brothers and sisters – The Dusty Jacket

Starfish by James Crowley (J Fiction)

Starfish

James Crowley (J Fiction)

Orphaned at a young age, nine-year-old Lionel and his older sister Beatrice have lived at the Chalk Bluff boarding school on the Blackfeet Indian reservation for six years. Beatrice defiantly holds on to the traditions of her people, which causes growing tensions between her, the priests, and the officers who live in the nearby military outpost. When Beatrice is finally pushed to the brink, she steals the captain’s prized horse and escapes with Lionel into the wilderness in search of their grandfather. Grandfather will know how to help them, but first they must survive the harshness of the Montana winter.

James Crowley’s Starfish is packed with action and adventure and provides readers with a powerful female protagonist who is fearless, principled, and wise beyond her twelve years. The writing is detailed and the chapters are short, which add to the tale’s rapid and charged pace. Readers share in Beatrice and Lionel’s struggle to survive the elements and hunger; cheer their ability to outrun and outwit bounty hunters (they are understandably considered horse thieves); and support their loyalty to their customs and beliefs. Crowley creates a suspenseful story through wonderful storytelling that is a love letter to nature and Native American culture. Although the novel is littered with mild profanity (it’s nothing that younger audiences wouldn’t hear in a standard Marvel movie) and contains a few instances of violence, these shouldn’t discourage the targeted age range of 8-12 from reading it.

I loved the insights into Blackfeet tradition and I’m a total pushover for stories that highlight strong sibling relationships; however, the only thing that held back a five-star rating was the ending. It felt abrupt and awkward and didn’t match the same feel and flow of the rest of the book. I am not one that demands a happy ending in order to fully enjoy a story, but I do need an ending that is thoughtful and provides adequate closure. Because Crowley spent so much time and care giving readers such a well-developed story, it felt as if he ran out of steam at the end.

I find that with nearly every book, the last few pages will either make or break a story for me and in this case, those last pages of Starfish just felt incomplete and hollow. Unlike the ravens and eagle that soared high in the Montana sky, this story doesn’t reach the heights that I hoped it would, but it still manages to lift the spirits and take us on an unforgettable journey.

Rating: 4/5

* Book cover image attributed to www.goodreads.com

The Moffats by Eleanor Estes (J)

The Moffats

Eleanor Estes (Juvenile Fiction)

The yellow house on New Dollar Street was the best house on the whole block. Because it stood exactly half-way down the street, you could see all the way to both corners: all the way down to Elm Street where the trolley ran and all the way down Wood Street where the railroad tracks ran. Perhaps what made it even more special was the fact that it was home to the Moffats: Mama, Sylvie, Joe, Jane, Rufus, and Catherine-the-cat. Yes, everything was as perfect as perfect can be on that fine late summer day until Mr. Baxter, Cranbury’s off-jobs man, nailed that horrible “For Sale” sign on their wonderful yellow house. But times were hard and there seemed to be little interest in the yellow house. Perhaps Jane and her family still had loads of time to do what Moffats do best—turn an ordinary day into an adventure!

In 1941, Eleanor Estes introduced readers to the Moffat family. Over a span of forty-two years and four books, the Moffats have captured the hearts and imaginations of multiple generations with their charm, humor, and abiding optimism. Rather than a seamless story, The Moffats is presented in delightful vignettes that see our four siblings encounter an attic ghost, a dancing dog, a trolley stand-off, a box of kittens, mean ole Peter Frost, and those nosey Murdocks. Each story touches upon some memorable life lesson centered around such topics as pride, indulgence, selfishness, generosity, courage, and honesty and is long enough to fully immerse the reader in a well-developed escapade while short enough to keep even the smallest attention span fully engaged. Although the family is fatherless, Estes doesn’t belabor the point and avoids portraying the family as victims or outsiders. Instead, they are a strong and tight family unit with their own unique set of quirks and talents.

