A review by pwbalto
Any Which Wall by Laurel Snyder
4.0
When you develop a team of siblings whose job it will be to solve a mystery, survive an adventure, or deal with magic, you have three choices. You can establish verisimilitude by making them sniping, squabbling siblings who insult each other and barely endure each other's company, like the Grace family in Tony DiTerlizzi's Spiderwick stories; you can make them react believably to danger and uncertainty by banding tightly together, viz the Baudelaire siblings, who are as supportive and encouraging of each other as the events surrounding them are unfortunate.
Or you can take the middle path. Think Aldens. Or Cassons. Heck, think of the March girls. They don't always agree, and sometimes a fit is pitched, but as far as I'm concerned, there's your verisimilitude. No hair-pulling required.
What I'm saying is: brave, considerate, honest and smart does not equal BORING. Laurel Snyder's Any Which Wall is a Penderwick-y book, a Nesbitty book, an avowedly Eagery book, featuring four children who discover a wall that works magic, and who must figure out how to use it and what it can do. Once they've got that sorted, the next step for each kid is to decide - what to wish for. What's YOUR heart's desire? Hard to say? Try making that decision when you're six.
But while each child makes this decision based on his or her own interests (Henry wants pirates, Roy chooses American history, little Emma wants a castle, while big girl Susan just wants to see her best friend again), their adventures give each kid the opportunity to stretch underused muscles: independence, honesty, logic, compassion.
The writing is clear and pleasant - Laurel Snyder has a particular gift for describing place, and her dialogue is natural and unaffected. LeUyen Pham I have to guess was just a gift from Laurel's editor. Nobody draws regular kids, with their quirks of gesture and occasional annoyed expression, like Ms. Pham. Between the two of them, they've created four children as real as the kids messing around on my porch at this very minute.
Or you can take the middle path. Think Aldens. Or Cassons. Heck, think of the March girls. They don't always agree, and sometimes a fit is pitched, but as far as I'm concerned, there's your verisimilitude. No hair-pulling required.
What I'm saying is: brave, considerate, honest and smart does not equal BORING. Laurel Snyder's Any Which Wall is a Penderwick-y book, a Nesbitty book, an avowedly Eagery book, featuring four children who discover a wall that works magic, and who must figure out how to use it and what it can do. Once they've got that sorted, the next step for each kid is to decide - what to wish for. What's YOUR heart's desire? Hard to say? Try making that decision when you're six.
But while each child makes this decision based on his or her own interests (Henry wants pirates, Roy chooses American history, little Emma wants a castle, while big girl Susan just wants to see her best friend again), their adventures give each kid the opportunity to stretch underused muscles: independence, honesty, logic, compassion.
The writing is clear and pleasant - Laurel Snyder has a particular gift for describing place, and her dialogue is natural and unaffected. LeUyen Pham I have to guess was just a gift from Laurel's editor. Nobody draws regular kids, with their quirks of gesture and occasional annoyed expression, like Ms. Pham. Between the two of them, they've created four children as real as the kids messing around on my porch at this very minute.