RECAP: The Puzzling World of Winston Breen

For Nov/Dec 2011 our group went back to the "YA" of our book club and read The Puzzling World of Winston Breen by Eric Berlin.

Over all our group found the book to be "cute" - nothing too riveting, nothing too gory, nothing too serious to tackle, just a nice family mystery story and some great puzzles to solve along the way. This book has good boy appeal as well as being the perfect read for mystery and puzzle lovers.

Characters were generally well developed and so were the relationships between them. As adults ready YA, our group tends to give a lot of proverbial high-5s when the protagonists parent's are dead, absent or negligent, but still give voice to the character's own independence. This story has great parents as far as this is concerned. We did, however, think that retired Officer Marietta was overly mean and sort of filled the "kids these days" grumpy old man stereotype, but even he comes around.

We were all pleased that none of us really figured out the entire ending ahead of time. This story was engaging whether you solved the puzzles or just let them unfold to you as you read. A good family themed story and relatively light-hearted overall, despite the librarian's family issues from her past.

This has wide age appeal as noted by being a cross-over between age groups for the Maud Heart Lovelace Award nominees.

Next up: Sea of Trolls by Nancy Farmer for January; Anya's Ghost (graphic novel) by Vera Brosgol.

Meeting author Jennifer Griffin

Our group strayed a little in October to read this local author's first fantasy novel The Dream Time and hosted her at our meeting for an informal author discussion.

(NOTE: This is not a YA book, but may have appeal with older teens into the fantasy genre.)

Here are some of the things we learned about the author and her book:

Jennifer's background in history and interest in fantasy writing lead her to try her own hand at writing. Noteable authors who inspired her: Robin McKinley (especially The Blue Sword), Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series, and Anne McCaffrey.

Other inspirations for her story came from a mash-up of cultures and religions including: Japanese, Aboriginal, Greek Mythologies and Christianity.

This is a story that has been with her for many years. Some of her characters had been with her since her sophomore year of college but the story line kept changing. Originally she had placed her book setting in a different world altogether, but eventually made it earth based but futuristic.

Jennifer writes every day, but she does not really write in rough drafts or free form. She thinks through all of it first, then types with some editing. She has "a prequel of sorts" at her online blog http://thehuntersstory.wordpress.com

Our group thought the book had good intrigue and played with some very interesting notions of God and what happens when God disappears or dies. Something that not a lot of people would dare to take on in a first novel. There is a nod to Japanese Manga whose stories often deal with controversies in culture/religion.

Those who really like this type of dark fantasy will probably enjoy the book a bit more than those who dabble with the genre as a whole.

It was a pleasure to have meet this author and hear what might be coming from her in the future.