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Angela Leeper

YA FictionYA

At war with a magical enemy

Review by Angela Leeper

It wasn’t terrorist attacks but a war between humans and faeries that left the Earth destroyed 20 years ago. In the post-apocalyptic Bones of Faerie, Janni Lee Simner’s first young-adult novel, 15-year-old Liza has been taught by her xenophobic father that magic leads to death. When her baby sister is born with pale, almost translucent hair, a sure faerie sign, and left to die; her mother disappears; and she begins to see disturbing visions of the War and her mother, Liza must escape before her father discovers her own treacherous secret.

The teen flees her isolated village, despite warnings that trees in the adjoining forest start to kill at night. She is not alone long before she is joined by Matthew, another teenaged villager who has been hiding his shape-shifting abilities. Soon, the two are indeed attacked by sinister trees. Rescued by a wandering faerie and taken to a fey village, Liza must reconcile her trust of the faeries and her own growing magic with her teachings about the War.

Riddled by more visions and a puzzling connection between her mother and her faerie caretakers, Liza must find her runaway mother. Matthew joins her again, as does Allie, a faerie healer. The three young people head for St. Louis, now known as Faerie, where the famous Gateway Arch has become a portal to a world of magic. They use their special gifts of sight, touch and smell to help one another and ward off evil.

Amid the recent deluge of post-apocalyptic novels, Simner offers a unique spin, with her poetic, atmospheric prose brilliantly capturing the tug between human and faerie and the blending of the two. Because Liza narrates the story, readers, pulled into the teen’s search for her mother and questions about the War, slowly learn the answers along with her. They not only relish her gains in magic, but in her self-confidence, trust and love. Readers can only hope that lingering questions in the book will be answered with a sequel and more glimpses into Liza’s faerie powers.

Angela Leeper recently visited the Arch and saw no signs of faerie infiltration.

It wasn’t terrorist attacks but a war between humans and faeries that left the Earth destroyed 20 years ago. In the post-apocalyptic Bones of Faerie, Janni Lee Simner’s first young-adult novel, 15-year-old Liza has been taught by her xenophobic father that magic leads to death. When her baby sister is born with pale, almost translucent […]
Memoir

In search of a child whisperer

Review by Angela Leeper

Delayed language, tantrums, arm flapping, hyperactivity, incontinence—Rupert Isaacson’s son, Rowan, possessed all the signs associated with autism. Rather than helping, behavioral therapies, diet changes and special classrooms seemed to bring out the worst of the boy’s behaviors. Only when they were riding their neighbor’s mare, Betsy, across a Texas range did Rowan exhibit lucidity and calmness and his father feel some reprieve from his incessant grief and fatigue. Isaacson’s astonishing memoir, The Horse Boy, reveals how, inspired by these rare moments in the saddle, he began a quest through Mongolia to heal his five-year-old son.

A travel writer, accomplished horse rider, and activist for the Bushmen of the Kalahari, Isaacson (The Healing Land) had witnessed the shamans’ indescribable healings and had even borrowed Rowan’s middle name, Besa, from a Bushman healer and good friend. He set his sights first on the shamans of the horse people of Mongolia and then on finding Ghoste, the most powerful shaman of the nomadic reindeer herders in Siberia.

With intensity and candor, Issacson describes their travels by horseback, shamanistic rituals, Rowan’s small leaps forward and continuing setbacks, his own fears and worries after dragging his family across the world, and the miraculous transformations that eventually changed Rowan and brought peace to the family. There’s a reason extreme locales are referred to as Outer Mongolia; the author weaves the flavor of this remote region into his story, from exotic foods that required him to overcome his gag reflex, to river crossings that put both horse and rider in danger.

Isaacson’s journey to heal his son is just that, a healing, not a cure. But he wouldn’t want it any other way. While the author’s purpose was to draw Rowan out of his autism, he came to realize the overlooked gifts it entails. The Horse Boy will leave readers with a new appreciation for autism and the healing techniques of other cultures; like Rowan, they, too, will be changed forever.


