Review: The Castle Behind Thorns

The Castle Behind Thorns
By Merrie Haskell
Published 2014 by Katherine Tegen Books

Sand doesn't know how he got into the sundered castle, but he knows he has to find a way out. It only becomes more true when a girl appears - and all signs point to the corpse that Sand had set to rights. Does Sand have some sort of magic? And can the two find their way out of the castle behinds the thorns?

Yay - another Cybils book to discuss! I actually had a digital galley of this one last year before its release. I read about 100 pages before it expired. The story hadn't really grabbed me, so I didn't bother picking it back up. Of course, when it was named a Cybils finalist, I had to pick it back up. I started from the beginning again.

This time, the story gripped me a bit more. Maybe it was simply the timing the first time around, but this time, I was completely engaged with Sand and Perrotte and their desire to solve the castle's mystery. I adored Sand and his methodical work of mending the castle. I appreciated that he struggled with the desire to just give up, wondering what the point could possibly be. I'm equally glad that he never actually gave up, that instead he began to plan for his survival. I loved his concern for Merlin and Perrotte and their survival, even though his relationship with Perrotte is fraught at first.

I liked the magic here, as well. I liked that it was revealed slowly and always with a slight sense of disbelief. I liked that all the pieces didn't fit together until just the right moment. I liked that this extended to the world outside of the castle as well - bits and pieces revealed slowly over the novel's course. The information was paced out perfectly. I was surprised to find myself loving the extreme subtlety of this as a fairy tale retelling - I mean, if you know your tales, it's obvious from the title. But this book doesn't just take that story and retell it from a new angle - it changes the story, and I think the book is stronger for that choice. I have to believe that all these things I loved about this book are due to Haskell's talent as a writer - at times, her language was beautiful. She captured sentiments so perfectly. I'm eager to try another of her books.

It gets maybe a little heavy-handed with the message at the end, but it's an important one, and an extremely difficult lesson to learn. I also found the bits of real history slightly jarring at times - since the setting was revealed slowly, this information sometimes felt a bit out of place. Similarly, I'm not sure how I feel about the saints. I like them and at the same time, I find them off-putting. I wonder how middle-grade readers will feel about them.

Overall, I very much enjoyed this one and will be happy to recommend it to the many young fantasy fans I meet at my library.

Review: Hunt for the Hydra

Hunt for the Hydra (Jupiter Pirates, book one)
By Jason Fry
Published 2013 by HarperCollins

Tycho and his siblings love each other, of course. But they also know that only one of them will be named captain of their starship, so they can get a little competitive. As they begin to uncover a space conspiracy, each sibling is eager to prove their worth.

Another of our Cybils finalists, I must admit I had little interest in this book prior to its being named. I don't think it's a secret at this point that I generally don't care for things set in space - rare is the book that proves the exception this. Unfortunately, this book was not one such title.

I found the whole thing rather flat. Fry does not do a great job developing much of anything in this story - the worldbuilding is lackluster and the characterizations are underwhelming. I didn't care about the characters or what happened to them. I'm not sure I could explain the differences between the three siblings outside of a few superficial elements: one is good at flying, one is good at communications, etc. I was especially irritated with the character of their grandfather - I think he is supposed to be a bit of comic relief, but he reads like a caricature in the worst way. I also found it really frustrating that the whole premise of the story is about which child will ultimately be named captain of the Shadow Comet and then nothing much is really done with this story. It's mentioned several times throughout the book but, of course, as this is the first in a series, no conclusion is reached. Along with that, for the majority of the book, their mother (who is the current captain and the one who will make the final decision) is barely present and they don't seem to interact much with her. I expected a bit more conflict in this area. Similarly, I was frustrated that the actual "hunt for the Hydra" (for which the book is named) doesn't even occur until more than halfway through the book. And, when it does finally happen, it's extremely anticlimactic - in fact, I don't think I'd even really call it a hunt.

I wanted to like this book - obviously, it was named a finalist for my category of the Cybils, so I figured it had to have some merit. Additionally, science fiction for middle-grade readers is pretty hard to come by and the young patrons of my library get a genre assignment every fall that includes science fiction, so finding something good to recommend would be helpful. But this book just did not work for me.

Review: Greenglass House

Greenglass House
By Kate Milford
Published 2014 by Clarion Books

Milo is looking forward to a peaceful Christmas with his parents. Unfortunately, that's not going to happen this year. This year, a rash of unexpected guests at his family's inn will guarantee anything but a peaceful Christmas. But why exactly are they all here? Milo is determined to find out.

So, as you should know by now, this was one of the Cybils finalists in my category. This means that I finished the book back in January but was unable to post a review earlier. Now that we've announced our winner, I'm free to discuss the titles we considered.

Right from the start I was on board with this book. There is something about a wintertime mystery that just suits me. In fact, when I started, I really wished I had read this book on Christmas, snow outside, a big warm blanket around me. Milford does an excellent job of setting the scene - Milo's family inn is in a snowy countryside, isolated from any town. Though Nagspeake is, of course, fictional, I didn't have a difficult time imagining it or Greenglass House. I believe all of Milford's novels take place in Nagspeake; I'm eager to explore it more in the future.

