Shelf Awareness--Nocturna

YA Review: Nocturna

Nocturna by Maya Motayne (Balzer + Bray, 480p., ages 12-up, 9780062842732)

Grief-stricken Prince Alfehr is all too aware that the loss of his brother, Dezmin, has robbed the people of San Cristobal of their "true king." Dez disappeared into an endless "dark void" in a failed coup, but Alfie, the reluctant crown prince, is sure his brother isn't dead. In hopes of getting Dez back "alive and well and ready to take the throne," Alfie has been studying "every text of illegal magic" he can find.

At an illicit card game to win four more "forbidden" books, Alfie meets Finn, a loner and thief with powerful magic. Finn steals the game's prize and Alfie uses his propio (unique magical gift) to trick her and take the books for himself. Alfie's theft sets off a series of events that forces Finn to steal a "vanishing cloak" from the palace, where she witnesses Alfie's best friend, Luka, being poisoned. Alfie, trying desperately to save Luka, uses magic too powerful for his abilities and accidentally unleashes a "monstrous villain" from a children's tale. Finn reluctantly offers to help Alfie--she will work with him to trap the power of Sombra before this "god of the dark" can sweep the world into the "endless night" of Nocturna.

Using alternating narratives, mostly from the points of view of Alfie and Finn, two flawed but worthy characters, Motayne's debut Latinx fantasy is a thrilling ride through a rich, magical landscape. The Castallan Kingdom and its one-time Englassen conquerors ground the story in a familiar, but decidedly alternate, universe. Creative magical elements shine and readers will surely be delighted by Nocturna. --Lynn Becker, blogger and host of Book Talk, a monthly online discussion of children's books for SCBWI.

Discover: In this Latinx YA fantasy, Prince Alfie and penniless thief Finn work together to keep the dark god, Sombra, from sweeping the world into endless night.

Shelf Awareness--Moth: An Evolution Story

PB Review: Moth: An Evolution Story

Moth: An Evolution Story by Isabel Thomas, illus. by Daniel Egnéus (Bloomsbury, 48p., ages 6-10, 9781547600205, June 25, 2019)

Isabel Thomas and Daniel Egnéus's Moth, about the transformation of the peppered moth (Biston betularia), is endowed with such a sense of wonder, the evolution story is almost elevated to the realm of myth.

It all begins "with a little moth... waking up from a long winter's sleep." After it "wiggle[s]" and "jiggle[s]," "uncurl[s]" and "unfurl[s]," the "salt and pepper" creature emerges. But "hungry predators" lurk nearby--the moth quickly flies away, joining other peppered moths looking for food while trying "not to get eaten themselves." Most have "speckled, freckled wings," although there are a small number who are born with "wings as dark as charcoal." As the sun rises, the peppered moths settle onto nearby trees. The salt and pepper variety blend right in, but the charcoal ones stand out against pale, "lichen-covered branches." Thomas's poetic yet pragmatic text asks, "Who was the best hidden? Who would survive?" Because the speckled, freckled moths have the best camouflage, they're the ones with the highest survival rate. They lay eggs and "pass on their salt and pepper wings." Until the world changes.

With the arrival of the Industrial Revolution, people build factories, burn coal "to power magnificent machines" and use steam trains "to take things here... there... and everywhere." The air fills with "smoke and soot." In this "darker" world, which moths have the best camouflage? The "darkest" ones, with their "charcoal-colored wings," now live long enough to lay eggs and pass on their wing color to offspring of their own. Fifty years later, there are "as many peppered moths as ever," but they're mostly the darker, charcoal-colored moths. The "speckled, freckled" ones are rarer because "the moths [have] adapted to changes in the world." But then things change again. Cities begin to green up their acts. "Year by year by year," the air becomes cleaner and "trees shed their sooty bark." The "speckled, freckled" moths can once again blend in, and "today, both colors of moth find places to hide and survive."

Combining watercolors, crayon, acrylics, collage and Photoshop, Egnéus creates stunning visuals that feel soft and organic, yet also intricate and precise. Creative use of color, light and shadow, in addition to intriguing textures and bold shapes, make each spread fascinating to behold. Even the cover outdoes itself--silver foil highlights evoke the feel of ethereal moths shimmering in the moonlight. Back matter condenses the evolution of the peppered moth into two pages of historical facts. A deeply fulfilling look at the ups and downs of natural selection, this chronicle of the peppered moth remains one "of light and dark. Of change and adaptation, of survival and hope." --Lynn Becker, blogger and host of Book Talk, a monthly online discussion of children's books for SCBWI.

Shelf Talker: The principles of natural selection and adaptation take on a mythic quality in this picture-book look at the evolution of the peppered moth.

May Recommendations

Novels:

In COURTING DARKNESS, Robin LaFevers continues the saga of Lady Sybella, trained as an assassin in the convent of Saint Mortain. In the first of this new duology, Sybella struggles to keep her two sisters safe from their degenerate brother, and the new queen safe from enemies at the French court. An alternate narrative follows Genevieve, also a novitiate of Mortain, and one who has been embedded in the court’s intrigue for years. The story is wondrously crafted, with plenty of action and romance all leading to a compulsive read. Even the book itself is gorgeous—textured book jacket and endpapers, deckle-edged pages, little ornamental design elements within—wow! (YA)

