October Giveaway – The Witchy Worries of Abbie Adams

Posted on October 27, 2010 by Mrs. N

Today I have a giveaway for you – The Witchy Worries of Abbie Adams. Abbie is a fifth grader who also happens to be a witch.  In fact, her whole family has magical powers.  And Abbie’s certainly got her hands full.  She’s got to look out for her often troublesome little brother, keep her secret from her best friend, learn to manage her school work, keep herself out of magical trouble and then, oh yeah, there’s this adorable little black kitten living at her house who’s actually an enchanted boy!  But things really start to get tricky once Abbie discovers the boy’s true identity.

The book is written in a very conversational tween speak tone.  I think young girls will find this really appealing.  There’s even a little mention of Hogwarts slipped in which should also draw in Harry Potter fans.  Overall, the vocabulary is pretty challenging and Abbie herself acknowledges it: readers are told to look up penchant (“I had to” admonishes Abbie); a drama teacher who is throwing around words like thespian, ascertained and amply prompts Abbie to tell us, “I’ve never heard her use a ten-cent word when a five-dollar one would do.”  Parents will like that Abbie manages to throw some nuggets of historical information at the reader as well.  Also, despite the tween tone, Abbie’s really close with her mom and dad, which is a great thing to see in a book.

So how can you get a copy for your witchy ones?  Leave me a comment about your favorite book featuring witches or wizards or a comment about who you’d like to win this for.  Make sure to include a way for me to get in touch with you!  I’ll choose the winner by a random number generator.  The contest is open until midnight Friday, October 29th EST.  And I’m so sorry but at this point I can only ship within the USA.  Good luck!

Sex, Nudity, Dating –  There is a mention of how Benjamin Franklin likes to impress the ladies.  Abbie’s Aunt Sophie appears in a gown that showed “kind of a lot of skin” which then makes a teenage boy’s eyes nearly pop out of his head. Aunt Sophie zaps Abbie’s mom into a dress that shows “kind of a lot” of her chest, so Abbie’s mom zaps it back as soon as she notices.
Profanity – “darn” used several times, “stupid,” “heck,” and Abbie tells us that a man uses “some words that I know my mother would rather I had never even heard.”
Death, Violence and Gore – Munch tries to eat his teacher when he’s morphing into a wolf.  Abbie feels like kicking her brother.  We learn that a boy from the olden days was “thrashed” by his father.  The possibility that the little cat would have been given to a shelter and subsequently put to sleep is raised, but only very briefly.   There is some biting.  Two brothers pound each other.  An evil man sets witch booby traps and causes an older witch to collapse and Abbie’s father to bleed.
Drugs, Alcohol and Smoking – In a play of Alice in Wonderland the caterpillar smokes.
Frightening or Intense Things – While there’s a definite villain, there’s nothing scary here.

Posted in Tween | Tagged | 5 Comments

Which Witch?

Posted on October 25, 2010 by Mrs. N

Arriman the Awful is simply sick and tired of being the darkest wizard around.  He consults a fortune teller and is promised that a new wizard will come to take his place as master of black magic, but after nine hundred and ninety days, he is also sick and tired of waiting.  He decides the only way to get out of all this evil wizardry is to produce an heir.  Of course it would help if he had a wife first.

Aided by a tail-sporting secretary who has watched a few too many Miss Universe pageants (no really, he has!), Arriman organizes a contest to find the best candidate for producing an evil heir.  The contest begins Halloween week!

Ibbotson does a fabulous job describing Arriman’s residence, Darkington Hall, and all of the horrors (none of which are actually all that horrible or scary) contained with.  The band of eccentric witches can be a bit tedious, but I can’t help loving the old witch who kept turning herself into a coffee table and then forgetting how to turn herself back.

This is a book which should be okay for fourth grade and up, although perhaps some advanced third graders manage it, certainly second and third graders would be fine with this as a read aloud.  Ibbotson does nice job throwing in explanations for ogres, familiars and a kraken so that children aren’t entirely reliant on their own prior knowledge of these subjects.  Despite the premise of an evil wizard looking for an evil wife, the book only really has one scary scene, the rest of the death and violence are sort of cartoonish and not upsetting.  I do also want to make note that although I really do enjoy her books, Eva Ibbotson is absolutely on my author beware list, meaning she writes for an incredibly wide variety of age levels.  You cannot just grab another book by her once your child has read one and liked it.  Her books range from easier chapter books for middle grades, to more complex chapter books for middle schoolers, to fairly chaste love stories for teens, to books where teenage girls have premartial relations with men in their thirties.  She just doesn’t fit into a nice neat box.

