Hidden Boy by Jon Berkeley

The writing was so amazing I didn't realize until I'd finished the story that the plot had major holes in it.

That pretty much sums up my feelings about this whole story. The reader is plunged into the middle of a crazy world without any preparation, as the Flints are whisked away on a mysterious adventure, leaving behind their home to be attacked by the "Gummint". On the way to their adventure, Bea's little brother Theo disappears and she must learn the mystical Mumbo Jumbo to save him.

The writing is wonderful and beautiful and the characters are entrancing, but the plot is bewildering. I suppose parts of it, like the Gummint, will be explained in future volumes (it's a serious, of course) but other parts of it, like what happened to Mrs. Ledbetter, seem to need more explanation. Doesn't Bea have any issues dealing with what she did? It seems unreasonable that everyone just accepts it and everything fits together perfectly at the end. Besides, the whole mystical magical powers thing seems rather cliched.

But....the writing was gorgeous and I couldn't put it down.

Verdict: Read it and make up your own mind?

ISBN: 978-0061687587; Published February 2010 by Katharine Tegen Books; Borrowed from the library