Photo: Jean Hobbs

Since 1988 and the publication of Changes in Latitudes, Will Hobbs has been one of the preeminent adventure novelists writing for young people. Typically, his stories feature a young protagonist confronting some challenge or other posed by the natural world; in his new book Never Say Die, a boy and his adult half-brother face all manner of danger in the remote reaches of the Yukon Territory.

1. You’ve been writing for young people for twenty-five years. How have your books changed over time?

WH: Over the years I find myself writing with more suspense, more dramatic tension. A novel is a big commitment for young people accustomed to clicking from one thing to the next. My goal is to provide kids a slam-dunk experience in the rewards of sustained reading.

2. I’ve never been camping in my life and find the prospect terrifying. When you’re alone in the wilderness in a tent at night, what are YOU most afraid of?

WH: Backpacking in Colorado’s high country I feel snug in my sleeping bag and have no trouble sawing logs. If I’m camping alongside a thunderous rapid on a whitewater river, I don’t sleep well at all, on account of the wildly difficult rowing I do in my dreams. Tenting in grizzly country in Alaska or Canada has me repeating a mantra from Frank Herbert’s Dune: “Fear is the mind-killer.”

3. Where would you most like to get lost?

WH: In a cave in Madagascar riddled with sunken forests and subterranean streams. On second thought, I just remembered about the man-eating crocodiles.

4. What is the most convincing evidence of climate change you’ve seen?

WH: It’s in my home mountains, the San Juans of southwestern Colorado, where I’ve been backpacking since the mid-seventies. Periods of extreme winter cold used to keep over-wintering conifer beetle larvae to a minimum. The warming climate has produced beetle infestations that have killed huge swaths of spruce forest. Warmer summer temperatures above timberline have wreaked havoc on the lushness and diversity of the alpine tundra. If trends continue, climate scientists are predicting the brown-out of the alpine zone in the Rockies. What a sad prospect, the high country without its riot of wildflowers.

5. Your books thus far have all taken place in the western parts of the Americas. Any desire to wander further afield?

WH: On my author travels I’ve been tantalized by many a teacher and librarian offering me story ideas from the Adirondacks down to Lake Okeechobee, but I haven’t followed up. Maybe some day!

From the March 2013 issue of Notes from the Horn Book.

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Roger Sutton
Editor in Chief

From the March 2013 issue of Notes from the Horn Book.

The post From the editor – March 2013 appeared first on The Horn Book.

Boys will be boys: Middle grade adventures
B.U.G. (Big Ugly Guy) by Jane Yolen and Adam Stemple, Dutton, 8–13 years.
The Runaway King by Jennifer A. Nielsen, Scholastic, 8–13 years.
Dragon Run by Patrick Matthews, Scholastic, 11–13 years.
Navigating Early by Clare Vanderpool, Delacorte, 8–13 years.

Animals out and about
Construction Kitties by Judy Sue Goodwin Sturges, illus. by Shari Halpern, Ottaviano/Holt, 1–4 years.
Have You Seen My New Blue Socks? by Eve Bunting, illus. by Sergio Ruzzier, Clarion, 4–7 years.
The Black Rabbit by Philippa Leathers, illus. by the author, Candlewick, 4–7 years.
My First Day by Steve Jenkins and Robin Page, illus. by Steve Jenkins, Houghton, 4–7 years.

Women’s History Month

Brave Girl: Clara and the Shirtwaist Makers’ Strike of 1909 by Michelle Markel, illus. by Michelle Sweet, Balzer + Bray, 5–8 years.
Miss Moore Thought Otherwise: How Anne Carroll Moore Created Libraries for Children by Jan Pinborough, illus. by Debby Atwell, Houghton, 5–8 years.
Who Says Women Can’t Be Doctors?: The Story of Elizabeth Blackwell by Tanya Lee Stone, illus. by Marjorie Priceman, Octaviano/Holt, 5–8 years.
Helen’s Big World: The Life of Helen Keller by Doreen Rappaport, illus. by Matt Tavares, Disney-Hyperion, 5–11 years.

London calling
Freaks by Kieran Larwood, Chicken House/Scholastic, 8–11 years.
Etiquette & Espionage [Finishing School] by Gail Carriger, Little, 11–13 years.
The Madness Underneath [Shades of London] by Maureen Johnson, Putnam, 11–13 years.
The Friday Society by Adrienne Kress, Dial, 11–13 years.

These titles were featured in the March 2013 issue of Notes from the Horn Book.

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Performers in a Victorian freak show are detective heroes in Kieran Larwood’s Freaks. Sheba, a hirsute girl who can morph into wolf form, joins with a “monkey boy,” a gigantic man, a Japanese ninja girl with cat’s eyes, and Mama Rat (custodian of intelligent rodents) to save London street urchins from a predatory group of scientific inventors. Larwood emphasizes loyalty, solidarity, and each character’s special gifts while orchestrating his plot, and evokes the Victorian setting with color and creative verve. (8–11 years, Chicken House/Scholastic)

Fourteen-year-old Sophronia is recruited by Mademoiselle Geraldine’s Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality in Gail Carriger’s Etiquette & Espionage, set in a parallel Victorian England. Sophronia quickly discovers that Mademoiselle Geraldine’s is no ordinary finishing school; in addition to the requisite societal niceties, girls learn “the fine arts of death, diversion, and the modern weaponries” aboard the academy’s dirigible. Blending suspense and elements of the school story, this first series entry introduces teen readers to a thrilling supernatural-meets-steampunk world. (11 years and up, Little)

Rory and her friends in the Shades, modern-day London’s answer to the Ghostbusters, return and regroup after defeating a spectral Jack the Ripper copycat killer in Maureen Johnson’s The Name of the Star. In the sequel The Madness Underneath, Rory hesitates to use her new supernatural ability to destroy spirits, even as suspicious deaths suggest that the Ripper’s destruction may have simply unleashed more malevolent ghosts from London’s past. Fans of the first book will be intrigued to see where the series goes next. (11 years and up, Putnam)

Adrienne Kress’s Edwardian London–set novel The Friday Society introduces Cora, Nellie, and Michiko, who meet after they stumble across the body of a scientist. The whodunit mystery deepens when someone blows up St. Paul’s Cathedral and threatens to annihilate all of London. While there’s some real drama here, a sense of frothy fun prevails, bolstered by winks at genre convention and by three kick-ass females with complementary strengths and distinctive personalities. A sequel is assured. (11 years and up, Dial)

From the March 2013 issue of Notes from the Horn Book.

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Michelle Markel brings the plight of early-twentieth-century female garment workers to life in Brave Girl: Clara and the Shirtwaist Makers’ Strike of 1909. Persecuted in the Ukraine, Clara Lemlich’s Jewish family immigrated to New York City where she found work in a shirtwaist factory. The dangerous and unfair working conditions set Clara off on her lifelong path as a union activist. Melissa Sweet’s illustrations, many presented on fabric scraps or torn paper with machine stitching, accentuate the text. An author’s note and source notes follow the story. (5–8 years, Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins)

In Miss Moore Thought Otherwise: How Anne Carroll Moore Created Libraries for Children, Jan Pinborough gives us a simple narrative of influential librarian Moore’s early love of books on through to her career at the New York Public Library, where she created the innovative Central Children’s Room for the library’s new main building in 1911. The tone here is optimistic, underscored by Debby Atwell’s sun-dappled acrylic paintings of the triumphant new Children’s Room. “More about Miss Moore” and a list of sources are appended. (5–8 years, Houghton)

Tanya Lee Stone’s Who Says Women Can’t Be Doctors?: The Story of Elizabeth Blackwell chronicles the doctor who opened the first hospital for women, run by women, because no one else would hire her. Stone addresses readers in the second person to involve them in her narrative, while Marjorie Priceman’s colorful gouache illustrations lend a perfect framework of energy to the text, drawing upon its provocative and often humorous tone. A two-page author’s note delivers additional information and context for readers to understand the basics of Blackwell’s achievement. (5–8 years, Ottaviano/Holt)

In Helen’s Big World: The Life of Helen Keller, Doreen Rappaport covers the whole span of Helen Keller’s life from birth through her many years with teacher Annie Sullivan and after. The focus is on Helen, but readers get an acute awareness of Annie’s sacrifices for her. Matt Tavares’s ink, watercolor, and gouache illustrations are, per the title, big and bold and often in intense close-up. A timeline helps put important dates in perspective. (5–8 years, Disney-Hyperion)

From the March 2013 issue of Notes from the Horn Book.

The post Women’s History Month appeared first on The Horn Book.

In Construction Kitties by Judy Sue Goodwin Sturges, four indisputably cute overall-clad kitties don hard hats and hop into colorful earthmovers to dig into a kid-friendly building project revealed on the back endpapers. Shari Halpern’s gouache illustrations channel Byron Barton’s style (strong black lines, rich hues) but with more subtlety of color. With its bold images and spare, energetic narrative, this is a great choice for story-time. (1–4 years, Ottaviano/Holt)

Duck can’t find his new blue socks and none of his animal friends is able to help. The jaunty rhyme in Eve Bunting’s Have You Seen My New Blue Socks? is hard to resist: “I will ask my friend the fox. / ‘Have you seen my new blue socks?’” Later, Mr. Ox says, “Did you look inside your box? / Did you ask your friend the fox?” The Seussian text begs to be read aloud; Sergio Ruzzier’s cartoon illustrations are captivating in their absurdity, and listeners will love pointing out Duck’s footwear, which is hiding in plain sight. (4–7 years, Clarion)

In The Black Rabbit written and illustrated by Philippa Leathers, a small, wide-eyed bunny finds himself terrified by his shadow, which he thinks is a large and menacing rabbit. He tries running from it, hiding from it, and finally manages to lose the black rabbit in the woods, only to encounter things far worse than one’s shadow lurking. The expressive and comic art cleverly plays up both the suspense and the joke of the shadow’s identity. (4–7 years, Candlewick)

“What did you do on your first day — the day you were born? Probably not much.” In My First Day, Steve Jenkins and Robin Page’s simple nonfiction text looks at different baby animals’ first hours of life. “On my first day, my mother held me close so I wouldn’t drift out to sea,” says a sea otter. “I dozed on her belly while she floated in the waves.” Jenkins’s torn- and cut-paper collage illustrations maximize the adorableness of the newborns as they take their first looks, steps, or leaps. (4–7 years, Houghton)

From the March 2013 issue of Notes from the Horn Book.

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Sammy is a victim of bullying in Jane Yolen and Adam Stemple’s B.U.G. (Big Ugly Guy). Things improve when he starts a band with a new student named Skink. But when Skink is beaten by the same bullies, Sammy creates a golem bodyguard so lifelike that it attends school and plays the drums. Though utterly far-fetched, this likable tale has a laudable message about friendship and fighting your own battles. (8–13 years, Dutton)

An attempted assassination leads new king Jaron’s advisors to consider regency until he comes of age in Jennifer A. Nielsen’s The Runaway King. Forced into hiding, Jaron crosses enemy lines, challenges a pirate king, emerges victorious, and confronts his feelings about a girl. This solid middle volume of the Ascendance Trilogy has its own arc, but still ends with the cliffhanger, a villain on the loose, and a potential love triangle. (8–13 years, Scholastic)

In Patrick Matthews’s Dragon Run, dragons have nearly unlimited power. When human twelve-year-olds are tested to earn the dragon-mandated rank that determines their position in society, Al receives a shameful score of zero. On the run, he finds help from a mysterious society that plans to loosen the dragons’ stranglehold on humanity. Colorful characters and a snowballing plot propel this tale to a whiz-bang conclusion. (11–13 years, Scholastic)

As outsiders in their mid-1940s Maine prep school, Jack and Early are each mourning someone: Jack, his mother; Early, his older brother. Clare Vanderpool’s Navigating Early is as observant as her Newbery–winning debut, Moon over Manifest; however this book has a stronger trajectory, developed by the classic quest structure that emerges when Vanderpool sends the boys into the wilderness on a search that changes both of their lives. (8–13 years, Delacorte)

From the March 2013 issue of Notes from the Horn Book.

The post Boys will be boys: middle-grade adventures appeared first on The Horn Book.