Rutabaga's Reads 2024: Part 7

Hello, fellow readers! In this post, you will find my second middle-grade compilation post. It’s a variety of … fantasy. All right, so all three fall within the same genre, but they each offer something different. There’s a Nigh that’s like NYC, but also not really. There’s a genius-recluse with a Willy Wonka-esque imagination. And there’s a house with a girl in the wallpaper.

The Golden Imaginarium (Oct. 10, 2023) by Ellen Potter.

<This is a sequel novel.>

<No spoilers outside of what may be on the dust jacket.>

Weeks have gone by since Nell Batista and the other members of the Last Chance Club, Crud Butterbank and Annika Rapp, were in the Nigh. Mr. Boot continues to act as though the lot are hopeless, though Vanessa Habscomb is helpful. A visitor clearly not of the Hither shows up – he refers to a hamster as a “little animal thingy” – and informs the three that they’re being fast-tracked to become Watchers, skipping right over the Level Cs and going straight to the Initiation Trial. This is alarming, as they have neither the experience nor the practice. They will be armed with their very own briefcase of Fates, creatures from the Nigh. Nell’s case is disappointingly small and contains only two. Neither seems particularly useful. The more useful one is the Willaweeper called Winston, which Vanessa gave her, and is now hiding in her braids. Nell’s first trial is a success, as she disrupts a Flooper: “an unexpected choice that will alter important events in the future.” Tom comes to find her and brings her back to the Nigh, where Nell encounters Katerina, Abiba and Samuel. They are ghosts ... but they weren’t ghosts when Tom brought them from the Hither to the Nigh. Nell also meets Lysander, an Imp who wants nothing more than a home and a family (even if he won’t readily admit it). They’ll see Finfolk (mermaids), who likewise despise Magicians, and spot a Grubble (a Sasquatch). Folk don’t like the latter because they dig up gardens and smell like garbage (they’re pests). Now more than ever, Nell needs to excel at chopsticks-assisting spell work. Rumor has it that the small and wicked Minister is coming after them. If Nell fails any of her trials, the Umglick Spell will be performed, and she’ll lose all memories of magic, the Nigh and the brother she’s so desperate to return to the Hither.

The middle-school protagonists are easy to root for against the evil, children-stealing Magicians in this fast-moving fantasy adventure. There is comic relief, including a budding Girl-Imp relationship that teeters on comically romantic in its awkwardness. The youth all have varied backgrounds, but most characters appear to cue Caucasian. Nell, Crud and Annika have developed a tight-knit bond through the Last Chance Club, and the creature cast is ample and contains all manner of docile-to-vicious creatures. The ending felt rushed, but is a happy one, so I don’t know if this ends at a duology or if the saga will continue. At any rate, this is a duo that has entertained me, and I’d happily read more stories. Remember that the Nigh is just like home, right up until it isn’t. And if you hear a Wickle-wickle-feee! at your ear, know that danger is way too near!

            Note: In this story, dogges is said to be pronounced as DOWGS, but, if you’ve read my post for the first novel, you’ll notice it’s pronounced differently. I don’t know if it’s an oversight or if the author purposely changed it, but I’m noting it as-is for its respective book.

            Book One: Hither & Nigh

Not Quite a Ghost (Jan. 16, 2024) by Anne Ursu.

<This is a standalone novel.>

The house on 1664 Katydid Street sat silent and alone for a long time, but now Violet Hart’s family has moved into the house in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Change is everywhere for Violet. There’s the big move, for their old home became too small for their family of five (mom, stepdad, older sister Mia and younger half-brother Owen). Violet’s entered middle school, and she isn’t on the same team as her best friends, Paige and Ally. With the start of middle school, Paige now wants their pod to become a squad with Quinn and Kennedy. Okay. Fine. Change is healthy, right? She manages to make a new friend named Will. She meets him in the school’s library. Healthy! But what about this attic bedroom that Mia didn’t want, despite it being the bigger room? The walls are a drab yellow, “somewhere between mustard and vomit,” the floor looks like it’s “been attacked by several angry bears,” it smells like “a malodorous moat” and has walls covered in a chaos of vines, leaves and flowers that look like eyes. Is the wallpaper watching her? It’s creepy. Lately, she’s spending too much time in her creepy bedroom when she falls mysteriously ill. No one can pinpoint her invisible illness. Is she making herself sick? And is that ... an outline of a girl in the wallpaper?

