Once upon Tomorrow by Karen Comer

 "She was not sure if her tapestries of truth could restore the kingdom."

There are three voices in this YA verse novel. Miri aged 18 lives in 2025; Aleita aged 16 lives one hundred years into the future in 2125; and Sylvie is a girl from the famous fairy tale - Rumpelstiltskin. She is called The Girl at the Threshold. She is tasked with weaving a tapestry for the King.

"Fairytales, I whisper. Fairytales in a hundred years, no matter how messed up the world, whether there's another pandemic or bushfires over half the world or there are no polar bears left, people will still need stories - and fairytales are the truest of stories."

Sylvie's story:

"I am here to weave the King's three tapestries, to show past, present and future of the kingdom .... But you must know this: it is dangerous for a girl to tell the truth."

The king is displeased with the first tapestry - he throws her into a dungeon. She spins the straw and ...

"The straw flowed into fibre, into .... gold. She was spinning gold. The brittle straw became pliable strings of gold through her hands, around the stone, around the stick.. Gold - she had turned her craft of truth into gold."

"You have made me a hero and therefore, I will make you a queen. But should you make me a fool with the third tapestry, I will make you a grave"

Aleita's story:

The imagined future in this book is a dreadful place. Women live in fear of assault and rape; people have a chip in their brain and are regularly jolted with advertising. When Aleita, for example, looks in the mirror it tells her she is using too much shampoo and that orange makeup does not suit her face. Aleta 2125 works at EveNet . They are working to counteract beauty jolts, consumerism calls, home jolts (household and childcare duties) fertility jolts (to increase the declining population).

"Jolts ... they're getting more invasive, you know, particularly for women. A jolt to stop at a bar and have a drink by yourself, just when a football match has finished and there's a crowd of men looking for ... "

"It is illegal to send jolts without an accompanying vibration". 

"I'm seriously considering deactivating my implant as soon as I turn eighteen. I'll go and find a group of non-neurals, live with them on the margins, knit scarves in exchange for food."

The jolt has - "urged me to test for a new virus, suggested I trial an herbal tab for emotional healing. I try to imagine receiving jolts only a couple of times a day. What I could do with clarity of mind, focus, hours and hours between jolts, to create and daydream and think. Gold."

"If my implant is responsible for my most shallow, surface thoughts, then technically I should be able to find some depth - and my own thoughts - without it?"

Once upon Tomorrow is also a Love letter to libraries of all kinds! 

"Libraries are safe havens - legislated to protect humans from neural implant jolting and personal data harvesting. Libraries are one of the last places you can talk freely. You can be yourself in a library."

"More people should spend time in libraries so that the atmosphere of possibilities and problem-solving and perseverance can soak into more people"

Other reviewers are sure to talk about the symbolism of gold and weaving which appears all through the story. For example there is a mention of a gum tree in WA (2025) that has traces of gold in its leaves and of course Sylvie weaves straw into gold. And there are echoes of weaving in the 2025 setting in the wool shop which people visit to seek advice about their knitting.

And there are feminist themes too: "the miller's daughter, although praised for her talent, was still known by her father's occupation."

Here are some of my random details about the invented words used in this book, the setting and more:

• Transport: louzes are a form of high speed on demand possibly robot driven or automated vehicles and a MOT is a photo.
• Other terminology: online is called onliq. I guess we might call this social media. There are also matribots and sisbots - or robots programmed by external organisations. Hali is a robot - a sisbot - who is assigned to work with Aleta.
• Setting: Melbourne - Yarra River and Castlemaine.
• Contemporary issues from 2025 Mushroom murders; and the role of VCE (exams) in the lives of High School students
• Contemporary book authors - Charlotte Wood, Helen Garnder, Marcus Zusak, Sally Rooney, Tara jane winch, Tim Winton, Nagi cookbook
• Human burial in 2125 - is composting - cremation too much carbon, very few coffins are used "instead we allow our loved ones to compost, to nurture the Earth, to grow a tree."
• CJ, a boy from 2125, is sent to work at Honeycomb childcare - we are told they only want perfect babies now. We learn this place used to be a woollen mill and the carers are called matribots. 
• As well as the fairy tale of Rumpelstiltskin this story has references to Jung and also the three fates: "Clotho, the spinner who weaves together the thread of life; Lachesis, the allotter who decides how long the thread will be and Atropos, the cutter who snips it."

One of the most dreadful scenes in this book happens near the end (spoiler alert). The authorities who control Hali (the sisbot) instruct Aleta to cut her own flesh

"I grip those scissors, open them up as wide as I can, hold my left arm upright, run both points down the skin on the inside of my arm. Up and down, up and down, up and down. The blood runs from my wrist to my elbow, onto the floor, onto the remains of Mum's scarf. ... Hali is still watching me, eerily quiet."

