Add a Comment

Add a Comment

Add a Comment

Add a Comment

Add a Comment

Add a Comment

Creating her own period of alternate history gave Joan Aiken the freedom to exercise her endless imagination, but also provided her with the opportunity to use a  variety of stored information from her wide ranging reading and her life-long fascination with all kinds of study.  These elements,  combined with an absolutely riotous ear for dialogue […]

Display Comments Add a Comment

2013. G.P Putnam's Sons (imprint of Penguin)

 They came way before, nestling into the quiet brains of the sleeping, waiting and biding their time.... Eighteen years later, they showed themselves, their ship hovering like a giant green eye in the sky, silent. Everyone watched it for ten days, hoping for some kind of communication or sign. Their unease grew, but if these aliens were trying to kill, wouldn't they have done it by now?

On the tenth day, the attack began. Electricity and power shut down by a massive EMP. At first people were thinking that it would be restored in a few hours, but it didn't happen. The mayhem grew, causing worldwide panic, and few died.

 Then the second wave hit. This was planned methodically and with precision. The result were giant tsunamis taking out cities, countries, entire chunks of the earth as we knew it. Millions died, and without any electricity there was no hope of rescue. But they weren't done yet.

 The third wave was the most deadly. They used nature to attack humanity, spreading a deadly virus that killed. If the second wave didn't kill you, this one would. Millions more were killed in this wave, with a few who lived through it because of resistance to the virus. Humans became an endangered species.

The fourth wave was the first direct assault from the aliens. The silencers...tracking down humanity and killing them point blank, no questions asked. They used drones and foot soldiers to locate colonies and wipe them out. No mercy. Whatever you called them, they were the enemy.

Cassie saw her family die, and now alone, she struggles to survive, holding the last remnants of her old life, a teddy bear her little brother loved. Beside the bear is her protector, an M-16. Cassie knows survival depends only on yourself, never any other person. One will make you invisible, two will make you a target.

Little did she know that there was a 5th wave, the deadliest of all...

Told in four teen perspectives, Yancy writes an incredibly in-depth dystopian novel that is noticeably more sophisticated. The reader walks beside Cassie, a tough kick-A girl who knows the reality even when it frightens her; her little brother Sam, an innocent kid who wants protection but becomes the ultimate pawn; Ben, a popular athletic boy who finds himself defending his life and those of others as a soldier; and Evan, who escaped attacks through isolation and ingenuity. Although it is the characters that capture the readers' attention,it is the psychology behind the attacks and how it affects survivors that gives this novel an edge, pulling the reader through the story until realization dawns on them about what exactly is happening. The pace is fast and the writing is spot on for anyone wanting hardcore dystopian science fiction. You had better buy not two copies, but three or four because they will be quickly checked out and on demand. The book trailers are equally compelling (found on http://www.rickyancey.com/ ). HIGHLY recommended!!

Add a Comment

One of the very worst things you can hear as a child coming home to find that your room has been ‘Spring Cleaned’ must be: “Oh you didn’t want that did you? I thought you’d finished with it.’   This was clearly  a memory from Joan Aiken’s own childhood, and she turned it into one of [...]

Display Comments Add a Comment

Add a Comment

This marvellous moment of realisation occurs  to Mori,  the heroine of Jo Walton’s Among Others but could be a life saving discovery for any lonely child – and every child is in danger of loneliness as soon as they start to wonder about the world they have been born into. Joan Aiken was a lonely [...]

Add a Comment

As I child, I understood the poetic magic of origami even before I knew the name of the art. One of my great-great aunt's many skills was paper-folding. She could swiftly make an origami bow tie appear out of a paper scrap. That fascinating talent was as magical ability as anything I'd ever witnessed, and it was always an honor to receive one of her tidy, crisp bow ties.

Since it's National Poetry Month, the kids and I picked up a few new poetry books at the library.  One picture book we particularly like has an origami theme  -- Fold Me a Poem by Kristine O'Connell George, illustrated by Lauren Stinger.

The summary on the copyright page states that the book is "a collection of poems about origami animals."  In reality, the Fold Me a Poem is much more than a collection.  The poems, read together in succession, collectively tell a story about an imaginative boy who plays with his origami creations all day long, from the moment he wakes up in the morning until he falls asleep in his bed at night. The short poems are rather like private thoughts as he brings the origami animals to life, folding them into splendid creatures and playing with them afterward: "Forty bright sheets / of colored paper, / a world of animals. / Who will be next?" The animals race each other, hide, and get into trouble. Even the boy's cat joins in the fun, by attacking and injuring a poor pink ostrich during a "wind storm" produced by a fan.  The cleverly designed square book  has end papers that look like origami paper. In total, the book contains 32 original poems; it does not include instructions for creating origami animals -- however, the illustrator in her end note mentions various book resources.

This poetry book provides wonderful inspiration for showing children how to capture their own thoughts in poetry form on paper! All children need to do to write their own poems is describe their own play.  O'Connell's poems are written in many different forms including haiku, apostrophe (poems of address), mask or persona poems, and process poems, making the book a useful springboard for teaching these styles.  Lauren Stringer's painted illustrations beautifully accompany the poems and are instrumental in helping the reader visualize the poems.  Stringer skillfully captures the origami creatures -- folding origami is hard enough, but painting all the shadows, showing the folds through illustration takes real talent indeed!

As for favorite poems, I adore "Night," a poem that tells how the boy adds his own star to the night sky.  My son likes the poem "Tub" mostly because the illustrations for the poem show many of the origami creations waiting for a ride on an origami boat, including a bandaged ostrich. My daughter especially likes "Mystery" because it fully captures the wonder and joy of creating your own origami. Anything, yes, anything is possible with a little imagination.

Fold Me a Poem by Kristine O'Connell George, illustrated by Lauren Stringer. Harcourt (April 2005); ISBN 9780152025014; 32 pages
Book Source: Borrowed from our local library

I am an Amazon affiliate and may receive a very small commission for products purchased through my Amazon links. (View my full disclosure statement for more information about my reviews.) 

Related Links:
Kristine O'Connell George - Author Website
Lauren Stringer - Illustrator Website
Teacher's Guide - Fold Me A Poem


Today is Poem in Your Pocket Day!  When thinking about combining origami and poetry, we chanced upon a verse by the brilliant children's poet, Aileen Fisher. The poem "Baby Chick" questions how a chick knows its way out of the egg.  We've created a neat origami project to go along with the poem (plus the paper egg shell makes a neat, handy pocket to tuck the poem into!)

The directions to fold the chick and egg origami can be found at http://www.kutchuk.com.  The design is made from a single piece of paper. This is an easy, beginner origami project for kids.  I created a pdf template with folding guides to make it even easier to fold your own origami if you'd prefer to use that instead.  One is full color and the other can be colored-in by a child.  Make sure to print with page scaling set to "none" or unclick "fit to page" so that it doesn't resize the document. Click on the google doc links below to print your own copy (clicking on the image won't work).

To extend the poetry in a pocket idea and fold a poem, you could have your child write the poem on the paper before folding it into the chick/egg shape!  Or, if your child can't write, print out the poem and tuck it into the pocket formed by the folded egg shell.

Display Comments Add a Comment

Joan Aiken’s passion for history often led her to wonder ‘what if’ things had turned out differently.  What if, for instance,  Jane Austen’s early novel, originally entitled ‘Susan’ and sold to a publisher in 1803, and which then languished unpublished until she furiously bought it back for £10 thirteen years later, had in fact appeared, even maybe without the knowledge of its author, and had been in the pocket of a young nobleman who ran away to join the Peninsular wars in Spain at the beginning of the 19th century.

