The Crane Wife by Patrick Ness

He's divorced and living alone when he hears a mournful keen outdoors.  He gets up, looks, and doesn't see anything.  Then he hears it again and realizes it's a bird.  A crane to be exact.  And it has an arrow in its wing.

The Penguin Press and Edelweiss gave me the opportunity read and review this ebook (thank you).  It will be published January 23rd, so make a note for a future bookstore stop.

This is written with the flavor of a Japanese fairy tale.  Besides the current story about George and his family, there is another tale within it.  That's a fairy tale about a crane and a volcano who are both in love with each other and hate each other.  The fairy tale sounds like a myth.  George sounds like a lonely man.

George owns a printing shop but he has a personal hobby.  He picks up old desecrated books and cuts them into pictures or animals or whatever they say to him.  He has no plans, he just begins cutting and then sees what emerges.  

When Kumiko walks into his shop, he has no idea his life is going to change.  She's a beautiful woman with artistic talent and she wants to create art with George.  He's amazed to be asked and is happy to work with her.  The tiles they create bring in a lot of money and he's dating Kumiko and all is good.

The ending is unusual and a bit of a mystery to me.  I understand that Kumiko was the crane and is part of the fairy tale but it also comes over into George's life and that gets a bit strange.  This is a fantasy that will stretch your mind.  It's interesting reading.

Happy reading.

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

Conor is living with three nightmares:  the one in his head, the one with the Yew tree, and the one with his mother in real life.


Candlewick Press and Net Galley shared this ebook with me for review (thank you).  It will be published this September.


Conor knows his mother is deathly ill.  He also knows a Yew tree can't walk.  And he knows he's becoming invisible at school because no one knows what to say to him or wants anything to do with him.  But he doesn't know why he has this awful nightmare that keeps him awake all night because he's fearful he'll dream it again if he goes back to sleep.


There is old magic in this story.  The Yew tree tells Conor stories and each story has an unusual message.  The ancient tree points out that there is more to the story than Conor sees at first; the obvious answer may not be the correct one.


This is the story of a boy coming to terms with his mother's terminal illness.  Using a Yew tree like an old man telling tales is a unique touch.  The pain in the story touches you and makes you wish there could be a happily ever after, but that's not how life works.


The author's story flows well and it's easy to empathize with Conor's emotional turmoil and pain.  Your young one may learn some things from the Yew tree's tales, too.


Why not pick up a copy at your local bookstore when it comes out in September?


Happy reading.

The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness

This book grabbed my attention and kept me reading until I finished the story, but I found it disturbing.

If you have a boy who doesn't like reading, this one should catch his attention and he'll finish it, don't worry about that. But I think you should pre-read it, so you can discuss what he's reading and how he feels about it.

This is the first book of the Chaos Walking series, and it's not a gentle walk in the park.

A young boy lives in a town of all men, who have to live with the constant noise of other's thoughts. He's near coming of age, and can't wait until he'll be a man, too. However, he has no idea what the ritual of maturity is, and the men who adopted him after the death of his parents appear to be worried about it.

They can't tell him anything, because he doesn't know how to hide his thoughts well yet. And they hesitate to tell him because it's going to turn his life upside down.

But then Todd sees something that is dangerous, and his adopted parents plead with him to leave town and find a new life. He doesn't believe there IS another life. All he knows is what he was taught as he grew up.

But when the men of town come after him, he goes as he is told, and his adventures begin.

First, he finds a girl. He was told all women were dead, had died from disease. Where did she come from?

He also finds his tormentor from town has followed him and is now even more of a danger...

He and his dog (who can talk to him telepathically also) first work on locating the girl, then on following the map to the next town in hopes they will be welcomed there.

Along the way, he finds that much of what he was taught as a child was a lie, that the ritual of manhood is a horror, that there is no real place to run to, and that he may have to kill to stay alive.

The book is full of good and evil, but it's not apparent who is which right away.

And people do die along the way.

There is a real cliff hanger at the end of the book, which will make you wait on pins and needles for the next book. What can happen next???

I enjoyed the read, but this book touched me emotionally, and I think it would be good for parents or siblings to discuss some of the issues with each other.

It's fantasy and science fiction, but it reads like "real" to me.

This would be a good fit for the young adult audience. This book is already available for sale.

If you would like my advance reading copy, leave a comment on my blog and email me to indicate your interest and why you would like it. I'll do a drawing and send it one of you.