            It’s middle school drama meets a medical mystery and the paranormal in this page-turning tale highlighting changing friendships, balancing schoolwork and navigating an invisible illness amidst being haunted. This middle-grade novel is insightful, sometimes intense and creepy in a way that gives one not-too-scary shivers down the back. It’s a story featuring a blended family and diversity of race and sexual orientation. Despite the twisty paranormal element, there is realism to the story, not only contending with the mayhem of middle school or COVID, but being invisibly sick. The story explores what it’s like to be sick in a way no one seems to understand and is therefore dismissed. It’s effortlessly empathetic yet haunting, vulnerable yet fierce.

            P.S. At least Violet finally got a cat! (Her name is Trixie.)

The (Super Secret) Octagon Valley Society (Sept. 5, 2023) by Melissa de la Cruz.

<This is the first novel in a series.>

Only eight answered the 108th question on the Octagon Valley Assessment for the Extra-Ordinary (OVAEO) and so only eight were invited to the Octagon Valley Institute. It’s an exclusive weekend with the mysterious, high-tech genius-recluse Onasander Octagon. 11-year-old Edwin Edgefield, a boy who’s small for his age and young for his grade, hopes to meet intelligent kids like him who’ll also accept him for all of his quirks and his eidetic memory. But the other students are so different that it makes them wonder if they’re all in the right place. There’s amateur rapper Eun-Kyung “Li’l Kimmy” Kim, skateboarding surfer Dilip Aggarwal, 12-year-old violin/conductor prodigy Julie Carter, mean girl Maureen Pearson, teacher’s pet Anabelle “Ting-Ting” Costanza, gamer fanatic Anton Chesky and spoiled rich boy Harold Postman Jr. VIII. How did Harold even get invited? (It’s a legitimate question, as Onasander wonders, too.) Their introduction to the Institute isn’t what they expected. Instead of a fulfilling weekend of lectures and rumored new tech, they’re blindfolded and thrown into a labyrinthine scavenger hunt. From an escape-room challenge to attacking piranhas to abductor ninjas, the weekend is getting weirder by the moment. They’ll have to utilize their inner weird and work together to discover the true secret of the Institute. It’s part of what makes them EXTRAordinary!

            This opener in the Octagon Valley series is a fast-paced, page-turning, action-adventure that’s part mystery and part dangerous obstacle challenge with humor, mischief and, it turns out, a healthy dose of scheming. The cast is ethnically diverse: Edwin is Black, Li’l Kimmy is Korean, Dilip is Indian and Ting-Ting is Filipino. There is representation to be found in characters who struggle with things like anxiety. A story with emotional intelligence, a Willy Wonka-esque imagination and high entertainment value, it will appeal to a wide range of readers. A few words to the wise: Don’t get YAK-ed.

"Hither & Nigh" by Ellen Potter

Hither & Nigh (Oct. 18, 2022) by Ellen Potter.

<This is the first novel in a series.>

Welcome to the Last Chance Club, a place where Mr. Luther Boot will give magic lessons. To refuse them will mean expulsion from school. The students in this club are an assorted group. There’s Nell Batista: criminal truancy, skipping school to gamble in Washington Square Park (a chess hustler). Then there’s Annika Rapp, her former best friend and a beautiful bully, Crud (Carmen) Butterbank, who’s built like a linebacker and is rumored to be violent, and The Viking (whose name is Tom Gunnerson), a rich kid prone to stealing (and Mr. Boot despises him, for some reason). Nell isn’t falling for the magic bit. She’s got city kid smarts, and she has little imagination. The imaginative one was her brother, River, who disappeared three years ago. Nell has accepted that magic exists by the time she’s forced through a Wicket into the Nigh by an Imp. The Nigh is “a vast place. New York City is only a tiny part of it.” The Nigh is created from the imaginations of Human children. The Folk can do none of this magic, and they’re governed by the Minister, who’s simultaneously tiny and terrifying. It’s the Minister who has Human children abducted and brought to the Nigh. River is there, somewhere. The Nigh is a lot like NYC but different. Magicians ride astride, not horses, but giant dogs or dogges (DOH-eggs). Statues, like Bethesda, can talk. And there’s a Statue of Liberty, but it’s a man with no crown holding a television remote control. Nell’s life has been topsy-turvy since her brother went missing. How can she make sense of a world that’s topsy-turvy with enchantment? If she makes enough sense of it, can she find River and save him?

            Where there’s a parallel NYC, there will be middle-grade domestic, fantasy adventure where magic and mystery alight and chopsticks can be calibrated to work within a highly charged Oomphalos. Right? In the case of Potter’s story, yes. The fantastical details are a boon for fantasy readers. There’s a strong foundation with distinct character development, the writing employs solid world-building and middle-school snark and, even when it comes to magic, learning must occur. While Nell cues as Latinx, the other characters appear to default to Caucasian. A novel that I found to be a fast read, readers learn right away that magic isn’t only for the good kids.

            Note 1: An Oomphalos ”is a place where energy converges and makes magic not only possible, but probable.” (p. 69)

            Note 2: Zoophenloft layers are “a coping mechanism, so that we can get on with our lives after unpleasant events.” (p. 123)

            Note 3: “A Wicket is a way in to the Nigh. And a way out of it.” (p. 194)

            Note 4: A skrill is squirrel-like. It’s like a long-bodied weasel with a flat, short face like a pug. Dusty blue in color. Tiller is a skrill, and he understands English. When he talks, one feels the words, for they’re not spoken aloud. (pp. 190, 193)

            Note 5: An Imp is always a boy. “They’re creatures neither dead nor alive. They live in an in-between place, alone, hungry for the company of other children.” Imps can be cruel and want to steal children for fun, for entertainment, to prove that they can or for profit. (pp. 185, 233)

            Note 6: Mrs. Nerriberry is good Folk. She is a friend to Pilliwiggins, Noodgers, Fletchers and Auguries (Fates). No one is a friend to Sewer Mahambas (will eat you and therefore kill you), Boggedy Cats (will also kill you) and other nightmare creatures of the Ramble.

Rutabaga's Reads 2012: Part 9

The end of 2012 will be here shortly, so this will be my last compilation for this year. Thanks always for checking out my blog and perusing what I’ve read. I wish everyone a wonderful and blessed Christmas and a healthy, safe and fabulous 2013! Keep on reading, my Rutabaga friends!

The Humming Room (Feb. 28, 2012) by Ellen Potter.

When her parents are permanently ousted from her life, 12-year-old Roo Fanshaw is sent to live with Emmett Fanshaw, a previously unheard-of relative. He is described as eccentric, but wealthy, and lives in a large home on an island known as Cough Rock. Roo is especially skilled at hiding, which can be a very useful skill to have, but it doesn’t help her ferret out all of her new home’s secrets. What is the humming she hears? And who cries? Who is the mysterious boy on the water?

            Potter, who wrote “The Kneebone Boy” (you can find my blurb on that book here), was inspired by “The Secret Garden” to write this middle-grade novel. It is a quick read, and it has parallels that anyone who’s familiar with “The Secret Garden” will see. However, it is a shorter book and is well-modernized for this century. It’d be a good introduction for readers who may be intimidated by the original classic. I found the tale to be thoughtful and entertaining.

Ruby Red (May 10, 2011) by Kerstin Gier. Anthea Bell, translator.

