Todd Klein's Blog, page 28

Rereading: THE SPELLCOATS by Diana Wynne Jones

Cover art by Geoff Taylor

The third book of the Dalemark quartet focuses on a family living in the riverside town of Shelling, and it’s narrated or “woven” by the younger daughter Tanaqui. The family’s mother has passed, and their father works hard to support his children, the eldest son Gull, older daughter Robin, second son Hern, and youngest son Duck. Then news comes of a war with invaders, and father and Gull are conscripted to fight. Father does not return from the war, and Gull comes back broken in mind. Somehow everyone blames Tanaqui’s family for their troubles, and when the river floods, they must pack their sailing boat and take to the raging flood to escape the anger of their neighbors.

Many strange things happen to the family on their travels. They find unexpected help, and also new enemies by the time they reach the sea, where a powerful mage, Kankredin, is trying to destroy the very river itself. They also meet the leaders of their own people and the invaders, and all those factions seem to know that Tanaqui and her family possess great power they don’t even understand themselves. But can it be used to save the people and the river from the spells of Kankredin?

These stories are among my favorites by Jones, first because they are full of surprises and wonderful ideas and characters, and second because the magic in them is subtle at first, and then is gradually revealed in its full power and importance. Recommended.

The Spellcoats by Diana Wynne Jones

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Incoming: FABLES DELUXE EDITION BOOK 16

I think my favorite long series that I worked on after SANDMAN is FABLES, and over the last few years, the band got back together to produce a new 12-issue storyline that I thought was as good as anything that came before it. That story is now out in a deluxe hardcover, which looks great. I don’t think you need to have read all the previous stories to enjoy this one, but that would deepen the experience. Retail price is $39.99, and it’s due for release on May 21, 2024. Check with your comics retailer, or you can order it on Amazon at the link.

Fables Deluxe Edition Book 16

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Rereading: A ROOM MADE OF WINDOWS by Eleanor Cameron

This is the fourth Julia Redfern book chronologically, but the first published, in 1971. Julia’s childhood is somewhat autobiographical, the author also grew up in Berkeley, CA in the 1910s-1920s, and many characters and incidents are probably based on her own memories.

Julia, her mother, and her brother Greg are living in an upstairs apartment that they love. Julia’s room is one she particularly adores. Intended as a sun room, it’s lined with windows, and has a small balcony overlooking the yard and garden. Julia has discovered a passion for writing, perhaps inherited from her deceased father, and she keeps a journal of unusual events called “Strangeness,” as well as writing stories that she submits to the local paper. Neighbors play a strong role in the book, next door is an elderly woman living alone, Rhiannon Moore, who Julia hears often playing her piano. They meet one night outside when both have mail to put in the post box, and Julia is threatened by another drunken neighbor, Mr. Kellerman, father of her friends Addie and Ken. Mrs. Moore protects Julia, and they become friends. Other neighbors also figure importantly: another renter at the house, the elderly Daddy Chandler, also intent on writing, who Julia loves to tease, and their landlady, Mrs. de Rizzio, who watches out for the children when their mother is at work.

Julia’s biggest challenge is a new development for her mother, a romance with her boss, who they know as Uncle Phil, and who tries his best to be their friend. Julia sees what’s happening, suspects he wants to marry her mother and move the family to the new house he’s building in the hills, and she wants none of it, making her mother miserable.

There are more twists and turns and characters in this wonderful book, which has many aspects, including the development of a young writer in Julia, her growth as a person, the effects of aging, a love of animals, mysteries, elements of the supernatural, and Berkeley of the 1920s brought vividly to life. This is perhaps Cameron’s best book, it won a U.S. National Book Award, and is highly recommended. You don’t need to have read the other Julia Redfern books to enjoy it, but they add depth to the overall story.

A Room Made of Windows by Eleanor Cameron

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Rereading: FREDDY RIDES AGAIN by Walter R. Brooks

Perhaps feeling he had more to say on the subject, Brooks continues with the themes of the previous book, Freddy the Cowboy. Freddy’s new friend, Cy the cow pony, who taught him to ride, now gives lessons to other animals on the Bean Farm in this eighteenth book in the series. This time trouble comes from a new rich banker and his family who have moved into a neighboring farm. Mr. Margarine, his wife, and his son Billy are avid fox hunters, and while they’re no match for John, the local fox, they create havoc for the farmers, including Mr. Bean, by riding through crops and farmyards with their hounds. When Freddy tries to stop him, Margarine’s hot temper leads to a vendetta against Freddy that puts him in danger of being shot. Even help from his friends on the farm and in town can’t keep Freddy and Cy safe from the angry Margarine, whose free hand with cash allows him to get away with a lot of bad behavior. What can they do to stop him?

As always, funny, wise, exciting adventures that are entertaining and recommended.

Freddy Rides Again by Walter R Brooks

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Rereading: THE SHY STEGOSAURUS OF INDIAN SPRINGS by Elelyn Sibley Lampman

While this is a sequel to “The Shy Stegosaurus of Cricket Creek,” it has a different feel because the main viewpoint character is a Native American boy.

Huck lives with his grandfather Opalo, a former medicine man of his tribe, in a lonely, run-down shack on their southwest desert reservation. Opalo prefers to live alone and keep the old ways, but age is causing him problems, and Huck is not yet strong enough to do everything needed as well as they would like. Plus, Huck now goes away to school much of the year, so must catch up on all the chores and repairs in summer. At the nearby hot springs, he meets George, the Shy Stegosaurus, who decides Huck is even less intelligent than himself, and needs protection. Soon, Huck also meets the twins, Joan and Joey, who are staying at a nearby summer resort. They’ve already had adventures with George, and are happy to reconnect with him.

Huck is often teased and bullied about his grandfather’s strange ways, and trouble for him begins when he tries to use George as a monster to scare away his tormenters. That fails, when George refuses to show himself to strangers. Soon, Ocala’s way of life is threatened when the reservation chief decides he’s getting too old to live alone, and must be placed with a family in the village. Huck and his new friends are looking forward to an upcoming festival where the tribe will gather for ceremonies, games, and feasting, and George wants to go too, but how? Unlike the hot springs, surrounded by rocky cliffs where he blends in, the festival is out in open fields. But George is determined, and soon is causing more trouble for his three friends.

Entertaining and appealing, the illustrations by Paul Galdone are a fine addition. Recommended.

The Shy Stegosaurus of Indian Springs by Evelyn Sibley Lampman

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Rereading: JULIA AND THE HAND OF GOD by Eleanor Cameron

I first became a fan of Cameron’s books with her Mushroom Planet series. This later series is more mature and beautifully written, as well as somewhat autobiographical. It follows the childhood of Julia Redfern and her family in Berkeley, California. Here she’s eleven, and the year is about 1920.

Julia’s imagination is always working overtime, and on this year’s birthday trip to San Francisco, she imagines what it would be like if another major earthquake struck, just as they arrived. Her Uncle Hugh and Aunt Alex lived through the 1906 quake, and met at that time, so she loves to hear stories about it and picture herself in the chaos.

Julia’s family, she, her mother, and brother Greg, are now living in Gramma’s small house while they try to save enough to rent their own place. It’s difficult, especially because Gramma dotes on Greg, but is always critical of Julia and her wild ideas. Julia does have some, like bringing a dead mouse to the home of her friend Maisie so they can bury it, but Julia wants to cremate it. Maisie’s mother’s best roasting pan will never be the same, and to pay for the damage, Julia takes a job with an elderly art collector, Mr. Jacklin, weeding his large garden. Julia and Mr. Jacklin become good friends, and when a wildfire threatens to destroy his home, Julia does her best to help, even though it’s very dangerous.

Recommended, third in the series chronologically.

Julia and the Hand of God by Eleanor Cameron

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Rereading: THE PHANTOM RIDER by Keith Robertson

This engaging novel of a boy and his horse, and a ghostly female rider, has some similarities to his earlier book The Lonesome Sorrel, but enough differences to make it equally interesting.

Tim Cottrell has a rangy hunter named Whiskbroom, and they love to ride cross country, but keeping a horse in feed, shoes, and other requirements are making Tim too busy to ride much. Then Tim’s sister introduces him to Kate Sims, who seems to love horses as he does, though she doesn’t ride. Her mother was killed in a riding accident a few years earlier, and her father has forbidden it. Despite that, Kate is happy to help out with Whiskbroom, and suggests they go into business, buying another horse for riding lessons. Instead they end up with a stubborn donkey, Eloise, and a donkey cart. Once Tim figures out how to handle Eloise, they can hire out for parties and events and make some money, which they do.

Tim’s other interest is the stories he’s been hearing about a ghostly rider that’s been seen very early at first light racing along a nearby ridge, supposedly the spirit of Peggy Grover, who defied the British in Revolutionary War times and was chased along that ridge by a mounted soldier. Tim thinks the stories might be caused by a real rider, and he’s determined to discover the truth. He and Whiskbroom plan to ride down the elusive phantom!

