Phoenix Book Company Blog

12 year-old Henry York’s parents have been kidnapped.  He is sent to live with his plain & boring Aunt Dottie and Uncle Frank in Henry, Kansas.  He’s bored, disconnected and unemotional; simply an observer of life, never a participant.  Yet, as we get to know Henry, we learn that he longs for connection, for family, for the simple pleasures in life (like baseball).  As he settles into his attic bedroom and gets to know his 3 cousins and the farm on which he now lives, he starts to think maybe he can find something here he’s been missing - love and family.

Then in the middle of the night, Henry wakes to find plaster bits on his face & bed.  The ceiling and wall of his attic bedroom are crumbling away. He starts to chip and peel away the old plaster, only to discover 98 little cupboard doors.  Mystified he and his adventurous cousin Henrietta start poking around the cupboards and in the farm house until they find a way to open the doors and unleash a series of curious adventures.

It’s a creepy, curious adventure tale that I enjoyed, although it took me some time to get into the story. I think that was partly because Henry is so detached from his emotions and so cautious a boy that he tentatively steps into the adventure, slowly bringing the reader along.  The glimpses into the other worlds that can be reached through the cupboards are enchanting and frightening - the next books in this series will hopefully explore more the geography and stories of all these magical lands.  N.D. Wilson’s 100 Cupboards will be enjoyed by lovers of Neil Gaiman’s Coraline, as well as anyone who is searching for adventure or a place to belong.

• Posted by Cori

When I was in junior high I loved horror and scary stories. I remember reading all kinds of things and not being able to put down the gruesome tales of ghosts, haunted houses, murders, supernatural phenomenon and demons even though I’d be afraid to fall asleep later.  Reading Simon Holt’s The Devouring reminded me of that freakish pleasure I used to take in scary stories.  It was a great read, quick, thrilling and scary!

When we meet high school freshmen Reggie, she is reading about the Vours in a mysterious old journal, and she assumes they are just the musings of an anonymous lunatic. She’s fascinated by the horror genre, both in films and movies, and even goes so far as to tell scary bedtime stories, like the story of the Vours, to her impressionable little brother Henry.  But when Henry begins to act strangely, Reggie and her best friend have to accept that these creatures exist beyond a madwoman’s imagination, and Reggie learns what happens when fears come to life.  To save her brother, she must piece together the mystery of the journal, face the terror of a Vour, and then dive into a world where nightmares and fear become real and deadly.

In what is easily the first book in a series on the “Vour Wars,” Holt creates a creepy tale where the line between fear and reality is blurred and we are left to wonder if our own nightmares can consume us as easily as the characters in The Devouring.

• Posted by Cori

In Maze of Bones, The 39 Clues Book One, Amy and Dan Cahill are orphans whose world falls apart with the death of their beloved (and wealthy) grandmother, Grace. At the funeral, the lawyer calls together a select few of her many relatives into the mansion’s Great Hall and offers them each a choice: take a one-million-dollar inheritance and leave, or, instead of money, be given the first of 39 clues that “might lead you to the most important treasure in the world and make you powerful beyond belief . . . or it might kill you.” Amy and Dan take a clue, although they are mystified and confused about this (and perhaps many other) secrets Grace had been keeping all these years. Other family members take the clue too and the adventure begins. The lawyer also gives Amy and Dan the sage advice to “trust no one” and from the get go their enemies (aunts, uncles & cousins!) close in on them.  As Dan and Amy try to piece the puzzle pieces together, they travel the world and learn a bit of history too, all the while barely making it out of some deadly traps!

Rick Riordan (author of Percy Jackson and the Olympians series) crafts a series opening thriller full of twists, turns, surprises and suspense.  It felt a lot like the movies National Treasure meets Spy Kids and The DaVinci Code (without any religion). It was a fun, quick read and I enjoyed solving the riddles with Amy and Dan.

The 39 Clues series includes 10 books, each by a different well-known author (Book Two is by Gordon Korman), with a new one coming out every few months. The series presents a giant mystery that readers must try to decipher, using trading cards and a website, along with the books. Each book also contains six cards, and readers can buy additional clue-laden packs (350 cards in all). As for the jackpot, Scholastic will provide $100,000 in cash and prizes, some awarded for skill and others as part of a sweepstakes. DreamWorks Studios has also bought the movie rights to the series, making The 39 Clues a completely integrated enterainment experience.

