Do Unto Otters: A Book About Manners (picture book) by Laurie Keller, 2007. An otter family thinks about what kind of neighbors they’d like. Cute cartoony illustrations and a very simple story may make this book too young for even the narrow purpose of introducing a TA character lesson.
MS Rating: OK. I wouldn’t have bought it if I had previewed it first. It was recommended by C Mitchel’s Bedside Rants and Raves blog.
Touching Darkness (Midnighters, bk. 2) by Scott Westerfeld, 2004. Jessica now knows her talent, and the primitive beasts are afraid. But now the danger leaves its previous bounds of the midnight hour. Humans are stalking Jessica, threatening her well-being during the other 24 hours. The midnighters discover what happened to all the older midnighters, and finds one survivor. The threat is repeating itself.
This is a great sequel, just as good as the first. A very high creepy factor and a sprinkling of swear words throughout may make this book unattractive for some readers.
Some memory-jogging tags: Conspiracy. Magic symbols and runes. Alternative reality. Greed. Beast-human hybred.
MS Rating: Great.
Red Moon at Sharpsburg by Rosemary Wells, 2007. The small north Virginia town of Berryville isn’t as big or well-known as its neighbors in the Shenandoah Valley, but is a beautiful corner of the world and well beloved by its residences. The Trimbles own acres of orchards and the grand Longmarsh Hall. The Spreckle spinster sisters are busybodies. Ester and Micah Cooley are the black “servants” of the Trimbles. The Pardoes are Quakers whose father is a lawyer and daughter Julia is best friends with the narrator. Finally, we have the Moodys. Mr. Moody is a tradesman who makes harnesses and encourages his daughter India to be as independent and curious as she wants, even though it is against the customs of the day, and worries her mom. Except for the first chapter that happens about 12 years prior, the story begins in 1861. The Civil War has begun, and life will never be the same. The Pardoes move to Ohio to wait out the war with relatives. The Trimples’ two sons enlist while the oldest son, Emory, stays behind on account of his asthma. The schoolmaster becomes the town’s first casualty and India is sent to Emory for tutoring, where she learns chemistry and biology and medicine and, eventually, falls in love with Emory. Before the end, the war comes to Shenandoah Valley. India’s father dies of disease. Emory leaves to help with caring for the sick and wounded and is captured and sent to a prison in Baltimore. India and her mom move in with obnoxious relatives to avoid destitution, but India cannot stay and runs back home. She and the Cooleys tend a Union officer who had his leg amputated at the hip and left barely alive in the Trimbles’ home. Against orders, they succeed in transporting him back from behind enemy lines.
This is a Civil War story with a lightness of voice, true to a teen’s limited perspective. Not a sweeping, epic-like, quintessential “experience,”, but rather a very personal account of how totally devastating war was for this girl, her family and neighbors.
Some memory-jogging tags: Virginia. Shenandoah Valley. Civil War. Medicine. Chemistry. Women’s roles, 1800s.
MS Rating: Great.
Glitch in Sleep (The Seems, bk. 1) by John Hulme and Michael Wexler, 2007.
Becker Drane fills out an application for “the best job in the world” and his life is changed forever. He becomes a Fixer for The Seems, the machinery behind weather, sleep, coincidences and everything else you always thought was just controlled by the laws of nature. Becker is the newest and youngest Fixer and is called up when a Glitch is loss in the Department of Sleep and causing Havoc, threatening a Ripple Effect. Toward the end, when Becker creates a dream for his mission-within-a-mission girl, he offers this hope, “Tomorrow, when you wake up, pretend that maybe The World isn’t what you thought it was. That the trees and the leaves and the wind – and even you – are part of the most magical place ever created, and something, somewhere, is making sure you’ll always be okay. Honest! I tried it and, yeah, it’s not always easy, but the more you do it, the more you realize it just might be real.”
All the word plays on common phrases made this a more choppy read for me. The story never really flowed well, though I found the premise unique and curious. My teen readers seemed to like this book.
Some memory-jogging tags: Training. Alternative reality. Gadgets. Team work. New Jersey.
MS Rating: OK.
Secret Hour (Midnighters, bk. 1) by Scott Westerfeld, 2004.
