The Nest, by Kenneth Oppel

Steve is the kind of kid who worries. He has few friends, but he does have rituals...like washing his hands, reciting his bedtime lists and cocooning himself in his blankets just so before falling asleep. The year before, his parent were concerned. They sent him to Dr. Brown, a therapist, to help him with his worries.

But now there is a new baby in the house, and the baby is sick.  Steve's parents are back and forth to the hospital everyday. There are big words being bandied about. Words like congenital and degenerative.

Soon Steve starts having dreams that are at once alarming and soothing. He dreams of an angel in wasp form who promises to "fix" the baby. Each time Steve dreams he is transported to a gauzy nest, of sorts. This angel soothes Steve into believing that fixing the baby is possible. She demands that Steve offer her a word that would allow her to move on with the new baby. Steve remembers that Dr. Brown has told him that dreams just are that -- and they have no power over him. So he utters the word. Yes.

But not all dreams stay in the slumbering world, and soon the wasp nest that has been growing under the eaves outside of the baby's room, takes on a much more menacing air.  Steve's worries are now compounded, and as he worries about being crazy he must decide how to best save the baby from the events that have their genesis in his dreams.

Oppel has created a mesmerizing modern fairy tale that has a menacing feel but is buoyed up by hope.  The Nest is the kind of book that is best consumed in one gulp. I find myself distracted by the thought of it as time goes on.

A Snicker of Magic, by Natalie Lloyd

Sometimes a book will just call out to you.  It tells you that it was meant for you and that you need to read it.  The first time I heard the title A Snicker of Magic, I was intrigued.  The first time I saw the delightful cover, I knew I had to get my hands on it.

Felicity Juniper Pickle is a collector of words.  Not in the same way that some of us are, she is lucky enough to see words.  Words surround certain people and things, and when Felicity sees them, she writes them down in her always present blue notebook.  When her little sister Frannie Jo asks for a poem, Felicity can pluck them out of the air and combine them into a soothing rhyme for her.

There are two things that Felicity Pickle cannot do, however.  She cannot comfortably speak those words in front of anyone, and she can't stay in one place too long.  The first thing she can work on, but the second thing is all because of her Mama.

Her Mama is cursed with a wandering heart.  She loads her girls up into her beat-up van and travels around with them.  This last jaunt has brought the Pickles home to where Mama grew up: Midnight Gulch.  Midnight Gulch used to be a magical place, but a few generations ago the magic seemingly up and left town right along with the famous Threadbare brothers.

But for Felicity, Midnight Gulch does turn out to be a magical place.  First of all, she acquires her very first friend - Jonah Pickett.  And Jonah, it turns out, has a secret and a bit of a magical identity as well.  As he takes Felicity under his wing, she sees the things that could be -- the things that she didn't even know she was longing for as Mama shuttled them around "Per-clunkity-clunk, per-clunkity-clunk" across the country.

Natalie Lloyd has created the kind of world that readers want to jump into.  This small Tennessee town should exist and feels like it does.  Perfectly quirky, the characters are interwoven, layered and kind. Turns of phrase verily melt in your mouth, and beg to be read aloud.  This is a heart-song book, if ever there was one.

Listening for Lucca, by Suzanne LaFleur

"I'm obsessed with abandoned things." So begins LaFleur's quiet and enchanting book about friendship, family, choice, ghosts and history.

Siena's family is about to abandon Brooklyn for the beaches of Maine.  Siena doesn't really mind.  There's not much tying her to Brooklyn anymore.  Her once deep friendship with Kelsey has fizzled since Kelsey no longer seems interested in Siena's dreams or imaginings.  And honestly, Siena is a little frightening about what has been happening to her lately.

She has always had vivid dreams, but now these dreams are creeping into her waking hours.  Scenery seems to shift and she finds herself viewing history, when she should be seeing what everyone else is seeing.  Maybe Maine will help?

The move is not for Siena, however, but for her little brother Lucca.  Lucca used to be a run of the mill little kid...sticky and loud.  But now Lucca is silent.  Siena's mom is desperate for anything that will give her son a voice again.

Once Siena is in the new house, she just knows that there are ghosts.  What's more, is that Lucca seems to sense them too.  She has no sooner unpacked her collection of abandoned things, when her vivid dreaming and visions start again.  Only now Lucca is scared, and Siena promises him that she will get to the bottom of things.

When Siena finds an old lost pen high up in her closet, pieces of the past come forward and help her to understand not only her dreams and her visions, but her family as well.

This is a lovely slow reveal of a book that will delight detail oriented readers.  LaFleur weaves the story together with invisible strings that form a delicate pattern that becomes clear in due time.  Each character is fully developed and the past and the present storylines never compete with each other; rather they complete each other.

Simply captivating.

A Tangle of Knots, by Lisa Graff

"Haven't you ever had anything you loved doing, Mom?...Something that was worth getting in real big trouble for?" ( Will Asher - arc p. 200)

This is a world where people either have a Talent or are simply Fair.  Talents can range from the ability to knit anything at a quick pace (Mrs. Asher) to the ability to spit with choreographic grace and accuracy (Zane).

Cady lives in an orphanage in Poughkeepsie New York with Miss Mallory.  Each of them has a talent that drives their lives.  Cady has a talent for baking.  She can size up a person and know exactly what kind of cake to bake that will bring them the most possible happiness.  Miss Mallory has a talent for making matches, which has led to her matching countless parentless children with the right families.  Even though Miss Mallory has attempted to match Cady in the past, it has never been the perfect match.  The tug in her chest hasn't been enough to place Cady with the right family.

