Sci Fi Friday Double Review: ANIMORPHS #1 & #2, by K.A. Applegate

I've mentioned a few times before, here and in various blogger profiles I've done for other blogs, that I absolutely loved the Animorphs series when I was younger. It's been just about 14 years since I got my first book - Easter Sunday, 1997, I woke up to find a book tucked in amongst the candy in my Easter basket. A red book with a weird picture on the cover of a girl turning into a cat.

I stuck through the whole series for five years, through the ups and (devastatingly terrible) downs that the 62 book series took. I ran a fan website, wrote tons and tons of fan fiction, and made some of the best friends a girl could ever hope to have, all because of these books.

So even though the books didn't go out on the highest note, I was beyond excited when I heard they were getting re-released, with some small updates to correct mistakes and bring the books into the 21st century. And when Cindy asked me if I wanted to check out the galley copies she had, I about had a heart attack from excitement. I still have all of my original books (including that 14 year old copy of The Visitor...as well as a copy of the second print run version and a copy in German) but I wanted to see what had been changed in these new versions. What I was entirely prepared for was a) the huge wave of nostalgia I felt upon reading the opening lines and b) just how awesome these books still are all these years later! Trust me, there's nothing else like Animorphs out there for this age group right now.

The Invasion introduces us to Jake, Rachel, Tobias, Cassie and Marco - five totally ordinary kids who make the fateful decision to walk home one night by cutting through an abandoned construction site. Their leisurely walk home is interrupted by a crashing space ship - and the kids make contact with their first alien, an Andalite called Prince Elfangor-Sirinal-Shamtul. He warns the group, telling them their planet is already being invaded by the Yeerks, slugs that crawl in through a person's ear before wrapping themselves around the brain and taking complete control of the body. Elfangor gives them the only weapon he can to defend their planet: the power to morph, to acquire the DNA of any animal and then change into that animal.

Jake, serious and responsible, quickly slips into the role of the leader of the group. The others all have strongly defined personalities as well: Rachel is fearless, Cassie compassionate, Marco a wiseass with a tragic past, and Tobias is quiet and shy with a good dose of tragedy of his own. Each book is told from a different character's point of view, so these first two give us the deepest looks into Jake and Rachel. If the other characters don't seem the most complex yet, just you wait.

The Visitor is set a short time later. Just long enough for the group to recover after some of the horrors they experienced in the last book before launching into another mission. This time we follow Rachel as she spends most of her time on reconnaissance missions into enemy territory, sneaking into the home of a friend in order to spy on her parents who are Controllers - people who have been taken over by the Yeerks. It's less action packed than The Invasion, but still filled with tension and drama of a different sort.

If you thought The Hunger Games was a little too violent...well, Animorphs isn't much better. It's not kids killing kids, but it does involve aliens being eaten alive by other aliens on a semi-regular basis. And Applegate doesn't pull away from these darker scenes - they're not gratuitous, but are certainly well-described.

K.A. Applegate absolutely doesn't condescend to her audience or pull any punches. I know the books end up dealing with some really serious moral issues, including war, murder/killing, the nature of evil and so on, but I'd kind of forgotten how outright violent they start. And I love it. The theme of the whole series is about war and its affects on people (much like the culmination of The Hunger Games), and you can't adequately explore that without getting into some bleak moments. Like I said, the descriptions aren't gratuitous - there isn't a grisly scene just for the sake of being edgy or dark - but they are definitely there, and are part of what really set these books apart (they're intended for ages 8-12...I was 12 when the series started. omg, I'm so old, and always have been in this fandom!).

There are also lots of little bits of awesome commentary that slip into these books. I immediately identified with Rachel back in the day (and she remains one of my favorite literary characters of all time), not only because she was tough and fierce and tall like I wanted to be, but she has lots of feminist moments, taking jabs at the boys when she thinks they are being unreasonably protective. There are also two characters of color - Marco is Hispanic and Cassie African-American. Their races are only mentioned in passing (until time travelling starts happening much later in the series), but it's there. There's also a bit of class consciousness - Marco's dad is extremely messed up after the death of Marco's mother a few years ago, meaning that money is short and they don't live in the greatest of neighborhoods. Meanwhile Rachel is the daughter of divorced parents but has her own credit card. It gets a little bit into Five Token Band territory (warning: TVTropes link), but as their distinct personalities develop it doesn't feel like lazy stereotyping.

For a 15 year old series (I got into the game a year late), it holds up surprisingly well. There's nothing here that screams mid-90s, and as someone who read these books obsessively, I can also tell you that the updating is quite minimal. The biggest update was changing a major continuity error in the first book (well, it wasn't a continuity error then, but they made a big deal out of the opposite thing happening in subsequent books). Otherwise it was like changing the name of a specific game system to just say "system." When I read the new Babysitter's Club prequel last summer, the writing felt like it definitely could have fit in with the original books...which wasn't the greatest thing. Those books were kind of clunky - like the template of the second chapter of every book detailing the characters. Nothing about these books feel dated, other than the fact that they are designed to be a monthly science fiction series - a genre you don't see at the book store too often anymore.

The Invasion and The Visitor will be released in May. Right now I believe the plans are for the first six books to get re-released over the next two years, so this definitely won't be the snappy pace I got used to back in middle school. Old school Animorph fans won't find much terribly new here - if your original books are still in your parents' basement, you're not missing out on anything if you just stick with those. But if tragedy struck so you don't have them anymore, and now you've got a serious craving for some old school Animorphs, you'll be pleased with these. Though I'm sad the corner morphing flipbook is gone :-( On the other hand: lenticular covers! The original cover style never excited me (that's book #4 to the right), and the new cover style isn't translating well into online images - the background patterns are much richer in real life, and the lenticular action is really quite good!

So, to sum up an incredibly long entry, let me just say this: I am so excited to see these books come back so that a whole new generation can get to know these amazing books.

Reviewed from galley copies. The Invasion and The Visitor will be released in May!

Review: Keep Sweet by Michele Dominguez Greene

Found via: 2011 Amelia Bloomer Project

I'm kind of beginning to feel like when it comes to stories of fundamentalist religious societies, all of the stories have been told. This is the third title about FLDS compounds I've read for young adults that has been published in the last three years, and all of the stories share the exact same structure (the other two titles being Sister Wife and The Chosen One)

Alva Jane has never questioned the tenets of living amongst the FLDS faithful in Pineridge. She comes from a long line of women who keep to the Principle - that a man must engage in plural marriage in order to secure his and his family's places in heaven. She is anxiously waiting for her period to start, signalling that she is a woman and ready to marry - hopefully to the young and kind Joseph John, which would also give her the status and privileges associated with being a first wife.

