Greenglass House

Posted on October 13, 2014 by Katy K.

Not long after I finished reading the Kate Milford books the Book Smugglers sent me, her latest book came into the library!

Greenglass HouseGreenglass House by Kate Milford. Clarion Books, 2014
Milo has grown up in an old mansion in the smuggling town of Nagspeake that has long since been converted to a small hotel used mostly by smugglers. He’s an introverted type who takes comfort in his routines, so it’s very disturbing to him when their normally peaceful and empty Christmas break is interrupted by the sudden arrival of a whole lot of guests. Curiously, all of the guests seem to be inventing other business, but mostly interested in the house itself. There are so many guests that Milo’s parents call the cook back from her vacation. Meddy, the cook’s daughter, befriends Milo and introduces him to the concept of role-playing games. While they don’t start an official campaign, they make up characters for themselves – Negret and Sirin, blackjack and scholiast – specifically to investigate the mysteries behind the guests and the rash of stolen objects that crop up.

The role-playing with its sets of published books, 30 years or so old in the story when I know they first started being published like that in the 1980s, was the thing that set this story most firmly in about the present time for me, though it wouldn’t for those less geeky. Otherwise, it’s quite nebulous in that there are cars, telephones and electricity, but none of the other technological devices that change so quickly that they could date the story, a nice touch. But the role-playing is very important to the story. Milo himself has Chinese ancestry, though he was born locally and adopted by his parents. Though he loves them, he wonders about his birth parents. As he answers questions about the character Negret for Meddy and himself, he grows more comfortable with his relationship with his adopted father and what he might have inherited from his birth parents. Pretending to be a character who is confident around people winds up, perhaps predictably but very satisfyingly, making him more self-confident in general. It’s worth noting, too, that Milford manages to give Milo two living parents who love him and check in on him to make sure he’s all right, but still give him enough space to go having his adventures with Meddy.

The house is a delightful part of the story – large and complicated, with an attic filled with old and exciting treasures and stained-glass windows with secrets built into them. There is mystery and adventure with an underlying thread of magic and great characters, plus a twist that maybe I should have seen coming, but didn’t. Everything comes together just right, making this one of my favorite books this year.

[11/28/14 Updated to add] Other, perhaps more eloquent takes on Greenglass House:
Elizabeth Bird’s review at Fuse 8 Productions, with great thoughts on breaking the rules of children’s literature.

Joint review from Ana and Thea at the Book Smugglers, with important thoughts on adoption

Maureen at By Singing Light, who seems to have enjoyed it as much as I did.

Cindy at Fantasy Book Critic, who didn’t like it so well.

Sherry at SemiColon Blog, with thoughts on its timeless feeling.

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Two for Grown-Ups

Posted on October 8, 2014 by Katy K.

Here’s a last couple of adult books before things shift over to a steady diet of middle grade speculative fiction.

The Book of LifeThe Book of Life. All Souls Trilogy Book 3 by Deborah Harkness. Viking, 2014
This is the last book in the trilogy that began with A Discovery of Witches. I won’t attempt to explain the plot, seeing as how it’s somewhat complicated and builds a lot on the previous two books. This one is framed around the zodiac entries from Diana’s Elizabethan commonplace book. I have really enjoyed these books so much for their combination of fantasy, plot and characters. It’s about the ages-old conflict between vampires, witches and demons, but also about our main characters’ personal growth, and Diana and Matthew’s struggle to learn how to navigate their marriage, parenthood and careers. And how often do history professors get to be the stars of the book? Harkness, a scholar herself, has a deep respect for scholars and librarians that I very much appreciate. This a fine conclusion to a series highly recommended for people who like their fantasy with depth.

LandlineLandline by Rainbow Rowell. St. Martin’s Press, 2014
I read Landline because I’d enjoyed both Fangirl and Eleanor and Park so much. Georgie McCool is a TV comedy writer. She and her partner have been working off of work time for years on episodes for their very own show – and now it looks like someone is interested in buying it. The hitch is that putting the proposal together as requested means skipping her husband Neal’s family Christmas in Iowa, missing the holiday with her husband and young children. She stays behind, but tries to call – only her husband won’t answer his cell. When she plugs in an old corded phone in her childhood bedroom, she makes contact with a Neal from years before, right before he proposed to her.

