Scumbling Your Savvy

I love the words savvy and scumble. I can't help but want to use them on my kids when they act too smart. "Hey! You better scumble your savvy!" Savvy and Scumble are not only delightfully fun words but delightfully fun books as well. But in Ingrid Law's books they refer to something a lot more wonderful and dangerous than a too smart mouth.

The members of certain families out there are born with special powers, or savvies. A savvy is a knack for something, but for a special something, like moving the earth and making mountains or starting a storm or producing electricity or making every endeavor perfect. A savvy makes itself known on a person's thirteenth birthday and can have disastrous results depending on the savvy. From that point a person has to learn how to scumble, or control, the savvy. Mibs, the main character of Newbery Honor Book Savvy, has her thirteenth birthday turn out even worse when her father is in a terrible accident preceding the big day. She ends up taking her brothers and a couple acquaintances on an unforgettable road trip convinced that only she can wake their father up. Scumble takes place 9 years after Savvy and follows the adventures of Mib's cousin Ledge. His thirteenth has brought him a savvy he doesn't want and is hard to scumble. After he blows the barn on his uncle's ranch to pieces during his cousin's wedding reception he is forced to stay on the ranch for the summer in hopes he will learn to scumble. But a nosy neighbor has discovered the family has a secret and Ledge has to work hard to keep her from telling the world.

These books are absolutely perfect for the 8-12 year old audience they are intended for. I enjoyed them quite a lot myself, but as a kid I would have loved them. These are stories mostly about growing up, moving from childhood to adolescence, and the scary conflicted feelings that accompany this transition. Each book contains a first kiss, the awakenings of a first crush. These are very much innocent occurrences. In both books the girls involved hold things to a friendly non romantic line.

Mibs and Ledge are very different main characters who have different conflicts. They both go through a period of denial about what their savvies are and they both try to run away from them, but their stories take different paths. Savvy is a great road trip story with a quirky set of companions. Scumble is an action packed mystery. enjoyed Scumble slightly more than I enjoyed Savvy but I think that is mostly because Law's writing improved between the two. Also there are places in Savvy where the story is almost too saccharine sweet.

I find it very interesting how both novels followed along traditional gender lines so much. Mibs' savvy involves reading people and their feelings and figures out her savvy through her interpersonal relationships. Ledge's savvy is about building things and he figures his out by striking out on his own. I didn't have a problem with this, but there was an element of this part of the world building that irked me a bit. It is mentioned in the first book and supported through out that the males of the family seem to get the more interesting, dangerous and powerful savvies. Their savvies are always the more difficult to scumble. I'm not real sure what Law is trying to say with this.

Overall the books are very good and I would recommend them to any young fans of fantasy and adventure. Law's website mentions she is working on a third book in the series.

Comments

Serafina and the Black Cloak

Serafina and the Black Cloak by Robert Beatty is a thrilling tale of mystery and adventure set at the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC in 1899. Having lived in Asheville and visited the house several times, there was no way I was going to pass up a chance to read this. (Also it's MG fantasy, always a bonus for me.) Serafina lives in secret in the basement of the Vanderbilt's spacious vacation home. She has lived there most of her life. Her father worked on the house as it was being built and is the mechanic who runs the massive generator and keeps the electricity going. Serafina is the chief rat catcher, slipping through the halls of her massive home secretly and quietly. She is light on her feet, sees well in the dark, and is quick enough to catch the vermin and keep them out. Serafina knows she if different and strange. Her father insists she stay hidden. But all that changes when one night Serafina witnesses a horrible crime. A little girl, a guest in the house, is fleein

Shorter Musings MG Fantasy

Here are some shorter musings on recent MG fantasy reads. Anya and the Dragon by Sofiya Pasternack This book is fun. It is a book full of adventure, an obvious bad guy, some more complicated morally gray area characters, and a strong, brave heroine. It is also a book about friendships, community, and fighting for what is right. All things that usually work for me really well. While I enjoyed this, I did feel it was a little overlong and there were certain plot points at the end I didn't love. However, there were things I thought were done really well, such as Anya's Jewish faith and the idea that power needs to be challenged. In the end it was a middle of the road read for me, but it is one I will certainly be recommending to dragon and fantasy adventure lovers I know! R is for Rebel by J. Anderson Coats This is tough because I usually really like Coats's books. I had such a hard time with this one though on so many levels. It's difficult to get into because t

Favorite Kissing Scenes

When thinking of a favorite things post I could do for February I decided it would have to be kissing. I've already done couples and I was feeling in the mood to do something fluffy and Valentine's related. So kisses it is. I read more MG than YA, and the YA I read tends to not focus on romance so this was actually harder than I expected it to be though a few jumped into my head right away. (And one of my choices does actually come from a MG book. One is adult. Gasp!) The actual scene from the book is quoted followed by my thoughts. The king lifted a hand to her cheek and kissed her. It was not a kiss between strangers, not even a kiss between a bride and a groom. It was a kiss between a man and his wife, and when it was over, the king closed his eyes and rested his forehead against the hollow of the queen's shoulder, like a man seeking respite, like a man reaching home at the end of the day . - The King of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner Turner doesn't write the

Shadowshaper

Shadowshaper by Daniel José Older is everywhere. Best of lists. Award buzz. Blogs everywhere. It's one of those books everyone is reading and talking about. I had it on my TBR but decided I definitely needed to read it before the year was out just so I could weigh in on one of the most talked about books of 2015 if asked. It is deserving of every good thing said about it. Every. One. Sierra was looking forward to a relaxing summer break. Her plans involved hanging out with her friends and painting. They did not involve being chased by zombie like creatures and threatened by a magical power connected to her family's heritage she has never heard of. When murals begin fading all over her Brooklyn neighborhood, Sierra is perplexed. When her grandfather, who had a stroke, begins to apologize and starts repeating strange phases and insisting Sierra get the help of a boy she barely knows to help her finish her mural, Sierra is concerned but mostly about her grandfather. Then at a

The Field Guide to the North American Teeanager

The Field Guide to the North American Teenager by Ben Philippe is a book I picked up on a whim at the bookstore when it first came out. I liked the cover. I thought it had an engaging premise. I went into it with a healthy does of trepidation because the execution could have gone so terribly wrong. Fortunately, Philippe is an excellent character writer, and I thoroughly enjoyed my time spent reading about Norris's adventures in Texas and high school. High school junior Norris Kaplan's life is ruined by his mother when she takes a job that requires them to leave the only home he has ever known in Montreal, Quebec. Moving is always hard, but Norris knows for him it will be harder than it's ever been for anyone else. Norris is moving to Texas. He will be a Canadian living in Texas. Not just a Canadian. A French Canadian who speaks fluent French. And not just your average run-of-the-mill French Canadian. A black son of Haitian immigrant parents French Canadian. If Norris has

Random Musings of a Bibliophile

Search This Blog