MARSHA SAYS, "READ THIS BOOK!"

The following reviews are written by Marsha Bates, Young Adult Acquisitions, Mid-

Columbia Library System in Kennewick, Washington.

FANTASY/SCI-FI     HUMOR    MYSTERY AND SUSPENSE    GROWING PAINS    SPORTS    ROMANCE

What would you get if you crossed the Napoleonic War with . . . dragons?!!!  Find out in history buff turned writer Naomi Novik’s first novel, His Majesty’s Dragon.  Prepare to learn a bit about everything from period battle tactics to the manners of the British privileged class as you follow the adventures of Captain William Laurence of the British Royal Navy.  

Upon the capture of a French frigate Captain Laurence and his crew discover a heavily protected dragon’s egg stowed below deck – and it’s about to hatch!  Dragons are a valuable commodity in this war – they are the most rare and important component of each country’s rudimentary air force.  But they must be named and harnessed immediately upon hatching or they become feral and the opportunity of pressing them into service is lost.  A potential handler is selected by drawing lots among the officers, but this dragon is highly intelligent and selects a rider of his own - Laurence.  Though it will turn his well-ordered life on its head, Laurence feels duty bound to accept this new and unwelcome responsibility, providing an exciting new twist to your typical dragon story.

--Reviewed by Joyce Willis , employee of the Kennewick Branch of the Mid-Columbia Library System

RASH by Pete Hautman, c2006, Simon and Schuster , New York , NY, 249 pages.

            It’s the future in the United Safer States of America .  The government has outlawed any activities that pose a health hazard, such as: alcohol consumption, hunting, private ownership of large dogs, chain saw possession, boxing and football, to name a few.  Failure to protect yourself and monitor your safety and the safety of others can lead to a prison sentence.

            The Marsden family is already familiar with the penal system, what with Bo’s older brother and dad incarcerated for road rage and fist fighting.  That’s why Bo must constantly be alert to keep his hot temper under control.  He takes his prescription Levulor to keep his emotions regulated, but even that doesn’t keep him from getting into trouble when Karlohs, a rival for his girlfriend, Maddie, convinces everyone that Bo is the source of a mysterious rash that has sent several classmates to the health clinic.  Bo finds himself quarantined while his nemesis makes time with Maddie.  It’s more than a guy can stand and Bo soon finds himself in court for taking a poke at the slimy Karlohs.

            Thus Bo enters the single largest industry in the United Safer States of America , the McDonald’s Penal System.  For three years, Bo must work the assembly line making frozen pizzas at a remote prison surrounded by a twelve foot chain fence and hungry, man-eating polar bears.

            Within weeks, Bo’s endurance is tested by the pecking order of the prisoners.  The gold-shirts are favored by the head guard, allowed to play the forbidden contact sport, football, and have better jobs and a variety of foods to eat besides pizza for every meal.  When Bo and his cellmate Rhino are “tested” by the goldshirts, they make the team.   Even with safety equipment, football is a brutal sport.  Hammer is the head guard and coach of the team.  He trains the gold-shirts mercilessly to prepare them for a game against a rival penal facility.

            While Bo is in jail, his legal defense is left to his AI program, Bork.  On his own initiative, Bork looks for loopholes in the legal system to gain Bo his freedom.

            Hautman’s humorous satire of an over-regulated and paranoid future pokes fun of Big Brother government, Homeland Security and the corporate giants who really control the population of our country.  What appear to be normal emotions in today’s world are considered dangerous and subversive in Bo’s.  There are few options for a boy like Bo:  acceptance and medication, prison or emigration to South America , a primitive and savage land where football and beer are considered normal!

            This book is recommended for teens and adult readers.

--Reviewed by Marsha Bates , employee of the Kennewick Branch of the Mid-Columbia Library System.

            Sixteen-year-old Ted O’Connor finds himself in the foster care system after his parents die in a car crash.  He’s angry, confused and overwhelmed.  After years of working in his parents’ pet store, Ted relates more to animals than his human counterparts. 

C. W. Porter arrives at the Rafter’s foster home the same day as Ted.  He’s a wannabe gangsta who can talk the talk, but admits to Ted that he’s just as overwhelmed by events.  They form a casual support group, acknowledging their status as “strays” in the system.  Astin, an older boy in the Rafter’s house, fills Ted in on the rules.   Obey the militaristic Mr. Rafter and ignore Mrs. Rafter’s loopy obsession with her baby doll, Noodle.  Eventually, Astin takes Ted under his wing and they develop a tentative friendship. 

            Throughout the book, the reader witnesses Ted conversing with animals that respond telepathically.  He understands their loneliness and depression and they offer sympathy for his.  As Ted works through his grief and begins to trust the new friends he’s met, he starts to lose contact with the animals in his dreams and the dogs on the street.  Like a bad phone connection, the voices of his canine allies begin to break up and fade away.

            Ted is a likeable character thrust into a bizarre new home-life; new “parents”, new “brothers” and a new school.  It’s not until Ted begins to depend on his surrogate support system that he realizes he’s found a new home.

            This book is recommended for teens in grades 9 through 12.

--Reviewed by Marsha Bates , employee of  Kennewick Branch of the Mid-Columbia Library System

THE WIZARD TEST by Hilari Bell, c. 2005, published by Eos, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers,  New York , NY ; 166 pages.

            At age fourteen, Dayven must be tested to see if he has magical powers.  He longs to be a Guardian (knight) for Lord Enar, the Lordowner of the Tharn.   Everyone knows wizards are treacherous and scheming, with loyalty to no one.  They are merely tolerated because of their healing powers.  The last thing Dayven wants is to pass the Wizard Test

            Dayven is devastated to learn he, too, has magical powers like his notorious grandmother.  He reluctantly accepts his role as an Apprentice Wizard after Lord Enar asks him to spy on the wizards and the Cenzar, enemy tribesmen who threaten war against the Tharn.  

Dayven and his drunken master, Reddick, set out on their journey to visit the hostile city of Damishaff .   Reddick is a source of constant confusion to the young apprentice.   He is both honest and sly, and cheerfully admits that wizards can’t keep their noses out of everyone’s business.   His “wizardry” seems to consist of slight of hand tricks instead of true magic, but he teaches Dayven to tap into the powers within his own mind.  When they reach Damishaff Dayven faces yet another dilemma.  His master appears to be consorting with the enemy, yet Dayven himself finds friendship with a young Cenzar warrior, named Vadeen.   Dayven is shocked to learn that the coming war may be inevitable, but the Cenzar have legitimate reason to contest the Lordowner’s rights to the Town-Within-the-Walls.  

The Tharn have not been good stewards of the land and it is slowly dying, while the Cenzar want only to rebuild the soil for the benefit of everyone and their future.  Dayven is more confused than ever.   Who is right? 

Perhaps learning to choose between good and evil is the real Wizard’s Test.  This novel is recommended for middle-grades and up but its simple style conceals a complex message. 

--Reviewed by Marsha Bates

Award-winning author, Alex Flinn, has written a novel for teens based on the fairytale, Beauty and the Beast.  When shallow, babe magnet Kyle Kingsbury plays a cruel joke on a strange Goth girl classmate, she declares him beastly on the inside where it counts.  In reality, she’s a witch and casts a spell over the handsome, but egotistical Kyle, transforming him into his “truer self”...a hairy monster with fangs and claws.  To regain his former looks, Kyle must fall in love with a girl who loves him back and share a kiss to break the spell.  He has two years to accomplish his goal or he’ll remain a beast forever.  The witch leaves him with a magic mirror to watch people in the outside world.

            Kyle’s father, a network newscaster, takes him to doctors and specialists, but when it becomes clear nothing will reverse the spell, even his father rejects him.  He packs Kyle off to a house in Brooklyn with a housekeeper, Magda, and a blind tutor, Will for companionship. 

Kyle sinks into a depression.   The magic mirror reveals how quickly his “friends” have forgotten his existence.  Former best friend, Trey, is now dating Sloane.  His father calls less and less frequently and never visits the Brooklyn house.  Kyle is a prisoner in his ugliness.  Only at night can he disguise himself as a homeless person and roam the city at will. 

The one diversion Kyle finds besides books is the rose garden planted by Will.  When a junky breaks into the greenhouse and damages the roses, Kyle threatens to call the police unless the man sends his daughter to stay at the house.  Kyle is desperate for company and the junky agrees to give up the girl, Lindy.

Since this is a fairy tale, there is a happy ending, but Flinn’s ability to set the story in an urban city with modern-day teens, makes for enjoyable contrast and context.  Kyle’s growth from an apathetic, self-centered jerk to an empathetic young man is paralleled by Lindy’s blossoming into a confidant and intelligent young woman.  It’s only when Kyle puts the welfare of others before himself that the reader sees how far he’s evolved from his beastly state.  This book is recommended for teens in grades 9-12.

--Reviewed by Marsha Bates, employee of the Kennewick Branch of the Mid-Columbia Library System.

DARK ANGEL by David Klass, c.2005, by Farrar, Straus and Giroux , NY , 312 pages.

            Seventeen-year-old Jeff has a secret that’s eating him alive.  Six years ago his older brother Troy was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison.  Now Troy ’s sentence has been overturned on a technicality.  He’s coming home to live with Jeff and his parents.  Soon everyone will know the dark secret his family has tried to bury by moving to Pineville and leaving the past behind.  When they do, the misery will start all over again.  The bullying, the shunning, the judgment his family will have to endure.  Jeff’s been through it before and knows what lies ahead.

            Things go sour as soon as Troy moves back in.  Troy ’s attitude toward Jeff and his parents is patronizing and vaguely threatening.  Jeff’s girlfriend, Beth is forbidden by her parents even to speak with Jeff at school.  He watches in misery while his soccer team rival puts the moves on Beth.   At home, Jeff feels like his privacy has been invaded.  Even though he puts a lock on his bedroom door, things are constantly moved out of place in his room.  At school, the provocative discussions of good and evil in Mr. Tsuyuki’s English class can’t calm the sense of impending danger Jeff feels lurking behind Troy ’s affable façade.  Jeff is astounded that his parents can be so naïve as to let this monster move back into the fold in hopes they can rehabilitate him. 

Troy finds an apartment and a job.  Then another young boy goes missing and is presumed dead.  The police are suspicious, but can’t link Troy to the killing and can’t locate the body of Thomas Fraser.  Slowly, the evil begins to seep through Troy ’s careful mask.  When Jeff finds out Troy has drawn sexy explicit pictures of Beth (including the small tattoo she keeps hidden) he knows his brother is stalking his friends and their safety is at risk.

            There are many forms of evil in the world; psychopathic killers and drug dealers to name a few, and there are those who will not give up hope, even in the face of danger.  Jeff must find a way to thwart Troy ’s malevolence and protect his family and friends without destroying his parents.  When the inevitable disaster strikes, Jeff finds the courage to take a stand against evil.  This book is recommended for readers in grades 9-12.

--Reviewed by Marsha Bates.

Salam Al Fayed, second generation Arab American, served his government well as a covert agent in the Middle East until a crippling injury cost him his career.   Abandoned by the CIA, Fade sought funding to pay for the life-saving surgery the only way he knew how.  He became a mercenary for a Colombian drug lord.  But the blood money he earned as a paid assassin came too late.  The bullet lodged near his spine was imbedded, surgery too risky.  Bitter and angry, Fade cut all ties with former team members and became a recluse with a big hate for his former employers.

Hillel Strand, top guy at the Office of Homeland Security is putting together a list of covert operatives with special qualifications to work undercover in the Middle East .  Al Fayed’s file rises to the top.  Against the advice of Matt Egan, Fade’s former best friend and Special Forces commander, Strand offers Fade a job.

Fade refuses, threatening violence if Strand and Egan bother him again.

The next thing he knows, Fade’s ramshackle house is surrounded by SWAT team sharpshooters and he’s the target.  Strand has manufactured evidence against Fade and leaked it to the police in hopes that Fade will be willing to negotiate his release by taking the job offered.  What follows is a bloodbath as the ex-Seal detonates booby traps, picks off the cops one at a time until the only cop left standing is the SWAT team leader, Karen Manning, whom Fade kidnaps.  Now he’s on the run and coming after Strand and Egan with a vengeance.

Egan knows this is not an idle threat.  His first concern is the safety of his wife and daughter, both of whom are unaware of his past career with the CIA.  Can he use his own skills as a former agent to capture Fade before he loses his job, his family and his life?  Will Strand ’s ego get them killed because he’s keeping Egan out of the information loop?  Will Karen Manning use her hostage negotiation skills to talk Fade into turning himself in?  Or will the bullet in Fade’s spine solve the problem before national security is compromised?

Mills keeps the reader on the edge of his/her seat from the first paragraph of his latest political thriller.   Powerful egos, political machinations and discrimination in the workplace all take a hit with his portrayal of a wronged government employee forced to defend himself with deadly force, using every efficient means of extermination taught to him by his former employers.  Fade was perfectly willing to disappear into the scenery until his damaged body gave out, but now he’s angry enough to expose government secrets in detail, to bring down the corrupt spin doctors who forced him out when he became a liability. 

They wanted him back and he refused.  Now they’re going to wish they’d never heard his name.

--Reviewed by Marsha Bates , employee of the Kennewick Branch of the Mid-Columbia Library System

STORM RUNNERS by T. Jefferson Parker, c.2007, by William Morrow, NY, 371 pages.

Parker investigates the power of La Eme, the Mexican Mafia, and their ties both inside and out of the California penal system in his latest suspense novel. 
           Matt Stromsoe and Mike Tavarez are classmates and friends in high school.  They even date the same woman, although Stromsoe ends up married to Hallie.  After high school their lives take dramatically different directions.  Stromsoe chooses law enforcement and family life.  Tavarez rises in the hierarchy of one of the most feared organized crime gangs in Southern California .  Jealousy and vengeance lead to tragedy when Stromsoe is crippled by a bomb blast that kills his wife and son and Tavarez, El Jefe, is sent to prison for the crime.

            When Stromsoe hits bottom, paralyzed by alcoholism and depression, a former colleague offers him a new job as a private investigator.  His first case involves a stalker harassing a local weather forecaster.  Stromsoe quickly captures and identifies the stalker who is not what he appears to be. 

Weather forecaster, Frankie  Hatfield, is a scientist with a passion for weather and water flow.  She’s not about to sell her family legacy under duress.  But when El Jefe is factored into the formula and sends his gang bangers to permanently discourage her scientific research, Stromsoe fears he could lose another friend and potential loved one to his deadly enemy.

            Parker entwines the genuine historic information about Charlie Hatfield’s rainmaking discovery with the very real political posturing of a government agency intent on keeping secrets from the public.  Parker’s research into the bowels of the gang hierarchy in Southern California and their members’ protection and movement within the penal system rings true.   

            Can Stromsoe stop his sworn enemy from killing yet another innocent woman?  Who’s really behind the intimidation and threats on Frankie’s life?  Stromsoe tries to protect the innocent and expose the guilty in this fascinating look at off-beat science, the government and organized crime.

--Reviewed by Marsha Bates , employee of the Kennewick Branch of the Mid-Columbia Library System.

Frizzell packs a lot of wry wisdom in this novella for teens.  Best friends Chill Holinground and Sean Fitzsimmons have been buddies since grade school.  Chill has a bum leg but doesn’t consider himself handicapped and certainly knows how to put bullies in their place.  He’s a good student and a fantastic artist.  Sean, on the other hand, wants to be a writer and eagerly anticipates the new English teacher’s arrival at high school.

            On the first day of school, the art teacher, Ms. Surrette, asks Chill to submit a design for a mural to be painted in the high school foyer.  Later, in English class, the boys are shocked to discover the new teacher, Mr. Sfinkter (pronounced with a long I) seems arrogant and dictatorial.  Chill gets off to a bad start by mispronouncing his name and Mr. Sfinkter retaliates by making fun of Chill’s limp. 

            Sean resents the teacher’s comments about his friend, but is willing to overlook a bad first impression.  He’s excited to learn that Mr. Sfinkter is a published author and wants to get Sfinkter’s opinion on his writing abilities.

            Mr. Sfinkter assigns his students to write about their dreams for the future.  Then one by one he proceeds to publicly shred each student’s idealistic hopes.  Chill grows more upset every day, but Sean is thrilled when Sfinkter promises to read his manuscript and perhaps even get it published. 

            The oppression of the students in English class and Sean’s refusal to admit that Mr. Sfinkter is a bully drives a wedge between the two friends.  In the meantime, Chill’s mural design wins the contest and he and Sean start to work on it together.  They paint beneath a tarp to keep the design a secret until the final unveiling, but Sean finds it increasingly difficult to work with Chill who’s not talking to him. 

            Sean’s optimism about his book is crushed when Sfinkter refuses to read it and reneges on his promise to help Sean get published.  In the climactic unveiling of the mural in front of students, faculty and local news reporters, everyone is shocked to see Chill’s  expose of a  bully’s tactics.   The resulting melee proves who are the real heroes and villains.

