Book review - The Elephant's Girl

Title: The Elephant's Girl
Author: Celesta Rimington
Genre: magical realism
Similar books: Forever Glimmer Creek by Stacy Hackney
                      Breadcrumbs by Anne Ursu
Rating:

a solid read that gives us something to consider

Summary (provided by publisher): An elephant never forgets, but Lexington Willow can't remember what happened before a tornado swept her away when she was a toddler. All she knows is that it landed her near an enclosure in a Nebraska zoo; and there an elephant named Nyah protected her from the storm. With no trace of her birth family, Lex grew up at the zoo with Nyah and her elephant family; her foster father, Roger; her best friend, Fisher; and the wind whispering in her ear.
Now that she's twelve, Lex is finally old enough to help with the elephants. But during their first training session, Nyah sends her a telepathic image of the woods outside the zoo. Despite the wind's protests, Lex decides to investigate Nyah's message and gets wrapped up in an adventure involving ghosts, lost treasure, and a puzzle that might be the key to finding her family. As she hunts for answers, Lex must summon the courage to leave the secure borders of her zoo to discover who she really is--and why the tornado brought her here all those years ago. 

My opinion: Rimington leans hard into the magical realism, giving us a protagonist who can communicate with the wind and elephants as well as a ghost. The presentation of ghosts in this particular novel is fairly unique and creates a metaphor for exploring the changes to a friendship in adolescence. Lex's devotion to the ghost parallels her changing relationship with Fisher and reinforces the message that one person shouldn't be somebody else's everything. Add in our ties to the past, the ways that the people who came before us influence our present, and we have a solidly interesting read. The metaphors are a bit blunt but this is not uncommon in books for this age group.
More information: The Elephant's Girl releases May 19.
Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley

Graphic novel spotlight - Saturday and Sunday: Rock Heaven

Saturday and Sunday Rock Heaven by Fabien Vehlmann

If you read many European comic you begin to recognize a sort of random quality to the narrative absent from their American counterparts. Fans of Asterix and Tintin will find similarities in Saturday and Sunday. At face value, this is a story about a pair of friends having a low level adventure around their home, talking to other residents and exploring their island. At heart, it's an exploration of existential questions. These characters are asking about the nature of life and our purpose on this planet, seeking wise figures and sources of knowledge. Most of their attempts at an answer are met with silliness, but for the most part that humor adds to the meaning. The cartoony style, reminiscent of the Smurfs, belie  the complexity of the topic. While it doesn't find any real answers it does reassure the reader that these questions are a normal part of life and that none of us are alone.

Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley

Non-fiction book review - Won't Get Fooled Again

Won't Get Fooled Again by Erin Steuter

There are, of course, other books out there that explore the "fake news" phenomenon and explain how to check a story's viability. Steuter takes this idea a step further. In a series of scenarios we see how "fake news" gets perpetuated, how to check for truth, and verifying our own sources of research, being certain to warn about spoofed websites. She warns us against marking every "weird" story as false and preventing our own biases from coloring our research. Even more than that, she shows us how fake news harms the general perception of truth in news and even of truth in general. While the artwork is a bit rough and noisy, the information is invaluable making this well worth the read.
Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley.

Book review - Last Girls

Title: Last GIrls
Author: Demetra Brodsky
Genre: realistic fiction
Similar books: Klickitat by Peter Rock
                      Watch the Sky by Kirsten Hubbard
Rating:

ultimately disappointing

Summary (provided by publisher): Demetra Brodsky's Last Girls is a twisting, suspenseful YA thriller about sisterhood, survival, and family secrets set in the world of doomsday prepping.
No one knows how the world will end.
On a secret compound in the Washington wilderness, Honey Juniper and her sisters are training to hunt, homestead, and protect their own.
Prepare for every situation.
But when danger strikes from within, putting her sisters at risk, training becomes real life, and only one thing is certain:
Nowhere is safe.


