Category: Fantasy

Posted in Fantasy, Fiction, Humor, Tween Reads

Book Review: Villain School: Good Curses Evil, by Stephanie Sanders (Bloomsbury, 2011)

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Recommended for ages 9-12

What do you do when your parents are some of the baddest bad guys in history, and you just don’t match up? You get sent to Master Dreadthorn’s School for Wayward Villains. Dracula’s daughter, Jezebel, is there – she prefers hot chocolate to blood. The Big Bad Wolf’s son, Wolf, is in there, too – he saved a human child from drowning. The Green Giant’s son was expelled when they realized that his dad was just some green guy trying to get kids to eat their vegetables.

Rune Drexler, Master Dreadthorn’s 12-year old son, is at villain school, too, but he’s not getting any preferred treatment – quite the opposite; he can’t seem to do anything right in his father’s eyes. When his father calls him to his office and gives him a Plot – a dangerous and evil test to achieve his next EVil (Educational Villain Levels) level, Rune sees his chance to be the villain his father wants him to be. But can he and his two friends carry out the Plot without ending up being heroes?
The story takes a little bit of time to get started; Sanders concentrates on exposition early on in the story. Once the Plot is under way, though, the story becomes a fun read with just enough of a twist to take the reader by surprise. I did not feel cheated by the book’s end – I wanted to know what Rune was going to do next. Middle grade readers will enjoy the good-natured jabs that the characters throw at one another, and the idea of being good while you’re trying to be evil will show younger readers that there is something good in even the baddest of villains.
Posted in Fantasy, Fiction, Tween Reads

Book Review: The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, by Kate DiCamillo (Candlewick Press, 2009)

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Recommended for ages 9-12
 
I normally try to stay away from reading multiple books by the same author in a row, but after coming off of The Tale of Desperaux, I really wanted more, so I picked up The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane.

Edward Tulane is a stunning china rabbit with real fur ears and wires enabling movement in his arms and legs, and a fashionable silk wardrobe. He is the apple of his owner’s eye, 10-year old Abilene. Abilene changes his outfits daily annd dotes on him. He lives a comfortable life and knows it, but he’s cold and keeps Abilene at a distance, never allowing himself to love her as she loves him; her purpose in his life is to take care of him and coddle him.

Abilene and her family go on a cruise where Edward, as a cruel prank by two boys on the ship, is tossed overboard; thus begins a journey where he finds himself in the company of an old woman, a homeless man, and a dying little girl and her older brother. Each of these people teaches Edward a little more about love, loss and longing.
 
The reader journeys with Edward, experiencing his growth and heartache through each subsequent companion’s story. Despite the affection – even love – he feels with each new owner, his thoughts always stray back to Abilene, finally understanding what love is and he regrets not reciprocating her affection.
 
The them of second chances is a dominant theme in the book, leaving the reader with the message that there’s always a chance for redemption – it just make take some time. It is a powerful and relevant theme for middle grade children, who need to understand at this delicate age that their actions can and do have consequences, but that almost nothing is unforgiveable, and reconciliation is always down the road.
Posted in Fantasy, Science Fiction, Steampunk, Tween Reads

Book Review: Larklight: A Rousing Tale of Dauntless Pluck in the Farthest Reaches of Space, by Philip Reeve (Bloomsbury, 2007)

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Recommended for ages 9-12
Larklight is the first in a ‘tween steampunk trilogy by Philip Reeve, and I was really looking forward to sinking my teeth into this book. Steampunk? Pirates? Pass that book over!
I was not disappointed. A great read for both boys and girls interested in science fiction and fantasy, Larklight offers a little something for everyone. The main character, Arthur Mumby, is a boy of about 11 or 12 who lives with his 14-year old sister, Myrtle (who is a very big part of the storyline – no wallflower female characters in this book!) and their widowed father upon Larklight, a floating home in space. The story takes place during the Victorian era, and the British Empire has colonized space. Aetherships cruise the skies much as Blackbeard’s Queen Anne’s Revenge hunted ships in the waters on earth.
Mr. Mumby, a xenobiologist, agrees to a meeting with a correspondent who refers to himself as “Mr. Webster” – when he arrives, we discover that Webster is an evil space spider with whose spidery army traps Larklight and Mr. Mumby in their webs. Art and Myrtle escape, ultimately ending up with a band of space pirates led by Jack Havoc, a teenager with his own troubled past, and his band of alien misfits. Running from the British Empire, Jack joins Art and Myrtle on their quest to save their father and learn what made them Webster’s target.
In addition to the nonstop action and wonderfully Victorian narrative, there is mech and steam aplenty for steampunk fans. Giant, mechanized spiders, steam-driven aetherships propelled by alchemic reactions, and an assault on Queen Victoria – what more could a kid possibly ask for?

I appreciated Reeve’s strong male and female characters. At first glance , Myrtle appears solely as Art’s antagonist for Art but emerges as a strong, clever character – it’s interesting to see her character evolve. Ssil, one of Jack Havoc’s alien crew, has no idea where her origins lie, providing a sense of mystery and pathos. She has only the family she creates around her, but longs to know who she is. While scientific men are assumed to be the only ones capable of performing the “chemical wedding” that propels aetherships into space, Ssil performs it with ease – indeed, she is the only member of Jack’s crew who can do it.

There are two sequels to Larklight, also by Reeve: Starcross and Mothstorm, that I expect I shall be picking up shortly. The film rights for Larklight have been bought and a film is due out in 2013.

Posted in Animal Fiction, Fantasy, Tween Reads

Book Review: Kenny and the Dragon, by Tony DiTerlizzi (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2008)

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Recommended for ages 9-12

This adorable book teaches children the power of not judging someone (or something) on gossip, and illustrates the potentially destructive power of gossip.

Kenny is a young, bookish rabbit. His parents are farmers, but he’s always got his nose in a book. His only real friend at the book’s beginning is the old badger, George, who runs the bookshop in the nearby village. Kenny visits George to play chess and read in the bookshop, and George often lets Kenny borrow books to take home and read.

One day, Kenny’s father comes home with the news that there is a dragon in his meadow. Kenny runs to his bookshelf and grabs his bestiary, on loan from George, and learns that dragons are vicious, fire-breathing, maiden-devouring beasts. Creating a suit of armor for himself fashioned from pots and pans, he sets out to take a look at the dragon, who ends up being a perfect gentleman named Grahame (“like the cracker, but with an e on the end”) and quickly dispels all myths set forth in the bestiary – in fact, he asks Kenny if he can borrow it, because he loves reading good fiction. Grahame is something of an epicure, enjoying good poetry, music, and food. He spent years trapped in the earth after falling through a fault line, but he never saw the point in chasing maidens and killing knights – his fellow dragons died out because of their taste for terror, and he just wants to enjoy life.

Kenny introduces Grahame to his parents, who also include the dragon in such family activities as picnic dinners where they cook delicious meals just for him. Kenny and Grahame’s friendship is put at risk when other villagers, fearful of the rumored dragon in the land, call for the king to take action. The king calls his retired dragonslayer into service – Kenny’s friend, George Badger. Kenny’s two best friends may have to do combat because no one bothers to learn the truth about dragons – what can Kenny do to save the day?

Tony DiTerlizzi is one half of the duo behind The Spiderwick Chronicles. Kenny and the Dragon, based on the 1898 story The Reluctant Dragon by Kenneth Grahame, introduces readers to a new group of memorable characters as he peppers tributes to the original story throughout the book. Aside from the tribute to Kenneth Grahame, he names George the bookstore owner/dragonslayer after St. George, who features in the Grahame story; other characters from the original story also find a place in DiTerlizzi’s world.

Placing the story in a fantastic, anthropomorphic world is a wonderful way of bringing this story to a new audience. DiTerlizzi expands on the original tale as a way of getting big ideas across to little people – the town mob, pitchforks and all, is riled up by the mere presence of a dragon, but no one bothers to try and get to know him – all they have is rumor to go on, and that’s good enough for them.

DiTerlizzi illustrates Kenny and the Dragon in the same line sketch format as Spiderwick, bringing Grahame, Kenny, and the rest of their world to life. The sketches bring old fairy tale stories to mind.

DiTerlizzi’s website, Never Abandon Imagination, provides more information about his books and includes links to his artwork, blog and social media connections (YouTube, Wikipedia, Facebook).

Posted in Fantasy, Fiction, Tween Reads

Book Review: Dragon Slippers by Jessica Day George (Bloomsbury, 2008)

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Recommended for ages 10-14

This is a princess-y book for girl who don’t normally like princess book. Creel, the main character, is not a princess, but she is independent and smart; a rags-to-riches character we’ve started expecting from fantasy heroines.

Orphans Creel and her brother live with their poor aunt and uncle, who have enough children of their own. Creel’s aunt leaves Creel to the local dragon in the hope that either a rich noble or prince will save her and marry her – and share the wealth with the rest of the family – or that the dragon will eat her, giving the family one less mouth to feed. Luckily for Creel, Theoradus the Dragon doesn’t want to eat anyone; he wants to be left alone to enjoy his hoard of shoes (each dragon has his or her own preferred hoard).
 
