Mr. Slater’s book was one of the Cybils nominees last year, and I started reading it. But I couldn’t really get too interested, for some reason. And I never got far enough along in the book to pick up on the “Biblical themes” that this article in Publisher’s Weekly references.

It seems that in the sequel to The Book of Nonsense, The Book of Knowledge, published this year, the twin protagonists “follow clues to the original Garden of Eden and discover that the record of primordial events recorded in Genesis may not tell the whole story.” And this re-writing of Genesis has stirred up a sort of tempest in teapot, with some bloggers and journalists drawing attention to the (bad) theology presented in the books, at least according to Publisher’s Weekly, although no links are provided to any blog furor.

Sounds like a bunch of nonsense to me.

Presenting Lenore: “The Book of Nonsense pulsates with action, intrigue and magic, but also offers quieter scenes that give insight into the twins’ characters and motivations.”

Word for Teens: “The name of this book is The Book of Nonsense, and that’s exactly what it is: nonsense! There were so many point of view changes that I got whiplash trying to keep up! In addition, the first half of the book made about no sense until the last three chapters of the book. Towards the end, the book does start to get interesting, but this is definitely not one of my favorites.”

A Bookworm’s World: “This tale has all the necessary elements to capture and hold a child’s attention. A battle between good and evil, danger, mysteries and lots of questions to keep them guessing until the end. The only thing I took exception to was the reference to God in regards to a mysterious book detailing a language called the First Tongue.”

There you have it. Varying opinions, but the controversy aspect highlighted in the Publisher’s Weekly article seems overblown and may even be an attempt to stir up up some kind of brouhaha in order to increase sales.

The Beast of Blackslope is the second in The Sherlock Files series by Nashville author Tracy Barrett. (Interesting side note: Eldest Daughter knows Ms. Barrett since they both teach in the language department at Vanderbilt University.) Xena and Xander are American kids living in England with their parents, part-time detectives, and descendants of the famous Sherlock Holmes. Because they are Holmes’ great-great-great grandchildren, Xena and Xander have inherited his casebook with his cold case files, notes on cases that the great detective failed to solve. One of those unsolved cases, similar to The Hound of the Baskervilles, is the Case of the Beast of Blackslope, a beast that Sherlock Holmes himself was unable to locate or capture.

Now a hundred plus years later, the Beast has reappeared in the small village of Blackslope, and Xena and Xander are determined to solve the case this time. Is there really a Beast? If so, why has it returned to Blackslope? Why are the people in Blackslope so secretive about the Beast? What is everybody hiding? Does the Beast carry off humans who disappear never to be heard of again? Who will be next?

I would give The Beast of Blackslope to the younger end of the Middle Grade Fiction age spectrum: eight, nine, ten and eleven year olds who are reading well and are mystery fans. The book reminded me of Alfred Hitchcock’s Three Investigators series, a series I’ve not thought about in ages.

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One or more of these books is also nominated for a Cybil Award, but the views expressed here are strictly my own.

First we meet Petronella:

“I preferred to be called Petronella. Eunice is such an unfortunate name, and I cannot imagine what came over my dear but deceased parents when they gave it to me. Perhaps some sort of simultaneous apoplectic fit.”

Then we are introduced to her unfortunate uncle and guardian Augustus T. Percival:

Uncle Augustus frowned. . . . “It seems I have an enormous appetite for all things of the insect and arachnid varieties.” He caught a passing fly in one swift movement of his hand, popped it into his mouth, and chewed happily.

James Sinclair is the hero of the piece and Petronella’s love interest:

James’s eyes twinkled, and his mouth curved in a smile that had smitten me since I was five and he was nine. If only he were not Jane’s brother—brother of my bosom friend—he might consider me as more than a younger sister. But fate plays cruel games with hearts and show no remorse. If I were to have him notice me at all, it should have to be as a sister, and I should have to be content with that or nothing, and to have nothing of James would be the cruelest fate of all.

And Jane, James’s sister, is Petronella’s bosom friend:

“Jane walked up to me and slipped her arm through mine. How she managed to look exactly the same as she had before the calamity I shall never know. But then, Jane always appears to have stepped out of a band box.”

In the end, Petronella does save nearly all of the above and, in addition, rescues Mother England itself from a nefarious plot to do incalculable harm to the entire population.

