Cynthia Bird

I received this from Library Thing to read and review. This is a great end-of-summer story for middle school to junior high school students, especially boy, to read. The story is interesting and scary, though not too scary for everyone. The story involves two boys who help out an older couple who own an antiques store in the small town of Circumstance. The wife in the story asks the two boys to move an old mirror, which they do but which inadvertently cracks in the middle of the move. Strange things happen after that. Two strange men appear, one claiming to won the mirror, while the other claiming he is the rightful owner and has come to take it back. The story of just what happens with these two men and how it involves the two young boys is entertaining and interesting. The story moves through several interesting and intriguing twists and turns to its conclusion. This is a good story of brotherly love, of two young boys who are fairly well-behaved and have good instincts. The vocabulary, story line and style will appeal to them. As I said, it is a good book for youngsters to read, and it has enough interest to hold their attention from start to finish. I highly recommend it to all youngsters in the middle school to junior high school age range.… (altro)

This end of summer story written by Cynthia Bird has magic, good overcoming evil and brotherly love. It is a sweet story with just enough of a scare factor for children between the ages of 8-12. The relationship between brothers Levi and Ian is strong and loving and their interaction with the antique shop owners interesting. I can’t imagine older people with an antique business letting children that age open for them while they are gone or deliver items to customers EXCEPT in the make believe town of Circumstance. This would make a good book for classrooms to read together. There are enough large new vocabulary words to learn, runes for fortune telling to discuss, old coins, dreams to interpret, a ghost cat, strange people and magical happenings for discussion in classrooms. It would also be a good book for a child to read independently or for a parent to read to their child.… (altro)