Bookish for Kids: Escape Under the Forever Sky

Escape Under The Forever Sky is a story of an American girl living in Africa with her ambassador mother. Lucy has friends and likes where she lives but she deaires freedom. Her mother is very worried about her safety, and thus puts serious restrictions on where she can go and what she can do. Of course Lucy decides to rebel against this, but she quickly learns her lesson the hard way when she is kidnapped. She decides she must escape from her kidnappers and find her way home, even though she is far from the city and does not know exactly where they have taken her. Her adventure as she escapes is exciting, though I thought it was over a bit too quickly. Of course, this is written for a young audience and perhaps the author was anticipating short attention spans. Not bad, overall.

PS-I liked the cover on the ARC better than the final cover. Just FYI.

Bookish for Kids: Rumblewick's Diary

Book 1: My Unwilling Witch Goes to Ballet School

These books are told through the diaries of a witch's familiar: the cat Rumblewick. Rumblewick's witch, Haggy Aggy, is extremely reluctant to do anything witchlike and only wants to know what it is like to be a regular girl. Rumblewick has to hide Haggy Aggy's unwitchlike behavior from the other witches, lest she (and really, HE) get in trouble. In this book, HA decides to try out being a ballerina, but when the high hags come to check up on her, Rumblewick must find a way to make her act more witchlike, despite her stubbornness.

Book 2: My Unwilling Witch Sleeps Over

Haggy Aggy decides to go on a sleepover with regular little girls. With HA's aunt's familiar, Sassy, on the prowl to catch HA in any un-witchlike behavior, and Rumblewick trying to prepare for the Steeplechase heats--which he needs HA to attend to enter--will he be able to keep her from the sleepover and sure witchy disaster?

Overall, the books are cute, fast reads for kids beginning chapter books. There are black-and-white illustrations to accompany the stories. Sometimes Rumblewick's indignation goes over-board and there are some questions about how witches age, since Haggy Aggy fits right in with the little girls, but she can also drive a car. Overall, the books are cute, and will have some fans out there.

Both books will be available in hardcover from Little, Brown, & Co later this year.