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13 Hangmen by Art Corriveau

Nov2


Murder, mystery, history, and treasure—what more more could a reader ask for? This ghostly Boston history mystery reminded me of the movie National Treasure or of book I read a couple of years ago called The Brooklyn Nine by Alan Gratz (“In loosely connected chapters, Gratz examines how one Brooklyn family is affected by the game of baseball.”)

In 13 Hangmen, Mr. Corriveau examines how six 13 year old boys influence the course of Boston’s history in connection with one townhouse and extending all the way back to the American Revolution. And it’s exciting, like National Treasure. Tony DiMarco, the hero of our story is an overweight 13 year old with a Buddhist, vegetarian dad, a worried-about-finances mom, and twin older brothers who treat him like the younger brother that he is. Tony also has a great-uncle named Zio Angelo who dies and leaves leaves Tony a dilapidated townhouse in Boston’s historic North End, 13 Hangmen Court. When Tony finds a pawcorance in his attic bedroom, he is able to “conjure” a meeting with other thirteen year old boys who lived and slept in the same room in the past.

“They have certaine altar stones, they call Pawcorances, but these stand from their temples, some by their houses, others in the woods and wildernesses, where they have had any extraordinary accident or encounter. As you travel by theam they will tell you the cause of their erection, wherein they instruct their children; so that they are in stead of records and memorialls of their antiquities. Upon this they offer Bloud, Dear Suet, and Tobacco. There they doe when they returne from warres, from hunting, and upon many other occasions.” ~Captain John Smith

Only Tony’s pawcorance is a shelf, not a pile of stones. At any rate, Tony finds out that the next-door neighbors have been trying to buy, confiscate or steal the house at 13 Hangmen Court for the last 200 years at least, although the reason for their interest is unclear. As Tony and the boys from the past continue to delve into the mystery, going further and further back into the past, they find out that you really can’t change history. It’s kind of like time travel, except no one really leaves his own time. Yeah, it’s complicated, like time travel, and there are rules.

13 Hangmen is a great story for kids who are interested in mysteries, history, especially the history of Boston, and treasure hunts. I thoroughly enjoyed the story, and I learned a lot about some famous Bostonians, including baseball great Ted Williams, poitician John F. “Honey” Fitzgerald, William Lloyd Garrison, and of course, one of the most famous Bostonians of all, Paul Revere. The book has a helpful section at the end telling “what’s story, what’s history,” something I always want to know after reading a good historical fiction book.

The Mapmaker and the Ghost by Sarvenaz Tash

Nov1

Goldenrod Moram loves maps, and Meriweather Lewis (Lewis and Clark Expedition) is her hero. When she sets out on a summer adventure to map her entire town in detail, she gets more adventure than she bargained for. She meets a gang of teen delinquents, a strange old lady who sends her on a quest for a blue rose, and the titular ghost.

The ghostly and magical elements in this adventure/mystery novel seem to be inserted for sparkle rather than being an integral part of the plot. The basic plot reminds me of the mystery books I loved when I was a girl: Nancy Drew, Trixie Belden, the Boxcar Children. But there’s a ghost and a magical blue rose.

I enjoyed reading The Mapmaker and the Ghost. I think I liked the mystery/historical fiction elements better than I did the fantasy elements. If you’re a fan of both contemporary mystery adventure stories and ghost stories, and if you like maps, The Mapmaker and the Ghost would be the perfect combination.

Evil Genius Meets Boy Hero: Two Books for Halloween

Oct31

Benjamin Franklinstein Meets Thomas Deadison by Matthew McElligott and Larry Tuxbury.
I didn’t read the first two books in this series, Benjamin Franklinstein Lives! and Benjamin Franklinstein Meets the Fright Brothers, but I was able to catch on to the gist of story up until this point pretty easily. This series is easy to read and just fun, nothing heavy or serious, just a simple story about an evil-emperor who tries to take over the world by hypnotizing everyone with scientifically altered light bulbs.