Recommended, with lots more action than I can describe here, and fine characters.

The Phantom Rider by Keith Robertson

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Rereading: DROWNED AMMET by Diana Wynne Jones

Cover art by Geoff Taylor

The second book of the Dalemark Quartet takes place on the coast of southern Dalemark in the area known as Holand, which is very flat and somewhat like Holland. Mitt and his parents are farmers in the lowlands, and Mitt’s early life is happy, until events cause the tax collector to raise their taxes so high the family is forced to give up their land and move to the capital city, where they struggle to survive. Soon Mitt’s father disappears, and Mitt’s grudge against their ruler, Earl Hadd grows. Hadd’s own family doesn’t have things much better, life in the castle is fraught with conflict and fear, as he rules with an iron hand. His daughter Hildy and her brother Ynen take what joy they can in sailing on their pleasure boat in the harbor, but then even that is taken from them, as unrest causes Earl Hadd to shut them in the castle.

Holand’s traditions include a festival where the Earl must carry a straw replica of their god, Drowned Ammet, through town to the harbor, where it’s thrown into the sea, but after years of planning, Mitt and his friends plot to kill the Earl with a bomb, which Mitt will throw at him during the procession. Things go wrong, but the Earl is killed anyway by an unseen gunman. Mitt’s efforts to escape capture end with him hiding in a fancy pleasure boat at the dock, and soon Hildy and Ynen have also fled there from their minders, and set out to sea, not knowing Mitt is aboard until it’s too late. The voyage of the three through a massive storm changes everyone’s ideas, but even stranger things are to come.

I think this series is among Jones’s best work, and this one was an excellent reread. It kept surprising me, and in good ways. Recommended.

Drowned Ammet by Diana Wynne Jones

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Rereading: THAT JULIA REDFERN by Eleanor Cameron

This is the second book about Julia and her family chronologically, I’m rereading them in that order, though they were published in a different order.

Julia Redfern always manages to get into trouble, though she never means to. The cover illustrates the first example of that from the book’s beginning, when she decides to try out her older brother Greg’s new bike, which is too big for her to reach the pedals. The family lives on a hill in Oakland, CA, (or is it Berkeley?) and immediately, Julia is rolling downhill out of control! This isn’t even the biggest accident she has in the story, another time she has a bad fall from playground equipment, and wakes up a prisoner in a strange house.

Julia’s father is a would-be writer, but he’s been called to serve in World War One as a pilot. While unconscious from her fall, Julia dreams and meets him in a strange place, where he has a message for her. It will become important later. Meanwhile, Julia has her own strange fears of imaginary things, like the creature she thinks lives in her garden, and the oversized doll her aunt and uncle gave her as a present. Julia’s best friend is her neighbor Maisie, but they often fight and tease each other. A trip to Yosemite for Julia and Greg with their uncle becomes a wonderful adventure, and a way to temporarily forget troubles at home.

Wonderful writing, this series is somewhat autobiographical, and the characters and events are engaging and historically accurate. Recommended.

That Julia Redfern by Eleanor Cameron

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Rereading: FREDDY THE COWBOY by Walter R. Brooks

In the 1980s, Knopf tried a limited line of Freddy trade paperbacks, allowing me to fill in some gaps in the series like this one, the seventeenth. The cover art was awful, but at least the interior illustrations by Kurt Wiese were retained. His Freddy is much more appealing.

Several of the Bean farm animals decide to go off in search of adventure, each in a different direction, and Freddy’s journey brings him to a dude ranch, where the owner, Mr. Flint, is mistreating a horse he uses as a bucking bronco. The horse, Cy, and Freddy soon come to an understanding by talking quietly to each other, and Freddy wins Cy in a bet that he can’t stay on the horse’s back. Mr. Flint is a sore loser, and is soon plotting not only to get his horse back, but to kill the talking pig who befriended him.

Jinx the cat also has an interesting adventure that makes him some new mouse friends at a distant farm. They’re being extorted by squirrels, and Jinx captures the leader in one of his own traps. Eventually Jinx also runs afoul of Mr. Flint, who is on a rampage to destroy Freddy and rob the First Animal Bank while he’s at it. Before long, all the farm animals and other friends are trying to help, but Flint and his ranch hands prove to be tricky opponents. Also debuting in this book are my favorite mysterious ninja-like figures, the Terrible Ten.

In addition to the usual fun, this has the appeal of amusing western themes and poetry by Freddy. Recommended.

Freddy the Cowboy by Walter R Brooks

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