O.M.G. Am I a Witch?

Posted on March 21, 2014 by Katy K.

I’m not going to write another review of it, but I’d like to note for the record that I recently finished reading Starry River of the Sky (which I’d bought last January) to the boy, who loved it. He hadn’t enjoyed the first one, Where the Mountain Meets the Moon quite so much listening to the audiobook, though I did – I don’t know if it was because he was too young for it a couple years ago, or if the beautiful pictures and snuggling together on the sofa are necessary to the proper enjoyment of these books. In any case, he chose The Princess and the Goblins to read together next.

OMG...Am-I-a-WitchO.M.G. Am I a Witch? by Talia Aikens-Nunez. Pinwheel Books, 2013.
O.M.G. Am I a Witch? is a sweet and fluffy contemporary fantasy early chapter book. April had been having trouble with her big brother, Austin being mean to her. In desperation, she Googled “how to turn your brother into a dog” and found a spell – which worked! Now she has an even bigger problem: how can she turn him back into a person before her parents notice he’s missing? Naturally, the spell book that turned up on her first Google search doesn’t come back up again now. It will take serious plotting – even a sleepover – with her best friend Grace and the new girl at school, Eve, whose grandmother was a witch doctor in New Orleans, to solve the problems.

It’s a rare early chapter book that’s as fun for adults as it is for the target audience, so I wasn’t at all bothered at not losing my heart to this. In common with many others, this relatively short book still stretches out a short timeline with lots of breathless dialogue. It didn’t work especially well for me as a fantasy, because the first bit of magic happens before the story begins, and nothing else magical happens until the very end. It worked just fine as mostly regular fiction: the characters are believable, and the mean big brother getting a well-deserved comeuppance is very satisfying. Girls of about second grade looking for a story that’s mostly contemporary fiction with just a touch of magic will really enjoy this story. I read a review copy kindly given to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review, and I’m now passing it on to my youth librarian in hopes that just such a girl will find it.

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Stolen Magic

Posted on March 19, 2014 by Katy K.

Stolen MagicStolen Magic. Kat, Incorrigible Book 3. by Stephanie Burgis. Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2013.
This is the final book in the series – sniff! – though there is a free ebook-only short story and I have been hearing Ms. Burgis write on her blog about working on more short fiction starring Kat – hooray!

At any rate, this book picks up shortly after we left off (spoilers for the first two books are unavoidable.) Kat is trying to carry on in her usual manner, such as sneaking out at night to practice her magic where no one will notice. Unfortunately, her formerly dissipated brother Charles has reformed following the events of book 2, and now tediously feels it his duty to make Kat toe the line of propriety, as well. Angeline is about to get married, though she still dreads her future mother-in-law, Mrs. Carlyle. Kat is also supposed to be initiated into the Guardians at last, but this is put on hold when Problems arise. Naturally, Kat’s long-time would-be nemesis in the Guardians, Lady Fotherington, believes that Kat is behind this. When Kat finds multiple suspicious things happening around them – attempted murder, mysterious figures following her in the night – she tries to tell the truth, but as usual, no one will believe her.

As Kat’s family travels to the Carlyle’s home for Official Introduction to the Families, things only get worse. There is plenty of Interpersonal Drama, Excitement, Intrigue, and a new Romance – this time for Charles. It all comes together very satisfyingly, with character growth as well as plot resolution for multiple characters. Need I say more? The series finishes as it began, sparkling with wit and humor and a pleasing combination of plot and captivating characters, a perfect example of middle grade fiction that works well for kids through adults.

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Spirit Singer

Posted on March 17, 2014 by Katy K.

I was lucky enough to be sent to the Public Library Association conference in Indianapolis for a day last week – hence my posting silence! If anyone wants tips on the hottest nonfiction books for adults, animation maker spaces for libraries, or using social media to promote reading – let me know and I’d be happy to pass on my notes!

While in Indianapolis, Maureen of By Singing Light (who, like me, is a huge fan of Pamela Dean’s Tam Lin) was kind enough to meet me at my hotel and drive me to dinner when I arrived late and starving. Thank you so much for the lovely conversation, Maureen.

