Word of Mouse by Chris Grabenstein, James Patterson, Illustrated by Joe Sutphin, reviewed by Chitra Soundar

I normally don’t review books by super-star author or celebrities. They already get enough reviews, publicity and media attention. But after I read this book Word of Mouse, I had to shout about it.

If you have read The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo or Stuart Little by E.B.White, then you’ll love Word of Mouse. 

This is a book full of personality, cheeky proverbs, daredevil adventures and the story of love, friendship and families. Right from the get-go I was enthralled by both the plot and how it unfolds and the emotional rollercoaster it sets the reader on.

Although the ending is inevitable and we know the main character is going to win, the authors don’t let the reader sit back and relax. Full of funny references, underlying sub-plots of children who need to cope with school, mice that are different and unique, this story is not just for children.

The illustrations are absolutely perfect and add to the comedy and the drama in the story. Here is a link to some wonderful illustrations from the book at the illustrator's website. 

I’m guessing James Patterson has enough clout to make this into a movie, surely from Pixar. But until then, I will read and re-read this book as many times my library will let me borrow it.

Here is a list of books with Mouse as the protagonist.

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Chitra Soundar is an internationally published, award-winning author of over 40 books for children. She is also an oral storyteller and writer of theatre and TV for children. Her stories are inspired by folktales from India, Hindu mythology and her travels around the world. Find out more at www.chitrasoundar.com. Follow her on Twitter @csoundar. 

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The Maker of Monsters by Lorraine Gregory. Reviewed by Emma Perry

The Maker of Monsters is the latest middle grade novel from Lorraine Gregory, author of Mold and the Poison Plot (winner of the SCBWI Crystal Kite Award 2018). It's a glorious, multi-layered adventure with a BIG heart.

Illustrations by Meg Hunt

Meet Brat. Life is tough for Brat, very tough. How would you like to be feeding vicious monsters through the bars of their cells? One wrong move and you'll end up being their dinner. But the endearing character of Brat takes all this on the chin.

Brat lives on an isolated island in a castle owned by Lord Macawber. He should be grateful... his master rescued him all those years ago after-all. However, in recent years his Master has become more and more obsessed with making monsters - grotesque, frightening monsters in order to carry out his grand plan. The only light for Brat is the company of his unique friends - Sherman and Tingle.

Lord Macawber's grand plan swiftly becomes too grand for even him to handle, the monsters escape lead by the most deadly and fearsome one of all. Now it's up to Brat to face his fears - to cross the water and warn the other communities that their lives are in danger. Immediate danger.

Brat's journey is non-stop. The pacing of this novel is incredible - Lorraine Gregory how do you do it?!??! This is a real heart in your mouth type of adventure, each chapter is chock-a-block full of action as the plot moves at a wonderfully satisfying pace - great for reading out loud in classrooms.

In Brat, as with Mold, Lorraine has created a supremely like-able character - one with flaws, and a huge heart that the reader is cheering on from that very first chapter.

Go Brat! You can do it!

The Maker of Monsters is hugely enjoyable. Highly recommended.




Emma Perry is a children's author, Primary School teacher & founder of MyBookCorner.
www.emmaperryauthor.com
Twitter: @_EmmaPerry

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Roller Girl by Victoria Jamieson, reviewed by Sarah Hammond

I have to confess that I did not know a lot about graphic novels until recently. I also knew next to nothing about roller derbies. But Roller Girl piqued my interest — it was a New York Times bestseller, a Newbery Honor book, and graphic novels are earning themselves special places in bookshops these days. The book did not disappoint. 

Twelve year old Astrid’s world is changing. It is the summer before she starts junior high. She is enthralled by a roller derby league game that she attends with her mother and her best friend, Nicole. However, Nicole does not share Astrid's enthusiasm, pulling away from her, spending time with an arch enemy (Rachel) and chooses ballet camp over joining Astrid in roller camp. When a new friend asks Astrid ‘What's your thing?’ (hers is theatre and musicals), she cannot really answer. 

Yet, roller camp does more than teach Astrid how to roller skate. It empowers her. Its fierce, energetic skaters give her new mantras: “Tough! Strong! Fearless!” And the more involved Astrid becomes in this new world, the more she comes to terms with the changes in her life, from girl to teenager, to reforging her relationships with friends and her mother, and also to learning what her ‘thing’ is. Clue: she gives herself a new name for the skate track, Asteroid. 

Things I loved about this book:

— the energetic story line that moves apace. 

— we are plunged into the little-known world of roller skating, warts and all. Astrid falls. Again. And again. She aches. She almost gives up. ‘Thunk.’ ‘Ow.’ ‘Aaaaaaghhhhhh.’ Humour, determination, heartbreak and dreams blend in her journey to master the new sport. Plus the reader learns too; I now understand what jammers, blockers, and bouts are, and perhaps more importantly, why the skaters are exhilarated by the demanding, often painful, boisterous game.

— the story is realistic. Astrid is not perfect. She makes mistakes. She is out of her depth at the camp to begin with and does not become a star ‘jammer’ overnight. But she does improve. And she does develop skills that rescue her team and her friendships. 