But when an innocent meeting between the two love birds is witnessed, both are fiercely punished, and Alva finds herself married to a cruel man old enough to be her father - a man who viciously beat one of his wives for attempting to escape Pineridge. Does Alva have the strength to defy the will of her husband, her family, and the very tenets of her faith, to find refuge in the world outside of Pineridge?

Well, if you've ever read any other books about young women in FLDS compounds, you already know the answer to that. You probably also know what Alva discovers immediately before she takes off. In an author's note, Greene notes that when she read accounts of women who've escaped FLDS life, their stories were all hauntingly similar, from British Columbia to New Mexico. That similarity is reflected in how many similarities Keep Sweet has to other YA books with similar settings. Obedient daughter who is enamored with a young man is punished for her curiosity by becoming the lowest wife on the totem pole to a much older man. About the only difference between Keep Sweet and other titles is that Alva Jane's parents show little to no remorse for the harsh treatment they heap upon her - they are more concerned with their own standing within the community than their daughter's happiness. This doesn't add much to the characterization of her father because he is so distant for much of the novel, but it does make her mother an interesting, if villainous, character.

On its own, there are few faults to be found with Keep Sweet, aside from an irritating habit in the first few chapters to go on page-long info-dumps about life in Pineridge and her family. If Keep Sweet were the only FLDS novel I'd ever read, I'd probably think it was pretty decent. However, the book doesn't exist in a vacuum, and ends up feeling quite derivative with nothing to separate it from the pack.

Review: A Tale Dark and Grimm by Adam Gidwitz

Fairy tale retellings have been popular...pretty much as long as I've been reading books. However, at least recently in YA, the re-tellings have focused on expanding the slight germ of a story from original sources like Grimm. They take a barebones story and expand it within its original fairy tale setting, like Princess of the Midnight Ball, or alternatively take the basic themes and set it in a totally foreign and modern setting, like Sisters Red. A Tale Dark and Grimm takes a slightly different approach, as it great adds depth to the original fairy tales while still maintaining the original spare-but-gruesome style.

Hansel and Gretel have a tough life, even in the original fairy tale, and Gidwitz ramps up the difficulty for them, giving them a father and mother who behead them in order to save the life of a beloved servant. When the children are put back together (it'd be an awfully short story if they weren't!), they decide they can't live with such awful parents, and set off into the forest to find new parents.

The first place they find is a cabin made of cakes and candies, where a kindly old woman lives and insists on feeding the children as much as they can possibly eat. Well, you probably know how this story ends. From here, Gidwitz retcons several more obscure Grimm tales in order to place Hansel and Gretel, either jointly or in solo missions, as the stars and heroes, with a narrator along for the ride that often interjects to let us know that the story is about to get darker and grimmer and bloodier and grosser and really any little kids in the room should have been sent to bed long ago.

This is a relatively dark and gorey book, but the narrator's presence really helps lighten the tone, even when he's warning us of doom and gloom. We know something bad is coming, so we can steel ourselves and be prepared. And really, even though Disney has bowdlerized a number of fairy tales, those can still get dark and creepy. The Wicked Queen in Snow White falls to her death (as does Mother Goethel in Tangled), the Beast is stabbed by Gaston and Mufasa is murdered by his own brother. While in A Tale Dark and Grimm bad things happen to the good guys, which can be more disturbing in some ways, I still never found it to be over the top.

Because the violence isn't the point of any one of these stories. While fairy tales were originally cautionary tales, the themes in A Tale Dark and Grimm are much more uplifting and aspirational about the meanings of love and family and kindness and sacrifice. These aren't warnings that good little girls and boys should stay out of the woods; these stories encourage recognizing the strengths and weaknesses in yourself and others, and being helpful and good whenever you can.

I absolutely loved that, unlike many classic fairy tales, Hansel and Gretel are equal players in this, and both get their fair share of adventuring and problem solving. Gretel really does get to wield that sword she's holding on the cover - no damsels in distress here! And speaking of that cover - it's absolutely fabulous, bringing to mind old woodcut illustrations. The design staff was clearly in communication with editorial when designing this cover, because everything there comes into play in the story eventually. Even that dragon!

Nonfiction Monday Review: Frozen Secrets: Antarctica Revealed by Sally M. Walker

Found via: Bookends

Last Monday, the big talk in New York City was how it was colder in Manhattan than it was in parts of Antarctica. Which probably isn't the fairest comparison considering it's summer in Antarctica right now, but the point was made: it was freaking cold here. As we're in a brief lull between snowstorms, and temperatures are thankfully back into the 30s, I thought it was high time to settle in with Frozen Secrets, Sally M. Walker's in-depth look at the mysterious continent.

Walker methodically walks us through numerous aspects of Antarctic exploration, from the first humans to attempt to cross the continent, back to the dinosaurs that once called it home, and looking ahead to what clues Antarctica can give us about Earth's future.

There's a little bit of something for everyone in here - geology and climatology, paleontology and even robotics. Every couple of pages I was coming across new stunning facts and photographs that I just had to share with my husband - who is going to read the book next and use it as research for the survival-horror role playing game he's setting up for our friends that will now be taking place in an Antarctic research station.

Teen readers I'm sure will feel a connection with the middle school scientists featured in the book - their science teacher goes scuba diving with Antarctic research teams, and gave her students the chance to build a robot that was actually used in an Antarctic dive. How cool is that?!

Walker does an excellent job of explaining complex scientific theories and experiments in plain language for the non-Antarctic-expert. The explanations are accompanied by amazing photographs and excellent charts and drawings when applicable, making everything extremely easy to understand, but not feel condescending.

This is also an absolutely stunning book. I can't find a picture of it online, but the cover image that Amazon has isn't the actual cover - the same picture is used, but the title is moved up above the mountains and is in a blue font, while the subtitle is in roughly the same position but faces from yellow to light blue, like the overall photo does. Visually stunning, and I just love the font as well - it comes back for the chapter headings throughout the book. Almost every page has at least one picture, from portraits of research teams to stunning landscapes to historical photographs of early Antarctic explorers. This is absolutely a must-read for any sort of science geek.


This week's Nonfiction Monday is hosted by The Miss Rumphius Effect. Be sure to stop by and check out the other great nonfiction titles highlighted this week!

Review: The Dark Game by Paul B. Janeczko

Nominated for the 2011 YALSA award for excellence in nonfiction

I've never been much of a fan of spy/mystery stories. I don't have anything against them, it's just that in the huge number of stories that are published every year, other things pique my interest first. Janeczko says in his introduction that he guesses the reader of the book has an interest in spies that "may run as deeply as [his]." Well that's not the case for me, but I still found this to be an incredibly interesting book.

Janeczko covers spying in America and by Americans from the Revolutionary War through early 2001. He picks out a few individual spies or campaigns for the major wars (plus the cold war) the US has engaged in, as well as highlights some of the evolving technology that's important in spy work (such as cameras, naturally). Some of these stories are absolutely amazing - like the tunnel the US and British dug from West to East Berlin in order to tap into Soviet telegraph cables.

Janeczko definitely has a flair for drama, as often these are tales of agents or governments crossing and double-crossing each other. For example, in the case of the Berlin tunnel, just when you think the story has ended and all is well for the US...Janeczko reveals a major twist in the story, illustrating that even the best laid plans can go awry, and sometimes you won't even know it.

I also have to say I'm really impressed that Janeczko highlights female spies, without ghettoizing them into a "lady spy" section. He covers the glamorous Mata Hari as well as Virginia Hall - a woman with a wooden leg who aided the French Resistance in WWII. Women spies also played important roles in the Revolutionary War and the Civil War.

Janeczko clearly has a deep interest in the technical side of spying. Not only are advances in technology highlighted in each chapter, but he often goes into detail about various codes that spies use. I'll admit a lot of these codes went over my head, but me and numbers just don't get along (and many of these codes rely on number substitutions), so I'm willing to be that's more of a problem on my part. It's still interesting to see the variety of codes used and how they've changed - with a highlight for me being the Choctaw Code Talkers in WWI, who were able to foil the Germans who were evesdropping on US communications by using an utterly foreign language.

This isn't an exhaustive biography of any one spy - rather this is an overview of how spying has affected US policies by looking at a few of the most influential individuals (both those who spied for the US and those who spied against us). I don't know how well known some of the people and events would be to someone who has a hard core interest in spies - I, for example, knew about the women mentioned in the Civil War from my reading on women's roles during that war - but it's certainly an enlightening and entertaining read for someone totally new to the subject.

Review: The Wonder of Charlie Anne by Kimberly Newton Fusco

Found via: The Fourth Musketeer

First, I'd just like to give a shout out to the Fourth Musketeer blog. I've been getting tons of historical fiction recommendations from there for the past few months, books that I don't always see reviewed elsewhere, so a big thanks to Margo for highlighting these great books!

It's the 1930s, and with the US in the grip of a devastating Depression, Charlie Anne finds herself in the midst of her own depression, following a series of personal tragedies. Her mother died in childbirth (which the baby didn't survive, either), her cousin Mirabel showed up shortly after the funeral to serve as the "new mama" to Charlie Anne and her four siblings, and now her father has gone north with her oldest brother to build roads.

On the home front, Mirabel runs the household with an iron fist, and never seems satisfied with Charlie Anne. Charlie Anne is forced to do all of the menial, domestic chores when she'd much prefer to be outside working with the animals, and Mirabel is constantly reminding her to act like a little lady, with advice from a book on manners she constantly keeps in her pocket. Just when life can't seem to get any drearier, a spark of excitement comes to town in the form of Rosalyn, the new wife of Charlie Anne's neighbor, and Phoebe, the African-American girl about Charlie Anne's age she brings with her. In Charlie Anne's small town, no one has ever seen anyone like this pair - witty, educated, and confident enough to wear trousers in colors like "red pepper red." But difficult times and a fear of change bring out the worst in people, forcing Charlie Anne to confront the ugly racism that can hide even in seemingly-reasonable people.

While this is definitely a novel about the terrible things racism can do to a community, I enjoyed immensely the undercurrent of feminism in Charlie Anne, Rosalyn and Phoebe. While Charlie Anne may not have the words to express quite why it's wrong, she complains about being forced to do chores like cleaning clothes and cooking while her brother milks the cows, when everyone knows Charlie Anne is better with the cows. Rosalyn and Phoebe show up in their daring fashion choices that wouldn't become commonplace for American women for decades, declaring they're the most sensible clothes for anyone who works and plays hard, but Charlie Anne is forbidden from wearing a pair of her own because it's not how proper young ladies are "supposed" to dress, according to Mirabel.

Charlie Anne has a wonderfully earnest voice. She's young enough to still believe in magic in the world, but the rapid succession of her mother's death, her father leaving to build roads, and the ugly face of racism in her family and community, are forcing her to grow up. Hopefully she won't ever lose the sense of wonder she carries through the novel.

Charlie Anne's voice also allows Fusco to overcome one of the hurdles of writing historical fiction - how to explain things that are a matter of fact to the characters but are strange and unfamiliar to a modern audience? Well, Charlie Anne is the sort of person that I think would explain how to make a vinegar pie over and over again to her neighbors, even though they've been doing it themselves for years. She's so eager and thorough that all of the historical descriptions seem totally natural in Charlie Anne's words.

Review: This Means War! by Ellen Wittlinger

The Cold War seems to be the hot topic in YA/MG lit this year. I think Deborah Wiles' Countdown has received the most attention, but there are at least two others I know of that have been published within the last few months. This Means War! is one of those.

Juliet and Lowell have been best friends for as long as Juliet can remember, but their friendship is suddenly at risk when he starts hanging out with a pair of Air-Force-brat brothers who refuse to play with girls. Juliet befriends Patsy, who has also moved to town because of her father's job at the local military base, but her loud and brash ways are no substitute for quiet and sensitive Lowell. When the neighborhood bully worms his way into hanging out with Lowell, and the boys continue to harass Patsy and Juliet, Patsy gets fed up and declares war on the boys. Girls can do anything boys can do, and the two groups of kids (Patsy and Juliet rope in two more girls from school to even out the teams) face off in a series of challenges to prove their superiority.

As tensions escalate among the kids in the neighborhood, life is stressful for the adults as well, as we see through Juliet's eyes. Her parents run the local grocery store that is slowly losing customers to the new supermarket in town. And then of course there's the whole reason new families have been moving to the airbase: the Cold War is in full swing, and what we know as the Cuban Missile Crisis has just begun.

