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It's an odd week so far here at Biblio File. First off, I was really hoping to get The Sisters Grimm Book 6: Tales From the Hood, but Amazon is saying that they don't know when it will ship. (It was supposed to ship Monday.) All the other book sites say that it's not coming out until May. Poo.

Then, a book I had ordered used, Libricide: The Regime-Sponsored Destruction of Books and Libraries in the Twentieth Century got refunded because the used seller ran out of copies. (WTF?!) So, no book for me. It's a little on the pricey side to be buying new. Luckily, it looks like my school library has it, so I can still read it for the paper I'm writing.

Also, I'm having serious problems understand how to assign LC classification numbers to books (last week's lecture was a very, very bad one to miss. Stupid back.) I'm also completely blocked on this paper that's due tomorrow, and I need to come up with about 1,000 more words. I also fear that the 1,500 words I have so far don't make much sense. Oh, the insecurities of school.

AND THEN BRETT FAVRE RETIRED FROM FOOTBALL! I mean, ok, he's had a good career and it was a good season to end on (even though the last pass he threw in his career has to be one of the most painful) but... still. I feel like I should go home to Wisconsin so I can mourn with my people.

But! I found the rest of the Drina series at a price I'm willing to pay. And, inspired by the movie Helvetica, I added some super-fun buttons to my Zazzle store. More fonts will be added soon.

Also, I started physical therapy today, which I know a lot of people complain about. Yes, it's hard work, but it makes my back feel so much better! So, in the end, it's all good! And, while driving up the GW Parkway this morning to get to my appointment, the Potomac was super muddy and brown, because of the rain we got last night, but there were daffodils! In bloom! A whole host of little yellow heads that were so... jocund. (So, we all know what Friday's poem will be. 9th grad English has severely warped my mind when it comes to daffodils.) The ones in my yard are only about 7 inches tall, but there's a clump of them coming up.

Did I mention it might snow on Saturday?

But, let's talk about some books, m'kay?

She's a Witch Girl Kelly McClymer

Pru, our magical cheerleader, is back! In this latest installment, Pru is out of remedial magic classes, which means doing even more studying and homework--to the point where she's almost failing math--the one class she was good at. It's a good thing she doesn't have time for boys, because the only way she can get head cheerleader Tara to buy into mortal cheer competitions is by giving Tara along time with her Pru's super-hott next door neighbor, Angelo.

Of course, then it turns out that Angelo might not be as mortal we we thought, and when Agatha finds out about the squad's mortal cheering, she puts a stop to it completely, including cheering at games against mortal schools. This might just get the squad actually working together.

With Pru worrying about things like school and getting Agatha to change her mind, she doesn't spend as much time worrying about being kewl--her social status isn't as precarious as it was in previous volumes. Pru's greater concern about bigger issues, as well as more exploration of the mortal/witch divide takes away some of the plot lines that were becoming annoying and opens new doors for the series to stay fresh. My favorite installment to date!

When Irish Guys Are Smiling Suzanne Supplee

A new Students Across the Seven Seas!

This time we have Delk, who's moneyed Nashville, but after her mother dies, the whole debutante scene just isn't for her. This is especially true when her dad remarries someone young enough to be Delk's sister!

So, Delk is off to Ireland. Holed up in a castle in the Irish countryside, Delk tries to hide her mother's death from her new friends, trying to get fresh start, plus there's the super-cute Pather, who works at the school and lives at a farm down the lane.

Delk's having so much fun, she may never want to go back to Tennessee!

This is my favorite SASS book so far (ok, it's tied with The Sound of Munich). There isn't a lot of drama between Pather and Delk--there's is a pretty straight-forward romance. Delk's drama is much more internal, and her friends have some serious drama, which breaks the mold of this series a little bit.

Miki Falls: Winter Mark Crilley

This is the last volume of the Miki Falls series! And just when Miki and Hiro think they're going to get away with their forbidden love...

Well, we wouldn't have much a story if they didn't get caught, now would we? Of course, all traces with Hiro's existence in Miki's town have been erased, so people are thinking she's a little cuckoo...

I continue to adore Crilley's unusual framing structure, lots of trapezoids and small and large frames on one page--many of his pages remind me of a shattering mirror.

There's also a cool feature-ette at the end of the book on the making of Miki-- including early character sketches, and how the story line has changed over time.

This book will make NO SENSE if you haven't read the previous 3, but I adored this series and highly recommend it.

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I'm doing NaNoWriMo. Are you? Today's song is very important in my story (about the inherit drama of high school choir.) You Are the New Day. I'm trying something new wand this one goes to Amazon, not Napster...

Anyway, here are some more graphic novels for you to look at.

So, earlier this year, I was quite taken with Mark Crilley's Miki Falls: Spring.

I was less taken with Summer. Miki and Hiro are doing the brand-new couple thing, which has it's own issues. Then Miki learns that Hiro is about to take the love out of a relationship involving her best friend, so of course, she tries to stop it and makes a HUG MESS out of things. And then there's Reika, Hiro's ghost from the past who is making it very clear to Miki that Hiro is hers.

I was disappointed, but it turns out it was the perfect bridge novel to...

Autumn (which is the best so far). Reika is going to tell the elders about Miki and Hiro. Once the elders know, they will do everything to keep them apart--forever. So, they run away. Once they're hiding out in the mountains, Miki discovers the awful truth that Hiro's hold spirit, Anra, sees Miki as a Neverfind-- someone who will never be able to hold on to true love. Should she go back to her safe life at home? Or should she stay and enjoy love while she has it?

