Rising from the dead to review the Kneebone Boy by Ellen Potter

Okay, not exactly dead, but buried in my WIP, BREAKING GLASS, nearly done at 242 pages. I've just been SO ENGROSSED, I hope you'll all forgive me.

I'd promised long ago to review Ellen Potter's KNEEBONE BOY and now I am going to keep half my promise—I'm having a guest blogger, my brilliant and generous critique-mate of five years, Cyndy Kennedy Henzel do the review. When Cyndy told me that she, too was as big fan of this rather unheralded book from 2010, I asked her if she'd like to do the review for my blog. She did and hear it is:

THE KNEEBONE BOY

by Cynthia Kennedy Henzel

I love surprise endings, and Ellen Potter’s KNEEBONE BOY delivered. The Hardscrabble children, Otto, Lucia, and Max, set off to stay with their cousin in London. When they discover she has gone on holiday, they find their way to their great-aunt’s, who lives in a miniature castle behind a sinister real castle once owned by the Kneebone family. Here, the story falls into the pattern of a semi-fantasy as they discover the morbid history of the castle then face dragons, secret passages, and other fantastical elements as they try to rescue the Kneebone heir locked in a castle tower.

THE KNEEBONE BOY, however, is not a fantasy. Or an adventure. Or a mystery. It is more the tale of a dysfunctional family with a dark secret. The father takes periodic trips to paint portraits of displaced royalty. The oldest son Otto, 13, hasn’t spoken since their mother mysteriously left five years earlier, and the great-aunt is wildly wacky.

The reader is lulled into complacency by the Lemony-Snicketish voice of the narrator, one of the children but which one is never identified, into accepting the characters and events that unfold as normal. This works wonderfully to disguise what is actually happening; the clues to the surprise ending are all masterfully planted. However, since the story is told in the past tense, the voice is somewhat jarring at the finale. We are surprised, maybe even shocked, but it is difficult to be empathetic. The narrator also tends to pause to tell the reader something is going to happen; a device that tends to pull the reader from the plot and doesn’t seem really necessary.

I’ll admit I was tempted to put the book down halfway through, thinking that it was just another tale of wacky characters off to visit the wacky relative in the mysterious house and having a somewhat silly adventure. It is not. Keep reading. It is a masterfully plotted story. You will be thinking about this book for a long time.

Interview with Cyndy Henzel

Cyndy, (who writes historical young adult and middle grade fiction as well as magical reality) and I have been members of our online critique-group the Cudas since its inception in August 2006. I have come to depend on Cyndy's unfailingly sharp eye (and teeth) to kick, pummel and slash my manuscripts into shape. I've been inspired and delighted by her masterful ability to weave a tale and bring it to life with her vivid descriptions. I feel as if I have personally traveled to Stalinist Ukraine, Maldives, the Arizona desert and the Republic of Georgia thanks to her lush imagery. Cyndy is one of my unsung heroes (who really squirms when she is praised) and my trusty partner-in-crime in the Cuda approach to bone-crunching critiques. I hope I see the day at long last when she is granted the Newbury honor she is destined for.

Tell us a little about your background.

As a kid I loved reading and science. We moved a lot, so books were my dependable friends. When I was 15, my parents decided to leave the city and move to rural Oklahoma and live off the land. My parents, 3 younger siblings, and I moved into a one room cabin and learned to grow and can food, butcher pigs, milk goats, and build a house. I went to a small town high school where I learned to be comfortable not fitting in.

I’ve written everything from a weekly newspaper column to fiction and nonfiction for children. My graduate work was in geography, the field that covers everything that happens someplace -- perfect for me because I find everything interesting (yes, I even watched curling during the Olympics). I spent ten years working for an international environmental program which created the wanderlust itch that I still like to scratch.

What kind of books do you write?

Mostly great books, although one or two have been merely good.

Actually, I tried writing picture books but was told you can’t tell little kids that the rattlesnake was chopped and stomped and burned (this was before Neil Gaiman). Now I write mg and ya novels set in lesser known places. Currently, I am interested in young people in the post-Soviet countries that are struggling to regain – or invent -- their identity.

