Omega Morales and the Legend of La Lechuza

Posted on January 19, 2023 by Katy K.

I’m always up for a story that’s a good blend of humor, scares, and good characters! Plenty of good food is great, too. This one is a little more intense than books like A Properly Unhaunted Place but less so than Paola Santiago.

Omega Morales and the Legend of La Lechuza
by Laekan Zea Kemp

Little, Brown, 2022

ISBN 978-0316304160.

Read from a library copy. 
Ebook available on Libby.

Omega is a member of a family in Noche Buena known for being odd – though only a  few people in town know that it’s because of their magical powers.  Omega, though, isn’t able to change people’s negative emotions with her empathic powers like her family members can.  She can just feel people’s emotions – easily leading to her being overwhelmed in crowded situations – and hear things like trees talk, and feel the strong feelings around inanimate objects.  

This has always been more trouble than it feels like it’s worth, but when Omega’s former best friend Abby accuses Omega and her cousin Carlitos of being behind the disappearance of several neighborhood cats, those skills might come in very handy indeed. (Warning for sensitive readers: the kitties are not all right.) A giant feather Omega and Carlitos find points to a giant owl – perhaps the vengeance-driven La Lechuza of legend?? Together with their best friend Clau, a ghost who’d rather pretend she’s still alive, they set out to solve the mystery, even as ominous happenings build up around them.  All of this will require Omega to learn more about her own magical abilities than ever before.  

All of the impending doom is balanced by lots of delightful elements – the poster of Selena Quintanella, the statue of La Virgen, and the lamp in her bedroom, all of whom freely share their opinions with Omega, Clau’s love of creating mayhem in public  spaces, the warm and quirky members of Omega’s extended family and their delicious cooking.  Omega’s godmother Soona is the school librarian, and the school library is able to access a magical trans-dimensional library.  And although the focus here is on Omega’s Chicane family’s magic, the larger magical community in town includes people whose traditions come from all over the world.  There’s also a hint of romance and increased understanding between Omega and Abby.  

I first  tried listening to this on audio, but unfortunately the narrator just didn’t work for me.  Luckily I was able to get the print version as well, so that I was able to be charmed by the story. I hope you are, too.

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2022 Cybils Finalists and Ones that Got Away

Posted on January 12, 2023 by Katy K.

Belated happy new year, dear readers! I’m officially back to work (from home) after two months of medical leave following foot surgery. It’s taken me a while to catch up with all the email, but I’m back, and will work on catching up with all the books I didn’t get to writing up during December. Meanwhile, here is the fabulous list of 2022 Elementary/Middle-Grade Speculative Fiction that my fellow panelists and I put together. As always, this was a lot of reading and discussion – I hope you all love these books as much as we do! Click through the links to read our officially blurbs; the links below will take you to my own reviews.

As always, there are more great books than we can fit in a seven-book list. Here are more of my personal favorites that didn’t make it.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on these books, or others of your favorites from last year!

Posted in Fantasy, Lists, Middle Grade | Tagged , | 11 Comments

A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking by T. Kingfisher

Posted on December 21, 2022 by Katy K.

Who’s up for some dark yet cozy magical baking plus murder?  I have now read this in print and listened to the audiobook, so it’s high time I shared it with you. 

Cover of A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking by T. Kingfisher

A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking
by T. Kingfisher

Argyll Productions, 2020

ISBN 978-1614505242

Read from library copy

A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking by T. Kingfisher.

Readers familiar with T. Kingfisher will know that this a pen name for Ursula Vernon (or vice versa?), who usually uses T. Kingfisher for her adult books and Ursula Vernon for her children’s books. This book is not written for adults, but is considerably darker than her not-quite-middle-grade and middle grade books, like the Hamster Princess and Dragonbreath series, and Castle Hangnail.

14-year-old Mona was orphaned several years ago, but has found a happy place working as the apprentice at her Aunt Tabitha’s bakery.  (Aunt Tabitha is introduced to us wearing a housedress with a flying croissant print, which is delightful.) Since Mona has a bit of magic ability, directly and exclusively related to baking, this job is perfect for her.  

