The Professor's Daughter

Book: The Professor's Daughter
Author: Joann Sfar
Artist: Emmanuel Guibert
Audience: Tween to Teen
In a Nutshell: girl and mummy at large in London

In Victorian London, a famous archaeologist's daughter and the inexplicably animate mummy of Imhotep IV go out on the town, only to accidentally kill two men later, go through trial, jail, and the Tower, then the biggest challenge: facing Imhotep's father, the less civilized Imhotep III.

Oddly engaging story with very bizarre concept; lovely watercolor art is a step or two above your average comic book fare, much as I love them. Originally published in France, 1997.

Victory

Book: Victory
Author: Susan Cooper
Audience: Grades 4-7
In a Nutshell: two kids, two centuries, one ship, and one set of memories shared

Molly Jennings misses England. Her mother married an American, and now Molly, her mother, and her new baby brother live on the East Coast. In the midst of missing home and friends, hating sailing, and hating her step-brother's obnoxious best friend, Molly stumbles across an old book about Vice-Admiral Horatio Lord Nelson, the hero of the Battle of Trafalgar. She's never been particularly interested in naval history, but she feels strangely drawn to this book. Hidden inside the cover, she is amazed to discover a piece of the flag flown over Nelson's ship at Trafalgar, the H.M.S. Victory. According to the note, it's been passed down from a boy who served with the Admiral in that fateful battle; his name was Sam Robbins. Molly begins to hear strange noises, see strange things, and remember bits of dreams that seem like memories; except she's never been at sea, and she's never been in battle. And the memories get stronger all the time.

Sam Robbins and his Uncle Charlie are press-ganged into the Royal Navy when Sam is only eleven- legally kidnapped when Her Majesty needed more sailors. Although it's a difficult adjustment from farm boy to the harsh life of a sailor, Sam grows to love the sea and, like all his shipmates, love Lord Nelson. He is proud and honored when Nelson makes Victory his flag ship for the coming battle against Napoleon's forces, but he's also scared; he's never seen real battle. He knows it won't be pretty, but nothing could prepare him for the horror and grief of what he witnesses.

Molly and Sam's stories come together in a dramatic battle climax as two characters separated by 200 years are joined by one scrap of flag and intense memories that mysteriously bridge the centuries.

British school children learn about Lord Nelson the way Americans learn about Abraham Lincoln, maybe- pick an iconic hero and you've got it. I admit, if someone had asked me about Nelson before I read this book, all I would've remembered was that he's the pigeon-covered guy on the column in Trafalgar Square (apologies to Mr. McKean, my European Civilizations teacher: you tried). So this story was a good history refresher disguised as a sea story for you fans of nautical adventures. There is also touching family drama as Molly comes to terms with her new home, stepdad and stepbrother, as well as finally, properly saying goodbye to her father, who died in a plane crash at sea several years earlier. All nicely tied together with a thread of mysterious fantasy.

Forging the Sword

Book: Forging the Sword (book three of the Farsala Trilogy)
Author: Hilari Bell
Audience: Teen to Adult
In a Nutshell: the fighting gets desperate, spiffy new swords and magical lightning enter the picture, and will the real Sorahb please step forward?

Soraya, Jiann and Kavi are back for the action-packed conclusion of this historical fantasy trilogy. I made up that sub-genre, do you like it? I think it fits. The lands of Farsala and Hrum are fictional, but Farsala seems a lot like ancient Persia or another proud old culture, and the Hrum seem a lot like Romans. I could call it high fantasy, but there's not a huge amount of magic. So I'm going with historical fantasy. Take it or leave it.

Anyway, the story so far is that the mighty Hrum empire has already conquered 28 other lands, and now it's Farsala's turn. To avoid costly, drawn-out wars, the Hrum give themselves a self-imposed time limit: if they can't conquer a land in one year, they stop fighting and make peace. There are now only 3 months left, and even though the Farsalan nobility (called deghans) were almost all wiped out, the scrappy peasant army led by Jiann is holding its own. With the help of the mysterious desert people, the Suud, they've finally figured out the secret to the Hrum's nearly unbreakable swords (hence the title). Soraya has also gotten a much better handle on her shilshadu, a kind of elemental, nature-based magic. And Kavi is still making amends and doing vital work for Farsala's war effort, but Jiann still intends to kill him when it's over for betraying lots of innocent nobles, including he and Soraya's father, so that's kind of a killjoy for Kavi. Then there's the question of whether there is a real Sorahb, or if he's just a mythical hero invented by peasants.

It all comes to a head with lots of battles, tricky guerilla fighting, spying, working with the enemy, noble sacrifice, and a bit of magical thunderstorm control. If you like a healthy dose of political intrigue with your action, magic, and battle scenes, the Farsala Trilogy is a good one to try. Actually, everything I've read by Hilari Bell is consistently good, so try it out.