Library & Literary Miscellany

Children Of The Lamp: The Akhenaten Adventure (Children Of The Lamp) by P.B. Kerr (2004)

In P.B. Kerr’s first book of his Children of the Lamp series, having wisdom teeth pulled out means more than a bit of discomfort, a large dental bill, and the possibility of developing dry socket. For twelve-year old twins Philippa and John Gaunt, having their wisdom teeth pulled means something else entirely.

As twins with loving (and wealthy) parents, they’ve always considered themselves to be pretty lucky. Once their wisdom teeth have been removed, they discover their good fortune goes far beyond luck and stems from who and what they are. They are Children of the Lamp; they are djinn (not genie, mind you, djinn as the term genie is prosaic and repugnant to djinn). With their wisdom teeth gone, it is time for their fallow djinn powers to begin burgeoning.

The twins’ parents (mother-djinn; father-standard order human) have hidden their “djinn” nature from them in attempts to help them lead normal lives. The twins, however, are not content to be ordinary and jump at the chance to go visit their Uncle Nimrod and have him explain some of the mysterious things that have been happening to them.

From their Uncle Nimrod, they discover that there are actually multiple tribes of djinn–not all of them are bestowers of good fortune and caretakers of humankind. Instead the djinn have split into the good (the Marid, the Jinn, and the Jann) and the evil (the Ifrit, the Shaitan, and the Ghul). As descendants of the Marid tribe, Philippa and John are on the good side, and they soon find themselves embroiled in the battle to defeat the evil djinn in their plan to discover the lost tomb of the evil djinn Akhenaten and to release him along with the seventy other djinn he had bound into his service (and you probably always thought he was just another pharaoh…). Whomever releases these seventy djinn will have the power to command them and thus disrupt the careful homeostasis of good and bad luck that the good djinn attempt to maintain.

Children of the Lamp: The Akhenaten Adventure chronicles the twins discovery of their djinn identity and their growing understanding of the responsibility that comes with power. Due to the relationship among djinn, heat, smoke, fire, and the like, smoking plays a larger role in this book than is typical in children’s literature. Still, the story contains more than exposition, smoke and fire, and good versus evil battle, Kerr also makes room for humor, particularly in the development of his secondary characters. Mr. Rakshasas an older, wiser, agoraphobic djinn who has spent many a year trapped inside a bottle frequently inserts cryptic (but fitting in-context if you pause to think on them long enough) interjections into the conversations. For example:

“The cat is his own best advisor, right enough”

“There’s many a time a man’s mouth broke his own nose.”

“To be sure, it is a shame to try to make a goat’s beard out of a fine stallion’s tail”

Overall, Kerr has created a fully developed fantastic world that exists alongside reality as we know it (a la series such as Harry Potter, His Dark Materials, So You Want to Be a Wizard, the Bartimaeus Trilogy, etc.). Detail-by-detail he has laid the groundwork for creating more stories centering around the historical battle between the good and evil djinn. Some readers may relish the detail and the fully-created djinn history, while others may long for less exposition and more action.

The Akhenaten Adventure is Kerr’s first work for children, and the series may pick up in pace now that the world has been developed. It’s a fun work for younger readers who want to delve into a fictional extrapolation about the lives of genies, errr, I mean djinn. It’s also been rumored to be coming soon in movie form.

Uncle Nimrod also passes on some sage commentary on humans and wishes:

“…it’s usually best that they [humans] get the thing themselves. Through their own hard work. That way, they tend to appreciate it more when they get it…Equally, there are many occasions when they just don’t think their wish through. When they don’t consider the full implications of actually having their dearest wish come true.”

“They [wishes] can be unpredictable…When you play around with the future, there is a random, unexpected, even unpleasant aspect to what you’re doing.”

And if you emjoy the first book, you’ll be happy to know that there are more books in the Children of the Lamp Series:

Blue Djinn of Babylon (Children of the Lamp Book 2)

Cobra King Of Kathmandu (Children Of The Lamp Book 3)

Day Of The Djinn Warriors (Children Of The Lamp Book 4)

You can also check out P.B. Kerr’s official website.

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Leven Thumps and the Gateway to Foo by Obert Skye (2005)

As fate would have it, I picked up and read Leven Thumps and the Gateway to Foo, the first in the Leven Thumps series. Foo is “the fantastic realm that allows mankind to hope, imagine and dream,” and it is in peril due to the plans of the evil Sabine. Sabine seeks the Gateway to Foo. When he finds it, he intends to use it to merge Foo and reality and, in so doing, to destroy them both.