Are your genes as unique as 16-year-old Gwyneth “Gwen” Shepherd’s? Gwen lives in an affluent London neighborhood, and she’s been the normal one: texting her best friend, going to the movies, giggling. But through the female line in her family runs a time-traveling gene. Her cousin, Charlotte Montrose, is supposed to be the gene carrier. So imagine everyone’s surprise (or contempt) when Gwen time travels three times within 24 hours. Talk about life going topsy-turvy! Suddenly she’s meeting the Guardians, a sort of secret society, getting fitted for fancy period-correct dresses, and traveling to eras past! Her unpreparedness is an understatement, as she didn’t get one iota of the training Charlotte did. But in being the gene carrier, she does gain a time-traveling counterpart: Gideon de Villiers. He’s easy on the eyes, but he’s also an obnoxious know-it-all.

            Gwen, the Ruby, is the last of the time travelers. With her blood, the Secret of the Twelve can be revealed, except the first chronograph was stolen. There is a second in use, but it’s not as full as the first. Why was the first chronograph stolen? Who stole it? What is the mystery that is the Secret of the Twelve?

            “Ruby Red” is the first in a YA trilogy by German author Kerstin Gier. As the first in a trilogy, there are plenty of questions yet unanswered, but I wholly enjoyed this book. I didn’t want to put this YA tale down. Gier’s storytelling flows well, and her writing is humorous and entertaining. I highly recommend this story to anyone who enjoys light science fiction.

Shadow of Night (July 10, 2012) by Deborah Harkness.

If you could timewalk, would you travel to the past and risk unwittingly disrupting it by introducing new variables? Diana Bishop and Matthew Clairmont have so that Diana can learn how to be a witch. And don’t forget Ashmole 782 (see “A Discoveryof Witches”). They expect things will be accomplished shortly. Not surprisingly, things don’t go as planned. Danger lurks in multiple forms, as do secrets and fears, love and sorrow. Then throw in many notable historical figures – e.g. Christopher Marlowe, Sir Walter Raleigh and even William Shakespeare – and the past can get extra messy. (Or for Matthew, re-messy.) Will Diana learn to control the witch in her? Can Matthew come to terms with his greatest fears? How will their actions in the past affect the present? Will time unravel?

            Fans of “A Discovery of Witches” will surely add this sequel to their bookshelves, but I did not find this novel as riveting as the first. The writing is intelligent, but I lacked interest in the book until roughly 275 pages in. Harkness is well-researched, which is so important, but it is the reason I didn’t find it riveting. There were too many extra details. And sometimes, extra details read as just extra words. This novel is over 575 pages long; therefore, it contains a lot of extra words for someone like me who finds historical details interesting but doesn’t necessarily relish them.

            I’m not discouraging anyone from reading this book; I’m still interested enough to look forward to the final installment. I simply want you to be aware that this isn’t a rapid read like the Twilight series. It’s heavy stuff. After all, it’s holding the weight of the main characters’ present AND over four hundred years of the past!

Vanishing Barns on the Backroads (Apr. 9, 2012) by Julie Bronson.

A book of photography with limited captions, Julie Bronson captures vanishing scenes from the countryside. Most of the photos were taken within 35-40 miles of where she lives in southern Minnesota. This book, as noted by the title, focuses on very old barns, though there are other crumbling structures as well (e.g. silos, windmills). Bronson finds beauty in the dilapidated, the abandoned, the forgotten. To her, these relics of an older farming landscape represent a treasure trove of rural history.

            Bronson displays much skill in her photography. It is apparent that she cares very much for the subjects of her photos, inanimate as they are. She pays great attention to natural lighting and the angle of the shot. She hones in on the remains of a bygone time. In her next book, I would like to see page numbers, and it would be a good idea for someone to proofread her book before she publishes it. Aside from that, this book is a dear ode to the vanishing structures of old. These barns/silos/etc. were once essential to the organization and management of farms, so let us appreciate them as their physical shells vanish from view along our back roads.

What Doesn’t Kill You (Apr. 17, 2012) by Iris Johansen.

Newly introduced Catherine Ling is a beautiful but lethal woman. Orphaned at a young age, she was left to fend for herself in Hong Kong. To survive, she became an expert in martial arts and information-gathering. She can be ruthless and cold. She does have a caring side, which she often attempts to keep tamped down. Now a top-notch and highly effective CIA agent, Catherine wants to focus her attention on her son, Luke. But the CIA calls, and she’s whisked away to find Hu Chang, a master chemist whose life she once saved. A brilliant man, he’s concocted wonders that can miraculously heal or painfully slay. A vile man named Hugh Nardik has something Hu Chang made, and Nardik will stop at nothing to accomplish what he wants, including hurting Catherine and her son. Can Nardik be stopped before he reaches his goal to destroy?

