Year: 2013

The Romeo and Juliet Code

Mrs. Eaves by Mrs. Eaves ,

The Romeo And Juliet Codeby Phoebe Stone

291 pages of family, codes, adventure and spies – perfect for intermediate and middle readers (Got to say – I don’t get the cover.  It doesn’t make sense to me at all.)

You’re 11, living in London with your mom and dad.  Your friends think they’re dashing and daring and glamorous – like a Hollywood couple.  Perhaps, but all you know is that they are your everything.  It’s 1941 though and there is a war going on.  Your city is being bombed and most of your friends and their families have fled into the country.  Your dad is an American citizen.  His family is in Maine and so your family decides this is a safer place for you.

You sail across the ocean on the Queen Anne – painted entirely gray, portholes included so no light can escape giving her away to enemy eyes -, drive along the coast of Maine and meet Uncle Gideon, Aunt Florence and The Grams.  After an hour or so you watch your dashing, daring, glamorous parents drive off, knowing they will be traveling back to London and there you are in your new home for now.  Everything is different and strained.

That’s what happens to Felicity Bathburn Budwig in The Romeo and Juliet Code.  The summer is beginning and everything seems bad and wrong.   This new family seems angry with her Winnie and Danny (what she calls her mom and dad) and they won’t tell her why.  On top of that her Danny writes letters to her uncle – she is sure of it though her uncle says she is wrong and doesn’t know his handwriting at all – but her Danny doesn’t write to her.  Felicity doesn’t know where her mom and dad are.  She is alone except for Wink, her bear, who does know how alone and sad and afraid she is.

With time Felicity learns about the Bathburns, her new family, and she comes to understand and love them.  She discovers she loves to cook with The Grams and read with Aunt Miami (Florence decided she needed a younger sounding name – she’s just 22).  Aunt Miami loves Romeo and Juliet.  Felicity, on Uncle Gideon’s recommendation, reads The Little Princess.  She discovers her cousin Derek, recovering from polio, and builds a strong relationship with him as they seek to uncover the mystery behind the letters sent to Uncle Gideon from Portugal, but written (Felicity is certain) by her Danny.

With every page I turned I longed for Felicity to get a letter from her mom and dad.  I celebrated every comfort and every discovery made while I waited for her to find answers to her questions and solutions for her lonely confusions.  You’ll be waiting for them too  – filling with hope as she races to meet the postman, smiling at the variety show rehearsals, and feeling the coziness of a small town while you come to understand how Felicity fits in this place and how she will find a home there.

Perhaps the best thing about reading The Romeo and Juliet Code is knowing that Romeo Blue, the sequel, is sitting in my “to read” pile so I can spend more time with characters I love, in a place I would like to be, discovering more of the mystery and intrigue that surrounds the Bathburn family.  Reviews say the second book might be better than the first.  I don’t know how that could be possible, but I’m looking forward to finding out.

M is For Mama’s Boy

Mrs. Eaves by Mrs. Eaves , ,

NERDS: Book Two: M Is for Mama's Boyby Michael Buckley

If you could have your weakness upgraded and turned into a super power, what strength do you think you would have?

I came to the NERDS series just as the fourth had been published.  I have a hard time with name calling even if it’s supposed to be funny.  I know – snap judgments are not usually accurate – but I passed these books by in the bookstore with just a glance.  Then Ellie started reading them.  “Read from here to here,” she’d say.  “It’s funny.”  She was right.  It was.  While she was enjoying books one, two and three, talk of The Sisters Grimm series was filling our classroom.  That’s when I noticed they had the same author.  I loved his writing in the Sisters Grimm books.  “Okay,” I thought.  “Time to give this a chance.  It’s obviously not what you thought.”

I read the first as summer vacation started and just finished M is for Mama’s Boy, the second this week.  The third and fourth are sitting in one of my to-be-read piles.  I’ll get to them soon.  The NERDS are school-aged secret agents who save the world.  Selected for the team because of their unique qualities, these perceived weaknesses have been highlighted and upgraded with nanotechnology to create super skills.  Together the team has the resources and abilities to save the world from every and any super villain.  The villain in this case is Simon.  He has reappeared with squirrel squadron to do his bidding – along with one Goon.

When the robberies begin happening there is no sense of urgency.  Just another bad guy to be stopped, but Albert Nesbitt notices something odd.  He spends his time locked in the basement of his mother’s house watching TV, building computers, reading graphic novels and dreaming of becoming a super hero.  Albert dreams of doing good in the world and of becoming Captain Justice.  Somehow his dream is twisted around and he becomes entangled with Simon, the evil genius bent on humiliating the NERDS and taking over the world by controlling every computer on Earth.

