Braced (review)

Braced
Author: Alyson Gerber
Publisher: Arthur A. Levine Books (March 28, 2017)

Rachel is excited about the start of 7th grade with its promise of soccer and friends and (just maybe) boys. But when the surgeon monitoring her scoliosis says the curvature in her spine is getting worse and that she must wear a back brace 23 HOURS A DAY, all her dreams seem doomed.

What follows is a year of difficulty and discovery, as Rachel learns to cope with the bulky clothes she has to wear, the difficulty in playing her beloved soccer, and the impact her brace has on her friends, teammates and her ever-so-cute crush, Tate.

What makes the story heartwarming is how Rachel starts to see the trials her friends and family are also going through, from her pregnant mom who used to wear a brace herself, to her friends coping with loss and love and confusion. There are times when this can be a little too convenient as far as lessons go, but what really works is how well the author captures the age and mindset of Rachel, and shows how she matures and gains perspective through her adversity.

Four out of stars

Amazon

Little Nemo: Return to Slumberland (review)

Little Nemo: Return to Slumberland HC
Author: Eric Shanower
Illustrator: Gabriel Rodriguez
Publisher: IDW Publishing (To be released May 26, 2015)

Based on the comic strip by Winsor McKay from the early 20th century, Eric Shanower has crafted an entirely new set of adventures for Slumberland. The illustrations are marvelous and intricate in the style of the illustrations of that era (best know from the Oz books, and are a joy to flip through.

In this series of adventures, King Morpheus' daughter, simply known as the Princess, is looking for a new playmate to replace a long line that have not worked out well. When she sees that one of the candidates is named James Nemo Summerton, she chooses him because of a previous favorite playmate was named Nemo.

Unfortunately, Nemo doesn't want to be known as Nemo, he prefers Jimmy. He doesn't like to play with girls, and especially not the Princess. The adventures range from various of the King's court trying to get Nemo to Slumberland (I especially liked these) to their attempts to get him to stay and play with the Princess.

The story feels a little dated, as I am sure is intended, and I imagine that will intrigue some and irritate others, but I would recommend it for anyone who likes comics and somewhat old fashioned stories.

Four out of five stars.

Nobody!: A Story About Overcoming Bullying in Schools (review)

Nobody!: A Story About Overcoming Bullying in Schools
Author: Erin Frankel
Illustrator: Paula Heaphy
Publisher: Free Spirit Publishing (May 15, 2015)
Digital review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley

Thomas is reluctant to go to school, and the reason is Kyle, who taunts and teases and puts down Thomas at every turn. Thomas has other friends, but they are a little afraid to stand up for him because they don't want to become targets themselves. That leaves Thomas feeling even more alone, and if he complains to a teacher, it is only his word against Kyle's.

Things get better when Thomas realizes that being "different" can also mean being unique, and when his friends start standing up for him, Kyle realizes he has been too mean and backs off, so things get better for Thomas

This is a book very focused on a specific anti-bullying message, and it would work very well as a conversation starter or part of a guided discussion. I think that is its primary purpose, so it feels appropriate, but I want to clarify that it is not really a story first with a secondary anti-bullying theme, but rather a focused anti-bullying story. There are excellent resources at the end of the book on how to discuss different parts of the story, how people act and react, and what different points of view there may be.

My only complaint is that there was a moment when it seemed likely that we would get a little more insight into Kyle and what might drive him, and then it seemed underutilized. While the focus should stay on Thomas, any conversation about bullying is likely to include how and why bullies get to be bullies.

The illustrator deserves kudos for delivering this message in illustrations that feel more like a graphic novel than a picture book. I think this broadens the age group who would respond well to the book. I would recommend this for parents and other adults of children from kindergarten through 4th or 5th grade.

Four out of five stars.

Alien Invasion in My Backyard: An EMU Club Adventure (review)

Alien Invasion in My Backyard: An EMU Club Adventure
Author: Ruben Bolling
Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing (To be released April 7, 2015)
Digital review copy courtesy of publisher via NetGalley.

Stuart Tennemeier, his best friend, Brian Hrznicz, and Stuart's little sister, Violet, (but only because Mom insists!) have a super secret club. Shhh! In their club, they explore, solve mysteries and do other unbelievable things. Or they plan to, but how are three kids going to find mysteries to solve?