Things change precipitously the morning the story begins, however, as Mona stumbles across the body of a girl her own age as she comes into the bakery at 4 am to start the day’s bread.  Things get even worse as she’s first accused of the murder herself and then has her room broken into by a street kid named Spindle, who turns out to be the younger brother of Tibbie, the body, and rightfully wants to know what’s happened to his sister.  As things progress, Mona learns that the constables are no longer to be trusted, because though magickers are relatively common in her city-state, they are now quietly disappearing all over the city, and the constables are keeping a special eye out for Mona.  She’s aided in an escape from the constables by a well-known magicker, Knackering Molly, a woman who went insane from having her magic abilities exploited for battle and now rides around on a skeleton horse.  She tells Mona to beware of the Spring Green Man – which is both ominous and vague.  Now Mona has to not only clear her name, but also figure out where the new campaign against magickers is coming from – and avoid being murdered in the meantime.  There is still time for a surprising amount of baking between escapades.

As you might guess from the opening of the book, this ventures into some dark territory, including police violence, government-sponsored hate, and petty intolerance.  But all of this is leavened (get it?) with humor from Mona’s magic – her familiars include a gingerbread man who acts as a kind of bodyguard and a sentient and definitely dangerous sourdough starter named Bob.  Mona’s own determination and sense of justice, as well as her loving relationships with her aunt and uncle, make firm anchors for the story.  Age-wise, this is an upper middle grade to teen sort of book, depending on the reader.  I know of at least one twelve-year-old who loves it, though my daughter started and decided not to finish it, even though she loved Castle Hangnail.  It’s still going down as one of my personal favorites. 

Posted in Books, Fantasy, Middle Grade, Reviews, Teen/Young Adult | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments

The Enemy is Fear Part 2: Etta Invincible by Reese Eschmann

Posted on December 3, 2022 by Katy K.

This one is for fans of superheroes and puzzle mysteries.

Cover of Etta Invincible by Reese Eschmann

Etta Invincible
by  Reese Eschmann.
Illustrated by Gretel Lusky

Aladdin, 2022

ISBN 9781534468375

Read from a library copy. 

Chicago girl Etta lives with Quiet Days, where her ears are filled with a river of allergies and she can’t hear, and Loud Days, where she can.  But things have been getting worse, so that her Quiet Days are now filled with ringing ears and sometimes vertigo instead of the peace she’s been used to.  To distract herself from all of this, she spends her time drawing comics about Invincible Girl, who can easily win battles against all comers.  (One of these very fun stories in full comic book format opens the book, though Invincible Girl’s adventures are shown in script form afterwards.) This has been getting harder since strange purple clouds covered the sun two weeks ago and haven’t left.  It’s been making Etta’s symptoms much worse, and all the adults around her are acting depressed and overprotective.  

The strangeness escalates as Etta meets a new boy on the bus, one who’s smuggling his goldendoodle Louisa May Alcott to school.  Well, he’s trying – he gets kicked off the bus, and he and Etta see fireworks with their shared initial, E.  As they explore, they find a magical-looking train puffing clouds of purple smoke.  The doors open for them – and the little dog runs in.  But while the boy wants to follow, Etta can’t work up the courage.  It’s after this event that Etta learns that the boy’s name is Eleazar, and that Louisa May Alcott is his tie to his abuela in Venezuela, which he just recently left and desperately misses.  

Now Etta really must confront her fears to help Eleazar find Louisa May.  There are lots of challenges – crazy magical train for one, of course, but also the risk of her vertigo, and communication difficulties between Etta’s unreliable hearing and Eleazar’s discomfort with English.  And although both of these are very serious issues, the adventures on the train fall more into the superhero-like fun action, making this a very entertaining read while dealing with themes of the importance of accepting the full array of one’s emotions.  This is one I think my daughter would really enjoy, and the in-book comic panels also remind me of Kate Hannigan’s League of Secret Heroes books. 

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The Enemy is Fear: the Clackity by Lora Senf

Posted on November 30, 2022 by Katy K.

Here is a delightfully creepy book to please fans of both contemporary and classic fantasy horror.

Cover of The Clackity by Lora Senf

The Clackity
by Lora Senf

Atheneum, 2022

ISBN 978-1665902670

Read from a library copy. 

Evelyn “Evie” von Rathe has lived with her Aunt Desdemona “Dee”, a newspaper columnist and psychic investigator in tiny Blight Harbor, since her parents’ presumed death in a house fire several years earlier.  

“There was no shortage of otherworldly concerns in Blight Harbor, mainly because it was the most haunted town in America (per capita).”

The Clackity by Lora Senf, p 3

Evie is friendly with many of the local ghosts, and enjoys volunteering at the library, where her aunt’s best friend and real-life witch, Lily Littleknit, is the librarian.  But things take a turn from cozy creepy to downright terrifying when Aunt Dee investigates something dark at the abandoned abattoir at the edge of town, where the town’s famous mass murderer of a century ago worked.  John Jeffrey Pope may have been caught and sentenced, but in a town like Blight Harbor, that doesn’t mean much.  

In the unnatural shadows of the abattoir, Evie meets first a flock of supportive sparrows, one of whom becomes a tattoo that helps her along her journey, and then the shadowy, too-many-jointed, sharp-toothed Clackity. The Clackity promises to give Aunt Dee back if Evie brings it the ghost of John Jeffrey Pope.  All she has to do is follow the path it’s set for her through seven different houses… but with the Clackity clearly untrustworthy and the ghost of John Jeffrey Pope hot on her trail, this isn’t as easy as it sounds.  Doing so means confronting many of Evie’s deepest fears, most especially around the house fire that presumably killed her parents, though Evie clings to hope that they somehow survived.  Each different house contains a different kind of horror to be worked through, from personal to fairy tale to Victorian and more.  

Altogether, this is combination of classic horror settings with a mix of lightheartedness, real terror, and personal growth that really worked for me.  No surprise, I really loved the witches, both Lily the librarian and the witches in the fairy tale cottage, though the insistence on each witch being monochromatic was a bit puzzling.  Evie herself has a decidedly modern feel, signaled by her edgy haircut, that will resonate well with today’s kids.  Her search for her parents is unresolved by the end of the book, leaving room for more books set in Blight Harbor.  

Posted in Fantasy, Middle Grade, Print, Reviews | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

The Cover was Blue: Goblin Market, Bookshop of Dust and Dreams, and Water, Water

Posted on November 29, 2022 by Katy K.

As always, and especially during Cybils season, I am reading books much more quickly than I can type them up. I’m home recovering from foot surgery, and thought that the extra time might lead to more review writing… but so far, my brain has not cooperated. So, here are three shorter reviews of Cybils-nominated books, all with blue covers.

Cover of Goblin Market by Diane Zahler,
Cover of The Bookshop of Dust and Dreams by Mindy Thompson
Cover of Water, Water by Cory Fagan

Goblin Market by Diane Zahler. Holiday House, 2022. ISBN 9780823450817 Read from a library copy. 
Christina Rosetti’s poem “The Goblin Market” was one of the earliest fantasy stories in print.  I’ve heard about it, though I have yet to read it through.  Here, it’s adapted into a middle grade novel set in what feels like 19th century Eastern Europe.  Lizzie and her older sister Minka have always been very close, though while Minka loves going to market to sell her bread, Lizzie has great difficulty with things like being touched or  in crowds or with strangers. Lizzie’s world is also shaped by her ability to see sounds in color – part of what makes noisy situations so difficult for her.  

