An Unbalanced Force

Written by Valerie Sherrard

DCB 

978-1-77086-764-2

200 pp.

Ages 12+

November 2024

 

When your family gives you everything, from a comfortable lifestyle and money to support and love, it's not unusual to feel beholding to them, even if they don't make you feel like it's a transactional relationship. (Sadly, there are families that do this.) But imagine if you owe your life to a dad who saved you when you'd snuck into an abandoned house and were bleeding out from an injury? Would you feel indebted forever? Or would there be a point where doing the right thing would feel like the wrong thing?

Seventeen-year-old Ethan Granger has a pretty nice life. He and his parents live in a gated community in Ottawa near enough to the Gatineau that he can take his trail bike there regularly. He just got a new bike, and his parents are talking about taking him to do the Inca Trail in Peru. His dad who became rich with his company, The Granger Group, is generous with his cash, especially whenever he goes on a business trip, which is frequently. Part of Ethan's circle include his best friend, Owen, who enjoys getting away from his alcoholic mother by hanging at Ethan's, and Ethan's girlfriend Nora with whom he often has an on-again-off-again relationship.

When he sees his dad in a parking lot near a strip mall in town when he's supposed to be on a trip, Ethan has questions, even more so when he texts his dad and his dad claims he's just getting off his flight. Recalling an earlier incident in which Mom claims to have seen someone driving Dad's car when he was out of town, Ethan decides to hire a private investigator to check things out. Ethan knows his dad is a smooth talker and a great storyteller but is he really a liar? Ms. Abboud, the investigator, reminds Ethan that, "It's important to realize that whatever you find out, it's going to be something you'll carry for the rest of your days." (p. 36)

 

Working with Ms. Abboud and his friends, Ethan discovers where Dad is spending time during his supposed business trips, and what Ethan learns puts him in an uncomfortable position. Does he stand by his father, a man who'd saved his life, or does he go to the police? Does he jeopardize all he and his family have or consider the needs of others?

Being a teen is often a balancing act of following the rules of the adults in your life–parents, teachers, coaches, guardians–and your own inclinations, whether for interests, friends, ambitions or just independence. And even though Ethan is fortunate that he comes from a wealthy family in which his wants are rarely limited, Valerie Sherrard gives us a typical teen who looks for support in his peer group, and who wants to have a good relationship with his family and girlfriend. He's also honest with himself, seeing things he doesn't like, whether in the way Nora treats him, in his father's lies, or in his own responses to disappointment and confusion. He's a teen and he's an insightful one.

Valerie Sherrard, who was recently named the 2024 Literary Arts Laureate of the New Brunswick Lieutenant Governor’s Award for High Achievement in the Arts, is an accomplished writer of all genres, from picture books and middle grade novels to YA and non-fiction. (See a few of my reviews of some of her books, including A Bend in the Breeze, Counting Back from Nine, Standing on Neptune, Driftwood, Random Acts, and Rain Shadow, to see the range of her writing.) While she can write everything from funny to angsty, novels in free verse to information texts, I think Valerie Sherrard excels at realistic YA in which young people are challenged by ordinary feelings in perhaps uncommon circumstances. In An Unbalanced Force, Ethan is challenged with doing what's right which may be at odds with what his family might want. His choice could also impact others around him. Perhaps the circumstances are exceptional but his reactions, from confusion to disappointment and even rage, are all legit, as are the means by which he decides upon his response.

With the overload of decisions which young people must make before reaching adulthood, with respect to their careers, their relationships, and even the risks they take, it's reassuring to know that, even when given circumstances beyond their control, like Owen's alcoholic mother and Ethan's deceitful father, they can see different perspectives and make good choices for themselves. Best of all, they can remain open to possibilities and stay confident in their choices, regardless of what others may toss at them.

Double Trouble (Orca Currents)

Written by Joanne Levy

Orca Book Publishers

978-1-4598-2133-0

132 pp.

Ages 9-12

August 2019 

While many of us display different personalities depending on the circumstances–reserved, outgoing, chatterbox, leader, etc.–Victoria Adelman takes it to a whole different level when she meets Jazzy, the granddaughter of her neighbours and a potential new best friend. She actually becomes her own twin.

With her best friend Anna having moved away, Victoria fills her time cultivating her organic garden, feeding her family–her Dad and grandmother Bubby–and their neighbours and tending to her compost. But when she meets the Patels' granddaughter Jasvitha (Jazzy) shortly upon returning home from synagogue, Jazzy gets the impression that Victoria likes fashion and dressing up. Later when she spots Victoria wearing her grubby gardening clothes and working with her worm bin, Jazzy apparently does not recognize her and keeps asking for Vicky. Victoria, desperate for a friend, pretends to be Tori, Vicky's twin sister, and launches the charade of switching between the garden-loving Tori and the fashionista Vicky, depending on when she sees Jazzy.

But you know things cannot go smoothly when you attempt to deceive and must alter your personality and dress for one person and keep all the others in the dark.

I suddenly felt guilty. Because not only had I made up a sister, but now I was trash-talking her. To the girl I'd lied to. (pg. 68-69)

From a trip to the Royal Botanical Gardens with Mr. and Mrs. Patel and Jazzy, and a shopping trip with Bubby and Jazzy, Victoria is torn between being herself and the person she thinks will win her a new friend in Jazzy.  And then there's the sleepover which Jazzy expects to have with Tori and Vicky. Will it all blow up for Victoria or will she get the friend she is desperate to have?

While Joanne Levy has brought us stories with extraordinary circumstances (see Small Medium at Large, 2012), she does equally well with middle-grade stories that are typical of most young people. Whether it's friendships or family, bat mitzvahs or first crushes (Crushing It, 2017 and Yael and the Party of the Year, 2018, writing as Tamsin Lane), Joanne Levy brings the humour to everyday ups and downs in a middle-grader's life. Moreover, she gets that eagerness to be accepted by your peers, when you'd try just about anything to be liked. The farce that becomes Victoria's life is so representational that I could imagine a young reader wondering if they could pull off faking being twins too. (My advice based on Victoria's experience: Don't.)

Readers will enjoy the ridiculousness of Victoria's deception, which is never spiteful nor mean-spirited, and the farcical scenes of her attempting to pretend to be both Vicky and Tori in this short, hi-lo novel. Still, fortunately, they'll be left with the honest message that self-acceptance will always triumph over pretending to be someone you're not, though you might get a few laughs, plus some heartache, along the way if you do.

Level 13

Written by Gordon Korman

Scholastic Press

978-1-338-28620-5

241 pp.

Ages 8-12

July 2019

Cameron Boxer is a middle-grade slacker. He acknowledges this and is happy with a life style that allows him to play video games, hang with his friends Chuck and Pavel, and eat junk food. Of course, most parents and schools aren't supportive of slackers and so Cam has had to find a way to appease them with a façade of effort (see Slacker by Gordon Korman; Scholastic 2016) and he's done this by establishing P.A.G. a.k.a. Positive Action Group. But things tend to get out of hand when Cam is involved and his community service club has ballooned to 874 kids who think Cam, president of P.A.G., is a stand-up kind of guy who wants to do good work. So while all the paggers are working on a fundraiser for the public library, Cam is trying to avoid getting involved in anything that would take him away from his gaming and potential money-making endeavour as a live streamer.

Being the slacker he is, Cam comes up with a plan that would give him all the time needed for gaming and still look good. He lies to all, except Pavel and Chuck, that he's failing in his schoolwork because of his commitment to P.A.G. and allows Chuck's new girlfriend Daphne to take over as an interim president. To cover up his gaming, Cam creates a new account as GameFox229 and wears a disguise of an old Zorro mask and stuffs gummy worms in his mouth. When Chuck brings Elvis, the beaver the kids helped out in Slacker, over to Cam's house–Daphne is worried how thin he is–the number of followers and subscribers watching Cam explodes. Seems the rodent is mesmerized watching Cam play, getting into the game with sounds and expressions that suggest he knows exactly what's going on. Moreover, when Cam discovers an old version of the Guardians of Geldorf game with a banned Level 13 and is determined to make history with it, Elvis is all in.

But the Awesome Threesome, Cam, Pavel and Chuck, are struggling to stay a cohesive group while Chuck tries to balance his commitment to Daphne and Pavel struggles to keep up his stellar grades while always helping to transport Elvis to join Cam for his streaming sessions.

