I’m 50 years beyond YA, but I care deeply about children’s literature. I loved PLAIN KATE. Five stars.

And it’s not just me. I hear that Kate is being snapped up by international publishers.

And there is Arthur A. Levine, editor extraodinare, who obviously loves Plain Kate, and also multi-award winning author Meg Rosoff.

Here’s what Levine had to say about Erin Bow and Plain Kate at Book Expo America in NY May 2010. (I was there.)

“Arthur Levine of Scholastic set the bar fairly high when he began his remarks about Plain Kate by Erin Bow by saying that because he had a hand in bringing Brian Jacques, (Redwall series) Philip Pullman (Golden Compass) and J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter) to U.S. audiences, “I’ve been sent a lot of fantasy, some of it quite good. But it’s very rare for a book to stand out for me the way Plain Kate did.” The story of a girl who loses her father and is imperiled by suspicions that she is a witch, Levine said Bow’s prose has the “lyrical strength and classic proportions” of master writers. “She is a truly original talent,” Levine said, evidenced by a “breathless e-mail” he got from an associate at the most recent London Book Fair who said Printz Award winner Meg Rosoff had read Plain Kate and couldn’t stop raving about it. Rosoff’s blurb – “anything but plain, full of poetry, magic, sorrow and joy” – will be on the cover”. BEA 2010

Lots of us not so distinguished critics have also read and loved Plain Kate. Who else but a poet would write: “It was just an uneasy little change, like the half-felt movement of a boat that slowly induces a great sickness.”

Plain Kate has an exciting plot, indelible characters and elegant prose. This book is worth reading for the pure pleasure of the language. Really, it has much in common with Ms. Bow’s award winning book of poetry, “Ghost Maps” which tells the life story of a WWII vet with simple beauty, extraordinary grace and feeling.

My 13 year old nephew loved it and has already given it as a gift to a 13 year old girl. A 67 year old male friend found the ending hard to read because he didn’t want it to end, and because it’s very scary, sad and beautiful-all the while a very gratifying book.

YA blogs and reviewers are raving about Plain Kate! And for good reason!

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