Between Two Ends

March 14, 2011
In a story that's entertaining, despite occasionally painful subject matter, 12-year-old Yeats Trafford has never understood why his father, a university professor, suffers from a lifelong, crippling depression, which has strained his parents' marriage. Upon visiting his grandmother's mysterious old house for the first time, however, he discovers that, in childhood, his father and a friend named Shari had been magically transported into a copy of The Arabian Nights, aided by a pair of animated pirate bookends. There, Shari, who had recently lost her parents, took on the role of Shaharazad and refused to return, leaving his father guilt-stricken. Now Yeats, again aided by the piratesâhe "was certain, bookends or no, they were capable of handling themselves in a fight"âmust enter that magical world and convince Shari both of who she really is and of the importance of returning to the outside world. Somewhat reminiscent of Rushdie's Haroun and the Sea of Stories, Ward's (the Grassland Trilogy) tale should be appreciated by preteens for whom Disney's Aladdin has already served as a gateway to The Arabian Nights. Ages 8â12.

April 15, 2011

A book about a book within a book. Years ago William and Shari wished themselves into a book, the unabridged version of 1,001 Arabian Nights, and although William wished himself back, he is consumed with guilt because Shari stayed, as the character Shaharazad. Twenty years later, William's anguish has brought his family to the brink of dissolving. In a last-ditch attempt to hold it all together, they visit his boyhood home, the scene of the mysterious events. His son Yeats becomes the vessel for restoring Shari to the real world. It all involves wishes, magic bookends, pirates, danger, intrigue and imagination. Yeats is very much the hero of the piece, absorbing and responding to every impossible, fantastic occurrence with ingenuity and spirit. Ward presents just enough of an outline of the traditional Arabian Nights frame story to set the stage for modern readers, while creating his own fantasy within the fantasy to grab their attention. But there is a lack of consistency in the framework of his fantasy world, especially in its treatment of time. The supporting characters are not all fully developed, especially Shari, who, although she is the focus of the whole endeavor, remains insubstantial. The conclusion allows little time for emotional denouement and strongly hints at a possible sequel. A fast-paced but flawed adventure. (Fantasy. 10-12)

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May 15, 2011
Grades 4-6 When 12-year-old Yeats visits his grandmothers house for the first time, he discovers that his familys long-building unhappiness can only be resolved by fixing what went wrong 20 years before, when his father was a child. Using an old book and two magical bookends, he journeys into the story of Shaharazad, where he must find the viziers daughter (actually his fathers childhood friend Shari, trapped in the story) and convince her to return to a reality that she no longer recalls. Quickly sketching credible characters in both worlds, Ward plunges Yeats into a series of adventures in which he must use both wit and courage to survive. Unexpected moments of humor lighten the gloomy prospect of failure and offer hope that the ending will resolve the family crisis so vividly portrayed in the opening chapters. A satisfying chapter-book fantasy.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)