So much is said about the Moffat’s yellow house, that I looked upon it as the seventh family member. It served as the stabilizing foundation for this wonderful brood and gave them a tangible link to a father taken from them too soon. But as author M. K. Soni once wrote, “A house is made of brick and mortar, but home is made by the people who live there.” It’s those people, the Moffats, who remind us that no matter what life throws your way or where life might take you, you’re never far from home as long as you’re with family.

Rating: 4/5

*Book cover image attributed to www.amazon.com

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Savvy by Ingrid Law (J Fantasy)

Savvy

Ingrid Law (J Fantasy)

There are certain things that the Beaumont family knows about secrets: they need them, they have them, and they keep them. In just a few days, when Mibs turns 13, she’ll join her mother’s side of the family and will have a secret of her very own. That’s when she’ll get her own savvy and her world—as she currently knows it—will never be the same. But before her big day, her father is involved in a terrible accident and left seriously injured. With her newly acquired supernatural power and a pink bible bus filled with a handful of misfits, Mibs encounters bikers, brawls, and plenty of banana cream pie in a race to bring her whole family together and to save her broken father.

A 2009 Newbery Honor Book, Savvy is an imaginative and heart-pounding adventure story filled with many relatable themes that are standard fare for young readers: bullying, standing out, fitting in, first love, and making friends. The first in a series of three books (Scumble and Switch are both complete stories, but make small references to the original book), Savvy is an easy-to-read, thrilling ride that introduces us to a quirky set of characters including the preacher’s daughter, a belittled bible salesman, and a waitress with a heart of gold. Each of these people allow Mibs to slowly understands that perhaps the Beaumonts aren’t the only ones that possess supernatural powers. The ability to encourage, to help, to listen, and to accept are just as powerful as any savvy and Mibs quickly realizes just how special her new friends are in their own way.

Ingrid Law packs so many wonderful lessons in this book and that alone is worth the read. Along the way, Mibs learns that sometimes a bad thing can make a good thing happen or that happy endings come in all shapes and sizes or that things don’t always happen the way you want them to. Perhaps the most valuable lesson Mibs receives was from her mother who told her, “In most ways, we Beaumonts are just like other people. We get born, and sometime later we die. And in between, we’re happy and sad, we feel love and we feel fear, we eat and we sleep and we hurt like everyone else.” Through the eyes of an awkward teenaged girl, Law reminds us of how much good can be accomplished and gained when we focus on our similarities rather than our differences.

Rating: 4/5

*Book cover image attributed to www.thriftbooks.com

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Dovey Coe by Frances O’Roark Dowell (YA)

Dovey Coe

Dovey Coe

Frances O’Roark Dowell (Young Adult Fiction)

“My name is Dovey Coe, and I reckon it don’t matter if you like me or not. I’m here to lay the record straight to let you know them folks saying I done a terrible thing are liars. I aim to prove it too. I hated Parnell Caraway as much as the next person, but I didn’t kill him.”

The youngest of the three Coe children, twelve-year-old Dovey would just as soon carry around a pocketknife than a pocketbook. She’s wasn’t a skilled tracker like her brother Amos and she certainly wasn’t pretty and charming like her sister Caroline, but Dovey was loyal and honest and had a mind of her own. You never had to guess what Dovey Coe was thinking because she would tell you exactly what was on her mind…whether you cared to hear it or not. As you can imagine, this resulted in a few awkward situations and quite a number of bruised egos. Such was the case with Parnell Caraway. Son to the richest family in town, Parnell always got whatever he set his eyes on and at the present moment, his eyes were set on Caroline Coe. No other girl in Indian Creek, NC deserved his arm more, but Caroline was set on going to college in Boone. Covey was certainly not going to let the likes of Parnell Caraway tear her family apart, but would she resort to murder to keep her family together?

