Stacked Shelves

I liked The Wizard of Dark Street by Shawn Thomas Odyssey, and I hope Odyssey plans to make it the first in a series (it already has a cool website ). Unfortunately, it could have used another edit. The problem lies with the uneven tone of the novel. At times the story is serious -- and some horrible things have happened (spoilers later). But the novel also has some quirks that seem to be attempts at humor, but miss. The heroine of the book is Oona Crate, a Natural Magician. She was born to do magic (other magicians must learn it), but after her father (The Wizard of Dark Street) was killed by the evil Red Martin and after she herself killed her mother and baby sister(!) with some uncontrolled magic, Oona wants to give up the family business and not be apprentice to her uncle (the new Wizard of Dark Street). Instead, she’d like to become a detective. In some ways, the book calls to mind the wonderful Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clark. Dark Street is the last of the...

You wouldn’t know from the covers of these two books that Phoebe Stone writes more than tween romances. And that’s a shame. Because despite the old adage, we do select books by their covers, among other things, and the jackets on these books could be turning away readers. The more egregious cover of the two is that for The Romeo and Juliet Code . This book takes place during World War II and, while I’m sure some kids did wear tennis shoes and jeans then, this cover has too much of a contemporary look. Also, there is no tween romance in this book. None. Nada. Felicity Bathburn Budwig, the 11-year-old heroine of the novel, has come from England to live with her father’s family in Maine. While there she learns more about her family and her place within it. She also discerns that her parents may be spies (hence the title). It’s a great novel about displaced children during wartime, family secrets, and finding one’s true home. The Boy on Cinnamon Street suffers from both a bad cover a...

After I read The Midnight Zoo by Sonya Hartnett (months ago), I wrote myself a note comparing it to Life of Pi by Yann Martel and, hurrah, I found the note earlier this week. So, here's my insightful thought: Like Life of Pi , The Midnight Zoo asks readers to decide what is real and what is imagined. Are the protagonists imagining what is happening to cope with the horrific external circumstances? Or has all of reality turned upside down because of those events? The Lying Carpet by David Lucas does that too, though in a much lighter way -- no man-eating tigers or Nazis.