The young man falls in love, and marries an aristocratic Spanish girl who dies having his baby, and he watches over the boy, disguised as a groom until his own death, when he leaves a letter, and his treasured book to the boy, Felix Brooke,   with a message telling him to seek out his long lost family in the city of Bath, England where the action of Austen’s novel takes place.  For Joan Aiken imagines that this is in fact Jane Austen’s early novel, ‘Northanger Abbey’ which was written in the full enthusiasm and confidence of youth, and is a delightful parody of all the Gothic romances so popular at the time.  It is also a description of an innocent abroad, a heroine with a head full of fantasy from reading too many novels,  who finds herself alone in a dangerous world struggling to make sense of the behaviour of unscrupulous villains or apparently solicitous friends with nothing but the world of fiction to guide her.  This is much the same world that the Spanish orphan, young Felix Brooke encounters, but in a truly wild and Gothic landscape  with terrifying brigands and murderers, mountain tribesmen looking for a human sacrifice, pirates who specialise in the kidnap of children,  with only the assistance of Austen’s novel to sustain and comfort him.

In Joan Aiken’s Go Saddle the Sea Felix is recounting his story:

“The book, Susan, was an odd tale about a young lady and her quest for a husband; to tell truth, I wondered what my father had seen in it, that he had even carried it with him into battle; I found it rather dull, but since it had been my father’s I kept it carefully (his bloodstains were on the cover).”

Later in his adventures, having escaped various perils by the skin of his teeth and the use of his not inconsiderable wits, Felix has time to look into the book again, and reconsiders:

“I had opened it at the place where Miss Susan, going to stay with her great friends in their abbey-residence, is terrified at night by a fearful storm and the discovery of a paper,hid in a closet in her bedroom, which she takes to be the confession of some wicked deed of blood – only to find, next day, that the mysterious paper is naught but a washing bill!  For the first time, this struck me as very comical; yet, reading it through again, I could see that the writer had represented the poor young lady’s terrors very skilfully; just such a nightmarish terror had I felt myself among those unchancy people in that heathen village – and yet for all I knew, my fears were equally foolish and unfounded!  I began to see that this was not such a simple tale as I had hitherto supposed, but must be attended to carefully; and I gave my father credit for better judgement than I had at first…wondering what kind of man my father had been..and hoping that some person in England would be able to tell me more about him.”

In an article for the Jane Austen Society, Joan Aiken describes with relish the content of  Mrs. Radcliffe’s bestseller, The Mysteries of Udolpho, which Austen had gleefully satirised:

“If we take a look at the works of Mrs. Radcliffe, we can easily see what tempted the youthful Jane Austen to poke fun at them…[they were] enormous historical canvases splashed over with forests and beetling fortresses and dark crags in the Appennines.  Mrs. Radcliffe went in for immense casts of characters on a positively Shakespearian scale (she was in fact much influenced by Shakespeare for whom she had great admiration); she had stabbings and shootings, suicides and assassinations; interspersed, for comic relief, by long scenes with garrulous Shakespearian-type servants; she had immensely complicated family relationships, long-lost relatives in every possible connection, suggestions of incest, mysterious resemblances, and, besides all this, a large number of startling, apparently supernatural occurrences..”

From this we can see that these writers had an equally powerful influence on Joan Aiken’s own work, and by setting her novel,  Go Saddle the Sea in just such a rip roaring Gothic world of her own in 19th century Spain, and with a nod at Austen’s own parody, she could have the best of all worlds!

 

Go Saddle the Sea is the first of the three ‘Felix’ Novels just about to come out in gorgeous new editions in the UK

For more details about all three books visit the Joan Aiken page at Random House

or visit the Felix pages at The Wonderful World of Joan Aiken

*****

Filed under: Book Review, Joan Aiken & Jane Austen, News Tagged: Felix Trilogy, Go Saddle the Sea, Jane Austen, Joan Aiken new books coming out, Joan Aiken Page Facebook, Northanger Abbey, Random House

Display Comments Add a Comment

Simon & Schuster, 2012

Three weeks ago, on the day of her birthday, Taylor got the most horrible birthday present of all.  That was the day she found out her father had cancer.  Worse still, he had perhaps three months left.  So to make the most of it, the Edwards family will carve out their last summer together, not apart at different camps or working in the law firm.  This time, family comes first. 

