Archive for Fantasy

Enchanted Files: Diary of a Mad Brownie

Written by Bruce Coville
Illustrated by Paul Kidby

If you’re not already familiar with Bruce Coville’s work, why not? This, one of his more recent books, is hilarious and heartwarming at the same time.

Angus Cairns is a one hundred fifty year old brownie, bound by the terms of a curse laid against his father by an elven queen. When his Scottish mistress dies, he must provide service to an eleven-year-old American girl, Alex Carhart. Angus first makes his way to America and figures out a way to keep his very messy and disorganized charge neat and organized. He also watches in horror as the second part of the curse plays out – the men of the family abandon everything except horrible poetry. A sister who befriends a goblin and her harsh kindergarten teacher complete most of the contributing cast of characters. How can they together save the family of a father who quits his job to write bad poetry?

Kidby’s illustrations are also hilarious and add a lot to the story. From diagrams of the Carharts’ house to labeled illustrations of magical folk to a family portrait of the Carharts, they pull the reader into the brownie world.

Told entirely in diary and journal entries, letters, and notes, this is a fun way for fourth graders to learn about journaling and about a few of the English words that are different in Scotland.

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  • Mad BrownieTitle: Enchanted Files: Diary of a Mad Brownie
  • Author: Bruce Coville
  • Illustrator: Paul Kidby
  • Published: Random House Books for Young Readers, 2015
  • Reviewer: Sue Poduska
  • Format: Hardcover, 256 pages
  • Grade Level: 3 to 7
  • Genre: Fiction, Fantasy, Humor
  • ISBN: 978-0-385-39247-1

Hour of the Bees

Written by Lindsay Eagar

In this excellent debut novel, the author shows us a world that is familiar and, at the same time, unfamiliar to most of her readers. When the dementia of Carol’s grandfather reaches a critical point, she and her entire family spend the summer packing up his ranch and getting him ready to move to a protected facility. Carol – or Carolina (Caro-leeen-a) as Grandpa calls her – is slowly sucked into his fantasies. So much so that the reader is never sure what’s real, what’s a dream, and what’s just part of the story. Grandpa, or Sergio (Serge), tells the story of the desert ranch in installments centered around a magical tree and bees that took off with the water from a now-dry lake. Is Carol really seeing bees in the desert and does the tree really grow back overnight? Did Grandma Rosa really travel all over the world while Serge waited for her? Why don’t Serge and her dad speak? Through it all, Carol learns to deal with her teenage half-sister and with starting middle school as she goes through changes of her own.

Fourth graders will recognize some of their own confusion in coming to grips with the world and with people who don’t always act the way they expect. Coming of age is not always easy for anyone in the room.

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  • Hour of the BeesTitle: Hour of the Bees
  • Author: Lindsay Eagar
  • Published: Candlewick Press, 2016
  • Reviewer: Sue Poduska
  • Format: Hardcover, 368 pages
  • Grade Level: 4 to 6
  • Genre: Family, Fantasy, Dementia
  • ISBN: 978-0-7636-7922-4

The Genius Factor: How to Capture an Invisible Cat

Written by Paul Tobin
Illustrated by Thierry Lafontaine

Red Death Tea Society, giant invisible cats, and talking dogs are some of the less outrageous elements to this raucous story of a sixth grade genius, Nate, and his new friend, Delphine. Delphine is welcomed as a friend partially because Bosper, Nate’s talking dog, decides she smells like a friend. Occasionally, Nate does stupid things just to shake up his world. One of his stupid things was to make his mother’s cat, Proton, invisible and giant. Nate hid the formula for returning to normalcy throughout the city, and he needs Delphine’s help to retrieve him. Meanwhile, his archenemies, the Red Death Tea Society try to clock his efforts. Encounters with toads, hippos, and skydivers are orders of the day.

With a smattering of real science and a whole lot of fantasy, this is a great read for fourth graders, especially with a teacher or parent to help separate the fact from the fantasy. The wild humor is sure to hold attention and propel Proton back where she belongs. Because Nate and Delphine have a unique friendship, readers will learn about the possibilities among friends who don’t necessarily spend every day together.

