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Jennifer Bruer Kitchel

Children's & YAMiddle Grade

A poignant coming-of-age story in 1953

Review by Jennifer Bruer Kitchel

Award-winning author Frances O’Roark Dowell’s latest book is a page-turner, but not in the traditional sense. The plot doesn’t race along at breakneck speed, nor is there a life-or-death mystery to be solved. There are no car chases or spies or evil villains. Readers of Dowell’s previous books will understand that the appeal of Trouble the Water is the author’s top-notch character building and storytelling prowess. 

The town of Celeste, Kentucky, in 1953 is no hotbed of politics and civil rights. But to Callie, neither is it the worst place to live. The 11-year-old watches the black people live and prosper on her side of town and only quietly resents the new white school and the whites-only swimming pool. When the white boy Wendell comes to her side of town and wants to help her find the owner of a mysterious wandering dog, she figures that’s his business. Yet as their friendship blooms, tensions come to a boil.

Dowell has given us a true hero in the character of Callie, a girl just realizing what segregation means in her life. Understanding that she can’t change the world unless she’s willing to change herself first, Callie’s journey by way of a small mystery and meaningful friendship brings the past and present together in unexpected ways. The anticipation to see how Callie ends up in this turbulent time will keep you turning the pages, as promised.

 

Jennifer Bruer Kitchel is the librarian for a Pre-K through 8th level Catholic school.

This article was originally published in the May 2016 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Award-winning author Frances O’Roark Dowell’s latest book is a page-turner, but not in the traditional sense. The plot doesn’t race along at breakneck speed, nor is there a life-or-death mystery to be solved. There are no car chases or spies or evil villains. Readers of Dowell’s previous books will understand that the appeal of Trouble the Water is the author’s top-notch character building and storytelling prowess.
Children's & YAMiddle Grade

A fond farewell to September

Review by Jennifer Bruer Kitchel

There can be something eminently satisfying about reading a really good series. Yet it can be frustrating when each book ends on a cliffhanger, and waiting a year or more for the next one can be irritating (take note, George R.R. Martin). Three cheers, then, for award-winning author Catherynne M. Valente’s Fairyland series. Every book has been an exceptional romp with a conclusive ending. Each successive book builds on the last, but doesn’t leave you feeling as if too much is left unresolved.

For those of us who started at the beginning with The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making, we have followed the protagonist September from the ages of 12 to 17. We’ve watched her visit and mend Fairyland, make friends and make numerous self-discoveries. In the end, she always returns to her home in Nebraska, and we feel with her the ache to return to the magical world. However, at the end of the last book, September was left holding the crown, facing the possibility of staying to be Queen of Fairyland. The Girl Who Raced Fairyland All the Way Home, as a final installment, is as full of wondrous prose as the other books—which only makes it all the more heartbreaking to think it is the last we’ll see of September.

Valente does an admirable job of catching the reader up on what’s what and who’s who for those who have not read the earlier novels, but if you start with this one, I guarantee you’ll want to go back and read the rest. By making Fairyland itself a character and its heart the object of a quest, the author has indisputably taken the fantasy story to a new level. The publisher recommends this book for readers aged 10 to 14, but I would make that 10 to 100. 

 

Jennifer Bruer Kitchel is the librarian for a Pre-K through 8th level Catholic school.

There can be something eminently satisfying about reading a really good series. Yet it can be frustrating when each book ends on a cliffhanger, and waiting a year or more for the next one can be irritating (take note, George R.R. Martin). Three cheers, then, for award-winning author Catherynne M. Valente’s Fairyland series. Every book has been an exceptional romp with a conclusive ending. Each successive book builds on the last, but doesn’t leave you feeling as if too much is left unresolved.

YA FictionYA

The legacy of Sherlock Holmes and John Watson

Review by Jennifer Bruer Kitchel

Before I begin the review of A Study in Charlotte, let me disclose that I am a Holmesian in the true definition of the word: I have read the canon, studied Victorian literature (and, in particular, the advent of the detective novel genre) and am a thoughtful critic of many “post-Doyle” productions, literary or otherwise. That being said, I was more than pleased to find another great modern model of the beloved classics.

Brittany Cavallaro’s first young adult novel hits all the right notes, bringing us the full flavor of a Holmes/Watson adventure with new characters. The story is told from the perspective of John Watson’s descendant, a 21st-century high school student named Jamie Watson. As in the original, the reader’s introduction to (and understanding of) the enigmatic Charlotte Holmes is filtered through Jamie’s own experience. Their unique relationship has the added spark of attraction, although the friendship remains the key connection.

