Peter Nimble and his Fantastic Eyes by Jonathan Auxier

It is a hard thing, as an adult, to try and read a book through the eyes of a child. It would have been easier had I a box of magic eyes like Peter does. Here's what amazon has to say about the plot:

Overflowing with wit and invention, Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes is the beguiling tale of a ten-year-old blind orphan who has been schooled in a life of thievery by his brutal master, Mr. Seamus. One fateful afternoon, as he's picking the pockets of townspeople enraptured by a travelling haberdasher, he "discovers" (steals) a box of magical eyes. When he tries on the first pair, he is instantly transported to the island at the top of the world, where he meets the maker of the eyes, Professor Cake. The Professor gives Peter a choice: travel to the mysterious Vanished Kingdom and try to rescue a people in need ... or return back to his master and a life of crime. Peter chooses wisely, and together with Sir Tode, a knight errant who has been turned into a rather unfortunate combination of human, horse and cat by a grumpy witch, he embarks on an unforgettable adventure in a book destined to become a classic.

And here's what I have to say about it: (warning!!! I may go on a bit of a rant that may include spoilers - which is OK if you are looking to get it for a child in your life and not so OK if you want to read it yourself)

/5

Character Development          4

Editing                                     5

Sex                                          0

Violence                                  3

Romance                                 0

Readability/Flow                    4

As I began this book, the first word that came to my mind was "charming". It is a perfect read-aloud book. The narrator's voice is strong and fun with lots of age-appropriate humour. Although the back of the book says 10+ years, my precocious 8 year old nephew would enjoy it as well.

Poor, blind, Peter is liberated from his miserable life and embarks on a magical, mystical journey full of: problems waiting to be overcome; friends waiting to be made; lessons waiting to be learned and mysteries waiting to be solved. Peter needs a steady companion and who better than Sir Tode? I have to say that Sir Tode was my favorite character in the story. Who could resist a knight who is also a cat/horse/human? He fills a vital role as friend, confidant and Peter's eyes.

Don't expect this to be one of those books that helps kids understand and appreciate what it means to live with blindness. It is easy to forget Peter's blindness as he can 'see' almost better with his other senses as sighted people can with their eyes. This includes the ability, for example, to catch things thrown at him by 'sensing' their presence.

SPOILER ALERT!!

Although this point was a point of contention for me as an adult, I don't think it would hinder a child's enjoyment of the book. I just want to say that I was a little disappointed in the author's lack of imagination in this one area. See if you recognise the story line - Twins, a boy and a girl, are born to royalty in the middle of an uprising. To protect the line, the male twin is spirited away to be raised as an orphan. The boy is raised to rely on his inner eye or other senses to 'see' things (we'll call it, the force shall we?) At some point there is a huge battle between good and evil and the twins are reunited for the fight, although they are unaware of their relationship. As the battle progresses, the twins realize their relationship to each other and overcome the evil forces threatening to destroy their world. Oh did I mention that the bad guy wears a magical metal suit?

OK, maybe there were two issues I had with imagination. The other has to do with an incidental character and I won't spoil that one.

Mr Auxier's imagination and originality show through in other aspects, however. The use of magic eyes was brilliantly incorporated as were the details of the Vanished Kingdom.

Be forewarned that there is a fair amount of violence in the story but (having some experience with 8 - 12 year olds - and boys especially) nothing they won't appreciate; nothing to cause nightmares; and, likely, nothing that comes close to the violence in their favorite video game.

All in all a great first effort by Jonathon Auxier. I'm hopeful we will find more accounts Peter's magical adventures in the future.

Blog Tour #2: Once Every Never by Lesley Livingston

That's right - I did my first blog tour on Monday and today I do my second. In for a penny; in for a pound, right? Cool cover, eh?

Take two uber-smart teenage girls from Toronto, put them in London for the summer with one anthropologist aunt, one uber-smart and uber-hot teenage geek, add an ancient druid curse and what do you get? You get Lesley Livingston's new book 'Once Every Never'.

How can you miss with a combination like that? There is lots of smart, sarcastic humour from all sides just to add a little more fun. I couldn't stop myself from reading parts out loud to my daughter and she loved it. At one point she said 'What I love about this author is that she writes everything you would like to say.'

Clare is just an ordinary teenage girl. She is into boys and clothes and shopping and is not so into museums and history and bog men and stuff. Well, she wasn't into all that stuff until all that stuff showed a big interest in her - especially the uber-hot bog man - before all the bog mummification stuff happened. My girls taught me, when they were teenagers, that if the boys are in two different time zones it's not considered cheating. Hot bog man (pre-bog) and hot geek are definitely in two totally different time zones!! (that's a little foreshadowing) 'Once Every Never' is packed full of adventure with a little romance thrown in for good measure.

Here's the tricky part. The book was a really fun, quick, easy read that will appeal to teenage girls everywhere, but I wish some thing had been done differently. It has to do with the ending and I can't say what it is without dropping a honking big spoiler which I don't want to do. Not that the ending was bad or anything, there's just one part I wish had been handled differently. I guess you'll have to read the book to figure out what that one part was.

Want more? Check out the rest of the tour for more reviews, author interviews and giveaways!

• Burning Impossibly Bright http://burningximpossiblyxbright.blogspot.com/ June 20
• Not Your Faerytale http://notyourfaerytale.blogspot.com/ June 21
• Let's Book It http://letsbookit.blogspot.com/ June 22
• He Followed Me Home http://hefollowedmehome.blogspot.com/ June 23
• In the Next Room http://inthenextroom.blogspot.com/ June 24
• A Cupcake and a Latte http://www.mochalattereads.blogspot.com/ June 27
• Wicked Lil' Pixie http://wickedlilpixie.com/ June 28
• Evie Bookish http://www.evie-bookish.blogspot.com/ June 29
• Escape Through the Pages http://thekams.wordpress.com/ June 30
• YA Bookie Monster http://yabookiemonster.blogspot.com/ July 1
• Snowdrop Dreams of Books http://snowdropdreams.blogspot.com/ July 4
• Tynga's Reviews http://www.tyngasreviews.com July 5
• The Queen of All Wild Things http://www.queenwild.ca/books/ July 6
• Lost for Words http://lostforwords-corrine.blogspot.com/ July 7
• Lavender Lines http://lavenderlines.wordpress.com/ July 8

Quintspinner: A Pirate's Quest by Dianne Greenlay

When I received "Quintspinner" from the author, Dianne Greenlay, it came well recommended: shortlisted for the 2010 Saskatchewan Book Awards; honorable mention for the Creative Arts Council 2011 Fiction Book Award and recipient of the Reader Views 2011 Reviewers Choice Award. All very well and good but I have had bad luck with highly lauded and award winning books lately so a grain of salt was warranted here. Or not.

It has been said that I devour books and rightly so. I did not devour this novel, however. "Quintspinner" is not a book to be devoured - it is a book to be savoured! Just look at the front cover: warm, inviting, hinting at adventure. It made me happy to look at. And then I opened it and was introduced to an era of hard times and strong people; of superstition, adventure and romance; magic rings, the high seas and pirates that would eat (perhaps literally) Captain Jack Sparrow for lunch and go looking for more. I will say that I was a little lost for the first couple of chapters but stick with it. It all comes together and pretty soon you will be drawn in just as I was. I wasn't even half way through the 324 pages when I started hoping there would be a sequel. I knew I wouldn't be ready to let the characters go at the end of this amazing book.

Appropriate for older teens and adults, this pirate's quest makes a great foil to the overdone vampire and werewolf stories out there. Available at amazon, chapters/indigo, iUniverse and elsewhere. Trust me - keep your eye on this author, she's a keeper!

Annabel by Kathleen Winter

There are a couple of things I love about reading well written literature by Canadian authors that I sometimes miss in the writings of other nationalities: the connection to things that are real in my life, like Maple Leaf bologna; and the (really hard to find the right word here) Canadian-ness of the characters. If you've spent any time in Newfoundland and Labrador, I'm sure you would find an even deeper connection to this book than I did. The setting, the landscape, community and characters were familiar to me from the first page. I love that! I also really enjoyed watching the growth and transformation of the characters over the course of the novel.

Wayne/Annabel was born in Labrador in 1968. He was born at home and he was born both male and female. Because I found the book so interesting, I did what I tend to do, and googled some 'facts'. It is up for debate whether there is such a thing as a true hermaphroditic human and still more unlikely that an 'intersex' body (using politically correct terminology) could or would behave in the some of the ways Wayne/Annabel's body did in the book. I would be very interested to hear from an intersex person who has read the book. I wonder how well Kathleen Winter captured the experience of being an intersex person.

This story had the potential to become too bizarre for the reader to believe. It had the potential to become bogged down in a physiology and psychology too foreign for the reader to bear. It didn't do either of these things. Although I, occasionally, felt Ms Winter walked a fine line, she managed to keep the novel real. A story about a family and community faced with all of the normal difficulties one would expect in a small, isolated place and, one family, trying to keep a secret in a place where secrets are notoriously difficult to keep. Each of the main characters in this book struggles to be true to who they really are and, as we would expect, some succeed better than others.

My favorite quote in the entire 461 pages (OK, maybe my favorite quote of all time):
'Vengence is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.
 "When?" asked Treadway. "When is the Lord planning on getting around to it? Because I can have it done by this time tomorrow."'
pg 446

If I were to describe this book in just a couple of words, (and, of course I am about to do just that) I would say engaging and worthwhile.

Lunenburg Letters by Bobbi Lou Gray

Before I begin my review of this self published novel, you need to be aware of a HUGE caveat: The author happens to be a good friend of mine. She is one of the sweetest and most courageous women I know. So, what follows is an honest, fair review ... with a (hopefully) barely noticeable sprinkling of bias.

Bobbi Gray has written a saga of two families, friends for generations, who decide to emigrate to Canada. Most of the book is written in the form of letters exchanged between two characters who are star-crossed lovers. 

Lunenburg Letters is an ambitious debut novel. There are an, at times, overwhelming number of characters and sub-plots to keep interesting and active without confusing the reader. I'll admit there were times I got a little lost and had to search back in the book to figure out which family a character belonged to and where they were at that point in the story. For this reason, family trees and ship manifests added to the beginning of the book would have been helpful.

That said, from the first page of the book, I began to care for the characters and was drawn into the story. The history and setting were very well researched by the author and this came through in the writing. She managed to do an amazing job of giving each character his/her own distinct personality. There were times, through the middle of the novel, that I felt the narrative got somewhat sluggish but the bright beginning, and the storyline involving the young lovers, pulled me through the slower parts to a brilliant ending. The noticeable lack of contractions and use of formal English by the characters gave the feel of newly English speaking immigrants and their struggle to grasp the language. It also added to the feel of the times.

An interesting side note is that many of the characters have the names of actual people including the some of the author's own ancestors. However, the events are fictionalized. 
 
Realistically I would suggest an appropriate readership for Lunenburg Letters would range from about 12 years to adult.

This book is available for loan at the Strathcona County Library in the adult fiction section and also at Chapters in Sherwood Park.