strange and random happenstance

When my mom became interested in something she became obsessed with it. This could work in my favor, or, like the Christmas the Badgers went to the Rose Bowl, it could backfire magnificently. I'm not now nor never have been a football fan but at one point I had more Rose Bowl sweatshirts and hats than I could count. But I really benefited when she became obsessed with The Spiderwick Chronicles. This happened in 2008, which as fans of the series will know is when the movie adaptation starring Freddie Highmore came out. For my birthday I got notebooks and field guides and the deluxe collector's trunk. I got it all. So while I didn't love the movie, though I will admit to balling uncontrollably when David Strathaim and Joan Plowright were reunited at the end, I did love the books. Because the books are amazing, just simply magical. They made me feel like I felt when I first discovered the joys of reading as a kid. The story, the illustrations, everything about them made me fall in love with reading all over again. So I was over the moon when I heard about the new adaptation. Then devastated when Disney+ shelved it. I mean, cut Christian Slater a break already! First you pull Willow, which he was magnificent in, and then you decide to not even air The Spiderwick Chronicles!?! At least, in this instance, Roku came to the rescue. I still wish someone would do the same for Willow dammit. And this show works for one reason and one reason only, Daddy Christian Slater. He is magnificent as Mulgarath. So yes, I was rooting for the villain. I can almost, almost, even forgive him from eating Madisynn King from She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. Almost. Random aside, anyone else wondering why the magician who accidentally got Madisynn sucked through an inter-dimensional portal was also present? Oh wait, this was a Disney+ show originally and they're all about synergy when they're not about shelving shows to save a buck. OK, so that makes some sense to me now. Back to Christian Slater. I don't think I'm the target audience for this show and yet I'm probably the one getting the most enjoyment out of it and it's serious Legend vibes. Because while anyone can relate to the moral ambiguity of who are monsters? The actual monsters or man, the "problem child" Jared is the biggest "problem" in this show. His entire family talk about him creating scenes and being the reason they've had to move, and yet it's just them telling us this, we never really see this until he beats the shit out of his best friend, which makes him irrediable in my mind. And how did he get expelled for a really bad comic with an obvious interpretation? He's so one dimensional and his "problems" are so vague that I just didn't care about him. I kept want Christian Slater to show up and do another evil puppet show. I mean seriously, we are in the Christian Slater renaissance. I know most people date this to his role on Mr. Robot almost a decade ago, but I'm saying that it's really now. So do I want a second season? If they fleshed out the humans more, possibly... But seeing as things are very up in the air Christian Slater-wise... It's a no go for me if he's not in it. I'd call him Daddy any day.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: And the Emmy Goes To, Christian Slater, Daddy, Disney+, Freddie Highmore, Jared Grace, Legend, Madisynn King, Mr. Robot, Mulgarath, Renaissance, Roku, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, The Spiderwick Chronicles, Willow

The Search for WondLa by Tony DiTerlizzi
Published by: Simon and Schuster
Publication Date: September 21st, 2010
Format: Hardcover, 496 Pages
Rating: ★★★★
To Buy (different edition than one reviewed)

Eva Nine has spent her entire life in an underground sanctuary. For twelve years she has been raised by "Muthr," Multi-Utility Task Help Robot 06, and hasn't wondered much about the world outside the sanctuary's eight rooms. Though she finds an image printed on cardboard that makes her question what the outside world contains. The image appears to be of a young girl with another human and a robot with words above them apparently spelling out "WondLa." Could there be others like her out there? Other humans with robot companions? Soon she will be thrust into that world when her sanctuary is attacked by a large creature named Besteel. Muthr gets left behind as Eva Nine flees for her life. She wanders the forest looking for safety and finds another sanctuary identical to her own. Only this one has been abandoned save for a Cærulean, Rovender Kitt, who is taking refuge in the remains. Sadly Besteel catches up to Eva Nine and her and her new companion are captured. Besteel is a Dorcean bounty hunter seeking out specimens for Queen Ojo's Royal Museum in Solas. Eva Nine and Rovender Kitt are brought to his camp, containing countless other specimens. But Eva Nine doesn't plan to be a embalmed and put on display in a museum. She and Rovender Kitt stage a successful escape, gaining Otto, a giant tardigrade, as their new traveling companion. Returning home Eva Nine finds Muthr in the wreckage and they are able to repair her and the unlikely crew decide to head out in search of clues as to what became of the human race. Which means traveling to Solas and the museum that wants Eva Nine as a specimen. It will be a harrowing journey, but in the end Eva Nine will have some answers. She will find her Wondla.

