This is a hard one to categorize, as a number of the books deal with fairly mature themes. The series focuses on the plucky young heroine Dido Twite and her friends Simon and Is, as they rise from the depths of poverty and struggle against corrupt villains and powerbrokers, right up to the throne of the King of England. The books are set in 19th century England, so there is a lot of Dickens’ influence here, and more…

The great twist of the series is that author Joan Aiken has set everyone down in a twisted alternate world where the Stuarts hold the throne despite the efforts of “Bonnie Prince Georgie” and his “dastardly Hannoverians”. In one story, The Stolen Lake, Dido encounters the immortal Queen Guenivere of Arthurian legend, now residing in “Roman America” after her Romanized-Celtic warriors stole the ships of the invading Saxons and fled across the Atlantic Ocean to found a new colony in the deep Amazon. While the crazy world is an obvious highlight, fans will stick around to see plucky Dido Twite and her half-sister Is face down their adversaries with extreme gumption and great heart.

• The Wolves of Willoughby Chase - $9.99 / 200+ soft.
• Black Hearts at Battersea - $10.99 / 192 soft.
• Night Birds on Nantucket - $9.95 / 150+ soft.
• The Stolen Lake - $7.99 / 272 soft.
• Dangerous Games a.k.a. Limbo Lodge - $17.83 / Library Binding.
• The Cuckoo Tree - $7.99 / 256 soft.
• Dido and Pa - $7.99 / 256 soft.
• Is a.k.a Is Underground - $7.99 / 240 soft.
• Cold Shoulder Road - $7.99 / 240 soft.
• Midwinter Nightengale - New! / $7.99 / 256 soft.

Note that Midwinter Nightengale is the latest book in the series, which finally brings Dido Twite (missing for Is and Cold Shoulder Road) back from America and reunites her with her childhood friend Simon.

• The Bone Flute - $8.95 - Paperback - 190 pages (September 1, 2004)

From the back cover: “Camrose Ferguson is a perfectly normal 12-year-old living an ordinary life in a small Ontario town. Extraordinarily, she has inherited responsibility for an ancient bone flute, an object of quest for two time-wandering rivals. With the help of her level-headed friend Mark and the not-quite-human Miranda, Camrose puzzles out the flute’s hiding place and restores it to its rightful—and unexpected—owner. The Bone Flute is about the very thin wall that separates our everyday world from an equally real world of wonders and terrors.”

This book is currently up for a Silver Birch Award. My mother is already hard at work on other projects.

• The Spiral Maze - $11.00 - Paperback - 190 pages (June 3, 1997)

Of course I'm going to plug my family's books, but my mother's work is worthy of your attention. Who else do you think gave me inspiration to write, and who else has had such a considerable influence on my writing? My mother is adept at telling a creepy story. The Spiral Maze was my mother's first children's literature novel published in Canada in English. Previously, a number of her mystery-fantasies had been published translated into German by Cora Verlag AG. Her works are subtle, deep and full of imagination, and can creep the heck out of you if you're not careful.

The Spiral Maze is set in a fictional Lake Huron town much like Goderich. Moody Neil is befriended by the exuberant Fleur, just in time for Neil's long-dead twin, Jasper, to contact them from beyond the grave and ask for their help. Charlotte, a distant relative of Fleur who disappeared a century before, is being held in a shadow world by Neil's great-great uncle Dexter. Dexter helped build the town, and his estate bears a large hedge maze (the spiral maze of the title) that hides plenty of mystery, and a clue on how to access the shadow world. Once Neil and Fleur cross over, however, their troubles have only just begun.

You can also order an autographed copy of The Spiral Maze direct from the author. Just click here.

After Tolkien, Susan Cooper’s Dark is Rising sequence is one of the strongest fantasy series around. Four of the five books focuses on young Will Stanton who, on his eleventh birthday, discovers that he is the last in a long line of immortal, magical “Old Ones” whose duty it is to fight back the rising forces of the dark. Mixing Welsh and Old English legends with youthful heroes and heroines, the five books are a fun read. You can start the series equally well with The Dark is Rising as you can with Over Sea and Under Stone

• Over Sea and Under Stone - $6.99 / 150+ soft.
• The Dark is Rising - $6.99 / 150+ soft.
• Greenwitch - $6.99 / 150+ soft.
• The Grey King - $6.99 / 150+ soft.
• Silver on the Tree - $6.99 / 150+ soft.
• Box Set of all Five - $24.95.

• $9.99 - Paperback - 272 pages Reissue edition (October 12, 1988)

If Rosemary and Time gets published, Norman Juster's classic will be seen as one of its influences. This story follows Milo, a young boy who hates to learn, into the Land of Wisdom where, with the help of many puns, learns the true value of a good education. Plenty of good laughs to be had, and the story is just magical.

• $12.76, Library Binding, 32 pages (June 1, 1981)

I can remember reading this children’s book when I was young, and it might have been responsible for making me into a railfan. Toronto children will get a particular kick over poor Jonathan’s problems. Toronto railfans will find this book of interest because of its illustrations of Gloucester subway cars.

Personally, I would have loved it if my bedroom had been an entrance to a subway station…(Paperback edition also available for $5.95)

• Midnight for Charlie Bone - $12.95 - Paperback - 160 pages (April 1, 2002)
• The Time Twister - $12.95 - Paperback (May 1, 2003)
• The Blue Boa - $12.95 (a.k.a. The Invisible Boy) - Paperback (May 1, 2004)
• The Castle of Mirrors - $12.95 - Paperback (June 15, 2005)
• The Hidden King - $12.95 - Hardcover (August 1, 2006)

The similarities between the Charlie Bone series and Harry Potter are obvious, but superficial. Basically, Charlie Bone learns of his magical heritage and is bundled off to boarding school for “gifted” students to learn his new craft and fight evil that’s afoot. The boarding school and the evil this young, coming-of-age wizard is where the similarities between Nimmo’s work and J.K. Rowling’s start and end. As is the case with Nimmo’s other work, she dips into Welsh legend in order to build her magic, and the story is less about the universe and more about the characters.

Nimmo is writing these novels for a young audience, and older fans of her other work may find the writing style simple and the characterizations black-and-white, but Nimmo is a professional and she knows for whom she is writing. Charlie Bone is a likable hero, and he finds a wealth of fun and fantastic friends to help him on his quest. Perfect reading for a Saturday afternoon.

(Update: May 14, 2007): Jenny Nimmo has her own official website. Visit it at www.jennynimmo.me.uk. Her sixth book in the Charlie Bone series, entitled Charlie Bone and the Wilderness Wolf will be released later this year.

There is also an excellent fan site with a good discussion group community at www.jennynimmo.tk.

I did receive a nice letter from Ms. Nimmo in reply to a letter I sent her thanking her for her body of work. To write to Ms. Nimmo, you should put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) and send her a snail-mail letter, care of the publisher’s address (you can find this in any of Nimmo’s books). Like all authors, she’s bound to be a busy woman, and may not reply as quickly or as personally as you’d like, but she’d still love to hear from her fans.

If you’re a fan of Ms. Nimmo’s Charlie Bone series, have you read her other works? If not, be sure to check out:

• The Rinaldi Ring
• The Snow Spider Trilogy
• Ultramarine

• The Rinaldi Ring - $12.50 - Paperback (September 9, 2002)

According to Amazon.ca, The Rinaldi Ring is due to be re-released March 1, 2005, another sign that Ms. Nimmo’s hard work is finally paying off and she’s being noticed as a serious children’s author.

The Rinaldi Ring is one of her more serious books. It’s almost adult in the situations it describes, and the fantasy elements are fewer. However, the story captures the same magic of The Chestnut Soldier and is well worth reading.

The story focuses on Eliot, an American teenager, coping with two extremely traumatic events: the violent death of his mother, and his subsequent relocation to England to live with his estranged father. Both Eliot and his father desperately need to escape the ghosts of their past, but before too long, they have to cope with what may be a real ghost, Mary Ellen Flowers. Her tragic story of love and loss during the First World War reaches out to the present, and Eliot finds it hard to cope with the local feuds that her influence uncovers.

The Rinaldi Ring is exceptionally multi-layered, part tragic love story, part historical drama, part family drama. It may not be for younger readers, but young adults should find a lot here. The characters are richly developed, their motivations frank, and Ms. Nimmo is not afraid to deal with issues of racism and sex. As a result, it’s no surprise that the book won a place on the 1999 Carnegie Medal shortlist.

Click here for more from Jenny Nimmo

• The Snow Spider Trilogy
• The Charlie Bone Series
• Ultramarine

• The Snow Spider - $12.50 - Paperback - 160 pages (May 1, 2004)
• Emlyn’s Moon - $12.50 - Paperback (June 15, 2004)
• The Chestnut Soldier - $12.50 - Paperback (June 15, 2004)
• The Snow Spider Trilogy as One Volume - $12.95 - Paperback (September 15, 2003)

The Snow Spider Trilogy put Jenny Nimmo on the map for me. While the series does not have the Harry Potterish tones of the Charlie Bone series, readers should appreciate the Snow Spider’s more serious storytelling, rooted as it is deeper in the Welsh legends that Ms. Nimmo knows so well.

Here’s a quote from Publisher’s Weekly on the first book in the series, The Snow Spider:

One night, Gwyn asked his sister Bethan to go up the mountain and rescue his ewe; she was never seen again. Now he is 10, still blamed by his father for Bethan’s disappearance, and wonders if his grandmother’s hints that he is a magician could possibly be true. If he is, he wants to use his powers to get Bethan back. A girl, in fact, arrives in the village, so similar in her ways to Bethan that her presence acts as a salve on the family’s wounds. And Gwyn, with the overeagerness of an apprentice, unleashes the darker side of his magic.

The Snow Spider trilogy starts young, with Gwyn at ten just getting introduced to his powers as a wizard. The books mature as the characters grow older, with Emlyn’s Moon dealing seriously with grief and the loss of a parent, and The Chestnut Soldier dealing with the impacts of war, and not shying away from some sexual overtones. This trilogy has far more depth than its short word count would suggest and is an underrated gem.

Click here for more from Jenny Nimmo:

• The Charlie Bone Series
• Ultramarine
• The Rinaldi Ring

• Ultramarine - Out of Print - Paperback - 160 pages (April 2, 1992)

Unfortunately, you will probably only find this book in used bookstores, unless Ms. Nimmo’s publishers decide to reprint it, but it’s a good find.

The story features young Ned and Nell McQueen (11 and 8 respectively) living in a lighthouse on the coastal cliffs of Wales with their widowed mother.

Ned is comforted by the sea, but for Nell, the sea’s comfort goes deeper — she can hear the sea’s footsteps, especially when she stands in Ned’s shadow, she says. Uncannily, Ned has vague memories of a time when he was was thrown into the sea, and then bouyed by the waves and dropped safely ashore.

Then his mother remarries and, while on her honeymoon, Ned and Nell are introduced to their grandmother, who has been made bitter and crazy due to losing too many of her loved ones to the sea. Ned and Nell, in her opinion, are the children of a Kelpie, who stole her own daughter, Ultramarine. Their aunt Rhoda is also there, trying desperately to control her mother’s fits, and a mysterious man named Arion completes the mix.

Arion literally walks out of the waves during a huge storm, and brings the sea with him into Ned and Nell’s home. Is he the Kelpie? Or is he something more?

Ultramarine reads as though it’s one of Ms. Nimmo’s first published works of fiction. The style is a little raw and underdeveloped, but there is a touch — a creepiness — about it that makes for compelling reading. The family relationships are complicated and fascinating, and the story is powerfully moving.

Ultramarine is a hard-to-find gem for any fan of Jenny Nimmo’s work.

• The Charlie Bone Series
• The Rinaldi Ring
• The Snow Spider Trilogy

• Book 1: Airborn ($15.99 Paperback) ($22.99 Hardcover)
• Book 2: Skybreaker ($16.99 Paperback) ($22.99 Hardcover)
• Book 3: Starclimber ($21.99 Hardcover)

Matt Cruse, cabin boy on the great airship Aurora, is on crows nest duty when he spots a derelict balloon floating over the Pacific. He radios the bridge, and then descends to help with the rescue. The gondola is hauled on board but the old man within is too sick to save. In his delerium, he tells Matt of beautiful creatures in the sky. The boy dismisses this as the ravings of a dying man… until the old man’s granddaughter, Kate DeVries, comes on board ship a year later, determined to discover what he truly saw.

