The Dragonfly Pool

Author: Eva Ibbotson

Publisher: Macmillan Children's Books

Publication Year: 2008

Most of the readers will be: Late elementary and middle school girls.

Reader's advisory: For a more advanced book that takes a look at another aspect of World War II try Code Talker: a novel about the Navajo Marines of World War Two by Joseph Bruchac.

Summary:
Fearing that London will soon be bombed by the Germans, Tally's father sends her to a boarding school in rural Devon. Tally doesn't want to live away from her father and aunts and he doesn't make enough to pay tuition, but Tally has been offered a scholarship.
Tally learns all about boarding school from her rich cousins who have been going for years. She thinks she understands about the uniforms and dorm parties, only to find, upon arriving at Delderton, that there are no uniforms and every student has their own room. This school is quite unique.
Tally grows to like Delderton very much and her friends think so highly of her that they allow her to talk them into preparing a folk dance for a festival they have been invited to in Bergania. Bergania has been standing up to Germany and Tally believes Delderton should show their support of the small nation. But things get complicated while they are there. The king of Bergania is killed and the Deldertonions sneak his son, Karil, out of the country.
Tally has done her part to save Karil's life, but can she save his spirit? He has been forced to live with his grandfather in London and act like a prince should. But he wants to be with his friends in Delderton. He wants to choose his own future.

My favorite passage:

Daley folded up the letter and looked round at the meeting.
'It's quite an honour to be asked. As I say, I shall of course turn it down but-'
'Why?'
The clear voice carried to all parts of the hall. Julia grasped her friend's arm, trying to quieten her but without success. The peppermint disappeared down Tally's throat.
'Why?' she said again. 'Why would you refuse?'
She had forgotten that she was not going to speak again. One word had leaped out at her from the letter that Daley read.
'Bergania' - it was more than two weeks since she had seen the travelogue, yet she found she could remember the film in detail. She could see the snowy mountain range with the central jagged peak, and the fir trees running up the slope towards them. She could see the river and the spire of the church where St Aurelia was buried, and the palace. She could see the proud king on his horse and, as clearly as if she was there, the young prince in his troublesome helmet trying to blow the plumes out of his eyes.
'Why can't we send anybody?' said Tally yet again. 'The King of Bergania is very brave; he said no to Hitler.'
'Because,' said the headmaster patiently, 'we have never done folk dancing here at Delderton and it is less than a month till the festival. And there are other reasons.'
'Just because we've never done it doesn't mean we can't do it. There's probably a book about it; there's a book about everything. It must be very difficult to stand up to Hitler. It wasn't just that he said no about letting the troops go through his country, but he also won't let Hitler dig up minerals in his mountains to use for armaments. And I know people like Tod think there should be kings, but if there are and they're brave and resolute then surely we should show them that we're on their side.'
'I don't see how it would help the Berganians if we went and did folk dancing all over them,' said one of the senior girls, 'especially when we haven't any idea how to do it.'
'It's to do with just being there,' said Tally. 'They invited us so they must want us to come, and refusing would be a snub.'
She looked round the room for support but no one seemed ready to back her up. Even her own friends were silent.
'Folk dancing's silly,' said a boy with huge spectacles. 'People wind ribbons round a pole and get tangled up.'
'Or they wear idiotic clothes - trousers with bells on them and bobbles on their hats,' said Ronald Peabody.
'Only sissies do folk dancing,' came Verity's disdainful voice.
'Really?' The deep voice came from the back of the hall. Matteo had appeared to be asleep. 'You surprise me.' He uncoiled himself and moved forward to the centre of the room, and the children made way for him. 'You surprise me very much.'
Everybody fell silent, watching him as he turned and faced the meeting.
'You might of course call the Falanian Indians sissy. Certainly they do a folk dance before they dismember their enemies and nail them to trees. There are even bells - or rather gongs - involved, though not, if I recall, ribbons. It takes an Indian child five years to learn the steps, and they are not allowed to take part in it till they can crunch up the skull of a jaguar with their bare hands.
'And there are the leopard hunters of Nepal. They do a folk dance to prepare themselves for the chase, which includes leaping over pits of burning cinders with a firebrand in their mouth. The steps go something like this.'
And without any warning Matteo leaped high into the air, seemed almost to hang there and came down with a blood-curdling howl almost on top of David Prosser, who stepped back with an agitated squeak.
'I could give you more examples,' said Matteo, 'but I just wanted to make the point that whatever folk dancing is, it's not sissy.' (pg. 91-94)

What I really think:
I thought this book was delightful once I got into it. There is some history, some adventure, a spunky heroine.
The only thing I didn't like was the cover. It put me off and was one of the reasons it took me a little while to feel interested in the book. It is overly girly (especially the curly lettering) and gives the book a younger feel to it. There are several strong male characters in the book and it isn't for children who are new readers. Looking on the back flap I saw that at least two of the author's other books have very similar covers. Unfortunate.

Blood Red Snow White

Author: Marcus Sedgwick

Publisher: Orion Children's Books

Publication Year: 2007

Most of the readers will be: High school girls and boys.

Reader's advisory: For another book on Russia and British spies try Phoning a Dead Man by Gillian Cross.

Summary:
Arthur Ransome has fled to Russia to get away from his unhappy wife. He is a journalist reporting to the British people on Russia's war with Germany (Britain is at war with Germany, too) and later on the Russian revolution. Arthur wants to spend his time working on his books of Russian fairy tales and maybe visiting his girlfriend, Evgenia. But things are complicated.
Evgenia is Trotsky's secretary. And the British government wants to put the Tsar back in power. The Bolsheviks and the English would both love to use Arthur for their own ends. Can Arthur manouver his way through this difficult situation and create a fairy tale ending for himself and Evgenia?

My favorite passage:

Now, only a few trees ahead of him in the forest, stood two men deep in conversation. One was a Russian, the other a Jew, and they were firm friends, though they spent much of their time arguing.
They would argue about all sorts of things, but each would listen politely to what the other had to say. First, the Jew, whose name was Lev, would argue that the people of Russia should be its true masters, and while he did, the Russian, whose name was Vladimir, would stroke his small and excellent beard. Then they would swap, and Vladimir would argue that while what Lev had to say was true, they should not forget that people needed guidance from enlightened minds. And Lev would stroke his own small and excellent beard.
Then they'd each light a pipe, and have a good long smoke, while they thought what to argue about next. (pg 46)

What I really think:
I didn't look at this book very closely when I picked it up and expected it to be some kind of fairly tale adaptation. I was very surprised to discover that it was a historical fiction novel about the Russion revolution. But, I actually really enjoyed it. Sedwick masterfully weaves a fairy tale feel into the novel and has shed light on the real life of a man who went to Russia to write and was finally convinced to be a spy.

Sweethearts

Author: Sara Zarr

Publisher: Little, Brown and Company

Publication Year: 2008

Most of the readers will be: Middle school and high school girls.

Reader's Advisory: For another book on a girl struggling with weight issues try Erin Dionne's Models Don't Eat Chocolate Cookies.

Summary:
Jennifer Harris had a difficult childhood. She was mocked for being overweight, her mother was rarely home since she was working and going to nursing school, and she had only one friend. But Cameron Quick was such a good friend that the bad stuff almost didn't matter. Cameron made her life bearable. Then one day Cameron disappeared and the kids at school told Jennifer that he was dead. Her mother didn't deny it, so that is what she has believed all these years.
A lot has changed since then. Jennifer Harris is now Jenna Vaughn. Her mother is remarried and working as a nurse. They live in a nice house and Jenna goes to a new school. She has friends and a boyfriend. And she's not overweight anymore.
What will happen to Jenna when a very much alive Cameron Quick steps back into her life?

My favorite passage:

Right before the summer between second and third grade I was in the back of my mom's brown Geo Prism, which was parked in front of the ugly building where we rented a one-bedroom apartment. Mom had gone inside to trade her Village Inn uniform for her nursing school scrubs before taking me to the babysitter. I remember that I had a library book about possums and I liked the way they walked on mossy logs and peered out from holes in trees and how their paws looked like little human hands. I tried saying it without a lisp. Possum, I whispered, putting my tongue behind my teeth the way I'd learned in speech therapy. Mossy possum paws. I'd be ready next time Jordana pointed to Sam Simpson and said, "Who's that, Fattifer? I can't remember his name." She made me nervouse, and it came out Tham Thimthon no matter how much I'd practice at home.
I didn't want to think about Jordana, so I opened my lunch box where I knew there was a plastic bag half full of crackers that I'd taken from a first-grader's lunch when she wasn't looking. Stealing food was a bad habit, more of a compusion really, and not only did I want a snack but also I needed to destroy the evidence, a process I enjoyed: holding the crackers in my mouth and feeling the hard, salty crunchiness dissolve into a slightly sweet mush. When I reached in my lunch box to get them, I found a small white cardboard box that I knew for a fact had not been there at lunch.
I slipped the lid off the box and lifted up a small square of cotton to see a ring with a silvery band and sparkly blue stone. Underneath the ring was a piece of paper that had been folded, folded, folded, and folded again to fit the box. I opened it. It was a drawing of a house with a fence around it, and a tree. Pencil-line rays from a round sun beamed down on two stick figures holding hands. Beneath the picture in a messy second-grade scrawl, it read:
To Jennifer,
I love you.
From Cameron Quick.
My mom got back in the car then, tossing her books onto the passenger seat and slamming the door. I watched her eyes in the rearview mirror as she asked, "Whatcha got there, kiddo?"
I closed my hand around the ring. "Nothing." (pg 6-7)

What I really think:
It took me a few chapters to get into this book, but then I was really hooked. I think that most of us have vivid memories of people and events from our childhood that in some way have shaped our lives. And as a teenager, when you are trying to decide what kind of adult you are going to be, you can wonder what to do with the feelings you have about your childhood self.
I like the way Zarr deals with Jenna's eating problems. The descriptions of how much she likes food are so convincing I started thinking more about how food tastes and feels myself. I began to really understand the comfort Jenna gets from eating. But when Jenna isn't eating for comfort she does try to stay thin in a reasonably healthy way: eating small portions of good food and exercising. I'm glad she has found a way to be happier with herself without going to the other extreme and not eating.

The Traitor Game

Author: B. R. Collins

Publisher: Bloomsbury

Publication Year: 2008

Most of the readers will be: Late middle school and early high school boys.

Reader's advisory: For another book that contains an ancient kingdom try Bloodline by Katy Moran.

Summary:
Francis has always been nice to Michael. They meet on Saturdays to draw maps and make up stories about their imaginary country: Evgard. Michael is sure that Francis is his friend, until he finds a note in his locker that says, "I know where Aracaster is." Aracaster is part of Evgard and only he and Francis know about it. Michael is forced to conclude that Francis has told someone about Evgard. Maybe Francis isn't really his friend. Maybe he has been laughing at Michael behind his back all along. After Michael was beaten up by bullies at his last school he promised himself he would never be a victim again. No one will laugh at him, not even Francis.
Meanwhile, Argent has been captured by the Duke of Aracaster. Most of the Mereish prisoners are kept in the dungeon, but Argent lives in the castle as a slave to the Duke. Then, the Duke's son, Columen, befriends him, and even swindles him away from his father. When Mereish fighters attack the castle, whith whom will Argent side?

My favorite passage:

Judas floors don't exist in the real world. At least, if they did, Michael had never heard of them, and he definitely hadn't seen anyone fall through one. But for a second he thought he knew how it would feel: the black, sick terror of falling, knowing that the best you could hope for at the bottom was cold stone, and the worst . . . well, if you were lucky you didn't have time to think about the worst. In his imagination he'd made people dance pavanes and galliards on the great Judas floor at Calston, but it was only now that he really understood the horror of it. One moment you were there, in the middle of your galliard, hopping around as gracefully as you could, and then -
He remembered, irrelevantly, that there was a net underneath the floor at Calston to break your fall, so for a second you'd almost think it was some twisted practical joke. Until you saw the vipers nesting in the ropes near your face . . . (pg 16)

What I really think:
I like to read before I go to bed and this was one of those books that isn't so good for that. It actually makes you more awake and kind of stressed out. There are so many issues here: bullying, friendship, homosexuality...
Bullying is a really difficult issue and I'm not sure Collins has cleared it up. Francis tells Michael at one point that he wants to see him stand up for himself. When Michael truly does stand up for himself (spoiler) he gets pushed through a window. He feels better about himself, but he still gets injured.
The friendship issues are important ones. Teenagers can break friendships just as quickly as they make them, and I like Collins's message that you can't undo the damage you have done, but maybe you can still reconcile with a friend you have hurt.
I like that the fact that one of the characters is gay is a side issue. It isn't the reason that bad stuff happens initially, but it is the reason stuff gets worse. This book isn't about being gay, but it does illustrate the need for some sensitivity.
The intermittent chapters that take place in Aracaster are a nice touch. At first I was annoyed that I was being dragged away from the "real" story. But ultimately I enjoyed those chapters just as much as the chapters about Michael and Francis.

The Knife of Never Letting Go

Author: Patrick Ness

Publisher: Walker Books

Publication Year: 2008

Most of the readers will be: Late middle school and early high school boys and girls.

Reader's advisory: Try Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles for short stories that take place on a recently colonized Mars.

Summary:
Todd Hewitt has grown up in Prentisstown, the only surviving colony on New World. During a war with the local aliens, called Spackle, the aliens infected the animals with a germ that made them all start talking, and infected the humans with a germ that made all their thoughts heard. The Noise germ drove people crazy. It killed half the men and all the women.
In Prentisstown, a boy becomes a man at thirteen. Todd is the last boy in Prentisstown and he is one month away from his thirteenth birthday. His parents both died from the Noise germ and he lives with friends of theirs, Ben and Cillian.
When he and his dog Manchee go into the swamp one morning to gather apples Todd comes across something he has never experienced before. Quiet. There is a quiet spot in the swamp and it isn't natural. Todd tries to keep the quiet out of his Noise as he walks back through town, but somehow it escapes.
Now Todd is running. Because he and that quiet both mean something to Prentisstown, and the men don't want either of them to get away.

My favorite passage:

The first thing you find out when yer dog learns to talk is that dogs don't got nothing much to say.
About anything.
"Need a poo, Todd."
"Shut up, Manchee."
"Poo. Poo, Todd."
"I said shut it."
We're walking across the wild fields south-east of town, those ones that slope down to the river and head on towards the swamp. Ben's sent me to pick him some swamp apples and he's made me take Manchee with me, even tho we all know Cillian only bought him to stay on Mayor Prentiss's good side and so suddenly here's this brand new dog as a present for my birthday last year when I never said I wanted any dog, that what I said I wanted was for Cillian to finally fix the fissionbike so I wouldn't have to walk every forsaken place in this stupid town, but oh, no, happy birthday, Todd, here's a brand new puppy, Todd, and even tho you don't want him, even tho you never asked for him, guess who has to feed him and train him and wash him and take him for walks and listen to him jabber now that he's got old enough for the talking germ to set his mouth moving? Guess who?
"Poo," Manchee barks quietly to himself. "Poo, poo, poo."
"Just have yer stupid poo and quit yapping about it." (pg 3-4)

What I really think:
I'm kind of obsessed with this book. I'm kind of upset that the next Chaos Walking book isn't coming out until May. I don't want to say too much about it and I couldn't really share a passage except from the very beginning because it's full of questions and finding out the answers is part of the fun. I wish I could say you have all the answers by the end. But you don't. I suppose that's why book two is called The Ask and the Answer.
What can I tell you? This novel experiments with how different people, and different groups of people, handle situations they never imagined they would be in. How Right and Wrong get all mixed up and you can still do what's Right when everyone else is doing Wrong, but it is easy to see how so many people get involved in doing Wrong.
At one point, a character says that Noise is just information and too much information is a bad thing. I would never call this novel an allegory for our "information age," but it is not unlikely that Ness is making a passing comment on our current overabundance of information. Just remember that the cure for too much information is a good librarian to help you sort through it. ;)

The Amethyst Child

Author: Sarah Singleton

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Publication Year: 2008

Most of the readers will be: Late middle school and early high school girls.

Reader's Advisory: In Leaving Fishers by Margaret Peterson Haddix a young woman seeks to belong by joining a cult.

Summary:
Amber is a loner until she meets Dowdie. Dowdie as an energetic member of the Community who has a very different view of the world. Amber thinks the Community is a beautiful and simple place and she begins to spend more and more time there.
Not long after meeting Dowdie, Amber makes another new friend, Johnny. Johnny is much more skeptical of some of the Community's beliefs and of their leader, James, than Amber is. Always eager to please, Amber wonders what she should believe. Are she, Dowdie, and Johnny Amethyst children; the ones who will guide the world through uncertain times? Or is James a very talented con artist?

My favorite passage:

'Have you heard of Amethyst children?'
'No.'
'James - James Renault - he's the elder at the Community.'
'The leader? He's in charge?'
'Not leader exactly - but kind of. Years ago, a spirit spoke through him and predicted that all over the world special children would be born - children with gifts and abilities not seen before, who would lead humankind into the future. They would be the next evolutionary step.' Her freckled face was perfectly serious, her voice grave.
'These are the Amethyst children?' I said.
Dowdie nodded.
'They have certain features in common. They find it hard to fit in. They can't conform and struggle in ordinary schools, often because they are very intelligent and the lessons are too - obvious. So they get into trouble. They have an unusual perspective on things - take a contrary view. Some are healers, other are seers.'
'And you think you are one of them?' I tried to keep my voice level, wanting to express neither scepticism nor credulity.
'I don't think I am - I know so,' she said, staring at me, daring me to contradict or laugh. I did neither.
'How do you know?'
She laughed then - at stupid Amber. 'How do I know? How do we know anything? I know it because it's the truth.'
'So what does it mean? What are your special gifts?'
She put down the CD and stared at her hands. 'It's not something I can explain, just like that,' she said.
For a moment, I couldn't make out who she was - what she was doing. She was two things at once - older than her age, an adult in disguise. Or else a kid playing pretend, trying to lure me into her imaginary game. The two images diverged and drew together again.
She took another quick breath, as though she had made a decision.
'I think you're an Amethyst child too,' she said. (pg 10-12)

What I really think:
Sigh.

