The Widow's Broom

Author/Illustrator: Chris van Allsburg
Year: 1992
Age Level: 4-8

Plot Summary: While en route, a witch's broom dies and she falls into the widow Shaw's garden. The widow puts the witch into bed, where she quickly heals and then is picked up by another witch and leaves the broom behind. The broom still has some magic left and starts doing chores for the widow, but unfortunately the neighbors don't like the idea of a magic broom.

My Rating: A. This book is gorgeous. I've read a good handful of van Allsburg books and I think these are some of his best illustrations. The story is good too, and it has a nice twist. It's easy to follow but clever and well written.

Runaways, Vol. 1 (Hardcover)

Author: Brian K. Vaughan
Illustrators: Adrian Alphona, Takeshi Miyazawa
Year: 2006
Genre: Sci-Fi, Fantasy
Reading Level: Young Adult
Series: Runaways ongoing title

Plot Summary: 5 teenagers and one tween discover their normal parents are really a group of super villains (called The Pride) working to overthrow the whole world. Confused, they run away and try to figure out how they can bring their parents to justice. Along the way, they discover unique abilities of their own as they go on the run, fight a hot vampire and, finally, confront their parents.

Red Flag/s: Character death, some language, action, teenage delinquency

Award/s: Eisner, Harvey

My Rating: B+. This started out more interesting than it ended up being. Midway through the characters started turning into cliches, and the story dragged a bit. The art and writing are both pretty solid, but neither are really fantastic. I got kind of tired of Vaughan sneaking in little bits of political agendas. Also, why were Gert's legs so very very short? Even more importantly, why did the raptor have a nose ring?

Flotsam

Author/Illustrator: David Wiesner
Year: 2006
Age Level: 4-8

Plot Summary: This wordless book begins with a boy on the beach. He's clearly interested in the local wildlife and even brought his microscope to the beach. When he finds an old camera that washes up on shore he can't resist getting the pictures developed. But that wasn't just an ordinary camera and its pictures are most certainly not ordinary either.

Award/s: Caldecott Medal

My Rating: A+. Definitely my favorite Wiesner book. The illustrations in this one are so well done and have such beautiful colors. And did I mention they're crazy and AWESOME? And even though it's wordless, the story is so clear. At the same time, it's easy and fun to make up the little details like the boy's name.

The Three Pigs

Author/Illustrator: David Wiesner
Year: 2001
Reading Age: 4-8

Plot Summary: In this unexpected take on the story of the three little pigs, the real excitement happens when the first pig gets blown out of his own story. The puzzled wolf continues in the original story, despite the pig's disappearance. After the other two pigs escape, they continue to explore their in-between land and find their ways into other stories as well.

Award/s: Caldecott Medal

My Rating: A-. This book was so much more interesting than I thought it would be. The cover always looked kind of boring and very pig-ish so I never opened it. But really it's so different and quirky and neat. Probably my favorite part was seeing the art styles change depending on the context.

How to Find Flower Fairies

Author/Illustrator: Cicely Mary Barker
Paper Engineer: Richard Ferguson
Year: 2007
Age Level: 4-8

Plot Summary: This is a handy guide to fairies and where to find them. Five different habitats are explained--the wayside, gardens, forest floors, tree tops and marshes--with plenty of tricks and tips to finding fairies. Oh, and did I mention its a pop-up book?

My Rating: A+. This book is so much fun! I know I would have been in complete awe of it as a wee thing. But really, it's so much fun to look at it. Besides the elaborate pop-up on each page, there are little miniature books on each page and plenty of flaps to look under. Also, even though the pop-ups are elaborate and beautiful, they don't seem as delicate as those in a Robert Sabuda book. This may be my favorite pop-up book.

The Golden Compass

Author: Phillip Pullman
Year: 1995
Genre: Fantasy (steampunk)
Reading Level: Young Adult
Series: First in the His Dark Materials series

Plot Summary: When Lyra Belacqua decides to sneak into a forbidden room at Oxford and overhears a discussion among the scholars, she has no idea of the consequences. Children all over England are disappearing, stolen by "Gobblers" and when Lyra's best friend, Roger, disappears she's determined to rescue him. Along with her faithful daemon, Pantalaimon, Lyra journeys to the mysterious North to solve the mystery of the Gobblers' purpose and rescue Roger. On the way she discovers startling information of her own past and learns to use the mysterious truth-telling device--the alethiometer.

Red Flags: some scariness and spookiness, character death, a violent battle between polar armored bears. And let's not forget the whole anti-Christian thing, although that doesn't really come into this book.

Movie Version: The Golden Compass

My Rating: A-. I don't know if this is traditionally viewed as a young adult book, but the writing style and the overall heaviness of it makes me wonder how many kids would be interested. Anyway, I really enjoyed it. It took a while for me to get really interested but by the end I was thoroughly hooked. Pullman is a good writer and even though Lyra is a brat, I mostly liked her by the end. Also: Iorek=win.

Tuck Everlasting

Author: Natalie Babbit
Year: 1975
Age Level: Young Adult?
Genre: Fantasy, coming of age

Plot Summary: Winnie Foster lives with her overprotective parents and grandmother, and she longs for something more interesting in life. Feeling bold, Winnie finally ventures into the mysterious woods surrounding the house and discovers Edward Cullen a handsome boy at a spring. What Winnie doesn't know is that this spring has given the entire Tuck family eternal life. When Winnie is offered the same, will she choose to live forever?

Red Flags: One scene of mild violence

Movie Version: Tuck Everlasting

Memorable Quotes: "'Know what that is, all around us, Winnie?' said Tuck, his voice low. 'Life. Moving, growing, changing, never the same two minutes together. This water, you look out at it every morning, and it looks the same, but it ain't. All night long it's been moving, coming in through the stream back there to the west, slipping out through the stream down east here, always quiet, always new, moving on. You can't hardly see the current, can you? And sometimes the wind makes it look like it's going the other way. But it's always there, the water's always moving on, and someday, after a long while, it comes to the ocean.'"

My Rating: A-. I enjoyed this book. It was a nice read, very summery, nice story. I wasn't blown away but I do like Babbitt's writing style and her descriptions. I think I missed the romance element from the movie a bit, and some of the character development for Jesse.

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH

Author: Robert C. O'Brien
Year: 1971
Reading Level: Intermediate
Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy

Plot Summary: It's early spring and for newly-widowed Mrs. Frisby and her small (mice) children, it means they have to move out of the farmer's garden before he plows it. Unfortunately her youngest son, Timothy, falls seriously ill and she cannot move him before the plowing. Mrs. Frisby finds help in unexpected places, but nowhere more unexpected than from a mysterious group of rats living under a rose bush. Where did the rats come from? What connection do they have to Mrs. Frisby? The answer is, well, awesome.

Red Flags: This is one of those books that will make you feel guilty for interefering with the animal world at all. Also, the ending is kind of sad.

Movie Version: The Secret of NIMH

My Rating: A. I was not expecting to like this as much as I did. I remember liking the movie a lot (which is not entirely faithful), but that was all I had to go on. And while the book is different, it was really good. Justin! How can you not love Justin? It reminded me of Watership Down, more towards the end, what with the drama and the escaping and the tragic ending.

Tantalize

Author: Cynthia Leitich Smith
Year: 2007
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Supernatural fantasy

Plot Summary: 17 and orphaned, Quincie Morris is overseeing the renovation of her family's Italian restaurant as it becomes the vampire-themed Sanguini's. After the head chef (and family friend) is brutally murdered, Quincie finds his replacement in the unassuming but talented Henry Johnson. Meanwhile Quincie's best friend (and would-be love interest) Kieren, a hybrid werewolf, is under suspicion for murder. Life gets increasingly stranger as Sanguini's opening night draws closer...

Red Flags: teenage drinking, some gore, moderate language, mild sexual content, general weirdness

My Rating: C. This book just got weirder and weirder. I thought it would be more Twilight-y (which, for some reason, I wanted) and it wasn't at all. I thought hot werewolf Kieren would actually be in the book, but he hardly was. Also, this book was strange and in the end, what was the point? The characters were bland. The setting was Austin but too undefined for me to get a grip on. Also, I hate it when characters aren't described (Kieren! I don't know what you look like! I only know that you're hot!).

The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup and a Spool of Thread

Author: Kate DiCamillo
Year: 2003
Reading Level: Intermediate
Genre: Fantasy

Plot Summary: Despereaux, a small-bodied but large-eared mouse, is not like the other mice that live in the castle. He loves books and music and is in love with Princess Pea, which shocks his relations to their core. It's also this love that takes him on a series of adventures, down to the castle's dungeon, where the vicious rats live. Despite his small size, Despereaux risks everything to save his (human) lady love.

Red Flags: None! Unless you count a mild inter-species romance.

Movie Version: The Tale of Despereaux
Award/s: Newbery Medal, 2004
My Rating: A. This was a very fun, endearing kind of book. Despereaux is cute, cuddly and sincere, and the supporting characters are all entertaining (especially his French mother). I like Kate DiCamillo's writing style, although I didn't so much care for her constantly saying "Reader..." But overall, it was a great book.

The Dollmage

Author: Martine Leavitt
Year: 2002
Age Level: Young Adult
Genre: Fantasy (Pure)

Plot Summary: The village of Seekvalley is led by the Dollmage, one woman with the power to guide and protect her people with her mystical abilities. Two girls, Annakey and Renoa, are born on the same day and both have the potential to be the Dollmage. Even though Renoa is favored to become the Dollmage, Annakey develops her skills as well, often in secret. When outsiders threaten the safety of Seekvalley, both girls form plans to save the village with their abilities, but in the end there can only be one Dollmage.

Red Flags: some minor gore, (discrete) rape scene

My rating: C
This was kind of strange book. The first-person narration made it really hard to imagine the world and setting of the story--it was kind of like watching a movie filmed entirely with close-ups. So I didn't really understand why dolls were the method of controlling and creating the society, and it just came off as random. It's hard to take it seriously when it's weird.