Pick 6: Magic

Spells, faeries, witches, giants. Magical elements seem to resonate with young readers and there are some really excellent fantasy novels being written for them. Here are six books published in the past six months that feature magic.

6 new magical novels

1. Crystal Cadets by Anne Toole and Katie O'Neil

2. The Door By the Staircase by Katherine Marsh

3. Simon Thorn and the Wolf's Den by Aimee Carter

4. Believe Your Eyes by Cori Doerrfeld and Tyler Page

5. Red  by Liesel Shurtiff

6. Shadow Magic by Joshua Khann

Book review - Doodle Adventures

Title: Doodle Adventures: The Search for the Slimy Space Slugs
Author: Mike Lowery
Genre: humor
Similar books: Meet the Bigfeet by Kevin Sherry
                     Captain Underpants by Dav Pilkey
Rating:

Silly and fun

Summary(provided by publisher): Pick up a pencil or pen. Sharpen your imagination! Here's an adventure story where you, the reader, directly participate. DOODLE ADVENTURES: THE SEARCH FOR SLIMY SPACE SLUGS! marries the pleasures of doodling and drawing with the fun of a ripping good story. Like a visual Mad Libs chapter book, or a graphic novel where the reader gets to help with the graphics, it celebrates engaging, gamelike, fill-in fun for middle-grade readers.
Mike Lowery brings the fresh lively look of his Kid's Awesome Activity Calendar, with more than 65,000 copies in print, to the first in a series of DOODLE ADVENTURES—lighthearted fantasy stories where the reader first draws him- or herself into the story, and then continues by following prompts and adding more illustrations and doodles. The full-color book is sturdy paper over board with beautiful cream paper—perfect for defacing! Page after page mixes Lowery's hand-lettered text with illustrations and then lots of room for the reader's contributions.
Set in space, the book invites the reader to join Carl, a duck and member of a super-secret international group of explorers, on a journey in search of a very important grail-like object—a jar with an artifact that's gone missing. By the end of the adventure, you'll have cowritten a tale you can read again and again and show off to family and friends.

My opinion: This book would have been the perfect choice for my nephew about five years ago. He's a bit too old for it now but it would be a great choice for any wildly creative kid. The bigger the imagination, the better the end result will be. It has the potential to be incredibly creative, with ridiculous and mildly gross humor. It would be fun for a kid to complete alone or as an ongoing project with a parent. There's not a great deal of plot but enough of one that a kid could potentially enjoy reading it again, even after completing all of the doodles.

Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley.

Book review - The Only Thing Worse Than Me is You

Title: The Only Thing Worse Than Me is You
Author: Lily Anderson
Genre: realistic fiction/retelling
Similar books: A Wounded Name by Dot Hutchinson
                     Into the Wild Nerd Yonder by Julie Halpern
Rating:

all that I could have hoped

Summary(provided by publisher): Trixie Watson has two very important goals for senior year: to finally save enough to buy the set of Dr. Who figurines at the local comic books store, and to place third in her class and knock Ben West--and his horrendous new mustache that he spent all summer growing--down to number four.
Trixie will do anything to get her name ranked over Ben's, including give up sleep and comic books--well, maybe not comic books--but definitely sleep. After all, the war of Watson v. West is as vicious as the Doctor v. Daleks and Browncoats v. Alliance combined, and it goes all the way back to the infamous monkey bars incident in the first grade. Over a decade later, it's time to declare a champion once and for all.
The war is Trixie's for the winning, until her best friend starts dating Ben's best friend and the two are unceremoniously dumped together and told to play nice. Finding common ground is odious and tooth-pullingly-painful, but Trixie and Ben's cautious truce slowly transforms into a fandom-based tentative friendship. When Trixie's best friend gets expelled for cheating and Trixie cries foul play, however, they have to choose who to believe and which side they're on--and they might not pick the same side.

My opinion: Never have I read a Shakespeare retelling that so deftly recreates the bard's wit and word play. The back and forth between Ben and Trixie is nothing short of marvelous. Anderson had me thoroughly hooked from the very first sentence. I liked the addition of the cheating scandal as an academic situation rather than a romantic one. A) It makes the eventual romantic reunion easier to accept in modern culture (imagine the outcry if a girl in a book took her boyfriend back after he called her a cheater and publicly shamed her). B) It gives the whole story a little extra depth. Now the danger of a retelling with close adherence to the plot of the source material, is in this book, is predictability. If we know the source plot well we can predict where this book will go. And this book was pretty true to Shakespeare. So I was a little annoyed and befuddled when it became apparent that the John character was not the mastermind. The divergence made more sense in the context of these particular characters, but it was still and adjustment. The best part of the book, to my mind, is the serious level of nerd-love. The characters are dedicated nerds, celebrating all manner of comics, sci-fi, fantasy, and educational fields. Some of them care about sports, pop music, popularity, and fashion, dismissing the notion that such things are for the shallow and "normal" teens. A good choice for most teens, fans of Shakespeare or no.

Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley.

Picture books for everyone

Nobody Likes a Goblin by Ben Hatke

The plot of this book is easy enough for even very young listeners to understand. The narration is simple enough that it holds up to repeat readings. Where it really shines, though, is in the illustration. Hatke includes and impressive level of detail in every illustration. Each page is complex with the main events in the foreground and usually some minor events happening unexplained in the background. This means that there is plenty to explore on every page. Add in the subversion of the usual fairy tale/fantasy character roles and this book is likely to delight most young readers and their parents as well.
 
Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley

Book review - Every Exquisite Thing

Title: Every Exquisite Thing
Author: Matthew Quick
Genre: realistic fiction
Similar books: Looking for Alaska by John Green
                     The Other Way Around by Sashi Kaufman
Rating:

Not a clone - what a relief

Summary(provided by publisher): Nanette O'Hare is an unassuming teen who has played the role of dutiful daughter, hardworking student, and star athlete for as long as she can remember. But when a beloved teacher gives her his worn copy of The Bugglegum Reaper--a mysterious, out-of-print cult classic--the rebel within Nanette awakens.
As she befriends the reclusive author, falls in love with a young but troubled poet, and attempts to insert her true self into the world with wild abandon, Nanette learns the hard way that rebellion sometimes comes at a high price.
A celebration of the self and the formidable power of story, Every Exquisite Thing is Matthew Quick at his finest.

My opinion: Initially I was somewhat annoyed with this book. It can be wearying, reading about determined outsiders all of the time. Books tend to portray teen protagonists as quirky, literature loving, popularity shunning, and perfectly happy with their somewhat-outside-the-mainstream lives. They might get some guff from their popular peers but they are singularly unbothered by that lack of understanding. I was prepared to sigh and roll my eyes throughout the bulk of this book. Then Quick threw a curve ball, taking his characters far outside the norm. They reject most societal conventions, making choices that will have significant impact on the rest of their lives. They're lonely in spite of finding kindred spirits, depressed, and constantly question the choices they are making. Fear drives Nanette back into some semblance of the norm. Her friend, steadfastly following his new path, self destructs. I loved the constant question and re-evaluating. 
It's quirky and not for fans of mainstream fiction. More subversive than John Green, this is a book for the teen who refuses to do something or like something just because "they" say you should.

Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley

A Martha-style blazer

A while back I had a notion that I might take a cardigan and give it elbow patches made of t-shirt fabric. I hunted through a handful of thrift shops for the perfect cardigan with no luck. What I did find, though, was a blazer. At only a dollar I figured I could make it work for my idea. Instead of t-shirt, though, I used some Hawaiian fabric I had tucked away. The result is almost better than my original idea.

 

Book review - The Messengers

Title: The Messengers: Discovered
Author: Lisa M. Clark
Genre: dystopia
Similar books: The Giver by Lois Lowry
                     Among the Hidden by Margaret Peterson Haddix
Rating:

Nicely done

Summary(provided by publisher):  The Message worth dying for . . .
There’s a truth out there to be discovered, a truth the government will stop at nothing to stamp out. By day, fifteen-year-old Simon pushes against the government’s control over his curfew, his meals, his fun. And by night, secret visitors and hidden messages make him question everything his life entails.
There’s a truth out there to be discovered, a truth the government will stop at nothing to eliminate. Join Simon and the Messengers as they risk their lives to protect it.

My opinion: Of all the situations proposed by dystopian novels, this is one I can easily imagine actually occurring, where religion, art, imagination, and innovation are pushed out in favor of logic, science, and reason. With societal apathy leading the way, its easy to see how such a society could develop. This novel has a solid cast of characters and pacing. With constant exploration, learning, and revelation of a secret society, it remains pretty exciting throughout. I was less than thrilled with the final scenes, which had some logical failings. We have our main characters in this highly charged, life-threatening situation and suddenly the villain just stops and turns the people's attention to a new entertainment. We needed more explanation of why he didn't proceed with his plan, a more explicit statement. A solid read, especially for kids with a religious leaning.
Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley.