Fiction – Page 23 – Mom Read It

Fiction, Fiction, Middle Grade, Middle School, Realistic Fiction, Tween Reads

Spotlight On: Just Like Me, by Nancy Cavanaugh

Posted on April 10, 2016April 2, 2016 by Rosemary Kiladitis

I recently raved about how much I loved Just Like Me, by Nancy Cavanaugh. Now, enjoy this spotlight and excerpt from Just Like Me – and make sure to enter the Rafflecopter giveaway for a chance to win your own copy of the book!

Just Like Me, By Nancy J. Cavanaugh (April 5, 2016; Hardcover, ISBN 9781492604273)

Book Info:

Title: Just Like Me

Author: Nancy J. Cavanaugh

Release Date: April 5, 2016

Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky

Praise for Just Like Me

“A tender and honest story about a girl trying to find her place in the world, and the thread that connects us all.” – Liesl Shurtliff, Author of Rump: The True Story of Rumpelstiltskin

“A heartwarming and tender story about the universal struggle of yearning to be an individual while longing to fit in.” -Karen Harrington, author of Sure Signs of Crazy

“[A] charming and refreshingly wholesome coming-of-age story….Filled with slapstick humor and fast-paced action, the novel will engage reluctant readers, while offering fuel for deep contemplation by those ready to tackle questions of identity and belonging.” –School Library Journal

“From pillow fights to pinkie promises, sock wars to s’mores, a red thread connects this energetic summer-camp story with Julia’s deeper journey to accept herself, her adoption, and her Chinese roots.” -Megan McDonald, award-winning and bestselling author of the Judy Moody series and Sisters Club trilogy

Summary:

Who eats Cheetos with chopsticks?! Avery and Becca, my “Chinese Sisters,” that’s who. We’re not really sisters—we were just adopted from the same orphanage. And we’re nothing alike. They like egg rolls, and I like pizza. They’re wave around Chinese fans, and I pretend like I don’t know them.

Which is not easy since we’re all going to summer camp to “bond.” (Thanks, Mom.) To make everything worse, we have to journal about our time at camp so the adoption agency can do some kind of “where are they now” newsletter. I’ll tell you where I am: At Camp Little Big Lake in a cabin with five other girls who aren’t getting along, competing for a camp trophy and losing (badly), wondering how I got here…and where I belong.

Told through a mix of traditional narrative and journal entries, don’t miss this funny, surprisingly sweet summer read!

Find Just Like Me on Goodreads!

Buy Links:

About the Author:

NANCY J. CAVANAUGH is an award-winning author and former teacher and librarian at an elementary school. Nancy lives in Chicago, IL, with her husband and daughter but flies South to Florida for the winter. Visit nancyjcavanaugh.com for more.

Social Networking Links:

Website- http://www.nancyjcavanaugh.com/

Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/Nancy-J-Cavanaugh-281062665333065/

Twitter- https://twitter.com/NancyJCavanaugh

Excerpt from Just Like Me:

The camp bus sputtered and chugged up the interstate, sounding as if this might be its last trip. Avery sat across the aisle from me with her earbuds on, practicing a Chinese vocabulary lesson. Becca sat next to her, chewing on a straw and watching a soccer match on her cell phone.

“Ni hao ma,” Avery said, her chin-length hair with bangs making her look studious in her thick, black-framed glasses.

When she saw me looking at her, she pulled out one earbud and offered it to me.

Did she really think I wanted to learn Chinese with her?

“Technically the lesson I’m working on is review, but I could teach you the basics if you want.”

I looked around at all the kids on the bus staring at her and shook my head.

“GO! GO! GO!” Becca yelled, pumping her fist in the air as she cheered for Spain’s soccer team.

Her hair spilled out of her ponytail as if she were playing in the soccer game instead of just watching it. “Booyah! Score!”

