Seeing Cinderella by Jenny Lundquist

Oct9

Calliope Meadow Anderson (Callie) wishes her life could be more like a fairy tale, where everyone lives happily ever after. But in reality her parents are separated, her best friend Ellen is acting a little weird, and she has to get glasses which will probably make her even more geeky-looking than her abundant freckles, big teeth and dead-leaf colored hair already make her look.

Callie is a typical middle school girl, sure that she doesn’t fit in and not sure exactly how to change that fact. The big black loaner glasses that her strange optometrist gives her don’t exactly help her confidence on the first day of school. However, the glasses do something else: they enable Callie to see other people’s thoughts. What could you learn from a pair of mind-reading glasses?

Here are some of the lessons Callie learned from her Super Freaky Glasses (aka chapter titles):

Rule 1: Don’t get upset if someone thinks your glasses are ugly. They are ugly.

Rule 2: Make sure your crush actually Knows Who You Are before you spy on his thoughts.

Rule 3: Most people tell little white lies. Don’t get offended. You do the same thing.

Rule 9: It’s easier to dislike someone when you don’t have to read their thoughts.

And so it goes. Seeing Cinderella is a story about mind-reading glasses, but it’s just as much a story about navigating middle school and learning to empathize with all different kinds of people. Callie learns that she isn’t the only one who feels insecure a lot of the time, and she begins to make new friends with people she would never have thought of befriending, pre-glasses.

I would recommend this story for girls who are themselves “navigating middle school” and learning to make new friends and sometimes let go of the old ones. There are definitely “lessons” in the subtext, but it’s a gentle teaching couched in a gentle, funny, gem of a story.

Storybound by Marissa Burt

Oct8

First of all, Cliffhanger Warning! This book may be hazardous to your reading satisfaction since it ends with those three dread words: “to be continued.”

Nevertheless, I recommend Storybound for those who enjoy, well, a good story. This one has all the archetypes: the lonely orphan girl, Una, the Hero, Peter, his friend and companion, Sam the Cat, the lady Snow, the evil Tale Master and the Red Enchantress. Una has been Written In to Story, a magic land of book characters without any books of its own to read. The Tale Masters keep all of the books locked away for the protection of Story from the Muses who broke their oath long ago brought havoc upon the land. Una doesn’t know why she’s been Written In or by whom, but she must find out before evil overtakes Story.

The story (or Story) definitely has Christian symbolism and undertones. (“We are only servants. And our charge is to wait for the King’s return,” says one of the most powerful defenders of goodness.) However, the lessons about good and evil are never blatant or preachy or overwhelming to the story. Mostly, it’s just a tale about the power and importance of stories and about the Hero Quest of one young girl and her companions as they find themselves and save the world from destruction.

Recommended for ages 12 and up.

Other voices:
Pages Unbound: “Heroes plot in the night, villains prove kindhearted, and the enemy sometimes turns out to be a friend. The sense of mystery pervading the work will keep readers turning pages long after they should have gone to bed. The only problem with the work is that the sequel is not yet available.”

Books and Quilts: “I was totally immersed in this story. I could hardly put it down. How could there be a world where students trained to become the beloved characters as well as the evil villains in the books I read. Wow.”

Interview with Marissa Burt at Cynsations.

Interview with Marissa Burt at The Book Cellar: “Shy, twelve-year-old Una Fairchild is suddenly transported by a mysterious book into the Land of Story, where characters from books train to be cast into a Tale of their own, and Una attends the Perrault Academy while trying to discover who has Written her In and why.”

Sunday Salon: Cybils Nominations

Oct7

Here are a few books that have not yet been nominated for the Cybils Awards, blogger-given awards for young adult and children’s literature in eleven different categories. If you’ve read any of these and would like to nominate any one or more, you can do so at the Cybils website through October 15th.

Easy Readers/Short Chapter books
The Princess Twins and the Tea Party by Mona Hodgson April, 2012 (978-0310727118)
Big Bad Sheep by Bettina Wegenast. March, 2012. (978-0802854094)

YA Fantasy and Science Fiction
Angel Eyes by Shannon Dittemore. May, 2012. (978-1401686352)
Teen Librarian’s Toolbox wishlist for YA Sci-Fi and Fantasy.

Middle Grade Fantasy and Science Fiction
Sword Mountain by Nancy Yi Fan. July, 2012 (978-0061651083) Semicolon review here.
The Last Martin by Jonathan Friesen. April, 2012. (978-0310723202)
Aldo’s Fantastical Movie Palace by Jonathan Friesen. August, 2012. (978-0310721109)
Seeing Cinderella by Jenny Lundquist. March, 2012. (978-1442429260)
The Secret Diary of Sarah Chamberlain by Sarah Norkus. July, 2012. (978-0899577708)
More Middle Grade Fantasy and Science Fiction eligible books from Charlotte’s Library.
Yet another list of not-yet-nominated Science Fiction and Fantasy from Charlotte’s Library.

Fiction Picture Books
Under the Baobab Tree by Julie Stiegmeyer. April, 2012. (978-0310725619)
The Herd Boy by Niki Daly. October, 2012. (978-0802854179)
Mary’s Song by Lee Bennett Hopkins. NOMINATED. June, 2012. (978-0802853974)
Minette’s Feast by Susannah Reich, illustrated by Amy Bates. Abrams, 2012. NOMINATED. Reviewed at Redeemed Reader.
Perogies and Gyoza: Fiction Picture Books to Nominate.

Middle Grade Fiction
Weight of a Flame by Simonetta Carr. November, 2011. (978-1596381582)

Non-Fiction Picture Books
The Very Long Life of Alice’s Playhouse by Andrea White.
Monet Paints a Day by Jullie Dannenberg. July, 2012. (978-1580892407)
Eric Liddell: Are You Ready? by Catherine Mackenzie. July, 2012. (978-1845507909)
Write On, Mercy! The Secret Life of Mercy Otis Warren by Gretchen Woelfle, illustrated by Alexandra Walner. Calkins Creek, 2012. Reviewed at Redeemed Reader.
Hanging Off Jefferson’s Nose by Tina Nichols Coury, illustrated by Sally Wern Comport. NOMINATED. Dial, 2012. Reviewed at Redeemed Reader.

Non-Fiction Middle Grade and Young Adult
Lady Jane Grey by Simonetta Carr. NOMINATED. July, 2012. (978-1601781901)

Young Adult Fiction
Crazy Dangerous by Andrew Klavan. NOMINATED. May, 2012. (9781595547934) Semicolon review here.
Hand of Vengeance by Douglas Bond. August, 2012. (978-1596382152)
The Merchant’s Daughter by Melanie Dickerson. November, 2011. (978-0310727613)

Random Musings of a Bibliophile: Books Not Yet Nominated
Jean Little Library: Nomination Suggestions for Cybil 2012.
Hope Is the Word: Cybils Wishlist.

I plan to nominate some of these if no one else does, but I obviously can’t nominate all of them since the rule is one nomination per person per category. So go ahead and nominate these if they’re favorites of yours.

The Cabinet of Earths by Anne Nesbet

Oct6

This debut fantasy novel for middle grade readers has several things going for it. It’s set in Paris, and the main character, Maya, is a spunky, intelligent twelve year old with an oddly charismatic little brother named James. And the book has salamanders and a creepy beautiful glass-fronted cabinet. Maya is supposed to become the new Keeper of the Cabinet. The atmosphere reminded me of Edgar Allan Poe updated to the twenty-first century and with children.

However, the story took a long time to unwind until finally in chapter 11 (page 142) we learn “What Cabinet Keepers Keep.” I think you could condense the story into an episode of Once Upon a Time (our current favorite TV show which is back for a second season, yeah!), and it would work better. The book isn’t particularly long, only 256 pages, but it just seems s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d, if that makes sense. That said, I did like it, and I thought the ending was great.

