Review: GOODBYE STRANGER by Rebecca Stead

title & author: Goodbye Stranger by Rebecca Stead
pub info: Wendy Lamb Books, August 2015; 304 pp
audience: middle grade (10+)
genre: MG contemporary
caveats: nothing much, but the themes are definitely middle school to early high school
review excerpt: "Sensitively explores togetherness, aloneness, betrayal and love." --The New York Times Book Review
Goodreads summary:

Bridge is an accident survivor who's wondering why she's still alive. Emily has new curves and an almost-boyfriend who wants a certain kind of picture. Tabitha sees through everybody's games--or so she tells the world. The three girls are best friends with one rule: No fighting. Can it get them through seventh grade?
This year everything is different for Sherm Russo as he gets to know Bridge Barsamian. What does it mean to fall for a girl--as a friend?
On Valentine's Day, an unnamed high school girl struggles with a betrayal. How long can she hide in plain sight?

my thoughts:
Rebecca Stead is one of the few authors whose books I buy on preorder--before they've been reviewed, before I know anything about them, before any hype has time to gather. I've read all four of her novels, and I've rejoiced at seeing her grow and deepen as a writer. Goodbye Stranger combines several standby Stead elements: multiple points of view; a bit of a mystery; the complexity of friendships as children approach all the changes that adolescence brings. One of the wonderful things about this book is that it introduces some mature themes (not sexual, just mature) that readers will discover in YA (ages 12+) fiction, but in a somewhat "safer" environment. Bridge's character, her struggles to keep her old friendships and make new ones, will resonate with middle schoolers, while the unnamed high school girl's issues speak of what may lie ahead in years to come. My favorite part of the book is the relationship between Bridge and Sherm--not really boyfriend/girlfriend, but leaning ever so slowly in that direction. And as always, Stead's writing is crisp, never wordy, and very, very real. A great addition to her canon.

find Rebecca:
Rebecca's website, here, showcases her upcoming events and her three other books--First Light; the Newbery Award winner When You Reach Me; and Liar & Spy. Her blog includes infrequent posts on news and events. She also hangs out on Twitter.

Be sure to visit Shannon Messenger's blog to see more fun links to great middle-grade reads and giveaways!

Final Scare: BIRD BOX by Josh Malerman

Title: Bird Box
Author: Josh Malerman
Pub info: Ecco, 2014; 262 pp
Genre / Audience: horror / suspense / written for adults
Caveats for Younger Readers: Very tense with some after-the-fact gore (discovery of dead bodies and the like), but readers 15+ can hack it; no sex

Goodreads summary:
Most people ignored the outrageous reports on the news. But they became too frequent, they became too real. And soon, they began happening down the street. Then the Internet died. The television and radio went silent. The phones stopped ringing. And we couldn't look outside anymore. Malorie raises the children the only way she can; indoors. The house is quiet. The doors are locked, the curtains are closed, mattresses are nailed over the windows. They are out there. She might let them in. The children sleep in the bedroom across the hall. Soon she will have to wake them. Soon she will have to blindfold them. Today they must leave the house. Today they will risk everything.

status: finished 10/29

My impressions:
This book is pure Hitchcockian tension. It's all about what dangers might lurk around the next corner, the fear of the dark, the fear of the unknown. This superfast read keeps you on the edge of your seat the same way the films Paranormal and Blair Witch Project did. Somewhere out there lurk creatures who will drive you insane if you look at them; you will kill yourself and possibly others. They have cut you off from your neighbors, your community, your government. You cover your windows; you don't dare leave the house--until you must.

Did this book give me nightmares? No, but it kept me very tense all the while I was reading it. Perfect for a dark and stormy night.

About Josh:
Josh is the lead singer and songwriter for the rock band The High Strung. He lives in Ferndale, Michigan. Bird Box is his first novel. He has also written a Halloween thriller novella called Ghastle and Yule.

Online:
You can find Josh on his band Facebook page and his Twitter feed. 



Need more scares? Every Friday in October I dished up a new one! Search for the tag Scare of the Week to see them all. Stay tuned for the upcoming giveaway to win one of these spooky titles.

BLOG TOUR STOP: Annie McMahon!

Congratulations to Annie McMahon, author of the middle-grade contemporary novel Adventure on Nemesis  Mountain! I'm honored to be a stop--almost the caboose!--on her blog tour. For a full schedule of stops, including giveaways, interviews, and more, go to the blog schedule here.

