Applet, Kathi, and Alison McGhee. Maybe A Fox.

Applet, Kathi, and Alison McGhee.  Maybe A Fox.  Simon & Schuster/Atheneum  2016  272p  $16.99  ISBN 978-1-4424-8242-5  elem/ms  Fantasy  VG-BN

Eleven-year-old Jules is fascinated with rocks and collects them for fun and making wishes on as she skips them into the river. Her sister, twelve-year-old Sylvie, is a fast runner and works hard at becoming even faster. The girls and their father are struggling with the death of their mother a few years ago, but the family is learning to adjust to their new “normal”. The girls try hard to obey their father’s list of “Do Nots”, but one morning Sylvie feels the need to throw a wishing rock in the river before school, a dangerous act that is forbidden by their father. She disappears and her body is never found. Jules and her father are plunged into grief once more. As Sylvie disappears, a fox kit is born that is Kennen, which means she is spiritually connected to another creature. The kit doesn’t know why, but she is drawn to Jules as the girl tries to figure out why her sister needed to run so fast. One day, Jules figures it out with the help of the fox, and as she tries to throw a wishing rock in the river in honor of her sister, the fox saves her. Jules is not the only one mourning, as a secondary plotline follows Zeke, the older brother of her friend Sam, whose best friend doesn’t return with him from their tour in Afghanistan. Jules and Zeke bond as they try to deal with their losses.

The story is heavy, but is lightened by the alternating perspective of Jules and the fox kit. The struggles of the child as she mourns her sister and best friend and the fading memories of the mother she lost years before are heart-wrenching. The conclusion is touching, as Jules discovers why her sister felt compelled to run so fast and the enormous grief she, too, carried with her. Recommended.

Summary: Jules is an eleven-year-old who loves to skip rocks in the river. One day her sister Sylvie disappears while skipping a rock in the river, and her body is never found. The same day, a fox kit is born who appears to be half-human.      

Foxes-Fiction, Missing persons-Fiction, Sisters-Fiction  --Stephanie Pennucci

Schmatz, Pat. Lizard Radio.

Schmatz, Pat.  Lizard Radio.  Candlewick Press  2015  280p.  $16.99  ISBN 978-0-7636-7635-3  jr/sr  Science fiction  VG-BN     

Kivali Sauria Kerwin (aka “Lizard”) is sent to camp at a very young age because she is a “bender,” and does not conform to any gender.  In fact, Kivali struggles not only with gender identity, but also with a conviction that she is not human, but saurian (hence her nickname).  The story explores the fact that not all things are binary and how all things are part of a spectrum.  Each person shares a connection to everything.  In the end, choices about identity and sex should matter only to the individual making the choices.

Young adult readers will find that gender queerness is handled with deft sensitivity.  Kivali ultimately comes to consider gender and sex as two separate things.  Gender identity is defined as one's internal sense of being a woman, man, both, or neither, while sex refers to an individual's enduring physical, romantic, and/or emotional attraction to others.

As an infant, Kivali was wrapped in a t-shirt with a lizard print on it and abandoned.  She is rescued and fostered by Sheila and Korm, two single women living on the fringes of society.  It is unclear whether Kivali is an “otherkin” by congenital condition or for other reasons.  As an otherkin, Kivali identifies as partially komodo dragon in spirit if not in body.  After a passionate encounter with Sully, a girl Kivali meets at camp and comes to love, Kivali “sheds” her lizard “skin” and for a while becomes a vulnerable, emotional human being.  Kivali clings to a small komodo dragon talisman to ground her secret “saurian” identity, indulging in magical thinking and supernatural beliefs through “lizard radio,” using meditation to connect with a lizard state of being.

Camp is conducted against an idyllic pastoral backdrop.  Campers learn to care for crops, planting seeds, nurturing the seedlings, and weeding out the weak plants so the strong ones thrive.  Not everything at camp is as peaceful as it appears on the surface.  For example, Kivali observes one young man as he “vapes,” a disturbing event where the young man literally disappears before her shocked gaze.  It is unclear whether he has committed suicide and is dead, or if he still exists, but as “waves” rather than “particles.”  The camp director is there but lies to campers about the young man’s fate.  Kivali soon learns that the director is hiding other secrets, too.  It becomes clear that those young people who are followers are being drugged into compliance, while leaders have more autonomy and can choose whether to take the government-endorsed medication called “kickshaw.”

The camp administrator identifies Kivali and her campmates as natural leaders, despite the cohort’s disregard for rules and authority.  Kivali, especially, has been singled out as a change agent with the potential to affect all of society. When the friends refuse to comply with the director’s scheme to control them, they are threatened with expulsion, not just from camp, but from society. Surviving with no resources, skills, or connections in the “Blight” is difficult for adults scraping out a marginal existence.  What will happen to the teens if they are tossed into that mix to fend for themselves?  The open ending in this novel suggests that a sequel is sure to follow.    

Summary: In a near-future world, Kivali struggles with gender identity in this coming-of-age story.   Lizard Radio is set in a near-future world, controlled by a totalitarian government that expects teens to attend camps that provide young people with a place to make the transition to the norms it sets for conforming adults.                      

Gender identity-Fiction, Fantasy-Fiction              --Hilary Welliver

Jeschonek, Robert T. My Favorite Band Does Not Exist

Jeschonek, Robert T.    My Favorite Band Does Not Exist      

Clarion see Houghton Mifflin  2011  324p  16.99 978-0-547-37027-9     hs/adult    VG    Fantasy      

Idea Deity and Reacher Mirage share a destiny that is linked to the reality of “Fireskull’s Revenant,” a fantasy novel they have both been reading.   Readers may feel they’ve fallen down the rabbit hole, in a contemporary fantasy similar to “Through the Looking Glass.” Parallel universes collide when a hoax (the creation of a website offering elaborate details about a fictitious band) perpetuated by a webmaster on one world  actually mirrors the reality of a band in another plane of existence.  When characters cross between the two realities, the twin characters and their adversaries square off for battle. 

The convoluted plot which switches back and forth nearly every other chapter between “our” world and the “other” universe may be daunting for many readers.  In addition, chapters of an “omniversal” novel (”Fireskull’s Revenant”) are interspersed, and further complicate the action. The result is very complex, with three different but highly integrated plot lines, that weave in and out of each other, sharing characters and experiences as realities leak into each other.

The characters are difficult and confusing as well.  Our “heroes,” Idea (the webmaster) and Reacher (the band’s songsmith and lead singer) share a girlfriend (who is blonde from the front and brunette from the back or vice versa, depending upon which world she is in).  The girlfriend is the link between the two worlds and “Fireskull’s Revenant.”   Despite the graphic-novel-like plot, Idea (who suffers from a psychological complex in which he is convinced that he is trapped in a book and will die in Chapter 64) manages to rebel against the omniscient, and all-powerful author of his fate, and choose a destiny of his own. Hilary Welliver
       

Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes

Auxier, Jonathan  Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes  

Amulet see Abrams, Harry      2011  381p  16.95 978-1-4197-0025-5      

 ms/hs VG           

Ten-year-old orphan Peter Nimble is both blind and the greatest thief ever known to the world.        

Imagine Dickens meeting Tolkien in this dark fantasy.  This adventure is filled with a convoluted plot, unusual characters, and a magical setting.   Intriguing in its scope, this densely written story will hold the reader's attention from beginning to end.  Ten-year-old orphan Peter Nimble is both blind and the greatest thief ever known to the world.  Living a simply wretched existence locked in a cellar while not “working,” he has become a master thief and pickpocket to fill the pockets of the master beggar-monger.  His life changes when he succumbs to the lures of the Haberdasher and manages to steal three pairs of magical eyes, one gold, one onyx, and the last emerald, from the man.  Peter escapes the clutches of his master and his adventures have just begun.  When he pops the golden pair into his own sockets, he is magically transported to a hidden island where he finds a companion, a knight who is part man, part cat, and part horse.  Peter and Sir Tode become fast friends and travel through the dangerous Vanished Kingdom to rescue those in need from the impostor king and discover his own destiny.  Susan Ogintz
 

               

Bunting, Eve. The Pirate Captain’s Daughter.