When Jessica moves to Bixby, Oklahoma, leaving behind her Chicago home and friends, she starts having strange dreams. But they are not really dreams, they are real experiences she’s having during the 25th hour. While the rest of the world – including people and rain and speeding cars -- is frozen, Jessica roams free. But there are creatures who like to stalk and eat humans that exist only during this midnight hour, effectively making this free time much more dangerous than anything Jessica has ever known. There are a handful of other teens who also experience the midnight hours, and by banding together these midnighters, each with their own unique talent, manage to evade the beasts for another day. Rex is a seer. He can see traces of where the dark creatures have been, and can read their lore. Melissa is a caster, able to read others’ thoughts and influence those thoughts as well. Dess is really, exceptionally good with math, able to thwart the midnight creatures with 13-letter words and multiples of 13. Jonathan, the most independent and least willing to follow Rex and Melissa’s lead, is a jumper. Gravity doesn’t have much hold on him during the midnight hour. By the end of the book, Jessica has discovered her own talent – a torch thrower. Modern technology such as a flashlight and wrist watch, which normally will not work during the midnight hour, work with her touch. The flashlight incinerates the beasts on contact.
The story is very fun. The premise is very original and the characters are believable and interesting to read about.
Some memory-jogging tags: Alternative reality. Good vs. evil fantasy. Mind-reading. Friendship. Relocation.
MS Rating: Great.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Everlost; Mother-Daughter Book Club; Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian; and Teacher's Funeral
Everlost by Neal Shusterman, 2006
Two young teens, Nick and Allie, are traveling in opposite directions when their cars collide, killing both. On the way to the light at the end of the tunnel, they collide again and fall into Everlost. The rest of the story is about them finding out about Everlost, what the dangers are, who has information, and how to get to where they’re going. Unique premise, gripping story. The ending has a high creepy factor, and leaves room for a sequel.
Some memory-jogging tags: Death. Supernatural. Adventure story. Life-after-death. Trust and betrayal. Friendship. Eternity. Monsters. Adult-less society.
MS Rating: Great.
Mother-Daughter Book Club by Heather Vogel Frederick, 2007
Four middle-schooler girls and three of their moms form a book club to read and discuss together Little Women. Set in
Some memory-jogging tags: Little Women, Louisa May Alcott. Book clubs. School stories. Bullying.
MS Rating: OK.
Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by
Fourteen-year-old Junior escape from the hopelessness and drunkenness on the rez begins when he hits his teacher with a 30-year-old textbook. The teacher comes over to apologize to Junior (!) and tells him to leave this place before his hope is lost. With the moral support of his family but not his best friend nor anyone else on the rez, and with no ride and no money, he starts attending the best rural school in
Some memory-jogging tags: Reservation life. Coming-of-age story. Bullying. Drunkenness. School story. Basketball story. Best friends. Hopelessness. Death and grief.
MS Rating: No
Teacher’s Funeral: A Comedy in Three Parts by Richard Peck, 2004. Read by Dylan Baker in a Listening Library production
If your teacher has to die, August isn’t a bad time of year for it,” says Russell Culver, fifteen, who’s raring to light off for the endless skies of the
Some memory-jogging tags: Education. Teachers. Family life. Rural
MS Rating: Great.
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Things Not Seen; Hidden Talents; and The Wrath of Mulgarath
Things Not Seen by Andrew Clements, 2002
When fifteen-year-old Bobby wakes up invisible one morning, he rushes to the kitchen to tell his parents. His literature university teacher mom and physicist dad don’t know what to do. They tell him to stay home while they go off to their business of the day. Thus starts an experience that changes everything for Bobby: his relationship with his parents and others, his outlook about his future, and his perception of the world around him. It is a sweet story about loving your parents but realizing that they can’t fix everything, about forming a relationship with a girl based on support and friendship and not looks, about taking action, even when you are not sure what that should be. Eventually, Bobby, his dad and Alicia’s dad figure out what happened which leads to a reversal. It is a quick read, but sweet and touching in parts and realistic.
Some memory-jogging tags: Invisible humans. Disabilities. Blindness. Friendship. Family social services. Family. Trust.
MS Rating: Great.
Hidden Talents by David Lubar, 1999
Martin Anderson has been sent to Edgemont, the last stop for troubled youth. He has managed to get every authority figure in his life extremely angry at him, from his dad to all his teachers and principals at various schools. This is his last chance. He manages to find some friends: his roommate Torchie, Torchie’s lunchmates Cheater, Flinch, and Lucky, and loner Trasher. The school bully is Bloodbath, who initiates all the new kids with a wallop to the gut.