Title: Adventure on Nemesis Mountain
Author: Annie McMahon
Pub info: Amazon Digital Services, 2014; 65 pp; available in paperback and ebook formats
Genre / Audience: contemporary MG (ages 8-12)
Caveats for Younger Readers: none; easy reading, would be ideal for a reluctant reader

Goodreads summary:
Emilio would rather eat a slimy worm than miss the fifth grade field trip. Nemesis Mountain must be full of rare leaf specimens and bugs for his collection. Besides, he needs a break from the playground and Hans’s nonstop teasing. His excitement is squashed when he gets lost in the woods with his worst enemy.

Alone in the forest, the two boys battle to survive the harsh wilderness, facing challenges that will change their lives forever.

My impressions:
Adventure on Nemesis Mountain is a fun, engaging read. McMahon quickly establishes the roles of Emilio as victim and Hans as bully early on in the story. When the two boys get lost together on a school field trip, McMahon deftly brings them first closer together, then further apart, letting the reader see a gradual (but not linear) journey to greater understanding. The tension stays ratcheted up just enough to keep the pages turning fast.

I'd have liked to have seen a bit more in this story. At 65 pages, it's pretty brief, and maybe more buildup at the beginning would fill it out. But as a fast-moving, easy-reading chapter book, young middle-grade readers will eat it up. The writing is straightforward, and there are some nice touches of humor and suspense, even if occasionally the dialogue doesn't quite ring true for kidspeak. Emilio's knowledge of nature coupled with Hans's courage and athleticism would make a fun pairing for a future book as well.

About Annie:

Annie McMahon is originally from Canada but now lives in New Jersey. She has a degree in computer programming, but her life took an unexpected turn and she ended up writing stories and articles instead of computer programs. Now she uses every spare minute to write children’s novels and to help other writers succeed.

Her three children have been the inspiration behind many of her short stories, over forty in total. Her flash-fiction story, "Paradoxical Neighbor," has been published by Nelson Education in a book for 10th graders, Nelson Literacy 10.

Annie has a certificate in copyediting, moderates a critique group for children's writers, and is the editor at UK Children's Publishing.

Online:
You can find Annie on her Twitter page and blog, where she regularly offers helpful tips for writers and readers. Currently, Adventure on Nemesis Mountain is available in paperback ($6.99) and ebook ($2.99) formats from Amazon at this link.

AND ... A GIVEAWAY!
Annie is generously offering several copies of her book in this Rafflecopter giveaway. Enter below and good luck! (Note: All entries will go to Annie's attention, not my own, so please direct any questions to her. Thanks!)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Scare of the Week: SCARY STORIES TO TELL IN THE DARK

There's nothing I like better than a chill October day full of swirling leaves, ominous skies, and scares aplenty. I don't know why humans love to be frightened, but I count myself among those who do. It was the same when I was a kid. In that spirit, I'm going to bring you some of my favorite scares every Friday. Today's is the classic Alvin Schwartz collection, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark.

Title: Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark
Author: Alvin Schwartz
Pub info: HarperCollins, 2011 (orig Scholastic 1981); 128 pages
Genre / Audience: horror anthology / ages 10+ 
Caveat to Younger Readers: Well, it's horror--there are dead people doing things dead people oughtn't. But it's nothing terribly graphic. However, read on for more info ...

Goodreads summary:

Some boys and girls were at a party one night. There was a graveyard down the street, and they were talking about how scary it was.
"Don't ever stand on a grave after dark," one of the boys said. "The person inside will grab you."
"A grave doesn't scare me," said one of the girls. "I'll do it right now. . . ."

Welcome to the macabre world of Scary Stories, where folklorist Alvin Schwartz offers up the most alarming collection of horror, dark revenge, and supernatural events of all time. Here is a selection of extraordinarily chilling tales along with spine-tingling illustrations by renowned artist Stephen Gammell.

My impressions:
These stories scared me silly when I was a kid. I must have read this collection over many times, because it's stuck with me. Recently I checked it out of the library to see if the scares still held.

Well, yes and no. The stories are genuinely creepy--though a large section of the book is dedicated to silly/funny "scary" tales--but the writing is not terrifying. The stories are told in a straightforward, unadorned style, and are quite short. Schwartz took his inspiration from urban legends and folktales from different countries. (As an adult, I was most interested in the bibliography he supplies in the back.)

