Summer Reading

The Houdini Box by Brian Selznick

I'm smitten with Brian Selznick's work, both as an author and an illustrator. Since my first introduction to his illustrative style in Ann M. Martin's, The Doll People right through to his most current work Wonderstruck, I have been enchanted with how he visually tells a story, as well as, when he writes  a story. Blending these two talents together in more than just a picture book fashion (32 pages) has been such a hit with readers at Lakie. Why I think it is a hit? I believe that some of us readers are better at interpreting visual clues and then making the inference with the verbal clues in the story. In other words the pictures help us understand the story. And Selznick is a master - it's a joy to uncover the clues in his pictures.
I guess it's no wonder that I searched out more of his titles this summer.
In The Houdini Box we are introduced to Victor a young boy who idolizes Harry Houdini. He tries to learn countless magic tricks to no avail - often with humourous bruising results. Then a chance meeting with the magician leads Victor on an unexpected journey.
I loved learning more about the magician Harry Houdini, I love the thought of a magic box that could transform Victor into the magician he dreamed of being. The black & white cross-hatched illustrations supported the story beautifully. And I appreciated the non-fiction content including a biography and magic trick at the end of the book.

I was delightfully surprized to find out that this book has been the inspiration of a children's play. Here's a preview of it.

New titles being added

Darke by Septimus Heap
Book 6 in the Magykal series

In the gripping sixth book, Septimus Heap enters the Darke Domaine and discover how to defeat its hold on the Magykal world.
Alther Mella has been banished, a Darke Domaine engulfs the Castle, and Darke dragon is on the loose. Septimus Heap must use all his skills to save the Castle and the Wizard Tower from destruction. He must enter the Darke. But he cannot do this alone. With the help of Jenna, Alther Mella, Marcellus Pye, and Septimus' estranged brother Simon and Marcia Overstrand battle the spreading darkness. Will Septimus succeed in protecting the Magykal world?

The Grimm Legacy

The Grimm Legacy by Polly Shulman

What if fairy-tale magic really existed?
Elizabeth has just started working as a page at the New York Circulating Material Repostitory, a lending library of objects - contemporary and historical, common and obscure. And secret, too - for in the repository's basement lies the Grimm Collection, a room of magical items straight from the Grimm Brothers fairy tales. But the magic mirrors and seven-league boots and other items are starting to disappear. And before she knows it, she and her fellow pages - handsome Marc, perfect Anjali, and brooding Aaron - are suddenly caught up in an exciting but dangerous adventure.

Trailer.



60sec recap

This Dark Endeavour

This Dark Endeavour : the apprenticeship of Victor Frankenstein by Kenneth Oppel

Wow! just finished and yes WOW. From the opening chapter, I was hooked, dark, mysterious, historical, brothers, jealousy, love, action/adventure, magic, villans. Hooked yet? If not -here's the summary from the book jacket.

The purest intentions can stir up the darkest obsessions.
Sixteen-year-old Victor Frankenstein leads a charmed life. He and his twin brother, Konrad, and their beautiful cousin Elizabeth take lessons at home and spend their spare time fencing and horseback riding. Along with their friend Henry, they have explored all the hidden passageways and secret rooms of the palatial Frankenstein chateau. Except one.
The Dark Library contains anceint tomes written in strange languages and filled with forbidden knowledge. Their father makes them promise never to visit the library, but when Konrad becomes deathly ill, Victor know he must find the book that contains the recipe for the legendary Elixir of Life.
The elixir needs only three ingredients. But impossible odds, dangerous alchemy and a bitter love triangle threaten the quest at every turn. Victor knows he must not fail. But his success depends on how far he is willing to push the boundaries of nature, science and love - and how much he is willing to sacrifice.

The Secret Kingdom

The Secret Kingdom by Jenny Nimmo

This is a prequel book which provides background to the origins and adventures of Charlie Bone's magical ancestor The Red King. For those of you who don't know Charlie Bone yet, this is a great series filled with magic and adventure (a great read alike to the Harry Potter series.)

Timoken is a prince born in a secret kingdom. At his birth, a forest jinni bestows magical gift upon him: a cloak made by the last moon spider and a potion called Alixir. When the peaceful land is attacked, Timoken and his sister Zobayda, must find a new kingdom to call home. Together with only the magical gifts and a talking camel, the siblings set off.

In this brand new series bestselling author Jenny Nimmo takes readers on an extraordinary quest with one of her most powerful and mysterious characters, the one who started it all for Charlie Bone and the Red King.

Here's the book trailer.

The Extraordinary Secrets of April, May & June

The Extraordinary Secrets of April, May & June by Robin Benway

Yesterday, when a smallish box of books arrived I was excited as usual, but also sad because this will be one of the last deliveries of the year. Anyway, this was one of the titles in that little box, and one I plan to be taking home with me for some of my summer reading.

Here's the summary from the back cover:
I hugged my sisters and they fit against my side like two pieces of a jigsaw puzzle that would never fit anywhere else. I couldn't imagine ever letting them go again, like releasing them would be to surrender the best parts of myself.

Three sisters share a magical, unshakable bond in this witty high-concept novel. Around the time of their parents divorce, sisters April, May and June recover special powers from childhood - powers that come in handy navigating the hell that is high-school. Powers that help them cope with the hardest year of their lives. But could they have a greater purpose?
April, the oldest and a bit of a worrier, can see the future. Middle child May can literally disappear. And baby June reads minds - everyones but her own. When April gets a vision of disaster, the girls come together to save the day and reconcile their strained family. They realize that no matter what happens, powers or no powers, they'll always have each other. Because there is one thing stronger than magic - sisterhood. 

The Amulet of Samarkand

The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud, art by Lee Sullivan

This is the graphic novel adaptation of The Amulet of Samarkand, and I have to admit that at first I was skeptical of such an undertaking, but I have to say Stroud has adapted and condensed the story with finesse. the humor of Bartimaeus still comes through loud and clear. The art work has a wonderful clarity for what could have become an overly dark work.Characters are fully recognizable and distinctive (a feature that can sometimes be confusing with manga and some graphic novels). I'm hoping that the graphic novel will lead readers into this magical trilogy.

Here's the summary from the back:

Nathaniel, a twelve-year-old magician in training, thinks he's ready to take on more challenging spells. With revenge against the proud and ambitious Simon Lovelace on his mind, he masters one of the toughest spells of all and summons Bartimaeus, a 5,000-year-old djinni, to assist him. But summoning a djinni and controlling him are two different things entirely. When Nathaniel sends Bartimaeus to steal Lovelace's greatest treasure, the Amulet of Samarkand, he finds himself caught in a whirlwind of espionage, murder and rebellion.

The magic comes to cinematic life in The Amulet of Samarkand. This is Bartimaeus as you've never seen him before.

The Magic Thief by Sarah Prineas

I took some time this afternoon to finish reading and create a book trailer for this title that is part of the Scholastic Book Fair preview box. I thought it would be a fun way to promote the book fair.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

The Magician's Elephant

The Magician's Elephant by Kate DiCamillo

What a wonderful, magical book.

It lets you believe that absolutely anything is possible, that magic is strong, that people are good and elephants can appear and disappear when needed. Filled with hope, this story follows a young orphan, Peter, who spends the one florin that is meant for he and his benefactors supper of two day old bread and very small fish, on a visit to the fortuneteller. Where he is told that his sister lives and to find her he must follow the elephant. And so begins the tale of unlikely happenings, unlikely heroes and a group of unlikely conspirators.

Here's some brilliant writing done once again by Kate DiCamillo -

"That is surely the truth, at least for now. But perhaps you have not noticed: the truth is forever changing." (the fortuneteller)

"It is important that you say what you mean to say. Time is too short. You must speak words that matter."

"What if?", Why not?, Could it be?"

"What are we to make of a world where stars shine bright in the midst of so much darkness and gloom?"

"Magic is always impossible," said the magician. "It begins with the impossible and ends with the impossible and is impossible in between. That is why it is magic."

The illustrations are in black and white and softly surreal, perfect for the dark, wintery city and the glimmers of magic.

Well Witched

Well Witched by Frances hardinge

Ryan and his friends don't think twice about stealing some money from a wishing well. After all, who's really going to miss a few tarnished coins?

The well witch does.

And she demands payback: Now Ryan, Josh, and Chelle must serve her . . . and the wishes that lie rotting at the bottom of her well. Each takes on powers they didn't ask for and don't want. Ryan grows strange bumps—are they eyes?—between his knuckles; Chelle starts speaking the secrets of strangers, no matter how awful and bloody; and Josh can suddenly—inexplicably—grant even the darkest of wishes, the kind of wishes that should never come true.

Darkly witty, wholly unexpected, and exquisitely sinister, Frances Hardinge's Well Witched is one well-cast tale that readers didn't know they were wishing for.

Read On

What's your savvy?

From the cover.

For generations, the Beaumont family has harbored a magical secret. They each possess a "savvy" — a special supernatural power that strikes when they turn thirteen. Grandpa Bomba moves mountains, her older brothers create hurricanes and spark electricity... and now it's the eve of Mibs's big day.
As if waiting weren't hard enough, the family gets scary news two days before Mibs's birthday: Poppa has been in a terrible accident. Mibs develops the singular mission to get to the hospital and prove that her new power can save her dad. So she sneaks onto a salesman's bus... only to find the bus heading in the opposite direction. Suddenly Mibs finds herself on an unforgettable odyssey that will force her to make sense of growing up — and of other people, who might also have a few secrets hidden just beneath the skin.

I soooo enjoyed this, the well crafted if somewhat wacky characters, the tall tale adventure, the wonderful savvy Mibs is given and how it presents itself are all unforgettable (it made me kind of glad I don't have a tattoo ;-). I felt part of the team on that bumpy pink bus ride, wondering what my savvy was and if I could guess what yours might be.

"But as I grew up, I began to understand that a savvy is just a know-how of a different sort."

"In most ways, Mibs, we Beaumonts are just like other people, we get born, and sometime later we die. And in between, we're happy and sad, we feel love and we feel fear, we eat and we sleep and we hurt like everyone else."

Wonderfully odd, no wonder this book (the authors first - wow!) has already been optioned for a movie. Check out the book trailer on youtube or visit the authors website http://www.ingridlaw.com/ for more about this great book.

Don't miss this one!!

Read on

More summer reading

Being back a school for a week now has been terrific, once I got things back in order that is. As I was shelving books, I realized that I have tons that I want to review here on the blog, as well as books that I'm currently reading. So here's what I read this weekend, followed by some more of what I read this summer.


What my mother doesn't know by Sonya Sones. This is a girlie book, a fast read because it's told in the form of a series of poems (also known as a novel in verse), and covers the topic of Sophie's old boyfriend, new boyfriend and falling for an unexpected potential other new boyfriend? What I really liked about the book was how the titles of the poems chronicle the passage of time through Sophie's year. These were a few of my fav's - Art Class, I hate her, and But we're just friends. Overall I enjoyed the book, I think Sonya Sones totally nails the teenage girl voice in her writing.



The bronze pen by Zilpha Keatley Snyder. Twelve-year-old Audrey Abbott dreams of becoming a writer, but with her father's failing health and the family's shaky finances, it seems there is no room for what her overworked mother would surely call a childish fantasy. So Audrey keeps her writing a secret. That is, until she meets a mysterious old woman who seems able to read her mind. Audrey is surprised at how readily she reveals her secret to the woman.
One day the old woman gives Audrey a peculiar bronze pen and tells her to "use it wisely and to good purpose." It turns out to be just perfect for writing her stories with. But as Audrey writes, odd things start happening. Did Beowulf, her dog, just speak to her? And what is that bumping under her bed at night? It seems that whatever she writes with the pen comes true. However, things don't always happen in the way that she wants or expects. In fact, it's quite difficult to predict what writing with the pen will do. Could the pen be more of a curse than a gift? Or will Audrey be able to rewrite the future in the way that she wishes---and save her father's life? Perfect for grades four to six.




Suck it up by Brain Meehl. Well this was my vampire book of the summer. Morning McCobb is a very unlikely vampire and he's been chosen to represent the IV League (International Vampire League) as their poster boy for the major coming out event. Why Morning? well he's young, geeky, and not a threat to humans because he's never even had blood from human or animal, Morning exists on Blood Lite a soy substitute. PR rep Penny Dreadful has been hired as Morning's handler and as well as pumping up the media on the day when the two worlds come together (that of the vampires and ours). There's one hitch with all of this and that's the fact that Penny has a teenage daughter and Morning is starting to like her more than a little. Will his true vampire colors show through?
There's great word play (dare I say -tongue and cheek) in this book, I really liked some aspects of this one and would recomend it for grades seven and eight.


Read on