Middle Grade Classics: Seacrow Island

 

Title: Seacrow Island
Author: Astrid Lindgren
Publication Info: Kindle Edition NYR Children's Collection, 2015. First English edition, Viking Books for Young Readers, 1969 (original Swedish publication 1964). 287 pages.
Source: Library digital services

Goodreads Blurb:
Tiny Seacrow Island is one of hundreds of islands in the sparkling blue of the Baltic Sea. Though small, it has everything you’d want in an island: woods to wander in, flowers to pick, fish to catch, boats to sail in, all kinds of animals. But it doesn’t have very many young people. So when the four Melkerson kids and their father move into Carpenter’s Cottage one June day, they’re immediately welcomed by the resourceful islanders: Johan and Niklas Melkerson, at twelve and thirteen, are natural companions for adventurous Freddy and Teddy (girls exactly their age); dreamy Pelle, the baby of the family, gets up to trouble with bossy Tjorven and fanciful Stina; and ever-responsible Malin, who at nineteen looks after her scatterbrained father as well as her brothers, catches the eye of all the island’s young men. Before long Seacrow Island and Carpenter’s Cottage (tumbledown and leaky though it may be) have become a real home for the Melkersons. 

Seacrow Island is a remarkable story, filled with sweetness and sorrow, humor and suspense, and peopled with the vivid, unexpected, wonderfully winning characters we’ve come to expect from the creator of the unforgettable Pippi Longstocking.

My Review:
I no longer remember exactly why this was on my TBR list--I saw it somewhere and thought it sounded charming. And, indeed, it is. I haven't read Pippi for a long time, but this felt better to me than I remembered Pippi (as a child I always worried about the trouble she was getting Tommy and Annika into). Compared to most modern children's books, the story is slower-moving, more about a feel for a wonderful place, maybe creating a fantasy of that wonderful summer life on a magical island. But in the end, it had a lot more plot than I expected, and every bit as much charm as promised. 

There are a lot of characters, and the author moves the point of view among them scene by scene, but never in a way to confuse the reader, and for me it created a feeling that every one of the children was important, and deserving of attention. If pressed to pick the main characters, I'd choose three: Pelle, Tjorven, and Malin. It may be a bit odd to have an almost-adult as one of the main characters, and we don't see things so much from her adult perspective most of the time, but her changes and development are definitely central to the story.

Recommendation:
Read it for a calming dip into a more peaceful time. There are adventures, but nothing madcap as Pippi Longstocking delivers. I found it a soothing read.

 

 

Middle Grade Monday: Beyond the Bright Sea

 

Title: Beyond the Bright Sea
Author: Lauren Wolk
Publisher: Dutton Children's Books, 2017. 283 pages.
Source: Library

Publisher's Summary:Twelve-year-old Crow has lived her entire life on a tiny, isolated piece of the starkly beautiful Elizabeth Islands in Massachusetts. Abandoned and set adrift on a small boat when she was just hours old, Crow's only companions are Osh, the man who rescued and raised her, and Miss Maggie, their fierce and affectionate neighbor across the sandbar.

Crow has always been curious about the world around her, but it isn't until the night a mysterious fire appears across the water that the unspoken question of her own history forms in her heart. Soon, an unstoppable chain of events is triggered, leading Crow down a path of discovery and danger.

Vivid and heart wrenching, Lauren Wolk's Beyond the Bright Sea is a gorgeously crafted and tensely paced tale that explores questions of identity, belonging, and the true meaning of family.

My Review: 
I picked this book up because I read and was impressed by the author's first book, Wolf Hollow. Though this book was very different, it provided me with further proof that Lauren Wolk is a writer to watch. This book is, in some ways, a mystery, but it's a mystery that is all about the meaning of family and the meaning of love. Wolk throws in some high-stakes adventure, and nails the coming-of-age novel yet again as Crow learns what is important.

