Island of the Blue Dolphins Scott O'Dell I was five years old in 1961, when  Scott O'Dell 's  Island of the Blue Dolphins  in 1961, it won the Newbery Medal. Thus, I didn't read it until many years later. I still remember the impression it left on me -- like a jewel, perfect in its simplicity. The only thing I can compare it to is  Gary Paulsen 's  Hatchet , another survival story that left me with much the same feeling. Amazon review Goodreads review  

Charlie Thorne and the Royal Society Stuart Gibbs We knew from the ending of  Charlie Thorne and the Curse of Cleopatra  that the next historic secret Charlie would chase after would be something discovered by Isaac Newton. In fact, as the title suggests, it is broader than that. This one involves not just Newton, but many of his colleagues and fellow members of the Royal Society of London. In fact, at 413 kindle pages, this is the longest  Charlie Thorne  installment so far, and that is partly because in addition to Newton, we end up chasing the history of several of his contemporary Fellows of the Royal Society. Although I really have no information about  Stuart Gibbs 's creative process other than that revealed by the end matter in his books, I have long suspected that he writes his novels backward -- that is, that he imagines the end first, and then writes the earlier sections in order to move his people and pieces to the place where that ending can transpire. For what it'

An Atlas of Fantasy J.B. Post Seanan McGuire  recently published a story-like thing called  A Traveler's Guide to Fantastic Countries . It purports to be advertising copy for a travel agency that can arrange trips to such places as Avalon, Niflheim, and The Lost City of Z. This naturally made me think of other, less tongue-in-cheek reference works of fantastic lands. Two that I used to own are this one,  An Atlas of Fantasy  and  The Dictionary of Imaginary Places: The Newly Updated and Expanded Classic  (which I will also review one of these days). J.B. Post  was the map librarian of the Free Library of Philadelphia, and also an avid fantasy reader. (I get these facts from  Lester del Rey 's introduction.) Because of this he was aware of something most readers didn't know: that maps existed of the lands in which many fantasy stories take place. Many of these maps were unpublished. For instance,  C.S. Lewis  drew a map of Narnia, a reproduction of which can be found in the 

A Restless truth Freya Marske In the first book of  Freya Marske 's  Last Binding  series, we learned that long ago the fae, upon departing England, made a contract with the people of England, and from that contract they derive their magic. The contract is inherent in three physical objects: a coin, a cup, and a knife. Almost a hundred years ago four women found the objects and took custody of them. Now the English Magical Establishment wants to get its hands on them. "Wants" in this case means "is willing to kill for". Indeed, they killed one of the woman, Flora Sutton, and now hold the coin. Edwin Courcey inherited Flora Sutton's estate and notes -- thus he and his partner Robin Blythe know who held the other two contract bits. One of these, Beth Godwin, married (thus she is now Beth Navenby) and moved to America long ago. Robin's sister Maud has gone to America to meet her and is now accompanying her on her return to England. But on the very first day

Johnny Tremain Esther Forbes ** spoiler alert **  I was an elementary schoolkid when I read  Esther Forbes 's  Johnny Tremain  for the first time. It quickly became one of my favorite books. It was one of many books I read about American Revolutionary War history, but this one was special. It was special because of Johnny's personal story. For most of the book, Johnny is not an admirable character. As the book begins Johnny is an apprentice silversmith. He is a skilled artist, the chief of Mr Lapham's apprentices. He is not generous to his inferiors -- this is surely how he thinks of the other, less skilled apprentices, and even perhaps Mr Lapham himself. He falls from his lofty position -- an accident injures his hand. From being the lord of Lapham's apprentices he now falls to become the drudge, since his deformed hand allows him no finer work. The other apprentices, whom he treated with hauteur, are now not generous to him. Johnny reacts to his fall by going into wha

So You Want to Be a Wizard Diane Duane When I started  Diane Duane 's  So You Want to Be a Wizard  I had an idea of what it was going to be like. That idea was a lighthearted and amusing fantasy, like  Patricia C. Wrede  or  Sarah Jean Horwitz . I was wrong. That is not at all what  So You Want to Be a Wizard  is. For all that the main characters are a twelve-year-old boy and a thirteen-year-old girl, this is more of an epic than a fun little story. We start with Juanita (Nita) Callahan being bullied by a gang of her classmates. When I say "bullied", I don't mean that they say mean things about her, although they do that, too. Nita is beaten by Joanne and her gang. Taking refuge in the library, Nita finds a book in the children's room,  So You Want to be a Wizard , that purports to tell a reader how to become a wizard. Nita is of course skeptical, but on the "What have I got to lose?" principle takes the book out and begins to read it. Nita finds somethi

Los amantes del Guggenheim Isabel Allende Isabel Allende  is, I think, my favorite Spanish-language author, and one of my favorite authors full-stop.  La casa de los espíritus  is a great work of Magical Realism, better even than  Cien Anos De Soledad  in my personal opinion. Thus I was delighted to learn of the existence of this story. I was taken aback to find that it is not for sale in Spanish anywhere that I could find, although Amazon will sell you an English translation by  Allende  herself under the title  Lovers at the Museum . However, it was easy to find free downloads of the Spanish booklet, e.g.  here . The Museum referred to in the title is  the Guggenheim Bilbao . One morning when the museum opens two lovers are found inside, a naked young man, Pedro Berastegui, and a young woman, Elena Etxebarría, in a bridal gown. (The names in the English version are different.) She is questioned by Detective Larramendi —¿ Por qué ibas vestida de novia? —la interrogó Aitor Larramendi.