Category: Juvenile

Book Review: Because of Winn-Dixie

On By cherylmahoneyIn Juvenile, Reviews2 Comments

I recently did a reread (by audiobook) of Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo–and realized I’d forgotten pretty much all of the book–and remembered anew why I get so annoyed by the notion that kids books can’t deal with complex themes and ideas.

Because of Winn-Dixie is about India Opal, ten years old and newly moved to Naomi, Florida.  When she meets a stray dog in the produce section of a Winn-Dixie supermarket, she promptly dubs him Winn-Dixie and brings him home.  Winn-Dixie proves to the most charming and friendly of dogs, who helps Opal find new, somewhat unconventional friends.

This was a lovely book that is both a sweet and funny story about a childhood summer, and a deep and complex story about friendship, loss and the secrets everyone carries. Continue reading “Book Review: Because of Winn-Dixie” →

Book Review: The Whizz Pop Chocolate Shop

On By cherylmahoneyIn Juvenile, Reviews2 Comments

The Whizz Pop Chocolate Shop by Kate Saunders is a middle grade novel about magical chocolate—but it reminded me more of cotton candy, light and fluffy and insubstantial,

When Oz and Lily, eleven-year-old twins, and their family move into an abandoned chocolate factory, Lily is delighted to meet Demerara, a magical cat. Demerara tells them about the history of the chocolate factory, founded by three brothers who combined chocolate and magic. One of the brothers, by virtue of an immortality chocolate, is still alive and intent on stealing secrets his brothers left behind, to sell to a terrorist group. Demerara also happens to be a secret agent for the MI6, the British secret service, and needs Oz, Lily and their neighbor Caydon to use their latent magical ability to help on a secret mission.

This really is a cotton candy book, fun and entertaining with no real substance or depth. I don’t think it would have wide appeal for adults, but I can easily imagine middle grade readers loving it. Continue reading “Book Review: The Whizz Pop Chocolate Shop” →

Book Review: The Castle Behind Thorns

On By cherylmahoneyIn Fantasy, Juvenile, Reviews4 Comments

I enjoyed The Princess Curse by Merrie Haskell, which seemed like a good reason to explore what else she’s written—which brought me to The Castle Behind Thorns. Not as close a fairy tale retelling as I had hoped, but still an engaging fantasy.

The Sundered Castle has stood abandoned and surrounded by a wall of thorns for thirty years, and Sand (Alexandre) has never given it much thought. No one in the village ever has. But one day Sand awakes to find himself inside the castle, inside the thorns, with no way to get out and evidence all around of a bigger mystery than the local story can explain. The earthquake that supposedly damaged the castle can’t account for shredded pillows or anvils wrenched in half. Using his wits and his blacksmith skills, Sand begins repairing items he needs—and some of the repairs work strangely, perhaps magically, well. Most significantly, Sand replaces a fallen corpse on its shelf in the crypt; a few days later, Perrotte emerges, restored to life and anxious to learn what became of her family and her castle. Continue reading “Book Review: The Castle Behind Thorns” →

Book Review: Return to the Hundred Acre Wood

On By cherylmahoneyIn Fantasy, Juvenile, Reviews10 Comments

I always take a rather dim view of new authors writing sequels to classic fiction. Sometimes it works, but I’m always suspicious—so Return to the Hundred Acre Wood by David Benedictus proved to be a pleasant surprise.

It might have helped a great deal that he began with an Exposition, a kind of foreword, of the author speaking to the characters about the possibility of a new story (Eeyore is sure it will all turn out wrong). The author concludes that he can really only guess and hope that he will guess right–and the characters promise faithfully to help him get it right.  And this at least makes me feel that he has a good firm grasp of the size of the shoes he is attempting to fill, which makes me feel much better on the whole subject. Continue reading “Book Review: Return to the Hundred Acre Wood” →

Book Review: While Mrs. Coverlet Was Away

On By cherylmahoneyIn Juvenile, Reviews7 Comments

I wish I knew why some books from childhood stayed in my memory, helpfully with titles intact, while others faded out. It well may be a question of how long they stayed in my library’s collection, considering I went to the same library from (roughly) birth to age eighteen. I can only assume that While Mrs. Coverlet Was Away by Mary Nash stayed in the collection for a long time, since it stayed in my memory.

The Mrs. Coverlet of the title is housekeeper to the three Persever children, whose mother has died and whose father is in New Zealand on business. When Mrs. Coverlet has to rush suddenly away on a family emergency, the three children decide that they can manage quite well on their own without any adults to interfere. They find it very easy to hide Mrs. Coverlet’s absence from their neighbors, but keeping enough money is more of a challenge—until they discover the key in youngest brother Toad’s strangely-colored cat, and in a concoction he cooks up with remarkable results.

This is a cute, quaint little book that I had fun revisiting. Although—they say that when you go back to a place you visited as a child it may seem smaller. And this book seemed shorter! I was sure that the question of the Toad’s cat wasn’t resolved until the end of the book (not halfway through), and that the townspeople became strangely energized by the Toad’s sauce for, well, quite a while (not a chapter or two). Continue reading “Book Review: While Mrs. Coverlet Was Away” →