Rescue at Lake Wild

Rescue at Lake Wild by Terry Lynn Johnson, 2021

Recommended for grades 4-6; realistic fiction, mystery

Brief Review:

Twelve-year-old Madi and her friends Jack and Aaron stumble across both a mystery and a rescue mission when they discover two dead adult beavers and two orphaned beaver kits. Madi considers herself an “animal whisperer” and a future wildlife rehabilitator, so she takes charge of caring for the kits even though her mother has banned her from bringing rescue animals home. Madi’s sister Marley finds out about the beavers quickly, but the girls’ mother is out of town and Marley agrees to keep the secret in exchange for Madi’s complicity in the party she’s planning. Meanwhile, Jack is determined to find out what happened to the parent beavers. He and his dog Lid manage to uncover several clues, but the kids also learn that beaver dams have been causing flooding in town, and most of the local people would be happy to see the beavers dead. Madi has an idea for solving that problem, but just when her plan seems to be going well, the kits disappear during Marley’s party and Mom returns at the worst possible time. This book will appeal strongly to animal lovers and it contains a lot of interesting information about beavers. However, it lacks believability and relevance to contemporary middle-grade readers, mainly due to the amount of independence that the young protagonists are allowed to have, and the plot is a little too simple to make the story memorable or distinctive. 

Long Review:

Twelve-year-old Madi is an “animal whisperer” and aspiring wildlife rehabilitator, but she isn’t supposed to bring home stray or orphaned animals anymore. Her mom has made that quite clear. In fact, her long-anticipated trip to meet Jane Goodall is at stake. But when Madi, along with her friends Jack and Aaron, hear sounds coming from a beaver lodge shortly after finding two dead adult beavers, Madi knows that the beaver kits need her help. 

Madi swims into the beaver lodge and finds two kits. She and her friends name them Phragmites (Phrag for short) and Cooler. Madi hides the beaver kits in her clubhouse and takes charge of their care and feeding. Since her late grandmother had been a wildlife rehabilitator, Madi already knows a lot about caring for different types of animals, and she even happens to have beaver formula on hand. She uses her grandmother’s logbook both to learn more about caring for beavers and to record her own experiences with the kits. Luckily for Madi, her mother is currently out of town. Madi’s sister Marley discovers the beaver kits, but she’s willing to keep Madi’s secret in return for Madi’s complicity in the party she plans to throw. 

Meanwhile, Jack wants to find out what happened to the parent beavers. He and his dog Lid lead Aaron and Madi in an investigation and the kids quickly learn that a lot of the local people hate beavers. Their dams are causing flooding, and a group of town residents are considering putting a bounty on beavers to incentivize people to kill them. Now the kids need to find a way to change the townspeople’s minds about beavers in addition to caring for the two they’ve rescued and finding out who exactly killed the parents.

Madi and her friends discover that they can control where the beavers build dams by manipulating the sounds of running water. With the beaver kits, that means playing water sounds on an iPod; in the wild, it involves moving poles to create extra turbulence. The experiment is successful, but everything goes wrong on the night of Marley’s party. The beaver kits go missing and Madi’s mom gets home early, thereby discovering both Marley’s party and Madi’s disobedience in sheltering orphaned wildlife. Madi’s trip to see Jane Goodall is cancelled. But as far as Madi is concerned, the bigger issue is figuring out how to save the beavers.

This animal rescue story is nostalgically reminiscent of similar ‘90s stories, most notably the Animal Ark series. (written by several different authors and published between 1994 and 2008 under the pen name Lucy Daniels in the UK and Ben M. Baglio in the United States) For adult readers, there’s another layer of nostalgia in that there’s little mention of current technology like cell phones and the internet. The kids spend most of their time outdoors and are free to go wherever they want unsupervised. For the target audience of contemporary middle-grade readers, though, that nostalgia and sense of independence may constitute a lack of believability and detract from the appeal of this story.

However, for animal lovers, this book contains enough interesting information to offset those drawbacks. I was admittedly skeptical of some of the depictions of beaver behavior, but after doing a little light research, I found that this book is actually very accurate and that Madi’s experiments with the water noises are based on real events and experiments. In a few passages, the book also emphasizes the importance of leaving wildlife alone in most situations, which is obviously an important point to make to young readers who may otherwise become overzealous about their own wildlife rescue efforts. 

Besides the messages and themes about wildlife, the book also discusses family and the importance of strong family relationships. Madi’s sympathy for the beaver kits and her determination to provide for them relates to this theme, but her relationships with her sister Marley and her mother also play significant roles in the plot. Her closeness to her deceased grandmother is also important. Unfortunately, these side plots aren’t given enough attention to contribute much to the overall experience of the book. Although this book will appeal to middle-grade wildlife-lovers, its plot is a little too simple to be memorable or distinctive.