As kids stood up on the bus to see what all the yelling was about, I slid down in my seat, and the driver gave us that “death look” in her rearview mirror. The one that said, “If I have to stop this bus, somebody’s gonna get it…”

“Hey, Julia!” Becca yelled, holding up her phone. “Wanna watch with me? The game just went into overtime!”

“No thanks.”

Crowding around a tiny phone screen and watching people kick a soccer ball around was not my idea of fun.

My idea of fun was craft camp at the park district with my best friend, Madison, but Mom said I had the rest of the summer to do that.

Instead I was heading north toward Wisconsin to Camp Little Big Woods, but at least that was better than heading south toward Indiana for Summer Palace Chinese Culture Camp.

As soon as we “graciously” agreed to be the subjects of Ms. Marcia’s adoption article, she suggested that the three of us spend a week together making paper lanterns and learning the pinyin alphabet at culture camp.

“It will be a great way for you girls to reconnect not only with each other, but also with your heritage,” Ms. Marcia had gushed.

She loved treating us as if we were two instead of almost twelve.

But I said there was no way I was going to eat Chinese food three times a day and do tai chi every morning, so we settled on the sleepaway camp Avery and Becca went to every year.

I reached into the pocket of my suitcase and pulled out the plastic lacing of the gimp friendship bracelet I had started a few days ago. I had planned to finish it before camp so that I could give it to Madison when I said good-bye to her, but I’d run out of time. I decided I’d try to finish it while I was at camp and mail it to her along with a nice, long letter saying how much I missed her.

“Hey, Julia!” Becca yelled. “What’s that?”

“Nothing,” I said. “Just a friendship bracelet for my friend Madison.”

“COOL!” Becca yelled. “We should totally make those for each other in the arts-and-crafts room at camp.”

She went back to her straw-chewing and her tiny-phone-screen soccer game.

Friendship bracelets for the three of us? I guess “technically” as Avery would say, the three of us were friends. But even though “technically” I had known Avery and Becca longer than I had known my parents, I couldn’t imagine ever thinking of them as the friendship-bracelet kind of friends.

What are your thoughts on the Chinese proverb: “An invisible red thread connects those destined to meet regardless of time, place, or circumstances. The thread may stretch or tangle, but never break.”

Dear Ms. Marcia,

I’ve been hearing about this red thread for as long as I can remember, but I cannot imagine a thread, of any color—red, blue, purple, orange, or green—connecting Avery, Becca, and me. And if by some chance there really is a thread, I’m pretty sure this trip to camp might just be enough to snap that thing like an old rubber band, breaking it once and for all. Then that Chinese proverb would be history in a whole new way.

Julia

ALSO BY NANCY J. CAVANAUGH

Always, Abigail

Summary:

Abigail and her two best friends are poised for a life of pom-poms and popularity. But not only does Abigail end up in a different homeroom, she doesn’t make the squad. Then everyone’s least favorite teacher pairs Abigail up with the school’s biggest outcast for a year-long Friendly Letter Assignment. Abigail can hardly believe her bad luck! As her so-called best friends and dreams of pom pom fame start to slip away, Abigail has to choose between the little bit of popularity she has left or letting it go to be a true friend.

Buy Links:

This Journal Belongs to Ratchet

Summary:

It’s the first day of school for all the kids in the neighborhood. But not for me. I’m homeschooled. That means nothing new. No new book bag, no new clothes, and no new friends.

The best I’ve got is this notebook. I’m supposed to use it for my writing assignments, but my dad never checks. Here’s what I’m really going to use it for:

Ratchet’s Top Secret Plan

Turn my old, recycled, freakish, friendless life into something shiny and new.

This Florida State Book Award gold medal winner is a heartfelt story about an unconventional girl’s quest to make a friend, save a park, and find her own definition of normal.

