MG/YA Book Reviews by a MG/YA Writer
Welcome to the November edition of Bookcase Bizarro!
In author news, I’m in full first draft mode, which for me means lots of concentrated writing and tons of fiction reading, and anything else to keep the creative juices flowing. I’ll be using NaNoWriMo to supercharge this month’s writing, but will eschew the usual 50,000 words in favour of a more modest 30,000 words. (I think that word count still may be too high, but at least it’s reachable without having to deprive myself of sleep, exercise and other forms of self-care.) And while we’re on the subject of reading, I’ll make time for my annual re-read of John Bellairs’ A House with a Clock in Its Walls. The spooky time between Halloween and Christmas is just not the same without it.
My Garrison Creek novella, Rogue Wizard, has just returned from a developmental edit, but I’m going to park revisions for now so I can fully concentrate on the new manuscript. First drafts for me are a time to immerse, slow down, and reflect as I allow myself to sink more deeply into the world of a new novel. I tend not to spend much time on other writing or publishing tasks during first drafts (though I’ll continue to write blog posts). I know that marketing can also be creative, but the creativity involved in designing a marketing plan or implementing campaigns is nothing like the creativity that powers a novel. In fact, I find that marketing detracts from writing, especially during early drafts. Marketing can be important at other times, just not at this time.
I also went to The Self-Publishing Advice Conference (Self-Pub Con), a free annual online self-publishing conference put on by ALLi: The Alliance of Independent Authors. This year, the conference was hosted on Alli’s own membership forum. Personally, I found the interface confusing and a bit clunky—not an unusual reaction for me when I’m using a new technology. It was Alli’s first time using the technology, too. Even some of the presenters found it difficult! ALLi is a very attentive organization, so I know they will be working on solutions for next year, and the sessions themselves were great. It’s wonderful to have the opportunity to meet up with other self-publishing writers, all from the comfort of my own home. If you’re an author who’s considering self-publishing, I’d highly recommend it.
The other thing I’ve been working on is connecting more with other writers. I’ve often shied away from this because I tend to feel uncomfortable in large groups, like the awkward shape in the Sesame Street song: “One of These Things is Not Like the Others.” While I’m friendly and open, I’m not the kind of person who goes along to get along. Groupthink peer pressure drives me crazy. And I’ve had a tough time finding a good writing group with enough writers at my own level to make it useful.
Only I do like hanging out with other writers. After much searching (and auditioning), I’ve found two: one in-person group with fellow children’s writers and one online group with fellow children’s bloggers. I’ve never understood this ‘finding community’ thing, but I’m starting to see why people might make such a fuss about it. It’s still early days, but I don’t feel as if I stick out more than anyone else. Or maybe I stick out just as much as everybody.
This time of the year means lots of spooky reads, so pull your chair closer to the fire as we crash a creepy town party with monstrous roots, and a whole lotta roses that never seem to die.
A quick note to new readers: books that are available from the Toronto Public Library will be marked #TPL, because books don’t have to be new or owned in order to be loved.
YA Novel
Kit’s father told her he had no family, but after his sudden death, Kit finds out that her grandmother, Agatha Starling, is alive and well in the town of Rosemount—where Kit’s father also grew up.
When Agatha invites Kit and her mother to visit, they jump at the chance. Rosemont is picture perfect in a 1950s sort of way. Named after its famous roses, which bloom year round, Rosemont’s shops and houses are cute and pretty, and there are no homeless people on the streets. People treat Kit like she’s royalty. The Starlings belong to the upper echelons of society, and Agatha Starling in particular is widely revered. It would be easy for Kit to bask in all the attention, particularly when a cute boy offers to show her around, but grief at the recent loss of her father and questions about his death still plague her. Why did he lie to her about his family? And if Rosemont is so wonderful, why did he leave?