We now return to our regularly schedule book review…

Spirit SingerSpirit Singer by Edward Willet. Tyche Books, 2012.
Amarynth is an apprentice Spirit Singer, in a world where Spirit Singers must guide the spirits of the newly dead must be guided to safety in the afterlife. It’s important work that she’s proud to be doing, though she regrets how much it isolates her from the other people her age in her remote village. But when some youths on their coming-of-age sea voyage meet with bad ends, her grandfather and teacher is unable to guide them properly: there is a Beast in the Between World. Soon, Amarynth is on her own, and decides to journey to the capital to find out who or what is behind the Beast, as well as the bands of roaming Singers in black who are taking over local villages. On the way, she tries and fails to sing a dead baby home, so that she is haunted by her ghost for the rest of the trip. She meets two young men: the suspicious Kalar, who helps her out of host duty but who believes all Spirit Singers are charlatans, and the handsome and charming Prince Ramon, son of Ar-Naathon. While Ar-Naathon is clearly the Big Bad, Prince Ramon claims to be troubled by his actions and also seems to want to help Amarynth. Who to trust, who to trust? And also, how to solve the big problem?

This is a classic quest narrative, with the originality coming from the parallel journeys in the spirit and the living worlds. While a lot of the other elements felt very familiar, it was still a well-told story. I really liked Amarynth, determined to make things right despite being out of her depth in a place where many more experienced people had failed before. She was much more doing the job because it needed to be done and she was the only one left than the more typical One Foretold by Prophecy, which I very much appreciated. While there’s no sexual content, because of the basic premise, there’s a lot of death. I was somewhat disturbed that nearly all of the dead people were very young, ranging from babies up to first-time mothers, with nary an old person ready to go among them (Amarynth’s grandfather is the one possible exception that I remember here.) I think in general, though, that most teens are much tougher than me about these things, and should deal with it just fine, especially since most of the dead spirits are introduced that way, rather than characters we care about. At only 144 pages, it’s a good choice for reluctant middle grade and high school readers.

Spirit Singer was originally self-published in 2002, when it won the Regina, Saskatchewan Book Award, and then picked up by Tyche Books and re-published in 2012. Their editors were sharp enough to track me down (maybe based on my interest in musical fantasy books) and send me a copy in exchange for an honest review. This will now be headed towards my library’s teen librarian.

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Top 10 Picture Books

Posted on March 12, 2014 by Katy K.

Top 10 Picture Books

Here’s an attempt at favorite picture books for Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by the Broke and Bookish. Top Ten Tuesday

It’s no longer Tuesday, and it turns out that the theme was really Top Ten Favorites of X Genre – but Cecelia over at the Adventures of Cecilia Bedelia put together an inspiring list of her favorite picture books. I put together this list of favorites yesterday, but didn’t quite manage to get it posted.

Picture books are a wonderful kind of book that can work better than any other for a broad range of ages – even books with texts written for the very, very young can be illustrated with details to keep the adult reading them interested. Picture books are some of the first books I started buying for myself in high school – I’d get my everyday reading from the library, but buy beautiful picture books to look at over and over again. These books are listed roughly in the order in which I’d introduce them to children, from babies to toddlers to preschoolers and early elementary-aged children, and includes books I remember from my own childhood as well as reading to my little brother, cousins, and my own children.

hushHush Little Baby illustrated by Marla Frazee. (1999) One of the very first books we bought our son because, even as a baby, he asked for it daily for weeks. Frazee tells a funny story of desperate parents and a slightly well-meaning big sister, set in historic Appalacia.

Everywhere BabiesEverywhere Babies by Susan Mayer. Illustrated by Marla Frazee. (2001) Beautiful rhyming text follows a diverse cast of babies through their first year. I could have put this one in my Tearjerkers list, too, because that first birthday party at the end gets me every time.

All of Baby Nose to ToesAll of Baby Nose to Toes by Victoria Adler. Pictures by Hiroe Nakata. (2009) Nakata is a favorite picture book illustrator, and this book is perfect for reading while cuddling with a baby.

eachpeachEach Peach Pear Plum by Janet and Allan Ahlberg. (1978) A charming book I’ve read to lots of small children. The text alone is simple enough for little ones, but the element of hide-and-seek makes it good for older ones, as well.

madelineMadeline by Ludwig Bemelmans. (1939) I don’t really need to explain this one, right? I had it memorized for a very long time from my little brother wanting it so often.

snowydayThe Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats. (1962) Another one that brings back fond memories from my childhood as well as reading with my own children.

knuffleKnuffle Bunny by Mo Willems. (2004) I think this was the book that introduced me to Willems. Though I love lots of his work, this is one we’ve read to bits and given as gifts.

threepigsThe Three Pigs by David Wiesner. (2001) My love and I bought this meta twist on the classic fairy tale for ourselves well before we had children, but they love it, too.