You know things have to go wrong. Soon all the paggers, without letting anyone else know, are taking over Cam's schoolwork to ensure that his marks improve so he can once again lead them in P.A.G. Elvis is not getting any fatter and Daphne is starting to worry about his health and the frequency of his absences from his habitat. Chuck and Pavel, knowing the truth of Cam's successes, are dismayed to see him held up as a hero of good works and marks. Even Cam's sister Melody gets into things by blackmailing him. Cam and his schemes are a runaway train and he has to get things back on track before he loses everything: his reputation, his friends, and even his health.

When he got mixed up in things–even dumb things–they could balloon to Hindenburg size in the blink of an eye.

     Then again, remember what happened to the Hindenburg. (pg. 122)

Gordon Korman gives kids a story they'll laugh at while envying Cam. Think about how many children would admire Cam for his artful scheming, continued luck, and ability to avoid scandal. He may call himself a slacker but he puts so much effort into his plans and their realization that he becomes a slave to his hobby. Level 13 could be considered a cautionary tale about the dangers of addictive behaviour and taking advantage of others but it's more a laugh on how the best laid plans can go wrong, even for those like Cam who were born under a lucky star. Regardless of the glitch in Cam's plan to becoming a professional gamer, he keeps leveling up, learning more about himself and others and appreciating a life beyond that of a slacker. For the Win!

Sadie

Written by Courtney Summers

Wednesday Books

978-1-250-10571-4

308 pp.

Ages 14+

September 2018

If you notice that the book cover is larger than I usually post, it's because Sadie, the book and the girl, should not be relegated to the back or to a corner to be forgotten. In her life, Sadie was neglected and abused and she may have felt insignificant, but she is courageous and responsible, and she deserves to be noticed–and not because of her stuttering–and her extraordinary efforts appreciated.

Sadie begins with the murder of Sadie's thirteen-year-old sister, Mattie Southern, after she'd left their home in Cold Creek, Colorado, ostensibly to search out their mother Claire, who'd left 3 years earlier. Mattie had never given up hope on her mother, an addict who'd showered her meagre love and limited attention on her youngest daughter and essentially ignored or was hostile to her eldest.

I can't even put into words what it's like to swallow down a moment like that, but I can tell you exactly how bitter it tastes. (pg. 55-6)

Sadie had given all of herself to her baby sister and mothered Mattie even more, when at 16, it was just the two of them, abandoned and living in a trailer park run by their surrogate grandmother, May Beth Foster.  When Sadie disappears eight months after her sister's murder and her car found abandoned the next month, May Beth contacts WNRK New York to get some media attention and help. So begins a serialized podcast, The Girls, by producer West McCray, who pursues Sadie's story and consequently Mattie's as well.

The Girls explores what happens when a devastating crime reveals a deeply unsettling mystery. It's a story about family, about sisters, and the untold lives lived in small-town America. It's about the lengths we go to protect the ones we love. . . and the high price we pay when we can't. (pg. 1)

Sadie alternates between The Girls podcast and Sadie's telling of her pursuit of justice for her sister. West's podcast includes narration and interviews with persons of interest as he tries to locate Sadie, all the while unravelling her story. There's May Beth Foster who acts as his home base for information and clarification, and then the people Sadie meets along her journey. The chapters based on Sadie's pursuit of Mattie's murderer begin at an out-of-town diner where Sadie suggests she's looking for her father, always showing a photo of her family with Claire's ex, Keith. From that starting point, she gets one lead after another, desperate to locate the man she is convinced is responsible for Mattie's death. Mixed with reminiscences, many unsettling, as triggered by those she meets, Sadie must uncover Keith's story, told from the points of view of those who considered him a good guy and those who won't reveal much from the cloak of shame and trauma. Regardless, she pursues and inevitably helps in ways she might never know.

Courtney Summers always tells bold stories, whether based on zombies (This is Not a Test, 2012; Please Remain Calm, 2014), on sexual assault and shame (All the Rage, 2015), on bullying (Some Girls Are, 2010) or self-destruction (Cracked Up to Be, 2008). They immerse the reader in tense situations of agonizing brutality, emotional and physical, that rarely have happy endings. But that's reality. Life is not neat and it's not fair. It's raw and real and not for the faint of heart. Courtney Summers sugarcoats nothing. Nothing at all. Even as West McCray speaks to witnesses or persons of interest, they spin Sadie's story with an effort to make themselves look better. It's not honest but it's real. Take Claire, for instance. This woman cared more for the child who looked like her than the one who didn't (and blames that on her youth, her mother's death and May Beth); neglected her children in favour of her addiction; sends an abuser packing only when she suspects he might have attacked her favourite; abandons her children for years; and blames West McCray when he can't find Sadie. Yikes. Sadie's story is gut-wrenching in itself: bullied for her stuttering, neglected by her mother, abused by her mother's boyfriend, abandoned, becoming a surrogate parent to a resentful child, and grief-stricken for her beloved sister. Her story is almost too much to take.

