PENUMBRAS
by
Braden Bell
Warm up your credit cards, or start counting out the
Benjamins, because you're going to want to buy both of Braden Bell's magical books. The
Kindling, his first YA masterpiece, is matched and perhaps surpassed by its
sequel, Penumbras. These are more
than great reads folks.
Middle School Magic: Penumbras, the velocious, magical sequel to Braden Bell’s
highly successful, "The Kindling," enchants readers while matching that
middle-grade gem spell-for-spell, situation-for-situation, and theme-for-theme.
The struggle to hold darkness at bay has matured Conner
Dell, sister Lexa, and his secret love, Melanie, and Penumbra's tone reflects the consequences facing off against the forces of evil has had on these
Tween-aged magis. Their
previous battles have made the trio stronger and more skillful magi, but Connor
in particular learns that sparring with dark forces has consequences that can
tarnish even the purest of hearts, pulling even the best of friends apart.
Bell, a Ph.D author/educator knows his
audience and their world, and once again, he delivers a stellar read that hits
all the right buttons. Bell’s books have depth. On the surface, they are fun, smart,
action-packed reads written with a masterful pen that merges crisp
middle-school-ish dialogue with sizzling action that pops. Bell doesn’t
dummy-down to his readers. These books contain smart vocabulary, and better
yet, each page and subplot invites readers to dig deeper, to think, and to
explore critical values such as loyalty, faith, honesty, trust, and love.
Adults will enjoy these books as much as
their youth, but more importantly, though their youth may not be off chasing
Darkhands, Bell’s characterizations of these young heroes remind parents that
their middle grade youth are daily engaged in battles of their own.
Penumbras definitely entertains, and makes a great
chapter-a-night family read, but it offers much more to savvy families. Before it’s
public release, critics already nominated Penumbras
for a coveted Whitney Award. I highly recommend it as a pick read of 2013.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/146211220X/ref=cm_cr_mts_prod_img
Laurie, thank you so much for your review! I saw it on Goodreads, but somehow missed it on your blog.
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