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  • Genius FactorTitle: The Genius Factor: How to Capture an Invisible Cat
  • Author: Paul Tobin
  • Illustrator: Thierry Lafontaine
  • Published: Bloomsbury USA Childrens, March 1, 2016
  • Reviewer: Sue Poduska
  • Format: Hardcover, 272 pages
  • Grade Level: 2 to 6
  • Genre: Fiction, fantasy, science, friendship
  • ISBN: 978-1619638402

Rescue on the Oregon Trail

Written by Kate Messner
Illustrated by Kelley McMorris

Dogs are always a great way to interest young readers in a story, maybe this dog can help interest them in history. In this new series by Kate Messner, Ranger is the dog who travels in time.  The first adventure takes Ranger and his readers on the Oregon Trail. Amid the dangers of rattlesnakes and flooding streams, readers also get an authentic feeling for the endless days of walking beside the wagon. It was hard to realize that friends, family and everything you have ever known is getting farther and farther behind you.  Meantime up ahead is land, weather and people you know nothing about. There is hope, but no sure things ahead nor on the trail.

The portal that allows for Ranger’s travel abilities is a metal first aid box that seems to hum and vibrate when a trip is about to begin. While a grown up reader might question the red cross on the metal box, young readers will suspend their disbelief and set off on the next adventure.

Full page illustrations are full of action as well as historically accurate.

Kate Messner makes the characters real. They feel like friends you have known for a long time before the story ends.

Historical fiction, even with a touch of time travel, can help teachers and librarians meet the standards of the core curriculum in geography, American history, cultural beliefs, literacy and math. This story includes a fascinating explanation of how people used to measure the distance traveled during a day on the wagon trail. Parents might want to read this book aloud to children before taking a vacation to a place related to the Oregon Trail, or just to enjoy a good story together chapter by chapter.

Readers will enjoy collecting this new series and taking other trips with Ranger. His next adventure will take him to ancient Rome.

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  • Rescue on the Oregon TrailTitle: Ranger in Time: Rescue on the Oregon Trail
  • Author: Kate Messner
  • Illustrator: Kelley McMorris
  • Publisher: Scholastic, 2015
  • Reviewer: Elizabeth Swartz
  • Format: Paperback, 125 pages
  • ISBN: 978-0-545-63914-9
  • Genre: Historical Fiction
  • Grade level 4
  • Extras: An extensive author note that explains Kate Messner’s research, shows a picture of a diary written by a traveler on the Oregon Trail and describes how the author got some ideas for characters.  Further Reading list, Sources

The Nearly Honorable League of Pirates: Magic Marks the Spot

Written by Caroline Carlson
Illustrated by Dave Phillips

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This first book of a new series about pirates is absolutely charming. While the pirates consider themselves very seriously they are far from fearsome.

The story has everything a good pirate tale is expected to contain: grog, swords, treasures, ships, peg legs and eye patches. It even has more than normal with the inclusion of magic, a boarding school and a girl who will only ever and always become a pirate.

Fourth grade readers, fifth grade readers and beyond will enjoy reading this independently while third graders will enjoy hearing it as a read aloud. Many literacy skills can be reinforced in large or small group settings while reading this book, including but not limited to: cause and effect, inference, following clues, use of humor and letter writing skills.

For a more informal enjoyable experience, it would be a great book club choice for friends to share and discuss.

Interspersed in the story are letters of surprising formality and comic use of everyday phrases between pirates, the head mistress of a girls’ finishing school and the main character. There are also supposed clips from the Pirates Guide Book, local newspapers and want ads.

It is a completely enjoyable book. Readers will be looking for the sequel even before they finish this one.

  • Magic Marks the SpotTitle:  The Nearly Honorable League of Pirates: Magic Marks the Spot
  • Author: Caroline Carlson
  • Illustrator: Dave Phillips
  • Publisher: Harper, 2013
  • Reviewer: Elizabeth Swartz
  • Format: Hardcover/344 pgs.
  • ISBN:  978-0-06-219434-3
  • Genre: Fantasy

The Enchanted Attic: Wrestling with Tom Sawyer

Written by L.L. Samson

Illustrated by Kris Nelson, Ben Fetterly, and Antonio Caparo

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We have learned not to judge a book by its cover.  Now we will learn not to judge a book by it style.  When I began reading this book it was difficult to “get into”.  The word choices and usage were odd.  No, they were just different.  I was ready to write it off as something that could not be used in a typical fourth grade classroom until I realized the brain pathway building potential of this little gem.  While the above average reader may find this book intriguing, even an average student might struggle with comprehension without some scaffolding.  But with any reader, new ideas and thought patterns will be created.

The storyline is actually quite interesting.  Walter has recently moved from London to the United States where he now attends a boarding school for “the once well-heeled (wealthy) who’d fallen on harder times, or for those who had recently accumulated their wealth and were snubbed by the well-heeled.  Walter and his friends have an amazing adventure with Tom Sawyer after Walter and his friends conjure up Tom in the enchanted circle in the “not so secret attic”.  It was an amazing adventure sprinkled with a mad scientist, a hidden tunnel and plenty of mystery and drama.

