A Wish in the Dark by Christina Soontornvat

Pong and his best friend Somkit live in a jail called Namwon. Neither of them have committed a crime. They are just young, nine-year-old boys but this is their home because their mothers committed small crimes many years ago - actually nine years ago. Sadly both mothers died in childbirth so these two orphan boys have spent the whole of their lives in a jail. 

Of course I have read other books with jail setting - The Warden's Daughter by Jerry Spinelli; Born Behind Bars by Padma Venkatraman; and All rise for the Honorable Perry T Cook by Leslie Connor but early on in this book we are given a hint of some thing very strange about this city.

"A single orb of glass swung from the mango tree overhead. Its dim Violet glow couldn't complete with the bright blaze across the river."

"Chattana is a city of light, but the light must be earned. That is why I had this reform centre (read jail) built here, away from the city. To remind the people that wickedness has a price. You see, light shines only on the worthy."

"Everything in Chattana - every orb, every cook stove, every boat motor - all of ran on the Governor's light-making powers. Once he arrived, there was no more need for fire, no more danger. The orbs lit the night; they powered magnificent machines; they had made Chattana prosperous again."

As this story open things are falling into place. The Governor has visited the jail. Everything has gone wrong for Pong and this has been witnessed by Warden Sivapan and his family. It is time to escape and right now Pong can see a way. He climbs into the garbage barrel which is heading down the river. 

By chance Pong arrives in a small village and he is befriended by a wise old monk. Pong has no idea his friendship with Father Cham will set him on a course back to the city; back to his good friend Somkit; and back to a huge confrontation with the most powerful man - The Governor. He has no idea that the girl, Nok (Supatra Sivapan daugher of former jail Warden now the Law Commissioner) who is hunting him down, will eventually become a vital friend and ally. And most importantly, Pong and his new friends will discover the truth about the lights and the way The Governor uses them to control their stratified society. It is time for the poor to rise up and challenge him.

A Wish in the Dark is my book of the year so far.  YES it is THAT good. Over the last 24 hours I kept grabbing minutes to gobble down more of this wonderful story. So many of the ingredients I enjoy in a Middle Grade book - corruption; danger; destiny; heroism; community action; friendship; a setting that makes you feel hot, cold, wet, dry, grimy and clean; and a story that employs all our senses - this book has it all. I highly recommend this book for readers aged 10+. If you work in a school library you should add this book to your shopping list. I have labelled this book as a fantasy but it also has a dystopian feel. AND as a read aloud this book will be fabulous because nearly every chapter ends with a cliff hanger. I also love books like this onr which use multiple voices or perspectives. 

Here is a video where the author talks about her book.  Read the blurb at Walker Books Australia. Read this review - Five Reasons to read A wish in the Dark. This book was awarded a 2021 Newbery Honor alongside another of Soontornvat's books, All Thirteen: The Incredible Cave Rescue of the Thai Boys' Soccer Team. Here is an interview with Christina. And you might explore her web site. Here is a short trailer. In this video Christina reads part of her book. 

Colby Sharp (4 minute book talk) "One of the best books I have read this year ... It is an absolutely beautiful story ... It will capture your heart ... There are twists and turns that are fascinating ... I love what this book did for my heart  ...  A magical timeless story. "

Here are some text quotes which will give you a flavour of this book (which you MUST read). 

"All prisoners in Chattana were tattooed with the name of their prison. Pong and Somkit had gotten theirs when they were babies. The ink was permanent, set with the light from a powerful Gold orb owned by the Governor's office. No one could make it disappear except maybe the Governor himself."

"Shops selling orbs in every shade of red and orange lined the hall. Vendors hawked strings of Amber orbs the size of pomegranate seeds next to enormous ruby-red orbs big enough to cook soup for an army. ... He realised for the first time that each colour of orb buzzed a slightly different pitch." - Jade, Crimson, Amber and Blue.

"He watched her lift up the giant man using only her words."

"The world is full of darkness, and that will never change. Those words had kept him locked up for so long. Now Pong understood what sad cruel words they were. If you believed them, then the only way to make sense of the world was with courts and judges, rule and jails. Those were the things that kept a city orderly. They kept people in line. But by themselves, they did nothing to make the world better."

Apart from the jail books I mentioned previously this book also reminded me of the atmosphere in:

The Girl who Stole an Elephant

A Cardboard Palace (ages 12+)

Trash (ages 12+)

Ghostcloud

The Wonderling

Effie Starr Zook has one more Question by Martha Freeman

Precept 47: Clean feet at happy feet

Precept 1: A man's beard is a signifier of his special place in the natural order of things

Precept 2: A woman has her own special place in the natural order of things

Precept 151: The future cares as much about your wrongs as your rights

Publisher blurb: After being shipped off to stay with her aunt and uncle in Nowheresville, Pennsylvania, city girl Effie Starr Zook stumbles upon a mystery that leads her to an old family feud in this "accessible and exciting" (School Library Journal, starred review).  A rich girl from New York City, Effie Starr Zook isn't afraid of much. When her parents go on a dangerous round-the-world adventure in a solar airplane, she's packed off to her aunt and uncle's farm for the summer. Expecting boredom, she runs smack dab into a family secret. Why does the neighbour kid want to avoid her? What are her aunt and uncle so worried about? And what does "bad blood" mean, anyway? Effie's got a brand-new bicycle, time on her hands, and an unlimited capacity for asking questions. With these, she sets out to uncover whatever it is the grownups are hiding. Along the way, she'll contend with crackpot politics, serve coffee in a bookstore café, and learn more than she bargained for about her famous great-grandfather, the inventor of the barf bag. Fast-paced and funny, this is a story about having the courage to find out who you really are. Look out, world--when Effie Starr Zook has questions, she won't take no for an answer!

I actually ran out of middle grade novels a couple of weeks ago so I charged up my old ipad and purchased a couple of ebooks (Kindle). I have no memory of how I found this one but I do think the title and cover are very appealing. I read this whole book in one sitting and the surprise at the end warmed my heart. Sadly this book is no longer available here in Australia in paperback and the hardcover is too expensive to consider for a school library purchase but perhaps you can access an ebook version of this book from a public library.

On the surface this feels a light, sun-dappled read, but within the depths of this story lurk compelling truths about sexism and racism that give shadow, dimension, and heft to this perky yarn. Effie’s growing awareness of her privilege and its origins is an appropriately complicated one. Kirkus

Opening sentences: "Effie Starr Zook looked out the bedroom window, and what she saw made her heart go thud. There in the pen with Alfred the Goat stood a little boy."

Here are a few text quotes to give you a flavour of the writing in this book:

Effie is a city girl "she knew a smoothie from a lassi, a cemita from a torta, and a latte from a cappuccino."

About Effie herself: "Effie was ordinary looking. Among the other eleven-year-old girls at her school, she was a little shorter than average and a little more square. Her hair was brown and opinionated. Her best feature, her eyes, were warm and brown besides being unusually large like her mother's and aunts."

Mr Yoder "He was big all over - tall and wide without being fat. He had abundant dark blonde hair on his head but the most striking thing about him was the hair on his face - the biggest beard Effie had ever seen in real life."

Pendleton Odbody "He was broad-shouldered with a mass of black braids that tumbled to his shoulders. He was dressed in khakis and a long-sleeved button-down shirt made from the puckery fabric called seersucker. He wore square glasses with wire frames."

Food at the country show: "The flyer says kettle corn, funnel cake, cheese on a stick, and cornhole. ... I don't even know what those things are. ... It will be a cultural experience."

I also love some of the vocab in this book: maudlin; emesis bags; scion; preposterous.

"How can you not ask questions? I always have questions."

Companion reads:

Halfway to Harmony

Pieces of Georgia

The Parker Inheritance

Very Rich by Polly Horvath

Please take this warning very seriously - do not read this book if you are hungry. You have probably heard of unrequited love? Well this book is full of unrequited meals! I had to stop reading around page 225 and make myself a delicious lunch because, like the hero of the story Rupert, I was starving. 

Starving - not really - but Rupert is starving. His family are poor, dirt poor. Rupert is lucky to eat one paltry meal each day. Mrs Brown can only serve the large family oatmeal flavoured with kitchen scraps scrounged from bins around their small town. Rupert is thin and very cold. He has no coat, worn out sandshoes and he is forced to wear his three shirts as he trudges to and from school. The writing in this book is so good that I felt cold (even though the day here was sunny and warm).

As the story opens, Rupert sets off for school. The streets are oddly quiet and after his long cold journey he discovers the school is closed. On the way home his jacket is caught on the swinging gates of a mansion in the rich part of town. Rupert finds himself whisked into Christmas day with the huge and very eccentric Rivers Family. It should be the day all his dreams come true - an abundance of delicious food, games with fabulous prizes and moments of genuine laughter and happiness but right at the end of this extravagant day everything goes horribly wrong. 

What Rupert does not realise, though, is that some of the crazy family members feel sorry for the way things turn out and so over the coming months each of them, secretly, take Rupert out of his home and school with the intention of treating him to a wonderful day. Unfortunately though, these amazing days never seem actually work out and each time Rupert is left hungry, puzzled and disappointed. 

Publisher blurb: Ten-year-old Rupert Brown inadvertently finds himself spending Christmas with the wealthiest family in town and is astonished to discover a world he never knew existed. Rupert lives with his parents and many siblings in a small house in the poorest section of Steelville, Ohio. When he spends Christmas with his classmate Turgid Rivers, he is offered all the food he can eat, and the opportunity to win wonderful prizes in the family games—prizes he hopes to take home so he can share his Christmas bounty with his family. But after he loses everything in the last game, Rupert resigns himself to going home empty handed. Feeling secretly guilty, all of the adults in Rivers family try to make it up to him by taking Rupert on one unlikely adventure after another, embroiling him in everything from time travel to bank robberies. But can anything he experiences make up for what he has lost? Deftly blending magical realism with heartbreak, hope, and a wide cast of eccentric characters, Polly Horvath weaves a tale that is darkly funny and deeply poignant. Very Rich is a bittersweet and quirky story that celebrates the unique nature of human experience.

I would love to book talk this book with a group of Grade 5 or 6 students. I think I would read `page 32 and 33 - the Christmas feast. This book will also be perfect for fans of A series of Unfortunate Events and Roald Dahl (especially Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) books. 

Horvath is at her odd, arch best here—generous with her wry observations of people and their awkward relationships and foibles. Kirkus

Horvath is having a ball with this story. It’s fast-paced and filled with witty asides, creative scenarios, and a ridiculously entertaining cast. She pulls from Dickens, but Rupert’s parents have qualities akin to Roald Dahl’s despicable adult characters, and Uncle Henry’s time machine is a whirring cardboard box reminiscent of Dorothy’s flying house and the hot-air balloon in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Plus, there is a gravity-defying restaurant scene similar to the laughing-gas chapter in Mary Poppins. Quill and Quire

After reading this book you may want to make a funnel cake. I had no idea about this but they sound delicious.

Find the Recipe here 

When I was growing up, my family had a tradition of visiting the county fair every year. I loved riding the ferris wheel and viewing all of the livestock, but what I looked forward to the most was all of the fair food! I loved the deep fried Oreos, corn dogs, kettle corn, and best of all, the funnel cakes! There really is nothing better than a hot funnel cake, dusted with powdered sugar.

Here are a few text quotes to give you a flavour of this writing (and I hope to also entice you to read this book!)

"There were three bedrooms in the house. One for the boys, one for the girls, and one for Mr and Mrs Brown. In the boys' and girls' bedrooms, the younger children slept in the beds and the older ones slept under them. Rupert shared the underneath of a bed with John and Dirk."

"He could feel the chocolate ooze all over his tongue and run down into his stomach, where it awoke a hunter so vast, it was as if the chocolate were a flame thawing Rupert's frozen insides and igniting the appetite therein."

"He ate the roll and then saw the butter pat and he stuck that whole into his mouth and let it melt in savory wonder all over is tongue. He'd never had butter. The only kind of fat the Brown's ever saw was lard. He like lard but the butter was simply out of this world."

"Tomorrow we're going to the library to get library cards and then we'll get books of stories to read. But tonight I'll tell you one of mine."

How to Bee by Bren MacDibble

"Lessons start on the speakers. Urbs don't like that we farm kids are too busy to get educated, so lessons get played over the speakers while we work.  Today's lesson's just for us. It's about the history of the  bees.  Not us. The real ones they used to have thirty years ago before the famines."

First off here is another one of my predictions.  This book How to Bee just has to be shortlisted for our CBCA awards in 2017.  YES it is that good!

It is the future but Bren MacDibble leaves the reader to imagine just what has happened in our world. I adore this kind of intelligent writing where there are hints but the author does not feel the need to spell everything out.

