The Book of Story Beginnings

Kladstrup, Kristin. The Book of Story Beginnings. 2006. 360p. ISBN 978-978-0-329-65754-3. Available as an eBook from Overdrive.

Lucy Martin and her family are moving from New York City to a rustic farmhouse in Iowa. Owned by her father’s great aunt before her death, the house is in the middle of nowhere with a view of the interstate in the distance. Lucy’s father has lost his job, while her mother works hard as an home-based editor, so moving means not paying rent and a chance for new beginnings. For Lucy, however, it means leaving her friends and the only life she’s known behind. Plus, the house is the scene of Oscar’s disappearance.

Back in 1914, Oscar, Lucy’s great-great uncle disappeared. His sister, who owned the house before she died, swore to her dying breath that she saw Oscar row out to sea in a boat. But how can this be? Iowa is nowhere near an ocean. She spent the rest of her life focused on magic, trying to bring Oscar back. Lucy is intrigued by this mystery, until she discovers that their new housecat Walter is actually Oscar, who has just returned from an island ruled by a Queen who loves birds and a King who loves cats. Oscar discovered the Book of Story Beginnings, where the start of stories can be composed. If the book likes the story, it happens. If it doesn’t, then the story erase itself.

In the process of playing with alchemy, her father transforms himself into a raven which escapes through the window, and a drop from the magical potion hits the cat and transforms it back into Oscar. Now both Lucy and Oscar must work together to find an appropriate story beginning to help them find her father while at the same time resolving all of the other issues Oscar’s careless story beginnings have started.

This is a great story for middle school students and readers who enjoy magic and fairy tales. The characters are realistic and the action is constant. The land of Cat-n-Berd is intriguing and will fascinate. Based on the concept of what happens to characters in your favorite book when the story end, this story itself will enchant and lead the reader to wonder, what are my favorite characters up to today?