Fortunately, for the inhabitants of Foo and reality, Leven Thumps is alive and well in Oklahoma. All his life fourteen-year-old Leven has always considered himself to be pretty ordinary, aside from the white streak in his hair. One day, however, he discovers his power to manipulate fate in quite an electrifying manner. Since Leven’s Grandfather was the one who created the Gateway, Leven is the only one with the power to destroy the Gateway and to save Foo.

Unfortunately, Leven has not had a great deal (okay, any) affirmation thus far in his life and a great deal of Sabine’s power lies in his Shadows. Sabine’s Shadows have the ability to fill people’s minds with discouragement and self-doubt, and they are hell-bent on getting Leven to believe that he is powerless to help save Foo.

As with many fine fantasy quests, the reluctant hero needs some urging, encouraging, and assistance from faithful companions. Joining Leven are Winter, another child with a special gift and past connections to Foo; Clover, a sycophant with a bottomless pocket of mutant candy and a penchant for inserting English idioms where they don’t quite fit; and Geth, a powerful Foo royal turned minuscule earth toothpick who trusts Fate to bring the four of them together and to help them succeed in their quest (and to change him back out of toothpick form).

Skye’s protagonists complete their quest with little violence and lots of friendship, wit, and adventure. Plus, there’s the promise of more of the same to come. As such, Leven Thumps and the Gateway to Foo is likely to attract many fantasy fans, particularly those who like the underdog turned boy-hero type stories.

Indeed, Leven’s story breathes life into the boy-hero saves an otherworld quest. Foo is a reality whose existence is essential for human dreams and imagination, and its literary existence sparks consideration of and augments appreciation of dreaming and imagination. In reality, our dreams do sometimes get beaten down so often that they begin to die, but Obert Skye and Leven Thumps suggest that we need to keep believing and not give up on our dreams so as to keep them alive and well and with a chance for coming true.

And if you want to explore more about Foo before or after reading the book, visit the Leven Thumps Website. And if you still can’t get enough of Leven Thumps, then as fate (and the publishing industry) would have it, more of Leven’s adventures have been published Leven Thumps and the Whispered Secret (2006) and Leven Thumps and the Eyes of the Want (2007) with the promise of others on the way soon (Leven Thumps and the Wrath of Ezra (September 2008).

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Adam Canfield of the Slash by Michael Winerip

Adam Canfield likes to stay involved–he’s involved in sports, music (the baritone), sundry clubs and quiz bowls, the voluntary/mandatory class to prepare state exams (in which he learns critical skills such as sharpening number 2 pencils). Even though Adam is already quite possibly the most programmed kid ever to walk the halls of Harris Elementary/Middle School, he has agreed to yet another commitment. He has agreed to be co-editor of the Harris paper, the Slash (it doesn’t take much coaxing considering that he has a bit of a crush on the other editor, his friend Jennifer).

The Slash has a reputation as a quality school newspaper to uphold, and Adam and Jennifer work hard to print interesting, relevant, and candid articles for and about their community. To accomplish this, they include articles covering everything from an exposé on a seedy law banning “accessory structures” (which includes basketball hoops), to a missing wooden cow reward offer, to a dental smiling contest, to a feature on the school janitor, to a mysterious gift to the school left by a benefactor for “general improvements”.

While all of these articles contribute to the plot, it is the latter story that ends up driving much of the novel’s action and discourse regarding truth, journalistic ethics, local corruption, and the prevarications of the mass media. Adam explains some hard truths of journalism to a young protegé who admires his work: “It’s not your job to write what Phyllis wants…Our job as reporters is to tell the truth as we see it. It has to be backed by facts, but that’s what good newspapers do. That’s why people read newspapers. They trust reporters to be honest about what they see…you are the public’s eyes and ears…” Phyllis and a few of the other adults in the book would have the Slash full of lies. Even as Adam and Jennifer face adult wrath and potential expulsion, they make difficult decisions about truth and compromise.

