Stonebird

Gr 5–7—In this blend of solemn reality and gothic fantasy, set in present-day England, 11-year-old Liam has reluctantly moved with his mother and older sister to his grandmother's old home in Swanbury. Finding the diary of Margaret Williams, age 13, Liam realizes it belonged to his grandmother, now living in a retirement home and suffering from dementia ("a demon in her"), and that the drawing on the cover is that of a creature he has seen flying by his window late at night. When he explores an old church nearby, he recognizes the creature as the stone gargoyle in a crypt inside, with the head of an eagle, the body of a lion, and a strange warmth near its heart. Missing his absent father, bullied at school, upset by his grandmother's dementia, and worried about his mother's drinking and his sister's rebellious behavior, Liam is encouraged by a kindly teacher whose story circle gives him an outlet for his imagination and a chance to have some status among his classmates. Reading further into his grandmother's diary, he comes to believe that the gargoyle is the same one who guided her home from Paris, where she was sent during the war, and that its power can help him solve the mystery of her past and some of the problems swirling around him. The author has attempted to pack in a lot here, with mixed results, but the story is fast-paced and exciting, the writing style crisp, and the conclusion satisfying.