Tag Archives: Spirits

Elem./MG – The Gate, The Girl, and the Dragon

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Lin, Grace. The Gate, The Girl, and the Dragon. Little Brown and Company, 2025. 978-0-316-47832-8. 340 p. $18.99. Grades 3-8+.

Testing parental boundaries, having a father who doesn’t understand your love for the game, and not being seen all are themes of Grace Lin’s newest novel. Jin, a lion cub and a Gongshi (stone spirit) lives beyond the Gates of Chinatown in a world that Gongshi play and rest from their regular duties of watching over humans. Jin loves to play Zuqiu, a soccer-like game. One day, Jin accidentally knocks the Sacred Sphere out of the lion’s house and through the gates thus setting off events that trap the Gongshi and lock the gate. Jin is trapped outside the gates in the human world, a world that he didn’t care much about. Jin, with the help of a young girl Lulu and a worm who is a dragon, has to find and return the sphere, opening the gate and returning balance to the worlds. There is a dust storm, earthquake, humans, sorrow, and acceptance that all play a role in the story.

THOUGHTS: As Grace Lin often does in her books she weaves a main story and then various Chinese legends into the fabric of the words. She is a masterful storyteller who plays at your emotions throughout the story. While a bit predictable reading it as an adult, kids will enjoy the tension set from various points. A wayward dragon who thrives on sending people in the wrong direction just to fulfill his own wishes and desires to a grieving father who only wants to see his wife and daughter again, Lin intertwines stories that flow from one to another and wraps up all in a neat bow at the end. The reader is taken on a roller coaster ride of emotions and ultimately cheers in the end. There is an author’s note that explains where the ideas for this story come from and why it took nine years to complete. She has been making little vignettes on her social media accounts telling about some of the history she used in this book.  This book definitely will make a wonderful read aloud for the coming years.

Fantasy
Adventure

Elem./MG – Max in the House of Spies: A Tale of World War II

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Gidwitz, Adam.  Max in the House of Spies: A Tale of World War II. Dutton’s Children’s Books, 2024. 978-0-593-11208-3. 320 p. $18.99.  Grades 4-6.

On the very first page of the novel, the reader learns a lot about eleven year old Max Bretzfeld, who lives in 1939 Berlin. He is Jewish, a whiz with radios, and was sent to England by his parents to protect him from the dangers of Nazi Germany. With his world turned upside down, the young German is determined to return to his family in Berlin. On the boat ride, he is astonished to find two tiny impish spirits on each shoulder- Berg the kobold and Stein the dybbuk. They can converse with him without anyone else hearing. Max meets his host family, the wealthy Montagues, who are also Jewish and live in London. Max finds the two uncles very interesting. Uncle Ivor is a table-tennis playing filmmaker who supports Communism, while Ewen works for Naval Intelligence and gives a radio to the boy. In school, Max finds that English people also have antisemitic views, and he gets revenge by sabotaging a rugby game. As the bombs fall on London, the boy plans how he will convince Naval Intelligence to allow him to become a spy for England and return to Berlin. He is surprised to learn that they believe he is a German spy. After an intense interrogation, the officers declare him secure, and he begins spy training. Even though he has successfully completed the program, the military is reluctant to send a boy into enemy territory, especially after a grueling psychological exam. With some help from Berg and Stein, Max convinces the committee, which includes Winston Churchill, that he is capable. Max’s mission is to infiltrate the central radio broadcasting building called the Funkhaus, which he is thrilled to do if only he can summon up the courage to jump out of a plane. Information about the war is found in the back as well as a note about the author’s personal connection to the Kindertransport.

THOUGHTS: This is the first book in the Operation Kinderspion series and is a real page turner with a likeable main character. Even though the story requires the reader to suspend disbelief, the plot is engaging, suspenseful, and humorous. With this book’s unresolved ending, the sequel, Max in the Land of Lies, will be eagerly anticipated. Highly recommended for middle grade libraries.

Historical Fiction
Magical Realism

YA – Little Moons

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Storm, Jen. Little Moons. Illustrated by Ryan Howe and Alice R.L. HighWater Press, 2024. 978-1-774-92107-4. 60 p. $20.95. Grades 9-12.

13-year-old Reanna’s life is turned upside down when her sister Chelsea goes missing. Despite searching for her both in and out of the reservation, her family cannot find her. Phone calls to her cell phone go unanswered. Posts on social media inquiring about her whereabouts eventually stop garnering comments. Reanna and her family have no choice but to try and move on as much as they can. Her mother believes moving to the city and starting a new life is the best way to dull her grief. Reanna and her siblings stay part time on the rez with their father and part time in the city with their mom, which Reanna hates. The only solace she finds from her grief is from diving into her First Nations culture, especially when she powwow dances in Chelsea’s beautiful regalia that she beaded herself. Only the youngest sibling, Theo, feels and sees Chelsea’s spirit in the form of a little moon. As Reanna’s mother distances herself from the tragedy, Reanna finds other ways to honor her sister’s life and make peace with the fact that she may never know her sister’s fate. 

THOUGHTS: Little Moons is a beautiful story about grief and how it impacts a family. Once readers know that Theo sees Chelsea in the form of a little moon, they will want to go back through all the pages to find where this little moon appears in the illustrations. Readers looking for a book with a neat, happy ending will not find it with this book. There is a content warning in the front as the book deals with the subject of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two Spirit People (MMIWG2S), so take care when recommending to students.

Graphic Novel
Realistic Fiction

MG – Winnie Zeng Unleashes a Legend

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Zhao, Katie. Winnie Zeng Unleashes a Legend. 978-0-593-42657-9. Random House, 2022. 279 p. $16.99. Grades 4-7.

Winnie Zeng has enough pressure: starting middle school, as well as her Chinese parents constantly nagging her to get better grades, practice the piano more, and to always beat her nemesis, David Zuo. She really doesn’t need her pet rabbit, Jade, to start talking to her. Not to worry, says the rabbit, it’s the overspirit of her dead grandmother, Lao Lao. When Winnie uses her grandmother’s old cookbook to bake mooncakes, she unknowingly activates her own shaman powers (which summons Lao Lao), as well as unleashes a class one spirit who promptly possesses her older sister’s boyfriend. Lao Lao explains to Winnie that shaman are responsible for protecting the human world from malevolent spirits that escape into the world. Great! Now she has a supernatural grandmother nagging her as well! What’s a good Chinese daughter to do? Practice the piano for the upcoming competition (and beat David) or practice her shaman skills with her grandmother? To make things even worse, Winnie discovers David is also a shaman-in-training (but doing better than her, of course.) With spirit activity increasing as the Mid-Autumn Festival approaches, Lao Lao and David pressure Winnie to step up her training, but even an obedient Chinese-American daughter can only do so much. Will Winnie choose to save the world or ace the piano competition once and for all? Zhao uses Chinese mythology to frame the plot, but the heart of the story is Winnie’s need to find herself amid the constant drive to please her parents. Winnie is an appealing, laugh-out-loud funny narrator. Students definitely will relate to her exasperation at being expected to do so much at a very high level, and the feeling of never being quite good enough.

THOUGHTS: Readers looking for a humorous book with a likable protagonist definitely will enjoy  Winnie Zeng. While they may not understand her (temporary) choice to focus on school and turn down being a spirit-catching, world-saving shaman, most will relate to her stressed-out feeling of being over-scheduled with activities and expectations, and look forward to the next book.

Fantasy (Mythology)                Nancy Nadig, Penn Manor SD