Middle-Grade/Teen Review: Hold Fast

For over a decade, I have been hearing great things about Blue Balliet’s mystery novels. My son read one of them when he was a middle-grader, but I never got around to it myself. I just finished her latest novel, Hold Fast, and absolutely loved it! What took me so long? This novel – appropriate for older middle-grade readers and teens (and adults!) – combines a mystery with a realistic story about a family who suddenly finds themselves homeless, all from the perspective of an eleven-year old girl. It is exciting and suspenseful but also brimming with emotional depth and insights into a world that many young readers know nothing about.

Eleven-year old Early loves her life. She is part of a close-knit family in Chicago, living in a tiny, one-room apartment with her parents and her four-year old brother, Jubilation (Jubie for short). She knows her family doesn’t have much money, but they have love and dreams and books. Early’s parents – and especially her father Dashiel – love to read and share books with their children. Dash also loves to play with words and works as a page at the Chicago Public Library. He dreams of one day getting a degree in library science, and the whole family dreams of one day having a house of their own.

This happy, loving family is shattered when Dash disappears suddenly one icy winter evening on his way home from work. The police aren’t much help – they seem to think Early’s dad left on his own – and before long, Early, her mom, and her little brother lose their apartment and are forced to move to a city shelter. Early’s life falls apart as she is torn from her school, her friends, and the only home she has ever known, all while worrying about her beloved father.

Dash taught his daughter well, though, and Early begins to look for patterns and rhythms in what has happened that might help her find her father. She unravels tiny clues left behind in a desperate search to bring her family back together. As the days turn into weeks and months, though, she is forced to take on more responsibility as her mother falls apart and gives into despair and hopelessness, and the three of them struggle to adjust to life in a shelter.

This incredible novel packs a lot into a few hundred pages. It is a heartwarming (and sometimes heartbreaking) story about family and the meaning of home. It is a suspenseful and complex mystery, filled with surprising twists you will never see coming. It is a realistic portrayal of what life is like for the estimated 30,000 homeless children in Chicago (that’s just in one city!). And it is a love story that attests to the power of words and books. I loved Early’s family and never wanted their story to end.

274 words, Scholastic Press

NOTE: Although this book is marketed to a wide range of middle-grade readers as young as 8, it is most appropriate for those in middle-school or older. The mystery at the heart of the story is fairly complicated, as are the emotions evoked by the plight of the main characters. I also think this book will appeal to teen readers who like realistic fiction, even though the main character is only eleven. And, as an adult, I loved this book and never felt I was being talked down to. I can’t wait to share it with some of my young cousins and nieces. Highly recommended.

 

Middle-Grade Review: The Game of Sunken Places

The Game of Sunken Places by M.T. Anderson has been sitting on my to-be-read shelf for a long time, ever since my teen son read it a few years ago. I’ve heard good things about Anderson’s books, but this was the first one I ever read. It’s a mystery/fantasy story for middle-grade readers that is sort of like a cross between The Hardy Boys and Jumanji.

Thirteen-year old Gregory’s eccentric adopted uncle invites him and a friend to spend their school holiday at his house in Vermont. When Gregory and his best friend, Brian, arrive at the old mansion in the woods, they find that Uncle Max is even stranger than they’d thought. He and his home seem to exist in a different century, and Uncle Max insists that the boys dress in tweed knickers and stiff-collared shirts while they are visiting. Meals are quiet, formal affairs attended by servants at a big dining room table with Uncle Max and Gregory’s cousin, Prudence.

The boys poke around the deserted nursery and decide to ease their boredom with an old board game they find, The Game of Sunken Places. This game, though, is like none they’ve ever played before, and as they explore the area around the mansion, more and more spaces on the board become visible. This strange game takes them far beyond the game board and nursery, as they explore the woods around the house and discover things they never dreamed existed in real life – trolls, spirits, and other fearsome creatures – all locked in an age-old battle that now includes the two friends.

The tone of this novel, especially at the beginning, reminded me very much of old Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys mysteries – two old friends discovering a mystery. It’s an us-against-the-world feeling, with plenty of good-natured joking between the boys (Gregory is especially prone to wise cracks). Then, the action turns more toward fantasy, as the mysteries surrounding Uncle Max and the old house turn out to involve all sorts of otherworldly beings, unseen worlds, and ancient conflicts.

I’m not a huge fan of fantasy normally (my son is), but I enjoyed this fast-paced and thoroughly unique story. It is filled with action, suspense, a good dose of humor to lighten the mood, and surprises around every corner. Kids who enjoy fantasy stories about strange creatures and other worlds will love this novel.

260 pages, Scholastic

(M.T. Anderson wrote another 3 books in this series, titled The Norumbegan Quartet)

 

Teen/YA Review: Cryer’s Cross

I really loved Lisa McMann’s Wake trilogy, so I was thrilled to hear she had a new teen/YA supernatural thriller out, Cryer’s Cross.  This novel succeeds on two levels: as a creepy ghost story and as a sensitive real-life portrait of a young girl with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD).