There were parts of me that had no sympathy for Georgie – what kind of parent skips out on Christmas with their kids, especially when it obviously means so much to the partner as well? And part of me had trouble with Neal, too, who wasn’t willing to verbalize his objections and didn’t answer his phone when Georgie called. And then, looking at past and present, I did understand Georgie at least (not Neal, but we see so much less of Neal), and this rings so very true to the difficulty of marriage, the way you can be both completely familiar and strangers at the same time, wanting to know everything and still keeping secrets. It all happens in the context of Georgie’s quirky family – her mother, married to the former pool guy Georgie’s age, and Georgie’s much younger sister, who orders pizza every day because she’s too shy to ask the delivery person out. So, yeah: funny, a tiny bit irritating, and some thoughts on relationships that resonated pretty deeply with me.

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The Fourteenth Goldfish

Posted on October 8, 2014 by Katy K.

It’s Stephanie Burgis’ Hot Chocolate Day! Which means you should all take a break and drink some hot chocolate to celebrate the release of the Kat, Incorrigible boxed set! (This is on my wishlist… I will have to buy it for myself if nobody else does, but my birthday is coming up!) In honor of Hot Chocolate Day, here’s a recipe for Spanish Hot Chocolate with Churros, as I was bowled away by the delicious thick hot chocolate when I was in Spain myself.

I read this book because Netgalley thought I should, and I thought they might be right – we’ve very much enjoyed the Babymouse and Squish graphic novels Holm writes with her brother.
The Fourteenth GoldfishThe Fourteenth Goldfish by Jennifer L. Holm. Random House, 2014.
Ellie comes home from school one day to find a teenage boy at her house. He looks like a teenager, but he’s dressed like her grandfather. It turns out that he is her grandfather, who’s done an experiment to reverse his own aging. Now Ellie’s mother makes him go to school with Ellie, while he’s trying to break back into his own lab so he can publish his groundbreaking research.

Even though the premise of this book is pure science fiction, what it brings out is a lot of relationship issues. Ellie has just lost her best friend due to shifting interests, and has to work to build new ones. Ellie’s mother and grandfather have always been in conflict over her theater work versus his scientific approach, and living together again brings this to a head. Ellie herself learns to appreciate her grandfather in a new way.

I keep wanting to say that the characters are “learning” such and such, and they are, but it’s the kind of learning that feels genuine and truly heartwarming, and there’s plenty of silliness mixed in as well. Even as Ellie’s mother and grandfather find science and art at odds, Holm pulls pieces from both to blend into a meaningful look at life. It’s also really nice to see Ellie getting more interested in doing science and learning about scientists herself. This is a really delightful book that feels like it will appeal most to fans of contemporary realistic fiction.

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Sisters

Posted on October 3, 2014 by Katy K.

I’ve enjoyed both Smile and Drama, and was very excited to see this coming out! (Also, Raina is really nice in person – you should go meet her if you have the chance!)

SistersSisters by Raina Telgemeier. Graphix, 2014.
Telgemeier tells the story of her relationship with her sister. It’s set within a frame of her mother taking the three children – Raina, Amara, and their little brother – on a week-long drive from California to a family reunion in Colorado. (As a mother, I can think of about a million things I would rather do than take three kids on a camping road trip with only one adult – but this will probably not occur to kids.) In between, we see little Raina asking Santa for a baby sister, quickly followed by Raina getting bored and then annoyed with the sister with whom she has to share a room. The birth of their brother doesn’t improve things. At the family reunion, though, both girls see things that make them reassess their relationship: cousins not wanting to play, their mother still fighting with her own siblings, and worst of all, signs of their parents’ marriage failing.

The part of the story where the sisters are trying to get along, while touching, is very small. Mostly, I think what younger readers will take away is the very realistic portrayal of the arguments between siblings. Even though Telgemeier is chronicling her grievances, it’s easy to see how she’s just as annoying to Amara. It brought up a bunch of memories of arguments past with my own little sister, and kids will find the stories even more sympathetic. They are also a whole lot funnier when looked at from the outside.

As always, Telgemeier’s art is essential to the story. Her characters are expressive and easy to follow, with just the right level of detail to set the scene clearly without bogging things down. It’s mostly told in straightforward panel sequences, with the occasional full-page picture. The one that sticks out the most in my memory is the diagram of van set-up for their car trip, with each kid’s zones and key items mapped out. The pictures are so appealing that I’ve yet to see a kid of any age pick this up without wanting to read it. This is perfect realistic graphic storytelling – great for kids, teens and adults.