The audience for this book is Young Adult readers aged 16+. Once upon Tomorrow has 360 pages of fairly small print but more than that I am sure my rambling comments here demonstrate that this is a very complex story. It did capture my attention for several days and even now, a few weeks later, some of the scenes are still on my mind. I think mature readers who have reading stamina are sure to find the ideas in this book intriguing and engrossing. It is due for publication in late April 2026. Thanks to Gleebooks Kids for sharing their advanced reader copy with me. 

Publisher blurb: Miri, an eighteen-year-old hopeful Jungian student, discovers she's pregnant in 2025.

Aleita, sixteen, shelters in the library, the one place free of jolts to her digital implant in 2125.

Interwoven between them stands Sylvie, spinning tapestries to save her life and the kingdom. Sylvie exists in the pages of a mysterious fairytale titled The Girl at the Threshold. Miri, Aleita and Sylvie each need to make a choice in their search for the truth. All three are connected through time by heartbreak, a desperate need to save the environment and a search for family and community. An expansive verse novel about the parallel journeys of three extraordinary girls carving out their own histories - and each other's.

Before reading Once upon Tomorrow it could be helpful to read a few versions of Rumpelstiltskin.  

After reading Once upon Tomorrow, I found a couple of other books for a YA audience based on this fairytale.

I have also read these books by Karen Comer.

Grace Notes

Sunshine on Vinegar Street

The idea that people have chips implanted in their brains was explored in this book from 1984 - it is a story that still haunts me.

The Surface Trials by HM Waugh

Set on a fascinating yet hostile alien planet, this pulse-pounding, high-stakes, elimination-quest novel will have readers on the edge of their seats. HM Waugh

Groups of kids who live on different planets are sent to complete a trial as a way to enter the Starquest Academy, an exclusive institution dedicated to training future Planeticians. The title uses the word surface because on one level the surface of this planet is terrifying and dangerous beyond almost your wildest imagination. The danger is mostly from enormous 'man eating' plants. Yes I did say plants! And there are also huge man-eating insects too. If you fall into one of the plants it immediately starts to digest you. The word surface, though, also refers to the way these kids judge each other. How much each of the kids in the group we are following are prepared to reveal to the others - to go under the surface. One kid is not who he seems, one kid has dangerous extra powers, and one kid is utterly selfish and out to win at all costs including jeopardising the lives his own team mates.

"During the trials, candidates will be judged on their ... courage, teamwork, innovation and exploration. Assessors will be looking for resilience, assertiveness, empathy and creativity."

Adding to all this pressure the kids are being watched and filmed and this is broadcast on televisions all over the universe. Every kid in this team has watched all the previous trials. They know the rules, they know how easily they can be eliminated. Every moment, every interaction has to be carefully enacted because they are being watched. And this is a race because they have to reach the end in just three days so they can be picked up and return to safety. Survival means looking out for yourself but one of the rules is about teamwork and co-operation. What should they do if helping the team stands in the way of winning?

Bookseller blurb: 

Three days, three clues, one hungry planet.

Constant surveillance.

The entire universe watching every move.

Some will shatter. Most will fail.

A select few will make it through, instant celebrities.

Welcome to the Surface Trials. The only way into Starquest Academy. For Amethyst Antares, Starquest Academy offers an escape from the prison of her home planet. For Rian - the uber-famous and expertly-disguised heir to the universe's two greatest dynasties - failure to get into his own academy is not an option. And Deneb? Well, he's an outlier... But this year not everything goes to plan, and Amethyst and her squad find themselves playing for more than Starquest admission. To survive, they'll have to outsmart carnivorous creatures, share dangerous secrets, maintain trust and embrace the most shocking truth in the galaxy. Set on a fascinating yet hostile alien planet, this pulse-pounding, high-stakes, elimination-quest novel will have readers on the edge of their seats.

Here are a couple of text quotes:

"Panic flooded him, and he fought it back, knowing they were already being watched. Wherever they were about to land, he had to believe he had the skills to make it."

"Daneb shot out, slime oozing all around him, the goo dotted with carcasses of breeders and viperwasps and other unrecogisable things. "

"There were no such things as alien ruins. Through all the worlds that humans had spread to, no hint of other human-level intelligence had ever been found. That's what gave humanity the right to take over all these new planets."

