Children's Fiction
-- Publishers Weekly, 3/19/2007
Boxed and starred reviews indicate books of outstanding quality. Boxed, unstarred reviews indicate books of special interest.
Recipe for RebellionCathy Hopkins. Houghton/Kingfisher, $5.95 paper (192p) ISBN 978-0-7534-5896-9
Hopkins (the Mates, Dates series) kicks off the Zodiac Girls series with this somewhat silly yet quick-moving novel centering on an angry, lonely 13-year-old. When her widower father goes off to South America on an archeological dig, Danu is sent to live with her workaholic lawyer aunt in a sterile apartment. Feeling neglected and friendless, Danu plays a rather forced bad-girl role at her new school, hoping she'll get expelled for inane stunts she pulls off with tricks from a magic shop. But her life takes a change for the better—and the bizarre—after she encounters Joe, a cheerful fellow who runs a deli and tells her to check out his astrology Web site. When she visits the site, she learns that she has been selected as "this month's Zodiac Girl!!!!!," with Joe as her "guardian." Danu learns that Joe is the planet Jupiter "in human form," and he offers advice so she can transform her life, which she does with the help of his celestial-being pals. These include Mars, a martial arts instructor who teaches Danu to defend herself against neighborhood bullies, and Venus, a beautician who spiffs up Danu's appearance. Despite the novel's farfetched premise, the heroine emerges as a realistic, likable character. Readers will likely find her story's happy-ever-after ending quite satisfying and may well tune in for another Zodiac Girl's chance to change her life in From Geek to Goddess (ISBN 978-0-7534-5895-2), due out the same month. Ages 8-12. (May)
Shield of StarsHilari Bell. S&S, $16.99 (272p) ISBN 978-1-4169-0594-3
The first book in the Shield, Sword, and Crown trilogy by Bell (The Goblin Wood) transports readers to Deorthas, a medieval kingdom tenuously divided between town dwellers and country folk, and by those who follow "the One God" versus the Hidden, who clandestinely worship a pantheon of ancient deities. Weasel, a 14-year-old former pickpocket, is now employed as a clerk to Justice Holis, a respected judge. However, Holis is secretly mounting a conspiracy to overthrow Regent Pettibone, the ambitious, murderous advisor to the 15-year-old prince and ruler of Deorthas. When the regent's guards arrest Holis under suspicion of treason, Weasel slips away and, disguised, sneaks into the palace to petition the prince on behalf of his master. While he does gain an audience with the prince, Weasel is captured and imprisoned with a teenage girl, Arisa. The two manage to escape, and, with the guards in hot pursuit, high adventure follows as they devise an elaborate plan to rescue Weasel's master. Bell's lengthy set-up to explain this world's political intrigue, superstitions (e.g., that "the true king's power comes from the sword and shield," which were stolen), portents and legalities can be difficult to keep straight. With the exception of a climactic revelation and an intense showdown, readers may not feel that there's enough of a payoff for following Weasel's circuitous journey. Ages 8-12. (Mar.)
Letters from RapunzelSara Lewis Holmes. HarperCollins, $15.99 (192p) ISBN 978-0-06-078073-9
This moving debut novel, winner of the first Ursula Nordstrom Fiction Contest, unfolds as a series of letters, fairytale-inspired stories and tongue-in-cheek school assignments—all penned by an intelligent girl who calls herself Rapunzel. After her beloved poet father is hospitalized with clinical depression (what she calls "the Evil Spell"), she finds a soul-baring letter her father had written, addressed to a post office box. She decides to write notes to the P.O. box too, hoping that the recipient will respond and "together we can rescue him" [her father]. She confides in another letter that she identifies with Rapunzel ("She's not much of a heroine—just a victim in a tower") because she, too, feels "stuck." The plot gains new dimension when she finds, tucked into her father's dictionary, a clipping announcing that an old bridge is for sale and scheduled for dismantling—and later learns its significance to her father. Rapunzel (whose fitting real name, revealed late in the novel, is Cadence) pours out her pain and hope in equal measure, as she holds out for the "Happy Ending" that doesn't entirely emerge. The narrator's missives take on the conversational tone characteristic of middle graders, and many poignant passages as the heroine struggles with her father's illness, as well as the mysterious identity of the P.O. box owner, will keep thoughtful readers involved. Ages 8-12. (Mar.)
