wasp's Nest and the East Bank along with Barnaby, who, as a tick-tock lad, delivers messages and packages all over the city.

While high stacking one evening, high stacking being the habit of climbing onto the top of a building in order to jump from roof to roof, clinging to chimney stacks as you go, Barnaby is attacked by a great grey wolf. Despite a horrible burn on his shoulder from a hot chimney pot, he manages to evade the wolf and send him crashing through a skylight and into a vat of glue boiling away in the glue factory below. From that night on, he winds his way through a series of clients, clues and cordials that lead him to discover the genesis of the night wolf, the real purpose of Dr Cadwallader's Cordial and the source of the luxurious Westpahlian fur that is being used to trim the collars and cuffs of the fashionable swells and fine ladies of London.

I am a huge fan of the works of Stewart and Riddell, as well as a lover of all things British, so this book was a genuine treat for me. While I am not such a huge fan of creatures like werewolves and the havoc they wreak, there was so much else going on in this story, from the descriptions of the characters Barnaby encounters to the squalid details of the lives of the lower classes, that I was entertained and riveted from the start. While this strikes me as mostly a book for boys, I think it will have crossover appeal, as do the other series by this team. Older readers who enjoyed this book should not miss the Edge Chronicles and younger readers looking for something a bit more light hearted should definitely check out the Far-Flung Adventures.

If your daughter likes this book, I strongly recommend the Enola Holmes series by Nancy Springer, the first of which is The Case of the Missing Marquess. Springer imagines that Sherlock Holmes' mother has had a daughter, Enola, very late in life. Because of the eccentricities of her mother, which really turnout to be proto-feminist ideas about independence and the right to ownership and inheritance for women, Enola does not know her brother, only knows of him. This all changes when her mother disappears on Enola's fourteenth birthday. Enola follows the cryptic clues left behind by her mother and ends up on the trail of a missing Viscount and a phony spiritualist as well. Springer evokes the period beautifully and creates an initially timid, but very intelligent, emotional and sympathetic character in Enola, who evolves nicely over the course of the book, which ends with her setting up her own investigative agency, posing as the secretary but doing all of the work on her own. There are currently four books in this series, the fifth due out in 2009.

[books4yourkids]

Silverwing, by Kenneth Oppel 214pp RL 4

With Silverwing, Kenneth Oppel creates a fascinating world of bats, complete with a creation myth, a social hierarchy, and a troubled history as a creature that falls somewhere between the warring factions of mammals and birds. The cover illustration, subject matter and presence of cannibalistic vampire bats make this sound like a very dark story. But it is not. It is full of carefully drawn characters who show curiosity, compassion and bravery as well as foolishness, laziness and cowardice.

Shade, the main character, a Silverwing bat and the runt of the newborns, is curious, defiant and eager to prove himself. He is also desperate to learn anything about his father, Cassiel, who has disappeared and is believed to be dead. Shade lives with his mother, Ariel, and the rest of the Silverwing community in Tree Haven, the warm weather nursery for the colony. Within the first few pages of the book, Shade breaks the time honored code that keeps an uneasy peace between owls and bats: bats are not allowed to be out of their roost when the sun rises, if they are, they will be hunted by the owls as fair game. Sensing his inquisitiveness and thirst for knowledge, Frieda, the chief elder of the colony who has a silver band on her arm, takes Shade to visit the Echo Chamber, a smooth walled cavern deep within Tree Haven where the bats have sung the history of the colony ever year since its inception. There he learns that this agreement with the owls stems from an incident that occurred millions and millions of years ago. In their bats creation story, Nocturna, the Winged Spirit whose wingspan was the night sky, created the beasts and birds that populated the earth and bats flew in the day light. But, a war between the beasts and birds ensued and each side asked the bats to join up with them and fight. The bats refused and, when a peace treaty was worked out and the bats were banished to the night and after thousands of years of living in the dark, bats were no longer able to survive in the light. Nocturna, unable to undo the banishment, gave the bats gifts. She darkened their fur so they would blend in with the night and she gave them echo vision so they could hunt i the dark. She also gave them the Promise. One day, when the moon moves in front of the the sun and causes darkness in day light, the bats will be free to fly and will not have to fear the claws of the owls or the jaws of the beasts.

Unfortunately, that day does not come before Shade decides to see the sunrise and incurs the wrath of the owls. When his mother and Frieda refuse to turn him over to the owls as compensation for breaking the law, the owls set Tree Haven on fire. The bats take wing, flying south to Stone Hold, their hibernaculum and Shade's journey begins when a storm separates him from his mother. But, not before she sings him an echo map teaching him the landmarks to look for as they travel to Stone Hold since, as a newborn, Shade has never migrated before. Shade is befriended by Marina, a banded Brightwing bat who has been exiled from her colony because of this. The bands and what each colony believes they represent, whether a good sign or a bad omen, is the fascinating mystery that threads through this book and ultimately accounts for the climax. He also meets Zephyr, a blind, albino bat with a star map on his wings and the knowledge to heal with herbs, Scirocco, a bat who interprets the Promise to mean that bats will become human and walk on two legs and Romulus and Remus, sewer rat kings before his journey is over.

But, this is just the beginning. There are three more books that follow the lives of the bats as of this writing. While this is normally not the kind of book I would choose to read, I was drawn to it when I first saw it ten years ago - maybe it was the cover art, done by SD Schindler, who illustrated the Cat Wings Quartet by Ursula le Guin. Nevertheless, I was won over by the humanity and compassion of the bats and their struggles. Kenneth Oppel is a wonderful addition to the fantasy genre and, if you have readers who don't mind a 500+ page book, I strongly recommend his trilogy Airborn, Skybreaker and the soon to be published Starclimber. Oppel has created an alternate universe where the skies are ruled by luxury airships and an unknown creature. Matt Cruse and Kate DeVries are the well written, teenage characters who drive, um, fly, the plot...