Bunting, Eve.      The Pirate Captain’s Daughter.

Sleeping Bear Press(Cengage)

      2011  208p  8.95  978-1-58536-525-8 

 ms/jr Misc.       E-BN  

 Catherine’s mother is ailing and her father is mostly away at sea as captain of his ship. He has come home but it is too late for her mother and now Catherine must worry about her future. What will become of her if her father leaves her behind?     

15 year old Catherine takes care of her mother while her father is away at sea. She knows that her father is a pirate captain but she does not let on that she knows until the day her mother passes away. Now worried about her own future Catherine confronts her father and lets him know that she knows he is in command of a pirate ship and she want to leave with him. At first he is horrified with the idea of a girl on board ship or even disguise as a boy. But Catherine insist that she will be able to hide her identity if given the chance. 

 A pirate ship is not all her imagination led her to believe.  As they sail away Catherine now Charlie in disguise discovers that the sailors on the pirate ship are more prone to violence and she knows that if they discover her on board it will bode ill for her and her father. At first all seems calm but destiny has a way of uncovering that which was meant to stay hidden and the consequences are more than Catherine was willing to pay. In fact she is lucky she still has her life. But now she is stuck on an island with the Cabin boy William who happens to be her age. Together they need to find a way off the island.... but we will probably have to wait for the next book to continue the adventures of Catherine the Pirate Captain’s daughter.            Diaz, Magna

 

Bowditch, Eden Unger. The Atomic Weight of Secrets.

Bowditch, Eden Unger The Atomic Weight of Secrets.
Bancroft 2011 342p 14.95 978-1-61088-006-0 ms/hs E-BN


Five brilliant children are separated from their parents and brought to an Ohio farm. They combine their experiments, plan how to rescue their parents and learn to depend on each other.
In 1903, five brilliant young inventors, all children of important famous scientists from all over the world, are taken from their familiar lives by mysterious men in black. The children end up on a farm in Dayton Ohio with a caring teacher. They combine their ideas and produce a model of a powered airplane. To hide it from the men in black, they give their plans to one child’s cousins who happen to be Orville and Wilbur Wright. The children learn to depend on each other and experience friendship. There are many questions haunting the five children. Who are the men in black? What do they want? Are they protecting the children or holding them prisoner? Where are their parents and what special project are they working on? Not all questions are answered in this first installment of a new series, even as the children are reunited with their parents.
The characters of the children are well developed. The action, mystery and questions keep the reader moving forward. An interest in science or engineering will enhance both the understanding of the work of the children and the plot.
There are some errors that hopefully will be caught before the final printing. Fantasy Theal, Joan

Mull, Brandon A World without Heroes (Beyonders)

Mull, Brandon A World without Heroes (Beyonders)
Aladdin see Simon Schuster 2011 464p 19.99
978-1-4169-9792-4 ms/hs E-BN


