The Real Boy

The Real Boy 
By Anne Ursu

This novel just arrived in our library, and since I hadn't read any fantasy books in a while I checked it out.

It's an interesting story--sort of a fairy tale, a little dystopian, too--that asks the question: can you have magic without monsters?

The Magician's orphaned helper, Oscar, is struggling to figure out why the seemingly perfect magic-infused world he lives in is breaking down. And the people he knows are suddenly not who he thinks they are.

Oscar is an awkward, shy boy, and wonders if he himself was just magically fabricated from wood. Luckily he is befriended by Callie, a strong girl who is the Healer's apprentice...together the two of them unravel a dark mystery that is destroying their community, and they find great strength in friendship.

Peak

Peak

By Roland Smith

I was curious to read Peak partly because I remember when Roland Smith, the author, visited a school I taught at years ago in Oregon, and he was so interesting!

And I've always been fascinated by Mt. Everest (OK, maybe not always, but ever since I was hiking on the Pacific Crest Trail for 3 months and got obsessed with reading an Outside Magazine article about a climb-gone-wrong on the highest mountain on Earth. That was 1996, when 12 climbers died in one season, and Jon Krakauer wrote about it later in his book Into Thin Air).

Anyway, I'm glad I picked this one out. I really had a hard time putting it down, and felt like I was right there gasping for breath at 28,000 feet above sea level with the 14-year-old protagonist, Peak Marcello.

There's a lot about mountain climbing in this novel, obviously, but there are also other interesting story lines--about Peak and his self-absorbed, distant but famous father; the terrible treatment of Tibetans by the Chinese government; and what it's like to feel competitive with a close friend.

Highly recommended!