Angela Leeper is an educational consultant and writer in Wake Forest, North Carolina.

Delayed language, tantrums, arm flapping, hyperactivity, incontinence—Rupert Isaacson’s son, Rowan, possessed all the signs associated with autism. Rather than helping, behavioral therapies, diet changes and special classrooms seemed to bring out the worst of the boy’s behaviors. Only when they were riding their neighbor’s mare, Betsy, across a Texas range did Rowan exhibit lucidity and […]
Children's & YA

New friend brings hope for Christmas

Review by Angela Leeper

Christmas is only days away, but with her diabetic mother's death barely two months ago and her father's hunting traps continually empty, 11-year-old Dessa Dean wonders if there will be a celebration at all this year. It may take a miracle, or the sudden appearance of a fudge – colored dog, to restore holiday cheer in K.A. Nuzum's heartfelt and beautifully crafted book for young readers, The Leanin' Dog.

In the snow-covered Colorado mountains, Dessa Dean, still dealing with the frostbite she suffered on the day of her mother's death, is afraid to leave her family's isolated cabin. She counts the number of steps to the front porch, but refuses to step off of it. When the brown dog arrives, it, too, has an injury and needs time to heal. Despite her father's complaints, the girl fixes the dog treats and leaves the cabin door open until the dog feels comfortable enough to come indoors. Dessa Dean's canine friendship inspires her to hang her mother's Christmas decorations and prepare a special holiday dinner, as she realizes she can honor her mother's traditions and create new ones at the same time.

The girl still can't think of a name for her dog, but with her father off checking his traps before a storm sets in, dinner simmering and presents made, she can finally begin to enjoy Christmas. But the thumping outside is not the dog sneaking off with her bone as the girl thinks, but an awakened, hungry bear ready to wreak havoc on the Christmas fixings. As the bear and dog spar throughout the cabin and into the woods, leaving a trail of blood, Dessa Dean must decide if she has the courage to venture into the storm and save her new friend.

By returning Dessa Dean's strength and the Christmas spirit to this grieving family, the dog finally earns a well – deserved name for itself. Nuzum's gifts to readers include her convincing regional dialogue and vivid descriptions of the Colorado wilderness and the range of emotions that sweep through the tiny cabin. This story of an intelligent, resourceful and devoted girl and her loyal pooch will resonate long after the holiday season.

Angela Leeper is an educational consultant and freelance writer in Wake Forest, North Carolina.

Christmas is only days away, but with her diabetic mother's death barely two months ago and her father's hunting traps continually empty, 11-year-old Dessa Dean wonders if there will be a celebration at all this year. It may take a miracle, or the sudden appearance of a fudge – colored dog, to restore holiday cheer […]
YA FictionYA

A sharp-shootin’ cowpoke heads west

Review by Angela Leeper

Inspired by the real-life stories of Nat "Deadwood Dick" Love, a famous black cowboy and former slave who penned his own adventures in 1907, Helen Hemphill's latest novel features a young teen with a zeal for the Wild West. Prometheus Jones, like his mythical namesake, possesses a wily intelligence that often tests the powers above. Known for his sharp-shooting, horse-riding skills and his streak of good luck, he wins Good Eye, a half-blind black stallion, in a raffle. When the Dill brothers accuse him of stealing their raffle ticket, however, Prometheus and his 11-year-old cousin, Omer (short for Homer), hightail it west.

