Two new MG/YA releases I read this week

Both of these books are fresh, new, well-written additions to the MG/YA shelves. I highly recommend the two of them.

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Cinder, by Marissa Meyer

I have my friend to thank for lending me this one... the same friend who convinced me to read The Perilous Gard, so you see I owe her a lot.
Cinder is ... a sci-fi retelling of Cinderella, set in New Beijing, far into the future. There's a Lunar colony (with a mind-controlling ruler), a bunch of neat technology, a lightly-written romance, a terrificly sad event that I still am trying to figure out how the plot could have worked without, and a mint of good writing.
Plus, the Cinderella character is a cyborg. Yes, I said a cyborg. And the whole thing works, yes, it works! Even though I guessed one of the twists, I didn't care. There were others I didn't. Also, I appreciated the Chinese culture references throughout the book. Though I've nothing against most of the futuristic novels out there, they seem to focus on the United States, and it was refreshing to see a different setting and society. One plot point seemed a little weak to me, but that's the only objection I could think of.
There's lots to love in this book.
Even though if you carry the book around without the dustjacket, you may get asked about the "Meyer" in metallic red type on the spine... (Had to explain to a pal of mine, no, not THAT Meyer!)

Age rec: Really, this could be MG. I can't recall anything that would stop me from giving it to a middle-schooler... no mature content, not even any swearing that I remember. The only problem would be some rather chilling descriptions of the letumosis plague hospital - and, of course, the nasty behavior of a few characters.

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Winterling, by Sarah Prineas

I got this one for fun from the local library. I'd read enough reviews to believe there was nothing really amazing on the plot front, but I'm glad I picked it up anyway. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it!

It's nothing too amazing on the surface... girl discovers her parents belonged to another world, finds gateway, enters, has adventures... but Sarah Prineas weaves the loveliest story together. The elements may sound cliched - an evil Lady who must be defeated, a land bound in winter, a tricky shapeshifter boy as companion to the heroine - but don't be deceived. Winterling is far more than the sum of its parts.

There's the imagery of the "dying crown" of leaves, of Fer's jacket, of the black feathers; the swift poetry of the Hunt's ride through the night; the strict rules of the land involving threes and oaths and bindings; the herbal magic, concrete and yet symbolic at the same time. The writing is simple and flowing.
For all that I thought the plot sounded cliched at first - its individual parts were not, though the main concept was... familiar. Yes, that's the word for Winterling: "familiar." But in a good way, like N. D. Wilson's Dandelion Fire felt familiar. Stories like that can be retold because they work.
And I haven't even gotten into all the neat stuff that makes this book special - the landscape descriptions, the moon reflection in the water, the subtle humor spread throughout - and the wolf guards! Those wolf guards! ...Words fail me.

Age rec: I would say MG and up. Nothing I can recall that would give any trouble.

"Unspoiled" - My addition to the Queen's Thief week!

Chachic had the wonderful idea of making a Queen's Thief week - and lots of other bloggers jumped in to help! I fear I'm not deserving of their far more experienced company, but here is my attempt to add to the discussion.

If you have not read through book 2 (The Queen of Attolia) DO NOT PROCEED... Part of this post is ABOUT how I proceeded years ago and got a spoiler!



Some Thoughts about Suffering, Spoilers, Gen, and Attolia


I was such a bad reader about those books, at first.
I didn't like the brief description of The Thief in my library's brochure, so I made up my mind I wasn't going to read the books. In which case, I thought, what matter a few spoilers?
Now, it wasn't as bad as it could have been. The choicest secrets - Gen's identity, Gen's tricks, Gen's eventual romance - all remained unrevealed, by some miracle. But one thing I did manage to learn: that the main character gets his hand cut off in the beginning of book 2. I didn't know this fellow at all then, so I wasn't much in the way of caring at the time. I did think, "What, [checks mentally] this is a kids' book, right?"
In the end - I can't remember exactly what put me over the edge - I read The Thief, quickly following with The Queen of Attolia. I was expecting that particular scene when it came; I had steeled myself for it. My original reaction, then, was much less dramatic than those of other Gen-fans. Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to have read it with no prior warning.
And then I found out, sort of...
I'd lent The Thief to some of my kid friends and, after their enthusiastic response, I dropped by one afternoon with book 2. Idly, I began to read aloud the first paragraphs. (Lots of stuff about the interior architecture of megarons - fascinating, wasn't it?) The kids thought I'd hit on something fun. We settled down to read.
Well, it was ... something else again.
No, actually the kids seemed remarkably unperturbed by it. I was the one who suddenly noticed how terrifically awful those first four-odd chapters were. I mean - Gen! and Attolia... When I'd read it on my own, I'd known what was coming, and though I was affected, I don't think I really comprehended it all 'round. But when I really got a look at it, I wanted to cry. Because there is real suffering in those chapters, for pretty much everyone - physical suffering, mental suffering, guilt, worry, fear. In another story there might have been an easy way out, but not here. Here decisions are made, nasty things happen, and Gen pays the price for being the daring thief. And oh, what a price.
For the first time, I understood entirely why Eddis declared war.

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But it still didn't shake my firm conviction that Eugenides and Irene belong together. What happens in the dark dungeons of Attolia's castle is a deed ordered by a political personage - the Queen of Attolia. But Gen, in what I can only say is a staggering feat of empathy, recognizes the woman beneath the disguise built of necessity. He is able to separate the politics from the person. And Gen has always worked more with people than with politics.
So I, like Gen, must have somehow seen beyond the mask myself. For I have read the first four chapters of book 2 aloud, my throat tight with sympathy, and cheered as Eddis confiscated the caravans' goods and went to war to avenge her Thief's injury - but as I open the cover of each book, and softly set them closed at last, I wish the Queen of Attolia may find joy.

Two very beautiful MG novels

A double post today! Both of these came from my library, when I was browsing the younger section for something pleasant.

Dancing Through the Snow, by Jean Little

This is the story of Min: early memories of a callous, abusive pair who weren't her parents, abandoned in a public place, in and out of foster homes for years. Now, a little while before Christmas, she's been returned to the social services office again after another placement that didn't work out. But a new chance comes, in the form of Jess Hart, a doctor who helped her when she was younger. Jess, with a characteristic disregard of red tape, sweeps Min away to her own home. And this begins a new life for Min - full of unexpected complications, like an abandoned dog, a puppy-mill investigation, and an irritating boy named Toby, as well as with surprising joys.

At its heart this is a simple, gentle book about a girl finding her place in the world. Each of the characters is lifelike, from caring Jess Hart to even the difficult Toby. There's no earth-shaking conflict or excitement in this book, but there's all sorts of beauty, and the small decisions of right and wrong, good and bad. I felt that this book could really have happened - and stories like it probably have, before.

Age rec: anyone. The more unpleasant aspects - Min's difficult early life, the puppy mill - are, if not ignored, "lightened" for younger readers. And I myself was moved almost to tears at several points, including the ending.



Weasel, by Cynthia Defelice

A continent and many years away from the Jean Little book, 180 degrees different in every way almost, Weasel is about a boy named Nathan and the hard history he comes up against. Set in the American woods soon after Daniel Boone's time, this story tells about Nathan's meeting with Ezra, a man who's lost everything, and Weasel, the man who has taken it from him for no reason but cruelty. Nathan encounters Weasel himself and is forced to examine his own notions of justice....

... And so is the reader.
There were several times in this book where I myself was wondering, what would I do if I were in Nathan's place? It's hard to say, and I'm still not sure. This book isn't stopping short of putting the difficult questions - and the difficult truths - out there.
A key question seems to be: what makes a man good, what makes a man bad? Nathan recognizes that the settlers vilify the Indians. He himself hates Weasel. Weasel, granted, has done terrible things. What does this make Nathan in regards to how he acts towards Weasel?
I'm still thinking... I feel I could write an essay about it someday.
A keenly-written, sometimes heart-wrenching book about one boy's meeting with cruelty - and his ultimately love-affirming response.

Age rec: A man's tongue is cut out and his pregnant wife killed. This isn't shown, and described in little more detail than I've just used, but on Amazon there were some people who disliked the book for that reason. There is, of course, no question about the immorality of such killings and cruelty. The whole book, though, is a pretty in-depth discussion about morality and choices. I would love to use it to teach a class sometime. I personally would say ages 9 or 10 and up, simply because the main point of the story is ethics and a younger child might not understand most of it.

Cart and Cwidder, by Diana Wynne Jones

I found this book because, in memoriam sort of, I am now reading more Diana Wynne Jones than I used to. And this looked to be a likely thing.

Book in a nutshell:
Moril's family are travelling entertainers - players and bards. We learn practically on the first page that the country they live in is divided into two rather sharp-edged sections: North and South. The North is a hazy dream beyond the mountains, the South an unpleasant reality where speech and song are censored and the lords of the land can basically do whatever they want.
But while Moril and his family are traveling up and down the South, they pick up a passenger: an annoying, mysterious boy named Kialan. His arrival begins a startling chain of events. After death, desertion, and the authorities are done with them, the traveling cart family has shrunk to only three members. And they know that their only hope is to get North.

This is a simple, straightforward book, a quiet and heartfelt story of family and friends and freedom, twined about with a love for song and words. I never guessed any of the surprises, though, for all its outward simplicity. Each of the people is carefully and almost invisibly characterized - even the musical instruments seem to take part in the story.

Honestly, there's not much I can say about it. All the wonder's in the book itself - it doesn't sound like much to say I love sweet, shy Dagner the composer, or feel sorry for Kialan's rather clumsy attempts to make himself friendly, or thrill at Moril's song at the climax. But it's a book that I can recommend to nearly anyone.

The only thing I could ask for improvement in is the songs - some of them might be a little more, oh, songlike? But that's a picky detail. And besides - I like reading about travelling players. They're a favorite of mine.

Especially when they're also revolutionaries.



Age rec: Anybody. Though it's rather sad at parts, I can't think of a single reason it should be kept away from anyone old enough to hear a good story. Diana Wynne Jones was pretty dependable on for that, with sole exception of the slightly disturbing elements in Hexwood (but that's another story and another post).

Who'd be interested in a Diana Wynne Jones blogweek?

More Not-a-Bookness, with cute dragons

Last night I watched How To Train Your Dragon.

I think it's one of my favorite recent movies... if not my absolute favorite, since I can't think of any I like better. The plot is pretty easy to anyone who's read any animal stories at all - but there's a lot to be said for this movie.

1. I liked the father-son relationship between Stoick and Hiccup. They're two good people who don't see eye-t0-eye about just about anything, and both of them are trying so hard to get along with each other. It's really a hard decision for Hiccup to make, choosing whether to kill a dragon or lose his father's approval. And I think that it hurts him at least as much to be rejected by his father as to have Toothless taken away from him.

2. There's a really strong plotline here about teamwork even if you don't like the other members of your team. Hiccup's teased mercilessly at first by the other teens, and even up till the end I can't see them really liking him, but when it's time for action, he recognizes his need for their help and brings them into battle with him. Also, there's the whole thing with people/dragon cooperation - yes, they're big, yes, they're different, yes, they've done things to us in the past, but no, we're not going to judge every one of them by what some of them have done.

3. The movie is awesomely done, the voice acting and the animation and the clever voice-overs at the beginning and end. "Some people have flies. Some people have mosquitoes. We have... dragons."
Astrid was convinced by one ride on Toothless, and I was too. I came away wanting to fly with them, through the sunset clouds and the Northern lights, on the back of a little dragon of my own... Who knows? Maybe someday between time and eternity I will.

Anyhow, go forth and try to watch this movie. I don't know if I rec it for very young children, as there's action at the end that is very vivid and thrilling even for me... but for anyone old enough not to be scared too much, it's a sweet, exciting, and heartwarming journey alongside this boy and his dragon.

The Green Book, by Jill Paton Walsh

How I found this book: I was messing around a library one day and happened to see it.

More or less, this book is -
The story of a colony ship of people from Earth departing for a new home planet. They escape a Disaster on Earth that we never learn much about. Eventually they reach another planet and begin to settle in, dealing with issues like reading matter, the possibility of native species, and - most importantly - whether they will be able to grow more food before their supplies run out.

It doesn't sound like much, I will admit - but it is a perfectly beautiful child's book, sweet and simple and a glimpse of a world utterly other and yet peopled with those like us. There's a sense of loss regarding the old Earth, a sorrow as things like literature and clouds are forgotten, when the old stories get garbled. There's the wonder of the planet itself. There's the fear of whether or not survival will be possible.

It's a thin little tale, hardly a novella even at 69 pages.

Quotes:

...and so Shine was transformed. For the buildings at night were now a soft pale green, with points of emerald visible where the lamps were hung, and the leaping glow of the fires made a ruby-red glow in the middle. The blurred and magnified shadows of the people moving inside their houses cast dark figures softly over the walls of the fluted, shimmering green and red shining houses, and Shine at night looked like a scatter of blocks of fire opal, lying on a dark land under the stars.

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All those years closed inside the spaceship, and the time on the new planet, had made Pattie forget the air could move, the air could touch you, as the quiet air of the new place never did.

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I love, love, love this book. I suppose it must be science-fiction, but I don't think it feels like it. It's just a child's viewing of a great and strange and wondrous business.

Age rec: anyone. Anyone at all. Even an adult would like it, I think.

Mara, Daughter of the Nile by Eloise Jarvis McGraw

All credit to the discovery of this book goes to my mother, who read it to my brother and I when we were younger.

Historical fiction, as you've probably already learned from my blog, is not a genre I often get excited about. It's a wonderful genre and needs more good books, but what's in it now is not always that great.
By which same token, this book was originally published in 1953.

So what's it about?
Mara, Daughter of the Nile is about a revolutionary, and a revolution; about the Pharoah Hatshepsut who is not a good ruler, and the imprisoned Prince Thutmose who some believe could be. But it's also about Mara the slave-girl, brilliant and street-smart and tricky and proud and somehow utterly engaging. She is sold to an agent of the Pharoah and told to act as a spy for them, and then finds herself caught up in working for the other side, for the revolutionaries.
At first she intends to please her new master and turn the revolutionaries in... but the leader of the revolution is a young man named Sheftu, and Mara finds herself disliking the idea of causing his death...

This is an amazing book. Yes, it is a romance. But it's also an espionage story, a political story, a revolution story, a story set in the vivid and far-off world of Ancient Egypt. It's incredibly well-written and action-packed enough to satisfy anyone.
As one of my friends (Sylvia let's call her) said just a few days ago, "It looks like one of those books your parents give you for your education. But it's good!"

Some quotes:

...He gave Nekonkh a moment to absorb that thought, then added casually, "So you would overthrow the queen?"
"By the Feather of Truth, I said no such thing!" gasped Nekonkh. He darted an agonized glance up and down the deck, then strode to a deserted spot in the bows.
Sheftu followed, his face amused. "A wise precaution.... They say the queen's spies are everywhere."
"No doubt!" Nekonkh was convinced he was talking to one that minute.

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"Egypt is not pharoah, Mara, nor is it this long, green valley with its black mud that is so different from what I know. Egypt is neither the Nile nor the cities - "
"Then what is it?"
"You, Mara."
"I?"
"And all the others - the people, all those you have told me of, and the fishermen yonder on the river, and the potters and carpenters and their like... - and their friends, and their kin...."

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{Writing that last quote makes me want to cry because of a certain later part.}

Perhaps you've gathered by now how much I love this book. I think it should be on everyone's list. It does also make an excellent read-aloud.
Age recommendations: anyone old enough to appreciate a good thrilling plot. There's some kissing and some violence, but I was about nine years old when I read it, so I don't think it's a problem. People do swear by the Egyptian gods; I don't find that offensive, but some might. Parents worried by any moral ambiguity of the protagonist may relax in the fact that things do change by the end.
In fact, (highlight for hidden spoiler) Mara's final decision to keep her word and be selfless is what saves the day in the end. Don't think I'm a wimp, but I honestly find those parts near the end almost heartbreakingly wonderful.

What are you waiting for? Go forth and read.