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Heigh-ho, all you reader guys out there, we have two comments from a new friend, Dan. The first is about Darth Bill's review of The Real Benedict Arnold book:

Thanks for the review. I want to look for this one and share it with my kids. Benedict Arnold is a chance to study character in the face of discouragement and frustration and injustice. He could have been a hero. In the end, he failed, not because his courage failed, but because his character failed, and embittered, he tossed is right to be a hero away. In spite of his abilities and amazing courage, he loses the character war. Character does count.

You're so right Dan. Character is life. Your character determines the type of life you'll have. Good character doesn't mean you'll be rich and famous but it will provide you with a good life on the inside, where it counts. If you're a jerk and become rich and famous, all you'll be is a rich and famous jerk. And is that what you want, really? Really?? THAT'S WHY READING GOOD STUFF IS IMPORTANT!!! Frustrating and discouraging times are bound to come and good reading can give you the equipment to deal with them.

Didn't mean to get on a soapbox, but it's true, guys. Hey, while you read the Benedict Arnold book, you ought to check out Washington at Valley Forge by Russell Freedman. (I reviewed it on the February 16 post titled "What a Book! What a Man!") It would be a good companion to the Benedict Arnold book because it shows how Washington, facing a lot of similar frustrations and discouragements, managed to overcome them. Besides, it's an awesome and exciting story!

Dan also sent us a comment about the Barnstormers/Sluggers series:

Hey Carl. Thanks to you (I think it was you, but it was on this blog that I first heard) I'm reading Barnstormers Game 1. I got the first two chapters read in the little time I had before bedtime. So what's up with the hole in the ball? And what's going to happen next? I've got other books to finish and how am I gonna finish them with a book as good as this calling out my name? Anyway, mucho thanks for the tip on this one. I know I'll have to get the rest.

I'm afraid your just going to have to drop all those other books and read these because they'll keep calling you!! They sure did for me. What's up with the hole in the ball??? Wouldn't you like to know? Well--so would I! I haven't found out yet and I've finished the 4th book--but I'm getting some good ideas. Man, these books are good!

I hope you keep writing to us, Dan. We sure enjoyed hearing from you!

Keep swinging for the back fences,

Carl

Hello, fellow reader guys, 'tis Carl. Our friend, the valiant dragonslayer 1191812, hath sent us a review of the first Erec Rex book:

Hello from Dragonslayer,

I just finished Erec Rex The Dragon's Eye written by Kaza Kingsley.The story is about a boy named Erec Rex who is adopted. Erec's adopted mother has gone missing but was in fact kidnapped by two guys wearing black. Erec meets a girl named Bethany who helps him enter into another world underground through a secret passage in a sidewalk.Erec and Bethany make their way to the castle were his mother is trapped. The castle is Upside down, literally! Erec and Bethany have to go through many trials,including trying to become King and Queen so that Erec can save his mother.

Read the book to find out if Erec has what it takes to be King.Can he save his mother?Can he house break his new weredog?Read Erec Rex The Dragon's Eye,it's really good.

P.S. I just started Erec Rex and The monsters of Otherness. So far so good.

Thanks, dragonslayer! I've been a big fan of these books since last summer and I'm glad to see another fan. The Monsters of Otherness is even better than the first one. And the third one, The Search For Truth, comes out July 30!!! Does the cover look strange? It might be that Erec is turning into a dragon!!

As I said, I became an Erec Rex fan last summer but I became a fan of another series at the same time. It's the Barnstormers series, now called Sluggers. The latest one, Water, Water Everywhere just came out and I just finished it. Man, oh, man, what a book! Man. Oh. Man! What. A. Book!!! I loved this series because of all the magic, mystery, action, and suspense in the first three books. This one took all that and ratcheted it up another ten levels!! Wow! I was blown away.

Here's some background. The year is 1899. The Payne family--Mom and the three kids Griffith, Ruby, and Graham--have had to form a baseball team and travel around the country playing games to raise money because the father didn't come back from the Spanish-American War and their Uncle Owen owes $10,000 to somebody (possibly the bad guys). So the Paynes and the father's fellow veterans play exhibition games but the kids have a baseball that the father left them. When they all put their hands on the ball, strange things happen on the ball field. On top of that, there's a very nasty rich guy called the Chancellor who wants that ball and will stop at nothing to get it--even kidnapping the kids!!

In this book, the Payne family plays in Minneapolis. The Chancellor is way ahead of them, though, and has hired a crooked umpire and a pro team to make sure they can't win. What's worse, the pitcher collapsed at the end of the third book and the team has to find a new pitcher. The replacement is an African-American man named Preacher Wil. Can the team accept a black man on their team? Can the fans? And if the team is divided over Preacher Wil, can the magic work? Plus, the Chancellor's men are all over the stadium, waiting to steal the kids and their ball. Things don't look good!!!

I tell you, this book had me glued to my seat!!! I read it all in one afternoon!! The action, the suspense, and the amazing magic--it's even more intense in this book than the first three. You've GOT to read it! Run right down to your library or bookstore and find it now!!

PS--if you go to the library, look for it in the chapter books under the author's last name, which is Long. The books are still in the Barnstormers format.

PPS--one of your fellow reader guys, Jedi-J.T, wrote a review of the first Barnstormers/Sluggers book. Check it out here.