Poor Juliet! Her fear and tension is palpable throughout the book. She's a rather nervous child, but is quite endearing, so I was willing to overlook her nerves. All she wants is her old best friend back and doesn't understand this nonsense over boys and girls not being able to play together. Then her new friend Patsy drags her into this boys vs. girls contest while her family life is getting increasingly stressful and the threat of all-out war is hanging overhead. The nerves are rather understandable in that context, aren't they?

I imagine the boys vs. girls contest will have a lot of resonance with girls who've ever been told we're "not as good" as the boys, and I loved it when the girls decided to turn the tables on the boys and make them compete in traditionally girl-y activities. There's a little bit of gender essentialism going on there, but considering some of the girls excel in the "masculine" activities and some of the boys excel in the "feminine" activities, it's a good counterpoint to what the kids expect will happen.

Review: The Wide Awake Princess by E.D. Baker

Found via Melissa at Book Nut

Another day, another fairy tale book! This one starts off as a take off on Sleeping Beauty, but ends up covering so much more.

In a land where all Royals are bequeathed with magical gifts at birth, Princess Gwendolyn is the prettiest, charmingest, and all around best princess of them all. But a jealous fairy cursed her as well, proclaiming that by her 16th birthday, the princess would prick her finger on a spindle and die. While her parents banished spinning wheels from the kingdom, when their second daughter, Annabelle, was born, they weren't going to take any chances and asked a fairy to protect her from evil spells. So Annabelle was gifted with a lack of magic - she has no magical enhancements, enchantments won't work on her, and she even diminishes the effects of magic on those around her - which certainly doesn't endear her to the women with magical beauty (including her mother!).

When a rogue spinning wheel makes it into the castle on Gwendolyn's birthday, the curse falls into place, only thanks to another fairy the punishment is lessened from death to 100 years of sleeping for Gwendolyn and the castle's inhabitants, to be ended only by the kiss of Gwendolyn's true love. Of course, the spell doesn't work on Annabelle, so it's up to her and one of the castle guards who'd been out of the gates on an errand, to track down Gwendolyn's love and save the day. 

This is great fun for anyone who's a fan of fairy tales in general, as during their journey Annie and Liam stumble across a boatload of other fairy tale and mythological characters, from kelpies to Hansel and Gretel to Rapunzel.

Annabelle is up there with Poppy for the title of "Awesomest Princess Ever." Annie spends a significant chunk of the story on her own before Liam shows up, and he's truly the sidekick, often relying on Annie's common sense and lack-of-magic to get the job done. The fairy who bestows this gift upon Annie says she'll have to rely on her own natural charm, which luckily Annie has in spades.

Also? I love this cover. I don't know why, but I think it's brilliant.

Nonfiction Monday Review: The Cowgirl Way by Holly George-Warren

Found via: The Amelia Bloomer Project

In elementary school, I loved stories about Calamity Jane and Annie Oakley. The Wild West was intriguing and exotic, and here were two women who made their own way through a rough and tumble world that was otherwise dominated by men! What wasn't there to like?

Unfortunately, Jane and Annie were my only exposure to cowgirls and western women in general. I think in middle school I learned about Belle Starr, but in a context that implied she probably did little more than run a safe house for male outlaws. Holly George-Warren is here with The Cowgirl Way to correct that bit of misinformation (she may have run a safe house, but she really did get up to all sorts of outlaw trouble on her own!), and show how wide-ranging cowgirl life could (and still can) be.

This is a light biography, with chapters devoted to "Women of the Old West," "Outlaws and Rebels," and several variations on cowgirls in entertainment, from wild west shows (starring the likes of Annie Oakley) and rodeos to singing cowgirls and cowgirls on TV and in film. This organizational set up gives us a great overview of the varieties of cowgirls that have captured the American imagination in the last 100+ years, but doesn't leave room to delve very deep into any one story. Personally, I also would have preferred more focus on what western life was really like, rather than an emphasis on cowgirls as entertainment, but that's a minor complaint.

I mentioned back in my women's history month post that I was disappointed in how often women's stories were relegated to March, and this would be an excellent book to use to illustrate parts of western life from a different perspective. The first chapter, "Women of the Old West" is a perfect illustration of how harsh conditions in the west when America was expanding necessitated women taking on roles that were considered improper back in the east. Clothes, riding sidesaddle, and the eventual right to vote (won in Wyoming, fifty years before the 19th amendment would be passed, granting the right to all women in the country) are all mentioned.

Also, I need to start keeping a list of off-the-beaten-track museums I want to visit some day. Did you know there's a National Cowgirl Museum? It and the attached hall of fame are mentioned in the closing chapter, "Twenty-First-Century Cowgirls." If I ever make it to Fort Worth, I'm definitely hitting it up!

While I'm now hungry for more cowgirl knowledge, this is definitely an excellent book to stoke curiosity and a jumping off point for more in-depth reading on the women of America's west.



Nonfiction Monday is hosted this week by Rasco from RIF. Be sure to stop by to see all the great nonfiction titles being shared this week!

Nonfiction Monday Review: Cleopatra Rules! by Vicky Alvear Shecter

While wandering through the exhibits at ALA, I stopped dead in my tracks when I saw this cover staring out at me from a backdrop:

I just had to stop and look around and ask about that book! Luckily, the ladies staffing the Boyds Mill Press booth were more than happy to talk about it and other books they carry featuring strong women and unique takes on history with an excited blogger. Advanced copies weren't available at ALA, but they made sure to mail me a copy as soon as they were available!

I have always loved Cleopatra - when other girls had a princess phase, I went straight to the top and loved the Queen (okay, I enjoyed my share of Disney princesses too, I suppose). One of my favorite Shakespeare plays? Antony and Cleopatra. So to say I was excited about a teen-oriented biography of this much-maligned royal is an understatement.

Shecter takes the haters to task. She hammers home the point that the victors get to write history, so it's likely that much of the Roman-oriented biography that's been handed down through the generations is unflattering at best. In truth, Cleopatra was as loved by her subjects as a Greek Pharaoh could be. Where others in the line of Ptolemy ruled apart from their Egyptian subjects, Cleopatra learned their language (as well as 20+ others!) and their rites and rituals, making her well loved by her subjects.

Cleopatra wasn't a seductress - she gained her power the old fashioned way, through cunning and shows of strength. She allied herself with the most powerful men in the world - Julius Caesar and Mark Antony - to make sure Egypt could remain a sovereign nation. She built up Egypt's armies so they had a chance of defending themselves. And she was something of a book worm, ensuring that she had the strategic knowledge to use her forces in the best way possible.