Buy Links:

Don’t forget to enter a Rafflecopter giveaway for a chance to win one of 2 Copies of Just Like Me! Runs March 8th-April 30th (U.S. and Canada only)

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Fiction, Humor, Puberty, Realistic Fiction, Teen, Young Adult/New Adult

Kill the Boy Band takes aim at fandom

Posted on March 25, 2016 by Rosemary Kiladitis

Kill the Boy Band, by Goldy Moldavsky, (Feb. 2016, Point), $17.99, ISBN: 9780545867474

Recommended for ages 14+

Four super fangirls stalk their boyband favorites with disastrous results in this insanely funny dark comedy.

The Ruperts are the boy band of the moment, and our narrator – who takes on the names of ’80s teen movie heroines – and her three (mainly online) friends have a plan to be near them, securing a room in the same hotel as the boys. When one of the girls encounters her favorite Rupert (they all have the same first name) at the ice machine, she overreacts and the girls find themselves with an unconscious boy bander in their hotel suite. And things get crazier from there. Each girl has a different agenda, and before the day is over, there are going to be some ugly revelations and even uglier circumstances.

Kill the Boy Band is at once a laugh-out loud black comedy in the vein of Pulp Fiction and Fargo and a scathing look at fandom and fangirl culture. Ms. Moldavsky takes aim at the culture that expects us to destroy our idols, even as we worship them. She looks at the long-established culture of loathing popstar girlfriends, celebrity stalking, and what happens when you find out that the man behind the curtain really isn’t Oz at all.

As a Duranie who was a teenager during the social media-bereft ’80s, Kill the Boy Band made me laugh and cringe, often at the same time. With boy band and fandom culture at an all-time frenzy now, teens will recognize themselves (hopefully, not too much) or laugh in recognition of someone they know. There’s a great whodunit that will keep readers guessing until the very last page – and maybe even after. You’ll laugh, and you’ll think – it’s a great book to have a discussion group with.

Great addition to collections with a thriving teen population that’s plugged in. This should be a good summer read. For older teens, consider introducing them to Pamela Des Barres’ I’m With the Band for a look at pre-online fandom culture.

Kill the Boy Band has been selected as an Independent Booksellers’ Debut Pick of the Season.

Historical Fiction, Horror, Teen, Young Adult/New Adult

The Divah takes New York!

Posted on March 25, 2016 by Rosemary Kiladitis

Divah, by Susannah Appelbaum (March 2016, Sky Pony Press), $17.99, ISBN: 9781634506748

Recommended for ages 12+

Itzy Nash is not looking forward to this summer vacation. Her dad is sending her off to her stuffy aunt, who doesn’t even like kids, while he goes off to Paris to do some research. But when Itzy arrives at New York’s elite Carlyle Hotel, she gets the strange feeling that something’s not right – for starters, Aunt Maude isn’t around, either; she’s left word that she’s hired a governess to keep an eye on Itzy. Plus, there’s a weird sound coming from one of the closets, and there are tons of flies. And that’s just the beginning.

Itzy learns that the Queen of the Damned – the Divah – is at the Carlyle, and she’s trying to open the gates of Hell itself. With the help of a fallen angel that she may or may not be able to trust, an aging star, and a host of colorful New Yorkers, Itzy also discovers that it’s up to her to save New York – and the world – from the Divah and her minions. Better hope she’s up to the task.

I loved this book. There’s a bit of historical fiction with a twist, some horror, and through it all, a fantastically witty thread of the darkest humor. It’s a sendup of high New York society and celebrity, a thrill ride in a book, with an End of Days bent. There are well-developed characters and a backstory that comes to fruition over the centuries. Ms. Appelbaum takes pop culture and weaves it into her story’s history to establish the ubiquity of demon and demon hunter culture in our world, from Evian water to Hermès scarves.

Add this to collections where YA thrillers/paranormal fiction is popular. Booktalk New York touchstones like the Carlyle Hotel in New York, particularly the Bemelmans Bar within the hotel; show art from the Madeline books to link the readers to Bemelmans’ work. For teens, booktalk Ira Levin’s Rosemary’s Baby, for similar New York-based horror.

