The bestselling author of The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making brings to life the imaginative world of one of the most revered literary families of all time: the Brontës.

Living in a small Yorkshire parsonage, still grieving the deaths of their mother and two eldest sisters, Charlotte, Branwell, Emily and Anne use their games in the playroom at the top of the stairs to help them cope with their harsh reality, especially now that Charlotte and Emily are soon returning to boarding school. But when the siblings head to the station for Charlotte and Emily’s departure, they find a different kind of train waiting for them, one that whisks them away to the magical land of their imaginings. But what are they to do when the world they created expands beyond the rules they set for it, and will they ever be able to find their way back home?

With this story, Catherynne M. Valente has created a unique blend of fantasy and historical fiction. Readers are transported to a land where loyal suitcases turn into hot air balloons to transport their owners, where people are made of all manner of objects, from scraps of lace to writing tablets, and where toy soldiers come to life and fight real battles. But best of all, readers experience all of this whimsy with the young Brontës as their guides, each one’s unique and vibrant personality brought to life by Valente’s exquisite descriptions. This book is a masterful look into the childhood lives of these beloved literary legends, and one that asserts the power of literature and one’s own imagination.

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

Set in the idyllic seaside tourist town of Isla, a place famed for its talking birds, Pablo and Birdy is a mystical, fable-like novel that gently examines big questions of identity, family, refugees and freedom.

As a baby, Pablo was set adrift at sea in a child’s inflatable swimming pool with a parrot named Birdy. After Pablo washed ashore, a souvenir shop owner named Emmanuel took him in, helped by other shopkeepers who had emigrated from places like Cuba, Haiti and Ireland.

Now, on the eve of his 10th birthday, it’s no wonder that Pablo is haunted by questions about his past. Just as Pablo is coming to terms with his mysterious origins, he faces a turning point with his beloved Birdy, long presumed to be flightless and voiceless. Helped by a comic “Committee” of talking birds, Pablo begins to realize that his guardian parrot may be an elusive Seafarer, who according to legend can hear and reproduce every sound ever made.

Pablo hopes that Birdy’s special powers may help reveal his origin story. At the same time, however, he worries that he will be forced to set Birdy free, to return to the ocean on the rare “Winds of Change” that are quickly approaching Isla. As news reporters race to capture a legendary Seafarer, possibly endangering Birdy’s life, Pablo is faced with a gut-wrenching decision.

Pablo and Birdy provides an engaging introduction to an all-important issue: As Emmanuel explains, there are many “in this world who had to leave their homes, for various reasons, and their journeys are long and hard.”

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

There’s no shortage of books for young readers about grief, but it’s safe to say that Michelle Cuevas’ new novel isn’t quite like any of them. Set in the mid-1970s, The Care and Feeding of a Pet Black Hole is poignant, funny, inventive and downright wacky, and at its center (literally!) is an unforgettable metaphor for the grieving process.

Stella Rodriguez’s world hasn’t been the same since her joke-telling, science-loving dad passed away. As the story opens, she is swinging by NASA headquarters, hoping to ask them to include a recording of her dad’s laugh—alongside other iconic Earth sounds—on the Voyager interstellar spacecraft.

On her return home, Stella discovers that she’s picked up a stray—and very hungry—black hole. She soon realizes that the black hole, which she names Larry (short for cosmic singularity), is also starving for companionship. Stella wonders whether Larry might be her best hope to get rid of now-painful memories and reminders—but when that plan begins to backfire, Stella realizes that perhaps the only way to escape the black hole is to travel through it.

In addition to being a powerful story about how to live with—and through—grief, Stella’s tale is a wild adventure, featuring talking garden gnomes, mutant sweaters, a not-too-annoying little brother and the world’s smelliest hamster. Just like Larry, this book will absorb pretty much any young reader—whether they are coping with a loss, love scientific speculation or just enjoy an imaginative tale.

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

Curses, golden alligators and a blood-red moon form the backdrop for Tumble Wilson (a girl) and Blue Montgomery (a boy), who are searching for their places in life. The second middle grade novel from Cassie Beasley (Circus Mirandus), set at the edge of the Okefenokee swamp in Georgia, imbues the everyday with mystical and magical elements to captivate readers.