Because the word style/choices are different, this book would make an excellent choice as a read aloud.  Being able to hear the words should help students read them more easily as well as increase comprehension.  One of my favorite things about the book is the generous sprinkling of vocabulary words throughout.  After each potentially new word there is an easy to understand definition.  Ascertain (figure out).  There are also explanations about things such as a land grant (“A royal land grant is a big deal and normally includes more acreage than even the wealthiest of people own nowadays.”)

This book might possibly make an interesting choice for a literature circle choice.  Even if the typical structure has to be modified to account for the more difficult comprehension issues, this book lends itself to discussion and out of the box thinking.

  •  Enchanted AtticTitle:  The Enchanted Attic: Wrestling with Tom Sawyer
  • Author:  L.L. Samson
  • Illustrators:  Kris Nelson, Ben Fetterly, and Antonio Caparo
  • Publisher:  Zonderkidz
  • Reviewer:  Sandi Waymire
  • Format: Paperback, 180 pages
  • ISBN: 978-0-310-74057-5
  • Genre:  Contemporary fiction (historical context)
  • Lexile score:  NA

Pip and the Twilight Seekers – Book Two of the Spindlewood Tales

Written and Illustrated by Chris Mould

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If your students like dark and scary, there is plenty in this one to creep them out. In the walled city of Hangman’s Hollow, Jarvis, the evil city warden, looks for children. He is tall and skinny with a hook instead of a left hand. He hates children and is determined to get rid of them all. Not only have children been outlawed in the city, Jarvis, instead of locking them up, sells them to the woods folk in the magical forest at the edge of town. Witches and strange animals drool at the sight of tender human children. Jarvis has recently had a bad experience. Three children escaped from him (Pip and the Woodwitch Curse, book one of the Spindlewood trilogy) and he is driven by rage to find them again. Pip, Toad and Frankie are now hiding in an inn called Deadman’s Hand. They are cozy and warm by the fire and have plenty to eat, but they know that they are hunted. In addition, a mysterious wooden doll has the ability to tell children’s locations if a person knows how to ask properly. Jarvis knows how. When the doll falls into his hands, he finds the children with ease. Again he confronts Pip, Toad and Frankie. Jarvis almost captures the three, but then the townspeople attack him. They are fed up with his devious ways. Pip knows where the captured children are in the wild wood and talks the other two into rescuing them. The result is a hair-raising chase out of the woods. Even though the children return to Hangman’s Hollow, they know that Jarvis is still out there.

Even as scary as I found this book to be, it would be a good story for those older reluctant readers who need a compelling read. The chapters are short, the print is big and the illustrations make this look like a graphic novel. Story details are not clear, although there is some explanation in the excerpted part at the end. Because the setting is so vivid, literacy activities, such as making a diorama or a visual representation of the “world”, would extend the story in an interesting way.

  • Pip and the Twilight SeekersTITLE: Pip and the Twilight Seekers
  • AUTHOR AND ILLUSTRATOR: Chris Mould
  • PUBLISHER: Albert Whitman, 2011
  • REVIEWER: Risa Brown
  • EDITION: Hardcover, 170 p.
  • ISBN: 978-0-8075-6553-7
  • GENRE: Fantasy
  • LEXILE: 790

Pip and the Wood Witch Curse: A Spindlewood Tale (Book One)

Written and Illustrated by Chris Mould

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Book One of the “Spindlewood Tales,” is the exciting and gripping adventure of an abused orphan, Pip. About to be sold, literally, to a ship’s captain, Pip seizes the opportunity to escape, only to land in a worse situation. Pip is delivered into the legendary village of Hangman’s Hollow, where the townspeople and the creatures of the forest fight over possession of the children. Children are forced to hide lest they be imprisoned by the forest dwellers. When Pip trudges through a heavy snow, his tracks set in motion a whole series of events: chases through the city streets and through the woods, flying accusations, and battles. He wanders past the local tavern, where the tavern keeper snatches him, keeps him safe, and introduces him to his own son. Pip and the son, Toad, set out to rescue a girl rumored to be hiding.

For timid fourth-graders this may be best as a read-aloud since the subject matter is a bit scary. But it should be fine for most independent fourth-grade readers. While Pip and Toad venture forth with little trepidation, they do encounter girl who is paralyzed by terror. However, readers can learn lessons. Things can always be worse, and they can always work at improving their own situations. Also, it seems that even the most innocuous objects can be malevolent. The trees harbor witches. A wooden doll is in fact a malicious soldier from the civil war. Even the birds–though not all of them–report back to the evil creatures.

The author-illustrator presents some beautiful and vivid drawings of the settings and many of the characters. They add a lot to the feel of being there.