“Wherein is contained an Accounting of the Quest by our Subject and his Young Companions to subdue an Army of Hypnotized Zombies and thwart the Evil Plans of the Emperor.”

The Emperor is Napoleon. Young Victor Godwin is “our subject” and his friends are Benjamin Franklin, Orville and Wilbur Wright, and other members of the Modern Order of Prometheus. If you thought Franklin, Napoleon, and the Wright brothers were dead, you’d be right, except that they were actually preserved by the Order, each in his own Leyden casket, to be awakened when society faced a Great Emergency. Unfortunately, Napoleon was also preserved in a Leyden casket and revived by his assistant Moreau to further the evil Emperor’s plans to control the world.

Those plans include Infinity Light Bulbs in every light fixture in Philadelphia, the kidnapping of famous scientists, and mind control for famous and talented dead scientists like Thomas Edison, for instance. It’s a bumpy ride that starts with a literally bumpy ride in a gyroplane and ends in a desperate attempt to destroy Napoleon’s Harmonic Supertransmitter. The fun part, at least one fun part, is that there are diagrams and pictures of all of the wacky scientific gizmos in the book, like the supertransmitter, and the infinity bulb, and the Leyden casket/bathtub, and a harmonic antenna and even a potato battery eggplant. Here’s a picture of a Leyden jar (a device that ‘stores’ static electricity between two electrodes on the inside and outside of a glass jar), but I couldn’t find a picture of the Leyden casket. You don’t think it’s just a figment of Mr. McElligot’s or Mr. Tuxbury’s imagination, do you?

'106060' photo (c) 2009, Biblioteca de la Facultad de Derecho y Ciencias del Trabajo Universidad de Sevilla - license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

Reluctant readers, especially those who are interested in science and jokes but not reading, might very well eat this stuff up. It’s definitely worth a try. I’d start with the first book and see how it goes over. Benjamin Franklinstein lives!, just in time for Halloween, but hilarious anytime.

Fake Mustache, or How Jodie O’Rodeo and her Wonder Horse (and Some Nerdy Kid) Saved the U.S. Presidential Election from a Mad Genius Criminal Mastermind by Tom Angleberger.

A novelty store fake mustache, a very special mustache, turns Lenny Flem’s best friend, Casper, into the afore-mentioned evil genius who wants to take over, if not the world, at least the United States. Fake Mustache is even more of a farce and a slap-stick comedy than Benjamin Franklinstein. Angleberger parodies pre-teen Disney channel sitcoms, old-fashioned melodramas, and zombie attacks in this fast-moving 193 pages of buffoonery.

The first half of the story is narrated by Lenny who is the only one in the fair city of Hairsprinkle (as far as he knows) who hasn’t been brainwashed by Casper, aka Fako Mustacho. However, the second half of the story has washed-up TV star Jodie O’Rodeo telling the story—and getting all the glory– for putting a stop to the nefarious plans of Fako Mustacho, aka Casper.

Loads of fun. And the story takes place during Halloween and Election Day, just perfect for this time of year, but readable in any season.

Neversink by Barry Wolverton

Oct29

Near the Arctic Circle lies a small island called Neversink, home to a colony of auks including a puffin named Lockley J. Puffin and his wife Lucy Puffin. The colony also includes, rather incongruously, a walrus named Egbert and a hummingbird named Ruby. The auks live a happy and uneventful life until Egbert in a fit of misplaced hospitality and a bid for popularity invites the owls from the nearby island of Tytonia to come to his birthday party.

“These are birds who happily spend much of their time at sea, eat fish, fly underwater, and are not to be confused with penguins. On Neversink auks could nest safely in the nooks and crannies of the island’s ice gouged rocks, far away from the perching birds of nearby Tytonia, protected from predators by a girdle of ocean, safe from most threats other than old age and an unpredictable sea goddess named Sedna.
So it had been since the Age of settlement. And so it would have remained, many believe, if Rozbell (the owl) had never tasted Lucy Puffin’s fish smidgens.”