Winerip does attempt to balance the number of treacherous, nasty adults with the number of truthful, helpful adults. For every Mrs. Marris of his story he includes a Mr. Brooks. Mrs. Marris, the principal, charges them to always be sure to print stories that help “propel the Good Ship Harris forward” and not the kind that “poke holes in our bow, so to speak–bad stories, unhelpful stories, negative stories.”As Adam begins to despair in the face of so much treachery and obfuscation of the truth, his Latin-spouting, World Domination game creating, history teacher Mr. Brooks tells him, “…history certainly teaches us that treachery lurks around every corner. And yet, against all odds, despite every form of human stupidity, we Homo Sapiens are still here.”

While many (nor most, I hope) middle school editors will not be faced with the daunting task of exposing their principals avarice, all editors face decisions about what facts belong in the story and what can be omitted without sacrificing its truth. Adam Canfield of the Slash champions truth. Along the way, Winerip also satirizes the overprogrammed lives of many young people today and the prescribed nature of standardized testing.

For those who are involved in their own school papers or for those who like stories about principled young kids who stand up to and overcome adult deceit, then Adam Canfield of the Slash is a solid choice. Also, for those who like Winerip’s first book, more of Adam’s adventures with the Slash are now available in Adam Canfield, Watch Your Back! (Adam Canfield of the Slash)(2007).

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Ingo by Helen Dunmore (2006 US hardcover; 2008 US paperback)

“Ingo’s a place that has many names, ” says Granny Carne. “You can call it Mer, Mare, or Meor…Earth and Ingo don’t mix, even though we live side by side. Earth and Ingo aren’t always friends…”

Despite Granny Carne’s words, in Helen Dunmore’s fantastic fantasy Earth and Ingo do mix–with consequences. Ingo is set partially above ground in modern day Cornwall and partially below the surface of the water in Ingo.

Ingo features Sapphire Trewhella (also known as Saph or Sapphy). Sapphy takes after her father, Matthew Trewhella, in that she has always been drawn to the sea. She recalls, “Dad used to say that the sea doesn’t hate you and it doesn’t love you. It’s up to you to learn its ways and keep yourself safe.”

It’s “Dad used to say” because her father has disappeared. His boat, the Peggy Gordon, was found without him in it, and he is presumed drowned. Sapphy, however, suspects her father’s disappearance has something to do with Ingo. She recalls her father singing, “I wish I was away in Ingo; Far across the briny sea, Sailing over deepest waters; Where love nor care never trouble me…”

Her father’s disappearance certainly troubles her and causes trouble for her family. Her mother is forced to work all the time at her waitressing job and, consequently, her older brother Conor and Sapphy spend much time by themselves.

When one day Sapphy cannot find Conor, she fears that he has disappeared just like her father. She heads out to the cove to look for him, and she finds him talking to Elvira the mermaid. This leads to her encounter with Faro the merman who takes her on a journey under the sea. On this journey, she lets go of Earth completely and becomes a part of Ingo.

Sapphy and Conor are welcomed into Ingo because they each have a little Mer in them (long story that goes into family lore about the disappearance of a previous Matthew Trewhella), but Sapphy seems to have even a little more than her brother. Her draw to the sea becomes increasingly strong after she’s been a part of it. Not-too-subtle warning signals such as a new found taste for salting her water and consuming anchovies begin to alarm Conor while her mother appears largely ignorant of all goings on. With Conor’s help, Sapphy struggles to resist the pull of Ingo.

Yet, despite her resistance, Sapphy continues to find Ingo and Faro seductive. When she’s in Ingo, nothing else seems to matter–not time, not Conor, not Earth, not humanity in general. When she’s not in Ingo but back on Earth, she finds so many troubles weighing her down–she feels in her bones that her father is still alive but he’s made no attempt to contact her, her mother has given up on her father coming back and is becoming romantically involved with a diver named Roger (a diver who’s getting increasingly close to encroaching upon Ingo), and her mother is dead set against her getting a dog (when Sapphy already has the perfect one picked out!).

Ingo takes on the struggle between two worlds, between two types of people, between two ways of life. The struggle between Ingo and Earth has its parallel struggle within Sapphy’s family where the impetuousness of Sapphy and her father frequently clashes with the practical nature of Conor and her mother. This struggle comes to the fore in the latter part of Ingo when Roger decides he wants to dive in areas where, unbeknownst to him, he is not welcomed.

Dunmore’s characters are flawed yet still developing and changing just as the world is flawed yet still developing and changing (the latter we have the privilege to participate in changing). Ingo is top-notch fantasy while also speaking to family dynamics, individual choices, willpower, self-discovery, and imagination.