I think lovers of science fiction will enjoy this book, and as someone who does not read a lot of science fiction, it’s a really nice introduction to the genre. Not too heavy or technical at all. It gets things in a nice balance to appeal to all readers who like adventure stories or who want to try science fiction without being overwhelmed by too much of the technical aspects of the genre. And the way it ended made me wonder if it is part of a duology or series, so it will be interesting to see if it is. But it also works as a standalone, and this is what makes it a great book to read when trying out this genre, and it fits in nicely with other books HM Waugh has written over the years as well. The Book Muse

I was interested to read this book because it was a 2026 CBCA Younger Readers Notable title but I am going to say right up front this is book will much better suit an older reader aged 12+. Reviewers consistently compare this book to other YA titles - The Hunger Games and The Maze Runner. 

Here are the CBCA Judges' comments:

I seem to have read quite a few Science Fiction books recently. Here are a few:

The Touchstone

The Experiment

We do not welcome our ten-year-old overlord

I previously read this book by HM Waugh - her debut.

The Lost Stone of Skycity

HM Waugh is a children’s author, educator and environmental scientist with a long-term love of wild places and outdoor adventures. She has been kidnapped twice, handled dragons for a job, and dreams of one day blasting into space. Her books mix humour, danger and friendship with a dash of science and imagination.

A Place called Perfect by Helena Duggan

About halfway through this book I was sure I would give it five stars but then things became a little too tangled and complicated, so I have settled on four stars. This book is fast paced and so I read it all in one day. I would be very happy to recommend this book to readers aged 10+.

The premise that the whole town is controlled taking away the sight of every citizen and then providing them with special glasses that allow them to see, is intriguing. Yes, the glasses do work, the way people view the world through these lenses has been manipulated and so the people see perfection everywhere in the town of Perfect. And the glasses have another even more sinister function. They contain a device that robs everyone of their imagination. Imaginations are stored in glass jars after being collected late at the night. How did everyone become blind? It is all linked to some special tea which is provided to everyone, every day, several times each day. Even the children in school stop for regular 'tea' breaks. The tea is addictive and delicious because it tastes like your personal favourite flavour. 

There is an issue though with these glasses.  They only work when they are kept on your face. No one would be prepared to wear glasses in bed, so every night there is curfew which is designed to stop people hearing any sounds from the other side of the wall. This is where any people have been sent who haven't conformed to the regime imposed by Edward and George Archer. Why have they set up these schemes to manipulate the people in this town? Of course it is all about power and also we learn it is about jealousy. The people in No-Mans-Land are only allowed out at night and they are guarded by thugs called Watchers. They seem to have lost any urge to rebel. 

Violet becomes caught up in all of this because her father is a skilled ophthalmologist. She has moved with her father and mother to Perfect. Her mother very quickly changes into a 'perfect' person baking cakes and joining community events such as a the local book club but right from the start Violet is suspicious of the brothers, of the tea, and of this seemingly perfect town. 

Meanwhile (spoiler alert) the Archer brothers are working on making or growing eyes (you can see them on the cover). They have this very disturbing plan to operate and transplant these 'special' eyes into everyone. Luckily Violet meets Boy - he is an orphan who lives in No-Mans-Land and he is desperate to uncover the evil work by the Archers. It will take courage, teamwork, and determination to stop these evil men. You will be sitting on the edge of your seat because Helena Duggan makes her reader live through every terrifying situation. There were so many times when I was sure Violet and Boy would be captured and punished by the Archers. 

Publisher blurb (Usborne): Violet never wanted to move to Perfect. Who wants to live in a town where everyone has to wear glasses to stop them going blind? And who wants to be neat and tidy and perfectly behaved all the time? But Violet quickly discovers there's something weird going on in the town - she keeps hearing voices, her mam is acting strange and her dad has disappeared. When she meets Boy she realizes that her dad is not the only person to have vanished... and that the mysterious Watchers are guarding a perfectly creepy secret!

A place called Perfect was published in 2017. I picked up my copy for just AUS$3 at a charity book fair. 

This quirky, creepy mystery adventure story is an original debut that should intrigue 9+ readers who like their stories with an offbeat, uneasy atmosphere.  There are plenty of macabre details, particularly to do with eyes, and some fast-paced action but the plot does become rather over-complicated by the end and readers will need to concentrate.  This book provides plenty of dark humour amidst the action and some key messages about not following the crowd, being brave, looking beneath the surface and resisting controlling bullies.  Books for Keeps

I have now discovered there are three books in the series:

This book opens with a terrific map:

Helena Duggan is a children's author, graphic designer and illustrator from Kilkenny, a medieval town in Ireland, which was the inspiration for A Place Called Perfect. She writes in a treehouse built by her husband Robbie and his brother in the bottom of their garden.