Adventure, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Middle Grade, Tween Reads

Audacity Jones to the Rescue: New Historical Fiction Fun!

Posted on March 24, 2016 by Rosemary Kiladitis

Audacity Jones to the Rescue (Audacity Jones #1), by Kirby Larson (Jan. 2016, Scholastic), $16.99, ISBN: 9780545840569

Recommended for ages 8-12

A spunky orphan with a sense for adventure, a faithful cat, and a home for wayward girls are all the right ingredients for this fun new historical fiction series from Scholastic! Audacity Jones lives with her friends at Miss Maisie’s Home for Wayward Girls. Miss Maisie is no Miss Hannigan (it’s a Little Orphan Annie reference, and I’ve really just dated myself), though – she’s more benign than awful, more concerned with sweets than school, but the girls do just fine, largely thanks to Audacity’s keen sense of keeping things in order. School benefactor Commodore Crutchfield visits one day and tells the girls that he needs an orphan for a very special mission, and before she realizes it, Audacity is on her way to a very important adventure – before she’s done, she may have the gratitude of some very important people!

What Little Orphan Annie was to previous generations, Audacity Jones could well be for this generation. An smart orphan with a natural talent for knowing when something’s fishy, she and Min, a cat she’s befriended at Miss Maisie’s Home for Wayward Girls, find themselves pulled into a plot to kidnap President Taft’s niece. There’s intrigue, there’s excitement, and while Audacity is clearly the main character, her friends are very much integral to the plot. The characters are well-thought out and just plain fun to read about; the villains are bumbling, mustache-twirling goofs, easily outwitted by Audacity & Co. Audacity herself is just a great character: she’s upbeat, she loves books (the “Punishment Room” at Miss Maisie’s is a library, and Audacity finds herself being sent there often), and she’s always thinking – or trying to think – a few steps ahead.

This is a great new historical fiction series for middle grade readers – I loved it, and think it’s a must-have for collections. The book has received starred reviews from both Publishers Weekly and Booklist. I’ve got a lot of kids asking for historical fiction in my library, and this is a great period to introduce to readers who usually end up with the Old West or World War II. If you’re going to booktalk this, make sure to check out the author note at the end of the book – this story was inspired by a real-life event involving a distant relative of then-President Taft, which the author tweaked into this story.

Kirby Larson is the author of the 2007 Newbery Honor book Hattie Big Sky; its sequel, Hattie Ever After; The Friendship Doll; Dear America: The Fences Between Us; Duke; and Dash. She has also written a number of picture books, including the award-winning Two Bobbies: A True Story of Hurricane Katrina, Friendship, and Survival and Nubs: The True Story of a Mutt, a Marine, and a Miracle.

Fiction, Preschool Reads

The Ugly Dumpling puts a new spin on a beloved fable

Posted on March 17, 2016January 21, 2016 by Rosemary Kiladitis

The Ugly Dumpling, by Stephanie Campisi/Illustrated by Shahar Kober (Apr. 2016, Mighty Media), $15.95, ISBN: 978-1-938063-67-1

Recommended for ages 3-7

There once was an ugly dumpling who didn’t look like the other dumplings. This made him feel really badly, until along came a cockroach, whose heart reached out to the dumpling’s, and showed him the beauty of the world.

Sounds familiar, right? Well… kinda. The latest update of the classic Hans Christian Andersen fable The Ugly Duckling, The Ugly Dumpling looks beyond the surface to tell a sweet story about friendship, being different, and being proud of it. The dumpling, living in a restaurant, was uneaten and ignored because he didn’t look like the dumplings around him, but when he takes up with the cockroach, he realizes that the world around him is beautiful and so is his place in it – and he learns that he’s not a dumpling like those boring other guys after all! But the sweetest part of the story comes when the cockroach is discovered by the other food and the customers – and Dumpling realizes that it’s his turn to reach out to a friend in need.

