My son has reached that reading level where he can recommend books for me to read, if he thinks I’ll enjoy them. He is almost 11 but reading at about a 15-year level. He has read every Percy Jackson book and raves about the book Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow, which he tells me is great. This first book is one I can recommend to him, or any readers from 10 upwards, who enjoy Harry Potter or Percy Jackson.
When You Reach Me
My Rating: ♠♠♠♠♠ 5/5
Author: Rebecca Stead
Genre: MG / Time-slip
Page Count: 199 pages
This is one of those books that really get the old cranks turning. I can’t stop thinking about how the plotlines fit together and really need to read it again to work it all out.
Miranda is an ordinary sixth grader, until she starts receiving mysterious messages from somebody who knows all about her, including things that have not even happened yet. Each message brings her closer to believing that only she can prevent a tragic death. Until the final note makes her think she’s too late.
I really can’t talk too highly about this book. The main character, Miranda, describes her life in that honest way children do. Her friends do some unusual things, which she takes to mean one thing. But the truth unfolds gradually throughout the story. She learns more about herself and her own motivations, as well as the lens she focuses on those around her.
This book doesn’t try to be everything and explain everything. It just shows us things that already are, in a completely new way. It is a sensitive look at how we perceive other people and how that is often completely wrong. The ending will have you dabbing at your eyes (It’s the allergies, OK!). Oh, and did I mention there is time travel?
Read it if you like: A Wrinkle In Time, Harry Potter.
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And when the veil lifts, we can see the world as it really is, just for those few seconds before it settles down again. We see all the beauty, and cruelty, and sadness, and love. But mostly we are happy not to.
The Rules of Magic
My Rating: ♠♠♠♠ 4/5
Author: Alice Hoffman
Genre: YA / Urban fantasy
Page Count: 369 pages
You would have heard of Practical Magic? This is a prequel set in the 1960’s in New York and tells the background of the two crazy aunts.
In this sparkling prequel we meet sisters Frances and Jet and Vincent, their brother. From the beginning their mother Susanna knew they were unique: Franny with her skin as pale as milk and blood red hair, who could commune with birds; Jet as shy as she is beautiful, who knows what others are thinking, and Vincent so charismatic that he was built for trouble. Susanna needed to set some rules of magic: no walking in the moonlight, no red shoes, no wearing black, no cats, no crows, no candles and certainly, absolutely, no books about magic…
But the Owens siblings are desperate to uncover who they really are. Each heads down a life-altering course, filled with secrets and truths, devastation and joy, and magic and love. Despite the warning handed down through the family for centuries – Know that for our family, love is a curse – they will all strive to break the rules and find true love.
Sometimes, I am not in the mood for fantasy of the sort of The Wheel of Time series, so this book was a breath of fresh air. The magic is there, but it is a gritty, realistic sort of magic, of herblore and seasons. It is a magic that wraps itself through the world that we know, weaving into our histories and settings seamlessly.
The characters are vividly painted and with very different personalities. They are invited to their aunt’s house one summer, when they learn who they are during two months of complete freedom from their parents. I loved learning about Franny, Jet and Vincent growing up and the different paths they chose.
Overall, this is a story about the ways in which we find and show love. There is some tragedy in the story, but the book shows us that we all have the power to decide how we can cope with that and forgive ourselves.
Read it if you like: A Discovery of Witches
Know that the only remedy for love is to love more.
Thanks for the reviews. When You Reach Me sounds perfect for my almost 13 year-old daughter, who talks books with me all the time. Good work!
Great, Let me know if she enjoys it!
There was a time when glossed-over versions of life were my kind of thing. But now, I feel even if it’s a fantasy series, a good exploration of the complexity of human character and emotion is welcome. We’re all such beautiful mysteries after all.
I’m especially intrigued by ‘When You Reach Me’. Gosh I need to find it, I HAVE to get my hands on it.
Very true!