Gossamer - Lois Lowry

Genre: Fantasy
Grades 4 & up

Every once in awhile you come across a story that really touches you - Gossamer by Lois Lowry is one of these stories. Littlest One and Thin Elderly are Dream-givers, creatures that come to us while we are sleeping, create dreams based on fragments of memories they pick up from our belongings then bestow those dreams into our heads. Littlest One and Thin Elderly work at the home of an old lady that has taken in a foster child named John. John has lived a tough life, a life where he and his mother have been abused by John's alcoholic father. John's mother is trying to get her act together so that she can get John back, but it is a tough road. When John first gets to the old lady's house he is very angry and not capable of trusting others. This leaves him very vulnerable to attacks by Sinisteeds, evil horse-like entities that are responsible for nightmares. It is the job of Little One and Thin Elderly to strengthen him with good dreams, the only way to protect John from the Sinisteeds.

I found this to be a really engaging story, sometimes sad but in the end uplifting. The story of John's mom was particularly moving - it made me think about my mom who had to work so hard and sacrifice so much to keep our family together. This book is easily accessible to a wide age range. The writing is simple enough for a fourth grader to get but the story can be enjoyed by older teens as well.

Gil's All Fright Diner - A. Lee Martinez

Genres: Horror, Fantasy
Older Teens

What do you get when you cross the gore of Saw III with the comedy of Epic Movie? You get Gil's All Fright Diner by A. Lee Martinez. Duke, a werewolf and Earl, a vampire, are driving through the small desert-town of Rockwood when they come across Gil's All Night Diner. When their meal is interrupted by a slew of zombies Duke and Earl realize that Rockwood is no ordinary town. The forces of evil are at work in Rockwood so Duke and Earl decide to stick around to see if they can help. Hilarity ensues, but not before a major dose of bloodshed with a little romance tossed in just for the heck of it.

Many of this blog's younger readers are not old enough to remember the movies House and Army of Darkness, but fans of these movies will surely love the humor/horror angle of this book. I can definitely see this book being made into a film one day. I really enjoyed this story and would recommend this books to older teens, particularly those that can enjoy a good ol' funny book.

The Riddle - Alison Croggon

Genres: Fantasy
Recommended Grades: 7 Up

The Riddle is the second book in Alison Croggon's Pellinor series - if you have not read the first book of the series I highly recommend you read The Naming (and my review of it) before you read the rest of this review.

It is kind of funny how things work. Six or seven months ago I had gone through a stretch of reading several serious, dreary young adult novels. I then read The Naming - it was perfect timing because I needed a little fantasy, something that took my mind off of the real world. Well the same thing has just happened - not that the books I have been reading are all gloom and doom, but I just needed a good fantasy book to sink into (especially since my last exposure to the genre was the terrible Eragon movie I saw a few weeks ago...but I digress). So it was with joy that I began reading The Riddle - the highly anticipated follow up to The Naming.

This book picks up where the last one left off - Maerad and Cadvan are fleeing Norloch as it burns, the great city succumbing to a civil war brought on by the actions of evil bard Enkir. They hop on a ship and sail to Thorold. It is in Thorold that Maerad finally has a chance to relax and reflect upon all of the crazy stuff that had happened in the past three months. It is also there that Maerad begins to piece together what she must do to save the world from The Nameless One. She must find the Treesong - this task is made difficult by the fact that nobody knows what the Treesong is. The journey is also complicated by the fact that Cadvan and Maerad have been declared traitors and are wanted by Enkir.

This book was awesome - it lived up to all of the anticipation. In this book we really begin to see Maerad develop as a character - there are dark sides to her that were not fleshed out in the first book. The book has tons of twists and it was really hard for me to stop reading each night. I can't recommend this book enough, particularly to fantasy lovers, but I really think you need to read The Naming first. Although this is a pretty long book I think kids as young as seventh grade could handle it.