The last thing Taylor wanted was to pack up with her family and stay the summer in their lake house on the Poconos.  Her older brother Warren has only university classes on the brain, and her much younger sister Gelsey will be doing barre exercises and continuing to practice her ballet.  Besides not connecting with her siblings, there is something else that makes Taylor truly not want to go....something awful she did the last time she was there.


Summers at Lake Phoenix were not always so terrible.  Taylor remembers her best friend Lucy and all the conversations they shared, the sleepovers they had, and how she idolized her.  She also remembers Henry.  He was her first boyfriend, the guy she first held hands with, and the one who gave her that first kiss.  Now, she dreads facing them again and what will happen if they ever bump into each other. 

Once there, Taylor feels like she's stepped back in time.  The lake house was the same as it was five years ago - nothing has changed.  Even the town itself hasn't changed a lot.  The cafe is still there along with the PocoMart and the signs in front of everyone's home.  A few things have changed though, like new neighbors and the fact that Henry's house is now occupied by someone else.

As they get settled in to a new routine of summer living and her father's failing health, Taylor's memories flood back and soon she finds herself face-to-face with her first kiss and her used-to-be best friend.  And the summer begins of being lost then found...

Matson delivers again and an emotionally charged and beautifully written book.  She is able to combine the most basic emotions a person carries and interprets them through her characters, especially that of Taylor.  While other YA books may put parents in a secondary role, Matson brings them to the forefront as the catalyst in all of the character's lives.  Her allusions are striking as well and readers should be able to pick up on these while reading or through hindsight.  There is a word of caution with the book though.  Don't read this in public, at school, or near little children.  Why?  It's not because of content but....well, I dare anyone who hasn't read this not to cry, and it's not the quiet crying thing either.  It's the deep sobs and the tears that won't stop.  Really....And that is a sign of authentic writing by an author who can really touch a reader's hidden emotional side. Think Sparks' The Last Song or Green's Fault in Our Stars - Matson's book definitely has that pull.  Recommended (along with tissues and a caution to remove contact lenses!) 

Display Comments Add a Comment

Radley remembers her parents dropping her off at the airport so she help with relief work for the children of Haiti.  It’s a passion of hers and has decidedly changed her life, but not as much as when she returns back to the United States.

Upon arrival, she knows something is wrong.  First of all her parents are nowhere to be found.  Secondly, the way the soldiers treat her after she lands is beyond the typical TSA thing most passengers coming back from overseas deal with.  There’s a sense of urgency, danger.  Radley returns to a different United States than when she left.   

The American’s People’s Party has taken over the country.  With the assassination of the President, the United States is left in turmoil with a renegade government trying to take control through force.  Radley realizes this right away.  Now there are curfews, bank accounts are drains, and travel restrictions are tight.  There are also APPs everywhere, catching those that break the rules and beating them.  

All Radley wants is to go home and find her parents.  But her path leads to even more devastation, both emotional and physical.  Everyone is desperate, and personal survival above others is dominant.  Little food, roaming soldiers, broken homes.  Radley has heard Canada is a place of safekeeping, so that is where she begins her trek…and also where she encounters people and places that will change her life.

Karen Hesse is a beautiful writer and this is more than apparent in this YA dystopia novel.  Her words blend with the personal photographs she uses that are scattered throughout the book.  This book is also unique in its genre.  Hesse centers her book around the journey and how the main character changes emotionally through it from the people she meets and the places she stays.  While other dystopian books have a flair of action-packed situations with daring and fearless characters, Hesse’s book takes a gentle approach, looking more at the weakness of her character and how she becomes stronger.  It will take a different reader who can adjust to this change in genre to  enjoy this pictorial novel with a nearly poetic flair.   

Add a Comment

I have a quasi-obsessive relationship with Erin Kelly’s work. When I see a new book of hers soon to be released, I pre-order it, because I must have it as soon as possible. She is further proof that the Europeans are really kicking our ass in the literary realm.

