By: tanita davis,
on 2/27/2013
Oh, my gosh, this was a hard book to review. Maybe because I kept kind of having to shudder, because I knew what was going to happen - what had to happen. I mean, hello, title. It's clearly there. The. Summer. Prince. People who read enough... Read the rest of this post
By: tanita davis,
on 9/24/2012
While other people rubberneck and drive five miles an hour through autumn-tinted trees, we here in the Wonderland Treehouse are finding our autumn color without the benefit of cars. Behold, it's finally here! A MORE DIVERSE UNIVERSE is organized and... Read the rest of this post
By: tanita davis,
on 9/7/2012
I first heard of this at Charlotte's blog. Then I hustled over to BookLust and snagged a logo button. I am SO in. Speculative fiction by diverse authors and featuring a diverse cast of characters are on the rise. Every time I see a heads-up about a... Read the rest of this post
By: tanita davis,
on 4/21/2012
The immigrant experience is not for the faint of heart. Merely living abroad in one Western country instead of another has produced misunderstandings, depression, and wry amusements.I cannot begin to imagine the immigrant experience when coupled... Read the rest of this post
By: tanita davis,
on 4/3/2012
Now, THIS is what I'm talking about. No werewolves. No vampires. No British isles fairytale constructs. No Arthurian legends, creaky with age, being unfolded and poorly cleansed of the dust of ages for the nth, nth, nth time. No. This is neither... Read the rest of this post
By: aquafortis,
on 4/2/2012
Out from Chronicle Books earlier this year, Girl Meets Boy is an anthology of he-said, she-said stories from a selection of YA authors you already know and love: James Howe and Ellen Wittlinger; Rita Williams-Garcia and Terry Trueman; Chris Crutcher... Read the rest of this post
By: aquafortis,
on 3/29/2012
Reader Gut Reaction: I tend to think there needs to be more contemporary-setting fantasy for the middle grade/younger YA set—without vampires or werewolves, thank you very much—and I particularly like to see fantasy novels with multicultural... Read the rest of this post
By: tanita davis,
on 3/27/2012
When I first reviewed a Marriott book in 2009, I found a satisfying, well-paced adventure with a warrior-woman protagonist in DAUGHTER OF FLAMES. Fast forward years later, and seeing Zoë Marriott's name with a whisper of familiarity, and I delved... Read the rest of this post
By: aquafortis,
on 3/12/2012
Hereville: How Mirka Got Her Sword was a finalist in this year's Cybils Awards for Elementary/Middle Grade Graphic Novels. A few words about Hereville from the author's Amazon bio: "After graduating PSU, Barry created Hereville, an online comic book... Read the rest of this post
By: tanita davis,
on 2/21/2012
It's not often that I have a chance to review books which are truly multicultural, but this book is one. It's a quiet gem of stories interlinked by the common theme of freedom. Freedom is truly the subject at hand, as all proceeds from the novel are... Read the rest of this post
By: aquafortis,
on 2/13/2012
We really enjoyed Ashley Hope Pérez's debut novel What Can't Wait (reviewed here), so we're proud and excited to be a part of the blog tour for her latest novel, The Knife and the Butterfly. Tune in this Friday, February 17th, for Ashley's guest... Read the rest of this post
By: tanita davis,
on 9/20/2011
When he said nothing, Kayla pressed her point. "Then when?" she asked. "When is the dividing line? When is the DNA surely human? When is it not?"Time for a truly fabulous entry into the Turning Pages compendium.Y'know, here at the Wonderland Tree,... Read the rest of this post
By: aquafortis,
on 6/13/2011
Dear FCC: I received an Advance Review Copy of this book from ALA Midwinter in January. That's right, I'm still working through my pile of ARCs. Don't make fun of me. I'm savoring them. In Bird in a Box, three very different children in... Read the rest of this post
By: aquafortis,
on 5/30/2011
Today's review covers another book whose author I got to see speak at the Diversity in YA tour a few weeks ago. (You know we like to promote diversity in YA here at FW!) I checked out a copy of this book from the library.Reader Gut Reaction: Let me... Read the rest of this post
By: aquafortis,
on 5/26/2011
I received a review copy of this book from the publisher, First Second.Here at FW, we've been a fan of Gene Yang for a long time, and we've loved reading his graphic novels, both the ones produced solely by him as well as the ones in which he... Read the rest of this post
By: aquafortis,
on 4/21/2011
I acquired an Advance Review Copy of this book from the publisher at ALA in January. This review is based on that version. The hardcover version is out now.Reader Gut Reaction: Eona: The Last Dragoneye is a worthy sequel to Eon: Dragoneye Reborn... Read the rest of this post
By: aquafortis,
on 4/11/2011
I acquired an Advance Review Copy of this book from the publisher at ALA in January. This review is based on that version. The hardcover version is out now.Reader Gut Reaction: I enjoyed Malinda Lo's earlier fantasy novel Ash, so I was really... Read the rest of this post
By: aquafortis,
on 3/14/2011
Welcome to Part II of my roundup of Cybils finalists for teen Fantasy and Sci-Fi. Some of these books were library copies; others were review copies provided by the publishers for judging purposes. For the official blurb about the winning title, Rot... Read the rest of this post
By: aquafortis,
on 2/8/2011
I purchased a copy of this book.Reader Gut Reaction: There's an immediacy to this story, and a clarity of detail, that made it easy for me as a reader to relate to the characters, even though we're immediately plunged into a setting that won't be a... Read the rest of this post
By: tanita davis,
on 2/3/2011
That cwazy wabbit...Xin Nian Kuai Le!Gung Hay Fat Choi, bunny people. Peace and serenity and joy to you, this year of the Rabbit. Gong Xi Fa Cai - may prosperity be with you as well.(And thus we have reached the end of my Asian language knowledge,... Read the rest of this post
By: aquafortis,
on 1/30/2011
I received a review copy of this book from the author.Reader Gut Reaction: When one of the quotations kicking off a book is by Lisa Simpson, I already feel positively disposed toward it—and I was already excited to read another book by Neesha... Read the rest of this post
By: aquafortis,
on 11/18/2010
It's the Return of Three-Sentence Reviews! As the holidays creep closer (and I indulge in more escapist binge-reading) I'm forced to limit my time writing reviews so I can get some, er, work done. So here are a few to start with. All three of these... Read the rest of this post
By: a. fortis,
on 1/26/2010
Absolutely Maybe was my first foray into Lisa Yee's YA fiction, though I've been meaning to check out her work for literally years now. I guess this just falls into that capacious category known as "Everybody Else Has Read This Book or Seen This... Read the rest of this post
By: Carmela Martino and 5 other authors,
on 11/25/2009
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day here in the United States. For most of us, that means celebrating with a big turkey dinner. However, in my Italian-immigrant family, every holiday calls for a multi-course dinner that typically consists of antipasto, soup, bread, pasta, meatballs, salad, cooked vegetables, roasted meat, potatoes, fresh fruit, and dessert. For Thanksgiving, we simply accommodate the turkey tradition by featuring the bird as our roasted meat.
By: a. fortis,
on 9/18/2009
1001 Cranes by Naomi Hirahara is one I had on my library request list recently, a middle-grade/younger YA story that focuses on themes of family--both growing closer to and apart from, on growing up Japanese-American in California, and on opening... Read the rest of this post
ok, me will read! (someday) (whimpers at the thought of all the books to be read)
viz dying kings, have you ever read The King Must Die, by Mary Renault? Please do, if you haven't....