Black Hole - Charles Burns

Genres: Graphic novels, Fantasy
Recommended Grades: 11 Up

As a school librarian that serves kids from sixth through twelfth grade I am often faced with difficult decisions when purchasing books. You see, I think it is important to provide my older kids with books that are challenging, interesting and emotionally stimulating - at the same time I need to be sensitive to the fact that my younger students may not have the maturity necessary to be exposed to these books. A graphic novel intended for older kids can make this issue even tougher. The younger kids are drawn to these graphic novels like deer to a salt lick. Normally a book that discusses more mature topics like sex and drugs would not be a big deal - the younger kids would have to read the text to find the racy parts and even if they find these parts they might not understand what they are reading. With graphic novels the images are put right out there - you don't have to be mature to know what a naked body looks like.

With this in mind I read Black Hole by Charles Burns. The title was initially brought to my attention by another teacher that had borrowed it from our library. He showed me a few pages in the book that show the naked bodies of both men and women. He told me he had not read the entire novel because he had trouble with the graphic novel format so he really didn't know what the context of the nude images was - either way I knew I needed to read the book before putting it back on the shelf.

The story centers around a couple of teenagers growing up in Seattle in the 1970s. Keith and Chris are fairly typical high school kids - Keith likes to hang out with his friends smoking pot and talking about music - Chris is insecure about herself and makes poor decisions when drunk. In separate incidents both Keith and Chris catch "the bug", a sexually transmitted disease with a wide range of symptoms - some people end up with a few bumps on their skin, others grow lizard-like tails and shed their skin. As with most STDs their is a stigma attached to those with the bug and this is really what Black Hole is about. Keith and Chris both deal with catching the bug in different ways - by the end of the story people have been killed and hearts have been broken but happiness is to be had by some of the characters.

The story is good (albeit very weird) but not great - in particular I didn't really like the ending. The artwork however is awesome - the black and white illustrations convey plenty of emotion and lend an eerie, uneasy feeling that is appropriate for a book dealing with teenagers growing up. I think this book would be enjoyed by kids that are into stories that are way out there, especially those that like comics and other graphic novels. I am not an experienced graphic novel reader and I was able to navigate through the pages fairly well so that shouldn't be a deterrent for those that have not read books in this format before. This book is definitely suited for older teens only - there are oodles of graphic images that depict drug use, drinking, nudity and sex. These images are not gratuitous - they play a central role in the story - nonetheless they are very graphic.

This brings me back to the initial issue - what do I do with this book? Do I put it back on the shelf or do I remove it from the collection? I believe the book has some literary merit for older kids but I also do not think that the images are appropriate for younger eyes. At this point I haven't decided what I will do. Anybody out there with any input should leave a comment or contact me as I would love some feedback regarding this book.

Inkheart - Cornelia Funke

Genres: Adventure, Fantasy
Recommended Ages: 10+

Because I am on summer vacation my next few posts will be rather brief - sorry.

Inkheart - an awesome book. While I labeled it a fantasy book, it is not your typical dragons and magic fantasy book. To keep it brief, if you have not read this book you should read it NOW!!!!!!

The Naming - Alison Croggon

Genres: Fantasy
Recommended Ages: 12+
DRP: n/a

Tired of gloomy, realistic teen-fiction full of suicide, dead parents and sexual assaults? Well maybe what you need is a good ol’ fantasy book that will take you away from the “reality” portrayed in so many of today’s young adult books. If that is the case then I would recommend The Naming by Alison Croggon, the first book of the Pellinor series.

Maerad is a sixteen year-old slave girl living a rather horrible life. She has no family, no friends – really the only thing she has is her lyre, and her ability playing it is the only thing that has protected her from the beatings her master frequently doles out. Life for Maerad is just a dreary routine with no end in sight. Until the evening a stranger wanders into her village. The stranger, a man named Cadvan, tells Maerad that she is a bard, a person with magical powers. Cadvan tells Maerad that she must come with him – a slave’s life is no life for a bard. Despite her fears, Maerad leaves with Cadvan. Thus begins the great adventure detailed in The Naming.

I really enjoyed this book. If you liked Eragon or The Lord of the Rings trilogy then you will enjoy this book. Croggon has done a great job of creating the land of Edil-Amarand, a land with its own history, folklore and language. If you like epic fantasies then you must read this book. I know I can’t wait to get my hands on The Riddle, the second book of Pellinor.