There Are No Cats in This BookThere Are No Cats in This Book by Viviane Schwarz. (2010) This is a more recent favorite – but when my children want a book renewed, and ask for it again months later, and it’s a hit read aloud both to preschool and 2/3 classes – you know it’s a solid picture book.

ladybugbumblebeeLadybug Girl and Bumblebee Boy by David Soman and Jacky Davis. (2009) This is another one we bought due to popular demand after borrowing from the library, and that was a hit with the classroom, too. In a charming blend of real life and imagination, Ladybug Girl and Bumblebee Boy find a superpowered way to find something they both want to play.

animaliaAnimalia by Graeme Base. (1987) I bought this for myself a long time ago, when I was supposed to be too old for picture books. Base’s gorgeously paintings for each letter of the alphabet are so detailed that I spent hours looking at them, but the text aimed at more traditional alphabet audiences is a lot of fun, too.

littleredridingLittle Red Riding Hood by Trina Schart Hyman. (1983) This is my first favorite illustrators. The pictures are beautifully composed and detailed, but the people have such believable expressions, and there’s usually a cat or a small child looking directly out at you to draw you into the picture. Here, Little Red is completely believable as a four-year-old almost old enough to carry out an errand without getting distracted. This particular book has been a favorite with my children, but it’s also symbolic of the many other beautifully illustrated fairy tale picture books I’ve read and added to my personal library over the years. Maybe next time a list of favorite fairy tale picture books!

What are your favorite picture books? Or which genre would you choose to do a Top 10 of?

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Gideon Smith and the Mechanical Girl

Posted on March 10, 2014 by Katy K.

Oh my goodness! It’s been six months since I’ve reviewed a steampunk novel – it’s time for another one!

Gideon Smith and the Mechanical GirlGideon Smith and the Mechanical Girl by David Barnett Tor, 2013.
Gideon Smith is a young man addicted to the penny dreadfuls, especially the “true stories of Captain Lucian Trigger, hero of the Empire, as told to his companion John Reed.” Captain Trigger travels all over the world, including the far-flung outposts of the British Empire in North America and India, among others. When Gideon’s father is lost at sea in mysterious circumstances, and a young boy of his acquaintance draws a picture of a monster he claims to have seen that matches exactly the description of one that Captain Trigger once encountered, Gideon decides that there’s nothing left for him in his little fishing village. He sets off to find Captain Trigger himself, to enlist his aid in solving the mystery. On the way to London, he meets Maria, a beautiful clockwork girl whose master is missing and who is being mistreated by the serving staff, who don’t recognize her human-like intelligence.

Meanwhile, Bram Stoker is in Gideon’s home village, trying to overcome a bad case of writer’s block. There he meets vampire Countess Elizabeth Bathory, who is seeking revenge on her husband Dracula’s killers. She believes them to be ancient Egyptian frog monsters, the Children of Hequet.

Gideon’s illusions are shattered when he learns that Captain Trigger isn’t the hero the papers make him out to be – indeed, he’s a broken shell of a man, hoping against hope for the return of his lover, John Reed. Even so, Gideon seems to have the charisma to attract a motley band of people to track down John Reed in hopes that his disappearance will hold some clues to the mysteries that Gideon is investigating. In addition to the characters already mentioned (minus the little boy), it includes the foul-mouthed reporter Aloysius Bent, hoping for a career-saving story, and famous sky pilot Captain Rowena Fanshawe.

The one troubling thing in this book was that while it seemed on the surface to espouse modern sexual values (and there was no explicit sex in the book), the only named “good guys” to die (spoiler alert!) were those who engaged in less traditional sexual activities. As in, heterosexual activity in or out of marriage is OK, but homosexuality or a down-on-her-luck street girl turning to prostitution in times of extreme need, not so much. The deaths in the story all had other, more obvious reasons, and I felt like Barnett thought he was demonstrating the open-mindedness of his steampunk empire when writing the story – but as the only factor linking multiple deaths, the effect was rather the opposite.

