Wednesdays in the Tower

Wednesdays in the Tower
by Jessica Day George
Recommended Ages: 10+

Celie is the youngest of four royal children who live in Castle Glower, where new rooms appear out of nowhere most Tuesdays and old ones sometimes disappear. Lately, however, the castle has gone into overdrive, adding room after room but not taking any away. It seems to be changing its entire configuration, putting a strain on the apron wall and worrying the king and his advisors. It's personal for Celie, who is racing to complete her atlas of the castle before it goes completely out of date. Even more personal is the castle's gift to her: a giant, orange egg that's hot to the touch. Is it a dragon? A roc? No! It's a griffin – half eagle, half lion – and in its own, magical way, the castle seems to be telling Celie that it wants her to raise it without anyone else in the castle knowing, except her oldest brother Bran (who's also the royal wizard) and a journeyman blacksmith from the village, named Pogue.

The three of them are well-matched with one strong-willed, fast-growing baby griffin, which Celie names Rufus after a toy lion she used to have. But Bran and Pogue have so much more to worry about. A roomful of strange and dangerous weapons has appeared. Instead of the wizard Bran sent for, to help them study the arms, they are visited by a strange wizard named Arkwright, who seems to be up to something mysterious. Celie finds it harder to harder keeping Rufus a secret, all while the castle becomes increasingly unstable in ways that lead her to question where rooms go when they disappear, and whether somebody is there, and what's going on to make them send more and more of the castle over to Celie's world. She enlists the aid of her other brother, Rolf, to study the castle's history, and especially the almost forgotten lore about griffins connected with it.

What they find out proves to be spookier and more tragic than you'd expect, based on the whimsical tone of a story about a magic castle. Their adventure is full of fun and surprises and thrills, with a slow-simmering historical mystery, intriguing cultural details, and believable characters reacting in a believable way to unbelievable situations. More and more, an element of dread and suspense enters in. And just as all the answers are coming into focus, everything – including Arkwright's involvement – reaches a crisis that leaves Celie, Rufus, Pogue, Rolf and a couple others stranded in world beyond the mythical, where they will face who-knows-what in the book to come.

This is the second "Castle Glower" book, following Tuesdays at the Castle. The series continues in Thursdays with the Crown, Fridays with the Wizards and Saturdays at Sea. Jessica Day George's other titles include Dragon Slippers, Princess of the Midnight Ball and The Rose Legacy, each with two sequels, Silver in the Blood and Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow.