Norah Piehl

YA FictionYA

Swing for the fences

Review by Norah Piehl

I grew up loving Ellen Emerson White’s The President’s Daughter and its sequels, which centered on female characters (the main character’s mother is the first female president) daring to break new ground. White, a longtime fan of the Red Sox, also often includes baseball in her fiction; with her new novel, she brings both these themes together.

Senior year is coming to an end, and Jill Cafferty has, if she chooses to accept it, a full ride to play baseball at Stanford. Through some unusual blend of genetics, innate talent and really hard work, Jill can throw a fastball harder and faster than most male pitchers, and for the last few years, not just colleges but also major league scouts have taken notice. When Jill is, to her own surprise, drafted to the Pittsburgh Pirates organization in the third round of the MLB draft, she decides to take a leap, becoming the first woman to play major league baseball. Immediately, she’s both a role model to millions of little girls and scorned and resented by some hard-line traditionalists—but what does Jill want?

Filled with details about the less-than-glamorous life of minor league ball players, White’s new novel will appeal to sports fiction fans regardless of gender. Some plot points (particularly Jill’s feelings about her deceased dad, as well as her relationships with friends back home) feel underdeveloped by contrast, but overall White successfully avoids many sports fiction clichés, resulting in a thoroughly credible novel that’s begging for a sequel.

I grew up loving Ellen Emerson White’s The President’s Daughter and its sequels, which centered on female characters (the main character’s mother is the first female president) daring to break new ground. White, a longtime fan of the Red Sox, also often includes baseball in her fiction; with her new novel, she brings both these themes together.

Children's & YAPicture Book

Around and around they go

Review by Norah Piehl

A Greyhound, a Groundhog opens with a swirly gray oval that, on the next page, transforms itself into “A hound. A round hound. A greyhound.” A similarly oblong hole soon reveals “A hog. A round hog. A groundhog.” The lithe greyhound and the chubby groundhog stretch—and we’re off! Emily Jenkins’ rhythmic text accompanies Chris Appelhans’ whirling illustrations as these two surprising playmates engage in a spirited romp “around and around and around and around” in a pastel-hued meadow. They pause to marvel at a new discovery, only to take up the chase once more.

Jenkins’ dedication credits Ruth Knauss’ A Very Special House for the text’s inspiration and rhythmic feel. The playful, circular repetition also may remind readers of the modern classic Orange Pear Apple Bear by Emily Gravett. Appelhans’ joyful watercolor and pencil illustrations perfectly capture the motion and freedom of the chase, as near-abstract shapes convey the pair’s speed. The carefully controlled palette, in shades of gray, brown, pink and purple, reflects the similarly restrained vocabulary, perfect for young listeners and brand-new readers.

Words and pictures turn around one another, much like the two animal friends whose antics they capture so delightfully.

 

This article was originally published in the January 2017 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

A Greyhound, a Groundhog opens with a swirly gray oval that, on the next page, transforms itself into “A hound. A round hound. A greyhound.” A similarly oblong hole soon reveals “A hog. A round hog. A groundhog.”

YA FictionYA

Kismet on a New York City night

Review by Norah Piehl

BookPage Teen Top Pick, November 2016

“Meant to be doesn’t have to mean forever.” That’s the sentiment that runs through nearly every page of Nicola Yoon’s new novel about a chance meeting between two strangers, which delivers repercussions not only in their lives, but also in the lives of perhaps countless others.

When Natasha was 8, her family moved to New York City from Jamaica. More than anything, she longs to stay in this country, go to college and study science. Daniel, on the other hand, isn’t sure whether he wants to go to college at all. The son of Korean immigrants, he feels immense pressure to go to an Ivy League school and study medicine, but all he wants to do is make sense of the world by writing poetry.

When the two meet and start to talk, both feel an undeniable connection, even if Natasha is skeptical about Daniel’s insistence that their meeting is destined, even if she feels compelled to push him away because she’s an undocumented immigrant and her dad’s recent arrest for a DUI has resulted in the family’s deportation. Imminently. As in, that night.