In disabling Earth’s computers, Simon also disables the super power upgrades of the NERDS.  That’s especially challenging for Duncan, a.k.a. Gluestick.  Always a thoughtful, kind person, Duncan isn’t sure he has any worth without his special powers or his gadgets and gizmos.  Duncan loses confidence.  He’s sure he can’t do anything.  He can’t fit in even when he is trying to be “normal.”  But, he realizes he also can’t sit around and see his family threatened or let his friends face life-threatening danger alone.  Can “ordinary “save the world?  Maybe.  You’ll have to read M is for Mama’s Boy to find out.

The Vengekeep Prophecies

Mrs. Eaves by Mrs. Eaves ,

The Vengekeep Propheciesby Brian Farrey

Every person is much more than they seem.

The Vengekeep Prophecies has been sitting in my pile for nearly a year.  I got it just as the school started and there it sat waiting to be read.  I’m glad it was patient.  Reading it made me think about the idea of choosing between what you should do and what you want to do.  It led me to think about the importance of finding a way to contribute by following your passion and knowing what you are good at.  If you haven’t had a chance to read it yet, pick it up and give it a try.

Vengekeep is the name of the town where Jaxter and the Grimjinx family live.  The family makes their living by pulling cons, creating forgeries and pickpocketing.  The wisdom and skill of the profession has been passed down for generations in the family album detailing the Grimjinx history; each entry ending with ‘and then we were rich beyond belief.’   Jaxter is twelve and now is his time to add to the family legacy and continue the story.  The only problem is that Jaxter is a klutz of the very worse kind and that doesn’t bode well for his future success.

On his first solo mission, Jaxter burned the Castellan’s house down and landed the family in gaol.  But staying in gaol wasn’t what the Grimjinxes were destined for.  Each year Vengekeep has an Unveiling of the five hundred year old tapestry foretelling important events for the town’s upcoming year.  For centuries the Vengekeep scholars have been studying and interpreting the tapestry, making plans to avert any foretold danger and keeping the city prosperous.  This year the tapestry predicts a very bleak future that can only be overcome by the family marked by the star.  The Grimjinxes are that family.

Jaxter looks at all the horrors depicted on the tapestry.  How are they ever going to survive them? Each one seems to be a worse horror than the one before. It is going to be a disastrous year – why then are his parents so calm?   They seem to be enjoying their status as the keepers of the city.  That is until the lava monsters arrive and their plan unravels.  Jaxter may not have inherited his family’s skills but he does have knowledge.  Nanni had said, “The things you learn in books will outshine all of us someday, you mark my words.”  Maybe that is true.  Jaxter is going to need everything he has learned along with courage, friendship and creativity if he is going to beat the Vengekeep prophecy.

At the beginning of the book Jaxter wonders if his family is ashamed of him.  It can be hard to choose – doing what you think you should or doing what you want.  Do you have to choose?  Read The Vengekeep Prophecies to find out.

 

 

The Whizz Pop Chocolate Shop

Mrs. Eaves by Mrs. Eaves ,

The Whizz Pop Chocolate Shopby Kate Saunders

You may not know it, but magic is everywhere.  You go through your day never noticing it, but it’s there.  Well, at least it is in The Whizz Pop Chocolate Shop.

Oz and Lily didn’t know about magic either until their family arrived at 18 Skittle Street. Their dad had just inherited the property from his Uncle Pierre.  A bit strange because he had never met his uncle and the house had been empty for nearly seventy years. The twins hadn’t been expecting much, but everything seemed perfectly intriguing once they got there.  The house was large and homey, with a terrific backyard, and the workshop where the, once famous, Spoffard confections had been made still smelled of chocolate. There seemed to be a cat (something Lily had always wanted); maybe the same one in the photograph of Great Uncle Pierre if that could be possible. The electricity was still on.  Incredibly, the house was everything they could possibly want or need and so the family moved in.

In their first night at the house Oz and Lily learn they have been brought there for a reason.  They are the only ones able to keep Isadore Spoffard from selling Immortality Chocolate to the terrorist group known as the Schmertz Gang eager to take over the world.  Recruited by Demerara – indeed the exact same cat in the seventy year old photograph, the twins join the Secret Ministry of the Unexplained, a division of M16 (of 007 fame.) The SMU polices the misuse of magic to help maintain the world’s equilibrium.  Right now that balance in teetering on the edge.   You’ll have to read The Whizz Pop Chocolate Shop to discover how it the plots and plans “unmold.”  You’ll be smiling through every page.