My opinion: At first, I was really into this book. I liked the comparison between the Juniper girls and this mysterious boy with missing sisters. I liked the parallels between their plots, the ways they were trapped by circumstances and how both of their worlds threatened to end. I was less happy when it became clear earlier than I'd have liked that it was not parallel plots but just one plot from two perspectives, that the missing sisters were the Junipers. Because then, instead of becoming an exploration of what leads a person to these extreme view it becomes a simple oppressive cult,. It's threats to their lives and a race for survival. The first chapters were an exploration of who we are, the things that influence, and what we give up for the good of others. The end was just the resolution of simple, physical plots. These emotional issues don't get resolutions or further exploration. All of the complexity is loaded into the early chapters. The end is just quick physical wrap up. That devolution from inventive and contemplative to commonplace was a serious let down.
Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley

A rather dragony crocodile-cat

I happened upon @rhodemontijo's #cardboardcreatureclub on Instagram this week. The idea is to create a creature using primarily cardboard. Each week has a different prompt. And I was inspired. This week's prompt was crocodile-cat. My creature has definite dragon vibes.

Book review - What We Found in the Corn Maze and How it Saved a Dragon

Title: What We Found in the Corn Maze and How it Saved a Dragon
Author: Henry Clark
Genre: fantasy
Similar books: The Wonder of Wildflowers by Anna Staniszewski
                      The Magic of Melwick Orchard by Rebecca Caprara
Rating:

not sure it's the good kind of weird

Summary (provided by publisher): When three kids discover a book of magic spells that can only be cast during a few short minutes a day, they'll need all the time they can get to save a dying magical world, its last dragon, and themselves.
An ordinary day turns extraordinary when twelve-year-old Cal witnesses his neighbor Modesty summon a slew of lost coins without lifting a finger. Turns out she has a secret manual of magic spells . . . but they only work sometimes. And they're the most boring spells ever: To Change the Color of a Room, To Repair a Chimney, To Walk With Stilts, To Untangle Yarn. Useless!
But when Cal, his friend Drew, and Modesty are suddenly transported to the world the spells come from -- a world that's about to lose its last dragon -- they'll have to find a way to use the oddly specific incantations to save the day, if only they can figure out when magic works.
From the inventive mind of Henry Clark comes a hilariously wacky adventure about magic, friendship, a lookout tower come to life, a maze in the shape of a dragon, an actual dragon named Phlogiston, and lots and lots of popcorn.

My opinion: My rather fraught relationship with this book begins with the introduction of the technology called the Davytron. This struck me as an absolutely ridiculous name, and not in a good way. Every time it was mentioned, it pushed me out of the world of the story. And it strikes me as a symptom of a larger issue. It doesn't take itself seriously enough. The plot makes jokes at it's own expense. Most of the humor comes from absurd turns and pun names. The pun names are fine, though I'm not sure they'll all land with young readers, based as they are in library terminology. And the absurd turns aren't so much funny as just odd or happenstance. Only a narrow group of kids is going to truly enjoy this book.
Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley

Listen with me

Jackaby by William Ritter

When I initially read this book a couple of years ago I was utterly charmed. Charmed enough, in fact, that I was a little hesitant to listen to this audio. There's that fear that it won't live up to memory. I needn't have worried about this one. It holds up well. Ritter has taken a standard historical mystery and threaded it through with elements of magic and folk tales. Jackaby is a combination of Sherlock Holmes and the Doctor, a quirky and mysterious figure who sees what others cannot and often acts in ways people don't understand. He is paired with Abigail Rook, a regular young woman chaffing agains the standards of society, sick of being seen as less because of her gender and looking for adventure. There's also a ghost. And a duck who used to be human. As you might guess, there's a touch of humor in what might otherwise be a dark murder mystery.

Nicola Barber gives life to the character of Abigail Rook, who serves as our narrator. Her British accent is soothing but she lends an air of urgency and excitement. She reads in a dynamic way that keeps us engaged with the text.