• Posted by Cori

In Arizona author Terri Field’s new book, My Father’s Son, high-school junior Kevin Windor leads a normal life, until the day his father is arrested as the suspect in a brutal serial killing spree.  He was caught trying to climb out of the latest victim’s bathroom window, and the press is quick to pounce on him as a monster.  Kevin and his mom are shocked by the arrest - Greg Windor was a normal guy.  As everyone starts to turn against his dad, and by association him, Kevin tries to believe in his dad’s innocence until the fateful result of the DNA testing is released.  At that point Kevin really starts to spiral out of control as he struggles helplessly to piece together the truth about his dad’s secret life.

The story is told from Kevin’s point of view, enabling the reader to experience these horrible events along with him.  He bounces back and forth between confusion and anger so quickly that no one around him seems to be able to trust or understand him anymore - least of all himself.  At times he’s almost clueless about what’s going on and his helplessness always channels itself into lashing out at someone.  Up until the end, which has a “happy” ending that comes a bit too easily and neatly, it is a believable tale about the families and victims of violent crime and the emotional and social repercussions of rumor and celebrity.

• Posted by Cori

Living Dead Girlby Elizabeth Scott is a disturbing book.  Alice was abducted by Ray when she was 10 and has been living as his child sexual slave for the last 5 years.  She has been beaten and raped and reminded daily that if she tries to escape, Ray will find her and will return to her childhood home and murder her parents.  Now that she is 15, Alice knows that Ray is tiring of her, because she cannot stay a girl-child forever, and soon he will kill her as he did to the Alice he had before her.  But then he makes an unusual request - Alice must help him find a new little girl to belong to him - and maybe he will let her live.  Desperate to escape the physical and emotional abuse, Alice turns her attention to a local playground and a little girl who would be perfect for Ray’s appetites.

Scott creates a compelling and horrific world in this short novel.  While not explicit in detail, enough description of the rapes, torture, and abuse is provided that the reader can feel Alice’s pain and torture.  Alice has been brainwashed and broken by Ray and her memories of the early days when he made her into “Alice” are woven in with her present situation and the thought of finding another little girl who can bear the burden of Ray’s love & obsession. Watching her hunt for the new “Alice” is frightening because it is juxtaposed against her complete victimization, and I was torn between compassion, pain and loathing as I read.  I longed for Alice to escape but was horrified that it might come at the cost of either hers or another young girl’s life.

Living Dead Girl is definitely a high-school only book, and even then it may be too graphic for some readers.  This is a powerful story that was hard to put down and will be hard to forget.

• Posted by Cori

Little Audrey, is Ruth White’s latest novel and most personal work to date. It tells the story of a time in her childhood when she and her family were living in a coal mining camp in southwestern Virginia.  Taking real events and imagining them through the eyes of her older sister, White crafts a poignant and charming tale of what it’s like to be poor, hungry, and sometimes happy.

Fierce in its honesty, we see through 11 year old Audrey’s eyes and learn about this harsh world.  Struggles with hunger, poverty, the grueling life in the mines, alcoholism, depression, and illness are balanced by moments of family joy, a piece of candy, a movie, good food, and friendship.  Never sentimental and candid as only a child’s perspective can be, White crafts characters who are rich in emotion and situations that grab onto the reader from beginning to end.  A younger reader will be captivated by a life few today know and will easily relate to Audrey’s thoughts and feelings.  As an adult, I was reminded on more than one occasion of Janette Wall’s The Glass Castle, in the portrayals of poverty and alcoholism and in the children’s yearning to “live better than we do.”

• Posted by Cori

Sarah Mussi’s first novel, The Door of No Return, is a suspense-filled thriller.  It is a robust and vivid adventure rooted in the terrible history and legacy of the African slave trade. Zac Baxter’s grandfather has always told him they are the last descendants of an African King, but Zac always thought it was just a crazy pipe dream his grandfather clung to.  When his grandfather, Pops, is killed by muggers, Zac is devastated. Dumped with foster parents, then forced into an orphanage, Zac stumbles from trouble to trouble, but over time incidents and clues arise to lead him to believe that maybe Pops’ obsession wasn’t a fantasy after all.  The one thing he hangs on to is his promise to Pops that he would track down the truth about their family history and go to Ghana in search of a ransom paid by an ancestor some 200 years earlier, to keep his son from slavery – a ransom stolen by British government agents at the time, which then disappeared.

Once in Ghana, Zac is alone and without help as he discovers that Pops’ death and everything since is part of a wider plan by some shadowy others, also connected to the lost ransom. In a web of intrigue, betrayal and murder that reaches out of the past to entrap everyone in the present, Zac’s quest culminates in a perilous voyage to the Door of No Return in the walls of the ancient slave fort - through which the slaves were once herded to the boats that would take them across the ocean, on a journey many of them would never survive.