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Cybils Nominations are Open!

Posted on October 1, 2014 by Katy K.

Cybils-Logo-2014-Nominated
It’s official! You can now go in and nominate your favorite kids and teen books to be considered for Cybils awards. The more books judges have to read, the better the choices, so don’t feel you have to be an expert in a category to nominate something you loved!

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The Girls at the Kingfisher Club

Posted on October 1, 2014 by Katy K.

It’s just a few short hours until the Cybils nominations open at midnight PST on October 1! Be thinking of your favorite children’s books from the last year to nominate, and take a look at the rules on the Cybils blog! (Thanks for making me laugh out loud at work, Anne!)

How could I resist another 12 Dancing Princesses retelling?
The Girls at the Kingfisher ClubThe Girls at the Kingfisher Club by Genevieve Valentine. Atria Books, 2014
In 1920s Manhattan, there is a group of glamorous girls who show up at the speakeasies for dancing. People call them all “Princess”, as they don’t tell anyone their names. They don’t put up with any misbehavior on the part of their dance partners – but can they ever dance!

From an opening with a mythic feel describing the sisters from the point of view of the men in the clubs, we turn to the background story. Joseph Hamilton, a self-made addition to Manhattan’s upper class, needed a son to secure his legacy. His wife bore him daughter after daughter until she died. As his disappointment mounted, he got more and more restrictive, firing the governesses and no longer letting them go for walks (only ever permitted in groups of two or three) so that no one would comment on his large family. Jo, the oldest daughter, sensed her rebellious next older sister about to crack at the sounds of the dances next door they weren’t allowed to attend. Terrified that she would do something that would bring their father down, Jo started taking them out dancing, looking carefully for clubs where they wouldn’t be photographed. What started with just the oldest sisters going out expanded as the younger sisters grew old enough to come along. Life was tenuous, but bearable, the glitter of the nights balancing the bleak days.

Then their father decided to marry them off.

I’d heard good things about this, and I was not disappointed. 1920s Manhattan, dark and glittering, torn between old and new attitudes towards women, was brought to life. I was literally lying in bed at night worried about the characters, even when I’d last read about them over my lunch break. The hardest parts of any 12 Dancing Princesses retelling are keeping the large cast from blurring together and giving them real motivation for all that dancing. This was a great success on both counts. There are also some good men to balance out the abusive father, but – thankfully – they are not rescuers of helpless girls. This might not work for fans of fairy tale retellings who want actual magic in their retellings – but it is gorgeous dark historical fiction.

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The Eighth Day

Posted on September 29, 2014 by Katy K.

Here’s a contemporary fantasy with an Arthurian twist. I was happy to win an ARC from fellow book blogger Akossiwa Ketoglo.
The Eighth DayThe Eighth Day by Dianne K. Salerni. Harper Collins Children’s, 2014.
Recent orphan Jax Aubrey, 13, through some legal manipulation he doesn’t understand, is stuck with 18-year-old stranger Riley Pendare as his guardian. Riley is often gone and there’s never enough food in the house, so Jax is doing everything he can to move back in with some cousins. Then he wakes up one morning to find that all the people have vanished, leaving him alone in an abandoned world. After making his best preparations for disaster survival, he wakes up the next day only to find everything normal again.

Finally, Riley starts to give him some very limited explanations: Jax has inherited his father’s ability to live through the Eighth Day, an extra day magically sandwiched between Wednesday and Thursday. There are three types of people in the world: normal people; transitioners like Jax and Riley who experience all eight days; and the Kin, forever exiled to just the eighth day. The magic dates back to the time of King Arthur, when Merlin created the spell. In the modern era, this results in a culture where swearing fealty is still an important part of everyday life and people get tattoos featuring their family crests to enhance their magical powers.

Jax finds himself caught up in a war between factions. The only person he really trusts is Evangeline, the teenage Kin girl whom Riley has been keeping locked up in the house next door to theirs. But Jax’s ignorance of his new world and his determination to free Evangaline start things spiraling quickly out of control. Soon they find that they will need to save not just themselves but the whole world!

