Two and Twenty Dark Tales

Two and Twenty Dark Tales.  Edited by Georgia McBride and Michelle Zink. Month9 Books.  October 2012.  ISBN 9780985029418.

This rather uneven collection of stories are each based loosely on a Mother Goose Nursery Rhyme which is quoted at the start of each story.  Some stories left me wanting more, wanting to spend time in the eerie world the author created with the echo of the nursery rhyme.  Other stories were more like pat horror stories uneasily attached to a rhyme, and several dragged on making me remember advice that shorter is sometimes better.  Despite my quibbles, I can imagine an imaginative tween reader being inspired by this collection. The right reader could start to imagine what other worlds could be created by unfolding these rhymes and perhaps use them as magic portals to create their own stories. 

Jasper John Dooley: Star of the Week

Anderson, Caroline. Jasper John Dooley: Star of the Week.  Illustrated by Ben Clanton. 2012.  ISBN 9781554539895.

Jasper John Dooley, the quirky star of the week in this easy chapter book, collects lint and makes music by sloshing water in his belly.   After his teacher pins a star to his shirt each morning he gets to be the center of attention in a different way each day; show and tell  on Monday, family tree on Tuesday, etc.  Throughout the week he spends time with his best friend Ori, whose mom just had a baby.  As Ori and his family struggle to adjust to the new baby, Jasper wishes that he had a sibling.  Ultimately Jasper creates an imaginary brother out of wood, and this "brother" gets him into a few scrapes.  In the end Jasper realizes his family is just the right size.  This is a great book for young children who are proficient readers and it is rare to see a chapter book that is solidly in the kindergarten/first grade world.  Don't worry if these precocious young readers miss some of the jokes and even overlook the message - the message may trickle in later when it is needed.  As with the Junie B. Jones series, some of the humor is really aimed at the adult or older sibling, and that's okay.

Some fantasy and a realistic novel

Yes, I finished A tale dark and Grimm by Adam Gidwitz within a day of opening it. It's the kind of book that is hard not to just inhale. I will have to let it go, send it on to the library stacks where it will be passed from hand to had, I am sure. This is a joyously gruesome riff on the fairy tale form where periodically the narrator turns to you and reminds you to send the little ones out of the room or to "close your eyes." All kinds of horrible things do happen but (spoiler alert) there is a fairy tale ending.

Another fantasy - but from a completely different family of stories - is The Boy who howled by Timothy Power. The absent-minded and rather callous parents in this peculiar book reminded me a bit of The Series of Unfortunate Events and a bit of The Willoughbys by Lois Lowry (another very peculiar book). However the parents have very little to do with the plot which revolves around Callum, a boy raised by wolves as he re-enters human society and eventually connects with his sister, a private school and his family. I can imagine this book prompting some conversation about behavior in our schools and our society. Thought provoking, but also very, very funny.