Don't look for a happy ending in Sadie, and it's not because Courtney Summers ends Sadie with another tragedy. It's just hard to tell what kind of an ending Courtney Summers has given readers. While there is justice, Courtney Summers also leaves a gaping hole in Sadie's story that readers will need to fill, either with hope for a new story for Sadie or with another tragedy to complete her original one. Read Sadie and let me know what you think happened to this fierce young woman because her story is far too important to let her be forgotten.

The Hanging Girl

Written by Eileen Cook

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

978-0-544-82982-4

308 pp.

Ages 13+

October 2017

Skye Thorn is a tarot card reader, helping her peers with their questions about love, school and more.  But, though she cultivates an image of having psychic powers, Skye is just an astute observer of human nature and a sneak at private files and conversations.  Her mother might purport to have the gift but Skye knows she herself does not.

Still Skye is a teen who has always wanted a certain life and had a willingness to make it happen. 

Destiny is like a boulder.  Bulky and hard to move.  It's easier to leave it alone than to try to change it.  But that never kept anyone from trying.  Trust me: I'm a professional. (pg. 1)

She hates her name, Candi, the one she was given by her 15-year-old mother, and has managed to get her friends and school to use her middle name, Skye.  She had woven a story about her father, whom she has never known, being a military hero.  That story ended badly, though, and had her labelled a liar and headed for counselling.  Now, she’s telling her best friend Drew that she’s saving her money so that they’ll be able to get an apartment in New York City when Drew heads to art school next year.  But she hasn’t. 

When she is approached to use her psychic flair in a scheme to kidnap popular and wealthy Paige Bonnet, Skye convinces herself that it would be alright.  Paige would not be hurt and Skye would get some of the ransom money.  Her role would be negligible: all she had to do was convince the police that she was having visions of Paige’s disappearance and to help direct their investigation.  Ah, the best laid plans…

Like the tarot card called the Hanged Man, which suggests someone at the crossroads, Skye is balancing who she really is with what she wants people to see and what they actually do see in her.  From her mother to Drew and classmates and then the police and others, Skye's self is hanging, perhaps precariously as she makes choices.  She truly is The Hanging Girl. But the mystery that is Skye extends beyond her, embedding readers in a young adult thriller with a myriad of twists and reversals and red herrings.  Never, never can the reader tell what will happen next or whom to believe.  The tagline "Trust no one. Deceive everyone" is especially apt.  The plot is intricate and multilayered and, even when Skye figures things out in a climactic graduation ceremony setting, I was never convinced I knew the truth. That just tells you how convincing Eileen Cook's writing is.  It is tight but complex, and she never lets the plot lag or the storyline get caught on ineffectual plot twists.

Eileen Cook, whose books Unraveling Isobel (Simon Pulse, 2012), The Almost Truth (Simon Pulse, 2012), Remember (Simon Pulse, 2015), and With Malice (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016) have been reviewed on CanLit for LittleCanadians, always has some mystery amidst the teen drama but she is particularly adroit at relationship dramas.  Her characterizations and dialogue between characters and inside Skye's head are especially compelling in The Hanging Girl.  Except for several chapters conveyed as Paige's written account of her ordeal, most of Eileen Cook’s text is in the first-person narrative of the young tarot card reader trying to assess her situation prior to Paige's disappearance and then while the teen's family and police investigate.  She's gotten herself involved in something desperate and is in far too deep to get out cleanly.  Still, though she lies and manipulates, it's surprising how sympathetic Skye is as a character.  She always believed that she was destined for a nothing life, so the readers will cheer for the girl who tries to see herself beyond a life at Burger Barn.  As such, the ending will floor you.

See beyond the mess that is Skye and the situation in which she finds herself and discover a thrilling plot of truths and lies and shadows in The Hanging Girl. It's a little dark but more angsty than criminal and definitely an accurate take on the desperate measures people will take to achieve the lives they feel are warranted.

Julia Defiant: The Witch's Child Book 2

Written by Catherine Egan

Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers

978-0-553-53335-4

464 pp.