On the whole, though, while it took a couple of chapters for me to feel fully engaged with the story, once it got going, I very much enjoyed it. The colorful characters and over-the-top adventures involving sky pirates and mysterious monsters, with a touch of romance, made for a rip-roaring tale with all the elements a satisfying steampunk story needs.

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Guest Post: Martin Berman-Gorvine

Posted on March 8, 2014 by Katy K.

Today I have a guest post from Martin Berman-Gorvine, author of Seven Against Mars and Save the Dragons, talking about Save the Dragons and its upcoming sequel. Welcome, Martin!

martinprofileAnyone who has ever walked into the dusty but magical confines of a “used” bookstore and chatted with the erudite, eccentric owner while stroking the shop’s obligatory cat will instantly grasp the primary source of inspiration for Save the Dragons. Aren’t such places really gateways to other worlds, other ways of thinking and being? For Teresa D’Angelo, who is a lonely and unpopular teenager as so many of us are or vividly remember being, the mysterious appearance of Gloria’s Gateway Books in the familiar, dreary streets of South Philadelphia starts out as such an escape, with a secret back room that offers an enchanted entry to a strangely transformed world—one where dragons are a familiar but endangered species and America is the seat of a British Empire whose skies are crowded with airships and whose roads teem with “electric carriages” invented more than two hundred years ago by “Sir” Ben Franklin.

But as the writer Delmore Schwartz once observed, in dreams begin responsibilities, and Gloria, the sometimes-redhaired lady, sometimes-orange tabby cat owner of the bookstore, has a private agenda when she helps Teresa make the passage between worlds: to arrange for her to meet Tom Purnell, a teenager from the parallel world’s version of Chincoteague Island, home of the wild ponies and, on that side of the gate, also of one of the last remaining dragons as well as of a research station sponsored by His Majesty’s Government where Tom’s father works with colleagues to crack the secret of heavier-than-air flight before the rival French Empire. Together Tom and Teresa must figure out why no dragonets have been born anywhere in years, and rescue Tom’s father from dastardly French kidnappers.

Save the Dragons

In a sequel that is now nearing completion, Gloria has moved her magical bookstore to Chincoteague Island and established contact with yet another parallel world—one where only paranoid crazy people think that UFOs aren’t real, because everyone remembers how “The High Ones” arrived on the Moon at the same time as the Apollo 11 astronauts, helpfully deposited Neil Armstrong and company on the South Lawn of the White House, and brought peace and prosperity to the world. Of course there’s a catch—isn’t there always? You see, the High Ones, who look like a cross between giant starfish and something out of the Burgess Shale, like stability in government, so twenty-first century America still has a president whose name rhymes with “Blixen.” Also, children are strip-searched before they can go to school, because some people don’t like the way the High Ones are running things and have taken to expressing their discontent explosively. Jo Purnell, Tom’s younger sister from British Imperial America, must help her new friend Arnold Grossbard from the High Ones’ America figure out whether and how to fight the alien menace.

Now, because writers aren’t exactly like that other kind of magician who never give away their secrets, I’ll let you in on one vital wellspring of imagination. It can be summed up in one word: READ. Read everything and anything. Among the books that helped inspire Save the Dragons and Heroes of Earth (the working title of the sequel) are some obvious ones like Madeline L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time and C.S. Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, but also Rachel Carson’s environmentalist classic Silent Spring and Garry Wills’s contemporary account of the end of the 1960’s, Nixon Agonistes. You never know what convoluted wiring will close the circuit and turn the light bulb on.

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Eleanor & Park

Posted on March 7, 2014 by Katy K.

I’d mentally flagged this as a book I wanted to read before it was even published, but things going the way they do, I didn’t actually check it out from the library until I had a gap in my listening schedule, after lots of other people had already fallen in love with it. It was a Cybils finalist in the teen section, an Odyssey Honor Book, a Printz Honor book, and a best teen (or children’s) book from Boston Globe Horn Book, Publisher’s Weekly, New York Times, Kirkus Reviews, and NPR. But I really did love it, too, so just on the off-chance that you haven’t heard about it, I’ll put down a few thoughts.

Eleanor & ParkEleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell. Read by Rebecca Lowman and Sunil Malhotra. Print St. Martin’s Griffin, 2013. Audio from Listening Library, 2013.