The Mysterious Disappearance of Aidan S. (as told to his brother)

The Disappearance of Aidan S. (as told to his brother) by David Levithan, 2021

Recommended for grades 5-8; fantasy, realistic fiction

Brief Review:

When twelve-year-old Aidan suddenly returns after being missing for three days, he tells his brother Lucas that he had been in a world called “Aveinieu”. Lucas repeats this to their parents and the police without realizing that he’s blowing his brother’s cover before Aidan even had a chance to figure out his cover story. The family wants to keep Aidan’s explanation to themselves, but just when the brothers are ready for life to go back to normal, the police leak the story and everyone in town knows. Aidan has told his friends a vague story about sleepwalking, getting lost in the woods, and being “out of [his] mind” at first when he got back, but now he’s being teased about unicorns and the family is harassed by the media. The book ends without a satisfying resolution other than a scene hinting that Aveinieu is still there, but clarifying that Aidan and Lucas are perfectly happy in their regular life. Despite being technically a fantasy, this book’s mundane, real-world setting and its slow pace with little action result in a lack of appeal factors. The believability of the characters constitutes one redeeming quality and the concise but introspective writing style is another. However, the emphasis on people’s emotional states of mind feels forced and borders on corny. Not recommended for fans of adventure or high fantasy; instead, suggest this book to preteen readers who appreciate speculative fiction with an intriguing premise regardless of the specific plot points or lack thereof.

Long Review:

The story begins when twelve-year-old Aidan is suddenly transported to the fantasy world of Aveinieu, but unlike most portal fantasy stories, which concern themselves with the adventures that take place in Narnia or Wonderland or Oz or Underland, this book is about Aidan’s return three days later and how the whole experience affects his family. Told from the first-person perspective of his eleven-year-old brother Lucas, the book follows the brothers through police interviews, awkward conversations at school, and unwanted media attention.

At first, Aidan doesn’t give many details. All he tells Lucas is the name Aveinieu, and Lucas repeats it to their parents and the police detectives without realizing that he’s blowing Aidan’s cover before Aidan has even had a chance to figure out his cover story. When Aidan begrudgingly gives more details, the adults are understandably skeptical. Lucas is Aidan’s main confidant, and even he has to be cautious about when and how he asks questions. Gradually, Aidan reveals more about Aveinieu, the otherworldly animals there, the people he met, and how he got sent back because of the concern that he could be bringing diseases from his home world. 

The entire community knows about Aidan’s disappearance, and they had all helped with the search effort, but Aidan’s explanation about Aveinieu stays between his family and the police at first. But just when Lucas and Aidan feel ready for life to go back to normal, the police leak the story and everyone in town knows. Aidan has told his friends a vague story about sleepwalking, getting lost in the woods, and being “out of [his] mind” at first when he got back, but now he’s being teased about unicorns and the family is harassed by the media. At school, Aidan even gets confronted by an apparently delusional man who breeches school security to talk to him about a completely different fantasy world where he believes he met Aidan.

The story ends without a satisfying resolution. The brothers put a fair amount of effort and research into developing a cover story, but the police know it isn’t true. At that point, they officially close the case, since Aidan is home and evidently safe, and the media frenzy eventually blows over. The final few pages serve as an epilogue, hinting that Aveinieu is still there, but clarifying that Aidan and Lucas are perfectly happy in their regular life.

This book has received good reviews from professional review journals, including starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and Booklist, but only mediocre ratings on user-generated platforms like Goodreads and Amazon. I suspect that’s because the general public has less tolerance for loose ends than literary professionals do. Besides that, the contrast between the mundane, real-world setting and the fantastical world of Avienieu is stark enough to make this book feel awfully slow-paced for a fantasy novel with the word “mysterious” in the title. There is hardly any actual action, just lots of conversation.

Despite that lack of appeal factors, I thought that this book was, overall, interesting and well-written. The twist on the portal fantasy sub-genre is interesting, even if it doesn’t feel exactly necessary. (Fantasy stories can certainly be analogous to real life, or carry messages that pertain to reality, even without taking place in the real world) My bigger complaint about this book is that the token “nice” grownups, Officer Pinkus and Aunt Brandi, seem too good to be true and border on corny. Officer Pinkus seems to believe Aidan’s story and, unlike the other adults, doesn’t even question his mental state. And Aunt Brandi inserts herself into the role of family therapist by repeatedly asking everyone to articulate their feelings and critiquing the parents on how they communicate with their preteens. In real life, that would be presumptuous and annoying behavior from an aunt; it’s a little bizarre that this family accepts and appreciates that kind of intervention.

This brief, speculative novel for preteens will certainly appeal to a very specific target audience, but it won’t be the best choice for genre readers who love fast-paced adventure, high fantasy with complex world-building, or realistic fiction about believable, real-life issues. Instead, suggest it to readers who value intriguing premises over plot and suspense. Because it’s a pretty quick read, this book may be a good choice for reluctant readers.

Thornwood

Thornwood by Leah Cypess, 2021

Recommended for grades 4-6; fairy tale, fantasy

Not yet published; this review refers to an Advance Reading Copy from Netgalley. Expected publication date is April 6.

Brief Review:

Briony is the lesser-known younger sister of Princess Rosalind, better known as Sleeping Beauty. When Briony suddenly wakes up on the floor of a room with a spinning wheel, she immediately knows that the curse has come true and Rosalind has pricked her finger, sending the entire castle into a century-long nap. But why did Briony wake up before her sister? And after the foretold Prince kisses Rosalind, why is the castle still surrounded by a dense forest of thorns? It’s up to Briony, along with her new friend Edwin, her sister, and the surprisingly incompetent Prince Varian to figure out how to defeat the thornwood. Along the way, they gradually learn that Rosalind’s curse was actually just a part of a far larger feud amongst the fairies. In order to save her family, friends, and servants, Briony must sort through all of the half-answers and cryptic clues that her sister’s fairy godmother has been gradually feeding her over the course of the book. This fractured fairy tale will appeal to fans of the genre, especially Liesl Shurtliff’s (Fairly) True Tales series. The familiar story is given numerous twists that make it particularly appealing to the tween audience including a few additional characters who are likable and relatively believable, an atypical and almost sinister depiction of the fairies, realistic themes of sibling rivalry and sibling love, and enough complexities and setbacks to maintain an exciting, fast-paced plot for the duration of the novel.

Long Review:

In this novelized retelling of the Sleeping Beauty story, Briony is the younger sister of the beautiful, tragically cursed princess Rosalind. The royal family has lived in fear for longer than Briony has even been alive, but now it’s finally Rosalind’s sixteenth birthday, and they just have to make it through one more day before they can be sure that Rosalind is finally safe. The king decides to throw a huge party for his older daughter’s birthday to celebrate the end of the curse. But when Briony suddenly wakes up on the floor of a room with a spinning wheel, she knows that Rosalind didn’t escape the curse after all. Despite all of her parents’ precautions, Rosalind has pricked her finger on a spinning wheel and everyone in the castle has fallen asleep for a hundred years.

But Briony gradually realizes that the curse didn’t play out exactly as predicted. Why is she the first person in the castle to wake up, and why is she the one who wakes up in the room with the spinning wheel? And after she finds Rosalind just as the foretold prince kisses her, why is the castle still surrounded by a dense forest of thorns? Besides that, Briony can’t help instinctively disliking Prince Varian. He later confidentially admits that he isn’t actually a prince at all and that he doesn’t even know how to use his magical sword. He explains that Rosalind’s fairy godmother gave him the sword and led him through the thornwood and that he doesn’t know how to get rid of the thorns now. He also says that it’s been a lot more than one century since Rosalind and Briony fell into their magical slumber. In fact, Briony learns that the nearby village is now a tourist destination whose economy mainly relies on the princes who have each wanted to try rescuing the legendary Sleeping Beauty.

Meanwhile, Briony meets and befriends a boy named Edwin who came to the castle shortly before Rosalind pricked her finger. Although most of the palace servants had simply failed to show up for work that day in order to avoid the curse, Edwin did the opposite. He snuck into the castle for the purpose of being caught in the century-long nap so that he could escape his reputation as the “village dolt”. But now, he joins forces with Briony, Rosalind, and Prince Varian to figure out how to escape the castle while the king, queen, and servants continue to sit around and hope that the thornwood will go away on its own.

As the four young people try multiple methods of escape, and Briony has a few bizarre encounters with her sister’s fairy godmother, they gradually learn that Rosalind’s curse was actually just a part of a far larger feud amongst the fairies. Rosalind’s fairy godmother simply used Rosalind as a pawn in her scheme to imprison the fairy queen. And it was working while Rosalind was asleep. But the thornwood is controlled by the fairy queen herself, not by the curse. Now that the curse has been lifted and Rosalind is awake, the thornwood wants to consume her. Briony is sure that there has to be another solution. Nobody is able to tell her what it is; in order to save her family, friends, and servants, Briony must sort through all of the half-answers and cryptic clues that the fairy godmother has been gradually giving her.

This fractured fairy tale will appeal to fans of the genre, especially Liesl Shurtliff’s (Fairly) True Tales series. It takes a very familiar story and gives it several twists that make it particularly appealing to the tween audience including a few additional characters who are likable and relatively believable, an atypical and almost sinister depiction of the fairies, occasional passages of dry humor, realistic themes of sibling rivalry and sibling love, and enough complexities and setbacks to maintain an exciting, fast-paced plot for the duration of the novel. This book is evidently the first in a new fairy-tale-themed series about sisterhood.