Companion books:

Eventown

Masterminds

Simon Sort of Says

The Ash House by Angharad Walker

He had been expecting a healing refuge for children like him. Something between a school and a summer camp. But this wasn’t it. The Ash House was like the end of a world that had been left to decay, forgotten by everyone who had ever cared about it.

Sol (Solitude) has been in hospital. He has a mystery illness that leaves him wracked with pain and it is so severe he falls to the ground unconscious. As this book opens Sol has been taken out of the hospital to the strange Ash House. There he meets a group of children - boys and girls - with names that strangely link with their ethos of kindness. There are no adults, but the children talk about The Headmaster. He has been absent for three years but each day, until now, he communicates via a telephone, with instructions for the children. Their days are filled with routines of preparing food, cleaning, washing, and feeding three monstrous creatures called Shucks that live under ash house. 

The sky is empty of birds but the children have never seen real birds so they name the drones that constantly monitor them - birds. Sol has lived in the outside world - he knows so much more about life than these strange kids. It seems impossible that Sol will make any friends here and even more impossible that this place can cure his illness. But Dom (short for Freedom) is determined to have Sol as a friend and then the doctor arrives with the promise of a cure for Sol - but can he be trusted?

Bookseller blurb: A new boy arrives at the Ash House. He can't remember his name or why he's been sent there. Given the name Sol, and troubled by a mystery pain that no medicine can cure, he joins the gang of children living in the shadows of the secretive house. Soon, however, there's more for him to face: the darkness that descends with the arrival of the Doctor...

I never seek out horror stories, but I belong to an online Middle Grade book group and, because it is nearly Halloween, The Ash House was our assigned reading for October. The Ash House is from the UK publisher Chicken House. They relate this book to Lord of the Flies; and Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. These are both books that make me shudder and if I had read that before picking up this book I might not have ventured further. Strangely though, I really loved the open ending so reading this book was well worth the harrowing journey. 

Here are some text quotes to give you a flavour of this book:

He had been expecting a healing refuge for children like him. Something between a school and a summer camp. But this wasn’t it. The Ash House was like the end of a world that had been left to decay, forgotten by everyone who had ever cared about it.

‘So . . . there aren’t any adults here? No teachers or parents or anyone? Just us?’ ‘Par-ents,’ Libby sounded out the word. Heads tilted to one side. ‘You don’t have parents?’ ‘What are parents?’ Dom asked. Sol looked scared, suddenly, which Dom thought was strange. His green eyes were wide and worried, and his voice became high-pitched as he tried to explain: ‘Parents – your mums and dads? The people who made you and raise you and look after you!’

Nobody saw the Doctor arrive. His car was black and shining and didn’t have number plates. The children gathered around it and looked at their stretched, alien faces reflected in its glossy metal. Stray flakes of ash were already settling on its roof.

‘You will not question my decisions!’ the Doctor thundered over the outcry. Silence fell again and he continued at a normal volume: ‘How dare you come into the Ash House at night? How dare any of you go upstairs into the Headmaster’s study, and tamper with his documents? No punishment is enough. But I must try to make you all understand the severity of what you’ve done. You’ll face the Shucks, all of you, one by one.

The idea of names matched with this ethos of kindness is an intriguing one. Concord (Con); Happiness and Temperance; Liberty (Libby); Justice and Merit; and the mysterious missing girl Clemency.

Disturbing scenes (spoiler alert):

• the burial of the dead pig and then Sol is placed in the hole with the pig and he cannot climb out.
• when Sol wakes up and he cannot move his legs - what has this 'doctor' done to him?
• the night the doctor discovers someone has been in the headmaster's study.

An unexpected—and pleasing—combination of propitious and disquieting. Kirkus Star review

The Ash House is a vivid and rich read, full of well rounded and complex characters. Each child has their own voice and it is easy to fall into the world that Walker has built. Wound around the striking imagery and fantasy elements of the story are a number of themes including the power of friendship, physical and mental illness and disability and the importance of critical thinking. The Book Bag

It's an incredibly vivid story, the sort with lots and lots of description that is so well integrated into the story that you don't really register why your mind is making such clear pictures. It's a suspenseful mystery, as the reader, along with Sol, tries to figure out what's happening. ... It's also the story of a group of children taking their survival into their own hands, and desperately trying to keep their community together, and I cared about them lots by the end of the story! Charlotte's Library

You can read an extract from The Ash House here. Angharad talks about her book here. What do you think about the two covers - one from the UK and one from USA? I would recommend this book to mature readers aged 11+ who seek out horror stories. 

All through this book I kept thinking of this book I read many years ago:

The Lost Children

Masterminds by Gordon Korman

Korman is awesome. This book was not only exciting, but thought provoking as well. 

Definitely buying a copy and waiting avidly for the sequel! Ms Yingling

This town is very small. The parents either work at the plastics factory or work in the town as the teacher, doctor, mayor or as shopkeepers. The other group of men are security guards called the Surety. The kids call them Purple People Eaters.

As the story opens one of the kids named Randy convinces Eli (his father is the local doctor) to travel outside the town perimeter but as they reach the edge of town Eli becomes very unwell. Helicopters arrive and he his taken to hospital. Not long after this Randy is sent away but the reason does not sound feasible. Eli enlists the help of three other kids from the town - Malik, Tori and Hector. There is something strange about the factory which 'supposedly' makes plastic traffic cones. Who are these kids? What is really going on in that factory? Why did Eli get so sick? Surely there is something strange about the street names and even the local newspaper does not seem entirely trustworthy. Then Eli is somehow able to access the 'real' internet and so the kids begin to unravel a set of lies that will upset everything they think they know about their lives and families. 

Boy oh boy this book is a wild ride! I was totally engrossed from beginning to end following the lives of these four kids and the weird-sounding community where they live with the prophetic name of Serenity. I do need to warn you this is book one in a trilogy and the ending of book one is a cliffhanger - I plan to borrow book two from the library on my next visit. 

Blurb: Eli Frieden lives in the most perfect town in the world: Serenity, New Mexico. Everyone has a great house, with a pool. Money problems and crime are unheard of. Honesty and integrity are valued above all else. The thirty kids who live there never lie. They know it’s a short leap from that to the awful problems of other, less fortunate places. Eli has never left Serenity … until, one day, he bikes to the edge of the city limits and something so crazy and unexpected happens that it changes everything. Eli convinces his friends to help him investigate further, and it soon becomes clear that nothing is as it seems in Serenity. The clues mount to reveal a shocking discovery, linking their ideal community to some of the greatest criminal masterminds ever known.

This review has lots of plot details: This amazing book is perfectly paced, building in tension as Eli, Tory, Hector, and the other children discover the truth about their town and their lives, and as they try to figure out what they should do about the incredibly difficult situation they have been put in. The chapters alternate between the characters so that we get to see things through several different pairs of eyes, which gives us a wonderful insight into the feelings reactions of Eli and his friends. Readers will be eager to find out if children who have been living in a controlled environment all their lives will be able to truly be who they are. 

Companion book:

Eventown

Which cover do you like? I prefer the second one. This book was published in 2016 but it is still available. 

Here are the covers of books two and three:

Update: Here's my blog post about Criminal Destiny

Criminal Destiny: Follow Eli, Tori, Malik, and Amber as they try to discover the truth of their origins and carve a life for themselves in an outside world that is unfamiliar, baffling, and dangerous. But Project Osiris and its enforcers, the Purple People Eaters, are hot on their trail. They’re free for now. But for how long …? (Here is the review from Ms Yingling)

Payback: After a serious betrayal from one of their former friends, the clones of Project Osiris are on the run again. Now separated into pairs, Eli and Tori and Amber and Malik are fighting to survive in the real world. Amber and Malik track down the one person they think can help them prove the existence of Project Osiris, notorious mob boss Gus Alabaster, also known as Malik's DNA donor. But as Malik gets pulled into the criminal world-tantalized by hints of a real family-his actions put him and Amber into greater danger. Eli and Tori get sucked into even bigger conspiracies as they hunt down Project Osiris's most closely guarded secrets-who does Eli's DNA come from? With a surprising new ally and another cross-country adventure, the four will have to work together to overcome the worst parts of themselves if they are going to end Project Osiris once and for all. (Take a look at this review from Ms Yingling)

Gordon Korman writes thrilling stories that are sure to appeal to readers aged 10+. Years ago I read books from three of his trilogies - Island; Everest and Dive. Each of these have around 175 pages and are perfect for reluctant readers. Look for this one too:

The Unteachables

We do not Welcome our Ten-Year-Old Overlord

Kim's sister Eila finds a strange globe in the lake. It looks a little like a basketball but it also has terrifying powers. Eila is a smart girl but she is only ten years old. She names the globe Aster and becomes quite possessive and secretive about her new 'friend'. Early on in the story as readers we realise Aster is 'using' Eila but young Eila thinks she is helping Aster learn about life on earth. Kim finds a dead kangaroo - well he finds the empty skin. Yes that is creepy. Then the pet guinea pigs of the two girls are found dead. 

