Shamanka - Jeanne Willis

Dug out by... Dave

What is magic? What is illusion? What is real?

Those three questions on the cover of this book are delving deep into the mind of the readers even before you open up. The magician's oath - practise until perfect, then never tell how - sets the tone for the story as it unfolds.

12-year-old Sam Khaan is in search of her father, hunting for what's real and what's not. She sets off on a globe-trotting journey which takes her away from the horrors of her gin-swilling and violent Aunt Candy... but where does it take her to? Well, enough countries to run the Olympics and enough intrigue to last you a lifetime.

Oh yes, and she takes an orang-utan with her.

There are some fabulous characters in this book and some great revelations about the world of magic. Have you ever wondered how to levitate, for instance? Can you read minds?

Babies know the secret, of course, but they're not much help are they? What is the meaning of life? You'll have to read the book and find out, won't you.

You only have to take one look at my list of tags to see how packed it is.


Longlisted for Carnegie 08.

If you like this, try...

The Scarecrow and his Servant - Philip Pullman
Shadow Forest - Matt Haig

Postbag ~ Empty

The Penalty - Mal Peet

Dug out by... Dave

This is the second Paul Faustino novel, Faustino being a South American sports journalist. He's supposed to be resting, but he gets drawn into the mystery surrounding the disappearance of a teenage football star, El Brujito.

The story takes us into a world of slavery and the occult, showing how the past can influence the present.

It has been long-listed for Carnegie 08.

Postbag - may contain spoilers

Dave ~ Having read the book, my feeling is that it won't make the short list this time. Like Tamar it deals with the undeniable link between us and our history, but there are no significant young characters in the story - El Brujito appears at the beginning and end, but in between it's mostly an adult story.