Having both been packed off to a boarding school in America, the teens soon find themselves embroiled in a mystery that threatens their lives. As the danger mounts, Charlotte uses her powers of observation and deduction inherited from her great-plus-grandfather, while Jamie strives to protect her as only a Watson can. The pace keeps you turning the pages, but Cavallaro’s depiction of the characters and their development brings you deep into the moment. A Study in Charlotte as a title is not only a reference to Doyle’s A Study in Scarlet, it is what it states: an examination of an intriguing Holmes inheritor. It’s also a bloody good read.

 

Jennifer Bruer Kitchel is the librarian for a Pre-K through 8th level Catholic school.

 

Before I begin the review of A Study in Charlotte, let me disclose that I am a Holmesian in the true definition of the word: I have read the canon, studied Victorian literature (and, in particular, the advent of the detective novel genre) and am a thoughtful critic of many “post-Doyle” productions, literary or otherwise. That being said, I was more than pleased to find another great modern model of the beloved classics.

Children's & YAMiddle Grade

Adventures of a cat at sea

Review by Jennifer Bruer Kitchel

As our kids and students mature in reading ability, we often recommend they read the classics. Treasure Island and The Swiss Family Robinson are a couple that teachers and librarians would suggest, yet the language of those classics is archaic and can be difficult for emerging readers, much as they might like the stories. Author Cylin Busby has written a historical novel that can bridge the gap between readiness and understanding.

The Nine Lives of Jacob Tibbs is told from the perspective of a ship’s cat in the early 1800s. Cats on board were not only considered lucky, but they were useful in keeping vermin at bay and could often give warnings about foul weather. Jacob Tibbs is born at sea and, after an early tragedy that kills his mother, must learn to catch rats on his own. As things go from bad to worse with an injured captain and a despised first mate taking over, Jacob and the sailors must do what they can to survive.

Busby’s language is reminiscent of 19th-century writing but is simplified enough to be accessible to young people. The prose has the feel of a classic, and the story itself is full of adventure and peril with a highly likable hero. There were not usually shipmates young enough to be a protagonist of a children’s book about this period, so Busby’s use of a young cat’s tale is a perfect way to get a sympathetic view.

 

Jennifer Bruer Kitchel is the librarian for a Pre-K through 8th level Catholic school.

As our kids and students mature in reading ability, we often recommend they read the classics. Treasure Island and The Swiss Family Robinson are a couple that teachers and librarians would suggest, yet the language of those classics is archaic and can be difficult for emerging readers, much as they might like the stories. Author Cylin Busby has written a historical novel that can bridge the gap between readiness and understanding.

Children's & YAMiddle Grade

Connecting with Crazy Horse

Review by Jennifer Bruer Kitchel

Native-American author Joseph Marshall III has written many books for children and adults about the Sioux nation’s history and culture. In his latest book, In the Footsteps of Crazy Horse, Marshall deftly weaves an old story into a contemporary boy’s life, giving the tale a true sense of immediacy.

Jimmy McClean lives on the Rosebud Sioux Indian Reservation in South Dakota, and even though his name doesn’t sound very native, he knows more about his heritage than most kids—especially the two bullies he deals with at school every day. Jimmy’s strategy is avoidance and anger, but neither is working, and summer offers a much-needed respite. 

Jimmy’s Grandpa Nyles tells him that learning about his ancestor Crazy Horse might help him with the bullies next time he encounters them. Jimmy’s skeptical, but he’s more than enthusiastic about going on a trip with his grandfather and seeing the places where Crazy Horse lived and fought. At each stop along the way, Grandpa Nyles tells about the hero’s childhood and the battles he led, allowing Jimmy to slowly soak in the lessons about being brave when you’re scared and being proud of who you are. By the time Jimmy starts school the next year, he’s ready. He calmly faces his enemies just as Crazy Horse did: afraid but determined to stand up for what’s right.

Marshall’s simple framework of weaving the stories about Crazy Horse with the self-discovery of a modern-day boy make this book a fine read. This is a wonderful introduction to the history of the American West as seen through the eyes of the Sioux people.

 

Jennifer Bruer Kitchel is the librarian for a Pre-K through 8th level Catholic school.

This article was originally published in the November 2015 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Native-American author Joseph Marshall III has written many books for children and adults about the Sioux nation’s history and culture. In his latest book, In the Footsteps of Crazy Horse, Marshall deftly weaves an old story into a contemporary boy’s life, giving the tale a true sense of immediacy.
Children's & YAMiddle Grade

Mysteries for an apothecary’s apprentice

Review by Jennifer Bruer Kitchel

Debut novelist Kevin Sands is off to a roaring good start with The Blackthorn Key, which unfolds during six consecutive springtime days in 1665 London. Historical settings can be a bit off-putting to a young reader—they’re generally convinced that it’s going to be too “historical,” and without technology, how exciting can it be? But Sands imbues the story with all the realities of 17th-century England and still keeps the pace tripping along.

Christopher Rowe is an apprentice to an apothecary named Benedict Blackthorn, and after the horrors of the orphanage, Christopher is eager to learn and please his benefactor. Blackthorn, recognizing his young student’s potential, teaches him everything from chemistry and Latin to church history and cryptography. It’s well that he does, as Christopher will need all his wits and knowledge to solve the mystery of the murdered apothecaries happening around him.

Full of codes and puzzles, action and adventure, trials of friendship and growing up, the lurking menace of murderers and secret societies, The Blackthorn Key is not easy to put down. Some descriptions of murders and other injuries may not be suitable to a reader as young as 8, but it won’t bother older children. Sands doesn't leave the story hanging—thankfully—but readers will hope he writes another book soon.

 

Jennifer Bruer Kitchel is the librarian for a Pre-K through 8th level Catholic school.

Debut novelist Kevin Sands is off to a roaring good start with The Blackthorn Key, which unfolds during six consecutive springtime days in 1665 London. Historical settings can be a bit off-putting to a young reader—they’re generally convinced that it’s going to be too “historical,” and without technology, how exciting can it be? But Sands imbues the story with all the realities of 17th-century England and still keeps the pace tripping along.

Children's & YAMiddle Grade

A curious little opossum

Review by Jennifer Bruer Kitchel

Holly Goldberg Sloan knows how to write a story for young people, with a style that’s easily accessible and entertaining for new readers. Her latest book, Appleblossom the Possum, is no exception.

Appleblossom and her numerous siblings learn to survive from their mother, Ma Possum. Appleblossom and her brothers Amlet and Antonio aren’t sure they’re ready to live on their own, but during their first night solo, they’re pretty good at finding food, and they know to stay away from dangerous things like dogs, cars and people. But Appleblossom is a little more curious than an opossum should be, especially about the little girl who lives nearby.

Part realism (how an opossum lives in the world) and part fantasy (opossum rooftop disco in the city), Appleblossom the Possum is a fun read, and the illustrations are a perfect accompaniment to the lighthearted story.

 

Jennifer Bruer Kitchel is the librarian for a Pre-K through 8th level Catholic school.

This article was originally published in the August 2015 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Holly Goldberg Sloan knows how to write a story for young people, with a style that’s easily accessible and entertaining for new readers. Her latest book, Appleblossom the Possum, is no exception.
Children's & YAMiddle Grade

Ready or not, you’re a superhero now

Review by Jennifer Bruer Kitchel

Graphic novels are all the rage with young readers these days, but this fact can be frustrating for adults who are trying to encourage kids to read more complex material. Thank goodness veteran comic-book creators Robert Venditti and Dusty Higgins have created a hybrid sure to satisfy both camps in Miles Taylor and the Golden Cape: Attack of the Alien Horde. Sixty-five of the 304 pages are comic panels drawn by Higgins, while the rest is prose written by Venditti.

“Mild-mannered” seventh grader Miles Taylor is given a cape imbued with superpowers by its previous hero, Gilded, and Miles must now be the one to save the world from criminals and disasters. Whenever Miles dons the cape and springs into action, the book’s format shifts (often midsentence) to graphic novel drawings. Unfortunately these exciting moments are punctuated by a story that moves a bit too slowly as Venditti builds the characters. This pace allows us to fully understand Miles and his friend Henry, but some judicious editing wouldn’t hurt.

Still, it’s a fun read, especially with the all the tongue-in-cheek humor (math teacher Ms. Euclid, annoying assistant principal Mr. Harangue, etc.) and the over-the-top evil alien invaders (Lord Commander Calamity and the Unnd). Best-selling Venditti and award-winning Higgins have created a world that will appeal to kids and grown-ups alike—and as a librarian who is sort of both, I look forward to recommending this one to my students.

 

Jennifer Bruer Kitchel is the librarian for a Pre-K through 8th level Catholic school.

Graphic novels are all the rage with young readers these days, but this fact can be frustrating for adults who are trying to encourage kids to read more complex material. Thank goodness veteran comic-book creators Robert Venditti and Dusty Higgins have created a hybrid sure to satisfy both camps in Miles Taylor and the Golden Cape: Attack of the Alien Horde. Sixty-five of the 304 pages are comic panels drawn by Higgins, while the rest is prose written by Venditti.

Children's & YAMiddle Grade

Fresh start after tragedy

Review by Jennifer Bruer Kitchel

BookPage Children's Top Pick June 2015

Lisa Graff’s latest novel is a feast for all kinds of readers. She writes convincingly in the voice of a middle school student, and young readers will relate easily to the main character, Trent. Graff’s stories always foster a better understanding of young people in parents and teachers, but never more so than in Lost in the Sun.

Less than a year before the story begins, an event in Trent’s life significantly alters the way he sees himself and his potential. During a pick-up game of hockey, Trent accidentally hits the puck into a friend’s chest, causing a seemingly benign injury. When a previously unknown heart condition causes the friend to die a few days later, Trent blames himself. No one seems to realize that Trent is still carrying that burden many months later, and it is a weight that slowly begins to unravel him as he begins sixth grade.

Without the years and experiences to acquire coping skills, children cannot easily handle emotional trauma, and the stress from a major event—death, divorce, abuse, neglect—is often internalized and comes out “sideways.” Trent decides that he’s a screw-up because of the accident and assumes everyone else thinks the same. It doesn’t help that his parents are divorced and he feels unloved and misunderstood by his dad. When Trent discovers that serving detention gives him an excuse to avoid forced dinners with his father, it makes being bad that much easier.

As a teacher, I have experienced firsthand the frustrations of dealing with that one kid who seems to want to push acceptable boundaries, and Lost in the Sun is a heartwrenching reminder to be more aware of what a child might really need from the people in his or her life. The book’s title is a reference to trying catch a fly ball when it’s lost in the sun—if you don’t change your perspective, you’ll miss it. If Trent wants to be happy, he’ll have to change his position and see things differently. Graff gives every character in Lost in the Sun all the highs and lows of being human, and by doing so, she gives us the chance find a fresh perspective as well.

 

This article was originally published in the June 2015 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Lisa Graff’s latest novel is a feast for all kinds of readers. She writes convincingly in the voice of a middle school student, and young readers will relate easily to the main character, Trent. Graff’s stories always foster a better understanding of young people in parents and teachers, but never more so than in Lost in the Sun.
YA FictionYA

Plumbing the depths

Review by Jennifer Bruer Kitchel

BookPage Teen Top Pick, May 2015

Characters with a mental illness often find a place in literature, but they are infrequently the main character and seldom found in young adult novels. Although teens with psychoses garner plenty of attention in the news today, the fictional world is still catching up. Award-winning author Neal Shusterman takes the topic head-on in his new book, Challenger Deep, and does so with sincerity.

In his own voice, Caden Bosch tells the story of how he slowly loses his connection to reality and how his world starts to look very different from everyone else’s. The chapters fluctuate between “real time”—going to school, talking to his parents, hanging with his friends—and “ship time,” when he finds himself on a galleon at sea that seems to be his waking dream. As Caden spirals further into mental illness, the lines between these two realities blur and merge seamlessly, pulling readers ever closer to the sensation of a psychotic episode.

Shusterman’s personal experience of his own teenage son’s mental illness lends a powerful and genuine tone to the book. His son, Brendan Shusterman, penned the illustrations for the story, many of which were drawn during the worst of his illness.

Challenger Deep is difficult to read at times—as it should be—as readers are drawn into the depths along with Caden, but it is also extremely compelling and hard to resist. Shusterman is a master storyteller and it shows.

 

Jennifer Bruer Kitchel is the librarian for a Pre-K through eighth level Catholic school.

This article was originally published in the May 2015 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Characters with a mental illness often find a place in literature, but they are infrequently the main character and seldom found in young adult novels. Although teens with psychoses garner plenty of attention in the news today, the fictional world is still catching up. Award-winning author Neal Shusterman takes the topic head-on in his new book, Challenger Deep, and does so with sincerity.
Children's & YAMiddle Grade

A sense of belonging

Review by Jennifer Bruer Kitchel

Sometimes being the smartest kid in your class doesn’t make you any friends. Sometimes the way you see the world is so different from “normal” that you’re not sure anyone can understand you. So it is for Nicholas Funes, the 11-year-old hero of If You Find This.

Nicholas can feel the vibrations of the sounds around him, and he can see—and reveres—any prime number he encounters. Nicholas’ family is in trouble, but he hopes that by finding his grandfather’s missing heirlooms, he can save them from their plight. Along the way he makes some friends, learns about the grandfather he’s never met and finds out that his strange worldview can actually help others as much as it helps himself.

Matthew Baker is an established short story writer, and his first book for young readers is an ethereal, fascinating mixture of music and math. His sense of story as vignette is reflected in his writing, which works well for the way Nicholas’ mind processes things. With mystery, adventure, hidden treasure and wild boat rides, this book will appeal to any young reader.

 

Jennifer Bruer Kitchel is the librarian for a Pre-K through eighth level Catholic school.

This article was originally published in the April 2015 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Sometimes being the smartest kid in your class doesn’t make you any friends. Sometimes the way you see the world is so different from “normal” that you’re not sure anyone can understand you. So it is for Nicholas Funes, the 11-year-old hero of If You Find This.
YA FictionYA

Mosquitoland

Review by Jennifer Bruer Kitchel

It takes a special talent for an author to tap into the mind of a character who is radically different from himself, and first-time novelist David Arnold has uncannily captured the voice of a 16-year-old girl with beauty and style in Mosquitoland.

Mary Iris Malone (or, as she prefers, “Mim”) is an unhappy teenager for many reasons: divorced parents, new stepmother Kathy, no friends at her new school. She is angry with her father for leaving her mother, for making her move from Ohio to Mississippi and for marrying a woman Mim finds ridiculous. When she overhears a conversation about how her mother isn’t feeling well, Mim decides that she needs to go back to Cleveland and see her mom. Without telling anyone, she hops on a Greyhound bus. Although her stepmother keeps calling her, Mim is sure that Kathy is the reason she hasn’t heard from her mom and so she refuses to answer. Mim’s journey is fraught with peril and rife with self-discovery as she questions her own sanity and the trustworthiness of everyone she meets.

Arnold’s prose is delicious as he peels back each of Mim’s layers on her long ride. The characters she encounters along the way and her internal thoughts about life, love, friendships and survival are pitch perfect. As with any teenager, Mim struggles with personal angst, but she is as open to possibilities as she is to the open road.

 

RELATED CONTENT: Read a Q&A with Arnold for Mosquitoland.

Jennifer Bruer Kitchel is the librarian for a Pre-K through eighth level Catholic school.

This article was originally published in the March 2015 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

BookPage Teen Top Pick, March 2015
YA FictionYA

Beauty and the beast

Review by Jennifer Bruer Kitchel

BookPage Teen Top Pick, February 2015

If you discover a magical world through some kind of portal, that’s one thing. Wardrobes and rabbit holes make it easy to believe you’ve left the real world behind. But what if you live in a normal house with normal-enough parents and attend school with other normal kids, and something starts to change, to twist even as you go about your daily life? That would be a bit harder to accept.

Sarah’s life had only a tinge of the weird: Her parents fought a lot; her mother wasn’t very affectionate; and they moved more often than the average family, or at least for no good reason that Sarah could see. The night her mother leaves for good, however, is the final push that changes everything. Sarah’s father seems to fall apart and ends up taking her to live with grandparents she didn’t even know she had. It’s just a long drive in a car—no special doors or portals needed—but the world is definitely different.

As Sarah comes to acknowledge that things are not what they seem—that her father is not falling apart so much as changing into a beast, that her grandfather already is one and that her grandmother’s anger is a powerful thing—she decides to find out the truth about this magic, this curse, this story of love and revenge. Her determination to remain human through it all is the heart of this wonderful, compelling story. Beastkeeper is highly recommended for lovers of fairy tales with a twist.

 

This article was originally published in the February 2015 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

If you discover a magical world through some kind of portal, that’s one thing. Wardrobes and rabbit holes make it easy to believe you’ve left the real world behind. But what if you live in a normal house with normal-enough parents and attend school with other normal kids, and something starts to change, to twist even as you go about your daily life? That would be a bit harder to accept.

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