The Case Against My Brother

by Libby Sternberg

Orphaned and penniless in Boston after the death of their mother, two teenage brothers move to Portland, Oregon to live with their uncle. The year is 1922. WWI has ended but Americans have a great fear of the spread of Bolshevism.

The campaign for the Oregon School Question provides the backdrop for this Teen/YA mystery. The Ku Klux Klan and other unsavory groups add fuel to the referendum, an anti-immigrant and anti-Catholic movement which would outlaw parochial and non-public schools in Oregon. The law was passed but eventually overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court.

The brothers are Polish Catholics who have never experienced the hatred and bigotry they are faced with in Portland. The oldest brother, Adam, is charged with burglary. Fifteen-year-old Carl, who has always relied upon Adam, must take control of the situation and find a way to clear the charges against Adam.

I really enjoyed this book. Good writing, great characterization, and a mystery set against a little-known historical event made for a very good reading experience. I had no idea that the Klan ever operated anywhere but the South. I like a book that entertains as well as teaches. Most books do both, some of the lessons are quite as noticeable. Maybe I should say some teach historical facts and others teach us something about ourselves. Some do both. This one did both.

One passage that I noted:

Things happen so fast in life you don't realize something important is going by. Or maybe it's that things happen too slowly and we don't take notice because we expect the big moments to be accompanied by fireworks. Instead, they glide past us so peacefully that we're tricked into thinking everything's as easy as the passage of time itself.

Singer of All Songs

by Kate Constable

This book has been on my to-be-read list for such a long time. It feels good to finally transfer it to the finished list. Only about 1800 more to go! JK

When I finished An Incomplete Revenge my daughter reminded me of one of her favorite books that I had wanted to read. The Singer of All Songs is Constable's debut YA fantasy and it is the first in The Chanters of Tremaris Trilogy.

Calwyn is a novice ice priestess who has never been outside the walls of Antaris. Her job is to tend the bees and provide honey to the rest of the sisters. Once a year the sisters walk along the ice wall singing chantments to reinforce it. Calwyn finds an Outsider laying wounded by the wall. She tends to him and learns things about the world outside the wall and about a dangerous threat to all of Tremaris. And that's just the beginning . . .

A very enjoyable book with a good storyline and complex characters. Constable creates an interesting fantasy world populated by diverse groups. I particularly liked the tree people probably because I like the idea of living in trees luxuriously gowned in their summer greenery. (Must be the time of year!)

Sisters of Misery

by Megan Kelley Hall

I picked this book off the shelf on Halloween day so I could get a little dose of 'SPOOKY' this season. It was a good choice.

Hall's first YA mystery/thriller is set in a small town near Salem, Massachusetts with witch stories to rival those of Salem. There are the 3 faces of the Pickering sisters who keep mysteriously showing up on the Insane Asylum's wall even though it's been plastered and rebricked.

Maddie doesn't believe in witches, but she still won't look at the pictures. She begins to question their authenticity after her beautiful, but eccentric cousin moves in with her family. Her close girls friends don't like Maddie's cousin and try to make things miserable for her.

The title of the book comes from an agreement that select, popular girls make on the Island of Misery. This sisterhood is older than their mothers and grandmothers. The big question is how far is Maddie willing to go to protect her claim to the sisterhood.

I wasn't sure I was going to like this book when I started reading. It was obviously aimed at a high school/college age group and there was the regular bits about not feeling as good as the other popular girls, along with the problems of mother/daughter relationships. Once the cousin and her mother enter the picture the book becomes more intense. The story builds upon unanswered questions, devious schemes, mysterious people, and hidden secrets - very gothic and good. I am anxiously looking forward to the next installment of the Sisters of Misery.

Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents

by Terry Pratchett

The American cover is not the least bit cute or enticing, so I'm showing the English version even though that's not the one I was able to hold in my hands.

Some books I've read recently are based on fairy tales; this book takes the Pied Piper tale and "turns it right on it's head" according to the front cover. I think that's an apt description. Maurice is a talking cat who has teamed up with a "stupid-looking boy" and some talking mice in a Pied Piper-like scam.

