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Fool’s Girl (fiction)

Jun16

Hmm, so the kingdom of Illyria was where? Oh, yes, just down the Adriatic coastline from Venice. No wonder that attacks by the powerful Venetian Empire sent the young Duchess fleeing for her life, searching for the stolen relics which must be returned to Illyria’s cathedral if her homeland is ever to be safe again.

We know this story as Shakespeare told it in Twelfth Night, with its mistaken identities, the evil Malvolio, and the jester/fool Feste.

Imagining that Violetta and Feste meet Shakespeare himself and travel with his theater troupe in search of the Illyrian relics brings us another side of the story, full of intrigue and danger. Whether you’ve read the play or not, you’ll be captivated by this tale well-told by Celia Rees.
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Book info: The Fool’s Girl / by Celia Rees. Bloomsbury, 2010. (paperback Nov. 2011) [author’s website] [author’s blog] [publisher site]

Recommendation: Young Violetta is a duchess of Illyria whose enemies will pursue her to the death. But if she and Feste, royal Fool and jester, can rescue the holy relics stolen from Illyria’s cathedral by Malvolio, they can outwit her late father’s rival and restore the well being of the kingdom and its people.

Disguising themselves, Violetta and Feste follow Malvolio and the relics from Italy to London, where they meet an author who believes their story. William Shakespeare helps them as they travel in his Company, Feste as a player, Violetta as costumer, searching for Malvolio before he sacrifices the relics.

Can Violetta truly see part of the future? What of the secrets that her father sought in mystical books? Will the Illyrians escape the notice of the Queen’s churchmen who are hunting down Catholics in England? Is Feste truly a fool or truly wise?

A memorable retelling of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night where the Bard himself plays a lead role. (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)

Vespertine, by Saundra Mitchell (fiction) – visions at sunset, perilous forecasts

Jun13

Mysterious, metaphysical Monday, and we look to the Sunset, the beginning of evening, those bright moments before dusk and the fall of night… In those fiery glows, is there perhaps the thinnest opening from the spirit world into our own?

In Amelia’s day, spiritualism was a popular pastime with society ladies and their daughters, who enjoyed visits to mediums as part of their social calls. But I don’t think they honestly expected Amelia’s visions to come true…neither did she!

Mitchell is busy on a companion novel, The Springsweet, which will take us west to Oklahoma – due out in Spring 2012.

This is a delightfully spooky tale with a psychic gift that’s rather out of the ordinary and definitely beyond Amelia’s control. Would you believe the Vespertine’s visions?
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Book info: The Vespertine / by Saundra Mitchell. Harcourt Children’s Books, 2011. [author’s website] [author’s blog] [publisher site] [book trailer]

Recommendation: Sunsets brought the visions to Amelia, unasked for. She’d come to Baltimore to finish school and perhaps find a husband, not to capture visions of futures good or bad.

Amelia’s never had a friend her own age or traveled away from her tiny Maine town, so she has much to learn about party manners and calling cards and everything that Zora considers vital for them as well-bred young ladies of 1889. Her cousin soon whirls her into the dances and dinners and archery and park outings favored by the young people of the city. Amelia looks forward to seeing Nathaniel, even though the painter is not in their social class, according to Zora’s mother.

When the red-orange flash of sunset causes a prediction to fall from Amelia’s lips, Zora is intrigued; when it quickly comes true, she’s enthralled. Word spreads among their friends, then among the society ladies of Baltimore, and Amelia is hailed as “Maine’s Own Mystic” for her visions of the future, seen only at the hour of Vespers, at sunset.

But when one vision becomes a perilous reality, Amelia’s world is torn apart. Will she ever stop seeing the future? Can she and Nathaniel find a way to stay together? Will “the Vespertine” be forever entranced and ensnared by the sunset?

Hopeless and hopeful, gloomy and gleaming – sunset may be the finale of one day or the beginning of tomorrow in this stunning book. (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)

Heart of a Samurai, by Margi Preus (book review) – first Japanese in America?

Jun9

book cover of Heart of a Samurai by Margi PreusA true story becomes even more real in the hands of a talented author.

As we read Heart of a Samurai, we experience the horror that Manjiro and his fellow fishermen felt on the 1840s whaling ship, the sad knowledge that they are forbidden to return home to Japan by their own emperor, the prejudice that John Mung finds in his adoptive New England town.

Interesting to note that another young man was the first known Japanese to arrive in the US, several years before Manjiro, but Otokichi never returned to live in his homeland.