Ingo–with its tagline “In a world without air all you breathe is adventure”–will likely be popular with middle grade fantasy fans of both genders. Ingo is Book One in a planned tetralogy–Ingo, The Tide Knot, The Deep, and The Crossing of Ingo (the final two are more difficult to attain from within the US since HarperCollins just published the US edition of The Tide Knot in January 2008). For more on the series immediately, visit Helen Dunmore’s site or Harper Collin’s Ingo site (including a video book trailer). The pull of Ingo is strong, who can resist?

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In a belated salute to mothers and Mother’s Day, here’s a review of a story about a loyal young son on a quest to save his mother (among other things).

*mild, but not overly detailed, spoilers follow

Erec Rex the Dragon’s Eye by Kaza Kingsley (2006)

Erec Rex, also known as Rick Ross, hails from New York City, New York on the planet Earth as we know it. Or at least he always thought he did until one day when he wakes up to find his mother missing and his thoughts cloudy.

For Erec’s whole life (which is to say twelve years), he’s experienced what he calls “cloudy thoughts”–thoughts which essentially compel him to perform a certain action. Erec has found that these thoughts generally arise when someone is in danger, and, on that note, he embarks to find his mother.

Armed with his one good eye, his glass eye, and his cloudy thoughts, he tracks his mother to her last known whereabouts–Grand Central Station. While Erec does not find his mother at Grand Central Station, he meets a girl named Bethany who has seen his mother and who has some ideas about where his mother may have gone.

Together, Erec and Bethany leave Upper Earth and enter a world beneath Grand Central Station–the Kingdom of the Keepers. They soon find that the Kingdom of the Keepers is a kingdom where magic has been kept (aptly named, no?) and still flows freely, whereas they have come from a world where magic has been lost.

As they begin adjusting to the magic around them, they find that they have entered the Kingdom of the Keepers just as a tournament is about to begin to decide the next three rulers of the lands. King Piter (as in Jupiter), Queen Posey (as in Poseiden) and King Pluto (as in Pluto) are purportedly in charge of the tournament. But, as they say, there’s something rotten in the state of Denmark (or Alypium, as the case may be), and the contestants keep getting hurt.

Erec’s special eyeglasses enable him to communicate with his imprisoned mother. However, he does not find conversations with her to be all that enlightening in helping him to understand his past; instead, he finds vague hints and blatant omissions. Nevertheless, he doggedly pursues gathering the materials (through the MagicNet and other means) that she says he needs in order to free her.

The time that Eric does not devote to planning his mother’s breakout he spends entering the tournament and navigating the various contests; Bethany enters as well. As they persevere through each contest, they discover latent talents and gain confidence in themselves and in their friendship.

With contests such as MONSTER (“multi option non stop to end race”), Pro and Contest, Tribaffleon and creatures such as minotaurs, wenwolfs, and sea serpents and objects such as a gravity-challenged castle, anibals, and Identdetectors (and let’s not forget nitrowisherine), there’s a great deal here to engage the mind, delight the senses, and jumpstart the imagination. Plus, Kingsley mixes in just the right amount of Greek, Roman, Celtic and Norse mythology to create some intertextuality as well as offering up age-old (and yet never outmoded) themes of justice, friendship, loyalty, and courage.

In the end, it’s not really the end, as Erec discovers he’s got twelve Herculean labors, errr, that is, quests to complete. The epilogue contains additional clues to his past and provides a compelling case for running straight out and jumping into Book 2, Erec Rex: The Monsters of Otherness.

For those who want to just “get a taste” of either book one or book two, sample chapters from each book are available at the official Eric Rex website. And Book 3, Erec Rex: The Search for Truth is scheduled for release in October (and the cover art has already been released)!

Kaza Kingsley also recently finished a blog tour, so you can find author interviews and more on numerous kidlit blogs. Or read more about this tour and her other wanderings at her own The Memory Mogul (life in the mind of a fantasy author) blog.

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Sky Village Book 1 (Kaimira) by Monk & Nigel Ashland (2008)

“Human hatred for meks and beasts ran deep…After decades of war followed by only a few years of uneasy peace, humans had learned to stick with their own kind.”

In a post-Trinary War world, Earth is populated with meks (machines), beasts, and humans. With meks and beasts constantly warring and pillaging, it’s all humans can do to find a place to call home. Some are laying low on ground or underground and others have taken to the sky.

