Genuine...

When taking a walk in the woods, running my hands over pine needles, turning over the dirt in my perennial gardens, bending to smell a flower or stroking the fur of my sleeping dog, it's easy with the use of my senses to determine the authenticity of them all.  With the advances in technology our seeing, smelling, tasting, hearing and touching can be tricked into believing what is artificial might be true.  Many times sitting in a movie theater, the collective sounds and body movements of the audience, reflect the belief in the realness of what they are viewing.

The same can be said for the words we read in a book, fueled by the writer's skill and our imaginations.  For the time we are immersed in the story it becomes our truth.  Anne Ursu's newest title, The Real Boy (Walden Pond Press, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers) explores the concept of reality within a realm wrapped in magic.

The residents of the gleaming hilltop town of Asteri called their home, simply, the City.  The residents of the Barrow---the tangle of forest and darkness that encircled the bottom of Asteri's hill like a shadowy moat---called Asteri the Shining City, and those who lived there the Shining People.

In a time before now, magic was everywhere on the island of Aletheia. Wizards would not die but went to the forest of the Barrow transforming themselves into trees. After the last wizard there were sorcerers, then magicians and finally the magic smiths.

Today there are only the smiths found in the Barrow, the last place where magic resides, except for one, Caleb, more powerful than the rest, the first magician in decades.  Caleb has taken on an apprentice, Wolf, an arrogant, cruel young man believing his capabilities to be greater than they are.  Oscar, an orphan from the Children's Home, resides with Caleb and Wolf as a hand, an errand boy, a collector of herbs and plants used in Caleb's shop.

Quiet, understanding and communicating with cats better than humans, Oscar is a gifted boy preferring the solitude of the cellar pantry.  There he works, drying, mashing, distilling and mixing those items found in the forest and Caleb's house of glass.  He finds comfort in the structure of his weekly jobs and his trips outside the town.  In the forest he perceives the nature of the animals and each of the one hundred wizard trees with abilities natural to him but strange to others.

There are secrets in Caleb's shop and home.  Caleb strictly guards his basement workroom and has been taking more frequent and longer visits to the continent.  When Caleb is not present, Wolf shifts into his ambitious hungry self, venturing where he should not go.  Oscar although forbidden to do so, leaves his tiny room at night, sneaking into Caleb's library.  He can read, remembering perfectly the text, as well as he can recall the ingredients on the shelves in the pantry or the way through the forest, with pictures, maps, in his mind.

In an unsettling turn of events, Oscar's world is turned upside down.  Wolf and another apprentice are killed in the forest, children from The City are becoming ill, exhibiting unusual symptoms and Caleb's comings and goings are more mysterious and ill-timed than ever.  Oscar, the boy who has difficulty socializing with people, has had the shop left in his care.  With secrets of her own, Callie, an apprentice to Madame Mariel, the healer, enlists Oscar's help.  In return, she will assist him with the running of the shop and in learning to read people's conversations, the messages sent with body language, facial expressions and tone of voice.

Before long the alliance of the two, apprentice and hand, is tested by incomprehensible occurrences and devastating discoveries.   Supported by Callie's kindness and understanding, Oscar's uniquely creative abilities are able to discern the truth.  There is a special kind of magic in knowing the truth, about the world, about others, about yourself.  Will it be enough for Oscar?


After two complete readings and numerous partial readings, my copy of The Real Boy has pages liberally peppered with sticky notes marking thoughts, dialogues, and descriptions.  With Anne Ursu's writing we are able to distinctly visualize Oscar's world, creating pictures and movies in our minds.  Her conversations between characters do much to inform us of each individual's personality.  It's when we enter the thoughts of Oscar, our senses are fully awakened; we look up from our reading of the book  surprised to not see him standing in front of us.  The empathy we feel for and with Oscar is so real...yes...so real we feel as though we can hold it in our hands.

