Jane Doe and the Cradle of All Worlds by Jeremy Lachlan - OPTIONAL

Jane Doe and the Cradle of All Worlds by Jeremy Lachlan, 351 pages.  Carolrhoda (Lerner, 2019.  $18.

Language: R (50+ swears, 0 ‘f’); Mature Content: G; Violence: PG-13 (deaths)

BUYING ADVISORY: MS - OPTIONAL

AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE

All her life Jane Doe (as she is called by the townfolk) and her almost comatose father have been called cursed.  Each year the town even burns effigies of them in order to maybe some day appease whoever cursed them. Since the night Jane and her appeared in Bluehaven their main source of wealth and adventure, The Manor, has been closed to them.  Then one night, during a terrible earthquake, Mr. Doe seems to wake up and stagers up The Manor’s steps and disappears through the doorway.  Jane must find a way to follow him, and a way to survive in a world far past her understanding. 

I was so ticked off by having to count the swears in a book that is so obviously intended for middle grade! Jane’s journey is just starting and it is filled with both heroic characters, evil adversaries, imminent death at every turn, and the heartache of betrayal that this could have been a standout favorite for the year. It looks like the liberal application of swearing for the sake of swearing is trickling down in to #mglit now. I considered rating it NOT RECOMMENDED just to discourage this slippery slope.

Cindy, Middle School Librarian, MLS