Ever since Prometheus learned that his father was sold to a man in Texas, he's been determined to go there. The boys find a way, albeit a roundabout one, to Texas, as they take part in a cattle drive that will deliver 3,000 steers to Deadwood, Dakota Territory, just in time for the 100th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. While the trek allows for moments of humorous and heartwarming camaraderie among his Hispanic, Irish and fellow African-American companions, Prometheus also experiences buffalo stampedes, the deaths of friends and other cowboy hardships. And while Pawnee and Sioux Indian raids are a constant threat, the boy empathizes with their outsider status in their own land. Once a victim of prejudice, Prometheus finds that hard work rather than color sets him apart during the cattle drive. With a little luck left, the boy makes a name for himself (literally and figuratively) during a shooting competition. Even the Dill brothers' return —or the truth about his father—can't deter him from his goal.

Hemphill lassos readers with her gift for dialogue and nail – biting scenes of danger, and holds them with fascinating descriptions of cowboy life and clever historical references, such as a near – escape from braves fatigued from their victory over Custer at Little Big Horn. For a high-spirited tale of courage, talent and passion, gather 'round the campfire!

Inspired by the real-life stories of Nat "Deadwood Dick" Love, a famous black cowboy and former slave who penned his own adventures in 1907, Helen Hemphill's latest novel features a young teen with a zeal for the Wild West. Prometheus Jones, like his mythical namesake, possesses a wily intelligence that often tests the powers above. […]
YA FictionYA

The sky’s the limit for this teenage pilot

Review by Angela Leeper

It’s 1944 and everyone is doing their part for the war effort. While her mother and sister roll bandages for the Red Cross, 18-year-old Bernadette “Byrd” Thompson sneaks out of their poor, small-town Iowa home and hops a train to Sweetwater, Texas. In Skies Over Sweetwater, an absorbing coming-of-age novel by Julia Moberg, the insecure teen joins the elite Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) training program at Avenger Field.

By donning oversized men’s overalls (aka “zoot suits”), suffering through morning calisthenics, studying meteorology and Morse code, and learning to fly trainers, utility planes, bombers and other aircraft, the WASPs free up men for combat overseas. Byrd is eager to share these exhilarating experiences with Sadie, a spunky, college-educated Oklahoman; Opal, a Chinatown native who elicits many stares; and even “Miss Peach” Cornelia, the smug socialite from Atlanta. But she’s not ready to divulge what happened eight years ago: her father’s accidental death while performing an aerial dive and her own narrow escape from the broken plane.

Byrd’s passion never wavers, but still harboring guilt and fear over her father’s tragedy, she questions her ability to fly among the nation’s best, especially during the required training dives. When another disastrous event turns into a heroic, life-saving act, the young woman is finally able to prove to her commander, her selfish training partner, the men who scoff at women pilots – and most importantly, to herself – that she can succeed. And when not flying or catching the local rattlesnakes, Byrd just might capture the heart of Lt. Andrews, an instructor with a secret of his own.

From Victory Gardens to butter rations to lines drawn on the back of women’s legs to look like nylon stockings, Moberg includes many details that allow readers to understand Byrd’s time in history. The teen’s struggles and achievements form an inspiring portrayal of America’s first military-trained female pilots, bringing this often forgotten part of history to light and showing that men were not the only ones risking their lives during World War II.

Angela Leeper prefers life on the ground in Wake Forest, North Carolina.

It’s 1944 and everyone is doing their part for the war effort. While her mother and sister roll bandages for the Red Cross, 18-year-old Bernadette “Byrd” Thompson sneaks out of their poor, small-town Iowa home and hops a train to Sweetwater, Texas. In Skies Over Sweetwater, an absorbing coming-of-age novel by Julia Moberg, the insecure […]
Children's & YAYA FictionYA

