Quintessence by Jess Redman. Ms. Redman is both a therapist and an author, and it shows. Quintessence is all about stars, and the essence of life, and finding one’s true self. It’s also about a girl, Alma Lucas, who after moving with her family to a new town, begins to experience panic attacks. Alma manages to join forces with three other children to form an Astronomy Club as well as a group dedicated to returning a fallen Starling to the heavens. As the children work together, they discover both their limitations and their strengths. The writing is beautiful at times throughout the book, but it’s all a little too therapeutic for my taste.
Catalyst by Sarah Beth Durst. When Zoe’s newfound kitten Pipsqueak grows to an enormous size almost overnight, Zoe and her best friend Harrison try to keep the giant kitten a secret. However, the only people they can trust to help are Zoe’s estranged aunt, Aunt Alecia, and the summer babysitter, Surita. Can Zoe and Harrison make it to New Hampshire during the time they’re supposed to be at summer camp without anyone finding out about Pipsqueak? A lion-size kitten is hard to hide, hard to move, and hard to keep quiet. The premise was good for this fantasy adventure, but the plot felt jerky. The denouement was too long in coming, and then it happened too quickly. And after the solution to the problem was revealed, then the mop-up action felt disappointing. Still, cat lovers and cat fantasy lovers will enjoy.
The Forest of Stars by Heather Kassner. Deserted by her father long ago, twelve year old Louisa LaRoche is left alone when her mother dies. For some reason, she decides that her father might be found in forest at the Carnival Beneath the Stars. If you want a book about magic at the circus, I would recommend Circus Mirandus and The Bootlace Magician, both by Cassie Beasley. The Forest of Stars is darker and much more incoherent than I prefer.
Scritch Scratch by Lindsay Currie. Claire has absolutely no belief or interest in ghosts, unlike her father who makes his living writing about Chicago’s ghost stories and leading a ghost tour of the most haunted sites in the city. But she can’t ignore the ghostly boy who keeps playing tricks to get her attention and writing, whispering, and scratching the number 396 for some unknown reason. Claire is afraid the ghost boy might injure, or even kill her, and she needs help. But where can she get that help now thather best friend, Casley, prefers to hang out with the new girl, Emily, instead of Claire? Unfortunately, the ghostly number changes from 396 to 369 in the middle of a page (169)–an editorial error that threw me out of the story and into a rant (in my own head) about the lack of good editing these days.
The Copycat by Wendy McLeod MacKnight has protagonist Ali Sloane discovering her own magical ability to transform into copies of other creatures as she’s trying to fit in at a new school and to resolve old family rifts and to deal with her great-grandmother’s illness and aging and to deal with her family’s lack of money in comparison to other kids at school. It’s all a bit much rolled into one book. Or as the blurb in the front says, “The Copycat is a perfect storm of family, magic, mystery, and friendship.”
Arcade and the Fiery Metal Tester (The Coin Slot Chronicles) by Rashad Jennings. This book is from Zonderkidz, a Christian imprint, and I really liked the way prayer and faith in a good God are presented as natural parts of everyday life for Arcade Livingston and his Black family living in New York City. It reminded me a little of Adventures in Odyssey, in a good way. But the plot is sometimes creaky and episodic as Arcade and his friends experience unexpected and uncontrollable time travel, care for a displaced flamingo, and search for Arcade’s lost dog. In a somewhat implausible subplot, Arcade’s friend Doug has been living with his great-grandmother, but when she has to go to a nursing home, eleven year old Doug is left to live alone in the building his great-grandmother owns.