— Astrid’s flights of fancy made me chuckle. Her long walk home, aching and exhausted, after her first class becomes a stumbling desperate stagger through a parched, scorching desert. When she finds the courage to apologize to a friend, we see her fantasy of a teary, heartfelt reunion, quickly followed by the real life muted mumbled friend’s response. Astrid’s enforced clothes shopping trip with her mother is portrayed as a tortured trip through hell... 

— we understand the complexities of becoming a teenager. Things are not black and white anymore. The ‘emojis’ that Astrid’s elementary school teacher used to explain emotions are no longer so easy to apply. Now Astrid creates new expressions: happy + sad = shad. Nervous + sick = nersick. 

—  girl power is on fire in this story. Sisterly camaraderie and fierce, empowered role-models abound. 

A fresh take on the timeless transition-to-teen theme with expressive, humorous illustrations, a rollicking pace and a loveable protagonist, this is a novel worth reading.

www.sarahhammond.org 

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A Properly Unhaunted Place by William Alexander, illustrated by Kelly Murphy, reviewed by Sarah Hammond

I seem to have developed a taste for ghost-hunting stories of late, including treasures such as Jonathon Stroud’s rip-roaring Lockwood & Co series, and the dazzlingly and original Skinful of Shadows by Frances Hardinge. A Properly Unhaunted Place is another good 'un. It provides an unusual take on traditional ghost stories in which the living seek to send ghostly beings firmly on to the lands of the dead. 

In this middle grade novel, William Alexander skillfully introduces us to the unsettling town of Ingot.  The protagonist, Rosa Diaz, has just moved in with her mother and is not happy about her new home. Something is not right here.Something is missing. Something important. Although, as yet, we do not know what. 

The story unfolds on two levels. We learn that Ingot is strange because it is unhaunted: the ghosts that ordinarily exist alongside the living are notably absent. So why would Rosa’s mother, an appeasement specialist, bring her daughter, who is also skilled in these arts, here? Appeasement specialists respect the dead. They negotiate with restless or troublesome ghosts and strike deals with them so that they settle. And why is Ingot ghostless in any event? 

Rosa befriends Jasper, a local boy, whose parents are heavily involved in the renowned Renaissance Festival that reenacts historical events on a grand scale all summer long. As Jasper introduces Rosa to the festival, the unthinkable happens -- a ghost bursts out of the forest towards the living. 

Alexander's writing is tight, poetic and concise. Humour threads through the story too, introducing the reader to memorable characters: the motorbike riding ghost who does not realize he is dead; the candlemaker who will only converse in old-fashioned speech; the librarian with 'wispy hair, white gloves, and aggressive eyebrows.'

Kelly Murphy's illustrations are scattered sparsely throughout the text. My favourites include her depictions of the otherworldly creatures, and also the image of Jasper with his armour-clad father, cleverly reflecting the face of Rosa in the chest-plate. 


Rosa confronts the questions raised by the unexpected ghost and, together with Jasper, begins to investigate its origins and ultimately Ingot’s past that seems lost beyond the townspeople’s collective memory. 

And this leads us to the second, deeper level underpinning the story. Rosa’s mother describes herself as a ‘servant of memory’ in her ghostly appeasement work. Without memory, without our past and our ghosts, what is left? Rosa comes to realize that Ingot’s celebrated Renaissance Festival is, in fact, ‘a funeral… a wake. They hold it every summer, all summer long, to mourn the history they don’t have and don’t even remember losing.’ ‘Starved of history, they patched together new echoes from mismatched fragments. Unhaunted, they learned how to haunt themselves.’

Ultimately the past and the present must make peace with each other and learn to coexist. It is healthy to remember our ghosts and welcome them in. 

www.sarahhammond.org 

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Alex Sparrow and the Really Big Stink by Jennifer Killick. Reviewed by Tamsin Cooke

If you like fast paced adventure stories full of humour, fart jokes and great characters, then Alex and the Really Big Stink by Jennifer Killick is just the book for you.

Alex Sparrow is a super-agent in training. He is also a human lie-detector. Working with Jess – who can communicate with animals – they must find out why their friends, and enemies, are all changing into polite and well-behaved pupils. And exactly who is behind it all. ALEX SPARROW is a funny, mid-grade novel full of farts, jokes and superhero references. Oh, and a rather clever goldfish called Bob. In a world where kids’ flaws and peculiarities are being erased out of existence, Alex and Jess must rely on what makes them different to save the day.

Alex Sparrow is a fabulous character. He is utterly unaware of himself, believing his own hype.  Having dreamt his whole life of being a proper super agent, he jumps at the chance to finally get a super power. But with this power, comes a side effect so unusual, stinky and downright embarrassing.  (I don’t know how Jennifer Killick came up with this one. I really want to ask her.)

You can’t help but sympathise with Alex, as he has to suffer the indignity of his side effect. But you see him grow as a person, as he learns what true friendship is and the fickleness of popularity.  This story values quirkiness and embraces children being different. Even though it’s full of humour, there’s a real warmth and empathy to the writing.

The other characters are incredibly well drawn too. There’s Jess, his new brave sarcastic friend, a goldfish with OCD, and a villain so deliciously creepy she makes your skin crawl.

Full of hilarious witty dialogue and characters that we can all relate to from primary school, this book had me laughing out loud.  With its twists and turns and intriguing plot, I think it's perfect for middle grade readers. I cannot wait to read the next adventure: Alex Sparrow and the Furry Fury.

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As Brave As You by Jason Reynolds, reviewed by Sarah Hammond

I read As Brave As You some time ago, yet the characters — three dimensional, complicated and memorable — are still very vivid in my mind. This middle grade contemporary novel tells the story of two African-American brothers, 11 year old Genie and his elder brother, Ernie, who spend the summer with their estranged grandparents in rural Virginia while their parents have time alone to work on their marital problems. 

We see the story through Genie’s eyes, a thoughtful boy and a worrywart. As Genie tries to understand the world, he writes down a barrage of questions in his notebook. However, without regular access to the Internet, many questions go unanswered. And although he is eager to please, Genie keeps making mistakes that haunt him. He accidentally breaks the wheel of a cherished toy truck that belonged to his late Uncle Wood. He has an even worse mishap in his Grandpop’s ‘nunya bidness’ room. How is he going to put things right? 

As well as experiencing these anxieties, Genie also eases into rural life. He tastes homemade grits and too-sweet tea. Grandma is strict and expects her grandsons to help with chores, learning to pick peas from her garden, then sell them at market. The boys also develop a secret, rather unorthodox poop-flinging method to clean up after the dog, Samantha. 

Many of the characters are quirky. Ernie, a cool dude, always wears shades and seeks to impress the ladies, yet poignantly struggles with the proposed rite of passage on his fourteenth birthday. We also meet a hypochondriac mother, a dentist who sells ‘celebrity teeth’ at the local market, Crab who goes hunting in the woods for hours yet fails to hit a creature. However, Grandpop is perhaps the most complicated of all. A proud blind man who carries a gun, he is self-sufficient yet vulnerable, full of contradictions and love for his family. It is the developing relationship between Grandpop and Genie that beats as the heart of the story. 

Despite the lack of reliable access to Google, some deep questions that Genie raises are answered over the course of the summer. Why had he not met Grandpop before this trip? Why did no-one tell Genie that Grandpop was blind? Why does Dad not want to talk to his own father? What is the untold story about Uncle Wood? And what happened, long ago, that forged his grandparents’ characters? We are gently reminded of the injustices of the African-American past that still reach out and affect the present. And as Genie learns about bravery in its many forms, he also finds bravery within himself.

www.sarahhammond.org 

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SEE YOU IN THE COSMOS by Jack Cheng

Reviewed by Jackie Marchant

I don’t like describing books as ‘bitter sweet’, it reminds me of the cloying fragrance of air conditioners. In any case, although it’s a phrase I’ve seen used to describe this book, I won’t go there because it wouldn’t do it justice.  Instead, I’d describe it as funny and sad, frustrating and satisfying. 

It’s about eleven year old Alex, obsessed with the cosmos and determined to launch his golden iPod into space, by winning a big launch competition for amateur rocket builders.  So off he goes, together with his dog Carl Sagan (named after his hero, the famous astronomer, who launched a golden record into space on the Voyager spacecraft) to the middle of the desert to meet other likeminded people. 

Yet under all his hopes and his joy at what he is doing, there is an undercurrent of something else going on – the mother he has to leave meals for in the microwave, the absent brother and non-existent father.  Yet, he records all of this on his golden iPod, so it can be heard by the alien life-forms who find it after he’s sent it into space. 

But as he meets other members of the amateur rocket community who assumed they were talking online to an adult, we can see, even though Alex appears not to, that there is cause for concern.  We also see that he is so likeable that they are willing to help him.

As Alex sets off to Las Vegas to discover the truth about his father, we are touched by both his innocence and the support he has from this odd bunch of people he’s never met who care about him enough to  help.  At the same time there is the realisation that those who should care most about him, don’t.  Until it becomes a real possibility that Alex will have to go into care.

It’s a book about innocence, love, friendship, support and most of all, hope.  It’s a feel-good read, light-hearted and refreshing and full of characters you’d like to meet in real life.  It’s a book that I suspect will be enjoyed by adults as much as the mid-grade readers it is aimed at.

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The Girl Who Drank The Moon, by Kelly Barnhill, reviewed by Sarah Hammond

I intended to review another book for my post today, but once I read the first pages of The Girl Who Drank The Moon, I was side-tracked. Perhaps entranced. 

This fast paced, middle grade fantasy deftly weaves together multiple storylines as a girl brimful of moonlight and magic, an ailing witch, a scar-faced carpenter, a swamp monster poet, a madwoman and a tiny dragon are pit against a magician who cultivates and feeds on sorrow. By the time I finished reading, I felt as if I, too, had swallowed a little starlight. 

Each year, in order to appease the Witch, the youngest baby in the Protectorate is left for her in the forest by the Elders. ‘Sacrifice one or sacrifice all’ say the sorrowful people. Or so they have been led to believe. In fact, the Elders encourage this practice to keep their people frightened, sad and compliant. Yet, this, we learn, is not the full story either. For there is a Witch in the woods, but she is perplexed by the annual baby-leaving rituals. Xan is kind and chooses not to judge. Rather, she takes the abandoned babies and gives them to caring families on the other side of the forest, sustaining them en route with starlight. 

One day, however, Xan makes a mistake. Instead of feeding the latest baby starlight, she feeds her moonlight. “There is magic in starlight, of course. This is well known. Moonlight, however. That is a different story. Moonlight is magic. Ask anyone you know.” 

Xan calls the 'enmagicked' baby Luna, decides to keep her and become her grandmother. Yet as Luna approaches her thirteenth birthday, when her magic will flow fully, other forces are at work. A carpenter enters the forest to hunt the Witch and stop the sacrifices. Luna’s mother, driven mad with grief, escapes to find her daughter. Xan goes to rescue the latest abandoned child. Her friends, the swamp monster and tiny dragon, follow Xan, worried about her deteriorating health. Fast-moving to the end, sorrow is defeated and love triumphs.

At one level, this is a gripping story with well-developed, memorable characters. Traditional fairytale motifs are woven inventively into the plot. Yet at another level, the poetic language, the hopeful and wise themes threading through the story hint at something deeper. Madness unlocks a way of discovering nuggets of magic in the world. One generation fills the next with magic as their own gently dwindles. Beyond death, there is nothing to fear. Beyond magic, there exists a oneness from the beginning of the world.

The Girl Who Drank The Moon won the Newbery Medal, 2017.

www.sarahhammond.org

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Raymie Nightingale by Kate DiCamillo, reviewed by Pauline Francis

Wednesday, 1 February, 2017

I decided that it was time to leave my comfort zone for this review. I’ve been choosing books that are either the same genre as my own, or books that I wish I’d written because they chime with me. That’s how most people choose their books, isn’t it? When I was a librarian, some pupils went away empty-handed because they wouldn’t choose a new writer or genre. Nothing would persuade them.

Choosing books is like making friends. It needs time and trust – as Raymie Nightingale found out.

I don’t know why I wasn’t initially attracted to this book, although the title intrigued me. I knew that Kate DiCamillo had been the National Ambassador for Young Children’s Literature. I knew that she had been short-listed for the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize. Yet I did have to persuade myself to choose it.

The first few chapters did not engage me. However, in Chapter Five, a Mrs Borkowski says that most people waste their souls – they let them shrivel up.

I was hooked.

Raymie Clarke, aged ten, has lost her father. Two days before, he had run away with a dental hygienist. Raymie has a plan: she will become the Little Miss Central Florida Tire (baton twirler) so that her father will read about her in the newspaper and come home.

Raymie meets Louisiana and Beverley at her baton classes. The three girls (they call themselves the Three Rancheros) come together in an unlikely friendship, based on loss and loneliness. They search for a lost library book about Florence Nightingale and a lost dog called Archie. They meet compelling older characters along the way, such as the philosophical Mrs Borkowski. There’s a completely clever touch in the telephone calls Raymie makes to her father’s insurance company. She loves hearing the secretary, Mrs Sylvester, say “Clarke Family Insurance. How may we protect you?”

Advice rains down on the girls.  Fear is a waste of time.  The trick is to keep moving. It will all work out right in the end.

Raymie, in time, learns the most valuable lesson of all:  “The world – unbelievably, inexplicably – went on.”

She doesn’t need her baton twirling competition. She makes it into the newspaper for a far more compelling reason, which brings her father to the telephone - but Raymie finds that she has very little to say to him.

This novel is narrated in the third person, in fifty-one short chapters, using simple words to deal very cleverly with complex questions.

I enjoyed the humour and the hope of this book. I enjoyed feeling Raymie’s soul expand and I hope that mine has, too, by leaving my comfort zone.

Isn’t that what reading is all about?

Pauline Francis  www.paulinefrancis.co.uk

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FOXCRAFT: THE ELDERS by Inbali Iserles; reviewed by Gillian Philip

CHRISTMAS IS ALMOST HERE SO AWFULLY BIG REVIEWS IS TAKING A SHORT BREAK. WE'LL BE BACK AGAIN AT THE START OF JANUARY 2017

UNTIL THEN, MUCH HAPPY READING TO YOU ALL, 

AND THANKS TO ALL THE AWFULLY BIG (AND BRILLIANT) REVIEWERS

FOR ALL THEIR POSTS DURING 2016.

Meanwhile, here's Gillian Philip, writing about Inbali Iserles FOXCRAFT series:

I've been looking forward enormously to the second instalment of Inbali Iserles' magical series FOXCRAFT, and from the moment I dived into the first chapter of Book Two, THE ELDERS, I knew the wait had been worth it. It's the kind of story that starts with an earthquake - or at least, the mystical tremor of malinta in the ground beneath Isla's paws - and builds to a spectacular climax. 

When we left her at the end of Book One (THE TAKEN), Isla - a former urban fox whose family were torn from her in a brutal act of violence - was venturing into the unknown Wildlands in search of her lost brother Pirie. She's little more than a cub, but Isla is blessed - or perhaps cursed - with a strong talent for Foxcraft, the magic that enables foxes to vanish, to mimic other creatures, or even to shapeshift. Foxcraft itself is an enthralling and exciting creation - one that is entirely believable to fox-watchers - and Iserles does not flinch from giving her magic a bad side. Like all strong charms, there are negative consequences to using Foxcraft's power, and Isla finds out much more about those  downsides in this breathlessly-paced adventure.

In Book One, Isla managed to shake off the charismatic, artful, but treacherous Siffrin - my favourite character of the series. But as Book Two opens, she is responding to the scream of a fox in distress, and when she runs to his rescue, she soon finds herself reluctantly entangled with another young fox, Haiki. He too is searching for his lost family, and he wants them both to travel together in search of the legendary Elders. Isla is not so sure - but Haiki soon proves a loyal and dependable companion, even if his cowardice sometimes gets the better of him.

Isla and Haiki journey in search of their families through forest, river, cliff and wasteland, and their trials are more than enough to keep a reader on the edge of her seat. They face dogs, coyotes and 'furless' hunters - but their most fearsome enemies have followed Isla since Book One: the Taken, mindless slaves of the sinister and unseen Mage. These menacing, relentless, yet strangely pitiable foxes pursue Isla and Haiki with barely a let-up, and our heroes' escapes are frequent, terrifying and breathtakingly narrow.

Inbali Iserles adds her own beautiful illustrations to the chapter headings 

Iserles writes landscape into life, and populates it with characters who range from endearing to terrifying, but who are always multidimensional and real. The skulk who take in Isla and Haiki at a moment of extreme danger are a family you can instantly love, with all the personalities and conflicts of any family. I loved them all, from the weakling Mox to his grumpy grandmothers, and my heart was in my mouth as the Mage's hench-foxes prowled ever-closer. Two of the family, Tao and Simmi, join Isla and Haiki in their quest to find help and foxcraft-skills from the Elders; as a crisis forces them to set out from the safety of their den, the book begins to climb towards its chilling, thrilling denouement.

Inbali Iserles has created a world of incredible beauty, terror and believable magic. The sheer physicality of the descriptive writing takes the reader directly into the mind and skin of a fox. I could feel the frost on my paws - and that spine-tingling quiver of the earth at the summer malinta, when day and night are in balance. I don't think it's a spoiler to say that Isla and Haiki find the Elders at the very moment it matters - but they find much, much more, and not all of it what they hoped for.

In this second instalment we discover more about Foxcraft itself, and about the dreadful Mage and his motives. The horrors of this 'Tailless Seer' are creeping remorselessly across the land, and there is a distinct sense that time is running out for all foxes. 

More happily, I am delighted to say, we meet charming, conflicted Siffrin again.

There are three books in the Foxcraft series. I'm back to waiting, and I'm more impatient than ever. 

Foxcraft: The Elders by Inbali Iserles; Scholastic £5.99

www.gillianphilip.com

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A LIBRARY OF LEMONS by JO COTTERILL. Reviewed by John Dougherty

I should start with a declaration of interest: Jo Cotterill is one of my best and dearest friends, and so this review is likely to be a little bit biased. For an accurate rating, I suggest you take the figure I’ll award the book at the end of the review, and half it.

That said, I’d have loved this book no matter who had written it. I warn you, though: when you read it you might need to keep a hanky handy. It’s a very powerful and emotional story, and I found myself shedding proper tears several times.

Calypso, the protagonist, is a strong and likeable character, but there are a lot of things that she doesn’t realise about herself. She’s lonely. She’s a carer. She’s being neglected - both physically and emotionally - by her dad, who is still grief-stricken following the death of her mum five years previously. But things change when unwillingly, accidentally, Calypso makes a friend. Mae is everything that Calypso’s dad is not - warm, in touch with her feelings, genuinely spontaneous, and emotionally present - and as contact with Mae and the rest of her family grows, the protective shell which Calypso has, all unknowingly, built around herself begins to crumble. But still Calypso doesn’t realise how wrong her life has become, until she makes a discovery…

The range of issues covered in the book is enormous - young carers; mental health; emotional disconnection; friendship; bereavement; the list goes on - and in the hands of a less able writer, this could provide us with a catalogue of clichés. But A Library of Lemons is not an ‘issue’ book; it’s a story, a good one, which happens to deal with these issues, but which deals with them so deftly that all we really care about is Calypso’s unfolding: how she uncovers the reality of her broken life, and learns to connect with others, and discovers that the ‘inner strength’ her dad keeps telling her about only matters if you learn to share it.

A Library of Lemons is a brilliant book, heartily recommended for anyone who’s ever felt lonely, or who thinks they may have been, or who has the capacity to empathise with those who have. And for that matter, heartily recommended for everyone else as well.

Oh, and that rating? I give it twelve out of five.

John Dougherty.

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The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate, reviewed by Sarah Hammond

The One and Only Ivan tells the story of Ivan, a silverback gorilla, who was taken from the wild as an infant to live in captivity in America. It is an intelligent, poignant middle grade fantasy told from Ivan's perspective. The story is heartbreaking and heartwarming by turns.  

