Two new books have arrived on our shelves–one YA and one JF– that were recently reviewed in the NYT Sunday Book Review section.
“Tua and the Elephant” set in Thailand is aimed at Middle School readers. Self-sufficient 10 year-old Tua has rescued an elephant from its unscrupulous owners. A quickly unfolding, fast-paced plot has this young girl and the elephant, Pohn-Pohn, involved in chases, ransom negotiations and other plot twists. Readers who enjoy animal stories set in exotic locales with a suspenseful story thrown in will like “Tua and the Elephant” by R.P. Harris.
Another time and place is the setting for “Code Name Verity” by Elizabeth Wein. Reviewer Marjorie Ingall calls this book “a fiendishly plotted mind game of a novel.” Set in Nazi-occupied France during W.W.II, this is a story of two young women—Queenie, a girl spy, and Maddie, a skilled pilot. Ingall states that you should really read this story twice. Once to discover the strong bonds of friendship between the two girls, and once to uncover the clues to a giant puzzle. This novel was well reviewed in not only the Times but in library journals, too. Don’t let potential readers be dissuaded from reading the novel based on the terrible cover. What was the publisher thinking?