Crilley has an interesting frame style. He uses a lot of trapezoids that often make the action look like it's taking place in a shattered mirror. He also will sometimes put several actions into one frame. I first really noticed this with Autumn, where it really ties in well with the tenseness of the situation and Miki's emotional state at the time. I love it.

So, it's just a few more months until Winter. I can't wait.

Also, I just read Death Note 7: Zero by Tsugumi Ohba.

Nothing startling or crazy about this one. If you liked the other previous 6, you'll like this.

We get a lot of the back story about what Light was thinking when he gave up his death note and volunteered for custody. Then, using Misa's eye power, he does what he always meant to do.

With that done, things don't get easier for Light--they get harder as new people come onto the scene. New people, who are taking hostages in exchange for information he's unwilling to give. Still looking forward to Book 8!

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So, I was really, really, really looking forward to coming home from class tonight and reading Sons of Empire. But it wasn't waiting for me on my doorstep. Publication is getting pushed back to August. UGH. Don't the good people at Vertigo know that I was counting on that to hold me over until Love Is a Many Trousered Thing comes out in early July? Which was in turn holding me over until THE BIG ONE?

sigh

Well, to commemorate my misery, here's a post of graphic novels and similar...

Jack of Fables Vol. 1: The (Nearly) Great Escape by Bill Willingham

Jack is a new Fables spin-off series. Jack was too big for Fable Town and was living the high life in LA, but now he's been kidnapped and forced into retirement by Mr. Revise-- the head librarian. Mr. Revise doesn't like Fables that are too big for their britches and holds them in his compound until the Mundies forget them, thereby stripping them of their power. This is where Mother Goose now lives. But, we know Jack, and nothing can hold him.

If you like Fables, you'll like Jack. It's along the same lines with the same new spin and smart humor.

I also want to add that I spent the entire book trying to place Sam the maintenance main. It wasn't until the end, when he did his thing with the tigers, that it clicked.

Miki Falls: Spring Mike Crilley

I don't read a lot of manga. It tends to not be my thing, but there was a question about this at work, so I picked it up. Now I can't wait until Miki Falls: Summer

So, it's Miki's first day of her senior year in high school when she meets the new boy in town, Hiro. Hiro pushes everyone away and doesn't want to make friends, or fit in. Miki knows there's something behind his tough exterior and wants in. Slowly, she starts chipping down his walls, only to find a really deep, big secret.

I was kinda blase on this until I found out what the secret was. Which I can't say, because that would totally ruin the book. But it's a really interesting concept that has me enthralled. Definitely on the girly side of things, I'm hooked.

Chicken with Plums Marjane Satrapi

I fell in love with Marjane Satrapi's work this spring. Chicken with Plums is a short book looking at an Iranian musician's final days. After his wife breaks his tar during an arguement, Nasser Ali Khan can not find a new one he likes the sound of. Eventually, being unable to find a new instrument to play, he loses the will to live, and decides to die. In the eight days until his death, Satrapi (his great-niece) chronicles his dreams and hallucinations, illuminating his past and the future of his family.

The same elements that make Satrapi's previous works great are at play here, with the element of mystical realism, and heartbreak. Her art tends to be stark, which adds to the bleakness that Nasser Ali, and the reader, feels as he waits for Death to come to him.

You Can Never Find a Rickshaw When It Monsoons - The World on One Cartoon a Day Mo Willems

Those of us who are hep to kidlit best know Mr. Willems from such fantastic titles as Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale, Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!, and Leonardo, the Terrible Monster. That last one is one of my favorites for storytime-- especially that temper tantrum bit in the middle. I really get into that one.

Anyway, back in the day, before he started writing hilarious children's books that adults enjoy almost as much as children, but on a whole different level, back when Willems was just a recent college grad not entirely sure what to do with this life... he took a trip around the world. Instead of keeping a traditional travel journal, at the end of each day, Willems drew one cartoon. His cartoons tend not to cover the big tourist things, or the splendor of a country, but rather those little moments that make travel so awesome and perfect. Most cartoons had a caption and Willems has added modern day captions and commentary as well.

Some of my favorites were from December 9th, "While ordering lunch, make a mental note to learn the Thai word for 'chicken'" or July 3, "Old enough to smoke, young enough to play hide and seek."

Dave Barry's introduction is also hilarious and sets the book up perfectly.

The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl Barry Lyga

Donnie's the geeky scrawny kid who's always getting picked on in dodgeball with the gym teacher never noticing, or caring. His best friend is a super-cool jock, so they can't hang out together at school (even though I got the feeling this is mor Donnie's imagining of an unspoken rule that his friend really didn't care about). His mother is pregnant and won't let anyone come over to the house, and he hates his stepdad. The only real comfort he gets is from reading comic books and drawing his own. Then, one day, the goth girl, Kyra enters his life and everything changes.

Boy meets amazing/weird girl who changes everything has been a trend I've noticed a lot in YA books recently. Maybe this is the boy equivelent of the girl story of girl cruches after hott popular guy and never realizes until the end that her best guy friend is her prince charming after all...

I liked this book. Donnie's voice is sharp and authentic. And Lyga's love of comic books shows through, which is why I'm including it in this post, even though it's not a graphic novel.

Also, I have 17 books checked out from the library and another 6 borrowed from other people. So, the first part of my "read what you own, doofus" challenge is to, well, read those 23 titles. I'm halfway through the biggest, slowest going one, Catherine de Medici: Renaissance Queen of France.

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