A Gift of Magic by Lois Duncan

Rating: 4/5, good

Have you ever had a book mirror your life so much it’s spooky?

A Gift of Magic is a children’s paranormal book. It was first published in 1971 and I read it in 2000 when I was about ten years old. It got re-released in 2012 and after looking up the synopsis to make sure it was the same book I remembered, I decided to get it and read it again.

A Gift of Magic is about a girl named Nancy who has ESP. Nancy’s sister, Kirby, has the gift of dance, and her brother, Brendon, has the gift of music. The three children were given their gifts by their grandmother before she passed away.

I remember relating really closely to Nancy the first time I read this. She’s the oldest, with a younger sister and younger brother, which is the same family structure as my family. She’s small, quiet, sensitive, and serious, all qualities that reminded me of myself at that age. She can read minds, check in on people remotely, move items, and talk to ghosts. Her talent causes her as much trouble as it is useful, though, because she can’t control when she’s using it.

Continue reading “A Gift of Magic by Lois Duncan”

Japanese Language Review: 「魔女の侘急便」

魔女の侘急便「魔女の侘急便」が1985年に角野栄子から書いた児童書です。若い魔女のキキの話で、色々面白い瞬間があります。キキは気の強く、おてんばぽい少女ですので、おかしいキャラクタです。でも、私はキキと心が通じる感じがあります。彼女は暖かい性格の少女ですから、彼女の冒険と日常生活について読むことが楽しいです。

1989年にスタジオジブリは「魔女の侘急便」をアニメかにしました。英語で「Kiki’s Delivery Service」と名づけました。アニメバージョンは本と少し違う点があります。諸説には、キキは割りと楽な生活をしている、でも映画でキキは魔法力を失う事である。宮﨑駿は角野栄子に脚本を見せた時、角野さんが断りました。原典と違うすぎるとおもいました。宮﨑駿は角野の家に訪問して、スタジオジブリ。結局、角野さんは賛成して「魔女の侘急便」はアニメにしました。 Continue reading “Japanese Language Review: 「魔女の侘急便」”

“When Did You See Her Last?”

Cover ImageWelcome to Stain’d-by-the-Sea, where all the children are sharp, all the adults are foolish, and all the people are peculiar.

My brother suggested I read “When Did You See Her Last?” while I was visiting family in Milwaukee. Since I haven’t read anything by Daniel Handler (alias Lemony Snicket) since the Unfortunate Events series, I decided to take him up on it and read it on the plane ride back.”When Did You See Her Last?” is a children’s/ya noir novel and the second book in Handler’s noir series All the Wrong Questions.

The story begins when Cleo Knight, brilliant chemist and heiress to an ink fortune in Stain’d-by-the-Sea, goes missing. A young Lemony Snicket and his bumbling guardian S. Theodora Markson are assigned to the case. Stain’d-by-the-Sea is a wild and unique setting populated by an equally odd characters. The town made its fortune harvesting octopus ink, but fell into disrepair after the ink company got too greedy and drained the lake so that they could get to the bottoms of the octopuses’ dens faster. Now the sea is covered by a murky forest of seaweed and the few octopuses remain at the bottom of their holes trapped in mud. Continue reading ““When Did You See Her Last?””

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

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I’m a little late to the party on this one, as it came out in 2005 and was fairly popular when I first heard about it in 2009. By that time I was a senior in high school and not really interested in YA fiction as much, so I ignored the hype, but… a book group I joined here in Dublin chose to read it this month, so I read it and I’ll share my thoughts with you here.

I wasn’t the most excited to get started on the book. There are a lot of books out there on the Holocaust by Jewish authors, so didn’t really see the need for a Holocaust book by a non-Jew. The Holocaust was a traumatic event and is a sensitive topic for Jews, so if non-Jews are going to write about it, they must do so very carefully so as not to seem like they are trying to make money by exploiting another people’s trauma. Continue reading “The Book Thief by Markus Zusak”