Young Reader Pick: Mommy's Little Monster

Mommy's Little Monster
by Dawn McNiff
Kate Willis-Crowley, illustrator
Scholastic
2013
32 pages

Available March 1, 2013

Young readers will be captivated by the trolls and their creepy but funny cave decorated with jars of sludge, powdered mud milk, ear wax jam, and smelly beans.

Mommy Troll has a party to attend and it's for grown-ups only. Mrs. Hag is going to baby-sit for Little Monster but he throws a fit! He doesn't want his mommy to go away, and he doesn't want a baby-sitter. He's not a baby!

When Mrs. Hag arrives, the little monster pouts and cries, he throws his toy on the floor and hits the door with his tail. Mrs. Hag offers him warm mudmilk and a story, but he continues to cry. Left alone, he ventures into the swamproom and asks, "Does mudmilk make crying go away?" Mrs. Hag assures him that it does. She even lets him have two mugs of milk and a bedtime story. His mother never lets him have two.

The little monster falls asleep and when he wakes up, he sees his mother has come home. His mother assures him that he is her baby and that he always will be. Mommy Troll brings her baby a litttle treat when she comes home: rotten worms and the little troll is thrilled.


The trolls/monsters are beautifully illustrated and their cave will appeal to young readers with its icky elements: spiders and pond scum, snakes and worms and a bathtub that looks like a bog. Little Monster is cute in his red and white striped pajamas.

The cover is eye-catching, and what child wouldn't like to read a book about monsters?

Highly recommended for young readers.

FTC Required Disclaimer: I received the F & G from the publisher. I did not receive monetary compensation for this review.

Fairy Tale Fantasy Pick: Between the Lines

Between the Lines
by Jodi Picoult & Samantha Van Leer
Simon Pulse
2012
352 pages


Breathtakingly beautiful, pensively poignant, and exceedingly entertaining, Jodi Picoult works with her own teen daughter to create a new kind of ya novel. Between the Lines is a refreshing take on a fairy tale with a happy ending. This one has it all: a quiet, loner teen girl captivated by a fairy tale book she checks out from the library. This book is different, though. Something keeps tugging her into the story, and suddenly the story changes. Things begin to appear on pages that were never there before. She thinks she's imagining things, or worse, she's going a bit crazy.

Oliver is a shy prince who isn't the least bit valiant; in fact, he is quite un-brave. He uses his wits to get past dragons, trolls and villians, not his boldness or swagger. He feels trapped in the same story forever...until, one day a Reader sees him, no...really sees him. He is able to talk to her and she can actually hear him.

Both Delilah and Oliver  think this new twist is exciting and weird, and Oliver begs Delilah to try to rescue him from  the story. What if Oliver could escape his world, and live a real life in hers?

The action is told sometimes in Delilah's world of high school hallways and her bedroom; sometimes the story is told as the Reader is reading the fairy tale and the action is forever and always the same for Oliver because he is merely an actor in the story, and sometimes the story is told as Oliver tries to escape his fairy tale life. The best times are when Delilah, the real girl, is talking to storybook character Oliver--who is real on the pages in front of her.

Fans of Picoult will see the mother's deft touch and hear her teen daughter's youthful voice in the voice of the main characters. What a team! It is the brilliant match-up--the seasoned writer with a new and vibrant, young voice of today's ya reader. This is sheer marketing genius! The cover shouts Jodi Picoult's name, so Picoult fans will likely pick it up and the teen girl on the cover invites high school readers to become new fans of Picoult and Van Leer.

I haven't read a book quite like this one. It's new and exciting, and I bet someone in Hollywood would like to see this story on the big screen--I know I would.  Bidding on this book's movie rights  is about to get fierce.

Highly, highly recommended grades 7-up. Finally, a book so entertaining, our middle school readers can access and high school readers will love.

FTC Required Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. I did not receive monetary compensation for this review.

Paranormal Pick

Wings
by Aprilynne Pike
Harper Teen (Harper Collins Publishers)
2009
293 pages

Fellow Utah native Stephenie Meyer, says of author Aprilynne Pike's novel, "Wings is a remarkable debut."

It is a truly unique novel that had this reviewer engaged from the moment I picked it up. You think you know all about fairies, trolls, King Arhur, Merlin and Avalon, but then you read Wings.

Highly readable and thoroughly engaging, paranormal and romance fans will love this book. Readers may believe in fairies after meeting Laurel--just a normal girl who happens to be home schooled and never has seen a doctor. Oh, and Laurel never remembers being injured or bleeding either. The truth is--Laurel doesn't have red blood at all--she discovers her cells are actually plant cells. If that isn't strange enough, she soon encounters others like her and must choose between her "human" life and a life with the fairies.

Recommended for YA collections grades 8-up. Some violence--but it's against trolls, not humans.

FTC Required Disclaimer: I received this book from a fellow librarian who gets ARCs from publishers. I did not receive monetary compensation for this review.