Yes, Heart of a Samurai is a Newbery Honor Book for 2011, but it isn’t yet the bestseller that it deserves to be.
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Book info: Heart of a Samurai / by Margi Preus. Amulet, 2010. [author’s website] [author interview] [publisher site]

My Book Talk: Big-nosed barbarians! A ship larger than 7 fishing boats! Is it rescue…or capture? Young Manjiro was not sure what to tell the 4 other Japanese fishermen who had drifted to a rocky island after a storm in 1841, barely surviving.

But the captain of the American whaling ship is kind to them, and Manjiro begins to learn English and help aboard ship. The Japanese are horrified when whales are slaughtered only for their blubber, wasting enough meat to feed many villages. Alas, they will never see their home village again, since the Emperor has decreed that no Japanese that leaves their islands may ever return, just as no foreigners may ever enter that country.

Reaching Hawaii, Captain Whitfield gives the fishermen new clothes and money to help them settle there. He asks Manjiro if he would like to continue whaling and to go to America with him – as his son! Manjiro’s adventurous heart answers yes, and he becomes the first Japanese to visit the United States when their ship reaches New Bedford in 1843. Some folks accept John Mung (as his shipmates call Manjiro), but others do not.

When Captain Whitfield goes to sea again, he leaves John to look over the rest of the family. Working on the Whitfields’ farm, going to school, even riding a horse like a samurai – what other son of a village fisherman ever had such wealth and experiences?

After training as a navigator, John signs on with another whaling ship whose captain goes crazy when month after month passes with no signs of whales for capture. Will the crew of the Franklin survive? Can Manjiro ever return to Japan?

Based on a true story, this exciting book includes illustrations by Manjiro himself, plus glossaries of Japanese words, whaling terms, and sailors’ lingo. Travel the high seas during whaling’s glory days as you learn how a humble fisherboy grows up to have the heart of a true samurai. (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)

Kat, Incorrigible, by Stephanie Burgis (book review) – magic, manners, mischief, mayhem

May31
book cover of Kat Incorrigible by Stephanie Burgis published by Atheneum

Ah, Regency England, with its balls and hunting parties and other fascinations for the well-to-do who have little of importance to do. Jane Austen’s works set in this time period tell us of love, family, and social custom.

Manners and lovely clothes are a must in this era, but 14 year-old Kat don’t care to be ladylike, especially where vital matters of family and magic are involved!

The idea of magic being more tolerated in Kat’s England 1803 than in the British Isles of our history adds to the suspense – what trouble will she get into next, while truly trying to stay out of trouble?

And to think that we must wait until April 2012 for volume 2 to arrive in the US! Then another full year before volume 3! (let me know if you’re headed to the UK and can pick ’em up earlier…)
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Twitter: @BooksYALove

Book info: Kat, Incorrigible / by Stephanie Burgis. (book 1 of The Unladylike Adventures of Kat Stephenson) Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2011. [author’s website] [booktrailers one & two] [publisher site] (one of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher through NetGalley.

My Recommendation: Oooh! Why her older sisters can’t see that Elissa’s marrying old Sir Neville is just impossible, Kat does not understand! Even if he is rich and will pay off their brother’s debts, there’s that rumor about the death of his first wife… Just because their late mother practiced magic, even while married to their country-parson father, is no reason to think that society won’t welcome them, during all the rules and restrictions of Regency England… well, perhaps their family is rather on the fringes.

Of course, their stepmother insists that they all go to the country ball so Elissa can be introduced to Sir Neville (who will surely fall in love with her), and she doesn’t dare leave 14-year-old Kat behind to get into mischief.

Before they leave, Kat sneaks into the locked cabinet where Stepmama has banished all the beautiful things that her mother held dear, and a little golden pocket-mirror takes her fancy. Well, actually it takes hold of Kat and won’t stay away from her. As Kat falls through the mirror into a golden room, she wonders about her mother’s magic books that she found hidden under Angeline’s bed.

Has Kat’s middle sister been casting spells?
Are there two kinds of magic?
Will a highwayman rob their coach as they travel through the forest to the ball?
Can’t they prevent this horrible marriage and still save their family from ruin?
And will that golden mirror ever stop burning Kat when she holds it?

Oh, Kat tries to mind her manners in this rollicking romp, but you should never underestimate the daughter of a magic-wielder, should you? 306 pages of twists and turns, old angers and new secrets.

