A Dance of Silver and Shadow by Melanie Cellier

Princess Lily and her twin sister Sophia are off to make diplomatic alliances with the Duchy of Marin. Upon their arrival they discover that they are being forced to participate in a magical princess tournament to establish who will marry a cursed prince in a neighboring kingdom.  The 12 participants range from ages 13-18, and have to descend into a magical underground realm every three days to compete in various feats of whit and skill. None of the princesses really wants to wed the cursed prince, but if they do not try their best one of their loved ones will suffer.  As the oldest, Lily and Sophia know they are most likely to win, but Lily has a secret plan to protect her sister by trying her best to surpass her.  The prince of Marin comes to first admire, then love Lily, so he doesn't want her to win.  On the other hand, his own three sisters are competing as well, so he can understand Lily's determination to try to save the other girls. The couple also face political treachery within the land of Marin., Torn between duty and love, both know that following their hearts might bring ruin on their friends and family.

I was sick all this week, and this book was just the thing to get me through the worst times.  The 12 Dancing Princesses has long been one of my favorite fairytales, and this is probably my favorite novel adaptation of the story I have read so far. Maybe because I was sick, I couldn't see how the author would resolve the conflict until right before the end. Lily is a charmingly human protagonist, who, although she knows she must not get to attached to Prince John, nevertheless, keeps finding herself unable to resist his comfort, support, and embraces. I liked this book enough that I put the second in the series on hold right away, and have already checked it out to read next. (2017, 444 p.)

Pahua and the Soul Stealer by Lori Lee

 Pahua is the only Hmong girl at her school and she feels like she will never fit in.  Her best friend is a spirit cat named Miv whom only she can see. In fact, Pahua has the unusual gift to be able to see all spirits, both nature and human.  One day, she sees the spirit of a girl who died tragically on a bridge decades before. Feeling sorry for the girl, she accidently releases it, causing a host of problems including a threat to her little brother's life.  To try to fix her mistake, Pahua follows a young cocky shaman apprentice, Zhong, into the spirit world to try to save her brother's soul. She soon finds that there is much more to her ability to see spirits than she could have imagined.

Here is yet another in the Rick Riordan Presents imprint.  I ended up liking this one pretty much.  I met some Hmong people when I was in California, but I know very little about their culture and mythology.  I feel like I have a better understanding after reading this book.  Gardner does a good job making Pahua and Zhong well rounded and appealing characters. The pacing of the story is very much like Rick Riordan's books, where every chapter has a challenge or a opponent for the hero's to face, and as they complete each challenge it leads them to the next. I have wondered before how heavily Riordan influences the books in his imprint.  It totally works for this book, and I am sure I will be recommending this to kids who like the other Rick Riordan Presents books, especially the Aru Shah books. (2021, 320 p.)

Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman

 Neil Gaiman takes diverse tales of Norse Mythology and weaves them into a single narrative. He starts with creation myths, and then focuses on the adventures of Odin, Thor and Loki. He includes origin stories, trickster tales, and battles with various giants. He finishes the books with the traditional predictions of Ragnarak with its portent of utter destruction followed by rebirth. 

It is hard to think of anyone better to retell Norse Mythology than Neil Gaiman. He is is an amazing storyteller and never shies away from gruesome or shocking details.  He does a great job portraying the personalities of the various gods as he sees them.  Odin, is obsessed with obtaining knowledge is will to sacrifice anything to get it.  Thor is basically good hearted, but brutish and not very bright.  Loki is the most clever, but is without morals.  He is as likely to kill another god as to help him/her. Gaiman includes a lot of humor, some of it very irreverent.  In fact, I had a hard time deciding for what age group this book would be appropriate. Much of it would be super engaging to upper elementary and middle school readers, but there is some open discussion of adultery and sexual promiscuity. They are, after all, essential elements of the mythology.  I think I would probably put the book in the teen nonfiction section, but I would be willing to suggest it to less sheltered 6th or 7th graders.(2017, 304p.)

