Category Archives: reviews

Middle Grade Monday Book Review

The Falcon in the Glass by Susan Fletcher

In Venice in 1487, the secrets of glassblowing are guarded jealously. Renzo, a twelve-year-old laborer in a glassworks, has just a few months to prepare for a test of his abilities, and no one to teach him. If he passes, he will qualify as a skilled glassblower. If he fails, he will be expelled from the glassworks. Becoming a glassblower is his murdered father’s dying wish for him, and the means of supporting his mother and sister. But Renzo desperately needs another pair of hands to help him turn the glass as he practices at night.

One night he is disturbed by a bird — a small falcon — that seems to belong to a girl hiding in the glassworks. Soon Renzo learns about her and others like her — the bird people, who can communicate with birds and are condemned as witches. He tries to get her to help him and discovers that she comes with baggage: ten hungry bird-kenning children who desperately need his aid. Caught between devotion to his family and his art and protecting a group of outcast children, Renzo struggles for a solution that will keep everyone safe in this atmospheric adventure.

Three things for the reader to like

1. I have always loved books that took me some place new and immersed me in that world and this one does it in spades. Not only do we get oodles of rich detail about Venice (one of my favorite places in the world) we also get a detailed look at the art and life of a glassblower–something I knew nothing about.

2. It seems that I often hear either plot or beautiful language praised as if these two things are mutually exclusive. Here is a counter example. There are lovely, though not over wrought, phrases on nearly every page. And there is a compelling plot, with twists and turns and murky bits, befitting the medieval canal town.

3. There is also plenty of insight into a boy trying to make it in a man’s world. I particularly liked the moment when Renzo broke into the carpentry shop of his mother’s suitor. He had great scorn for this man, but seeing how well the carpenter keeps his tools, Renzo has a new perspective and greater respect for him even though he is a member of a comparatively lowly profession. It’s a small moment in the overall story but a telling and insightful detail.

Something for the writer to think about

This book raises a perennial question for me. How magic does magic have to be? Some readers want everything clearly spelled out and others love the mystery that invites personal interpretation and mental embellishment. In this book, the “bird children” are able to communicate with birds telepathically. It’s a small but vital detail in the plot.

But the reason the kids can ken with birds is never stated. The mechanism by which they communicate is never spelled out in detail. I was curious about both things and a little bummed never to learn what I wanted to understand. It’s a fine book anyway and it got me thinking about how much needs to be said about magic in a story and how much can be left open.

How about you readers. How much do you want to know about the magic and how it works?

Middle Grade Monday Book Review

Lulu and the Duck in the Park by Hillary McKay

9780807548080

I’ve been working on a series for younger readers all summer long and part of my work was reading a bunch of books in early middle grade fiction that are already available. This one was recommended to me by a friend. I got it from my local library. I was eager to read this one because it was very well reviewed, garnering 5 starred reviews.

Here’s what it’s about:

Lulu loves animals. When Lulu finds a duck egg that has rolled out of its nest, she takes it to class to keep it safe. Lulu isn’t allowed to bring pets to school. But she’s not really breaking the rule s be cause it’s just an egg. Surely nothing bad will happen… A fun-filled new series for early readers and animal lovers alike.

Three Things for a Reader to Like

1. This is spot on for the tender-hearted reader. There’s enough tension but not too much. If Lulu brings another animal to school they will have to give up the beloved class guinea pig and have stick insects for a class pet instead–dreadful! And yet not dire or night mare producing.

2. Lulu is very appealing in her genuine and unabashed affection for all creatures great and small. She has a true blue best friend and a teacher who is stern enough to provide a formidable obstacle, but not so stern that she can’t also be part of the resolution.

3. I hear plenty of call for books with a non-white protagonist in which race is not the issue of the book. Well here you go! Lulu is a brown skinned girl with brown eyes and curly hair. Her best friend is of her same complexion, yet race and the usual class issues that surround such books is not an issue at all. I hope when people are making their lists of books with non-white characters that this one comes to mind.

Something to think about as a writer

So here is a “multicultural book” where the main character is clearly not white and yet in the text there is nothing at all to indicate her race, ethnicity, class, or cultural heritage. So is this cheating? Should a non-white character have something in her voice, or dress or manner of interacting with others the indicates an different point of view? I’m really not sure. I love it that Lulu is a little “every girl” and yet I wonder, is that really serving the non-white reader of the book well. I wish I had a good answer for that, but I’m not sure.

What do you think readers? Is it enough to just illustrate a character as non-white or is it important to say something about a characters background as well? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.

Middle Grade Monday: See you at Harry’s

Middle Grade Monday Review for See You at Harry’s by Jo Knowles

What it’s about

Twelve-year-old Fern feels invisible. It seems as though everyone in her family has better things to do than pay attention to her: Mom (when she’s not meditating) helps Dad run the family restaurant; Sarah is taking a gap year after high school; and Holden pretends that Mom and Dad and everyone else doesn’t know he’s gay, even as he fends off bullies at school. Then there’s Charlie: three years old, a “surprise” baby, the center of everyone’s world. He’s devoted to Fern, but he’s annoying, too, always getting his way, always dirty, always commanding attention. If it wasn’t for Ran, Fern’s calm and positive best friend, there’d be nowhere to turn. Ran’s mantra, “All will be well,” is soothing in a way that nothing else seems to be. And when Ran says it, Fern can almost believe it’s true. But then tragedy strikes- and Fern feels not only more alone than ever, but also responsible for the accident that has wrenched her family apart. All will not be well. Or at least all will never be the same.

Three things I liked about this book

1. Loved seeing a larger family in a story. It’s seldom that you see a family of more than 2 or 3 kids, so it was nice to see 4 kids in a realistically chaotic household.

