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  • The Bookshop of Dust and Dreams

The Bookshop of Dust and Dreams

Publication Date
October 25, 2022
Genre / Grade Band
Fiction /  4th − 5th
Language
English
The Bookshop of Dust and Dreams

Only 3 copies currently available
Description

This moving story about a magical bookstore explores the way war can shape a family and is perfect for book lovers everywhere, especially fans of Pages & Co., Pax, and Wolf Hollow.

It's 1944 Sutton, NY, and Poppy's family owns and runs, Rhyme and Reason, a magical bookshop that caters to people from all different places and time periods. Though her world is ravaged by World War II, customers hail from the past and the future, infusing the shop with a delightful mix of ideas and experiences.

Poppy dreams of someday becoming shopkeeper like her father, though her older brother, Al, is technically next in line for the job. She knows all of the rules handed down from one generation of Bookseller to the next, especially their most important one: shopkeepers must never use the magic for themselves.

But then Al's best friend is killed in the war and her brother wants to use the magic of the shop to save him. With her father in the hospital suffering from a mysterious illness, the only one standing between Al and the bookstore is Poppy. Caught between her love for her brother and loyalty to her family, she knows her brother's actions could have devastating consequences that reach far beyond the bookshop as an insidious, growing Darkness looms. This decision is bigger than Poppy ever dreamed, and the fate of the bookshops hangs in the balance.

Publication date
October 25, 2022
Genre
Fiction
ISBN-13
9780593110393
Publisher
Viking Books for Young Readers
BISAC categories
JUV039030 - Juvenile Fiction | Social Themes | Death & Dying
JUV037000 - Juvenile Fiction | Fantasy & Magic
JUV013000 - Juvenile Fiction | Family | General
JUV016000 - Juvenile Fiction | Historical | General
Library of Congress categories
Time travel
Brothers and sisters
Magic
World War, 1939-1945
Historical fiction
Fantasy fiction
Inheritance and succession
Bookstores

Publishers Weekly

Set in 1944 in Sutton, N.Y., against the backdrop of WWII, this moving examination of pain and power stars bookish, white 13-year-old Poppy Fulbright, who must navigate the painful death of a friend, her brother's all-consuming grief, and their father's sudden illness while managing the family's magical, moody bookshop, which appears to individuals throughout time who need books and community. Despite the promise that she and her brothers, nine-year-old James and 18-year-old Allan, would adhere to the shop's generations-old rules--including never using its magic for their own gain--Poppy begins to suspect something is amiss when the store begins acting out of character. Worried that Allan is at fault and determined to set things right, Poppy enlists the help of Theo Devlin, a young white shopkeeper at another magical store who understands Poppy's heartache; 14-year-old Ollie Bell, the energetic, light brown-skinned courier who delivers to the shop; and regulars at the shop whom Poppy has come to consider family. Just as the sentient, time-traveling bookstore functions as a comforting haven, Thompson's poignant debut offers an opportunity for readers to gently explore the ways in which people respond to and accept loss. Ages 8-12. Agent: Sarah Landis, Sterling Lord Literistic. (Oct.)

Copyright 2021 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.

School Library Journal

Gr 4-6--If you had access to forbidden magic and could use it to save a life of a close friend, would you do it? The Fulbright family has run the Rhyme and Reason Bookshop for three generations--one of a handful of bookstores that exist outside of time and maintain the world's magic. But the Dark side of magic is always looking for a way in. It has found one in Poppy's older brother Al, who is devastated by the death of his best friend on a World War II battlefield. The Dark tempts Al to use the store's magic to save his friend, which is absolutely forbidden. Poppy is similarly tempted when their father is struck by a mysterious illness, but she has a closer relationship to the bookstore, and knows she must stop Al, no matter what the cost. She is helped by old friend Ollie Bell and new friend Theo Devlin, plus the shop's many customers, who come from various times and backgrounds. Poppy is a likable and realistic character, with a strong sense of duty that adds gravity to the hard decision she must make. She and her family are white, Ollie is Black, and the rest of the cast is diverse. VERDICT A cozy fantasy with a heartbreaking twist.--Mara Alpert, Los Angeles P.L.

Copyright 2021 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
Mindy Thompson
Mindy Thompson writes fantastical stories for middle grade readers. Mindy holds a B.A. in creative writing and spent ten years working in public and middle school libraries. She began writing upper middle grade with her past students in mind and hopes to give them a place to find themselves in the books they read. Mindy lives with her sister-turned-roommate in Southern Idaho and spends too much time watching historical beauty tutorials online. She believes everyone has magic inside of themselves, they only need have the courage to seek it.