But when Minka comes home from the market one day raving about a handsome boy who gave her fruit and promised to take her away – and then falls very ill – Lizzie must stretch herself farther than she ever knew she could to save her sister.  What has before proven a hardship is now a strength, as Lizzie can tell the goblins apart from humans by the color – or lack thereof – of their voices.  With help from a neighbor friend, Lizzie sets out into the forbidden forest to save her sister.  The plot might not be very complex, but the vivid  imagery and the portrayals of Lizzie’s unique worldview and sisterly affection made it worth the read for me.  I’ve also enjoyed some of Zahler’s previous books, including Baker’s Magic and The Thirteenth Princess

The Bookshop of Dust and Dreams by Mindy Thompson. Viking, 2021. ISBN 978-0593110379. Read from a library copy. 
Twelve-year-old Poppy, who is white, has grown up in her family’s bookshop, Rhyme and Reason.  While Poppy and her family live in World War II America, Rhyme and Reason is one of a network of magical, sentient bookshops that let people of many different times in to provide them with the solace that only a community bookstore can.  It’s truly a magical place, with a lemon tree and flowering vines that grow, as well as a beautiful selection of books, and a chalkboard on which it writes its own quotes.  

But of course, such a beautiful place can’t go unchallenged.  Poppy’s father is dangerously ill, and doctors can’t figure out what’s wrong.  Her older brother Al, too sickly to join up himself, decides to break all the rules of the bookshop when his best friend Carl is killed in action.  After all, what’s the use of living in a time-traveling bookshop if you can’t use it to save the people you love?  When things start falling apart – because of course the rules are there for a reason – it’s up to Poppy, bookshop messenger girl Ollie, and Theo, a boy from another magical bookshop, to save the day.  Although the message is sad, I loved Poppy, Rhyme and Reason, and the spirited community that gathers there.

Water, Water by Cory Fagan. Penguin Random House, 2022. ISBN 9780735270039. Read from a library copy. 
Rafe (assumed white) wakes in his room – which is floating, separated from his house.  Only his dog Buddy is with him.  He doesn’t know what happened, as he’s floating for days with no sight of land, reflecting on life and being grateful that his dog is with him.  Eventually, he rescues a younger girl, Dao, from Thailand, who’s able to pick up English relatively quickly due to watching TV.  There’s a brief incident with teen pirates, but mostly, this is a contemplative book, punctuated by them reading a book about a child’s relationship with a rabbit, which feels like it has the kind of reflectiveness that The Little Prince  and The Boy, the Fox, the Mole and the Horse have.  Three-color silk-screen style illustrations by Jon McNaught enhance this stripped-down clarity.  This would take just the right kind of reader – I think it could work well as a book club selection or classroom reading because it is short (just 153 pages) but gripping and leaves so many things open to discussion.

Posted in Books, Fantasy, Middle Grade, Print, Reviews, Sci-Fi | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

The Button Box by Bridget Hodder and Fawzia Gilani-William

Posted on November 22, 2022 by Katy K.

When I was a child, my mother would get out her button box when I was especially bored or sick. It was an old cookie tin filled with buttons from simple to sparkling, and I loved looking at all the buttons and stringing them onto thread. The button box in this book, though, is truly next level.

The Button Box
by Bridget Hodder and
Fawzia Gilani-Williams.
Illustrated by Harshad Marathe.

Kar-Ben, 2022

ISBN 978-1728423975

Read from a library copy.
Ebook available on Hoopla.

Cousins Ava (who is Jewish) and Nadeem (who is Muslim) have always been good friends as well.  Now, though, they’re both experiencing bullying at school, with the bullies being especially hard on Nadeem, but even well-meaning classmates suggesting that things would just be easier if the cousins didn’t hang out together at school.  They’re still distressed about this when they go to visit their Granny Buena after school.  As the best grandmothers do, she tells them a story that will both distract and enlighten them, one that’s tied to a specific button in the family button box.  And because Granny Buena can trace their Sephardic Jewish ancestry back for hundreds of years, she’s able to tell them a story of their ancestor Ester ibn Evram, who lived in Morocco circa the 750s.  

Then, something truly magical occurs between Ester’s beautiful button and Granny Buena’s cat Sheba – and Ava and Nadeem find themselves in Ester’s Morocco, when Ester is just about their age.  Helpfully, the magic has dressed them appropriately, given them the ability to understand the language, and even set them up as merchant cousins whose visit was expected.  Even Sheba the cat is here and familiar to Ester! They don’t, though, have the memories or background knowledge of those cousins (unlike in Shirley Vernick’s Ripped Away.) They do know from Granny’s story, though, that Ester really needs to find a way to help the men she just met at the market – one of whom is the real historical Prince Abdur Rahman, who if he escapes the enemies currently chasing him down, will go on to found a kingdom known for peace, equality among religions, and great expansion of knowledge.  

It’s really quite easy for time travel stories like these to head off the track in one of two directions – either the visitors from the present day have nothing to do but observe the goings-on, or their modern-day perspective is so vital that the hapless historical characters would clearly be lost without them.  Here, our modern kids have an important role to play, but it’s Ester’s strength and determination that really wins the day. Faith is important to all of the children as well, who recall important precepts from their faith to guide them through tough decisions, especially emphasizing peace, love, and the importance of helping others. An afterward gives more historical information about Sephardic Jews, Prince Abdul Rahman, while a glossary lists the Ladino words that Granny Buena uses.  

This would be a great step up for Magic Treehouse fans – a bit more complex in world-building and characterization, and definitely more enjoyable for parents reading to or with their kids.  I’m looking forward to more adventures with Ava and Nadeem, Granny Buena, Sheba and the button box.  

Posted in Fantasy, Historical, Middle Grade, Print | Tagged , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Spell Sweeper by Lee Edward Födi

Posted on November 18, 2022 by Katy K.

Here’s a light-hearted twist on the classic magic school story. It’s nominated for this year’s Cybils award, and this post reflects my own opinion, not that of the committee.

Cover of Spell Sweeper by Lee Edward Fodi

Spell Sweeper
by Lee Edward Födi

HarperCollins, 2021

ISBN 978-0062845320.

Read from a library copy. 

Cara Moone is here to tell you that magic school is not all it’s cracked up to be.  Yes, she’s gotten a scholarship to a secret magic school near Seattle – but she’s stuck in the MOP track – Magical Occurence Purger – aka one of the failures who’s destined to go around sweeping up the magical residue left over from the real wizards’ spells before it gathers itself up and turns rogue.  She doesn’t get to take spell or potion classes, is constantly being given detention and her formerly close roommate, Yuna, now struggles to talk to her.  Cara definitely feels like she’s gotten the short end of the stick, even if she gets to hang out with Zuki, a fluffy white and very vain young nine-tailed fox (though he’s only grown three tails so far.)  Cara can only look enviously at Harlee Wu, whose magic skills are so advanced that people call her the Chosen One and she wins the best wizard awards every year.  

Then, after Harlee’s most recent giant spell exhibition, Cara spots a giant, dripping  black mouth in the ceiling of the stage above her.  It’s something that a lowly MOP should ask for wizard assistance with – but seeing as she’s up in the flies of the stage, she can’t exactly ask for it.  And of course, due to her poor reputation at the school, no one will believe she really saw it.  But Cara is convinced that Harlee has something to do with it, and is determined to solve the mystery on her own.  

Meanwhile, on her few visits back home, her once super-supportive older sister, Su, is now harsh and uncommunicative, with a scummy boyfriend.  As magic gets more and more out of control both inside and outside the school, Cara really wishes she could confide in her sister.  At the same time, Harlee, Cara, and her fellow MOP trainees are sent to clean up increasingly large messes.  Will they be able to fix whatever is breaking the magic?  And will she be able to fix her relationships – with her sister, her roommate, Harlee?  

Cara starts off very negative about just about everything, externalizing the blame for everything from her placement in the MOP program to how often she gets in trouble with her teachers.  This could have been really irritating, but Cara has such a fun, sarcastic sense of humor, I really enjoyed spending time with her, watching her grow and get immersed in her many adventures and meet magical creatures.  I haven’t gotten into much of the adventures, but we’ll just say that magical disaster clean-up often happens mid-disaster, not just post-disaster, so there’s plenty of opportunity for hijinks.  Give this to kids who dream of magic school and fans of Star Trek’s Lower Decks. 