I liked Milo from page one also. He reminded me a lot of myself - he likes things a certain way, he's pretty solitary, and he's obviously got a great relationship with his parents. I thought Milford did an excellent job of exploring Milo's conflicting feelings about being adopted and his family. I thought the use of the game to explore his identity was clever.

This book reminded me so much of The Westing Game, one of my favorite books of all time. Much like that book, the mystery here is pretty much note-perfect. Everything is there for a reason. It's complex and, for the most part, deals with issues that kids will have no experience with. But, that's precisely why I love both these books so much: neither author is afraid of writing a complicated book for kids, even if most of the characters are adults living adult lives and trying to solve adult problems. Like Raskin, Milford knows that you don't have to talk down to kids to write a book they'll enjoy.

The one stumbling block for me with this book is the twist. I don't want to spoil it for anyone, but it felt a little too much of a convenient out. That said, I didn't exactly see it coming (I had my suspicions, though), but I wouldn't be surprised if clever readers did figure it out ahead of time.

Overall, I really enjoyed this one and will definitely recommend it to young readers.

Fall Program Recap: Meet the Artist

If you've been reading my blog regularly (though my program recaps are not always so regular), you'll know about a continuing program I've offered for tweens, Meet the Artist. Each month, I introduce an artist through a Powerpoint presentation. This covers some biographical information as well as major artworks and usually lasts about ten minutes. Then, we spend the rest of the program (it's an hour-long program) creating our own art in the style of our featured artist. I ran this program over the 2013-14 school year, as well as during the summer months, with consistent attendance. Because of this, and because it's a relatively easy to manage program, I decided to continue in the fall, despite my duties shifting more to collection development and less on programming.

I don't know if I've mentioned this, but we had a pretty strange fall. A lot of our regularly successful programs saw attendance drops and it seemed like every item we owned was sitting on our shelves. While our circulation numbers don't support the latter part of that statement, our programming numbers, at least some of them, do support the former. One of the programs to fall victim to this unfortunate occurrence was my own Meet the Artist. Over the fall, I ran three sessions of the program with lackluster attendance for all. I covered Alberto Giacometti (sculpture), Wayne Thiebaud (modern art), and Georgia O'Keeffe (nature and landscapes). The O'Keeffe program had the best attendance, so it may have been an issue of name recognition. But, with a general decline in attendance among all tween programs, I decided not to continue Meet the Artist for the spring. I'm considering resurrecting it for the summer, when we can usually guarantee attendance.

I'm really sad to see this program go. I'm no artist, but I had a lot of fun with it. Have you had successful art programs at your library?

Picture Book Saturday

First and foremost, it's Cybils Day!!! Head to their website to see all the winners! Don't forget, I served as a round two judge for the Elementary/Middle Grade Speculative Fiction category. Once again, I had a delightful time serving and I highly recommend the experience to other bloggers out there! Look for my reviews of our finalists in the coming weeks!

Cinderella Stories Around the World
By Cari Meister, illustrated by Valentina Belloni, Eva Montanari, and Polona Kosec
Published 2014 by Picture Window Books

Rapunzel Stories Around the World
By Cari Meister, illustrated by Colleen Madden, Eva Montanari, and Valentina Belloni
Published 2014 by Picture Window Books

Little Red Riding Hood Stories Around the World
By Jessica Gunderson, illustrated by Colleen Madden and Eva Montanari
Published 2014 by Picture Window Books

Snow White Stories Around the World
By Jessica Gunderson, illustrated by Colleen Madden, Eva Montanari, and Valentina Belloni
Published 2014 by Picture Window Books

So I am reviewing all these together because I read them all at the same time. Also, they're very similar, so I don't think I'd have much to say about each volume individually. Each volume presents readers with either three or four versions of a classic fairy tale. The tales chosen should all be very familiar to young readers, though the alternate versions presented in these books might not be. In addition, some of the alternate versions are darker and scarier than the versions children are likely familiar with so I'd say know your audience before handing these to more sensitive readers. I enjoyed the wide variety of cultures represented by the tales in this collection and the illustrations do a lovely job of stylistically representing the cultures as well. Each book provides a glossary at the end for unfamiliar words, as well as suggestions about using them with the Common Core Standards (which, I'm sorry, but that makes me roll my eyes). All in all, I think these are very sleek additions to our collection of fairy tales, but suggest them with some caution.

Monster Party!
By Annie Bach
Published 2014 by Sterling Children's Books
Monster is thrilled to be invited to a party. This book follows him as he gets ready for the party, then highlights all the fun he has there. Of course, he is sad when it ends, but something special awaits him at home. This is a very basic book - it follows a tidy sequence of events throughout a day, which may help kids understand that some things have an order to them. It rhymes, which usually makes it a good choice for storyimes. Plus, it features a monster, another good choice to storytime. The illustrations are very bright and work well with the simplicity of the story. Solid, but not outstanding.