Madir worries her parents are always fighting, always busy and give their children no time. Then very strangely their behaviour changes. Equally Kim and Eila live in a home where the children are expected to assist their scientist parents with chores in the greenhouses. The family have no radio or television. The children are not allowed to read fiction books but Kim has smuggled a copy of A Wizard of Earthsea into his wardrobe. Returning home one day, not long after Aster arrives, Kim is totally shocked when he discovers there is a television in their house. The Basalt family also like to assist their neighbour. Mrs Benison is elderly and unwell but then she seems to miraculously recover and even gain energy and vitality.

Surely there is something sinister and dangerous about Aster. What is this thing they found in the lake? Kim enlists the help of his three friends. Their plan is to throw Aster back into water but then Eila realises things are spinning out of control. The only way to destroy Aster she tells the group is to hold her in direct sunlight. The race to do this make the scenes in the final five chapters of this reading journey, worthwhile. 

The setting for this book is Canberra and the year is 1975. None of that really matters and readers who are unfamiliar with Canberra won't make this connection. Kim and Bennie and their two friends also like to play Dungeons and Dragons. Garth Nix explains this is a game he played too, as an older teenager. I know nothing about this game but if readers are familiar with the way it is played that might add to the story enjoyment. Garth Nix also explains, in the acknowledgements section at the back of the book, that he and his friends did find a strange object in the shallow water on the edge of the lake - but it turned out to be a head shaped rock covered in flowing weeds. This image of this and his curiosity about this object lingered with him and now years later we have this book. 

The names in this book are very inventive but I also found them a little distracting - Chimera “Kim” Basalt and Benjamina “Bennie” Chance are twelve-year-old best friends and they play, as I said, Dungeons and Dragons with two other friends every week. Kim of course has to keep this a secret from his parents. Their sisters are Eileithyia “Eila” Indigofera Basalt and Madir Sofitela Chance. Kim and Eila live on an alternate farm. Mum and Dad have given themselves new names. Mum is Marie Basalt named after Marie Curie and Dad is Darwin Basalt named after Charles Darwin.

I did rush my reading of this book because it was due back at the library. The scene on pages 228-229 needs careful attention because this is where everything is 'sort of' explained. I read the last few chapters on a train and found I totally forgot where I was - that's always a terrific thing that happens when you enjoy a book.

When I read about the strange cloud that hovers over the city it reminded me of this Science Fiction book from many years ago:

Read more here

Last night We do not Welcome our Ten-Year-Old Overlord was announced as a 2025 CBCA Younger Readers Notable. 

Here are some reviews of We do not Welcome our Ten-Year-Old Overlord:

An entertainingly offbeat science-fiction romp. Kirkus

You know as soon as you hold a new Garth Nix book that you are in for a treat. Usually a creepy, oft-bizarre and freakish treat, but a treat none-the-less. Your readers who are into such vibes as Stranger Things, The X-Files, Wednesday, Strange Objects, The Water Tower… and indeed, anything that smacks of other-worldly with a hefty dose of scare-the-bejeezus-out-of-you, are going to go mad for this. Just so Stories

Everything in this novel, down to Kim’s Dungeons & Dragons game is carefully thought out, and delivered at the right time. It means that we get to hit all the beats effectively, and find out what we need to know at crucial points throughout the novel.  The Book Muse

If you are unfamiliar with The Watertower try to find it -this is one of the best picture books you will ever read to a group of children in a school library aged 10+ and it would be a good companion read:

Bookseller blurb: All Kim wants to do is play Dungeons & Dragons with his friends and ride his bike around the local lake. But he has always lived in the shadow of his younger sister. Eila is a prodigy, and everyone talks about how smart she is, though in Kim's eyes, she has no common sense. So when Eila finds an enigmatic, otherworldly globe which gives her astonishing powers, Kim not only has to save his sister from herself, he might also have to save the world from his sister!

The title of this book intrigued me. Oddly after reading this book I wondered if the title might make more sense (to me at least) if it was called We do not welcome the Ten-Year-Old Overlord.  Anyway, putting that tiny thought aside it was interesting to read a new Science Fiction book. There do not seem to have been quite so many books in this genre published for ages 10+ here in Australia in recent years - at least I couldn't think of any.

It seems important to define Science Fiction at this point. Here are a few quotes:

• Science fiction, popularly shortened as sci-fi, is a genre of fiction that creatively depicts real or imaginary science and technology as part of its plot, setting, or theme.
• The word science refers to the fact that the story in some way involves science or technology that—no matter how advanced—is depicted as being based on real scientific principles, as opposed to involving magic or the supernatural.
• Regardless of the specific technologies or scientific advances being depicted, sci-fi often speculates about their effects on or consequences for the reality of the world being described. In other words, sci-fi stories often ponder how science and technology can go wrong for individual people or society (often as a metaphor for how they can go or have gone wrong in our own reality).