            “What Doesn’t Kill You” is classic Johansen. There’s a strong woman at the center of the story who’s bold and is no distressed damsel. There are supporting characters we know from her past novels, and there’s plenty of violence. For those familiar with Johansen’s work, there aren’t many surprises, and the suspense is same old, but it’s always nice to cheer for the good guys, though even they can walk a fine line. I do applaud her on her character, Catherine Ling. It’s nice that she’s finally introduced a major heroine who’s not only Caucasian. Read this if you like thriller fiction.

Rutabaga's Reads 2012: Part 2

This is Part 2 of Rutabaga’s Reads 2012. I would enjoy reading your comments on any of these books you have also read. What did you like or not like about the book? Or if you haven’t read the books, tell me which one captures your interest. And definitely clue me in on any books that you’ve read that have captivated you or really made you think.

13 Treasures (Apr. 12, 2010) by Michelle Harrison.

In this middle-grade fantasy novel, debut author Harrison introduces readers to Tanya, a 13-year-old with the second sight. She can see fairies, but not the adorable pixies we’d expect in Tinker Bell’s world. No, these fairies are mischievous and sometimes downright mean. She is sent to live at her unfriendly grandmother’s place, Elvesden Manor, the wooded area around it which is replete with fairies. After an unplanned, but still forbidden, trek into the woods with the groundskeeper’s son, Fabian, Tanya and Fabian become interested in the identity of the “ghost” they encountered. With the help of Red, a girl who also has the second sight to see fairies, and Mad Morag, who many in the town deem to be a witch, Tanya learns more about the mystery of Hangman’s Wood and a fifty-year-old story.

            While I did not love this story, I still found it to be an interesting take on fairies. Harrison creates a masterful world around Elvesden Manor, and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys upper middle-grade fantasy works. Maybe wear some red, though …

Bad Girls Don’t Die (Apr. 21, 2009) by Katie Alender.

In this YA supernatural thriller debut from Alender, Alexis Warren is a typical angst-y teen who’s anti-social and anti-cheerleader. She likes to dye her hair (pink makes a good statement) and wreak minor havoc (like stage an anti-fashion show during a school club’s fashion show). She feels she can go full steam ahead in her own way and on her own time by herself. But when she notices strange glowing light around their house, and her sister, Kasey’s, blue eyes occasionally go green, she knows that she can’t handle this on her own. She gains the help of two people she’d never purposely plan on crossing social paths with: Megan Wiley, cheerleading captain and [covert] class clairvoyant, and Carter Blume, class vice president and … potential boyfriend?

            While there were moments when the book felt very obviously contrived, for the most part, it was a solid supernatural read for the YA set. Alender gives Alexis an authentic teenaged voice, which is also humorous. This book would be a choice read for girls who want to be spooked, but only a little.

Cleopatra’s Moon (Aug. 1, 2011) by Vicky Alvear Shecter.

A YA novel following Cleopatra VIII Selene, the only daughter of Cleopatra the VII and Marcus Antonius. She was named Selene for the moon, while her twin brother, Alexandros Helios, was named for the sun. This historical fiction novel is told through the eyes of Cleopatra Selene beginning with the undoing of her family and the Egyptian empire on through a live-in in the court of Octavianus, the Roman ruler who caused her and her family much heartache, loss and loss of life. Cleopatra Selene vows to defeat him and return to Egypt. Like her mother, she wants to present herself as the great and powerful queen her mother was.

            Cleopatra Selene is a compelling female protagonist; she is a heroine. I found this story to be riveting; Shecter writes Cleopatra Selene’s character so well that you’ll wish history had ended up much happier for Cleopatra Selene, her brothers and their parents. But with their history being one that it is, be aware that there are many characters – even in this one story alone – and some have such similar-sounding names that it may sometimes be difficult to keep them straight. But if you can do that and appreciate historical fiction with its adventure, danger and romance, you will appreciate this book, too, as I did.