Some people, including author Alexander McCall Smith, have been using the hashtag #10Wordbooks on twitter to share 10 word descriptions of their favorite novels and plays. You can check it out if you’re on Twitter; it’s kind of fun. Here are a couple of samples:

@text_publishing: JANE EYRE: ‘What’s that noise from the attic, Mr Rochester?’ ‘Nothing, darling.’ #10wordbooks
@semicolonblog Gone With the Wind: Scarlett loves Scarlett, thinks she loves Ashley, Rhett loves Scarlett. #10wordbooks
@mccallsmith One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest in ten words: Story of inmates of psychiatric institution; warning – may contain nuts.#10wordbooks

The Cabinet of Earths 10 word description: Paris. Science and magic, tangled. Immortality, rejected. Salamanders are amphibious.

Saturday Review of Books: October 6, 2012

Oct6

“A book should teach us to enjoy life, or to endure it.” ~Samuel Johnson

SatReviewbutton

Welcome to the Saturday Review of Books at Semicolon. Here’s how it usually works. Find a book review on your blog posted sometime during the previous week. The review doesn’t have to be a formal sort of thing. You can link to your thoughts on a particular book, a few ideas inspired by reading the book, your evaluation, quotations, whatever.

Then on Friday night/Saturday, you post a link here at Semicolon in Mr. Linky to the specific post where you’ve written your book review. Don’t link to your main blog page because this kind of link makes it hard to find the book review, especially when people drop in later after you’ve added new content to your blog. In parentheses after your name, add the title of the book you’re reviewing. This addition will help people to find the reviews they’re most interested in reading.

After linking to your own reviews, you can spend as long as you want reading the reviews of other bloggers for the week and adding to your wishlist of books to read. That’s how my own TBR list has become completely unmanageable and the reason I can’t join any reading challenges. I have my own personal challenge that never ends.

Renegade Magic by Stephanie Burgis

Oct5

One way to write fantasy fiction is to take an author or a genre that you like, write some fan fiction, but insert magic into the plot. In Renegade Magic, the second in a series called Kat Incorrigible, Ms. Burgis took her favorite Regency romances (think Georgette Heyer and Jane Austen) and gave them a magical twist. The result is entertaining, but I’m not sure whom it’s supposed to entertain.

Our protagonist is twelve year old Kat. Kat found out in the first book of the series (which I haven’t read) that she’s a Guardian, a member of a secret group of powerful members of society who protect the world from witchcraft and wild magic run amuck. Of course, in order to protect they have to use Magic, which is socially unacceptable. So the underlying plot concerns whether or not Kat will be initiated and become a full-fledged Guardian or whether she will be thwarted by her enemies within the group and by her not-very-understanding, social-climbing stepmother.

However, the second, intertwining plot is pure romance. Kat’s older sister, Angeline, is in love with Frederick Carlyle. He returns her affections; however, Frederick’s mother is not about to let her son become entangled with a family in which witchcraft and magic figure prominently. Kat’s mother was a Guradian and practiced witchcraft on the side. And Angeline is a witch, too. And Kat, of course, is entangled in a web of wild magic and witchcraft and her aspirations to guardianship. So, Kat’s family is not altogether fit for polite society. The romance part of the book is tame, even though it involves a rakish seducer and some Oxford students cavorting around in the baths of Bath in the nude, but it just doesn’t seem as if it would appeal to the 12 year olds who would be drawn to the book by its 12 year old protagonist.

So, young adult romance readers would be turned off by the youth of the main character, and middle graders would seem to be too young to have much interest in Regency romance. At least my eleven year old wouldn’t care about it. So, if you have a young teen who’s interested in magic tales (Harry Potter or Edward Eager’s Half Magic) and also Regency romance (Pride and Prejudice or The Grand Sophy by Georgette Heyer), then Renegade Magic would be the book to recommend.

Why I’ll Hold My Nose and Vote for Romney

Oct4

Average gasoline price per gallon in January, 2009 when Obama took office: $1.85

Average gasoline price per gallon in October, 2012: $3.80

Income tax our family paid for 2008: $3909.00
Income tax our family paid for 2011: $9631.00

Our income went up a little, but almost all of the increase was absorbed by increased taxes. More than all of the increase in income was absorbed by increased taxes and increased prices, especially for food and gasoline.

