Beyond the Western Sea 1: Escape from Home
Avi
Avon Camelot
Fiction, YA Historical Fiction
****
DESCRIPTION: In 1851, Ireland has been devastated by the potato famine. The agents of English landowners have taken to tearing down the meager shanties
of the penniless Irish peasants, giving them no choice but to move on or be driven out. Fortunately for Patrick and Maura O'Connell, their father - long since gone to America
to seek his fortune - finally sent money and tickets for his family to join him in the promised land. Surely in America the streets are paved with gold and lined with food,
and jobs are as plentiful as the countrymen are rich! Of course, it's not quite that easy. Just getting to America may prove impossible. First, they must pass through Liverpool,
where they discover many would-be emigrants end up stranded, victims of thieves and con artists who prey on even the few pennies the homeless Irish have. What chance do two
lone children have of getting out, when even adults are broken by Liverpool's cruelties?
Young Laurence Kirkle, the second son of an English lord in London, stands to inherit little of the family fortune and none of its prestige. These are to go to his
cruel brother Albert, and though Lord Kirkle prefers Laurence, he isn't willing to defy tradition and intervene in Albert's brutal treatment of the boy. Finally, the young Kirkle
has had enough. He runs away from home to make his own fortune in the distant land of America. As a child of privilege who has never even been outside his posh London home without
a servant to guide him, he soon finds himself in far more trouble than he ever imagined possible... all the more so because of the thousand pounds he stole from his father's
desk to pay his way, money that is promptly stolen by a one-eyed thief.
REVIEW: A well-researched historical fiction novel, Avi details the ghastly conditions inflicted on the would-be emigrants, but not to the point of tedium. Both the O'Connell children and Laurence face hardships they never imagined, clinging to their dreams of a better life ahead with increasing desperation. One of my very few objections to this book is that it took the entire length of the story before they even set foot on the boat, and in the meantime the narrative jumps between numerous other characters of varying degrees of relevance. Still, it's a pretty good story that held my interest.
You might also enjoy:
Stowaway (Karen Hesse, YA Fiction - A boy recounts Captain Cook's first voyage around the world in the mid-1700's, based on actual events)
The Bloody Jack adventures (L. A. Meyer, YA Fiction - The legendary adventures of an 18th century London girl, who escapes certain death on the streets by posing as a boy aboard a warship)
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Beyond the Western Sea 2: Lord Kirkle's Money
Avi
Avon Camelot
Fiction, YA Historical Fiction
****
DESCRIPTION: Patrick, Maura, and the actor Mr. Drabble, who befriended the children in Liverpool and was rewarded with their mother's unused ticket, are at
last sailing to America. Cooped up like animals in steerage, only the hope of a better life in America keeps them going amid storm, filth, and deadly sickness... but
will crossing the Western Sea really solve all their problems, or simply bring new ones?
Young Laurence, much humbled since running away from his wealthy father's home, has made the boat. Stowed away in the cluttered hold and constantly in danger of being
discovered by the crew, he is perhaps the only passenger in worse conditions than the immigrants in steerage. His only friend is Patrick O'Connell, but there is little the
Irish boy can do to help. Besides, Laurence has other things on his mind. The one-eyed thief who stole his father's money is aboard the ship as well, traveling like a king
in the staterooms, and Laurence is determined to recover the cash.
REVIEW: I think this chose an awkward place and way to end. Some elements tie up a bit too neatly, and others are left too loose. Everyone kept thinking that running off to the New World would solve all their problems. In the end, I felt like some characters still thought that, if they just ran far enough, they would find everything they ever wanted. (I wonder if perhaps Avi wanted to write a third volume - Laurence, at least, may have had another book's worth of adventures left in him - but never got around to it.)
You might also enjoy:
Stowaway (Karen Hesse, YA Fiction - A boy recounts Captain Cook's first voyage around the world in the mid-1700's, based on actual events)
The Bloody Jack adventures (L. A. Meyer, YA Fiction - The legendary adventures of an 18th century London girl, who escapes certain death on the streets by posing as a boy aboard a warship)
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Bright Shadow
Avi
Aladdin Books
Fiction, YA Fantasy
****
DESCRIPTION: Long, long ago, the land was ruled by wizards whose power was wishes that worked. Over the years, those wishes grew fewer and fewer, until the last wizard has only five left. He needs to give these to a good person before he dies, someone who will guard them and use them well. He tries to approach the cruel King Ruskin, but is brushed off... until, at last, he is found by the young servant Morwenna. She doesn't know what to think when the old man gives her the strange gift, but soon she learns that wishes are not to be made lightly - for when the last wish is made, her life will end.
REVIEW: This reads fast and isn't as predictable as one might expect from the start. Morwenna faces difficult choices, and sometimes stumbles in handling them, but she does learn. I enjoyed this one, though I'm not sure if kids will enjoy or understand the necessity of the ending.
You might also enjoy:
Odds are Good (Bruce Coville, YA Fiction - A fantasy story anthology, with offbeat stories)
Knight's Castle (Edgar Eager, YA Fiction - A boy's wish sets him up for an adventurous, magical summer)
Savvy (Ingrid Law, YA Fiction - On her 13th birthday, a girl will develop magical powers, which she hopes will help save her critically-injured father)
Ella Enchanted (Gail Carson Levine, YA Fiction - A girl's fairy gift of obedience turns out to be a curse)
Spindle's End (Robin McKinley, YA Fiction - A girl's christening curse of death is partially offset by a fairy's gift of animal speech)
The Enchanted Castle (E. Nesbit, YA Fiction - Three English schoolchildren find all manner of troubles when they encounter a magical ring)
Merlin's Mistake (Robert Newman, YA Fiction - A boy sets out to fix Merlin's botched christening gift)
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Devil's Race
Avi
HarperTrophy
Fiction, YA Chiller
***
DESCRIPTION: John Proud's troubles started when he began researching his family tree for his high school history class. Buried in the past is another John Proud, hung in 1854 for being a demon after numerous murders, assaults, and other evil deeds. Strangely drawn to the gravesite, young John is startled to find the old John - looking much like himself - waiting in spirit form. The ghost longs to return to the land of the living, to continue its evil ways. Through today's John, he may get that chance, unless the boy can find a way to stop the beast that seems to be within him already.
REVIEW: This didn't grip me like it should have. The menace seemed somehow distant and disconnected from the main characters, though John did struggle a great deal with the dark thoughts in his head that seemed to have an external origin. Somehow I felt the logic of the ghost was a bit weak. Otherwise, it's a decent story, and it certainly could've been worse.
You might also enjoy:
Something Wicked This Way Comes (Ray Bradbury, YA Fiction - Two small-town boys discover a traveling October carnival is much more than it seems)
The Wish List (Eoin Colfer, YA Fiction - Killed at 14, the fate of a girl's immortal soul rests on her success in helping an elderly man fulfill his life wish list)
The Nina Tanleven books (Bruce Coville, YA Fiction - Able to see spirits, two kids do some amateur ghostbusting)
The Tiger Rising (Kate DiCamillo, YA Fiction - A boy's grief and a girl's anger inexplicably bind them to the fate of a captive tiger)
A Christmas Carol (Charles Dickens, Fiction - A cold-hearted miser has a fateful encounter with Christmas spirits)
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Midnight Magic
Avi
Scholastic
Fiction, YA Historical Fiction
**
DESCRIPTION: In the Kingdom of Pergemontio, young Fabrizio lives with his old master, Mangus, and wife. Mangus lives under house arrest, having narrowly escaped execution for practicing magic - a confession extracted after torture and imprisonment, the standard treatment for his evil kind. He was a harmless charlatan, performing tricks of illusion and sleight-of-hand, but in Pergemontio the people fear even that much "magic" as the Devil's work, and the king is among the most superstitious of all. Therefore, it comes as a great shock when one stormy night the king himself calls upon Mangus for help. His daughter, the princess, claims to have seen a ghost in his own castello, and surely only a "magician" like Mangus can placate the unquiet dead... a task he had better succeed at if he wishes to remain alive. With his servant Fabrizio in tow, the reluctant old man tries to unravel the mystery of the ghost, a mystery that weaves together conspiracies, superstition, and deadly plots for power.
REVIEW: I've often wondered if Avi isn't a name used for a group of writers, or at least if the real Avi employs ghost writers to help with his remarkably prolific career. If so, this book almost certainly came from one of the lesser of the lot. No story should have to rely on near-nonstop proverbs and anecdotes to tell itself, as this one does. Avi usually does a better job of establishing his settings and times in historical fiction works, too. I didn't get any great sense of the time period or locale other than the usual quasi-medieval Europe of most would-be fantasies, full of dank castles, scheming nobles, superstitious people, and not much else. The fact that this rates as Historical Fiction rather than Fantasy should be a hint as to how much "real" magic comes into play. The plot is simultaneously convoluted and obvious, the solution too clean. I expect better from Avi... or most any writer, actually.
You might also enjoy:
A Plague of Sorcerers (Mary Frances Zambreno, YA Fiction - A young mage and his skunk familiar investigate a magical plague)
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The Secret School
Avi
Harcourt
Fiction, YA Historical Fiction
****
DESCRIPTION: The rural Colorado town of Elk Valley, like many small towns in 1925, has a one-room school, where farm kids go to learn when they aren't needed at home. A total of eight kids, ranging from second to eighth grades, attend classes, some more often than others. Eighth-grader Ida Bidson hopes to take her final exams and go on to the high school in a nearby town, eventually to be a teacher, but her plans are put on hold when the teacher is called away for a family emergency. She leaves too late in the school year for a replacement to be brought, so school is effectively closed. Mr. Jordan, head of the school board, has even locked the schoolhouse. Since her higher education depends on whether or not her family has a good enough crop to pay for it (as they do this year, but maybe not next), this means means Ida may never go on to high school, and all of the children will have to repeat a grade... unless they get a new teacher without the school board's knowledge, a secret teacher for a secret school. Who better to teach them than Ida herself?
REVIEW: Like most of Avi's books that I've read so far, this is a well-researched historical fiction tale, managing to establish the local times and conditions without
going overboard on dry details. It reads fast - I finished it in under 2 hours - and, while I can't say it's unpredictable, it's still a good story.
I wonder, in this world that glorifies mediocrity and goofing off and marginalizes intelligence, how many modern children would go to the lengths Ida and her classmates do in
order to ensure their education. Much as the frontier lifestyle seemed to rob kids of a carefree childhood, sometimes I have to wonder if today's kids aren't being deprived of
developing the sense of self-reliance and responsibility that comes with being expected to do more than watch TV or play video games.
You might also enjoy:
Princess Academy (Shannon Hale, YA Fiction - A group of rustic, uneducated mountain girls are forced to attend a school by royal decree)
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Strange Happenings
Avi
Harcourt
Fiction, YA Fantasy/Anthology
****
DESCRIPTION: A bored boy swaps places with an alley cat, the perfect princess of a faraway land is invisible, a curious schoolboy investigates a bizarre team mascot, a shoemaker's broken agreement leads to dire consequences, and a vain young man's quest to be the center of attention brings ironic results... noted children's author Avi pens five tales of transformation in Strange Happenings.
REVIEW: As anthologies go - and I admittedly have very poor luck in choosing them - this was decent enough. The first tale, Bored Tom, is the worst of them, but they're all readable, and entertaining enough for short stories. I wonder if any of these were seeds for book-length stories that never fully took root; Simon (the last story) in particular almost felt like he wanted to tell more.