I first met her through The Poison Tree (which is still arguably my favorite of her books). She’s British; I’ve never been to London, so she painted a world for me in Poison Tree of youthful gluttony, violence, and horror, surrounded by Brit charm and vengeance. How can you not love that? Then came The Dark Rose, another thriller filled with regret, angst, and sex. Do you see a pattern here? Erin Kelly loves characters who linger in darkness, but her books are not downers; they’re just creepy and they have a way of making you squirm.

Her most recent opus, The Burning Air, was only released in America weeks ago. I pre-ordered it (duh), so I had a copy in my hands day of its release. Did I read the synopsis? Nope. The book could have been about two kids playing on a swing set, and I would buy it simply because Erin Kelly wrote it—and when she writes, she doesn’t just put words on a page. She uses words to create images that stay with you for hours, days, weeks after you’ve put the book down.

The Burning Air is no different than her first two fantastic pieces of literature. This one follows the close-knit MacBrides as they plan a weekend visit to the family barn in Devon, following the death of their worshipped matriarch, Lydia. The grown up kids arrive with their children and all their significant others, including a new addition to the family—a strange, quiet girl named Kerry. Together with their father, they plan to scatter Lydia’s ashes at the barn, the place where they spent so many happy days with dear mum.

As expected, things go incredibly awry. I’d love to tell you what things go awry, but of course, I can’t. Where’s the fun in ruining the suspense? I will say … you’ll never see it coming.

Erin Kelly has a telltale modus operandi: she loves jumping around in time. This book takes place in the “present,” but all things that happen in the “present” are based on things (horrible things) that happened in the “past.” Kelly also often jumps from character to character, developing entire segments from different character perspectives. Although she is a genius at both of these literary techniques, her true mind-boggling skill rests in her use of suspense.

Just like in The Poison Tree and The Dark Rose, there are moments in The Burning Air when I had to stop, reread, reread again, and then shout, “Oh, no she didn’t!” I tried to keep Jake abreast of plot developments, but as soon as I explained one aspect, the next day, there would be a new twist, and Jake would be left asking, “But I thought you said <insert character name> was crazy,” when in fact, <insert character name> is completely sane but surrounded by a crazy situation. No one keeps me guessing like Erin Kelly.

Feel free to jump in to this, her newest release. I promise that once you’ve finished, you’ll go back and read her others. Not only can she make guts and gore sound beautiful, but Kelly redefines the phrase “page-turner.”

Add a Comment

Book: The Theory of Everything
Author: J.J. Johnson
Published: 2012
Source: Review copy from the publisher specifically for the Cybils

Ever since her best friend Jamie died in a freak accident, Sarah's been on a downward skid. Her grades have slipped, her snark quotient has gotten cranked up to 11. All her other friends have drifted away, and even her ever-patient boyfriend, Stenn, is starting to get fed up. And her parents, well, they've waved the end of their rope bye-bye a long time ago.

Sarah knows she's got to get a handle on her life and her relationships before she ruins all of them, but every time she gets close to feeling good, she feels as if she's betraying Jamie's memory. She knows Jamie wouldn't have wanted her to be sad forever, but how can she possibly be happy without her best friend?

I openly admit, I hadn't heard of this book before it got a finalist slot in the Cybils. I read the author's first book (This Girl is Different) and liked it, but oh, god, a girl grieving the death of her best friend? Pass the Kleenex, we're in for a long night. I prepared myself for Bad Behavior, Meaningful Conversations and/or Blinding Revelations, Deep Connections with others who've Been There, and possibly a New Love.

Then I started reading, and I realized that I was in more capable hands than that.

What I liked best was how Sarah took responsibility for her own recovery. She makes an effort not to be so snarky, she tries to reach out to other people instead of pushing them away, and she really works at being a better person. She even takes a job at a Christmas-tree farm to make amends, and she defies her parents to do so. She does this not because she has a Blinding Revelation or a Meaningful Conversation, but because she's been aware of her downward trend ever since it started. When she makes the reasoned decision, (quite early in the book, too!) that she needs to start dragging herself out of the pit, she works at it. She isn't great at it, especially at first, but she tries and sometimes succeeds, and it's from that place that her life starts to get good again.

