This is definitely a series to get into. Ursu has a really great, spunky writing style, that will pull you right in and keep you guessing, laughing and worrying all at once.
We begin in the middle, where Charlotte Mielswetzski comes upon a stray kitten on her way home.
Actually, it’s more like it comes upon her. It’s not there, and then it is. And every time she tries to leave it behind, it gets in her way. So, she brings it home. And her parents fall in immediate love, much like she did, though they warn her not to get too attached, since someone may claim it.
Charlotte decides to call her Bartholomew. It may be a boy’s name, but she figures Mew is the coolest nickname for a cat ever. So it works out. But she doesn’t have Mew to herself for very long. Once her cousin Zee shows up, Mew takes an instant liking to him and leaves Charlotte behind.
At this point, we jump back to the beginning, which is the story of Zee’s summer in Exeter with his Grandmother Winter. Sadly, it will be Grandmother Winter’s last summer alive. She makes the best of it while she has the time. And on her death bed, she has a final premonition. It tells her that something bad is coming for her grandson. And she doesn’t have the time to warn him. All she can manage is the word “Metos.”
Not long after she passes, a strange illness starts taking the children of Exeter. It seems everyone Zee knows is stuck down. Too weak to even sit up, no doctor knows what’s wrong with them.
When he goes home to London, the same thing happens again. He’s convinced he’s causing it. And after seeing a boy attacked by two strange men-like creatures, he stops leaving the house.
The attacks stop, but his parents are sure he’s lost it, and send him to the states to stay with his cousin and her parents.
After Charlotte’s friends start falling ill, and school gets closed for the rest of the week because of the number of kids absent, she and Zee have a heart to heart. They still don’t know just what is going on, but they do know that no one would believe them.
A chance rescue at the hands of their English teacher, whose name happens to be Metos, Charlotte and Zee vow to stay inside. This plan fails, however, when Charlotte is awakened by Mew to run through the night after a sleepwalking Zee. Then they recieve a note from Mr. Metos telling them to follow the bird who brought it. He’s been caught.
Of course, he didn’t send the note, and the two wind up exactly where he didn’t want them–in the Underworld. Their task? Escape the bad people and stop the overthrow of Hades. Nooo problem.
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Rating: 
Edward Tulane lived the life of a spoiled rabbit–but he didn’t know it. He knew he was gorgeous, that he had fine clothes and his own pocket watch, set by him every day when his owner, Abilene, left for school. Pellegrina, her grandmother, spoke to Edward as an equal, as did Abilene, but her parents, he felt, were condescending. He didn’t like being thought of as a mere toy, regardless of whether it was true or not.
One night, not long before they’re to leave on an ocean voyage, Pellegrina tells Edward and Abilene a story. It’s a story of a princess who loves no one, and ends up turned into a boar and eaten. Edward doesn’t get it. He also doesn’t understand why Pellegrina, when she tucks him in, tells him “you disappoint me.”
When, during their ocean voyage, Edward finds himself thrown overboard, he has plenty of time at the bottom of the ocean to think things through.
After finally making it out of the ocean, Edward passes from home to home, family to family, spending time as a girl rabbit, a hobo, a scarecrow, and a puppet. Eventually, he finds himself in a shop on a shelf with dolls, after major repair-work. It’s enough to make him unlearn everything his adventures had taught him. But thanks to the words of an ancient, cracked doll, on her way out the door to another new life, Edward rebounds.
This was a really great book, with excellent lessons on love, friendship, family, and perhaps a little humility. I expect to be buying it for my own collection.
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Rating:
Desperaux Tilling was a disappointment to his mother from the day he was born–the only of his litter of mice babies to survive. But with his big ears, and his wide-open eyes, the family immediately decides there’s something wrong with him. Indeed, Despereaux does seem to be lacking all requisite mouse desires.
His brother tries to teach him to scurry, but he would rather enjoy the stained glass windows. His sister tries to teach him to nibble books, but he would rather read. While his family hears nothing but the sounds of falling food, Despereaux is drawn to a sweeter sound, one only he seems to hear. And so it is he finds himself in the Princess Pea’s bedroom, listening to her father the King sing to her.
This is the last straw for the mouse community. They call together the council and together decide he must be sent to the Dungeon. No mice ever come back from the rat-infested dungeon. This is surely the way to rid themselves of this danger.
But this is the story of an unlikely hero, and Despereaux does come back from the dungeon. Just in time to be too late to warn anyone of the dangers to the princess. When her father the King won’t listen to Despereaux’s advice on what’s happened to the missing girl, he realizes it will be up to him to save her. And so he sets off, one little mouse, about to do the impossible.
This was a really quick read and a really cute book. I’ll probably be buying it for my permanent collection. Definitely worth a read.
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Rating: 
Gabriel is dying. Only 20, he feels too young to go, and is torn at time between wanting it simpley to be over, and wanting to stay. He spends his days in bed, remembering his past, the childhood that led him to where he is.
Gabriel had a lonely life. His parents were known as “kooksville,” and seemed to want little to do with their children. Vernon, Gabriel’s older brother, was an invalid, who tired his mother constantly. Gabriel was left worried about him at all times, until the fateful day that took him from them.
Gabriel’s only friend, a wild boy called Finnigan, is a secret. They’ve sworn a pact–Gabriel will be all things good, Finnigan all things bad. Not long after, the town starts falling victim to fires. Not until it’s been years, with the crimes unsolved, does Finnigan relent, claiming it doesn’t matter anymore.
Gabriel’s other companion comes as a surprise. His father is talked into adopting a dog. Surrender. But Surrender spends too much time with Finnigan, and begins to run wild. Eventually, a local farmer shows up claiming he shot him while he was attacking his goats. Gabriel’s father assures him that if they find the dog wounded, it will be finished. Gabriel runs away, unable to bear the thought of having to kill his pet.
His last ray of hope comes in the form of Evangeline. Not a friend in public or school, but kind enough to him on their walks and in their random meetings. Fleeting as they are, to him they seem eternal. When Finnigan demands he give her up, he becomes distraught. He races to her house, where a party is in full-swing, to warn her.
When the party sounds begin to falter he becomes agitated and frightened, sure it’s Finnigan come for her. Imagine his shock when he finds his mother standing framed in Evangeline’s doorway, come to take him home.
There is little in the past to comfort him, as he remembers. He spends his time hoping futilely that she will come. She never does.
His final visit with Finnigan is where the whole truth comes out, and is largely what left me, when all was said and done, wondering what had just happened.
Confusion aside, this was a really good read. Probably not best suited to younger readers, but highly recommended.
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March 15th, 2007
8:37 am
by Jaemi
Book Review, Staff Favorites
california, death/loss, faeries, fantasy, francesca lia block, friendship, high school, motion pictures, realistic, ya fiction
Rating:
This is the book that started my obsession with Francesca Lia Block. After I read it, on a friend’s recommendation, I went out and bought all the rest of her books out at the time.
Violet wants to make movies. She views all of her life through eyes trained to this purpose. And while she’s had episodes that would add to a script, she finds her life mostly lacking in the requisite conflict and love interest categories. She also has no one to work with.
And then she spots Claire. Blonde, unknowingly pretty, surrounded by jerks. Violet comes to her rescue, and they become immediate friends. A new sensation for both of them. Violet is generally misunderstood, disliked and feared. Claire has never fit in.
While she doesn’t see life the way Violet does, she’s eager to try to help with the movie. And so the adventures begin. A trip to a transvestite bar, an underground concert, where Violet makes off with the lead singer, who spurns her, though she manages to turn it to her advantage.
She takes a job as a receptionist with an agent, who agrees in turn to help her with her script. Instead, he gives her a new story, and in the end, her movie becomes something much different than her original intent.
Claire, cut out of much of Violet’s life and time, is feeling lost. She has her poetry class–originally a joint venture with Claire, and her poetry teacher, but it isn’t the same. She’s worried about her friend, but doesn’t know what to do.
When her teacher also abandons her, and for another student, Claire is overcome. Violet, having had enough of her lot, is also at a tipping point. But there make-up goes awry when Claire spies Violet with Peter. An event innocent enough, but how would she know that from the shadows?
Her night takes many dangerous turns, and ends with another daring rescue by Violet. But the damage is still too great.
In the end, friendship triumphs, and a new and brighter life awaits the pair.
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Rating:
The day the books burned in the plaza, Estrella’s life began to change. She caught her first glimpse of a different side of her best friend. She felt the evilness which had come up and inhabited her town. She saw a part of her mother that scared her the same way her grandmother always had.
Estrella’s town has always been divided. Years ago, the Jews we all made to convert to Christianity or leave. Some refused both, and were forced to the outskirts, living behind a gate. On the other side of town lived the Muslims, also not allowed too close to the Christians. But they were not quite as forbidden, and Estrella made trips to see them with her mother when she went to sell her yarns.
But after the book burning, things get bleak. Her neighbors are arrested, accused of being Marranos. Hidden Jews. Estrella is lost in confusion. These are good people who attend her church. Worse yet, one night she spies someone in their house…spying through a window she finds her best friend, Catalina, and her mother going through the Arrias’ things.
Catalina and Estrella have been growing apart. Estrella has feelings for Andres, Catalina’s cousin whom she plans to marry, regardless of whether Andres feels the same. Catalina envies the pearls Estrella was given on her sixteenth birthday. She envies her looks. Estrella begins to see Catalina in a new light.
But not a light that would make her believe her own best friend would destroy her family.
When the notices are posted in the plaza on how to spot a hidden Jew, Estrella grows fearful. Though she was raised Catholic, all of the things on this list are things her family does. She worries, but time passes, and things seem almost to return to normal.
Until Catalina catches her with Andres.
Her family is taken, one by one. And thus the dominoes begin to fall. She can’t believe how far its come, this evil that has overtaken her home, which no longer feels like a place she belongs, or wants to be. She struggles in vain to help her family, and cling to what little hope she has left.
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Rating:
It seems there is something in the tragedy of Hamlet that speaks to us all. I think I myself have seen three different movie versions, though I never did make it all the way through the one I most wanted to see. Lisa Klein, a one-time professor of English, has been dissatisfied with the representations of Ophelia, and here given us yet another version of the story. If paired with the play in schools, it might make the study a little less irksome to those who find Shakespeare difficult to manage.
Through Ophelia’s own eyes we watch her life unfold. The loss of her mother at birth, leading to her hardened father, a dear brother. But her father’s courtly aspirations soon separate Ophelia from this, the little family she has, leaving her stranded amongst ladies who want little to do with her. Though she has Queen Gertrude’s favor, this does not ease all her pains. Still, it is a help. And when she learns how to please her matron Elnora as well, she settles into a rhythm. In these things she is happy, and for a time, learns to keep it so.
While she will never take to her sewing, and is still prone to speak her mind, Ophelia learns the arts of observance and wit. And Elnora, much pleased with her remedies, has left her to study not only herbs, but whatever she chooses, as often as she likes. The life of study, which she knew growing up with her brother Laertes, more suits her.
Yet still life at the castle feels like nothing more than a cage. A sentiment which Prince Hamlet, returned from study abroad, commiserates with fully. Though each knows it to be wrong, the pair is drawn together with a strength it is beyond them to deny. Horatio, Hamlet’s most trusted friend, becomes their lookout and only ally.
For a time, all is well. They have their love, and while hiding it strains Ophelia, even causes her to lose the Queen’s favor for a time, she would not give it up for anything. But upon the heels of their secret wedding comes much woe.
King Hamlet is slain. Too close to his passing, his Queen remarries his lustful brother, who is not fit to rule. Hamlet, claiming to have been told the truth by none other than his father’s spirit, becomes possessed with revenge–a path down which Ophelia cannot follow.
Soon all are drawn into the plot. The gentle Horatio, Ophelia’s father. Indeed, having stumbled upon the truth, and after showing her perhaps the largest kindness he ever has, her father is killed, and by none other than her own husband, who tried to come to her himself to beg forgiveness, only to have his wretched state leave him barred entry.
On and on the madness continues.
While first playing at a pretense, Hamlet is soon lost to his mind’s games and trials. Ophelia, following with her own pretense, hoping with it to win invisibility, at times seems lost as well. Through the gentle wisdom of Hortaio, she is brought to realize that she works against herself–drawing more attention rather than less. Thus, with his help, she devises a plan.
Brewing a potion, she fakes her own death–just in time to cheat King Claudius of taking it–though a little too closely for comfort. The life she knew being lost for all time, Ophelia flees to France, where she is taken in at a convent.
Long fearful of her past, she does not fully divulge the truth of her situation to anyone until the birth of her son has come to pass. Any who still held doubts about her are quickly won over when they hear the news.
In time, she settles into her new role and place. And while the past will always haunt her and the future bring fear, Ophelia has learned much through her tribulations, and looks on each new day as a gift.
_________________
I really, really enjoyed this book. I think it’s a great take on the historic tragedy. Klein should be much pleased with her Ophelia, who transcends, despite all odds.
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Rating: 
J.J. Liddy has a happy life. His family is close, and content in all things, except for time. In fact, it seems to everyone that time is slipping away. Buses are always late. There are things that never get done. But some things, like the ceilis his family holds, run like clockwork, and can be counted on. And J.J. is happy to be part of the festivities. Once a dancer, now a musician, J.J. shares his people’s love of music.
After hearing some dire news from his best friend, he spent a brief day as J.J. Byrne, but once his mother set him straight, he became even more determined to continue his old way. Sadly, while he set out with the best of intentions, he never arrives.
Gone to reconcile with his friend Jimmy, J.J. is sent first to Anne Korff’s, to deliver the cheese she had come for earlier and left behind. Anne in turn takes him to a souterrain, leading him through to a mythical land most no longer know of. Sure that his desire to buy his mother time, his promised birthday gift to her, Anne leaves him with a warning he doesn’t understand, and takes herself back home.
In this new realm where time seems barely to move, J.J. finds it hard to have a care. Aside from his worry for the dog Bran, whose hind leg dangles my a thread, and an insistent nagging at the back of his mind, J.J. quite likes this new world. Especially the music.
But he comes to learn that the residents of this happy place are not themselves happy. You see, they’ve got time, which they’ve never had before. Happy to sell it to him for “Dowd’s Number Nine,” all are saddened when they realize J.J. doesn’t know any more than they do how to take the time back. He takes it upon himself, with the help of Aengus Og, to try to find a way.
Their search for the leak leads them high and low and to a few surprises, though in the end it all adds up for J.J. Even the socks.
A very unique read, with a page of music between each chapter, The New Policeman is sure to please not only music lovers and fantasy dwellers, but anyone who loves a good tale.
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Rating:
Schuyler Van Alen leads a mixed-up life. She attends a prestigious NYC school, where she doesn’t fit in with her peers, except her best friend Oliver, and though her family used to be one of the wealthiest in the city, their holdings are now few and money sparse. She doesn’t know her father, her mother has been in a coma in the hospital for most of her life, and she lives with her foreboding grandmother.
When the uber-boy at school suddenly takes an interest in her, she doesn’t know what to think. And despite herself, she finds herself drawn to him. A fact which his twin sister takes much issue with.
After being invited to join The Committee, an elite society everyone at school knows about, Schuyler learns some startling things about herself and her family that she isn’t sure how to deal with. As it turns out, Schuyler isn’t human. And her best friend Oliver isn’t just her best friend. He’s a servant of sorts. And the dog she mysteriously found–also not an accident.
As mysterious deaths continue to plague the Blue Bloods, a secret from deep in their past comes forth. Silver Bloods. Fiends who feed on and kill Blue Bloods. Schuyler and her friends struggle to solve the mystery, losing much in the process. Left with many questions and nearly no answers, all Schuyler knows is its her mystery to solve, and only she can do it.
An intriguingly different look at vampires, which will leave you eager for the next installment.
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March 1st, 2007
5:08 pm
by Jaemi
Book Review, Series
adventure, ancient egypt, fantasy, historical, juvenile fiction, scifi, space and time, time travel, ya fiction
Rating:
The second installment of the Golden Hour series, this is a much heftier story than its predecessor. Beginning with a short summarization for those might have missed the first trip to Owatannauk, Maine, there’s little slowing down once the adventure begins.
Xanthe, home without her twin for once, is busily beating herself up for having done so poorly in the contest that won Xavier the trip he’s currently off on. When her mother suggests studying to take her mind off it, Xanthe heads to the porch to do some math. Not long after she discovers something struggling in their pond. A something who happens to be he dearest friend, Rowan Popplewell.
Coming to visit with exciting news, Rowan miscalculated a bit and landed his alleviator (time machine) in the middle of the pond. The news: Aunts Agatha and Gertrude want their assistance with a special project. Collecting the goods sold in their curio shop. More specifically, obtaining rare manuscripts from Ancient Egypt.
No sooner has Rowan shared the news and headed back in the alleviator, Xanthe’s Nana calls wanting her to come visit.
Arriving to find a very different Nina than she met the previous summer, Xanthe is excited. Not only to go to Egypt, but to go without her brother. In fact, she’s a little too wrapped up in having something he won’t.
When Xavier later shows up in Alexandria to join the rest of them, Xanthe feels personally slighted. Her anger, and the unlikely chance of stepping out of an alleviator right in front of Cleopatra, lead her down a treacherous road, with dire consequences. Uncertain if they pull it off, the four children band together to return to the past, repair history, and restore the natural order of the universe.
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