In the before times when I went to conventions and saw people I loved going to WisCon. I mean, who doesn't want to go to a science fiction convention with a feminist agenda? The authors I have met there over the years have filled my bookish heart with glee. But one aspect of the con I loved more than any other was the arcs you were able to get your hands on. They'd be on a large table and they all cost a dollar. Though prized arcs often ended up in the Tiptree Auction, named after famed science fiction author James Tiptree Jr., the pen name of Alice Bradley Sheldon. In my second year attending I had recently devoured the entirety of The Spiderwick Chronicles and I saw this book in the auction that seemed to conflate the titles of children's classics The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland hopefully creating a new classic written AND illustrated by Tony DiTerlizzi of Spiderwick fame. I needed The Search for WondLa but was worried I wouldn't win because I had to put in an absentee bid because I couldn't be there for the auction. But someone knew I needed a win and I was surprised to find out that I was the winning bidder when I showed up to the final day of the convention. And the thing is, I was right about the title, to an extent. He was setting out to make a modern classic on par with The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, only heavier on Oz. But the real takeaway is that he succeeded magnificently. It's not just the two-tone illustrations reminiscent of W.W. Denslow that are spot on. But the story feels timeless. There's the joy and wonder of what a child experiences the first time they encounter something new. As a kid I loved exploring museums, and when Eva Nine sees history all in one place for the first time, I felt that connection to my childhood. In that moment I was Eva Nine. But by far the best scene is at the very end. In an homage to the original Planet of the Apes when Eva Nine discovers that what she has been holding onto as a talisman is the cover of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz while in the remains of the main branch of The New York Public Library I actually cried. I knew it was coming but somehow it still shocked me. And that's what the best stories do, make us so invested that even if we see what's coming it hits us hard and it becomes a part of us.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, For the Love of Book Clubs, New York Public Library, Planet of the Apes, The Search for Wondla, The Spiderwick Chronicles, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Tony DiTerlizzi, WisCon

The Children of Green Knowe by L.M. Boston
Published by: Odyssey
Publication Date: 1954
Format: Paperback, 192 Pages
Rating: ★★★★
To Buy
Toseland is being sent off to the country to spend the holidays at Green Noah, the family estate on his mother's side. His father is off gallivanting in warmer climates with his new wife while Tolly braves the flooded plains to reach his great-grandmother's, just as if he was Noah himself. The house is warm and inviting after the waterlogged journey. Tolly feels instantly at home. Every shadow is a friend, and if he's patient enough, Granny Oldknow hints, then perhaps the house will offer up it's secrets. Green Noah has remained in the family down through the centuries, and ghosts do tend to happen in big English Manor Houses. But the ghosts here are family. Their lives are stories to enchant young Toseland at the fireside with Granny Oldknow. She weaves the past into a living memory. Toby and his faithful horse Feste, his younger brother Alexander, whose voice and flute entranced Charles II, and young Linnet, with her animals, become Tolly's best friends. They might have died hundreds of years ago, but they do start to make rare appearances just for Tolly. Soon Tolly's life is a magical adventure, as the flood waters recede and the ground is covered in a thick blanket of snow. He plays with the animals, especially the birds, who were Linnet's favorites as well. The house and it's abiding spirits have welcomed Tolly, only there is a dark secret. A gypsy curse that haunts the ground... if Tolly is strong enough, perhaps he can overcome the evil and be lucky enough to finally see that which he wants to most, Toby's loyal steed, Feste, who is notoriously shy.