Never fear, they find a mystery and it is a whopper. I can't tell any details because it is super secret, but trust me when I say there are robots, aliens and world-saving involved. All before dinner!

Written as a comic book/case book, this promises to be an absolutely wonderful series of stories for the elementary crowd if this first installment is any indication. I would strongly recommend this for second through fourth graders.

Five out of five stars!

The Book That Proves Time Travel Happens (review)

The Book That Proves Time Travel Happens

The Book That Proves Time Travel Happens
Author: Henry Clark
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (To be released April 14, 2015)

Ambrose Brody and his best friend, Tom Xui, meet a girl at the carnival and she takes them on a trip back in time to 1852. For three children of color (black, Chinese and Gypsy), it is a dangerous time to land, and they race to escape bounty hunters and other bad guys. Things gt even worse when they return to their own time to find it significantly altered... for the worse. As they race back and forth in time trying to fix what they have broken, they are aided by a copy of the I-Ching, a 3000 year old book of Chinese wisdom that mysteriously uses Morse code to give them clues about what to do.

I felt pretty mixed up about this book. The I-Ching/Morse code part was brilliant and will intrigue young readers a lot, the history was interesting and the action exciting. I had three problems with the book, but I don't know if middle grade readers will overlook them or not. The first is that the time travel issues seemed awfully reminiscent of the Back to the Future plot lines and other time travel tropes. That likely won't bother young readers who may not have read many time travel stories. The second is that the "bad guys" are drawn with such a broad brush that they feel like caricatures. I would guess that this will bother some readers, whether they are able to identify what is wrong or not.

The third problem is the most serious and troubling to me. While I admire the author for trying to include diverse (or one might say, normal and reflective of real life) characters, the result is quite stilted. I never got any sense of Ambrose at all and would not have known he was black if it were not revealed to us. Yes, revealed like an "aha!" moment. The depictions of his friend, Tim, as a Chinese boy and Shofranka ("Frankie") as a Gypsy girl only enforced stereotypes. I especially cringed at the following exchange which starts with Frankie speaking:

The Detective's Assistant (MMGM review)

The Detective's Assistant
Author: Kate Hannigan
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (April 7, 2015)
Review copy courtesy of the publisher

I am thrilled to offer a great new historical novel with a terrific girl heroine for Marvelous Middle Grade Monday.  From intrigue to history to ciphers, this book should interest many middle graders of either gender.

When eleven year old Nell Warne is dropped off at her Aunt Kitty's door not long before the Civil War, she is not wanted and not welcome. Kate thinks she has no use for the girl, but Nell's indomitable spirit, clever mind and dare devil attitude soon prove to her aunt that there is more to the girl than meets the eye, as Nell helps with some of the dangerous and tricky cases her aunt has to solve. Because Kate Warne is a detective with Pinkertons, and they are called to solve jewel heists and murders, and even to protect Abraham Lincoln as he makes his way through a sharply divided land to his inauguration.

In a very clever juxtaposition underlying the story of Nell and Kate is the story we learn through letters between Nell and Jemma, a friend whose family has fled to Canada. Though they have always been free blacks, the roving bounty hunters have little respect for the law. Nell and Jemma practice ciphers and code words to prevent anyone who intercepts the letters from finding out details about  Jemma's family and the people who help slaves escape to the North. We gradually learn how the underground railroad and the abolitionist movement are intricately involved with Nell's story, and in the end seal the increasing affection between Nell and her Aunt Kate while helping her faraway friend.

In short, the book is delightful. Nell is a terrific combination of smart and careless, take-charge and nervous. She has trouble with her spelling, embarrasses her Aunt and herself, and doesn't always (often) do as she is told. I think girls of today will love her spunk and courage while laughing at how she makes the same mistakes (and decisions) they do.

Five stars out of five!

To find other posts for MMGM, visit Shannon Messenger's blog where she toils to keep up with them.

The Tapper Twins Go to War (With Each Other)
Author: Geoff Rodkey
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (To be published April 7, 2015)
Digital review copy courtesy of publisher via NetGalley

It is Marvelous Middle Grade Monday, so I thought I'd highlight a book coming out soon. It is available for pre-order, so follow the link above if you would like a copy.

Claudia and Reese are twins, but they are nothing alike. They have almost no goals in common, until they start a war (with each other) or pranks and practical jokes that gets increasingly out of hand and involves many of their classmates as well. The problem with a war is often how to end it, and neither one is quite sure how.

Written in an entertaining and often very funny combination of oral interviews (transcribed), texts between the parents (which are hysterical), screenshots and photos (Some quite silly), this book will entertain anyone in grades 3 to 7 who has to endure the trials and pitfalls of school, friends and family. I definitely recommend it.


Four stars out of five.

Little Miss Evil (review)

Little Miss Evil
Authors: Bryce Leung & Kristy Shen
Publisher: Spencer Hill Press (March 10, 2015)
Digital review copy courtesy of publisher via NetGalley.

I was hoping to review this for Marvelous Middle Grade Monday, but work demands prevented it, and it is being released on March 10th, so I wanted to give people a chance to hear about it first.

It is hard enough having crazy parents who are normal crazy, but when you live in a volcano, ride a helicopter to school and your dad is an evil super-villain with a super-weapon, things can get seriously out of control.

Fortunately, Fiona's two best friends are also the kids of evil super-villains who understand what it's like. Even though their parents don't talk to each other, Fiona, Ruby and Jai stay friends.

Unfortunately, Ruby's evil super-villain pilots attack Fiona's volcano, wage war on her father and his Storm Troopers and steal the super-weapon he is protecting. When they kidnaps her father, it doesn't seem like things could get much worse.

Fortunately, Fiona got a portable flame thrower for her birthday this year.

This book is a crazy ride that I would recommend to boys and girls in 4th to 8th grades who like super-heroes and super-villains. I have to say, I was a little dubious at first as the premise seemed too far fetched, but it kept getting better as the story developed. I'm glad I stuck with it, and I think kids would probably enjoy it even more.

Four of five stars.

Arilla Sun Down (review)

Arilla Sun Down
Author: Virginia Hamilton
Publisher: Open Road Media Teen & Tween (November 11, 2014)
Digital review copy courtesy of publisher via NetGalley

Twelve year old Arilla is part Native American and part African American, struggling to find her place in the world and pulled in various directions by her older brother, her parents and her friends. An early theme is how she has to sneak out to be herself, whether to sled or skate or simply to find time to herself. Eventually though, a crisis allows her to find herself in the open, and earns her the name Arilla Sun Down, and the sense of identity she had longed for.

This is a challenging book to read. The language and idiom present the first challenge, but will be more accessible to some than others. In addition, the book is told non-chronologically, which can be challenging as well. Ultimately, if a young reader finds a connection with Arilla, this can be a very satisfying book, but for others it might be frustrating.

Three stars out of five.

Beat the Turtle Drum (review)

Beat the Turtle Drum
Author: Constance C. Greene
Publisher: Open Road Media Teen & Tween (January 27, 2015)
Digital review copy courtesy of publisher via NetGalley


Thirteen year old Kate wants to be a writer, and the author gives her a tremendous voice. I found myself reminded of Anne (of Green Gables) as she describes her family, and especially her almost eleven year old sister, Joss, who is horse obsessed and plans to rent a horse for her eleventh birthday. We are easily swept up in the joys and trials of their family and various friends and neighbors. I especially love how rich and real the side characters feel.

When tragedy strikes, it is almost unimaginable how close it strikes to home. I kept blinking back tears, and wanted to scream at the author that she couldn't hurt these precious, wonderful characters. In fact, if there is any flaw to the book, it is that we are so completely caught up in the normalcy and joy in their lives that the tragedy feels jarring, and happens late enough in the story that we don't have time to recover. But that is the beauty of the book as well, because we can truly feel what the characters are feeling as their lives are interrupted, and we struggle to recover from it just as they must.

Five out of five stars.

Originally published in the late 1970s, Beat the Turtle Drum has endured with its searing story, and has as much punch as it did back then. This digital reissue will attract a whole new generation of fans for Constance C. Greene. Note that the poem in the beginning of the book is easy to miss, but only by reading it will the title make any sense.

Fairy Tales for Young Readers (review)

Fairy Tales for Young Readers
Author: E. Nesbit
Publisher: Dover Publications (Jan. 14, 2015)
Review copy courtesy of NetGalley

When I was young, I remember reading and listening to a few of the wonderful children's books by English author, E. Nesbit, so I was intrigued to see that a book was being republished of her classic fairy tales interpretations. I expected to enjoy them, but I had forgotten what an influence she had been on writers such as P. L. Travers (Marry Poppins), C.S. Lewis (Narnia books) and J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter books), all of whom echo at times her wry, clever humor. I recommend that parents read these aloud to their children, as there is as much for adults to enjoy as for the children, and both will delight and laugh in the imagery and wit.

As I read through the stories, I kept stopping and reading passages to my wife, so I thought I'd share a couple that I shared with her.

From the middle of Cinderella:

For in those days shoes were not sold ready-made in shops, but were made specially to fit the people who were to wear them. And besides, the glass slipper was magic, and so had too much sense to have fitted any one but its owner, even if the country had been full of shops selling Rats' Ready-made Really Reliable Boots.

From the beginning of Jack the Giant-Killer:

In the long-ago days of King Arthur, who invented round tables, there was a sort of plague of giants in the West Country-just as nowadays there are plagues of wasps, and mosquitos, and millionaires, and the giants threatened to spread, like other plagues, till they had eaten up all the nice, proper-sized people in England.

While a few words may seem unfamiliar or antiquated, by and large the stories are timeless and charming. I strongly recommend these to both adults and children. They will remind you that children's literature can be so much richer than Captain Underpants without being boring or irrelevant to modern children.

Five out of five stars!

Jack: The True Story of Jack and the Beanstalk (review)

Jack: The True Story of Jack and the Beanstalk (to be published by Knopf in April 2015)
Author: Liesl Shurtliff
Review ARC sent by publisher

Having read and greatly enjoyed Liesl Shurtliff's debut middle grade novel, Rump: The True Story of Rumpelstiltskin, I was eager to read "Jack," but a little worried that it might not live up to her first. I needn't have worried.

Shurtliff devised a very clever way to tie together the two stories, while managing the essential task of allowing each to be read on its own. Jack does not start out in the same magical world in which "Rump" takes place, but instead in a place slightly reminiscent of Dorothy's Kansas in the "Wizard of Oz." But we do eventually get to that world, and the shift will delight young readers with its shift in perspective as much as earlier readers delighted in the magical kingdom of Oz.

Giants, elves, pixies and golden eggs, and none of them quite what they seem at first. Jack is destined to be the hero, but not in the way he expects, and only after getting in and out of a number of difficult situations and learning to depend on others, no matter how small. Keep a close eye out, because other fairy tale and nursery rhyme characters make appearances as well.

While I read this as an ARC, I'll be sure to pick up a hardcover copy when it is available. Terrific fun for kids (and adults who aren't afraid to be kids as well).

I can easily recommend this book for both boys and girls in third through seventh grade. I'm glad to have had a chance to read it.

Five out of five stars!

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday - Un Lun Dun

Un Lun Dun published in U.S. by Del Rey in Jan 2008
Author: China Miéville
Purchased personally

It's Marvelous Middle Grade Monday again, and I'm proud to be part of this great tradition started by Shannon Whitney Messenger promoting middle grade books.

I was browsing through Mac's Backs, a wonderful independent bookstore near us, and I happened upon Un Lun Dun without ever having heard of it before. As I very much enjoyed The City and The City, I bought the book to see if China Miéville could do as good a job with middle grade as he had with adult science fiction.

Like some wonderful mix between The Phantom Tollbooth, No Passengers Beyond This Point and Neverwhere, this book takes kids on a wonderful, somewhat scary but ultimately fantastic voyage through an abcity beneath London populated by fantastical creatures who have seeped down from London.

Filled with wordplay and incredibly imaginative characters, this should be appealing to 5th to 7th graders, as well as many older teens and adults who are willing to give it a try. While the main characters are girls, this is a book that will appeal equally to boys and girls. I would strongly recommend it.

Five stars!

Purchase a copy on Amazon.com
...or on Amazon.co.uk

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday was started by Shannon Whitney Messenger. She, and others frequent MMGM posters are:

Shannon Whitney Messenger at Ramblings of a Wannabe Scribe
Joanne Fritz at My Brain on Books
Shannon O'Donnell at Book Dreaming
Brooke Favero at somewhere in the middle
Myrna Foster at Night Writer
Sherrie Petersen at Write About Now
Kimberley Griffiths Little at Kimberley’s Wanderings
Barbara Watson at Novel and Nouveau

If you watch those blogs today, as well as Shannon's blog, you are likely to find other great middle grade book recommendations.