But here's the kicker: The illustrations, depending on which edition you get, can be truly frightening. The original edition featured black-and-white drawings by Caldecott Medal winner Stephen Gammell, and I realize now that it was the drawings coupled with the stories that kept me up nights as a kid. Indeed, it's been theorized that the drawings are what's landed this book on the radar of banned-book enthusiasts, along with its two sequels. When HarperCollins released a 30th anniversary edition, however, Gammell's controversial artwork was gone, replaced by illustrations by Brett Helquist (A Series of Unfortunate Events). While Helquist is a talented artist, his depictions don't have the haunting, unearthly, and frankly terrifying quality of the Gammell illustrations. The Horn Book praised the new edition, calling it "handsome and accessible; now young readers have a choice of how scared they want to be—just a little, or a whole lot." Take your pick according to your comfort level, but when I was a kid, I wanted to be scared a whole lot--always. Click here to read an interesting comparison (with illustrations) between these two editions.

About Alvin (from Amazon):

Alvin Schwartz is known for a body of work of more than two dozen books of folklore for young readers that explore everything from wordplay and humor to tales and legends of all kinds. His collections of scary stories--Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, More Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, Scary Stories 3, and two I Can Read Books, In a Dark, Dark Room and Ghosts!--are just part of his matchless folklore collection. Schwartz died in 1992.

About Stephen:
Stephen Gammell, who won the 1989 Caldecott Medal for Song and Dance Man (written by Karen Ackerman), also won the Caldecott Honor Medal for The Relatives Came (written by Cynthia Rylant). He lives with his wife in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Online:
Read more about Alvin Schwartz in this New York Times obituary. Click here for yet another take on Gammell's eerie artwork for Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark.

Need more scares? Every Friday in October I'll serve up a new one. Search for the tag Scare of the Week to see them all.

Review: INKSPELL by Cornelia Funke

Title: Inkspell
Author: Cornelia Funke (translated from the German by Anthea Bell)
Pub info: Chicken House / Scholastic, 2005; 635 pp
Genre / Audience: fantasy / ages 9+
Caveats for Younger Readers: a fair bit of death by swordpoint, but not too graphic; book will be too long for some

Goodreads summary:

The captivating sequel to Inkheart, the critically acclaimed, international bestseller by Cornelia Funke, an author who is emerging as a truly modern classic writer for children.

Although a year has passed, not a day goes by without Meggie thinking of Inkheart, the book whose characters became real. But for Dustfinger, the fire-eater brought into being from words, the need to return to the tale has become desperate. When he finds a crooked storyteller with the ability to read him back, Dustfinger leaves behind his young apprentice Farid and plunges into the medieval world of his past. Distraught, Farid goes in search of Meggie, and before long, both are caught inside the book, too. But the story is threatening to evolve in ways neither of them could ever have imagined.

My impressions:
The marvelous characters that Cornelia Funke brought to life in Inkheart continue to captivate the reader of Inkspell. This book does a very handy thing that other authors/publishers should take note of: It provides a cheat sheet in the front to reintroduce the characters. Since it had been several years since I'd read the first book in the series, I found this indispensable.

My only complaint with the book is its length. Despite Harry Potter--those doorstop tomes we wordy writers always like to bring up--it's a lot to ask of, say, a fourth grader to wade through 635 pages. At times I was thoroughly engrossed in the story; at other times, I was frustrated and wanted it to move along more quickly. Part of this was just my own bias. Sometimes a marvelous book that you've been looking forward to for months--in my case, Lauren Oliver's Rooms--arrives in your mailbox and you just want to put down Inkspell and have at it. But even discounting that bias, I would say that shaving 100 pages off of this book wouldn't have been a bad idea.

Still, that said, the story is marvelous, the world building complex and fantastical, and anyone who loved Inkheart will be pleased with Inkspell. Caution: It does end on a doozy of a cliffhanger, but no worries; Funke has completed the series and you can pick up a copy of Inkdeath to complete the story. 

About Cornelia:
Cornelia Caroline Funke is a multiple award-winning German author of fantasy/adventure children's and YA fiction. Praised as the "German J. K. Rowling," she has written 24 books and is best known for her Inkheart trilogy. She is also the author of Dragon Rider  and a new YA series, Mirrorworld. She currently lives in Los Angeles, California.

Online: 
Cornelia maintains a fun, interactive website here, in English (also available in German and Spanish). Her Facebook page is a mixture of German and English postings, and she also has a Twitter account at this link. Read a preview of Inkspell here.
 
 
Want to win a free copy of this book? The first Monday of each month features a giveaway of any of the titles I've reviewed the previous month. Pick your fave, enter, and win! Next giveaway: October 6.  SIGN UP HERE TO RECEIVE A BRIEF EMAIL WHENEVER A NEW GIVEAWAY BEGINS.

To follow my progress as I bulldoze my way through a stack of 51 to-be-reads this year, search for the tag 2014 TBR Shelf. Read all the reviews here. 

Review: THE RED PYRAMID by Rick Riordan

Title: The Red Pyramid
Author: Rick Riordan
Pub info: Disney-Hyperion, 2010; 516 pp
Genre / Audience: fantasy adventure / ages 10+
Caveats for Younger Readers: none, though it's a long read for the under 10 set, and the plot gets pretty complicated

Rick Riordan gained fame from his Percy Jackson series, which focused on kids descended from Greek gods. Here, he takes on Egyptian mythology.

Goodreads summary:

Since their mother's death, Carter and Sadie have become near strangers. While Sadie has lived with her grandparents in London, her brother has traveled the world with their father, the brilliant Egyptologist, Dr. Julius Kane.

One night, Dr. Kane brings the siblings together for a "research experiment" at the British Museum, where he hopes to set things right for his family. Instead, he unleashes the Egyptian god Set, who banishes him to oblivion and forces the children to flee for their lives.

Soon, Sadie and Carter discover that the gods of Egypt are waking, and the worst of them—Set—has his sights on the Kanes. To stop him, the siblings embark on a dangerous journey across the globe—a quest that brings them ever closer to the truth about their family and their links to a secret order that has existed since the time of the pharaohs.

Status: finished 9/17/14

My impressions:
Rick Riordan is a master of middle-grade adventure, and in The Red Pyramid he kicks off his three-volume Kane Chronicles series with a bang. Even those of us who don't know much about Egyptian gods get caught up quickly in this battle between good and evil. Like House of Secrets, which I recently reviewed on this blog, The Red Pyramid keeps the adventure coming page after page throughout its considerable length. But let's face it: Riordan is just better at writing this stuff. The novel reads like a good action film--problems crop up that seem in hindsight inevitable, and everything follows logically in this tightly woven, though complex, plot. Adding to the fun is Riordan's technique of switching off point of view between Carter and his estranged sister, Sadie. Each character brings something unique to the story, and their voices are distinct and offer varying perspectives. Even the fact that they're a mixed-race family comes into play. Characters aren't going to be covered in huge depth when you've got this much action going on, but they are developed.

Riordan is just plain funny, too. He really gets what makes middle-grade readers laugh, and Sadie especially brings a snarkiness that helps temper the book's scarier moments. The humor overall keeps the story from getting horrific, planting it square in the realm of old-fashioned, edge-of-your-seat adventure. Kids won't even realize they're learning quite a bit about Egyptian mythology in the meantime, which is a bonus. Thankfully, the series is finished, so I can launch right into Book 2 (The Throne of Fire). The only caution here is that the length of the books will intimidate some readers, but the read is lightning-quick.

About Rick:
Rick Riordan is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, the Kane Chronicles, and the Heroes of Olympus (a spinoff of the Percy Jackson series). He is also the author of the multi-award-winning Tres Navarre mystery series for adults. His children's books have won dozens of awards.

His next book will be The Blood of Olympus, the final installment in the Heroes of Olympus series, due out October 7. He's also working on a new series featuring Norse gods, the first of which is scheduled for publication next year. For fifteen years, Rick taught English and history at public and private middle schools in the San Francisco Bay Area and in Texas. Now a fulltime writer, he lives in Boston with his wife and two sons.


Online:
Rick maintains a fantastic website here, which gives not only information on all his projects but great background on Greek and Egyptian mythology. Teachers' guides, FAQs, and all kinds of goodies are rampant on this site. You can also find Rick on Twitter and Facebook. Read a preview of The Red Pyramid here.

Want to win a free copy of this book? The first Monday of each month features a giveaway of any of the titles I've reviewed the previous month. Pick your fave, enter, and win! Next giveaway: October 6.  SIGN UP HERE TO RECEIVE A BRIEF EMAIL WHENEVER A NEW GIVEAWAY BEGINS.

To follow my progress as I bulldoze my way through a stack of 51 to-be-reads this year, search for the tag 2014 TBR Shelf. Read all the reviews here. 

And be sure to visit Shannon Messenger's blog to see more fun links to great middle-grade reads and giveaways!