Kendall has lived all of her seventeen years in Cryer’s Cross, Montana, a small farming community of only about 200 people.  The quiet town was rocked the previous spring when a young high school student disappeared and was never found.  The tragedy also disturbed Kendall’s OCD, but now she is struggling to get it back under control for the new school year.  Two new students join the tiny high school, with just six students in each grade, when they move to their grandfather’s farm. 

When another student disappears, the town erupts in chaos and heartbreak once again.  Kendall begins to hear strange voices and find mysterious graffiti on the desk of one of the missing students that she finds strangely compelling.  The creep factor multiples from there.

My 17-year old son and I listened to Cryer’s Cross on audio and absolutely loved it; the narrator, Julia Whelan, an actress and award-winning audio reader, does a great job.  In fact, my son enjoyed it so much that he didn’t wait for me to finish it.  When we got back from our car trip partway through the audio, he immediately picked up the hardcover book and finished reading the story that same afternoon!   He enjoyed the suspense but also the many soccer passages.

It certainly is a spooky supernatural story, but I was most impressed with the novel’s character development, especially the way it deals with Kendall’s OCD.  The author’s acknowledgements say that she based the character of Kendall on her own daughter with OCD “…in the hopes that others might understand or find some comfort,” and I think she succeeds at that goal.  In fact, the supernatural elements are almost beside the point.  We both thoroughly enjoyed this multi-faceted teen novel.

233 pages, Simon Pulse

 

Teen/YA Fiction Review: Blank Confession

 Pete Hautman’s Blank Confession is an unusual sort of teen/YA murder mystery because the murderer confesses in the very first chapter, but we don’t know who he killed or why until the end of the book.

The novel opens when 16-year old Shayne Blank walks into his local police station and confesses to murder to Detective Rawls, who tries to figure out what happened:

“Who did you kill?”

The kid didn’t say anything, same as the first time Rawls had asked him that question – instead he reached for the metal ring attached to a hinge bolted to the tabletop and ran his fingers over it.  The ring was there so that a potentially violent suspect could be handcuffed to the steel table, which was bolted to the floor.  Rawls sat back and looked at his watch: 5:09.  It didn’t matter.  This time he was going to wait for the kid to speak, no matter how long it took.

It took two minutes and thirteen seconds.  The kid flopped the ring back and forth: Clank. Clank. Clank.

“It’s kind of a long story,” the kid said.

Yes, it is.  The rest of the book alternates between Shayne telling his story to Detective Rawls and Shayne’s only friend, Mikey, telling his version of the events that led to Shayne walking into the police station.  It’s a fairly convoluted story, but Shayne seems like a good guy, so there’s plenty of suspense involved as the reader wonders how events could have led to murder.  Despite his confession, you find yourself rooting for Shayne.  It’s a quick, satisfying read.

170 pages, Simon & Schuster

 

Middle-Grade Review: Brixton Brothers and the Case of the Case of the Mistaken Identity

Brixton Brothers: The Case of the Case of the Mistaken Identity by Mac Barnett is the first in a series of new mystery novels for middle-grade readers.  This book is different from most kids’ mysteries because it is firmly a tongue-in-cheek look at the popular genre.  Filled with humor and irony, Brixton Brothers is an obvious send-up of the Hardy Boys.

Steve Brixton is obsessed with The Bailey Brothers and especially with The Bailey Brothers Detective Handbook:

The Bailey Brothers, of course, were the sons of world-famous detective Harris Bailey.  They helped their dad solve his toughest cases, and they had all sorts of dangerous adventures, and these adventures were the subject of the fifty-eight shiny red volumes that made up the Bailey Brothers Mysteries, also by MacArthur Bart.  Numbers two through fifty-nine on Steve Brixton’s list of the Fifty-Nine Greatest Books of All Time were taken up by the Bailey Brothers Mysteries.

Sound familiar?  Like so many kids through the past decades have wanted to be just like the Hardy Boys, Steve Brixton wants to solve mysteries like the Bailey Brothers, and he has even sent away for his own Bailey Brothers Detective License.  This weekend, though, Steve has a much duller assignment: to write a report for English class.  He’s at the library, checking out a boring book on American quilting, when he’s suddenly pulled into the middle of a top-secret case of treason against the US government.  Unbelievably, Steve finds himself being chased by secret agents, crooks, and even the police who somehow think he is some sort of criminal mastermind.

The book is filled with the action and adventure expected in kids’ mysteries while also gently poking fun at them.  It includes excerpts from Bailey Brothers books as Steve applies his extensive knowledge of the series to his current predicament.  Several plot twists are a bit far-fetched but that’s all part of the fun, too.  Illustrations by Adam Rex, reminiscent of those in the original Hardy Boys’ books, add another element of humor.

I enjoyed the book very much, and I think that kids who maybe have outgrown the Hardy Boys will enjoy it, too.  It will appeal to those who like both mysteries and humor and who have an appreciation for irony.

179 pages, Simon & Schuster

Teen/YA Review: The Deadly Sister

The Deadly Sister by Eliot Schrefer is a murder mystery/thriller with some surprising twists and turns.  Besides the mystery at its heart, it takes a close look at what family means.  How far would you go to protect your family members?

