Ancient, Strange and Lovely - Susan Fletcher

I must be one of the luckiest librarian in town, because I'm actually friends with the lovely Susan Fletcher, author of the Dragon Chronicles series. Her most recent in the series, Ancient, Strange and Lovely is just that - ancient, strange and lovely. But it's also the opposite of ancient, although I'm unsure what that word actually is, because it takes place in the future. So I guess maybe futuristic.

14 year old Bryn's mother is missing, and her father has gone off in search of her, leaving Bryn and her sister behind. Bryn and her sister have the ability to ken with birds, basically they can communicate with them through thoughts, so you know they're pretty special. I think that's a cool ability! Anyway, while Bryn's parents are both gone and cannot be contacted, Bryn finds a large egg in the basement, and when the egg hatches it turns out to be a dragon! This leads to a lot of wild results, including traveling by herself to Alaska to try and find her father ad mother herself. Whether Bryn will be able to keep the dragon safe is a big question.

The book has a serious ecological theme to it as well, as Bryn's mother has possibly found a way to fight at least some of the pollution that is destroying the planet in this near-future setting.

This book has quite a lot of high-level vocabulary and requires some inference about futuristic situations, descriptions of people, etc., so it is best for stronger readers. Dragon-story lovers will definitely want to read this book,either as part of the series or as a stand-alone.

Alphabet of Dreams - Susan Fletcher

This month's Mother Daughter Book Club choice was any book by local author Susan Fletcher. And we are all really excited because she's COMING to our book club meeting today. We're so lucky to have had two local authors willing to come visit with us this year!

I chose to re-read Alphabet of Dreams, which I think is her very best book, and that's saying something, because all her books are good! She's written Walk Across the Sea, the Dragon's Milk trilogy, Shadow Spinner (my second fave of hers), and this book that is built around the dreams of young Babak.

Babak and his sister Mitra's family have been exiled and now these two, the youngest children in the family, have been separated from everyone else. Once they lived as royalty; now they are forced into living in the shadows and stealing to get by. It's not a fabulous life, an Mitra, especially, wants a change. The possibility becomes real when it is discovered that little Babak can foretell the future through dreams. This "talent" is worth quite a lot to many people, including the powerful Melchior, one of the Three Wise Men of the New Testament story.

Fletcher creates her own vision of how the journey of the Magi to Bethlehem for the birth of Christ might have happened. The story is told all from the point of view of Mitra, and is woven together through incredibly lyrical language and strong character development.

Excellent author's notes at the end of the book help the reader to understand that while this does have historical elements to it, it is a work of fiction. It also details the origins and beliefs of Zoroastrianism which I found to be very helpful. the first time I "read" this book, I actually listened to it on tape, and although I LOVED the reading o it by that particular narrator, I wish the author notes would also have been included.

A fantastic story and an Oregon Battle of the Books pick for this year. Available at the WOMS library.

Alphabet of Dreams - Susan Fletcher

We are SO lucky in Oregon to have many great authors in our midst, and one of my favorites is Susan Fletcher. Alphabet of Dreams, her most recent novel, is, I think, on of her most finely crafted. It is a beautifully written, rich story which re-tells in a new way, the New Testament tale of the birth of Christ in Bethlehem. The story is told from the point of view of a teenage girl, Mitra, who, along with her brother, five-year-old Babak, is traveling with one, then two, then three of the Wise Men who are following the tale they see in the night sky (two bright stars, together, apart, together, apart, together, apart) to witness the birth of a king. Babak is a central figure in the plot as he has the gift of dreaming for people dreams that portend the future and the wise men use his gift to help guide them. But the dreams he gives them suck the life-force from him, and it is all Mitra can do some days to keep him alive.

As I have said over and over in my booktalks, every journey tale is filled with obstacles to overcome, and this story fits that exactly. The tale is full of adventure and suspense, often the result bad choices made by young people who let hopes and dreams instead of common sense guide them. Mitra and Babak come from royal lineage, but their father tried to overthrow the king, and so they have all been banished from his kingdom. Mitra and Babak have been separated from everyone else in their family, and it is Mitra's greatest wish to be reunited with them and she will do nearly anything to get that. In her coming-of-age through the story, she learns that perhaps she has given up more than it was worth in this quest.

This is a beautifully told tale, woven together with cultural insights, highly developed characters, lyrical language and a mythical story that has lasted for 2000 years. I listened to it read by a Middle Eastern woman, and I think that added an additional layer of enjoyment for me, but this is an extraordinary piece of writing I would definitely recommend on paper or in your ears.

Enjoy!