Friday's Radar: A Plague of Sorcerers

At 16 Jermyn is a bit of an embarrassment. He hasn't attracted a familiar yet, and he's years behind since he can't officially become an apprentice magician until he does. His aunt has confidence in him, but Jermyn is beginning to fear that he'll never be a wizard.

But when his aunt is about to fall in a great duel, Jermyn finds his power and calls his familiar in a reflexive bid to save her. It's an impressive show of power, but it earns him no friends. It, in fact, gives him a very powerful enemy. And if that wasn't enough for the new apprentice to deal with, rather than calling the customary bird or cat, Jermyn has bonded to a very unusual creature indeed. A skunk.

It's just in time, as soon the wizarding city becomes victim to a magical plague that's quickly infecting the magicians. As each wizard falls, that's one less to find a cure and discover the root of the epidemic. Jermyn, naturally, is ideally placed to help out - between studying.

I ran across Mary Frances Zambreno's A Plague of Sorcerers years ago while shelving. It was consistently the very last book in the children's fiction section, and after some time it was just mocking me, daring me to read it. I'm always up for a good fantasy, and diseases fascinate me, so I figured this was a sure bet. It's a fun read, although for the younger set, and is, of course, out of print. Worldcat claims that 536 libraries still own copies.

I'm really not one for mysteries, as I said at the beginning of this week, but this one has the benefit of a thoroughly believable fantasy universe with very interesting plot twist. I didn't realize that it was actually a mystery until I was completely invested. Plus, I always root for the underdog. And Jermyn is definitely that. But you've gotta watch those guys, they tend to win when you aren't looking.

If you are lucky enough to have a copy, give it with confidence to fans of Christopher Golden's Outcast series, Suzanne Collins' Underland Chronicles, definitely Tamora Pierce's Circle books, or anyone who will appreciate a good magical mystery featuring an underrated boy. ;)


Today's Radar Recs across the kidlitosphere:

1. A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy: The Vietnam books by Ellen Emerson White
2. Big A, little a: The Deep by Helen Dunmore
3. Bildungsroman: The May Bird Trilogy by Jodi Lynn Anderson
4. Chasing Ray: Kipling's Choice by Geert Spillebeen
5. Finding Wonderland: The Avion My Uncle Flew by Cyrus Fisher
6. Fuse Number 8: Stoneflight by George McHarque:
   
7. lectitans: Gentle's Holler and Louisiana Song both by Kerry Madden
8. Not Your Mother's Bookclub: A look at some recently revised classics
9. 7 Impossible Things Before Breakfast: Such a Pretty Face: Short Stories About Beauty edited by Ann Angel
10. The YA YA YAs: Resurrection Men by TK Welsh
    
    
    

Wednesday's Radar

Once upon a time I decided I was too old for the teen section at the library. I thought that the librarians were judging what I was reading, and that they thought I was silly to still be reading "kid's stuff". So I slogged through the adult stacks reading what my mom read, perusing what I should read, or clinging to mediocre fantasy series; all so I didn't have to take a chance on something that all too often proved boring or painful. Now that I'm a librarian - a librarian who focuses on teen lit - I know that my 17-18-year-old self was...a complete paranoid lunatic. Even so, in a desperate attempt to read socially approved literature, I stumbled upon a Reader's Advisory bookmark on WWII Fiction, a genre I had always loved. At least, in the form of The Devil's Arithmetic, Number the Stars, and myriad others. And that is how I found Frances Donnelly's Shake Down the Stars.

It's out of print now. It probably was then. But my library had a copy, and after checking it out two or three times over the next few years, I decided I needed my own copy. My copy even made the initial cut and traveled 2,000 miles with me when I moved. Not many books did. WorldCat tells me that 888 libraries have copies. Not bad. Does yours?

Now that I've waxed poetic for an eon, perhaps I should tell you about the story? Although I warn you it's sweeping, epic, tragic and romantic.

Three girls. Their lives intertwined, but not willingly so. Virginia is an heiress without anything to inherit. Beattie, daughter of the gardener and accepted on scholarship to Virginia's mother's alma mater. And Lucy, the daughter of a writer and living in the house Virginia's family can't afford not to let out. Virginia is spiteful and angry; Beattie, innocent and earnest and Lucy, caught in the middle. But soon class and society will matter little as England enters the war and no one's future works out as they had planned.

Soon we are plunged with our heroines into a foreign and dangerous world with the London Blitz, a farm, a boarding school, dashing RAF pilots, the burgeoning film industry and each girl doing what she can to aid the war effort. Even if it means getting VERY creative with your wardrobe as everything becomes rationed, or trying to recover from the heartbreak of your life.

