The Cabinet of Earths
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A Lot or a Little?
The parents' guide to what's in this book.
What Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that this debut from Anne Nesbet, UC Berkeley professor of Russian literature and the history of film (a follow-up is due in 2013), is a great adventure with an imaginative premise, engaging characters, Parisian local color, and an intelligent, nuanced look at family relationships and moral issues. But a few scenes -- particularly one involving convoluted antique machinery that extracts the life force from a child -- are creepy enough to induce nightmares in more sensitive young readers. Also, a good deal of historical, philosophical, and magical information relevant to the plot can become overwhelming.
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What's the Story?
Thirteen-year-old Maya and her little brother, James, are reluctantly uprooted and moved to Paris -- where their mother, who's just beaten cancer, has always wanted to live, and their father has just found a dream job. Once there, Maya begins to suspect there's something more sinister going on than the homesickness and culture clash she feels, as she runs across spooky buildings, mysterious strangers, long-lost relatives, and unexplained events. With the help of her classmate Valko, she soon plunges into a life-changing adventure, and discovers a troubled family history dating back to the French Revolution.
Is It Any Good?
THE CABINET OF EARTHS gets top marks for skillfully navigating complex emotional territory. It explores the feelings of a girl who has been dealing with her beloved mother's cancer for several years, recognizes that she has no choice but to be a "good sport" and move to Paris because that's what her mom, now healthy, wants, and is still utterly miserable because she misses her dog so much. It also scores for an ingenious, thought-provoking premise and a plot with quite a few surprises. Its weakness lies in the fact that it has to convey a significant amount of newly invented cosmology, as well as historical and scientific information, for the plot to make sense. It all comes together by the end, but it may be confusing for some readers along the way.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about how even in the world of magic, everything has a cost, although the person who gets the benefit may not be the one who pays the price. Just because you can do something or have something, should you?
Families can also talk about what it feels like to be the kid when one of the parents is going through cancer treatments, as Maya was for several years.
If you had the chance to go live in Paris, all expenses paid, for a year, would you go, or would you rather stay at home with your friends? Why?
Book Details
- Author: Anne Nesbet
- Genre: Fantasy
- Topics: Adventures
- Book type: Non-Fiction
- Publisher: HarperCollins Children's Books
- Publication date: January 3, 2012
- Number of pages: 272
- Last updated: June 25, 2015
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