The Children of Green Knowe is an enchanting quick read sure to capture the minds of young readers. L.M. Boston has created a world where ghosts aren't scary or terrifying, but welcoming and family. She believes in the legacy of family and the importance of history. All the history it not sugarcoated, everyone doesn't live, but there's a feeling of safety, a feeling that everything will be all right. It has a similar feeling to that of The Chronicles of Narnia, only it lacks the saccharine sweetness and the religious overtones. For being written over fifty years ago, it has a contemporary feeling. Also, unlike many children authors, L.M. Boston doesn't talk down to the reader. There is no patronizing, there is no shielding, there is just a good story.

Oh, how I wish that all authors would just rely on children to be able to read without condescension and instead feed their imagination. Just go back and read The Wizard of Oz sometime, or any of the rest of the Oz series, yes, there where other books. L. Frank Baum just talked down to you. Reading those books you felt as if he was patting you on the head and congratulating you on being able to form a sentence. You ended up wanting to harm him, whereas here, I just desperately needed the next book. I want to champion this book as a new old classic. It lets your imagination fill in the blanks, it doesn't spell out everything, like the battle with the evil... now that would be telling. I didn't want to throttle Tolly, I didn't hate him as I did those characters form that well regarded children's classic, The Secret Garden. How I wish I could harm those children. But alas, you can't harm those who reside in books, instead, just pick up this book and realize what a classic it should be. Fans of The Spinderwick Chronicles are heartily encouraged to devour this book, trust me, it's right up your street.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Charles II, Granny Oldknow, Green Noah, L.M. Boston, The Children of Green Knowe, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Secret Garden, The Spiderwick Chronicles, The Wizard of Oz, Toseland

The Wyrm King: Beyond the Spiderwick Chronicles Volume 3 by Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi
Published by: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
Publication Date: September 8th, 2009
Format: Hardcover, 224 Pages
Rating: ★★
To Buy

After all that's happened the parents have decided that family counseling is the only recourse. At the counselors office the kids are well behaved while the adults sling harmful comments at the others' children and then they decide to separate. This is not what the kids want, but Nick is incapable of stating what it is he wants, seeing as he's not quite sure himself. But with the Grace kids all in Florida, they have more pressing things to worry about, in particular, what is worse than giants? Based on some very sketchy sketches, 500 year ago, during the time of the Conquistadors, something very much like an evil ball of yarn, or perhaps a hydra, rose and had to be destroyed by the giants. After much discussion, and inspection of a newly formed sinkhole in front of Jack's house, wherein Mallory passes out, they come to a working hypothesis. The little wormy dragon like creatures emit methane, hence Mallory passing out, and they become the big scary hydra creature in much the same way rats have a "rat king." The "Wyrm King" is created when all these little snake creatures get their tails entangled and become one fierce creature to be reckoned with by sheer numbers made into a single fighting unit. Also Jack had Taloa hidden in the kiddy pool in the back yard, proving that he is far more useful then the kids in working things out. Nick begs Taloa and her two sisters to help, promising on his life he will get them to fresh water if they help lure the giants back, which is becoming more and more important, the wyrms are growing at a terrifying rate and sinkholes are appearing everywhere. The mermaids are not happy the kids are back, but seeing as they aren't asked for help they just scare Nick by holding him underwater for a bit, but they do give him a fancy hat so he can breath underwater. The kids successfully lure the giants back onto land but then all hell breaks loose. Jules' car is destroyed, Jack's son returns to help, the "Sandspur" is not what people thought he was, Jules is injured, Florida looks more and more like a war zone. But in all the chaos the giants are eating the wyrms and Nick thinks that perhaps there is a giant "Wyrm King" at the epicenter of the sinkholes. Can the kids really save the day? Will they really be heroes? Can Nick ever decide what he wants? Is the Spiderwick Chronicles really at an end?