Ok. It's probably a little melodramatic. But in a good way, I promise. What separates it from your average melodrama is that while each girl definitely starts out as a stereotype, by the end of the novel all three have grown and truly transformed into strong women. You watch them love and lose, triumph and suffer through 6 long years of war. They make different, sometimes surprising choices that don't always work out well. Not everyone ends up better for the years.

Anyway, the book has stayed with me through the years, and that's all. I just wanted to share.

WEDNESDAY's Radar Books:

A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy: The President's Daughter series by Ellen Emerson White
Big A, little a: The Tide Knot by Helen Dunmore
Jen Robinson's Book Page: The Zilpha Keatley Snyder Green Sky trilogy
Bildungsroman: Innocence by Jane Mendelsohn: A Discussion Part 1
Chasing Ray: Innocence by Jane Mendelsohn: A Discussion Part 2
lectitans: Innocence by Jane Mendelsohn: A Discussion Part 3
Finding Wonderland: The House on Hound Hill by Maggie Prince
Miss Erin: The Reb & Redcoats and Enemy Brothers, both by Constance Savery
Bookshelves of Doom: Harry Sue by Sue Stauffacher
Chicken Spaghetti: Pooja Makhijani guest blogs with Romina's Rangoli by Malathi Michelle Iyengar
Writing & Ruminating: Dear Mr. Rosenwald by Carole Weatherford
Shaken & Stirred: Elizabeth Knox and the Dreamhunter Duet

THURSDAY's:

A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy: Friends for Life and Life Without Friends both by Ellen Emerson White
Shaken & Stirred: The Changeover and Catalogue of the Universe, both by Margaret Mahy
Big A, little a: A interview with Helen Dunmore
Jen Robinson's Book Page: The Treasures of Weatherby by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
Bildungsroman: Swollen by Melissa Lion
Finding Wonderland: Lucy the Giant by Sherry L. Smith
Miss Erin: A discussion of Erec Rex: The Dragon's Eye and an interview with author Kaza Kingsley
7 Impossible Things Before Breakfast: Billie Standish Was Here by Nancy Crocker
Fuse Number 8: The Noisy Counting Book by Susan Schade
Chasing Ray: Juniper, Genetian and Rosemary by Pamela Dean
lectitans: Who Pppplugged Roger Rabbit? by Gary K. Wolf
Writing and Ruminating: Hugging the Rock by Susan Taylor Brown

Radar Books: Body of Evidence

I found out this year, when trying to replace a lost copy, that the first novel, Body Bags, in my FAVORITE paperback series went out of print. I don't know when exactly that happened, but it wasn't so long ago that the whole series had reawakened with new titles. At the moment, World Cat says that supposedly 186 libraries have the title on the shelf, and Amazon has 27 copies for sale.

This has bothered me for a lot of reasons, among them is just that I think that the series is well written and overcomes both the fact that it's solidly a genre piece and that it was only ever published in paperback, especially after seeing the reasonable success of Alane Ferguson's Forensic Mystery series. But, the first in the series? Why on earth should THAT be the one to go out of print? How can I give the dern series out without the first title?

So when Colleen came up with the Recommendations from Under the Radar idea, well, Little Willow and I had the same idea: Body of Evidence. And that led the two of us into a conversation, of sorts, about this series we think should get LOTS more attention (Personally, I think it would fill a hole left in my heart by the demise of Veronica Mars. Let's see it on TV!!). LW's got more to say about the series over on her site, but here's our little chat, with a special bit tagged on in the end:

Favorite main character?
LW: Jenna!
Jackie: No choice.

Favorite supporting character?
LW: I'd love to list all of them. Slick is smart, Al
is sweet, Melody, Hunter, Danny . . .
Jackie: Oh, Danny. Definitely Danny. But the great
thing about this series is that ALL of the supporting
characters are fully presented. You kinda like them
all.
LW: Agreed.

Favorite book in the series?
LW: Body Bags, then Thief of Hearts and Skin Deep.
Jackie: Soul Survivor, I think. It's a hard question.
Maybe Last Breath.

Why did you pick them up?
LW: I started working for Christopher Golden in 1998.
I redesigned his website, then started maintaining the
site and doing online publicity for his books. Thus, I
was there when Body Bags was in the works, and I was
beyond thrilled that he was finally writing books for
the teen fiction section. Ask Chris. When he told me
he was writing a new series that was about murder,
forensics, and college, I pretty much screamed.

Jackie: I was in Library School and my YA Lit
professor, Holly Ward-Lamb (who is magnificently
awesome, BTW), required us to read one book from a
paperback series. She was very concerned that her
students didn't get elitist about literature, and that
we read at least SOME of what the kids actually read,
so I tried Body Bags upon her recommendation. I was
hooked.