Pratchett's characteristic humor defuses the ick factor allowing me to actually like the rats and tolerate their environment. In fact, I found myself cheering for the rats, which is to be expected since they are the heroes along with Maurice, the boy and a town girl.

I found myself thinking this was the perfect book to engage the interest of young boys. Although, I need to add a word of caution: the book gets quite terrifying in the last half. I didn't have any nightmares, but I could imagine that some children might. I think this book should be categorized as YA, not children's. The scary part ends and the book finishes on a lighter note. I really liked this book and highly recommend it to adults and cautiously recommend it to young adults.

The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents was awarded the Carnegie Awards in 2001. This award is given for outstanding children's or YA literature.

River Secrets

by Shannon Hale

Booklist calls this a stand alone adventure. I think it could be read on its own, but I think it works better to read it after Goose Girl and Enna Burning.

Razo is the main character and is one of the ambassadors of peace to a country that was just defeated by his country. He is in a difficult position and he has quite a bit of self-doubt, but he tries to push himself into the role his leader has for him.

This is not my favorite of Shannon Hale's books, but it was still very good. Her writing is engaging. I often catch myself mulling over an arrangement of words that caught my attention. Unfortunately, I didn't mark any, for which I'm kicking myself. That's one of the highlights of finishing a book for me - to go back and read certain passages. It helps review certain aspects and events of the story.

Anne of Avonlea

by L.M. Montgomery

What a delightful book. I was a bit worried that after Anne finished school (in Anne of Green Gables) the series would loose some of its magic. Not so. Although I missed Matthew, the addition of the twins was fun. Davy is definitely a kindred spirit for Anne.

I used lots of bookdarts in this book. I'll probably use a dozen more when I reread it. Here are some of the ones I marked:

"We make our own lives wherever we are, after all. They are broad or narrow according to what we put into them, not what we get out." --Mrs. Allan

"I wish you could think first and do things afterwards, 'cause then you wouldn't do them." --Davy

"I believe the nicest and sweetest days are not those on which anything very splendid or wonderful or exciting happens but just those that bring simple little pleasures, following one another softly, like pearls slipping off a string." --Anne

"That is one good thing about this world . . . there are always sure to be more springs." --Anne

Charlotta the Fourth admired Anne wholeheartedly. It was not that she though her so very handsom. Diana Barry's beauty of crimson cheek and black curls was much more to Charlotta the Fourth's taste than moonshine charm of luminous gray eyes and the pale, ever changing roses of her cheeks.
"But I'd rather look like you than be pretty," she told Anne sincerely.
Anne laughed, sipped the honey from the tribute and cast away the sting. She was used to taking her compliments mixed. . . . Anne herself would never believe that she had any claim to beauty. When she looked in the glass all she saw was a little pale face with seven freckles on the nose thereof. Her mirror never revealed to her the elusive, ever-varying play of feeling that came and went over her features like a rosy illuminating flame, or the charm of dream and laughter alternating in her big eyes.

"Now where is the romance in all that?" asked Marilla.
"Oh, there isn't any, when you put it that way," gasped Anne, rather as if somebody had thrown cold water over her. "I suppose that's how it looks in prose. But it's very different if you look at it through poetry . . . and I think it's nicer."
Marilla glanced at the radiant young face and refrained from further sarcastic comments. Perhaps some realization came to her that after all it was better to have, like Anne, "the vision and the faculty divine" . . . that gift which the world cannot bestow or take away, of looking at life through some transfiguring . . . or revealing? . . . medium, whereby everything seemed appareled in celestial light, wearing a glory and a freshness not visible to those who, like herself and Charlotta the Fourth, looked at things only through prose.

Anne of Avonlea was published in 1909 - the year my grandmother would have turned ten, almost 100 years ago! It's story is still as fresh and mood-altering today.

A big THANK-YOU to Raidergirl3 who presented me with my copy of Anne of Avonlea when we visited last summer in the PEI. Every I picked up or laid the book down I would be flooded by those memories in the Pub, our good visit, and the bagpipes marching by. Delightful evening!