Kit senses that something’s off, especially where the Starling women are concerned. They’re important to the town and the Crowning Festival in a way that has yet to be explained to Kit. A brooding disquiet blankets the surrounding woods, and as the festival draws near, Kit can’t shake the feeling that the townspeople—and her grandmother—are hiding something from her. All questions are met with unsettled stares, evasions and outright lies.
When Kit’s mother disappears, Kit finds herself stranded in a town that dismisses her concerns, as if her mother has just run off for a few days. Kit knows that her mother would never leave without telling her, especially not after her father’s death. Kit’s father was a writer, but she can find no trace of his books in the Rosemont library, or her grandmother’s bookshelves. It’s as if he’d never existed. It becomes clear to Kit that the townsfolk and her grandmother know more than they are saying, and her very survival depends on unearthing the secrets the’ve tried to bury and her father tried to disown. What lies behind the Crowning Day Festival, and the monstrous roses that never seem to die?
It’s just after Halloween, so it’s a perfect time for horror. (Well, any time’s a perfect time for horror, especially folk horror.) Linsmeier hits all the usual YA horror tropes: creepy, isolated town with a falsely welcoming veneer; a disarmingly cute love interest, an annual ritual, dark bargains intertwined with messy family dynamics. She uses them to say something more about male violence and women’s complicity, and the strength that can be found beyond the hurt, in resistance.
Kit is a very relatable protagonist with a lot on her plate. I almost had to stop reading when her mother vanished. I felt Kit’s desolation and isolation at having her concerns dismissed by every adult she turned to for help. I longed to rush into the book and fight by her side. Linsmeier uses Kit’s closeness to her mother as a subtle challenge to the town that lives in the gorgeous shadow of the ever-present roses, a beauty that seems all the more fake when Kit is offered endless reassurances with little follow-up action. Agatha sits at the centre of the mystery. Even though her grandmother lives alone, Kit hears a man speaking in her room at night. When confronted, Agatha denies it but offers no explanation for her mysterious limp or the bruises on her skin.
The Starlings are Rosemont’s legacy family, and as the Crowning Day Festival draws nearer, Kit discovers just how badly the women of her family have betrayed her. From these same women, she also uncovers her first real clue about how to challenge the fate that awaits her. Linsmeier offers up a powerful story about how female acquiescence both empowers and enables male abuse, but her protagonist is much more than an angry avenger. Kit uses the Starling legacy in a way that shows us what freedom and connection can look like on the other side of violence.
Recommended for 15+, especially folk horror enthusiasts. (#TPL)
Thirteen-year-old Ermin is a gifted mechanic and the worst student at St. Anselm’s Training School for Orphans. She’s just failed her exams for the third time—something nobody’s ever done. Worse, Ermin’s been running her own repair business for money—something that’s expressly forbidden. If the headmistress finds out, Ermin will go to prison. Her future will be over before it’s even begun.
But that’s not her only secret.
Her best friends, Colin and Georgie, are wizards in a world where magic is strictly controlled. Ermin worries that her friends will be captured, drained of their power, then banished. When Georgie’s caught aiding the Wizard’s Resistance, Ermin repairs a broken flying carpet so all three of them can escape.
Hesitant to join the Resistance because of her lack of magical power, Ermin steals an experimental device from a wizard hunter that could destroy every wizard in the Creek. She’s faced with a choice: either smash the device or convert it into a different kind of weapon—one that not only helps wizards but just might get her an apprenticeship at the prestigious Guild Academy.
Ermin’s got one chance to get it right. If she fails, she risks losing her two best friends… and her dreams.
Find Shadow Apprentice at your local library through Hoopla or buy from online retailers:
Thanks for being a Bookcase Bizarro reader! I’ll be back next month with more author news, and more MG and YA book reviews. See you then!
#IMWAYR is a weekly blog hop hosted by Unleashing Readers and Teach Mentor Texts. Its focus is to share the love of KIDLIT and recommend KIDLIT books to readers of all ages.
Greg Pattridge also hosts weekly MG blog hop MMGM every Monday at his website, Always in the Middle.