2. I also enjoyed reading about siblings who are not deep in conflict or preoccupied with petty bickering. Fern has the normal amount of friction with siblings that you’d find in a family of this size, but she clearly loves her brothers and sister and when trouble comes they form an alliance which is good for everybody even their beleaguered parents.

3. I also enjoyed seeing a story where the gay character is not the viewpoint character but the sibling and he has a happy resolution. The story makes it pretty clear that gay bashing is more common in the parent’s generation and that plenty of high school kids meet their gay classmates with genuine warmth and friendship.

Something to think about as a writer: There are two major plot threads here, the one with the baby brother Charlie (I’m avoiding spoilers here) and the one with the gay older brother Holden. Of the two I like the Holden thread better. Which made me wonder if the story would have been okay without the Charlie thread. It’s a tough balance to get enough but not too much happening in a story. I’m always asking myself in my writing, do I really need all these characters? Could I make it a little tighter? And yet perhaps without the Charlie thread the story would not have felt substantial enough.

So what do you think readers? How do you know when you have enough “stuff” to carry a whole novel? How do you know when you have too much?

Middle Grade Monday book review: Calvin Coconut Kung Fooey

Calvin Coconut Kung Fooey

Calvin Coconut is a series by Graham Salisbury. It’s set in the Hawaii of Graham’s childhood and stars a big-hearted fourth grader with a talent for finding trouble. Kung Fooey is the 5th book in the series. It’s a friendship story about the new kid in class, Benny Obi who knows kung fu but doesn’t know how to handle the local bully.

Three things to like as a reader

1. If you are looking for a contemporary story with characters from a variety of cultural backgrounds where race is not the issue or the point of the story then these are your books.

2. There’s no denying middle grade readers have a taste for the grotesque. Sometimes a book for MG readers goes a little overboard with it, but Kung Fooey strikes a good balance, there’s a scene with the new kid eating bugs which is described in enough detail to make a reader squirm or a whole class audience go, “Eww!” But it’s not so vivid that you’d be uncomfortable reading it out loud or sharing with a tender-hearted reader.

3. Plenty of books take on the topic of bullying. This one is written with a better understanding of the group dynamic among boys than most, and doesn’t shoot for an unrealistically happy ending.

Something to think about as a writer

Dialect and slang are hard to write and Sandy does a great job here of adding enough local idiom to make the characters lively and authentic on the page but not so much that it is difficult to read. I’m going to go back and take a much closer look at how he uses non-language words in dialog to give it the right pacing and also how he uses turn of phrase to communicate something about culture.

How I came across this book

Sandy is another Portland writer. He gave this book to my daughter who does martial arts at a book event he held at a Moonstruck Chocolate Shop. Sandy sometimes writes at his local Moonstruck in Lake Oswego and I sometimes write at my local Moonstuck in Beaverton. On a dreary Portland afternoon it’s hard to beat a cup of their cocoa and a cosy quiet cafe to work in. Sandy is published by Random House as am I, and he’s been a generous colleague for more than a decade. I make no pretense of objectivity in my book reviews.

Middle Grade Monday Book Review: My Father’s Dragon

My Father’s Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett, illustrated by Ruth Chrisman Gannett

My recent review of Oddfellow’s Orphanage reminded me of a childhood favorite the Newberry Honor winning My Father’s Dragon and it’s follow up titles Elmer and the Dragon and The Dragon’s of Blueland. I remember rereading these books dozens of times in first and second grade, so I went back to those books to give them a closer look and see what 7 year old me saw in them.

Three things to love about this book as a reader

1. Like Oddfellow’s Orphanage, this book has art on nearly every page and a map on the end papers. I adored maps when I was a kid. I still do. And I loved the warmth of Ruth Chrisman Gannett’s illustrations. People often talk about the importance of pictures for struggling readers or kids accustomed to the more visual video game world. I was a precocious reader and at the age of 7 was able to read books much harder than this. I didn’t play video games until I was much older, but the pictures in this book were very appealing to me added much to the story. I remember that one of the first things I did when I picked up the book for the first time was flip through the pictures to make sure that the dragon was not going to be too scary. I was plagued by nightmares when I was little and careful not to read stories with unmanageable monsters. But look at this dragon. Who could resist this beautiful puppy of a monster? Not me.

2. I love Elmer’s inventiveness. Everything he needs is in his backpack. He thinks things through. When he’s really stumped he eats a few tangerines. And he isn’t afraid to go to an island that terrifies grown ups because there’s a mistreated dragon out there who needs him. I loved that kid when I was 7. I wanted to be that kid. I’d still like to be as kind and clear headed and brave as he is.

3. Also, Elmer Elevator is an awesome name.

And I love it that the author/illustrator pair is a woman and her step-mother. The mom writer in me loves it that Ruth Stilles Gannett (in addition to being a Newbery Honor winning author) is the mother of 7 daughters.

Something to think about as a writer

Here’s a great example of a character who takes action on his own without adult intervention. Elmer’s not the cliched orphan, or a kid who’s shipped off to boarding school. He has a loving family. And he just decides to go off on an adventure all on his own, on the advice of a very well-informed stray cat. He faces danger, makes decisions, out wits lions, tigers, and boars and wins the loyal friendship of the cutest dragon ever! Hard to beat that for kid appeal. When I go back to writing later tonight I want to look through my most recent scene and ask myself, is this character making his own decisions and living with the undiluted consequences of them?

How I came to review this book

My mom saved many of my favorite books and this is one of them. There is also a 50th anniversary edition available this year which includes all three of Elmer’s adventures. This book is published by Random House which also publishes me. I wouldn’t dream of claiming that my reviews are objective or impartial. I only hope that they are useful.