Mahvelous Middle Grade Monday - Fashionista Edition

The Time-Traveling Fashionista, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers in Apr 2011
Author: Bianca Tuertsky
Illustrator: Sandra Suy

Product description:

Louise Lambert has always dreamed of movie starlets and exquisite gowns and longs for the day when she can fill the closet of her normal suburban home with stylish treasures. But when she receives a mysterious invitation to a vintage fashion sale in the mail, her once painfully average life is magically transformed into a time-travel adventure.

It is Marvelous Middle Grade Monday, and I couldn't resist highlighting this delightful, or as Louise learns to say when she travels back in time, simply mahvelous, debut novel by Bianca Tuertsky. It is listed as young adult, but the heroine is twelve and I think girls from nine and up will enjoy this. Released this week, there is still time for you to be the first to read (or introduce to your favorite middle grade/tween/teen girl) this fun and fashionable story.

Louise loves vintage fashions, and those tweens and teens who share her fascination will adore the twenty-five luxurious color illustrations of the glamorous dresses and clothing of the early 1900s, created by the talented Sandra Suy. Those of us who are less taken with fashion will still enjoy Louise and how she deals with her sudden lurch from ulta-ordinary shy twelve year-old with frizzy hair and braces to glamorous seventeen year-old actress, Alice Baxter.

Review: If a Tree Falls at Lunch Period

If a Tree Falls at Lunch Period, Harcourt Children's Books in Sep. 2007
Author: Gennifer Choldenko

A few weeks ago, I reviewed Ms. Choldenko's book, No Passengers Beyond This Point (my review). I had requested the book, but the author included another book along with that, If a Tree Falls at Lunch Period. She explained that this latter book might fit well with my goal of promoting diversity, multiculturalism and acceptance.

I planned to hold off and wait, but this is a uniquely compelling book. I have to admit, it took me a little longer to get into the story, which is told in alternating chapters by two 7th graders.

Kirsten is white and struggles with her weight, her parents who fight almost constantly, her little sister who needs her support but drives her crazy, and the other girls at the exclusive Mountain School who vacillate between friendship and cruelty.

Walk is black and is starting at Mountain School for the first time due to a scholarship, after attending a rough public school where he had good friends but few opportunities. His mother, Sylvia, is a single mother trying to cope and help Walk avoid the dangers she sees everywhere.

Kirsten and Walk don't have much in common besides being in 7th grade at Mountain School and being two of the best students in the class. Even that is starting to slip away for Kirsten when they are thrown together and Kirsten discovers a secret that shakes them both to the core.

This book has an intensely personal feel which will draw kids in. Both main characters are struggling to find a place and identity with school, friends and parents who alternate between helping them and hurting them. Adolescent hormones swirl around as an undercurrent, but the strongest currents are those of finding one's place. I appreciated greatly that the parents were fully developed and complex.

Review: It's Raining Cupcakes (signed copy to give away)

It's Raining Cupcakes, published by Aladdin/Scholastic March 2010
Author: Lisa Schroeder

Isabel is twelve and lives in the small town of Willow, Oregon. In fact, she's never been anywhere but Oregon, though she longs to travel the world like her Aunt Christy, who is a flight attendant and sends Isabel postcards from all over. Meanwhile, her parents are more interested in turning an old laundromat into a cupcake store, which sounds pretty cool, but not as good as traveling.

When Isabel hears about a baking contest for kids where the finalists get to go to New York City, she sets her mind to creating the perfect recipe. Then her best friend, Sophie, who is practically perfect, also decides to enter the contest. Even worse, her mother thinks Isabel should enter a cupcake recipe because it would be good publicity for the shop, but Isabel isn't sure that's a good idea.

Though the pink, confectionery cover makes it appear as nothing more than a light, fluffy read, the book covers some interesting territory as Isabel's mother struggles with her own confidence and anxieties. Though it is somewhat unusual for a middle grade book to deal with both Isabel and her mother's search for the strength to follow their dreams, the messages are not heavy handed. As you might hope, things end happily, if not fully resolved. Isabel learns valuable lessons about her mother, her practically-perfect friend, and her own ability to think about other people's dreams as well as her own.

I would recommend this book for middle grade and young tween girls. Isabel and Sophie are great fun, and I wouldn't mind reading more about them in another book.