There is a Wise Old Mentor character, Sarah's boss. He's a little stock. But he's also one of the first adults in awhile that trusts Sarah to do things that are hard for her, and in a way, that's the theme of the whole book. Pulling herself out of the darkness and back into life again is the hardest thing Sarah has ever done. It may be the hardest thing she will ever have to do. But ultimately, she is the one who has to do it.

Add a Comment

Title: Scarlet Author: Marissa Meyer Publisher: Feiwel & Friends Publication Date: February 5, 2013 ISBN-13: 978-0312642969 464 pp. ARC provided by publisher Marissa Meyer fans will not be disappointed in Scarlet, Book 2 in The Lunar Chronicles. It has all the heart-pounding action, humor, and touches of romance that Cinder has. Scarlet centers on Scarlet, the granddaughter of Michelle

Add a Comment

The Goose Girl (Books of Bayern) by (the amazing, hilarious, and wonderful) Shannon Hale

Review by Welly-Bell, Age 7

Crown Princess Anidori-Kiladra Talianna Isilee is princess of Kildenree. She can talk to birds. She is traveling with fifty guards and the key-mistress' daughter, Selia. On the way to Bayern, Selia and most of the guards betray Ani.

They try to kill Ani, but she escapes. After a few days of wandering in the forest, Ani finds a little cottage.

Gilsa and Finn live in the cottage. Ani helps them with the chickens and goats in exchange for a bed and food. Ani goes to the city with Finn.

On market day, Ani goes to see the King. She realizes she is going to have to come back. The King gives her work in the geese pen with Conrad.

Conrad is grumpy most of the time. Enna and Razo and Beier and some others also work there.

Princess Selia tells the King that Kildenree is planning to attack Bayern.

Read the book and find out what happens to Ani. Some of the characters I really like are Enna, Gilsa, and Finn.

***Check out my interview with Shannon Hale here!

Display Comments Add a Comment

Dial Books, 2012

Sarah lives in a squalid home in an equally squalid village.  She is her father's only hope and earns enough for the little they have by cleaning the one-room school, ruled by a tryannical mistress.  Over the village lays Darkwater Hall in all of its somber glory.  Once owned by the Trevelyan family, it now has a new owner, Lord Azrael. 

Sarah may be poor but she is proud.  A Trevelyan herself, she's heard stories of how the once powerful family lost everything, but that doesn't deter her from keeping her head up and her lineage alive.  But it kills her when she meets the new lord of Darkwater Hall for the first time.  He doesn't deserve it....it's not his.  When her situation goes into dire straits, she has nowhere else to turn to but the generous offer made by Lord Azrael to come work for him....

Fast forward over a hundred years ahead.  Tom knows his station in life but it still doesn't keep him from longing to be a part of the prestigious school that his mother works for as a maid.   His only friend is Simon, who isn't even real.  And one day, while coming home from the village, he meets a girl he's never seen before and a drifter who has a fascination for Tom. 

All Tom needs is a break...someone who'll offer him a chance.  When an accidental meeting takes place between Tom and the new chemistry teacher, the offer Tom has been waiting for happens.  All he needs to do is accept this gift from the new teacher, whose name is Azrael...

Catherine Fisher takes the long-told tale of Faust and recreates it into a unique spin that only she possesses.  Not only does Fisher write about parallel lives, but fashions into it magic, family secrets, and a world within a world contained in a precious glass vase.  Because of her signature storytelling, this is a book that will delight or confound the reader, but one that continues the tradition of Faust (1806) to The Devil and Daniel Webster(1937) to today.  The characters are descriptively protrayed and the darkness or naivete of a character's personality is highlighted by the scenery and words Fisher selects.  Even the font of the book denotes a certain antiquity that plays into the whole novel.  For those readers who enjoy magic, a touch of alchemical science, historical fiction, and a rich story fabric, this is one they'll enjoy. JH-HS. 



Paired fiction novels:

Display Comments Add a Comment

Category: Young adult mystery/suspense
Keywords: Murder, schizophrenia, color-blindness, family
Format: Hardcover, Kindle
Source: ARC for review



Synopsis:

They say first love never dies...

