Teen’s dragon soars again: South Florida Sun-Sentinel is a mixed review of Eldest, the new book by Christopher Paolini. Eldest continues the saga started in Eragon, and is one of the most highly anticipated books this summer.
I haven’t read it yet, but my guess is that if you loved Eragon, like so many teenage boys did, then you will also love Eldest.

Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert (0152053042)
Lois Ehlert’s books are always wonderful. In Leaf Man, there is a man made out of leaves who blows away across the landscape. He flies over orchards, ducks, animals, and much more and all of the landscape and creatures are also made out of leaves.
I use many of Ehlert’s books in story times throughout the year. Leaf Man is a perfect autumnal story that will tie in brilliantly with leaf projects in classrooms or at libraries. Ehlert has once again triumphed with her paper art, creating leaves that are very realistic and at the same time whimsical. Having kids build their own creatures out of leaves would be the perfect follow-up to the book. It is filled with inspiration.

Traction Man Is Here! by Mini Grey (0-375-83191-6)
This book is one of my favorites of the year! A little boy wakes up and finds Traction Man gift wrapped on his bed. “Traction Man: Generic Action Figure with Dazzle-Painted Battle Pants.” Traction Man immediately leaps into action riding in a sneaker and fighting off the Evil Pillows. From there he adventures in the kitchen sink, the back yard, and the bath tub. Finally, they arrive at Grandma’s house where a “lovely (grrr)” knitted green romper suit and matching bonnet are waiting for Traction Man. How will Traction Man survive wearing this humiliating costume? Read the book and see!
The pictures of the book are filled with messy rooms, action galore, and make kids feel right at home. The entire text of the book is written exactly the way boys play with their action figures. I think this is the first time that both my boys found a book that sounds just like them, featuring a boy that plays just like they play. It was magical for them to read this book with me, and they requested it again and again. My oldest even read it himself over and over again.
Hand this to those creative little boys who come to the library lugging any type of action figure. They will find a kindred spirit here. A perfectly written, wonderfully illustrated book for the little boy in all of us.

Rhianna and the Wild Magic by Dave Luckett (Book on CD by Bolinda Publishing)
Rhianna has always had trouble learning magic in the local school. She doesn’t understand why everything has to be so precise and why her teacher can’t explain the reason behind the complicated gestures and words. Rhianna’s entire society relies on magic. They use it to make bread rise, make cloth stronger, and prevent damage to crops. But then one day, the local magic starts to fail. A master mage is sent in to see what is happening and he discovers Rhianna’s disastrous attempt at magic. What he realizes when he sees Rhianna’s mistake is that she is a wild mage who uses magic naturally and draws it from the countryside. So Rhianna is blamed for the loss of magic and must take lessons to try to control her magic and wear a pendant to absorb the magic she is taking from the land so that each week it can be returned to be reused.
This is a creative fantasy read aloud by a gifted reader with a strong Australian accent. The book is well-paced and the character of Rhianna is a wonderful female protagonist. The book is filled with humor and magic. This fantasy should be recommended to families traveling on car trips. Both adults and children alike will enjoy the book. For my eight-year-old and me, it kept us wanting our drives to be just a little longer, so we could hear more of the story: the hallmark of a great audio book.

The Last Apprentice: Revenge of the Witch by Joseph Delaney (0060766182)
Twelve-year-old Thomas Ward is a farm boy who is apprenticed to the county Spook. As the seventh son of a seventh son, Thomas is able to see things that others don’t. The Spook trains Thomas to fight boggarts, but Thomas finds himself up against a family of witches. Despite the Spook’s warnings to stay away from girls in pointy shoes, Thomas begins speaking with Alice and agrees to do her a favor. But that favor will change his life entirely, making him a target of local witches.
This book is a wild ride of horror for children. It is fantastically done with spine tingling pacing, skin crawling details, and sudden chills. The main characters of the Spook, Thomas, Alice and Thomas’s mother are all well-rendered and complex. The atmosphere of the book is hauntingly vivid, dark and horrible. Give this to kids who enjoyed Goosebumps at a younger age. How wonderful to have a horror book that is a well-written triumph to recommend to young readers.

Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin (0-374-32091-8)
Fifteen-year-old Liz Hall finds herself floating in a cruise ship on the ocean with a roommate who has a bullet hole in the back of her head. Though evidence is all around her, Liz takes a long time to realize that she is dead and headed to Elsewhere. Elsewhere is where all dead souls go to live their lives backwards, so Liz will become younger and younger until she is a newborn baby and is sent back to earth. Liz’s grandmother is there to meet her and give her a place to stay, but Liz is unable to deal with her death and spends a lot of time gazing back at earth watching her family try to put the pieces back together. It is not until she tries a desperate act to reach her family that she begins to realize that there is a life for her on Elsewhere.
This book is breathtakingly haunting and rich. Impossible to put down, the story and characters will catch you and hold you until you reluctantly finish. The setting of Elsewhere is vivid and the concept of aging backwards is ingenious. The book reads very quickly and lightly for all the depth that it has and will be a favorite among girls who like a little tragedy, angst and romance in their teen novels. This one should fly off the shelf all on its own. Beautiful.

The Vacation by Polly Horvath (0-374-38070-8)
Horvath’s new book is a wonderful mix of humor, poignancy and eccentricities. Henry’s parents head off on a trip to Africa, leaving him with his two aunts, Mag and Pigg. Mag gets very ill and upon recuperating, decides that they all need to go on a vacation. Hopping into the car, the three travelers head off and have a series of adventures on the open road. From a disappointing beach visit to floating down the Everglades to eventually losing Pigg in Oklahoma, the stories string together with a rhythm that replicates car travel. The pacing of the novel is perfection as is the vivid characterization of the two aunts and Henry.
This is a wonderful one to read aloud to classes, because there are plenty of laughs to match the insights that Henry comes to realize. Recommend this one to both parents and teachers to share with kids. As for kids, I think this will take some hand-selling to persuade them to try it out, but if they have read and enjoyed other Horvath novels, many of them will be more than willing to look past the cover and head off on this wonderful road trip.

Under the Persimmon Tree by Suzanne Fisher Staples (0-374-38025-2) is the new book from the author of Shabanu. This new book tells the story of two women caught in the recent events in Afghanistan. Najmah is a girl happily living in a village in Northern Afghanistan until her father and brother are taken away to fight for the Taliban. Then the bombing starts and Najmah is caught in a series of horrific events that finally leave her as a refugee in Pakistan. The other half of the story is that of Nusrat, an American woman who married an Afghan doctor and came to Pakistan with him. But soon after they arrived, he headed out to start a clinic in Northern Afghanistan. She has not heard from him in months, and meanwhile she has created a school for refugee children.
Staples has created a breathtaking work here. Using present tense, she draws readers directly into the horror of what happens in war. Her use of tiny details to show how life is both different and the same in Afghanistan is beautifully done. The characterization is vivid, allowing these two female characters to stand out strongly against the situation they are caught in.
The entire work is wonderfully evocative and magical. This would make a wonderful read in classes doing modern history or current events.

On Wings of a Dragon by Cora Taylor is a great book I found because School Library Journal is having me review the sequel. I hadn’t read or even heard of the first book, but I am so happy that SLJ asked me to review the second because I got to discover another very talented Canadian children’s book author.
On Wings of a Dragon is the story of two girls. First is Kour’el who is trapped alone in a tower cell until she finds a tiny dragon who used to be a Great One, or huge dragon. Her story is how they grow stronger, and the dragon grows bigger, and they escape. Meanwhile, Maighdlin, a girl in a small village is gathered up by the queen’s soldiers and taken to the palace to work as a servant girl. Servants are always disappearing from the castle and never return to their villages, so it is seen as a death sentence. Her grandfather and another girl’s boyfriend follow the girls in the hopes of rescuing them.
The many stories converge into a single story by the end and readers will find themselves in a rewarding book that is fresh and new, despite its traditional epic fantasy setting. The characters are multidimensional and sparklingly written.
Recommend this to fantasy readers, especially those who enjoy dragon stories or stories with strong female protagonists.