Dogtag Summer, by Elizabeth Partridge (fiction) – Vietnamese orphan, California challenges

May30

book cover of Dogtag Summer by Elizabeth Partridge published by BloomsburyFor most Americans, Memorial Day marks the unofficial start of summer. We rarely remember its 1868 origins as a remembrance of those who have died protecting our nation and our freedoms.

As her summer begins, 12 year old Tracy thinks it’ll be like most summers, but what she and pal Stargazer uncover changes everything she thought she knew about herself and her adoptive family.

The Vietnam War era was chaotic and divisive for countless families on both sides of the Pacific, with many questions and no simple solutions. Perhaps a few answers will shine through for Tracy after all…
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Book info: Dogtag Summer / Elizabeth Partridge. Bloomsbury, 2011. [author’s website] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

Recommendation: During the summer before 8th grade, Tracy starts having flashbacks to her childhood in Vietnam. Her adoptive parents have pictures of her arrival in the USA as a tiny 6 year old in 1975, but before that time, she has only an empty place inside her memories. As she and her friend Stargazer search in her garage, they find an ammo box and Army dogtags.

Now she dreams of her mother being away at DaNang as a laundry worker for the Americans, her uncle gone as a Viet Cong soldier, soldiers from both sides searching her grandmother’s hut in the jungle, families divided by war. How can she ask her adoptive father about the dogtags with another man’s name when he never talks about being in Vietnam?

As a Vietnamese-American, she was shunned by village neighbors and is taunted by California classmates. Sometimes, things are too quiet at her house now, but Stargazer’s easy-going parents accept her and welcome her to their place in the forest. When his peace-loving father sees the dogtags and calls the US soldiers in Vietnam “babykillers,” Tracy knows that she will have to be brave enough to ask her Dad about the past, about the dogtags, about why she came to this family in the US instead of another.

A story from the heart to go with the history book facts, readers will walk and dream with Tracy through that dogtag summer, through the questions and answers to better understanding of a difficult chapter in America’s history. (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)

Ten Miles Past Normal, by Frances O’Roark Dowell (book review) – goats, guitars, determination

May26

book cover of Ten Miles Past Normal by Frances O'Roark Dowell published by Atheneum Books for Young Readers
You’ve gotta feel for Janie – her first year at a small town high school and already labeled as ignorable. And since her mom sometimes blogs about Janie’s personal life, she’s doubly doomed…

But learning about the “citizenship school” that existed near her North Carolina town in the 1950s during the Civil Rights movement and the brave people who taught African-Americans to read and write so they could register to vote helps Janie find her voice in the here and now.
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Book info: Ten Miles Past Normal / by Frances O’Roark Dowell. Atheneum Books for Young Readers (Simon & Schuster), 2011. [author’s website] [author interview] [publisher website]

My Book Talk: Janie loved the idea of moving to a farm when she was 10, but in high school it’s not so cool. Goat manure on her shoe, hay stuck in her hair that awful first week of school – now the kids call her “Farm Girl” and treat her like she’s invisible. Except Sarah, the only friend from their junior high who came to this high school; they only have one class together… so it’s lunchtime in the library, every day, alone.

When a cute guy invites them to play and sing with Jam Band, Janie is amazed to find that she’s a natural on bass guitar. Monster (that’s really his name on his birth certificate – crazy parents) teaches her to play, and she just feels the energy grow.

Researching their women’s studies project introduces them to real heroines in their North Carolina town, women who taught black adults to read and write so they could register to vote in the 1950s, despite threats from the KKK. As Janie and Sarah interview Mrs. Brown and the late Mrs. Pritchard’s husband, they decide that the old farmhouse site of the “Citizenship School” should be preserved as a museum.

Will Jam Band ever make real music? Does Monster like Janie (you know, “like” like)? Can she survive her craft-clueless mom’s blog about farm life that veers a little too often into Janie’s personal life? And Mom’s plan for a hootenanny at the farm for her 15th birthday? Yikes! (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher through NetGalley.com.

The House of Dead Maids, by Clare B. Dunkle (book review) – prequel to Wuthering Heights

May21
book cover of House of Dead Maids by Clare B Dunkle published by Henry Holt

Sometimes you wonder what happened in a person’s past to make them turn out the way they did. What’s their backstory? But authors don’t often give us the behind-the-scenes glimpses that we desire.

Such is the case with Heathcliff of Wuthering Heights, whose creator Emily Bronte tells us so little of how he was orphaned or why his unseen childhood turned him into such a brutal man.