  • Title: Pip and the Wood Witch: A Spindlewood Tale Book One
  • Author: Chris Mould
  • Publisher: Albert Whitman & Company
  • Reviewer: Sue Poduska
  • Hardcover: 155 pages
  • ISBN: 0807565482
  • Genre: Fantasy
  • Lexile: 720L

William and the Lost Spirit

Written by Gwen de Bonneval 

Illustrated by Matthieu Bonhomme

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Welcome to medieval France, land of chivalry, monsters, and unexplained events. Translated from the French, this beautifully drawn graphic novel gives fourth graders a glimpse into that world, represented by realistic characters. William has recently lost his father, but the father’s spirit continues to call to William. His sister, Helise, also disappears, so he sets off in search of clues. Brigands run rampant in the area, making it difficult to know who to trust. Monsters William encounters include those with no head and a face below their arms, anthropomorphic dolphins, talking plants, and dog-headed men. He crosses the ocean and the desert and catches a glimpse of his father’s hand. He gets help from a variety of characters, including his aunt, a knight, a troubadour, one of the monsters, and a young girl. The girl is required to call herself the only son of a king, just one of the “truths” of that kingdom. On his return, William faces his mother and possible future stepfather who are suspicious at best. His sister turns into a goat. Mom is sometimes a cat.

As with most graphic novels, the illustrations are very important, and these do not disappoint. Faces and animals are true-to-life and even the monsters are believable. The battle scenes may be overly realistic.

The extensive section about roles in the medieval world, mythological creatures, and gender roles provides added value and should aid students in comprehension. There is also a very good discussion section. The publisher provides materials and information on reading activities through their website: www.lernerbooks.com.

  • William and the Lost SpiritTitle: William and the Lost Spirit
  • Authors: Gwen de Bonneval and Matthieu Bonhomme
  • Publisher: Graphic Universe/Lerner Publishing Group
  • Reviewer: Sue Poduska
  • Paperback, 152 pages
  • ISBN: 978-1-4677-0807-4
  • Genre: Middle grade, Chivalry, Myth.
  • Lexile Score: 610GN

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Flies Again

Written by Frank Cottrell Boyce

Illustrated by Joe Berger

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Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is determined to put herself back together even though the Tooting family thinks they are in charge of the refurbishing project.  Dad loses his job and decides to fix those things around the house that he has not had time for.  He is so overzealous with his home projects that Mom buys him a camper van to restore.  She works at Unbeatable Motoring Bargains and it was a good deal.  He and Jem (short for Jeremy) work for nearly two months lovingly taking things apart, cleaning and oiling them, and putting them together.  The first time they start up the van, Jem notices a strange noise from the engine which he interprets as spark plugs misfiring.  To find spark plugs that old, they must go to a salvage yard that has been in operation for years.  In wandering amongst the wrecks, they find a huge engine in the top of a tree along with a steering wheel and a hand crank. Dad gets very excited and adds it to their camper van along with a few other parts that belong with the engine.  Then, the next time they drive it, it drives itself, even going off a cliff.  That activated a huge pair of wings and the camper van flew! The van takes the Tooting family to Paris and Cairo.  Someone in the family had each wanted to go there so they didn’t think about the camper van taking them.  In Paris, they find the headlamps.  In Cairo, they find the wheels.  But it is in Madagascar, when they find the car’s body, that Jem realizes these discoveries are not coincidences.  The car even gives them her name with two long whirrs and two short bangs.  After the car is in one piece, Jem also realizes that a villain named Tiny Jack has been after Chitty Chitty Bang Bang the whole time.  To escape Tiny Jack and his evil Nanny, they accidentally discover another working bit: the Chronojuster –   which is just a fancy word for time travel gizmo.

Ian Fleming wrote the original Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, which involved the Potts family and their adventures with the car.  This new series has a new family and a new set of adventures but, the magical car has all its old charm.  This is the sequel and it ends with a cliffhanger that leads into the next book: Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and the Race Against Time.  The characters are delightfully eccentric, even the villain.  This would make a good class read aloud.  The fourth grade reading level makes this a good choice for reading buddies because the story would engage younger readers as well.  Students can chart the countries where Chitty takes the Tootings for a geography and literacy activity.  There is an activity kit, a teacher’s guide and a book trailer available at the publisher’s website: (http://www.chittyfliesagain.com/).

  • Chitty BangTITLE: Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Flies Again
  • AUTHOR: Frank Cottrell Boyce
  • ILLUSTRATOR: Joe Berger
  • PUBLISHER: Candlewick, 2011
  • REVIEWER: Risa Brown
  • EDITION: Paperback, 213 p.
  • ISBN: 978-0-7636-6353-7

 

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