Jason enters another world where he must procure 7 syllables of a word created to bring on the demise of Maldor, the ruthless emperor of Lyrian. The book is about his journey to find each syllable & the wonderful characters he meets along the way.
After entering another world through the mouth of a hippo, Jason rises to see the Giddy Nine sailing downriver to a suicidal death. With a beginning like this, Brandon Mull begins the first of his new series, “Beyonders.” The reader will become so enthralled with the characters, plot, unique descriptions, advanced vocabulary that he/she will go right out to buy the next installment and then the next in order to have all questions answered! This book is excellent. The plot moves forward with Jason trying to help the Giddy Nine, in vain, and ending up at the lore master’s depository of books of the land. It is there that he hears about his new task, to bring down Maldor by finding the syllables of a word that once stated in Maldor’s presence will destroy him. The characters are divine. In one episode, Jason’s adversary is the immense crab which is a believable threat in any world. The Tavern-Go-Round is uniquely creative. The plight of each character is engaging, and readers will love the scene when Jason and fellow beyonder, Rachel, eat puckerly. What child wouldn’t love scenes in which characters must eat something so unthinkably disgusting as a raw squirming fish? There is a displacer, a creature who can split his body into parts that function individually. Mull’s fantastic use of imagery is creepy, humorous and entertaining, all at the same time! Jason and Rachel fight all kinds of creatures: conscriptors, wizard’s spies, assassins, a quicksand lake and a castle of such earthly delights that people who go there don’t want to leave! Mull gives a new twist to so many old ideas such as reincarnation; characters called People of the Seed are reincarnated, but maintain their memories! In the end, Jason amasses all of the syllables necessary to bring down Maldor, only to learn that the word was a ruse created for the entertainment of the emperor. Jason ends up imprisoned, rescued by Ferrin, one of Maldor’s spies, and is sent on his way back to the Beyond. However, with Maldor still reigning and with Rachel missing, Jason’s job is not done. He is a true hero, and the reader suspects that in Book Two, Jason will indeed return to Lyrian to continue his quest. Fans as well as non-fans of fantasy will love this!
Note the spacing error at the bottom of page 174! There are other errors as well in the proof.Squaresky, Martha

Magic Under Glass

Dolamore, Jaclyn. Magic Under Glass
Bloomsbury see St. Martins 2010 225p 16.99
978-1-59990-430-6 hs Fantasy- Magic E-BN

Nimira has been hired to sing with a Robot who plays the piano. All she has to do is learn the songs but something strange is happening. Every time she stands next to the robot she has the feeling it is trying to communicate!

Hollin Parry is a wealthy and resourceful wizard. He has acquired a lifelike robot that resembles a man and sits playing a piano. The songs are beautiful but in order to make the most of his prized possession he must have an accomplished singer. Enters Nimira a music hall singer. Mr. Parry offer her an incredible amount to sing with the robot and she agrees. However, shortly after she begins practicing with the robot she discovers that it is trying to communicate. At first she is incredulous but as she devises a way to prove whether he really can communicate she also discovers intrigue and danger.
This exciting tale of mystery, intrigue, magic and fantasy will get you involved to solve the mystery of the piano playing robot. Nimira is a wonderfully brave heroine who is willing to risk it all to save whoever is magically trapped inside. Diaz(1), Magna
Magic- Robots - Wizards

Davis, Heather The Clearing

Davis, Heather The Clearing
Graphia see Houghton Mifflin 2010 215p 8.99
978-0-547-2636-7-0 ms/hs Fantasy VG
Trying to escape her former life, neglectful parents and an abusive boyfriend, Amy moves for Seattle to the North Cascades. Through the mist she meets Henry, forever stuck in 1944.
This bittersweet romance has elements of Twilight, The Secret Garden and a little of Shiver all rolled together to create an eerie feeling. Amy comes to live with her great aunt Mae in a trailer near a rural community in the Cascade Mountains in Washington state. She is “escaping” neglectful parents (mother and stepfather) and an abusive relationship. In a mist, she meets Henry, who is so much unlike her former boyfriend that she is drawn to him…only to find out that a prayer has kept him stuck in the same summer in 1944 for over 60 years. The fantasy element is well realized and the magic is believable. While readers will root for Amy and Henry to transcend time and be together, they will be pleased with the twist at the end that brings the story full circle. There are sexual references, and readers will know what has transpired, but nothing is ever overt or graphic. All in all, a sweet supernatural romance that should appeal to high school and upper middle school girls. Recommended for high school and upper middle school readers, this quietly beautiful and bittersweet romance will appeal female readers. Naismith, Pat
Supernatural Romance

Mrs. Kaputnik’s Pool Hall and Matzo Ball Emporium.

Arato, Rona. Mrs. Kaputnik’s Pool Hall and Matzo Ball Emporium.

