This month, once again, I'm amazed by the quality of the work that I'm reading.
My favorite ghost story in a long time is LOCKWOOD & CO.: THE SCREAMING STAIRCASE, by Jonathan Stroud, author of the Bartimeous Trilogy. It's set in a contemporary London that's overrun with ghosts and all manner of unquiet spirits. Children and young adults can sense their presence, but as they get older their sensitivity wanes. Effectively making all ghost hunters younger than twenty. Lucy Carlyle joins A. J. Lockwood and George Cubbins in their dangerous work, but the team stumbles onto a larger and more dangerous mystery. While I may have cracked the case before the book's conclusion, it didn't stop me from reading this one compulsively.
Although FAR FAR AWAY
, by Tom McNeal, features a ghost, I would not call this one a ghost story. Instead, it feels more like a gorgeous, rich, modern day fairy tale, albeit one of the dark and haunting ones. Jeremy Johnson Johnson can hear the voice of Jacob Grimm, one of the famous Grimm Brothers. For some unknown reason, Jacob must watch and wait for his chance to save Jeremy from the evil Finder of Occasions. Along the way, Jeremy experiences the effects of enchanted cake and a first kiss, tries out for a game show, and participates in a prank that will change his life. The darker events push this story firmly into YA territory, but Far Far Away is a fine novel, one of the best I've read all year.
ROSE UNDER FIRE, by Elizabeth Wein, is a companion to her highly acclaimed Code Name Verity. While Rose Under Fire shows us the horrors of World War II with the same intensity as her previous book, the delivery is much more straightforward. Gone is the mystery that defined the story of captured spy Julie and her pilot friend Maddie. Instead, we travel to Ravensbruck concentration camp with pilot and poet Rose Justice, as she navigates her bleak, almost hopeless situation. What keeps this story going is the courage and humanity of Rose and her fellow inmates in this riveting piece of historical fiction.
ALL THE TRUTH THAT'S IN ME
, by Julie Berry, reveals it's mysteries in strong, lyrical prose. Judith returns, mutilated, to the fictional town of Roswell Station after two years in captivity. Unable to speak, she is ignored by all, including her mother and the boy she has loved since childhood. At first, Judith lives mostly in her head, keeping her thoughts and desires to herself. But then her town is attacked, and the mysterious death of another girl, also abducted, comes to the fore. More and more, Judith becomes entwined with the dealings of her town. She must decide whether she has the courage to learn to speak, or whether she will continue her ghost-like existence. Smart, compelling storytelling.
Lest my choices for this month seem too filled with darkness, we also have THE VERY HONORABLE LEAGUE OF PIRATES: MAGIC MARKS THE SPOT, by Caroline Carson. This is a rollicking good time, with a completely engaging mid-grade Voice! I had to fight with a 16 year old boy to keep my copy--he wanted to keep reading it, too. Poor Hilary wants to be a pirate more than anything, but instead she's sent off to finishing school. With a governess and a magic gargoyle. Of course she escapes and sets off to find a hidden treasure (pursued by the entire finishing school, no less). Complete and utter fun, and a Book Talk book for April 2014.
Speaking of Voice, INTO
THAT FOREST, by Louis Nowra, gives readers a singular story narrated by 76 year old Hannah O'Brien, whose "language is bad cos I lost it and had to learn it again." As a young child, on a picnic with her friend, Becky, and her parents, a sudden storm causes the death of Hannah's parents. The two girls, lost and starving, are rescued by Tasmanian tigers, who raise them in the jungle. The girls learn to eat, think, and behave like the tiger cubs their new "parents" had just lost. When Becky's human father finally finds them, the girls have a terrible time adapting to life in the civilized world, where rules come in direct conflict with all the girls have known for the past four years. Powerful and moving, an offbeat story.
Happy reading!
--Lynn
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