Tidesong

Tidesong
Wendy Xu

Quill Tree, Nov. 2021

240 pages

Grades 3-8

Graphic Novel/Fantasy

Sophie is sent by her mother and grandmother to a faraway seaside town to learn the family craft of magic in order to apply to a prestigious magic academy. Grandmother's sister, Auntie, is a serious and demanding individual and Sophie isn't sure that she can measure-up to what is expected. Luckily, a kind cousin takes Sophie under her wing and makes her feel at home. Frustrated because all she is doing is backbreaking chores, Sophie tries to do a bit of magic on her own and it goes predictably haywire. Her magic crosses with a shape-shifting dragon-prince of the sea, who is thrust upon the shore in his human form, forgetting his entire past. Prince Lir and Sophie must learn to trust and cooperate in order to detangle their own personal magic. Lir's father appears and he's angry. He wants his son back and threatens to destroy the entire ocean. Can Sophie and Lir work together to straighten their magic out before it's too late?

This is a very sweet graphic novel by an unknown creator. Manga is trending again with younger audiences and this story has a bit of a manga feel to it. Magic is also popular and a common theme in current graphic novels. Dragons are also a slam-dunk for readers, making this book an instant winner. I love the shape-shifting water dragons, which are based on Chinese folklore. They will appeal to today's kids, while offering them something a bit different. Sophie is a bold and likable character to whom kids will relate. Her "Sorcerer's Apprentice" move predictably backfires, showing the price of impatience, yet she manages to fix the problem and makes a friend along the way. The illustrations are beautiful and fresh. The soft and colorful pallet reflects the magical watery land and sooths the reader as they turn pages. Sure to be a hit, share with fans of Kiki's Delivery Service, The Okay Witch, and Witches of Brooklyn.

Kaleidoscope

Kaleidoscope
Brian Selznick
Scholastic, September, 2021
192 pages
Grades 5-7
Short Stories

Interconnecting short stories tell different versions of the unnamed narrator and his friend James. With each shake of the Kaleidoscope the time, setting, and circumstances of the friendship with James shifts with varying degrees of realism. Each chapter is led with a close-up Kaleidoscope illustration followed by a wider view of the story on the next page, where readers can find the area from which the close up can be found. Some of the stories feel realistic, while others are clearly fantasy. Certain objects repeat throughout the book connecting the stories, as do themes, such as loneliness and loss. The surrealistic mood remains consistent leading readers from one dreamy adventure to the next.

Brian Selznick is clearly an artist. He consistently creates fresh ways to convey a story for young people, weaving illustration with text and is a pioneer in children's literature. Kaleidoscope is his latest endeavor and, though a work of art, may go a bit too far to be useful to children. Selznick states in an author's note at the end of the volume that he wrote this book during the dark days of the pandemic while separated from his husband and this is clear through both the mood and themes of the story. Loneliness and loss are prevalent in every story and the narrator's connection to a mysterious "James" is the repeating main theme. The story is surrealism at its best and will go over the head of even the most thoughtful young readers, making the audience unclear. I am not confident that I understood the entire book and found myself confused and bored on various points throughout reading. I finished only because I am a loyal fan of the author and was waiting for clarity at the end-that frankly never came. That said, the illustrations are beautiful and I enjoyed finding the details from the kaleidoscope in the larger illustration, as will young readers. The writing is poetic and beautiful. This is truly a work of art, but will best be enjoyed by scholars of young people's literature than the young people themselves. I have a very thoughtful eleven-year-old niece who is a fan of Brian Selznick. I plan on passing this book onto her to get a young person's opinion and to see if she can get through it.

Weird Kid

Weird Kid

Van Eekhout, Greg

HarperCollins, 2021

208 pages

Grades 3-6

Science Fiction/Adventure

Jake Wind plays guitar, loves his dog, is a superhero fan and is embarrassed by his dad's jokes--oh, and is an alien. His parents found him in the backyard as a ball of goo that transformed into a baby. He was able to keep his shapeshifting abilities under control until this summer, as he is about to start middle school. Once school starts he meets Agnes, a new kid who is into the same super hero that he likes and seems to accept him, despite his quirks. When sink holes begin appearing all over town oozing strange goo, the two friends become suspicious. Agnes takes a sample of the goo for scientific research and they start investigating the sink holes. Eventually the search leads to two strange alien twins and a secret laboratory. Can Jake and Agnes save the world from this mysterious goo determined to take over the world? Will Jake ever get to be a normal kid or is he destined to permanently reunite with his alien roots?

Van Eekhout offers a humorous and adventurous story sure to entertain science fiction fans as well as those new to the genre. Who doesn't feel like an alien during middle school? At first I thought that I was dealing with an unreliable narrator and that Jake's shape-shifting troubles were due to puberty, but then the absurdity of the alien invasion became clear and I knew that his predicament was literal. I then enjoyed the story and was all in. The plot is clear with an obvious villain and straight forward story line. Kids will easily be able to follow the action and suspend belief as Jake and Agnes follow the sink holes to get to the truth. The author infuses humor into the plot, making the the book fun as well as adventurous. Best of all, the story is original and fresh. Not too long, reluctant readers will give it a go and find themselves swept up in the action. Jake is a sympathetic character and readers will identify with his plight, even if he is an alien. After all, aren't we all a little "weird"?

Instructions for Dancing

Instructions for Dancing

Nicola Yoon

Delacorte, 2021

304 pages

Grades 8-12

Romance

Evie is pessimistic about love, especially after she catches her beloved father cheating on her mother. Once a fan of romance novels, she now sees the realistic ending to "happily ever after". Evie stuffs a chunk of her romance novel collection in a Little Free Library, when a strange old lady insists she take a book in exchange titled Instructions for Dancing. Unexpectedly, the book possesses magical powers and Evie can now see the history of a relationship when people kiss: from the jubilant first meeting to the painful break-up. In order to shake the curse she visits the dance studio mentioned on the book, where she meets X, the grandson of the owners. The studio is on tough times and Evie and X are recruited to learn to dance and enter the Los Angeles armature ballroom competition. Through their grueling, yet intimate, practices romantic feelings begins to emerge. Is Evie willing to take a chance on love? Meanwhile, she must also come to terms with her father's new romance and her relationship with him, as well as the shifting dynamics in her friend group. Graduation looms and with it inevitable life changes. Is Evie ready to move forward?

Nicola Yoon is a YA darling. Her first two novels are best sellers and she has a huge following. I liked her first book a lot, her second book mostly, and the third book, honestly, was a bit of a disappointment to me. On the plus side: it reads rather quickly, is a lot of fun, has a great concept and I honestly liked both the main characters. As fan and former student of ballroom dancing I love that the characters in the book delve into this wonderful world. This also was a negative for me in that I didn't believe that a couple who never danced can do well in a city-wide competition after only a couple of months. It lightens the efforts of folks who spend years training for such an opportunity. I also felt that Evie's abilities to see the history of people's romances, which should have been the main plot, often got pushed to the back-burner. I really hated the ending-which had to offer Evie her somewhat happy ending, choosing to love against the odds, even though a surprise twist reveals tragedy. Teen girls love a good cry and will eat this up and-after all-they are the audience. Perfect for a day at the beach, give this to the young romantic in your life, along with a box of tissues.

Your Life Has Been Delayed
Michelle Mason
Bloomsbury, September, 2021
304 pages
Grades 7-12
Sci-Fi/Romance

It is 1995 and Jenny Waters boards a plane in New York after visiting her grandparents and perspective colleges. The plane ride is pretty uneventful, until the lights flicker and the flight-nerd next to her reports unusual communication between the pilots and the air traffic controllers. It seems that the flight is not recognized. How can that be? Once they land they are met by the FBI and ushered into a room for questioning. Unbelievably, twenty-five years have past and the plane has been missing during this time. For the passengers it has only been a few hours, but the world has passed them by with new technologies, tighter security, and different and faster forms of communication. Jenny's younger brother picks her up from the airport, only now he is a man with a wife and family. The world has drastically changed and moved on without Jenny. She must catch-up and adjust quickly. Even though her friends are older, Jenny is still a teenager. Should she still finish out high school? Crazy surprises await in Jenny's personal life and the world overall as she and her fellow passengers try to make sense of this new reality.

I love the concept of this book. I am a fan of time-travel and I immediately hooked onto the premise of this story. Interestingly enough, there is a new-ish Netflix series with the same concept, Manifest, that should lure in more readers. I immediately fell into the story and related to Jenny's experience, thinking about my life if this had happened to me. There are stories where the protagonist goes back in time and can have a high school "re-due", but it is unusual and fresh to go the other way. I think readers will eat this title up. There is a sub-plot involving a secret agency with nefarious intentions to disprove the time-travelers that I didn't quite understand or believe (or care about). It was enough seeing Jenny adapt and find an awkward and unexpected first love. The ending was a bit unrealistic and too sewn up: the mean-girl gets her comeuppance, the evil agency's plot is foiled, and Jenny decides that she is better off in the present. This will satisfy romantic teen readers, though may lead to eye rolls from the more cynical. The cover is eye-catching, but may incorrectly lead readers to thinking that it is a graphic novel. Overall, a fun book that serves as a perfect summer escape and will send imaginations soaring.

A Wish in the Dark

A Wish in the Dark
Christina Soontornvat
Candlewick, 2020
375 pages
Grades 3-6
Fantasy

Pong, a thoughtful and observant boy, was born an orphan in a prison where he must remain captive until he comes of age. After an encounter with the evil Governor, who controls all of the light in the land, and the warden with his sneaky daughter, Pong escapes. After a harrowing journey he ends up in a rural village where he falls in with a group of monks and joins their ranks. After learning many valuable lessons, he must leave the safety of the community and journey to the city, where he encounters an old friend from the prison and meets an underground network of destitute rebels, who aim to protest the Governor's power. Meanwhile, the warden's daughter, Nok, seeks to find Pong to turn him into the authorities and redeem herself her family's eyes. What follows is a game of cat and mouse, where it becomes murky who is the actual enemy.

Set in a mythological Thai-inspired world, Soontornvat taps into the story Les Miserables to present a tale of poor folks trying to find justice and freedom. This story offers two narratives with different intentions, yet overlapping stories, who appear to be enemies, but end up coming together by book's end. The fantasy involves the light created by the governor and his magical powers. Where does this magic come from? This question is answered in a satisfying way as Pong joins the fight for light for the all citizens. A world with disappearing light reminds me of City of Ember and the story will appeal to fans of both fantasy and dystopia. I was immediately attracted to this book by the cover and intended to read it. It took Soontornvat winning a well-deserved Newbery honor (one of two this year) for me to actually sit down and crack into it. I immediately fell into the story and was captivated by the fresh and original plot and the bold struggles of the young people. A hard-to-put-down adventure/fantasy that will satisfy many readers.