You might also enjoy:
The Animorphs series (K. A. Applegate, YA Fiction - A dying alien grants five human children the power to shapeshift in order to fight off an invasion)
Half-Human (Bruce Coville editor, YA Fiction - Fantasy anthology about humans who are more than they seem)
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The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle
Avi
Avon Camelot
Fiction, YA Historical Fiction
*****
DESCRIPTION: In the mid-1800's, thirteen-year-old Charlotte Doyle is preparing to set sail from England to reunite with her upper-class family in America. Her father, who owns the company in charge of the Seahawk, has made all the arrangements, and there are supposed to be two other families traveling with her to keep her company, so Charlotte is rather looking forward to the adventure. Things start to go wrong before they board the vessel. Despite her father's agent's reassurances about the integrity of Captain Jaggery, no sailor on the pier will venture near the Seahawk. The other families have had changes of plans at the last minute, and her father's agent must head off to Scotland immediately, making Charlotte the only passenger - and only girl - on the ship. Thus begins a voyage that will see storm, mutiny, death... and murder. A murder that Charlotte Doyle herself is accused of. This book is her story, told in her own words.
REVIEW: This is one of very few Newbery Award books I've read that I actually liked. Charlotte's tale describes the rough life of an 1800's sailing ship with great accuracy, without sacrificing character or story. Her transformation from proper English lady to hero (and murder suspect) occurs naturally and believably. At the end, I felt like cheering.
You might also enjoy:
Stowaway (Karen Hesse, YA Fiction - A boy recounts Captain Cook's first voyage around the world in the mid-1700's, based on actual events)
The Piratica series (Tanith Lee, YA Fiction - In an alternate Earth, a teen girl sets out to be a pirate queen like her lost mother)
The Bloody Jack Adventures (L. A. Meyer, YA Fiction - To escape death on the streets of London, an 18th-century girl poses as a boy aboard a warship)
Ghost Ship (Deitlof Reiche, YA Fiction - A girl discovers a deadly secret connecting an old ship's figurehead to a legendary wreck)
Treasure Island (Robert Louis Stevenson, YA Fiction - An English boy finds himself caught up in the hunt for a dead pirate's treasure)
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Wolf Rider
Avi
Collier Books
Fiction, YA Chiller
****
DESCRIPTION: Andy has had a rough year. It started when his mother was killed in an auto accident. Then his father moved them from their old house into a new apartment. Now, his dad is even starting to date again. The last thing Andy wants is more trouble, and he manages to avoid it... until the phone rings one day. The stranger on the other end wants to confess a murder. He tells the police, but of course there's no evidence, and the man didn't even leave his own name. Odder still, Andy discovers the "victim" is alive and well. Everyone tells Andy that it was a harmless prank, and he should let it go, but the more he finds out, the less sense it all makes. Is Andy the only one who can stop a killer, or is he just crying wolf?
REVIEW: This is billed as a "tale of terror," and it is indeed a chilling story. It is not the clear-cut case of Andy being right and the world being wrong that one might infer from the description. The ending is tragic in its own way, and oddly ambiguous. Still, it was a decent suspense story. I found the format - large diagonal slashes at the start of every paragraph and unnecessarily large margins, especially on the bottom of the page - distracting, but maybe that was just the edition I read.
You might also enjoy:
Something Wicked This Way Comes (Ray Bradbury, YA Fiction - Two small-town boys discover a traveling October carnival is much more than it seems)
The Missing series (Margaret Peterson Haddix, YA Fiction - An adopted boy receives a strange letter, leading him to the bizarre truth about his origins)
The Watchers series (Peter Lerangis, YA Fiction - Six tales of ordinary children who find themselves in peculiar, terrifying situations)
Others See Us (William Sleator, YA Fiction - A teen develops telepathy after a spill in a toxic swamp, plunging him into a world of danger, suspense, and paranoia)
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