Seventeen-year old Abby Goodwin has always watched out for her younger sister, Maya, from her problems at school through more recent and serious problems with drugs:

She slammed her car into a light pole.  The police found her partying in a construction site late at night, high out of her mind.  When the school threatened academic expulsion, I vowed to find her a tutor so she could get her GED.  I lied to our parents about where she got that wad of rolled-up bills they discovered in her messenger bag.  I kept quiet when she pawned the china our grandmother had left our parents; they wouldn’t know it was gone until they tried to set the table next Thanksgiving.  Every secure thing she pried up in our lives, I quietly followed behind and glued it back down.

I might have been able to protect her forever.

Until Jefferson Andrews showed up dead.

When Abby finds the dead body of a classmate of theirs during a morning run and discovers that Maya is missing, she launches into her role as protector.  After helping Maya to hide, she starts her own investigation to try to clear Maya’s name.  From there, nothing is at it seems, and the more she discovers, the less things seem to make sense.  Who can she trust?  And what is the right thing to do?

This novel moves along at a quick pace, with lots of unexpected twists and turns in the plot.  I read it quickly, wanting to know what would happen next.  Fan of mysteries and thrillers will enjoy this unique novel about sisterly devotion.

310 pages, Scholastic

Recommended for older teens and young adults, as it contains violence and drug abuse.

 

Teen Review: Suspect

During one of my recent sick weeks, a wonderful new teen mystery kept me glued to the pages and enjoyably distracted.  Suspect by Kristen Wolden Nitz is a classic whodunit with some unique twists.

At the request of her dad, seventeen-year old Jen agrees to spend her summer helping out at her grandmother’s bed and breakfast.  Her grandma has an underlying motive, though, to solve a family mystery.  Here, Jen’s dad breaks the news to her about her grandma’s latest theory:

“She thinks your mother is really gone.”

Um, yeah.  Since my mother had left over fourteen years ago and never came back, that wasn’t exactly a newsflash.  There had to be something more.  “And that means…?” I prompted.

“That your mother might be…dead.”

“Dead?” I repeated.  “Hey, I knew she hadn’t written in a few years, but…”  I couldn’t go on.  Despite the hundreds of excuses I had invented for my mother – ranging from evil witches and fairies when I was younger to witness protection programs and alien abduction – I had never really considered this one.  “Is that why Grandma Kay thinks my mother stopped sending me stuff?”

“No.”  Dad played with his chopsticks.  “Your grandmother doesn’t think your mother ever sent you anything.  She thinks that your mother died the day she left.”

But that’s not all.  Grandma Kay runs a Mystery Weekend at her B&B every summer for friends and family, and her plan is to try to solve the real mystery while her guests – many of whom knew Jen’s mom – try to solve the pretend mystery. 

From there it’s something of a classic mystery, with all of the suspects in one place, and plenty of clues and misdirections.  I thoroughly enjoyed Suspect.  It has interesting characters, a good mystery that kept me guessing, and even a bit of romance.

199 pages, Peachtree Publishers

For more information, check out the author’s website and her blog.   

 

Teen/YA Review: Ruined

I thoroughly enjoyed the teen ghost story, Ruined by Paula Morris, partly because it is set in New Orleans, one of my favorite cities (we used to live there) and partly because it’s a good mystery with plenty of unexpected twists.

Fifteen-year old Rebecca lives with her Dad in New York City and can’t imagine living anywhere else.  When her Dad has to travel to China for an extended business trip, he sends her to stay in New Orleans for six months with an old family friend who Rebecca refers to as Aunt Claudia.  Being yanked out of her familiar surroundings in the middle of the school year and sent far from her friends is bad enough, but Rebecca finds that New Orleans is like a whole different world (as anyone discovers when they travel there!).  Aunt Claudia picks her up at the airport:

“You work in the French Quarter, right?” asked Rebecca.  Her father had given her a few pieces of information, in his usual scattered way.  He’d been completely distracted for the past two weeks, ever since he announced that he was pulling her out of school and sending her to the Deep, Deep South for months on end.

“In Jackson Square.” Aunt Claudia nodded, breathless with the exertion of walking to the one baggage carousel surrounded by waiting passengers.  “I read tarot cards.  It was a quiet summer, but things are starting to pick up again.  Tourists and conventions and all that.”

“Oh,” said Rebecca.  Suddenly her aunt’s outfit was making sense: It was her office wear, in a way.  Though why her decidedly nonsuperstitious dad thought Aunt Claudia would be an ideal guardian was even more of a mystery.

That’s not the only mystery Rebecca encounters in her new city.  In the midst of adjusting to strange foods, unfamiliar customs, and a new private school filled with snooty rich kids, Rebecca finally meets a friend late one night in Lafayette Cemetery, down the street from her aunt’s house.  Her new friend, Lisette, is a ghost. 

As Rebecca’s new classmates keep her in the role of the outcast, she is drawn deeper into the secrets surrounding both them and Lisette and feels that there really is no live person that she can trust, with the possible exception of Anton Grey.  But isn’t he just another stuck-up rich kid?

The unpredictable twists and turns of this story incorporate real history into tales of ghosts and ancient curses.  Although I found some of the plot elements came together a bit too neatly, I mostly enjoyed the story and its setting.  As is often the case, New Orleans itself is like an extra character in this novel, with rich details of its customs, foods, and idiosyncrasies that made me homesick!  I was especially fascinated with the descriptions of the age-old customs surrounding the Mardi Gras balls and parades that are such a big part of Rebecca’s classmates’ lives.   Teens are sure to enjoy this unique novel that combines history, romance, suspense, and the supernatural in an exotic setting.