            As Frizzell points out in this quick read, bullies come in all sizes and ages and are not above using their powers to control and persecute innocent victims.   Recommended for readers in grades 7-12.

--Reviewed by Marsha Bates , employee of the Kennewick Branch of the Mid-Columbia Library System.

Seventeen-year-old Adam is an only child and close to his parents.  On their way home to Rhode Island from a peace rally in Seattle , their car strikes a deer crossing the road.  In the tragic aftermath, Adam discovers his parents are dead.  Injured and in shock, Adam begins to walk down the highway in the wilds of Idaho .  He has no I.D., no money and can’t speak.  His only goal is to get home…more than a thousand miles away. 

            Adam is taken in by strangers, cared for and even given a job, but his voice has deserted him.  While he heals physically, on the inside Adam is emotionally destroyed.  He remembers scenes from his life before the accident, but cannot express his needs either vocally or by writing them down.  He mentally records his life in terms of vocabulary words and their remembered definitions--truncate, fortitude, elongate and rectify.

Adam’s journey home takes him far from the life he knew with his loving family, and just when it appears his goal is in sight, his latent anger and grief betray him.

Will he ever reach his home, the bookstore where he and his parents worked together?  Will he ever see Mira, his girlfriend, again?  What will home be like now that his parents are gone? 

Kelly Easton has written a powerful and sobering tale of tragic loss and the mind’s ability to cope with the aftershock.  This young adult novel is recommended for readers in grades 9-12.

--Reviewed by Marsha Bates , employee of the Kennewick Branch of the Mid-Columbia Library System.

 Simone is adopted.  She knows she is adopted.  All you have to do is look at her dark, almond shaped eyes and olive complexion and then at the sandy blonde hair and fair complexion of her parents and younger brother, and you know.  But she also knows because her parents have told her.  She even knows her birth mother’s name – Rivka.  She knows this because her parents explained it to her before she was old enough to tell them that she didn’t want to know.  Simone is happy in her comfortable little 16 year-old, high-school world and she would like to keep it that way.  But all this changes the night her parents announce at dinner, “Rivka called.  She wants to meet you.”  And her parents push her call her back!  Simone fights it, but eventually she does make that call, thus beginning this brief chapter in her impossible life.

            In one short year, Simone’s comfortable existence will be turned on its head as she meets, learns to love, and then loses, the birth mother she never thought she wanted to know.  During that time she also must deal with more typical high school events – her first boyfriend, her best friend’s adventures into sex, the SAT’s, and her views about religion, just to name a few.  A coming of age novel that truly touches the heart, I highly recommend A BRIEF CHAPTER IN MY IMPOSSIBLE LIFE by Dana Reinhardt.  Recommended for readers in grades 8 to 12.

--Reviewed by Joyce Willis , employee of the Mid-Columbia Library System.

THE WOLF by Steven Herrick, c2007, Front Street publishers, NC, 214pages.

            Australian author, Steven Herrick has written a free verse portrait of two isolated teens in the outback. In alternating points of view sixteen-year-old Lucy and fifteen-year-old Jake tell the story of what happens when their fathers attempt to hunt down a wolf that’s been killing sheep.  Everyone knows there are no wolves in Australia , but Jake’s dad saw the creature in the wild and has told stories about it all of Jake’s life. 

            Lucy’s dad just likes to shoot things, but the wolf, or wild dog as Lucy speculates, is too canny to be killed or captured.  Her abusive dad transfers his to hostility from Lucy to the howling creature that keeps them awake at night.

            Jake is of two minds.  He hates that the wolf has killed his dad’s sheep.  He knows how hard his dad works to make a living.  But just once he’d like to see the elusive animal of his father’s stories. 

            Jake and Lucy decide to look for the wolf on Sheldon Mountain .  Even though they’re classmates at school and neighbors, they know little of each other.  On the journey up the mountain that changes.  Jake realizes Lucy isn’t just looking for a wild dog.  She’s made a decision to stand up for herself in the face of her father’s abuse, even if it means leaving home.  When Jake is injured on the mountain, Lucy must make a decision: abandon Jake and run away from her unhappy life or allow her growing attraction to Jake to fill the loneliness of her existence.

            Herrick’s touching novel tells a story of shame, conflict, adventure and hope with the life-altering experience of The Wolf.  This book is recommended for teens in grades 7-12.