Besides a beautifully conceived plot layered in mystery, adventure and action covered in the defining use, or not, of magic, several secondary persons in this story stand out, one from The City, the other from the Barrow.  Lord Cooper and Malcolm, the baker, provide contrasting views on the purpose and use of magic.  The one believes half-truths, the other knows the truth.  Despite this seeming disparity, they both are guided by love.  Here are a couple of passages from this story.

The apprentice's name was Wolf, because sometimes the universe is an unsubtle place.

"Oh, it won't work!" Wolf exclaimed, slapping his hands on his forehead. "I had no idea! What would I, apprentice to the Barrow's only true magician, do if it weren't for the cellar mouse to tell me that it won't work!"
"Well," Oscar said, "you could always look it up in the library."
Wolf's eyes flared.  Oscar flinched.  He hadn't even been trying to make Wolf angry; all he'd done was answer his question. 

Oscar held the bag close, let it warm his chest.  The smell pulled at him like a wish. 

Even with the shop empty, he could feel the rhythms and patterns the customers had left behind, hear the ghosts of their voices in the air.  That was what happened---people came into the shop and left and went on about their days, but their echoes stayed behind, took up residence in Oscar's head, and did not leave.


Perhaps being real is being noticed, having people see beyond the outside, wanting to see the inside.  Perhaps being real is being loved for being you.  When you're real, everything changes.  The Real Boy written by Anne Ursu is an exquisite story, one that will find a spot in your mind and heart, lingering in the best possible way.


Please follow the link embedded in Anne Ursu's name above to her official website.  Follow this link to the publisher's website to read the first seventy pages of the book.  In March 2013 the illustrator of the cover, Erin McGuire, did a post at the Nerdy Book Club about her artwork for the book.

Be sure to visit other stops on The Real Boy Blog Tour.

Monday, 9/30, Maria's Melange---Maria's Take on The Real Boy +Giveaway

Tuesday, 10/01, There's A Book---Danielle's Take on The Real Boy +Giveaway

Wednesday, 10/02, sharpread---Colby Interviews Anne

Thursday, 10/03, Novel Sounds---Elena's Take on The Real Boy +Giveaway

Friday, 10/04, Word Spelunking--- Aeicha's Take on The Real Boy +Giveaway+an Interview

Saturday, 10/05, The Hiding Spot---Sara's Take on The Real Boy +Giveaway

Sunday, 10/06, The Brain Lair---Kathy's Take on The Real Boy +Giveaway

Monday, 10/07, Read, Write, Reflect---Anne Talks About Oscar with Katherine

Tuesday, 10/08, Librarian's Quest---Margie's Take on The Real Boy +Giveaway

Wednesday, 10/09, Buried in Books--- Heather's Take on The Real Boy +Giveaway

Thursday, 10/10, The Book Monsters--- Kristen's Take on The Real Boy +Giveaway

Friday, 10/11, Cari's Book Blog---Cari's Take on The Real Boy + An Interview with Anne

Saturday, 10/12, Unleashing Readers--- Kellee Interviews Illustrator Erin McGuire

Sunday, 10/13, Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers--- Gina's Take on The Real Boy +Giveaway

Giveaway

Monday, 10/14, Heise Reads and Recommends--- Editor Jordan Brown Interviews Anne

Tuesday, 10/15, Bulldog Readers Blog---The Bulldog Readers Debut Their Book Trailer

Here's an opportunity to win $300. worth of books in The Real Boy sweepstakes.

With A Single Step

Never having been a believer in coincidences when this tweet appeared in my feed I knew there was only one thing to do.

Life gives you the journey, you create the path. #inspiration http://t.co/QDciWIGVwr
— Sue (@SJM_CookiesMom) August 28, 2013

It was time to review a book I read before going to sleep several weeks ago.  When I finished this book, I simply held it in my arms.  I've had a couple books this year I hugged after reading them; their stories were so endearing but this book I held.  It was filled with possibilities.  I did not want any of them to escape.