Back in 2021 I talked about Science Fiction and shared some examples of children's books because this genre linked perfectly with the CBCA Book Week Slogan that year - Old Worlds, New Worlds, Other Worlds. 

Decades ago, I did read a few books by Garth Nix - well before I started this blog - such as The Keys to the Kingdom. The set in my former library did had a different set of covers.  Lord Sunday was nominated for Carnegie Medal in Literature. Mister Monday was a CBCA 2004 Older Readers Honour title. Garth Nix has over 200 titles listed in GoodReads. 

We also had this set but I have no memory of reading any of these:

Cog by Greg van Eekhout

Cog looks like a twelve year old boy but in fact he is a robot or a biomaton. He lives with Gina. She teaches Cog new things each day:

"I am programmed for cognitive development, and to learn by consuming information with my sensors, which are similar to human eyes, noses, ears, tongues and skin. I am capable of learning through reading, through smelling, through hearing, through tasting."

Things are going well for Cog until he is badly hurt in an accident with a truck. When Cog wakes up he finds himself in a science facility. It is there that Cog discovers the truth and this discovery is truly terrible for Cog, his sister ADA, his new friends and even more importantly it could mean the whole world is in danger. Nathan has plans for world domination and be warned he has plans to insert computer chips in human brains too.

I love the word placement in this book.  Take a look at these sentences

"Nathan smiles, but it is a very different kind of smile. It is a smaller kind that shows no teeth. I am unfamiliar with this kind of smile. It does not convey happiness or excitement or agreeability."

"The man strikes Proto with the hockey stick. Thwack. Proto clatters to the ground."

"So first we're going to gouge the X-module out of your brain."

I should mention the characters from the front cover are Cog, his sister ADA, and their new friends Trashbot and Proto the dog. The other important character is Car and he is heroic but also very funny.

Blurb from author site: Cog looks like a normal twelve-year-old boy. But his name is short for “cognitive development,” and he was built to learn. But after an accident leaves him damaged, Cog wakes up in an unknown lab—and Gina, the scientist who created and cared for him, is nowhere to be found. Surrounded by scientists who want to study him and remove his brain, Cog recruits four robot accomplices for a mission to find her. Cog, ADA, Proto, Trashbot, and Car’s journey will likely involve much cognitive development in the form of mistakes, but Cog is willing to risk everything to find his way back to Gina.

You may already know that I am drawn to books about robots. This is because they are often funny (there is a terrific supermarket scene in Cog) but these stories are often also dystopian and occasionally even political and always seem to be about the misuse of power. Cog contains all of this and more.

If you have a super curious, quirky kid of 9 or so who needs a book to read, offer this one. Then, if you are a smart, quirky grown-up, read it yourself. Charlotte's Library

The author nicely inverts gender roles, making Cog introspective and shy while his sister—a weapon android—is brasher and braver; watching the pair grow together as they explore humanity provides pathos and humor.  A thought-provoking tale for younger readers about hubris and what it means to be human. Kirkus

If the theme of world domination interests you try to find The Seven Professors of the Far North and The Girl who could Fly.  Here is Greg van Eekout's web site and here are some companion reads about robots:

Runaway Robot

Boot Book One (there are three in this series)

The Wild Robot (and sequel)

Troofriend

Tin

The Girl who could Fly by Victoria Forester

 

Betty and Joe McCloud celebrate the long awaited arrival of their baby girl years after they have given up hope of a family. Piper is a perfect baby until the day when she rolls off the kitchen table and does not crash to the floor. Instead she floats in the air. This is just the beginning. Piper can fly. Piper loves to fly. Piper tries to fly at every opportunity. Betty is a no nonsense woman. She know the people of Lowland County, especially Millie Mae the town gossip, will not tolerate difference or the unexplained so Piper is kept safe at home. (Listen to this audio sample) She does not mix with the other children from the town, she is not sent to school and it is only at Church each Sunday that anyone ever sees her. Everything is okay but of course Piper longs for a friend. Finally Betty announces they will attend the annual Fourth of July Picnic. The day goes really well except Piper discovers the other kids don't want to be her friend. Piper has promised her Ma and Pa she will not disgrace them at the picnic. She will not fly but everything goes wrong during the kids baseball game and Piper cannot help herself. The ball is heading her way:

"Piper's entire body was tingling before she could even think straight. There wasn't a doubt in her mind what she was going to do. She was going to catch that ball and show them all."

Word of this event spreads to the world media and to the authorities and within days Dr Hellion arrives at the farm. 