Mei is one of those who (reluctantly) takes to the sky when her father sends her off to live in the Sky Village. Hovering high above China, the Sky Village is a community tied together through a maze of interconnected hot-air balloons and a shared history; Mei is forced to do some serious adjusting–both in her balance and in her life outlook. Half a world away in what remains of Las Vegas Rom fights his own demons (literally). In an attempt to save his sister, he enters the Demon caves where he finds himself embroiled in a gladiator-style competition against demon hybrids for the entertainment of the masses.

With Mei above Earth in China and Rom below Earth in Las Vegas, the two find themselves joined through the Tree Book. The Tree Book is a book of stories and other wonders that that their parents have always guarded. They have never before seen inside its pages. Now with their parents absent from their lives, Mei and Rom take the Tree Book into their own hands and find each other. In their friendship, they develop a certain sense of stability in the midst of a world of uncertainty. In the Tree Book, they find the beginnings of answers to their past and more enigmas about the future.

Mei and Rom discover that they are both carriers of the Kaimira gene–a genetic mutation endowing them with characteristics of human, beast, and machine. The Kaimira gene provides an intriguing basis for the plot for this story and for the future of the series.

In Sky Village, the Ashlands combine elements of future story, fantasy, survival, adventure, identity, and culture. The series reminds me a bit of Philip Reeve’s Hungry City Chronicles (Mortal Enginesand the like). Although Reeve’s series is aimed at a slightly older audience than the Kaimira series, both grapple with ideas about Otherness and possible ways of interacting with those who are different from ourselves.

Takeaway quote: Mei’s mother once told her, “If you know your enemy as you know your friend…then there is hope your enemy will become your friend.”

*review based on an advance reading copy

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The Secret History of Tom Trueheart by Ian Beck (2006 in Great Britain, 2007 in US)

“‘You’ll need courage,’ is what the crow had said, courage. That meant he would really have to face danger and trouble, and he was frightened of danger, and he was frightened of trouble. But they seemed to have come calling anyway, both for him and his brothers.”

Our “once upon a time, long ago” story begins with Tom Trueheart on the brink of turning 12, the age when he’ll be eligible to follow in the footsteps of his six brothers–Jack, Jacquot, Jacques, Jackie, Jackson, and Jake. His brothers “were very tall, very beefy, very brave, and very noisy young men”; they are all famous adventurers in the Land of Stories.

Just before Tom’s birthday, his brothers are all called away on their respective adventures which all turn out to be familiar stories such as Cinderella, the Frog Prince, Sleeping Beauty, Rapunzel, Snow White, and Jack and the Beanstalk. So off they go with promises to return in time for Tom’s birthday celebration while Tom remains behind with his mother (his father has been lost somewhere in the Land of Stories long ago which just cries sequel doesn’t it?).

Left behind as usual, Tom suffers from bad dreams about scary adventures, diffidence in himself, and worries about a secret he keeps locked up tight inside–”He was not at all brave“. When his brothers do not return, however, he is forced to confront his fears.

The normal way of things is that the Story Bureau assigns the adventurers a story with a beginning and the adventurers enter the Land of Stories to complete the tales. Unfortunately, this time Tom’s brothers have not returned because of the diabolical scheming of one Story Bureau writer, Julius Ormestone. Ormestone decides that he’s sick and tired of creating beginnings for which the adventurers get to complete the stories and he takes drastic measures to change things (i.e., kidnapping assorted adventurers with the last name Trueheart).

Fortunately, the Master of the Story Bureau appoints Tom to his brothers’ rescue. When the Story Bureau assigns a Trueheart a story, a Trueheart steps up to the task and discovers an ending for the tale. So Tom enters the Land of Stories where he will need all of the courage he can muster in order to save his brothers from the man who is trying to destroy his family and the Land of Stories itself.

The Secret History of Tom Trueheart is full of adventures and adventurers, of familiar tales and new twists, of nefarious plotters with wicked schemes and helpful comrades with ready aid, of evil and of good, of greed and of generosity, of cowardice and of courage. For those who enjoy The Secret History of Tom Trueheart, the sequel, Tom Trueheart and the Land of Dark Stories, was published on March 06, 2008 in the UK and the US edition will be available May 27, 2008. Read the Times Online review for more on the sequel.