I enjoyed my visit to the island of Neversink. Rozbell the Owl is a suitably evil and crazed villain, and Lockley, Egbert, Ruby and the other auks of Neversink are valiant and at the same time reluctant to start a war even in the face of tyranny and mistreatment from the owls. The main thing the book lacked was much of a theme. The plot and characters carry the story. Maybe the theme is “insane, evil, power-hungry owls must eventually be opposed—and deposed?”

Anyway, the auks and owls and Egbert and Ruby all work out their relations and government over the course of the novel, and in the meantime, there’s some witty commentary, fluent description, and decent dialog.

A few examples:
“Lockley had never been so happy to see his large friend (Egbert). He would have given him a hug, except that it is physically impossible for a puffin and a walrus to embrace.”

“The lamentation of swans exploded from the ground and took to the air, graceful and powerful in flight in a way Lockley knew he could never achieve.”

“‘Actually, I meant that rhetorically,’ said Ruby.
‘Rhetorically?’
‘It’s a word I learned from Egbert. As best I can tell, it’s just a way for creatures who love to hear themselves talk to keep talking.'”

I kept picturing this story as an animated movie in my mind. I think Disney or Pixar or Dreamworks could definitely do something with Neversink. It’s got the characters and the plot, as I said, and they could stick in a moral underpinning about faithfulness and peaceful resistance.

The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate

Oct28

I can see why people are all gaga over Ivan, the gorilla who’s the star of the Exit 8 Big Top Mall and Video Arcade. Ivan is a sympathetic character, an artist, something of a stoic, and a good friend to Stella, the elephant, Bob, the stray dog, and Julia, the daughter of the night janitor for the mall. Ivan lives in the moment, takes life as it comes, and doesn’t worry over much. However, when he makes a promise to a dying friend, Ivan is determined to keep his word, no matter what.

I really enjoyed getting to know Ivan. And I had sympathy for his plight, a lonely gorilla who has nothing to do but watch TV and draw pictures to be sold in the mall gift shop. Ivan doesn’t feel sorry for himself, even though he has been living without the company of other gorillas for most of his life, the last twenty-some odd years. (The One and Only Ivan is based on the true of a gorilla named Ivan who lived for twenty-seven years in a circus-themed mall in Washington state and who now lives in the Atlanta Zoo.)

But honestly the whole “animals are people, too” theme was distracting to me. I think the author could have made us sympathize, even identify, with Ivan without beating us over the head with the philosophy that we’re all great apes, and animals are just like people (only they’re not really, are they?). The insertion into the story of animal rights rhetoric was intrusive and unnecessary. Animals are animals and people are people. People have a responsibility to treat animals with care and respect, and Ivan shouldn’t have been caged alone without other gorillas and without a natural habitat for over twenty years. The story of Ivan’s “emancipation” is a good one, even if Ivan is anthropomorphized a little too much. How else could he tell his own story?

The Book of Wonders by Jasmine Richards

Oct27

As Scheherazade tales go, I prefer Shadow Spinner by Susan Fletcher. In fact, Betsy-Bee (13) just re-read Shadow Spinner for her medieval history and literature class, and I couldn’t help but compare this story to that one.

The Book of Wonders tries to include too many stories: all of the stories of Sinbad, some Aladdin and Ali Baba, and Scheherazade’s own story are all packed as episodes into this one book, which is obviously the beginning of a series or trilogy or something. (Warning: the ending is less than resolved.) I could have used a little more breathing room within and between adventures.