I was instantly captivated by Mussi’s characters and her complex and fast-paced plot.  Zac has to grow up fast and learn whom he can and cannot trust in a life or death game that leads him to unexpected allies and adversaries.  He’s a street-smart 21st century kid who has to face obstacles and dangers that are way bigger than he is, but as he finds allies and grows to trust himself more over the course of the story, he proves he is indeed the descendant of kings.

My only frustration with the novel is that Mussi chose to have Zac tell the story in retrospect.  He writes out his account of his adventures in three sections that track his year-long adventure, and throughout he makes comments and asides to the reader about how scared he was, or how he is so glad he made it out of the danger alive, etc.;  I think this lessened the overall suspense that the novel could have had.  Zac was in some very scary and precarious positions throughout the book, and if it had been told in first-person present tense it would have kept me on the edge of my seat wondering if, and how, he could survive.  As it is written, I didn’t get as anxious as I might have because I knew that he survived the ordeal.  Aside from that criticism, I found The Door of No Return a gripping, robust and very satisfying book.

• Posted by Cori

Artichoke’s Heart is a typical realistic fiction story where the overweight teen girl clears up her relationship with her family, deals with her mother’s illness, gets a best friend, gets over the bullies at school, gets the boy she has a crush on, and learns to be good to herself. The premise is familiar but the writing and characters draw you in.   It is poignant and sweet. I would recommend it for teens and adults. Younger readers should be aware that there is some mature language and topics.

• Posted by Michelle

To be completely honest, Breaking Dawn, the end to the highly successful Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer, was not everything that I had hoped for. However, it does succeed in giving the delightful love story between Bella and Edward that has enthralled us for three books a resounding finish, and Meyer has pulled out all the stops drafting this story. Adding in a few new twists, lots of characters, and bringing back the vampires we love to hate, Breaking Dawn shatters the Twilight mold and boldly enters a whole new arena.

One of the new features in Breaking Dawn is having a large section of the book in Jacob’s voice. This move opens up a door to a new spinoff series, even if the new series is not from the Jacob’s point of view, it does introduce readers to an “in-universe” point of view other than Bella’s. It also lets readers glimpse a different attitude in the same world. The parts of the book I found most enjoyable were in this section, and I liked the new way Meyer developed the back-story for some fringe characters. As for Bella, her story comes to a definite close, and even if you disagree with (or hate) how she got there, Breaking Dawn does provide a very traditional end to her storyline.

As the end to a successful series, Breaking Dawn is worth a read. Plain curiosity about what happens to Bella after a three book build-up is the main reason most will pick up the book, and curiosity about the series is bound to increase with a movie coming out later this year.

• Posted by Erin

Tanya Landman has written many books for children in the UK, and I Am Apache is her US debut, targeted to the young adult market.  I was originally intrigued by the cover art and the write up inside the jacket, which promises that Landman: “takes readers on a sweeping journey of the American Southwest in the nineteenth century. Drawing on historical accounts, she poignantly imagines the Black Mountain Apache as a tribe fighting to survive the devestating progress of nations.”  I like stories of young women (and men) who step outside traditional roles, rise up, and mature in the face of adversity.  This book fulfilled that for me.

After watching helplessly as Mexican raiders brutally murder her little brother, fourteen-year-old Siki is filled with a desire for vengeance and chooses to turn away from a woman’s path to become a warrior of her Apache tribe. Though some in the tribe wish to see Siki fail, she passes test after test, and her skills grow under the guidance of her tribe’s greatest warrior, Golahka. Siki is also blessed with “The Power,” a spiritual insight that gives her visions of the past and portents of the future, which prove invaluable to her tribe in raids and battles.  But an enemy in the tribe begins to whisper about Siki’s father’s dishonorable death, and even as Siki earns her place among the warriors, she senses a dark secret in her past — one that will throw into doubt everything she believes. 

Traditional young adult themes are explored in this story: a teen who does not fit into the role her culture determines for her; the jealousy and treachery caused by others who are threatned with change; and the impact an absent, enigmatic parent has on a teen’s choices & character as she grows up.  I was reminded at various points of other excellent coming-of-age stories I have enjoyed in the past and it was uplifting to watch as Siki rose to meet test after test and hold true to her spirit.  At numerous points throughout the novel I was saddened by the impending doom that the Apache face with the onslaught of white settlers, knowing as we all do, of the ultimate defeat and suffering of the Native American peoples.

Little things in the book bothered me (teepees were used and buffalow were hunted by Plains Indians, not Apache); but when I read in Landman’s Historical Note that while some incidents are based on actual events, she “made no attempt to produce an accurate historical novel: this is an imagined evocation of how it may have felt to have lived through events like these”, I decided to just enjoy the story she wrote and the characters she brought to life.  And enjoy them I did indeed.

• Posted by Cori