Ages 14+

June, 2017

Julia Defiant, the sequel to Catherine Egan's Julia Vanishes (2016), the first book in her Witch's Child series, is as epic a fantasy as all her books.  There are battles of good vs. evil for power but amidst so much deception that it is hard to tell whom to trust, and Julia, who is still blaming herself for her role in the kidnapping of young Theo, doesn't even know if she can trust herself to do the right thing.

The core cast of characters from Julia Vanishes are still aiding and abetting Julia, the Fraynish girl who can vanish as well as  transport herself between locations and into a dark and burning other world called Kahge. Mrs. Och, one of the three immortal Xianren who’d been tasked with guarding and keeping separate the fragments of The Book of Disruption to prevent the overflow of magic, is leading the group in search of a monk named Ko Dan.  It is hoped that they can enlist Ko Dan to undo the magic he used to transfer the fragment of Gennady, another Xianren, into his baby son.   Theo, not yet two, does not know that he is at the centre of it all, with the third Xianren, Casimir, determined to reassemble the book and reestablish their immortality.

Mrs. Och’s plan is for the group to separate in Tianshi, the capital of Yongguo, and learn what they can. Julia resides with Mrs. Och, Theo and the boy’s mother, the witch Bianka, and Frederick the scholar in the modest Nanmu Triangle, while Julia’s brother Dek and her former lover Wyn live in the seedier Dongshui Triangle.  The others, Julia’s thieving compatriots–Esme, Gregor, Csilla–as well as the learned Professor Baranyi, pose as members of an aristocratic household in the Xihuo Triangle.

While their task is simple enough–find Ko Dan and save Theo from the fragment within him–there is much to learn, primarily about and by Julia.  When permission is granted by the grand librarian, Si Tan, for them to visit the Imperial Library, the search is on for clues to Ko Dan’s whereabouts but also, Julie learns when vanished, into Kahge and Julia’s powers.  At the Imperial Library, she is accosted by a witch who works magic on her, flooding her with visions, possibly memories, including one in which her mother worked with a two-spouted pot, similar to one she’d observed in a painting of the witch Marike.  This pot which she later learns is called the Ankh-nu may be a key to Julia’s heritage.

But Julia’s wanderings as she vanishes about Yongguo and into the horrific world of Kahge bring her more questions, though rarely answers.  Who is Lidari and why do the creatures of Kahge call out to Julia with this name?  Who is the Fraynish girl obviously under protection in the monastery?  And the biggest question is: Who can she trust? Mrs. Och who seems to want to help Bianka and Theo but shamelessly pulls life forces from Bianka and Frederick to strengthen herself?  The young man Jun to whom she is attracted and who has come to her rescue?  Her brother Dek who is acting less like himself because of the freedoms he now has in Yongguo?  Or Pia, the assassin who sees herself in Julia, knowing how they’ve been treated and the life Julia could have under Casimir’s contract?  Can Julia even trust herself to be there to save Theo when she’s already let him down at least once?

The constraints of a single post for a review of Julia Defiant suggest the story is much less than it is.  This space is far too meagre for me to acquaint the reader with its plot and still find room to applaud it sufficiently.  The plot and myriad of subplots, as well as rich contingent of characters, both of Frayne and Yongguo and Kahge, are too much for these few words.  I desperately want to tell you of Ragg Rock and her bunny; Silver Moya, Count Fournier and Princess Zara; the telling of stories to Theo; Dek’s new life with Ling; adorable Theo as he learns to walk, talk and do magic; and so much more.  This is especially so as it is all told in the opulent prose of Catherine Egan who can make everything sound, read bigger and better and more.

Stars, this boy.  Handsome, mysterious, quick on his feet, and now sweet.  I struggle not to give him a melty look. (pg. 81)

Even crushing on a boy reads powerfully.  This is how Catherine Egan writes. Every word is authoritative and woven with magic to create worlds that may have familiar elements–there is definitely an Asian feel to the world of Yongguo with its names, dress and customs–but are so distinct and extraordinary that nothing compares.  All I can say is that, having introduced Julia in Julia Vanishes, Catherine Egan's second book brings Julia into worlds where she can define herself and her power, so that she is never inconsequential again.  She will only vanish when she so chooses, making Julia Defiant fantastic in more ways than one. 