Gossamer

by Lois Lowry

I love Lois Lowry and her books. I didn't know anything about Gossamer before reading it. Sometimes it's fun to open a book and just let the story come from the unknown. Lowry reveals the story of a inquisitive, almost transparent and courageous dream maker in a tantalizing manner. I was engaged with questions and pieces of the story that made me keep eagerly reading. She is an expert storyteller.

Gossamer is aimed at ages 9 - 12, but can be enjoyed by those of us who are MUCH older.

Far North

by Will Hobbs

Another audio book listened to on our Arizona trip. We really felt the juxtaposition of settings: the book setting was the Northwest Territories during the winter with temperatures as cold as -40 degrees; the trip setting was southern Utah, northern Arizona and the Grand Canyon with temps between 60 and 75 degrees. Add to that the great contrast in scenery. It may have been more in keeping with the drive to listen to a Tony Hillerman, but I have no regrets. Far North is full of adventure, action and drama. We enjoyed every stop along the way, but when we got back in the car we couldn't wait to turn the audio on.

This description is from the author's website:

From the window of a small float plane, 15-year-old Gabe Rogers is getting his first look at Canada's magnificent Northwest Territories with Raymond Providence, his roommate from boarding school. Below is the spectacular Nahanni River: wall-to-wall whitewater racing between sheer cliffs and plunging over Virginia Falls. The pilot sets the plane down on the lake-like surface of the upper river for a closer look at the thundering falls. Suddenly the engine quits. The only sound is a dull roar downstream, as the Cessna drifts helplessly toward the falls. . . . With the brutal subarctic winter fast approaching, Gabe and Raymond soon find themselves stranded in Deadmen Valley. Trapped in a frozen world of moose, wolves, and bears, two boys from vastly different cultures come to depend on each other for their very survival.

A book for grades 6 and up that will grab the interest of young men (and old men and women, too).

*An aside: The boys in Far North attended a school in Yellowknife. I have a book from author Steve Zipp that's titled Yellowknife which I'm looking forward to reading. I learned that Yellowknife is the capital of the Norwest Territories.

Book of a Thousand Days

by Shannon Hale

I loved this book! The story, based on a Grimm's fairytale, is told by Dashti in the form of her diary.

"The men are bricking up the door. Isn't it something, all the trouble they're going to for us? I fell like a jewel in a treasure box."

"This isn't exactly a happy-celebration morning, but I don't see what good it does to thrash about."

"They weren't nice words he said. He could've lived a good life and died never having made a person feel rubbed down to bones and too sad to hold together."

"I'm a stubborn mare sometimes and must dangle my own carrot."

"When I'm moving on a journey, the ending is still unknown and possibly wonderful. But once I arrive, it's hard to keep imagining."

Magyk

by Angie Sage

I'm a bit older than the target audience, grades 4-8, even so this book held my attention and fueled my imagination. I thought it was pure magyk!

The book starts out with Silas Heap who stumbles across a baby in the the field or forest, I forget which, but the baby is abandoned. He's concerned about what to do because he and Sarah already have six boys and Sarah is giving birth that night to their seven child. Seeing no other choice, Silas takes the baby home, hopping Sarah will take it in.

And that's all I'm going to share. Oh, maybe one thing more - Just as Silas enters his house the midwife pushes past him with a small bundle, yelling, "Dead, dead."

I was totally drawn into the story within the first few pages. Dare I say that I liked this book even better than Harry Potter. I heard the gasp escape your lips! Actually, they are both fascinating stories. This one is probably better for younger readers, though. I enjoy Juvenile and YA novels, but I'm always amazed when I find one as captivating as Magik.

Listening for Lions

by Gloria Whelan

This book will appeal to reader's ages 8 to adult. It definitely appealed to me. It's a story of courage, honesty, treachery, love and strength.

Thirteen-year-old Rachel Sheridan is left an orphan after influenza take the lives of her missionary parents in British East Africa in 1919. When cruel neighbors take her in, Rachel suspects their intentions may not be honest.

