Sunday Books & Culture
This week’s reviews include the dystopian fantasy worlds of Emily Lloyd-Jones’s “The Bone House” and Donna Barba Higuera’s “The Last Cuentista.” Finally, a book for the fisher in your life.
For Younger Readers
By Nathan Sekinger
BOOK REVIEWER
April is the perfect time to celebrate libraries. School Library week is April 7 - 13, and the entire month of April is dedicated to National Library Week. A great way to celebrate your library is to introduce - or reintroduce - yourself to its resources.
The Central Rappahannock Regional Library has fantastic options. From digital collections, a law library, meeting rooms, makerspace, and a seed library to online research, the options are nearly endless.
At my school, staff and students enjoy “Book Group in a Bag.” You can reserve a book from hundreds of popular titles in a set of ten and check them out for six weeks. The groupings are perfect for starting a book club. Here are two winning titles that I’ve been reading with teachers and students lately, both available as a “Book Group in Bag”.
BONE HOUSES
By Emily Lloyd-Jones
Published by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (September 29, 2020)
Paperback $8.79
Audiobook $14.99
Aderyn (Ryn) is a gravedigger. It’s a job that she learned from her father, but the trouble lately is that the dead don’t stay buried. Instead, Ryn has begun to use her skills with a shovel to defend her village from a growing army of bone houses, or skeletal remains that have the power to rise and attack.
In this historical fantasy world, Ryn is versed in the ancient legends of curses, so is unsurprised by this magical threat. But when a stranger shows up, inept and about to be killed by a skeleton, Ryn saves him and learns that he is a mapmaker who is unfortunately lost.
Along with a mysterious background, Ellis, the mapmaker, does have money, which Ryn needs to care for her siblings now that her parents are gone. Ellis will pay for a guide to the other side of the mountain through a seemingly collapsed mine. Ryn is just the person for the job; all she needs to do is face down an army of skeletal undead, break an ancient curse, and keep an inexperienced city boy alive long enough so that he’ll part with his money.
Good thing she already has a shovel.
THE LAST CUENTISTA
By Donna Barba Higuera
Published by Levine Querido (October 12, 2021)
Paperback $10.99
Audiobook $14.99
Petra must say goodbye to her grandmother, Lita. As Petra hears her grandmother’s stories, she is resolved to carry on with her grandmother’s tradition as a storyteller, or “cuentista.”
Petra will carry that idea with her as she boards a massive spaceship that will transport hundreds to a new planet. This is not just for exploration, but for survival as Haley’s Comet will soon crash into the Earth. Petra is lucky that her two scientific parents are seen as crucial cargo for when they arrive at their new planet; because of that, she and her brother will survive too.
Because of the distance, all essential passengers will be placed in cryo-sleep for over 300 years while they travel. A caretaker crew of a few hundred others will live out their natural lives for generations caring for those sleepers.
One small comfort is that Petra can learn from special implanted knowledge while she naps; she especially requests all the stories of diverse mythology to help her become a storyteller.
This launch has a troubled start as mobs of people left behind try to storm the ship before it even leaves. On board, the crew of caretakers have other ideas too. Petra will wake hundreds of years in the future, in a world far different from the one she knows or expects. As one of the few left who remembers her past, her humanity and her family, Petra must act to save what is left of humanity from itself in this Newbery Award Winner book.
Nathan Sekinger is a middle school librarian who is always ready to share a new story with his students.
Casting Forward
by Steve Ramirez
Published by Lyons Press (April 1, 2023)
Paperback $15.43
Kindle $10.49
Reviewed by Martin Davis
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
On the Rappahannock River, the shad are running along the same stretch where Amoroleck first encountered John Smith in 1608.
Today, the shad no longer sustain those who live along the banks of our beloved river as they did in Amorlek's day. But the river does sustain us in spirit. And that spirit is most closely felt by those who wade into the Rapp's chilling waters to cast a fly toward a timeless fish in hopes of drawing it in - and then releasing it to the river again.
Fly-fishing is not sport, it is a balm for the human soul. And for Steve Ramirez - a United States Marine recovering from the wounds of war - the waters of the Hill Country of Texas are where he pursues his healing.
