what I’ve been reading lately:

Alcatraz, 1935, from the perspective of Moose, a twelve-year-old kid who’s living on the island because his dad’s an electrician there. Historical details (Al Capone’s mother’s visit to the island, the construction of the Golden Gate Bridge) and family drama (but not melodrama). Much of the book is about the narrator’s sister, Natalie, who’s autistic;…

(Read more)

Cooper ties everything up neatly, but in a way that’s satisfying, that isn’t too neat or totally predictable. She also nicely shifts the focus, at the end, to humanism: a world that’s determined less by fate than by choice, and somehow manages to make this ring true, despite the fact that the rest of the…

(Read more)

Welsh place-names, lessons in pronunciation, hills and lakes and grey mist. This book felt less sinister than some of the others in this series, perhaps because it’s more about preparation than open conflict between the Dark and Light, perhaps because there is more of High Magic in it, perhaps because the Grey King and his…

(Read more)

This book was written nearly a decade before the first manned space flight, three years before Sputnik was launched, at a time when space must have captured kids’ imaginations in a somewhat different way than it does now. The sense of possibility that fills this book makes it a pleasure to read, as do all…

(Read more)

Wonderfully fast-paced and filled with plot twists, from curses to potions to romantic entanglements.

(Read more)

Back to Trewissick, to fish and the sea, history & tradition. In this book, Jane made me think of Chihiro in Spirited Away—both girls know to treat things-of-magic with kindness as well as respect, and it’s somehow really pleasing to watch a character engage with the world that way.

(Read more)