If you enjoyed this book as much as I did, you might want to visit the author’s blog, where she has unfortunately recently announced that she will soon be leaving New Orleans.

309 pages, Point (an imprint of Scholastic)

Disclosure: I received this book from the publisher in return for an honest review. My review is my own opinion and is not influenced by my relationship with the publisher or author.

 

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This book is available in hardcover, paperback, and Kindle.

Middle-Grade Review: Hide & Seek

During our annual 3-week summer roadtrip, we revived a beloved family tradition and read aloud before bed each night.  I chose a brand-new middle-grade novel, Hide & Seek by Katy Grant, and everyone in our family loved this exciting and suspenseful story.  Twelve-year old Craig frequently pleaded for “one more chapter”!

One reason I chose this book is because geocaching, an outdoor activity my family loves, is an essential part of the plot.  For those of you not familiar with geocaching, it’s a combination of hiking and treasure hunting, with a cool technological twist.  You look up nearby geocaches at www.geocaching.com, enter the coordinates into a handheld GPS, and then use the GPS to lead you to the cache.  The cache, hidden by another geocacher, usually contains a logbook to log your find and some small trinkets to exchange.  Our family loves camping and hiking, and, as on this recent trip, we often incorporate geocaching into our outdoor fun.

Chase, the fourteen-year old protagonist of Hide & Seek, also enjoys geocaching.  His dad recently bought him his own GPS, and Chase is eager to try finding some caches on his own.  He spent his summer helping out at his family’s rental cabins and store and can’t wait for some freedom:

So I pretty much keep my mouth shut and get all my chores done as fast as I can.  But it’s enough to drive a guy crazy.  When summer finally ends and the tourists go home, school starts, and then I’m stuck in a classroom all day.  Sometimes you just need to get out and breathe.

This was going to be the first geocache I’d ever done completely on my own, so I’d planned everything carefully.  Shea was right – my backpack was heavy.  It was full of stuff I might need: a stainless steel water bottle, a plastic bowl for Dexter, some trail mix, beef jerky, binoculars, some extra AA batteries, and a Swiss army knife.  And then the items to trade for the geocache, and my GPS so I could find the treasure.

Chase finds the geocache he’s looking for, but there’s an unexpected surprise there – a mysterious note from someone who sounds like he needs help.  That starts off an adventure and mystery that Chase could never have imagined.  The more involved he gets, the more Chase wonders whether the situation might be more than he bargained for.

I don’t want to tell you any more about the plot because the best part about this book is the constant surprises, plot twists, and fabulous suspense  (that’s what led my son to beg for more every night).  The plot is unique, the characters are likeable and real, and the writing is tight and engaging.  All four of us thoroughly enjoyed this new novel that’s perfect for middle-grade readers or as a read-aloud!

For more information on Hide & Seek and Katy Grant’s other books, check out the author’s website.

227 pages, Peachtree Publishers

 

Teen/YA Review: And Then Everything Unraveled

I chose to read Jennifer Sturman’s YA novel, And Then Everything Unraveled, because it sounded like a great mix of realistic teen life, with a unique plot and a mystery to make things interesting.  I was right!  This compelling novel kept me turning the pages late into the night.

Sixteen-year old Delia is quite happy, living in computer-crazy Silicon Valley with her mother, T.K., hanging out with her two best friends, and sneaking in some surfing whenever she can.  Her quiet life falls apart one day, though, when the news is delivered that her mother disappeared while on a trip to Antarctica.  Delia’s reaction to the news is surprising:

They were probably expecting a more over-the-top response.  And I have to admit, for a split second I did feel like somebody had vacuumed out my insides.

But almost instantly, that feeling gave way to an almost bizarre sort of calm.  When I reached for the emotion that was usually right there, waiting to be tapped, I came up empty.

Because I just couldn’t believe my mother was dead.

I still can’t.  I mean, everyone else is using the past tense when they talk about her, but it’s all a huge mistake.  It has to be.  I don’t know what happened exactly, but T.K. will explain everything when she returns.

And I’m sure she will return.  This is a woman whose favorite appliance is a label maker – she’s way too organized to die by just disappearing like that, and she’s much too determined to let a little thing like being stranded in the Antarctic to do her in.

Especially when she’s the only parent I have left.

Despite Delia’s determination, her mother is presumed dead, and Delia is shipped off to live in New York City with two very different aunts who she’s never met before – one is a free-living bohemian who lives in a loft, and the other is an uptown snob.  So, while Delia’s trying to adjust to a radically different lifestyle, a snooty new private school, and relatives she didn’t know existed, she’s also continuing to search for her mother.  Oh, and just to make things more interesting, there’s a really cute guy at her new school who she’s not sure she can trust.

I really enjoyed this book and got caught up in its mystery.  The characters have depth, and the writing style is engaging, moving the story along quickly.  My only problem with the book, in fact, is that it’s one of those books that only tells half a story, and I want to hear the rest right now!  It ends with, “To Be Continued…” To be fair, there is some resolution to part of the story at the end of the novel.  I guess I’ll just have to get the sequel, And Then I Found Out the Truth, to find out the rest!

