From the Bookshelf of Mock Newbery 2026…

The Real Boy

Anne Ursu,

Erin Mcguire (Illustrations)

Start date: October 1, 2013

Finish date: October 31, 2013

Discussion: Book of the Month - 2014

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Book of the Month - 2014

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What Members Thought

Jun 14, 2013 Dest rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: middle-grade, tween, fantasy, autism

I have many, many thoughts about this book and they are all jumbled in my head. That's what this book will do to you. You will feel glad that you read it, but also very jumbled by the end. So I'll try to straighten my thoughts out:

First, there's the nature of the main character, Oscar. Adult readers will see him as a boy with autism, but many children will not make that connection because readers only know Oscar's perspective, and he's never heard of autism. Certainly many of Oscar's characteri I have many, many thoughts about this book and they are all jumbled in my head. That's what this book will do to you. You will feel glad that you read it, but also very jumbled by the end. So I'll try to straighten my thoughts out:

First, there's the nature of the main character, Oscar. Adult readers will see him as a boy with autism, but many children will not make that connection because readers only know Oscar's perspective, and he's never heard of autism. Certainly many of Oscar's characteristics are exactly what we've come to associate with autism (not looking at people's faces, difficultly reading emotion, one savant-like ability, discomfort with loud noises, love of routine), but this book is fantasy and it takes place in a made-up world, so maybe there's no point in trying to diagnose Oscar in terms of our real world. I can only talk about where this leads with spoilers: (view spoiler)

Next, though this is squarely in the fantasy genre, there's not a lot of action or exciting magic in it (partway through this book, I suspected that the twist would be there wasn't actually any real magic at all in Asteri because there's so little of it on the page). The tone is by turns quiet, sad, scary, and suspenseful. I can't help but compare this to Jinx, which is another great addition to the fantasy genre that came out this year. Jinx followed a more familiar path than The Real Boy. It had a more fleshed-out cast of characters overall (think of how much better you know Simon than Caleb). It had a clearer journey and more funny, whimsical bits (there are only brief whiffs of humor in Oscar's life). I think Jinx is the more enjoyable book, but The Real Boy is more out-of-the-box and has more gravitas, which may be why it was long-listed for the NBA and Jinx was not (though that doesn't explain how A Tangle of Knots made the list).

I'm a little stumped about how this would do as a mock Newbery pick. I read for great characters and great language, so I liked The Real Boy, but I think there's something deeply unsettling about it, which keeps me from loving it. I think it's only a cryptic spoiler to say that the end suggests the death of magic. Bummer. Still, you have to respect this book. It's a thinker.

I've read a lot of criticism about how the magic in this book isn't easy to pin down. It doesn't have clear rules. But it’s okay with me that magic can’t really be pinned down. The point is that magic was once useful and good in the hands of wizards, but after the wizards were gone the culture changed and people became addicted to it, and now it’s become a scourge. Can’t you say the same thing about our real-world use of natural resources? Oil was at one time an amazingly useful and great thing, but now it threatens our existence on this planet. The environmental degradation of Aletheia being caused by greed for magic is similar to our real environmental woes caused by greed for energy to fuel the machines on which we are now dependent. ...more

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Jun 13, 2013 Kristine rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: e-book, kids-lit, i-own, mock-newbery, childrens-chapter, fantasy-scifi

Interesting...... 3.5 stars.

This was an excellent book. I find a small part of me hesitating, though. As the book began I was entranced, Ms. Ursu certainly knows how to spin a tale and pull you right in. I loved the setting, tone, dynamics, and characters. I mean, how in the world is she able to attach us so fiercely to an autistic boy who hasn't attached to any other living beings but cats? She pulls it off. I love, love, love her ability to tell a story through a narrator on the spectrum witho ...more

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Aug 15, 2013 Tamsyn rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fms, children-s-fantasy

I loved this story of Oscar, a very unusual boy, who pulls you in from the start. Filled with interesting surprises, details, observations as well as beautiful language, Anne Ursu has created another captivating story. What will she think of next?

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Sep 28, 2013 Robynn rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I really enjoyed this story of a small boy who works for a magician on an island protected by ancient magic. This boy and his friend, who is an apprentice healer, discover what is happening to the island's magic, and make a plan to save their homeland. I found this children's novel a page-turner. ...more

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Jun 17, 2013 Erin rated it really liked it

Shelves: junior-fiction

Practically perfect. Wizards and magic and children made of magic wood. There are loose ends, but Oscar is a solid protagonist and Callie is a perfect companion. Challenging vocabulary but compelling story.

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Nov 26, 2013 Edith rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: mg-novels, favorites

There is no review that could do justice to how much I love this book. I adore Anne Ursu. I love how she makes the real world feel more true through a fantasy world.

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