Wonders of the Invisible World by Peter Barzak, 352pp, RL Teen

-
This Review Originally Appeared in January of 2019
Wonders of the Invisible World by Chrisopher Barzak
Winner of the 2016 Stonewall Book Award for Young Adult Literature
Purchased Audio Book narrated by Michael Crouch
Plot: Seventeen-year-old Aidan Lockwood is living a quiet, almost invisible existence when his childhood friend, Jarrod Doyle returns to their hometown, Temperance, OH, shaking things up and waking him up. Despite the fact that Aidan doesn't remember him, Jarrod persists, taking Aidan to places that were meaningful to them and slowly clearing the fog, a fog created by his mother, that Aidan has been living in. As Aidan begins to remember his friendship with Jarrod, and that it was more than friendship, he also begins to uncover his connection with the supernatural and his own talents, inherited from his mother. Aidan learns more about untimely deaths of the men in his family, often in the same ravine located on the Lockwood property, he learns about the history of of his family, the curse that was put on them and why. With the unwavering support of Jarrod, Aidan makes discoveries, connections, and ultimately a powerful sacrifice to break the curse.
Why Read/Listen to? Why Buy?: Wonders of the Invisible World is a marvelously crafted, creative supernatural story as well as a quietly powerful love story. Add to this the history of the Lockwood family, as seen through visions that Aidan has when he visits the "World's Shadow," a very cool conceptualization of the supernatural realm. Barzak even makes Lily Dale, NY, a real town known as a center for spiritualists and supernatural activity since the late 1800s, an integral part of the Lockwood family story as well as Aidan's own story. This is the first book I have read with a supernatural storyline that also features gay characters and, while I personally missed the presence of a strong female character (Aidan's secretive, withholding mother and her aunt are female characters with the most page presence, which is not much) it did not affect the story at all. 

Popular posts from this blog

Fox + Chick: The Sleepover and Other Stories by Sergio Ruzzier

-
Image
Fox + Chick : The Sleepover and Other Stories  by Sergio Ruzzier Review Copy from Chronicle Books Friends. Opposites. Inhabitants of a pastel-hued, water color world that is vaguely surreal, Fox and Chick are back for a third installment of their inviting, if curious, easy-to-read stories. In "The Sleepover," "The Hammer," and "The Surprise," Chick's odd logic is once again upending Fox's life. Happily, Fox responds with patience and even wisdom at times. To these unforgettable characters and luminous illustrations, Ruzzier brings a sublime simplicity that makes this series perfect for emerging readers, adding books with character and intelligence to the often dull world of beginning reader books. If you aren't familiar with this delightful duo, definitely check out my reviews of the first two books (links below) where I put the greatness of Ruzzier's work into historical ( Frog & Toad ) context. Then check out ALL of Ruzzier's p
Read more

Be a Tree! by Maria Gianferrari illustrated by Felicita Sala

-
Image
Be a Tree! by Maria Gianferrari illustrated by Felicita Sala Review Copy from Abrams Kids I picture-walked Be a Tree! three times before I actually read the words. Felicita Sala's illustrations for Maria Gianferrari's poetic text are mesmerizingly immersive and richly colorful within a palette of earth tones. Throughout the text, Gianferrari, who shares her inspiration for this book in the author's note ( Peter Wohleben's The Hidden Life of Trees ), gently maintains the human connection to trees and the connections (and communications) trees share with each other.  Be a Tree!  begins exuberantly, inviting the reader to "Be a tree! Stand tall. Stretch your branches to the sun. Let your roots curl, coil in the soil to ground you." From your spine/trunk to your skin/bark and your heart/pith, the words carry you inward and then zoom outward and up to the canopy and ultimately, the forest. "You are one of many trees," and our roots "twine with fung
Read more

Reading Levels: A Quick Guide to Determining if a Book Is Right for Your Reader

-
Image
While I wrote an article titled Reading Levels: How I Assign Reading Levels to Books, How the Publishers Do It and How You Can Help Your Reader Find the Right Book at the Right Time that discusses how reading levels are determined by professionals and amateurs like myself, there is more on this subject to discuss. Determining the reading level of a book from the children's section is never easy, mostly because there are several different standardized methods of determining reading levels. Add to this the fact that knowing their children's reading level is most often the only tool a parent is armed with when exploring the bookstore, library, website, etc, and the job becomes even more difficult. While I think that knowing a child's reading level is a very valuable tool if your child is reading below grade level, I think that it is a secondary consideration when finding books for children reading above, especially well above, grade level because, in most cases, content app
Read more