Mister Max: The Book of Lost Things by Cynthia Voigt
If you liked The Mysterious Benedict Society or Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library or you just like reading about nice boys doing good deeds and solving mysteries, this one's for you.
The sequel, Mister Max: The Book of Secrets is already out so you know I'm headed to the Library Store (as Jill calls it) ASAP.
A Question of Magic by E. D. Baker
Serafina is a happy girl with a good family and a true love etc. She goes to collect a mysterious inheritance and ends up as the new Baby Yaga. She receives the power to answer every person's question truthfully, but only the first question. And there's a catch. With every answer she gives, she ages. Can she escape her fate before she dies? If you enjoy fairy tales, you'll enjoy A Question of Magic.
The Huron Carol by St. Jean de Brebeuf illustrated by Frances Tyrell
While a bringing the Faith to the Huron people, St. Jean de Brebeuf wrote a Christmas carol with beautiful native imagery, "wrapped in a rabbit pelt" "born in a house of bark" "three chieftains". (Am I supposed to capitalize Native?) The book is appropriate for all ages. Frances Tyrrell's illustrations are inspired by various tribes and serve the text well.
You can listen to it here, sung hauntingly in Huron, French, and English.
St. Jean de Brebeuf is one of the North American martyrs and was killed by the Iroquois in the 1600s. You can learn more about him and see where he lived and died in this video.
There are six more days of Christmas so I'm not remiss in wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Here's to more book reviews in 2015!
I love thinking about how Isaac Jogues and Jean de Brebeuf sang that carol together.
ReplyDeleteMy little guy always asks if we can go buy more books at the library. Unfortunately we have had to actually buy more books from there than I'd like to admit. :-)
ReplyDeleteI feel your pain. It's the puzzles that get me. I own a few puzzles from the library. Unfortunately, they are all missing pieces. Go figure.
DeleteWhat age range for Mister Max, do you think? Also, what ^^^Anne said!!
ReplyDeleteMax is a 12 year old, but there's nothing inappropriate in the book. Some big vocabulary, but if an 8 yo wanted to read it, I'd let him.
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