Her older brother, Ray, can be bossy, but he finds little ways to support her, especially when she is down-as does the whole family. But Ryan gets to stay at Vernon Elementary, and her mom still finds a way to get her the ingredients she needs to practice new recipes. So when changes occur or disaster strikes, budding chef Ryan does her best to find the positive and “make sunshine.” When her dad is laid off from the post office, the family must make adjustments that include moving into a smaller house, selling their car, and changing how they shop for groceries. Her mom named her Ryan because it means “king,” and she wanted Ryan to feel powerful every time she heard her name Ryan knows it means she is a leader.

Ryan Hart is navigating the fourth grade and all its challenges with determination. The passive, omniscient narration seems designed to throw the affected language into jarring relief. The two Vincents in particular seem to react rather than act. Fantastic elements appear without warning or logic, and none of the characters ascend beyond stereotypes. It seems the real world and the book world are meant to gradually intersect, but the “real” world, with its bleak, Aiken-esque orphanage and marauding dragons, is too unreal for contrast. 2 becomes trapped by a giant, escapes on a magical horse and eventually defeats an evil dwarf and then the witch herself-and finds a magical world quite a bit like heaven, too. 1 runs away to attend the funeral but is foiled by a snowstorm and a gang of murderers Vincent No. From there, chapters alternate between the two stories. The book recounts the strange adventures of another boy named Vincent, cursed by a witch. When the news of his grandfather’s death comes, the orphanage director refuses to let him attend the funeral but does hand him a mysterious book that his grandfather left him. Twelve-year-old Vincent, “he of the fair skin and the sad eyes, the disheveled hair and the honest smile,” has spent the last two years in an orphanage, ever since the total destruction of his home by a dragon. An overwrought fairy tale within a fairy tale.

The Dyerville Tales by M.P. Kozlowsky