Saturday, January 13, 2024

Shinji Takahashi: Into the Heart of the Storm by Julie Kagawa - ESSENTIAL

Shinji Takahashi: Into the Heart of the Storm (Society of Explorers and Adventurers #2) by Julie Kagawa
, 324 pages. Disney/Hyperion, 2023. $17 

Language: G (0 swears 0 'f'); Mature Content: G; Violence: PG (peril, dangerous situations) 

BUYING ADVISORY: EL, MS - ESSENTIAL

AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE 

13yo Shinji and Lucy are invited to accompany a group from SEA who are headed to a recently discovered shipwreck. Shinji is still trying to learn how to control his recently acquired Guardian powers, and the longish ship voyage seems the perfect place for him to work with Phoebe, a member of the society who has some powers herself. But when Hightower interferes with the mission, and the group - which has acquired a stowaway, a thief named Roux - finds themselves on an uninhabited island, Shinji and the kids get caught in an active volcano and Shinji releases an angry guardian, a giant Boar Spirit who is looking for revenge. 

This is an exciting series - I love the magical elements and the "Indiana Jones" style explorations with secret pathways and collapsing rooms that chase the kids into more danger. They have intelligent, caring adults with them (although the kids often slip their supervision and get into trouble.) Shinji is Japanese American. 

Lisa Librarian

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