Add to those personal stats these national statistics, and you will see that Mr. Obama had his chance to “fix the economy”, and he and his party cohorts have only made things much, much worse.

National debt as of January 2009: $10.6 trillion
National debt as of October 2012: $16.2 trillion
Do you have any idea how much a trillion dollars is? I certainly can’t even conceive of that amount of money. Do you suppose that all our politicians are laboring under the same difficulty? They can’t wrap their tiny, finite minds around the difference between a billion and a trillion, so they just keep spending money that we don’t have and can’t pay back once we’ve borrowed it.

U.S. Budget deficit (Deficit: The amount by which the government’s total budget outlays exceeds its total receipts for a fiscal year.):
Budget deficit in 2007, under GWB: $161 billion
Budget deficit in 2008 under GWB: $459 billion
Budget deficit in 2009, budget inherited from GWB: $1.4 trillion
Budget deficit in 2012 under BHO: 1.3 trillion
Budget deficit in 2011 under BHO: 1.3 trillion
Budget deficit in 2012 under BHO: $1.33 trillion

How can any responsible adult vote for the continuation of such reckless madness? We have entered Wonderland, and voting for Obama is like voting for the Mad Hatter for President. Maybe Romney is the March Hare and won’t do any better, but surely it makes sense to give him a chance rather than stick with the craziness that we have now.

Cold Cereal by Adam Rex

Oct4

Once upon a time I read The Jungle by Upton Sinclair, and I became a vegetarian for about two days. Cold Cereal by Adam Rex may convince me to give up breakfast cereal for the duration. I know it’s fantasy, bordering on satire, but the satirical elements are effective. For example, from a footnote about Goodco Cereal Company on page 206:

“[N]atural cereal grains have been almost entirely replaced in Goodco products by vat-grown imitation grain meals such as Gorn, Weet, Noats and Gorn-Free, the Gornless Gorn substitute.”

OK, I know it’s not quite that bad, but I did hear a piece on NPR the other day about how a few farmers are feeding their pigs discarded chocolate scraps and other scraps such as “bread, dough, pastries, even Cap’n Crunch” because the price of corn is so high. Can the adulteration of breakfast cereal be far behind?

To get back to the book, Cold Cereal is the story of three children –Erno Utz, his twin sister Emily Utz, and their friend, Scottish Doe–against an evil cereal corporation, Goodco, that wants to take over the world. The children have allies–a leprechaun (or clurichaun) named Mick, a pooka, a very big guy who may or may not be Bigfoot, and some mostly ineffective adults. The Evil Breakfast Food Corporation also has its own cast of strange employees and supporters, including evil members of a international fraternity that sounds suspiciously like a parody of the Freemasons.

The first half of the book was both funny and absorbing, but somewhere in the second half I lost track of the machinations and plot twists. By the end I was confused about what the “rules” of magic in the book were, who belonged where, and what happened and how the questions raised in the first half were answered. Either I’m a little slow-witted, which is entirely possible, or Mr. Rex tried to incorporate too many strands in his story, too many stories in his novel, and too many permutations to his magical world. In short, I got lost somewhere King Arthur and Intellijuice and the goblins that impersonate Queen Elizabeth.

However, I did enjoy the parts I did understand, and I recommend Cold Cereal to those of you who don’t mind being disillusioned about the ingredients in your breakfast cereal and who can follow a myriad cast of twisted magical characters in a complicated tale of breakfast turmoil.

I think it’s set up for a sequel. Either that, or I missed the tying up of the loose ends of the plot, or Mr. Rex just likes things complex and open-ended.

Mr. and Mrs. Bunny: Detectives Extraordinaire! by Mrs. Bunny

Oct2

Translated from the Rabbit by Polly Horvath.

This particular book is a tricksy one. I was expecting talking animals, something along the lines of Rabbit Hill or maybe Charlotte’s Web, and I got a hilarious tale about a couple of ridiculous, bickering, married rabbits who “adopt” the neglected daughter of leftover hippy parents who are, in turn, kidnapped by foxes.

Madeline is the girl, and she is a sort of Alice in Wonderland character, a very responsible daughter who takes care of her less-than-brainy parents and finds herself in a fantastical predicament. When said parents, Mildred and Flo, are kidnapped by some nefarious foxes who say MUAHAHA a lot, Madeline must find and rescue them. But the only help she can get is from Mr. and Mrs. Bunny, who have just bought fedoras and are attempting to solve their first case as amateur detectives.

The resulting mis-adventure is a lovely romp through Rabbit-land and the woods and valleys of Vancouver Island, British Columbia with several running gags. There are repeated references to learning languages and communication difficulties as Flo tries to learn fox language from his captors, and Madeline decides she’s a Bunny Whisperer because she understands rabbit. Mr. and Mrs. Bunny compete with one another for who can be the most clueless, aimless, and scatterbrained detective in Rabbit-land. Then, there’s The Marmot, whose first name is The, and who has a passion for garlic bread. The Marmot is even more foolish and brainless than Mr. and Mrs. Bunny, Flo and Mildred and all the foxes put together.

I think with humor and comedy you always run the risk that some of your readers just won’t get the joke or won’t have the same sense of humor that you do. I saw some reviews at Amazon that criticized this book for using the word “crap” and for making fun of New Agers and the British royal family, among others. (Prince Charles does make a cameo appearance in the final chapters, and he comes off rather well as a reassuring adult character, actually.) All I can say is that this story tickled my funny bone in just the right places, and I was only sorry to see it end.

Ordinary Magic by Caitlen Rubino-Bradway

Oct2

Ordinary Magic sort of takes the Harry Potter world of Muggles, the ordinary people who make the world work, and Wizards, the special magical people who get to go to Hogwarts for special training and for their own protection, and turns it upside-down. In Abigail Hale’s world, everybody has magical abilities, well, almost everybody, It’s not usually a question of whether you’re magical or not, only how gifted you are. Abigail’s older sister Alexa is a Nine. (Tens are quite rare.) So when Abigail goes for her Judging on her thirteenth birthday, she’s hoping to test out at least a Six level. Instead, she and her loving family (two brothers, two sisters, Abigail is the youngest) receive the devastating news that Abby is an Ord, ordinary, no magical ability at all.

“There are few options available to the families of ords. It is a shame there are so few, but it’s not as if it can be changed. . . I sympathize with the frustration you must be feeling. The tragedy of realizing that one of your own is . . .” He sighed. “This must be very hard. I understand that many families experience difficulty in deciding what to do. I believe a few occasionally decide to keep their . . their. . . ”
“Children,” Mom cut in.

Abby’s family is large and loving, one of the first things I noticed that I liked about this book. Abby meets other ord children who do not have such great families, but she is lucky to have a family that believes in her, works to provide the best opportunities for her, and loves her, even though she is an Ord, non-magical, a practical pariah in normal (magic-permeated) society.

I have to say here that I am about to decide that our society is made of two kinds of people: not Ords and Magicals, but Creatives and Non-creatives. I look at books like this one and several others that I’ve read recently, and I’m amazed. How do authors think of such entertaining and ingenious plots and characters and worlds of imagination? I mean, OK, I do have a semi-original idea every once in while, but then some of those same imaginative people who have a stray idea actually carry it through to a finished project, in this case a whole book (soon to be a series). And it works, and I enjoy, and then I read another book in which a completely different person has taken a completely different idea and turned that seed into yet another real-life product. And I am again grateful to God for the gifts and ideas and talents and vision He has given each of us, especially those “creatives” who bring so much joy to me in the books they write or the other works of art they produce.

So, back to Ordinary Magic. I liked the premise; I liked the book. It might get old and repetitious as a series, but then again, maybe not. Ordinary Magic is eligible to be nominated for a Cybils Award in the category of Middle Grade Fantasy and Science Fiction. Nominations are open October 1-15, 2012.