Airborn and its sequel Skybreaker are set in an alternative Earth where the primary mode of transport are Zeppelins. It evokes the Art Deco grace of the thirties and the romance of the Titanic in a story that tips its hat to Treasure Island. Matt is a good hero and a strong narrator, and it’s impossible not to like young, free-spirited Kate. Kenneth Oppel uses Matt’s voice to great effect, building action and displaying the stately moments on the Aurora with a level of otherworldly awe that draws the reader in.

Skybreaker builds off of Airborn, featuring Matt and Kate as slightly older, wiser and more human. The story of their class difference comes to the fore, here, leading to some jealousies and some rougher edges, which makes for interesting reading.

Starclimber completes the trilogy, for now, featuring Matt and Kate at 17, facing a journey into outer space and, more frighteningly, their adult lives.

Further Reading

• Fairy Tales in Secret and In Conversation with Kenneth Oppel.
• Skybreaker reviewed
• Starclimber reviewed

• $10.76 - Strange Times at Western High paperback
• $14.56 - Strange Times at Western High hardcover

Young Natalie Fuentes, sixteen-old-daughter of jet-setting, world-travelling, divorced journalist parents settles down with her father in Toronto. The Canadian city is a little tame compared to her times in Buenos Aires and New York, but walking in on an attack against her high school’s janitor sweeps her up into events before she even attends a class. Now she has to cope with finding friends when she’s already made enemies. Fortunately, Natalie knows how to handle herself, and she resolves to get to the heart of the mystery.

Emily Pohl-Weary’s first foray into children’s literature is a triumph. Natalie is a cool, hip heroine that doesn’t try too hard to be cool and hip. The characters are all well drawn and the mystery will keep readers guessing to the very end. This book is the first of a series, and it will be interesting to see the characters grow and develop in the sequels.

A full review can be found here.

• $17.64 - Wintersmith hardcover

The third story in the Tiffany Aching sequence, picking up two years after Wee Free Men and A Hat Full of Sky leave off. Young Tiffany Aching is now thirteen, and well into her instruction as a witch. However, she bites off more than she can chew when she dances with the Wintersmith. And now the prince of winter is in love with her, and saying it with blizzards and avalanches. All very flattering, if it weren’t risking everything she knows and loves. Can Tiffany put things right when Winter stalks her? Fortunately, the Scottish smurfs, the Nac Mac Feegle, are here to help.

Tiffany Aching makes a welcome return, here, as Terry Pratchett allows us to see this fascinating character grow up. The book also contains much of the dry and witty humour that Pratchett fans know and love.

A full review of this book can be found here.

• Book 1: The Lightning Thief ($8.99 Paperback, $23.95 Hardcover)
• Book 2: The Sea of Monsters ($8.99 Paperback, $23.95 Hardcover)
• Book 3: The Titan’s Curse ($8.99 Paperback, $22.95 Hardcover)
• Book 4: The Battle of the Labyrinth ($19.99 Hardcover)
• Book 5: The Last Olympian (Due May 2009)

Twelve year old Percy (Perseus) Jackson is about to get kicked out of his sixth school in six years. He has difficulty learning, in getting along, and he’s sure some of his teachers are monsters in disguise. It’s as though the gods have it in for him, and he’s not far wrong.

When the monsters drop their disguises, Percy’s mother Sally tries to whisk him away to safety. Percy has to face the Minotaur and Furies before he reaches the safety of Camp Half Blood, and then he has to deal with an even more disturbing reality: the Greek Gods are still alive, and one of them is his father. If that isn’t enough, it falls to Percy to journey on a quest to the Underworld to retrieve Zeus’s lightning bolt before Olympus is consumed by civil war.

The combination of Greek mythology with modern day America is an uneasy one, but Rick Riordan makes full use of the clash of cultures. This middle grade fantasy is full of action and nice touches of wry humour. His greatest triumph is with the characters, however. Narrator Percy is instantly likable as an average kid shoved into a fantastical world-changing conflict. The chemistry between him and know-it-all Annabeth Chase and his satyr protector Grover makes this book into a fascinating road movie for the whole family. This is a hard book to put down.

A full review can be found here.