This is an exciting, action-oriented book, which I wanted to like more than I did. A lot of the problems could have been avoided if Riley had just been upfront with Jax at the beginning, always frustrating. The connection to Arthurian legend was tenuous enough to be disappointing to me, since I really like that. A love triangle that was introduced at the last minute felt out of place, and in general, I prefer more character focus in my reading. On the other hand, the idea of the eighth day is fun and original, and Jax and Evangeline are likeable characters. I could really see Percy Jackson fans getting excited about the possibility of being part of a society where magical family daggers are still important. I’d happily give this to readers, middle school or so, who want an adventurous contemporary fantasy book.

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State of the Book Basket – September

Posted on September 28, 2014 by Katy K.

Here’s what’s currently in our library book basket – but just the books checked out from the library where I work. Both kids are now going to the school library weekly, and just had a trip to the library with Daddy yesterday, as well, so the books listed below are probably only half of what we have out right now.

For my daughter, aged 5:
She is so thrilled to go to the library by herself right now! She’s bringing a ripping plastic sack of books home every week, mostly Barbie and Disney Princess books with a smattering of Rainbow Fairies and a dash of Franklin. We also just got her Julia’s House for Lost Creatures by Ben Hatke for her birthday.
A Big Guy Took My Ball by Mo Willems
Uni the Unicorn by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
If Kids Ruled the World by Linda Bailey
Magic Tree House Collection Books 30-32 by Mary Pope Osborne on audio for the car

For my son, aged 9:
He doesn’t tend to go as crazy at the library himself, taking just a book or two out each week. This week, true to type, he brought home a large picture-heavy nonfiction book about castles.
Geeks, Girls and Secret Identities by Mike Jung as a read-aloud
The Ghost Ship by Jan Burchett for reading to himself (he just finished it – I’d better check and make sure he has another book lined up!)
Jinx’s Magic by Sage Blackwood as a read-aloud
Midnight for Charlie Bone by Jenny Nimmo on audio in the car
The Iron Trial by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare on audio

For my love:
Even More Bad Parenting Advice by Guy Delisle
Sinner by Maggie Stiefvater (audiobook)
X-Factor: the Complete Collection by Peter David
The Shadow Hero by Gene Luen Yang
Fables volume 20: Camelot by Bill Willingham

For me:
Cybils nominations will open up this next week, so I’m trying to get started reading books I think might be nominated – except that I just started the Magic Thief books and am having trouble putting them down. Only a book and a half until I get to the last book, which will be eligible this year!
The Glass Sentence by S.E. Grove (currently reading at home)
The Runaway King by Jennifer Nielsen (currently on my ereader)
The girl who soared over Fairyland and cut the moon in two by Cathrynn M. Valente (currently reading at work)
The Magic Thief: Lost by Sarah Prineas (on audio in the car)
The Night Gardener by Jonathan Auxier
Odin’s Ravens by Kelley Armstrong (I read the first chapter to my son when we were out without another book, and it was a big hit!)
Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy by Karen Foxlee

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The Shadow Hero

Posted on September 27, 2014 by Katy K.

A More Diverse Universe 2014
I’m tagging in at the very end of the More Diverse Universe that Aarti over at Booklust is hosting. Looking closely at the rules, I realized that none of the books with diverse characters that I already have waiting to be reviewed counted for this, as they weren’t written by diverse authors (at least, not that I could tell!) I was very glad for the reminder to read this book, and put my name on the list for William Alexander’s Ambassador, a middle grade science fiction book that fits in with this theme as well.

The Shadow HeroThe Shadow Hero by Gene Luen Yang. Art by Sonny Liew. First Second Books, 2014
This is a book where the back story hooked me. Way back in the 1940s, the Golden Age of comics, a small comics company hired a Chinese-American artist to draw their new comic, The Green Turtle. Legend has it that the artist asked to have the Green Turtle be Chinese-American as well, but was denied. Sticking to the letter of their request, the artist never showed Green Turtle’s face at all, leaving his ethnicity open to the imagination.

In The Shadow Hero, Yang and Liew start the story over again, this time explicitly creating an origin story for the first Asian-American superhero, including explanations for many of the unexplained strange things in the original comic. Hank is the 19-year-old son of Chinese immigrants who run a small store in Chinatown. When his mother is saved from a thief by another superhero, she decides that being a shopkeeper is no longer good enough for her son: he must be a superhero. Every time she hears of a new superhero’s origin, whether it’s coming in contact with a toxic spill or visiting a spiritual medium, she drags Hank over to try it, all the while making him take fighting lessons from an old beau of her own. Hank doesn’t acquire any superpowers, but he does get skin that turns hot pink whenever he gets wet, thus explaining the lurid skin color the Green Turtle has in the original comics.