Blue’s family has been cursed for over 200 years. However, their curse is unique, because each member of the family receives a different curse, which can cause conflict. Blue’s father’s curse is to always win, and Blue’s is to always lose. But the curses can be altered: When the rare blood-red moon rises, one person in the family can change his or her curse.

After being dumped by his father at his grandmother’s house for the summer, Blue—feeling resentful, sad and abandoned—expects the worst. But the special moon will soon appear, and his granny’s house becomes overrun with kooky relatives, all hoping to meet the golden alligator named Munch and to change their future.

Meanwhile, Tumble has just moved in down the dirt lane, and she’s determined to be a superhero. Misfits Tumble and Blue form a fast bond, and eventually they realize Tumble also has a curse—one that will stretch the bonds of family and friendship.

Throughout this magical book, the setting of rural Georgia wends its enigmatic presence to cast a lasting spell.

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

BookPage Children's Top Pick, September 2017

“Down, tears. Down! Hold it together. You are Patina Jones. Daughter of Beverly Jones. No junk. No punk.” Twelve-year-old Patina (Patty) has a lot she could cry about, a lot to hold together. Her father died in his sleep a while back, and her mother lost both legs to “the sugar,” so her Uncle Tony and his white wife (called Momly) are raising Patty, who takes care of her little sister, Maddy. And now, Patty must navigate the halls of a new school. In Patina, she shares her smart, bold, razor-sharp black-girl takes on the rich, white-girl world of Chester Academy, where you only stand a chance as long as your face is always selfie-ready.

Patty feels she has no chance at Chester Academy, though she learns that her view of the world is not always right, and her story becomes less about fitting in than about learning to see people in a more generous light.

But what Patty is completely clear about is, in a life of loss, she has track. To her, running is “a way to shut people up. A way to . . . I guess, sometimes even shut myself up. Just turn it all off. Leave everything, all the hurting stuff, the unregular stuff that seemed so regular to me, in the dust.” She becomes the anchor on her relay team, signifying how she, with the help of Coach, is beginning to think beyond herself and be part of a team. “They needed me. Not just my legs. But my support. My energy. We needed each other.”

As in Ghost, Patina’s story ends before the finish line of the big race. But each novel in this projected four-book series passes the baton to the next, so eager readers will just have to await the third installment.

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

Norman Fishbein, “Wormy” to his annoying older brothers, is on a family outing at the mall. Women in elf outfits stand near a huge glass jar of Doozy Dots, encouraging shoppers to guess the number of candies inside. Marcus, the oldest brother, makes his guess. Next, Larry guesses one Doozie Dot higher. Norman guesses a number that wanders into his head: 4,243.

A month later, a letter addressed to Norman arrives. After a skirmish with his siblings, he holds the envelope in his hand. He’s won, and inside is a check for $1,000! His parents need a new roof and a new car, but they allow Norman to decide how to spend his money.

After pondering model airplanes, a new bike or a drum set, Norman decides the family needs a holiday at a fancy hotel on Miami Beach. For once, even his cantankerous brothers are overjoyed.

A blizzard nearly cancels their flight, but with help from Uncle Shlomo’s truck, the family makes it to the airport and the beach. When the boys meet three sisters at the hotel, the youngest secretly befriends Norman, and the plotting begins. The two team up to keep their siblings from making their lives miserable. They befriend an aging comedian, Mort Ziff, and manage to save his job. Best of all, Norman and Amy become friends.

Award-winning author Cary Fagan has his pulse on the familiar concerns of younger siblings. With accessible language, humor and fresh characters, Fagan creates an impeccable and unsentimental portrayal of family life in the 1960s.

Billie B. Little is the Founding Director of Discovery Center at Murfree Spring, a hands-on museum in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

Meika Hashimoto spins a nonstop extreme adventure in her coming-of-age novel.

Twelve-year-old Toby is hiking the Appalachian Trail, and he’s determined to complete his journey from Velvet Rocks to Katahdin alone—a promise he made to his best friend, Lucas, who is not so adventurous as Toby. But along his trek from New Hampshire to Maine, Toby finds himself among others instead of keeping to his solo mission, especially when a mangy old dog, Moose, shows up after Toby is rescued during a violent storm. Toby has no idea that his rescuers—two older teen hikers named Denver and Sean—will play critical roles in his life, and the last thing he expects on the trail is for Moose’s owner to show up.

Hashimoto punctuates her gripping novel with a flurry of facts and the sights and sounds of one of the most challenging aspects of the world’s longest hiking-only footpath. With this first-person narrative, Hashimoto will capture the attentions of middle grade readers, as Toby is not only riddled with internal struggles but also pushes himself to a near-impossible quest. Hashimoto surrounds her cast with wild animals as well as the mercurial yet hazardous weather conditions that are characteristic of the northern sector of the Appalachian Trail. While readers don’t have to be familiar with this aspect of the trail, it certainly helps and will only prove to enhance Toby’s many great outdoor encounters.

The Trail is perfect for extreme adventure enthusiasts.

“My mother is ruining my life,” notes fifth-grader Allie West.

Many kids come to that same conclusion, but Allie really can’t escape her mom, who is the principal of her elementary school. Allie is stuck at school all day, long after everyone else has headed home, which is why she’s such good friends with the kindly custodian.

Allie has several things on her mind, especially the fact that her best friend, Chloe, hasn’t spoken to her for months, ever since Allie mistakenly got her in big trouble—with the principal. Allie desperately wants to make things right and also hopes to be chosen for the school math team, of which Chloe just happens to be captain.

Confessions from the Principal’s Kid has plenty of heart and soul, especially since author Robin Mellom actually was a principal’s kid and weaves some of her own memories into the story. “This novel is not a memoir nor an autobiography,” she writes, “but it was inspired by my experiences as an After.” Afters are the handful of faculty kids forced to hang out after school while their parents finish up their duties. Not only do the Afters know every nook and cranny of the school, their bonds go deeper than Allie realizes, especially Allie’s friendship with a bullied boy named Graham.

Like Allie, this tale is full of fun, pluck and longing as she learns to navigate difficult social situations while discovering the true and sometimes tricky meanings of friendship and loyalty.

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

With her debut novel, Patricia Forde crafts a richly imagined future society, the development of which feels all too plausible in today’s climate.

As Wordsmiths, young Letta and her master, Benjamin, are charged with the task of maintaining the List, a collection of 500 words that make up the only language available to the residents of Ark. John Noa formed Ark after the great Melting, when the world was flooded and the land destroyed. This new society was meant to be a safe haven, and Noa their savior, creator of a world free from the ignorance of those who would deny the realities of the harm that humans have caused the planet. But when Letta meets a boy named Marlo and is drawn into his world of beauty and art, she begins to doubt whether Noa’s intentions are as pure as she once thought or, worst of all, if he’s actually been lying to them all along.

This is a story with a message and a purpose, one full of relevance and originality. With this novel, Forde reminds us that words do hold power, both to heal and to destroy, and that because of this we should be mindful of how we employ them. This is a love letter to the ways love and art can lift our spirits and replenish our souls in a world that often seems dark.

ALSO IN BOOKPAGE: Read a Behind the Book essay from Patricia Forde on The List.

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

Tommy Greenwald, author of the popular Charlie Joe Jackson series, is back with The Real Us, another look at middle school life. Greenwald has a knack for capturing the voices of young teenagers, making it easy to understand their states of mind and points of view.

Alternating chapters are written in the first-person voices of three eighth-graders: Damian, the new kid who sweats too much, Calista, the pretty, popular girl; and Laura, average, athletic and Calista’s former best friend. The entire story takes place over the first five days of the school year, and it’s amazing how much can happen in such a short time. By the time the First Week Dance rolls around on Friday, Damian has discovered that he doesn’t have to hide who he is, Calista learns that “pretty is as pretty does,” and Laura discovers that self-acceptance isn’t something you can just talk about, it’s something you have to find inside.

The Real Us may sound a bit facile in its summary, but the excellent writing and spot-on coming-of-age story make it a must-have for any middle school library. The illustrations were not available for review.

Jennifer Bruer Kitchel is the librarian for a pre-K through eighth-level Catholic school.

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

On the surface, the protagonists of Alan Gratz’s Refugee have little in common. They live in different eras, different countries, and practice different religions. Yet when they are forced to flee their homes, they all become refugees.

Geared toward young readers but fast-paced and honest enough to keep young adults engaged, Gratz’s insightful novel offers little calm before the storm. Barely on the cusp of adolescence, our protagonists’ worlds are already crumbling at their feet. When a bomb destroys Mahmoud’s home in modern-day Syria, the crumbling is both literal and figurative. With no place to stay, his family embarks on a journey out of the Middle East and across Europe. For Josef, a youth in 1939, it is the rise of Nazism and the horrors of Dachau that shatter his preconceptions and force his family out of their home country. For Isabel, change comes when her family decides to flee the destitution of Castro’s Cuba for the promise of American shores, braving the 90 miles of treacherous sea between Havana and Miami in a makeshift boat.

A heart-wrenching escape story, a coming-of-age tale, a treatise on the hopes and traumas of refugees the world over—with the civil war in Syria still raging and immigration a hot-button issue across the world, Refugee could not be more timely.

ALSO IN BOOKPAGE: Read our Q&A with Alan Gratz for Refugee.

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

Calling all writers, illustrators and lovers of children’s books. Whether you’re a child or an adult, this book is for you.

Our Story Begins: Your Favorite Authors and Illustrators Share Fun, Inspiring, and Occasionally Ridiculous Things They Wrote and Drew as Kids, edited by Elissa Brent Weissman, presents the very first work and inspiration of 26 children’s writers and illustrators, including childhood photos, summaries of their achievements, brief personal essays about their earliest literary aspirations and attempts, plus photos of these childhood works, including handwritten stories on notebook paper, childhood drawings and illustrated stories.

Dan Santat remembers being amazed by a Norman Rockwell painting at age 5, trying to perfect his own talent for years and suddenly deciding in a college biology class to become an artist, instead of the doctor his parents had in mind. Thanhha Lai writes movingly about leaving everything behind in Vietnam when her family left in 1975, and remembers the hours she spent listening to her mother tell stories from her childhood.

During the Depression, Phyllis Reynolds Naylor wrote and illustrated a little book called The Food Fairies on the back of used paper. Gordon Korman shares a wonderful fifth grade speech, “How to Handle Your Parents.” Rita Williams-Garcia was desperately trying to sell her seventh-grade stories while enduring a crush on a boy named Franky, a trumpet player. Kwame Alexander spent two days writing an epistolary poem for his mother, which she still has framed in her living room. As a middle schooler, Grace Lin won fourth place in a national book contest for her illustrated “Dandelion Story.” Ashley Bryan shares drawings he made in the 1930s.

The wonderful diversity of these writers and artists shines through in this fun, insightful collection. A page of tips for young artists and writers may very well inspire the next generation.

Sweet storytelling and whimsical illustrations combine to create this charming debut novel from Jacqueline Ogburn.

Eric Harper has always loved all animals, a trait that he shares with his beloved grandmother. And now that Grandma has had to sell the family farm and move into a nursing home, perhaps the only silver lining in the whole situation is that the mother and daughter who bought the farm have set up a veterinary clinic in the main house and asked Eric to help take care of the animals. Eric soon learns that this clinic, however, has some special patients along with the normal cats and dogs, including a disappearing cat, a golden egg-laying goose and Eric’s personal favorite, a pregnant unicorn. Seeking refuge from the turmoil at home, Eric begins to spend more and more time at the clinic and becomes immersed in a world of magic that he never knew existed. But there are certain rules in this new world, and Eric may have to learn them the hard way.

This story is full of mythical creatures and the high jinks that accompany them, making for a fun, imaginative romp that any child or adult can enjoy. Ogburn writes with a distinct voice that calls to mind the Southern atmosphere in which the story takes place, enriching the reading experience. Most importantly, though, the story also has a healthy dose of tenderness and warmth, and deals with difficult topics such as illness and grief in a sensitive way. Both entertaining and enlightening, Ogburn’s debut calls attention to the magic of the story world as well as the magic of our own.