The Whispering Skull Lockwood & Co Book 2 by Jonathan Stroud

The Whispering Skull
Lockwood & Co Book 2
by Jonathan Stroud 

Format: hardback

 

Publisher: Disney-Hyperion (September 16, 2014)

Copyright: 2014

Pages: 448

Genre: middle grade fantasy-horror-mystery

Source: purchased  

Summary from the book cover:
In the six months since Anthony, Lucy, and George survived a night in the most haunted house in England, Lockwood & Co. hasn't made much progress. Quill Kipps and his team of Fittes agents keep swooping in on Lockwood's investigations, which is creating a bit of tension back home at Portland Row.

Things look up when a new client, Mr. Saunders, hires Lockwood & Co. to be present at the excavation of Edmund Bickerstaff, a Victorian doctor who, in Victorian times, reportedly tried to communicate with the dead. Saunders needs the coffin sealed with silver to prevent any supernatural trouble. All goes well-until George's curiosity attracts a horrible phantom. (There is a bit more, but I am going to cut this off here.)

I just finished reading this book today and it was a ton of fun. If you liked the last book, this one does not disappoint. I don't want to say too much because it would be too easy to slip into spoilers territory. Suffice it to say, there is a satisfying adventure that does pick up the threads left hanging from the last book, though with a larger time delay than I expected. I was also somewhat expecting the overall story arc of The Problem to play a larger role.

While the story was great fun, I still have the same reservations I had before about Lucy being the only female character that is good/normal and always taking umbrage at any other girl that appears. That is getting tiresome and it happens way too often in books. This whole there can be only one thing really needs to go the way of dinosaur. This spoils an otherwise fantastic adventure story.

The worldbuilding is also still rather odd - the combination of the old-fashion attitudes and gas-light with flip-flops and Coke is sometimes quite jarring. I am still having trouble picturing what the wider daylight world would look like.  And Tourists? How many tourists would there really be in a world were everyone pretty much goes into hiding at sundown. It sounds like travel would be really problematic. Also - how many generations of children have given up their childhood to be nightwatch and the like. I would think that would have a profound effect on society.  I can forgive some of this to the extent that the main characters are living a third-shift life, awake while the rest of the city sleeps - so I can understand some of the disconnect. But - I am hoping in the next book that we get more glimpses of the functioning of the wider world. Mostly this is quibbling though. The stories are delightfully atmospheric and satisfying as long as you don't start to think too terribly deeply about them.

To sum up - lots of fun.  If you liked the last book, you will almost certainly like this book too. Now I have the hard job of waiting for the next one. Once again the book ends like a shoe hitting the floor - this next shoe should be a doozy.

Journey and Quest - two books by Aaron Becker

Journey
by Aaron Becker

Format: Hardback

Publisher: Candlewick
Published: 2013

Pages: 40

Genre: children's picture book, fantasy 

A 2014 Caldecott Honor Book

Source: purchased

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Quest 
by Aaron Becker

Format: Hardback

Publisher: Candlewick
Published: 2014

Pages: 40

Genre: children's picture book, fantasy 

Source: purchased



So - how do you feel about picture books without words?  My daughter is still a little unsure about the concept, but I have fallen in love with these beautiful books.

In the first, a bored girl finds a red crayon that allows her to enter a colorful and magical world. The story is reminiscent of Harold and the Purple Crayon but where Harold relies on text to illuminate the spare illustrations, this story is purely visual - each picture is lovely and contains a myriad of fine details. So far I have found new things to think about each time I have 'read' the story.

The story continues in the second book, where the girl and her new friend - who possesses a purple magic crayon - find themselves on a quest to locate the rest of the magic crayons. Again, the illustrations are amazing.

There is also going to be a third book, which I eagerly wait.

If you have any interest in picture books or intricate illustrations - these books should enter your collection.

Lockwood & Co. The Screaming Staircase by Jonathan Stroud mini review

The Screaming Staircase Lockwood & Co. Book 1 
by Jonathan Stroud

Format: paperback (finally!) 

 

Publisher: Disney-Hyperion (Reprint edition August 26, 2014)

Copyright: 2013

Pages: 416

Genre: middle grade fantasy-horror-mystery

Source: purchased  


Summary from the back of the paperback:
A sinister Problem has occurred in London: all nature of ghosts, haunts, spirits, and specters are appearing throughout the city, and they aren't exactly friendly. Only young people have the psychic abilities required to see-and eradicate-these supernatural foes. 

In The Screaming Staircase, the plucky [I hate the way they use this word!] and talented Lucy Carlyle teams up with Anthony Lockwood, the charismatic leader of Lockwood & Co, a psychic detection agency that handles the dangerous work. After an assignment leads to both a grisly discovery and a disastrous end, Lucy, Anthony, and their sarcastic colleague, George, are forced to take part in the perilous investigation of one of the most haunted houses in England. Will Lockwood & Co. survive the Hall's legendary Screaming Staircase and Red Room to see another day?

I have been waiting impatiently for this book to come out in paperback ever since I saw the hardback in the bookstore. Now that it has - squee! - I devoured it in just a couple of days. I would have read it faster but silly things like work and feeding the kids interfered. I believe that I can even go so far as to call it a rollicking good read - the pages just flew past. Since The Screaming Staircase won the 2013 Cybil Award for Elementary/Middle Grade Speculative Fiction, I am sure that lots of people are already aware of it, but just in case you are not - if you have any interest in the book based on the description get it !  What fun!

The main characters are distinctive and realistic feeling - as long as you accept the premise that has been laid out to explain why children/teenagers would have to be acting as the front line here the story holds together very neatly (as long as you don't start thinking too deeply about it). The book is written so well that it is pretty easy to suspend your disbelief and start adventuring.

The plot uses several common tropes - for example the authorities being against our heroes and not as good (the classic Sherlock Holmes - Lestrade dynamic) - but uses them well enough to skirt becoming trite. For a middle school reader, this is a good introduction to the gas-light horror/mystery genre. Adult readers of mysteries will probably know where things are going but will still enjoy the ride. It does have ghosts, murder, and some scary descriptions but it is handled well so that the horror doesn't overwhelm the story and shouldn't put off an interested middle school reader.  (My son is not interested in horror books at all, so at the moment I won't be trying to get him to read it. I will try in a couple of years.)

The worldbuilding was for the most part really, really evocative. In fact, it worked so well in conjuring up the classic foggy streets of Sherlock Holmes' London that references to modern items were sometimes quite jarring. This is the one thing that was off kilter for me - I wasn't able to quite pin down the 'when' of the story. You have donuts and electricity along with gaslight and fireplaces. I get the idea that the Problem slowed down human advancements, but it was still all somewhat willy-nilly.

I also don't understand why Lucy wore skirts so often. Given the job description the disconnect between her 'work clothing' which included a parka and the references to times she was wearing a skirt started to really get on my nerves. In fact the whole girls are more sensitive, less threatening and normally wear skirts subtext felt totally archaic given the rest of the story. This was one of the reasons the time period felt more like the 1800's than the more modern world. The fact that Lucy was pretty fearless, competent and effective helped make up for these anacronistic attitudes but they were still annoying. It would helped if there more female characters (ghosts don't count) but there really weren't. They exist - there are important women mentioned - but other than eyeballing the Fitt's girl we don't meet any.

I really liked that one of the stray thoughts I had while reading - something like "if those things work against ghosts, why don't they try ..." - and then the book took me up on it and introduced something like what I was thinking about towards the end. Cool! Sorry to be vague but otherwise it would be a spoiler.

I loved it so much that I have already pre-ordered the next book - yes, sigh, in hardback. The first book doesn't end in a cliff hanger per say, but with a shoe that drops with a resounding thud.  I need that next shoe!  So I will be waiting impatiently until the 16th, when the next book comes out. 

What We Found in the Sofa and How it Saved the World by Henry Clark mini review

What We Found in the Sofa and How it Saved the World
by Henry Clark

Publisher: Little, Brown and Company, Hachette Book Group
Format: paperback
Copyright: 2013

Pages: 355

Source: Purchased

From the back cover:
The Adventure of a Lifetime Begins Between Two Sofa Cushions.

When River, Freak, and Fiona discover a mysterious sofa sitting at their bus stop, their search for loose change produces a rare zucchini-colored crayon. Little do they know this peculiar treasure is about to launch them into the middle of a plot to conquer the world! The friends' only hope is to trap the plot's mastermind when he comes to steal the crayon. But how can three kids from the middle of nowhere stop an evil billionaire?  ...

My son selected this book when he was let loose in the bookstore to pick out a couple of books to take to camp. He didn't actually get much reading done at camp this year, so he didn't get to it yet. Instead when he got home I ended up picking the book up when I got exhausted with A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. I needed something lighter and funnier, and this seemed like a reasonable candidate. Turns out it was a good choice because I quite liked it!

It is awfully hard to talk much about the plot because, for the most part, things are what they seem to be - it's just that what they are is rather weird. Kids find sofa  ... kids explore sofa ... kids end up going on adventure. It is all familiar stuff but played out with humor and enthusiasm. The book makes some seriously ridiculous things seem perfectly reasonable, just laying them out there without trying too hard, and without taking itself too seriously.

There are some deeper themes in here - alcoholism and some philosophizing about what constitutes death, and the setting is a town located around/above a coal-seam fire - but it is all discussed with a light hand so that things are not nearly as dark as they could have been. I liked the sarcasm - the narrator has a good voice and  and the story carried me along quite nicely.

From my perspective - I am looking forward to Clark's next book (though I hope is has a shorter title), can see myself re-reading What We Found in the Sofa..., and I now I am waiting for my son to read it as well.  I call it a four and a half claw book.

The Cabinet of Earths by Anne Nesbet

The Cabinet of Earths
by Anne Nesbet

Publisher:  Harper Collins

Format: Paperback

Published/Copyright: 2011

Pages: 266

Genre: Children's fantasy
Source: own book

From the author's website (http://annenesbet.com):

On their first day in Paris, Maya and her little brother, James, find themselves caught up in some very old magic.  Houses with bronze salamanders for door handles, statues that look too much like Maya’s own worried face, a man wearing sunglasses to hide his radiant purple eyes–nothing is what it seems.  And what does all that magic want from Maya? With the help of a friendly boy named Valko, Maya discovers surprises hidden in her family tree–grandmothers who walked in magic, a cousin so unremarkable she’s actually hard to see, and a terrible family habit of betraying one’s brother.  To save her own brother, Maya must take on the magical underworld of Paris . . . before it is too late.

We got this book up at the Scholastic Books' bookfair at my daughter's school.  They were having a buy one get one free sale and we ended up going a little nuts. I picked this book up on a whim because I liked the cover and the description on the back.

Maya's family has been invited to Paris via a fellowship offered to her father by the Society of Philosophical Chemistry. Though Maya is depressed and missing her friends and dog at home, she doesn't put up a fuss, since her mother - still suffering the aftereffects of a battle with cancer -  has always dreamed of living in Paris. However, things get weird the very first day - starting with a bronze salamander doorknob that turns to look at Maya.  




  
The book is a little sparse on details - we are never quite sure what Maya's father does (on the other hand, how many kids pay that much attention to what their parents do at work? ) and our peak of Paris is restricted to a small area so you don't that much of a feel for the city - but in some ways this is rather a relief because the story flows organically from the point of view of a child worried about her mother and a little overwhelmed by events. The story is unusual - there are no typical fantasy elements - elves, dragons or such - just a thread of magic.

Overall it flows nicely making for a quick, pleasant read.  I quite enjoyed it and am looking forward to grabbing a copy of the second book - A Box of Gargoyles.  Four to four and a half claws. 

Etiquette & Espionage by Gail Carriger

Etiquette & Espionage 
by Gail Carriger

Published:  Little Brown and Company, Hachette Book Group
Format: Paperback
Copyright: 2013
Pages: 307 
Genre: Fiction
Source: own book

"Fourteen-year-old Sophronia Temminnick is a great trial to her poor mother - her atrocious curtsy is an embarrassment to the family name. So Mrs. Temminnick enrolls her daughter in Mademoiselle Geraldine's Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality.

But Sophronia soon realizes the school is not quite what her mother might have hoped. At Mademoiselle Geraldine's, young ladies certainly learn the fine arts of dance, dress and etiquette, but they also learn to deal out death, diversion, and espionage - in the politest possible ways, of course. Sophronia and her friends are in for a rousing first year's education. "

So first - what on Earth happened to that poor young woman on the cover ? She clearly isn't wearing her stays (scandalous !), her decolletage appears to have been forcibly collapsed and I fear that something untoward has happened to her spine.  I like the background of the cover and even the idea of the cover, but the execution leaves something to be desired.

The story inside, however, is a delight.  Do believe that I liked it better then I liked Soulless.  Sophronia is a lovely protagonist. She is intelligent and willing to take action but she is neither perfect nor does she dwell on her perceived deficiencies. Plus, she has friends - female friends!  It is really nice to read a YA story where the lead is not the only girl in the story - or not the only good/worthwhile one. Relationships develop and end evolve thorough time, like they would at a real school. The cast of characters is a nice mix. And there is no heavy-handed boy angst either. Hurray!

The language is nicely textured, though the names of individuals started to get a bit wearing. I laughed out loud several times as I envisioned the action.  The end of the book tied some things up neatly while other plot threads were left merrily flapping in the wind, a nice balance that left me satisfied but very much looking forward to the next book.  Four and a half claws because it cheered me up while I have a yuck cold. 

Dash & Lily's Book of Dares

Dash & Lily's Book of Dares  
Rachel Cohn and David Levithan 
Published: Knopf Books for Young Readers (October 26, 2010)  

Format: ebook
Pages: 274
Genre: Fiction
Source: own ? file 

   
Lily has left a red Moleskine notebook with a list of literary clues in the stacks at the Strand bookstore. Dash finds it and is intrigued enough to follow Lily's lead and leave some clues of his own. The 'dares' refer to things like braving the Santa line at Macy's, going to an all-nighter party at a club to listen to a band named Silly Rabbi and building a Muppet at FAO Schwartz - challenges that must be met to pass the notebook. Lily and Dash each invest something of themselves and their hopes and aspirations into the journal - coming to know each other in a somewhat idealized and phantom way before they finally meet - under less than auspicious circumstances. 

Okay - now this book did cheer me up!  I really enjoyed the red journal (my favorite Moleskine is a reporter style blank book so I take notes and draw - I also like decorating the cover with silver and gold markers too so that I can tell the different journals apart) and was totally captured by the story as the notebook was passed back and forth. I actually slowed down and intentionally put the book aside to read other things in order to prolong the story. I could find things in common with both Lily and Dash and I even sympathetic to Boomer (who I imagine could get somewhat wearing as a friend). When Boris was introduced and things moved into the real world, I was really worried that the story was about to shoot over the top and self-destruct but it didn't, thank goodness.  

I laughed out loud a couple of times too. I love the line "Don't worry. It's your embarrassment at not having the thought that counts." Love, love, love that line.  

I also really appreciated the fact that Sofia wasn't turned into some kind of nemesis (the whole there can be only one thing that happens in so many books). 

I do believe that I will be re-reading it next Christmas, it was so much fun. I give this book four and a half claws - though I don't have a graphic for that (Ack - I can't bisect a paw! That would be terrible! Well I did it anyhow. Sigh. )