The Secret Princess by Malanie Cellier

 Princess Giselle is traveling with a delegation to Eliam to strengthen diplomatic ties and maybe even make a match with Prince Percy.  Her plans and hopes are derailed when her ship hits a storm and starts to take on water.  The crew decides to let her ashore with her immediate staff and her magic talking horse, Arvin, while they go for repairs. She has barely lost her sea legs, when the group is under attack, and she narrowly escapes with her maid Sierra and Arvin.  Sierra convinces her to trade places, "for her own safety" and pretend to be the maid, while Sierra takes the role of princess. Of course, it is a trick, and Giselle finds herself relegated to serving as a goose girl while her maid pretends to be her.  A magic spell keeps her from telling her true identity, but nothing can stop her from trying to save both the kingdom of Eliam and her own kingdom's reputation by putting a stop to Sierra's plan.  With the help of the handsome and mysterious Philip and her ever faithful Arvin, she hopes to earn her place as a real princess.

After reading the much heavier Speak novel, I was ready for something light, so I chose this title, thinking it was the next in the Four Kingdoms saga.  It turns out I missed a whole intermediate series, (Beyond the Four Kingdoms) so I was a bit lost with the backstory on this one. It didn't ruin the book.  It is still a good story with likeable characters and a decently complex plot.  It is classic Cellier.  Her heroines and heroes are all pretty similar, but it had been long enough since I read one of her books that I was able to enjoy one again.  I read Shannon Hale's Goose Girl recently enough that it was fun to compare how they treated the original fairytale. Hale's was probably the better book overall, but I was happy about a few of the changes Cellier made.  It was just about at the right level of teen fantasy fluff to sooth my mind and soul after the heartrending Speak. (370 p. 2020) 

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

 In junior high Melinda was a good student with lots of friends.  Three months later she starts high school as an outcast who is on her way to fail most of her classes.  Her classmates have shunned her because she called the cops on a keg party at the end of the last school year.  None of them know what really happened to Melinda at the party and she cannot find a way to tell anyone.  As she becomes more and more withdrawn, she stops speaking to most people. As an outsider she sees the emptiness of the social games at her school, and the struggles of the teachers to deal with their own lives while restraining hundreds of adolescence.  Her parents' marriage is in trouble, and they are too wrapped up in their own troubles to ask themselves why their daughter has lost interest in life. The only teacher that seems to care about Melinda and wonder what she is going through is her art teacher. Her interactions with him and the others in her art class give her the first clues about how she might start to communicate and heal.

Right now in the Alpine School District, there are several books that are being challenged by parents.  This is one that is part of the curriculum at the high school, which the parents want removed from the curriculum because they say it is "pornography".  I had a parent urge me to read part of the book that the parents find objectionable, but I decided to read the whole thing. The book came out years ago and was very controversial then, but also won tons of awards.  I didn't read it when it came out because it was YA and I was mostly reading Middle Grade back then.  As I started it this week, I was a little bit dreading it because it deals with such a heavy topic.  It was a heavy read, but really well done.  It is hard to imagine a book dealing with the rape of a 13-year-old that would be better written than this one.  Melinda is a sweet girl struggling to deal with what happened to her.  She instinctively knows she must let go of what others expect of her and do some self-care.  A reader can't help but cheer for her as she takes baby steps out of the darkness into a more hopeful future.  The scene where she finally describes what happened to her at the party had much less degree of discription than I expected. It clearly describes that she was raped, but in the most minimal prose. When I finished it I thought, "That is it? That is what all the parents are complaining about?  They must not read much."  I thought the descriptions were very age appropriate for a high school student.  

That being said, I am not sure it should be required reading in a class.  I do believe people should be able to choose their level of exposure to difficult topics.  I think it would be completely appropriate to be one of several on an approved list.  Maybe that is all the parents are asking for.  I don't know enough about the debate.  Still, I saw no reason to consider removing the book from a public library, or even for moving it from the YA section to the adult section.  (224 p. 1999)

Great Courses: Biology of Human Behavior by Robert Sapolsky

In this series of 24 lectures, Dr Sapolsky walks the listeners through many the physiological of human behavior.  He starts with a simple explanation about how a neuron works.  Then he talks about neuro-networks, and the chemicals that function as neuro- transmitters.  He talks about the structure of the brain and which parts have the biggest roles in influencing Human Behavior.  Then he shifts gears and explores several "buckets" or ways that people have approached the study of human behavior, including evolution, environment, heredity and environment. 

Dr. Sapolsky is a very engaging speaker with an obvious enthusiasm for his subject matter.  He has some bias in which theories about human behavior he thinks are worthwhile and which he thinks are ridiculous, but he is always careful to acknowledge his personal bias.  He often refers to diagrams in this lecture, and I stopped the recording a couple of times to look up similar diagrams, like the structure of the brain and the parts of a neuron, but I felt like he described most of his diagrams well enough that I could picture them in my head without actually seeing them.  I found the lecture series very interesting and it answered some of my personal questions about how different systems in the body work.  It was well worth the 12 hour listening time. (2005, 12 hrs)

A Place to Hang the Moon by Kate Albus

William, Edmund and Anna were orphaned when Anna was just a baby.  Since then they have lived with a not-very-nurturing grandmother.  Their grandmother dies just at the beginning of WWII and now the three children have an inheritance, but no caregiver.  Their lawyer suggests that they go with other children who are being evacuated from London to the countryside.  The hope is that they will find a family who, having taken them in temporarily, would be willing to keep them indefinitely. They are assigned to one family after another without great results. The one person in town who seems to actually care about them is considered by others in the town as "unsuitable."

The promotional blib on Amazon for this book starts out "For fans of The War That Saved My Life".  It is a brave thing to start out by comparing yourself to such an amazing book, and I was a bit skeptical, especially given the cover art.  In the end I was pleasantly surprised.  It is similar to "The War..." in that it is a story of an adult growing to love a child, and visa versa.  I think this one is better suited for a younger audience.  It lacks the most bitter elements of  "The War..." because the children and Nora hit it off from the very beginning. The children's challenges come from their experience with other people in the environment.  There are some harsh situations, but overall, I think this is a kinder, gentler historical fiction.  The three children are both sympathetic and heroic.  The oldest is always looking out for the younger, often taking on more responsibility than any child should have to.  The younger boy is the most socially adept, but also struggles with his feelings of anger and sensibility of injustice. Anna is sweet and innocent, but at times has surprising insight. I really enjoyed the book and am glad to have another title in my arsenal for kids who are required to read a historical fiction. (2021, 320 p)

Merci Suares Changes Gears by Med Medina

 Merci is starting her first year of junior high at a private school.  She misses the nurturing support of her 6th grade teacher, but looks forward to getting to play on the junior high soccer team.  Merci lives in Florida, in a row of three houses occupied by her extended family.  She is especially close to her grandfather whom she calls Lolo.  As the school year progresses, Merci begins to notice that her Lolo is struggling with some things that never bothered him before.  Merci has her own struggles at school as she repeated finds herself at the mercy of a bossy queen bee, Edna. Then there is the new kid, Michael, from Montana, that seems to want to spend more time with Merci, who definitely does not have a crush on him, than Edna, who definitely does. Could life ever be more complicated?

This book won the Newbery in 2019, but I had never "read" it because, for some unknown reason, it is not available in audio.  I finally bit the bullet and checked out a text based version.  It received a lot of attention and awards when it came out, and it was good, but I didn't think it was amazing.  It is one of the books that tries to pack in a bunch of social issues. I thought the way Medina handled Merci's grandfather's decline was well done.  Her relationship with her brother is sweet, and her challenges with her "friends" believable.  It was worth reading, but I don't know if I would have given it a Newbery. (2018, 368 p)