Half Magic

Half Magic

Edward Eager

I ran across this book while browsing in my local public library (the source of 97% of the kids books that I read). I recognized the author from frequent discussions in various kid lit blogs that I read. The most recent posting I had read about Edward Eager was focused on how cultural changes over time put modern parents, librarians, publishers etc. in a bind -- do you remain faithful to the original and the time and place in which it was written, or do you edit older books to remove what we would now consider racially charged references and terminology? Tough call. I come down on the side of leaving books alone, and using them as a impetus to think about how prevailing cultural norms affect children's literature (and as a way to start discussions about race, gender, etc. with children). Anyway, I digress. I grabbed a book by Edward Eager that had a nice cover (a new edition, with a nice Quentin Blake cover illustration) and decided to read it. As many of you may know, I am not only a fan of modern middle-grade adventure fiction, but I also love the older stuff (particularly pre-wwII syndicate-written series fiction). Edward Eager's stuff from the 1950's doesn't fit either category, but since stuff from the 1950's is also cool, I gave it a shot. [A complete aside, something that happens to be on my mind, and popped up again while I typed out the words "series fiction": A few years ago I got it in my head to make a graphic novel version of the Bobbsey Twin books. I never did it, but every now and then I think about it. I discovered yesterday that someone has made a comic book/graphic novel version of the first few Boxcar Children books. Damn. Every time I don't follow through on a good idea, someone else comes along and does it.]

Half Magic is everything that modern kid fiction is not (at least usually). It is a short book, small and lightweight. There's no trauma, and very little angst beyond what is perfectly normal for kids (summer boredom, an annoying babysitter, a little mild sibling rivalry), with the exception of some brief anger and sorrow one character feels about the possibility of their widowed mother marrying someone. The adults are reasonably competent, decent people. The story is small in scale -- none of this epic, 7 part, world-shattering stuff. But it is a lovely little story, easy to read, has nice 1950's style illustrations (code words for ink line drawing), and it really hits the nail on the head when it comes to how children try to deal with boredom. The basic plot -- a group of kids find a magic object that allows them to make wishes, they get into a few scrapes, and they must learn to use the power wisely -- has been seen before and will be seen again, but Eager does a good job with the details.

Would my 7-year old read it? Nah, not enough pictures. Would he listen to me read it? Yes. And then he'd tell the story to his little brother, and his little brother would proceed to pretend that all the coins in the house were magic.

Half Magic

The Strictest School in the World

Strictest School in the World, The: Being the Tale of a Clever Girl, a Rubber Boy and a Collection of Flying Machines, Mostly Broken (The Mad Misadventures of Emmaline and Rubberbones)by Howard Whitehouse

The clever girl is Emmaline, the rubber boy is Robert Burns, and the flying machines are kite-like things that the two of them cook up for various reasons through the tale. The strictest school in the world is a creepy castle-like place with extremely cruel adults. Sort of. Plot is basic -- Emmaline does not want to be at the school and needs to find a way to escape. I won't reveal whether she actually does or not (or why that is a hard thing to accomplish), just in case anyone does decide to read the book.

I can't seem to find anything along the lines of newspaper reviews or such for this one, but I am also not looking very hard. The casual blogger reviews of this book are good (and there are quite a few of them), so I guess I am supposed to like it. And by the time I finished it, I decided it wasn't a bad book, but I had a hard time actually finishing it. I put it down a number of times during the first half of the book, and fully expected it would end up in the post I'd write one day called "books I just couldn't finish." But I stuck with it, and I will actually try to read the next one in the series, because my hope is that the author worked out some of the kinks that nearly fatally sunk The Strictest School in the World.

I had a hard time deciding exactly what it was that I found so off-putting, but it finally occurred to me that the problem was that book didn't read like a wacky adventure novel set in Victorian England -- it felt much more like a parody of a wacky adventure novel set in Victorian England. The characters were too much, the settings were too much, the dialog in dialect was too much, the whole thing was just pushed a little too far. This appears to be what other people like about the book, but I just think the line was crossed somewhere along the way (like on the second page!) I couldn't help thinking that I was reading a farce of some sort. Once I decided that I would make myself finish (after all, I loved the Lemony Snicket books and they were even more extreme parody), I started liking the book a little better. By the time I finished the book, I generally liked it well enough to consider reading the next one in the series, but it is not one I am going to whole-heartedly recommend to others. I think the book suffered -- as many books do -- from too much time wasted at the beginning trying to establish who the characters are and how they got into the situation and so forth. Since the book did well at linking together various wacky hijinks, it really needed to just skip the whole "Emmaline wants to be an aviatrix but is afraid of flying" and "Robert never gets hurt when he falls" and "oh my isn't Aunt Lucy a goofy lady" parts and just get into the story of the school.

There does not seem to be a website exclusive to this book or series, which is unusual these days. The publisher's site has a bit about the author (http://www.kidscanpress.com/Canada/CreatorDetails.aspx?cid=625) but that's all you are going to get. At least, that's all I could find in the 10 minutes I have had to do web searching related to this review!

Strictest School in the World, The: Being the Tale of a Clever Girl, a Rubber Boy and a Collection of Flying Machines, Mostly Broken (The Mad Misadventures of Emmaline and Rubberbones)

Magyk

Magyk: Septimus Heap, Book One
Angie Sage
Harper Collins, 2005

The Magyk series by Angie Sage feels not so much a book series but sort of a book-and-stuff-selling enterprise -- at least that's the feel I get from the website and such. I knew this going into it -- and that was actually part of why I went ahead and pulled the first book in the series off the shelf at ye olde publik library. It was just one of those books I had been seeing for a long time but never quite reading. Certain things attracted me to the book -- it's a small format but very thick book, with a perfectly nice cover (jacket) illustration, and was clearly about magical kids and such. Certain other things really put me off -- spelling the word "magic" with a "y" (which remained terribly annoying throughout the book, mainly because the author felt the need to put certain words such as "magyk" in bold font all through the book), the whole marketing enterprise, and the never-ending series thing. But, hey, worth a shot!

So, my general assessment is (if I read just as a stand-alone book and not part of a bigger publishing cash-cow, and I ignore the formattting stuff that I hated), it's fine but not stellar. The setting is a very typical medieval-esque to semi-dark ages kind of place with the typical geographic elements (bogs, swamps, rivers, sea, castle, village, forest) and it has the typical fantasy elements (white/dark magic, odd creatures, slow means of travel, lots of cheese and bread). The core plot -- dark forces supplant the queen and try to diminish the power of anyone but themselves, strongly magical orphaned boy along with a cast of characters thwarts the dark forces -- is as generic, typical, derivative, boring as it gets. So it's all about how it gets pulled off in terms of writing, character, etc. The devil is in the details, as in all things. Many of the details are great -- some of the creatures, some of the back story, the cool boat at the end of the book -- but not all. The book suffered from a slow start, but picked up. By the halfway point, I was trying to sneak in reading as much as I could throughout a busy weekend. So that's how I end up figuring that it's a good book -- I really wanted to see what would happen, even though I more or less knew what would happen.

One thing that I have to remember when I am reading (and reviewing!) middle-grade fiction is that kids actually like predictability. And they get just as much a thrill out of figuring out what's going to happen as adults do when they read. So I am going to try not to fault this book for being utterly and completely predictable. I knew in Chapter 1 who the babies were and what the outcome would be. Despite some attempts at subterfuge, I knew who Boy 412 was as soon as we were introduced to the character. But maybe younger kids would need a few more chapters to get there, and maybe even delight in the process. Older kids might find it a little predictable, but I am not sure. Would my 7 year old like it? No. He's too young to follow the intricacies of the story line. Would he like it in a few years? Maybe, but he's a pretty literal kid, and likes science stuff so much, that I expect fantasy literature won’t be his thing.

There are lots of reviews out there -- a popular book that has been around for a good long while, so that's no surprise -- and the mainstream ones all seem positive. Read any of these (Kirkus, Publisher's Weekly, NY times, etc.) to get the nice summaries and flowery language to describe the book.

http://www.septimusheap.com/ (warning - a flash-heavy but content-light website)

The Mousehunter

The Mousehunter by Alex Milway
Little, Brown Young Readers, 2009

The Mousehunter is the first in a trilogy of books about the adventures of a young mousehunter named Emiline. There are good guys and bad guys, a port-city/pirate ship setting, and a strange, strange culture that seems to place an unwarranted amount of value on the lives of mice. In this world, there are thousands of kinds of mice, who are capable of doing all sorts of things, so their value ranges form their value as tools to their value as collectors items. Emiline is, I assume, an orphan of some sort, although we really don't get to know her past very well. She's 12, and working on her own (as a mousehunter, and apparently a good one), so I must assume she's been orphaned. It's a story set in a time that would be reminiscent of the 18th century, but is not really our world so the time in which the story is set is really of no matter. I guess I could say that the technology, economy, and social norms seem similar to late 18th century England. Sort of. Because the mice kind of throw things off.

I have to admit, I was skeptical about this book. I chose it pretty much the same way I choose all my books -- by the cover. Glossy, blue cover (the jacket actually -- the book itself is yellow, which is also nice), nice cover illustration, good sized book (448 pages, but in that nice compact 7.5 by 5 inch format). There are some cool illustrations at the front of the book (although the only other illustrations were pictures of some of the various odd mice). But the premise seemed like a weak attempt to do something different with the very much used sub-sub-genre of middle-grade pirate fiction -- I mean, really, mice as valuable objects? But once I got through the first few chapters, the book picked up. I am not sure if the writing actually got better, or if I was just able to get over what seemed to me like a pretty weak nail to hang your plot from. I think my sense of the book getting better did have a lot to do with the writing itself -- at the beginning the author was trying to establish setting and character and the basic premise of the mice, and it seemed awfully contrived. Once the story got going, the whole thing improved considerably. Ship captains, good pirates, bad pirates, dodgy characters, evil wealthy guys, sea battles, hangings, and lots of mice. Pretty engaging read, once things got moving. Would my seven-year old like it? Yes, although he'd get bored too quickly since he likes shorter books than this one.

The author did a nice job of leaving his options open for future books. The basic storyline does end, and there is no reference on the cover or elsewhere to the fact that this is a series, but it does turn out to be a series. I'll read the next one if I can find it at the library. I couldn't find much in the way of established reviews -- first time author writing about mice and all that, probably not exactly on the desk of reviewers for the New York Times or anything -- but there are a few bloggers out there who have made some comments on it (generally quite favorable). I suspect if I mucked about in the kind of places children's librarians spend their time, I'd find more reviews.

There's a pretty thorough website (where you can learn a bit more about the authors original calling as an illustrator):

http://www.themousehunter.com/

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The Graveyard Book

The Graveyard Book

The Graveyard Book won a Newberry and has been reviewed in about a gazillion places, so I don’t have much to add about this fascinating and original work. I haven’t found a bad review yet, so clearly there is consensus that this is a good book. I won’t rehash the plot here, or even wax eloquent about what works and doesn’t work, since you can find better jobs of that elsewhere*. It’s got some classic kid-lit conventions – main character is an orphan, there’s a bad guy who is after him, there are some magical/metaphysical elements – but the basic plot seems fresh and the characterization is well done. Apparently, it’s a sort of retelling of The Jungle Book, just a weird, dark, modern version. That’s kind of cool, and I didn’t catch on to that until I started to read reviews (although that explains why Gaiman commented in the acknowledgements about how Rudyard Kipling was a huge influence!).

While I am huge fan of series fiction (both the old-fashioned formula stuff as well as newer middle-grade adventure fiction, although not so much at all the young adult mopey-dopey angst-ridden teeny-bop stuff), one thing that I really like about The Graveyard Book is that it is just one book. No hint of a series to come. The plot arcs completely within the book, and the reader is not left waiting for the next book in the series.

Gaiman has written a lot of stuff, and he is immensely talented. Comic book geeks know him for the Sandman series. Middle-grade readers know his book Coraline, that has been quite popular (both the original novel and the graphic novel version), especially as it is tied into the movie. As a side note, I was quite pleased to note that The Graveyard Book does not read like a novel written for the sole purpose of turning it into a graphic novel and a movie (although I have no doubt we’ll be seeing both down the road).

Gaiman is a British dude, so some of the ways he uses language reflects that. This lends a slightly creepy and old-fashioned air to the story (although it is clearly and completely set in the present). I read middle grade and young adult novels for my own enjoyment, so I am rarely concerned about violence or scariness or even just general creepiness. I’d say, despite the assassination scene, the scary underground tomb of ancient pagan earth worshipper kind of guys, the bad-guy-chases kids scenes, and the general fact that the book is set in a graveyard inhabited by ghosts, the book isn’t particularly scary. Would I let my 7-year old son read it? Sure, but he wouldn’t – he likes kids graphic novels, non-fiction, and formulaic goofy easy readers (can anyone say “Captain Underpants”?). The book appears to have been intended for a middle-grade audience (based on reviews, publicity information, etc.) but I’d say it’s probably more for kids about 10-12. And adults of course…

P.S. The illustrations are nice, and I like novels with illustration woven in. That said, if I were to buy this book for myself – which I probably will – I will get the Bloomsbury edition (the regular, not special edition) because it is illustrated by Chris Riddell, one of my favorite illustrators.

Like all heavily-publicized books, there’s a website:
http://www.thegraveyardbook.com/

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*A few good full reviews:
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/blog/1790000379/post/1970030997.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/15/books/review/Edinger-t.html

Below, you'll see some things I intend on including with every review. First, my custom content-o-meter, which gives you an at-a-glance view of what kind of fun is in store, and second is an Amazon link. I know it's a little cheesy, but hey, if any one of you was actually thinking of buying the book, why not just use this link? That way, I get 12 cents. Woo hoo!

Greetings!

I read a great deal of middle-grade and young adult fiction. Most of this would fall into what I call the "adventure" sub-genre of middle-grade fiction, but I also like pretty much anything that looks interesting. I am particularly fond of densely illustrated novels, glossy-covered series fiction,and graphic novels for kids, but I'll read pretty much anything.

My plan is to post reviews of everything I read that falls into the kid-lit category. I'll throw in some Amazon links, too, in case something strikes your fancy, also. I get most of my books from the public library, but every now and then I run across something I just have to own for myself!