[books4yourkids]

Running Out of Time by Margaret Haddix Peterson, 192 pp RL 4

I read Running Out Time by Margaret Haddix Peterson, a former journalist, after a week of reading Lois Lowry's books The Giver, Gathering Blue and The Messenger. I didn't start to think about similarities between them until I noticed a quote on the back of Haddix's book by Newbery winner Richard Peck (A Year Down Yonder, 2001) that reads, "If Ray Bradbury had written The Giver, the result might rival Margaret Peterson Haddix' Running Out of Time." I don't think I agree with this assessment but, before I launch into my opinion, I'll lay out the plot.

Jessie Keyser is a young girl living in Clifton, Indiana. The year is 1840 and Jessie is happy with her life. Her mother is a midwife and she accompanies her when she visits the sick sometimes. Her father is the town blacksmith, and a very good one at that. Jessie is a daredevil, not like her older sister Hannah, who is already sweet on a boy. One night after going with her mother to the house of yet another sick child who needed to be quarantined, Ma pulls her aside and tells Jessie to meet her at remote rock out in the woods tomorrow and to tell no one. Within the first 21 pages of the book Jessie learns that she is not really living in 1840 as she and all of the other children of Clifton believed, but in 1996. Their home is really in the middle of a forest preserve that houses the tourist attraction that is the village of Clifton, not at the edge of an unsettled frontier, and there is a diphtheria outbreak that is not being treated properly because there was no cure for it in 1840. Jessie is the only person who can fit into the contemporary clothes that her mother smuggled into the village with her when they moved in twelve years ago, so she is the only one who might be able to escape and save the children.

Built by Miles Clifton twelve years earlier, Clifton Village is like the restored, working village of Williamsburg, VA, except that the tourists view the villagers through two-way mirrors and on special video feeds rather than interacting with them. Clifton is also a little bit like the PBS reality shows of a few years back, The 1900 House, which focused on one modern British family that agreed to live (in front of the cameras) for three months exactly as their ancestors had one hundred years earlier. This is an EXCELLENT series, by the way, and I highly recommend it for family viewing. PBS also produced Frontier House set in 1883 Montana, which focused on three very different families who had to build their own homes and survive for six months and, of course, had more bickering and personal issues as part of the drama than a show with only one family at the center. Next came Colonial House, which was set in "The New World," 1628 and focused on village life as well as individual struggles of of contemporary people trying to survive in the past and then Texas Ranch House, set in 1867. Once Jessie escapes, the rest of Running Out of Time is taken up with her race to get help and escape the person her mother said would be sure to help her. The explanation at the end of the book, which a reporter helps a hospitalized Jessie, who herself has come down with the disease, unravel, was a bit unsatisfying. It turns out that Mr Clifton, a millionaire, was urged by a scientist to use Clifton Village as a front for an experiment in how to breed a race of super strong humans who could survive epidemics. The hope was that the children born in Clifton would be experimented on with viruses and those who lived would be the strongest and go on to create an even stronger generation of children when they married and reproduced. I actually described it more specifically than Haddix does in the novel. Everything is pretty much detailed for an 8 - 10 year old mentality, which, considering the subject matter, is probably a good thing. I just can't help thinking how Lois Lowry managed to broach similar topics in a more philosophical, elegant way and in as many pages in her book The Giver. By using metaphors, like the loss of the ability to see color or hear music and the significance of memories, Lowry manages to pose so many important "what ifs" as well as incorporate suspense and danger into her story. Running Out of Time is Haddix's first book for young adults. Two years later, JK Rowling's Harry Potter and the Sorcers's Stone would be published in the United States and the world of fantasy and even science fiction books for children would be changed forever. Yet, young adult literature was not necessarily a fallow field waiting to be seeded, either. The Giver won the Newbery in 1994, proving that thought provoking, philosophical themes could be read and enthusiastically grasped by young readers. In that light, Running Out of Time was a bit of a disappointment for me. As with her newest book, Found, the first book The Missing Series, I felt like Haddix had a home-run idea with a great plot twist, I just didn't care for how she executed her ideas and this has presented me with a great challenge as a book reviewer, especially one of children's books. I do not ever want to be in to position of discouraging any child from reading a book and, were I at work, I certainly would never tell a child who picked up this book that I didn't enjoy it. I am an adult reader and I have different tastes, naturally. As a reviewer of children's books on a blog that I assume is read mostly by adults, my goal is to introduce parents to books and authors I think are valuable in terms of creativity, writing skill, and ability to imbue their characters with emotions and actions genuine to children. However, I also want to provide parents with as many options as possible. As the parent of a voracious reader, I don't mind (too much) when my daughter reads a book that I consider to be "less than literary" because I know that she will read something more challenging and enriching one or two books later. As the parent of a child who only grudgingly reads fiction, I am happy when he reads almost anything from start to finish and for both those reasons I think there is value in reviewing this book and calling it to your attention. But, I also think that it is important to share my criticisms, especially after starting the review with Richard Peck's quote. Comparing Running out of Time and The Giver is a little like comparing a made-for-television movie with an Oscar winner, or a Hostess cupcake with a homemade chocolate lava cake...

So, while I was disappointed that my needs as an adult reader were not met while reading Running Out of Time and I kept thinking of ways Haddix could have expanded and explored the great plot idea further while giving dimension to her characters, I am grateful that this book is short and simple enough to be read by a fourth grader or even a high reading third grader and maybe even get a reader's wheels spinning a little.