Told in short, sentences with key words emphasized by beautiful artwork, like the “hiss” of a wok and a “thwack” of a cleaver, The Ugly Dumpling teaches kids not only that it’s okay not to fit in, but encourages them to accept one another’s differences – celebrate them! – and reach out to anyone who may feel ostracized and alone. I can’t think of a kinder, more valuable message to teach our kids these days.

Shahar Kober’s art is a perfect complement to Stephanie Campisi’s sweet story. I’m not a bug fan by any stretch of the imagination, but he manages to create a bug companion that is adorable and as touching as the cockroach in Wall-E (and that’s a HUGE thing for me to say). And think about it – what creature is as reviled as a roach? Ratatooie made mice in the kitchen a cute thing, we all love Desperaux, so by taking a cockroach – no doubt someone who’s all too aware of being an outsider and disliked – and having him reach out to a poor dumpling to say, “It’s okay – there’s so much beauty in the world around you,” is a beautiful gesture borne out of a true understanding of The Golden Rule. Kober manages to make a dumpling sympathetic and emphathetic, with kind words wrapped around him to give him life.

I love this story and can’t wait to read it with my preschoolers. It’s a great add to libraries and collections that promote tolerance and kindness among children, and maybe some adults could stand to learn a thing or three from its message, too.

Adventure, Fiction, Fiction, Middle Grade, Realistic Fiction, Tween Reads

Mysterium #1: The Black Dragon has suspense, magic, and mystery

Posted on March 11, 2016 by Rosemary Kiladitis

Mysterium #1: The Black Dragon, by Julian Sedgwick/Illustrated by Patricia Moffett (Mar. 2016, Carolrhoda Books), $18.99

Recommended for ages 10-14

Danny Woo didn’t have the most traditional upbringing. As the child of circus performers in a traveling circus, he learned a great deal from his death-defying parents, until a suspicious fire left him an orphan in the care of his journalist aunt, Laura. When an explosion at Danny’s boarding school closed the school while repairs are made, Laura swept him off to his mother’s homeland, Hong Kong; she’s researching a dangerous triad gang known as the Black Dragon, but Danny feels like she knows more than she’s letting on. After his aunt is kidnapped, Danny and his old circus friend, a dwarf named Major Zamora, are left to save Laura – and themselves – using every trick they learned at the circus.

The Black Dragon is the first book in a new series. Mysterium follows the adventures of Danny Woo, a tween who survived the fire that killed his parents. Brought up in a traveling circus, Danny has some tricks up his sleeve and knows that his remaining family – his aunt Laura and his friend, Zamora – knows more about his parents’ deaths than they’re willing to let on. Previously published outside the US, there are three books in the series (so far); I hope they’ll also be published in the U.S., to give audiences a chance to read the whole series.

I liked what I’ve read so far. There’s a lot of action and intrigue, with some questions posed and just enough answers given to tease readers into getting the next book. Danny is a smart, capable kid who uses the hypnosis and sleight of hand techniques he learned from his dad to aid his own investigation. He tends to go with his gut feelings on things, because he’s good at “reading” people – another talent he picked up from his father. His friend Zamora is a loyal friend who acts as Danny’s partner and protector. We’ve got good exposition, interesting characters with talents not usually explored by tween fic, and multi-ethnic, diverse characters that make this a good choice to add to reading lists. I’d pair this with Simon Nicholson’s Young Houdini middle grade series for a nice display on magic in fiction.

Check out the Mysterium webpage for more information on the rest of the series, which you can also buy for your reader if you can’t wait for them to be published stateside.

Fantasy, Fiction, Teen, Young Adult/New Adult

The Vault of Dreamers continues with The Rule of Mirrors

Posted on March 8, 2016March 8, 2016 by Rosemary Kiladitis

The Rule of Mirrors, by Caragh O’Brien (Feb. 2016, Roaring Brook Press), $17.99, ISBN: 9781596439405

Recommended for ages 12+

About a year and a half ago, The Vault of Mirrors had me on the edge of my seat with its mindgame narrative and cliffhanger ending, so when I saw that its sequel, The Rule of Mirrors was finally available through Edelweiss, I was all over it. I was not disappointed.