During the first third of the book, we meet the students and teachers and see what daily life is like there. In the middle third, Martin begins to suspect something unusual is going on. They have been taking weekly trips to town to play pinball and he begins seeing the truth. He does some research on psychic powers (p. 90+), and confides in his friends that they each have a special power: Torchie can control fire, Cheater can read minds, Flinch can anticipate the immediate future, Lucky can sense something’s aura and find it, and Trasher can move items without touching. Though they don’t want to believe it, Martin eventually convinces them through a mind-reading test done with the science teacher.
The last third of the book is about them using their powers to help the school pass the inspection that is to determine if the school will remain open. Since Bloodbath and his goons want to sabotage the visit, Martin knows they must want the opposite. They work together with their powers to thwart Bloodbath’s plans. Finally, it is up to Martin to not antagonize the inspectors, and the others help him see that he has a special power as well: the ability to see someone’s deepest desires and fears.
I found the book hard to get into. I was expecting the hidden talents to be more magical. However, its characterization of being on the outside is realistic.
Some memory-jogging tags: Alternative education. Library research. Psychic powers. Telepathy. Telekinesis. Clairvoyance. School inspections. Teachers, principals, and authority figures. Bullies.
MS Rating: OK. More about being in an alternative school setting than about hidden talents.
The Wrath of Mulgarath (The Spiderwick Chronicles, bk. 5) by Tony DeTerlizzi and Holly Black, 2004
More than any of the others, this one picks up right where the previous book ends. Jared, Simon, and Mallory arrive home, after being gone all night, to find it trashed and their mom gone. Byron, the griffin, has trapped the hobgoblin Hogsqueal who agrees to lead them into the goblin stronghold at the junk yard. Jared goes off to the elves again to see if Arthur can help them. He gets some helpful information about dragons, but no magic bullet. Simon manages to get Byron to let them ride him which helps with the get-away and in defeating the dragons. Byron eats most of the babies and kills the mother. After climbing up giant swinging steps inside the junk castle, they find their mom and dad tied up. But dad isn’t really dad. It’s Mulgarath. Jared and Thimbletack work together to toss Mulgarath out the window. He transforms into a bird to fly out of the fall, and is eaten by Hogsqueal. Without the ogre to lead them, the goblins break up into squabbling fractions, the Grace children and mom head back home, and Aunt Lucinda comes to live with them. The elves decide that humans can do some good with the knowledge from the book, and allows the Grace family to remain its protector.
Some memory-jogging tags: Quick read. Ogres. Dragons. Goblins. Mistaken identity.
MS Rating: Great.
When fifteen-year-old Bobby wakes up invisible one morning, he rushes to the kitchen to tell his parents. His literature university teacher mom and physicist dad don’t know what to do. They tell him to stay home while they go off to their business of the day. Thus starts an experience that changes everything for Bobby: his relationship with his parents and others, his outlook about his future, and his perception of the world around him. It is a sweet story about loving your parents but realizing that they can’t fix everything, about forming a relationship with a girl based on support and friendship and not looks, about taking action, even when you are not sure what that should be. Eventually, Bobby, his dad and Alicia’s dad figure out what happened which leads to a reversal. It is a quick read, but sweet and touching in parts and realistic.
Some memory-jogging tags: Invisible humans. Disabilities. Blindness. Friendship. Family social services. Family. Trust.
MS Rating: Great.
Hidden Talents by David Lubar, 1999
Martin Anderson has been sent to Edgemont, the last stop for troubled youth. He has managed to get every authority figure in his life extremely angry at him, from his dad to all his teachers and principals at various schools. This is his last chance. He manages to find some friends: his roommate Torchie, Torchie’s lunchmates Cheater, Flinch, and Lucky, and loner Trasher. The school bully is Bloodbath, who initiates all the new kids with a wallop to the gut.
During the first third of the book, we meet the students and teachers and see what daily life is like there. In the middle third, Martin begins to suspect something unusual is going on. They have been taking weekly trips to town to play pinball and he begins seeing the truth. He does some research on psychic powers (p. 90+), and confides in his friends that they each have a special power: Torchie can control fire, Cheater can read minds, Flinch can anticipate the immediate future, Lucky can sense something’s aura and find it, and Trasher can move items without touching. Though they don’t want to believe it, Martin eventually convinces them through a mind-reading test done with the science teacher.