Tundra Books 2010 188p 11.99

978-0-88776-967-2 elm/ms E-BNe

This fantasy is set in the turn of the century Russia and New York. The Kapustin children hatch a dragon egg, the family immigrates to New York in search of Mr. Kapustin who has disappeared. Call this a humorous historical fantasy. Poor Russian Jewish Kapustin family has been waiting five years for Papa to send the money for them to join him in New York. They have heard nothing, but still have hope. The boy Moshi trades with a peddler for what turns out to be a dragon egg. It hatches. In an incident with Cossacks, the family retrieves a money pouch which they use to sail to America. At Ellis Island their name becomes Kaputnik in a very funny way. Finding that Papa has disappeared, the family first learns to survive in New York (with a dragon) and then the children search for Papa. The dragon heats the stove on which Mrs. Kaputnik makes matso balls (hard as rocks) which are used as pool balls and for throwing to knock over a pile of cans. The children do accidentally find Papa, the dragon helps rescue him and all live happily ever after.
This is a funny, irreverent, look at life of immigrants at the turn of the century. Children will enjoy the crazy happenings. Theal, Joan

Buckley, Michael. Nerds: National Espionage, Rescue, and Defense.

Buckley, Michael. Nerds: National Espionage, Rescue, and Defense.
Abrams, Harry 2009 315p 14.95 978-0-8109-4324-7 ms/jr

This is a humorous story about several misfits (or Nerds) who can save the world from destruction utilizing the technological tools found in the secret basement of their middle school.
Readers will have a humorous read when they become acquainted with the fifth grade super spies from NERD. Their name stands for National Espionage, Rescue, and Defense Society. The members of the team are considered geeks by most of the cool kids at the middle school. Nobody even suspects that the “Nerds” are super spies who skip class only to be transported by a school bus with very unusual powers. Along the same line no one even suspects that the geeks are led by none other than the janitor and the librarian.
The Nerds are hard put to find and neutralize a crazed scientist who has a plan to pull all of the continents together into one continent. Needless to say the scientist doesn’t care abut the death and destruction left in the wake of the reorganization. Hyena is a platinum haired former beauty queen turned killer for hire. It is up to her to procure the scientists and their inventions that are needed for building a giant magnetic disc to rearrange the continents.
The story is a humorous fast moving story that will delight readers. IN addition they will chuckle at such nicknames as: “Gluestick” Dewey, “Pufferfish” Peet, “Choppers” Hodges, “Flinch” Escala, “Wheezer” Choi, and “Braceface” Jones. Linda McNeil

Jones, Carrie Need

Jones, Carrie Need
Bloomsbury see St. Martins 2009 306p 16.99 978-1-59990-338-5 ms/hs

Move over vampires, pixies are the greatest fear. Zara goes to live with her grandma, a weretiger. They confront the King Pixie who is lusting after Zara’s mother. Who to trust becomes a puzzle for Zara to figure out. Fast paced, suspenseful fantasy. Grades 7-12. Move over vampires, pixies are the greatest fear. Zara has been in a state of depression ever since she witnessed her step-father’s death in the kitchen. Her mother decides the best thing for Zara is to send her to her grandmother’s house in Maine. Zara starts to come out of her funk and makes friends at school. Zara’s sense of peace is quickly disturbed when a man whom she saw on the day of her step-father’s death shows up in Maine. Is he stalking her? Who is he? Turns out he is the king pixie who tried to turn Zara’s mother into a pixie. As Zara learns about pixies she comes to realize that students around her may be pixies and others may be “were”. Who should she trust? Is she part pixie? Filled with fast-paced action and suspense dripping from every page, this book will make readers look over their shoulder searching to see if any pixie dust appears around them as they read this book. Zara eventually outsmarts the pixie king thus saving a fellow student, her mother and the community from the pixie’s blood lust. Without extreme sensuality or gore, this book will keep the fantasy reader reading late into the night with an iron flashlight handy. Two typographical errors appear: one on page 79 where the “fi” in benefit and unspecified do not appear. The other is on page 149, second line where worrying is spelled worring. Gripping fantasy for grades 8-12. LMN

Berry, Julie The Amaranth Enchantment

Berry, Julie The Amaranth Enchantment
Bloomsbury see St. Martins 2009 306p 16.99 978-1-59990-334-7 ms/hs