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Leepike Ridge by N.D. Wilson (2007)

“‘I don’t know where to start,’ Tom said.

‘According to some people, the beginning is a good place.’

Tom puffed his cheeks. The beginning? His day dying. Jeffrey Veatch chasing his mom. Refrigerator deliverymen. Packing foam.”

At eleven years old, Tom already has quite a few stories to tell. Leepike Ridge is just a piece of Tom’s story–Tom’s life after his father’s death. It’s his life with his mother in their home on top of a rock in which he misses his father terribly and loathes his mother’s new boyfriend Jeffrey Veatch. And it’s his struggle to survive and to find the light again when he is pulled underwater metaphorically by the weight of his burdens and also literally by the current.

This struggle for survival begins in earnest when Tom decides to ride the packing foam down the local stream in the middle of the night (he can’t sleep after being informed that his mother is “considering” Jeffrey’s proposal). Tom awakens to being pulled underwater into a series of underground caverns from which there is seemingly no escape. This fact becomes all the more trenchant when Tom meets Reg, a man who has been stuck underground for three years with little light, with negligible diet variation (crawdads, crawdads, and more crawdads), and with no company save for the occasional visit from a partially lame canine named Argus. Reg tells Tom of his underground lair, “The hard part wasn’t finding this place; that was an accident. The hard part is staying alive, wanting to stay alive when you can’t get back out.”

Yet, together Tom and Reg (and Argus the dog) help each other to hope and to search for a way out. Reg tells Tom, “If you die trying, I’ll die alongside you. It would be a nice change of pace from firelight and pasty-looking crawdads.”

Above ground, Tom’s mother Elizabeth refuses to give up hope that Tom’s still alive. In searching for Tom, she discovers that her husband’s death may not have been accidental. Throw in a villainous group of men who pretend to search for Tom but are actually searching for treasure and who will stop at nothing to get their hands on it and a sinister dimension is added to an already gripping mystery-survival story. N.D. Wilson’s first novel for young children is a riveting adventure that cries out to have its pages turned to the very end in order to find out whether Tom will ever again see the light of day.

Fans of adventure-survival stories like those of Gary Paulsen, Will Hobbs, Harry Mazer, and Jean Craighead George (as well as fans of the more classic adventure authors such as Daniel Defoe, Robert Louis Stevenson, and H. Rider Haggard) will likely feel they’ve struck gold in reading Leepike Ridge.

Takeaway quote:

Reg: “After three years down here, I’ve not learned too much. But one thing I do know is that our bellies aren’t big enough for revenge. It turns sour and eats you up. We’ll get out, but we’ll get out for the sun, the moon, and mothers, not for small-souled enemies, though we’ll deal with them when we get there.”

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Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians by Brandon Sanderson (2007)

“What you haven’t realized is that all libraries are far more dangerous than you’ve always assumed.”

When orphan Alcatraz Smedry receives a bag of sand as his inheritance from his long departed parents for his thirteenth birthday, he is confused (and disappointed) to no end. That confusion only deepens the next day when his Grandfather Smedry arrives proclaiming, “Lad, with those sands, the Librarians could destroy kingdoms, overthrow cultures, dominate the world!” The Librarians have stolen the sands and it is up to the Smedrys, as Oculators of the Free, to get the sands back.

From the moment of the sand’s arrival into his life, a whole new reality opens up to Alcatraz. It’s the Free Kingdomers with their champions the Smedry’s against the Hushlanders and the evil Librarians in a war that’s fought not about guns or swords but about information. The Librarians rule the Hushlands by controlling information (for example, only the Librarians know of the three extra continents, and now you do too, so shhhh…).

The Librarians were founded by a man named Biblioden who felt that the strangeness of the world required that it be “ordered, organized, and controlled”. The headquarters of the Librarians’ control is the Library, and, thus, Alcatraz’s Grandpa decides a full library infiltration is needed in order to recover the sands.

So the Smedry’s set out for the Library to face down the evil Librarians. Alcatraz is a bit skeptical about the likelihood of their quest’s success: “Let me get this straight. Our strike team consists of a loony old man, an anthropologist, a grad student, and two kids.”

Nevertheless, the four Smedry’s do not enter the enemies lair (the Library) unarmed. They possess unusual talents–Grandpa Smedry (arrives late to his own death), Sing Sing (can trip and fall to the ground), Quentin (can say things that make absolutely no sense whatsoever), and Alcatraz (skilled at breaking things). Plus, they have their knight protector, Bastille–she’s a Crystin who has pledged her life and her services to keeping the Smedry’s alive.