This is a beautiful book, both in content and presentation. Lots of full-color photographs of Egyptian antiquities are included and there are colorful sidebars and in-sets to highlight important information. The one turn off for me as an adult reader, was that I couldn't get past the writing style. Shecter uses a very slangy voice for the book, going so far as to refer to Octavian as "O-man" at one point. Perhaps this is just what a teen or tween needs in order to pick up a book about someone who's been dead for thousands of years, but it made it a little hard for me to take the book seriously sometimes. I kept hoping I'd get used to it, but I never did.

However, my hang ups wouldn't prevent me from strongly recommending this to someone desperate for a positive look at one of the most powerful women who ever lived. Cleopatra Rules! certainly rocks as a biography.

Nonfiction Monday is hosted by Playing by the Book this week. Be sure to stop by and check out all the other great nonfiction finds this week!
Also, final reminder for NYC-area readers, Books of Wonder's Mockingjay release party is tonight! I had some uploading fail yesterday, so be sure to check out my post yesterday to see what I'll be wearing so you can introduce yourself at the party!
Review copy was sent to me by the publisher, Boyds Mill Press.

Nonfiction Monday Review: Spilling Ink: A Young Writer's Handbook by Anne Mazer and Ellen Potter

Found via: Fuse #8 

True story: as a kid, I hated writing. It was easily one of my least favorite things to do, until a wonderful sixth grade teacher had writing days once a week, and eventually wore me down to the point that in high school I constantly had a notebook with me and spent every spare moment (and even some class time that technically wasn't "spare") writing (Animorphs fan fiction, if you're curious).

So if Spilling Ink had been around back in middle school, I probably would have devoured it.

Mazer and Potter have broken down writing into three general sections - Ready, Set, Go!; Crafting Your Story; and The Writer's Brain - and then those sections have been further divided into smaller sections, each like a mini-article written by Mazer or Potter (complete with byline, so you know who's talking to you). Some old writing standbys are addressed, like where to get ideas and questions to answer to help build your characters, but some other sections are unique to a book for young writers, like a few guidelines on writing children's picture books, and how to accept criticisms and tell good criticism from bad. About the only aspect of writing that isn't covered here that is covered in "adult" writing guides is publication.

Like noted in the Fuse #8 review, after children's books and series writing were mentioned, I hoped that other genres would be covered, like graphic novels and nonfiction, but I think the picture books and series were noted simply because those are the author's strengths. It's not a bad thing, but definitely left me wanting more!

I also have to say, this isn't a book that lends itself well to skipping from section to section - it seems designed to be read cover to cover. The small sections have really creative names, but that creativity sometimes means you can't figure out what they're about without the context of knowing its place in the entire book. "How to Turn Off Your Brain and Turn On Your Ideas" is straight forward, but "The View from the Boulder" is less so. So while in the introduction Mazer and Potter say they want this book to be for kids who are writers, kids who want to be writers, and kids who have no idea they want to write, I'm betting that last group isn't going to be picking this one up on their own. For kids who are passionate or curious about writing, this will be helpful, and really that's enough for me!




Today's Nonfiction Monday is hosted by Apples with Many Seeds! Be sure to stop by and check out the other great nonfiction being posted today!

Review: Little Blog on the Prairie by Cathleen Davitt Bell

I wasn't a Little House on the Prairie fan as a kid. Admittedly, I don't recall actually giving the books or the TV show a chance, I was just pretty sure I wouldn't like them and went on my way. Luckily, the Little House allusions seem to be primarily confined to the title, so don't think you have to be a fan in some way to enjoy this thoroughly entertaining book.

Gen's family isn't big on "family time," as each family member seems to be going in her or his own direction at any given time. Her dad doesn't even get involved with vacation plans, preferring to leave all that to her mom - which is how the family gets signed up for an entire summer at Camp Frontier - an immersive summer experience where families live, dress and work like they're on the Wyoming frontier in 1890.

To 13 year old Gen, this is the end of the world. She's supposed to be hanging out with her best friends and practicing soccer all summer so she'll be prepared for the high school's team in the fall. So her mom bribes her - come to camp without complaint, and get a fancy cell phone at the end of the summer. Gen agrees, but the allure of the phone is too much - she sneaks it to camp, promising to text her friends for as long as the battery holds out (after all, there was no electricity on the frontier - where will she charge the phone?)

Several families have come together to live the frontier life for the summer - and none of the kids seem terribly fond of the idea, including Nora, the daughter of Camp Frontier's organizers who has to live every day like it's 1890. Almost immediately, Gen bonds with Ka (short for Kate, rhymes with Saw, her favorite movie), the goth chick from a family of perky blondes set adrift without her supply of black  hair dye to keep her own blond roots at bay. And then there's the camp heartthrob, Caleb, who has just about every girl in the camp swooning in his wake, but doesn't seem to realize this.

The complicated interpersonal relationships, as well as the hardships and indignities of life on the prairie (three words: outhouse at night), are faithfully recounted by Gen via text message - which her friends back on the outside are faithfully translating into a blog. And not just any blog, but an overnight blogging sensation that has repercussions all the way back to the 1890s life of Camp Frontier.

This is a lighthearted, feel good book, totally entertaining book that is going to appeal to a variety of middle grade and young adult readers. Gen is only 13, and keeps her thoughts about Caleb on a totally PG level - when she discovers an illicit "electricity shack" on the farm, her first thought is about charging her phone, not about getting Caleb alone. Her sarcastic attitude is just enough to keep readers used to edgier fare interested in her misadventures on the farm, while being tempered with an innate sweetness that keeps her from coming off as a spoiled teenager. Gen isn't happy about being at Camp Frontier, but she does love her family, and is willing to put on a good face at least for their sake for the duration of the adventure.

The book is filled with great supporting characters as well. Even the adults have some personality - I about cheered when the moms threatened a feminist uprising when the camp owner tries to keep the women from speaking (Gen's mom is the first to point out that Wyoming had given women the vote well before 1890, meaning that women would certainly be used to speaking in their communities if nowhere else). Of course, bringing up that women were expected to fulfill 19th century societal roles gets a bit uncomfortable if you follow it to its logical conclusion - if you expect women to keep quiet, what would happen if an African- or Asian-American family signed up? It seems like some aspects of 1890 are best left ignored, like the corsets that aren't required thanks to liability issues. The feminist uprising is extremely brief, just a quick opportunity for some educational humor, and clearly isn't meant to be dwelt on.

