Issue link: https://h2.relevantize.com/i/468109
/ . / B O O K S ➻ % * , & ( A G E S % A N D U P U P Hereville: How Mirka Got Her Sword by Barry Deutsch ➸ Okay, this is a tale of knitting and pig-chas- ing. Weird, right? It's the story of an Ortho- dox Jewish girl named Mirka who has nine brothers and sisters and she's always want- ed to fight dragons and trolls. I know all this sounds really strange, but if you read it, it'll make sense. This is a good book for people who like adventure. It makes you want to go grab your own sword and start fighting some trolls! –Phoebe Parent note: Gets our vote for best tagline on a cover ever: "Yet Another Troll-Fighting 11- Year Old Orthodox Jewish Girl" The Yellow M: Blake and Mor timer by Edgar P. Jacobs ➸ This will definitely remind you of Tintin, except it's a little bit more fantasy-ish. It's a complicated story, and you may not get it the first few times you read it. I didn't. But when you do get it, it's a real interesting, cool story. 69 Astronaut Academy: Zero Gravity by Dave Roman ➸ This is one of my favorites. I read it like three times on vacation. It's about a school in space and it's cool: they have anti-gravity drills and time- bending watches and things like that. Everything that's impossible on earth is possible there, pretty much. It's funny and adventure-y. My favorite character is Miyumi San be- cause she has a watch that lets her travel in time and because she acts tough. She's like a tomboy. On a scale of 1 to 10? Half 9, half 10. –Phoebe Parent note: I assume this means 9.5. 72 74 73 70 71 75 Calamity Jack by Shannon, Dean, and Nathan Hale ➸ This is the sequel to Rapun- zel's Revenge, except it's mostly about Jack instead of Rapunzel. It's about a boy who was born to scheme. He stole things, and thought of plans and did all kinds of stuZ. Sometimes he would get a little out of hand. It's also about giants who grind human bones to make flour for their bread. Jack and Rapunzel have to beat the giants and save the town. It's definitely thrilling, I'll say that. The end? Well…you have to read that for yourself. –Phoebe The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander ➸ What You'll Remember About It: The kind of sad fact that, despite all the Newberry Awards and the covers touting "three million copies sold," Lloyd Alexander probably did not get the respect he de- served for this richly imag- ined, thrilling series—the first series I ever remember tearing through, the first fictional world I remember not ever wanting to leave. If your kid likes Tolkien or Rowling, give this a shot. –Andy Esio Trot by Roald Dahl ➸ So a boy lives, um, wait… start over. No, stop. Okay. Well, an old man lives on top of an old lady in an apartment build- ing. He likes the old lady. She has a turtle named Alfie and she's so proud of him, but she wants him to grow. And the old man thinks of a plan: He wants to do something to make her turtle grow, so he goes to the pet store and gets a turtle that's a couple inches bigger but looks exactly like Alfie, and he switches the turtles the next day. Anyway, at the end of the book, the old lady notices that Alfie has grown verrrry big and she's really happy. The old lady and the man get married and he never tells her about the trick he played. I like this book because the idea is like totally unexpected. And the title is really 'tortoise' back- wards. It's like a code." –Abby Parent note: One of his minor works, for sure, but a total pleasure and can be read in two nights. Rapunzel's Revenge by Shannon, Dean, and Nathan Hale ➸ This one I like because it shows that girls can be tough, too. Rapunzel is like half-cow- girl, but she's also got a little princess in her. She's named after a vegetable: rapunzel, which is a kind of leaf. She meets an outlaw boy named Jack—who's a bit like the guy from Jack and the Beanstalk— and they team up and do all sorts of crazy adventures. The kind of people who might like this book are the kind who like stories that show what girls are made of. –Phoebe Parent note: There's some pro- jection going on here, for sure. Blake and Mortimer are detectives. There's lots of other books in this series, too. It's like Tintin because they solve mysteries and use guns and, well, if it was a movie, it'd prob- ably be rated PG. The artwork is pretty good. –Phoebe Parent note: Phoebe's a tough critic! This art is beautiful, very retro-y and noir, and very—as Phoebe says—TinTin. If it was made into a movie, you'd expect to see a young Or- son Welles starring in it. 20