A doctor helped me to chase away the ghosts, but the feeling of emptiness remained. I guess sometimes surviving is your punishment. So, you stand in the river, facing upstream with the water rushing down upon you as if it could somehow fill the hollow emptiness--and somehow, it always does. So it was one morning, I stood there, without even casting, and with no trout rising, and as the water rushed past me, I knew it was washing my burdens behind me, swirling them downstream like the autumn leaves.
Steve Ramirez, Casting Forward
Over some 250 pages, Ramirez walks the reader through the rivers of the Texas Hill Country, explaining in romantic language the interaction between the fly-fisherman (Ramirez), the river, the fish therein, and the land through which it flows.
Along the way, we meet his daughter Megan, who is pursuing her own spiritual passage, his since deceased friend, and slowly, the ghosts who are held at bay by the river but are nonetheless always nearby.
These characters and their struggles unfold slowly, requiring the reader to exercise patience, as Ramirez weaves fly-fishing, beauty, and human struggle cast by cast in the rivers that define the Hill Country - the Sabinal, the Guadalupe, Llano, Blanco, and finally, the headwaters.
Each chapter - defined by a river or section thereof - opens with a line from another writer, who feels the power of rivers as powerfully as Ramirez.
But it's in the writings of Rainer Maria Rilke that Ramirez finds the ultimate truth:
Let everything happen to you
Beauty and terror
Just keep going
No feeling is final
Fly-fisher men and women know something of nature and the river that too many of us, drowning in a world of electronics and materialism, have lost the ability to see.
Ramirez brings us back to the headwaters of his life, and of ours.
Local Obituaries
To view local obituaries or to send a note to family and loved ones, please visit our website at the link that follows.
Weather and Traffic
Support Award-winning, Locally Focused Journalism
In less than a year, FXBG Advance has become the news leader in Fredericksburg, Spotsylvania, and Stafford through its innovative mix of:
Twice-daily newsletter - At 6 AM and 5 PM every Monday through Friday, the Advance brings the most important news directly to your inbox.
Education Reporting - Adele Uphaus has won multiple awards for her coverage of education issues locally and across the state. Now, she brings her experience, insights, and expertise to the Advance, providing our citizens some of the finest education writing and reporting in the commonwealth.
Political Reporting - From council meetings to campaigns, and fundraising to finance, the Advance is returning the Fourth Estate to its rightful place as a government watch dog.
Breaking News - From court cases to high-profile government moves, the Advance is the first to inform residents.
Investigative Journalism - Last year, the Advance broke major stories around improperly filed election documents, misleading sample ballots, disenfranchising Spotsylvania Count School parents, and book bans.
Election Coverage - The Advance offered the most complete coverage of the 2023 election, with in-depth candidate profiles, daily tracking of events, leading debates, and pre-dawn to post-midnight Election Day coverage. And 2024 brings even greater coverage.
Spotlights - From local businesses to nonprofit organizations and regional leaders, the Advance brings the people who make things happen to your attention.
Multi-partisan Commentary - Martin Davis is a 20-plus-year journalist recognized for superior commentary and political writing; Shaun Kenney has his hands on the pulse of political leaders across the Commonwealth. Together, they bring an unparalleled level of analysis and insight into the issues that drive debate in our region.
Political Cartoons - Clay Jones is a nationally recognized talent who draws weekly for CNN. He has returned to Fredericksburg to level his critical eye and razor-sharp drawing at the topics which make us both laugh, and look closer at ourselves.
New Dominion Podcast - Each week, Martin Davis and Shaun Kenney interview guests from across the region and the state. Growing to over 1,000 listeners in just six months, NDP has become a leading force in political, cultural, and social discussion.
We thank each and every one of you who have made the Advance a part of your day, and we’re excited to say that more-exciting announcements are just around the corner as we continue to innovate and expand our coverage of the region.
The donations of individual readers have made this year possible. Please join the hundreds who are supporting excellence in journalism by subscribing for just $8 a month.
Where does your money go?
It goes to support the great journalists we have - like Adele Uphaus - and the ones we look to hire in the year ahead.
If you can spare $8 a month, we’ll be both grateful, and reward your trust in us with more journalism, more stories, and more connections to organizations and people who make our region a great place to live.
If you can’t, thank you for reading the FXBG Advance!, and consider sharing us with your friends.
In 2024, let’s build an even better Advance - together!
Thank you for reading and supporting FXBG Advance.
-Martin Davis, Editor-in-Chief