Another educational bit is the mini-moral slipped in by the end regarding technology and expectations of privacy. It's not heavy handed, over the top, or totally obvious, but hopefully it will get younger readers thinking about privacy issues regarding e-mails and text messages - namely that once a message leaves your phone or computer, you no longer have much control over who else might see it.

While I know the summer is winding down, there's still a few weeks left for most people, and this would make an excellent last minute addition to your summer reading list!

Review: The Summer Before by Ann M. Martin

The book series in elementary school for me was the Baby-Sitter's Club. During spirit week in third grade I dressed up as Claudia for "favorite book character day" (spirit weeks in elementary school were always so nerdy. I loved it!) and I obsessed over the books for years - for about 5 seconds in 6th grade a friend and I tried to start our own babysitting club - foiled only by pesky facts like not knowing a lot of families with little kids. However, after sixth grade I set the books down and I don't think I ever picked them up again (I was distracted by my Animorphs obsession) - so when I started reading the new prequel, I was surprised by how much of these books I remembered!

Also, because it was stuck in my head the entire time I was reading the book (and again now that I'm reviewing it), here's the theme song for the TV show. Listen to it while you read the rest of the post and join me in my nostalgia/misery:



Told from alternating points of view like the old Super Specials were, The Summer Before shows the lives of Kristy, Mary-Anne, Claudia and Stacey the summer before Kristy has her big idea to form the Baby-Sitters Club. It's the summer before seventh grade and changes are afoot for everyone. Kristy's mom has started dating again, while Kristy is hoping desperately that her father will remember her 12th birthday. Mary-Anne is feeling stifled by her father's strict rules and wants to be trusted enough to go out babysitting on her own. Claudia has her first crush and feels she's growing up way faster than either Mary-Anne or Kristy and wonders whether they should still be friends. And poor Stacey is alone in New York City, still learning how to deal with her relatively recent diabetes diagnosis and how all of her friends seem to have turned against her. She can't wait until the end of the summer when she and her parents are moving to Connecticut.

One thing that did set this novel apart from the other BSC books is a distinct lack of description - the old books always dedicated the second chapter to giving an extensive rundown of the girls and their distinct late 80s/early 90s fashion sense (which continues to be celebrated today at What Claudia Wore). There's a severe lack of clothing descriptions here - I don't think Stacey's city-chic fashion sense was mentioned even once! The bulk of the clothing descriptions went to Claudia, naturally, but even hers seemed a little toned down. I miss my crazy Claudia :-(

Among the nostalgia, one thing I really, really enjoyed about this book, and in retrospect all of the BSC books, is how much these girls genuinely like each other. You can see why they're friends because it's actually demonstrated in the text - we aren't just told that they're friends and then they go off on their own separate adventures. I was a little concerned with Claudia's boy-interest in this book - I don't remember her being the type that would fall for a boy and ditch her friends in the process. Am I just forgetting something from the original series?

Is this a ground breaking novel? Nope. Is it a sweet coming of age story? Definitely. The writing style doesn't seem to have changed in 20+ years, which is great for the nostalgia factor for grownups returning to the series, though I don't know if this is the greatest place for prospective BSC fans to start.

Review: Finding My Place by Traci L. Jones

Found via: Publisher's Weekly 6/1

All it took was the Publisher's Weekly review mentioning that this book looks at the intersection of race and class for me to add this to my TBR list. Very few -isms, be that racism, sexism, classism, among others, act independently - instead they're a complicated combination, and I was excited to see how race and class might be handled in a middle grade/YA title.

Tiphanie Baker is the daughter of former civil-rights activists. She's grown up happily in a predominantly black neighborhood in Colorado, until shortly before the start of her freshman year, when her parents accept prestigious new jobs that enable them to move to a predominantly white suburb of Denver, and enroll Tiphanie in a predominantly white school. On the first day of school she gets a lecture about doing her part to "uplift the race," reminding her her actions will reflect on African-Americans as a group in the minds of her white classmates.

Tiphanie is met with stares, curiosity, and a little bit of outright hostility in her new school - including a teacher who doesn't believe Tiphanie belongs in an accelerated math class. No one seems eager to befriend her, except Jackie Sue, a white hippie chick who proudly calls herself trailer trash. Both of them outsiders, the girls form a tight friendship. Tiphanie is willing to overlook Jackie Sue's eccentricities, and even the obvious secrets she's harboring about her family. Tiphanie's parents, on the other hand, are less than thrilled to see their solidly middle class daughter is hanging out with the girl lowest on the class totem pole. As her friendship with Jackie Sue grows, Tiphanie finds herself wrestling with her values, and the values of her family.

I loved reading about Tiphanie. She's smart, funny and witty, and a compassionate person. As she becomes more comfortable around her white classmates, she wonders if she's turning her back on her old friends, perhaps even inadvertently turning her back on her race. However, when she does hang out with her old friends, there's definitely been a change in their relationships. Some of it is the natural evolution of friendships when you don't see each other every day, but at least one person thinks Tiphanie's trying too hard to fit in at her new school. On the flip side, when her parents start suggesting that maybe there are more appropriate friends than the lower-class Jackie Sue, Tiphanie shows how fiercely loyal she can be, noting that Jackie Sue was the only person willing to be friendly from day one.

This didn't seem to look at the intersections of race and class so much as it looked at racism and classism separately as part of the same overall story. Tiphanie and her parents face both overt and subtle racism, while Jackie Sue faces mostly overt classism, even from Tiphanie's parents (who mostly judge her based on her drunken mother). I still very much enjoyed it, it just wasn't quite what I was expecting going in.

Finally, can I just say how much I love the cover? The super bright flower-power colors evoke the setting and really make Tiphanie's silhouette stand out. I love that even in a silhouette it's fairly obvious she's African-American, and her pose is confident, like she can take on the world. One of the best covers I've seen in awhile.

Review: Grease Town by Ann Towell

Found via: April at Good Books and Good Wine



So the cover here for Grease Town is in some ways the opposite of all the white-washed covers we bloggers have been decrying. As April pointed out in the review that brought this book to my attention, it looks like it's going to have a black protagonist, but in fact the narrator here is a young white Canadian boy who befriends a young black boy.

Tired of living with his prim and proper aunt, when Titus hears his big brother, Lem, is on his way to work in Canada's prosperous new oil fields, Titus is anxious to join him. Of course, since he's just a kid there's no way he'll be allowed to go - so he stows away in Lem's wagon, hoping he'll at least get far enough away that it'd be impractical to send him home once he's discovered.