OUR CASTLE BY THE SEA, by Lucy Strange, is the second elegantly plotted novel, with pitch-perfect prose and an enchanting main character, from the author of The Secret of Nightingale Wood. For twelve-year-old Pet, normal is “living in a lighthouse” with her Pa, sister Mags, and German-born mother, but the start of World War ll, with Hitler’s army “surging up through France,” is not an easy time to have a mother from Germany. There are mythic elements and a mystery, but the heart of this story is Pet’s growth as a character. If you liked The War that Saved My Life, you should also give this one a try. (MG)

PAY ATTENTION, CARTER JONES, is yet another winner by the esteemed Gary D. Schmidt (author of Okay for Now, and Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy, among so many others). One morning, when Carter’s mom had been up all night crying, and the fuel pump on the jeep was broken, and Ned the dachshund threw up (again), and it was “raining like an Australian tropical thunderstorm,” the Butler shows up on Carter's doorstep (wearing a bowler hat), and he calmly takes control of the situation. Taking control means fixing lunches, driving all the kids to school in a purple Bentley, speaking the Queen’s English, and introducing cricket to the junior high. It will make you laugh, it will make you cry. (MG)

Picture Books:

THANK YOU, OMU! is the much celebrated debut by author/illustrator Oge Mora, about a very kind woman who cooks a delicious “thick red stew in a big fat pot," which she shares and shares, until there’s nothing left for her own supper. But surprise…there ends up being plenty to eat! Acrylic paint, china markers, pastels and cut paper illustrations are colorful and distinctive.

ANOTHER, by Christian Robinson, is a playful, deceptively simple, wordless look at perspective, discovery, and imagination, rendered in Robinson’s signature paint and collage illustration style. Lovely, thought-provoking, and perfect for its intended audience.

SHE MADE A MONSTER: HOW MARY SHELLEY CREATED FRANKENSTEIN, by Lynn Fulton, illustrated by Felicity Sala, describes how, “two hundred years ago, on a wild and stormy night,” Mary not-yet-Shelley was challenged to think up a ghost story at a party, and got the idea to write her now-famous classic. Sala’s watercolor, ink, and colored pencil illustrations were named a 2018 NY Times/NYPL Best Illustrated Children’s Book.

--Lynn

Shelf Awareness--Our Castle by the Sea

MG Review: Our Castle by the Sea

Our Castle by the Sea by Lucy Strange (Chicken House/Scholastic, 336p., ages 8-12, 9781338353853)

For 12-year-old Pet, normal is "living in a lighthouse" with her Pa, sister Mags and German-born mother, Mutti. But the start of World War II, with Hitler's army "surging up through France," is not an easy time to live in England and have a mother from Germany. Insults are hurled and Mutti is blamed for acts of sabotage in the nearby village. When "a package of information and drawings" is "intercepted... on its way to Germany," Mutti is taken away to live in an internment camp with other "enemy aliens." Mags convinces Pet they should "find out who the real spy is," and their first guess is the "nasty old" recluse living on the nearby south cliff, Spooky Joe. But before they can do much investigating, Mags's odd behavior--she's been getting into fistfights with Kipper Briggs and sneaking around with "handsome Michael Baron"--causes a rift between the sisters. Pet feels her entire family slipping away, and it falls to her to be brave enough to make sense of a very complicated world.

Lucy Strange's (The Secret of Nightingale Wood) second middle-grade work features elegant prose and an enchanting protagonist. Pet is earnest and unwavering, and the "small, mousy, and unimportant" girl at the beginning of the story is quite different from the strong young woman who emerges by the end. Her kinship with the Daughters of Stone--mythical girls who sacrificed themselves for the safe return of their fishermen fathers--lends a timeless, haunting quality to the story, and endows it with the weight of legend. The message that everyday friends, "people from church, the village shopkeepers and fishermen," can easily turn into an angry, frightened mob is especially timely. This haunting, historical novel is sure to touch young readers' hearts. --Lynn Becker, blogger and host of Book Talk, a monthly online discussion of children's books for SCBWI.

Discover: In this middle-grade novel, "mousy" 12-year-old Pet's life is ripped apart by the start of World War II, but she becomes "someone extraordinary" to save her family.

May's Book of the Month--A Heart in a Body in the World

May’s Book of the Month is Deb Caletti’s 2019 Printz Honor Book, A HEART IN A BODY IN THE WORLD.

When Annabelle Agnelli gets hit on by some guys at a local fast food restaurant, she snaps. Ditches everything and starts running. Annabelle has been trying to deal with tragic events from a year ago that left her emotionally broken, and changed her world forever. Now, suddenly, she decides that she needs to run across the country, from Seattle to Washington, DC, because doing “something is better than nothing." Helped by the organizational skills of her younger brother Malcolm, and a support team of close friends who set up a GoFundMe account and business plan to publicize her half marathon-a-day endeavor, and accompanied by her Grandpa, AKA Capitano/Captain Ed, in his RV, Annabelle begins to run her way through the heart of America, as well as through the guilt and shame imposed on her by The Taker. Along the way, she begins to process what happened, and maybe even to heal.

This is not a novel comprised of only dark moments, however heavy the main storyline is. The author paints a vivid picture of Annabelle’s life with on the road with Grandpa Ed, including his snoring and excessive use of cologne whenever Dawn Celeste is nearby. Also, the emotional ups and downs of a having a doting but anxiety-riddled mother Gina, the absence of her dad That Bastard Father Anthony, her relationship with beloved “butthead” brother Malcolm, and the unfurling of her tentative affection for a “Portland-Seattle hippie cliché” boy with “a mess of curls," all make this novel as endearing as it is important.

Like the lone wolf tree, Annabelle has been “damaged bad,” she’s been “gnarled and broken,” but she’s a survivor.

--Lynn