I am an absolute and unashamed pushover for plucky and feisty heroines: Anne Shirley (Anne of Green Gables), Francie Nolan (A Tree Grows in Brooklyn), Matilda Wormwood (Matilda), and Fern Arable (Charlotte’s Web) to name a few. Dovey Coe handily earns a spot among these lovable, irrepressible, undaunted, and spirited young ladies. Whether she’s confronting a school bully or the son of the man who owns half the town, Dovey is righteous in her convictions and uncowering in the face of injustice, unfairness, or just plain meanness. No matter how few nickels she had to rub together, Dovey never considered herself or her family poor. Her life was simple and satisfying and when something got her down, it wasn’t anything that a slice of her MeMaw’s chocolate cake or hammering a few nails into a two by four wouldn’t make right again. Failure was not only not an option for Dovey, it simply wasn’t in her vocabulary.

Dovey Coe was shelved under the Young Adult section in my local library; however, the book is listed for ages nine to twelve and I highly recommend younger readers seizing the opportunity to meet Dovey and her entire family. Older readers may feel the writing style is a bit simplistic, but the lessons Frances O’Roark Dowell lays out for her readers are ageless. Loving who you are, standing up for what is right, defending the weakest among you, and finding joy in life’s smallest pleasures are things we should all aspire to do. I think Dovey summed it up best when she said, “The way I seen things, us Coes had everything we needed in this world. Some might see us as poor, but that was their problem.”

Rating: 5/5

*Book cover image attributed to www.amazon.com

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The Lost Mother by Mary McGarry Morris

The Lost Mother

The Lost Mother

Mary McGarry Morris (Adult Fiction)

It’s the Great Depression, and everything that Henry Talcott owns or is most precious to him is contained in a single tent—his knives, saws, and cleavers as well as his two young children, Thomas (12) and Margaret (8). Henry slaughters animals for a living, but work is scarce and money is getting harder to come by. His wife, Irene, abandoned the family years earlier and now Henry finds himself having to leave his children alone more often as he travels to find work. When his wealthy neighbor, Phyllis Farley, begins to lure his children to her home as a means of providing companionship for her wheelchair-bound son, Henry’s firm hold on his family slowly begins to loosen.

The Lost Mother is an aching, somber, and dark novel about a father’s desperate attempt to keep his family together while two young siblings grapple with their own feelings of loyalty, love, and loathing toward one another. Morris’s book overflows with passion and her multi-dimensional characters evoke myriad emotions from her readers: pity for a single father doing his best under the most hopeless of circumstances; disdain for the crooked shopkeeper who swindles an honest boy; sympathy for a little sister enduring endless verbal and emotional assaults from her brother; contempt for a wealthy neighbor and her disingenuous benevolence; and disgust for a beautiful mother who callously abandons her children for a better life. Morris is able to successfully rein in all of our feelings while maintaining the story’s momentum by centering every action around a recurring theme of home, family, and togetherness.

In the song “You Always Hurt the One You Love”, there are lyrics that accurately describe several characters in this book: You always hurt the one you love/ The one you shouldn’t hurt at all/ You always take the sweetest rose/ And crush it till the petals fall. These characters love so deeply and wholly that they simply cannot recognize the negative impact that their behavior is having on those closest to them. But despite these flawed characters, Morris gives us a ray of hope through Henry and his children. Together, the three of them manage to rise above their circumstances and prove that they are much more than society has labeled them. Henry, Thomas, and Margaret Talcott remind us that worth and security are not something that you hold in a wallet. Instead, the greatest treasure is sometimes found in a pair of arms that are opened and are waiting for you…just for you.

