Kidliterate

LOOKING AHEAD: Dragon Spear by Jessica Day George

(no cover art yet) Jessica Day George's website says that the upcoming DRAGON SPEAR is the last of the books she will write about Creel and her dragon friends, and now I am VERY VERY MAD at Jessica Day George. Stop writing if the books seem in danger of starting to suck, yes, but THAT IS NOT THE CASE HERE.

Creel's story begins in DRAGON SLIPPERS, with her aunt deciding that she can't/doesn't want to support her anymore, so she takes Creel and leaves her outside of a dragon's cave. Her aunt hopes that a noble lad from the village will come in and rescue her niece and marry her AND distribute the treasure around, thus making them all rich. Unfortunately for her aunt, Creel bargains with the dragon (who, in truth, couldn't be less interested in eating her) and ends up setting off for the Big City to become a dressmaker, an odd pair of shoes in her hands, and a giant adventure (with still more dragons!) in front of her.

The story continues in DRAGON FLIGHT, the second book. I don't want to say too much about the two plots because I don't want to spoil anything, but I need to tell you: these books are awesome. They're funny and really well-plotted and Creel is spunky and smart and the kind of character you wish you could know. The dragons are almost better than she is; instead of collecting treasure they all collect something different. Seriously, one dragon collects DOGS. One collects stained glass windows. It's so ridiculously great. And they all have wildly different personalities, each one so distinct and so well-drawn.

So because I don't want to spoil anything for you, I really can't tell you anything about DRAGON SPEAR either, except for this: it is too good to be a series ender. I mean, sure, if Jessica Day George (I just like to type her whole name) insists on ending it here, it has a satisfying closure to it. Unless you define "satisfying" as "clearly paving the way for thirteen or fourteen more books about Creel," which I do. I love this series NOW. I can only imagine being lucky enough to have it when I was ten or eleven or twelve (or, frankly, eight or nine, because I was a very advanced reader).  When I read that the series was ending I wanted to (as my toddler daughter would say) "cwy and scweam." I am very, very, very sad about this and very, very, very mad at Jessica Day George. And DRAGON SPEAR is a very, very, very good book; a very, very, very good end to a very, very, very good series and I am very, very, very insistent that if you haven't read it you go out and start doing so immediately. Yes, I meant it. Off with you!

Preorder DRAGON SPEAR from Powell's or find your local independent bookstore.

ALL-OF-A-KIND FAMILY Companion

My husband's been away for a few days, so there hasn't been much time for writing. I sat down today to write some reviews and instead got sucked into reading The All-Of-A-Kind Family Companion which a thoughtful Betsy-Tacy email list member posted this morning. It is utterly fascinating and has sucked up the better part of the last hour.

TRAGICALLY GONE: Movie Shoes by Noel Streatfield

If I go more than a day without posting here, you can be pretty sure it's because I am reading very bad galleys. I have, in fact, been reading some dreadfully bad galleys, galleys of books whose upcoming publishing I don't understand, but I don't want to necessarily say that here because do I need to rain on an author's parade? I haven't yet decided that. So for now, no raining. Just no posting about upcoming books. Thus, I have invented a new category: books I love fiercely that are out of print. Books whose out-of-printness I do not understand. The first on the list: MOVIE SHOES by Noel Streatfield, originally published in the UK as THE PAINTED GARDEN. It was a toss-up between this and SKATING SHOES (UK title: WHITE BOOTS) but in the end MOVIE SHOES won. This is inspired by the fact that PARTY SHOES, the only Shoes book I do not own, is back in print. PARTY SHOES is near-impossible to find used at a decent price. I know - I've been looking for years. I am very happy that soon I will own PARTY SHOES, but honestly, if I were going to bring a Shoes book back into print, it would not be PARTY. (It wouldn't be DANCING SHOES, either, which is also in print - it's a fine book but not as good as MOVIE and SKATING.) Anyway. MOVIE SHOES! Love love love love. Rachel, Tim and Jane Winter live in London with their mother, their father (who was in an accident and is out of work and ill as a result) and their nurse, Peaseblossom (not her real name). Mr. Winter really needs to go somewhere warm for the winter, and has an aunt in California, but the family can't afford to go - until Peaseblossom's aunt conveniently dies and leaves her exactly the amount of money they need to go (ah, children's books!). This is very disappointing to the children - Rachel is at Madame Fidolia's Academy For Dancing and Stage Training and has just been picked for her first professional dancing role; Tim (a talented pianist) has just been offered the chance to play for a famous musician; and Jane will have to leave behind her beloved dog. But off to California they go anyway. Rachel and Tim are much nicer about it than Jane, who it must be said is more than a bit of a sourpuss. They arrive in California to live with weird, grumpy Aunt Cora, and Mr. Winter starts to feel better. Things improve for Rachel and Tim almost immediately - Mme. Fidolia's arranged for Rachel to take lessons from her famous student, Posy Fossil (from BALLET SHOES), and Tim finds a bit of a job playing the piano in a drugstore for the lunch customers. Jane is more miserable than ever, and finds herself walking miserably along the beach one day where she finds a dog tied up on a lead. She angrily confronts the dog's owner, who turns out to be a movie director. And Jane turns out to be exactly the kind of personality he wants to play Mary in a movie of THE SECRET GARDEN, despite her never having acted before. The story of how the movie is made (and what happens to the rest of the family while it's going on) is at turns hilarious, moving, dramatic and fun. The differing personalities of the three siblings remind the reader of Pauline, Petrova and Posy, but the view into the world of movies, dance and classical music make this a very different book. I really have no idea why this book is out of print and wish fervently that Random House would rectify that straight away.