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Chrystallia and the Source of Light

3.46 of 5 stars 3.46 · rating details · 28 ratings · 12 reviews

In this beautifully illustrated children's fantasy story, two siblings struggle against sharp-edged, bedazzling foes to arrive at a place of knowing, to which they and everything belong. It's Christmas, but thirteen-year-old Maggie and her ten-year-old brother Jesse are anything but joyful. Their mother is dying, the bank is about to foreclose on their home, and very soon,...more

Hardcover, 288 pages

Published October 1st 2011 by Greenleaf Book Group

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Nov 02, 2011 Pam Meserve rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: everyone

Recommended to Pam by: P M Glaser

Chrystallia and The Source of Light' by PM Glaser...

It's more than just a book...it's a fun, fantasy adventurous journey, as well as a beautiful journey of the heart...hold the book close to yours when you read it or just hold it and 'reflect'...you may feel empowered within...and every time you read it, and I think you will read it many times...you will find something new and that's just one thing that makes this book so extra special.

Chrystallia and the Source of Light is heartfelt, often whi...more

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Aug 09, 2011 Cynthia Bugsey rated it 5 of 5 stars

What happens when you're thirteen years old and you feel that your whole world is falling apart and there is NOTHING you can do about it? Maggie, tell us her story.She feels her life sucks because her family seems to like her eleven year old brother Jesse more than they appreciate her. She wonders if anything is wrong with her but decides to put on the facade of being tough and uncaring. She takes on this defense mechanism to protect herself from her feelings of being unwanted and unloved. Her b...more

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Nov 21, 2012 Lorraine Bkx rated it 5 of 5 stars

Many people will know P.M. Glaser as actor Paul Michael Glaser. Since reaching celebrity status in the 70's, Mr. Glaser has branched out creatively, becoming a director and now an author. His family was touched by AIDS in the 80's when his late wife, Elizabeth, contracted the disease through a blood transfusion after giving birth to their first child, Ariel. She unknowingly passed the disease onto Ariel and then to their son, Jake. Ariel passed away in 1988, Elizabeth in 1994. Jake is HIV positi...more Many people will know P.M. Glaser as actor Paul Michael Glaser. Since reaching celebrity status in the 70's, Mr. Glaser has branched out creatively, becoming a director and now an author. His family was touched by AIDS in the 80's when his late wife, Elizabeth, contracted the disease through a blood transfusion after giving birth to their first child, Ariel. She unknowingly passed the disease onto Ariel and then to their son, Jake. Ariel passed away in 1988, Elizabeth in 1994. Jake is HIV positive and healthy. Only Mr. Glaser did not contract the virus.
He claims to have had 'many teachers' who helped in cope with the tragic losses in this life. A very private person, Mr. Glaser first started communicating his philosophy of life in a blog. He once said that he had the choice to either become a bitter, old man or to open his heart to others and to his ability to love. He chose the second option.
Now, Mr. Glaser has incorporated his philosophy into this wonderful work of fiction, "Chrystallia and the Source of Light". It's a magical story about a 9 year-old boy and a 13 year-old girl who are at a cross-roads in their lives. It is told in the girl's voice.
They are about to spend their last Christmas with their mother in their beloved home. Their mother is dying and the home is about to be repossessed by the bank. The brother and sister have a long-standing, and often comical, sibling rivalry. The brother is fascinated by rocks and crystals. One night, after everyone in the house is asleep, they are awoken by strange sounds in their house. The Christmas tree seems to have taken root in the house and there is a huge crack in the floor. The children fall into this crack and find themselves in a magical, often cruel kingdom, where everyone and everything is made out of rocks and crystals. They meet various characters with very specific personality traits, that seem to be extensions of the children themselves. Many of the characters have accents (French, German, Russian, Puerto Rican, Southern US) and they are transcribed perfectly by the author. They are on a mission to get back home, with or without the help of the crystal beings.
Mr. Glaser has had a long-standing fascination with rocks and crystals and it's apparent in the story. All information is very well-researched.
Of course, the underlying message of the story is his very own philosophy of life: what is the purpose of fear in our lives? The purpose is to bring us to our hearts and our ability to love as well as to feel compassion for ourselves and others.
The book is appropriate for children and adult alike. Although it's a serious subject, the impending death of a parent, it is handled beautifully and gently.
The descriptions in the book are so colourful that you can see the crystal world and the characters in your mind. Also, I was amazed at how Mr. Glaser was able to get into a 13 year-old girl's mind and tell the story from her point of view.
I certainly hope that Mr. Glaser continues in this creative vein because he is as good a writer as he is an actor and director. (less)

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Nov 12, 2011 Jojo rated it 3 of 5 stars

This book is told in the point of view of Maggie, a young girl frustrated with all the things happening around her. Her mom's dying, they're losing their house, and now she and her brother, Jesse, has wound up in a strange new world. Enough is enough! Maggie wants to go home and she'll do whatever it takes to do that.