Rating: 4/5

*Book cover image attributed to www.amazon.com

Bed-Knob and Broomstick by Mary Norton (J)

Bedknob and Broomstick

Bed-Knob and Broomstick

Mary Norton (Juvenile Fiction)

Carey, Charles, and Paul Wilson are rather ordinary children who are planning to spend a rather ordinary summer with an old aunt in Bedfordshire. The children, not being very fond of her house, choose to spend most of their time outdoors playing in the barns, by the river, in the lanes, and on the hills. One day seemed to flow into the next rather uneventfully until the day that Miss Price hurt her ankle. It was on that day where this story truly begins because Miss Price didn’t just visit the sick or teach piano or was the most ladylike in the village. Miss Price also happened to be a witch…well, a novice witch…and it was this same Miss Price who cast a spell upon one of Paul’s bed-knobs—a spell that could take him and his bed anyplace in the present or past. A spell that would eventually lead to a trip to the police station, an encounter with cannibals, and a chance meeting with a lonely necromancer. Perhaps this will not be an ordinary summer for the Wilson children after all.

Bed-Knob and Broomstick is the combination of Norton’s The Magic Bed-knob (1943) and Bonfires and Broomsticks (1947). The first part covers the initial meeting between the Wilson children and Miss Price and details their adventures in the present while the second part picks up two years after and sends the group into the past. Norton’s tale is sure to delight younger readers and has enough unexpected twists and turns to keep older readers engaged as well.

Bed-Knob and Broomstick is a humorous, suspenseful, and enchanting book filled with courage, loyalty, friendship, and love. American author Debasish Mridha once said, “The magic of love is that it has the power to create a magical world in and around us.” Norton indeed gives us a magical world which teaches us that you’re never too young for an adventure and you’re never too old to find love.

Rating: 5/5

* Book cover image attributed to www.amazon.com

Silent to the Bone by E. L. Konigsburg (YA)

silent to the bone

Silent to the Bone

E. L. Konigsburg (Young Adult Fiction)

“It is easy to pinpoint the minute when my friend Branwell began his silence. It was Wednesday, November 25, 2:43 P.M., Eastern Standard Time. It was there—or, I guess you could say not there—on the tape of the 911 call.”

They say, “For every Yin, there is a Yang”. If that’s true, then Branwell Zamborska is the Yin to Connor Kane’s Yang. Two friends the same age (born just weeks apart), going to the same school, and living just houses away from each other. Connor will tell you that the biggest difference between them is that Branwell “is just plain different”. He stands out in a crowd (quite literally—he is tall with bright red hair), is clumsy (he’s always dropping things), and likes offbeat music. Still, they complement each other and even share secret “codes”. Like BLUE PETER means “ready to go” and DAY CARE refers to their school. Or SIAS, which requires you to “Summarize In A Sentence” a selected topic with points awarded afterward. Given their closeness, it isn’t difficult to understand why Connor rushes to the aid of his friend, who has been rendered mute after his baby sister suffers a horrible accident and is struggling for life. The message on the 911 tape is enough to send Barnwell to the Clarion County Juvenile Behavioral Center, but Connor knows his friend and is certain that Branwell is innocent. But with Branwell rendered voiceless, how can the truth—whatever it is—be heard?

It is astonishing how many sensitive and provocative topics E. L. Konigsburg has dogpiled into one book: psychological trauma, sexual awareness, emotional manipulation, divorce, jealousy, revenge. But this isn’t the tawdry and explicit book that one might expect. Instead, Konigsburg handles each subject with sensitivity and care and scratches just enough of the surface to allow readers to reach their own obvious conclusions. This book is targeted from readers ages 10 and up, so some concepts may get a perplexed look from those on the younger end of the scale (“Hey, what’s Viagra?”) so be prepared for some possible teachable moments.

In addition to tackling so many complex issues with such finesse, Silent to the Bone received my highest review because of the deep bond that these two boys shared. This book was published in 2000, and you don’t often see the kind of unshakable, unquestioning, and unwavering devotion that Connor has for Branwell in many of today’s young adult books. In this age of jealousy, popularity, spite, ego, and peer pressure, friends are easily interchangeable. Connor is placed in the most impossible and unthinkable of circumstances by a friend who has totally withdrawn from the world. At any moment (and there are many), he could have simply given up and walked away. But somehow Connor finds a faint voice in the silence and that alone drives him to not give up on his friend nor abandon his cause.

