The Prairie Thief

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by Melissa Wiley
ages: 8+
First sentence: “The Smirches took Louisa in when her Pa went to jail, but they weren’t happy about it.”
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It’s 1882 on the prairie (Kansas, most likely, since it mentions Topeka a few times), and Louisa Brody’s Pa has just been carted off to jail because several items belonging to their neighbors (the Smirches of the first sentence) have been found in a dugout belonging to the Brodys. The catch, though: the dugout hasn’t been used in years, but no one seems to believe them.

So, it’s up to Louisa to get to the bottom of this mystery. One that involves a smallish magical figure who was only pining for his wife who left him.

There’s really not much more to this little tale: it’s one of those delightfully written fairy stories, but that lacks a lot of substance. Sure, there’s the whole family angle: Louisa loves her Pa, and will do anything to keep him from getting hanged. But, more than that? Not really.

That’s not to say it’s not enjoyable: it is. Louisa’s a determined young girl, and the smallish magical figure is sufficiently adorably cranky. I’m going to probably order a couple for the store, because it’ll do well here in Wichita, with the Kansas angle.

But is it something that’s going to stick with me for a long time? Nope.

(Just for the record: because this is a Cybils nominee, I’ve been asked to make sure y’all know this is my opinion only, and not that of the panel.) 

The Seven Tales of Trinket

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by Shelley Moore Thomas
ages: 9+ (read-aloud 6+)
First sentence: “My father was a teller of tales.”
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Ever since her mother died, twelve-year-old Trinket has been on her own. Mostly: she has the pig boy Thomas to keep her company. And even though a kindly family offered to take her in, Trinket knew that her quest was to see the world, and to — hopefully, possibly — find her father who disappeared years before.

She and Thomas set off, and their adventures are told in a series of (this will come as no surprise) seven tales. It took me a little bit to get into the book, but by the second story I was hooked: the tales are retellings of Irish folk and fairy tales, and my Celtic-loving heart just ate that up.

The whole book is woven around the idea of storytelling, of bards and troubadours. The people and situations that Trinket and Thomas encounter are magical and mystical, and loosely tied together by her search to find her father.

In a wee bit of a spoiler (though, honestly: how could it have ended any other way?): Trinket does find her father. But he is not the same man who left the family all those years ago. There’s an underlying tale of forgiveness and love as well as the search for one’s purpose in life.

My only drawback on this one was the cover: it’s all shades of awful. Especially since these are the kind of tales that have universal appeal, it’s disappointing that this is the sort of cover that will turn boys off of this gem of a book. (Not that it needs to, mind you. It just will.)

Even so: I adored this one.

(Just for the record: because this is a Cybils nominee, I’ve been asked to make sure y’all know this is my opinion only, and not that of the panel.) 

Darkbeast

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by Morgan Keyes
ages: 10+
First sentence: “The Travelers arrived in Silver Hollow a week before my twelfth nameday.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Review copy provided by the publisher.

Keara (two syllables, not three) is the youngest of three daughters of a widowed mother, and lives in a small village in the center of the country Duodecia. Nothing much has happened to her: she’s grown up, working alongside her mother who was trying to teach her how to be a good wife, waiting for her 12th nameday so she can become a woman.

Except that means she’ll have to kill her darkbeast, friend, and companion, the raven Caw.

See, in the religion of this country, each child is assigned a darkbeast — an animal companion to stay with them, and help take away their faults, sins, and vices — at birth. They grow up with them, and are (generally) supposed to hate the chain, and want to be free of it.

But, come Keara’s nameday, she finds she can’t kill her best friend. She lets him free, and becomes one of the Lost, the people who go against the religion. Which means the Inquisitors are going to get involved. (Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition! Sorry. But, truthfully: it was kind of like that; one of my quibbles is that I felt Keyes was making some sort of commentary on religious extremists. But that may be me just reading things into it.) Which is something no one wants.

So, Keara goes on the run, joining with a group of Travelers — traveling actors — in order to hide from the Inquisitors. She finds a home there, and friends, including Vala and Goran. But, it’s also there that she finds out that life is not as simple as she was hoping it would be.

There was much to like about this one (as C, who read it first, was constantly telling me). I do have a soft spot for fantasy religions; I am always interested to see how the gods and goddesses fall out, how the religion is developed, and this one doesn’t disappoint in that regard. My quibbles (aside from the religious extremism one) fall on the characters: I didn’t like any of them. (Well, that’s not true: I liked Goran. But there wasn’t enough of him.) I felt Keara was a bit of a brat, and Vala was a bit too good to be true. It wasn’t until I was talking to C that I realized what Keyes did: she made a 12-year-old realistic. Especially one that’s a youngest child with two really accomplished older sisters.

Having realized that, I have a lot of respect for Darkbeast; it’s a solid coming of age novel, with some genuine conflict and heartfelt emotion.

(Just for the record: because this is a Cybils nominee, I’ve been asked to make sure y’all know this is my opinion only, and not that of the panel.)

The Raven Boys

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by Maggie Stiefvater
ages: 13+
First sentence: “Blue Sargent had forgotten how many times she’d been told that she would kill her true love.”
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It would be a lie to say I am a longtime fan of Maggie Stiefvater’s. I’m not. I made it through Shiver and Linger, but gave up on the wolves after that. Even after hearing her speak at KidlitCon 2010 I wasn’t all gungho about her writing. Then, I read The Scorpio Races, and my mind began to be changed. After this one, though, I have to admit: I’m a fan.

There’s just something eloquent in this book: it’s not that its prose is beautiful; I can’t thing of a single passage that stood out. But rather, Stiefvater is eloquent in her simplicity. There’s nothing outstanding about any of the characters individually, and yet as a whole they become remarkable.

The girl is Blue, the daughter of a psychic, who aspires to be “eccentric” but really is only “sensible.” She has been told since she was little that she would kill her true love with her kiss. Because of that, Blue has two rules: 1) don’t kiss anyone, and 2) don’t get involved with the Raven Boys. They’re the upper crust blue bloods that populate the pre-Ivy League boarding school in this small mountain Virginia town. Except rule number two changes after Blue gets involved with Gansey’s — one of those blue bloods with an affinity for a 1973 Camaro — quest to find a mysterious Welsh king he believes to be buried nearby. Gansey doesn’t come alone, but rather in a pack: there is Ronan, a hot-blooded Irish boy who has gone off the deep end since his father’s mysterious murder; Noah, who lurks around the outskirts of everything, but still is somehow part of it all; and Adam — the one Blue falls for — who has his pride and not much else. Their quest starts out innocently enough, but becomes increasingly darker as the book goes on. It’s this slow descent into the strange, supernatural, and eerie that kept me reading, not wanting to put it down.

It was pointed out in the YAckers that it’s a good gender-neutral book: the love bits aren’t all smushy, and the male characters are pretty amazing. As is everyone else.

I’m blathering. Just go read it (if you already haven’t).

The Prince Who Fell From the Sky

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by John Cladue Bemis
ages: 10+
First sentence: “The Forest was green with summer when the bear lumbered up from the creek bed where she had been cooling off.”
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I’ve read a lot of fantasy. Not as much as some, but definitely a lot. And so, especially this Cybils season, it takes something really unique to get my attention.

And, impressively, this one did.

I found myself marveling at the world that Bemis created; it’s one of the more unique ones that I’ve read.
in this distant future, the humans have disappeared (Died off? Destroyed? We never really find out), and the animals have basically taken over. Under the “leadership” of the Ogeema (he’s not very nice), the rest of the animals are managing okay. They have their clans — divided into predators and prey — and they basically have enough food. Our main character, a bear named Casseomae, is content. Until a pod crashes in Casseomae’s forest. Most of the Skinless Ones (her word for the humans) in it were killed, but a child survived. The coyotes want to kill the child, but Casseomae saves the child and adopts it as her own.

I should mention that even though the title says “prince” and the picture is of a boy, I never really felt like the child had a gender. Or that it was really of much importance to the story, which may bother some readers. But, I felt like it was the animals’ story more than it was the child’s. It’s the animals, after all, who are going on the journey and experiencing  hardships, and it’s their eyes that we see everything through.

Of course, Casseomae knows that in the forest the child, ‘s life is in danger. She she needs to take him someplace safer, someplace far away from the Ogeema’s domineering grasp. So, she takes the child out of the forest, heading toward a place called the Havenlands. Along the way, they meet a rat named Dumpster and a dog named Pang, talk to some vulture oracles.

If this is sounding a little weird, it’s because, well, it is. (Talking animals, in my opinion, are always a little weird.) And, truth be told: if it were told with humans, it would be your typical post-apocalyptic journey book, just a group of people running from an evil overlord, trying to make a new life for themselves.

But, with animals, it’s an amazing story. The way that Bemis writes about how the animals interact with the destroyed human world is completely fascinating. The rat, Dumpster, the Memory keeper (in other words: he knows all about humans and their stuff) for his mischief, helps the bear get along and make this perilous journey. And as they went along, I found myself time and time again being drawn into world — both familiar and strange — seeing through animal eyes. Additionally, Bemis wove together the classic animal stories — Watership Down and Jungle Book are two that come to mind — in with the post-apocalyptic setting, which gave what could have been a trite story added depth.

I do have to wonder about kid-appeal with this one, though: did I like this story so much just because of the world, or because, as a mother, I related to Casseomae’s fierce protective streak? Will kids actually wander through this world, and this adventure, and become as excited by it as I was?

I can only hope so.

(Just for the record: because this is a Cybils nominee, I’ve been asked to make sure y’all know this is my opinion only, and not that of the panel.)

Days of Blood & Starlight

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by Laini Taylor
ages: 14+
First sentence: “Prague, early May.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Others in the series: Daughter of Smoke and Bone

First off: if you haven’t read Daughter yet, you need to. Unlike other books, even though Taylor (thankfully) includes information to remind you of what went on in the first book, to really, fully understand what’s going on in this one, you have to have read the first. (Not that it’s a chore to do that.) (And you should probably do so before continuing on here because there will be spoilers.)

We last left Karou and her angel love Akiva, they weren’t on good terms. Karou discovered that she was formerly Madrigal — a chimera, an enemy to the seraphim — and that while she was Akiva’s lover, that didn’t end well. And Akiva didn’t bounce back happily; being the Beast’s Bane for the seraphim emperor, he waged war on the chimera, killing off everyone Karou loved.

That’s something you don’t forgive easily.

So, Karou has thrown herself in with the chimera, becoming the resurrectionist — the person who brings souls back to live in new bodies — for the rebellion army, headed up by the White Wolf, Thiago. Getting it out of the way here: there are some despicable male characters in this book. Horrible isn’t a strong enough word. And the things they do to innocent people are, well, contemptible. Taylor doesn’t hold back on the horrors of war, the terrible things power-hungry men (always men; though there’s a couple of — I’m running out of adjectives — loathsome women, too) will do to gain their power. And the pitiable state of their victims. It’s one of the reasons why this book is so dark and, as a result, so powerful.

Akiva, on the other hand, is trying to reconcile the horrible things he’s done with his feelings for Karou, searching for some way to get her forgiveness. He starts saving chimera from the angel attacks, which leads him — and by extension, his brother Hazael and sister Liraz — directly on a path of conflict with their father, the emperor Joram, and their uncle Jael.

I’ll leave the plot summary there, because there’s so much more going on. Zuzana and Mik show up (happily) and not everyone gets out of this one alive. It’s a trilogy, so don’t expect a conclusion — much like the first one, it comes to a stopping point, but there’s so much left unresolved, and so much happens in the last quarter that I’m anxious for the next one. (A year is so long to wait!)

But, I do have to  mention this: as far as second in a series books go, this one is phenomenal. Taylor’s such a gifted writer and storyteller, that she was able to take a middle book that’s mostly about revenge and war and make it into something grander. Every character was fully dimensional — even the horrid ones — and I was fully invested, emotionally as well as intellectually, in where the story was going.

I’m starting to think, however, that I’m going to be sad when this series ends. It really is that good.

The Icarus Project

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by Laura Quimby
ages: 11+
First sentence: “The computer screen glowed in my dark bedroom like a moon.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Review copy provided by the publisher.

Maya is the daughter of two scientists: an archeologist mother, who is off at a site in Brazil; and a paleontologist father, whose specialty is wooly mammoths. Is it any wonder that Maya dreams of making a big scientific discovery of her own?

She has her chance when she’s allowed to go with her father on a dig — an eco-tourist company found some mammoth tusks in the Arctic ice, and have called in her father to supervise the dig.  Except, once they get there, they discover that the mammoth part was a hoax. What  they discovered was much, much more important.

Hmmm… should I tell you what they discover? I’m not sure, partially because I’m not really sure what it WAS that they discovered. It was a boy, yes (shades of Encino Man there) but it was also something… More.

I liked this one, partially for the science-y elements. Maya was really into research and science and discovery, and blending that with a bit of mystery worked quite well. Of course there was a sidekick in the son of another dig member, but thankfully that never really blossomed into a romance. *whew* It was a straight-forward Arctic dig book before it took a left turn into the mystical about halfway through. To be honest, even though it was kind of hokey, I didn’t really mind it. The whole There Is Something Out There (the Truth?) thing worked for me. And while it was probably highly implausible that Maya could pull off what she did in the end, by that point I was willing to go along with anything.

Granted, I may be alone here. But, I thought it was an enjoyable story.

(Just for the record: because this is a Cybils nominee, I’ve been asked to make sure y’all know this is my opinion only, and not that of the panel.) 

The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There

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by Catherynee M. Valente
age: 11+, good for read aloud 7+
First sentence: “Once upon a time, a girl named September had a secret.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Others in the series: The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making

September is pining. Pining for Fairyland, for her adventures there because (and don’t we all know this) Real Life is So Boring. Then on her 13th birthday, she finds a way back… except it’s all Changed. Her shadow has become the Hallow Queen of the Fairyland Below, and is taking (well, encouraging strongly) all the shadows of Fairyland away to have their own party, to be free of doing Everything Their Person/Thing/Being does. Which, interestingly enough, means that the magic in Fairyland is fading. It’s up to September to convince — somehow — her shadow to give up her reign. Even if it means going to the very bottom of the world to wake up the Sleeping Prince.

In many ways, I knew what I was getting reading this one: it has the same tone, the same spirit, as the first one did. (Which, by the way, you don’t really *need* to read. This is a sequel, but it’s also a completely separate story.) But, in other ways, this one was… more than the first one. There was a darkness to it that I liked, and a maturity, too.  September isn’t the flighty thing she was in the first book; she has Responsibilities, and there are Consequences. And the humor isn’t as prevalent (read: I didn’t smile as much as I did the first time around). Which means, I’m not sure K (who mostly enjoyed hearing the first one read to her) would get it. On the other hand, nearly 13-year-old C would.

In all, it’s a solid second book. And it makes me wonder if September will have any more adventures. If she does, I’ll be sure to read them.

(Just for the record: because this is a Cybils nominee, I’ve been asked to make sure y’all know this is my opinion only, and not that of the panel.)

10 Questions for Ted Goeglein

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Last year at about this time, I was ready to let my 10 Questions For feature die. It had been fun, but with a new job and all the other responsibilities in my life, I really didn’t have time to hunt down authors and think up questions.

But, then Ted came to town. (And I should have gotten a picture. *sigh*)

My boss at the store asked me to bring my daughters to the event, and Ted even tweeted me about it, so I figured why not. And I was SO glad we did. It was a fabulous night; he’s an interesting, engaging man, and completely won both me and my girls over. I knew I had to share his fabulousness with you all.

Which brings me to my eating crow moment: both M and C read Cold Fury, and they both LOVED it. So, I was wrong. I’m not too proud to admit it.

Following the interview is a contest: a giveaway for the ARC of the next in the series,Flicker & Burn. I’ll leave the contest open until the 21st.

MF: I’ve been wondering this: how on earth do you pronounce your last name?
TG: Ha! The question I get most often! It’s T-e-d, just like it sounds…kidding…Goeglein is pronounced Gahg-line. That the best I can do.

MF: How did you come up with the idea for Sarah Jane’s story?
TG: It was a combination of many factors, but the main one was just living in Chicago and being always aware that the Outfit was out there, operating in the shadows. It’s such a male-centric organization, I just thought it would be cool to see what happened when a smart, tough, determined young woman infiltrated it.

MF: But, if you’re Greek, and the Outfit is mostly Greek, why did you decide to make Sarah Jane Italian?
TG: The Outfit is an equal opportunity crime organization (except for the inclusion of women, until Sara Jane) – all ethnicities are welcome as, long as they make money. But historically, people of Italian ancestry populated the top strata of the Outfit.

MF: Did you run into any obstacles writing a story where the female main character acts in a less-than-“girly” way?TG: Absolutely. There were people (unnamed) reading the book during the writing process who kept wondering when a man was going to step in and save Sara Jane. Um, like… never.

MF: And my girls, at least, appreciated that! My main issue with the book was the huge backstory at the beginning. Why did you choose to write it that way?TG: I looked at the trilogy as one long story, of course, and felt that for readers of a certain age, the mechanisms of organized crime needed to be explained upfront so that when the plot began to fully unfold, they could put it all in context. So far, the feedback from young readers is that they enjoy the backstory since by and large, they have little conception of how organized crime began or what it is now.

MF: And you were right: both my girls who read the book appreciated knowing the backstory, and weren’t bored by it at all! I know this is an unfair question, but do you have a favorite character or scene?TG: Oh yeah…Sara Jane, and every scene where she kicks the ass of a bad guy who really, really deserves it.

MF: You were a script doctor before turning to novels. Why did you decide to make the switch? How is writing novels different from script writing? (Or is it?)TG: Script doctoring is fun and exciting, but it’s also piecemeal work, sort of like contributing to the construction of a Frankenstein monster…you get to work on the ears and a thumb, but the entire creation is never yours. Writing novels is different in the sense that the whole monster is yours!

MF: Did you set out to write for a YA audience, or did it “just” happen?
TG: Definitely a ‘happen,’ and I couldn’t be more pleased since young readers are the smartest and most discerning group of people to pick up a book. They tell you exactly what they love, hate, and why.

MF: What’s the best book you’ve read? (Most recently, or all-time. Your choice.)
TG: Have you ever heard of a little gem called Cold Fury? Seriously, for me, it always circles back to Catcher in the Rye for YA. I also loved Cloud Atlas…I gave it everyone I know. For short stories, I love Katherine Anne Porter.

MF: If you don’t mind telling us, what are you working on next?
TG: I just completed the third Cold Fury novel and am moving on to an idea I have for a new trilogy about…something I can’t tell you! Sorry…certain people would kill me!

AND now for the contest (sponsored by Putnam; open to US residents only):

A super special, two-for-one cover reveal…Cold Fury, by T.M. Goeglein, has been redesigned, as well as the second installment in the Cold Fury trilogy…Flicker & Burn!

Cold Fury in paperback will be released in June 2013…and Flicker & Burn comes roaring onto the scene in August 2013! 

The thrill ride that began in Cold Fury kicks into high gear in Flicker & Burn, as the threats to Sara Jane Rispoli come at her from all directions. She continues the desperate search for her missing family, but this time she’s on the run from creepy beings with red, pulsing eyes and ghostly white skin chasing her through the streets of Chicago in black ice cream trucks – they can only be described as Ice Cream Creatures. They’re skeletal and ferocious, hell-bent on catching or killing her, but also a weird link to her family, a clue to where they might be and who has them.

While Sara Jane battles these new pursuers, she learns painful lessons about the phenomenon that possesses her, cold fury. At the same time, she’s uncovering buried secrets about the misdeeds of her family – old murders and blood vendettas – that might be connected to the disappearance of her mom, dad, and brother. The mysteries, violence, and constant state of chasing or being chased could be the undoing of her relationship with handsome Max Kissberg. Despite the love growing between them, Sara Jane can’t tell him the truth about her life, and fears for his safety.

Not only do the Ice Cream Creatures display the grisly amputated finger of her mom to prove their viciousness, and not only does Lucky, the Outfit Boss of Bosses, whistle in Sara Jane for a sit-down with deadly consequences, but her gorgeous cousin, Heather Richards, enters the scene, as well. All that matters to Sara Jane is saving her family and keeping everyone she loves alive and safe. But the forces she encounters, both external and the ones crackling inside of her, fight her every step of the way.

Now’s your chance…win an ARC of Flicker & Burn as soon as it’s available!

The Cabinet of Earths

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by Anne Nesbet
ages: 10+
First sentence: “It was his own grandmother who fed Henri-Pierre to the Cabinet of Earths, long ago when he was only four.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!

Maya does not want to move to Paris. (Poor girl.) But, her mother has just made a spectacular recovery (mostly) from her battle with cancer, and she wants to live in Paris, so they go. After all, who is going to say no to the sick mom?

But when Maya and her family — mom, dad, little brother James — get to Paris, weird things start happening. First off, their cousin — well, she’s more like a great-aunt — Louise is mostly, well, not there. Invisible. And kids disappear from their neighborhood. Their cousin-uncle Henri is quite friendly, though is house is weird, and he’s got those creepy purple eyes. Not to mention the Dauphin at school and his unusually (read: creepy) young parents.

And then there’s the Cabinet of Earths. It holds the sands of time… literally. For whomever has their sands in the bottle, they will be immortal. And Maya has been chosen as the next Keeper.

It sounds ominous, and it is. But, a good kind of ominous. Creepy-cool ominous.

Which is one of the things I really liked about this one. There’s this aura of danger throughout, and Maya is dealing with things that no one else can see. Thankfully, she has Valko (whom I liked, even though I thought he was almost completely unnecessary, but a girl needs a sidekick, right?) who believes that what she’s seeing is Real. That, and Cousin Louise, who is really quite awesome.

The other really cool thing about this one (aside from Paris, which gets bonus points for just being there), is that Nesbet mixes science in with the magic and the supernatural. I’ve heard it said that magic is only things that science hasn’t proved yet, and Nesbet takes that literally. Not only is Maya’s dad scientist, Nesbit mixes in the beginning of chemistry with the magical history, weaving the science and magic together. I haven’t seen that before (maybe I ought to get out more?) and I thought it worked quite well.

I also liked that even thought there’s room for a sequel at the end, the book basically stands alone. And in this Cybils season, where I’m reading second, third, and fifth books in a series out of order, I thoroughly appreciate a stand-alone as a breath of fresh air.

In short: an excellent debut. I’ll be looking forward to seeing what Nesbit offers up next.

(Just for the record: because this is a Cybils nominee, I’ve been asked to make sure y’all know this is my opinion only, and not that of the panel.)