Tuesdays at the Castle

There were only two rules the Castle seemed to follow.  Rule One: The throne room was always to the east.  Rule Two: If you turned left three times and climbed through the next window, you'd end up in the kitchens.

Tuesdays at the Castle by Jessica Day George

Sometimes when I walk through the shelves at the library I snag books based entirely on their cover (and usually their inside flap).   This book was one of those, from the award book section in juvenile fiction that I frequent every time I'm a
t the library.  It was a fun, fluffy read, one of those that reminds me of why I so loved (and still do) indulging in books as a child. 

The Glower family lives in an enchanted castle that can transform as it pleases.  Each Tuesday something changes: a new wing added, a hallway lengthened, a secret passage where there was nothing before.  It is a fun, intriguing building and the kids love to live there. 

A few pages in, however, the king and queen have gone missing and the three Glower children at the castle must use it to fight those that are trying to take over.  The kids are involved in pranks as well as dangerous adventures as they join forces with their castle to try to make sure the crown stays protected.

Though there was nothing that made it really stand out in a literary sense, for me this book rates high.  It was just fun!  I loved being taken away by my imagination.

Two post scripts here: first, I am the dork that almost always reads about the author and reads through their notes at the end.  I was delighted to see that Jessica Day George not only lives in Salt Lake City but also attended BYU, my alma mater.  Second, my nickname (from one of my siblings) is Glower - odd, but true.  It was hard to read about the Glower children without a smile coming to my face because of it.

Every Soul a Star

"Wherever you end up, I wish you clear skies.  Always."
-Every Soul a Star, Wendy Mass

Every Soul a Star by Wendy Mass

At the same time I was reading Major Pettigrew's Last Stand, I was listening to the audiobook for Every Soul a Star.  The two together provided a very nice contrast: while Major Pettigrew was very deliberate and mature, Every Soul a Star had young voices with a quick storyline.

Every Soul a Star has three teenage protagonists and the chapters rotate between each of them: Ally is a down-to-earth girl that lives at a campground with her parents and little brother - she is intelligent, thoughtful and sincere; Jack is an insecure kid living with him mom and brother, but he spends a lot of time in his tree house, where he escapes reality by drawing and daydreaming; Bree is the stuck-up girl from other girls' nightmares - she is obsessed with fashion, her figure, and her prospective modeling career.  I enjoyed that in the audio version each of the protagonists was played by a different person, so their voices were differentiated even further than their voices in the book may have allowed.

As the book opens, Ally, Jack and Bree are all living separate lives.  Ally lives happily with her family, her best friends, at the Moon Shadow Campground.  She and her brother, Kenny, are home schooled and love spending time outside, exploring nature.  Most especially, Ally has been blessed with a great love for the skies and spends many hours exploring the stars.  Her family is preparing for the solar eclipse and their preparations have lasted as long as she can remember: she has never been more excited for any single event.

Jack's life is a constant battle between what he wants to do - art - and what he should do - school.  He has failed science and is trying not to think about looming summer school when his science teacher, Mr. Silver, calls and invites him on a trip to see a solar eclipse.  The two week trip would take the place of summer school, so after approximately 2.8 seconds of thought, Jack accepts.  For the first time he can remember, he fits in with a group, as the others on the bus tour think he's wonderful, in spite of being overweight and imaginative.

Bree has just landed quite an impressive job at the mall's make-up store as Junior Consultant.  She is hoping to start a new modeling career and is the proud leader of the "A Clique" at school.  She gathers pictures of models in her spare time and rates herself, and everyone she sees, on a scale from 1-10 every day.  Her world comes crashing down when her parents announce they're moving and she, against her will, is forced to move with them.

The three meet at the Moon Shadow and have two weeks together leading up to the big eclipse that brought them all there.  They struggle to understand how each of the others thinks and they learn to better understand people in general. 

My favorite thing about this book was how much I learned about the stars and eclipses.  After it ended I told my husband I'd really like to go see an eclipse.  I also learned about exoplanets (aided by my husband's documentary-like explanation of how they're found) and meteorites.  Space is such a fun area to learn about and I liked seeing others' enthusiasm for it.

Maybe what I least enjoyed was the teenage voices: I hated being a teenager, which likely carries into this.  :)  It was okay, and a welcome change of scenery from Major Pettigrew, but I don't think I'll ever pick it up again.

The Shakespeare Stealer

The Shakespeare Stealer by Gary Blackwood

Over Thanksgiving last year, my husband and I went on an 8 day trip to California.  The first three days we spent at Disneyland, running between rides and eating ice cream with the excitement of children.  On day four we drove down to San Diego, where we met up with his family for the rest of the week.  We ate like it was going out of style, attended his little brother's soccer tournament and played games  And I read.  I walked miles each day with my nose in a book and the sun on my skin: I believe that is my definition of contentment.  Or maybe happiness itself.  Whatever it was, I loved it so much that I read the three books I had taken and, with three days left of the trip, we had to go to Barnes and Noble to find something new.  How devastating.  :)  It was there that I picked up Shakespeare Stealer (and two others...reviews to come).  It was also there that I read it (in California, I mean, not in the bookstore).

The Shakespeare Stealer is a clever story about Widge, a boy whose harsh master makes him learn an ingenious shorthand that he (the master) invented.  Though the system is not nearly as great as the master thinks, Widge masters it and becomes the only person who can capably use it.  One day a disfigured man comes and offers the master a handsome sum to buy Widge and take him away at once: suddenly, Widge's whole future has changed. 

Widge is taken to a whole new world, it seems, as he enters London with the very clear directive of transcribing, in its entirety, Hamlet.  Though the new master won't discuss it, it becomes apparent that his hope is to steal the play and make another traveling group of actors rich with it.  But Widge gets caught up in the magic and the beauty of the play, and soon he becomes involved with the actors and escapes his master to learn the art of acting.  He actually has friends, is learning a skill and, for the first time, has a place to call home as he spends each day rehearsing for the upcoming plays.

Of course there is a twist at the end, but that I won't tell you about; why else would you read it? 

My biggest complaint about this book is that I was so worried about Widge!  I found myself reading as quickly as possible, as though turning the pages faster would protect Widge from his new master, who is enraged when he does not have the play after the first performance.  I wouldn't mind rereading for the sake of taking in more of the details (as opposed to having my eyes flit quickly across pages looking for any signs of distress).  Alas, these concerns are petty issues of the reader, not of the book.  :)  It was a fun read; I think boys around sixth grade would enjoy it very much.

(Oh, and what an interesting time to read about!  In spite of it being fictionalized I really enjoyed thinking about living during Shakespeare's time.)