Rosie is back, but she’s not at Forge School anymore. She’s not in the vault of dreamers anymore. Actually, Rosie’s not in just one place anymore: she’s been mined, and one of her dream seeds has taken root in a coma patient: a pregnant Latina girl named Althea.

Told in first person narratives, we get Thea’s and Rosie’s stories. While Rosie’s consciousness lives on in Thea’s body, Thea appears to be gone, and she struggles to make sense of everything around her. Rosie is desperate to escape her circumstances and get revenge on Dr. Berg, the Forge School dean who imprisoned her.

This second book in the Vault of Dreamers trilogy is just as gripping and plays just as many mindgames as the first. If you thought there were moral quandaries in the first book, you haven’t read anything yet. O’Brien presents a host of new dilemmas in Rule of Mirrors, including pregnancy, keeping a coma patient alive, and what happens when one person’s consciousness is transferred into another person’s body?

This is a brilliant trilogy that shouldn’t be missed. Great for teens, great for adults, great for dark fantasy fans. Don’t miss!

Fantasy, Fiction, Fiction, Middle Grade, Tween Reads

Fairy Tale Reform School returns with Charmed!

Posted on March 4, 2016March 3, 2016 by Rosemary Kiladitis

Fairy Tale Reform School: Charmed, by Jen Calonita (March 2016, Sourcebooks Jabberwocky), $15.99, ISBN: 9781492604044

Recommended for ages 8-12

Gilly and her Fairy Tale Reform School friends are back in a new adventure! When we last left Gilly, she had faced down the evil threat facing the school and is kind of a hero now. This has been great for her father, whose glass slipper business is doing better than ever, allowing her family to live a little more easily. Still, things at FTRS have a way of going haywire: headed by Princess Briar Rose – Sleeping Beauty – herself, the mean girl group, the Royal Ladies in Waiting, are trying to recruit Gilly and turn her into a pink-wearing, royal-loving, wannabe; and Rose is heading up the effort. The notorious pirate Blackbeard is the newest professor at the school, and his teaching methods are a bit unorthodox. Oh, and there’s a mole in the school that may be assisting Alva, the evil fairy who was behind all that fuss last time. It falls to Gilly and friends to find the mole, if she can keep her friends talking to her, keep her family safe, and stay alive long enough to find out who it is!

Charmed is more of the storytelling that made Flunked such a fun read. Gilly’s trying to cope with her newfound fame, continue being true to who she is, and help keep everyone she cares for safe. There are new challenges thrown at her; she’s got to stop taking the world on her shoulders and accept some help from her friends this time. There’s a little more intrigue this time out, making for a juicy subplot, an old rivalry that will keep you on your toes, and an ending that leaves me hopeful for more. The police blotter from Flunked has given way to the Happily Ever After Scrolls (newspaper updates) and letters via the Pegasus Postal Service, both of which offer humorous news updates that enhance the plots and give us some extra details that Gilly – our narrator – couldn’t know.

A fun addition to your fractured fairy tale fiction section, and an equally fun booktalk. I talked this book up to my tweens when I brought copies of Flunked into my library, and I haven’t seen my copies since. Once my copies of Charmed come in, I’ll revisit my Flunked activity kit and get the kids creating their own fairy tales!

