The Bookshop of Dust and Dreams by Mindy Thompson, 336 pages. Viking (Penguin), 2021. $17.
Language: G (0 swears, 0‘f’); Mature Content: G; Violence: G (fantasy danger)

BUYING ADVISORY: EL, MS - ADVISABLE

AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE

Poppy loves her family’s bookshop Rhyme and Reason. She knows how important it is for them to keep to their mission – welcome readers from all over the world and all throughout time, but never use the magic for themselves. They are centered in 1944 Ney York. But something is wrong with the bookshop – the magic isn’t working correctly, and something evil seems to be seeping in. Her older brother, Al, has been distraught since his best friend was killed in the current war, but would Al really endanger all that they have to find a way to use time for himself? Poppy will to be brave, to find allies, and step forward into danger in order to save all that she loves.

If you have a group of students who love fantasy books centered on bookshops, like Pages and Co, they will enjoy Poppy’s bravery and sheer gumption. It does get a bit dark – especially when more secrets are uncovered, but we all love a bit or direness and anger, right?

Cindy, Library Teacher, MLS

This is a unique story and I don't think I've ever read anything quite like this before. I think I've read similar stories but something about this one and the way it's written is so different than anything I've heard or read before. This is both an enchanting, heartwarming tale and a heartwrenching emotional rollercoaster much like life can be sometimes when things happen.
It's about a girl, Poppy, and her family that own a magical bookstore called Rhyme and Reason. This occurs in the time frame of WWII in 1944 and so their world is gray and hard with the war going on, but the shop helps make things better with customers from the past and future stopping by bringing their fun and different stories and such. Poppy wants to be the next shopkeeper after her father because of the connection and love she has for the shop plus she's good at it, but her older brother, Al, is next in line to be the next shopkeeper. She knows all of the rules and especially the important ones like the one that shopkeepers are not to use the magic for themselves. One day they receive news about her brother's friend, Carl, who left to serve in the war that he's died and Al doesn't know how to handle the grief and feels like something's not right about it all. So Al decides he wants to use the magic from the bookshop to try to go back in time to save Carl and Poppy is the one left trying to stop him since her father is sick in the hospital.
Poppy is torn between love for her brother and knowing that they shouldn't break the rules and has to make some hard decisions about what to do. She has to learn to find herself, love herself, and have courage through it all. All the customers from the bookshop band together to help her and she learns about the strength and courage and love of family and friends too. It's definitely a rollercoaster ride especially toward the end of the story and worth the read. One of the things said in the story that I love is that "everyone has magic inside of them". This story is chock full of good quotes and sayings and teaching moments. It's an intense book dealing with somewhat weightier topics such as grief that's very well done.
I would definitely recommend putting this on your list, going to get it and read it right now. You don't want to miss this magical tale about this amazing bookshop, family, and Poppy, who finds herself and her strength and learns to be even braver than she already was.
Thanks so much to NetGalley and Penguin Group Penguin Young Readers Group for letting me read and review this magical read. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Magical bookshops, time travel, a fight between the Light and the Dark - what’s not to love in this wonderful new middle grade novel? The Bookshop of Dust and Dreams follows Poppy Fulbright and her family. They are owners of the magical bookshop, Rhyme and Reason. When one of her brother’s best friends dies in World War II, strange things begin to happen at the bookshop: customers quarreling, magic draining from the bookshop, and worst of all, her brother Al acting very unlike himself. When their dad becomes ill, Poppy has to make some hard decisions that could mean the end of her beloved bookshop. Poppy learns that sometimes the only magic you need is inside you and in your loved ones. This was a fun, well told story with just the right amount of magic and heart.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy.