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.

Stone Heart

Author: Charlie Fletcher

Publisher (In Great Britain): Hodder Children's Books

Publication Year (In Great Britain): 2006

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

Reader's Advisory: For another book in which statues come to life try The Stonewalkers by Vivien Alcock.

Summary:
When George breaks a carving on the front of the Natural History Museum he finds himself in a terrifying version of London he never knew existed. Immediately he is pursued by a pterodactyl, which was stone only a moment ago, and is saved in the nick of time by the statue of the Gunner on the Royal Artillery War Memorial. The Gunner gives George a crash course in this version of London.
"Spits" are sculptures of men and they are usually nice. "Taints" are sculptures of things, like gargoyles, and they aren't nice. They wish they had the spirit of a man like spits do. George has done something to make the taints angry and they are after him.
George's predicament is further complicated when Edie shows up. Edie sees George walking with the Gunner and is excited to find someone else who can see the statues move. But the Gunner isn't happy to see Edie. She is, what he calls, a "glint." Glints can "make the stones cry" because they can see the bad things that happened to them in their past.
Nevertheless, Edie sticks with George (something the Gunner isn't always able to do) as he tries to do whatever he can to right the wrong and get back to London as he knows it, meeting a series of helpful spits and frightening taints on the way.

My favorite passage:

The monk leaned back and looked round the room. He looked at the four imp-cherubs that sat high in each corner, but George saw no answering movement in them. The monk stretched a kink out of his shoulders.
'And why should I help you?'
'Because you're one of the good guys.'
'Am I? I wasn't aware of that. Indeed I wasn't aware of being a "guy" at all. A "guy" is something you burn on Bonfire Night, and I can assure you an incendiary finale is the very last thing I foresee for myself. My whole life's work has been committed to avoiding a fiery end, you might say.'
The Black Friar clearly savoured the taste of his own words rolling round his mouth, thought George with a strong twinge of irritation. It seemed like people - things, really - had been talking at him all day, and none of them had really given him a straight answer, just pushed him from one horrible experience to another. His voice was unexpectedly curt.
'You know what I mean.'
Edie caught the tone and looked up at him in surprise. The friar cocked his head to balance the irritatingly raised eyebrow.
'Not at all, goodness gracious. I only know what you say. Who told you I was "a good guy"?'
'You're a monk,' Edie cut in.
'And monks help do they?'
'Yes. Monks are on the side of good.'
'Well let me tell you what I am.' He spread his arms wide in the expansive gesture of a man with nothing to hide. The sleeves of his robe fell back, revealing stong muscular arms that didn't look as fat as George had expected.
'I am what I seem, no more no less. I am both a fat monk and a merry innkeeper; the halest of fellows wellmet and the watcher who stands at the road's fork. I am also a man who likes talking with men who like to talk. I provide mirth and happiness, warmth and cheer and absolution for sins past, present, and even - for a fee - future. In short, I can soothe your needs and ease your passage through this vale of tears. I am a helpmeet to the needy and a bringer of quietus. If you see what I drive at..." (pg 258-259)

What I really think:
Being a visitor to England, I found Fletcher's London very exciting. I am looking forward to looking for some the statues that come to life in the book on my trips to London. (The endpapers contain a map with the statues we meet in the story highlighted.) I wonder if true Londoners forget how magical their city is beneath the surface. If they do, I hope this book helps them remember.
This book, like many others, begins with a rather wimpy protagonist who is transformed into a hero by the end. I like this type of story because I think we are changed by our experiences and are stronger when we choose to face the challanges that come our way. But why is it that our hero is better equipped to face a dragon than a bully? Do the lessons that George learns translate into everyday life? I only bring this up becuase George is bullied before he falls into the parallell London but (SPOILER) at the end of the story he chooses not to go back. So we never get to see if his adventures with spits and taints help him become a stronger person back in the real world. This is the first book in a trilogy, so perhaps I'll get my answer yet.