Yet, at the same time, I found the book easy to put down and hard to maintain interest in. Zardi and her friend Rhidan are likable enough as protagonists, but I didn’t really get into the whole girl looking for adventure and to save her sister from death and orphan foundling boy looking for his father and his heritage plot. Oh, and the orphan boy, Rhidan is also probably a magical chosen child of specialness, and Zardi is a roguish but courageous girl, skilled with the bow and full of spunk. Stereotypes abound.

It’s also possible that I’m just being cranky, and if you really have a predilection for the Arabian Nights and stories that take off therefrom, The Book of Wonders might be more wonder-filled for you than it was for me.

Jasmine Richards’ website.

Other voices:
Charlotte’s Library: “The Book of Wonders is a good title for this–like the Arabian Nights, once things get going, the episodic adventures fall one after another like beads on a string, and just when seem things settled, another perilous encounter appears! If you are a reader who delights in one magical, dangerous, imaginative adventure after another, this is a book for you.”
The HappyNappy Bookseller: “What I loved best about The Book of Wonders is the author never tries to do too much, simply lets the story unfold. The author has written a wonderful story that is inspired by Middle Eastern folk tales.”
The Book Cellar: “I am now curious for book 2 – as the story cut off at a really high action time. I wanted a few more answers to be revealed before this book was tied up.”

Earwig and the Witch by Diana Wynne Jones

Oct26

It’s possible that I kept thinking of Pippi Longstocking when I was reading this book by Diana Wynne Jones, author of Howl’s Moving Castle and many other fantasy favorites, because Paul Zelinsky’s illustrations reminded me of Lauren Child’s pictures of of Pippi. Maybe it’s just the electric pigtails that both Pippi and Earwig share. It’s also possible that Earwig is a cross between Pippi and some random wizard. Someone left Earwig at St. Morwald’s Home for Children with this message pinned to her basket: “Got the other twelve witches all chasing me. I’ll be back for her when I’ve shook them off. It may take years. Her name is Earwig.”

Earwig likes her life at the orphanage, but when she is chosen to go live with Bella Yaga the cruel witch and a terrifying man with horns who doesn’t like being disturbed, Earwig makes herself at home and tries to work a deal: housecleaning help in return for witchcraft lessons. Bella Yaga doesn’t want to teach Earwig anything, though, so Earwig must decide how she’s going to cope with her new life and make it suit her in spite of the lack of cooperation from her foster “parents.”

Earwig and the Witch is an early chapter book, and as such it’s not really too scary or too complicated. The scary parts involve worms and some swirly-smoky demons. The plot has Earwig doing just what she wants to do in spite of those who might try to thwart her desires. The theme seems to be” “If life hands you witches and demons, make lemonade. Or cast spells.” This one is appropriate for beginning readers, unless you don’t care for the whole witches and spell-casting thing. It might have been meant to be the start of a series, but unfortunately, Ms. Jones died last year (2011).

Snow in Summer by Jane Yolen

Oct25

Snow in Summer: Fairest of Them All by Jane Yolen.

The mountains of West Virginia are the setting for this disturbing, yet riveting, retelling of the story of Snow White and her wicked stepmother. (The cover, by the way, is beautiful, but it doesn’t look like West Virginia, c.1949 at all, does it?) In this version, Snow in Summer is known as Summer to her mother, her cousin Jane, and the rest of her family. But her new stepmother, the witch, calls her Snow. Suffice it to say that this story won’t do anything to repair the reputation and public image of stepmothers in general.

The entire book walks just on the edge of plausibility. Could all of episodes in the book be real events, just sometimes interpreted by Snow in Summer as evil magic? Are a talking mirror and a bewitched father just too much to attribute to anything but sorcery and witchcraft? The story also includes a snake-handling, strychnine swallowing religious cult, green garden “magic”, and a murdering lecherous boy named Hunter. It’s reminiscent of some of the stories that take place in Storybrooke, Maine on the TV show Once Upon a Time, mostly just this side of magical, but tipping over into the inexplicable and downright creepy every so often.