Rachel becomes entangled in a shocking and nefarious plot that takes her away from her beloved Africa on a lonely journey across the ocean. Surrounded by greed and lies, Rachel must rely on her irrepressible spirit and extraordinary wit to weather her adventure. And somewhere along the way, between deception and hope, the truth sets Rachel free and Africa calls her home.

National Book-Award-winning author Gloria Whelan crafts a wickedly delicious story of treachery and triumph, in which one young woman must claim her true identity in order to forge her own future and transform herself from victim to heroine. --from front flap

I look forward to reading Whelan's award-winning book, Homeless Bird.

Midnight for Charlie Bone

by Jenny Nimmo

This series is a definite Harry Potter copy cat. I really hate it when authors aren't original enough to come up with their own theme. I was more annoyed at the beginning of the book and more forgiving towards the end. I just about quit reading at the first, but for some reason I kept reading and eventually was interested in the characters and what was going on.

Charlie Bone discovers that he has special 'endowments' when he is able to hear photographs speaking. His 3 aunts send him off to Bloor's, a special school for geniuses. He learns bits and pieces of a horrible mystery that he feels compelled to solve in spite of the dangers.

The Last Battle

by C. S. Lewis

The last in The Chronicles of Narnia series iss a short, quick read. Aslan shows up unexpectedly and commands the people and animals to do things that appear contrary to his previous benevolent teachings and actions. King Tirian is beside himself and calls for help from Eustace and Jill. Of course, it is not the real Aslan but a donkey dressed up in a lion's costume who only appears to his subjects at night. That symbolism made me smile.

As the title suggests this is the last great battle and is symbolic of the last battle talked about in the Book of Revelations in the Bible.

I enjoyed reading this series very much, but felt this book ended a bit too abruptly. My mind didn't stay focused on it as well as the others in the series. Can't say as it was the book's fault or mine. I may give it another try in the future.

I do love this cover and would like to buy the whole series with this type of artwork, but I've been unable to locate them. I bought what was advertised as this, but I received a different set. Guess all I can do is keep my eyes open.

The Silver Chair

by C.S. Lewis

Eustace returns to Narnia with a new friend, Jill Pole. Aslan tells them that King Caspian's son is alive and they must find him and return him to Narnia. The children are aided by a rather pessimistic marsh-wiggle named Puddleglum. I delevloped a liking for this Eeyore-like character because, even though he was a wet blanket, he was brave and courageous.

I was tickled when Jill's nurse called her a poppet. The only other time I had heard the word, poppet, it was in reference to Lisa Snellings cute little artwork. I stole this picture from Bookfool's blog to show you what they look like in case you've never seen them.

It seems the word poppet comes from the old English meaning a small child or doll. Who knew? Some look on poppets as lucky charms.

Lily Dale: Awakening

by Wendy Corsi Staub

When Calla returned home from school one day she found her mother lying dead at the bottom of a flight of stairs. After the funeral, neither Calla nor her father can stand the thoughts of staying in their home in Florida. Calla decides to stay with her strange grandmother in Lily Dale, New York while her father looks for an apartment in California.

Calla's down-to-earth mother didn't have much of a relationship with her own mother after she had left home and Calla's family never vacationed in Lily Dale, so Calla is surprised and shocked when she learns that the small town of Lily Dale is considered the World's Largest Center for the Religion of Spirituality and her grandmother is a medium.

I enjoyed this YA adult book for the most part and I can see its appeal for young teens and young adults. The reader can empathize with Calla and her pain over the loss of her mother, her confusion about her own abilities to see ghosts, her yearning to learn more about her mother by living in the home where she grew up, her developing relationship with her grandmother, her feelings for her ex-boyfriend and the attraction she experiences to 2 new boys in Lily Dale. I think young people will relate well to Calla's struggles and in subtle ways are reassured that they are not alone in the battles and triumphs of life.

Awakening is a fast, yet engaging read. I lent the book to one of my study skills students and she read it in 2 days. She was very excited about the book and wants to read the next in the series. As do I.

The Higher Power of Lucky

by Susan Patron

This is one of my selections for the Newbery Challenge. The Higher Power of Lucky won the Newbery Award for 2006 and received much criticism because it contained the word scrotum. I thought Lucky's foster mother, Brigitte, explained the meaning to the inquisitive 10-year-old in a sensible way.

