Fablehaven

Kendra and Seth have to spend two weeks with their grandparents, who are a complete mystery since they almost never leave their home. When they arrive, Kendra and Seth discover that their grandparents' home is far from normal - it's a vast estate, with a huge mansion for a home, a housekeeper, a vast forest, and a swimming pool. Grandpa Sorenson has some rather strict rules in place, however, and some of these rules are just asking to be broken by the mischievous Seth. The more cautious Kendra, however, follows the set of clues left by her grandfather and makes a discovery. This is no ordinary estate. Grandpa Sorenson is the caretaker of a preserve for magical creatures. Kendra and Seth slowly learn more about the magical fairies and ingenious brownies who enhabit the preserve. Unfortunately, not all of the creatures found in Fablehaven are good, and on Midsummer's Eve Grandpa Sorenson is kidnapped by some imps looking for vengeance. It is up to Kendra and Seth to discover what happened to their grandfather and save Fablehaven from certain doom.

There is an awful lot of fantasy out there for kids to read, and this is one of my favorites. The story unfolds slowly and gently, and it takes quite a bit of time for Kendra and Seth to discover what Fablehaven really is. Yet this story's smooth pacing really reflects the way that children might actually make this sort of discovery - in stages with plenty of questions, rather than all at once with perfect understanding. The description found in this book is excellent and there are plenty of examples of vivid word choices that would make this book a lot of fun to read out loud.

Now that the story has been set up, it will be interesting to see where Kendra and Seth's adventures will take them next. Look for the next volumes in author Brandon Mull's delightful series, Rise of the Evening Star, Grip of the Shadow Plague, and Secrets of the Dragon Sanctuary.

Overall Grade: A

Twelve Terrible Things

Yesterday while I was working, I got to handle what might be one of the scariest things that a librarian might ever encounter: A book challenge. A patron came into the library with a picture book she had read to her three-year-old son, Twelve Terrible Things by Marty Kelley. She explained that she felt that the book should be shelved with the adults materials because it was inappropriate for young children.

This book features twelve two-page spreads, each showing vivid illustrations demonstrating some sort of childhood trauma. These incidents range from a scoop of ice cream falling off of a cone to a visit to the dentist to an incredibly mean-looking birthday clown. All of the illustrations are done as if from the perspective of the child, making some of these terrible things incredibly large and dramatic and - if you put yourself in the shoes of the child - kind of scary or intimidating at times. The number of words on each page is very sparse, allowing the illustrations to do most of the talking.

This book is a work of dark humor. It uses exaggeration to poke fun at the childhood traumas - older kids and even adults will likely be able to look at these "terrible things" with humor and even nostalgia. The book is perfectly arranged and blends words and pictures in such a way as to make these incidents truly creepy and scary at the same time though, and the humor is very dark.

So why did this mother object to this book? Well, very young children like her three-year-old son lack the life experience and the mental repertoire to appreciate this book. In order for this book to be funny, one has to be somewhat past the stage where these events are traumatic so that they can be looked back upon. To really "get" this book, the reader needs to be able to recognize that yes, these events are horrible in the eyes of children, but in the grand scheme of things it's not necessarily all that bad. Preschoolers just can't do that yet. A very young child like this woman's son wants to know why, for example, the goldfish is being flushed down the toilet. This invites darkness and trauma into the life of a child who perhaps has yet to experience these sorts of emotions. The woman who objected to Twelve Terrible Things wanted the book removed from the children's collection to save other children - and their parents - from this sort of trauma.

And I completely understand this woman's concerns. Often when we talk about book challenges, we think of closed-minded people who object to sex or violence and feel (often wrongly) that these elements are inappropriate for children of the age that the book is being used with. But in this case, the mother admitted to me that she herself thought the book was great. The book just wasn't appropriate for her son's age group, which I completely agree with. But does that mean that the picture book should be removed from the collection? After all, I'm sure that an older, school-age child would have the mental capacity to appreciate and find humor in this book. Should we have a separate collection of picture books for older readers? Or should parents simply do a better job of previewing materials before they use them with their children? These are all very relevant questions that this challenge has brought up, and I am interested to see what comes of it.

Overall Grade: A-

The House of the Scorpion

Nearly 200 years in the future, a strip of land between the United States and Mexico has become its own nation known as Opium, ruled over by the powerful drug lord Matteo Alacrán. Alacrán is nearly 150 years old, having taken advantage of a number of elaborate medical treatments to prolong his life. One this old man's most powerful allies can be found in his clone, the young Matt. As a clone, Matt is despised by almost everyone else, treated like a piece of livestock and completely avoided by all but a few members of the elder Matteo Alacrán's household. Matt is unsure why he is treated this way, but over time he slowly comes to realize that clones are simply tools from which body parts are harvested, and with the elder Alacrán's failing health Matt's turn to be harvested may be coming soon. With the help of his few friends, 14-year-old Matt must make his escape and try to make his own way in a dangerous world of corruption and hardship.

This engaging piece of science fiction, written by renowned author Nancy Farmer, looks at the issue of cloning and the ethics surrounding this practice. Matt's naivete allows the mystery surronding what he is to unfold slowly, and while the reader is likely to put the pieces together long before Matt does, his own journey and growth in understanding is brilliantly paced. This book is a well-conceived and perfectly executed dramatic adventure which has won numerous awards for its excellence, including the National Book Award, the Newbery Honor, and the Printz Honor.

Overall Grade: A

"Real" Books

Today while I was working, I observed a parent tell her children to go and pick "real books" to check out. The kids had already selected a reasonable stack of books, largely selections of paperback series, but mom told them in no uncertain terms that their choices were, "junk...like cartoons." The word I would use to describe Mom's tone of voice as she expressed this view is "condescending."

This sort of attitude is disturbing to me for several reasons:

• There is absolutely nothing wrong with paperback series. Kids of this age (these two were ages 8-10 or so) often find comfort in the formula often found in these series, and enjoy being able to follow the adventures of familiar characters. Reading a paperback "Secrets of Droon" or even a "Rainbow Magic" or "Pokemon" book isn't going to kill a kid's brain. At lest they're reading - any exposure to the written word is always better than no exposure.
• If you want your kids to be readers, you first need to teach them to love reading. If reading becomes a chore, or if kids don't enjoy what they read, they won't want to keep doing it. And if they don't want to read, even if they're forced to they won't get nearly as much out of it. Telling your kids that they made poor choices in their reading, especially in a critical, condescending tone, and forcing them to read books they aren't interested in are both sure-fire way to turn kids off to reading.

Yes, there are plenty of amazing stand-alone novels that I really hope that kids will read and enjoy them. And I'll agree with this mother that many of these novels have higher-quality writing than paperback series. And I don't even think that there necessarily anything wrong with encouraging your kids to expand their horizons and explore these great novels. But there's no reason to have this sort of derogatory attitude toward paperbacks. Just because they're somewhat formulaic doesn't mean that they're not "real" books - don't rule them out just yet.