"24 Hours" by Margaret Mahy was indeed an entire book that takes place in 24 hours. It is about a good kid, Ellis, who is swept away by a sequence of events, and falls in with the out-crowd. He learns that the out-crowd are not bad kids, just misunderstood. Even running with the bad crowd, Ellis can't help doing good. The moral is: Money does not make the person. I really didn't care for this one. It was way too slow.
I was on a Margaret Mahy roll! The next book I checked out of the library was "Alchemy." To my surprise I already read it (I hate when that happens, LOL!) I liked it the first time I read it, but not enough to want to read it again. A boy gets entangled with a magician who is trying to steal another girl's powers. It has been a long time since I read this book, so I don't remember all the details. I remember that there was something about the universe unraveling. I guess since I didn't want to read it again, after I already read it, should give you the hint... I don't recommend this one either.
"Neverwhere" by Neil Gaiman brings to life the fantasy world of London Below... which is a very bizarre world. If you cross Alice in Wonderland with the Brother's Grimm, then you have Neverwhere. Richard Mahy, an insecure loser in London Above, drops into London Below and finds in him a strength of character, honor, and courage that he didn't know he possessed. I did enjoy the references to real life (above ground) London, and how he twist and turned it to fit London Below. If you like adventure, bizarre, and are a little disturbed; this is the book for you!
I love all of Cornelia Funke's books. "Dragon Rider", "Ink Heart", and "Ink Spell" being three of my favorites. "Igraine The Brave", was a bit of a disappointment for me. It was, well, uninteresting. There are giants, a talking cat, magicians, and magical singing spell books. There are good guys that are very good, and bad guys that are very bad. Good things only happen to the good guys, and bad things only happen to the bad guys. I can see this book appealing to young children, maybe as a great read-aloud bedtime story. Since nothing bad happens to the good guys, it won't give the little kids nightmares. So my recommendation is... great read aloud for little kids; right up there with "My Father's Dragon" and "Toad for Tuesday."
At our house, we are big fans of Jack Prelutsky's poems (more so than Shel Silverstein). This is a fun rhyming poem... not about a kindly wizard, but a wizard who you'd want to watch out for. The poem is set off and enhanced with amazingly beautiful illustrations by Brandon Dorman.
This was a wonderful, charming retelling of the Brother's Grimm tale, "The Goose Girl." A wronged princess, and evil lady in waiting, and magic powers... what could make a better tale? Ever bit as good as "Princess Academy."Well that's it for the kids' books. I also ended up reading a supermarket romance novel, which I won't mention here. This is a family blog... LOL!
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