The story itself is interesting. It's like something ripped from the headlines. A cult leader with (spoiler) a secret stash of guns. And the interspersed chapters of Amber's conversations with the police keep the tension level up. You know something bad is going to happen. But what? And when? And how?

The problem is that I don't like Amber very much. I hardly even feel like I know her. The big things in the book that happen, mostly happen to her. Friends come and find her. They suggest things to do. Amber tells the reader that she likes to say what people want to hear. She sure does. She doesn't seem to have oppinions or motivations of her own. Maybe this is the point, but if it is I don't care. I still wish there were a little more to Amber.

The other thing I don't like about this book is the decoration around the page numbers. The number is centered at the bottom of each page. There is one circular doo-bob to the left of the number and two circular doo-bobs to the right of the number. The lack of symmetry bothers me.

The Red Necklace

Author: Sally Gardner

Publisher: Orion Children's Books

Publication Year: 2007

Most of the readers will be: Middle school girls and boys.

Reader's Advisory: Rather than living through the French Revolution, Norby the robot travels back in time to experience it in the Asimovs' Norby and the Queen's Necklace.

Summary:
Yann Margoza puts on magic shows with his friends Tetu and Topolain. He can throw his voice and read people's thoughts and the future. Tetu has some special talants, too. He can move things with his mind. Together, they make an automoton come to life on stage as Topolain performs. Soon, however, they realize they have gotten some unwanted attention.
Count Kalliovski wants them to perform at a party being held at the new chateau of the Marquis de Villeduval. Once they get to the chateau and actually meet the Count, Tetu and Topolain realize they are in grave danger. Count Kalliovski is a man they once knew by a different name and he is willing to kill them to keep his past a secret. Topolain does not make it out of the chateau alive. Tetu and Yann are helped to freedom by the Marquis's unfortunate daughter Sido.
Yann must flee to England to escape the Count. He is unhappy and feels very out of place at first. But he makes some good friends and takes some comfort in the fact that his new family are Sido's aunt and uncle.
As the revolution heats up and aristocrats are being jailed and murdered, Yann returns to France to rescue Sido from both the revolutionaries and the clutches of Count Kalliovski. With a little luck and magic he might just be able to get her out of the country.

My favorite passage:

'My dear young sir, I cannot thank you enough for your bravery in the face of such terrifying and, may I add, murderous villains. May I ask the name of my saviour?'
'Yan Margoza.'
'I have to report,' Mr Trippen carried on, standing up, 'I have to report that I felt my dying moment upon life's tentative stage had come. Its drama in its myriad forms rushed before my misty eyes, my courage slipping from me like a shadow when I thought of my darling Mrs Trippen and the young Trippens all left fatherless.'
'Do you always use so many words?' asked Yann, smiling.
'They are like bonbons for the tongue, my young friend,' He took out his hanky and mopped his brow. 'Lucky, weren't we, about the young girl being there. I can't imagine what she saw in those two rogues. But I can assure you that the fairer sex is one of life's mysteries, a folly of Mother Nature's creation, for never has there been anything more delightfully irrational and tantalising upon the face of the earth than woman. If it were not for Delilah, Samson and the temples would still have stood; if it were not for Cleopatra, Caesar...'
''Allo!' came a voice, 'Why did you run away so quickly?'
Mr Trippen spun round, his face pale. 'Alas, my young man, she has followed us. Those two ruffians will be here in a moment. I tell thee, young sir, we are undone!'
'Didn't you realise?' said Yann. He began to laugh. 'That was me pretending to be a woman.'
'No! That is incredible,' said Mr Trippen. 'Why, my dear sir, I had no idea I was talking to a fellow thespian.' He looked earnestly at Yann. 'I see now a touch of the Hamlet about you. A noble yet tragic face. Where did you learn to speak such excellent French?'
'In France,' Said Yann.(pg 120-121)

What I really think:
Most of the historical fiction novels I have read have been very realistic. The author invents the particular characters, but we can imagine that the events that take place very well could have happened.
Gardner takes great liberties with history. Yann and Tetu do things normal people can't do. Count Kalliovski has blackmail material on pretty much the entire aristocracy. There is a lot going on here besides the Revolution. And yet, Gardner gets across what that time was like in France. Love notes fall from the sky after the Bastille falls. Aristoracts fear for their lives.
These two things together, the fantastic and the real, make this an engaging novel. Really, if I am enthusiastic about a historical fiction novel, it must be good.