Sophie Quire and the Last Storyguard - Jonathan Auxier

It’s been two years since Peter Nimble and Sir Tode rescued the kingdom of HazelPort. In that time, they have traveled far and wide in search of adventure. Now Peter and Sir Tode have been summoned by Professor Cake for a new mission: find a 12-year-old girl named Sophie Quire.

Sophie knows little beyond the four walls of her father’s bookshop, where she works as a bookmender and dreams of leaving the confines of her city walls. But when a strange boy and his talking cat/horse companion show up searching for a rare and mysterious book, she finds herself pulled into an adventure beyond anything she has ever read.

This book had me hooked from the first page, and that's saying a lot for me. Reading as much as I do means that I often see a lot of similarities and adherence to cliche throughout a year's worth of publications, but Sophie Quire pulled me in immediately. The informal, humorous, and often irreverent narrator helps to make the often tens and dark situations more accessible for a child audience (and an adult one, for that matter!) And sometimes the narrator just likes to be a little bit, um, self-indulgent?
Should you ever be so lucky as to encounter an author in your life, you should shower her or him with gifts and praise.
Now, I must admit, at this point, to being a terrible human being for not having read Peter Nimble yet, BUT, that only reinforces the ability for this book to be read on its own. Though it is a companion book, Sophie Quire is not really a sequel since it doesn't entirely rely on previous knowledge from Peter Nimble. I really did love Peter as a character in this story, and am now moving the first novel up on my to-read list!

The story itself is wonderfully action-packed, fast-paced, and richly constructed. Sophie, Peter, Sir Tode, and even some of the villains, are well rounded and sympathetic. I found myself getting very emotional during all of the meaningful moments between Peter and Sir Tode, as well as the moments between Sophie and Taro (Madame Eldritch's most prized companion/possession). There's action and adventure that is suitable to a wide range of audiences, and unlike so many similarly constructed YA novels, this MG story has a strong heroine who isn't constantly pining over some mysterious and perfect, enigmatic young man.

 I don't want to spoil too much and there have been a LOT of reviews praising this book in so many ways. I just want to confirm that this is indeed an incredible MG novel that should be included in libraries and classrooms alike! Fans of question novels, other Jonathan Auxier literature, and stories of magic and mayhem will find a lot to love here!

 Highly Recommended

Comments

  1. Mary Ann ScheuerMay 1, 2016 at 11:03 PM

    Yes! I also loved it. I especially like how you highlight how the humorous narrator provides a lighter touch for some of the darker content.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Living - Matt De La Peña

Image
The Living  recently received an Honor from the Pura Belpré committee. The award recognizes of a work which best portrays the Latino cultural experience in a work of literature for children or youth. As I was at the awards announcements, and having known people who served on the committee in the past, I was intrigued. I had read the winning title and the other honor titles, and was impressed with the choices. So here's my review of The Living : The novel begins with Shy, a young guy working for a snazzy cruise line, offering water to people on the Lido Deck of the ship to combat the heat. Everything is going pretty well until an older gentleman comes out and starts spouting of weird, disconcerting phrases: "You have seen the face of evil."Shy doesn't quite know what to think, so he moves on to a couple of ladies on the other side of the deck. Just as he's handing them their water bottles, he sees movement out of the corner of his eye and realizes the old guy h
Read more

The Music of What Happens - Bill Konigsberg

Image
Max: Chill. Sports. Video games. Gay and not a big deal, not to him, not to his mom, not to his buddies. And a secret: An encounter with an older kid that makes it hard to breathe, one that he doesn't want to think about, ever. Jordan: The opposite of chill. Poetry. His "wives" and the Chandler Mall. Never been kissed and searching for Mr. Right, who probably won't like him anyway. And a secret: A spiraling out of control mother, and the knowledge that he's the only one who can keep the family from falling apart. Over the course of one summer, two boys will have to face their biggest fears and decide what they're willing to risk -- to get the thing they want the most. This is a phenomenal book, in my humble opinion. There aren't too many books dealing with male sexual abuse, particularly in YA. Sex and sexuality are messy parts of young adulthood, but what this book does really well is discuss consent and the ways in which physical cues can be misinte
Read more

Girls Like Us - Gail Giles

Image
I have now gone out and made sure that I have all of the books longlisted for the National Book Award. I read and reviewed a number of these previously, so now I have five left to read and review. This is one of those five (but would I expect anything less from the fabulous team at Candlewick?) Girls Like Us  is a unique novel in a number of respects, most notably in the fact that both protagonists are identified (and self-identified) as mentally disabled in some way. Biddy has a learning disability that she was born with, while Quincy is a young girl who is disabled due to the fact that her mother's boyfriend hit her in the head with a brick, disfiguring her and damaging her brain. Once the two girls graduate from school, they move into a house together, becoming caregivers for both each other and an older woman, Elizabeth. The two must rely on each other for comfort, knowledge, and emotional strength, and Elizabeth manages to help them along the way. While I had moments of wo
Read more