Further Reading

• Rick Riordan’s official website and blog.
• Official Percy Jackson website.

Only especially snobbish bookstore owners would refrain from selling the Harry Potter series of novels. Certainly Ms. Rowling has encountered success far out of proportion of the true quality of the books, but searching deep within myself I'd have to say that any resentment I feel towards her is jealousy. Ms. Rowling is no slouch (though her later novels could use a heavier editorial hand), but she has created a universe that resonates with young readers. A lot of her elements may be well-worn features of children's literature, but she puts it all together with gumption, and she tosses in a little political and social commentary that gives the books a depth.

Also, give her credit for trying to top herself each time. Such is her success that she is breaking more than a few children's literature conventions; she is taking young Harry Potter across the pre-teen/teenage divide that only a few, including Madeleine L'Engle have been able to cross. She does her characters in broad strokes, but they are still real, and enjoyable to read. Set aside the success, and the hype, set aside your expectations, and you will enjoy yourself. And in the end, isn't that what reading is all about?

Main Books/Movies

• Book 1: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (paperback $11.95) (hardcover $19.95) (DVD $24.98)
• Book 2: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (paperback $11.95) (hardcover $19.95) (DVD $24.98)
• Book 3: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (paperback $11.95) (hardcover $19.95) (DVD $33.98)
• Book 4: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (paperback $18.95) (hardcover $24.50)
• Book 5: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (paperback $18.95) (hardcover $25.80)
• Book 6: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Due July 16, 2005) (hardcover $24.60)
• Book 7: Harry Potter and the ? (in the distant future)
• Hardcover Box Set (volumes 1-5 - $99.95)

Reviews

• Chamber of Secrets movie.
• Prisoner of Azkaban movie.

• $8.99 - Tale of Time City paperback

Young Vivian Smith is on a train filled with children being evacuated from London during the onset of World War II. But instead of meeting her aunt Marty, she is abducted by a young boy named Jonathan who snatches her luggage and runs her through a station wall into Time City.

Time City exists outside of history, in a single space of space-time anchored by four polarities stretching out into history. These polarities are starting to come undone, and the adults of Time City fear that some force is moving through history intent on destabilizing the city. Jonathan and his cousin Sam, being bored, take it into their heads that they can go back in time, find the force destabilizing history, and force her to renew the city. For various reasons, which come clear later, Jonathan mistakes Vivian for that force, and when he realizes his mistake, he has to construct an elaborate lie to keep him, Sam and Vivian out of trouble.

Despite wanting to get back home as soon as possible, Vivian gets used to life in Time City, and eventually decides that it’s worth saving. She helps Jonathan and Sam to try and protect the polarities from the forces intent on stealing them. Can she, Jonathan and Sam save Time City in Time?

The story is an interesting departure from Diana Wynne Jones’ usual fantasy fare, but the story can’t be called science fiction. It’s a wonderful trip, with the various visits in history being the most compelling. Vivian and Jonathan are strong and believable characters, and the mystery unfolds nicely, even if it does end rather suddenly and somewhat anti-climactically.

A full review of A Tale of Time City is here.

See Also

• Diana Wynne Jones’ official website
• Diana Wynne Jones fan site

• $9.99 - Howl’s Moving Castle paperback
• $9.99 - Castle in the Air paperback

As the eldest of three sisters in the magical land of Ingary, Sophie Hatter is resigned to a life of failure. Fate dictates that all three sisters will set off to seek their fortune, but only the youngest will succeed. So, when the wicked Witch of the Waste enters Sophie’s shop, accuses Sophie of challenging her dominance and turns her into an old crone, Sophie isn’t particularly upset. She thinks she’s had her bout of bad luck, so she’s content to strike out into the countryside.

There, she runs into the moving castle of the wizard Howl, and sidles herself in as the castle’s cleaning lady. Howl has a reputation of eating young girls’ hearts, but as an old woman Sophie feels no need to be afraid. But when she finds that Howl is nowhere near as evil as his reputation suggests, and that he’s going up against the Witch of the Waste, she resolves to help him, and loses her heart along the way.

