When You Reach Me- Rebecca Stead

Sorry gentle reader(s). Once again, an unforgivably long period of time has passed between my reviews. Life, as they say, happens, but I now find myself with a bit of free time, and a stack of books three feet high that I'm going to try and get through. In addition to this post, look for a review of Neil Gaiman's latest coming soon as well.

I didn't get a chance to do a post on this year's American Library Association (most notably the Caldecott and Newbery Awards- for a complete list of this years winners and honorees go here.) but I wanted to make sure that this year's Newbery winner, When You Reach Me, by Rebecca Stead got its proper due in these hallowed yet electronic pages.

When You Reach Me is nothing short of an amazing and mesmerizing second novel from Rebecca Stead. She effortlessly blends at least three genres (realistic fiction, mystery, and science fiction, and throw in historical fiction to boot as the book is set in 1979.) and her characters and depiction of New York City never once seem forced or contrived.

In the story, Miranda is a regular, everyday sixth grader living in 1978-1979 New York City. Her mother is a paralegal who is training to appear on the game show The 20,000 Dollar Pyramid. Like many sixth graders, Miranda struggles with friendships, boys, money, her mother, school, bullies, and, oh yes, mysterious anonymous letters that know too much about her, and appear to be sent from the future.

It's thee letters that make When You Reach Me so great. The first reads:

I'm coming to save your friends life and my own.

I ask two favors.

First, you must write me a letter.

Miranda has no idea where the letter came from or who sent it. As more letters appear, it is clear that the author knows things about the future that no one should, and Mira becomes increasingly enmeshed in what appears to be prophecy. The juxtaposition of Mira's everyday sixth grade life and the mysteries of time travel shouldn't work at all, yet all aspects of the plot come together seamlessly and the resolution (like all truly great resolutions should) leaves the reader thinking, pondering, and mulling for days afterwards. Couple this with an extended running homage to Madeline L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time, and you have a book truly worthy of the Newbery's lofty pedigree. Highly recommended.

Rebecca Stead's Site

The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey- Trenton Lee Stewart

The Mysterious Benedict Society was one of my inaugural posts on this site, so it comes as no surprise that I would be eager to review its sequel, The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey.

The Perilous Journey picks up about a year after the first book ends. All the members of the society are enjoying considerably better circumstances (Reynie has been adopted by Mrs. Permual and her mother, Constance has been adopted by Mr. Benedict himself, Sticky has been happily reunited with his parents, and Kate is living on a farm outside of Stonetown with her secret agent father, Milligan.), but they haven't seen each other in nearly a year, and are, despite the traumas of their initial adventure together, bored.

A reunion is planned at Kate and Milligan's farm, and Mr. Benedict has arranged a world wide, all expenses paid scavenger hunt as a reward for the society and all of their hard work.

He and his imaginatively nicknamed assistant, Number Two, will travel ahead of the society, leaving the next clue for the kids at varying exotic European locales. Unfortunately, Benedict's nefarious and scheming twin brother, Leodopthra Curtain, rears his ugly head and kidnaps Benedict and Number Two. Now, instead of a luxurious European tour full of fun and challenging clues, the Society is faced with matters of life and death. They must solve each clue in order to find and rescue their beloved benefactor.

What follows is a thrilling, labyrinthine journey from Stonetown, to Lisbon, to Holland, to a mysterious, uncharted island in the North Sea. One very interesting theme that interweaves the entire story has to do with human nature. Are people basically good or basically evil? Mr. Benedict's efforts to get Reynie to trust people and see the good within them reminds me a lot of Dumbledore's espousing of the power of love in the Harry Potter books.

What is Curtain up to? Why has he kidnapped his brother? Will the Society be able to save him in time? Read on to find out.

There will be a third book, The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Prisoner's Dilemma, due to be published in October 2009. Look for details and other fun facts and information, puzzles and codes at the Curiosity Chronicle, the official website for these books. Very well done and worth your browsing time.

Scat- Carl Hiaasen

Scat is Carl Hiaasen's third foray into children's fiction after the delightful Hoot, and the unread (at least by me) Flush. Ordinarily he writes adult crime fiction as well as a regular column for the Miami Herald. Very few writers can create a tangible sense of place the way Hiaasen describes the ins and outs, the oddballs, the beauty, and the corruption of his beloved south Florida, and Scat is no exception.

In Scat, Hiassen deftly weaves several seemingly disparate story lines into a compelling mystery that involves (among many other things) an endangered Florida Panther, a missing teacher, a certifiably insane substitute, the redemption of a juvenile delinquent, the Iraq war, crooked oil companies, and the environmental movement. Hiaasen deserves special props for his shout out to Edward Abbey's proto- Earth First! classic The Monkeywrench Gang. (Read it when you're older kiddies.)

Nick and Marta endure the daily tyranny of Bunny Starch's biology class, suffering through pop quizzes and being called on randomly. Mrs. Starch has the reputation of a witch, and it is rumored that her home contains any variety of venomous creatures, which she uses for her own nefarious ends.

Then, on a field trip to Black Vine Swamp, Mrs. Starch disappears during a forest fire. Despite this sudden departure, Nick and Marta continue to see her car around town, and are convinced that there is more to the situation than the "family emergency" that everyone uses to explain her sudden absence.

Throughout their investigations, they run afoul of the local pyromaniac (Duane, but he likes to be called "Smoke"), and a corrupt oil company. Soon their research begins to overlap with an extremely endangered Florida panther, an environmental activist, illegal oil drilling, roadside bombs in Iraq and the politics of an elite private school.

Despite these seemingly disconnected plot elements, Hiaasen does a masterful job of tying everything together. He paints a picture of grassroots environmental action, and never lets the reader forget how one person can make a difference when it comes to protecting the world around us. Highly recommended for mystery fans, lovers of the environment, or connoisseurs of original, offbeat and hilarious characters.

Carl Hiaasen

Shakespeare's Secret- Elise Broach

Today's review comes courtesy of extra special guest blogger Melody Howder! She is the first in what I hope to be a long series of extra special guest bloggers.


-Sir Readsalot


Shakespeare’s Secret is about a girl named Hero who moves to Maryland and doesn’t quite fit in. One day she meets a woman who tells her that the former owner of Hero’s houses wife died and left a diamond hidden somewhere inside. Hero goes crazy because she could be famous if she finds it. As she becomes friends with the woman, she meets a boy named Danny who insists that Hero solve the mystery with him. Soon Hero finds that the former owner of her houses wife’s ancestor may be the real William Shakespeare! Is he the real Shakespeare or is it just a myth? Read this book and you’ll find out!

Shakespeare’s Secret is a story that will blow your mind! It will take you on an adventure that you never have seen before. If you are a mystery fan this is the right book for you. This is a recommended book from the Massachusetts Children’s Book Award Master List.

The Mysterious Benedict Society

The Mysterious Benedict Society- Trenton Lee Stewart

As literature written expressly for children enters its second century of existence, we find that many characters, themes, and plots begin to repeat themselves, and it takes a special author or idea to create something truly unique. In The Mysterious Benedict Society Trenton Lee Stewart proves himself to be just such an author.

Superficially the book is like many (good or bad) stories we've read before: mysterious calamity that adult authority figures are either too powerless to stop, or too clueless to even recognize, that can only be solved by a group of spunky, resilient, outcast, (in this case) orphans.

As TMBS opens, four children are responding to a strange advertisement in the newspaper. The ad asks simply, “ARE YOU A GIFTED CHILD LOOKING FOR SPECIAL OPPORTUNITIES?” Reynie Muldoon, the protagonist, finds it strange that the ad is directed to children and not their parents, but as he is an orphan with only his tutor, Ms. Perumal (who is teaching him Tamil by the way), for company, he decides to answer at her urging.

What follows is a series of increasingly bizarre and seemingly impossible tests. As Reynie passes each ones we are introduced to each of the other three children who will eventually form the Mysterious Benedict Society: George "Sticky" Washington, Kate Wetherall, and Constance Contraire. Each of the children are able to pass the tests in their own ways, Reynie by finding a pattern, Sticky by the sheer breadth of his knowledge, Kate through the resources (telescope, pocketknife, rope, flashlight etc...) she carries in a bucket looped to her belt, and Constance through sheer force of will and stubbornness.

After passing the final test, the children are introduced to Mister Benedict, a kindly old man unfortunately prone to bouts of narcoleptic slumber, who informs them that all of the trouble and unrest in the world (incidents are mentioned in the newspaper that Reynie is perusing when he first encounters the ad) are due to the actions of one Ledroptha Curtain and his Learning Institute for the Very Enlightened (L.I.V.E.). Using a machine called the Whisperer, Curtain is sending out subliminal messages that are creating the tension the world is experiencing. He plans to use this machine to (and what evil genius villain wouldn't wan tthis for him or herself?) take over the world.

The children must infiltrate L.I.V.E. and destroy the Whisperer before Curtain's plans reach their fruition. Throughout this sequence Stewart does a fantastic job of maintaining suspense and tension in the reader. Never once does he take the easy or cliched way out of a situation he has put one of his characters in. To reveal too much of the action here is to spoil the plot for the reader so I will reign in my more expository instincts...

Suffice to say, the mission is fraught with peril and very real dangers for the children, and only through the combined use of ALL of their gifts are they able to persevere. The Mysterious Benedict Society is highly recommended for all fans of the mstery and adventure genre, especially those who want some depth to their characters and some complexity to their stories. Also, check out the highly entertaining official website here.