Jack & Madi and A Peculiar Turn of Events: Story Evokes L Frank Baum with Clever Dialogue and Evocative Prose

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I have a confession to make. I am 44 and I still love kid lit. Jill M. Hohnstein’s, Jack & Madi and A Peculiar Turn of Events, is the reason that I will never give up reading novels intended for younger audiences. Stories such as Jack & Madi reach far beyond a mere intention to entertain. They reconnect us with long ignored archetypes and the neglected landscapes deep within our psyches that we often deny and neglect.

Jack and Madi are ordinary kids that “lived ordinary lives, with ordinary parents, in an ordinary town, in Oregon” until the day their father accepts a promotion and moves them cross country to a boring, one horse town in Nebraska, where attending church is the highlight of the week’s social calendar – much to Jack’s dismay. But, things change pretty dramatically. First Jack experiences a weird feeling that earns him a trip to the aging and walleyed Dr. “Booger” and then, quite by accident, he learns he can fly.

His twin sister Madi just up and disappears. Actually it turns out that she travels back in time, way back. Together with her brother, the twins seek the help of the Minotaur in an odyssey reminiscent of L. Frank Baum, spiced with a little smart alecky, smarty pants sarcasm that the youthful reader of today will appreciate, in order to find their way back home. The narrative is peopled with wonderfully odd characters including, Medusa, who just happens to be misunderstood, that will stay with you long after you finish the last page.

Hohnstein’s prose is clean and evocative. She wonderfully resists the urge to overwrite, a common problem among many first time fantasy writers, letting the world of Jack and Madi stand on its own. The author’s ear for dialogue is excellent and her characters speak believably. This book has earned an honored place on my shelf among other great works, A Wrinkle in Time, The Phantom Tollbooth and The Golden Compass. If you know young children who love to read or you still have a young heart, Jack & Madi and A Peculiar Turn of Events comes highly recommended

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