Castle in the Air is a sequel to Howl’s Moving Castle, but only in passing. The story is set on Ingary’s world, but far south in the desert kingdom of Zanzib. There a humble carpet seller named Abdullah comes into possession of a magic carpet, and is swept to the Sultan’s castle where he meets and falls in love with the Sultan’s daughter, Flower-in-the-Night. Fortunately, she falls in love with him in turn, but before they can elope, a Djinn steals Flower-in-the-Night away, and the Sultan marks Abdullah for execution.

Fleeing on the magic carpet and coming into possession of a genie in a bottle, Abdullah is swept to Ingary, where with the aid of the genie, a soldier from a defeated kingdom, a magical cat and her kitten, Abdullah must find his way to the Djinn’s castle in the air and rescue Flower-in-the-Night and other princesses besides. Howl, Sophie and Calcifer do put in an appearance, rather sooner than most readers come to expect, but this story belongs to Abdullah.

Richly textured and full of interesting characters, Howl’s Moving Castle stands as one of Wynne Jones’ best works. Castle in the Sky isn’t as strong, but it is still funny, compelling, and has a great hero in the form of Abdullah. It’s no surprise that the anime genius Hayao Miyazaki (the man behind Spirited Away) would adopt the first of these two novels to the screen, but it is unlikely that Castle in the Air will receive the same treatment.

A full review of Howl’s Moving Castle is here.

See Also

• Diana Wynne Jones’ official website
• Diana Wynne Jones fan site

• #1 Charmed Life $9.99 - paperback
• #2 The Lives of Christopher Chant $9.99 - paperback
• #3 The Magicians of Caprona $9.99 - paperback
• #4 Witch Week $9.99 - paperback
• #5 Mixed Magics $9.99 - paperback
• #6 Conrad’s Fate $17.59 - hardcover
• Box set of first four paperbacks: $20.97

Chrestomanci is the title given to a powerful enchanter, who has nine lives and the ability to flip between parallel worlds, of which our own world is but one of an infinite series. Diane Wynne Jones most popular series of books follows the lives of two sorcerers who have bourne the title of Chrestomanci (and one that will in the future), focusing in particular on young Christopher Chant, who is apprenticed by the first Chrestomanci and then takes over the position with pinache.

The writing is witty and imaginative. The best book of the series so far is The Lives of Christopher Chant, which makes the best use of the ability to slip through the spaces between the worlds. The weakest of the series is Mixed Magics, which is a thin book of short stories entirely too focused on the series’ internal continuity. All are worth reading regardless.

A full review of the series is here.

See Also

• Diana Wynne Jones’ official website
• Diana Wynne Jones fan site

• $13.99 - paperback

Fifteen-year-old Arianrhod Hyde (“Roddy” to everyone) is the daughter of the court weather magician for the King of the Isles of Blest, on a magical, parallel version of Earth. She cannot stand by while evil forces seek to corrupt the country’s state magician (the “Merlin”) and the magic of her kingdom, but while she has the support of powerfully magical grandparents, only she and her trusty friend Grundo can act.

She calls for help and finds it in fifteen-year-old Nick Mallory, a magical novice residing temporarily on present-day Earth. Nick falls in love with Roddy instantly and resolves to help her, but first he must find a way between the worlds, and a way past the dangers that line his path. And while he searches, the Merlin Conspiracy continues to unfold, forcing Roddy to act on her own to stave off the crisis.

The Merlin Conspiracy is the longest and most complicated of Diana Wynne Jones’ novels, with Nick and Roddy sharing the narrative in the first person. Readers may be confused by the many worlds Nick visits, or the constant switching of settings and narrators, but the book is well worth the effort.

A full review of the series is here.

See Also

• Diana Wynne Jones’ official website
• Diana Wynne Jones fan site

• $15.16 - Hardcover (June 1, 1996)

I have heard it said that there was one Chinese man dead for every mile of Canada’s transcontinental railroad built. Actual statistics show this number to be conservative. This point is driven home in this children’s book telling the sad tale of the Chinese migrants who came to Canada and laboured to build our National Dream. The synopsis reads “When a Chinese peasant girl, Choon-yi, who has only one magical arm, learns of her father’s death, she returns to China, where her father’s ghost tells her to paint the “fire car” that rides the rails he helped build, and her paintings come alive to transports home the souls of the laborers who died while building the railway.” This book features exceptional illustrations and is a keepsake for all ages.