Posted in Books, Fantasy, Middle Grade, Print | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Freddie vs. the Family Curse by Tracy Badua

Posted on November 4, 2022 by Katy K.

Here’s a book for fans of over-the-top humor, with a healthy dose of personal growth and Filipino-American culture.

Cover of Freddie vs. the Family Curse by Tracy Badua

Freddie vs. the Family Curse by Tracy Badua

Clarion, 2022

ISBN 978-0358612896

Read from a library copy. 

Freddie Ruiz is under a curse.  He’s not sure exactly where it came from, his parents are determined to deny it – but what else could explain all the spectacularly bad luck everyone in his family has?  From running out of glue the night before a big school project is due to tripping over nothing, Freddie has experienced it all.  It’s so bad that his classmates call him Faceplant Freddie and he refuses to do any sport-like activities or try anything new.  

Then, while rummaging through the garage looking for supplies to finish a last-minute school project, he finds a gold coin hanging from a cracked leather cord.  Apong, his grandmother, tells him it’s an anting-anting – what’s supposed to be a Filipino good luck amulet.  This anting-anting, however, turns out to be imprisoning his great uncle Ramon, who died as a teen in World War II, and is the source of the family’s bad luck.  And now that Freddie has it in his possession, a countdown has started – find a way to break the curse or be trapped himself.  

Luckily, he’s got his cousin Sharkey to help him, as well as dubious advice from his Uncle Ramon.  It will take a lot of research into the full history of the anting-anting to figure out how to break it, and as Freddie dives into the task, he learns more about what his family members have done in spite of the curse and the effects of his own reaction to it, as well as the war and post-war experiences in the Philippines.  That’s an impressive amount of personal growth and history tidily woven into a fast-moving, laugh-out-loud funny story.

This book will appeal to readers of other hilarious contemporary fantasy and sci-fi books like It’s the End of the World and I’m in My Bathing Suit by Justin A. Reynolds, The Last Last Day of Summer by Lamar Giles, and Sal and Gabi Break the Universe by Carlos Hernandez.

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Ravenfall by Kalyn Josephson

Posted on October 31, 2022 by Katy K.

It’s a rainy Halloween as I’m posting this, the perfect time to curl up with a mug of pumpkin hot chocolate or hot mulled cider to read this creepy-cozy story of supernatural happenings around Samhain.

Cover of Ravenfall by Kalyn Josephson

Ravenfall
by Kalyn Josephson

Delacorte, 2022.

ISBN 9780593483589

Read from a library copy. Available from Libby as an ebook and audiobook.

13-year-old Anna, who is white,  is lucky enough to live in a beautiful old inn that welcomes both magical and non-magical folks.  She’s also unlucky enough to have a new magical power that seems much less useful than those of her older sisters, mother, and grandmother: she can see visions of any death a person has witnessed when she touches them. When she bumps into someone at a party and sees a murder being committed, she’s horrified, worried that this is a recent crime that needs solving.  And when a boy her age who was in her vision shows up at the inn spattered with blood, she takes him under her wing.  Colin, also white, doesn’t know anything of the magical world, but also wants to find out who murdered his parents, and what might have happened to the older brother who reminded him that this inn was their family safe place.  

The murder here is grim, and turns out to be one of a string, the mystery linked to ancient Irish mythology.  But this heaviness is balanced out by the wonder of the magical inn on the border between worlds, a house with a mind of its own, a Jabberwocky named Max who likes to appear as a mischievous black cat, and a beautiful fall setting with lots and lots of delicious oatmeal butterscotch muffins and pumpkin hot chocolate.  As Anna and Colin grow to be friends, they also both find a welcome sense of belonging. The resolution is particularly satisfying , a refreshing change from the more typical smash/slash/imprison the bad guy.  It’s a perfect blend for middle grade readers who want some real danger with a whole lot of magic and comfort.

Posted in Fantasy, Middle Grade, Print | Tagged , , , | 6 Comments