E.L. Konigsburg gives readers a suspenseful book that explores the bond of friendship and demonstrates just how far that connection can be stretched without ever really breaking. I think if I had to SISA this book, I’d use the words of Yolanda, the day worker who lives across the street from the Zamborskas. When Connor explained to her how he had found a way to “talk” with Branwell, she said, “Friends always find a way to keep in touch.” Nine words. I wonder how many points Connor and Branwell would give me for that one?

Rating: 5/5

* Book cover image attributed to www.amazon.com

The True Gift: A Christmas Story by Patricia MacLachlan (J)

The True Gift

The True Gift: A Christmas Story

Patricia MacLachlan (Juvenile Fiction)

Lily and Liam are off to Grandpa and Gran’s farm for Christmas. They always go in December and then wait for Mama and Papa to join them on Christmas Day. Lily likes the sameness that this time of year brings: the walks into town, the trip to the lilac library, and helping Gran make cookies. But when her brother spots a white cow standing alone in a snowy meadow, Lily’s predictable holiday is suddenly threatened. “Do we know if she’s lonely?” Liam asks his sister. “She’s a cow,” replies Lily. “Cows don’t care.” But Liam cares and because of this, Lily knows that White Cow is bound to ruin everything…especially Christmas.

From the author who delighted us with Sarah, Plain and Tall, Patricia MacLachlan gives readers another book filled with compassion, love, and family. She introduces us to Lily, a young girl who finds herself angered by her brother’s selfless desire to help a creature that finds itself quite alone on Christmas. Fortunately, Liam’s determined desire to bring comfort to this lonely creature is enough to eventually whittle down Lily’s stubborn defenses until at last, she surprises herself by whispering to White Cow one night, “Don’t worry. We’ll take care of you.” Those few words set in motion a turning of Lily’s heart, as well as the fate of another soul in need of rescuing.

The True Gift shows us that any small act of kindness isn’t truly small at all. By giving us a simple story of a young girl, a small boy, and a lonely white cow, MacLachlan reminds us that Christmas is about giving from the heart and that the act of bestowing even the slightest bit of charity to another being is perhaps one of the truest gifts of all.

Rating: 4/5

Posted: 12/4/2018

* Book cover image attributed to www.barnesandnoble.com

The Old Willis Place by Mary Downing Hahn (J)

The Old Willis Place

The Old Willis Place

Mary Downing Hahn (Juvenile Fiction)

There are just two rules that siblings Diana and Georgie Eldridge have to follow: don’t let anyone see you and do not leave Oak Hill Manor. But after the terrible thing happened, there would be many more rules to come. All of these rules were easy enough to abide by until the new caretaker of the old Willis place arrived with his daughter. Things would quickly get a lot more complicated. Caretakers came and went (there were too many to count), but this one had a daughter—a daughter the same age as Diana. Diana wanted a friend so badly, that she was willing to break any rule just to have one. But at what cost?

This is a ghost story with some surprisingly heavy themes given that it is written for ages 7 to 12. Besides dealing with theft, trespassing, and murder, we are given an older sister who, by selfishly putting her own wants and needs above all else, puts both herself and her younger brother in danger. She lies to her sibling not once, but several times and flirts with severing the bond of trust that the two share. Once trust is broken, can it ever be fully restored again?

This book is filled with plenty of action and suspense and, despite some scary and disturbing bits at the end, younger readers will become enthralled and immersed in this wonderfully spooky ghost story. What I like most about this book is that Hahn delivers a powerful moral message that readers of any age can appreciate. Despite suffering from separation, grief, loneliness, and fear, Hahn gives us two children who demonstrate the importance and value of extending mercy to the unworthy and offering forgiveness to the undeserving. And that isn’t scary at all.

Rating: 4/5

* Book cover image attributed to http://www.goodreads.com