Eleanor & Park is a bittersweet story of 1980s teen romance, happy ending not included. They meet on the school bus, forced to sit together, even though overweight, red-haired Eleanor gives off a weird vibe that Park is afraid will rub off on him, making his already precarious social position as the only half-Korean kid at their Omaha high school even more difficult. Gradually, though, they bond over the music and comic books Park brings for the bus ride – Watchmen is being newly released, and Park has lots of punk rock tapes for his Walkman.

Life is rough for both of them. Besides being a natural target for the school bullies, Eleanor lives in poverty with an abusive stepfather and must be careful to protect her cowed mother and younger siblings. Park’s father reminds him often that he’s a pansy in comparison to his taller, more athletic younger brother. Both Park and Eleanor cling to their relationship as the one thing that makes life worthwhile, even as they know it can’t last.

The book is told alternately from both character’s points of view, and the audio book has a different narrator for each of them. Rebecca Lowman perfectly captured Eleanor’s hard, snarky attitude, while Sunil Malhotra sounded just right for Park’s somewhat gentler nature. My heart melted and pounded and I cried actual tears over it. I loved Rowell’s Fangirl, too, but I think that Liviana at In Bed with Books is right that that is more geek girl wish fulfillment, where this is real, intense first love, good for geeks as well as traditional teen romance fans.

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3 Multicultural Picture Books

Posted on March 5, 2014 by Katy K.

Hooray for multicultural children’s books! I checked out several in preparation for Multicultural Children’s Book Day, and put more on my list from books that I found out about then. Here are three of our favorite recently found multicultural picture books. Also, it’s Kid Lit Blog Hop day – click on through and see what other great things my fellow kid lit bloggers have put together!

Kid Lit Blog Hop

Rainbow StewRainbow Stew by Cathryn Falwell. Lee & Low, 2013.
Fun, rhyming text and bright painted illustrations show siblings of African descent brightening a rainy day by picking vegetables of all colors in the garden and then making them into stew for lunch. A framed graduation photo in the living room and scenes of everyone curling up with books while the stew simmers make it clear that this is a family that values education. Growing your own veggies is really popular these days, and this book will appeal to those families with a story told in words simple enough for older toddlers and up. This one was recommended by Mia at Pragmatic Mom. I found my four-year-old going back to over and over on her own.

Say Hello!Say Hello! by Rachel Isadora. G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2010.
In another book good for quite young children, Carmelita, her mother, and her dog walk through their multicultural neighborhood on their way to Abuelita’s house. They stop to say hello to their friends in the appropriate language (pronunciation guide included). The puppy always knows just what to say in every language: “Woof!” The cut-paper collaged illustrations perfectly illuminate the beauty of variety. (Even though this is the only one of the three with no food on the cover, there’s plenty on the inside, as they pass lots of ethnic food shops and go on to eat at Abuelita’s house.) My colleague Ms. J. used this as the focus book for a storytime series called “Multicultural Me” and it was also a hit with my preschooler.

Cora Cooks PancitCora Cooks Pancit by Dorina K. Lazo Gilmore. Illustrated by Kristi Valiant. Shen’s Books, 2009. 2/25/14
For a preschooler/early elementary audience rather than toddlers, Cora Cooks Pancit tells the story of a Filipina-American girl, the youngest of a large family, who’s finally allowed to provide real help cooking a traditional Filipino meal for her family. We watch as she’s first left out by her older siblings, then her delight when she’s told she can help, followed by an array of delicious food dancing through her head as she decides what to cook. Finally, she and her mother go step-by-step through cooking this traditional noodle dish and sharing stories of Cora’s grandfather, whose recipe they’re using. Though it feels like it’s meant specifically for Filipino children (and I really don’t see many aimed at this audience!), this is also a celebration of growing up enough to contribute to the family, a sentiment that children of any ancestry can relate to.

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Flora & Ulysses

Posted on March 3, 2014 by Katy K.

Flora & UlyssesI know I’m behind on my reviewing, but for the first and probably last time, I finished reading a book the very day that it won the Newbery, and for one glorious moment, I felt On Top of Things.