Entwined (Mar. 29, 2011) by Heather Dixon.

Azalea Wentworth of Eathesbury, Princess Royale, is the oldest of twelve princesses. They are named in alphabetical order of flowering flora “as the King liked everything very much in order.” In Dixon’s debut novel, Azalea and her sisters endure a mourning period (no colors, sunlight, suitors or dancing) after their mother’s passing, but Azalea and her sisters love to dance. And indeed, “Entwined” is based on “The Twelve Dancing Princesses” by the Grimm Brothers. Azalea finds a secret passage to a magical pavilion and the Keeper, who invites them to use the pavilion to dance as much as they want. It’s a nice relief from the Mourning above and the prospective suitors to see Azalea on “Royal Business.” But still, Azalea notes that the Keeper is not as wholly amicable as he seems. What does he want?

            Dixon did a fine job of moving the plot forward with light romance, magic, danger and communication (both fun and strained). The YA fantasy novel is reminiscent of “The Twelve Dancing Princesses” and is created in a fairy-tale world that would almost be pleasing to inhabit if it weren’t for the Keeper. I found this book to be charming and funny (especially in scenes involving Princess Bramble and/or Lord Teddie). This is a delightful read for anyone who enjoys fairy tales, but it would appeal more to girls than boys.

The Grimm Legacy (July 8, 2010) by Polly Shulman.

In this, the central character, Elizabeth Rew, is a newly hired page at the New York Circulating Material Repository, where patrons can check out a variety of rare objects. Secret objects as well, which lie in the repository’s basement and include items from the Grimm Collection. That room contains the magical items of the Grimm Brothers fairy tales, such as the Magic Mirror from Snow White and the seven-league boots. For a gal who’s been miserable at home and at a new school – save for the teacher who suggests the job to her – her work life is exciting and adventurous. But something is wrong. The magical items are beginning to disappear. Can Elizabeth and her friends find out who’s causing the disappearance of the missing artifacts?

            Reading like an upper middle-grade novel, “The Grimm Legacy” is fast-paced and entertaining. Fans of fantasy and especially, the Grimm fairy tales, will delight in this read, though without all the darkness of the actual Grimm tales or even the hit TV show “Once Upon a Time” (which I thoroughly enjoy). I recommend this to anyone looking for a fantasy read or just a good book!

 

I Was Jane Austen’s Best Friend (Sept. 28, 2010) by Cora Harrison.

That would be Jenny Cooper, also Jane Austen’s cousin. A real person (though her actual name was Jane Cooper), she is an orphan who lives with the Austen family in the year she meets the dashing Captain Thomas Williams. But Jenny is a shy girl, so how is a shy girl to go about grabbing the attentions and affections of a potential love interest? Answer: Jane Austen. Good thing Cousin Jane is around with her bevy of knowledge regarding courtship in their day with plenty of wit to go with it.

            The first thing that came to mind when I finished this YA story was that it is a cute story. One can tell that Harrison completed extensive research so as to represent the time period properly, not just in speech, but manners and attitudes as well. The book is good parts carried in fact and fiction. A charming historical romance, I anticipate you’ll like this book if you’re an Austen fan or like charming stories.

In a Heartbeat (Feb. 2, 2010) by Loretta Ellsworth.

“In a Heartbeat” goes back-and-forth between two main characters: Eagan, a rising star in the figure skating world, who’s recently died after a freak skating accident, and Amelia, who’s in need of a heart transplant due to congestive heart failure. Amelia receives Eagan’s heart and begins to notice newly acquired tastes and characteristics. For example, she craves the color purple when she hated it before. It’s Eagan’s favorite color. So now Amelia’s adjusting to a future she thought she might not have – and it includes a boy named Ari – but Eagan in her afterlife is not ready to let go. How will Amelia start to adjust? Can Eagan let go?