244 pages, Point (an imprint of Scholastic)

Middle-Grade Review: Oracles of Delphi Keep

The audio book of Oracles of Delphi Keep by Victoria Laurie kept all four of us riveted during our recent 4,000-mile road trip.  This exciting and well-written fantasy adventure kept us in suspense and wanting to hear more.

Thirteen year-old Ian Wigby has lived at the orphanage at Delphi Keep his entire life.  Theodosia was found and dropped off there on a stormy night when she was only two years old.  Ian and Theo are as close as brother and sister and are very happy living in the castle-like Keep on the edge of the Cliffs of Dover.

Out exploring the caves in the cliffs one day, Ian and Theo discover a large cave with strange writing on the walls.  Deep in the cave, they find a mysterious silver box and barely manage to grab it before being chased out of there by some sort of snarling beast.  This is the start of an exciting and sometimes terrifying adventure that shakes up their quiet world.

Along with their schoolteachers, Ian and Theo set off to uncover the magical mysteries of the writing and the silver box.  Along the way, evil forces conspire to defeat them.  It’s a classic fantasy adventure with a unique story line that will continue with future books.

In addition to excellent writing and a great story, the audio version benefits from a talented reader, Susan Duerden.  She voiced one of the characters in the movie Flushed Away and played Claire’s mother on Lost (impressive credentials for our family!), and she does a great job with both male and female characters in this book.

We can’t wait for book 2, The Curse of Deadman’s Forest, which will be released on August 24, 2010!

Listening Library

Listen to a sample.

    

Teen/YA Review: What I Saw and How I Lied

I read What I Saw and How I Lied, a recent paperback release by Judy Blundell, while stuck for hours on a delayed flight.  It provided a welcome and worthy distraction!  This wonderful teen/YA novel won the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature in 2008.  It’s an intriguing mix of historical fiction, a touching coming-of-age story, mystery, and even a bit of romance.

In 1947 New York, Evie is fifteen and feeling in that peculiar limbo between childhood and adulthood.  Here, she and her friend Margie practice smoking with chocolate cigarettes:

Margie held her candy cigarette high in the air, even though ladies don’t smoke on the street.  We couldn’t imagine being wicked enough to smoke on the street, but it was something to shoot for, something that smacked of high heels and saying “damn” if you broke a nail.  In the meantime, we were careful not to step on any cracks in the sidewalk.  Step on a crack, break your mother’s back.  We’d been saying it since we were nine years old, and it was just like Holy Communion.  We believed in it absolutely, no matter how screwball it sounded.

The author does a great job of capturing the sense of innocence and excitement of both the age and the time period.  The war has ended, and husbands, fathers, and brothers are returning home.  Evie’s stepfather has come home to her and her mother, but he seems different in some hard-to-describe way.   Peter, a young, handsome man from his company, shows up, and Evie begins to fall in love.  When tragedy strikes, Evie’s world begins to unravel and she no longer knows what – or who – to believe…and neither does the reader.

This suspenseful mystery kept me turning the pages, as I came to care about Evie and lament the loss of her little-girl innocence.  It’s a wonderful novel for both teens and grown-ups.

281 pages, Scholastic

Middle-Grade Review: In Search of Watson

A few years ago, my son Jamie discovered our huge volume of Sherlock Holmes stories and read the complete works of Arthur Conan Doyle from cover to cover.  He even lugged the encyclopedic-sized book through airports during our holiday trip to visit grandparents!  So, when he heard about a new series based on the original Sherlock Holmes’ stories, he couldn’t wait to read it.  Jamie read the first Sherlock Holmes and the Baker Street Irregulars book, The Fall of the Amazing Zalindas, written by husband and wife team Tracy Mack and Michael Citrin and was hooked on the series right away, but it’s taken me a few years to give it a try.  I recently read the third book in the series, In Search of Watson, and found out what I’d been missing.

The Baker Street Irregulars are a group of ragtag street urchins who help Mr. Holmes with his cases in 1890 London.  Pilar, a young Spanish girl who lives with her mother, helped the Irregulars on their last case and yearns to be one of them.  Here, she enters their hide-out home:

Pilar came to the wood slats that appeared to be a boarded-up window, gave the covert double-knock, and then pushed.  The boards were in fact a trapdoor which opened into the “Castle,” an abandoned carriage factory that was home to the Irregulars.  Pilar entered a cavernous room with a dirt floor and a catwalk framing its upper perimeter.  Two large wood doors that had been long sealed made up the far wall.  A formerly grand but now dilapidated coach that they’d recently named the “Grand Dame” sat on blocks in front of them.  In the center of the room a fire pit glowed.  Around it, most of the boys lounged.

Wiggins, the leader of the gang, stood by the fire in the midst of a tale, his hands flying and his copper eyes shining.  Pilar couldn’t help but notice how easily he became all the characters in his stories. 

“So Oz and me, we roped ‘im good.  I thought we were just goin’ to tie ‘im up, but Ozzie, he runs the rope into the gears and zip, that mad knife thrower was dragged across the ground and strung up like a Christmas goose in Coven’ Garden!”

