Spelling the Month in Books: May

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH

Like many people my age, I came to Robert C. O’Brien’s novel through the animated adaptation, The Secret of NIMH. But after seeing the movie a few times, I tracked down the novel for one of my first lessons in “The Book is (almost) Always Better.” There’s just something about the story of this poor mother mouse having to get help from the escaped Lab Rats with their advanced technology and knowledge to help save her family, and the lengths she goes to in order to help those rats herself. It was award-worthy in the 70s and would be today, too.

(I imagine…I mean, it’s been ages since I read it)

Alchemystic

Anton Stout’s The Spellmason Chronicles kicks off with this blast of a novel. A struggling artist discovers she comes from a line of magic-users (she also discovers that magic is a thing) and that she has a gargoyle protector. It’s a great new magic system, I really enjoyed Lexi and her friends (who have great story arcs of their own), the gargoyle, Stanis, is a great creation—really, the whole thing is a fun adventure, and the trilogy that ensues is a favorite around my house.

You

If you take the love of video games and late 20th Century American pop culture from Cline’s Ready Player One; the ability of Michael Chabon in The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay to tell a compelling story while also giving a history of a creation of a medium; and mix them with Lev Grossman’s The Magicians series’ sense of disillusionment that comes from childhood loves and obsessions meeting with the real world—you might get something like Austin Grossman’s bittersweet story of friendship.