Flora & Ulysses by Kate DiCamillo. Candlewick Press, 2013.
Flora loves comics, especially the ones about the Amazing Incandesto, even though her mother, a romance writer, doesn’t believe that comics are Literature Worth Reading. Flora’s reading merges with real life when she sees a squirrel sucked into a vacuum cleaner. Ulysses comes out a superhero squirrel who can understand human speech, type poetry on Flora’s mother’s typewriter, and fly. The story is filled with flawed and colorful larger-than-life characters, including Flora’s quiet father (divorced, and in opposition to her loud mother), a temporarily blind boy named William Spiver, and an attack cat. The story is told mostly in prose with short section in comic panels, and the action takes place over the course of just a couple of days as Flora tries to save Ulysses from her mother (who is sure he’s rabid) and Ulysses helps Flora comes to terms with her parents’ divorce.

I was really prepared to love this one. I’ve loved many of DiCamillo’s books, and I was excited about the blend of comics and prose. Somehow, this fell a little flat for me. Maybe it was that the human characters seemed too close to caricature, or that the scope of the story wasn’t quite epic enough for a superhero premise. It also felt too magical for realism, but not quite magical enough for true fantasy, while the little magic that was there was too fantastic for magical realism – labels shouldn’t necessarily matter, but something, somewhere didn’t quite jibe for me. Sadness.

Obviously other people have felt very differently about this – the Newbery is the biggest, best-known honor for American children’s books, and I’ve read lots and lots of positive reviews of this. But for now, I’m going to stick with Because of Winn-Dixie and The Tale of Desperaux as my favorite DiCamillo books.

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Save the Dragons

Posted on March 1, 2014 by Katy K.

Congratulations to Kim, the winner of my tenth anniversary giveaway, and thanks to everyone who entered!

I loved Seven Against Mars last year, so of course when Mr. Berman-Gorvine offered to send me a copy of his latest book, I was happy to accept.

Save the DragonsSave the Dragons by Martin Berman-Gorvine. Wildside Books, 2013.
Teresa is wandering around the streets of Philadelphia with a bad case of the teen blues, when she stumbles across Gloria’s Gateway Books. Inside is the most wonderful used book and record store imaginable, filled with books and records that shouldn’t exist. A steaming cup of hot chocolate, a note addressed to her, and a friendly cat are waiting on the counter for her. After a few visits, she starts leaving notes not just for the owner, but for a boy she finds has been visiting, too.

Actually meeting the boy turns out to be more difficult than either of them imagined, though – Tom lives in a Philadelphia that’s still part of Britain, where England itself has been part of the Napoleonic Empire for a couple of centuries. They are going to have to learn more about the magic of Gloria’s Gateway Books to be able to meet in person.

When they do, Gloria herself tells them that they haven’t been brought together just because they’re kindred spirits – the precious dragon that Tom’s father studies is in grave danger, and Tom and Teresa must save it. Exciting adventures across continents, traveling by train and airship ensue, and both teens gain enough self-awareness to feel less bleak about their normal life circumstances.

The violence is low and romance is mild, but with lots of kissing. For that reason, I’d say that kids young enough to find romance icky wouldn’t enjoy this, but that it’s otherwise appropriate for middle school and up.

There was a lot about this book that I loved and a few things that didn’t quite work for me. I loved, loved, loved Gloria’s Gateway Books, both a portal between worlds and a repository for rare books and music from multiple dimensions. I enjoyed the alternate history of Tom’s dimension, the natural history of dragons in it, and the interplay between Teresa and Tom as they negotiated between Teresa’s modern dating expectations and Tom’s old-fashioned and formal courting mores.

My lonely sixteen-year-old self would have loved the idea of a boy in an alternate dimension who was perfect for me, and I don’t think that an inter-dimensional matchmaker would have bothered me, either. As an adult, though, the romance didn’t quite ring true. It felt like Tom and Teresa were pushed into a romantic relationship, so that Teresa would help with Tom’s problems, when she could have helped just as well out of pure friendship and a sense of adventure. And on the topic of adventure, while it was fun, there was a lot of circuitous travel that wasn’t necessary to solve the problem at hand, and a little too much reliance on adults for a purely satisfying teen adventure. I’m guessing that only that last might bother the target audience. Issues aside, the blend of speculation, adventure and romance made for a very entertaining read, especially recommended for fans of magical bookstores and dragons.

Now I’m trying to remember other books I’ve read with magical bookstores. There’s Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore, but I could swear I read a book as a young teen with a bookstore that, like this, appeared and disappeared on its own. Did anyone else read this?

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