Carol Matas

Having re-read this favorite from age 12, now at age 40, I'm pleased by how well it holds up. I would happily offer it to any tween today.

It's a Point Fantasy, which means it's exactly 200 pages, not high literature or anything, but it's a fun adventure and I can see why it appealed to me so much. Of the two main characters, Lenora gets more screen time at first, and she's nearly a caricature of ego-centric, angsty teen moods. She feels smothered by her parents, who are boring and don't let show more her do anything fun. Meanwhile, Coren is an opposite character, but equally adolescent: he feels awkward, is constantly embarrassed by his parents, and just wants them to leave him alone. One is daring, wild, the other hyper-aware of others' gazes and overly cautious.

The main arc of the plot is about these two teens growing a little. Lenora learns to consider people other than herself, and that having her way all the time would be boring, never thrilling for long. Coren gains confidence in himself and stops worrying so much about what everyone else thinks, and to stand up for himself and what is right.

I noticed a lot of similarities with classic children's stories: there's IT and the city it controls in A Wrinkle in Time, the invisible little Monopods from Voyage of the Dawn Treader, and much of the Emerald City and the Great and Wonderful Wizard from the Wizard of Oz. These are all fairly common story tropes, I suppose, and I never noticed in my many re-reads as a teen.

The pacing is a bit wonky, and in the first half, the back-and-forth between the two povs was a bit annoying, because they kept repeating bits I'd already seen in the other pov. But, again, as a teen I didn't notice this, and the 2 povs do emphasize how the same events can look different according to the teller. It picks up in the second half, once the adventure in Grag really gets started, with less time in any one pov before switching, and fewer repeats.

The first half establishes who Lenora and Coren are and sets out the rules for their respective countries of people who can imagine things into reality or people whose imaginations are so strong they can effectively ignore reality and live in their own minds—including visiting and eavesdropping on others' thoughts. Lenora's parents (understandably!) want to get her to stop being so headstrong and wild, so they decide to marry her off at 16, and effectively exile her to a distant island until she grows up a bit. The responsibilities of a husband and children should surely get her to settle down, yes? Coren is the arranged husband, as his family could use the match politically and perhaps monetarily. Neither teen is happy about being forced to marry someone they have never met.

In the second half, Lenora responds to a magic call and is transported to another reality, where everything and everyone is beautiful and happy, and ruled by the most handsome, gracious, wonderful Hevak. Unfortunately, she accidentally brings Coren with her. She's thrilled to be somewhere so great, ready for adventure. He isn't. But when they meet Hevak, this wonderful place starts to show an ugly side, and they must find out how to save themselves and the country of Grag from a despot. Along the way, they realize they actually like each other and share a few kisses. (But it's not a romance, not really. More like another aspect of adolescence.)

So, no, not high literature or anything. But it's a nice enough fantasy story that I, at least, found highly relatable as a teen, re-read many times, and would still offer a tween today. show less

Carol Matas books tend to have an ideological or didactic purpose, and they are perfectly adequate middle grade fiction, but never brilliant as prose.

That being said, this one rather stunned me. I have nine years of Jewish day school in the United States under my belt; why did it take a middle grade novel by a Canadian to teach me that Jews were expelled from the Union-occupied Confederate states, by order of General Grant? Are American Jews so invested in the myth of a pro-Semitic United show more States (and particularly a pro-Semitic/ anti-slavery connection) that this is a particular stain on our nation's history that we don't teach our children?

To recap, for those who are playing along at home: during the United States Civil War, Jews were expelled from the *Union-controlled* Confederate states, in 1862, 145 years ago.

The novel framed by these real-life events tells the story of Hannah Green, a Southern lady-in-training, a Jewish girl who loves her southern home, who is ejected from her Mississippi home and forced to endure hardships while she learns to question her beliefs. As historical fiction, it's perfectly adequate -- and certainly serves to carry the unexpected and too-little studied history within. show less

Well-read, I thought it was a great historical depiction of what it must have been like living in the ghettos of Poland leading up and thru WWII for the young man who the story centers on. Certainly not an uplifting book but I must applaud their courage in the face of qll the horrors they were subjected to.

So hard to rate. A strong four stars for quality of text, interesting 'sub-plot,' author's note, overall appeal. Two stars off for illustrations that don't actually convey the topic. I could not appreciate the eagle's eyes as being sharp enough to see the mouse, when the mouse was the size of a terrier. Nor the supposed 'blurriness' that several species were supposedly only seeing. Nor the 'different colors' as shown in scenes dappled irregularly with all sorts of colors. Super disappointing show more art, even though it is 'pretty.'

However, as I mentioned, there is a good author's note. And the subplot is wonderful, about a baby's first year exploring nature with her big sister (who, btw, wears glasses). And the first two pages show the newborn's vision, and the vision of the mildly nearsighted girl... reminding us clearly that humans are animals, of course.

And then there are the last lines. Wow. "What does the world look like? It depends on who's looking. And the wonderful thing is, it takes more than one set of eyes to get a full picture."

That right there. That's five stars.
Recommended.
I will look for more by the creators. show less