Four stars out of five.

I have a paperback copy of It's Raining Cupcakes, kindly signed and sent to me by the author. If you would like it, leave a comment and make sure you are following this blog. I'll choose a winner on Friday, so don't delay.

Find on BarnesAndNoble.com
Find on Amazon.com
Find on Amazon.ca
Find on Amazon.co.uk

2011 Kiddo Award Winners

James Patterson's ReadKiddoRead.com announced the first annual Kiddo Awards: books picked as the very best books of the year for getting kids absolutely addicted to reading.

In the first stage of the award selection, the ReadKiddoRead board, children's book reviewers, librarians, authors, and others picked a short-list of forty books which they felt met the criterion. Then, the public was given a chance to winnow that selection down to four, one for each age group. Their mandate:

What makes a book a Kiddo winner? These are the books that kids find unputdownable. These are kids' favorites, and keep them reading. The books that are guaranteed to make your kiddos readers for life.

Below are the winners. In a separate page, I'll list all winners and the runners-up (because once these kiddos have read the winner, they'll need more to read).

Review: The Great Wall of Lucy Wu

The Great Wall of Lucy Wu, published by Scholastic in Jan. 2011
Author: Wendy Wan-Long Shang

It is seldom that I read a book where the voice of the main character is so crystal clear and perfect that I completely forget there must be an author involved. Lucy is a short, Chinese girl who loves basketball. She looks forward to a perfect 6th grade year, finally out from under the shadow of her beautiful older sister who is off to college. Lucy has a room of her own for the first time, and looks forward to decorating it the way she wants.

Review: The Brimstone Key (Grey Griffins - Clockwork Chronicles Book 1)

The Brimstone Key, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, June 2010
Authors: Derek Benz and J.S. Lewis

As I have mentioned before, there are so many wonderful books for children that I don't bother to review books here that I can't recommend. That said, there are some I recommend enthusiastically, and some that I have more trouble with.

The Brimstone Key is the first book in a new middle-grade, steampunk-inspired series about the Grey Griffins, Max, Harley, Natalia and Ernie, with a bonus almost-Griffin, Brooke. These are no ordinary kids. Even in elementary school, they have faced monsters and werewolves and demons of one sort an another, and each has some extraordinary ability. Now, they are off to middle school at Iron Bridge Academy, a school with more than a passing resemblance to Hogwarts in the Harry Potter books.

At school, things go quickly wrong as changelings like Ernie start to disappear. The Griffins are embroiled in something big, bad and dangerous that seems connected to an adventure they had before getting to the school where they first saw a reference to the Clockwork King.

Review: Tall Story by Candy Gourlay

Tall Story, published by David Fickling Books in May 2010 (in Feb. 2011 in U.S.)
Author: Candy Gourlay

I was intrigued by Tall Story as soon as I heard of it, because while I am not as tall as Bernardo in the story, I am taller than most (6' 6 1/2", or 2m for you metric folks). Additionally, I am very eager to find books that explore diversity and acceptance in various manifestations.

The story is shared between Andi, a 13 yeaar-old girl who lives in London, and Bernardo, her giant 16 year-old half-brother, who lives in the Philippines with his aunt until the government gives him permission to leave. This wait has dragged on for years. Andi and Bernardo have pretty much given up hope that he will ever come to live with their mother and her new husband in London.

But just when Andi and Bernardo seem to have settled into their respective lives, Andi playing basketball with a passion and Bernardo learning to cope with his new height, things start happening very quickly. Soon, both are disrupted and stranded in new situations that force them to rethink their views of themselves and others.

This parallel storytelling, with chapters alternating between Andi and Bernardo in first person, is both powerful and a little confusing. While each chapter is clearly labeled, it is easy to forget and be perplexed for a half page about whose perspective you are in. On the other hand, this helps to reinforce the sense that the dislocations in Andi's life are as potent and real to her as Bernardo's are to him. Throughout it all, there is a magic realism that pervades Bernardo's old village, but seems to travel with him around the world.

A fascinating story with clear and appealing characters, I would strongly recommend to both boys and girls. A strong sports theme makes this especially interesting for sports-oriented kids, although most others would like it as well.

Four stars out of five.

Buy 'Tall Story' on Amazon.com
Buy 'Tall Story' on Amazon.co.uk