Meanwhile, in town, the Owner of the Lost Luggage Emporium has been on a lifelong quest.  He believes that a piece of lost luggage holds the secret to his success.  He has been trying to track down the powder blue St. Anthony suitcase that he lost 53 years prior.  The loss has turned him bitter, and Toby who works with the Owner, is subject to his random temper and tirades.

Also in town are the Asher family.  The aforementioned Zane hasn't always yielded his talent for good, and the words of his school Principal haunt him, as his misguided attempts to help his family bring him nothing but trouble.  Zane's sister Marigold is desperately searching for her own talent, as she tries to keep not only Zane, but little brother Will (who has a talent for disappearing) out of trouble.

Add a bake-off, recipes, attempted adoption, archeological crime, a mysterious wordless stranger, a wayward ferret and an in-and-out narrator dressed in a gray suit, and you have A Tangle of Knots.  I know I haven't done the best with plot summary, but that is because Graff's story defies description.  Story-lines dance and weave, short chapters keep the forward motion, and the reader finds him/herself trying to predict what will come next.  That said, I can't help but throw in the idea of the mash-up/remix with titles like Savvy, The Westing Game and Pie coming to mind.  Not bad company to be in.  While A Tangle of Knots most definitely pays homage, I do think Graff has made this all her own.  The moment I finished reading, I wanted to go back and re-read to fit the pieces together.

Blast from the Past - Maya Running, by Anjali Banerjee

Things around My Tweendom have been insanely busy lately, hence the blog pause that lasted much longer than anticipated.  Our tweens have left the building, our inventory is complete and we are furiously planning for the upcoming ALA in NOLA, summer grants and next year's curriculum.

To keep your thirst for all things books quenched, here is a book blurb from 2005 and my first blog, Booktopia. 

Be careful what you wish for!

How many times has that statement turned out to be true? For Maya Mukherjee, they should have been words to live by.

It's the mid 1970s in Manitoba, and Maya is not a happy girl. Her friends call her lunchtime dal "barf", her parents are making her hang out with the Ghose boys, she has a huge crush on Jamie, and Brian just called her the "N" word. The only bright spot is that Maya has convinced her parents to let her beautiful cousin Pinky come over from India for 3 weeks.

Pinky is beautiful and actually seems exotic to Maya, with her saris, kohl lined eyes and her Kathak dancing. Pinky has also brought along a golden statue of Ganesh. When Jamie's affections turn from Maya to Pinky, Maya turns to Ganesh for help. Little does she know that this sweet loving trickster god will turn her life upside down.

Even though Maya starts to live the life she thought she wanted, she is not feeling very good about it. Her parents are shadows of their former selves, and her friends just aren't themselves. And Jamie ... his adoration is becoming downright scary.

This is a  tween read that would be great for anyone who feels like the odd one out. The story obviously relies heavily on the author Anjali Banerjee's own life, and though it is dated in the 1970s, the journey for self discovery is a timeless one.

11 Birthdays

Imagine getting the opportunity to relive one of the days of your life. A do-over, if you will. You could right wrongs, do something less embarrassing, or simply enjoy something for a second time. Would you do it if you could? Think about it.

For Amanda, it's her 11th birthday. A birthday should be fun, but there are somethings that are conspiring against Amanda. Firstly, she hasn't spoken to Leo since her last birthday. Amanda and Leo were born on the same day, were best friends and celebrated every birthday together...until this year. Secondly, her mom has planned a movie themed party for Amanda, and she is stuck in an itchy Dorothy dress complete with ill-fitting ruby slippers. And lastly, Amanda is trying out for cheer leading instead of marching band in an effort to appease her friend Stephanie and to try and up her cool quotient. Not surprisingly, Amanda is happy to see the back of her 11th birthday.

So, imagine her surprise when the Saturday after her birthday turns back into Friday again. Amanda is certain that her family is playing a joke on her ... convincing her to get dressed, have breakfast and even go outside and wait for the bus with her sister. But it's not a joke. The bus comes, she's forgotten her lunch again, and is sitting in her desk when the same pop quiz she took "yesterday" appears. Amanda is desperately trying to keep it together. Could "yesterday" have been an incredibly detailed dream? Could she be psychic?

Imagine her horror when the "next" day is her birthday AGAIN! Everybody around Amanda seems absolutely clueless that this day is repeating over and over. At least almost everybody is clueless...

Wendy Mass has written an interesting friendship and family story with a pinch of magical realism. Once readers really take a moment to think about it, reliving a day might seem empowering on the surface, but dig a little deeper and it's quite terrifying. 11 Birthdays is the kind of book that begs re-reading and discussion. I think that this is a perfect title for a book-club read.

The Garden of Eve

Evie is so angry with her father. They are in their truck, freezing cold, moving to a place that she has never seen, and her father is lost.

Her mother would know exactly where to go. She seemed to have a sense about her.

But she's not here. She's buried back home. And Evie cannot believe that her father wants to leave to move to a dead apple orchard.

When they finally get to Beaumont, they drive past a funeral. Evie is forced to remember the day of her mother's funeral. It was dark and gray, just like today. Evie notices someone who steps away from the crowd.

"The figure was a boy who looked to be about her own age, and he was

the palest boy Evie had ever seen. His skin was ghostly white against

the black of his coat and his pale hands were ungloved, making him

appear as if hands and face were all there was to him." pp. 16-17

Who is this boy, and why does Evie keep seeing him in the cemetery behind her house?

What follows is a heartbreaking story filled with magical realism and poignancy. Evie is on a quest of sorts to work through her own grief and salvage a relationship with her father. The town of Beaumont itself is broken as well. Can Evie's belief in magic help the people she hasn't yet met?

This is a very special book for deep and thoughtful readers. You have to be willing to delve into a fairytale of sorts, or it most likely will not work for you. Personally, I found this title staggering in many ways.