Marvelous Middle Grade Monday: No Passengers Beyond This Point

Title: No Passengers Beyond This Point
Author: Gennifer Choldenko (Dial Books, 2011)
From Goodreads:

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Three siblings - India, Finn, and Mouse - have less than forty-eight hours to pack up all their belongings and fly, without Mom, to their uncle Red's in Colorado, after they lose their house to foreclosure. But when they land, a mysterious driver meets them at the airport, and he's never heard of Uncle Red. Like Dorothy in Oz, they find themselves in a place they've never ...moreThree siblings - India, Finn, and Mouse - have less than forty-eight hours to pack up all their belongings and fly, without Mom, to their uncle Red's in Colorado, after they lose their house to foreclosure. But when they land, a mysterious driver meets them at the airport, and he's never heard of Uncle Red. Like Dorothy in Oz, they find themselves in a place they've never heard of, with no idea of how to get home, and time is running out.


Opening Line: You have to wait for good things to happen--wait and wait and work so hard--but bad things occur out of the blue, like fire alarms triggered in the dead of night, blaring randomly, a shock of sound, a chatter of current from which there is no turning back."


My Review: Confession time. I haven't read Gennifer Choldenko's Al Capone books (although I have been to Alcatraz. Does that redeem me?) I know, I know: just what kind of Middle Grade Mafioso am I, really? But this cover looked alluringly shiny, so I snapped it up.


The first thing you have to know: Choldenko is a great writer. The opening line, quoted above, is lyrical--then we dive into a narrative which features not one, not two, but three first person narrators. There's 14-year-old India, who's got the sort of snotty attitude one might expect from a kid that age (I know of which I speak!) Her brother, 12-year-old Finn, is a thinker--and a little bit invisible to those around him. Little sister Mouse, all of six, is a bit of a savant, big on the solar system, and with an imaginary friend called Bing... but is he really imaginary? (Cue eerie music here).


Choldenko nails each of these voices and, in alternating chapters, reveals layer upon layer of mystery as the children deal with a strange alternate universe which moves from utopia to dystopia at a cracking pace. The clock really is ticking...


I found I couldn't put this book down. 5th graders on would love this, and there would be plenty to talk about, especially how the adventure changes the children in subtle and not-so-subtle ways. And the ending turns everything on its head.


If you're a reader, I bet you'll be carried away by the narrative's sheer drive. If you're a writer, I urge you to study this as a classic example of how multiple 1st POV works.


HAPPY READING!!

Other Marvelous Middle Grade Monday News:

Natalie Aguirre interviews Nathan Bransford HERE
Barbara Watson reviews Eileen Beha's Tango HERE
Joanne Fritz highlights The Chronicles of Ancient Darkness--with a giveaway! HERE 
Brooke Favero features the Goddess Girls series, with an interview with the authors. Click HERE
Shannon O' Donnell features The Guardians of the Hidden Scepter, HERE