Soon enough, the Irregulars are summoned to Sherlock Holmes as he begins the investigation of a murder at the British Museum Library.  He sends them off to follow up on various leads, as the mystery becomes more complex.  Things turn dangerous when Dr. Watson is kidnapped, and the Irregulars begin to suspect there may be a traitor in their midst.

It’s a fast-paced, intriguing mystery, filled with interesting characters. There’s even an extra section at the end of the novel called Facts and Practicals for the Aspiring Detective that includes bonus material related to the story – information on ciphers, the Tower of London, and the art of disguise in this one.  The series will appeal to young mystery lovers and may even lead them to read the original Sherlock Holmes stories.

195 pages, Scholastic

Accelerated Reader: Level 5.1, 4 points

Middle-Grade Review: We the Children

My 12-year old son is a big fan of Andrew Clements, so we were excited to hear he had recently published the first book of a new mystery series, Benjamin Pratt & The Keepers of the School: We the Children.  My sons and I listened to it on audio during a trip last weekend to visit cousins.  We all enjoyed the suspenseful tale.

Benjamin Pratt lives in a seaside town and is trying to adjust to his parents’ recent separation.  He lives half the time with his mom and half the time on his dad’s sailboat, moored in the harbor.  He wasn’t too concerned with the town’s plan to bulldoze his historic old school to make room for an amusement park, until the old janitor at school entrusts him with a secret and tells him he needs to protect the school.

As Ben and his friend Jill investigate the development plans, they discover things that certain people don’t want discovered and find themselves in possible danger.  They work together to come up with a plan to save the school, with the help of some very old clues left by the school’s original builder, Captain Oakes, in 1783.  Meanwhile, Ben gets ready for his first solo sailing race.

We all liked the book very much.  It’s an original story, with plenty of mystery and suspense set in an historical context.  My sons love sailing, so they especially liked those parts.  My one disappointment was that it felt like it ended in the middle of the story.  I prefer series where each book can stand on its own.  I guess we’ll just have to wait for book 2 to come out (September 2010).

Simon & Schuster Audio

Read by Keith Nobbs

 

Teen/YA Review: Wherever Nina Lies

Lynn Weingarten’s first novel, Wherever Nina Lies, is mystery, thriller, and romance all rolled into one. I really enjoyed this compelling, original story about a sixteen-year old girl on a mission to find her missing older sister.

It’s been two years since Ellie’s beautiful, creative sister Nina disappeared. Nina was a free spirit and seldom at home anymore, but this time, she didn’t return at all. Ellie and her mother have no idea what happened to her or where she is, but Ellie can’t forget her sister and “move on,” as people are always telling her to.

One afternoon, sifting through boxes of donated junk at the store where her best friend, Amanda, works, Ellie finally – after all this time – finds a clue:

A rectangular piece of cardboard with slightly rounded edges, a little smaller than an index card, has fallen out of the book and fluttered to the floor. I reach out and grab it. As soon as my skin touches it, my heart starts pounding, and I feel dizzy, like I’ve been spinning and just stopped. The room tilts. Everything around me looks wrong all of a sudden, and I think maybe I’m going to pass out. I sink to the floor; I’m vaguely aware of Amanda’s voice calling my name, but I can’t answer. She sounds far away and unfamiliar. Everything is unfamiliar, except for one thing. The piece of paper in my hand, covered in blue vines. I stare at them so hard they begin to swirl, like delicate navy thread snakes on a field of white. And in the center of these vines is a drawing of a girl: big round eyes, round face, round nose, crazy hair curling out in all directions, one dimple, a crooked smile. I know this drawing.

Ellie would recognize her sister’s drawing anywhere because she’s been drawing constantly on all sorts of surfaces ever since Ellie can remember. This particular drawing holds clues that lead Ellie off on a crazy, cross-country road trip with a gorgeous guy she barely knows because he’s the only person in her life who seems to understand and believe in her.

Ellie’s journey takes her to new and strange places, as she follows clues to her sister’s whereabouts. Along the way, she falls in love. This mystery contains more twists and turns than a mountain road, though, and Ellie doesn’t know where this trip will lead her. There's nothing I like better than a road trip book! Filled with plenty of suspense and surprises, as well as Nina’s unique drawings, this well-written novel kept me reading late into the night.

(recommended for older teens and young adults; contains some sexual situations, though nothing graphic)

316 pages, Point (an imprint of Scholastic)

Middle-Grade/Teen Review: Murder at Midnight

Believe it or not, I had never read an Avi book until last week when I picked up his latest, Murder at Midnight. Ever since my son read Crispin by Avi years ago, he has been telling me what a good author he is. Murder at Midnight was a quick, suspenseful read that I enjoyed very much.

It is 1490 in a small town in Italy, and a young boy named Fabrizio is adjusting to his new job working for Mangus the Magician:

During the past year, his parents – ragpickers – had died, leaving him a homeless ten-year-old. Only by relying on his wits and friends did Fabrizio survive the streets of Pergamontio. But a month ago, the City Corporation, which had the responsibility for orphans, bound him over to Mangus the Magician.