Cassie Was HereCaroline Hickey. Roaring Brook, $16.95 (192p) ISBN 978-1-59643-205-5
Hickey's debut book captures the shaky essence of what it's like for an 11-year-old to be shy and desperately lonely in a new town. Although Bree Mulaney has her 13-year-old brother, Reid, to keep her company, she still feels like a bump on a log most of the time, even when her imaginary friend, Joey comes out to play. When Cassie, a cool and pretty older girl shows up down the street, Bree sees an opportunity to convince her parents that she has a new friend (and can put their fears of her imaginary friendship to rest)—especially when Cassie offers to cut and highlight Bree's hair like hers. Trouble arises, however, when Cassie starts flirting with Reid instead of playing games with Bree, and Reid maliciously spills the beans about Joey after Bree catches Cassie and him smooching. Is Cassie really the user she appears to be? Will Bree ever find a real friend as loyal and trustworthy as Joey? Hickey's choice to use an imaginary friend to illustrate Bree's vulnerability is spot-on—ideal for revealing how scary it is to be alone in an unfamiliar place and how hard it can seem to make friends. Although Bree's mother comes across as a worrywart at times, her concern over Bree's overly active imagination feels genuine. The book is especially well suited to kids who have moved (or are planning to), but Bree's spunk and quirky behavior will endear her to even the most rooted of readers. Ages 9-12. (Apr.)
How It Happened in Peach HillMarthe Jocelyn. Random/Lamb, $15.99 (160p) ISBN 978-0-375-83701-2
Jocelyn (Mable Riley) delivers a lively historical yarn set in New York State during Prohibition and the waning years of the spiritualist movement. Young Annie serves as the clever and feisty assistant to her mother, a clairvoyant and spiritual adviser, as they move from town to town to escape exposure and the law. When they arrive in Peach Hill, N.Y., however, the ruse begins to unravel. Annie, now 15, must pretend to be "dimwitted" and to eavesdrop on the townsfolk for the sake of the act. The tension becomes palpable when Annie develops other plans for herself that include a boy named Sammy Sloane, honesty and a normal life (her clever plot to escape idiocy is inspired). Yet the heroine finds it difficult to extricate herself from her mother's tantalizing sphere of influence. Annie makes a convincing heroine, and a set of unique and sympathetic characters swirl around her, including a troubled but clear-thinking daughter of a preacher and a seemingly severe but insightful truant officer. Others, such as Peg the housekeeper and Sammy, serve the story line but seem too naïve to be fully credible. Nonetheless, the gripping intrigue and pacing of the story will engage young readers as they root for Annie to break free and become her own person. Ages 9-12. (Mar.)
Your Own Sylvia: A Verse Portrait of Sylvia PlathStephanie Hemphill. Knopf, $15.99 (272p) ISBN 978-0-375-83799-9
Hemphill ambitiously undertakes a fictionalized portrait of Sylvia Plath in poems, many of them inspired by Plath's own works. Hemphill stays true to the basic framework of the poet's life, highlighting her major milestones: her childhood, college years, her hospitalization and first suicide attempt, as well as her first meeting with poet Ted Hughes—whom Plath would marry (in a poem from his viewpoint, he describes her as "Blond and tall as a magazine/ swimsuit model. I nibble/ at the whippet's neck./ Her lips fury-red, she bites/ me—teeth tearing my cheek./ I retreat, imprinted, stunned")—and her suicide ("She could not help burning herself/ From the inside out,/ Consuming herself/ Like the sun./ But the memory of her light blazes/ Our dark ceiling," Hemphill writes, in the style of Plath's poem "Child"). Accompanying each entry, the author includes footnotes with background information about the people and events alluded to in the poems. Plath committed suicide during a prolific time in her life. Her autobiographical novel, The Bell Jar, had just been published, and she was working furiously on a collection of poems (Ariel) which would be published posthumously. Hemphill's innovative portrait may not shed any new light on this tragic figure, but it could well act as a catalyst to introducing Plath to a new generation. Ages 12-up. (Mar.)
The Red Thread: A Novel in Three IncarnationsRoderick Townley. Atheneum/Jackson, $17.99 (304p) ISBN 978-1-4169-2930-7
New Hampshire teen Dana Landgrave enters counseling with creepy Dr. Sprague, who repeatedly hypnotizes her in an attempt to find the cause of her eerily real nightmare, in which a boy is being crushed to death by an altar stone. Over the course of these sessions, Dana uncovers "a direct pipeline to two former incarnations," a 16th-century tapestry designer, and an 18th-century painter's assistant. In both cases, what she uncovers about her past behavior disturbs and confuses her. "I don't know who I am anymore, and I'm afraid to find out," she admits. The modern Dana is no jewel—hostile and mouthy, she continually pushes her dreamboat boyfriend, Chase, away—but the real problem here is that the plot is too contrived to be believed. When not only Sprague but also the demonic yearbook editor who took credit for Dana's photographs turn out to be antagonists in her past lives, Dana asks, "What were the chances?" and readers will, too. Coincidences put Dana in London (her home in a past life) for the summer, and lead her to an open-air market where she finds a 16th-century locket that belonged to one of her former selves and that contains a portrait of the boy in her dreams. Townley (The Great Good Thing) raises an intriguing question about the nature of the soul—is it "real, a permanent self that carried over from life to life," Dana wonders—but his characters don't explore it. Ages 12-up. (Mar.)
Born for AdventureKathleen Karr. Cavendish, $16.99 (208p) ISBN 978-0-7614-5348-2
Karr (The Great Turkey Walk) weaves in actual historical facts as her novel takes readers into "Deepest, Darkest Africa," alongside the bombastic writer and explorer Henry Morton Stanley (who famously uttered the phrase "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?"). Sixteen-year-old Tom Ormsby works in a pharmacy in 1880s London, though he dreams of a life of excitement. When he is sent to deliver medical supplies to Stanley, he finagles his way onto the man's latest expedition: a voyage into the heart of the Congo to rescue Emin Pasha, the head of Equitoria who reportedly has been besieged by Islamic Mahdist forces. When they set sail in January 1887, Tom is quickly humbled by his seasickness, his inexperience with firearms, and his first assignment—tending to the 40 donkeys on board. However, he soon proves himself: Tom's pharmaceutical knowledge makes him useful to the expedition's physician, and he convinces the 600-odd Soudanese and Zanzibari porters to get inoculated against smallpox. As the years press on, Tom is catapulted into manhood, as he defends the expedition against frequent native attacks ("Wasn't every day I shot at least five human beings.... Worst of it was, I would've picked off another five if the cannibals hadn't packed it in"), and dissent from within; Tom himself grows disenchanted with his former hero, Stanley. Karr suffuses this coming-of-age story with a wealth of historical detail and a steady stream of action, sure to captivate readers who may harbor their own dreams of adventure. Ages 12-up. (Apr.)
Freak Show James St. James. Dutton. $18.99 (356p) ISBN 978-0-525-47799-0
As big a splash as St. James (Disco Bloodbath) made on the Club Kid circuit in the 1980s and '90s, his entree into the YA world may prove to be equally fraught with controversy—and over-the-top fabulousness. Billy Bloom, a scrawny, pale redhead, plays the novel's underdog and champion—a 17-year-old for whom the phrase "drag queen" is scarcely sufficient. Frenetically narrating with a tongue seemingly dipped in both acid and silver, Billy recounts his abrupt transplant from life with his mother in Darien, Conn., to Fort Lauderdale, where he now lives with his wealthy and distant father. Billy finds himself a high school senior enrolled at the Eisenhower Academy, populated with "Stepford teens in full preen. In your choice of blond or blonder." St. James pulls no punches in describing the escalating verbal and physical abuse Billy suffers at the hands of his classmates. On a day when he comes to school outfitted as a primeval swamp queen ("This is not a dress, it's an ecosystem"), Billy's peers so brutally attack him that he goes into a coma. Yet he finds an unlikely ally in the gorgeous and universally adored football player Flip Kelly. Rather than leave the academy, Billy takes a stand for outcasts everywhere by running for homecoming queen, and attracts statewide media attention. In Billy Bloom, St. James has created an archetypal hero for outsiders and freaks. Though the subject matter and language will likely prove controversial, it's nearly impossible to remain untouched after walking a mile in the stilettos of someone so unfailingly true to himself and so blisteringly funny. Ages 14-up. (May) Agency: World of Wonder.
A Swift Pure Cry Siobhan Dowd. Random/Fickling, $16.99 (320p) ISBN 978-0-385-75108-7
This debut from an Irish writer opens with an epigraph from Joyce's Ulysses, setting a high standard that Dowd meets. Set in southern Ireland in 1984 and loosely based on an unsolved crime that rocked the nation, the story begins after the death of Moira Talent, wife of Joe and mother of Shell (short for Michelle), Trix and Jimmy. Joe Talent has buried his grief in a bottle, leaving 15-year-old Shell to run the household. Her father becomes pious after his wife's death, but Shell loses her faith—until young Father Rose joins the parish. She deflects her crush on the priest by taking up with smooth-talking classmate Declan, who gets her pregnant but leaves for America before he knows he's going to be a father. The residents of her claustrophobic rural community avert their eyes as Shell's shape changes, but cannot deny the tragedy that follows. At this point, the tenor of the novel smoothly and inexorably changes from an introspective examination of grief and loss, to a mystery with a thriller's momentum. Dowd's empathy for her characters extends even to Shell's father, a man with "a black shrivelled walnut for a heart." It is no small feat to write a story so heavy with foreboding and both deliver on the palpable sense of dread and concoct a hopeful yet realistic ending. Dowd achieves this in her beautifully realized account of one girl's loss of innocence, and her resilient recovery. Ages 14-up. (Apr.)