In this unusual adaptation of a Cinderella tale, Lucinda must combat the vagaries of fate to regain her place in life. The author mixes adventure, political intrigues, a magical background, and a little romance into this very well done book.In this unusual adaptation of a Cinderella tale, Lucinda lost her wealthy parents in an accident when she was five and was forced to work in the jewelry shop of her uncle and his miserly wife. One day, all sorts of mysterious events occur. She is behind the showcase when a beautiful woman, Beryl, comes into the shop to have an enormous gem reset and leaves the magical gem with Lucinda. Shortly thereafter, the Crown Prince comes to buy a gift for his betrothed and, finally, a young pickpocket cajoles her into protecting him and rewards her by making off with the jewel. Upon the death of her uncle, she is thrown out into the street, picks up a most unusual and protective goat that seems to think that it is a dog, and makes her way to her old home to discover Beryl in residence. Beryl takes her under her protection and Lucinda’s life brightens until evil rears its ugly head once again.
This engaging fantasy is not a simple retelling of a fairy tale but a sprightly written and exciting adventure. It offers both magical and suspenseful action in a well-paced plot and with engaging characters. The story is rich and interesting, the locations are beautifully rendered, and the characters are very three-dimensional. They come from different places in society and have different points of view but seamlessly join together to help each other. The author mixes adventure, political intrigues, a magical background, and a little romance into this very well done book. SO

Redick, Robert V.S. The Red Wolf Conspiracy.

Redick, Robert V.S. The Red Wolf Conspiracy.
DelRay see Random 2008 450p 26.00 978-0-345-50883-6 hs/adult

A ship’s boy with a magical talent, a feisty and reluctant bride, traitors and friends all converge on the gigantic ship Chathrand. What begins as a diplomatic mission ends in a conflict between empires, as well as the forces of good and evil. First in a trilogy of sword and sorcery fantasy novels by Reddick, this beginning leaves the reader salivating for more. A fully-realized fantasy world, conflict between adjacent empires, intrigue, a little hint of romance, traitors, tiny warriors, sentient animals, and magic all contribute to make this debut an absolute page-turner.

Set in a maritime world, aboard the city-sized ship, Chathrand, this novel begins with Pavel, son of a traitor to the empire, a ship’s boy, set to sail aboard the mighty ship. Pavel hides a magical ability which reveals itself in ensuing chapters. Reddick then proceeds to people the ship with Thasha, the bride set to unite the empires, Fedthrup, a talking rat, the devious captain, tiny Ixchel warriors, and passengers who are more than they appear.

The Red Wolf of the title is an artifact, which, when recovered holds the Nilstone, a magical talisman of untold power. Deceit and intrigue, violence and friendship, and many layers of character make this novel reminiscent of George R. R. Martin, Anthony Durham and Philip Pullman. The only downside is that the ending leaves the readers up in the air. One of best fantasy novels of the year. PN

Wild Magic

Weatherill, Cat. Wild Magic
Walker & Co 2007 278 16.99 9780802797995 ms/hs

When the piper comes to town, he is looking for someone but as his music is so sweet he is convinced that he can help get rid of the mice. And so he does, but the price not paid, cost the villager their children. This is story of what happened once they left the village. When the piper came to town, he was looking for someone, and he believed he had found that person. He was not sure how he was going to spirit away the person when an idea came up. The villagers needed to get rid of the mice that were pestering the village. At first, he said he did not want payment but the villagers insisted and so pay a very reasonable amount the piper got rid of the mice with his music that was so sweet and hypnotic. The village clean of all vermin, the piper goes to collect his reward but the mayor refuses to pay the piper. Feeling used and ridiculed the piper turns to the children and plays. His pipe and the children follow him out of town and into the mountain. All children were taken except the crippled boy, Jakob.

Now Jacob is determined to go into the mountain to save his sister. She has been his salvation since their mother died, and now he must come through for her. Jacob's adventure is one he will never forget for starters once he enters the mountains. His ailment disappears, and he can walk.

A magical walk into fantasy land. The ending is little bit unconventional but all in all satisfying. M.Diaz