Spies and snakes and separations
This week’s roundup of books for kids, tweens and teens offers something light, something romantic, and something really, really real (warning: divorce).
There’s A Snake In My School!
MIRANDA is a special girl, so of course she has a special pet. But when she introduces her pet to her class on Bring-Your-Pet-To-School Day, things don’t go so marvellously.
You see, Miranda’s pet is Penelope the snake, and Ms Bloat, the headmistress, doesn’t like snakes in schools. But Penelope has other ideas ....
The Twelve Days Of Dash & Lily
David Levithan (he of Will Grayson, Will Grayson and Every Day fame) and Rachel Cohn (she writes the Annexe series) has Lily struggling with the fact that her beloved grandfather has suffered a heart attack.
It’s been a year since Dash and Lily fell in love among the library’s book stacks and things have been fine – except now, in the pre-Christmas period that is usually Lily’s absolute favourite time of year. Instead, she’s deep down in the dumps as she watches Grandpa struggle with long rounds of rehab.
In fact, Lily’s habitual spark has dimmed so much that her brother Langston even puts aside his suspicions of Dash and conspires with him and other friends to help Lily recapture the holiday spirit of New York City in winter. FENWAY the excitable, energetic Jack Russell terrier and his human “short friend” Harriet are back in a new adventure in the series that’s told from a dog’s point of view.
This time, Fenway is trying to protect his beloved Dog Park from evil bunnies – but as fast as he can dig holes to go after them, Harriet fills them in, and even shoos him away. Could his beloved Hattie be on the evil bunnies’ side? And then she brings a bunny home in a cage! And she says she loves the bunny! Fenway’s poor little doggie heart is crushed. Could he possibly learn to share Harriet with another pet?
Short
AUTHOR Holly Goldberg Sloan uses her pint-sized protagonist not only to send out an important message – that no matter one’s stature, “the way we move tells the world who we are” – but to also introduce the theatre world to tween readers.
Julie, who is so self-conscious about her height that she refuses to use the “s” word, is forced by her mother to take part in a community theatre production of The Wizard Of Oz. Sulky about being cast as the lead Munchkin dancer at first, she gradually changes her mind as she connects with artistic neighbour Mrs Chang and adult cast member Olive who doesn’t let dwarfism stop him from doing anything.
The Castle In The Mist
AUTHOR Amy Ephron usually writes for adults; this is her first book for tweens, and she takes the opportunity to re-visit the style of classical English children’s books of yore.
As many of those types of books do, hers begins with a summer adventure: American tweens Tess and her brother, Max, are prepared to be bored out of their skulls during the long mid-year school holidays because they’re going to spend them in their aunt’s sleepy little village (which doesn’t have Wi-Fi – the horror!).
But then Tess stumbles upon an old key that unlocks an old carved gate hidden away not just in the English countryside but also in the mists of time. For behind the gate lies a magical castle with beautiful gardens, carnival rides, and sculptures that come to life! And then Max disappears into the wild wood behind the castle ....