In Search of Goliathus Hercules

Mrs. Eaves by Mrs. Eaves ,

In Search of Goliathus Herculesby Jennifer Angus

a surreal, Victorian adventure full of mysterious surprises in unusual places

Henri’s dad has been gone for three years and missing for two.  Sent to British Malaya as the superintendent of a rubber plantation, he had, so the story went, one day just walked into the jungle and vanished.  Unable to believe that possible, Henri’s mom decided to travel there to see for herself and that is how Henri came to be at Woodland Farm in America living with Great Aunt Georgie and her button collection.

It was rather boring being 10 and alone in middle of nowhere.  Of course the farm had lots of places to explore, but that only went so far when there is no one to explore it with.  And talking? Well, the only person to converse with as 90-year old, Great Aunt Georgie and she only talked about buttons.  She shared interesting tidbits like the oldest button was five thousand years old or buttons were first used to fasten clothing in Germany in the thirteenth century.  Interesting, but rather dull and right now it was raining.  As he looked out the window, Henri was aware of a fly bumping into it over and over.  He thought it was annoying so he asked the fly to stop.  It did.  Then he noticed another fly moving across the newspaper line by line as if it were reading.  He watched for a bit until it said, “It’s rude to read over someone’s shoulder you know.”  Before Henri could fully believe it, he’d had complete conversation with the fly, which could in fact read.  Henri wasn’t sure he believed it, but suddenly the world was no longer full of chirps and creaks – each one had meaning.  It was true.  Henri could communicate with insects.

When the circus came to town Henri was drawn to Maestro Antonio’s Amazing Flying Flea Circus.  Although a small sideshow, Henri was sure he could help it become the “greatest show on earth.”  Antonio agreed to let him try and so Henri ran away to join the circus.   But not before meeting Great Aunt Georgie’s neighbor, Agatha Black.  Her coldhearted cruelty filled Henri with dread that didn’t seem to fully go away even when he thought he had left her behind.

Joining the circus is just the beginning of Henri’s transformation from lonely boy to ambassador to the insect world.   Henri is thoughtful and creative.  He appreciates the gifts of every creature whether a flea or a queen.  They appreciate this kindness and because of it support his quest to discover the truth behind the story of the largest beetle in the world. Reading In Search of Goliathus Hercules will keep you turning the pages to the very end.  There are some remaining questions and some places where the plot is stretched a little thin, but for insect-loving readers (and even those who feel a little squeamish at the thought) this is totally entertaining adventure from start to finish.  I also love the kaleidoscope of insects that begins each chapter and the connecting information that begins each part of the book.

Destiny Rewritten

Mrs. Eaves by Mrs. Eaves

Destiny, Rewrittenby Kathryn Fitzmaurice

Des-tin-y: (noun) The hidden power believed to control what will happen in the future; fate.

Who do you think has control of your destiny?  Does it depend on your choices or is it already set?  Should you wait for it to happen, or should you help it along?

If you are Emily Elizabeth Davis you believe that you make what happens in your life.  If your Emily’s mother you believe that what happens is supposed to happen in its own time, unfolding when it is ready.  She says you can’t rush your destiny but Emily has other ideas.  She has some things she’s been waiting to discover for a long time – like who her dad is – and she thinks the time is now.

The day before Emily was born, her mom discovered a first edition Complete Works of Emily Dickinson in a book store followed by a gleam of light.  Emily’s mom chose her name in that moment and wrote then and there: Emily Dickinson is one of the great poets.  The same will be said of you one day.  From that day on, Emily’s mom has marked down all of her important life events by the poem that seems most fitting.  Next to “Angels, in the early morning”Emily’s birth is recorded.  Beside “We should not mind so small a flower” the celebration of her first word.  “I’ll tell you how the Sun rose” commemorates her first steps.  Her book with that first inscription has been with her all her life, but Emily doesn’t really like poetry.  Emily wonders how a person who is destined to be a poet can not understand them so completely.  By accident Emily’s book is given to Goodwill.  An upsetting turn of events.  Her mother says it was for a reason, but, rather than accept that fate, Emily takes action.  Through that action she realizes how much she has and does, shares and desires.  There is something to be said for organized predictability AND there is something to be said for mysterious unfoldings.  Can a life be guided by both?

I love Emily, her family and friends.  Emily is a collector of happy endings.  She loves romance novels because of this and writes frequently to Danielle Steel asking her advice in all things.  (Emily is sure Danielle Steel has some of the best endings) Mortie, Emily’s 8-year old cousin, knows he is destined for a life in the military. He only has 3,752 days until he turns eighteen and can join the Army.  He’s an expert on recon and spy stuff.  Wavey, Emily’s best friend is an excellent student.  She takes pride in doing her best and achieving all she can.  She is committed to making our world a better place – she is the secretary of the Berkeley Middle School Pick Up Trash in Your Neighborhood CLub and is working to write a 32-page paper on the many reuses of packing peanuts.  Celia Ann, another classmate, is a poet and everything she does and sees calls a poem to mind.  Quirky? – maybe, but deliciously so.  The characters blend and weave together creating a story that is happy, sad, thoughtful and surprising.  Sometimes it is good to just let life happen, but sometimes it is better to make a choice and set a new path in motion.

Destiny Rewritten is a book to be read, reread, and pondered. Words like: ‘You can only do what you can do.  You’re one person, but you make a difference by doing these small things.’

and passages  like:

” The only way the army would approve that kind of strategy is if the clouds didn’t rain every once in a while and instead did something unexpected to confuse the ocean.  That would be an excellent strategy because the ocean would be expecting the clouds to rain, so this would throw everything off.”

“I never though of it like that.”

“That’s because you’re not the one joining the army.

I studied the post, trying to see if like he did.  “You think this strategy could work for other things too, like maybe – I don’t know – people?”

Mortie squinted at the ceiling and nodded.  “Affirmative.”

are worth considering.  Destiny Rewritten is a flash and a sparkle – a gem to be savored.

 

 

Hero on a Bicycle

Mrs. Eaves by Mrs. Eaves

Hero on a Bicycleby Shirley Hughes

a different view of of World War II – the tension of being caught in between

In 1944 in Florence, Italy, Rosemary Crivelli, Paolo’s mother… “knew she should remind him of the dangers of what he was doing and forbid him – forbid him – to go out alone again at night, but somehow she could never find the heart to do it…She reflected grimly on the old cliché that wartime, when not terrifying, was a combination of long stretches of boredom and grinding hardship.”

Paolo can’t stand doing nothing.  He sneaks out at night to ride his bike through the city –the tension of breaking the rules brings some excitement to his life. Controlled and commanded by authority that could snap at any moment, Paolo is looking for a way to do something in the chaos that surrounds him.  His father left secretly two years ago to join the resistance and now the Crivelli family is under close watch by the ever-present Gestapo.  Signora Crivelli is British, another reason to be watched closely by Colonel Ritter – where do the true sympathies of the Crivelli family lie.

Paola thinks his rides are secret, but they are not.  Both his mother and 16-year old sister, Constanza know of them.  They hear him leave and the lie awake until he returns well after midnight.  This last time, Paolo was given a message at gunpoint to take to his mother. That one message removes all hope of being left alone to endure whatever ordinary hardships might come their way.  That message brings them into direct contact with Il Volpe, the leader of the Italian resistance and puts them in charge of seeing that the escaped prisoners of war make it back across Allie lines.

Quick thinking and smart decisions barely keep the Crivellies safe through to the liberation of Florence.  They suffer when friends bend and break under the pressure of fear and distrust.  The witness the horrific cruelty and pain of war and the fearless dedication of those committed to their cause.  While I wished for more detail and for the plot to be developed more completely, I appreciate how this original tale, set in a different place and with a unique vantage point, adds to our understanding of World War II.  Intermediate and middle grade readers interested in this topic will like Hero on a Bicycle and will be compelled to turn each page as the tension mounts and secrets unfold.

The Hero’s Guide to Storming the Castle

Mrs. Eaves by Mrs. Eaves , ,

The Hero's Guide to Storming the Castleby Christopher Healy

477 pages that are sure to make you laugh

Liam has been kidnapped and Ella and Frederic have a plan – The League of Princes must be reunited.  Their first mission is to stop Briar Rose from forcing Liam to marry her.  When that doesn’t  work, the League finds themselves in the dungeon. Liam agrees to recapture the Sword of Erinthia from the Bandit King in exchange for his friends’ freedom.  Together again, but working under the constant threat of re-imprisonment, the League develops a plan to scale the Wall of Secrecy, cross the Moat of A Thousand Fangs, enter Castle von Deeb, unlock the Vault o’ Fine Loot with the trigger switch in The Snake Hole to recapture the priceless heirloom. Complicated and convoluted, the plan unravels.   At times it involves trolls, dwarves, bandits, gnomes, warlords, giants, clowns and snakes.  Never smooth, but always developing the many secrets, arguments and twists in the plan will keep you eagerly reading and giggling through to the very end.

The Princes Charming are never efficient and yet they persevere.  They may be unlikely heroes, but because they are devoted, loyal friends to the end they will win your admiration.   At the crossroads they each take their separate way, yet readers are certain the League of Princes will be called together again.  Maybe this time they’ll get it right?!?

If you haven’t read The Hero’s Guide to Saving Your Kingdom yet – here’s why you should.  The funny details, the captivating characters combined with just a pinch of suspense will pull you in and make you wish for more when the end is reached.

Gone Fishing

Mrs. Eaves by Mrs. Eaves

Gone Fishinga novel in verse

by Tamera Will Wissinger

Sam loves fishing that’s for sure and he is looking forward to the next day when he and his dad will take the boat to the lake for the day.  He is over the top excited.  They have collected their bait.  The tackle box is prepared.  And then… and then… little sister, Lucy comes.  Loud and squirmy, crackly and slurpy Lucy fills the boat.  Worse yet, she seems to have the lucky pole!

From sleepless excitement to rockbottom dispare to appreciative acceptance Gone Fishing shares Sam’s hopes and dreams  about fishing through a collection of poems in a trio of voices.

The books opens with:

Sam

NIGHT CRAWLERS

Tercet Variations

Dark night.

Flashlight.

Dad and I hunt worms tonight.

 

Grass slick.

Worms thick.

Tiptoe near and grab them quick. …

moves on to

Sam

ALL ABOARD!

List Poem

Fishing poles,

My tackle box,

Extra pairs of shoes and socks,

Our sweatshirts and

The camera bag,

The fishing next,

The boating flag, …

and ends with, among many…

Sam

OUR TAKE

Haiku

Four on a stringer

Lucy’s bluegill, my catfish –

Gold-star fishing day.

This is a book for those who love fishing.  This is a book for those who know how hard it can sometimes be to share what you’ve been dreaming about with others.  This is a book for those who care about poetry.  A complete story told through forty-one different poems – each one a different type.  What fun!  “The Poet’s Tackle Box” at the end of the book offers advice and information to interested poets.  You may be surprised to learn how similar writing poetry and fishing are.

Enjoy Gone Fishing.  What’s your favorite?

Fly Away

Mrs. Eaves by Mrs. Eaves ,

Flyawayby Lucy Christopher

a great middle grade read – you won’t be sorry you read it!

The special thing between Isla and her dad is birds.  Isla feels free in the wind and the wild.  She feels unsettled and shy at school – especially now that her only friend has moved away.  Seeing the birds soar free is like a balm to her.

Isla and her dad rise early in the morning to watch the swans return to the nearby wetlands preserve, marking the start of winter. Her dad began this tradition with him mom when the swans landed at their farm.  Too many people and houses have changed where the swans winter.  But their awesome beauty and strength is a wonder to see.  As far back as she can remember Isla and her dad have looked for the swans every year.  This one is different though.  Tragedy.  As they watch, the newly constructed power lines injure the front swans.  The lines haven’t been marked properly and the birds can’t see them.   Some plummet to the ground, others are driven away flying in chaos and confusion.  Isla and her dad try to follow them to see where the flock goes.  Isla notices that one young female seems disoriented.  Does she get left behind by those swans able to change direction and avoid the wires?  Isla and her dad lose the birds before their questions can be answered.

The next weekend, they go out again and try to find the swans.  Running across the fields to the preserve Isla’s dad has a heart attack. Instantly the swans are forgotten.  Isla, frightened beyond belief, manages to call for help and get her dad to the hospital. His heart is weak and it is touch-and-go for him as he waits for an operation.

While at the hospital, Isla meets Harry.  About her age, Harry has leukemia, and is waiting for a bone marrow transplant. From his window they can see a small lake and it looks like there’s a swan on it.  Swans don’t fly alone and Isla thinks she might be the one that got separated from the flock the day the whoopers arrived at the preserve. She goes out to see.  Amazingly the swan is not afraid of Isla. While Harry watches, the swan imitate Isla’s behavior, running as she runs, wings outstretched as Isla reaches out with her arms.  The swan doesn’t seem to know how to fly back to her flock.

Here’s where it all comes together – saving a swan, saving a dad, saving a friend – each in dire circumstances.  Because of an art project, Isla works with her grandfather to construct a set of swan wings large enough to wear.  They intricately simulate the movement of wing and feather.  Isla determines to use them to guide her swan back to her flock.  She believes that if she can help the swan then her much adored father will live and Harry, her friend – perhaps even more – will finally beat cancer.  So much rests on her wings – and Isla’s ability to make it all happen fast enough, before the unthinkable happens.

Fly Away is a complex, beautifully written story full of the questions and anxieties of life.  The way each piece of the story is woven together creates a respectful view of life, while offering a glimmer of magic and hope.  Isla’s interests, dedication, family and friends soar through the pages of this book.  When you finish it you’ll feel light and full at the same time.