The prose is beautiful, and the story powerful. It's not the adventure and the scary bits that make it so, not for me anyway. For me, the power is in the slow sorting-out of the relationships between Crow, Osh, and Miss Maggie, as well as the other islanders. I was left with some things that I still wanted to know, but as those are the very things that Crow has spent the book learning aren't important, I guess I should be satisfied!

The time and place (it's set in the 1920s on some pretty remote islands) is beautifully evoked, giving me a feel for the slower pace of the life Crow is living. I thought at first there were no other people about, but gradually realized that there is a more sinister reason why Crow only associates with the two adults. So the story is also about human fear and how cruel it can make us.

In that sense, it is much the same as Wolf Hollow, and is a book we all need to read.

My Recommendation:
This is perfectly keyed for the upper-elementary crowd (9-12), but it is so well-written and evocative of another time and place that I think most adults will enjoy it as well. Wolk also shines a light on a bit of history (I won't say what because that would be a spoiler) that most of us know little about, but which isn't one of our more shining moments. This is a writer to watch.

FTC Disclosure: I checked Beyond the Bright Sea out of my library, and received nothing from the writer or publisher for my honest review.  The opinions expressed are my own and those of no one else.  I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."  

#AtoZChallenge K is for Kitty Padgett

K is for Kitty Padgett, of the Pismawallops PTA mysteries

In a nutshell: Kitty is JJ’s best friend (see yesterday's post), and she's as patient as JJ is hasty. Kitty actually seems to understand teens.

Biggest secret: She has far fewer answers than her kids think she does.

Favorite line: "If only she'd learn to say please and thank you." Because Kitty believes that a bit of courtesy will go a long way toward making the world a better place.

A favorite scene where Kitty yanks JJ's chain, just enough to prove she's no push-over.

From Death By Trombone, Chapter 4.

We ate and drank in silence for a few minutes, enjoying the sunshine, blue water, and bluer sky. June sunshine was rare enough on our island that we never took it for granted, and it had felt like a particularly long and wet spring. Or maybe that was my mood, my own struggles affecting the weather, or at least my perception of the weather.

At last, mellowed by a perfect latte and the exquisite brownie, which I ate in tiny pieces to make it last, I asked, “So what is Kat wearing to the dance tonight?”

Kitty pulled her gaze from the window, out of which we could see the harbor, the moorage, and the business end of the ferry dock. You couldn’t quite see where the dock reached the land because a giant madrona tree blocked the view. A ferry was coming around the corner of the island.

“You don’t want to know,” she said.

An idea had been tickling the back of my mind while I watched the ferry, but her answer pulled me back to the present. “What do you mean?”

“Since none of the underclassmen have time to get formal wear, they decided to make it a costume party.”

Distracted from the question of what our own kids would wear, I commented, “How do you think the Seniors will react to that? There they are, at the formal dance they’ve waited for all year, and a bunch of younger students are going to be there just having fun.”

We thought about what I’d said, and laughed. Probably the younger kids would have more fun than the ones taking it seriously. After all, most of those high school pairings were about to dissolve into the mists of separate lives, as the kids scattered to different colleges and jobs.

“So what is Kat wearing? And is Sarah going?”

“Sarah says such events are for the terminally immature. In other words, she doesn’t have a date.”

“Neither does Justin, and it’s not stopping him.”

“Sarah has a terrific crush on Tyrell Augustine, who plays a hot trumpet but, being a mere Soph, is completely off limits.” It was funny how those taboos lingered. There never was a problem with a boy dating a younger girl, but let a girl date a boy a few months younger and a grade behind, and the world would end.

“Poor girl. What is Kat wearing?”

Kitty gave in. “She wants to be a parody of all the teeny-bopper rocker chicks. I’m fighting to keep her within the bounds of decency, which isn’t easy, given the models she’s working from.”

I groaned. “This is going to be so hard on Brian.” She’d know what I meant. Then I had another thought. “What is Brian wearing?”

Kitty looked at me and chortled. “You’re his mother. Don’t you know?”

“Until now, I assumed he’d be wearing the slacks and dress shirt I bought him for the speech he gave to the VFW for his Civics class last winter.”

“I suspect he’s...not.”

“Kitty!” My voice took on a bit of a whine. “If you know something, you have to tell me!”

Now she really was laughing at me. “Stop freaking out, JJ. He refused to go along with the whole punk rock thing. He’s going to wear jeans and his favorite t-shirt.”

I groaned again. “Do you know what shirt that is?”

She shook her head.

“The one that says ‘Run until your ass falls off’ on the front, and ‘Runners do it faster’ on the back.”

 

Book One:

What do you serve when all you have in the freezer is an ice-cold corpse? 

JJ and her best friend Kitty struggle to hold the Pismawallops PTA together, and new volunteer Letitia LeMoine isn’t making it any easier.  But when Letitia’s strangled corpse turns up where the ice cream bars should have been, things get a whole lot worse.  JJ has to shoehorn in a search for the killer along with all her other problems: divorce, a 15-year-old son with his first girlfriend, a desperate race to complete the Yearbook on time, and her own tendency to get all wobbly-kneed around the Chief of Police.  JJ just can’t help asking a few questions.  But a loud mouth and insatiable curiosity can be a dangerous combination.  Especially when someone wants her stopped.

Amazon as Paperback or Kindle.
Smashwords (all ebook formats) 
Barnes and Noble for Nook or paper 
iBooks
Kobo Store 
Paperbacks also in the Createspace Store!

Book Two:

 

Nothing like a corpse to add a little je ne sais quoi to the Senior Prom.

JJ thought starting the day without coffee was a disaster, but now there's a dead musician behind the Pismawallops High School gym. His trombone is missing, and something about the scene is off key. JJ and Police Chief Ron Karlson are determined to get to the bottom of the mystery, but will they be able to work harmoniously or will discord ruin the investigation? With the music teacher as the prime suspect, JJ could be left to conduct the band, and then Graduation might truly end in a death by trombone, or at least the murder of Pomp and Circumstance!

Paperback and Kindle available from Amazon

Purchase any ebook format from Smashwords

Paperback and Nook from Barnes & Noble
Ebooks from Kobo
Find it at iBooks
Or purchase paperbacks from the Createspace store

 Following the suggestion of fellow blogger and amazing author Jemima Pett, I'm doing a very simple A to Z with characters from my writing and the books of my author friends! I'm just posting a brief profile, sometimes a quote, and the book cover with links. Though you may also see some of my typical reviews (when I feature other peoples’ books) and the usual Friday Flash Fiction.
 

  ©Rebecca M. Douglass, 2017
As always, please ask permission to use any photos or text. Link-backs appreciated!

Blogging from A to Z Theme Reveal Blogfest!

Oops! Messed up the time for the auto-post! No wonder no one has commented :D  Well, better late than never, so ....

It's here at last...the great A to Z Challenge theme reveal! Way back in February I posted that I was trying to work out a brilliant theme. I'm here to report that brilliant probably eluded me, as usual, but I do have a theme. I will be blogging all of April on...Mountains and Valleys. Mostly literal, maybe some figurative. I will be mixing up my usually melange of reviews, photos, and fiction, though I believe I will try to keep the fiction on Friday as usual. But don't be surprised by any type of post on any day! And it was originally just going to be mountains, but I got to thinking (uh-oh!) and decided I wanted a little more flexibility.

I'm also going to be mentioning my own work more. As fellow blogger Jemima Pett has noted, and it's as true for my blog as for hers, it would be easy for visitors to leave my blog never knowing that I write, or what I write. So don't be surprised when one of the mountains I write about is Skunk Mountain, or when I talk about being able to see Mt. Baker from Pismawallops Island!

See you all on the hop!