The last third of the book is about them using their powers to help the school pass the inspection that is to determine if the school will remain open. Since Bloodbath and his goons want to sabotage the visit, Martin knows they must want the opposite. They work together with their powers to thwart Bloodbath’s plans. Finally, it is up to Martin to not antagonize the inspectors, and the others help him see that he has a special power as well: the ability to see someone’s deepest desires and fears.
I found the book hard to get into. I was expecting the hidden talents to be more magical. However, its characterization of being on the outside is realistic.
Some memory-jogging tags: Alternative education. Library research. Psychic powers. Telepathy. Telekinesis. Clairvoyance. School inspections. Teachers, principals, and authority figures. Bullies.
MS Rating: OK. More about being in an alternative school setting than about hidden talents.
The Wrath of Mulgarath (The Spiderwick Chronicles, bk. 5) by Tony DeTerlizzi and Holly Black, 2004
More than any of the others, this one picks up right where the previous book ends. Jared, Simon, and Mallory arrive home, after being gone all night, to find it trashed and their mom gone. Byron, the griffin, has trapped the hobgoblin Hogsqueal who agrees to lead them into the goblin stronghold at the junk yard. Jared goes off to the elves again to see if Arthur can help them. He gets some helpful information about dragons, but no magic bullet. Simon manages to get Byron to let them ride him which helps with the get-away and in defeating the dragons. Byron eats most of the babies and kills the mother. After climbing up giant swinging steps inside the junk castle, they find their mom and dad tied up. But dad isn’t really dad. It’s Mulgarath. Jared and Thimbletack work together to toss Mulgarath out the window. He transforms into a bird to fly out of the fall, and is eaten by Hogsqueal. Without the ogre to lead them, the goblins break up into squabbling fractions, the Grace children and mom head back home, and Aunt Lucinda comes to live with them. The elves decide that humans can do some good with the knowledge from the book, and allows the Grace family to remain its protector.
Some memory-jogging tags: Quick read. Ogres. Dragons. Goblins. Mistaken identity.
MS Rating: Great.
Shadowmancer; The Invention of Hugo Cabret; Airborn; and Remembering Raque
Shadowmancer by G.P. Taylor, read by Graeme Malcolm in a Listening Library production, 2004
Vicar Demurral isn’t satisfied running the affairs of his village. He wants to control the world. Messing with powers he doesn’t completely understand, he seeks two cherubim, one gold and the other flesh, to overthrow the one ruling god and become like god himself. However, Raphah, the healer and cherubim of flesh, with the help of two village children Thomas and Kate, alludes his grasp, even though dark angels come after them. They find unlikely allies such as the smuggler and an old wanderer. The good and evil gods, their angels, and the philosophies of their followers are described with phrases familiar in Christianity, though there are plenty of supernatural elements thrown in. Sometimes the creepiness struck too close to the sacred for me, but the reader was HP-good, and the story kept me engrossed the entire 8-and-a-half hours.
Some memory-jogging tags: Good vs. evil. Village life. England. Medieval-like setting. Smugglers. Oppression. Choices.
MS Rating: OK. Not for all listeners because of creep factor.
The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick, 2007
12-year-old Hugo is an orphan living and repairing clocks within the walls of a Paris train station in 1931. His father has died in a fire at the museum where he worked, and his uncle has taken him in, but has been missing these past three months. He is caught stealing from the toyseller one day, and the toyseller takes away his notebook, the one link he has to his dad and the broken automaton he rescued from the burned museum. When the toyseller’s goddaughter becomes involved, it becomes increasingly difficult to keep his life and automaton secret. The cover and black paper totally pulled me in. The story is fast-paced and the pictures pull you along the mystery as much as the words.
Some memory-jogging tags: George Melies, filmmaker. Robots. Orphans. Railroad stations. Paris, France. Friendship. Trust. Secrets. Mechanical ability. Silent films. Clocks.
MS Rating: Great.
Airborn by Kenneth Oppel, 2004
I picked this up because it won a Beehive Award in 2006 and I’d never heard of it before. Matt is a young cabin boy working aboard an airship that his dad worked on and fell to his death off of. He loves the air, has great “sea-air” legs, feels close to his dad up there, and feels trapped on land. Kate is a wealthy young girl traveling with her chaperone, on her first air voyage, and trying to retrace the steps of her grandfather’s last adventure. After being boarded by pirates and marooned on an uncharted island, these two team up to search for the existence of mysterious winged creatures reportedly living hundreds of feet above the Earth’s surface. I thought the pacing was a little uneven. It was great fun when talking about ship life and avoiding crashing or escaping from pirates, but got a little slow when talking about the cloud cats. I liked the alternative-reality aspect of this world, but didn’t like the supernatural aspects as much.
