Teen Tuesday: A Thousand Steps into the Night by Traci Chee

Image: HarperCollins Publishers

Happy Tuesday!  Teen Tuesday features A Thousand Steps into the Night by Traci Chee. Seventeen-year-old Otori Miuko is doomed. She was born, plain and clumsy, into the serving class, bound by restrictive gender and class roles. Still, her father took care of her, even after her mother deserted the family. Then, Miuko is cursed by a demon and she's driven from her village. She has two weeks to undo the curse before she's changed into her demon form forever. She rescues a magpie from some foxes and discovers that it is the shape-shifting trickster, Geiki, who is now in her debt for saving his life. The two set out across Awara and they encounter evil humans and gods as well as unexpected allies.

This fast-paced adventure is filled with gods from Japanese mythology, memorable characters and vivid world building. Atmospheric, suspenseful and filled with moments of humor, this dark fantasy will appeal to fans of Studio Ghibli. 

The narration was well-paced, with the narrator sounding suitably youthful. 

#tbt: Alanna: the adventure begins by Tamora Pierce

Alanna: the first adventure by Tamora Pierce. Song of the Lioness series #1. 210 p. Atheneum Books for Young Readers, Reissue edition September, 2014. Originally published in 1983. 9781481439589.

Twelve-year-old Alanna of Trebond wants nothing more than to be a knight. But girls are not knights. She convinces her twin, Thom, to help her become Alan and keep her secret.  

A student recommended this book to me some thirteen or fourteen years ago. I loved it and went on to read the rest of the quartet and most of the companion quartets. The world building is vivid and the characters are memorable. I highly recommend this author to my fans of fantasy. 

The author wrote a prequel of sorts that is a new series beginner. The book is called Tempest and Slaughter and I am currently reading it with my ears.  

Middle Grade Monday and Review: The Hidden Witch by Molly Know Ostertag

The Hidden Witch by Molly Knox Ostertag. 208 p. Graphix/ Scholastic, Inc., October, 2108. 9781338253757. (Review of finished copy courtesy of publisher.)

In this sequel to The Witch Boy, Aster is happily training along side the girls in his family and they are accepting. His best friend, Charlie, who attends regular school has befriended a new girl, Ariel and is excited to play in her first basketball game. During the game, Charlie feels like something has taken over. Indeed, magic has interfered and only the reader is aware. Meanwhile, Aster's grandmother asks for his help in healing her brother. This is a difficult ask, since it was he who nearly killed Aster in The Witch Boy.

There's lots to love here. The art is vibrant. The characters are likable. Themes of friendship and jealousy are relatable. 
Fans of The Witch Boy will gobble this sequel up and ask for more. 

Middle Grade Monday and Review: The Witch Boy by Molly Knox Ostertag

The Witch Boy by Molly Knox Ostertag. 224 p. Graphix/ Scholastic, October, 2017. 9781338089516. (Review from finished ppb courtesy of publisher.)

Thirteen-year-old Aster lives in a magical family. All the females are witches and all the males are shapeshifters. Aster often eavesdrops on his sisters' magic  lessons because he has no interest in shapeshifting. All his friends are getting glimpses of the shapes they may eventually shift into. Aster? Nothing. The setting is contemporary but the magic is old. There is also a family secret. When a couple of Aster's friends go missing, the adults in the community mobilize to find out what happened to them. Aster decides to test his magical ability in an effort to help.

This was an engaging story of identity featuring a diverse cast of characters. The art is vibrant. Aster is a sympathetic character whom readers will root for. The fast pace of the graphic novel will appeal as well. 

Middle Grade Monday: Fever Crumb by Philip Reeve

Fever Crumb by Philip Reeve. Fever Crumb series #1. 336 p. Scholastic Inc., April, 2010. 9780545207195. (Own.)

Our Middle Grade Monday feature is Fever Crumb by Philip Reeve. Book one of the Fever Crumb trilogy is set in an alternate universe (?) London or possibly a futuristic (?) London but is steampunk at its very best. Fever, an orphan, was adopted by Dr. Crumb, a scientist in the Order of Engineers. She was raised to think rationally, logically and scientifically and she's the only female member of the Order. As London comes under attack, Fever must leave the safety of the Order to work with an eccentric archaeologist. With vivid world-building and fascinating characters, readers who are drawn into Fever's world will not soon forget it. 

Picture Book (FNG) Review: Girl Running: Bobbi Gibb and the Boston Marathon by Annette Bay Pimentel

Girl Running: Bobbi Gibb and the Boston Marathon by Annette Bay Pimentel. Illustrated by Micha Archer. unpgd. Nancy Paulsen Books/ Penguin Random House, February 6, 2018. 9781101996683. (Review from fng courtesy of publisher.)

Bobbi Gibb was a girl who loved to run. She lived during a time when girls had to wear skirts to school and were barred from participating in school sports. She ran anyway, every day. She especially loved running in the woods. One year, Bobbi went to watch the runners from the Boston Marathon pass by close to where she lived. She was smitten and challenged herself to become a marathoner. She trained in nurses shoes, presumably because there are no running shoes available for women. (In a later page, this is addressed.) In the Boston winters, she ran in boots. When she felt she was ready to compete in the marathon, she sent for an application but her request for an application is denied because, "Women are not physiologically able to run twenty-six miles..."

While this picture book biography is sure to serve as an inspiration as well as a reminder to young female athletes that women did not always have access to compete, I do have some questions.

The lovely textured oil and collage illustrations have a folk art feel and the smudgey details reinforce a bit of confusion as to the age Gibb was when ran the marathon. The story begins when she is a "girl." She loves to run. She is clearly young in the illustrations. But then the reader has no sense of the passage of time and the illustrations don't appreciably age her. No age is indicated on the page talking about how viewing her first marathon inspired her to train for one nor how old she was when she decided to run the marathon anyway. In the absence of this information in the text, I feel a timeline of her life, birth through what she is doing now as an athlete or a spokesperson, would've been helpful to clarify confusion.

The title adds to the confusion. Yes, women were referred to as girls back in the sixties and yes, folks were probably asking, "Is that a girl?" when realizing that a woman was, in fact, running the marathon. But being referred to as a girl was/ is demeaning and condescending. I thought she ran the marathon as a girl during my first read-through of the book! 

The afterword says that Gibb spent two years training and later said that she is listed in news reports by her married name, Bingay. She was the first woman to complete a marathon. Important stuff. Surely, an extra half-page of explanation about this aspect of women's sports history and as well as some women's history context, might have been helpful as well?

Also curious to me was the fact that Kathrine Switzer is not mentioned in the list of female marathoners that appears on the hill on the last spread. Gibb ran unofficially again in 1967 and in 1968 according to the afterword. But Switzer entered the Boston Marathon using just her first initial in 1967 and received a race number. There is a semi-famous video of the race organized furiously trying to grab her number off her jersey. Surely, she deserved her name on that hill?

Picture book biographies have been getting better and better lately. I don't think it's just because I am collecting them for a sixth grade research unit. It seems everywhere I turn this year, there's a well-written picture book biography featuring unusual people complete with copious source notes, context and backmatter. This is an interesting story that might have been better with a little extra in the way of context and backmatter.