Courtney's Book Nook

sorry, but work for my real job got in the way!  See you next weekend.

The Doll's Eye , by Marina Cohen, out in paperback at the end of May 2019, sets a new bar for doll creepiness!   It is not just a creepy book, but true horror, so sensitive readers should beware. Here is the original cover of the hardback --the insects hint at horror, but it isn't terrifying. Here is the paperback cover.  It speaks for itself! Hadley's mother is thrilled by the big old house she and her new husband, Ed, have just bought, and can't understand why Hadley is being so stand-offish to Ed and Ed's little boy (which is a parenting fail in my book, and I had no patience for the mother's cluelessness about Hadley's emotions).  Hadley doesn't like the house, or the new one big happy family life, but she is intrigued by the old dollhouse she finds, which is a replica of the real thing, where the doll family are living a peaceful life.... But both the real house and the doll house are cursed as a result of the poorly thought-out wishes of a little g...

Tangled in Time: the Portal , by Kathryn Lasky (HarperCollins, March 2019), is the story of a girl, Rose, who finds herself traveling back to 16th-century England to serve Princess Elizabeth.  She doesn't stay long, but makes repeated visits that she can't control.  In her own time, she lives with her grandmother, who is suffering from dementia, after her mother was killed in a firey car accident.  Though she's made new friends, there are also horrible over the top mean girl bullies in her new school.  In the past, she manages to be mouthy and 21st century-ish and not be accused of treason or witchcraft, or make a fool of herself.  Also in the past, she finds both a good friend, and her father, who she had thought abandoned her and her mother long ago.  And then there's a bit of a set-up twist for further books.... I just didn't care for this, either as time-travel or as larger whole.  The time travel was what I think of as the sight-seeing kind--even ...

Happy Easter, those who are celebrating!  I was very tickled to find a steampunk Victorian card for today. Here are the posts I found this week for us fans of mg sci fi and fantasy, and it was a slightly disappointing haul, and I wish that either there were more folks reviewing mg sff, or that I knew who I was missing! I follow lots of blogs in bloglovin, and also search for posts via google.  This week I also searched for specific new titles.  And still I didn't find many reviews.  So please, if you review mg sff, leave a comment so I can find your blog/Instagram/youtube channel etc! The Reviews Aru Shah and the Song of Death, by Rhosani Chokshi, at Ms. Yingling Reads and Take Me Away Apprentice Needed, by Obert Skye, at Read Love and Cracking the Cover Bone Hollow, by at YA and Kids Book Central Dragonfell, by Sarah Prineas, at Charlotte's Library Game of Stars, by Sayantani Dasgupta, at proseandkahn (audiobook review) The Ghosts of Stone Hollow, by Zilpha Kea...

I racked up enough Barnes and Nobel credit card rewards points to get my $25 gift card reward this month, and it was with great anticipatory pleasure that I visited my local store yesterday.  And it was also with great anticipatory pleasure that I came home with Dragonfell , by Sarah Prineas (middle grade, HarperCollins, March 2019), as I'm a committed fan of hers!  It did not disappoint. Rafi has always been odd.  He has a strange, fierce look to him, and hair like flame.  He can't be burned,doesn't feel cold, and can see in the dark.  And he likes to go by himself to the top of the fell that gives his village its name--Dragonfell.  Once it was a lair of a dragon, who hoarded china with blue floral decorations. Rafi's differences have started arousing suspicion in his community, and that is exacerbated when two strangers arrive from the city where an coal-powered industrial revolution is taking hold, and seek to take him away with them. When he realizes th...

When Literary Book Gifts offered me the opportunity to review their cashmere fingerless writing gloves , I jumped at the chance.  My desk at work holds the cold, and the inside of my wrists were suffering from having to rest on it (I'm a slump-handed typist....), and home was not much better.  The thought of warm hands encased in fuzzy cashmere that still allowed me to do things with my fingers was just as appealing as all get out! Here is what they look like new: (My review gloves were white, and perhaps I should have taken pictures of me doing all the things before I actually used them for three weeks...) The gloves are soft and warm as expected.  Writing by hand is easy and comfortable, even when your grip is non-standard, as mine is: Typing on a keyboard is slightly less comfortable; my fingers felt a bit constricted; the finger band stretches, but its default is snug.  But it sure was nicer for my wrists! Somewhat unexpectedly, playing the piano while wearing th...

Sleeping Bear Press kindly sent a package of review copies of their picture books of 2018 for distribution at Kidlitcon 2019 last month, but sadly the package ended up in the shrubbery next to the door I don't use, so I didn't see them until after the fact.  I've mailed them off to folks who follow the Kidlitcon twitter account, but also wanted to spotlight them here by way of a thank you and an apology to Sleeping Bear for not checking the shrubberies…. The Hanukkah Hamster , by Michelle Markel, illustrated by Andre Ceolin It's December in the city, and Edgar, a young cab driver, is busy taking holiday shoppers to and fro.  One evening he finds a little hamster in the back of the cab, and is charmed.  Little Chickpea becomes his friend, and is company each night Edgar when lights the candles on the menorah, thinking of his home back in Israel.  But Edgar did the right think, and reported the hamster to lost and found--will his new friend be claimed by its rightful o...