Some memory-jogging tags: Airships. Pirates. Imaginary creatures. Friendship. Adventure story.
MS Rating: Great
Remembering Raquel by Vivian Vande Velde, 2007
This story is told in several voices who talk about Raquel, their high school classmate or student or relation or chance acquaintance, who stepped off the curb and was struck and killed by a car. Raquel is dead already when the book begins and we learn about her through these acquaintances’ comments. She was overweight and unpopular. Her mom had recently died, and she loved animated film and playing an online alternative persona game. Who is our neighbor? How well do we treat others? How well do we know another? These types of questions are explored in this fast read.
Some memory-jogging tags: Fast read. Overweight. High school story. Death. Popularity. Car accident. Online gaming.
MS Rating: OK.
Vicar Demurral isn’t satisfied running the affairs of his village. He wants to control the world. Messing with powers he doesn’t completely understand, he seeks two cherubim, one gold and the other flesh, to overthrow the one ruling god and become like god himself. However, Raphah, the healer and cherubim of flesh, with the help of two village children Thomas and Kate, alludes his grasp, even though dark angels come after them. They find unlikely allies such as the smuggler and an old wanderer. The good and evil gods, their angels, and the philosophies of their followers are described with phrases familiar in Christianity, though there are plenty of supernatural elements thrown in. Sometimes the creepiness struck too close to the sacred for me, but the reader was HP-good, and the story kept me engrossed the entire 8-and-a-half hours.
Some memory-jogging tags: Good vs. evil. Village life. England. Medieval-like setting. Smugglers. Oppression. Choices.
MS Rating: OK. Not for all listeners because of creep factor.
The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick, 2007
12-year-old Hugo is an orphan living and repairing clocks within the walls of a Paris train station in 1931. His father has died in a fire at the museum where he worked, and his uncle has taken him in, but has been missing these past three months. He is caught stealing from the toyseller one day, and the toyseller takes away his notebook, the one link he has to his dad and the broken automaton he rescued from the burned museum. When the toyseller’s goddaughter becomes involved, it becomes increasingly difficult to keep his life and automaton secret. The cover and black paper totally pulled me in. The story is fast-paced and the pictures pull you along the mystery as much as the words.
Some memory-jogging tags: George Melies, filmmaker. Robots. Orphans. Railroad stations. Paris, France. Friendship. Trust. Secrets. Mechanical ability. Silent films. Clocks.
MS Rating: Great.
Airborn by Kenneth Oppel, 2004
I picked this up because it won a Beehive Award in 2006 and I’d never heard of it before. Matt is a young cabin boy working aboard an airship that his dad worked on and fell to his death off of. He loves the air, has great “sea-air” legs, feels close to his dad up there, and feels trapped on land. Kate is a wealthy young girl traveling with her chaperone, on her first air voyage, and trying to retrace the steps of her grandfather’s last adventure. After being boarded by pirates and marooned on an uncharted island, these two team up to search for the existence of mysterious winged creatures reportedly living hundreds of feet above the Earth’s surface. I thought the pacing was a little uneven. It was great fun when talking about ship life and avoiding crashing or escaping from pirates, but got a little slow when talking about the cloud cats. I liked the alternative-reality aspect of this world, but didn’t like the supernatural aspects as much.
Some memory-jogging tags: Airships. Pirates. Imaginary creatures. Friendship. Adventure story.
MS Rating: Great
Remembering Raquel by Vivian Vande Velde, 2007
This story is told in several voices who talk about Raquel, their high school classmate or student or relation or chance acquaintance, who stepped off the curb and was struck and killed by a car. Raquel is dead already when the book begins and we learn about her through these acquaintances’ comments. She was overweight and unpopular. Her mom had recently died, and she loved animated film and playing an online alternative persona game. Who is our neighbor? How well do we treat others? How well do we know another? These types of questions are explored in this fast read.
Some memory-jogging tags: Fast read. Overweight. High school story. Death. Popularity. Car accident. Online gaming.
MS Rating: OK.
