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This Means War! by Ellen Wittlinger. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers. April 2010. Reviewed from Advance Reviewer Copy from publisher. Middle grade.

The Plot: Juliet, ten, has lost her best friend, Lowell. Why? Because Juliet is a girl. Six years of friendship mean nothing, now that Lowell is friends with Tommy and Mike. Boys do boy stuff, she is told, and girls do girl stuff.

GO. AWAY. is the message.

Patsy, Juliet's new friend, isn't afraid of anything. Or anyone. One thing leads to another, and suddenly the boys and girls are challenging each other to see who is better, faster, stronger, braver. No matter the risk. No matter who gets hurt.

The Good: This fifth grade battle of the sexes plays out in October 1962, against the backdrop of Cuban Missile Crisis. Wittlinger lets the reader connect their own dots about the motivations and fears of the various kids and parents. For example, Patsy. Patsy adores her father, but he prefers spending quality time with his son, Patsy's younger brother. Patsy loves her father, is interested in what he is interested he, but he cannot see how a girl would be interested in mechanics and airplanes. Patsy never says that the reason she is driven to best the boys in the challenge is to prove something to herself and her father. Juliet never connects those dots, either. Instead, Wittlinger respects the reader, letting them make this connection.

While this would be a good "fiction and nonfiction" match up with Almost Astronauts by Tanya Lee Stone, This Means War is about more than sexism and feminism in the early 1960s.

Yes, Juliet is frustrated at the boys who start drawing lines about what boys like and girls like. Yes, Juliet doesn't see the appeal of giggling over boys, like her older sister Caroline or two girls in school, Annette and Linda. Yes, Patsy's dad echoes these thoughts.

But, Patsy dreams of being a pilot (and, as we know from Almost Astronauts, it wasn't an impossible dream). Other adults voice the belief that it's about what people like, not boys versus girls. And (spoiler alert!), by the end of This Means War, the two groups of boys and girls have gotten to know each other and become one group of friends. Also? This Means War is not critical of those boys who happen to like go carts or those girls who like to dance and giggle about boys. Oh, at the start, Juliet in her unhappiness is critical of Lowell's new friends and of her default friends, Annette and Linda. This changes by the end of the book.

This Means War is not just about the war between two groups of fifth graders; it's the war against prejudices, against fear of change, against the unknown, against oneself. Juliet's parents are at war, with progress and each other. They own a small family grocery store and are losing business to the new supermarkets; money is a frequent topic of argument. Her father is fru

A Conspiracy of Kings by Megan Whalen Turner. Greenwillow Books, an imprint of Harper Collins. April 2010. Young Adult. Fourth in The Queen's Thief (aka Attolia) series. Reviewed from ARC from publisher.

The Plot: Sophos is the unlikely heir to the King of Sounis. He knows he's not really fit to be heir; he actually hopes his uncle marries and has a child so that Sophos no longer has to worry about disappointing his family, his country, his friends.

Unfortunately, other people have plans for Sophos. Wars have made the country and and its governance unstable, so rebels plot to kidnap Sophis and make him a puppet king. Things don't go quite as planned and Sophos finds himself somewhere he never thought he'd be. Can he ever be more than a pawn in a conspiracy of kings?

The Good: You all know how much I adore this series; I've reviewed all three of the first books in this series, and yes, spoilers: The Thief, The Queen of Attolia, The King of Attolia.

To those who have not yet read this series: please do. You will not be disappointed. The characters are rich and fully drawn; the plotting is exquisite; the themes are serious; there is humor, adventure, love, and serious questions about politics, war, loyalty.

And, also? There will be spoilers in this review for the prior three books. So if you haven't read those three books and not being spoiled matters to you (and it doesn't to some readers), stop reading. And seriously, folks, I've been asking you for months to read the first three. So no excuses.

Turner continues to both deliver what fans expect (Eugenides, plot twists, Gen, characters who are three steps ahead of everyone, Gen) and also to do what is unexpected, keeping the series and her writing fresh. Here, after giving us a glimpse of what we want (Gen! Gen! Gen!) we are instead given Sophos. It's his story; and half the time he tells it, directly, first person; and part of the time, it's third person. The switch affects the reading, from automatic sympathy with Sophos to being a bit more removed, a bit more objective.

Remember how in The King of Attolia we were told that Sophos had disappeared after having been abducted by rebels? In A Conspiracy of Kings, we find out what happened to Sophos and why it takes him so long to reappear.

And reappe

This Means War! by Ellen Wittlinger. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers. April 2010. Reviewed from Advance Reviewer Copy from publisher.

Juliet, ten, has lost her best friend, Lowell. Why? Because Juliet is a girl. Six years of friendship mean nothing, now that Lowell is friends with Tommy and Mike. Boys do boy stuff, she is told, and girls do girl stuff.

GO. AWAY. is the message.

Patsy, Juliet's new friend, isn't afraid of anything. Or anyone. One thing leads to another, and suddenly the boys and girls are challenging each other to see who is better, faster, stronger, braver. No matter the risk. No matter who gets hurt.

This fifth grade battle of the sexes plays out in October 1962, against the backdrop of Cuban Missile Crisis. Wittlinger lets the reader connect their own dots about the motivations and fears of the various kids and parents. This Means War is not just about the war between two groups of fifth graders; it's the war against prejudices, against fear of change, against the unknown, against oneself.

Teaser: A mini post about a book I've read that won't be published for several months. The full review will be posted closer to the publication date.


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© Elizabeth Burns of A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy

A Conspiracy of Kings by Megan Whalen Turner. Greenwillow Books, an imprint of Harper Collins. April 2010. Young Adult. Reviewed from ARC from publisher.

My reviews of the first three books in this sequence of titles, and yes, spoilers: The Thief, The Queen of Attolia, The King of Attolia.

My nonspoiler teaser. Which, really, is just me telling you: these books are fabulous on every level: plotting, characterization, setting, theme, writing. I say "sequence" because I will argue until hoarse that A Conspiracy of Kings sufficiently stands alone to be considered for those prizes and awards that demand a book not be dependent on other media, including previous books. Yet, while arguing that, I would advise those who have not yet read these books that they are best read in order. It is a deeper, richer, reading experience.

Turner's sequence of books is set in a fantasy world, influenced by Greek mythology, landscapes, and history and set during a time where battles are with swords, pikes, crossbows; guns and cannon exist, but do not really rule the battlefield. Gods exist; but in an almost magical realism, in your dreams type of way. In other words, "but I don't like fantasy" doesn't really work as an excuse here -- no dragons, no spells, no Mary Sues. It's more of a historical fiction series set in an alternate Greece.

Three countries are at the forefront of these books: Sounis, Attolia, Eddis. In the first, a thief in one country (Sounis) is recruited to steal something of political importance from a second country (Attolia) to help the king of the first force the ruler of a third (Eddis) into an alliance. The second, third, and now fourth book continues to look at the politics and machinations as three independent countries compete for power and dominance while at the same time fighting against a third country, the Mede Empire.

Nothing in politics or war is straightforward or easy; and so, too, nothing in these books is simple or to be taken at face value. Part of the joy of the later books is trying to anticipate the intrigue, the plotting, the machinations, and Turner being such a gifted author that she is always one (or two or three) steps ahead of you.

The fourth book, A Conspiracy of Kings, comes to bookstores and libraries in April. More than enough time for you to read (or reread) the first three books.

What age group is this for? It's marketed for young adults; the first one was a Newbery Honor book. The complex story telling, full of shades of gray and no easy answers, will appeal to adults making this an idea "crossover" title. The main chara