The Bonaventure Adventures blog tour: Q & A with author Rachelle Delaney:

Written by Rachelle Delaney

Puffin Canada

978-0-14319-850-5

288 pp.

Ages 9-12

May 2017

Yesterday, middle grade youngCanLit writer Rachelle Delaney witnessed the somersaulting launch of her newest book, The Bonaventure Adventures.  Today, as part of Penguin Random House Canada's blog tour for The Bonaventure Adventures, I am pleased to present my interview with author Rachelle Delaney.

Author Rachelle Delaney

(Photo from author's website 

at http://rachelledelaney.com)

HK:  Having read your earlier middle-grade novel The Circus Dogs of Prague and knowing that the Bonaventure is a circus school, I’m struck by your ongoing interest in circuses.  How did this interest arise? And did you ever dream of being a circus performer yourself?

RD:  I’ve definitely been a bit obsessed with the circus for several years now. It began back in 2010, when I was teaching creative writing to some kids enrolled in circus classes. This struck me as such an interesting way to gain an appreciation for arts and sports and performing, all at once. So I started researching it as a potential setting for a novel, and I quickly learned about the National Circus School in Montreal, where young performers from around the world go to study the modern circus. I spent some time in Montreal, doing a bit of research and taking in contemporary circus shows, which were so incredibly different from the traditional shows I grew up with. And I fell in love with the modern circus scene, and with Montreal too (it’s pretty hard not to love Montreal). I’ve been back many times in the past five years; at one point I even had an Access Copyright Foundation grant to do circus research there. Tough job, I know. ☺


HK:  Your research into circus schools and circus performers must have been extensive as your writing demonstrates an in-depth knowledge of  the full array of circus skills.  How did you conduct your research? And did you conduct any personal research at a circus school in Montreal or here in Ontario?

RD:  Well, I’m glad it seems like my knowledge is extensive, because I still feel like there’s so much more to know about the circus world! Fortunately, the Bonaventure Circus School is a pretty quirky place—it’s nothing like the professional schools I learned about through my research. So that setting gave me some freedom to be creative.

I went about my research in three ways: reading everything I could, talking to any circus pros who would answer my questions, and—this is where it got scary—taking some circus arts classes myself. Now, I’m awfully uncoordinated and not at all acrobatic, but my teachers were patient. Natalie Parkinson of Toronto’s Hercinia Arts Collective was particularly great—she answered all my ridiculous questions while attempting to teach me acrobatics and aerials. I have no more skills than my main character Sebastian, but it was such a fun experience.

HK:  A theme of The Bonaventure Adventures is the duality of persons, sometimes to deceive but more often just to show different faces in different circumstances and with different people.  Audrey Pott, the clown teacher, suggests that “When you get to know your inner clown, you get to know the person you really are deep inside, not just the person you might sometimes pretend to be.  It can be soul-expanding.” (pg. 92) Do you think it’s a good idea to have two (or more) different personas to show the world or is it better to show all aspects of your personality to everyone?

RD:  Good question. I don’t think it’s necessarily a good idea to have two or more personas to show the world, but I think a lot of people—adults especially—do exactly that. I suppose it’s a social survival strategy, and not a terrible one. But it takes courage to show up as your whole self. I know I’m still working on it.


HK:  I know that The Bonaventure Adventures is aptly tagged as “Harry Potter meets Cirque du Soleil” because three young people come together to navigate life in a circus school.  As with Harry Potter, do you foresee or have already planned sequels to The Bonaventure Adventures that would have Seb, Frankie and Banjo having more adventures at the school and in Montreal? If so, please let us know what and when we might expect them.

RD:  I’m one hundred and fifty percent open to writing a sequel or three about Seb, Frankie, and Banjo’s adventures in Montreal (and beyond). But as of right now, there are only plans for the one book.


HK:  Angélique Saint-Germain insists that the students “pursue perfection, practice at every opportunity” (pg. 78).  One student, Camille, even considers giving up sleep to practise.  Do you believe the adage that practice always makes perfect? (I think Seb might not agree with that completely although his somersaults did become passable.)

RD:  I do believe that practice is essential, and that if something (whether it’s writing or juggling swords) is worth doing, it’s worth doing poorly for a long time. But I don’t think that practice necessarily leads to perfection, or that perfection is even the point. Striving for perfection, in my experience, can really suck the joy out of life. Also, practice without sleep is just an all-around bad idea, especially when acrobatics are involved.