Clare B. Dunkle decided to tell Heathcliff’s backstory in this very creepy and very plausible prequel to Wuthering Heights – lots and lots of scary packed into a short book! (I don’t ever, ever want to travel to those moors…)
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Book info: The House of Dead Maids / by Clare B. Dunkle; illus. by Patrick Arrasmith. Henry Holt, 2010. 146 pgs. [author’s website] [publisher site] [book trailer]

My Book Talk: Hired as a nursemaid for a little boy, Tabitha wonders what happened to the other girl from her orphanage who held the position before her. Seldom House is a huge, gloomy place on the English moorlands, with no windows facing south and a bleak inner courtyard where nothing grows.

The villagers stare and whisper, no one from Seldom House goes to church with her, and Tabby finds odd toys suddenly uncovered in her bedroom. Who is the other girl she hears running down the hall? Mrs. Winter says that no other girls live in the house.

Soon Tabby sees the ghosts she’s been hearing, all the dead maids of the house, and meets the little boy, who’s savage and wild, who has been promised that he will be Master of Seldom House, who can see the ghosts of all the dead masters. Overhearing a plan to murder them during a thunderstorm, as the land must have blood to be satisfied, she vows that they’ll both escape.

This chilling prequel to Wuthering Heights gives the dark background of the little orphan boy brought to Seldom House to ensure its luck, to take the place of its master, to learn of murder – the savage little boy who grew up to become Heathcliff… (one of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.u

The Haunting of Charles Dickens, by Lewis Buzbee (book review) – mystery in London, Dickens on the case

May18

book cover of The Haunting of Charles Dickens by Lewis Buzbee published by Feiwel and Friends Did you remember to celebrate Biographers Day on May 16th (our Guest Post Day)? In the hands of a skilled biographer, an average life becomes a nuanced tapestry worth noting, and an extraordinary life shows all its colors. But what of the fictionalized biography?

I remember being surprised as a child that the “Little House on the Prairie” books were in Fiction, because they were about real people who really did live in the Big Woods and on the Prairie, where you can visit a replica of Laura’s cabin today. By choice, Laura and daughter Rose used selected elements of the Ingalls’ and Wilders’ lives as they crafted the Little House books, as this NPR program notes, recreating conversations from decades earlier and omitting events for better story flow.

We have to trust that writers of fictionalized biographies will stick to the major facts of their subjects’ lives (like early baseball book Mudball, by Matt Tavares), or else tell us that we’ll be traveling off the path of real history and far into the woods of speculation (Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, anyone?).

I think that Lewis Buzbee indeed warns us fairly that The Haunting of Charles Dickens uses just one bit of the writer’s life and runs through the alleys of London with it, as Dickens helps the Pickel family of printers solve a mystery. A fun book, with enough of the real Dickens in it that older readers will grasp how the wretched backstreet life that he witnesses becomes the heart of his books, but not so much literary insider talk that younger mystery fans will find it distracting.

On second thought, let’s just enjoy this book in honor of International Old Friends, New Friends Week, shall we?
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Book info: The Haunting of Charles Dickens / by Lewis Buzbee, illustrated by Greg Ruth. Fiewel & Friends (Macmillan), 2010. [author’s website] [publisher site] [book trailer ]

Buzbee also wrote Steinbeck’s Ghost, another literary mystery for middle graders which received good reviews and would be a great read for Steinbeck fans of any age. Watch for his upcoming lit-mystery, Mark Twain and the Mysterious Stranger.

My Book Talk: Meg is frantic when her big brother Orion disappears from their family’s London printshop. Has he been captured by a press-gang to work on the new railway or sail away on a trading ship? Six months gone, with no word at all!

And he’d taken the last section of Great Expectations with him as well! Their good friend Charles Dickens had Meg gasping and laughing and worrying about Pip through the earlier parts of his book, but she never got to finish the story and she can’t stop worrying about Orion, even if he is 15 and old enough to take care of himself.

When she spots a strange green glow on a nearby rooftop, Meg asks Mr. Dickens to help her investigate. They find a spiritualist medium at work, using tricks to get money from sorrowful families who want to communicate with their dead loved ones. When actual ghosts come out to meet the pair on the rooftop later, they give clues about Orion’s disappearance.

Racing through the dim alleys, into London’s dangerous underworld of petty thieves and master criminals, Meg and Mr. Dickens follow Orion’s trail as they interpret signs and signals that point to a greater and more dangerous plot.

New antiques, tunnels to nowhere, a trip abroad without leaving London – can they find Orion before he disappears forever? Can Meg and Mr. Dickens stop the danger that threatens the whole city and still keep the famous writer’s name out of it? (one of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.