"I am the director of an institute that specialises in providing assistance to people, much like youselves, who find themselves in ... difficult situations."

There is a clue early on, though, that the offer of help from Dr Hellion might not be quite what it seems. "Dr Hellion produced an official-looking identification card."  Here you can sense the power of one word official-looking - not official?

Betty and Joe agree Piper can go with Dr Hellion to her special school. When Piper arrives, you may be thinking as I was, that this place is not going to help Piper - it is some sort of underground prison. Why is the food so delicious, why is school so boring, why are these others kids here and what about that beautiful silver giraffe?

I first read this book in 2009 but the story has lingered with me and so last week when I spied it in the Book Bunker at Westmead Children's hospital I grabbed it with both hands. I have put the new and older covers above. I read this book late into the night and I was not disappointed. I had forgotten some small plot details but the essence of the story was still a strong memory. I think mature readers aged 11+ will enjoy this book. The publisher say 9+ but I found the torture scene where Dr Hellion tries to break the spirit of Piper exceptionally harrowing. Click this review for more plot details:

This fantasy has an air of reality, maintained by the aw-shucks flavor of the dialogue and its determined, good-as-gold heroine. Kirkus

I am excited to discover this book is still available in paperback and for a good price and that there are two sequels from the series now called Piper McCloud and great news for me my local library does have the second book:

I would pair this book with:

The Mysterious Benedict Society

Shoestring the boy who walks on air by Julie Hunt illustrated by Dale Newman

An extraordinary graphic fable about a boy who inherits a dangerous musical gift, from a multi-award-winning author. Allen and Unwin

A gripping illustrated adventure about a travelling circus troupe, a future-telling macaw and a cursed pair of gloves that Shoestring must conquer once and for all. A companion to the award-winning KidGlovz. Allen and Unwin

Shoestring has joined the Troupe of Marvels. He has an amazing act using an invisible tightrope. He seems to walk on air and his performance always thrills the crowds BUT the gloves are back. These gloves are dangerous. They control and manipulate the wearer. Why are these gloves so powerful? Who is the evil Madame Adamantine? Why is she so set on revenge? And most importantly can these dreadful gloves ever be destroyed?

Here is the publisher blurb:

"Shoestring loved the sudden intake of breath when he stepped onto the rope. The upturned faces of the audience made him think of coins scattered at his feet, more coins than he had ever taken when he was a pickpocket.'

Twelve-year-old Shoestring is leaving behind his life of crime and starting a new career with the Troupe of Marvels. Their lead performer, he has an invisible tightrope and an act to die for. But trouble is brewing - the magical gloves that caused so much turmoil for KidGlovz are back.

When he's wearing the gloves, the world is at Shoestring's fingertips. It's so easy to help himself to whatever he likes - even other people's hopes and dreams. But when he steals his best friend's mind, he's at risk of losing all he values most."

I think the most inventive part of this story for me came when Julie Hunt revealed the source of the thread used to make the gloves.  The friends journey to a remote place called Spindle Reach. It is located beyond the town of Loom.  (I love those names). The troupe meet three ladies Peg, Fray and Twill. They tell the group they need to talk to Braid. Things have gone terribly wrong in their world and all of the threads are breaking. There can be no new cloth. Madame Adamantine has caused all this:

"I knew I could make that thread. When I plucked a silver hair from the old woman's head and plied with the coloured rays. But as soon as the job was finished I wished I hadn't done it. I don't know why the woman wanted the thread but it can't have been for any good purpose, because since then no thread will hold. Even the spider's webs break."

Here is the book trailer.  You can see some of the amazing art in this book by Dale Newman. If you loved Wonderstruck and The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick you will really appreciate the wonderful black and white pencil art in Shoestring the boy who walks on air. 

Parts of this story reminded me of Holes by Louis Sacher and also the betrayal and powerful friendships echoed another book I read very recently - Skycircus by Peter Bunzl.

Julie Hunt’s storytelling is captivating; she creates dark-edged adventures with echoes of folklore. A colourful cast of characters and a vivid setting transport the reader into a world of circus, music and magic. Books and Publishing

I thoroughly enjoyed Shoestring the boy who walks on air. Julie Hunt has an amazing imagination and her descriptions of place are so vivid. I made this same comment previously when I talked about her book Shine Mountain. Shoestring the boy who walks on air can stand alone but I think your reading experience will be more rewarding and far richer if you try to read the earlier volume KidGlovz first.

You can read the background to each story on Julie's web site:
Background to KidGlovz
Background to Shoestring the boy who walks on air

I then recommend you go back and read The Coat which inspired Julie to think further about these sinister gloves.