When Hank’s half-hearted attempts at playing superhero wind up getting his father killed, his mother gives up on the idea, while Hank decides to use his superhero persona to bring down the criminal ring that caused his father’s death. Fortunately, he now has some superpowers, courtesy of the Turtle Guardian who came from China with his father.

Liew’s art does a good job of telling the story and keeping all the characters straight with a style that ranges from comic-book realistic to touching on Asian stereotypes. It’s colored in a limited palette that recalls both the time period and the old four-color comic books.

The Shadow Hero is a solid superhero origin story, complete with adventure, failure, humor, and a touch of romance. The highs and lows of Chinese culture in the 1940s are also on display, along with the less-than-understanding reception of Chinese by other Americans. This is an impressive and highly enjoyable book – hopefully just a start to a series! Highly recommended, especially to superhero fans teen and up.

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Three from Kate Milford

Posted on September 24, 2014 by Katy K.

I’d been meaning to read Kate Milford for a while, but having a big package of her books show up from the Book Smugglers was a big incentive to actually do so!

Boneshaker Boneshaker by Kate Milford. Clarion Books, 2010.
It’s 1913 in Arcane, Missouri. Thirteen-year-old Natalie is dealing with a few challenges in her life already: the beautiful old-fashioned bicycle that she and her father refurbished and which she can’t actually ride due to the large hinge in the middle of the frame, and her mother’s mysteriously dwindling energy. Then Jake Limberleg comes to town with his traveling medicine show, complete with automata that Natalie can tell don’t have any power supply and thus shouldn’t work. She realizes, too, that the stories her mother has been telling her all her life are true, and that old Tom Guyot who hangs around downtown is still playing the beat-up guitar he defeated the devil with years ago.

This is a fascinating layered story built around old legends of the devil (I remember reading a whole book of such stories from the library as a child) and the power of the crossroads, with lots about the power of stories and the magic of science. Natalie is a compelling and likeable heroine. This is a story that edges towards the darker side of fantasy, while still including plenty of humor and staying appropriate for middle grade children – at least those up for something scary.

The Kairos MechanismThe Kairos Mechanism by Kate Milford. The Clockwork Foundry, 2012.
This is a self-published novella companion to Boneshaker. Natalie’s still adjusting to life after the events of that book, as well as dealing with boys who had been her friends suddenly treating her differently. One day, two teen boys in Civil War uniforms walk out of the corn field with the fresh corpse of a man who had been killed in that war. Natalie develops a friendship with the younger of the two boys, fourteen-year-old Ben. He tells her some of the secrets of how they got there and their uncomfortable mission. This is of course a chance for Natalie to get herself into more awkward situations! I very much enjoyed this story, and I’d really love to see the special reader-illustrated edition!

The Broken LandsThe Broken Lands by Kate Milford. Clarion Books, 2012.
Now, a prequel to the two previous books. It’s Coney Island in 1877, during the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge. Teen-aged Sam Noctiluna is a professional card sharp, earning his living on the boardwalks of Coney Island with his card-playing skills. And then one day, an older man is sitting in his spot. Sam challenges him to regain it – and loses. But his lost spot pales in comparison to some of the other changes that are coming. He meets the most beautiful girl he’s ever seen, a girl in trousers with a long black braid, throwing blue fireworks out of her hands. Jin works for the Fata Morgana fireworks company, about to do a display at the swanky Broken Lands Hotel at the same time it’s hosting a reunion for veterans of the War Between the States, including Tom Guyot. Jin and Sam are drawn together as they run into two very unsavory creatures, Walker and Bones, who are trying to claim the city for Jack Hellcoal.

Once again, Milford gives us a multi-stranded plot that weaves all the pieces together into a harmonious and pleasing whole instead of a confusing jumble. At the same time as she’s telling an exciting fantasy story, we see the historical truth behind many of the events: the hope and danger that went into building the Brooklyn Bridge; the struggles of immigrants and minorities to be accepted in society. Jin and Sam are a little older than Natalie, and there are a couple of fairly gruesome murders, so this feels more solidly a teen book than the first two. I loved The Broken Lands, passed it and both of the other ones on to my mother, and put my name on the waitlist for Milford’s latest book, Greenglass House.

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