I’d recommend the book for girls ages 13 and older who like a good fairy tale rendering. There’s too much “girly-stuff” in the book for most adolescent boys, and the book includes scenes of abuse and attempted assault (not graphic, but very real and scary) that might be disturbing to younger readers.

Peaceweaver by Rebecca Barnhouse

Oct23

First of all, I really like the concept of a “peaceweaver.” In this book set in a sort of mythical medieval Saxon culture, Hild wants to use her womanly influence to become a peaceweaver, someone who persuades the men of her honor-based culture to make peace, to forgive, and to overlook slights and small insults. Yet, Hild herself is a product of her own culture. She sees herself as too good, too “honorable”, to associate with slaves and people from another land who do not follow the same customs as her people. She wants to be a peaceweaver, but she finds herself embroiled in violence over and over again throughout the course of the story. It’s a fascinating dilemma, and the story of Hild and her journey through the wilderness to find her own honor and peace is a magical read, both literally and figuratively.

Hild is not only a girl who wishes to become a peaceweaver; she is also what the people of her country call a “far-minded woman.” To be far-minded means to be able to see far, into the future, but also into the minds and hearts of others. Hild uses this far-mindedness to defend others, or perhaps she is possessed by it as many of her own family believe. She must decide for herself whether her gift is good or evil, and she must also decide where her true home is and what true honor means.

Rebecca Barnhouse is a medieval scholar, and her erudition shows as she weaves Norse gods, Saxon mythology, and a coming of age story together to make a novel that will appeal to anyone who is interested in any of the above. I doubt this book will be flying off the shelves, and I do have a couple of quibbles (Why does the book introduce Hild’s older sister, Sigyn, in the first chapter and then never mention her again? And is Hild’s escape from the monster really credible?). However, if it doesn’t become a bestseller, it should find a niche with those readers who are interested in all things medieval and Norse and even feminist, in the best sense of the word.

By the way, if you want to know about honor-based cultures, at least where I got my introduction to the concept, look here in this post by Lars Walker at Brandywine Books and at this article by Jonathan Rauch called Pride Goeth Before a Brawl.

Rock of Ivanore by Laurisa White Reyes

Oct22

Book One of The Celestine Chronicles.

Ms. Reyes says that this book, or series of books, started out as a bedtime story for her son, Marcum. It’s high fantasy, owing certainly something to Tolkien and to Star Wars, as most of this kind of fantasy does. Marcus and five other boys from his village, Quendel, set out on a Great Quest to find the Rock of Ivanore. Marcus takes with him a magical key and a walking stick named Xerxes. If the boys succeed, they will be heroes; if they fail they will return to disrespect and menial jobs in the village for the rest of their lives. Unfortunately for the boys, they have no idea what the Rock of Ivanore is or where to find it.

Marcus is an orphan, of course, and he has daddy issues. The other boys, including Kelvin, also an orphan and sort of a secondary protagonist, are described and take part in the action, but I never could pin down what made any of them tick. Why is Kelvin so prickly and distrustful of strangers? Why does Marcus steal something that belongs to Kelvin and only return it when forced to do so? Why does anyone follow Jerrid, the mayor’s son? The other three boys are mostly inconsequential afterthoughts; they sometimes play a part or have a bit of dialog, but they’re not very memorable.

More interesting as characters were Jayson, the half-breed Agoran, part cat and part human, and Xerxes, the talking walking stick that only Marcus can hear. I wanted to know more about them and understand them both better. King Frederic of Dokur is a wimp and a whiner, but his son Arik makes an adequate villain.

At 350 pages of fairly large print, this book might satisfy fantasy adventure fans who are looking for something a little easier and/or shorter to read than Tolkien or Rowling. But it left me a bit cold. I couldn’t get too interested in the characters, their stories, or their fates until about three-quarters of the way through the book. I can, however, see the potential for improvement as this series continues.

Ms.Reyes’ blog: 1000wrongs.blogspot.com