The Book of Story Beginnings by Kristin Kladstrup

Kristin Kladstrup's wonderfully transporting fantasy - featuring a ship full of orphaned pirate children, a pair of warring royals, and plenty of magic potions - is sure to thrill all those who dare turn its pages. Oscar Martin was fourteen when he mysteriously disappeared from his Iowa farmhouse home in June 1914. His sister claimed Oscar had rowed out to sea - but how was that possible? There is no ocean in Iowa. When, nearly a century later, Lucy Martin and her parents move from their city apartment to that same farmhouse in Iowa, it is not long before Lucy discovers the strange and dangerous BOOK OF STORY BEGININGS. And it's not long before Oscar reappears in a bizarre turn of events that sends the two distant relatives on a perilous journey to save Lucy's father. This remarkable debut fantasy novel is a thrilling page turner as well as a tribute to the writer's craft. Editorial Reviews From School Library Journal Grade 4-7-When Lucy Martin moves to the house in Iowa that her father inherited from his Aunt Lavonne, she hopes to solve the mystery of Lavonne's brother's disappearance in 1914, when he was 14. He supposedly rowed off in a boat on a magical ocean that lapped at the garden gate. When Lucy finds the Book of Story Beginnings and writes in it about a girl whose father was a magician, her father becomes a magician who has invented a transforming potion. He turns into a crow and flies away from the cat, who then becomes Oscar, the long-lost boy. Lucy and Oscar then have to find a way over the magical ocean to bring back Lucy's father, who has flown to the land invented by Oscar when he wrote his story beginnings in the magical book. The characters are well rounded and interesting, and Oscar's plight when he is transformed back into a boy and discovers that his entire family is dead is sympathetically and realistically portrayed. While sections of the story at the beginning and end are exciting and even thrilling, the middle section moves slowly and the adventure drags in places. Still, this is an interesting investigation into the power of writing and story, along with a warm and believable look at the relationship of two young people from different eras who become family to one another.-Sue Giffard, Ethical Culture Fieldston School, New York City Copyright Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From Booklist Gr. 4-6. When 12-year-old Lucy and her parents move to the farmhouse where her father's family has lived for generations, she hopes to solve the mystery of her great-uncle Oscar's disappearance in 1914, when he was 14. Soon she discovers Oscar's notebook, the mysterious Book of Story Beginnings, and even Oscar himself, who has returned from another world and, still a teenager, finds his parents gone and his community incomprehensibly different from when he left. Realizing that by beginning a new story in the enchanted book she has placed her father in deadly peril, Lucy enlists Oscar's help to take her into that otherworld where their stories have come to life not in dreams but as cold, hard reality. Accented by a fine description of an ocean magically appearing in the Iowa countryside, Kladstrup's first novel offers mystery, adventure, and fantasy, as well as reflections on family dynamics, time travel, and the structure of stories. If that sounds like a plateful, it is, but many readers will find something here to their liking. Carolyn Phelan Copyright American Library Association. All rights reserved Review JUNE 1914 He was up late reading TREASURE ISLAND Island for the hundredth time when the story idea came to him. Like all of his ideas, it was only the beginning of a story. But a beginning was better than nothing at all, so he climbed out of bed-quietly, because the rest of his family was asleep and he didn't want to wake them. TREASURE ISLAND was a book he had read so often that he hardly needed to look at the well-worn copy that Pa and Ma had given him for Christmas two years before. He needed only to open it and dream of adventure. That was how the story beginning had come to him, like a dream-the words falling into place like notes of music from Ma's fiddle. He held them in his mind carefully, not wanting to forget them before he had time to write them down. He sat at his old worn desk-there were ink stains all over it-and drew out a secret book from the bottom of a drawer filled with papers. It wasn't the five-cent composition book in which he kept his journal. That was where he wrote down his thoughts and observations on everything that mattered and didn't matter. The secret book was one he had found in the attic among Ma's things-secret things maybe, for the trunk had been locked, and perhaps he oughtn't to have used the key he'd found in Ma's room. As he had done many times since finding the book, he looked at the words on its title page: THE BOOK OF STORY BEGINNINGS. There was a verse beneath the title. It made him shiver a bit because it was so wonderful. Almost like a story beginning itself: Beware, you writers who write within; Be mindful of stories that you begin; For every story