Pride and Prejudice; Beastly; and The Ironwood Tree
MID-FEB
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin, 1813
I enjoyed rereading this book while I’ve been watching the PBS Masterpiece Classics special covering all her works. I also have watched Keira Knightley’s version several times. I felt that maybe I have been born in the wrong century and continent, until I learned that they had bugs living in their hair, that they would pee in the grand staircases during balls, and that they very rarely took baths. Add to this the fact that most people living in England during Austin’s lifetime were peasants and not gentlefolk, and I am much better off having my life than one back then.
Beastly by Alex Flinn, 2007
Kyle Kingsbury is a class A jerk: stuck up, selfish, even mean and spiteful. With a famous personality dad, lots of money, and great looks, he never thinks of others. But that all begins to change when one night, after a prom dance at his private New York City school, a witch changes him into a beast. Banished to live with just a tutor and maid, he manages to capture a girl who lives with him and eventually helps him break the curse.
All the classic elements of the Beauty and the Beast story are there in a realistic (for a fantasy) way in the New York City setting. Very enjoyable.
Some memory-jogging tags: Beauty and the Beast. Famous dads. Tutors. Freedom. Love. Selflessness. Shakespeare’s sonnets. Enjoyment of books. Roses. Gardening. School dances.
MS Rating: Great.
The Ironwood Tree (The Spiderwick Chronicles, bk 4) by Tony DiTerlizzi, 2004
During a fencing match, Jared spies someone going through Mallory’s bag. When he then sees his brother Simon rifling through her bag, but also sitting up on the stands, he knows he is dealing with someone, or something after the field guide. But then Mulgarath, the ogre trying to get the field guide, shape-shifts into a little boy and makes it seem that Jared has pulled a knife on a helpless child. While he is trying to clear it up with his mom and the principal, Mulgarath kidnaps Mallory. Jared and Simon set off to find her, which they do under the quarry in the dwarfs’ kingdom. Master builders, they have mechanical dogs, birds, and iron trees, but they are in the service of Mulgarath. Jared tricks them by handing over a wrapped book in place of the field guide, and through the help of a stone-speaker, makes their escape.
Some memory-jogging tags: Metalwork. Dwarfs. Caves. Ogre. Shape-shifter.
MS Rating: Great.
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin, 1813
I enjoyed rereading this book while I’ve been watching the PBS Masterpiece Classics special covering all her works. I also have watched Keira Knightley’s version several times. I felt that maybe I have been born in the wrong century and continent, until I learned that they had bugs living in their hair, that they would pee in the grand staircases during balls, and that they very rarely took baths. Add to this the fact that most people living in England during Austin’s lifetime were peasants and not gentlefolk, and I am much better off having my life than one back then.
Beastly by Alex Flinn, 2007
Kyle Kingsbury is a class A jerk: stuck up, selfish, even mean and spiteful. With a famous personality dad, lots of money, and great looks, he never thinks of others. But that all begins to change when one night, after a prom dance at his private New York City school, a witch changes him into a beast. Banished to live with just a tutor and maid, he manages to capture a girl who lives with him and eventually helps him break the curse.
All the classic elements of the Beauty and the Beast story are there in a realistic (for a fantasy) way in the New York City setting. Very enjoyable.
Some memory-jogging tags: Beauty and the Beast. Famous dads. Tutors. Freedom. Love. Selflessness. Shakespeare’s sonnets. Enjoyment of books. Roses. Gardening. School dances.
MS Rating: Great.
The Ironwood Tree (The Spiderwick Chronicles, bk 4) by Tony DiTerlizzi, 2004
During a fencing match, Jared spies someone going through Mallory’s bag. When he then sees his brother Simon rifling through her bag, but also sitting up on the stands, he knows he is dealing with someone, or something after the field guide. But then Mulgarath, the ogre trying to get the field guide, shape-shifts into a little boy and makes it seem that Jared has pulled a knife on a helpless child. While he is trying to clear it up with his mom and the principal, Mulgarath kidnaps Mallory. Jared and Simon set off to find her, which they do under the quarry in the dwarfs’ kingdom. Master builders, they have mechanical dogs, birds, and iron trees, but they are in the service of Mulgarath. Jared tricks them by handing over a wrapped book in place of the field guide, and through the help of a stone-speaker, makes their escape.
Some memory-jogging tags: Metalwork. Dwarfs. Caves. Ogre. Shape-shifter.
MS Rating: Great.
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