Seattle's Deb Caletti, the author of more than a dozen adult and young-adult titles, has ventured into middle-grade fiction with the new book, "A Flicker of Courage." Described as a "tongue-in-cheek hero's journey," it tells the story of four tweens fighting a tyrannical ruler.
Who better to review it than a 12-year-old on winter break? She zipped through it rather quickly (a good sign), and we gave her some prompts to help organize her thoughts on it.
How would you describe this book?
I would describe this book as a this book as a fun, yet serious comedy/fantasy. It’s a really good book. I was pretty into it, and was always excited about the next chapter. It is a story about a young boy without any friends, who always envies his neighbor and his family. His neighbor, a young boy named Rocco, is turned into a lizard, because he was getting too much attention. Vlad Luxor, the evil king, cursed him. He and his new friends go on a journey to break the spell, and save the whole village.
How did you like it?
I enjoyed it. It was a good book and was really exciting. I found it surprising. It wouldn't be the type of book I would pull off the shelf myself, but I found it really funny and cool.
What did you most like and/or not like about it?
I personally found it slightly young for me. I'm 12, but I do read mature books for my age, so I'm 99% sure anyone who didn't think too much about logic would love it. Most of my friends and people my age would.
Who do you think would like this book?
I think it's a book for almost all ages, but especially for kids ages 7-10 years old, but everyone would enjoy it. Probably not for kids who would get upset about potentially scary things, but a lot of people will Love it.
Anything else?
I personally found a lot of figurative language such as personification, similes and metaphors. That was particularly awesome because I had a school assignment on finding and identifying personification, so kudos for that! It also makes the book a lot more interesting.
Here's how the publisher described "A Flicker of Courage":
It’s a tongue-in-cheek hero’s journey set in a town full of magic, mayhem, lighthouses … and evil. The first in a series, the story follows four tweens living under the tyrannical rule of the evil Vlad Luxor. When Vlad turns the little brother of one of the tweens into a naked lizard, they band together to realize their destiny as spellbreakers and help return the little boy back to his normal self. Deb Caletti is a natural when it comes to writing for a middle-grade audience – the story is fun and the characters are impossible not to root for. Plus, the story’s commentary on our current political climate adds a funny wink and nod for adults reading to their kids!