More curious incidents

Review by Angela Leeper

The 100-Year-Old Secret is the first title in The Sherlock Files, a new mystery series created by Tracy Barrett. Middle-grade readers are introduced to Xena Holmes, 12, and her younger brother, Xander, who have a penchant for games. The siblings accompany their mother, a product tester, on a year-long stay in London. They soon find excitement in the seemingly dreary city when they receive a cryptic invitation to join the Society for the Preservation of Famous Detectives and discover that the legendary SherlockHolmes was their great-great-great-grandfather. The SPFD hands over the famous detective's book of unresolved cases, and when another rainy day looms over Xena and Xander, the pair chooses a case to solve. The first one to catch their attention is the missing painting, "Girl in a Purple Hat," by fictional artist Nigel Batheson. The case also coincides with an upcoming Batheson exhibit at the Victoria and Albert Museum. With the help of some of their mother's new gadgets, Watson's great-great-great-nephew (who still carries a grudge for his ancestor's lack of limelight), and of course, deductive reasoning, it's elementary that Xena and Xander are destined to follow in the footsteps of their namesake.

LOCKED IN A TOWER
When 12-year-old Hazel Frump has another spine-tingling dream in which she suddenly finds herself in an old tower, her nine-year-old brother, Ned, is sure something bad is afoot in Jennifer Lanthier's The Mystery of the Martello Tower. While Ned is a precocious chemist, always trying to concoct the perfect stink bomb, Hazel is an inquisitive girl. Their mother passed away years ago, and Colin, their gallery owner father, claims that he has no other family. But when Colin leaves unexpectedly for a business trip to Turkey, the girl's curiosity compels her to search her father's office, where she discovers one email from Interpol about an artist's websites and another from a relative in Canada. And when the Frumps' apartment is burgled and the siblings learn that their father has been imprisoned for art fraud, they flee to their long-lost family's castle estate. As their Frump cousins reveal underground secret passages, as well as family secrets, Hazel and Ned use their wits and a few tricks to uncover a ring of art fraud thieves, free their father from jail, and finally learn the truth about their mother's death and Hazel's connection to the castle's lone tower.

COLUMBUS HAS HIS DAY
Jill Santopolo's The Nina, the Pinta, and the Vanishing Treasure kicks off an entertaining mystery series featuring Alec Flint, Super Sleuth. With his favorite sweatshirt that sports a convenient pouch and detective pens that will write even when held upside down, the adventurous fourth-grader may only be a super sleuth-in-training, but he's ready to tackle his first case when the local museum's Christopher Columbus exhibit, once full of gold coins, goes missing. His classmate, Gina, a whiz with codes, presents a mystery of her own: Ms. Blume, their art teacher, has also disappeared. Alec takes on Gina as his partner, and the pair succeeds in researching Columbus' voyages, snooping into the affairs of Ms. Blume and her acquaintances (to the chagrin of Alec's police officer father), and writing and cracking codes along the way. The twosome's sleuthing not only aids in the recovery and validation of the exhibit and the rescue of their likable teacher, it also highlights the controversies surrounding Columbus' discoveries and his treatment of Native Americans. Children will take interest in both Alec's detective work and learning more about the prominent yet often misunderstood figure from history.

DOG-EAT-DOG NEW YORK
Tim Malt and his sidekick dog, Grk, are back for their third comic adventure in Joshua Doder's Grk and the Hot Dog Trail. This time Tim, a 12-year-old English boy, is on holiday in New York City, along with his parents, best friends and of course, his faithful pooch. They pay their respects to King Jovan and Queen Rose of Stanislavia and view their Royal Highnesses' Golden Dachshund statue. This is to be the last sighting, however, as the coveted statue is stolen from the National Museum. "A fugitive, a runaway, a liar and, most importantly, a detective," Tim sneaks away from his mother and skips a flight back to England when he believes he can solve the mystery. In this fast-paced satire of crime and world politics, the boy's search for a hot dog-loving suspect, Doctor Weiner, takes him on a tour of Central Park and a trek across the Brooklyn Bridge. Employing absurd disguises and help from friends they meet along the way, Tim and Grk sneak into a hot dog factory, where the pair risks a horrible demise to restore the "hot" dog to its rightful owners.