Finally it's over! Or as over as it will be for awhile, or until the authors desperately need some money (is there any other reason for why there is another Nanny Diaries coming out?) I feel extremely cheated in this final book. Yes it ends well, yes they are all happy, but I feel distinctly unhappy. Can anything those parents said at the counseling session ever be taken back? Can Laurie ever forgive her step-dad for calling her a bad influence and yelling at her? Can Jules ever look at his step-mom the same for creepily insinuating that maybe he had some nefarious designs on her daughter and his own brother? It just left a bad taste in my mouth. Also, as I've said before, I don't like how it became such a "blockbuster" summer Transformers-esque book. Did they already sign a movie deal for this one and that's why it feels like I should be ohhing and ahhing at explosions while eating vast quantities of popcorn? Also there was a real ick, gross out factor with the Wyrm King. Sure it's all scientifically backed up with correlations to rat kings, but ewww. Finally my last gripe is, can't at least one faery be mildly good, did that have to go the way they did with Sandspur? Or did they just really want another ick moment coupled with faeries are no good? In the final analysis, I think I'll just go back an enjoy the first Spiderwick arc, because while this one started out promising, it quickly found a sinkhole.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 11:12 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Beyond the Spiderwick Chronicles, Book Review, Holly Black, The Spiderwick Chronicles, The Wyrm King, Tony DiTerlizzi

A Giant Problem: Beyond the Spiderwick Chronicles Volume 2 by Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi
Published by: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
Publication Date: September 16th, 2008
Format: Hardcover, 154 Pages
Rating: ★★★
To Buy

The past few weeks Noseeum Jack has been trying to teach Laurie and Nick the ways of giant slaying, only Nick can't help thinking that they are too young and too few. When that night while watching two giants brawl, to avoid their brawling parents, Jack is injured and Nick realizes that not only are they too young but also too old. Laurie on the other hand is thinking that they should increase the number of the fighters, by covertly giving Jules a four-leaf clover. Early the next morning Nick hears what he assumes is a cat in the garbage, only to find a faery. The "sandspur" races to the water and proceeds too eat the parting message Taloa left the kids saying they will regret not helping her. After they capture the faery and are all sitting pretty in the house the giants attack. While they are not attacking Mangrove Hollow, per sae, it's in the path and it goes up in smoke, with a rather shell shocked Jules saving Nick, Laurie and her new pet. Jules demands an explanation for the giants, and the scary merefolk he saw while surfing earlier that day. Laurie and Nick explain to him about faeries, all the while Nick is furious at Laurie for tricking Jules into having the sight. They meet up with the parents at the hotel that is now their home, but shortly thereafter have to ditch them to stop this "giant problem." They go to see Jack but he is being taken away by his son, Jack Junior, seeing as Jack is old and injured. Jack says he left the kids something out back but all they see is a kiddy pool and leave his house, barely avoiding a sink hole. That night Nick can't sleep and reads some of Laurie's books that were saved from the fire, one of them being a fairy tale book including the Pied Piper of Hamlin. The next day they go to the devastated development where Nick recovers a viking ship he made from a kit his dead mother gave him. Back at the hotel Jules introduces Cindy to "the sight" by showing her Laurie's new pet that lives in their bathroom. Nick tells them that he might have a plan to get ride of the faeries, based on the Pied Piper and the merefolk Jules saw. If they could lure the giants to the ocean, perhaps that would solve their problems. They all sneak out and steal Nick's dad's car and head for the sea. The mermaids agree to help by singing for them if they bring them a fish that they have never seen before dawn or Jules dies, otherwise known as sending them on a fool's errand. Nick decides that a fish from a landlocked sea would be the best bet, and as it luckily and incredulously turns out Cindy's dad has just the fish, which they then have to steal and barely get away with. But with the fish the mermaids still try to trick them, but Nick saw this coming and tricked them in return...so the plan might still work...but what if the giants weren't the problem? What if they were rising to fight a greater big bad?

