Puck describes the Land of Fiction as “a patchwork of stories,” and that’s how Rosemary and Peter experience it. With each new story they enter, their clothes and surroundings change, and they encounter new characters and a new test. Rosemary is smart and resourceful, and Peter makes a likable and loyal sidekick. As they themselves become characters in a series of stories, they face increasing danger and learn important life lessons.

Author Bow clearly had a lot of fun creating this world. The Unwritten Girl is the kind of book that richly rewards imaginative involvement. Middle-school-aged readers will enjoy Bow’s silly puns and sometimes mind-bending ideas, although they’re likely to miss literary allusions to writers such as Shakespeare, Agatha Christie, and Arthur Conan Doyle.

Read the full review here.

…the book is an interesting read and would appeal to students who are interested in history and learning more about historical Canada, or conversely, students who enjoy fantasy and the idea of time travel.

Resource Links Canada Web Site

…As time stretches on and Peter and Rosemary see no way home, they start to worry their futures are lost forever. All of the doubt and mystery comes to a head in a dramatic and gripping conclusion that will have fans grasping for a fourth instalment.

…plenty of action and suspense, matched nicely with some good character development for Rosemary and Peter and also with a fascinating picture of a historical period and location that many readers might not be familiar with. Toronto in 1884 is a very different place in some ways from London or San Francisco in the same time period, and James reflects this well in his story, which has the atmosphere of careful historical research but doesn’t get bogged down in tedious details. There’s a B-plot about the struggles of the first women doctors in Canada that adds a nice extra layer to the book as well.

Read the full review here

Have you ever wandered what happens to all the books that you abandon? I know that there are plenty of books through the run of a year that I either don’t finish because I am not interested in them or because I get distracted by another book and forget to return to them. James Bow takes this idea and has apparently has created a trilogy based around it. So, what would happen if the books paused when you paused and never reached the conclusion? One interpretation of that idea is found in the pages of this book. Since I really enjoy books about books, I knew that I had to see what this trilogy was all about.

Read the full review here.

This was a quick, enjoyable read that I’d recommend to young readers. (It’s marketed as YA, but I got more of a middle grade feel from it). If your kid isn’t old enough for Jasper Fforde but would enjoy the literary setting, this could be the book for them. (I’ll be passing my copy along to my little cousins, who seem to have gone book-mad when I wasn’t looking). And to top it all off, it’s likely to scare the younger set into finishing every book they start.

Read the full review here.

On the surface, it’s a quick, fun story, but readers who want a little more will appreciate the deeper themes of loneliness and romantic confusion. I’d certainly recommend it to kids, and I think it’s got more crossover appeal for adults as well. Like THE UNWRITTEN GIRL, it’s marketed as YA, but I’d say it straddles the line between YA and middle grade in terms of tone and feel. I’m excited to share it with my little cousins.

Read the full review here.

While I found the first two books more middle grade in feel, I’d say THE YOUNG CITY is definitely a YA novel. It deals with a few more mature themes, including whether or not the main characters are ready for sex, and some parents may find it inappropriate for the under twelve crowd. That’s not to say that it’s a shocking, graphic book; the sexual elements are handled very well, with suggestion rather that description. There’s tension between the two of them, but there’s also frank discussion and evaluation. And it’s far from the only thing going on here. Their emotional relationship continues to develop in response to their new situation. There are some very nice scenes here.

And the ending? This’s a good ending, people. It’s both tantalizing and conclusive. I loved it.

Read the full review here

The Young City is … an adventure tale with action, intrigue and a dramatic, page-turner conclusion.

Read the full review here.

Fathom Five is a deep and intriguing book that captures your attention from the first sentence. It is full of suspense, thrills, and hidden truths. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys suspense and mystery books. Fathom Five teachers the reader a lesson about what is important in life, and how vital it is to cherish and love those around you… …Written by James Bow, an extraordinary author, Fathom Five is a memorable book that I truly enjoyed.

Reviewed by Samantha Boynton, 13, in What If Magazine’s Fall 2008 issue.

The image above is South Glen Road Bridge, by F.W. Micklethwaite, and it’s in the public domain courtesy of this website.

On Thursday, I went out to Eden Mills to attend a media event held in one of the organizer’s back yard. About a dozen of us turned up, including reporters for the Guelph Mercury. I gave a brief reading from my novel, Fathom Five and the reporters moved about, interviewing everyone. You can read the Guelph Mercury’s take on the event here.

I also saw the line-up for the Eden Mills Writers Festival on Sunday, September 7. Barring changes, I’ll be reading a section of Fathom Five in “The Common” at 3:30 p.m. with three other young adult and children’s writers, including (gulp) Dennis Lee.

No pressure, huh?

Anyway, it’s a great honour to be invited, particularly for the 20th anniversary, and if you have a free day that Sunday, I highly recommend that you come out. If you love books, if you love reading, or hearing authors read, there is no better venue. Eden Mills is an idyllic setting that manages to shoe-horn over a thousand other book lovers along their main street strip for that day. For writers and readers, there are few better ways to bolster one’s creative juices than to be surrounded by so much literary appreciation.

I have a copy of Alligator Pie that my mother read to me that I’ll be having Dennis Lee sign. Governor General award winners Kenneth Oppel and Arthur Slade will be there to promote their latest novels, along with Jane Urquhart, Robert Sawyer, and many more. There will be books to sign and, of course, thousands of books bought and sold. I’m really looking forward to it.

In other news, I’ve been working on edits for The Young City, officially due for release on January 17, 2009. Barry Jowett has been very diligent, correcting typos and those niggly bits of punctuation that drive me up the wall, and he’s made some astute comments on plot elements that need to be made clearer. I myself am pleased to have caught a couple of continuity errors that I’d missed up to now.

I just happened to find a resource that I wish I had had back when I was writing The Young City. The folks behind the Wikipedia project have gathered together an image archive, full of royalty-free, public domain images, and Toronto is well represented. Check out these historic images of Toronto in the 1880s, the decade in which The Young City is set.

Looking at these photographs and looking at my narrative, I must say that I’m glad that I found this website now to make sure that I got the setting and atmosphere basically correct (fingers crossed). Thanks to Bill Robb for pointing this site out to me.

Anyway, I’d better get back to work. I have more edits to do, and after playing catch-up to two kids, I’m very, very sleep-deprived.

Fathom Five works well as a stand-alone, although it’s technically a sequel to Bow’s first novel, The Unwritten Girl. There were references to the earlier book, but not so much that it was necessary to have read it in order to get the story in this one. The story itself is an interesting one, drawing on everyone’s fears and uncertainties of being alone and exploring the lengths a person will go to in order to feel accepted. It also draws upon the strength of friendship and love and the power they have. It’s always nice to see the girl doing the rescuing; Rosemary has a lot of strength and drive, and isn’t willing to wait or take no for an answer, all of which get her both into and out of somewhat dangerous situations.

Read more here…

Whether you’re stocking a bookshelf in a classroom, library or at home, every title in this guide has been given the Canadian Children’s Book Centre’s stamp of approval.

It gives me great pleasure to announce that Fathom Five has been accepted among the CCBC’s Best Books for Kids & Teens, 2008, a publication formerly known as Our Choice. I’m in good company with other excellent candidates, including Tom Henighan’s Demon in My View and Deborah Ellis and Eric Walters’ Bifocal.

The Canadian Children’s Book Centre’s Our Choice publication has helped schools and libraries stock their shelves for the past several years, so this inclusion is not only an honour, but it should help sales.

I’d like to thank the jury of booksellers, librarians and authors who picked Fathom Five to be among the Class of 2008. I greatly appreciate the honour.