Why did you keep reading the series?
LW: Because Golden Books are the Best Ever. Truly. I
was a reader before I was a friend of his. That is how
I came to know him. I admire his writing. The entire
Body of Evidence series is well-plotted and
well-written. Each book stands alone, yet is part of
the bigger picture -- just as a series should be!

Jackie: Because they are Freakin' Awesome. And I say
that as a person who has never met or received
monetary compensation from the author. ;)

LW: Hey, now. I'm not partial or anything. :)

Had you read Christopher Golden books before?
LW: Yes, since 1997. See above.
Jackie: Nope. Body Bags was the first.
LW: I hadn't read Rick Hautala's books before he
joined the series. I then read his novel The White
Room, which was written under the pseudonym A. J.
Matthews.

Do you like murder mysteries?
LW: Yes! I love mysteries when they are done well. I
also love procedural television series like Law &
Order: Special Victims Unit. To quote one of my
current stage roles, "What I say is, let justice be
done!"

Jackie: Nope. They are usually WAY too predictable and
repetitive. What? The bad guy lost? Shocking. (Not
that I'd have it any other way.)

Do the books feel accurate?
LW: Definitely. The research is evident.
Jackie: Beats me. I'm not a Science Nerdfighter. But from a literature
standpoint, everything hung together.

The books get pretty gruesome, what with the
autopsies and the murders. Do you have a strong
stomach?
LW: Yes.
Jackie: Ironclad.

Did you read the series in order?
LW: Yes.
Jackie: Blasphemy. As if there's another way.
(LW cheers. She obviously feels the same.)

Does the series feel like it's done?
LW: No! It should never be over!
(LW is in denial.)
Jackie: Not really. I think that Jenna's a character
that could always be picked up again, even 10 years
later. She's strong enough that her story will always
be interesting.

If more books were written and released, would you
read them?
LW: Yes, immediately.
Jackie: What she said.

Are there more stories to tell?
LW: I think so. I think Jenna has a promising future
in front of her.
Jackie: Uh, what I said.

And then, unbeknown to Jackie, Little Willow took it upon herself to ask some questions of the creator himself, Christopher Golden.

Favorite main character?

CG: Jenna, of course!

Favorite supporting character?

CG: Slick. I love them all, but Slick is so much fun to
write.

Favorite book in the series?

CG: Probably Thief of Hearts, though I'm also quite
partial to Last Breath and Skin Deep.

What inspired the series?

CG: My editor at the time called me up and said, "Three
words: Scully in college." I took it from there.

What prompted you to (FINALLY!) write a teen
fiction series?

CG: I'd actually written two YA horror novels in the mid
nineties. They were fairly mediocre, but I'd always
wanted to do it again. I like to think I have a
fairly decent handle still on what it felt like to be
in high school.

When and how did Rick Hautala come on board?

CG: I'd agreed to write a second series for Pocket and thought it would be easier--and energizing--to collaborate with someone on the series. I'd known Rick for many years, since before I wrote my first novel, and I think we gelled really well. Though his name isn't on the cover, the first book he co-wrote with me was SKIN DEEP. They'd already done the cover before he came on board, believe it or not.

How much research did you do to ensure the stories'
authenticity?

CG: I talked to everyone. Doctors, medical examiners, FBI, Coast Guard, cops...you name it, I talked to them. Where the weird science was concerned, I let myself improvise. But most of the real medical stuff comes directly from first hand conversations.

Would you ever write more BoE books?

CG: In a heartbeat. I'm just waiting for the
opportunity.

Are there more stories to tell?

CG: Thousands.

For more Radar Recs, via Chasing Ray:

Colleen's happily posting about a wicked-good looking title called Dorothy of Oz (coincidentally? I'm listening to Wicked right now).
Finding Wonderland loves The Curved Saber: The Adventure of Khlit the Cossack by Harold Lamb
Not Your Mother's Bookclub: An interview with Robert Sharenow, author of My Mother the Cheerleader
lectitans: The Angel of the Opera: Sherlock Meets the Phantom of the Opera by Sam Siciliano
Bookshelves of Doom: The God Beneathe the Sea, Black Jack & Jack Holburn all by Leon Garfield
Writing and Ruminating: An interview with Tony Mitton and a review of his book, Plum
The YA YA YAs: I Rode a Horse of Milk White Jade by Diane Lee Wilson
Chicken Spaghetti: The Illustrator's Notebook by Mohieddin Ellabad
SemiColon: Sherry is talking picture books that should not be missed, including the lovely Nothing To Do by Russell Hoban.