A Library Book for Bear
By Bonny Becker, illustrated by Kady MacDonald Denton
Published 2014 by Candlewick Press
The delightful duo of Bear and Mouse are back for another adventure. Bear is absolutely sure he has every book he could ever want right here in his home - what could he possibly need to go to the library for? But Mouse is determined. Will a visit to the library change stubborn Bear's mind? Being a librarian, it's hard not to love this book. I quite enjoyed the previous books featuring Bear and Mouse, so I'm not terribly surprised that I enjoyed this one as well. It has a clever sense of humor and absolute delight as Bear discovers things he couldn't have imagined without Mouse. I love the friendship between the two and I love how easily children will be able to relate. Very much recommended.

Surprise
By Mies van Hout
Published 2014 by Lemniscaat USA
Man, I love van Hout's books. They are so, so simple, and yet so complicated at the same time. Van Hout uses just a few words to teach children complex concepts. The art is absolutely striking - I absolutely love the bright colors on the solid black backgrounds. It's just a gorgeous package. With this title, van Hout takes readers on the journey of a parent or caregiver - from the feelings of anticipation before arrival, to the bittersweet pride of letting a young one fly away. It's completely charming. I need to own all of van Hout's books!

Review: Incommunicado

Incommunicado
By Randall Platt
Published 2014 by Sky Pony Press

Life in Sea Park, Oregon is pretty uneventful - until the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Now, Jewels barely recognizes her neighbors. Most in danger is Tommy Kaye, the man Jewels views as a stand-in father and the wealthiest man in town. He also happens to be Japanese and being Japanese is bad news right now.

This galley showed up at work one day and, considering my affinity for historical fiction, I figured I'd give it a shot before passing it along. I didn't have many expectations - I'd never heard of the author and, like many fans of historical fiction, I've read my fair share of World War II fiction. However, this book takes the point of view of a young girl on the home front and examines the plight of Japanese-Americans during the War.

Unfortunately, I'm not sure how much I have to say beyond this. I really enjoyed this perspective on the war - the story of the interment of Japanese-Americans was not one that got a lot of attention during my years in school, though hopefully that has changed. I thought Jewels' voice was very realistic, though at times, this made the book unbelievably frustrating. I appreciated her struggles coming of age and learning that people are more complicated than they seem when you're a child. At times, her naive understanding of the complexities of human nature and war and politics were endearing - it's heartbreaking to see her learn these things in such a high-stakes situation.

But, at other times, this made her a complicated character to enjoy. Many of the decisions she made obviously came from a place of love and misguided understanding, but they were still terrible decisions. And this didn't just happen with Jewels. I had a really hard time believing that her brother, a character who is repeatedly described as a genius, would make some of the decisions he makes. Similarly, I had a hard time accepting that Tommy Kaye would go along with Jewels' plan. Additionally, Jewels' mother, who basically comes off as a functioning alcoholic, later quits drinking  rather abruptly - it didn't seem likely to me, particularly considering the difficult situation she was now finding herself in.

Overall, an interesting perspective, but not the best historical fiction has to offer.

Review: Tomboy

Tomboy: A Graphic Memoir
By Liz Prince
Published 2014 by Zest Books

Liz never really fit in - she wasn't a girly girl and she wasn't one of the guys. She was somewhere in between. But being a misfit growing up is not easy.

Guys, I have a problem with resisting book temptation. This book, for instance. I was in the middle of, I kid you not, five other books when I spotted it sitting on our graphic novel shelf and thought, "well, it won't take me that long to read..." Where is my self-control??

I wasn't wrong - I finished this in about two hours. I've been interested since I first heard of it, particularly as more and more attention is drawn to the horrors of growing up female. That's what I liked best about this book - Prince doesn't shy away from explicitly depicting the bull crap double standards our society has for young women. I probably never would have described myself as a tomboy growing up, but I definitely was a misfit. As a young woman, it's not hard to be aware of all the bull crap society throws at you but, as a young woman, you've been taught to feel that there's nothing you can do about it. I loved the moment in Prince's book when an adult friend says something along the lines of "are you sure it's girls you hate? Or is it society's notion of what a girl is?" That line is so hard to distinguish as a young woman because, among the rest, part of the bull crap girls are taught is to hate other girls. As I said, I wouldn't have described myself as a tomboy, but that doesn't mean I didn't know how much easier I'd have it if I were a boy. In fact, I can remember wishing to be a boy, despite my lack of tomboy tendencies, because I knew I and my feelings would be accepted more readily if I were a boy.

I appreciated the casualness of Prince's book - the art has a casual quality to it that makes it more accessible, I think, and the story feels like listening to a new friend talk about their life growing up. I did think it ended rather abruptly, but I also wouldn't have wanted to read forever, so I guess it makes sense. Definitely glad I checked this one out - now back to my other books!