The Sun Is Also a Star, with its condensed chronology, NYC setting and rapid-fire love story, may remind some readers of Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, but here the stakes are higher. Suspense builds, not only surrounding Daniel and Natasha’s romance, but also concerning their individual futures, which, like everything else in this satisfying story, are shaped by the power of love.

 

RELATED CONTENT: Read a Behind the Book essay by Nicola Yoon on The Sun Is Also a Star.

This article was originally published in the November 2016 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

“Meant to be doesn’t have to mean forever.” That’s the sentiment that runs through nearly every page of Nicola Yoon’s new novel about a chance meeting between two strangers, which delivers repercussions not only in their lives, but also in the lives of perhaps countless others.
YA FictionYA

Advice from your past and future selves

Review by Norah Piehl

Sixteen-year-old Sarah has always defined herself as an artist, an avid and talented drawer who prides herself on making keen and detailed observations of the world around her. She may be one of the only people who really sees the homeless man creating his own bizarre form of art near her Philadelphia neighborhood. She sees injustice and unoriginality, things that have made it impossible for her to continue making her own art or even attending school, which she now considers meaningless. Lately she’s been seeing past and future versions of herself. So why does she find it impossible to see her own troubled family clearly?

When she is visited by her 10-year-old self, Sarah is finally forced to confront something that happened on a family trip to Mexico when she was 10, something that prompted her beloved older brother to leave the family and never return. Perhaps, at long last, she can see her family with clear, open eyes—and thereby find her way back to making the art that sustains her.

A.S. King is known for crafting deeply sympathetic portraits of teenagers in crisis, and Still Life with Tornado is no exception. Readers who travel with Sarah through her past, present and future are likely to become—like Sarah herself—disoriented and absorbed by visions that border on the surreal and by questions about the reliability of memory that may prompt readers to see their own worlds just a little differently.

 

This article was originally published in the October 2016 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Sixteen-year-old Sarah has always defined herself as an artist, an avid and talented drawer who prides herself on making keen and detailed observations of the world around her. She may be one of the only people who really sees the homeless man creating his own bizarre form of art near her Philadelphia neighborhood. She sees injustice and unoriginality, things that have made it impossible for her to continue making her own art or even attending school, which she now considers meaningless.
Science Fiction & FantasyYA FictionYAFantasy

A world without books

Review by Norah Piehl

Sefia has lived a lonely and haunted life, pursued for years by the mysterious forces that brutally killed her father and still seek the enigmatic object—the “book”—that has been entrusted to Sefia for safekeeping. When Sefia’s aunt Nin, the only person who knows the truth about Sefia’s family, is kidnapped, Sefia develops several goals: “Learn what the book was for. Rescue Nin from the people who killed her father. And get her revenge.”

Raised in a society where books and reading are unheard of, Sefia uses her mysterious book to teach herself to read—and by doing so, unlocks not only the power of story but also, possibly, her own marvelous abilities. Archer, a mute and damaged boy whose uncanny talents for fighting and killing may mark him as fulfilling a prophecy, aids Sefia along the way.

Traci Chee’s debut novel, set in a world full of secrets and power struggles, is a dense and rewarding opening to an exciting fantasy trilogy. “Look closer,” exhorts an inscription at the novel’s opening, and readers will feel inspired to look for hidden clues in this intricately and unconventionally structured fantasy novel.

 

This article was originally published in the September 2016 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Sefia has lived a lonely and haunted life, pursued for years by the mysterious forces that brutally killed her father and still seek the enigmatic object—the “book”—that has been entrusted to Sefia for safekeeping. When Sefia’s aunt Nin, the only person who knows the truth about Sefia’s family, is kidnapped, Sefia develops several goals: “Learn what the book was for. Rescue Nin from the people who killed her father. And get her revenge.”
Children's & YAPicture Book

Chasing dreams, day by day

Review by Norah Piehl

BookPage Top Pick in Children’s, August 2016

Parents of children in the early elementary grades often feel pressure to “graduate” their kids to chapter books as soon as they begin learning to read. Randy Cecil’s Lucy offers a heartfelt reminder that the picture book form can remain relevant and even necessary long after the preschool years.

At the beginning of the book, we meet solitary Eleanor Wische and her father, Sam, an aspiring juggler, as well as a nameless stray dog whom Eleanor feeds breakfast scraps. The three are united in their loneliness and in their desire to find a way to belong. Over the course of several seemingly ordinary days, the three of them pursue extraordinary dreams—and discover their need for one another.

Lucy is long for a picture book, more than 100 pages divided into four “Acts” (perhaps to appease the chapter book crowd). Each Act opens with an old-fashioned city streetscape, and then each following page includes a bit of text—from a paragraph to just a line or two—accompanied by a sepia-toned illustration, a small vignette whose subtleties will reward careful observers.

The story, too, is full of charming details for careful readers and listeners. Cecil uses repetition to tell his story, but the repetitions are full of tiny tweaks and twists that keep readers guessing (and sometimes giggling) and propel the story to its cozy, satisfying end.

Lucy interior images

Illustration copyright (c) 2016 by Randy Cecil. Reproduced with permission of the publisher, Candlewick Press, Somerville, MA.

This article was originally published in the August 2016 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Parents of children in the early elementary grades often feel pressure to “graduate” their kids to chapter books as soon as they begin learning to read. Randy Cecil’s Lucy offers a heartfelt reminder that the picture book form can remain relevant and even necessary long after the preschool years.
YA FictionYA

Outsider teeters on the edge

Review by Norah Piehl

BookPage Teen Top Pick, June 2016

The best imaginary worlds give readers the opportunity not only to enter a different realm but also to consider how that imaginary world reflects or distorts our actual one. Few novels have tackled this as skillfully as Steeplejack, the young adult debut by bestselling author A.J. Hartley.

Set in a world that looks very much like an alternative historical version of South Africa, Steeplejack tackles head-on the kinds of bigotry, class and race warfare, and identity politics that are all too relevant in the real world. This social commentary is placed in the context of a thrilling mystery plot, investigated by a truly unforgettable heroine.

Anglet Sutonga is a steeplejack, one of the best climbers the city of Bar-Selehm has ever seen. But when the boy picked to be her next apprentice dies in a fall, Ang is convinced not only that his death was no accident, but also that he is somehow connected to the sudden disappearance of the Beacon, Bar-Selehm’s greatest treasure, a hunk of priceless luxorite. Soon Ang, like the city itself, is caught between different factions and racial groups, each blaming the other for the city’s mounting problems, each convinced the other has something to hide. Ang must discover new reserves of strength, especially when she faces a very personal betrayal. 

Steeplejack is quietly thoughtful and breathlessly exciting, and with two more series installments to follow, Ang’s personal and professional journey is far from over.

 

This article was originally published in the June 2016 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

The best imaginary worlds give readers the opportunity not only to enter a different realm but also to consider how that imaginary world reflects or distorts our actual one. Few novels have tackled this as skillfully as Steeplejack, the young adult debut by bestselling author A.J. Hartley.
YA FictionYA

Find your people and hold them close

Review by Norah Piehl

Like any unconventional person in a small town, Montgomery has worked hard to find her tribe, those equally quirky people who help keep her strong. Monty has her two moms, of course. And she has her best friends, Thomas and Naoki, who join Monty in forming the Jefferson High Mystery Club. They don’t read whodunits; they explore the mysteries of the universe, from ESP to levitation. So even though the occasional jerks might make fun of Monty for her frumpy clothes, her lesbian moms and her gay best friend, she still feels safe.

That is, until the vehemently homophobic Reverend White moves to town, and his son transfers to Monty’s school. Suddenly, Monty feels like everyone she loves is under attack. As usual, Monty turns to the paranormal to help her solve her problems, but when her quest for supernatural knowledge fails spectacularly, Monty may be forced to acknowledge that there are as many surprising mysteries right at home as there are in the vast universe.

Mariko Tamaki is best known for her graphic novel collaborations with her cousin Jillian, including the award-winning This One Summer. Her first solo effort offers a complex and nuanced (and often very funny) portrait of a young woman in crisis. Monty is a realistically inspiring heroine—one who is flawed but comes to recognize her own faults and limitations. She sees her way toward real solutions, surrounded by people who love and value her despite, and even because of, those flaws.

 

This article was originally published in the May 2016 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Like any unconventional person in a small town, Montgomery has worked hard to find her tribe, those equally quirky people who help keep her strong. Monty has her two moms, of course. And she has her best friends, Thomas and Naoki, who join Monty in forming the Jefferson High Mystery Club. They don’t read whodunits; they explore the mysteries of the universe, from ESP to levitation. So even though the occasional jerks might make fun of Monty for her frumpy clothes, her lesbian moms and her gay best friend, she still feels safe.
Children's & YAPicture Book

Not-so-horrible new friends

Review by Norah Piehl

Writer Ame Dyckman and illustrator Zachariah OHora earned numerous awards and accolades (not to mention grins and giggles) with their first collaboration, last year’s Wolfie the Bunny. Now the two pair up again in a story about disappointment, revenge and the importance of never jumping to conclusions.

A girl is happily flying her kite when—snap!—the string breaks and the kite flies right into a bear’s cave, where that hibernating bear rolls over and—crunch!—destroys it. “Horrible bear!” the girl shouts. The bear knows it was just an accident . . . but maybe he should try to live up to her horrible opinion of him after all. Is it too late for the pair to overcome their differences and—gasp!—become friends?

Dyckman’s well-paced text perfectly captures the kinds of childhood disappointments that can quickly blow up into big-time dramas, and she allows kids to come to their own conclusions about the moral of the story. But what really steals the show are OHora’s illustrations, which exuberantly mirror the mood of Dyckman’s prose and capture the many similarities between the red-haired girl and the orange-furred bear. Every element of the book—right down to the endpapers and boards—contributes meaning and whimsy to the story. It’s a safe bet that a gleeful chorus of “Horrible bear!” will be a common storytime refrain for a long time to come.

Writer Ame Dyckman and illustrator Zachariah OHora earned numerous awards and accolades (not to mention grins and giggles) with their first collaboration, last year’s Wolfie the Bunny. Now the two pair up again in a story about disappointment, revenge and the importance of never jumping to conclusions.

YA FictionYA

The high seas of time travel

Review by Norah Piehl

In many books, especially fantasy novels, one of the best parts of the reading experience is the chance to pore over detailed maps of real or imagined places, from Middle-earth to Oz. In her debut novel, Heidi Heilig takes things a step further and places maps squarely at the center of her plot.

Nix’s father, Slate, is a Navigator, skilled at traveling through time and space—and even in between historical and mythological versions of the world—by steering his ship, the Temptation, between maps. Nix and her father have traveled from medieval Scandinavia to modern-day New York City, all as part of Slate’s quest to find the ultimate map: the one that will take him back to Hawaii in 1868, the last place and time he saw Nix’s mother alive.

Slate takes more and more risks as he comes closer to his goal, blinded by romanticism and opium until he’s unable to see the truth—that someone else who knows about Navigation may, in fact, be using Slate’s desires for their own ends.

The world Heilig has built is a creative blend of actual history and fantasy elements grounded in ancient and modern myths. Her novel is simultaneously an adventure story, a love triangle and a meditation on big topics like the idea of home and the tension between fate and free will. The good news is that The Girl from Everywhere is just the first part of a duology, so readers will be able to accompany Nix on another journey. 

In many books, especially fantasy novels, one of the best parts of the reading experience is the chance to pore over detailed maps of real or imagined places, from Middle-earth to Oz. In her debut novel, Heidi Heilig takes things a step further and places maps squarely at the center of her plot.

Children's & YAMiddle Grade

A moving tale of friends in war-torn times

Review by Norah Piehl

Sara Pennypacker, author of the light-hearted Clementine series, proves with her new novel that she’s capable of writing stories with more heft and just as much heart. 

Peter and his fox, Pax, have been close companions for five years. After his mother’s death, Peter adopted Pax as a kit, and caring for his fox has offered a kind of healing. As Peter’s father prepares to fight an unnamed war, Peter is sent to live with his grandfather, and Pax is forced to return to a wild he’s never really known. Pax has never slept outdoors nor eaten raw meat, so he must rely on new acquaintances, although the scent of human on his fur makes it hard for other foxes to trust him.

As for Peter, he almost immediately regrets leaving Pax and sets off on foot to find his friend. But when injuries waylay him and he’s taken in by an eccentric woman with her own battle scars, Peter begins to recognize that his relationships with his father and Pax might never be the same.

As much a powerful tale of the costs of war as it is a story of boy and dog (or fox), Pax offers insights into the toll that violence takes on humans and animals alike. Told in well-paced short chapters alternating between Pax and Peter’s points of view, Pennypacker’s simply told but thematically rich story, punctuated with black-and-white drawings from Caldecott winner Jon Klassen, steadily builds toward a thoughtful conclusion.

 

This article was originally published in the February 2016 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Sara Pennypacker, author of the light-hearted Clementine series, proves with her new novel that she’s capable of writing stories with more heft and just as much heart.
Children's & YAMiddle Grade

Friendship to overcome divisions

Review by Norah Piehl

Like many fifth-graders, Chloe just wants to fit in at school. Trouble is, that’s pretty much impossible for her. With her blonde hair and blue eyes, she’s automatically marked as an outsider at her new school in New Delhi. Chloe’s older sister, Anna, has had no trouble adjusting to the family’s move from Boston to India, but Chloe still feels like a fish out of water.

When another new girl, Lakshmi, joins Chloe’s class, Chloe realizes that even girls from India can be viewed as outsiders. Lakshmi, whose family doesn’t possess anything like the kind of privilege that the other girl’s families enjoy, is all but shunned by Chloe’s classmates—and even when Lakshmi and Chloe begin a friendship outside of class, Chloe can’t bring herself to take the next step and support her new friend at school. When Lakshmi’s talents threaten the ambition of the most popular girl in class, Chloe must decide where her loyalties lie.

In her debut middle-grade novel, Kate Darnton draws on her own experience of living in New Delhi for five years, offering lots of personal details about what it’s like for an American family to live in India. Chloe in India offers plenty of cultural insights as well as opportunities for readers to reflect on class, privilege and discrimination. Chloe’s voice is genuine, her outlook likable and realistic, and her revelations about friendship and identity will resonate with many readers.

Like many fifth-graders, Chloe just wants to fit in at school. Trouble is, that’s pretty much impossible for her. With her blonde hair and blue eyes, she’s automatically marked as an outsider at her new school in New Delhi. Chloe’s older sister, Anna, has had no trouble adjusting to the family’s move from Boston to India, but Chloe still feels like a fish out of water.

YA FictionYAMystery

One man, many timelines

Review by Norah Piehl

British teen Stella Park (known to all as Spark) needs to escape her widowed mother’s constant neediness. Spark’s brother, Dan, has been successful in distancing himself, finding an internship across the pond in New York City. When Spark learns that Dan’s benefactor, John Stone, is seeking a summer assistant to help organize his papers, she jumps at the opportunity.

When Spark arrives at the grand Stone estate in rural Suffolk, she soon realizes that this is hardly an ordinary summer job. Why does Stone possess incredibly detailed firsthand accounts of life in the 17th-century Versailles court? And why are those written in the same handwriting as more contemporary papers? Spark begins to grasp the truth behind Stone’s complicated history—and to suspect that she may have her own role to play in his story.

Linda Buckley-Archer, best known for her acclaimed Gideon trilogy, combines a historical narrative with a modern-day mystery and a liberal dose of fantasy to create a richly textured novel. Readers will enjoy exploring Stone’s papers alongside Spark, developing their own theories and making their own surprising discoveries about past, present and future.

 

This article was originally published in the November 2015 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

British teen Stella Park (known to all as Spark) needs to escape her widowed mother’s constant neediness. Spark’s brother, Dan, has been successful in distancing himself, finding an internship across the pond in New York City. When Spark learns that Dan’s benefactor, John Stone, is seeking a summer assistant to help organize his papers, she jumps at the opportunity.

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