Hey, guys, this is Carl wishing you a Happy New Year! Hope the new year will be good for you. 2008 was good for me, especially for reading. I found some some awesome books this year. There were the biggies--The Battle of the Labyrinth, The 39 Clues--but I'd like to tell you about some books that didn't get as much attention but were terrific reads. Some were published this year and some were older, but I read them in 2008 and that's what counts. (I've put the dates of the original reviews in parentheses after each one)

Funniest Book of the Year--The Boys Start the War by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor. This the first in the Girls Against the Boys series. This one is so funny that I laughed out loud. I laughed so hard, in fact, that people in my office wondered what was so funny!! (reviewed 9-23-08)

Best Nonfiction--The Last River: John Wesley Powell and the Colorado River Expedition by Stuart Waldman. It doesn't get better than this!! John Wesley Powell had lost an arm in the Civil War but was still determined to be the first human being to explore the Colorado River as it went through the Grand Canyon, an area so wild and dangerous that even the Native Americans wouldn't go there. An amazing story and all the more amazing because it's true!!! (reviewed 8-27-08)

Best Series That Doesn't Get the Attention It Deserves--The Barnstormers Series By Loren Long and Phil Bildner. Set in 1899, it's got baseball, magic, mystery, villains--in other words, everything you could want!! The next one comes out in May 2009 and I can't wait!!!

(reviewed 8-30-08)

Best Graphic Novel--The Undersea Adventures of Cap'n Eli by Jay Piscopo. No question about it, guys, this is the best. It's a mix of classic comic styles but NOT a rip-off!! I haven't enjoyed a comic series this much since I read Iron Man, Nick Fury, and The Fantastic Four back in the Silver Age. Stand by for adventure!!
(reviewed 7-27-08; interview with Jay Piscopo 7-26-08)

The Book I'd Like Most To Read Again--The Postcard by Tony Abbott. 13-year-old Jason has to go to St. Augustine, Florida for his grandmother's funeral, but there are all sorts of strange things surrounding his grandmother that Jason's dad doesn't want to talk about. A mysterious phone call, a postcard showing an old hotel that's about to be torn down, and a mystery story from an old detective magazine set Jason on a trail to find his grandmother's past. A terrific story that keeps you turning page after page. (reviewed 7-14-08)

Best New Discovery--the Erec Rex series by the great Kaza Kingsley. Wow, wow, wow!!!! Exciting, funny, full of adventure, with one of the creepiest bad guys ever, these are the books I'd like to put into the hands of every guy out there. The next one comes in 2009, and, once again, I can't wait!!! (reviewed 8-21-08; interview with Kaza Kingsley 9-13-08)

HAPPY READING IN 2009!

Do you guys remember how I told you about the Percy Jackson books? Aren't you glad I did? Well, here's another series I'm excited about and I bet you'll get excited about them too. It's the Barnstormers series by Loren Long and Phil Bildner. They're great--they've got suspense, magic, baseball, danger, creepy bad guys--in short, everything you'd want in a book! I've written about the first two on 3-19-08 and 4-1-08 and I've just finished the third, so I'll tell you about all three of them at once.

It's about the Payne family; the three kids Griffith, Ruby, Graham and their mom. Where's the father? He didn't come back from the Spanish-American War (the books are set in 1899) The father's friends from the war (they were all in Colonel Theodore Roosevelt's Rough Riders) formed a baseball team called the Travelin' Nine. They plan to go around the country and play exhibition games in order to raise money for the Payne family, who owes ten thousand dollars! The father left them his baseball, but when the kids put their hands on it, strange things, and I mean really strange things, happen during the games. Could the baseball be magic? And who is this creepy guy called The Chancellor and why does Uncle Owen tell the kids to beware of him? Why does Uncle Owen tell them that they are in very great danger, particularly young Graham? And, whatever they do, don't let the Chancellor know about the ball!!!You got to read these books!!! They'll suck you into the story and make you want to get the next one right away!!

There are three books in the series so far:




The series is divided into "Games". The first book is Game 1: Porkopolis







The second is Game 2: The River City







And the third is Game 3: The Windy City



This third book ends up with a real cliffhanger--Griffith, the oldest boy, finds the family in the worst situation possible! WHAT HAPPENS NEXT??? Fortunately, there will be at least three more books, but the fourth one won't be out until spring of '09! Now I have to wait ANOTHER WHOLE YEAR to find out! I guess all you Harry Potter fans had to go through the same thing. It's a good thing there are a lot of other good books out there to keep me occupied until then.

Carl

And, man, did I have a good time! North Myrtle Beach is a really cool and fun place. How fun is it? Check this out: This place is so much fun that the food seasons itself! And no one cares what you look like:

Of course, there is always some one trying to spoil the fun. The evil Sith Emperor sent his Killer Seagulls after me...

Earlier today we introduced you to The Bedside Dysmorphologist: Classic Clinical Signs in Human Malformation Syndromes and their Diagnostic Significance, by William Reardon. Dysmorphology is the study of congenital malformations. This afternoon we have another helpful excerpt, about persistent drooling.

Recognizing the Sign This hardly requires any clinical expertise, but a good history can inform the examination and investigation. The neonatal feeding history will often be of a poor feeding pattern, perhaps requiring nasogastric supplementation. Establish whether there was macroglossia at birth, cleft palate, or micrognathia. Was there any suggestion of velopharygeal incompetence on feeding, often represented by nasal regurgitation of milk during feeding? Gauge the progress of the child with respect to perceptive and expressive speech. (more…)

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