Two YA Fantasy Mini-Reviews

Across the Great Barrier by Patricia Wrede

In 2009, I reviewed Book 1 in Wrede's Frontier Magic series, Thirteenth Child. I thought it was very good, especially the idea of adding magic to the settling of the West. But the book's strengths were sometimes overlooked because of a controversy: Wrede did not include Native Americans in her alternate history, and she caught a lot of grief for it. (We can assume, however, that she would have caught a whole different batch of grief for her portrayal of them had she left them in.) I read one of the later interviews with this author during the book promotion period, and she was so fed up with the whole thing that when she was asked if she wanted to talk about it, she replied tersely, "No."

Anyhoo, here's Book 2! Across the Great Barrier doesn't have quite the same sense of emotional tension that characterized the first book, but it is nevertheless a good story. As the book begins, Eff is no longer being persecuted for being a thirteenth child; in fact, she has become something of a hero, which is surprisingly hard on her golden boy twin brother, Lan.

Perhaps that explains why he does something at school that causes all kinds of trouble. Lan also fails to understand why his sister is more interested in studying Aphrikan magic than Avrupan (British/European) magic. As for Eff, she is focused on why she has so much difficulty mastering simple, useful spells. But it is only when Eff goes across the Great Barrier into the wilderness with a research team that she discovers true danger and learns how to handle herself in unexpected situations.

The odd thing about this series is that it has no human villain to contend with—instead, Eff and her friends and family must deal with the strange magical creatures and other, more ordinary threats that lie in the untamed lands of the West. For this reason, I suspect the Frontier Magic books will have more appeal to serious fantasy fans than to those who like their good and evil served up in the form of fluffy unicorns and black-cloaked villains.


Texas Gothic by Rosemary Clement-Moore

A few years ago, I reviewed Book 3 in the Maggie Quinn: Girl vs. Evil series, Highway to Hell. Clement-Moore gives us a new character in this series starter, Texas Gothic. Amy Goodnight is a member of a family of witches, but she tries really hard to be normal. However, when her aunt leaves her in charge of her aunt's ranch, together with her witchy mad scientist sister, Phin, Amy gets a lot more magic than she bargained for. It seems the ranch is haunted, and not by Casper the Friendly Ghost, either.

On top of everything else, a teenage cowboy from the ranch next door is exasperatingly cute and inclined to pick a fight. He doesn't like the fact that Amy's aunt won't give his family an easement in order to build a much-needed bridge. Then there's the archaeological dig happening over on Ben's father's ranch. Of course, you would expect some girl-clashes-with-boy trouble after this little meet cute: Ben's cow attacks Amy's car, and Amy comes running out in her underwear to rescue it. Naturally, they quarrel, whereupon Ben dubs her Underwear Girl. But Ben and Amy will have to get past their initial hostility if they want to combat evils ancient and modern...

The nice thing about this author's books is that they have the kind of lighthearted verve you would expect from a Meg Cabot, yet they have a flair of their own and some clever paranormal plotting that's a decent four or five steps up from the Scooby Doo mysteries. Furthermore, how can you not like a ghost-hunting girl who drives a Mini Cooper and nicknames it Stella?

Note for Worried Parents: Texas Gothic is a book for teens. Yet other than the abovementioned underwear encounter and a little kissing much later in the book, there's nothing of major concern. Oh, there are ghosts and some peril. We've definitely got peril!

A Review of The Extraordinary Secrets of April, May & June by Robin Benway

When they were little girls, sisters April, May, and June had magical powers. But since people aren't supposed to have magical powers, they blocked their gifts out and forgot about them. Until now, when life has thrown them a curveball in the form of their parents' separation and a move to a not-always-friendly new high school.

I think my favorite thing about this book is the way the girls hassle each other using their powers—and attempt to protect themselves against each other's capabilities. Oldest child April can see the future, May can disappear, and June can read minds. This author makes the very wise choice of letting the sisters take turns narrating the story, which has the added benefit of demonstrating the pros and cons of each girl's gift.

Even more interesting is the way Benway envisions each girl using her power. April goes around trying to save the world from its destiny, being a bossy, strung-too-tight eldest sister. May, who's kind of anti-social, uses her invisibility gift to hide from people. And June—ah, June. This freshman clotheshorse is definitely the author's most obnoxious and smile-worthy creation. When she realizes she can read people's minds, June listens in on their thoughts at school to see what they think of her outfits. And uses various bits of information she gleans to manipulate the popular girl of her choice into becoming her friend. It's all very conniving, but then, it makes sense for someone June's age, with her priorities.

Unfortunately, April sees a vision of a car accident in their future right about when June starts hanging out with a bad crowd. So April starts using her gift and plain old guesswork to try to prevent the vision she's seen, fearful of losing her sister. What she actually ends up doing is making June feel really hostile and take evasive action. May ends up caught in the middle.

Meanwhile, each sister is getting to know a boy. April keeps seeing locker buddy Julian as a distraction from her mission to save her sisters, then uses him for the mission, not admitting to herself that she's started to fall for him. May develops a love-hate relationship with her new history tutor, Henry. And then—well, okay, not so much June. Her platonic crush is on Mariah, her newly acquired, edgy/cool/depressed friend. It's fun to read June's chapters and realize that she's not nearly as starry-eyed about the party scene as she lets her sisters think.

Did I mention that all three girls look after each other using their powers? (This despite the fact that they're not speaking to each other for part of the book!) Here's an example showing that even vain little June loves her sisters. Having finished manipulating the popular girl, June heads for the girls' bathroom because May's hiding out in there being miserable:

I watched as she went over to the sink and started to wash her hands. Not the worst idea, that was for sure. "I heard you," I said. "You were, like, all yell-y in your brain, so I came to save you. Too bad my cape's at the drycleaner's; I would have gotten here faster."
Superhero humor: It never gets old.
"Oh yeah?" May splashed cold water on her face. She wasn't even listening to me, I could tell, and she looked a little bit like this deer we once saw in our backyard, all knobby knees, shaky limbs, and big eyes.
"Yeah," I replied. "So who's Henry?"

This author has a clever teen voice (all three of them!), and her book has heart. The ending's a little soap opera-ish, but it's also such a nice affirmation of the love between these three sisters that I think you'll find yourself saying, "Aww." And liking The Extraordinary Secrets of April, May & June very much.

Note for Worried Parents: This is a book for teens, so it's about high school concerns like dating and there are a few oblique references to sex, also (in a fairly negative way) some drinking. But it is pretty wholesome overall, and its focus on three sisters' struggles to stand by each other makes it a hopeful read.

A Review of The Shadow by Donna Diamond

I've been watching with interest the rise of the paranormal in YA and its trickle down into middle grade fiction and picture books. Yes, the Twilight effect, like its predecessor the Hogwarts effect, is a powerful thing!

But so far, most of the creepy supernatural stuff has hit intermediate books rather than picture books. The horror picture books we've seen are mostly funny, though Bobbi Katz and Adam McCauley's The Monsterologist: A Memoir in Rhyme and Ryan Heshka's ABC Spookshow and just-published Welcome to Monster Town might be a tad darker, if only because of the illustrations.

None of them have been as scary, or as subtle, as The Shadow, a new picture book from illustrator and fine artist Donna Diamond.

I'll give you the product description first so you can see how the publisher is presenting the book:

A young girl confronts her fears in an eerie, wordless picture book featuring stunning, hyper-realistic illustrations. It’s an ordinary afternoon. A child comes home, heads upstairs, and sprawls on the floor to do some drawing under the watchful eyes of a pair of favorite dolls. But there’s another character in this wordless story: the shadow, unnoticed at first, then slowly creeping into her field of view. It’s a terrifying sight. Will the girl cower, or will she take on this shadow and tell it who’s boss? And where will the shadow go from there? With mesmerizing intensity, this dreamlike story tells an unflinching tale about recognizing and staring down one’s fears—if only for a time.

And this is from Donna Diamond's website: "The Shadow is a suite of seventeen paintings that tell a story. The pictorial narrative creates a psychological drama about fear, how it grows in the dark, and takes on a life of its own."

In these beautiful paintings of a girl going upstairs and playing in her room, you will probably notice the child's shadow before she does. It doesn't match. It is a Halloween shadow with two spaces for eyes. (Look closely at the shadow to the girl's left in the cover image above.) At first it just follows the girl, like an ordinary shadow. But up in her room, it looms over her threateningly.

Finally the girl, who appears to be about seven years old, sees the shadow and responds. After her initial shock, she gets tough and subdues the shadow, which is rather heartening. She even drives it away—or does she? As she goes to sleep, we discover that the shadow has secreted itself in a traditional shadowy spot, where it continues to lurk.

The Shadow is a really gorgeous book, and it's like nothing else out there. My only question is, who is it for? Although I can see having a conversation with a child about the shadow as a symbol for fear, I'm thinking kids aren't much for symbolism till they're a bit older than the target audience, perhaps even in middle school.

Much as I appreciate the way the child defeats the shadow, Diamond goes with a horror-movie ending—the shadow, like Freddie Krueger or Jason, is still there, waiting for another chance at our young hero.

Sorry to say, I can see this book giving first graders nightmares. The very realism of the paintings makes this book's terrors more believable than those illustrated in more cartoon-like or stylized picture books.

I will add that the fact that The Shadow is wordless completely suits the story, but again skews the audience a bit younger than might be sensible. (Interestingly, while Candlewick lists the book for ages 5-8, Amazon lists it for 9-12.)

My recommendation would be, if your 6- to 8-year-old blithely watches horror movies and reads the Goosebumps series with gusto, look for this book. If your kid is the sensitive type, maybe not.

But you might enjoy taking a look. Donna Diamond's The Shadow is unique—and chillingly lovely.

Note: Check out the website Kinderscares for more scary books for young readers, including some picture books.

P.S. Aha! I've thought of another sincerely scary picture book: poet Eve Merriam's Halloween ABC or (retitled) Spooky ABC, illustrated by Lane Smith. Beautiful poems, but truly creep-worthy. The book is often recommended for older kids and has even been banned on occasion. (Let's all shiver in unison!)