            I chose this book because a description of the book had said that fans of Lurlene McDaniel would enjoy this story. (In my teen years, I read multiple books by Lurlene McDaniel.) While I can’t say I for sure agree with that, I will say that it was a stirring read. Even though the matter is intense stuff, Ellsworth’s writing is simple enough for younger readers to understand. It might even get readers thinking about the magnitude of organ donation and the theory of cellular memory.

The Kneebone Boy (Sept. 14, 2010) by Ellen Potter.

The Hardscrabble children are a strange sort. There’s Otto, who’s been mute since their mother disappeared; Lucia, who’s fiercely honest and protective of Otto; and Max, who is the cogs-turning-thinker of the three. They are sent by their father to stay at an aunt’s house, but it turns out she’s on vacation, so they detour to their great aunt’s house in Snoring-by-the-Sea. The great aunt turns out, not to be a wizened old woman, but a young and somewhat eccentric woman who lives in a castle folly. The full-sized Kneebone Castle is across the way, and they learn of a half-human prisoner (the Kneebone Boy) and perhaps find answers to their own family mystery.

            Potter tells the story from a narrator’s perspective. Although it is one of the Hardscrabble trio, it doesn’t assuredly mention which one, though I’d wager anyone who read it would have a very good guess. She writes with enough twists and turns to keep the reader’s interest, but also imparts humorous asides to garner the reader’s laughter. That’s needed to get them through to the end. This is a fun choice for middle-grade readers or anyone, really, who likes a book with a moody cover. Who all noticed the five-legged cat?

Sing Down the Moon (Sept. 28, 1970) by Scott O’Dell.

A Newberry Honor Book, this small book tells the big story of Navaho (or Navajo) Indian Bright Morning. She gets kidnapped, along with her friend, Running Bird, by Spanish slavers. A determined young girl, she escapes with her friend and Nehana, a Nez Percé girl. But not long after her return, the Navaho are driven away from their homes by the Long Knives (Americans with swords who want their land). What happens to Bright Morning and her people?

            The book may be short, but the story is not. The time setting takes place between 1863 and 1865. In 1864, The Long Walk of the Navajo occurred, a 300-mile-long (according to the book) walk. The story is bitter and moving and full of tension and courage all at once. I would guess it has been popular in classrooms over the years.

            Has anyone used this story as a history lesson in their classroom? If so, how did it go? Bright Morning and the other young people like herself were very hard workers from a very early age, quite different than most young people today. Do they understand the enormity and fear and danger of life back then? Do they understand that O’Dell created “real” characters? Though the book is fiction, the story isn’t wholly. It is rooted in reality in all its peril, bitterness and endurance.

Switched: A Trylle Novel (Jan. 3, 2012 trade paperback ed.) by Amanda Hocking.

Hocking is a native to Austin, MN. And in her Trylle (a.k.a. trolls) world, trolls aren’t strange little things with shocks of bright hair or large ugly things that carry wooden clubs. They are remarkably attractive creatures that live in Förening, which happens to be located in MN bluff country near the Mississippi River. To the disbelief of Wendy Everly, this is where she ends up with fellow Trylle, Finn. She grew up with a mother who was convinced that Wendy was a monster and that she’d been switched out with her actual child.

            In Förening she meets her birth mother, a stunningly elegant and beautiful Trylle. She’s also adamant that Wendy learn the ways of the Trylle and get rid of her horridly “ordinary” name. Naturally, Wendy is expected to learn years’ worth of knowledge in a short matter of time before her very own debutante ball. There’s also the threat of a rival Trylle tribe after her, the Vittra. And her friendship with a mänsklig is vehemently discouraged. Why? What’s a mänsklig and what is the significance of the one she befriends?

            Hocking is something of a poster child for the self-publishing world. The Trylle trilogy is an e-book bestseller. I found the idea of pretty trolls to be an interesting concept, but also found this first book in the trilogy to be too predictable. I think that if you are a big fan of the “Twilight” series, this could be a trilogy to add to your bookshelf. But I’d recommend you try something else if you’re not a “Twilight” fan or have had enough of ridiculously attractive/stunningly beautiful creatures.