From critically acclaimed author Kate Ellison comes a heartbreaking mystery of mental illness, unspoken love, and murder. When sixteen-year-old artist Olivia Tithe is visited by the ghost of her first love, Lucas Stern, it’s only through scattered images and notes left behind that she can unravel the mystery of his death. 

There’s a catch: Olivia has gone colorblind, and there’s a good chance she’s losing her mind completely—just like her mother did. How else to explain seeing (and falling in love all over again with) someone who isn’t really there?

With the murder trial looming just nine days away, Olivia must follow her heart to the truth, no matter how painful. It’s the only way she can save herself.

Review:

Kate Ellison lets spots of color and light shine through Notes from Ghost Town's bleak and dreary premise. The main story revolves around the murder of Olivia's best friend, whom her unstable mother admits to killing. Ellison touches on all the nuances of love: kindness, friendship, family, first love, and even love turned to hate, to make this a moody and tender read. The settings sometimes seem contrived, missing flavor and making Miami seem like just any other locality, but enough of the characters and their occasionally surprising interactions are relatable enough to keep you reading.

Some readers might find Olivia's brattiness intolerable, but I felt invested enough in her heartbreak to want to know what really happened to Stern. I liked how she interacts with her soon-to-be step-sister, despite really hating the fact that her dad is remarrying so soon after divorcing her mother. I was hugely annoyed whenever she took unnecessary risks or behaved like a spoiled child, but I think it was mostly because I was starting to like her and wanted her to succeed, to heal, and to change for the better.

It's hard to articulate what I felt about this book. It's not so much that I enjoyed reading it as that I wanted everything to turn out ok, and so I kept turning pages. Fans of fast-paced mysteries should go look for another book: this one is slow, misty, and contemplative. I think this would make a great mostly-black-and-white movie.

If you like this book, you will probably also like:

---

Visit www.kateellison.com and follow the author on Facebook.

---

You can enter to win both Notes from Ghost Town and The Butterfly Clues by Kate Ellison. Just use the Rafflecopter widget below. US/Canada only; I will randomly choose a winner after March 6. Thanks so much to Egmont for sponsoring the giveaway.

Giveaway Rules:

1. Open to US & Canada only.
2. We are not responsible for items lost in the mail.
3. One set of entries per household, please.
4. If you are under 13, please get a parent or guardian's permission to enter, as you will be sharing personal info such as an email address. 
5. Winner will be chosen randomly via Rafflecopter widget a day or two after the contest ends. 
6. Winner will have 48 hours to respond to to the email, otherwise we will pick a new winner. 
7. If you have any questions, feel free to email us. You can review our full contest policy here. 
8. PLEASE DO NOT LEAVE ANY PERSONAL INFO IN THE COMMENTS. Sorry for the caps but we always get people leaving their email in the comments. Rafflecopter will collect all that without having personal info in the comments for all the world (and spambots) to find. 

Good luck!

Add a Comment

Book: Also Known As
Author: Robin Benway
Published: February 26, 2013
Source: Review copy from publisher via NetGalley

The daughter of two spies and a gifted safecracker herself, Maggie has had a strange childhood, to say the least. She’s been all over the world but never attended school. She’s hobnobbed with the best spies in the world, but never had a best friend her own age.

Now Maggie’s facing her first solo assignment. She’s sure she can carry it off. She’s only been in training since she was three years old. Then she discovers that pretending to be someone you’re not is easy, until you meet the people that you really want to like you for yourself.

I thoroughly enjoyed Benway’s first two books, so I picked this one up and wasn’t disappointed. Was it believable? No. Was it cotton-candy fun on a silver platter? Oh, my, yes.

Watching Maggie try to apply her spy skills to fitting in at high school (even a posh New York City high school) is the kind of fish-out-of-water stuff I really enjoy. And it was no surprise to anyone but Maggie when Jesse, the boy she's assigned to crack like one of her safes, turned out to be sweet and cute and probably the best fictional boyfriend a girl could ask for.