It was the magician’s wife, Mistress Sophia, who made the arrangements. It was she who insisted that her elderly husband needed a personal servant. She herself proved kind, and Fabrizio was thrilled not to be begging on the streets for a daub of cold, clotted pasta for his dinner. Now he had good food in his belly, a roof over his head, a bed for his back, and even a few coins for his pocket. Besides, not only did Master Mangus have a house with two older servants, there was his amazing magic.

Mangus is an illusionist, though to Fabrizio, his magic seems real. Both of them find themselves under suspicion and at the center of a plot to overthrow the king. Fabrizio wants to save his new master and prove his worth to him, but he doesn’t know who to believe or who to trust. Faced with possible death for himself and Mangus, it’s up to Fabrizio to figure out who’s behind the sinister plot.

As I said, this was my first Avi book, but it’s easy to see why his books are so popular. This one was filled with wonderful details of the historical period, realistic dialogue, and a fast-paced mystery plot. I’m looking forward to reading its sequel, Midnight Magic.

254 pages, Scholastic

Middle-Grade Review: Sent

When Sent, Book 2 of Margaret Peterson Haddix’s series The Missing, arrived in the mail, my son and I both grabbed for it. We loved the first book in the time-traveling series, Found, and couldn’t wait to find out what happens next. If you haven’t read Book 1 yet, you may want to skip this review for now (it contains Book 1 spoilers) and check out my previous review of Found. Haddix has a talent for writing exciting and suspenseful series for middle-grade readers that also appeal to teens (and adults!).

Before Jonah and Chip have time to digest the news that they’re both children who were kidnapped from some period of history, they find themselves – along with Jonah’s sister, Katherine, and fellow missing child Alex – hurtling through time, thanks to a device called the Elucidator that they wrestled out of the hands of the bad guys, as JB tries to set history straight:

“Jonah,” JB protested. “You don’t know what you’re talking about. Certain things have been set in motion. Chip and Alex have to go to the fifteenth century.”

“Then, Katherine and I are going, too,” Jonah said. He didn’t know how it was possible, but he could feel time flowing past him, scrolling backward. He felt like he had only a few more seconds left to convince JB. “What if…what if we could fix the fifteenth century? Make everything right again? Then couldn’t Alex and Chip come back to the twenty-first century with us?”

When JB reluctantly agrees, the four kids find themselves in a castle in England in 1483, where they discover Chip’s true identity – Edward V, king of England. Alex is his younger brother, Richard, Duke of York. History says they were both murdered, and the four out-of-time kids have to find a way to “fix time,” so that they can return to the home they know.

Although some of the time travel details get a little confusing at times, the book is non-stop action and excitement. It’s also very interesting to learn about how people lived during that time in history and the – true – historical events surrounding them. Haddix did a tremendous amount of research for this book and strived to keep the known facts accurate, as she played with the real-life mystery of the young boys’ disappearance. The result is a fast-paced, suspenseful adventure. I can’t wait for Book 3!

308 pages, Simon & Schuster

Middle-Grade/Teen Review: The Mystery of the Third Lucretia

I was a huge fan of Nancy Drew and Trixie Belden books when I was a kid (still am!), so I thoroughly enjoyed reading an exciting new mystery novel, The Mystery of the Third Lucretia by Susan Runholt. This book is the start of a new series starring two fourteen-year old girls, Kari Sundgren and Lucas Stickney, who are best friends.

In this first book, Kari and Lucas stumble upon a mysterious man in two different art museums, and before they know it, they’re mixed up in an international art crime. The girls live in Minnesota with their families, where they share an interest in drawing and painting. When Kari’s mom has to travel to Europe for work, the girls are lucky enough to accompany her.

Kari and Lucas visit London’s National Gallery while Kari’s mom is busy at work, and they spot the same foul-tempered man painting in the Rembrandt room that they saw months ago at The Art Institute in Minneapolis. They hurry out of the room and talk about what they’ve seen:

“See, I knew it was the same guy!” Then I added, “I wonder…”

“What he’s doing that makes him think he has to wear a disguise?” Lucas finished for me.

“Uh-huh.”

Now we were both quiet for a minute. “What are you thinking?” I asked finally. She had an expression I’d seen before.

“Oh, nothing.”

“Nothing my meep. When you get that look, it usually means you’re making some plan that’s going to get us in trouble.”

“No, no, nothing like that,” she said, trying to sound all innocent.

But I was right. She was planning something. In fact, that afternoon in the National Gallery was the beginning of something that would get us into more trouble – and put the whole Gleesome Threesome in more danger – than we’d ever been in before.

Kari and Lucas come across as real girls, with intelligence and humor (like their habit of substituting meep for swear words!). This realism may be partly due to the fact that the author’s daughter helped her write the book and consulted with her in particular on the characters and dialogue of the two girls.

The suspense builds as pieces of the mystery are uncovered while the girls travel with Kari’s mom from London back home to Minnesota, then to Paris and Amsterdam. I loved the travel aspect of the book, reading about different cities the girls visited, as the mystery deepens and their suspicions build. Like all classic kid detectives before them, they figure things out that the grown-ups miss and become more deeply entangled in sinister events until their very lives are at stake, building to an exciting climax in Amsterdam.

