Skip to main content

Hannah's Winter

By




Hannah's Winter
by Kierin Meehan
juvenile mystery
205 pages
La Jolla, Calif. : Kane/Miller Book Publishers, 2009
(originally published in Australia 2001)

Hannah is a 12-year-old redhead from Australia. Her mother has dumped her with family friends in Kanazawa, Japan while she tours the country getting information for her next book. Hannah would much rather be home with her dad and going to school with her friends. However, her mother decided this would be the perfect opportunity to improve her Japanese language skills. Resigned to make a go of it, Hannah settles into the household. She quickly makes friends with Miki, the daughter, which is a good thing considering they immediately get drawn into a ghostly mystery. It all began when Miki's father received a box of old paper stuff at his shop. The girls find a box with old paper toys and a riddle about an ocean boy. When the riddle starts mirroring their daily life they begin to take it seriously.The girls friendship strengthens as they dodge flying donuts, slosh through the snow to visit obscure shrines and visit with the keeper of old frogs.
This was a nice little mystery, ghost story, international friendship book. It was nothing super fantastic, but would appeal to upper elementary girls who like ghosts and mysteries. However, the cover is going to be a big drawback. The cover is nice and artistically pleasing, if it were and adult novel. Young girls will not be drawn to it, and the especially will not be thinking it is a ghostly mystery story. Hopefully the paperback will have a more appropriate cover so I can get the girls that come to the library to read it.
Labels:

Comments

Ms. Yingling said…
I didn't think the cover was that bad. It definitely gives a feeling of place, if nothing else.
November 2, 2009 at 5:22 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

If You Like...KPop Demon Hunters

By
KPop Demon Hunters has been one of the most talked-about movies of the summer. If you loved this movie as much as I did, you don't want the magic (or the music) to stop. Try reading these books that touch on some of the same topics and themes as the animated hit! Brick Dust and Bones By M. R. Fournet New York: Feiwel and Friends, 2023. Fiction. 247 pages. Orphaned Marius works in the family business--as their cemetery's ghost caretaker. However, Marius also moonlights as a monster hunter in order to earn the costly Mystic currency he needs to bring his mother back from the dead. As the window to bring his mother back begins to close, Marius's exploits get more and more dangerous, and he may have set his sights on a monster too big to handle on his own. Like Mira, Marius longs for familial connection, and his work as a monster hunter will satisfy the thrill of demon hunting for fans the movie. Where's Halmoni? By Julie J. Kim Seattle, WA: Little Bigfoot, 2017. Comics. W...
Post a Comment
Read more

Review: The Library in the Woods

By
  The Library in the Woods Written by Calvin Alexander Ramsey Illustrated by R. Gregory Christie Minneapolis, MN : Carolrhoda Books, 2025. Picture Book. I am always intrigued by picture books that tell stories from the past in beautiful and meaningful ways, leaving the reader educated, and also hopeful and inspired. This book definitely did that for me! The cover is a beautiful peek into the story waiting on the pages. Junior and his family have lived on a farm that is having a hard time producing what it needs to for the family to survive economically. The parents make the hard decision to move away from the farm and into the city. Junior misses a lot of things about his life in the country. However, when Junior's friends tell him about a library in the woods, things change for him in the best way! He is amazed by the seemingly endless collection of books, and is eager to check some out for his family. Junior excitedly borrows a few books, including one about a farmer for his dad ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Review: Tumblebaby

By
Tumblebaby Written by Adam Rex Illustrated by Audrey Helen Weber New York : Neal Porter Books/Holiday House, 2024. Picture book. I love a funky picture book. Slumbering Tumblebaby rolls out the door and into a wonderfully meandering yarn, thwarting scoundrels and coyotes, scaling unclimbable mountains, and even building a community center in Colorado City. Adam Rex's text reads like a folksy tall tale, punctuated by funny lines and rhyming chants.  Weber's colorful, round illustrations feel a little Fauvist, a little cubist. It's a sort of "Oh, The Places You'll Go!"  but in reverse - we learn in the last few pages that, in fact, that baby was YOU! This revelation made my young son gasp, which made me choke up.  Tumblebaby is a surreal delight perfect for reading together. 
Post a Comment
Read more