A brand spankin new blog (albeit one in progress) AND a review previously only available to CLJ subscribers can only mean one thing—I’m back in the blogging saddle, baby! I don’t aspire to many posts through the end of the year, but I’ll be back…
In Laurel Snyder’s second middle-grade novel, Any Which Wall, long-time friends Henry, Roy, Susan and Emma are out of school for the summer and bored, bored, bored in their sleepy little town, until, hidden in an Iowa cornfield, they discover a mysterious wall—and an even more mysterious key.
“They pedaled forward slowly, and in a few minutes, the tall dark thing became a bigger dark thing. Finally it turned into a wall made of gray and black stones, heavy rough squares, each about the size of a large suitcase. As tall as City Hall and about that wide, the wall looked precarious, tilting toward them” (page 19).
Together, the two sets of siblings realize the wall is more than mysterious—it’s magical. It can take them to any place, at any time. They soon find themselves traveling far and wide, having adventures and learning that magic just might look a little different than they thought.
Written as a tribute to Edgar Eager and E. Nesbit this Junior Library Guild Selection, by master storyteller Laurel Snyder, is lyrical, nostalgic, classic and timeless. Told by a fun and spunky narrator and peppered with delightful illustrations by LeUyen Pham, Any Which Wall veritably begs to be read aloud.
Fun, fast-paced and fantastical with characters to love. These kids aren’t singlehandedly battling evil. They don’t hold the world’s fate in their hands. They’re regular kids who remember what friendship is about and who create a little magic of their own. They remind the reader to slow down, to enjoy life’s ordinariness and to always, always, keep their eyes and imagination open. Magic still happens. A valuable lesson indeed.
Highly recommended.
From the Christian Library Journal; used with permission.
