Author: Janet Dawson

The Storm Keeper’s Island by Catherine Doyle

~ Janet Dawson ~ Leave a comment

Published by Bloomsbury Children’s Books

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Summary:  Fionn and his older sister Tara have been sent to the island of Arranmore to spend time with their grandfather while their mother is dealing with some mental health issues.  Tara has been to the island before and likes to lord her knowledge over Fionn; she often leaves him behind to spend time with her crush Bartley Beasley, who is searching for a secret cave.  As Fionn gets to know his grandfather, he discovers that he is the Storm Keeper, the overseer of the magic on the island. Granddad knows that his time in this role is coming to an end, and that the island is looking to find a new Storm Keeper.  As Fionn learns more about the magic, he starts to use it himself to travel through time and learn more about Arranmore’s secrets. The ending brings about the revelation of the new Storm Keeper and some healing in Fionn’s family, but there are plenty of unanswered questions to explore in book 2.  308 pages; grades 4-7.

Pros:  A promising start to a fantasy series that ably combines magic and everyday life.  Lots of interesting characters and history have been introduced that will provide a good foundation for a sequel.

Cons:  As I was reviewing this book, I realized it was published in 2018.  Since I had to force myself to read it (generally the case with me and fantasy), this was something of a blow.  It looks like it was published in Great Britain in 2018 and in the U.S. in 2019, so that is something of a comfort to me.

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Broken Strings by Eric Walters and Kathy Kacer

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Published by Puffin Canada

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Summary:  A few months after 9/11, Shirli’s drama teacher decides to stage a production of Fiddler on the Roof.  Shirli is hoping to land the role of daughter Hodel, but instead is cast as Golde, the mother.  Disappointed, she throws herself into preparations for the show, turning to her grandfather, Zayde, to help her with props and costumes.  In his attic, she finds an old violin and a poster showing him performing with his family. Shirli knows Zayde lost his family during the Holocaust, but he has never shared the details with anyone, and has always seemed to dislike any kind of music.  When she asks him about the violin, he’s angry at first, but over the next several weeks, he slowly reveals the heartbreaking story he’s never told. When a catastrophic accident threatens to shut down the play, Zayde and Shirli are able to save it, and Zayde’s story ends up adding new layers of depth to the production.  Includes an author’s note with additional information about Auschwitz. 288 pages; grades 5-8.  

Pros:  Readers will be fascinated and horrified by this moving story.  Zayde’s story is revealed slowly, and interspersed with lighter chapters about the play and the budding romance between Shirli and her co-star Ben.  

Cons:  Shirli seemed at times a little too good to be true, and Zayde’s contribution to the play felt a little unrealistic.

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The Okay Witch by Emma Steinkellner

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Published by Aladdin

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Summary:  Moth has always felt like she doesn’t belong in the small town of Founder’s Bluff, Massachusetts.  Her mother grew up in the same town–only it turns out it was 300 years before Moth did. Moth learns near the beginning of the story that her mom was part of a group of witches that was driven out of town by God-fearing Puritans.  The witches escaped to a paradise called Hecate, but Moth’s mother was so unhappy there that she eventually returned to her hometown. Moth discovers her own magical powers over the course of the story, eventually meeting her grandmother and getting the chance to visit Hecate.  Although she learns to love being a witch, she and her mother both ultimately decide that they belong in Founder’s Bluff. As history begins to repeat itself, they find that their witchcraft comes in handy in making sure evil doesn’t return to their town. 272 pages; grades 4-7.

Pros:  Fans of graphic novels with spunky girl main characters (think Telgemeier, Jamieson, Holm, and Hale) will enjoy this story which has a little magic and witchcraft thrown in.  

Cons:  Guess I like my graphic novels to stay in the realm of realistic fiction; I didn’t enjoy this one quite as much as the aforementioned authors. 

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Fix That Clock by Kurt Cyrus

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Published by HMH Books for Young Readers

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Summary:  As construction workers head to an old clock tower to restore it to its former glory, they discover that rats and bats have made their homes among the rusted gears and rotting boards.  They get to work, doing their best to work around the animals.  Math makes several appearances in the story: “Seven steps upon a stair,/Six are tangled, one is bare./Five are red. Two are green./Four are thick and three are lean.”  The clock slowly comes back to life, and the animals scramble when the chimes sound. But the thoughtful workers haven’t forgotten about them: they use scraps of wood to build homes for them on the outside of the clock tower. 40 pages; ages 3-8.

Pros:  Just as he did in Billions of Bricks, Kurt Cyrus uses energetic rhymes and detailed illustrations to bring a construction project to life.  Numbers, shapes, and other mathematical concepts are woven effortlessly into the text.

Cons:  I can’t help thinking those animals might not enjoy living right up against a chiming clock.

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The Great Shark Rescue: Saving the Whale Sharks by Sandra Markle

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Published Millbrook Press

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Image result for great shark rescue markle

Summary:  Opening with a story of two young whale sharks getting caught in a fishing net, Sandra Markle introduces readers to the variety of problems these animals face, all of them created by humans.  She looks at efforts to protect them, as well as some of the technologies scientists use to study them. While knowledge of these giants of the shark world has increased over the years, there are still discoveries to be made.  She describes how scientists have learned more in recent years about the way the sharks reproduce, but how they still don’t know exactly how young sharks survive in the ocean. The last page features the whale shark’s famous cousin, the great white shark, and provides information about its endangered status.  Includes an author’s note; a timeline of the scientific study of whale sharks; a glossary; additional resources; and an index. 48 pages; grades 4-6.

Pros:  Markle has produced another excellent science book, choosing a topic with lots of kid appeal and presenting science as a fascinating career choice.  There are plenty of photos and maps, and also a fair amount of text; definitely no dumbing-down here.

Cons:  All the books in this series (Sandra Markle’s Science Discoveries) seem to only be available as e-books or with library bindings, $25.00 on Follett; $32.00 on Amazon.

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The Story That Cannot Be Told by J. Kasper Kramer

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Published by Atheneum Books for Young Readers

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Summary:  “He’s gone.  They’ve killed him,” announces Ileana’s father on page one.  Slowly, we find out that “he” is Ileana’s uncle, a poet who has written protests against the Romanian government.  It’s 1989, and the secret police are everywhere. When Ileana allows an “electrician” into their home and later discovers a bug in her bedroom, her parents decide she must leave the city for her own safety.  Ileana is a storyteller, and her move to a remote village to live with the grandparents she’s never met fires up her imagination. As she tells the facts of her stay there–making a new friend, learning how to do farm chores, observing the Securitate slowly close in on the community–she weaves in a story about Brave Ileana, a princess who must find the courage to save her family.  As the villagers begin to hear of the revolution taking place in the city, they must all band together to save themselves–and Ileana is at the very center of their plan. 384 pages; grades 5-8.

Pros:  This debut novel grabs readers from page one and pulls them right into the drab world of Communist Romania–but also shows the beauty and imagination of the country through the stories Ileana hears and tells.  

Cons:  It’s taken me awhile to get to this book.  The cover didn’t appeal to me, nor did the idea of having fairy tales mixed in with historical fiction.  I’m glad I made time for it before the end of the year.

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From a Small Seed: The Story of Eliza Hamilton by Camille Andros, illustrated by Tessa Blackham

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Published by Henry Holt and Co.

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Interior Image

Summary:  Eliza is introduced as a strong girl, growing up in a big brick house with loving parents.  She likes to run and climb, but is also compassionate. She often sees an orphan boy and feels sorry for him, sharing her food when she can.  Later, she meets another orphan (Alexander Hamilton, although he’s not identified in the text), marries him, and works to help him found a new nation.  When tragedy strikes, and she and her eight children are left on their own, she remembers the orphan boy and starts the Orphan Asylum Society and the Hamilton Free School.  Throughout the story, trees are used as symbols from the young saplings Eliza sees as a child to the grove of tall trees that overlook her grave. Includes notes from the author and illustrator and three additional sources.  40 pages; grades 1-4.

Pros:  This is a brief and lovely introduction to the inspiring life of Eliza Schuyler Hamilton, a bit more accessible to younger readers than Margaret McNamara’s 2018 book Eliza.  The tree symbolism works well, as do the muted illustrations.  

Cons:  The author’s note reveals that few details are known of Eliza’s life, and that her interactions with the orphan boy at the beginning are fictional, making this book straddle the line between biography and historical fiction.

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Remarkables by Margaret Peterson Haddix

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Published by Katherine Tegen Books

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Summary:  Marin’s family is dealing with a move from Illinois to Pennsylvania and a new baby in the family; Marin’s also grieving over the loss of her two best friends after a fight right before the move.  Exploring the woods behind her new house one day, Marin sees a group of teenagers and watches them have fun together until they abruptly disappear. A few days later she meets Charley, an unfriendly neighborhood boy who reluctantly admits that he has seen the same group of teens.  He calls them the Remarkables, and he eventually reveals his connection to them. He believes they’re time travelers from the past; he’s pretty sure one of the boys is his father, whose drug addiction was fueled by guilt over having inadvertently caused the death of one of the girls. The transitions in Marin’s life becoming interwoven with the events of two decades ago as she and Charley try to figure out if they can change the past without upsetting the present and the future. 304 pages; grades 4-7.

Pros:  While there’s a touch of the supernatural here, Margaret Peterson Haddix moves away from her usual science fiction to focus more on family relationships and friendships.  The different strands of the story hum along at a pace that will keep readers turning the pages to find out how everything is resolved.  The happy ending celebrates friends and family with all their imperfections.

Cons:  Haddix fans may miss her usual cliffhanger chapter endings.

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Scary Stories for Young Foxes by Christian McKay Heidicker

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Published by Henry Holt and Co.

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Summary:  A brave group of seven kits ventures into a nearby den to hear what their mother has warned them will be the scariest story ever.  A mysterious storyteller begins with a story about a kit named Mia whose brothers and sisters contract a disease that turns them mad.  It’s pretty scary, and at the end of it, one of the kits decides to leave. The next story is about a kit named Uly who only has three paws, and who is terrorized by a fox named Mr. Scratch–who turns out to be his father.  That drives another kit from the den. And so it goes, with the stories of Mia and Uly eventually intersecting as they manage to escape from one harrowing situation after another. By the end, only the littlest kit is left. When she and the storyteller start talking, their identities are revealed, which neatly ties up the book with an unexpectedly happy ending.  320 pages; grades 4-7.

Pros:  The scare level is just right for elementary kids, and animal lovers will enjoy it as well.  It’s a pretty long shot, but this book is so unique and so well-written, it would be fun to see it get some Newbery recognition.

Cons:  Beatrix Potter fans might want to skip the story entitled “House of Trix”. 

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The Quest for the Golden Fleas (Zeus the Mighty, Book 1) by Crispin Boyer

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Published by Under the Stars (imprint of National Geographic)

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Summary:  Zeus the hamster lives with his friends Demeter (grasshopper), Athena (cat), and Ares (pug) at the Mount Olympus Pet Center.  Artie is the human who runs the center, but when she’s not around, the animals live a secret life, re-enacting the myths they hear on Artie’s  “Greeking Out” podcast.  When Zeus hears the story of Jason and the Golden Fleece, he hears it as Golden Fleas, and becomes determined to go on a quest for the Fleas. But when a dragon (lizard) gets loose in the pet shop, it seems as though Demeter and her insect pals may be in danger.  Zeus has to choose between his quest and helping his friend. It’s one adventure after another as the animals survive dangers and learn the true meaning of friendship. Includes additional information on Greek mythology and the gods and goddesses referenced in the story.  187 pages; grades 2-5.

Pros:  Combining Greek mythology with a bunch of lovable pets is sure to be a winning formula for elementary readers.  Lots of illustrations add to the appeal. Look for book 2 coming in May 2020.

Cons:  Zeus isn’t exactly the brightest bulb in the chandelier.

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