Children's Book

*****

The Jumbies

by Tracey Baptiste

This story brought out the child in me, the one who loved fairy tales, the one who was just a little scared of rustling sounds in the night.

Corinne lives at the edge of the forest with her father, a forest thought to be home to jumbies.  Jumbies are the spirits of the dead who play tricks on humans and occasionally lure them into the woods where they are never seen again.  Legend says that many years ago jumbies helped save men from ships stranded near their beautiful island.  But the humans soon began to take over the island, cut down trees from the jumbies' forests, and push the jumbies further into the woods.  The island was no longer theirs.  And they want it back!

Corinne thought she knew everyone on the island, but when she comes home one day and a beautiful stranger is chatting with her widowed father, Corinne feels something is terribly wrong.  When mysterious things begin to happen, the townspeople begin to fear jumbie magic is at work.  Corinne realizes it all started when the beautiful stranger appeared, and Corinne feels that, somehow, she is the one who must bring the jumbie magic to an end.

With the elements of a fairy tale throughout, the delightful chapter book weaves mystery, adventure, and magic into a great read-aloud book for 2nd-4th graders.

This was an advance copy provided by NetGalley

Available April 28, 2015

 

Adult Book

*****

Dollbaby by Laura Lane McNeal

Opening with family trauma and tragedy, I instantly felt like part of the family.  McNeal’s descriptive writing made me feel like I could look out the window and see the houses on Prytania Street passing by, feel the sweat running down my face, and feel the oppressive fear of being pushed out of the car in front of a stranger’s house with my daddy’s urn tucked under my arm.

Set in the 60’s in the South, prejudice was rampant, sit-in’s were occurring, and Miss Winnie employed a “colored” cook and maid.  Twelve-year-old Ibby (Liberty) had never talked to a colored person before much less lived in a house with them.  But filled with kindness and a little bit of pity, Queenie and Dollbaby (Doll) take Ibby under their wings and soothe the hurt, ease the fear, and initiate her to life in the South with an eccentric grandmother.

But these three strong women each harbor heartaches and family secrets, secrets of tragedy and crime that weave a web of interconnectedness among them that is only revealed at the end.

I loved this book for its strong women characters, its metaphors and similes, and the way the story warmly pulls you into this family.   An outstanding debut for Laura Lane McNeal!  This was an advance copy provided by Penguin Books.

 

Children's Book

 

*****

Snatchabook by Helen Docherty & Thomas Docherty

All the children in Burrow Down are enjoying a bedtime story. But Snatchabook silently watches. One night Eliza Brown heard a "chink" and suddenly her book disappeared! All around Burrow Down bedtime stories begin disappearing, book shelves look bare, and rumors of thieves worry the town. Until Eliza sets a trap to catch the book thief. With her heart thumping, Eliza faces the challenge and realizes that not everyone knows about family and honesty. With limited lyrical text, this is a great PreK-Gr 1 story which instills good family values.

Adult Book

****

Everything I Never Told You
by Celeste Ng

­­­­The story opens:  “Lydia is dead.  But they don’t know this yet.”  Blunt, devastating.  The favored middle child of James and Marilyn Lee, a mixed American-Chinese couple, Lydia drowned--intentionally?  James and Marilyn who were drawn together by their differenced and shunned by Marilyn’s mother and society, piece together a life of love without honesty.  He, a graduate of Harvard, is destined to become a respected professor, and she, a Radcliffe undergraduate, is on the path to becoming a doctor and gifted scientist among skeptical men.

But the family comes along and dreams remain dreams.  Nath, then Lydia, and surprise, Hannah.

Haunted by what they don’t say to each other, each family member pretends to be happy and socially accepted while James and Marilyn try to live their incomplete lives through Lydia, the favorite child. But when Lydia’s body is found in the lake near their house, the quiet lies they have been living begin to unravel.  James, shouldering guilt, suddenly leaves on a path that could devastate his marriage, and Lydia’s older brother, Nathan, is out to prove the neighborhood bad boy is involved, but could it be Hannah, the “invisible” third child, who may shed light through her quiet observations on the truth of what happened with her sister?

YA/Teen Book

 

*****

Divergent by Veronica Roth

Dystopian Chicago Society is divided into five factions.  Each faction excels at something for the betterment of the whole.  Beatrice’s family, part of the Abnegation Faction, has always led a selfless life, feeding the poor factionless and helping others in need.  But all this may change soon.  Beatrice and her brother, Caleb, are in the class of 16-year olds, the year they must choose a faction in which they will spend the rest of their lives.  For many, the choice is easy, but for Beatrice she feels torn between her family and her hidden feelings about their selfless albeit safe and happy life.  At the testing center, her score comes up inconclusive and she is told never to reveal her scores or she will face certain death.  Beatrice makes a choice that surprises everyone.  In her new faction the initiation is brutal and always flirts with danger.  With her diminutive size, she quickly realizes she will have to outwit and out-strategize her opponents and reach for a part of herself she has never been permitted to acknowledge.  But they’re watching.  Do they know, have they guessed?  With the growing unrest among the factions, Tris (Beatrice) may need to use her secret to save the lives of others, but it is likely to end hers.

5 stars!  I instantly fell in love with the tiny, yet scrappy character of Beatrice (Tris).  She is intelligent, caring, but above all, courageous (a trait she has never been allowed to exercise before).  Mix in a little romance and this book became a page-turner.  I instantly wanted the sequel, Insurgent.  Stay tuned!  I’m reading that next.

YA/Teen

****

The Fault In Our Stars by John Green

I’m Hazel.  Sixteen.  Thyroid originally but with an impressive and long-settled satellite colony in my lungs.

If you have someone in your family or know someone with cancer, this will have meaning for you.  This book focuses on three teenagers who have cancer, all who are brutally honest about their disease, face it with a somewhat raw humor, and become a support group for each other.   Isaac is losing his eyesight, Hazel has thyroid and lung cancer, and Augustus has osteosarcoma.

When you are 16 and 17 years old and are not sure you will live another year, there are a number of things on your wish list of things you’d like to experience.  For Hazel and Augustus, it was love.   Hazel has already spent her Dream Factory wish and yet she longs to meet the author of her favorite novel about cancer who lives in Amsterdam.  Her quest is to find out what happens to the characters after the story ends (and before she dies).   And the enterprising Augustus sacrifices to make that happen.  What happens when they meet him makes the reader want more.  And do they have enough time to find out a little of what they want to know about love?  An inspiring story for those who face a malady and most especially for those who don’t.  5 stars!

Children's Book

 

****

The Mermaid and the Shoe by K. G. Campbell

The smallest of King Neptune's 50 mermaid daughters, Minnow, is not good at anything except asking questions.  All of her sisters have a unique talent, but everything Minnow tries is a failure.  What is she meant to be?  One day, she swims off to explore and discovers a strange object.  Minnow follows her questions to a wondrous place in shallow waters and comes back with tales that enrapture all the sea creatures.  A story of accepting who you are and knowing you have a special talent just waiting to be discovered, this is a lovely story for home or classroom.