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Splendors and Glooms written by Laura Amy Schiltz, was published on August 28, 2012 and received the John Newbery Award in 2013.

Splendors and Glooms
by: Laura Amy Schlitz

Published: August 28, 2012

Awards: John Newbery Medal

Book for youth, age 9-12.

Middle-grade Novel.

Author
Laura Amy Schlitz has spent most of her life as a librarian and professional storyteller. She is currently a librarian at the Park School in Baltimore, where she has worked since 1991. She is a winner of the 2008 John Newbery award for her book “Good Masters, Sweet Ladies!” Ms. Schlitz lives in the Loch Hill section of Baltimore County. She is single with no children.

Plot
The year is 1860, and a young Clara Wintermute is looking forward to her twelfth birthday party, in which a puppeteer is coming to create a magical puppet show for Clara and her friends. While the puppet show will be enchanting, Clara is more excited to see the two children who help with the puppet show. They are unlike anyone Clara has ever met, and she actually feels like they genuinely like her, unlike her other friends. For Clara is a very lonely little girl, and it feels as if the ghosts of her deceased siblings are everywhere she goes. After the puppet show, Clara Wintermute goes missing. Parsefall and Lizzie Rose, the two orphans who worked as puppeteers, might be the only ones who can save Clara. Tied to Clara’s fate are two dangerous magicians, caught in an age-old battle for power. Amidst the grey world of Victorian London, three children will have to confront magic and ancient curses.

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13531021-splendors-and-glooms

Critical reception
Critics have referred to this book as "intriguing and imaginitive tale".

https://mail.lagcc.cuny.edu/viplogin/default.aspx?redirect=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=86875067&site=ehost-live

Award
John Newbery Medal