I did not enjoy this second installment nearly as much as the first. Second installments in a trilogy have a bit of a bad lot, they are not known for resolving anything and are usually just a bridge to the final confrontation. Of course I'm not saying that things didn't progress, they did, but they progressed in a way where the kids made a bigger mess, so not only will they have to solve the overall problem, but also the problem they created by banishing the giants to the bottom of the ocean. Also, once again, being a fast read I was impatient for the story to be over. I also have an issue with were the story is going, meaning I don't like it going so big and bad that it really is turning into some sort of behemoth or a summer blockbuster. I should have seen this coming though, giants themselves are big. As a final thought I'll ruminate on Laurie. In particular Laurie's ability to convincingly lie. Nick is in awe of her ability to casually throw out comments and spin them into a believable yarn. Shouldn't we, as readers, be worried that this book is kind of glorifying the ability to lie to children? I'm usually not this hyper aware of stuff like this, anyone should read anything they want, I just thought that this might be sending the wrong message. Perhaps Nick's Dad is 100% right and Laurie is a bad influence on Nick. He might be finally interacting with the world...but is it in a good way? Is the the fabrication of false truths justified if they save Florida? We will have to see as I now crack open the final volume after a protracted wait.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 2:10 AM 0 comments  

Labels: A Giant Problem, Beyond the Spiderwick Chronicles, Book Review, Holly Black, The Spiderwick Chronicles, Tony DiTerlizzi

The Nixie's Song: Beyond the Spiderwick Chronicles Volume 1 by Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi
Published by: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
Publication Date: September 18th, 2007
Format: Hardcover, 162 Pages
Rating: ★★★
To Buy

In Florida at the new Mangrove Hollow development things aren't going Nick's way. After the death of his mom he decided it would be better to just not bother with anything and look where that's got him... a new fairy loving step-sister, Laurie, and now has to share a bedroom with his older surf board loving brother Jules. Laurie's favorite book is Arthur Spiderwick's Field Guide (yes, they are doing the self referential author thing like Lemony Snicket). Whilst Nick humors Laurie on a walk looking for the fae he finds a four leaf clover. Later when a storm starts to brew and Laurie dances in the rain Nick heads for home. From his window he sees a body in distress, thinking it's Laurie (he did leave her in the woods afterall) he rushes outside but finds it's a faery, thanks to the four leaf clover he can see her, and enlists Laurie's help. They dump her in the developments lake, where she starts to recover. As a thank you Taloa gives the children the gift of sight (which horrifies Nick, because now he can never not see "them") and asks their help to find her sisters, well actually more blackmails them into helping, because when they refuse Nick's Dad's car gets filled with sand. They begrudgingly help Taloa and end up finding her sisters are dead and there's a giant about, who only stops his rampage because of Taloa's voice. They realize they need help and decide to go to the book signing that Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi are having nearby. Jules and his girlfriend Cindy take them to the talk where the authors turn out to be useless, but they find Jared and Simon Grace (not their real names) and they offer their help. There turns out to be an old friend of Arthur Spiderwick's, a giant expert, who lives nearby. The three children, Simon having gone home, rendezvous at the man's house and find drawing's by Arthur Spiderwick that could prove useful. They attempt the noose like trap for the giant but in the world of faeries things are not as they seem. Then Noseeum Jack, the giant expert, arrives with portents of doom, giants are like cicadas and every 500 years they all rise, this happens to be now, and if they don't all become like "Jack the Giant Killer" Florida is going to burn. Can they stop it from happening?

I like that in the not-really-but-really-it-is sequel to The Spiderwick Chronicles, that we get such a different setting. Instead of a very old New Englandy Victorian ruin we get a very new sub development in humid Florida. Also I can relate to Nick, the pudgy, indoor loving, video game playing boy who just tries to keep his head down. The faeries are just as annoying and singsongy as ever, all with the expected undercurrent of menace. I do have to wonder about Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi's growing up with their two Spiderwick arcs dealing with broken homes. Of course this one is more hopeful because it's a family trying to come together and become a family, versus the fall out of a shattered marriage. It's like The Brady Bunch only with giants and merefolk versus a football to the face. The whole book is coming to terms with and dealing with what is unwillingly thrust on you, whether a sister or a nixie. I do find it annoying how they love to cliffhanger the overly short, quickly read book with a year wait for the next one...but then again, sometimes the suspense of what is to come is better than when it actually arrives...as you'll see in my upcoming review of A Giant Problem!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 2:18 AM 4 comments  

Labels: Beyond the Spiderwick Chronicles, Book Review, Holly Black, The Nixie's Song, The Spiderwick Chronicles, Tony DiTerlizzi