When we first meet him, Ivan has been living in a cage in the Exit 8 Big Top Mall and Video Arcade for the last 27 years. He does not seem to remember or miss his life in the jungle. He only has a few friends around him: Stella the elephant-next-door who performs tricks for the crowds; and Bob, a stray dog who sneaks in to see Ivan at night and to sleep on his belly. Ivan occupies his days with his TV and his ‘artwork’, which is sold at the mall gift shop.

One day, to address the falling popularity of the animals and low visitor numbers, a newcomer is brought to the mall: a baby elephant called Ruby. Memories of home are very raw for this little elephant, and Ruby has not yet acclimatised to the human world. In helping her, and in addressing the changes that she brings, Ivan finds himself reassessing his own captivity, too. 

The story is told by Ivan using deceptively simple words and short chapters. As he says, "Humans waste words. They toss them like banana peels and leave them to rot." Long after reading this book, many sentences and images — poignant and poetic in their understatement — stay with me still. We learn that Ivan is patient and thoughtful and resilient and resourceful. Slowly, we discover his harrowing past. A reader warning is due here: it would be difficult to finish this book with a dry eye, and many questions are raised about the treatment of animals in captivity. 

However, the overall message of the book is not downbeat. A strong thread of humanity and tenderness runs through the story. Although Ivan's worldview anchors the book, many other characters contribute to this growing sense of kindness: Stella, the stoic and maternal elephant; the not-as-tough-as-he-seems dog, Bob; sensitive and intuitive Julia who understands Ivan's paintings; lively, questioning, and loving baby Ruby; and George, the caring caretaker of the mall. As Ivan seeks to protect and rescue Ruby from her difficult new environment, he strengthens enough to confront his own buried memories and to rescue his own identity as a silverback in all its glory. 

The author was inspired to write The One and Only Ivan by the story of a real gorilla of the same name who was captured from (what is now) the Democratic Republic of the Congo as an infant, and who lived in a domestic home in America until he became unmanageable. Then he, too, lived alone in a cage for almost three decades without seeing another gorilla in a circus-themed mall in Washington state. Eventually, as attitudes towards animal welfare and understanding of primate needs developed, his plight was given publicity by a feature in the National Geographic, called 'The Urban Gorilla'. This article triggered a public outcry and Ivan eventually found a home in Zoo Atlanta in 1994. There, he became a celebrity, living with the largest group of captive western lowland gorillas in the US. This Ivan was also renowned for his paintings. He died when he was 50 years old. 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: 
Katherine Applegate won the 2013 Newbery Medal for The One and Only Ivan. She has written many books including the Roscoe Riley Rules chapter book series and the picture book The Buffalo Storm. Her novel Home of the Brave was a School Library Best Book of the Year and won both the Golden Kite Award and the Josette Frank Award for best children's fiction. She wrote the bestselling series Animorphs with her husband, Michael Grant. She lives in Northern California with her husband and their two children.You can find out more about her on her website: www.katherineapplegate.com

ABOUT THE REVIEWER:

Sarah Hammond is a writer for young people. She has published a picture book, Mine! (Parragon), and a teen novel, The Night Sky in my Head (OUP), which was short-listed for four awards in the UK. She is a Brit abroad, now living happily in Chicago, with strong ties to the UK which regularly pull her back across the Pond. 

You can find her online at: 

Web: www.sarahhammond.org

Facebook: SarahHammondAuthorPage

Twitter: @SarahHammond9 

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MARIANNE DREAMS by Catherine Storr. Review by Penny Dolan.

When I saw a copy of MARIANNE DREAMS re-issued in the Faber Classics imprint, I had to buy

it.

My curiosity about this heard-about but unknown, “classic” book was increased by the attractive cover, the slightly squat and chunky shape and the generous font and layout. MARIANNE DREAMS was inviting: a  pleasure to hold. 

The story seems quite simple. Just as Marianne is looking forward to the summer, she is struck down by a serious illness. Because the doctor insists Marianne must stay in bed for six weeks convalescence, her mother arranges for Miss Chesterfield, a kind of "governess", to give her lessons. 

 One day, rather bored, Marianne opens her drawing book and, using a special silver-topped pencil, draws:

“a house with four windows and a front door. . . she drew a fence round the house and a path leading from the front door to the gate . .  . (and) flowers inside the fence and all around she drew long scribbly grass . .  .waist-high, at least . . and outside the fence, a few large, rough-looking stones or lumps of rock.”

Later, as Marianne falls asleep, she dreams she is walking through a strange empty house. When she wakes, Marianne realises that the house in her dream was the house she’d drawn. Not liking the empty feeling of the house, she decides to draw a boy’s face, looking out of one of the upstairs windows, Inevitably, in yet another dream, meets Mark, the boy she has drawn, right down to having one leg thinner than the other because she hadn’t drawn him well enough.

