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Robert Jay`s Montooth and the Canfield Witch Reviewed By Lois Henderson of Bookpleasures.com
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Lois C. Henderson

Reviewer Lois C. Henderson: Lois is a freelance academic editor and back-of-book indexer, who spends most of her free time compiling word search puzzles for tourism and educative purposes. Her puzzles are available HERE and HERE Her Twitter account (@LoisCHenderson) mainly focusses on the toponymy of British place names. Please feel welcome to contact her with any feedback at LoisCourtenayHenderson@gmail.com.





 
By Lois C. Henderson
Published on January 25, 2011
 

Author: Robert Jay
Publisher: Cloverleaf Publishing
ISBN: 978-0-615-29645-6
 
The award-winning first in a series of Carty Andersson mysteries, Montooth and the Canfield Witch is both exciting, no matter your age, and educational.


 
 
Author: Robert Jay
Publisher: Cloverleaf Publishing
ISBN: 978-0-615-29645-6
 
Click Here To Purchase Montooth and the Canfield Witch

The award-winning first in a series of Carty Andersson mysteries, Montooth and the Canfield Witch is both exciting, no matter your age, and educational. Robert Jay is a first-class author who clearly researches his work well and knows how to appeal to a wide readership, so that, even though this novel is billed as being for teenagers, Jay’s audience spans the generations. While younger readers will easily be able to relate to the four friends who together embark on this adventure, those of an older generation will revel in the descriptions that Jay provides of products, including Moon Pies, Barq and Mercurochrome, that were readily available in their youth, but which, since then, have been taken off or have disappeared from the market.
 
Of overwhelming interest, apart from the riveting tale, is the intimate knowledge that Jay reveals of the animals, birds and flora that are endemic to the Florida Everglades. The straightforward narrative, which is enthralling from start to finish, is told against the background of an area in which the author is clearly very much at home. The awareness that Jay conveys of the surroundings in which he places his characters counterpoises and adds validity to the veracity of the story itself. The diversity of the four characters around which the story is built shows Jay’s appreciation of the multiplicity and richness of American society. While Carty epitomizes the adventurous and plucky spirit of the essential American gal, her three male cohorts have amazingly disparate natures. Being well-rounded characters, they are all shown to have both strong points and ones that still require working through as they progress towards maturity—Jay clearly has left some space for their growth in the course of the series. And, of course, that is one of the main criteria for a successful series—that one looks forward with anticipation to the upcoming volumes. The next book in this series is, in fact, already available, titled Montooth II: The Race for the Ryland Ruby, and has already met with some acclaim.
 
The clear ethical stance that Jay takes in his writing makes his stories all the more praiseworthy and only goes to add greater substance to the tales he tells. Montooth and the Canfield Witch has set an outstanding precedent for author Robert Jay, with it having garnered numerous awards, including the Royal Palm Literary Award for Historical Fiction, and Virginian Young Voices Awards for Juvenile / Young Adult Fiction, for Mystery / Suspense Young Adult Fiction, and for Adult Fiction. An exceptional work of undoubted merit, Jay’s books should make you long to be young once more, or else go a long way to enhancing your present appreciation of the youth that you possess.
           

Click Here To Purchase Montooth and the Canfield Witch