MMGM: The Enchanted Sonata, by Heather Dixon Wallwork

Now that my oldest is eleven (and a half, as she would have you know), I've reached a new Holy Grail in my book seeking: titles appropriate for an innocent middle schooler whose reading level is leagues beyond her emotional maturity level. You all know the type... Rosanne Parry coined the term "Tender Hearted Readers," which I find perfectly describes this stage. Lu desperately wants "big" books, complicated books, and clever books. She's got a vocabulary that stretches from here to Wisconsin. But excessive violence is still distasteful. Profanity seriously disturbs her, and sexuality beyond anything Louisa May Alcott might touch upon would be confusing if not uncomfortable.

You guys...this is the best age. I LOVE seeing my daughter's burgeoning maturity and intellect and logic. Her innocence wounds my heart in the best of ways. I know this stage of making three course dinners and playing with dolls and memorizing Shakespeare and throwing wild, unselfconscious dance parties with her friends and thinking about eternity is not here for much longer. So when I find a book to give her that is just right--ah. Gold.

Today's pick for Marvelous Middle Grade Monday is such a book. The Enchanted Sonata, by Heather Dixon Wallwork, is marketed as a Young Adult novel, but it's an ideal choice for a tender-hearted upper middle grade reader. (In fact, my 9-year-old is reading it now, at her sister's insistence, and I'm totally okay with that--not something you could say for most YA novels.) It tackles some deep, mature themes (the usual: love, revenge, murder, war, forgiveness...and some more subtle, like sense of self-worth in a relationship) without being heavy-handed or graphic. The dark moments are woven through with a lightness of voice and humor, satisfying the reader with the assurance that darkness never overcomes or overshadows the light in life. Its joy and its hope are so what I demand in the best of middle grade reads, which is why I find it fits right into this wonderfully broad category.

To whet your appetite a bit, here is the dust jacket description:

Clara Stahlbaum has her future perfectly planned: marry the handsome pianist, Johann Kahler (ah!), and settle down to a life full of music. But all that changes on Christmas Eve, when Clara receives a mysterious and magical nutcracker.Whisked away to his world--an enchanted empire of beautiful palaces, fickle fairies, enormous rats, and a prince--Clara must face a magician who uses music as spells...and the future she thought she wanted."The Enchanted Sonata," a retelling of The Nutcracker Ballet with a dash of The Pied Piper, will captivate readers of all ages.

As a reminder, people who are too busy chasing toddlers to take their trees down really serious about this whole Christmas season are still celebrating until February 2 (Candlemas). So this would be a lovely book to enjoy on a cold, January afternoon, curled up by the fire, accompanied by the steady plit plit of pine needles dropping off dead branches onto your floor, while you savor the fact that Christmas isn't quite over yet.

Merry Christmas, friends. I need to go sweep up some dead pine needles now. :)

You can find more MMGM reads over at Greg Pattridge's blog.

And you can buy The Enchanted Sonata, by clicking the image above or the link below: