Top Five, or Seven, or Three…

Top ten? Such a cliché. Here are lists of some of my favorite books in various genres. I’m not going to list big-name classics, though of course many of those books are high on my overall lists. For example, Charlotte’s Web is wonderful, but you all know that one, so I’ll give you slightly less famous fare or forgotten classics that are dear to my heart. They’re books you may have missed, but just might like very much. Because in between gardening and walking around with your umbrella in the almost-April rain, you know you're looking for a good book!

FANTASY

The Bronze King and two sequels by Suzy McKee Charnas

Crown Duel by Sherwood Smith (was Crown Duel/Court Duel)

Gom on Windy Mountain and three sequels by Grace Chetwin

The Nine Lives of Christopher Chant by Diana Wynne Jones

Grimbold’s Other World by Nicholas Stuart Gray

The Return of the Twelves by Pauline Clarke

The Search for Delicious by Natalie Babbitt

The Serial Garden by Joan Aiken

The Silver Curlew by Eleanor Farjeon

Taash and the Jesters by Ellen Kindt McKenzie

The Wicked Enchantment by Margot Benary-Isbert

SCIENCE FICTION

The Bromeliad Trilogy and the Johnny Maxwell Trilogy by Terry Pratchett

Citizen of the Galaxy by Robert A. Heinlein

The Dragonback series by Timothy Zahn (Dragon and Thief, etc., especially for preteen boys)

Fledgling and sequels by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller (see also the Liaden Universe series for adults)

The Silver Crown by Robert C. O’Brien

Starswarm by Jerry Pournelle

MYSTERY & ADVENTURE

Alabama Moon by Watt Key

Down the Rabbit Hole and sequels by Peter Abrahams (see also his teen mystery/thriller, Reality Check)

The Enola Holmes series by Nancy Springer

Minerva Clark Gets a Clue and two sequels by Karen Karbo

CONTEMPORARY & HISTORICAL FICTION

Casson Family books by Hilary McKay

The Flight of the Doves by Walter Macken

The Lark and the Laurel by Barbara Willard

No More Dead Dogs by Gordon Korman

Snow Treasure by Marie McSwigan

They Loved to Laugh by Kathryn Worth (an old-fashioned coming-of-age story with Quakers)

Thursday’s Children by Rumer Godden

PICTURE BOOKS

Beware of Boys by Tony Blundell

Dogger by Shirley Hughes

Elsie Piddock Skips in Her Sleep by Eleanor Farjeon, illustrated by Charlotte Voake

Julius the Baby of the World by Kevin Henkes

Little Rabbit Foo Foo, retold by Michael Rosen, illustrated by Arthur Robins

Not This Bear! by Bernice Myers

Suddenly! by Colin McNaughton

The Talking Eggs, retold by Robert D. San Souci, illustrated by Jerry Pinckney

Thea’s Tree by Alison Jackson, illustrated by Janet Pedersen

Trashy Town by Andrea Zimmerman and David Clemesha, illustrated by Dan Yaccarino (best for 3- and 4-year-old boys)

What! Cried Granny: An Almost Bedtime Story by Kate Lum, illustrated by Adrian Johnson

FOLKTALES & FAIRY TALES

“The Boy Who Read Aloud” by Joan Aiken, from Classic Fairy Tales to Read Aloud, ed. Naomi Lewis

Duffy and the Devil by Harve and Margot Zemach

Good Griselle by Jane Yolen, illustrated by David Christiana

The Language of Birds, retold by Rafe Martin, illustrated by Susan Gaber

Larky Mavis by Brock Cole

The Magic Fish-bone by Charles Dickens, illustrated by Robert Florczak

The Magic Nesting Doll by Jacqueline K. Ogburn, illustrated by Laurel Long

Mr. Semolina-Semolus, retold by Anthony L. Manna and Christodoula Mitakidou, illustrated by Giselle Potter

Tatterhood and Other Tales, ed. Ethel Johnston Phelps

POETRY

All the Small Things and Fourteen More by Valerie Worth, illustrated by Natalie Babbitt

Here’s a Little Poem: A Very First Book of Poetry, ed. Jane Yolen and Andrew Fusek Peters, illustrated by Polly Dunbar

 

Knock at a Star: A Child’s Introduction to Poetry by X.J. Kennedy and Dorothy Kennedy

Sing a Song of Popcorn: Every Child’s Book of Poems, ed. Beatrice Schenk de Regniers et al., illustrated by nine Caldecott Medal artists

A Spider Bought a Bicycle and Other Poems for Young Children, ed. Michael Rosen, illustrated by Inga Moore

Swing around the Sun and Words with Wrinkled Knees by Barbara Juster Esbensen

Tail Feathers from Mother Goose: The Opie Rhyme Book (Little, Brown), many different illustrators

Talking Like the Rain: A Read-to-Me Book of Poems, ed. X.J. Kennedy and Dorothy Kennedy, illustrated by Jane Dyer

Under the Moon and Over the Sea: A Collection of Caribbean Poems, ed. John Agard and Grace Nichols

PLUS A FEW YA FAVORITES

Changeover and Tricksters by Margaret Mahy

Dairy Queen and two sequels by Catherine Gilbert Murdock

Dash and Lily's Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan

Dragon's Bait and Magic Can Be Murder by Vivian Vande Velde

Hold Me Closer, Necromancer and sequel by Lish McBride

The King of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner (Book 3 in a series that must be read in order, starting with The Thief)

Northlander and The King Commands by Meg Burden

Rules of the Road by Joan Bauer

Soul Enchilada by David McInnis Gill

Thief's Covenant and False Covenant by Ari Marmell

Withering Tights by Louise Rennison

So Happy Spring! (And don't say you can't find anything to read.)

Middle Grade March

March is here and spring is springing, at least in my town, where the three feet of snow in the front yard has finally melted and the sun is shining. It's time for kites and daffodils and some good middle grade books!

Garden Princess by Kristin Kladstrup

Princess Adela is a girl after my own heart. Well, she’s more enthusiastic about weeding than I am, but she loves gardening, as I do. Actually, Adela lives and breathes gardening, which worries her well-meaning stepmother. How will the princess ever find a husband with all that dirt under her fingernails? Then Garth the handsome gardener’s boy gets an invitation to a garden party from the mysterious Lady Hortensia, and he asks Adela to come with him so that she can help him follow proper etiquette. Adela’s pretty stepsister Marguerite gets an invitation, too. Adela can’t wait to see Lady Hortensia’s famous gardens.

Then we see Lady Hortensia in her garden, accompanied by a talking magpie named Krazo. It won’t take long for readers to realize that the lady is up to no good. Her plans for her party guests threaten to be self-serving, and she seems to know some magic, besides.

Sure enough, when Adela gets to the party, she finds out that Lady Hortensia is an evil enchantress (think Circe). Now everyone but Adela is under a spell, and she sneaks around trying to figure out what to do. But her friends are gone or have turned against her, and she can’t hide out forever.

The book is not very long, and the prose is clear and friendly. Here is Adela’s description of part of Lady Hortensia’s garden before the princess figures out that something is very wrong. At this point, Adela is wondering how the woman can have spring, summer, and fall flowers at the same time.

How different Hortensia’s garden was from the gardens at home! The palace gardens had wide-open lawns and terraces—broad bands of colors and texture. But this garden felt closed in and secret, with surprises at every turn. The roses were astonishing. They were all different from one another: damasks, centifolias, china roses, tea roses, musk roses, and ramblers and scramblers that threw themselves up and over the walls. The roses can’t have been moved from a greenhouse, Adela decided. Hortensia must have been cultivating them in the ground for years.

Garden Princess is a fun story that reads like an adventurous fairy tale. And there is a rather sweet romance. Adela is a kind and determined heroine, with Krazo—not Garth—playing the role of sidekick. I found the first three fourths to be a bit better than the last fourth, but all in all the book is a cheery, fast-paced read, with a beautiful if ominously enchanted garden that seems just right for spring.

A Tangle of Knots by Lisa Graff

The world Graff creates is a lot like ours, except that many people have Talents—some great and some small. Cady has such a powerful gift for baking the perfect cake that she’s won the Sunshine Bakeoff every year since she was five. Cady lives in Miss Malory’s Home for Lost Girls, which is often practically empty because kindly Miss Malory has a Talent for finding orphans just the right homes. Miss Malory hasn’t been able to find the right home for Cady, but when a man named Toby shows up, it seems that will change.

Meanwhile, the Owner of the Lost Luggage Emporium is doing something uncanny to each of his customers and evidencing an unusual interest in a certain kind of powder blue suitcase. This will remind readers of the prologue, but what’s the connection?

At the same time, a girl named Marigold Asher tries and tries to find her Talent. She’s even jealous of her brother Zane, whose Talent is for spitting. We also encounter an old woman who has lost her memory and then the nurse who cares for her. We meet Marigold and Asher’s small brother Will, who apparently has a Talent for getting lost. Then there’s the man in the gray suit, who is more than a little magical and seems to be manipulating events.

All of these stories will touch each other. We learn at the end of Chapter 2 that six of the eight rooms above the Lost Luggage Emporium are for rent.

The Owner didn’t know it then, but in just one short week, all eight rooms would be filled. Some would be occupied by people with great Talents, others would not. One would house a thief, a person in possession of an object worth millions of dollars. Several would be inhabited by liars. But every last person would have something in common.
 In just one short week, every last one of them would have lost the thing they treasured most in the world.

Which, you've got to admit, is a pretty enticing statement! 

While the magical elements are well delineated, A Tangle of Knots reads more like magical realism than fantasy to me, that and a touch of Ray Bradbury. I am curious about the title. Certainly it speaks to the interconnectedness of people, especially the people in the book. But I’m not sure Graff wants to untangle the tangles or unknot the knots. I suspect she doesn’t even think that’s possible. Because don’t the knots hold people together even if life is often tangly? Graff’s book shows us that human kindness and connections are more important than talents or Talents. Her cast is fairly large, but she manages to imbue her characters with individual importance and nuance. A Tangle of Knots is a thoughtful new book for the magically minded middle grade reader.

The Girl from Felony Bay by J.E. Thompson (5/13)

Abbey Force used to live on a beautiful old plantation in South Carolina, but her father has been injured and is in a coma. He is also accused of being a thief and has lost everything. Now Abbey lives with her Uncle Charlie and his wife. They’re an awful pair, and Charlie seems to have betrayed Abbey’s father in some way.

Determined to clear her father’s name, Abbey finds an unexpected ally in a girl who moves into Abbey’s old home, Reward Plantation. Here the author makes an interesting choice: newcomer Bee is also a Force, and she is African American. It is possible that Bee’s ancestors used to be slaves to Abbey’s ancestors. And now Bee lives in the manor house while Abbey lives in a little old broken-down place. Bee has been badly injured in a car accident and now walks with a cane.

Other players in this tale are a bully named Jimmy Simmons and his father, a pugnacious sheriff’s deputy, and a black boy named Skoogie who lives with his grandmother and is often a target for Jimmy’s bullying. We also meet some lawyers who were partners with Abbey's father at his law firm. Will they help Abbey with her quest?

As Abbey tries to find out more about what happened to her father, she stirs up trouble and uncovers mysterious doings in a part of the plantation named Felony Bay. But—the land isn’t part of Reward Plantation anymore. Why not? As Abbey and her friends get closer to the truth, they find themselves in serious danger. Let’s just say alligators are involved. But eventually the mystery is solved and Abbey finds her answers.

The sections about Abbey’s father are poignant, but Thompson is wise enough to handle them matter-of-factly. Here Abbey is visiting her father, talking to him in hopes that he will hear her and wake up.

I really did get straight As, but I hadn’t told Daddy that I was no longer going to Miss Walker’s School for Girls, I also hadn’t told him that Reward Plantation had been sold or that Timmy [her pony] had been sold or that I was living with Uncle Charlie and Ruth and pretty much hated every minute of it. Daddy had always raised me to tell the truth, but there was no way I could tell him the truth about my life. I was afraid if I told him what it was really like, he might never want to wake up.
 I made up some happy stories about things I had done and places I had gone with old friends from Miss Walker’s, and when I couldn’t think of any more good lies to tell, I took out A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens and went to my bookmark and started to read from where I had stopped the last time.

The Girl from Felony Bay is a well-written adventure story, a nice blend of friendships, mysterious goings-on, and peril in the swamps, not to mention treasure hunting and treachery. A satisfying read for the middle grade crowd.

Note: Thanks to Walden Pond Press for a review copy of this book.

New Harry Potter Art

Just a tidbit thanks to Publisher's Weekly: new cover art for the Harry Potter series by Amulet author/illustrator Kazu Kibuishi. (See also my review of Kibuishi's book, Explorer: The Mystery Boxes, which was published last March.)

Here's the first cover, for Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. My immediate thoughts are that Hagrid is really the focus of this painting and that thanks to Hedwig, Harry looks like he has angel wings. Love the shadowy blue tone and the choice of Diagon Alley for the setting. What do you think?

November Quick Picks: Middle Grade Magic

Here where I live it snowed and snowed the last few days, making me want to quote Winnie the Pooh. And to give you a handful of very cool middle grade fantasy books to read inside while it’s snowing. Or even if it’s not wherever you are—good books are perfect for a snowstorm or for a blue-skied summer day!

The Cup and the Crown by Diane Stanley

I liked The Silver Bowl, so I was pleased to get my hands on the sequel. Intrepid maid-turned-noblewoman Molly, who helped Prince Alaric in the last book, is going to help the boy who is now King Alaric by tracking down a magical loving cup that he wants to give as a bridal gift to the far-away princess he is to wed. Molly has some magic, and she has seen the cup in her dreams. Now she and a few companions, including her best friend Tobias, set out to find the cup. She finds more, though—a hidden city where her lost relatives live, second and third cousins. This should be a good thing, but it turns out the city of Harrowsgode does not let anyone go who comes there. What’s more, when the city fathers find out about Molly’s magic, they decide to add her to their pack of magic-makers whether she likes it or not. Now she has to escape, save her friends, and solve the mystery of the cup all at the same time.

This is a well-paced, satisfying story, and you really don’t need to have read the first book to enjoy it. A couple of plot points test credulity, but the whole flows so nicely that I really don’t think you’ll mind. Molly is a heroine to cheer for, and the discoveries she makes in this book build both her character and the story Stanley clearly plans to keep telling. Besides, any book with a hidden city, a clever rat catcher, kites, and magic should capture your fancy!

First line: The great hall was much as she remembered it: the tapestries, the massive iron candle stands, the enormous fireplace, the great gilt screen behind the dais.

Visit the author's website and find out more about the next book, The Princess of Cortova.

In a Glass Grimmly by Adam Gidwitz

Last year Gidwitz’s book A Tale Dark & Grimm made quite a splash—and the splash was the sound of an ax falling into a pool of blood. His second book is just as good, as long as you like your fairy tales with that traditional ingredient, horror. This book has more humor than the first one, mostly because of a frog who acts as part comic relief and part conscience (or at least the voice of common sense), a la Jiminy Cricket. We meet a boy named Jack who tries too hard to please the village boys, and then his cousin, a princess named Jill who tries too hard to please her cold-hearted mother. Also the aforementioned frog. Then a scary old woman promises the two kids their hearts’ desires in return for fetching her a magic mirror. This is all after an episode straight out of “The Emperor’s New Clothes.” And so it goes, with giants, mermaids, goblins, an enormous salamander, and the terrible Others all making an appearance.

I don’t know if I just got used to it with the first book, but the intrusive narrator didn’t bother me this time around. I did find In a Glass Grimmly a little more contrived, a little more messagey: the wizard behind the curtain is showing a bit here. However, this one is a more cheerful read, and I liked following Jack and Jill around the grisly realm of fairy tales. (Never fear—they do fall down a hill at one point.) Anyway, even with all of the blood and guts Gidwitz throws in, young readers will know the whole time that these two kids are going to make it.

First line: Once upon a time, fairy tales were horrible.

Watch the funny, visually stunning book trailer.

The Great Unexpected by Sharon Creech

I’m trying to think how to explain this book, and I have to say it’s sort of a mix of Tuck Everlasting (the setting and tone), The Secret Garden crossed with A Little Princess (um, a different setting and tone that gets together with the first setting and tone and hangs out), and a dash of Jacob Have I Loved. Plus déjà vu. Naomi and her best friend Lizzie Scatterding live in a small American town with colorful characters like Crazy Cora, Witch Wiggins, and Mister Farley. Two strangers come to town, an elusive and appealing boy named Finn and an odd foreign man named Mr. Dingle. Meanwhile, an old woman named Mrs. Kavanagh and Miss Pilpenny across the ocean in Ireland are scheming to—well, it’s not clear what they’re scheming to do, exactly. But they’re the ones who sent Mr. Dingle to Blackbird Tree. As for Finn, he seems to have shown up by magic, and he may represent the quarrel that caused all the trouble for the two women in Ireland. Or he may be lost. Or magical. Or something. But Naomi gets jealous over Finn… and there are all these little statues of crows that seem to mean something. Not to mention a horrible fear of dogs.

This book is a strange jumble, but a likable one. Some parts of the plots are a little unclear, but I still liked The Great Unexpected. In fact, the way all these mysteries fit together is worth following. At the end, a few things are left floating in an Irish mist. But enough of it makes sense to leave readers happy. The book is perhaps more magical realism than flat-out fantasy—a whimsical, atmospheric story. As always, Sharon Creech knows how to tell a tale. And her language is just wonderful.

First line: If you have never had a body fall out of a tree and knock you over, let me tell you what a surprising thing that is.

Sharon Creech introduces the book in this video, reading from the beginning.

Goblin Secrets by William Alexander

This book is a National Book Award Finalist, and it’s got people talking. I’m always a bit dubious about that sort of thing. However, Goblin Secrets lives up to the hype—it’s beautifully told and has some wonderful world building, not to mention a nicely melodic theme of masks. Goblin Secrets is that rare creature, a steampunk novel for middle grade. Alexander’s genius is that he simply wraps the steampunk elements into the story, melding them so fluidly (or so clockworkedly) into the world he creates, which also has fantasy elements, that the whole thing feels complete and of a piece. So: Rownie is one of the children who lives with and serves a version of Baba Yaga—if the witch and her house had clockwork legs and chicken feet, respectively. In a city where the king won’t let anyone wear a mask and act in plays except maybe a troupe of goblins, Rownie’s older brother Rowan has gone missing. And he’s an actor. Rownie runs away from the witch Graba and joins the goblins, searching for his brother. Everything just gets more complicated from there, with plenty of magic, plotting, and a river threatening to flood.

I liked Rownie, and I liked this book. Alexander’s characters with their masks and secrets roam the fresh fantasy world he’s created like actors on a stage: the author has even titled the sections of his story Act I, Act II, etc. That stage is definitely one of Alexander’s strengths. The use of the clock tower and a train station are especially good. I highly and happily recommend Goblin Secrets.

First line: Rownie woke when Graba knocked on the ceiling from the other side.

Here's the author reading from the book. He seems really sweet!

Note: The book cover shown above is the older one. I like it better than the new one.

Update, 11-20-12: Don't take my word for it—Alexander just won the National Book Award for Young People's Literature for this book. And it's his first novel!

The Peculiar by Stefan Bachmann

More steampunk and deadly machinations, this time from a young writer named Stefan Bachmann. Like Alexander, Bachmann has a knack for world building. Mind you, I wanted to hold books like Eragon, also by a teen, against Bachmann, but to no avail. He's a very good storyteller. His alternate England includes hair-raising slums full of homely half-breed fairies, young changelings called Peculiars. Adults try to hide their Peculiar children from sight, and well they should: lately someone has been killing such children and throwing their bodies in the river with the insides missing. Yes, this is a dark world in many ways. It has a Privy Council that is being enthralled by an arrogant Sidhe lord incongruously named Lickerish. A young council member named Arthur Jelliby accidentally finds out about Mr. Lickerish’s diabolical plans and feels compelled to do something about them, albeit fussily. So does a young Peculiar named Bartholomew. Eventually the boy and the man team up. By then things are pretty dire since Bartholomew and his sister are at risk for being the next two bodies in the river. Certain problems are dealt with, but others remain, with a sequel obviously intended.

When I realized that this story included creepy Sidhe lords, I was afraid it would be predictable, but the author holds his own pretty well considering all those tropes about supercilious high elves. Bachmann blends the steampunk elements nicely into his tale, too, making The Peculiar another readable book for middle graders. Your child may find it a little too scary, but then, as Adam Gidwitz has pointed out, a lot of kids do like a horror element in their fantasy.

First line: Feathers fell from the sky.

Check out the book trailer. The author, who is now 18, composed the score for it because yeah, he's an underachiever. I actually like the intro trailer more because even though it doesn't have moving parts, the music includes the ticking of a clock, which makes it far more fitting as well as more intriguing to listen to.