The fire chronicle

This second installment in the fabulous Books of Beginning fantasy series finds our heroes Kate, Michael, and Emma (I can't get over how non-kid-lit those names are...nothing against those names, they're just not what I've come to expect from the genre that gave us Hermione, Klaus, Turtle, Percy, etc.) back in the Edgar Allan Poe Home for Hopeless and Incorrigible Orphans. Fear not, though, reader, the children don't have to spend too much time in that dreadful place, for they are soon whisked away across space and time to locate the second Book of Beginning and eventually (I assume) save the world from Certain Doom.

I quite enjoyed this book. I liked Kate's plot best this time, though I did absolutely love spending time with Michael and his constant internal battles. What a delightful middle child he is. I had trouble imagining Emma as a real girl this time...I can't imagine any kids I know acting like she does. I did laugh out loud during the elf hypnosis scene. "Lovely, lovely, lovely, lovely."

I heartily recommend this series to adults who read children's literature and fantasy. Major spoiler, but a question for teachers: I have a hard time recommending this to kids below middle school because of Kate's death-by-gunshot wound. If she had died by magic, it would be ok, but I just think with all the violence the kids hear about every day, I don't want to give this to them lightly. I felt blindsided by the gun. I might still recommend it, depending on the child and the family. Any thoughts on that?