Lucky is in search of the higher power that she has overheard different members of the 12 step program (AA) discuss at their meetings. She's in desperate need of this power to insure her happiness and to keep her foster mother from returning to France and abandoning her to an orphanage.

This is a beautiful, sweet book that address childhood fears, bravery, and misconceptions. Patron does an excellent job with the characterization. Lucky and her two friends, Lincoln and Miles become real people in just a very short time. I'd like to see other books by Patron that focus on each boy. I'm sure they would be every bit as touching as Lucky's story.

Anne of Green Gables

By Lucy Maude Montgomery

What can I say? This book was totally delightful. I can hardly wait to reread it and to read more in the series. This is my first time reading Anne, though I’ve seen the movie. Loved them both. As in most cases, the book is even better than the movie. Isn’t that girl adorable? Oh, I love her and her positive attitude. Her outlook on life and her use of such delectable words brought many a smile and several good laughs. It was fun listening to it with Candleman on our trip to PEI, where we are looking forward to seeing the musical.

Voyage of the Dawn Treader

by C. S. Lewis

Another delightful tale in the Chronicles of Narnia series. This one did not include Peter and Susan, but it did include the two younger children and their cousin, Eustace. The 3 children were in Eustace's bedroom when the picture on the wall came to life and they went sailing back to Narnia on the Dawn Treader.

They join Prince Caspian on his search for seven of his father's friends who were banned from the kingdom by his evil uncle. The children have many grand adventures.

One of my favorite parts is when Aslan helps Eustace painfully peel of the dragon skin. Eustace has to start the process himself, but he is unable to finish without Aslan's help. In fact, the greater part has to be done by Aslan. Very beautiful imagery and meaning.

A Wrinkle in Time

by Madeleine L'Engle
It such a good feeling to finally read a book that has been on The List for ages and ages. Thanks to a couple of challenges it finally became pressing to read it.

A Wrinkle in Time is not as subtle with it's Christian teachings as The Chronicles of Narnia and I doubt it would receive a Newbery Award in today's world, so I'm glad it was written when it was. The main theme is the battle of good vs. evil and, in the end, good is triumphant. Woven into the main theme are the ideas of reliance on others, expectations, going it alone, love, family, etc. One of my favorites is the idea that some of the parts of our personalities we regard as weaknesses can become the very strengths we need to succeed.

A favorite quote:

Mrs Whatisit: A sonnet is a very strict form of poetry is it not? There are fourteen lines, I believe, all in iambic pentameter. That's a very strict rhythm or meter, yes? And each line has to end with a rigid rhyme pattern. And if the poet does not do it exactly this way, it is not a sonnet, is it?

Calvin: You mean you're comparing our lives to a sonnet? A strict form, but freedom within it?

Mrs Whatsit: Yes. You're given the form, but you have to write the sonnet yourself. What you say is completely up to you.

Prince Caspian

By C.S. Lewis
Another great addition to the Chronicles of Narnia series. The Pevensie children are called back to Narnia, where hundreds of years have passed since their last visit, and the once glorious land has fallen to ruin. Together with Prince Caspian and the mighty Aslan, Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy must conquer the evil Telmarines and liberate Narnia. Prince Caspian becomes the rightful King.

A note about the cover picture I like to use when posting my reviews on the Narnia books - This is not what the cover of my book looks like, it's just my preferred cover. Mine is one BIG chunkster that contains all seven books in the series. I did try to order a set that had this cover, but what came in the mail was not what was advertised. I sent them back, along with my reason, and the picture for the ad was changed the next day.

The artist for these covers is Chris van Allsburg of Polar Express and Jumanji fame and one of my favorite, The Mysteries of Harris Burrdick. He has written and illustrated many children's books. He has also illustrated several covers of different editions of the Narnia books, including all three shown in this post. Sometimes a bookstore will include the illustrator along with C.S. Lewis's name. Since the inside illustrations are by Pauline Baynes, you may see her name instead of Allsburgs.