Gradually, as the dreams recurr, Marianne discovers that "dream" Mark is an invalid too, barely able to walk, and that he is also a pupil of Miss Chesterfield, “her” new governess. Marianne starts drawing useful things that are needed in the eerie dream house but although the children get to know each other, their relationship is often prickly. Mark himself seems unwillingly trapped in Marianne's dream but unable - or too ill - to do anything about his situation..

There is a very big falling out. Wanting to be liked, Marianne has spent all her pocket money on a few expensive roses for Miss Chesterfield on her birthday, However, while waiting, Marianne hears that not only has Mark given their governess with an enormous bouquet of the same flowers but that Miss Chesterfield won't be visiting her that afternoon.

Marianne completely loses her temper with Mark and with her pitifully few roses. In a jealous rage, she scribbles strong dark lines across the windows of the house, and puts some tall stones outside the fence, giving them dots for eyes, as shown in the child-like drawings within the book.

When Marianne dreams again, she finds a much-weakened Mark. His room is now darkened by puzzling bars that criss-crossed the window and he feels that the stones outside have begun watching him. 

Worse, Marianne hears the real-life Mark is now in a hospital ventilator machine and the eerie dream steadily develops into a nightmare. The stones are threatening the children, trying to get inside the dream house, although it is never clear why or to what end. The illogical but inevitable quality of the dream greatly adds to the tension.of the tale, and how can the pair escape when  they both feel almost powerless?

Gradually, with the help of The Pencil, Marianne decides to draw things that will help Mark grow stronger, both in the dream and - according to various reports from the grown-ups – in his real life too. Finally, with Mark-in-the-Dream better in health and spirits, the pair make a desperate cycle-ride towards the lighthouse and to freedom. Marianne herself is left on a gentle cliff-hanger of an ending, possibly best suited to a dream.

MARIANNE DREAMS has a truly mesmeric quality, reminding me of the anguish of trying to solve problems you only partially understand and the powerlessness one feels when trapped within a recurring dream. Catherine Storr is also accurate about the annoyance of being ill and stuck in bed – as was prescribed in the past - and how that feeling can often make people behave badly. MARIANNE DREAMS might be fantasy, but it felt based on firm emotional ground.

Originally published in 1958, MARIANNE DREAMS does show both its age and social context, although the writing is admirably clear. The book would have been written around the time of a polio epidemic, when there were scary news items about children suddenly struck down and kept alive by the use of an “iron lung”. All this would have been familiar to Storr as she herself had been a Senior Medical Officer in the Middlesex Hospitals Psychiatric Department, and this book is definitely strengthened by a deep knowledge of illness and psychology.

I am glad that the book was re-issued, and I missed out on it first time around, but I am honestly not quite sure who I would recommend MARIANNE DREAMS to, other than KS2 and pre-teens who like different books and any adults who read it in the past. The steady pace is unlike any modern “busy” fantasy, the ending is more dream-like than fully resolved and there is no “romance” in the relationship between Marianne and Mark. Yet Storr has created a ghost story without any of the traditional horror but one that is scary enough in its own right: there is a memorable sense of  suspense as the reader experiences the strongest sense of being trapped with Marianne inside her darkening dream. 

The book has been made into a tv film, into an opera, and interpreted in drama. Here's the publicity video of a production some years ago in Dublin that gives a good sense of the feeling one gets reading the book. I hope the play did well. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDL2zrPXfnY 

Catherine Storr also wrote the popular CLEVER POLLY AND THE STUPID WOLF series, which makes quite an interesting contrast!

 

Penny Dolan.

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MURDER MOST UNLADYLIKE by Robin Stevens; Review by Penny Dolan

This review was inspired by a twelve-year-old girl, waiting at the bookshop counter, and enthusiastically clutching a book to her school blazer. When I asked, she proudly showed me the title: MURDER MOST UNLADYLIKE by Robin Stevens, and her enthusiasm is why I came away with a copy for myself (and for my bookshelf for occasional young visitors.) 

MURDER MOST UNLADYLIKE, a well-paced and well-plotted crime novel is set in the 1930’s. This title takes place at Deepdean School for Girls, echoing the traditional jolly-lacrosse-sticks boarding school stories of that era. Stevens recreates a world of bells, bun-breaks, tuck-boxes, dorms, pranks and pashes, along with spinsterish teachers and the general social obligation to be “a good sport”.

The plot is, basically, one of those "who done it" puzzles, familiar to readers of Agatha Christie. The novel nips along, full of suspense, bravery and crime-solving but I felt that a particular strength of the book is that Robin Stevens does not hide the bleakness of boarding school life, nor the racism and snobbery of that life and era, possibly hinting that such matters still exist in society now.

The two third-year heroines, Hazel Wong and the Honourable Daisy Wells, have formed a secret Detective Agency. Although Daisy, with her blonde hair, wide blue eyes and energy on the lacrosse field, appears a tall and typical English Rose, she artfully conceals a Sherlockian intelligence and ruthlessness. 

 
By way of contrast, short, thoughtful Hazel Wong, with her long brown hair and dark eyes, has come all the way from Hong Kong. Sent by her wealthy father so she will have a "good English education", Hazel discovers that she must learn about the often uncomfortable “English way” of doing things, along with coping with the cold weather.  Hazel becomes Daisy's carefully observant Watson, recording their investigations in her Casebook, and we follow the twists and turns of the plot - and the oddities of school life - through her eyes and experiences. 