As Alcatraz’s first adventure draws to a close, Sanderson drops many hints pertaining to Alcatraz’s next adventures. The Smedry’s won this battle, but Grandpa Smedry says, “…there is a great deal to be done. The Free Kingdoms are losing the battle against the Librarians.”

In the book, Alcatraz gives readers a warning against books that others describe as important, meaningful, and thoughtful–these books often involve dogs and/or mothers dying. His book, by contrast, includes adventure with fights against Librarians, paper monsters, and one-eyed Dark Oculators while at the same time alerting readers of “the cult of evil Librarians who secretly rule the world.”

While no one would dare to ascribe to Alcatraz versus the Evil Librarians such words as important, meaningful, and thoughtful, it is nonetheless a fun yarn that will appeal to conspiracy theorists, readers of alternative worlds fantasy fiction, and overall fast-paced adventure stories. If you enjoy imagining along with the sometimes outlandish, at all times entertaining imaginations of authors such as M.T. Anderson (Whales on Stilts and The Clue of the Linoleum Lederhosen), Jasper Fforde (Thursday Next, Nursery Crime), and Terry Pratchett (Discworld), then you might want to give Anderson’s depiction of reality a try. You’ll be sure to find a copy of the book at your local library…

Quotes of Note:

“Remember, despite the fact that this book is being sold as a ‘fantasy’ novel, you must take all of the things it says extremely seriously, as they are quite important, are in no way silly, and always makes sense. Rutabaga.”

“Information. The Librarians control the information in this city–in this whole country. They control what gets read, what gets seen, and what gets learned. Because of that, they have power. Well, we’re going to break that power, you and I.”

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The Bark of the Bog Owl by Jonathan Rogers (2004)

My Dearest King–

You will be glad to learn that I am still available for any quest, adventure, or dangerous mission for which you might need a champion or knight-errant. I specialize in dragon-slaying, but would be happy to fight pirates or invading barbarians if circumstances require…

So begins the story of Aidan Errolson, a boy with a big imagination and an even bigger heart. The Bark of the Bog Owl, the first book of Jonathan Rogers’ Wilderking Trilogy, is at a basic level a retelling of the Old Testament story of David and Goliath, but Rogers moves far beyond this basic level in creating a unique story about a boy who is called upon to do great things flanked by a motley collection of comrades and a series of unusual occurrences.

Although there are some parallel characters, Aidan Errolson (David), King Darrow (King Saul), Bayard the Truth Speaker (Prophet Samuel), Greidawl (Goliath), Rogers also creates some original ones such as Dobro of the fascinating Feechiefolk. Even the parallel characters have been developed so that readers gain a new sense of what their experiences must have been like and the courage that it must have taken for a small boy to face not only a giant but also the derision of his own brothers and people.

When Aidan doubts himself, Bayard tells him, “Live the life that unfolds before you.” The story pits small Corenwald and the one God against the mighty Pyrthens and their many gods. As Aidan prepares to face Greidawl he proclaims, “If I am defeated tomorrow, I want to die as I have lived–a shepherd boy, with the sun on my forehead and the breeze in my hair. But if I overcome, everyone must know that the One God, and not Aidan Errolson, is the Champion of Corenwald. Neither arms nor armor can deliver Corenwald–only the arm of the One God.” Now those would make some great famous last words, but, fortunately, they aren’t his last words as everyone knows that David defeats Goliath (or in this case, Aidan defeats Greidawl).

Although Aidan’s choices and the ending are somewhat of foregone conclusions, Rogers moves the story along and keeps it interesting by throwing in some humor, adding characters, creating increasingly grand action episodes, and changing of scenery. As Aidan’s adventures increase in scope, the setting shifts easily from Tambluff Castle, to Feechiefen Swamp, to Bonifay Plain, and beyond. Plus, the inclusion of a giant helps along the cause of getting the blood pumping and the pages turning.

The first book in the Wilderking Trilogy, The Bark of the Bog Owl speaks to love for God and country, faith, bravery, and overcoming seemingly impossible odds. The remaining two books of the trilogy appear promising to do more of the same (book 2: The Secret of the Swamp King (2005) and book 3: The Way of the Wilderking (2006)).

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