 The harsh realities of Micah's life with his beloved Grandfather failing and unpleasant aunt being horrible paint a stark contrast against the magical wonderfulness and dream-like quality of the Circus Mirandus. The circus has a Polar Express vibe (only kids who believe in magic can see it and you must be preapproved by the ringmaster) with a bit of The Night Circus (magical, moving circus) thrown in. Micah is a likable and believable character who many kids will relate to. His sweet and quiet nature is a perfect compliment to his new friend Jenny, who also feels familiar. Grandpa is a wonderful character and makes the reader long for such an understanding and loving person in our lives. Aunt Gertrudis is deliciously evil and selfish. She becomes almost a caricature, but its fun to have a villain to hate and propels us to root for our hero. Part of her back-story is revealed as the book goes on, making her motivation more believable. This book is quiet, but reads quickly and never drags. Both boys and girls will enjoy it. Circus Mirandus feels timeless and is destined to find a permanent home on library shelves. Beasley shows us the power of friendship, the importance of loyalty and keeping your word, and, of course, the wonder of magic. She makes us believe that magic can be hiding in the most unlikely places and we can see it if we just believe and pay attention. The Circus Mirandus will have many young people listening for circus music ready to begin their own adventure.
Welcome to the land of Kenettra. A terrible fever swept the nation years before leaving some of the children physically marked. These children were labeled "Malfettos" and considered evil and demonic. Over time it became clear that some of the Malfettos have special powers. Those with powers, now teenagers, have banned together as a special force called "The Young Elites" and work to over-throw the government and stop the inquisition that is persecuting Malfettos. The Young Elites are led by a young man named Enzo, who is actually the rightful heir to Kenettra. His sister has her husband murdered in order to assume control of the land and uses the lead inquisitor, himself a secret Malfetto with powers of invincibility, as well as a childhood friend of Enzo, to do her bidding. Our protagonist, Adalina, is a Malfetto with the ability to create illusions. After murdering her abusive father, the lead inquisitor, Teren, tries to elicit her help in eliminating the Young Elites. Adalina refuses, faces execution, and is rescued at the zero hour by Enzo. She now begins her training with the Young elites and pledges to help them in their mission. Teren kidnaps Adalina's sister in order to blackmail her into spying for the bad guys. Adalina is faced with a difficult decision: sacrifice her only living relative, a sister that she has vowed to protect, or betray the Young Elites where she is finally and slowly making friends and finding acceptance. Matters are further complicated as romance begins to develop between Adalina and Enzo. The plot whips around in unexpected directions as Lu brings us to the thrilling conclusion and leads us to the next in the series, projected to be released in October 2015.
I have to hand it to Marie Lu: she knows how to write an imaginative and plot driven novel for young people. The Young Elites features a fully conceived world with fully formed, beautiful yet flawed, characters. This story never comes up for air. It moves at a break-neck speed with very cool and unexpected plot twists. The premise feels original and different than other fantasy books, which I appreciate. Written for a slightly older audience than her obscenely popular Legend series. The Young Elites is a bit darker and edgier. I think teens will love this book and want to read on in the series. Personally, I didn't love it as much as I thought I would, finding it difficult to get through. The main character, Adalina, is, by the nature of her special powers, very dark. Her childhood, spent at the expense of an abusive father, has left her damaged and scarred. Even the Young Elites sense her potential for evil and never fully trust her, leaving Adalina as a ship alone. It looks like she finally finds a connection with another human being, as the romance with Enzo heats up, but in reality he is attracted to her because she reminds him of his dead fiance, so that romance is never truly believable. I waited for Adalina to come forward to the Young Elites and finally confess her connection to Teren, but she never does, increasing their distrust of her, She made me sad and uncomfortable and I felt very sorry for her, to the point it was hard for me to read her story. That said, I'm probably more sensitive to this sort of thing than most teenagers, who will find the plot so compelling that the hopelessness of and poor choices of Adalina won't bother them at all. The length of the book and the pacing is spot on and reluctant readers will devour this book, even those who don't think they like fantasy. An epilogue, introducing a new and twistedly interesting character in a distant land, will entice readers to continue on in the series.
Poor Alvin Ho! He's the proverbial middle child, often overlooked and sandwiched between his older brother and younger sister. All kinds of things are terrifying to Alvin from the expected (scary movies, shots, the dark) to the unexpected (school, wasabi, historic houses). Alvin begins his second grades year with much anxiety, but hopes that this school year will be different. He wants to fit in better with the other boys and make a friend. Unfortunately, part of Alvin's anxiety is that he literally cannot utter a word while in school. This makes making friends difficult and turns his school day into torture. His loving family tries to help him and are consistently supportive, but even taking Alvin to a therapist doesn't help. Finally, after learning some valuable lessons about taking family member's personal property without permission, Alvin finds a way to break in with the boys. Once he finally gets into the gang, he realizes that its not all its cracked up to be and discovers that friends can be lurking in unexpected places.
The subject matter of this book (childhood anxiety) is such that it seems pretty intense from the outside. Written in Look's capable hands it is anything but. Look has a vivid understanding of what it is like to be a child who fears everything. She writes Alvin's character honestly, humorously, and realistically. He is a likable little boy and with the help of his understanding extended family we know he will be okay. All of the grown-ups are present, supportive and well developed. His siblings and classmates are also flawed but lovable. No super villains here, just the real situations that can make the life of a seven year old a scary place. Look paints a rich setting in Concord, Massachusetts in the early autumn and brings a lot of local history into both the life of Alvin and the readers. Alvin Ho is a great choice for kids just stepping out of chapter books. Its a little longer than conventional chapter books and has some challenging vocabulary, all while retaining large margins, big type, and generous pictures. The cartoon-like illustrations, by LeUyen Phan contribute to the plot, add humor to the situations, and make the book a more accessible and enjoyable read. I will be using this book this month for my third and fourth grade book group. This is one of my favorite choices for this age group because Alvin Ho is a "slam dunk" with both male and female readers. Alvin must make ethical decisions (and chooses poorly in some cases) giving us topics for discussion, and the book features a Chinese-American family, which offers some much needed diversity rarely seen in books for this age group. Kids will relate to Alvin and feel comforted about their own fears and struggles. The fun continues in a glossary of terms at the back of the book, that serves to define some words kids might not be familiar with, including Chinese words, and is laugh out loud funny. Four other books follow the first title in this series, so kids who enjoy the first adventure will have somewhere to go upon completion. A similarly hilarious series (although, unlike Alvin, features a fearless girl) by the same author begins with Ruby Lu: Brave and True and is also highly recommended.
Young Harry Houdini is a boy living in turn-of-the-century New York City and working as a shoe-shine boy. He runs around the city with his two best friends: rich boy Arthur and street urchin Billie. The three young people are a team, working to perfect Harry's tricks and drumming up an audience willing to support them. Tragedy arrives as Harry's mentor and friend, Herbie, disappears in a cloud of purple smoke. The three young friends vow to find Herbie and rescue him. Meanwhile, public opinion thinks Herbie disappeared by supernatural means. Harry thinks he has identified the culprit and tracks him down to a hotel in the city frequented by magicians. Spying on the suspect involves cunning plans, tightrope work, and ingenuity. After disregarding and offending his friends the investigation leads Harry back to the theater where Herbie disappeared. Harry lands in a mess of dangerous and life-threatening trouble, getting out of it only by his amazing athletic and gymnastic abilities, as well as his talents as a magician and escape artist. Will Harry survive his dangerous predicament? Will he make it up with