Tamar by Mal Peet

I've been reading a lot on my kindle this summer, and Amazon does a very nice job of feeding my reading addiction by sending me a daily email with a bargain priced book.  I quickly delete about 99% of these emails because they are mostly adult genre fiction that I don't often read (I make an exception for the occasional cozy mystery).  Still, every once in a while, Amazon throws me something I can't resist for $1.99, and Tamar was one of those titles.  I had never heard of Mal Peet's Carnegie Medal winning novel...not a surprise since Peet is a largely British writer.  Still, the plot teaser intrigued me, so I bought it.  I'm glad I did; Tamar is one of those rare novels that I think would appeal to a large cross-section of readers.

Broadcasting suitcase used by espionage agents 

Historical fiction lovers will enjoy the realistic portrayal of the difficulties of life in Nazi occupied Netherlands.  Mystery lovers will enjoy the parallel plot of young Tamar trying to understand her grandfather's suicide and the box that he left her.  Realistic fiction readers will key into the enormous psychological tension in the novel.  Those who prefer the espionage thriller will thrive on the sections about British espionage during WWII and the Dutch Resistance movement.  And, yes, there is a complicated romantic situation.  Something for everyone!

I will admit that I guessed at least part of the ending, but I still very much enjoyed the journey getting there.  I would recommend Tamar to mature 8th grade readers mostly because of the complicated plot and a few vulgarities.  I look forward to reading more from Mal Peet!

Maureen Johnson novels

Another two-fer...Just like I found Jennifer Donnelly’s Northern Light through Revolution, I picked The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson off of the 2013 RI Teen Book Award list because I loved Devilish a few years ago.  Two very similar books in that both deal with the occult to a certain extent…

…the story of Jack the Ripper  is one that still resonates with the public over 100 years after the serial murders occurred in London’s East End.  Perhaps people still care because they were unsolved or because reports on the murders are incomplete and contestable.  With such sustained interest and the current adolescent interest in the macabre, it is not surprising that Jack’s murders show up as a plot element in a current novel. 

            Rory Deveaux is a young native Louisianan who enrolls in an East End public (in America that would be private—it is true that America and England are divided by a common language) boarding school when her parents take a sabbatical.  Her arrival is heralded by the first in a series of unsolved murders that mimic the famous Jack the Ripper killings. 

            While trying to adjust to the foreign world of the English school, Rory finds herself embroiled in the mysterious case in a way that she never could have expected.

            I particularly enjoyed this book because it reminded me of my own days trying to adjust to the English world.  Just like Rory, I very quickly discovered that American English is very different from British English.  My favorite American faux-pas story was when my husband and I took the children to the seaside.  We had a map of a National Trust beach area, and one part was labeled “naturist.”  I think our brains read “naturalist,” and we assumed that it was an area set off for nesting birds or wildlife observation.  What it really meant was a swimsuit optional area.  We had quite an eyeful before we figured that one out! 

Everyone who has had to adjust to new circumstances will identify with this part of the book, and anyone who enjoys a mystery will like the rest of it.  

The appeal of Devilish was twofold.  First, it takes place in Providence, and I always enjoy reading books set in places I know well.  Second, whether intentional or not (and I suspect it was unintentional), I found this to be a very Catholic book…not necessarily because it takes place at a Catholic school, which it does, but because it has, as a major theme, the importance of self-sacrifice and love in the face of evil.  Johnson gives evil a very real, and alluring, face.  As I always tell my students, if evil were not attractive, we wouldn’t be so attracted to it.  When I think of this book, I always think of the Rolling Stones song “Sympathy for the Devil.”  If you remember the lyrics, “Please allow me to introduce myself /I'm a man of wealth and taste/I've been around for a long, long year/ Stole many a man’s soul and faith.”

Just what would an awkward high school student want that she would be willing to trade her soul for?  Read Devilish and find out. 
Both books recommended for students grade 7 and above.  

           

If you liked Inkheart, you will like...

...Endymion Spring by Matthew Skelton. The two books have so much in common. They are both fantasies that are firmly based in our real world. They both have books as a central motif. They are both adventures. Both are my kind of book. Endymion Spring is a book for Anglophiles as half of it takes place in one of England's most famous spots, the Bodleian Library at Oxford. It also takes place in Mainz, Germany during the time of Gutenberg. This is one of those wonderful times that I could perfectly picture the setting of these books. I remember vividly walking in the cathedral at Mainz and being astounded by its Medieval character; I also have fond memories of taking my children to see the dinosaur skeletons at the Natural History Museum of Oxford University and having dinner at a local university hangout/pub after walking by the spires of the different famous colleges. Two such wonderful places...maybe that's why this book really came to life for me.

Besides which, it is a book about books...always a favorite for me...the story starts as Blake finds a book on the shelves of the library that has blank pages. Or does it? Why do messages appear on these pages? Why do they appear only for him and not for his more academically minded sister? Why does the message appear so sinister?

Two from 2007 RI Teen Book Award Nominees

These two books have very little in common besides the fact that they were both nominees for the RI Teen Book Award in 2007. While they were both fun, and I would recommend them both to middle school students, neither one was perfect.

Listening for Lions by Gloria Whelan was a beautifully written with almost poetic descriptions of Africa, but the end was a bit too predictable for me to consider it a great book. I loved the premise--a young orphaned girl in Africa is hijacked by a couple to pose as their daughter in an attempt to win back the good graces of the rich grandfather. It has all the trappings of an old-fashioned classic, but as I said, I guessed much of the ending about three quarters of the way through the story. That just left some of the details.

Confessions of a Closet Catholic by Sarah Darer Littman starts with quite a bang. The closet Catholic of the title is not Catholic at all, but Jewish! Again, what a great premise: what happens when a young Jewish girl decides to give up being Jewish for Lent? Justine is a excellent role model for middle school students who are asking themselves about their own identity. My biggest criticism is that the book gets slightly, and I mean slightly, preachy. But really, how can you avoid being preachy when you have a priest and a rabbi talking to a young girl exploring her faith?