Fantasy/Science Fiction and Mystery/Adventure

 

Sisters of the Neversea. By Cynthia Leitich Smith. Heartdrum, 2021. 307 pages. $16.99. ISBN 9780062869975

Ages 8 - 12. In this retelling of J.M. Barrie's "Peter Pan and Wendy", Smith has thrown out many of the stereotypes found within the original and set to retell a story with representation and diversity. Her novel is told from the 2nd person narrative voice which feels a little disjointed in the beginning as readers are learning about the main characters and their family dynamics. The two main female characters are Wendy (White, daughter of George Darling and deceased mother, aspiring wizard) and Lily (Muscogee Creek member, daughter of Florene Roberts-Darling, aspiring zoologist). The both share a half brother, Michael, who is four years old and wants to be a pirate. Set the night before Lily and her father are to move away, characters of Neverland arrive and their world is turned upside down. Wendy, enthralled with magic is ready to embrace the very real fantasy laid out before her and she and Michael are whisked away Peter and Belle. Having been out looking for duct tape to reattach Peter to his shadow, Lily returns to an empty room but follows the bait to Neverland with the help of shadow Peter. Now separated but heading to the same Neverland, Wendy and Lily begin two very different adventures with different allies and enemies. Smith's narration constantly moves the reader through the text by her skilled use of questioning the reader about events past and present while also letting the reader in on clues, hints, and the hidden intentions of characters and Neverland herself. Readers will find this writing style compelling as it is coupled with the familiar characters from the Peter Pan variants that exist in writing and on screen. As a Muscogee tribal member herself, Smith carefully recreates the presence of the Native tribes in Neverland and the harmful stereotypes that Peter continues to use. Smith gives more dimension to the other fantastical creatures on the island including the Merfolk, the fairy kingdom and Belle; but she also writes about the real animals that live on the island and how they came to be there. Smith's take on "Peter Pan and Wendy" is a stand alone novel on it's own, but also sets out to explain a lot of the how and why questions interested readers might have about the originals, which adds to its overall accessibility and appeal to a variety of readers who enjoy fantasy and adventure novels.

Guys Read: Thriller. Edited by Jon Scieszka. Illustrated by Brett Helquist. Harper Collins, 2011. 272 pages. $16.99. ISBN 9780061963766

Ages 8 - 12. Thriller is the second volume in Scieszka's Guys Read Library of Great Reading, a library of collected short stories aimed at male readers aged 8 through 12. In his intro, Scieszka says, "We asked only the best thriller authors to write for this volume. I'm sure you know most of them, if not all of them." Since this collection was published in 2011, the intended readers today might not recognize most of these authors aside from Anthony Horowitz, Margaret Peterson Haddix, Walter Dean Myers, and James Patterson. Regardless of knowing them at the time of reading, this short collection might encourage this audience to seek out these authors to read more books by them. As a librarian, this could be a cause to highlight older titles and book series that might be getting nearer to the weeding point (such as Haddix's Shadow Children or Found collections and Horowitz's Alex Rider series). There are ten stories within and each is roughly twenty-five pages long. The chapters begin with a black and white illustration by Brett Helquist, the go-to illustrator for the A Series of Unfortunate Events series. His realistic illustrations do a great job of setting the tone for each story, even the comic book styled piece for the graphic novel short, "Pudding" by Jarrett J. Krosoczka.  There are ghosts in haunted houses, magical wish machines, snakes, and monster hunters for those looking for the supernatural mystery. There are hapless detectives on a jewel heist and real detectives involved in a murder on a train that will have readers guessing whodunit to the end. But there are also other stories of very real intensity like Myer's "Pirate" that focuses on armed children pirates using piracy as a way to provide for their families where the United Nations cannot. The format of a short story collection appeals to a variety of readers and the intentional thriller/mystery/ghost story genre of the book adds to this quick page turn interest, but especially to reluctant readers who want/need to read in short bursts.