In the hardscrabble town of Oil Springs, it takes hard work and more than a little bit of luck to stay afloat. As the grown men are focused on striking it rich with oil, Titus meets and befriends Moses, a black boy around his age. On the outskirts of Oil Springs is a small community of rundown shacks and lean-tos that house the black workers, many of whom are escaped slaves from the United States. As the US is fighting its Civil War that will decide the fate of slavery, race relations are tense in Oil Springs as well as local ne'er-do-well John Longman starts stirring up trouble by accusing the black workers of driving down wages and taking jobs that should be going to whites. As tension and anger rise in the community, Titus finds himself torn between defending his friends, and taking the path of least resistance by staying out of the way.

As a US citizen, my history classes tended to ignore the rest of the world when something major was happening in the US, so I honestly have very little idea what was going on in the rest of the world while we were fighting the Civil War (except that there was an English governess in Siam). It was interesting to see the racial tensions that were playing out in Canada on the frontier, and how a few troublemakers can easily make these tensions explode into something much more dangerous.

On the other hand, this was such a short book that sometimes the race relations parts felt shoehorned in. Moses only shows up a few times, and really we're told more than shown how close he and Titus are, so when Moses and his family are in danger I didn't react as emotionally as I felt I would have if we'd actually seen more of the boys' friendship. Instead, Moses disappears for large chunks of the text while Titus deals with Lem and Uncle Angus and their budding romances with the house's kitchen girl and the town's school teacher respectively. This makes it feel much more like a period family drama at times until the final act when the racial tension finally explodes.

Note: I'm including this in the African American tag, even though it's set in Canada, because Moses' family are immigrants from the US.

Nonfiction Monday Review: I Am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced by Nujood Ali and Delphine Minoui

Found via: Amelia Bloomer Project nomination
Welcome back from the big weekend of ALA! I'm actually writing this post on Saturday night, since I'm not getting back to New York until late tomorrow - and I know there are plenty of librarians still in DC. Hopefully we'll still get a good Non-Fiction Monday turn out!

In 2008, Nujood Ali's story was all over the blogs. The 10 year old Yemeni girl had summoned the courage and strength to seek a divorce from her husband, who was 3 times her age. Here, with the help of a reporter, Nujood gives the first hand account of that experience, describing in child-like terms growing up in poverty, one child among many between her father's two brides. Despite the obvious difficulties, Nujood is generally a happy child.

And then the terrifying news comes - that she is to be married, to a man significantly older than she is. Nujood isn't entirely sure how old she is, but she knows she doesn't want to marry and leave her family. Her father has made her future husband promise not to "touch her" until she has reached puberty, but at 10 Nujood doesn't really even know what that means, let alone what sex is and what it means when her husband demands that she act like his wife.

It is on one of her brief trips to visit her family that Nujood plans her escape, taking a taxi to the court house and making history by announcing to a judge that she wants a divorce.

Nujood's story is absolutely heartbreaking. The trauma she experienced is unimaginable for us in the West, with firmly established age of consent laws and lack of arranged marriages. The child-like prose doubles the horror for an adult reader, for while Nujood's descriptions of her relationship with her husband are never described in graphic detail, it's painfully obvious that she is raped and abused by her new husband and his family.

As an adult reader, I often craved more details - many people in the courthouse tell Nujood that granting her divorce will be nearly impossible, thanks to centuries of tradition, and yet we never see any of that struggle. A couple of meetings with a lawyer, her husband and father are temporarily sent to jail, and then a hearing - suddenly Nujood is free! However, I think for young readers the descriptions and details will be more than enough.

Nonfiction Monday is a weekly event across the kidlitosphere, highlighting and celebrating nonfiction published for children and young adults. Started by Picture Book of the Day, I'm excited to be this week's host! Participants, please leave links to your reviews in the comments, and I'll add them to this post periodically throughout the day!






Other Nonfiction Monday posts:

• Wild About Nature blog: a review of Down, Down, Down: A Journey to the Bottom of the Sea by Steve Jenkins.
• The Book Nosher: a review about Bill Peet, An Autobiography
• Another Steve Jenkins book, How to Clean a Hippopotamus, at Jean Little Library
• Anastasia Suen is in today with a fun book about ...Dinosaurs?! at Picture Book of the Day 
• Mary Ann Fraser brings us a guest post today by Vicki Leon on The Publishing Road Less Traveled
• SimplyScience looks at More Life Size Zoo
• The Fourth Musketeer joins us for her first Nonfiction Monday with a review of All Star, about baseball player Honus Wagner.
• Maggy at Red Ted Art reviews three books for little gardeners
• Maclibrary reviews the young reader's version of The Omnivore's Dilemma
• Shelf Employed reviews Happy Birthday The Story of the World's Most Popular Song
• Roberta introduces us to Super Women in Science at Growing With Science
• Mary Ann Dames is preparing for the fourth of July with America: A Patriotic Primer
• A Patchwork of Books comes in with two reviews of the popular Scientists in the Field series, Project Seahorse and Kakapo Rescue
• A late entry! Abby (the) Librarian finishes us off today with Lincoln Tells a Joke

What a day. Thanks to all of the Nonfiction Monday participants!

Non-Fiction Monday Review: Short: Walking Tall when You're Not Tall at All by John Schwartz

Found via: Publisher's Weekly 4/5

I'll be upfront here: I'm a short woman. Always have been. In middle school when the girls were getting their growth spurts and suddenly towering over the boys, I was still shorter than a lot of those boys. Hence my obsession with high heels shoes - I bought my first pair of heels (combat-style boots with three inch chunky heels) in sixth grade. To the right you'll see my favorite pair of heels today - I don't care that they're 4 inch micro-stilettos, they're the most comfortable shoes I've ever owned (though mine are black patent, not bubble gum pink).

So all of that is just to say that I have a vested interest in Schwartz's topic. Schwartz is just barely taller than I am, standing five feet, three inches tall. He's heard all the jokes and teasing all of his life and read all the doom and gloom studies about how hard life is for short people. But being a science writer for the New York Times, he was curious about the reality behind these studies, as obviously he's turned out pretty well. The result of his research is a thorough debunking of the best known studies about how terrible life is for short people. Or more accurately, he debunks the popular myths about the studies - he interviewed several doctors for the book who worked on these studies and they all point out the media grabbed the sexiest sound bites rather than digging into the meat of the studies and noting that correlation does not equal causation.

