Splinter and Ash, Mouse and His Dog

Nijkamp, Marieke. Splinter and Ash
September 10th 2024 by Greenwillow Books
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

At the age of twelve, Princess Adelisa is finally returning to the royal city of Kestrel's Haven to take her place in the palace after spending her childhood living with an aunt. She walks with a cane, having been in the carriage accident that took her father's life years ago. Her mother, Queen Avelina, has been dealing with difficult political situations, since the Ferisian Empire is making incursions into Calinor. Her brother, Lucen, the heir to the throne, holds unexplained grudges against her and is not happy that she is back. Ash, as she prefers to be called, has her doubts about being able to survive life at court, since she thinks it is silly. When she steps away from a celebration in her honor because people are being mean to her, she meets Splinter, who claims to be a young squire. When it turns out that Splinter is the orphaned, youngest daughter of the DuLac family whose uncle thinks a convent would be a preferable place for his young ward instead of being a knight, Ash suggests that Splinter become her squire. There is no rule against this, and soon Splinter is outfitted and training with the other squires. Some of the staff support both Ash and Splinter, like Master Elnor, the tutor, and Lord Brenet, the master of the squires, but Lucen has had a previous run in with Splinter, and is quite mean. Ash has to deal with people making offhanded, cruel comments about her disability, but soon has a bigger purpose. Queen Avelina suspects that the Maronnes family is traitorous, since letters between them and Ferisian citizens have been intercepted. Since they have two young daughters, Ash is tasked with befriending them and looking for incriminating information. Eager to help, Ash agrees, but finds the task more difficult when she genuinely likes both Hazel, who is ten, and Melisande (Mist) who is her age. The three have much in common and enjoy many of the same things. Splinter is not welcome to socialize with the three, but is allowed to be taught sword tricks by one of the Maronnes staff, Fenna. When the girls are researching Midwinter Mystery Plays in the father's library, Mist talks about wanting to "spy", but Ash actually steals a letter from the father's desk that is written in Ferisian. Meanwhile, Splinter has a difficult time with the other squires, and when they are on a cleaning detail, is abused and shoved in the mud. Lucen even intercepts a message from Ash and rips it up before Splinter can see it. Soon after, it is discovered that Ash has been kidnapped, and Splinter is blamed for not being with her charge. Splinter decides to run off to find Ash, and is surprised to team up with Lucen, who is also running away with the same purpose. Their common ground in becoming squires is to keep people safe. Unable to locate Ash, the two head to the Maronnes and accuses Hazel and Mist of collusion with the Ferisians, only to find out that the father is working with other scholars to try to bring an end to the war. Meanwhile, Ash has been kidnapped by people who share a surprising connection with her, and want to keep her away from the palace. Splinter wants to contact her brother, Anders, who has been off fighting for some time, but when the two finally connect, Anders seems to be a traitor working with the Larks, an organization that opposes the queen.  Ash manages to escape her captors and run into one of her mother's lords... who turns out not to be who she thought he was. Will Splinter, Lucen, and Ash be able to get back to the palace and let the queen know what is going on? There is definitely room for a sequel to discuss the progression of the hostilities between Ferisia and Calinor. 

Strengths: An author's note at the front references De Brief Voor de Koning (1962) by Tonke Dragt, a classic Dutch book, as well as one of my all time favorite medieval fantasy series, Pierce's Tortall books, as the inspiration for this tale. The parallels are clear, since Alanna escaped being sent to a convent and disguised herself as a boy to train to be a knight, but Nijkamp puts a modern spin on this with Splinter's nonbinary identification. Calinor has a well developed back story, Ash's family history is complicated, and her new friendship with Splinter is heart warming. It's always good to see characters who fall outside the mainstream band together and be successful in their endeavors. Having Lucen understand both Splinter and his sister better was better than having him remain a villain. I especially liked Hazel and Mist, and would love to see them appear in future volumes. 
Weaknesses: When Splinter and Ash leave the palace to find Ash, they don't take their horses. I'm willing to buy that there are a lot of coincindences that bring various people into contact with each other, but I would have thought squires who had horses would have taken them instead of walking, which would take much too long. Personally, I always struggle with the politics of fantasy wars, but those who enjoyed Nielsen's The False Prince, Lairamore's Ivy Ever After, Haskells' Handbook for Dragon Slayers, Lidell's The Cadet of Tildor, and Flanagan's The Ranger's Apprentice books. (I love these because of the adventures in the woods and the coffee over the campfires, and tend to skip over a lot of the politics.)
What I really think: This is an excellent update to purchase for collections where Pierces' Alanna: the First Adventure or Wrede's Dealing with Dragons are in constant circulation. I will buy this for the readers I have who can't get enough of books like Burgis' The Dragon with the Chocolate Heart, Lloyd's The Book of Three, Ursu's The Troubled Girls of Dragomir Academy, Durst's Journey Across the Hidden Islands, or Hale's The Princess Academy, or George's The Rose Legacy..

Applegate, K.A., Choldenko, Gennifer, and West, Wallce (illus.)
Mouse and His Dog (Dogtown #2)
September 17, 2024 by Feiwel & Friends
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

Now that Chance has found his furever home, Dogtown is most concerned with Buster, a beautiful Golden Retriever with a penchant for getting in trouble and being returned to the shelter. Told from the point of view of Mouse, who is not overly comfortable with living in a place where mice are not welcome, we find out about Buster's various adoptions. We also meet Stewie, a dog who has the reputation for being mean, and Smokey, a robot dog whose wiring was crossed with a smoke detector, leading to some interesting sound effects. Mouse has decided that if he can get Buster on the Reading Buddies List, he will be safe. When Saanvi arrives with a copy of one of Mouse's favorite books, The Borrowers, he hopes to get her interested, especially after she sees him and doesn't panic and alert people at the shelter. Buster is adopted a couple of times, but when he comes back after the last adoption, he gets put on The List. Determined to save him, Mouse finds the key and breaks both Stewie and Buster out, and take off to find Saanvi. They visit Chance on their way, and are greeted warmly at Saanvi's apartment building by Mary Alice. Unfortunately, Saanvi's mother won't adopt a dog, Owen (who lives in the building) has three younger siblings, and Mary Alice's son doesn't want his mother to adopt Stewie, given his history. Luckily, once the intrepid group makes it back to the shelter, they have gotten enough exposure that people are willing to adopt them, so there is a happy ending. 

This was not as philosophical as Dogtown, which was surprisingly deep, but was an excellent story! West's illustrations will add to the appeal for young readers, and Mouse will be right at home with a whole subgenre of Talking Mice books. There are some good tips at the end about working with rescue dogs to make them more comfortable, and I am all for raising awareness to the plight of these animals. Hand this one to fans of Crimi's Secondhand Dogs or W. Bruce Cameron's work. I think these books will have a very long shelf life, since they do have a classic feel to them. Any book that reawakens interest in The Borrowers is fine by me! 

Calonita, Jen. Fairy Godmother: An Enchanters Tale
September 3, 2024 by Disney Hyperion
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

I LOVED Calonita's Go the Distance Go the Distance, and this had the feel of Donna Jo Napoli's fabulous Zel or Spinners, told from the point of view of a secondary character in famous tales. Seeing the fairy godmother from Cinderella was quite fun, and this would make a great companion to Moon's Delphine and the Silver Needle. Will the Prince get his own tale? (Other than Healy's Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom?) I feel like the wicked stepsisters could as well!