--Reviewed by Marsha Bates, employee of the Kennewick Branch of the Mid-Columbia Library System

SPORTS

REBOUND by Bob Krech, c2006, Marshall Cavendish, Tarrytown , NY , 271 pages

At Raymond Wisniewski’s high school, it’s traditional for the Polish kids to turn out for wrestling and the black kids to play basketball.  For the past two years, Ray has tried out for the basketball team, only to get cut by Coach Malovic, even when it appears that Ray is the better player.  Pruze, a superstar transfer student from Chicago suggests that Ray play in the summer leagues before senior year to get in condition and show Malovic what he’s capable of.

Here, Ray meets some exceptional ball players, including Robert, an arrogant kid who either taunts Ray or ignores him.  At home, Ray’s mother expresses concern that he’s hanging out with black players.  Even Ray’s best friend, Walter, makes bigoted remarks about Ray’s teammates.  At times, it seems as if everyone is prejudiced in some way.

But Ray is determined to play varsity basketball his senior year and at tryouts, is delighted to meet the new coach, Mr. Thomas, who is black, but fair about who gets to play.   

When Ray makes the team, his troubles just begin.  As the newcomer, there is resentment about Ray taking Rudy’s place.  Rudy’s anger provokes taunts and racial slurs toward Ray during the games, which Walter answers with equally bigoted chants.

Violence erupts at school and Ray is forced to choose between his neighbors, his teammates and hate-mongers from both racial communities.  Prejudice comes in many forms and Ray is shocked to discover that the label of “bigot” is easily flung, but not so easily defended. 

REBOUND is Krech’s first novel and deftly brings to life the community of a Polish family and neighbors, their beliefs and fears.  His protagonist finds that skill on a basketball court is not always enough to win, be it trust, friendship or a basketball game.

This book is recommended for teens in grades 9-12.

--Reviewed by Marsha Bates , employee of the Kennewick Branch of the Mid-Columbia Library System.

           Dokey’s young adult novel is a re-telling of the Cinderella fairy tale with a few minor twists.  The same night Constanza--daughter of Constanza D’Este and Etienne de Brabant-- is born, her mother dies.  Mad with grief, her father rejects the infant and leaves her behind to be raised by servants at their stone manor by the sea.  Two weeks later, Brabant returns with a nameless infant boy and drops him off with orders that he is never to leave the estate.  Again, Brabant leaves and has no further contact with his daughter. 

Constanza--nicknamed Cendrillon because the hearth fires magically re-ignited during her stormy birth--and Raoul, the foundling, grow up together as best friends.   Although there is Old Mathilde to take care of them, Cendrillon longs for her father’s love or at least the love of a mother or sister.  Her wishes come true when a new step-mother and two step-sisters arrive unexpectedly from court.  It’s obvious that Chantal de Saint André and her daughters Anastasia and Amelie have never heard of Cendrillon’s existence and they mistake her for a servant.  Cendrillon is so shocked by events she doesn’t immediately tell them the truth.

While Chantal and Anastasia miss their life at court, the younger daughter Amelie is curious about her new home, especially the locked rooms of Constanza D’Este which were abandoned the night Cendrillon was born.  Anastasia is a spoiled young lady and devises unnecessary tasks to keep Cendrillon busy.  The more time that passes without Cendrillon revealing her identity, the more difficult she realizes it will be to convince Chantal and the girls who she is.   But Cendrillon empathizes with Chantal’s abandonment by Brabant and soon earns her and Amelie’s affection. 

When the king announces that all eligible females will attend a ball to meet the crown Prince Pascal, Brabant writes to his wife and forbids her and the girls to attend.   But Chantal has other plans and when Cendrillon finally reveals her true claim as Brabant ’s daughter, it’s decided that the four women will attend the ball with Old Mathilde as chaperon and Raoul as an attendant.

Things don’t go exactly as planned at the palace and there are more surprises awaiting the young people at court.  Will Cendrillon meet someone to love?  Will Anastasia and Raoul find love despite his lowly status?  Will Cendrillon’s father acknowledge her existence?   Will Brabant ever find peace from his dreadful grief?

            Dokey’s rendition is lively, magical, and romantic.  Cendrillon is an empathetic character with a strong will and a loving heart.  Readers in grades 5-10 will enjoy this latest version of a traditional tale.

-- Reviewed by Marsha Bates, employee of the Kennewick Branch of the Mid-Columbia Library System.