Creel strikes out for the king’s city, Feravel, to find her fortune as a seamstress, taking a pair of slippers given to her by Theoradus and befriends two more dragons, Shardas and Feniul, along the way. Upon arriving in Feravel, she finds seamstress work where her embroidery designs gain notice – as do her shoes. The awful princess Amalia, engaged to Feravel’s crown prince Milun, tries to force Creel to surrender the slippers. She ultimately gets them through Creel’s co-worker, Larkin, who Amalia makes a lady-in-waiting if she can get Amalia the slippers.

Amalia’s desire for the shoes has nothing to do with being fashionable, and her engagement to prince Milun is a sham – her father’s kingdom wants to take over Feravel, and the slippers give her the power to control the dragons. Creel must join forces with the king’s younger son, Luka, to find a way to break through to the dragons and bring peace to the land.

I enjoyed this book because it was unexpected. The heroine was intelligent, self-sufficient, and funny – a wry sense of humor permeates the characters without feeling forced or contrived. Jessica Day George carefully builds up without it ever feeling tedious, and she tightly weaves the various characters, plots, and subplots together to keep  readers on their toes. Just when I thought I had reached the climax of the book, I realized there was more – and I liked it. The author does not take its young audience for granted.
 
Dragon Slippers is the first book in Jessica Day George’s Dragon trilogy, and I may visit Creel, Prince Luka, and Shardas the dragon again in the future wiith Dragon Flight and Dragon Spear. Ms. Day George has written other fairy tales with smart heroines, including Princess of the Midnight Ball, winner of the Children’ Literature Association of Utah’s 2011 Beehive Award and its sequel, Princess of Glass. She keeps in touch with her fans through her blog and her website, which links to more information about the author, her books, and social media. She is also featured on the Mormon Arts wiki.
Posted in Animal Fiction, Fantasy, Tween Reads

Book Review: The Guardians of Ga’Hoole Book One: The Capture by Kathryn Lasky (Scholastic, June 2003)

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Recommended for ages 9-12

Newbery Award winning author Kathryn Lasky’s Guardians of Ga’Hoole series has been hugely popular since the publication of the first book in the series, The Capture. In 2010, Warner Brothers released a movie based on the first three books in the series and its companion website offers quizzes, games and book facts. A Guardians of Ga’Hoole wiki offers exhaustive information about characters and storylines. The series has taken on a life of its own in many ways, similar to such literary touchstones as Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings.
The book begins with Soren, a young barn owl born into a loving family in the forest of Tyto. He has a cruel older brother, Kludd, a sweet younger sister, Eglantine, and a beloved snake nursemaid, Mrs. Plithiver. One day, Soren falls out of his nest and is kidnapped, taken to the St. Aegolius Academy for Orphaned Owls, where he meets Gylfie, a small Elf Owlet.

St. Aggie’s, as the Academy is referred to, is a thinly veiled deprogramming center/work camp for owls where they are subjected to sleep deprivation and corporal punishment in order to break them down and create a blank slate upon which the St. Aggie’s owls can build and create an army for owl domination. By sticking together and focusing on their families, each other, and the mythical stories of the Ga’Hoole, the guardians of owlkind, Soren and Gylfie defy the odds and retain their individuality. They ultimately escape St. Aggie’s with some help on the inside and head out in search of the Great Ga’Hoole Tree, where they hope to find help to save the owls from the St. Aggie’s army. They meet two other escapees, Digger and Twilight, who join them in their search.

I found myself having trouble enjoying The Capture. I vacillated between being taken aback at the brutality of a book written for a relatively young audience and just not connecting with the story. The book is graphic in its depiction of the punishment heaped on the younger owls and Lasky does not shy away from writing about murder and cruelty. The terror of losing one’s own identity, coupled with cold-blooded murder, make for a potentially terrifying read to some readers on the younger half of the age range, and I’d recommend parents reading the book with their children to address any fears that may come up. The book speaks to the fear of being taken, the terror of not knowing how to get back to one’s family, and the sense of hopelessness that can overpower someone in that situation.
Other times, I was frustrated with the use of owl jargon – the owls have their own phrases and terms, and it appeared haphazard in its usage – and bored with some of the more plodding scenes at St. Aggie’s. I wanted more from the book than it was ready to give me – perhaps reading further into the series will help me connect at a later point.

Kathryn Lasky has written over 100 books for children and has a great website that offers video messages for her fans, a section detailing her awards and information about her upcoming books. Naturally, there is a section devoted to the Guardians series, and she even features fan art dedicated to the series. I really liked that Lasky, who exhaustively researches both her fiction and nonfiction writing, shares her research and links for books she’s working on.