Her other big find was Roux, a former mean girl, long toppled from her throne and now friendless until Maggie turns up. Roux was hi-larious. I had a little trouble believing that she could have been the mean girl, because she was so delightful. Then I realized that the things that made her delightful - loads of snark, well-hidden vulnerability, and a certain high-handedness - would have actually made her a really good Bitch Queen.

If you’re jonesing for more Gallagher Girls, this should help with that. Breezy, funny, and sweet, this confection of a novel is just right to put a smile on your face.

Add a Comment

Anna Staniszewski's sequel to My Very Unfairy Tale Life is now out! And after reading My Epic Fairy Tale Fail I can tell you it does anything BUT Fail. Grab it. Read it. Pass it to a little girl out there to read. I plan on giving a copy to my own daughter because it's the kind of book I would have lived in when I was her age. 

But don't take my word for it. Here's a review from Sleeping Beauty:

SB: ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Me: *AHEM*

SB: Huh? Oh sorry. *eyes droop*

Me: Before you fall back asleep, can you tell us what you thought of the book? *pokes in the ribs*

SB: Ouch! I loved it. It's very realistic. I mean that's exactly what it's like where I'm from. *yawn*

Me: *yawn* those are contagious. 

SB: Sorry. *slips down in chair and closes eyes*

Me: *pokes again* Anything else to say about the book?

SB: It kept me awake until I finished.

Well there can't be a better recommendation than that. 

Display Comments Add a Comment

Librarian and children’s book prophet Mr. Schu (secret identity: John Schumacher) kindly interviewed me about Bill the Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator of Batman, including some of the most fun questions I’ve been asked about the book, including “Mr. Schu, you should have asked me about...”

Oh, Mr. Schu read more books last year than you…and me…and those three other guys…combined. I think he read a complete book just since you have been reading this post.

Add a Comment

Book: Orleans
Author: Sherri L Smith
Published: March 7, 2013
Source: Review copy from publisher via NetGalley

After being socked with a series of devastating hurricanes and overtaken by a virulent illness called the Fever, the inhabitants of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast have been abandoned by the rest of the United States. Divided into tribes of blood types, Orleans (the “new” was dropped) has fallen into barbarism and savagery, where the people fight tooth and nail to survive just one more day.

Fen is one of those people. But she has a newborn baby, the child of her dead friend Lydia, on her hands and she swears that this baby will have a better life if she has to break every law of the Outer States and the Delta to do it.

Daniel is from the Outer States, a military scientist trying to cure the Fever, who has snuck into Orleans to gather data for his quest. They run into each other in a blood-hunter’s camp (which is exactly the kind of place it sounds like) and strike a deal--she’ll take him where he needs to go, and when he leaves, he’ll take the baby with him.

When I saw this book on Netgalley, I waffled over whether to request it or not. Another dystopia? Sigh. But I loved Smith’s first book, Flygirl, and finally I decided to give a whirl. I’m so glad I did.

Was it Fen? This tough and uncompromising girl’s quest to get Baby Girl to the Wall and a better life is certainly memorable. Was it Daniel? Though he has a doctorate, he has a lot to learn about life on the other side of the wall, and surprisingly rises to the challenge. Was it the end? I . . . I can’t say anything more about the end, except that while it was devastating, it was perfect.

These are all elements that I loved, but what jumped out at me was the setting, Orleans itself. Many times in dystopias, the physical and cultural surroundings are scary and dark things, utterly wtihout redemptive factors. But Orleans is the kind of place you fall in love with, as much as for its flaws as for its beauties.Yes, it’s scary and dark. Yes, it’s not exactly a place where you’d want to live. But like the real city, it teems with life, energy, and beauty.

One of the most touching moments in the book takes place on All Saint’s Night. Fen and Daniel, hiding out, see a Mardi-Gras-like parade of people from many tribes, tacitly truced for the night. They dance and sing, “Nous sommes ici!” We are here. No matter how far Orleans has fallen, the place and the people are still there.

Display Comments Add a Comment