Whatever has happened there are now no bees and so children live and work on farms and while they are still young and agile they climb the fruit trees and perform the pollination.  Away from the farms, city life is dangerous.  Society is completely stratified - there are the mega rich and the desperately poor.  The rich have retreated behind high walls with security guards.  The poor wander the streets hands outstretched hoping for money or food.  There is a strong undercurrent of violence.

Peony (what a perfect name for a child who longs to work as a bee) lives with her grandfather and little sister called Mags, short for Magnolia, on a fruit farm.  Her mother visits infrequently from the city where she works.  Peony longs for her mother to rejoin them on the farm so they can be a complete family but her mother has dreams of becoming rich and living in an idealized house with every comfort.

The story opens on a day when new bees will be selected.  Peony is too young but she is determined to be chosen.  She completes a trial run up the trees with her good friend Applejoy.  He is selected to be a bee but Peony slips and falls.

"I pull the end of the wand out from the branches and start along a branch. A stick jams in my legs and I trip and fall straight out of the tree. I land on my stomach on the dirt. Pomz (Pomegranate) sniggers and scrambles up her tree.  She's stuck the end of her wand into my legs!"

Peony's mother arrives to take her to work in the city in the home of a rich man who actually sells the fruit so carefully harvested and packed by the farm workers.  Peony is amazed to learn only three people live in this enormous house.  One is a spoilt but terrified young girl called Esmeralda. The two girls form an alliance.  Peony helps Ez overcome her fear of being outside and Ez helps Peony escape back to the farm.

I have listed How to Bee for Middle readers in Years 4 and 5 but I do need to give a warning.  There are some very violent scenes in this book when Peony is kidnapped by her mother and her mother's abusive boyfriend.  Sensitive readers may find these scenes distressing.

There are a set of teacher notes on the publisher web site.  Read this thoughtful review in Reading Time.

We have over thirty non fiction books in our school library about bees.  It seems to have become a bit of an obsession of mine.  You might like to read these reviews of The Book of Bees and Bee.

I would follow this book with Chance of Safety and older readers should look for the series Hidden Children which begins with Among and the Hidden.

Chance of safety by Henrietta Branford

Many years ago I discovered a blog called The Little library of rescued books.  My book today would be the perfect candidate for this collection.  Chance of Safety was first published in 1998 and is of course long out of print.  This is such a shame because this slim volume contains a powerful story with themes of love, family and determination. 

Chance of Safety is a book set in a dystopian future where people who are rich are of course powerful and people who are poor are left to suffer.  The government have set draconian rules for the population including travel restrictions and check points with armed police.  There is a culture of secrecy and corruption. 

Citizens who commit even small crimes are fitted with electronic tags and forced to work long hours in road building labour gangs.  Alex and Nelly, though, know nothing of this.  Their mother Ruth is a doctor and Rob their dad is an employee of a government agency called Motorways Incorporated.  Until now the family have enjoyed a comfortable life of privilege. Through the course of their work both parents discover that the government have covered up the real reason the road gang prisoners are dying.

"The prisoner had been in reasonable health, for a Beta Sector Juvenile, when arrested. A bit overweight.  Bad teeth. Poor muscle tone. Flat feet. Mildly anaemic. Nothing unusual. When she died, ten months later, she was suffering from vomiting and diarrhoea and her hair was falling out, though that was hard to tell with prisoners once their heads were shaved.  Also she was bleeding from everywhere."

The knowledge held by Rob and Ruth that the road building materials are filled with nuclear waste mean the family are now in danger so they load up their car and drive off towards Wales in the hope of safety with their grandmother.  The journey is fraught and very dangerous but they manage to get through several check points.  Finally they stop near a road gang and chaos ensues.  Rob and Ruth are captured and Alex and Nelly flee on foot hoping to reach their grandmother.

This is gripping story of survival.  Along the way Alex and Nelly meet some amazing people, aptly called Runners, who are living as outcasts from this regime.  They offer enormous support and care to the young children.  The best part of this book, which is only 138 pages, comes very close to the end when everyone is finally reunited and resting safely with their grandmother Kate.  You will sigh with relief that their long and dangerous journey is over and then read of a betrayal so awful you will be left gasping.

Our copy of Chance of safety is quite yellow but for now I am keeping this book in our library.  I adore books like this.  You might also like to read Toby Alone, Forbidden Memories,and the series Shadow Children which begins with Among the hidden.