Glaser has written an original read filled with unique characters and an interesting world made of crystal and rock. The story was concise and fast-paced so that you'll be halfway...more This book is told in the point of view of Maggie, a young girl frustrated with all the things happening around her. Her mom's dying, they're losing their house, and now she and her brother, Jesse, has wound up in a strange new world. Enough is enough! Maggie wants to go home and she'll do whatever it takes to do that.

Glaser has written an original read filled with unique characters and an interesting world made of crystal and rock. The story was concise and fast-paced so that you'll be halfway through the book before you know it. I was impressed with Maggie's character development and it was nice to see her grow up from the pouty girl in the beginning. The ending was sweet and meaningful and carries a very significant message.

Although the characters were fun and unique, there was either too many or Glaser didn't do such a great job juggling them. For example, when we are first introduced to all the crystal people, Maggie and Jesse is shoved to the background. Every now and then, they'd yell out, "where are we?!" but are completely ignored. It's never a different question either, by the way. A few chapters after that, the siblings take center stage and Pytrope and Scheelite are silent. I might have missed something but it felt like they were forgotten until the very end of the book. Also, a lot of the characters have accents which can be difficult to follow along (ranging from texan to french and so on). I had trouble, anyway. Another issue was that the characters are mainly reactive. This and this has happened to the group! We must run! Oh no, it happened again! Run some more! It's not until two-thirds of the book is through before we see someone do something productive.

Pro: interesting characters with quirky traits, unique plot, character development, sweet and meaningful
Con: reactive rather than proactive, characters "disappear", Maggie is very annoying until she matures, accents (depends on the reader whether you'll like it or not)

Overall, this book was nice and sweet. This book is best suited for our younger readers but anyone can read and enjoy it. However, I would like to point out to parents that when we meet King Bloo, there is an overly dramatic scene where he is snuffing gold dust. Whether or not you mind you or your child reading something like that is up to you. Aside from that hiccup, the book is very kids-friendly and fun to read.

Won from the Early Reviewers Giveaway in return for an honest review(less)

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Nov 23, 2012 Evelyn Puerto rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: children-s

Chrystallia and the Source of Light is an imaginative story about two children who fall into a world where crystals come alive. The sibling rivalry between the children was well drawn, and was intensified by the sorrows they were living with: their's mother impending death from illness, the forced move from their home because the family's money went to medical bills rather than the mortgage. The adventure in Chrystallia forces them to look at themselves and each other in a different way.

The fant...more

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Nov 29, 2011 Beverly rated it 1 of 5 stars

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from LibraryThing's Early Review Program in exchange for an honest review.
Chrystallia and The Source of Light by P. M. Glaser
Maggie is a young girl who's life is falling a part. Her mother is dying. Her family is loosing her home. As the holidays approach, Maggie and her little brother Jesse find themselves in a strange new world - Chrystallia. and all Maggie wants to do is go home.

What I liked about the book: I didn't like anything. OK, the concept wa...more

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Dec 13, 2011 Karissa rated it 1 of 5 stars

I got a copy of this book through Librarythings's Early Reviewer program. I was very excited to read it; it sounded like a wonderful middle grade fantasy adventure in a fantastic Alice in Wonderland like underground fantasyland. Well it wasn't. What it was was very difficult to read, confusing, and obnoxious. I stopped reading after 100 pages because it hurt my brain and because it made me sad. It made me sad that some poor kid might pick this book up to read and then never read fantasy again be...more I got a copy of this book through Librarythings's Early Reviewer program. I was very excited to read it; it sounded like a wonderful middle grade fantasy adventure in a fantastic Alice in Wonderland like underground fantasyland. Well it wasn't. What it was was very difficult to read, confusing, and obnoxious. I stopped reading after 100 pages because it hurt my brain and because it made me sad. It made me sad that some poor kid might pick this book up to read and then never read fantasy again because of this book. I am very sensitive to the fact that kids picking up fantasy like this are very impressionable and think that quality stories should be targeted at that age group. Enough rant...on to the review.

Maggie and Jesse have a mother who is dying and are being forced to move out of their house because of her medical costs. Then one night their Christmas tree grows roots in the living room and opens the way into a magical crystal world full of crazy characters.

I am trying to think of something good about this book. The pictures throughout were very well done and fun. The book itself was a very nice package; nice cover, pages, and font. The idea behind the book is a wonderful one. Reading the synopsis made me excited to partake in this magical adventure.

Unfortunately it was incredibly poorly executed. Initially the language and conversations between the characters was a bit awkward but I was willing to overlook that as the adventure continued hoping I would get to the wonderful fantasy world I had been promised. Well, things just got worse.

When Maggie and Jesse enter the underground they apparently awaken some of the crystals down there. We don't know how this happens. Things aren't very well explained and that whole scenario is very hard to picture (despite the wonderful pictures). I was constantly re-reading to figure out exactly how all this magic was working and still didn't really understand what the author was trying to portray and picture. That is just the worst...a fantasy world that is so poorly described that you can't even picture it.

Still I was willing to wait to understand the world and continued reading hoping to get to the good parts. This is when things go even worse. A plethora of characters enter the book, they aren't well described and are hard to distinguish from each other. Then all these characters start to speak; Glaser has written the characters' words to phonetically represent the accents they speak in. So basically when the characters talk they each use a different set of misspelled words to represent their accents. It was almost impossible to read. I had to read parts of the book outloud just to figure out what the heck a given character was saying and even then sometimes the sentences didn't make much sense.

Can you imagine giving a kid a book with the majority of the words misspelled? It confused the heck out of me and I can't imagine what it would do to a kid learning to read. I thought maybe I was being dense and tired, so I gave the book to my husband and asked him to read a couple pages. His response was "What in the world does that even mean? Is this really a published book?"

Here is an example: "Yoo will be rooled IN, against, undt for. Rooled goot undt bad, right undt wrong, rooled here, rooled zere, up und down, und everyvhere!" That is the guy with the German accent speaking. Here is another quote from the next page "But they eeth th-thoft an' their out-thide eeth m-moofing', an' th-thee other were undereth'd, an' there eeth no r-rool for--" This is the guy with the lisp. I believe there is also a guy with a French accent; all of it is spelled goofy and impossible to read. My eyes are glazing over just typing the quotes in for you, yes they are really spelled like that...I double and triple checked them.

Overall, I pretty much detested this book...it is one of the worst books I have read this year. It made my eyes cross, my head hurt, and made me sad for any kid who has this book as their first foray into fantasy. Please go read Harry Potter, or Fablehaven, or Percy and the Olympians or The Books of Beginning....do not even try to read this book. I have no idea where all the positive review are coming from. Sure it is a cool concept but it impossible to read and very poorly written. The concept counts for something but not for everything.
(less)

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May 13, 2012 Esmeralda rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Chrystallia and the Source of Light is a children's fantasy about two children who go on a quest through a magical land looking for a cure for their dying mother. It has beautiful cover art and a wonderful message. However, I found the pace a little slow. There were way too many exclamation points to emphasize the excitement of the action (better to give a good description of the action and forego the extreme punctuation). It also had characters that talked with weird accents. I generally find t...more

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Oct 04, 2012 Betsy rated it 4 of 5 stars

My favorite parts of this book were Maggie's memories at the beginning of each chapter. I think PMG is at his best when he directly confronts the feelings like he does in those little bits. Some of them were hard to read because they're so sad, but boy did I understand where Maggie was coming from when I did. It was like someone got inside my 13 year old brain and put it on paper. The rest of the story was good, too. It reminded me of me and my brother and how much better we are at life when we...more

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Mar 14, 2012 Zachary marked it as to-read

I won this book from goodreads but never have received the copy. So, i can not make an deeper comment on this book.

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Dec 30, 2011 Jayla rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, own

It wasn't as good as I thought it might be, but I still liked the story and a few of the characters. :)

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Feb 22, 2012 Melanie McCullough rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: library-thing

Full review to follow.

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Apr 09, 2013 Lawanica marked it as to-read

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Shelves: literature

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Feb 18, 2013 Liberty Susich rated it 1 of 5 stars

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Jan 19, 2013 Alex McGrath rated it 1 of 5 stars

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Sep 09, 2012 Cynthia Bugsey rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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About Paul Michael Glaser

P.M. Glaser - Paul Glaser is best known for his portrayal of Starsky in the 1970s’ series Starsky & Hutch. In addition to his many acting roles, he has also found success behind the camera, helming films like The Running Man, The Air Up There, and Kazaam. Glaser has always loved storytelling, whether as an actor, a director, or—now—a writer. With Chrystallia and the Source of Light he presents...more

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