Sort of a random complaint, but here it is:  the witches are often referred to by the color of their magic, with black being the desirable type of magic and white being bad.  It was a little weird to be reading about the blackest wizard or “what if we have a white baby” without it referring to race at all.  Particularly weird is a declaration it “doesn’t matter what color our babies are.”

Sex, Nudity, Dating – Arriman is picky about the type of ghost he has in his house and does not want a headless nun catching him in his bath. The basic premise of the book is that Arriman needs to marry a witch in order to produce an heir.  Mabel conjures up some topless mermaids.  Nancy lays on her bed in her vest and knickers (which in the US just sounds eccentric, but in the UK is underwear).  Arriman undresses for a bath.   There is some sappiness, but the other characters complain about it as well.
Profanity – “Oh my gawd” (yes, it’s written with the aw) twice.
Death, Violence and Gore – The ghost that lives at Darkington Hall is rumored to have murdered seven of his wives, possibly by drowning, stabbing or strangulation, and now strikes his forehead (which makes a plashing sound).  Lester the ogre was once a sword swallower.  Mr. Leadbetter used to rob banks.  A bat tells of his aunt bat who fell in with some vampire bats and now is good at sucking blood.  Madame Olympia appears in a cape of puppy fur and a has a necklace of human teeth.  She also had five husbands who went missing in rather suspicious ways.  Another witch hopes Madame Olympia will drop dead.  A worm is injured and its insides were spilling out.  Terence suggests a trick that used to get witches burned at the stake or drawn and quartered.  We learn that in the East some magic brings people up on a flying carpet and delivers them down on top of spikes.  Lester says that from how Arriman is acting, anyone would think he would be having his head cut off, not getting married.  Arriman owns a tapestry of a man being shot through with arrows while being burned at the stake. A witch requests a drowned sailor in order to do her trick.  Arriman worried that there might be cannibalism in the contest.  A mother kraken dies when an oil rig strikes her head.   Someone falls into a bottomless hole.  Some spells require ooky things like the gall bladders of murderers.  Arriman ponders several ways he could kill himself if the elderly witch wins the contest.  There is a cave at Darkington Hall where prisoners used to be tortured to death or left to starve. A witch uses a whip whose thongs were made from plaited human skins.  Her trick is truly horrible conjuring plague ridden rats, who then turn to rat skeletons and then back into regular super large rats who then eat each other.  It’s really the scariest bit in the book, and seems like it could cause nightmares.  The matron at the orphanage is pretty nasty and threatens the children that she doesn’t know whether to beat them or send to Borstal (juvenile prison).  Also that the orphanage, children are told bedtime stories about children having their thumbs cut off.
Drugs, Alcohol and Smoking – A gypsy fortune teller drinks gin straight from the bottle and smokes cigarettes (she is a very minor character).  The Shouter twins (witches both) smoke cigarettes.  Mother Bloodwort (also a witch) drinks shoe polish which is labeled not for human consumption. Someone gets an octopus drunk.  An actor is needed for a trick, and one is ruled out because he’s a “boozer”.  There is another reference to a drunken actor being thrown down the stairs.
Frightening or Intense Things – A familiar goes missing, and some children may be worried by this.  Honestly though, the whole tone is pretty light with the exception of the rat horror listed above.  And that is horrible.  Really horrible.  If you want to check it out yourself, it’s pages 156-160 in my copy, right at the end of Chapter 13 (how’s that for poetic).
Random Religious Note – Yes, I know that if you are so religious that you won’t let your children read books with witches in them, it probably doesn’t matter, but for those that care: I though it might bother some people that in order to do some witchcraft, one of the witches says the Lord’s Prayer backwards.

Posted in Middle Grades | Tagged | Leave a comment

House of Many Ways

Posted on October 23, 2010 by Mrs. N

I have to say, I love this nearly as much as Howl’s Moving Castle. Charmain has been brought up to be very respectable but not at all useful.  When she goes to watch over her Great-Uncle William’s house her only real skill is reading.  She soon learns she’s in over her head in the home of a real wizard.  A small bit of white fluffy dog named Waif keeps her company as well as a blundering apprentice, Peter,  who is determined to stay even though he’s been told the wizard won’t be returning for awhile. While Sophie and Howl are not the main characters in this book, we’re aware of their presence far earlier than in Castle in the Air.

The hardest bits so far are the titles of wizardry books, which clearly don’t need to be fully understood.  Also Twinkle’s lisp is a bit irritating to read, but I expect it is supposed to be.  This is definitely the easiest book in the trilogy.  The plot is less complicated, and although there are a few cases of hidden/dual identity, much less is kept secret from the reader, so it is easier to figure out.  It also is missing the romantic element that is present in the prior two books.  Overall, it could be read by a slightly younger audience, although I would still say you’d need a very advanced fourth or fifth grader to manage it independently.

Great for: Very subtly nudging children toward responsibility.  Charmain is incredibly useless when she first arrives, but over the course of the book learns both magical and non-magical tasks must be done.

Sex, Nudity, Dating – Charmain’s mother packs her enough underthings for a year.
Profanity – “Damnation,” “darned,” “I hate you,” a few “shut up”s, and in one place the book says “Sophie said a bad word.”  We are not told the bad word.
Death, Violence and Gore –Peter thinks a Lubbock killed his father.  There’s a rather unsavory passage about Lubbocks, that I didn’t quite know whether to file here or above, but at any rate, lubbocks are known to attack any humans they see, ten months of the year tearing the human to bits, but in the summer, laying eggs in the human’s body.  They will then hatch, one will eat the rest and then carve its way out of the host, killing a male host but being born normal from a female host.  A midwife will kill it upon birth if she can tell it is Lubbockin, but if no one notices it may be raised as human and go about its life being evil.  ICK.  Later there is a battle between a fire demon and a lubbock.  The lubbock is roasted.  A dog attacks a lubbock-egg infested kobold.  Some kobolds are kicked.  Charmain is told to hold tight to Waif when they visit the castle as Jamal’s dog might slay other dogs in its territory.  Two bad guys are turned into rabbits which Waif then hunts and kills.
Drugs, Alcohol and Smoking – None.
Frightening or Intense Things – Although the lubbocks are clearly bad guys, there’s never any real scariness.

Posted in Middle Grades, Teen, Tween | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Castle in the Air

Posted on October 21, 2010 by Mrs. N

This book is billed as the second book in the Howl’s Moving Castle trilogy, but if your kids (or you) are anything like me, they’ll spend the whole book waiting for Howl to show up and not really enjoy or appreciate this for what it is.  Make sure that your readers know it has brand-new wonderful characters of its own, although your friends from Howl’s Moving Castle do eventually make an appearance.  In fact, they really only start talking about Howl and friends about 225 pages in.  I enjoyed it much more on my second reading because I wasn’t waiting around for Sophie and Howl any more and I could really enjoy Abdullah’s adventures with his flying carpet, genie, assorted cats and the curmudgeonly soldier he meets in his travels.

Again, we’re not lacking for characters here.  The first few pages alone leave you reeling from Abdullah’s father’s first wife’s sisters and his father’s first wife’s brother’s son. I felt like I was in the middle of an advanced lesson on possessives! And like Howl’s Moving Castle before it, Castle in the Air features many characters that are not who (or what) they seem to be, don’t try too hard to guess, you’ll spoil the fun of the reveal.  Also, you’ll probably be wrong – I was!

A few things that some may find off-putting:  The Sultan is clearly trying to marry off his daughter for political gains and at one point says that women don’t count, so it’s not possible to be unfair to them.  There are also two fat (non-princesses) in the story and when they are presented to a husband, it is clear that their weight is something he is not pleased with.  This is somewhat balanced later in the book where they meet someone who proclaims them “wonderfully fat” and wonders why he hasn’t been after fat ladies all this time instead of princesses.

If you haven’t caught on already, this book is short on witchcraft and wizardry.  Not entirely lacking mind you, but it’s certainly not the main focus.  But I couldn’t very well leave it out after reviewing Howl’s Moving Castle.

Like its predecessor, this book is for strong readers.  Abdullah does a lot of fantasizing in the beginning and it may be hard for some readers to distinguish between the actual story and his imaginings and it only gets hard when he thinks he’s dreaming and then tells his imaginings in the dream.  The vocabulary is challenging as well: diadem, scrupulous, muclt, winge, cuirassier, pellucid, adjure.  There is slightly more objectionable material in this, but still, I would recommend it for grades 4 and up in terms of content, but probably grades 6 and up for actual reading ability.

Great for: Fans of Aladdin will immediately take to this world of flying carpets, djinns and genies.  I definitely think lovers of Howl’s Moving Castle should be encouraged to continue with the series, after given fair warning that the same characters will not dominate the book.
Sex, Nudity, Dating –Due to the setting characters speak of (and have) multiple wives.  There is discussion about whether it is fair for a woman to have but one husband when a man can have many wives.  Again due to the setting, there are some arranged marriages. There is much discussion of marriage throughout.  Two people plan an elopement.  There is a reference to a good djinn allowing herself to be ravished by an evil djinn and subsequently giving birth.  Wizard Suliman kisses his wife on the forehead.  After a magical procedure to restore someone to human form, said person is naked.  Two people admit that they have never kissed anyone and say they should practice.  They later hold hands.  A man is dressed in a petticoat and princesses claim he arrived naked and had to be put in the petticoat for modesty (although none of that is true – it’s all a plot!).  A djinn’s fangs are called sexy.
Profanity – “shut up” used several times, “hellish”
Death, Violence and Gore – Abdullah’s father dies prior to the start of the book.  Throughout the book there are various threats – most on the melodramatic side:  The Sultan ponders ways to kill his captive and at one point favors impaling the captive on a stake and letting the vultures eat the spare bits off him; djinns talk of tearing a man apart or making his soul part of the floor; there is a threat to slit someone’s throat.  The various bandits, theives and soldiers in this book are well armed with pistols and knives.  There are also shots fired.  There are assorted dog bites, includin the dog biting a djinn’s nose.  A soldier is attacked by a wild animal and has some scratches.  Two angels are hanged when in human form.  A child is spanked for crying.
Drugs, Alcohol and Smoking – A bandit sometimes sends a jug of wine to Abdullah.  Abdullah walks through the desert swigging from a wine flask, but he wished he had poured out the wine and found water instead.  At a restaurant he asks for fruit juice, but all they have is beer.  Abdullah is asked if his container contains a stronger liquid than water.  They drink more beer at another inn.  There is a cloud of tobacco smoke in a room where the soldier has just been as though he’d been recently smoking.
Frightening or Intense Things – Many princesses are captured by djinns.  Once we know what has befallen them, there is really nothing to worry about.  The adventure in this story is exciting, but not really scary, despite the weapons and vile threats.

Posted in Middle Grades, Teen, Tween | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Howl’s Moving Castle

Posted on October 19, 2010 by Mrs. N

Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

We’ve been a little witch heavy this month to be sure, but here is your remedy.  One powerful, vain, girl-crazy wizard plus his incredible moving castle. I seriously love this book.  I love Calcifer the fire demon, I love poor beleaguered Michael, I love oblivious long-suffering Sophie. How can you not love a book where in a moment of panic the heroine substitutes cayenne pepper for a magic powder because she doesn’t know what spell to give a customer?

Diana Wynne Jones really doesn’t cheat you in the magic department either. There are all kinds of spells and bewitchments, from being able to make yourself look like someone else, to hats that can change your destiny. For me part of the fun of a witch or wizard book is the magic, and you will not be disappointed here!

Although the content is fairly clean on this one, there’s no doubt that it requires a high level of comprehension.  There are an epic number of characters: good witches, a bad witch, at least two wizards, assorted royals, a walking scarecrow, a man-dog, extended families, mayors wives, counts and, as mentioned before, fire demons.  Of course, this is all further confused by multiple people being in disguise, others having a variety of aliases, still others actually being more than one person.  I’ve read it twice and even I was starting to wish I had a list, or better yet, a chart with pictures.  There’s also a lot to keep straight, what with missing persons, animate objects, and spells both consciously and unconsciously placed.  There’s also an additional challenge for US readers, as some UK English terms may push their limits like hedgerow.  Or perhaps repeated use of queer to mean either strange or faint. Vocabulary over all is challenging, including: rheumatism, ominous, prophesied, abject, decrepit, besom and peculiarities.  Despite the book’s complexity, the tone is light throughout.  Although everyone is in danger from the Wicked Witch of the Waste and her fire demon, there’s no feeling of impending darkness and doom.

Great for: Lovers of magic and adventure.  You could probably recommend this to Harry Potter fans, Wizard of Oz admirers and even fans of Ella Enchanted.  I think that this also has wide appeal across age groups.  As long as the comprehension is there, I wouldn’t have any problem reading it with middle grades children, but it has enough going on that it will keep adults entertained as well!

Age Recommendation: Comprehension is the main issue at hand in this one.  I know many students in Grades 4-5 would love it, but given everything mentioned above, it might be difficult for some of them.  You could absolutely use it as a family read aloud, as I promise it won’t bore you.  I expect readers in Grades 6 and would likely enjoy it as an independent read, maybe checking in with an adult if anything is difficult.

Sex, Nudity, Dating –Howl has this thing where he makes girls fall in love with him and then he isn’t interested anymore.  There is much talk of matches, matchmaking, proposals and sweethearts.  Also, Martha says she needs to get married young if she’s to fit in having 10 children.  Despite all this, there’s nothing in it to make the younger children (or boys) say “ew” and nothing really to worry parents.  The only thing that may give you pause is a boyfriend is once referred to as a lover, although it’s pretty clear they don’t mean it that way.
Profanity – “Damnation,” and “Hell’s teeth.” There are also three places where the book tells us people swore, but does not tell us what the swears were. Also a few characters say “Curses!”
Death, Violence and Gore – Various people have various deceased relatives. Two witches die (one is murdered, one deserved it). The wizard Howl has a reputation of collecting young girls and sucking their souls and possibly even eating their hearts. Sophie spends considerable time looking for evidence of eaten hearts or former girls. There is a skull who is mentioned quite often. The wizard has various powders in his bathroom labeled as body parts, but it’s unclear if they are made from those parts or for use on those parts. A falling star dies. There are a few mentions of hanging. A boy wants a spell for a duel. People plan on destroying the Witch of Waste. There is a big showdown at the end that involves death to a few (don’t worry, nothing to cause tears) and sort of re-distribution of remaining characters. When being highly melodramatic about a cold Howl claims he shall die from it, and that he shall disguise himself as a corpse. The man-dog did bite someone. There is a possibility of war. There are some missing / possibly dead characters. There are some bones after people die.
Drugs, Alcohol and Smoking – Some young men swagger “beerily” about. Howl asks Sophie to get the brandy “unless she’s drunk it” and drinks a glass himself, and gives one to Calcifer.  Then he pours himself another and starts sipping that. Calcifer accuses Howl of being drunk after a rugby reunion. Sophie offers Miss Angorian a glass of wine.
Frightening or Intense Things – People are afraid of Howl. Everyone is afraid of the Witch of the Waste. There are various showdowns between Howl and others and the Witch of the Waste. None of it has a very scary feel. Exciting? yes. But there are no dark undertones.

Posted in Middle Grades, Teen, Tween | Tagged , | 2 Comments

The Witch of Blackbird Pond

Posted on October 17, 2010 by Mrs. N


When my husband spotted this on my nightstand he said, “Hey, didn’t I have to read that for school?” And even though I didn’t actually know him back then, I can say with confidence “Probably.” Because I’m pretty sure every kid on the Eastern seaboard had to read this at some point. Is that true for the rest of the country? Does this title trigger grade school memories for you as well?

For the first two chapters, it was awfully hard to shake the sensation of doing homework, but by the time I reached the final chapters The Witch of Blackbird Pond had fully captured my attention. I’ll admit that I found the parts about who was a royalist and what would happen if Connecticut lost her charter a bit dry. I may have skim read those bits since no one is going make me take a test on it later. But even with those more scholarly questions set aside, there are some real and relevant issues of exclusion, religion and adjusting to a new life addressed here.

The vocabulary is somewhat challenging: beholden, tremulous, modish, countenance. Many difficult words will go over easier with those who have read other books from this time period. There’s nothing to worry about really from a content standpoint. I’ve yet to see a third grader read it, so I’m recommending it for grades four and up.

Great for: Lovers of historical fiction. Elizabeth George Speare does a wonderful job of making Connecticut come alive, and drawing it in stark contrast to Barbados where Kit was raised. There are so many small details from the chores, to the descriptions of Kit’s dresses that make this book stand out.

Sex, Nudity, Dating –  There is talk of who will marry whom and people call and court.  Because of the time period, girls are engaged around age 16 and married soon after. A man lays his head in a woman’s lap.
Profanity – None.
Death, Violence and Gore – A child is hit for crying. They state that the Puritans murdered King George. Kit’s parents drowned when she was small. Because of the time period, this books deals a bit with issues of slavery. Nat tells of slave ships where people were “rotting in their chains before anyone knew they’re dead.”  Children are rapped on the head with a pole for laughing in church. Quakers are hanged or branded in Massachusetts.  Prudence’s mother will cane her if she disobeys.  There is talk of resorting to violence if forced to obey the royal governor.  Several men are punished by being put in the stocks, with punishment of thirty lashes at the whipping post should they return to Wethersfield.  Kit is told that the punishment for witchcraft may be hanging or branding or cutting off an ear.
Drugs, Alcohol and Smoking – None.
Frightening or Intense Things – A mob forms to deal with the witch. In my mind, the parts where the people of Wethersfield are determined they have a witch in their midst are the scariest parts of the book. Sure the militia is sent to manage a little situation with the Indians, but the true terror is in how people who call themselves religious are pushed forth by fear and hatred to seek out “witches” and punish them for their sins. It’s all the more chilling because we know that people did act in this manner.

Posted in Middle Grades | Tagged | 2 Comments

Jinx

Posted on October 15, 2010 by Mrs. N

I wasn’t in love with Jinx to begin with (more on that later), but when I hit page 241, I nearly threw it across the room.  You see our heroine, who is a witch, learning to harness and embrace her witchy side, is in danger.  And this imminent danger is what is pushing her to acknowledge her true self as a powerful witch.  And what does our girl do?  All filled up with witchiness, how does she save herself?  I’ll tell you how.  By sending a mental message to a boy asking him to come save her. Because when you have all the power of women for generations stored inside you, what you really need is a cute guy with no magical powers to save your butt. GRRR.  I may have to go read Paper Bag Princess five times fast to reassure myself that girls are intelligent, functional human beings who are capable of  saving themselves.  Meg Cabot, I expected more from you!!

So why wasn’t I loving it even before I came to the sets-women-back-fifty-years ending?  Well, a major character uses drugs.  While it’s clearly not condoned, there’s a part where it’s asked if she’s an addict or just uses recreationally.  When we find out that she just uses recreationally, a lot of the concern is gone.  People.  When we’re talking three different kinds of drugs and a high school sophomore, there’s reason for concern.

While most of the book focuses on boys, friendship and finding yourself, all in a rather light-hearted tone, there’s also a part where a character attempts suicide although it’s possible that it wasn’t really an attempted suicide but rather a staged attempted suicide where she’s being a drama queen.  It just didn’t fit with the overall tone of the book.

There was a definite lack of fun magic.  If anyone is looking for homework doing spells, floating objects, there is nothing like that here.  The few positive spells cast were dull, and everything else was sort of black magic, voodoo doll icky stuff.

Also in the interest of full disclosure, I am aware that some people object to any books on witches on religious and moral grounds.  Of all the witchy books I’ve read so far, this is the first one where they actually touch the question of witchcraft-as-religion.  Although I’m guessing if you have a problem with that, you probably would have a problem with about 85% of the content of this book (see below) and should move on to the next offering anyway.

Sex, Nudity, Dating -Oh Meg.  The innuendo is thick in this one.  Many things are left to the imagination.  My grown-up imagination fills in the blanks in a rather R-rated way.  Perhaps your teen is more innocent? Naive?  Unlikely to jump to the conclusions I did?
At one point we’re told that Tory has “got it so bad for [Zach] she can already taste-if you know what I mean.” I don’t know for sure. As a matter of fact, I’ll be much happier if I never try to finish that sentence, because the choices are not particularly appealing. Later we’re told (repeatedly) that Tory spends her free period with her not-boyfriend Shawn in the boiler room. When Shawn is asked why he doesn’t get rid of Tory he says it’s because she performs a valuable service for him everyday during free period. I think we all know she’s not doing his math homework. With that covered, on to the rest of this category. 5-year-old Alice draws a picture of the day Jean is born, with her “coming out of Aunt Charlotte”. Lots of people like each other. Jinx says that as a preacher’s daughter everyone expects you to be prissy or slutty. Tory has an open relationship/friends with benefits situation with Shawn. Tory is in her room in a bra and miniskirt. There are a lot of references to the makeup that the girls wear. I’ve never noticed this in a book before, but it really struck me how heavily made up everyone was. A boy is shirtless and has his jeans buttoned wrong.  The au pair says her boyfriend is sleeping on the couch but when Jinx goes down there he is in the au pair’s bedroom in nothing but boxer shorts.  The book includes descriptions of kissing that include a body being molded against another body.
Profanity – “hell” is used at least twice, frequent use of “God”, Tory gives her friend the finger, some uses of “bitch” and “bitchy”, “shit”, “Jesus”, “pissed”, “damned” (out of the mouth of a 10 yr. old), “damned” (out of the mouth of a teenager), “screw that”, “sucks”, and there’s one part where Zach says some “very bad” swear words that aren’t printed.

Death, Violence and Gore – Tory tells everyone Jinx is being stalked and that the guy will probably come and “murder us in our beds”  Jinx is hit by a bike messenger.   A great-great-great-great-grandmother was burned at the stake for witchcraft. A decapitated rat is hung on a locker.  One girl slaps another across the face. Right, so there’s also a part where one girl plans on drinking another’s blood and doing a spell with mushrooms to steal her powers. She has a knife ready to cut the girl with and says if the mushrooms end up being poisonous people will just think she tried to kill herself. There’s also the whole possibly faked attempted suicide part mentioned above.
Drugs, Alcohol and Smoking – Tory’s friends smoke.  There’s a reference to Kate Moss using cocaine. Characters talk about copping a buzz.  Tory does drugs (incl. Valium and Ritalin), Shawn deals drugs. Tory’s friends are drinking Long Island Ice Teas, Jean takes a sip and spits it out.  Several characters smoke  marijuana. Zach offers to get Jean a fake ID so they can go to a club to hear music.  A character attempts suicide by pill overdose.
Frightening or Intense Things – None of this is particularly scary, not even the bit where one girl is trying to drink the blood of another. But then again, It’s possible I was not invested at all because I was annoyed. You may feel differently.

Posted in Mature Teen | Tagged | 2 Comments

The Witches

Posted on October 13, 2010 by Mrs. N

Those of you who only are familiar with Charlie and the Chocolate Factory may not know that no one does creepy like Roald Dahl.  A collection of his short stories that I read when I was eight has traumatized me for life.  Okay, fine, maybe not traumatized me, but I still get goosebumps thinking about it!  The Witches is terrific and plenty creepy.  The most chilling part, in my opinion, is the very first chapter “A note about witches” wherein you learn that witches could be anywhere.  It’s particularly devilish when he tells the reader (or listener) that a witch “might even be your lovely school-teacher who is reading these words to you at this very moment.”  It’s almost enough to make me start reading it to my class tomorrow!

This is the type of book that will send delicious shivers up and down your spine, but it will definitely be a little too scary for some younger readers and listeners.  I recommend it for fourth grade and higher (partially due to the difficulty and partially due to the content) although you know your children best, and I suspect some younger children would be thrilled with the horror of it all, just as some older children may need to sleep with the light on afterward.

I don’t want to give away any of the plot, but those of you who know Dahl well, know better than to expect it to end with things going back the way they were.

Sex, Nudity, Dating – A man has a mouse run all the way up his leg and into his knickers.
Profanity – None.
Death, Violence and Gore – Dahl tells us that when a witch catches you she will not stick you with knives or knock you on the head or shoot you with a pistol.  Narrator’s parents were killed in a car accident. Grandmamma has lost a thumb, and the narrator speculates that it’s due to a witch, and possibly having been forced to hold it in a teakettle until the steam melted it or it was pulled out of her hand like a tooth.  Witches turn children into pheasants who are then shot and roasted and eaten for dinner. We’re told that witches in America can make grown-ups eat their own children.  A treatment for lice nearly kills a boy and removes half the skin from his scalp.  The Grand High Witch’s face is rotting away as though it had been nibbled by maggots.  A witch who speaks against the Great High Witch is frizzled like a fritter. A witch sings “Down with children! Do them in!/Boil their bones and fry their skin!/Bish them, squish them, bash them, mash them!/Break them, shake them, slash them, smash them!”  The witches talk of having a boy’s tripes for breakfast.  They also speak of turning him into a mackrel and dishing him up for supper, as well as chopping off his head and tail and frying him in hot butter.  To make the formula that turns children into mice, witches must cut off mouse tails with a carving knife and fry the tails in hair oil and then simmer the mice in frog juice.  It is mentioned that little boys can be run over and killed or die of an awful illness.
Drugs, Alcohol and Smoking – Grandmamma smokes cigars.  She offers a puff to the narrator and when he protests that he is only seven, she says “I don’t care what age you are, you’ll never catch a cold if you smoke cigars.”
Frightening or Intense Things – The beginning of the book sets up the premise that witches can be anywhere and you’d never know by looking at them, but their goal is to squelch one child a week – 52 a year.  The narrator’s grandmother says she knows of 5 children that the witches have taken.  Children are turned into chickens, into stone, trapped in paintings, turned into porpoises. The grandmother gets quite ill with pneumonia. The doctor tells the narrator that if he doesn’t want his grandmother to die, he’ll keep her from going to Norway.  The maid threatens to drown a pet mouse.  Great High Witch orders that all children in England be rubbed out.  There is a plot to put potion into candies to turn children into mice.  The grand witch kicks a pair of pet mice across a room, but they are okay.  When our main character has to try to defeat the witches, it’s a very dangerous undertaking.  The main premise of witches can be anywhere will definitely be upsetting to some, but one of Dahl’s major points, that witches must always wear gloves, will prove to be reassuring in this day and age where women hardly ever wear gloves.

Posted in Middle Grades, Tween | 2 Comments

Jennifer, Hecate, MacBeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth

Posted on October 11, 2010 by Mrs. N

E. L. Konigsburg writes hard books.  It’s too bad in a way, because they really are exceptional, but I believe grown-ups are often guilty of pushing them on children before they are ready. If a child is faced with a book that is too difficult, you’ll often hear the following complaints: “It’s boring.” “I don’t like it.”  Also, with a too challenging book a child may report that she has trouble paying attention to the story.  Currently, there’s a lot of focus in schools on helping children identify books that are “just right” and to hold off on more challenging books. One trick is called the “five finger rule” where a child reads a page and if she encounters five words she doesn’t know, she can assume the book is too difficult. We also teach them to be aware of whether or not they’re understanding the story.  You can check if your child is understanding by asking her to retell what she’s read in her own words. A reader who really understands will be able to give you a decent synopsis. Be wary if your child is quoting too much directly from the book (even if the book is not open). Some readers have excellent memories, and can give you sections verbatim without knowing what those sentences meant.

When I was little I didn’t particularly like this book, nor did I particularly like Konigsburg’s more famous From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. I really think it’s because they were too hard for me when I tried them, and I was a strong reader (if I do say so myself). The vocabulary is challenging (I’ll help you out with the hardest word in the book – Here you go – Asafetida.) I would suggest this for fifth through seventh or eighth grade strong readers.

Jennifer, Hecate, MacBeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth is a story about loneliness and friendship, and exactly what children are willing to do to have friends. Elizabeth is no pushover, she has some lovely moments of exacting vengeance on Cynthia (one of those awful children who is perfect before grown-ups but is just terrible to girls who aren’t her friends). Nonetheless, when she meets Jennifer, she is so starved for friendship (and Jennifer is so mysterious) that she is completely in her thrall. You’ll wince and laugh at the tasks Elizabeth performs during her witch apprenticeship. Okay, fine, by modern standards, some of the things really are cringe-worthy – like eating raw eggs (Think of the salmonella!!) and pricking their fingers and pressing them together (No more blood bonds!) Ultimately though, Jennifer is a real friend.

Published in 1967, this book does show its age a bit, but it also must have been fairly cutting edge for its time. Elizabeth is white and Jennifer is black. At no point in the novel is this ever made an issue. In fact, aside from the drawings, and one reference to Jennifer’s mother as a Negro (I told you it was a bit dated), the race issue was not raised at all. I did notice towards the middle that Jennifer and Elizabeth never played at each other’s houses, but by the end, Jennifer is a guest at Elizabeth’s house and Elizabeth’s mother doesn’t bat an eye. It’s lovely to have a book depicting interracial friendship where the girls’ personalities are at the forefront rather than racial implications. It sends a strong message without needing to say anything at all. The other questionable part is that there is a character named Tony who is the janitor of the apartment building who speaks English in a cartoonish Italian immigrant way. Personally, I don’t think the use of Negro, or Tony’s speech is enough to detract from the overall value of this book.

Sex, Nudity, Dating – When Elizabeth meets Jennifer, Jennifer is up a tree.  As Jennifer swings down Elizabeth catches a glimpse of Jennifer’s underwear which is very old fashioned.  Elizabeth hides things in her underwear drawer.
Profanity – None.
Death, Violence and Gore – There are several references to witches being hanged in the olden days.  There is a reference to Van Gogh and how he cut off his ear.  Jennifer tells Elizabeth that there is an ointment to kill people, but agrees quickly when Elizabeth says “Let’s not kill anyone.” Elizabeth’s mother hits her for being fresh.
Drugs, Alcohol and Smoking – Some children dress as cigarette cartons for Halloween. A local candy factory makes mint candy and Elizabeth loves it best because she can pretend she’s smoking menthol cigarettes.
Frightening or Intense Things – None.

Posted in Tween | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Witch in the House

Posted on October 9, 2010 by Mrs. N

Witch in the House by Ruth Chew

Witch in the House may be a dangerous book to let your kids get a hold of.  The absolute highlight of the book is a flying bathmat named Pinky, who answers questions by flipping his corners.  You should be forewarned that Pinky claims it would hurt to go in the dryer, so if your children raise a ruckus when you try to do laundry the modern way don’t say I didn’t warn you!  You also may find your bathmats starring in imaginary adventures, but I’d mark that down as a perk – talk about cheap fun!

This time Laura discovers a witch on her swingset, but the witch is swinging upside down.  When it becomes clear the witch is stuck upside down, Laura becomes incredibly worried that the witch will fall off into space, so she invites her in.  Since it wouldn’t do for Laura’s mother to find out (Why should mother know if strangers are in the house?) the witch is hidden in Laura’s closet, where she sleeps on the ceiling.  Again, this is a case of an absent minded witch who can’t figure out how to undo the spell, so Laura and her friend Jane have to help.  With the help their beloved Pinky and Laura’s yellow cat, the girls collect the items the witch needs to fix her problem.

Young readers will definitely be envious of Pinky, the flying bathmat, and the freedom that Jane and Laura have.  The witch herself doesn’t have much personality; the most interesting thing about her seems to be that she likes to eat garbage and that she licks broken glass like a lollipop. Like the other Ruth Chew books I’ve reviewed, this will be best enjoyed by primary grades readers (or listeners).

Sex, Nudity, Dating – The witch takes a shower on the bathroom ceiling.  There is an illustration of her seated and nude on the ceiling.  Her body is arranged so as to cover up more personal areas.
Profanity – None
Death, Violence and Gore – Frogs, jellyfish, cats and bathmats make it through unscathed.  Phew!
Drugs, Alcohol and Smoking – None.
Frightening or Intense Things – A dog chases the girls and gets a hold of Jane’s pants.

Posted in Middle Grades, Primary Grades | Tagged , , | 1 Comment