Daisy is admirably impulsive but shy, reliable Hazel is the one with whom the reader identifies and sympathizes. The plot starts promptly: Hazel returns alone to the “haunted” gym for her pullover but finds the body of Miss Bell lying below the balcony.  However, when Hazel and Daisy return, the science-mistress's corpse has gone. Although the headmistress reports that Miss Bell has been called away, the girls know better and set out to prove it. The short chapters whip along from one excitement to another and, for those who occasionally need to check up on who is who, or where, a helpful plan of the school grounds and list of characters is included at the front of the volume.

In true thirties-detective style, Hazel and Daisy draw up a list of suspect staff, examine their motives and whereabouts, employ clever stratagems (and lies) and pursue the case to the most surprising end. I found this book a very satisfying read, with a healthy display of bold spirits and curiosity!

MURDER MOST UNLADYLIKE is the first in a series of four crime novels (followed by ARSENIC FOR TEA, FIRST CLASS MURDER and JOLLY FOUL PLAY) and although the plots do have something slightly predictable in the solution, they all offer enjoyable escapism for 10- 13 year old readers, despite scary moments and neatly murderous contents.

(A very small worry: I am not sure that, without the enthusiasm of my bookshop friend, I’d have come away with the book. The cover art does fit the period and genre extremely well but I am not sure the covers sell the series well enough on their own. I really am hoping I am wrong here!)

Robin Stevens is also the author of one of the twelve stories in the highly-praised MYSTERY & MAYHEM anthology. She also reports on her blog that she is currently working on Book Five of the MURDER MOST UNLADYLIKE series. Jolly good show there, Stevens!

Review by Penny Dolan.

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RETURN TO THE SECRET GARDEN by Holly Webb, reviewed by Pauline Francis

The Secret Garden, by Frances Hodgson Burnett, first published in 1911. This continuation of the story was published by Scholastic in October, 2015. Although it works well as a stand-alone story, I imagine that most readers will know the original.

Is our expectation as a reader of a sequel high because we know that the original is a classic? I think so. It’s always tricky to write a sequel and Webb wisely chooses her own set of characters to open her story. The reader engages with her characters before we meet some from The Secret Garden. This is important so that children who haven’t read it are not at a disadvantage. 

The events of Webb’s story, told from Emmie’s point of view, take place almost thirty years later. She is ten and one of a group of evacuees being sent from their London orphanage just before the declaration of the Second World War. Destination? Misselthwaite Manor in North Yorkshire, the setting of Burnett’s book. When a Mrs Craven comes into the dormitory to see that the children are settled, the link is established. One of the children remembers the plaque in their orphanage, which reads: Founded by a Mr Archibald Craven of Misselthwate Manor in gratitude for the recovery of his son, Colin.

Emmie isn’t happy at all. She feels lonely without her cat, Lucy, especially as she is the only girl of her age in the group. Wandering alone In the huge manor garden, she comes face to face with Jack, a boy of her age, who is Mrs Craven’s son – and later, Mrs Craven herself.

Now I’m ready for a strong link with Mary Lennox, the orphaned child of The Secret Garden, and Webb doesn’t disappoint me. Emmie finds Mary’s dairies, begun in 1910, from which we learn about Mary’s discovery of a secret garden. Emmie finds it too, not the desolate winter garden of Mary’s time, but an end-of-summer garden full of scented roses and lilies.

As the seasons change, there are many happy times: Jack and Emmie become friends; Jack’s father comes on leave from the Air Force, bringing Emmie’s beloved cat from the orphanage; and games of hide and seek in the gardens. This idyll is brought to an end: Mr Craven is killed rescuing soldiers at Dunkirk. Emmie finds Mrs Craven weeping in the secret garden. There’s no tenderness in this scene. The gardener pulls Emmie away, shouting, ‘It’s her place, his and hers, their secret. Leave her alone. Stay out.’

This is the most dramatic part of the story. Emmie is even more desperate and alone. Jack still has his mother. She hasn’t. She only had the garden to make her feel special. It is biblical – chased from paradise, the Garden of Eden. ‘What if I can never go back?’ Emmie whispers.

She has to go back to rescue her cat and comes face to face with Mrs Craven, who says. ‘I stole this garden, Emmie, did you know? I can’t really complain if you do the same, can I?’

Now Emmie understands. Mrs Craven is Mary Lennox. Her husband was Colin, the sick boy who helped her in the garden almost thirty years ago.

Sometimes, as readers, we imagine what young protagonists might be when they grow up. What would Mary Lennox be like? She was a mean and sad orphan, just like Emmie. Yet she has become, thanks to Webb’s skill, a sensitive and caring adult. And now we understand that Emmie’s has the same chance to change.

Return to the Secret Garden is a book about friendship, the effect of war on families – and hope.

The secret garden has worked its magic again.

Pauline Francis

www.paulinefrancis.co.uk

Pauline Francis www.paulinefrancis.co.uk

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