You just returned from a trip to the Republic of Georgia. Can you give us some highlights from your visit?

This was my third trip to Tbilisi, Georgia, one of the settings for my current work-in-progress. This time we went out to an ancient monastery. One of the monks took a liking to us and took us on a tour of the Patriarch’s private quarters (the Georgian Church is an Orthodox Catholic sect) then down the creepy stone steps into the cellars where we saw the 200-year-old wooden vat for grapes and cavernous underground storage jars for making wine. Then he opened a bottle to sample and toasted us – a lovely, lovely experience.

How have the places you've traveled inspired your writing?

I like to walk through regular neighborhoods, see what is on the shelves in the grocery store, visit local shops, watch the kids play in the park and how their parents react to them. I read up on the history of an area, then read local newspapers to see what people are talking about. I always think about what it would take for me to adapt to living in a place; and what it would be like for someone from this place to adjust to life in America. This is a theme that runs through much of my writing – what you keep, what you have to give up, and how you change in a new place.

What kind of children's and young adult books would you like to see more of on the shelves?

I love well-written, intelligent books; ones that transport you to another time or place or make you think about things that have never occurred to you before or that let you see things through new eyes. I’d like to see more historical fiction and contemporary stories set outside the US and more insightful science fiction.

Tell us something surprising about Cyndy.

Hmm. Writing? I wrote a My Turn column that was published in Newsweek then was reprinted as the Column of the Year with an update for their 30 year anthology.

Personally? I can make a wedding gown, tile a house, scuba dive, and I’ve never been bored.

Coming in April

Yeah, yeah...I've been silent of late, stewing in the juices of my revisions. But I'm breaking my silence to announce four, yes FOUR, fabulous interviews and two contests!
I should divulge that all of the woman I am going to interview are my critique-mates from two different groups. Once you *meet* them you are going to go green with envy to think that I get input from these awesome people on a regular basis! And they are SO AWESOME I am compelled to share:

First interview: Cyndy Kennedy Henzel, writer of middle-grade and YA historical fiction. (aka Cuda of the west, and I'm going to fess up, the best damn editor and critiquer in the known universe.) Cyndy is way too humble so I'm happy to embarrass her and heap public praise on her writing, editorial skills and her incredible generosity of spirit which she cloaks in hysterical one-liners.

Second interview: Christine Johnson, author of the upcoming CLAIRE DE LUNE, a YA werewolf love story from Simon Pulse/ May 2010. Christine is a member of my crit group The Wordslingers. Christine writes first drafts that are better than most of what makes it into print and we all *hate* her for it. Nah--we love her to pieces. Plus she does all the amazing things she does with a toddler and a five month old baby. Yikes!

Third interview: Heidi Ayarbe, author of the upcoming COMPROMISED/ May 2010 (HarperTeen—an imprint of HarperCollins) and the 2008 FREEZE FRAME (Laura Geringer Books/HarperTeen an imprint of HarperCollins), is also a member of Wordslingers and in addition to being one of the most caring humans on the planet writes the most gut-wrenching YA fiction in print today. Her writing often drives me to tears (in a good, cleansing sort of way).

Look out for other upcoming Heidi Ayarbe releases: THE DOUBTING from Balzer and Bray 2011 (HarperTeen an imprint of HarperCollins)

FREEZE FRAME paperback release: May 2010

First contest: We are going to be holding a signed ARC giveaway for CLAIRE DE LUNE and COMPROMISED.

Fourth interview: Kate Milford, author of the upcoming THE BONESHAKER/ Clarion May 2010, and another member of the Cudas is our very one female Stephen King and purveyor of mg steampunk fantasy. I featured a little info about THE BONESHAKER a few posts back.

tentative second contest: I hope to hold a BONESHAKER ARC contest as well.

Okay, PHEW. Now you know why I was quiet...I had to store up energy. April is going to be hectic around here. Sorry if I'm gushing a little too much, but they are all very, very dear to me and totally brilliant in their own individual and fascinating ways.