that has a beginning May have a middle and an end. Know this, too, before you write: Though day must always lead to night, Not all beginnings make good tales; Some succeed, while others fail. Let this book its judgment lend On whether and how your beginning ends. _______ THE BOOK OF STORY BEGINNINGS by Kristin Kladstrup. Copyright 2006 by Kristin Kladstrup. Published by Candlewick Press, Inc., Cambridge, MA. From the Trade Paperback edition. From the Publisher From a first-time author, a spellbinding story that lures you in ? and wonÂ't let go! Kristin KladstrupÂ's wonderfully transporting fantasy ? featuring a ship full of orphaned pirate children, a pair of warring royals, and plenty of magic potions ? is sure to thrill all those who dare turn its pages. From the Author KRISTIN KLADSTRUP: I have always loved the big brick house in Iowa where my mother grew up. From its windows, you can look out and see beautiful fields and pastures. But when I was young, I was always ignoring what was in front of me and wishing for something more exciting. From those same windows, I could imagine the ocean stretching out to the Iowa horizon. If IÂ'd had the chance, I might have written a story beginning about it, just as Oscar does. But I was also much more inclined to pretend things than to write them down. Now that IÂ'm grown up, things are backward: I canÂ't pretend much of anything without writing it down. ThatÂ's why thereÂ's now a pretend brick house in Iowa to go along with the real one! From the Author KRISTIN KLADSTRUP: I have always loved the big brick house in Iowa where my mother grew up. From its windows, you can look out and see beautiful fields and pastures. But when I was young, I was always ignoring what was in front of me and wishing for something more exciting. From those same windows, I could imagine the ocean stretching out to the Iowa horizon. If IÂ'd had the chance, I might have written a story beginning about it, just as Oscar does. But I was also much more inclined to pretend things than to write them down. Now that IÂ'm grown up, things are backward: I canÂ't pretend much of anything without writing it down. ThatÂ's why thereÂ's now a pretend brick house in Iowa to go along with the real one! About the Author KRISTIN KLADSTRUP says, I have always loved the big brick house in Iowa where my mother grew up. From its windows, you can look out and see beautiful fields and pastures. But when I was young, I was always ignoring what was in front of me and wishing for something more exciting. From those same windows, I could imagine the ocean stretching out to the Iowa horizon. If I'd had the chance, I might have written a story beginning about it, just as Oscar does. But I was also much more inclined to pretend things than to write them down. Now that I'm grown up, things are backward: I can't pretend much of anything without writing it down. That's why there's now a pretend brick house in Iowa to go along with the real one! Kristin Kladstrup lives with her family near Boston, Massachusetts. This is her first novel. Excerpt. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. JUNE 1914 He was up late reading TREASURE ISLAND Island for the hundredth time when the story idea came to him. Like all of his ideas, it was only the beginning of a story. But a beginning was better than nothing at all, so he climbed out of bed-quietly, because the rest of his family was asleep and he didn't want to wake them. TREASURE ISLAND was a book he had read so often that he hardly needed to look at the well-worn copy that Pa and Ma had given him for Christmas two years before. He needed only to open it and dream of adventure. That was how the story beginning had come to him, like a dream-the words falling into place like notes of music from Ma's fiddle. He held them in his mind carefully, not wanting to forget them before he had time to write them down. He sat at his old worn desk-there were ink stains all over it-and drew out a secret book from the bottom of a drawer filled with papers. It wasn't the five-cent composition book in which he kept his journal. That was where he wrote down his thoughts and observations on everything that mattered and didn't matter. The secret book was one he had found in the attic among Ma's things-secret things maybe, for the trunk had been locked, and perhaps he oughtn't to have used the key he'd found in Ma's room. As he had done many times since finding the book, he looked at the words on its title page: THE BOOK OF STORY BEGINNINGS. There was a verse beneath the title. It made him shiver a bit because it was so wonderful. Almost like a story beginning itself: Beware, you writers who write within; Be mindful of stories that you begin; For every story that has a beginning May have a middle and an end. Know this, too, before you write: Though day must always lead to night, Not all beginnings make good tales; Some succeed, while others fail. Let this book its judgment lend On whether and how your beginning ends. _______ THE BOOK OF STORY BEGINNINGS by Kristin Kladstrup. Copyright 2006 by Kristin Kladstrup. Published by Candlewick Press, Inc., Cambridge, MA.