Black Juice - Margo Lanagan

Genres: Short Story, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Realistic Fiction
Grades 7 & up

Twisted. Weird. Random. Just a few words that describe the short stories found in Black Juice by Margo Lanagan. I couldn’t really find a common theme amongst the ten stories contained in the book, by one thing they did have in common is that they were all interesting and well written. One favorite of mine was ‘Singing my Sister Down,’ the story of a girl being executed for murder and her family that has come to witness the execution. What is interesting about that story is the way the execution is carried out – the girl is forced to stand in the middle of a tar pit while she slowly sinks to her death. Another great story is ‘Red Nose Day’ the story of two assassins sent to a clown convention to kill as many clowns as possible.

Not all of the stories involve death or murder. There are stories about elephant trainers and accordion-playing cult leaders. There are stories about lost brides and angels. At about 20 pages each, the stories will be quick reads for many. I would recommend this book to good readers, particularly those that enjoy science fiction, fantasy or horror. I say “good” readers because these stories are not easy to read – often I would get about halfway through a story before I really understood what was going on. That said, readers patient enough to give this collection of stories a chance will be handsomely rewarded with some great reading.

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader - C.S. Lewis

Genre: Fantasy
Grades 4-8

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is the third book I have read from the classic series The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis. In my opinion it was the most exciting, adventure-filled and interesting of the three I have read (the other two are The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and Prince Caspian).

This book starts out with Lucy and Edmund spending their summer at their aunt and uncle’s house (Peter and Susan are off doing their own things). So far it has not been a pleasant experience, particularly because their cousin Eustace is a dweeb. He is the type of kid who knows a little about a lot of things because he has read a lot, but really does not know anything about the real world and life because he has never experienced anything. In addition he is kind of a jerk without realizing he is, and his parents think he is the greatest thing since sliced bread. Needless to say, Lucy and Edmund kind of stuck to themselves and tried to avoid Eustace whenever possible.

One day Lucy and Edmund were in Lucy’s room looking at a painting of a sailing ship. Lucy and Edmund were commenting on how it looked like a ship they would have seen while in Narnia (Narnia is the land that they had visited in earlier books in this series). Eustace, who had never been to Narnia and certainly did not believe in it, overheard the conversation and began to antagonize his cousins. Suddenly, much to Eustace’s horror, all three of the children were transported into the painting. As they splashed in the sea, ropes from the ship were sent down and all three children were eventually pulled aboard. Once aboard, Lucy and Edmund realized that they were indeed back in Narnia and aboard the ship were their old friends Caspian and Reepicheep.

Caspian had assembled a crew and set sail upon the Dawn Treader to search for the seven lords who had been sent away by Miraz years before (this story is detailed in Prince Caspian). The Voyage of the Dawn Treader details this journey. As I mentioned before, this is a very adventure-filled book. It is hard to discuss any of the adventures without giving away the story, but let’s just say that by the end the crew of the Dawn Treader have sailed all the way to the end of the world and have accounted for all seven of the lords while dealing with Eustace’s miserable disposition, pirates, slave traders, dragons, invisible creatures and an often ferocious sea.

This is a great book. While The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is a great read even if you had not read other books in the series, there are references that the reader may not understand if they had not read any of the preceding books. That brings me to an interesting point. There are two schools of thought when it comes to what order these books should be read in. The first is that the books should be read in the order they were published (this is the route I have chosen). Using this method The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is the third book in the series. The second is that the books should be read in chronological order. This mode has been reinforced by HarperCollins who have ordered the reprint of the series in this manner. Using this method The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is the fifth book in the series. Good arguments are made for both orders, but I won’t spend anymore time discussing those here. If you are interested, check out the wikipedia article discussing the ordering of the series. I have chosen to read them in the order they were originally published and I have been extremely satisfied so far. If you are looking for a good fantasy book I do not think you can go wrong with The Voyage of the Dawn Treader or any of the books from The Chronicles of Narnia.