I’m looking forward to reading more Kari & Lucas Mysteries! The second book, Rescuing Seneca Crane, was released in August. To read more about these books and the rest of the series, visit Susan Runholt’s website.

278 pages, Puffin Books (Penguin)

Middle-Grade Fiction Review: Found

Wow. Found, the first book in Margaret Peterson Haddix’s latest new series, The Missing, has it all: a fast-paced plot that pulls you in and doesn’t let go, an intriguing mystery, and realistic characters who you come to care about so much that you wish you could protect them from the dangers they’re facing.

My 5th-grader’s teacher is reading Found out loud to his class, and my 14-year old loved the book, so I decided to see for myself what all the fuss was about. I wasn’t disappointed.

The prologue opens with a strange scene in an airport, as Angela, a new airline employee on her first day on the job, sees an airplane suddenly appear at the gate out of nowhere. No one knows where the plane came from or how it got there, and Angela discovers there are no adults on the plane at all, just 36 babies.

The main action of the novel centers on three kids: 13-year old Jonah, who was adopted; his younger sister, Katherine; and their neighborhood friend, Chip. Jonah gets a mysterious letter in the mail one day that they all agree must be a silly prank, until that evening when Chip comes back over in a panic:

“I got one, too,” Chip said. He was clutching his face now, almost like that kid in the Home Alone movie.
“One what?” Jonah asked.
“One of those letters. About being missing.”
Chip pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket. Jonah could tell that Chip had already folded and unfolded it many times: the creases were beginning to fray. Chip opened it once more, and Jonah could see that it was just like the letter he’d gotten, six typewritten words on an otherwise blank sheet of paper:

YOU ARE ONE OF THE MISSING.

The action moves quickly forward as the three of them try to figure out what the letters mean and where they came from. The more they learn, the less they understand as they encounter FBI agents, more mysterious letters, and people who seem to appear and disappear at will.

Margaret Peterson Haddix is also the author of the popular series, The Shadow Children, though I had never read any of her books before. I ignored all my work this afternoon because I couldn’t bear to put this book down without finding out what happened. How will I ever wait until August when Book 2 is released?

NOTE: Although this book and series are written for middle-grade readers, teens and young adults who like fast-paced suspense novels will enjoy it, too.

Middle-Grade Fiction: The Roman Mysteries

My 11-year old son, Jamie, was assigned to read a mystery book and an historical fiction book for his 6th grade Reading class. Browsing the shelves of the library, we came across a single series that met both requirements, and we discovered a new household favorite.

Imagine if Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys traveled back in time to Ancient Rome, and you have a sense of Caroline Lawrence's The Roman Mysteries series. The books succeed on two levels. They are fast-paced, suspenseful mysteries that keep you turning the pages way past bedtime, as well as fascinating and accurate accounts of life in ancient Rome.

The first book, The Thieves of Ostia, takes place in 79 AD in the Roman port city of Ostia. Twelve-year old Flavia, the daughter of a sea captain, meets her three new friends in this book: Jonathan, son of a Jewish doctor; Nubia, an African slave girl rescued by Flavia; and Lupus, a mute beggar boy. Yes, it seems like an unlikely group of friends, but it works. Lawrence makes the characters seem real and worthy of our attention.

Like most young sleuths of fiction, the four children encounter new mysteries to solve in each book, from determining who is killing neighborhood dogs in the first book to tracking down kidnappers and missing children in The Pirates of Pompeii to finding the source of a plague in The Enemies of Jupiter.

While the mysteries are exciting, it's just as compelling to read about the children's daily lives. Woven into the books are many details of food, clothing, architecture, and culture. In book #2, Secrets of Vesuvius, we experience the famous volcanic eruption with the children; in The Gladiators of Capua, we witness the games and shows of the new Colosseum. The books also offer a broadening world view as they deal with issues like slavery and religious tolerance.

Lawrence's books have been acclaimed for their accurate historical portrayal. In some cases, this means dealing with issues that are violent or otherwise distasteful to our modern sensibilities, like the realities of slavery or the gory fate of many of the participants at the Colosseum. To counter these sometimes gruesome details, the main characters tend to react in ways that we would today - sickened by mistreatment of slaves or the "games" at the Coliseum, for instance. Some critics have complained that the main characters' actions (and, indeed, their unique friendship) mars the historical accuracy, but I like the way Lawrence deals with the unsavory aspects of the time by providing admirable heroes and heroines that modern kids can relate to and respect.

When we go to the library, Jamie immediately heads to the L's to see if any of Lawrence's books are available (they're often all checked out). He and I have both enjoyed reading this unique series, and Jamie is very excited about studying Ancient Rome in Social Studies now.

(1/09 Update: The series has become so popular that the author is now planning to write 17 books in in the series, rather than the original twelve. BBC has created a highly-acclaimed television show based on the books that currently airs in the UK and Australia (not yet in the U.S. or on U.S.-formatted DVD). The author has also published two volumes of mini-adventures (for younger readers), several quiz books, and a travel guide. Besides being a hit with kids, these books have become favorites of many teachers because of their historical accuracy in describing daily life in Ancient Rome. )

P.S. If you're a Roman Mysteries fan, check out the website and the author's blog.



Latest Release 1/09 - #16