For my older dog, several times a day her journey is to struggle to her feet, slowly move about the house, walk to the door, around the yard and, on good days, maybe a block down the street.  One evening this week two rabbits were playing a hopping game of tag in my front yard.  Their particular playful journey was spontaneous, the stuff of fairy.  Every night just before it gets too dark to see, a neighbor walks around the subdivision two or three times, trying to rehabilitate a knee after surgery, making a journey toward better health.  A fallen leaf, a stone upon a sandy beach or a penny dropped from a pocket are all on a journey.

Perhaps one of the best journeys of all is the one taking you to a library.  Within those walls are an infinite number of journeys; combinations of books and readers.  To open Journey  (Candlewick Press), a wordless picture book, written and illustrated by Aaron Becker is to step on a path of power, the power of imagination.

Unfolding the jacket of Journey we see on our left a rich red  flowing to the spine.  The only other color is three decorative, ornate lanterns in shades of blue hanging from the top, three moths flying about.  As our eyes drift right, to the front, the same red is used in three elements, contrasting with a castle straight out of a dream.  The black cloth cover is bare except for an embossed hot air balloon carrying a single passenger.

Opening and closing endpapers in a subdued shade of the red are patterned in adventurous modes of travel; hot air balloon, train, motor car, Viking ship, three-masted schooner, air ship, airplane, submarine and maybe even a space vehicle.  They are a blend of history and fantasy.  On the title page our traveler moves down the city street on her bright red scooter beneath tree branches, a blue lantern hanging down, a blend of the here and now with a hint of the magic to come.

We follow her as she sits on the steps of her house, head and hands resting on her knees.  A cutaway of the rooms in her home show her mother cooking in the kitchen, her father at work upstairs in his study in front of a computer and her sister lying on the couch watching a digital device.  Three smaller illustrations picture her asking each to go outside with her riding on the scooter, flying a kite or playing with a ball.

Then alone except for the company of her cat, she sits on the bed in her room.  When the cat leaves she spies a red marker on the floor.  Drawing a door on the wall, she is able to open it and step from a tree trunk into the lush greenness of a forest strung with lights and those same hanging blue lanterns.  Using the stream meandering through as a map, she walks to the end of a dock.

A small rowboat drifts along with the current into a castle with turrets, waterfalls and raised waterways, taking readers along with the girl into the realm of Pallonezia.  A hot air balloon floats among the clouds and airships. A rarity is captured and rescued.  The favor is returned.  Flight on a carpet takes her back through another doorway to the streets of her city. A friend awaits...a friend careful readers will have noticed in the very beginning.


Rendered in watercolor, pen and ink the illustrations of Aaron Becker create a luminous landscape unlike any other.  Sepia tones are used to delineate the girl's world except for the bright splashes of red, in stunning contrast to the world encountered on the other side of the doorway; spectacular in color, detail and viewpoint.  He also chooses to shift from full color edge to edge illustrations to those placed upon a white background to place emphasis on the importance of the circumstances as when the girl draws.

From a bird's eye panoramic view, moving in closer and closer, until a scene unfolds as if we are the girl, these illustrations request us to be part of the storytelling.  Details from the city appear again as fixtures in the other world.  How many can you find?  Each of the illustrations are integral parts of a beautiful whole.  With that being said, my favorite may be when she enters the forest through the red doorway, you know, beyond the shadow of a doubt, something very special is about to begin.


Journey written and illustrated by Aaron Becker is one of those books, where from time to time, you need to stop and remind yourself to breathe.  Like so much in life, even the end hints at the beginning of yet another journey.  I will gladly be placing this title with others on my Mock Caldecott list.

Please follow the link embedded in Aaron Becker's name above to visit his website.  Follow this link to a publisher Q & A with Creator Aaron Becker. Julie Danielson from Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast interviews Aaron Becker at Kirkus about Journey and again at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast.  Here is some artwork with a short commentary on Tumblr from Aaron Becker about his process.