As the perceptive reader will have already discerned, the novel is set in Victorian England. The style and humor of the book owe something to Oscar Wilde and P.G. Wodehouse and maybe Lemony Snicket(?). I can’t imagine that this book will enjoy the same level of popularity as wimpy kids and vampire lovers, but for a certain sort of child with a certain sort of humor (and a large vocabulary), Petronella might just fit the bill.

Amazon Affiliate. If you click on a book cover here to go to Amazon and buy something, I receive a very small percentage of the purchase price.
One or more of these books is also nominated for a Cybil Award, but the views expressed here are strictly my own.

While Eldest Daughter was here for Thanksgiving she read a few of my Cybils nominees for Middle Grade Fiction. She wouldn’t give me a real review, but she did assign grades to the books she read. And she was as surprised as I was to see that Zilpha Keatley Snyder is still writing and publishing books. Eldest Daughter says that The Egypt Game is one of those “test books.”

You ask a new acquaintance, “Have you read The Egypt Game? Did you like it?” If the new acquaintance says “yes”, particularly to the second question, there is a basis for further communication. If he says “no” to the first question, buy him a copy.

The Last Newspaper Boy in America by Sue Corbett.
Grade: B

William S. and the Great Escape by Zilpha Keatley Snyder.
Grade: A+

Petronella Saves Nearly Everyone by Dene Low.
Grade: A

Amazon Affiliate. If you click on a book cover here to go to Amazon and buy something, I receive a very small percentage of the purchase price.
One or more of these books is also nominated for a Cybil Award, but the views expressed here are strictly my own.

This end-of-the-Civil War story begins with eleven year old Luke stealing a gun from Massa’s rifle case. In chapter three Daylily is left alone in the woods after the death of her Granny and her friend Buttercup. Finally in chapter four Caswell goes to find someone to help his Mamadear who is struggling in the labor of childbirth, and when he returns with no help his house is burned to the ground and Mamadear is nowhere to be found. The three children meet and begin to travel north together in search of the Yankee army or freedom or any safe place.

They finally find a friend and a safe place when they come to the home of a strange woman named Betty Strong Foot. But the war keeps encroaching on their hiding place, and they find that Betty has dangerous secrets of her own.

“Was Betty Strong Foot for colored or White? Luke wanted to ask her but he didn’t dare. She said she was free. She said her Daddy was colored, and she had White folks hair, but that didn’t mean nothin cause so did Pecola back home, and she sure was one of Massa Higsaw’s niggers same as he was. She said her mama was Indian. Betty’s skin was as dark as his almost.”

I like the way this book shakes up racial categories and expectations. Luke and Daylily are escaped slaves; Caswell is the white son of a slave-owner and Confederate soldier. The children are rescued and cared for by a mysterious woman who is part Indian, part African American. Later in the book, the children, including Caswell, live with a family of free blacks. And several times in the course of the story Luke thinks about how hard it is to tell who’s a Yankee and who’s a Confederate, who’s a slave and who’s free, even who’s black and who’s white.

Once Daylily asked, “Are the angels Black?”
“The Great Spirit don’t care if they Black, White, or Red, or they got no color. They still angels. Just like you can call him Great Spirit or God, and He don’t care about that,” Betty said. “Just like these trees and flowers, all of em be angels.”

Black angels. An American heritage of native American wisdom, African customs, and European culture all mixed together and yielding something strong and uniquely American. Some Christian readers may be annoyed by the native American spirituality and reverence for the spirits of animals that is a part of the story, but I thought it could be taken as an accurate picture of the characters and the times and given respect although I don’t adhere to those particular beliefs.

“God,” she said, “this here’s Daylily callin on You. We down here just little chirren,” she said, “cept Luke, who’s a little bigger than us. And we scared to death, Lord, and we callin on You in our time of need.”
“Amen,” said Luke.
“And we just want to ask you, Lord, to bless us and help us find our Betty Strong Foot, cause she sure did save our lives.”
“Amen,” said Luke.
“And she a good woman, Lord, who in trouble, and Lord, we don’ know if You hold with that spy work she doin, Lord, but please don’t take it to heart, and keep us safe. Amen.”
“And Lord,” Luke added, “if you don’t like what she doin, please don’t take it out on us. Thank you, Jesus. Amen.”
Daylily nudged Caswell, “Say amen.”
Caswell said, “Amen.”

Historical fiction at its finest.

Amazon Affiliate. If you click on a book cover here to go to Amazon and buy something, I receive a very small percentage of the purchase price.
One or more of these books is also nominated for a Cybil Award, but the views expressed here are strictly my own.