Posted in Fantasy, Fiction, Graphic Novels, Tween Reads

Book Review: Foiled, by Jane Yolen; illustrated by Mike Cavallaro (First Second, 2010)

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Recommended for ages 12+

I love Jane Yolen’s books – her How Do Dinosaurs… series have a very special place on my bookshelf; they provided hours of cuddle time and giggles for my boys and I when they were younger. Her Commander Toad series was my older son’s logical next step after enjoying Frog and Toad’s adventures. As a former fencer, I was thrilled to see that Yolen made a teen female the hero of her graphic fantasy novel AND a fencer. Girl power!
 
High schooler Aliera Carstairs doesn’t fit in. She doesn’t fit in with the goths “(“I don’t look good in black”), the nerds (“my grades aren’t high enough”), or the jocks (“fencing doesn’t count”), but she’s dynamic on the fencing strip. Her coach, grooming her for nationals, advises Aliera to “always guard your heart”: advice she takes very seriously both on and off the strip. Aliera vists her wheelchair-bound cousin and best friend Caroline every week to play role-playing games.
 
Aliera’s mom, a compulsive bargain shopper, picks up a fencing foil at a garage sale; Aliera plans to use it as a practice foil once she shaves off a big, fake ruby that’s been glued to it. Around the same time she receives the foil, she meets a new boy in school, Avery Castle, who’s a little odd but has all the girls vying for his attention. He asks Aliera on a date and they agree to meet in Grand Central Station after fencing practice. Having never been on a date, she’s nervous but accepts.
 
In Grand Central Station, things take a Neil Gaiman-esque turn. There, Aliera stumbles on a fantasy world that connects her, Avery, and her unusual foil.

Foiled leaves the reader hungry for a second helping. Aliera, Avery and Caroline are all vibrant, interesting characters, and even when Aliera is at her most guarded, the reader wants to get behind her fencing armor and find out what makes her tick. Older ‘tween and young teen readers alike will enjoy the blending of fantasy into a reality-based setting, and teachers could use this novel in a fairy tale/mythology unit for older readers. The artwork never talks down to the book’s audience, portraying kids as kids rather than caricatures; the fantasy creatures are brightly colored and drawn straight from a vivid imagination and the fencing sketches are dynamic.

Jane Yolen’s website contains information for both students and teachers, an archive of awards the author has received, book trailers, and a link to her blog.

Posted in Animal Fiction, Fantasy, Fiction, Tween Reads

Book Review: The Tale of Desperaux, by Kate DiCamillo (Candlewick, 2008)

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Recommended for ages 9-12

I picked this book up post-hype and after not really watching more than about 10 minutes of the movie (there really is something to be said for the movie-going experience over the at-home one). My expectations were tempered with the worry that comes when a book has been so talked about and featured in the media as Desperaux, but I needn’t have worried.

Desperaux is a story with many layers. It’s a cute animal fable with an adorable hero. It’s a love story between our hero and a princess. It’s a story that addresses hate and it addresses the darker side of nature, and how even the darkest creatures can crave the light. I wasn’t expecting the depth of character that DiCamillo invested in her characters, and I wanted to keep reading.

Desperaux is the only surviving mouse in his mother’s final litter. Born small and with his eyes open, his mother and father both write him off, but he survives. He’s tinier than his siblings and is different from the start, preferring to read books rather than eat them. He falls in love with the Princess Pea. She is enchanted with the tiny mouse, but her father, who hates rats – and equates all rodents with them – chases him away. For allowing himself to be seen by and talk to humans, the mouse council – members of whom include Desperaux’s own father and brother – decide to punish him with a death sentence, and they send him to the dungeon, ruled in darkness by the rats.

In the basement, we meet Chiaroscuro, a rat who loves the light but is forced to live in the darkness after a brief trip up to the castle living area ended with a terrible accident. He seethes and plans his revenge in the darkness, using a slow-witted servant girl with her own tragic past as a pawn in his game.

This book won the Newbery Award in 2004, and as you delve into the book, you can see why. For a children’s book, the characters’ backgrounds are incredible in their detail and complexity. I was amazed at DiCamillo’s ability to create characters with such depth and yet still make them accessible to children. The story moved along at a pace that kept me turning pages; I wanted to know what was going to happen next. Timothy Basil Ering’s illustrations were stark and beautiful, adding more depth to the story by adding to the vision the author’s words painted in my imagination.

There are some very good teaching guides for Desperaux available. Candlewick Press offers an illustrated discussion guide. Scholastic’s reader’s guide considers the movie and includes some illustrations from the animated feature. Reading is Fundamental (RIF) also has a free, downloadable Teacher’s Guide.