The Pinhoe Egg by Diana Wynne Jones

From, the jacket flap:

Cat heard a muffled tapping.  At first he thought it was coming from the window, but when  he sat up and listened, he knew the noise was coming from inside his room.

He snapped the light on. Sure enough, the big mauve-speckled egg was rocking gently.

Spells always have consequences, so even the best-intentioned witch or warlock needs guidance from time to time—and it’s Chrestomanci’s job to make sure everything is safely under control. Even so, in the village around Chrestomanci Castle, all sorts of secret magical misuse is going on!

When Cat Chant finds the egg in the attic, he knows he has to have it. Marianne Pinhoe isn’t sure what Gammer will think about that, but she lets him take it anyway. Rumour has it it’s an elephant egg, but Cat’s convinced it’s a dragon’s egg. Within the safety of Chrestomanci Castle, the egg eventually hatches—and chaos breaks out in the surrounding village. Can Cat and Marianne get to the root of the problem, and can Cat’s new charge help?

The Pinhoe Egg is a stand-alone Chrestomanci story, but I feel readers will enjoy it more if they are already acquainted with the world of Chrestomanci. The egg doesn’t hatch until halfway into the book and I won’t spoil the suspense for readers by telling what emerges except that Cat and Marianne name it Klartch and that circumstances get more hilarious even as they also become more evil. A great read for adults as well as children.

Grim Tuesday by Garth Nix

Arthur Penhaligon didn't reckon on  having to return to the strange house that nearly killed him on Monday—the house containing a fantastical and sinister realm inside—never mind that he would have to return the very next day when a new enemy in the form of Grim Tuesday enters his life, threatening the safety of both Arthur’s family and his whole world. Arthur must retrieve the Second Key from Grim Tuesday in order to save everything —an adventure that will force him to steal a Sunship, survive a very weird work camp, befriend a bearlike spirit and fight the void Nithlings. Even after all that, he will still have to venture into the scary Far Reaches for an ultimate showdown.

I don’t think it’s wise to read this book before reading Mister Monday first. It’s a bit like reading the second Harry Potter book without having read the first. In fact, it may even be worse. The plot of Mister Monday is a lot more convoluted than that of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.

I did think Arthur was able to solve his problems a little too easily. For instance, when they find themselves trapped in a glass pyramid, pelted by fiery missiles, a creature with them just happens to have a glass-cutting diamond in its mouth. A bit too convenient even for someone like myself who is all too willing to suspend disbelief for a few hours of entertainment. A writer can maybe get away with something like this once, especially if the reason for the presence of the thing that saves them is carefully set up, but any more and readers are likely to stop caring what happens to the characters. However, Garth Nix has basically succeeded in creating a sequel to Mister Monday that is every bit as gripping.

Drowned Wednesday by Garth Nix

Arthur Penhaligon has a broken leg and a bad attack of asthma, but there’s no time for recovery. Drowned Wednesday has sent a ship to pluck him from the safety of his bed, miles from any ocean, and sail him back to the House.

From hospital room to high seas, Arthur must battle pirates, storms, monsters made of Nothing and a vast beast that can’t stop eating. Arthur struggles to unravel the mystery of the Architect’s disappearance and the plotting of the Trustees. For the sake of all that dwell in the Secondary Realms, he must discover the third part of the Will and claim the Third Key.

But first … can Arthur trust the Raised Rats? Where are Leaf and Suzy? And how will he survive life aboard ship on the treacherous Border Sea?

Garth Nix continues to enchant in the third book of this series, introducing the reader to new fascinating characters and creating more bizarre adventures for Arthur. You have to marvel at such imagination. This series is as weird as anything created by Terry Pratchett.

Sir Thursday by Garth Nix

Arthur Penhaligon doesn’t expect to be a soldier—after all, he’s the Rightful Heir, he wields the first three powerful Keys to the Kingdom, and he has a broken leg. But when he returns to the House, determined to defeat the Morrow Days, there’s no escaping Sir Thursday’s inexorable plan. Forced into the Glorious Army of the Architect, Arthur is drafted to serve for a hundred long years.

Back home, a Spirit Eater has stolen Arthur’s place and is rapidly corrupting the minds of his family and friends. With Arthur gone, only Leaf can stop this sorcerous clone.

But will Leaf be in time? And how will Arthur find the next part of the Will, claim the fourth Key and defeat not only Sir Thursday but a marauding army of savage Nithlings?

I found this book not quite as good as the first three. For some reason Sir Thursday didn’t seem as terrifying as some of the other Morrow Days. Perhaps  because he hardly appears until near the end. The Piper, on the other hand, is another matter. Arthur makes another new friend, Fred Gold, and I found him very engaging. Garth Nix’s imagination is still in full force and I look forward to Lady Friday.

Lady Friday by Garth Nix

It’s Friday, and Arthur Penhaligon has defeated four of the seven trustees, but his week isn’t getting any easier. The Piper’s New Nithling Army controls most of the Great Maze, and Superior Saturday is creating danger wherever she can. Worse still, Arthur is cut off from his home and loved ones, and risks being trapped in the House forever. All he knows is that Leaf has gone missing—along with  his mother, his  brother, Leaf’s family and  hundreds of others, lured from their beds to a sinister institution in another world. And then there’s the little matter of The Beast to deal with …

Lady Friday tempts Arthur with an unexpected offer—but is it a cunning trap for the Rightful Heir to the Kingdom, or a chance he must seize before Superior Saturday or the Piper snatch it first? Who will win the race to discover the secret of the Middle House?

Garth Nix’s imagination still doesn’t flag in Lady Friday. Some people have found it slower than its predecessors but I can’t say I found it particularly slow. Certainly nothing like the way Order of the Phoenix dragged on, making me fear (fortunately wrongly) for the rest of the Harry Potter series. I can hardly wait for Superior Saturday. As I write it is available; I just can’t spare the cash for it.

Coraline by Neil Gaiman

From the back cover: Coraline is not the kind of girl to be put off by a sign of danger read in some tea-leaves or indeed a message sent to her by some very talented mice! No, she is the kind of girl who faces a challenge with bravery, intelligence and a lot of determination. Which is just as well because she is going to need all those skills, and more, in this wonderful, spooky tale of a girl caught on the wrong side of a door, with counterfeit parents who have buttons for eyes and who clearly do not intend to set her free. Read it if you dare!

At least two famous authors must have seen this book before publication because my copy (which, judging from the publication page, is a first edition) has Terry Pratchett calling it a masterpiece and Diana Wynne Jones describing it as “Splendidly original, weird, and frightening”. I found it very scary on first reading but when I returned to it after reading Cliff McNish’s Breathe, a ghost story (because the McNish book reminded me of Coraline) I found it tame in comparison, which didn’t seem at all fair. But then maybe the comparison isn’t fair. The McNish book is a lot longer and intended for an older audience. Also, the mother with button eyes wasn’t as bad a threat to Coraline as the Ghost Mother was to Jack’s mother and finally Jack himself. Anyway, I look forward to reading more of Neil Gaiman’s work for young readers.

Dragon Rider by Cornelia Funke

A dragon. A boy. A journey.

Firedrake, a brave young dragon, his loyal brownie friend Sorrel and a lonely boy called Ben are united as if by destiny. Together, they embark on a magical journey to find the legendary place where silver dragons can live in peace forever. With only a curious map and the whispered memories of an old dragon to guide them,  they fly across moonlit lands and seas to reach the highest mountains in the world.

Along the way, they discover extraordinary new friends in unlikely places and a courage they never knew they had. Just as well, for the greatest enemy of all is never far behind them—a heartless monster from the past who’s been waiting a very long time to destroy the last dragons on earth.

Once again when judging the writing in this book we are judging the work of a translator. Fortunately it’s Anthea Bell again. And fortunately Cornelia Funke has another great story to tell, featuring one of the most popular characters with children: dragons. I didn’t find this book quite as riveting as Inkheart, but I suspect it’s probably the other way round with young readers.

I love the cover illustration on my edition: a silver dragon swooping across a deep blue sky, his huge golden eyes turned on the reader as he appears to breath silver stars all over the title of the book. How could any young person fail to be attracted by such a cover?

Spindle’s End by Robin McKinley

The princess has been missing since she was a baby. And Rosie, an ordinary girl, is growing up in an unremarkable little village far away from the royal city.

Unremarkable, that is, in a land where magic is so common that it settles over everything like dust. But a fairy curse is the kind of magic nobody wants, because it always comes true. And Rosie cannot stay ordinary forever …

If you haven’t already worked it out, this is a retelling of the story of Sleeping Beauty. But Robin McKinley has turned the story on its head. For a start, the princess isn‘t a beauty, though she is a very lovable character. All the fairies who showered upon her gifts like golden hair, long eyelashes, pearly teeth, a perfect complexion and lips like cherries forgot it’s possible to have all the things that are considered to be part of being beautiful and still be very ordinary looking. And marrying the prince doesn’t always make for a happy ending. Sometimes I felt the pace lagged a little, possibly because the book starts off with a lot of “telling” instead of showing, but the reader is soon drawn into the wonderful world of magic Robin McKinley has created. I look forward to reading more of her books.

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle

Everyone in town thinks Meg Murry is volatile and dull-witted, and that her younger brother, Charles Wallace, is dumb. People are also saying that their physicist father has run off and left their brilliant scientist mother. Spurred on by these rumours and an unearthly stranger, the tesseract-touting Mrs Whatsit, Meg and Charles Wallace and their new friend Calvin O’Keefe embark on a perilous quest through space to find their father. In doing so, they must travel behind the shadow of an evil power that is darkening the cosmos, one planet at a time. This is no superhero tale, nor is it science fiction, although it shares elements of both. The travellers must rely on their individual and collective strengths, delving deep within themselves to find answers.

A Wrinkle in Time deserves to be classed as a classic, and Madeleine L’Engle’s prose is a joy to read. I unfortunately don’t own a copy of this book (I borrowed it from the library) but am definitely going in search of one. I want to read it again, along with its companion volumes. And this time I want to read them in the proper order. These are: A Wrinkle in Time, A Wind in the Door and A Swiftly Tilting Planet.

A Wind in the Door by Madeleine L’Engle

Meg Murry can’t help worrying when her six-year-old brother, Charles Wallace, announces that there are dragons in the vegetable garden. He’s so bright, and so different from other kids, that he’s being bullied at school, and he is also strangely seriously ill.

But Charles Wallace is right about the dragons—actually a friendly entity who has come to help Charles Wallace fight his sickness, and to take Meg and her friend Calvin O’Keefe on a terrifying, wonderful journey into galactic space, where they must battle the forces of evil to save Charles Wallace and themselves.

A very fitting and satisfying sequel to A Wrinkle in Time that is bound to enchant both young readers and adults. My edition is a “Commemorative” one published in 1973 and contains an introduction by the author. Its cover also has a rather charming drawing of the creature that Charles Wallace mistook for a dragon.

A Swiftly Tilting Planet by Madeleine L’Engle

Charles Wallace and the unicorn moved through the time-spinning reaches of a far galaxy, and he realized that the galaxy itself was part of a mighty orchestra, and each star and planet within the galaxy added its own instrument to the music of the spheres. As long as the ancient harmonies were sung, the universe would not entirely lose its joy.

He was hardly aware when Gaudior’s hoofs struck ground and the melody dimmed until it was only a pervasive beauty of the background. With a deep sigh Gaudior stopped his mighty song and folded his wings into his flanks.

In this companion volume to A Wrinkle in Time (Newbery Award winner) and A Wind in the Door, fifteen-year-old Charles Wallace and the unicorn Gaudior undertake a perilous journey through time in a desperate attempt to stop the destruction of the world by the mad dictator Madog Branzillo. They are not alone in their quest. Charles Wallace’s sister, Meg—grown and expecting her first child, but still able to enter her brother”s thoughts and emotions by “kything”—goes with him in spirit.

The quote from the book in the first two paragraphs above gives a good idea of the beauty of Madeleine L’Engle’s prose. A Swiftly Tilting Planet is another worthy sequel to her classic A Wrinkle in Time.

Deep Wizardry by Diane Duane

“I will weave my voice and my will and my blood with that of those who sing, if there be need …”

Summoned by a friendly dolphin to the aid of a wounded whale, Nita and Kit discover the whale to be a wizard like themselves. They volunteer their help in an age-old ritual of the Sea—the Song of Twelve, a powerful magic that must be performed to combat the growing strength of the evil Lone Power. Nita is to take the part of the Silent Lord, a key player in the Song.

Taking the shape of whales themselves, the two meet up with the other whales who are to take part in the Song—and with the Pale Slayer, master of the sharks. But there is no wizardry without a price and Nita discovers—too late to back out—that the ritual will lead her into terrible danger. Does she have the courage to keep her promise?

Some people reviewing this book on amazon.com have found it slow-paced. I personally think they mistook poetic imagery for lack of pace. Someone else found it lacking in humour. Since when has high fantasy needed humour? Even the humour in the Harry Potter books slackened as the plot became darker and more intense. I found Deep Wizardry utterly enchanting. Ed, the Master-Shark, the Pale Slayer, is a character few readers will forget. This is the second book in the Young Wizards series. The first was So You Want to be a Wizard and I think it’s advisable to read this first.

Gypsy Rizka by Lloyd Alexander

Rizka’s a live wire—just try to stop her!

Quick-witted, bright and sassy, Rizka the Gypsy girl is involved with everything happening in Greater Dunitsa, including runaway lovers, floods, magical caves and a ghost in the town hall. And everyone in town has an opinion. Big Franko wants her to have a better life, General Hatvan wants to court-martial her, young Sofiya wants to be just like her, and her greatest enemy—Chief Councilor Sharpnack—wants to run her out of Greater Dunitsa. Has Rizka finally met her match?

Most of the characters in this book tend to be cartoonish. Even Rizka herself, who lives alone on the outskirts of the town in a gypsy caravan, waiting for her gypsy father to return and claim her, doesn’t escape this type of characterisation. But that’s often the case in farcical comedies like Gypsy Rizka, and Lloyd Alexander’s wit and humour are bound to appeal to most young readers, especially girls, who can hardly fail to share Sofiya’s feelings about Rizka. While I enjoyed this book and had no trouble identifying with Rizka, it’s definitely not a favourite among my Lloyd Alexander collection.