Even for kids who aren't short, this book provides great examples of why critical thinking is necessary. Schwartz explains the different biases that appear in studies, or in the media reporting on studies. There's also explanations of the bell curve and standard deviations, complete with illustrative charts. Schwartz also does an excellent job of not talking down to the reader, and includes a bibliography of many of his sources, all of which are adult non-fiction titles and actual scientific surveys. He notes that they're written at an adult level, but you won't know what's too hard for you unless you give it a try!

My one complaint about this book? Schwartz focuses almost exclusively on short boys and men. Women and girls really only get mentioned when talking about breasts and the effects of early onset puberty. I would have loved it if Schwartz had taken the time to talk to some women who had experienced being short growing up, and how being a short adult has affected them - maybe even a comment on how so many of us use those awesome (but admittedly impractical) high heels as compensation.


Thanks to Simply Science for hosting this week's Nonfiction Monday! Next week, I'm going to be the host - so excited!

Sci-Fi Friday Review: The Line by Teri Hall

Found via: YALit

When I feel like I'm running low on new recommended titles, I head over to the YA Lit site which has a pretty comprehensive listing of all of the recently published and upcoming YA titles. That's how I stumbled across The Line, and decided it was a must-read when I saw one of the editorial reviews was from Booklist - and written by Lynn from Bookends (and one of my awesome librarians dating back to when I was in middle school).

Rachel has lived on The Property for as long as she can remember. Her mother does domestic work for the intimidating Ms. Moore, and the three of them have lived quietly away from civilization and next to the Line ever since Rachel's father was presumed dead in the war,

The Line separates the Unified States from Away - a place where horrible creatures and the Others, people who are no longer even human, live thanks to the weapons used in the last war. Not that Rachel has seen any of this, for while the invisible border runs right behind Ms. Moore's orchid greenhouse, Rachel has never seen any signs of life on the other side of the border. Until one day she receives a mysterious message asking for help, smuggled by an Other across the Line she'd thought was impenetrable. The message inspires Rachel to start asking questions about the Unified States, Away, and just why her mother insists on keeping them as far from the rest of civilization as possible.

 Lynn called this "a good choice for introducing young readers to the science-fiction genre" - and I absolutely agree with that assessment. This is in some ways "dystopia light" - a dystopia more on the level of The Giver rather than The Hunger Games. It's clear that the government of the Unified States isn't all sunshine and lollipops, but Rachel is shielded from a lot of the specifics by her mother and also because she's so young she's not as cynical and jaded as someone like Katniss. This is a solid book for middle grade readers, but more experienced dystopian readers won't find much new here.

Review: Warriors in the Crossfire by Nancy Bo Flood

Found via: Publisher's Weekly 4/12



There are endless variations on stories about WWII, which is a testament to just how far reaching and traumatizing that war was. While there are lots of stories about the war in Europe, and many stories about Japan, I found Warriors in the Crossfire to be a new take on the Pacific Theater, focusing on the island of Saipan, an important strategic point in the war for both the Japanese and the Americans.



For Joseph, the 13 year old son of the village chief, and his cousin and best friend Kento, the second world war is a chilling specter on the horizon - but at the same time, that horizon feels far away. Kento is the son of a native woman and a Japanese administrator, secure of his place in Saipan and sure of his safety. He wants to be both a samurai and to learn the ways of the island warriors from Joseph - just in case he needs to protect his mother and sister.

For Joseph, the skills of a warrior have a much more practical purpose. For while he is afforded some privileges, like attending the local Japanese school, he knows that the rights of his people are severely abridged. He literally has to use his hunting skills to provide enough food for his parents, his sister and her husband, and his nephew, especially as the Japanese increase their demands for workers from the native population.

As the realities of war draw closer, Joseph's father gives him a near impossible task: protect his family from the crossfire of the Japanese and American soldiers, living in a cave with limited provisions. And the hardest part? He's not to trust Kento who is, after all, Japanese. If forced to choose, who would Kento protect - his Japanese or his native family? And who would Joseph pick if faced with a similar choice?

This is a short but well-paced, action-filled book. Joseph is a well-rounded character saddled with an impossible responsibility in the face of war. I loved the look at the culture on Saipan, how it was an uneasy balance between the Japanese rulers and the various native villagers. While the war mostly takes place off screen, the ending has an absolutely chilling portrayal of the Battle of Saipan and the grim orders given to the Japanese civilians on the island.

Review: The Mysterious Howling (The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place Bk 1) by Maryrose Wood

Found via: Bookends

Lynn and Cindy had me when they said this is "A Jane Eyre riff for the middle reader." Jane Eyre is one of the few classic novels I managed to actually finish reading while in college (the other was The Scarlet Letter). While I had some problems with the novel, I figured those problems wouldn't be showing up in a middle grade novel! And I was right. What does show up? A charming protagonist thrust into an impossible situation with more mysteries than she knows what to do with!

Penelope Lumley has just graduated from the Swanburne School for Poor Bright Females and is on her way to her first governess position at Ashton Place. Penelope was intrigued by the advertisement as it called for a young lady who worked well with animals. Penelope goes in thinking she might find a stable filled with ponies - and instead finds three feral children howling in the barn! Lord Frederick found the three children while hunting and has taken them home as trophies, naming the children Alexander, Beowulf and Cassiopeia Incorrigible. He placed the ad for a governess, hoping the children will be presentable to society in time for Christmas. The lady of the manor, Lady Constance, isn't so sure about this whole plan, but is going to try her hardest to make the best of the impossible situation, managing three wards, a governess and a husband who is far more interested in going out hunting then spending time with his new wife. Armed with a top notch classical education, Penelope gamely rises to the challenge - and doesn't even let herself be too disappointed when she realizes she has to teach the children how to wear clothes before she can start teaching Latin.

The omniscient narrator is a perfect blend between sounding very 19th century and also very 21st century. The narrator knows the reader isn't familiar with all of the details of Penelope's world and explains them quickly and humorously. The conversational tone, however, was very similar to Jane Eyre and the like. The narration also takes plenty of jabs at the 19th century governess novel genre, including Penelope shuddering at the thought of falling in love with the lord of the manor as she's imagining what life in Ashton Place may be like.

The three Incorrigibles are hilarious. They were raised by wolves and even after Penelope starts working with them, they only manage a tenuous grasp on English. The youngest, Cassiopeia, never quite masters pronouns and constantly refers to herself as "Cassawoof," making me giggle every time.

There are plenty of mysteries in this book - some of which are answered during the novel, and others which are only hinted at, setting up the series nicely. There's a complete story here, but I definitely want some more answers and look forward to the next book!