THE POWER OF PERSUASION
Rock and pop critic for the Wall Street Journal and author of the Terry Orr thriller series for adults, Jim Fusilli switches gears with his first mystery for teens, Marley Z and the Bloodstained Violin. Almost six feet tall, with dreadlocks adding more to her height, Marley Zimmerman, 14, cannot accept the police footage that depicts Marisol, her good friend, band mate and violin prodigy, in a zombie-like trance, stealing a rare violin from the Julliard School. She believes that like the time traveler in her father's popular comic books, Marisol must have served as an "unwitting agent" for a devious thief. Determined to catch the brains behind the operation and restore the violin before it suffers any damage, the teen suspects everyone—the crazy musician who plays late at night behind Lincoln Center, her boring algebra teacher who collects violins, and even Bassekou, the son of the ambassador from Mali and a potential new band member. Flashbacks to events just before the theft will allow alert readers to solve the case right along with the spunky teenaged sleuth. Readers will particularly enjoy the energy and diversity of Marley's group of friends, which mirrors the excitement of New York City itself.

The 100-Year-Old Secret is the first title in The Sherlock Files, a new mystery series created by Tracy Barrett. Middle-grade readers are introduced to Xena Holmes, 12, and her younger brother, Xander, who have a penchant for games. The siblings accompany their mother, a product tester, on a year-long stay in London. They soon find […]
Memoir

When a house of cards collapses

Review by Angela Leeper

While her Jewish "aunts" played mah-jongg in their Queens kitchen, young Martha Frankel preferred the "uncles" poker games in the living room every Friday night. By age 10, she had learned to read the Daily Racing Form and was accompanying her CPA father to the track. This early entree into gambling would come to haunt Frankel much later in life, when her world turned to Hats & Eyeglasses, a poker term for a losing hand and the title of her candid, conversational and even comical new memoir.

When Frankel's father died just before she started high school, she filled the void with alcohol, drugs and men, and smugly prided herself on never becoming hooked, like some of her relatives. As she developed a loving, stable relationship with her artist husband, she began writing articles for Details magazine and enjoyed immediate success, jet-setting around the world to interview celebrities.

Although Frankel hadn't touched a card since her parents' game nights, she returned to poker in her mid-40s to conduct research for a screenplay. For advice, she turned to a former professional player she knew; to her mother, who earned extra money playing during the Depression; and to Michael, a mentor who encouraged her during her first fearful Wednesday night games. Poker was so immediately thrilling that she refused assignments worth thousands of dollars to practice her game all day. When she needed to pay bills, she built her schedule around her Wednesday night games. And when she was good enough – and she was good all right – she scheduled her Hollywood interviews around lunch, so she could reach the casinos by evening and sleep in the morning.

Thinking her life couldn't get any better, Frankel discovered online poker and quickly became addicted. No matter that she was losing more money than she could hope to recover, that she was abandoning her family and friends. As Frankel confronts her shame and family tendencies, her raw yet touching storytelling will inspire gambling addicts, their loved ones and those who simply want to know more about this debilitating compulsion.

Angela Leeper is an educational consultant and writer in Wake Forest, North Carolina.

While her Jewish "aunts" played mah-jongg in their Queens kitchen, young Martha Frankel preferred the "uncles" poker games in the living room every Friday night. By age 10, she had learned to read the Daily Racing Form and was accompanying her CPA father to the track. This early entree into gambling would come to haunt […]
Children's & YA

A journey from the other side

Review by Angela Leeper

It's 1872 in New York City, and 14-year-old Horace Carpentine is working as an apprentice for society photographer Enoch Middleditch in his Greenwich Village studio. Horace's father, an early supporter of abolition and a firm believer in science, chose the position to expand his son's learning in the scientific field. But in the course of the chilling and atmospheric ghost story The Seer of Shadows, Horace will be forced to confront his own beliefs about the line between fact and fiction.

When society matron Mrs. Von Macht hires Middleditch to take her photograph in her Fifth Avenue mansion, so she can put it on the tomb of Eleanora, her recently departed daughter—a trend of the times—the unscrupulous photographer sees an opportunity in the making. Setting aside his own moral convictions, Horace helps Middleditch make a "spirit image" by combining existing images of Eleanora with those of Mrs. Von Macht. To his surprise, he discovers that he can actually take photographs of the dead. Through Pegg, the Von Macht's African-American servant, Horace eventually learns the true identity of Eleanora and her manner of death. He realizes that he is not only taking photographs of the dead but that he is a seer, bringing spirits back into this world. And now that she is back in the Von Machts' lives, Eleanora is determined to seek revenge on her former caregivers. In a spine-tingling conclusion, Horace and Pegg, united in friendship and purpose, must figure out how to release the ghost from her anger and this world.

In this digital age where film is almost a relic of the past, young readers will be fascinated by Avi's detailed descriptions of early photography and tricks of the trade. They will be further enthralled by the fast-paced narration and introduction to the spiritualism of the times, as well as by Horace's concluding account of his career in photography. Along with Horace, readers will question his photographic gift—or curse?

Angela Leeper lives and works in Wake Forest, North Carolina.

It's 1872 in New York City, and 14-year-old Horace Carpentine is working as an apprentice for society photographer Enoch Middleditch in his Greenwich Village studio. Horace's father, an early supporter of abolition and a firm believer in science, chose the position to expand his son's learning in the scientific field. But in the course of […]
Children's & YA

What little girls are made of

Review by Angela Leeper

On the heels of the best-selling The Dangerous Book for Boys comes a version for the opposite sex, The Daring Book for Girls. Arranged like a manual, complete with badges ˆ la the Girl Scouts, this guidebook by Andrea J. Buchanan and Miriam Peskowitz is for both young girls and the young at heart.

Many of the entries are distinctly female, from putting your hair up with a pencil, tying a sari and pressing flowers (which mixes daintiness with power tools ) to double-Dutch jump rope, friendship bracelets and slumber party games. The authors have also included brief histories on queens of the ancient world and modern-day princesses, as well as female leaders, inventors, scientists, Olympians, spies and pirates.

History is important, but 21st-century girls must also keep up with the times. The Daring Book for Girls includes math tricks, karate moves and information on assembling Every Girl's Tool Box and changing a tire. Of course, this is a book about being daring, and who wouldn't feel more so after reading about paddling a canoe, going to Africa, negotiating a salary and dealing with boys ( In general, they like to do things, and that makes them rather fun. ). While the authors aim to spark adventure, imagination and resourcefulness, they always maintain a tongue-in-cheek humor, echoing the tone of the boys' version. Buchanan and Peskowitz encourage girls to take on these challenges, but not to take them all too seriously. Isn't that what girlhood is all about?

 

Angela Leeper lives and writes daringly in Wake Forest, North Carolina.

On the heels of the best-selling The Dangerous Book for Boys comes a version for the opposite sex, The Daring Book for Girls. Arranged like a manual, complete with badges ˆ la the Girl Scouts, this guidebook by Andrea J. Buchanan and Miriam Peskowitz is for both young girls and the young at heart. Many […]
YA FictionYA

Multiple writers develop winning novel

Review by Angela Leeper

Newbery Medal winner Linda Sue Park starts it all with a girl named Maggie; her grief for her grandfather, world-renowned photojournalist George Gee Keane; and her inheritance, a puzzling wooden box of seven shells. Simply titled Click, this collaborative novel to benefit Amnesty International continues Gee's adventures in chapters written by 10 critically acclaimed authors from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia, including Eoin Colfer, Tim Wynne-Jones, Ruth Ozeki, Nick Hornby and Gregory Maguire.

Gee loves the feeling of moving through the world, light and free, moving through other people's stories. This love takes him to a Russian prison just after the breakup of the Soviet Union, where he meets Lev, a 17-year-old inmate incarcerated for simply trying to survive in his war-torn country. He meets other young people during his global travels, such as Vincent in Dublin for the 1972 Muhammad Ali fight at Croke Park and Jiro in Tokyo while photographing the victims of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombs.

Gee makes the biggest impact, however, on his own family. Maggie, through her study of Gee's works, and her adopted brother, Jason, through his own budding career as a photographer, discover Gee's never-ending mysteries and the power of photography. Throughout the novel, this power has a way of recognizing and healing grief and abuse, forming identity and family, and finding understanding and even joy in a time of war.

While readers might expect a folktale-like narrative from a writer like David Almond, an irreverent working-class family from Roddy Doyle or a magical, parallel world from Margo Lanagan, they couldn't possibly predict how each author will weave details from previous chapters into his or her own part of the story. The chapters, like single snapshots, form an exhibition of Gee's life, at times mystical or heart-wrenching, at other times amusing or fantastical, but always intriguing.

 

Angela Leeper is an educational consultant and writer in Wake Forest, North Carolina.

Newbery Medal winner Linda Sue Park starts it all with a girl named Maggie; her grief for her grandfather, world-renowned photojournalist George Gee Keane; and her inheritance, a puzzling wooden box of seven shells. Simply titled Click, this collaborative novel to benefit Amnesty International continues Gee's adventures in chapters written by 10 critically acclaimed authors […]
YA FictionYA

Hidden treasure at an estate sale

Review by Angela Leeper

Skillful storytelling, incisive characters and thought-provoking themes are at the heart of two-time Newbery Medalist E.L. Konigsburg’s novels, including her latest, The Mysterious Edge of the Heroic World. In this stunning narrative, sixth-grader Amedeo Kaplan, the son of divorced artist Jacob Kaplan and telephone company executive Loretta Bevilaqua (whom readers met in The Outcasts of 19 Schuyler Place), wants to find something that had been lost, something that people didn’t even know was lost until it was found by him, much like the discovery of the Rosetta Stone or the cave paintings of Lascaux.

When Amedeo’s mother relocates the family from New York City to St. Malo, Florida, the boy doubts he will ever find anything interesting until he meets their neighbor, Mrs. Zender, a one-time diva and retired opera singer. She decides that the world as it ought to be has come to an end, or rather, that she can no longer manage her mansion financially, and must downsize to a retirement community. Amedeo’s interest in the eccentric woman leads to his friendship with his classmate, William Wilcox, whose mother is managing the estate sale. Soon the boys are working side by side, helping Mrs. Wilcox and swapping stories about art, antiques and Mrs. Zender’s life.

Amedeo’s dream comes true when he finds a signed Modigliani hidden among Mrs. Zender’s treasures. He immediately turns to his godfather, Peter Vanderwaal (another character originally from The Outcasts). Also an art director, Peter has created a show on Degenerate Art, works of art reviled by Hitler and his Nazi regime. Amedeo’s search for the truth about this mysterious sketch also reveals secrets about Peter’s father during the German occupation of Amsterdam, Mrs. Zender’s past and how the two are related.

Each interlocking piece of this mystery produces an astounding puzzle that shows the importance of art, history, family and friendship. For middle-grade readers and younger teens, The Mysterious Edge of the Heroic World is a true find!

Skillful storytelling, incisive characters and thought-provoking themes are at the heart of two-time Newbery Medalist E.L. Konigsburg’s novels, including her latest, The Mysterious Edge of the Heroic World. In this stunning narrative, sixth-grader Amedeo Kaplan, the son of divorced artist Jacob Kaplan and telephone company executive Loretta Bevilaqua (whom readers met in The Outcasts of […]
YA FictionYA

Building memories, one by one

Review by Angela Leeper

Sixteen-year-old Naomi Porter could tell you all about how she was found in an empty typewriter case in a Russian church, but I hate orphan stories, she declares in Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac. This psychological novel by author Gabrielle Zevin instead presents a first-person account of Naomi’s unusual love story, which, she reveals, involves chance, gravity [and] a dash of head trauma. After falling down and hitting her head on the front steps of her high school, Naomi remembers nothing from the past four years of her life, not even her parents’ divorce, her three-year-old stepsister, her father’s upcoming nuptials to a tango dancer, her reasons for dating Ace, the tennis team captain, or her interest in co-editing the yearbook with her best friend, Will. Her first memory since the fall is of James, the edgy boy who found her and helped her to the hospital.

Naomi knows that she should be grateful to Will for his constant reminders about her former interests, actions and relationships, yet she soon finds him to be irritating and stifling. Overwhelmed by the pressure to remember anything about her previous life, she cannot stop thinking about dating James, who has an equally mysterious and dangerous? history, even if it means losing herself all over again.

Although Naomi must now reconcile her past, present and future, her accident has given her the opportunity to repair her estrangement with her mother, form her own identity and realize her real true love (this is a love story, after all). Never mind that the plot sounds like the latest soap opera; Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac is a riveting narrative with compelling, complex characters. Enthralled by Naomi’s honest, fresh voice and her occasional wry, direct appeals to the reader, teens will find her tale unforgettable.

Sixteen-year-old Naomi Porter could tell you all about how she was found in an empty typewriter case in a Russian church, but I hate orphan stories, she declares in Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac. This psychological novel by author Gabrielle Zevin instead presents a first-person account of Naomi’s unusual love story, which, she reveals, involves […]
YA FictionYA

Sisters share a magical dance

Review by Angela Leeper

Brightly clad creatures, strange-sounding instruments, colored lights shaped like birds and flowers, and five human sisters (Tatiana, Jenica, Iulia, Paula and Stela) all play a part in the revelry that takes place in the Dancing Glade under a full moon in Wildwood Dancing, Australian fantasy writer Juliet Marillier’s first young adult novel. Ever since Jena, 15, the narrator of the story, and Tati, 16, discovered a portal to the Other Kingdom nine years ago, they have been making secret monthly jaunts to the glade from their Transylvanian castle, Piscul Dracului.

Several factors in both the human world and the Other Kingdom threaten to end the girls’ magical dancing parties. Unsure whether he can sustain another brutal Transylvanian winter, their widowed, merchant father heads for a milder climate. The Night People enter the wildwood, bringing alluring promises to see the future, and Sorrow, a mysterious young man who captures Tati’s heart. With no male heirs residing at Piscul Dracului, the girls’ older (and aptly named) cousin, Cezar, seizes control of the estate and enlists neighboring folk to violently drive out the Night People.

Jena also confronts a personal dilemma when a kiss to her faithful and loving advisor, a talking frog named Gogu, begets a monster rather than a prince. Could the difficulties at home and in the wildwood stem from a childhood game in which Draguta, witch of the wood, demanded a hefty price as payment for Jena to become Queen of the Fairies? To restore peace to the wildwood, unite Tati with her true love and claim her own love, Jena must learn to trust her instincts and let her sisters live their own lives, even if that means saying goodbye forever.

Marillier concludes this enchanting novel with a brief note on the mythology and folklore of the Transylvanian region. Blending Little Women, The Chronicles of Narnia, Dracula, Romeo and Juliet and the author’s own fanciful creations, this romantic historical fantasy is destined to become a classic.

Angela Leeper is a writer and former ballroom dancer (but only in the human world) in Wake Forest, North Carolina.

Brightly clad creatures, strange-sounding instruments, colored lights shaped like birds and flowers, and five human sisters (Tatiana, Jenica, Iulia, Paula and Stela) all play a part in the revelry that takes place in the Dancing Glade under a full moon in Wildwood Dancing, Australian fantasy writer Juliet Marillier’s first young adult novel. Ever since Jena, […]

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