The Green Man

April 2, 2012
Bedard’s lyrical ghost story with a literary leitmotif features an adult character first introduced as a child in A Darker Magic (1987). A mildly famous poet, oddball Emily owns a languishing bookstore, the Green Man. When Emily’s niece, 15-year-old O (don’t call her Ophelia), comes to spend the summer with Aunt Emily, O, herself a fledgling poet, realizes that her aunt is haunted by the memory of a monstrous, Svengali-like stage magician whose magic seems dangerously real and who has left a trail of death behind him. Most of the apparitions in the bookstore, however, are innocuous, poetic types like “Mallarmé sat hunched on the stairs, his plaid shawl draped over his shoulders, his pen poised over a scrap of closely written manuscript on his knees,” or the elusive Emily Dickinson. Complicating matters for O is a mysterious and seductive young man who calls himself Rimbaud, but who may not be human. Though Bedard’s somewhat old-fashioned story has a loosely knit plot, it is propelled by two well-realized viewpoint characters and offers an atmospheric tribute to the power of poetry. Ages 10–14.

February 15, 2012
Fifteen-year-old Ophelia, known as O, encounters the unexpected when she spends a transformative summer with her aunt, a poet and the proprietor of a secondhand bookshop called the Green Man, "where extraordinary things [happen]." After receiving a summer grant to study in Italy, O's father sends her to stay with his older sister Emily, "one of the finest poets of her generation." Though "always a poet, always a little odd," Emily's recent heart attack has left her even more "off-center." Emily's eccentricity concerns O, who has recently starting writing poetry. Arriving at the Green Man, O finds Emily frail and distracted. Suffering from debilitating angina and disturbing childhood dreams of an evil magician, Emily has clearly neglected everything. As O tries to restore order to Emily's disintegrating life and business, she falls under the Green Man's spell and is drawn irrevocably into the dark mystery threatening her aunt. United by poetry, O and Emily bond, and, by summer's end, O "joins the ranks of those crazy people who call themselves poets." This atmospheric exploration of what it means to be a poet offers memorable corporal and incorporeal characters, a realistic intergenerational relationship and a deeply rooted mystery connecting past and present. Ideal for those with a penchant for magic, mystery and poetry. (Fantasy. 10-14)

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April 1, 2012

Gr 9 Up-"Poets must believe in the possibility of the impossible." So says one of the characters in this quiet mystery, and the two main characters do indeed believe. Fifteen-year-old Ophelia, whose father is off on a business trip, is spending the summer with her elderly Aunt Emily, who has had heart trouble. The arrangement allows them to keep an eye on one another while minding Emily's tattered used bookstore. Although wary at first, Emily and O come to find that they are very compatible. They are both poets, both open to mysteries and to the deeper emotions in life. Ghosts haunt the store; Emily accepts them. As O comes to know and believe in Emily's ghosts, readers do as well. It all makes perfect sense that Ezra Pound would be lounging on the couch, petting the cat, and Mallarme would be sitting on the staircase with his notebook. There is a mysterious magician, prophetic dreams, and a handsome stranger who may be more, and less, than he seems. Bedard writes with grace and wit, but also with deceptive ease-there's a lot going on, but it is all very clear. Poetry and the history of certain poets are casually integrated into the tale in a seamless manner. It is a mystery and a ghost story and a book about beauty, art, creativity, and taking chances. Patience may be needed, but is well rewarded.-Geri Diorio, Ridgefield Library, CT

Copyright 2012 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2012
Grades 7-12 Mystery, fantasy, romance, horror, and poetry come together in this classic outsider story with sometimes shocking twists and turns that reveal heartfelt connections. Ophelia (called O), 15, writes poetry, but she keeps it secret, even when she spends the summer helping out her eccentric poet aunt, Emily, who runs a struggling secondhand bookstore where the local poets gather. What is Emily keeping secret? When O sees a boy on the wall outside, why does he look eerily familiar? And who is the gorgeous young guy who browses the poetry shelves and uses them as a library? Emily is haunted by the memory of an evil magician whose stage trick turned out to be a real execution. Is the killer due to return? The plot lurches at times, with revelations that feel patched on. But the action is fast, and the simple prose is pitch-perfect as tension builds to reveal that O dreamt the unimaginable and woke to find it real. (Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)

May 1, 2012
While Father is finishing his book on Ezra Pound, "O" (Ophelia) spends the summer in small-town Ontario, helping her aunt Emily at The Green Man, a struggling second-hand bookshop. Though both are poets, at first O and Emily don't make an easy couple: O is obsessively tidy; "Emily's a bit eccentricthe world wobbles a little as it spins around her." From their two points of view, Bedard explores the idea that poets are necessarily somewhat "crazy," resulting in costs as well as rewards such as imaginative forays into the supernatural. Since childhood, Emily has been troubled by vivid dreams of a menacing magic show; now, O glimpses great poets of the past roaming the shop and wonders about the elusive boy she calls "Rimbaud," another teenage poetry lover who, between mysterious disappearances, helps her refurbish the Green Man sign over the door. Is Rimbaud one of the phantom poets or the evil magician Mephisto, due to return in August? Or is he the Green Man himself? A chance for Emily to acquire a fabulous collection of rare books leads to thrilling and revelatory events that, in the end, settle gently back into reality with an arts council grant to sponsor ongoing poets' gatherings at the store. Though young readers probably won't be aware of Rimbaud's belief that one must be mad to be a poet, this imaginative, gracefully written explication of it makes an entertaining tale. It also explores a thoughtful variety of possible characteristics amongst creative minds. joanna rudge long

(Copyright 2012 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

July 1, 2012
"O" (Ophelia) spends the summer in small-town Ontario, helping her aunt Emily at The Green Man, a struggling second-hand bookshop. Since childhood, Emily has been troubled by dreams of a menacing magic show; now, O glimpses great poets of the past roaming the shop. This imaginative, gracefully written explication of Rimbaud's belief that one must be mad to be a poet makes an entertaining tale.

(Copyright 2012 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)