HK:  We know that it’s important for young readers to see themselves in a book’s characters and I think all readers could see themselves in Seb or Frankie or Banjo.  Did you write them as a reflection of Harry, Hermione and Ron respectively (going back to the Harry Potter reference) or just young people who reveal multiple characteristics in temperament, strengths and weaknesses? 

RD:  You know, I didn’t even notice the Harry Potter parallel until someone else pointed it out recently! I can sort of see similarities between Seb and Harry, in that they’re both intelligent and introspective. But Frankie is this mysterious, hot-headed parkour expert, and Banjo is a timid slack-liner from a backwoods logging town, so I don’t see Ron and Hermione in them. But it’s not a bad comparison—I’m certainly not complaining.

What appeals to me about Seb, Frankie, and Banjo connects back to your question about hidden personas. Each one harbours secrets and aspects of themselves they feel like they can’t or shouldn’t show. And they help each other find a sense of belonging; when they’re together, they feel more whole.

HK:  If there is one theme or message that you would like middle-grade readers to take from The Bonaventure Adventures, what would it be and why?

RD:  I’ve been playing around with the theme of authenticity for a few years now, although I didn’t realize it until a writer friend recently pointed out that it’s a recurring theme in my writing. I’d love middle-grade readers to know that sometimes the things you’re passionate about can seem strange or even pointless to others. But those interests are not only valid but so very important, because they make you who you are.

Also, if I can add one more: fire-breathing should never be attempted on an empty stomach. I didn’t actually try this myself and I DEFINITELY don’t recommend anyone try it ever, but it was one of my favourite facts from my research. Apparently the pros recommend a bread and milk appetizer before breathing flames. Who knew!

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Many thanks to Rachelle Delaney for answering my questions about The Bonaventure Adventures as well as to Vikki VanSickle, her publicist at Penguin Random House Canada (and an author in her own right) for arranging this blog tour stop.

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Other Rachelle Delaney books

I encourage young readers to read The Bonaventure Adventures and, while crossing fingers for a possible book two, check out Rachelle Delaney's earlier middle grade books.  They are all bon adventures!

The Lost Souls series:

The Ship of Lost Souls (2009)

The Lost Souls of Island X (2010) (in US The Guardians of Island X)

The Hunt for the Panther (2013)

The Metro Dogs of Moscow (2013)

The Circus Dogs of Prague (2014)

Crushing It

by Joanne Levy

Aladdin

978-1-4814-6473-4

240 pp.

Ages 9-13

January 2017
Reviewed from advance reading copy

In a middle-grade twist on the classic tale of Cyrano de Bergerac’s clandestine wooing of the fair Roxanne for the tongue-tied Christian, Joanne Levy, author of the very funny Small Medium at Large (Bloomsbury, 2012), again confirms that first loves aren’t always those of the innocent simplicity suggested.

My stomach had started doing flip-flops because he was...different.  I couldn't figure out exactly what it was, but something inside me told me things were weird.  Not that he was acting differently; just he made me nervous.  Like I wanted to be around him and not be around him at the same time. (pg. 8-9)

Twelve-year-old Kat and her next door neighbour and friend Tyler have a lot in common, like playing Zombie Slashers, watching anime movies, reading fantasy books, and volunteering at a local animal shelter.  But Tyler, who’d previously attended private school, is now on everyone’s radar in Grade 7, including that of Kat’s best friend and cousin Olivia.  Not seeing herself as anything but a warthog, because of her braces, glasses and two-left feet, compared to the pretty and graceful gazelle that is Olivia, Kat agrees to help her cousin get Tyler’s attention and an invite to the school’s first dance.  So begins Project Ty-Livia which involves Kat providing Olivia with cheat sheets about Tyler, pretending to be Olivia playing online video games, and prompting her cousin with the right answers to Tyler’s questions. Tyler may start to see Olivia differently but it’s a farce with Kat attempting to project her nerdy self on her popularity-driven cousin while starting to realize that she too is crushing on Tyler.

Of course Crushing It is all about the angst of that first crush. By having two very different girls crushing on the same boy, Joanne Levy demonstrates, with her trademark humour, that infatuations, whether overt or unspoken, can be overwhelming and embarassing but more so when you don’t remain true to yourself.  Thankfully, unlike Cyrano, Kat and Olivia and Tyler all find happy endings, though not those they first perceived as appropriate or attempted to manipulate.

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(A version of this review was originally written for and published in Quill & Quire, as noted in the citation below.)

Kubiw, H. (2017, March). [Review of the book Crushing It, by Joanne Levy]. Quill & Quire, 83 (2): 23.

Julia Vanishes

Written by Catherine Egan

Alfred A. Knopf

978-0-553-52484-0

375 pp.

Ages 12-17

2016

I’ve always been on the Catherine Egan-bandwagon, an auspicious venue for readers of fabulous fantasy and struggles in other worlds. The Last Days of Tian Di, her trilogy  (Shade and Sorceress, 2012; The Unmaking, 2013: Bone, Fog, Ash & Star, 2014), took readers to imaginary lands of  Mancers, Faeries and Sorceresses and an exceptional evil vs. good conflict.  But now I’ve joined the ranks of fans of her Witch’s Child series, debuted with Julia Vanishes, who’ve recognized Catherine Egan’s latest high fantasy as something truly special, not unlike Julia herself.

Whilst miscellaneous persons are being murdered and their brains messed with after encountering a mysterious woman and her baby Theo, sixteen-year-old Julia works reconnaissance as the housemaid Ella at the home of the elderly and wealthy Mrs. Och.  After Julia’s mother Ammi was drowned as a witch in one of Prime Minister Agoston Horthy’s ritual Cleansings of those practising outlawed element worship and magic, Julia and her older brother Dek, a great mechanical tinkerer, were taken in by Esme who runs the criminal underworld. As part of Esme’s band of crooks, which includes Gregor and Csilla and Julia’s love interest, the artistic Wyn, Julia has been charged with staking out Mrs. Och’s household from within, watching the lady herself, as well as her guests Professor Baranyi, who had once been in prison for his heretical writings and continues to dabble in mysterious work with his assistant Frederick, and Mr. Darius whose bizarre behaviour and entrapment in the cellar draws her curiosity.  Thankfully Julia has an inane ability to vanish, to be unseen.

“There is a space I can step into, a space between being myself in the world and I know not what, where people’s eyes simply pass over me.” (pg. 7)

Julia’s vanishings allow her to learn of Mrs. Och’s smuggling of witches, and of strange experiments on the kind Mr. Darius, and of concerns that the murders and other mysterious goings-on indicate a search for  someone or something.  When Julia reports to their client, Pia, a cagey woman in goggle spectacles, that Mrs. Och has two new house guests, Bianka Betine and her young child, Theo, Julia becomes enmeshed in a dangerous plot that pays phenomenally well but costs her much in self-respect and remorse and leads her to face evil, both inside and out.

It is so easy to get swept up in the world of Spira City (a map is included and necessary) and beyond, a world of magic and subterfuge, witches and immortals.  There is menace and kindness, compassion and cruelty, and the difference is not always clear. Catherine Egan, who knows a few things about writing of evil and villains (see her guest post here), riddles her evocative and atmospheric writing with characters, like Julia, who appear to bridge that continuum of good vs. evil–yes, even Julia has some things of which she is not proud–making them as real as you and me but in a world of fantasy where writings can become wishes and owls can become cats.  Her characters are exceptional for their diversity and natures, and her plotting has the highs of turrets and the depths of dungeons, the twists of secret staircases and darkness, so much darkness.  But it is Catherine Egan’s writing that draws me in so fully.  It’s rich in the textures of shadows and excitement, going far beyond words into realms of new worlds.

“A hand jerks his head up by the hair.  A wetness at his forehead, a spreading blackness.  He thinks of struggle, but fleetingly, as if from a great distance–already this sudden, brutal ending has become part of somebody else’s story.” (pg. 28)

“When Wyn draws the Twist, he makes all the ugliness, filth, and poverty beautiful somehow–this is his gift, his magic: to transform with love.  And he works his magic on me as well, so that when he touches me, my horrible dress and uncombed hair are nothing, nothing at all to the beauty he draws forth.  I am not the same Julia–motherless, broke, badly dressed, a crook.  In his arms, for a short while at least, I am perfect.” (pg. 87)

From the depths of cruelty to the sublime of love, Catherine Egan writes with a fluid pen and transports readers to worlds where magic is possible. Thankfully Julia Vanishes is but the beginning of that story. Julia Defiant, out in June 2017, will carry us further.