Fiction, Realistic Fiction, Teen, Tween Reads

Crack Coach looks at the cult of personality and addiction

Posted on February 20, 2016 by Rosemary Kiladitis

Crack Coach, by Steven Sandor (Sept. 2015, Lorimer), $14.95, ISBN: 9781459409804

Recommended for ages 12+

Bob Jones is a beloved high school football coach who just won the election for Toronto mayor. He seems to be one of those guys that can do no wrong – but some people would say otherwise. He’s always got an excuse for his bad behavior. When he refuses to meet with the GLBT alliance or address crucial issues facing the city, he claims it’s because his priority is to coach the high school football team. And the kids on his team, particularly Maurice and Vijay, see that the coach not plays favorites and makes some uncomfortably racist remarks while trying to be the “cool old white guy”. He punishes his team by putting them through abusive practices and says it’s for their own good. But when word starts to leak out about the mayor’s public drunkenness, added to suspicious video and pictures surfacing that highlight a possible drug abuse problem, Maurice and Vijay know that they have to mobilize the team and take control back from the coach.

Crack Coach is another hi-lo reader from Lorimer. I’ve become a big fan of this line; the authors are knowledgeable about their subjects (Crack Coach author Steven Sandor is a soccer broadcaster and sportswriter for an online Canadian soccer magazine) and the topics are timely and interesting. They never talk down to their audiences, relying on smart, direct writing and captivating subject matter to draw their readers in.

Crack Coach is a dramatic title, I’ll be the first to agree, but it pulls you in, doesn’t it? I loved the book and enjoyed the characters. They’re teens that other teens can relate to, with real-life issues that affect kids’ lives today. If you think the coach’s story sounds familiar, you’re not wrong – the book was influenced by a true story. Talking to teens about the story behind the story will bring a current events aspect to lessons; bring in some newspaper clippings or access them online to teach teens about primary sources and how writers use them as a tool.

Crack Coach is another great Lorimer book, perfect for reluctant and struggling readers and tweens who are ready for some grittier novels. A good add to libraries and classrooms with a struggling reader population.

Adventure, Fantasy, Fiction, Teen, Young Adult/New Adult

Think you know Peter Pan? Read Lisa Maxwell’s Unhooked.

Posted on February 18, 2016February 17, 2016 by Rosemary Kiladitis

Unhooked, by Lisa Maxwell (Feb. 2016, Simon Pulse), $17.99, ISBN: 9781481432047

Recommended for ages 13+

Gwendolyn has never had a real home. Her mother has moved she and Gwen around for years, never staying too long in one place, always on the run from the monsters she swore were after them. Gwen is tired and frustrated at this latest move to a small apartment in London. Thankfully, her best friend, Olivia, is spending the summer with them.

Shortly after they arrive at the apartment, Gwen and Olivia are taken in the middle of the night by shadowy creatures. Separated from Olivia and desperate to find out what’s going on, she finds herself on a boat and demands that the Captain enlighten her. And that’s when she discovers that the monsters her mother always worried about weren’t just a figment of her imagination. Gwen is in Neverland, and Hook isn’t necessarily the one she has to watch out for. Now, she’s got to find Olivia and try to find their way home, but Pan isn’t planning on making things easy for anyone. He’s got an agenda, and the two girls have been brought to Neverland to help him accomplish it. He’s a sweet talker, especially compared to the harsh, brutal Hook, but Gwen has the feeling that Pan’s not all he seems to be…

This dark fantasy reimagining of Peter Pan will turn everything you think you know about Neverland and Peter Pan on its head. It’s a dark and brutal tale, with children dying in battle and evil faeries playing both sides. It’s fast-paced and well constructed, with smart, put-together characters and a painful World War I story gently woven into the overall narrative. You’ll try to place all the characters – I did – but just go with the narrative rather than try to fit every peg to a hole. For instance, I quickly figured that Gwen was Wendy, but where were Michael and John? There are parallels that could be drawn – no spoilers here – but in the end, Gwen is Gwendolyn, Hook is Hook, Pan is Pan, and Olivia is Olivia. These are their own characters, their own people, unique and individual in every way.

I don’t know whether this will turn into a series or a trilogy. This is a great stand-alone adventure and doesn’t need further explanation. Add to your fantasy collection; YA fairy tales are always good to have available to provide a comforting bridge to childhood with a decidedly grown-up spin to them.