Here's what I found this week; as ever, please let me know if I missed your post! The Reviews Bone Hollow, by Kim Ventrella, at Charlotte's Library The Book of Boy, by Catherine Gilbert Murdock, at Challenging the Bookworm Cauldron's Bubble, by Amber Elby, at A Cat, a Book, and a Cup of Tea The Door at the End of the World, by Caroline Carlson, at Charlotte's Library Dragonfell, by Sarah Prineas, at Random Musings of a Bibliophile Eventown, by Corey Ann Haydn, at Redeemed Reader and Kid Lit Geek Gaurdians of the Wild Unicorns, by Lindsay Littleson, at Books and Wonders Goblins in the Castle, by Bruce Coville, at Say What? The Golden Tower, by Holly Black and Cassadra Clare (Magisterium #5), at Say What? Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher, by Bruce Coville, at Say What? The Last Last-Day-of Summer, by Lamar Giles, at My Brain on Books and The Book's the Thing The Lost Girl, by Anne Ursu, at Redeemed Reader and Rosi Hollinbeck The Portal (Tangled in Time), by Kathryn...

Bone Hollow , by Kim Ventrella (middle grade, Scholastic, Feb. 2019), is a strange one.  It's not often that the main character of a middle grade book dies in the first few pages, but that's what happens to an orphan boy named Gabe.  When he wakes up after dying to find the neighbors tearfully gathered round, he doesn't realize what's happened; when he wakes up again, in a funeral home, it still doesn't click  that he's dead, because he feels very much alive.  And when he resists being buried, the fact that he's not a typical corpse becomes terrifyingly clear to the community of his small southern town, and he's chased off into the woods, with only his beloved dog Ollie for company. Can't review this without spoilers, so be warned. There in the woods he meets a girl, Wynne, who takes him to Bone Hollow, her seemingly idyllic home.  She knows he's dead, but befriends him (and Ollie).  At first Gabe things she's Nico, the Bangladeshi best frien...

Tomorrow (April 9th) is the release day of Caroline Carlson's new middle grade fantasy, The Door at the End of the World , which I just a minute ago finished reading!  I wish there'd been more; the story galloped along briskly in that really nice middle grade fantasy adventure way of magical happenings and bright changes of scene and mood (with, you know, a herd of magically intelligent cows arriving on the scene, as they do) and then there was the peaceful gathering of loose ends (which is one of the parts I like best in mg fantasy), and then...the last page and it was over.  Sigh. It's the story a girl named Lucy, who works for the gatekeeper of the door between the worlds of Southeast and East.  Lucy has never left Southeast herself, though she's taken care of the bureaucratic side of things for many travelers (she's a very organized sort of person).  But when the gatekeeper herself passes through, for a routine maintenance check with her counterpart in East, and...

Here's what I found in my blog reading this week; please let me know if I missed your post! The Reviews The Book of Boy, by Catherine Gilbert Murdock, at Kid Lit Geek Children of Exile, by Margaret Peterson Haddix, at Say What? The Clockwork Ghost, by Laura Ruby, at Hidden in Pages Cogheart, by Peter Bunzl, at The Book Monsters Goblins in the Castle: Goblins on the Prowl by Bruce Coville, at Say What? Grump, by Liesl Shurtliff, at Book Nut The Last Last-Day-of-Summer, by Lamar Giles, at alibrarymama , Books4your kids , Ms. Yingling Reads, Charlotte's Library , and Word Spelunking Liberty Frye and the Witches of Hessen,by J.L. McCreedy, at Middle Grade Minded The Lost Girl, by Anne Ursu, at Children's Books Heal and Charlotte's Library Malamander, by Thomas Taylor, at Mr Ripleys Enchanted Books Nevermore: The Trials of Morrigan Crow, by Jessica Townsend, at Kid Lit Geek A Sprinkle of Spirits, by Anna Meriano, at Puss Reboots The Wizenard Series, by Wesley King (creat...

The Lost Girl , by Anne Ursu (Walden Pond Press, Feb. 2019), is my favorite of all her books; anything about sisters appeals greatly, and when you throw in magic and girl power and vivid, detailed characterization, I am utterly sold! Lark and Iris look identical, but they are very different people--Lark is a dreamer, and Iris is a rational organizer and doer.  They are used to using their strengths to help each other out, and they make a great team.  But when fifth grade is about to begin, they find to their horror that their parents and their school have decided they should be separated.  For the first time, they have to get through the school day without having each other right there, communicating surreptitiously and helping each other out. That's not the only strange thing.  Something weird is happening--things are going missing.  And when Iris starts visiting a most peculiar antiques store that's just popped up, she finds herself entangled in the story of g...

The Last Last-Day-of-Summer , by Lamar Giles, is a fun  time-tangle of an adventure, that will delight kids who like their fantasy wild and whacky! Cousins Otto and Sheed are legends in their most unusual county, a where reality is somewhat askew.  They've made a reputation for themselves saving their town from paranormal dangers, earning them two Keys to the City for their services.  Otto's the deductive reasoner of the pair, taking careful notes.  Sheed brings energy and determination to the mix.  The strengths of both boys are needed when, on the last day of summer, the mysterious Mr. Flux arrives, plunging them into a new adventure. Mr. Flux has a  camera that freezes anyone he takes a photo of, and soon he's frozen the whole town, and time itself has stopped.  The boys are the only un-frozen folks left, so it's up to them to save the day!    The town is full of different time personages  (such as Bed Time, Business Time,  Crunc...