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George, Jessica Day. 2009. Dragon Spear. Bloomsbury.

"It's a bucket of sand," I said.
"Yes, yes, it is!" Luka was still grinning at me with delight. "Black sand. And we got six bucketfuls!"

Dragon Slippers. Dragon Flight. And now Dragon Spear. This novel continues the adventures of Creel and her friends both human and dragon. If you haven't read the first two books, then this review may reveal spoilers for the first two books. If you've read the first two books, then you'll probably want to read the third one regardless of what I have to say about it! But I will try my best to not have any spoilers about the third one.

Creel is engaged! She's marrying Prince Luka! The date has been set. The plans are underway. Including elaborate plans for her wedding gown--but will the plans go off without a hitch? What do YOU think? Can any wedding really truly go according to plan down to the last little detail? Luka wants the marriage, not the wedding, so he'd be more than thrilled if she'd consent to elope with him. Or if she'd settle for a very small, very private wedding. But Creel--dressmaker that she is--wants to make the PERFECT dress. And a perfect dress needs to be admired, right? If only she could uninvite some of her guests. If only her true friends could be there for her big day. Why oh why did the dragons have to be banished? Why oh why did her family have to come. Her bossy mean old aunt! Her scheming aunt that thinks this is the perfect opportunity for her daughters to marry well. The only person she's happy to meet again is her brother, Hagen.

When the novel opens, Creel and Luka are preparing to go on an extended vacation together to go visit the dragons in their new home, their very beautiful and exotic island home. (Complete with fainting goats). How are the dragons settling into their new home? Are her dragon friends doing well since 'peace' has come into the land?

The heart and soul of this one--like the others--is found in the dragons. Creel has a special bond with the dragons. And her destiny seems to be tied in with hers. The book presents a new danger complete with life-threatening adventures and challenges.

Did I like it? Yes! I don't know that it was as magically thrillingly wonderful as the first in the series. But I love these characters and want to read about them. I'm always happy to get reacquainted with Luka and Creel.

Can it stand alone? Yes and no. I think it's best read as part of the whole. But the book does include little asides--especially in the beginning--that stand as explanations about this world George has created. These catcher-uppers help with characters and setting. So everything you *need* to know for the book to make sense is there within this one volume. Not all fantasy books are that helpful. And some fantasy books that do are too helpful. This information can bog down and be too obvious. But not in this case. Not at all. So if it's been a while since you read the others, or if you're just jumping in now, then I think you'll do fine.

© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews
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Goodman, Alison. 2008. Eon Dragoneye Reborn. Viking. 531 pages.

I let the tips of both my swords dig into the sandy arena floor. It was the wrong move, but the dragging pain in my gut was pulling me into a crouch.

Perhaps it doesn't get off to the best start, what with menstrual cramps and all, but if you can just get past that, I think you'll be swept along into Eon's world. Eon isn't really really Eon. "He" is a she. Eona. But since girls can't be warriors (or Dragoneyes), a false life is a small price to pay for this determined-but-crippled young woman. Trained for most of her life for this test, to reveal her secret identity would be to forfeit not only her training, her dreams, her gifts, but her life as well. Only a few know who she really is. And they've got reasons to keep her secret. This is a compelling story set in a fascinating world. A power-hungry world in a way. A world with plenty of corruption. But an intriguing place all the same. Secrets. Mysteries. Ambition. Greed. Betrayal. The universal struggle of good versus evil. Good stuff.

Every year, twelve young boys are tested to see which will become a Dragoneye apprentice for the ascending dragon of that year (ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon (mirror dragon), snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog, pig, and rat). If the dragon chooses him, he'll become an apprentice and eventually a master dragoneye. When the book opens, Eon is preparing for such a test.


© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews
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Grab, Daphne. 2008. Alive and Well in Prague, New York.

Matisse Osgood is our struggling narrator. She's unhappy that she's had to move from New York City to Prague, New York. She's upset that her father has Parkinson's disease. She's frustrated with having to start a new school and make new friends. The truth is Matisse has very little control over her own life, and everything is changing so quickly. Too much is going on at once. It's too hard for her to absorb, to accept. But life has a habit of going on in spite of it...in spite of everything. For better or worse, Matisse must learn this as well.

I liked this one. It's about family, friends, life, and love.

© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

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Gratz, Alan. 2008. Something Wicked: A Horatio Wilkes Mystery.

Horatio Wilkes is back in his second adventure, Something Wicked. We first met our mystery-solving hero (who is wonderfully snarky) in Something Rotten. A modern adaptation of Shakespeare's Hamlet set in Denmark, Tennessee. In this second adventure, we have a modern-day spin on Shakespeare's Macbeth set on Mount Birnam during the Scottish Highland Fair. (And although this is his second book, it is not necessary to have read Something Rotten in order to enjoy Something Wicked.)

So who are the stars of Something Wicked? Well, there's Mac (Joe Mackenzie), Beth (Mac's girl friend with attitude), Banks (Wallace Banks, cousin and friend to Mac), Duncan (Mac's grandfather, owner of the mountain and founder of the fair), Mal (Duncan's son and Mac's uncle), Mona (Desdemona, Horatio's older sister), and Megan Sternwood (Horatio's love interest from the Macduff clan). Of course, there are many others as well including a fortune-telling road-side psychic named Madame Hecate.

Here's how the novel begins:

History is full of guys who did stupid things for women. Paris started the Trojan War over Helen. Mark Antony abandoned Rome for Cleopatra. John Lennon gave up the Beatles for Yoko Ono. You can say I'm a dreamer, but they're not the only ones. Like my friend, Joe Mackenzie: He was about to jump off a five-story building just to impress a girl.
"Come on, you wuss!" Mac's girlfriend Beth yelled. "If you don't jump off that tower, you're not getting any more of this!" She lifted her sweater up over her head, showing her bra and her extraordinary breasts to Mac, me, Banks, and the five or six other people milling around Kangaroo Kevin's Bungee Jump-O-Rama in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. They actually inspired a small round of applause. I won't say what they did to me, but Beth's fun cushions certainly inspired Mac. With a Scottish war cry he charged the end of the platform and jumped headfirst, screaming all the way down. His kilt opened like a daisy as he fell, and everyone saw his stamen. (1)

This group of friends is on their way to the Highland Fair. (Horatio is the only one NOT wearing a kilt.) But before they arrive, they stop and several have their fortunes read by a woman who calls herself Madame Hecate. An activity that proves rather fateful and which sets the tone for the book. Mac is told that he will compete in the decathlon, he will win, and he will become king of the mountain. Banks is told that he is "lesser than your friend, but greater" and "not so happy, yet much happier" and that he will one day own the mountain. These "prophecies" set off a chain of events...

Something Wicked is a mystery. The mystery in this case? Who murdered Duncan Macrae? The man, the founder of the Fair and highly respected and beloved by all the clans, is found murdered in his tent on opening night. Horatio is the one who discovers the body. Who sees the name 'Malcolm' written in blood. Who reports the crime to the police. Who becomes friends with Sheriff Wood. It is Horatio who starts to piece together just who had the motive, means, and opportunity. He may not like being in the center of this unfolding mystery. (Especially as he discovers he has his own role to play in solving the case.) But Horatio plays a crucial role in bringing justice about.

I loved so many things about this one. It's a smart novel. Great writing. Good humor. Interesting twists.

From the author's site:

Something wicked this way comes,
and only Horatio Wilkes can stop it.

A Scottish Highland Fair turns foul when Horatio discovers the games' founder, Duncan MacRae, dead in his tent. All signs point to Duncan's son as the murderer, but Horatio's not so sure--especially when his friend Mac and Mac's girlfriend Beth start acting like they own the place. And that's just one of many mysteries: Like why are Mac's and Beth's fathers acting so suspiciously? What's the deal with the goth-punk bagpiper corps threatening Horatio's friend Banks? Who is the hot girl spying on everyone? And why, exactly, are there men in kilts tossing telephone poles around?

Horatio will need all his snark and smarts--and maybe a little amazing grace--to thwart the fate a road-side psychic laid out for him and his friends. Not that Horatio believes in that kind of thing anyway . . .

Kilts, Celts, and killers: the sequel to Something Rotten is "Macbeth" as you've never seen it before!

For a limited time, you can read Something Rotten for free.

Other reviews: Genre Go Round, Readers' Rants.

To learn more about Alan Gratz, Something Wicked, and/or Shakespeare...visit these other stops on the tour:

the 160acrewoods, A Christian Worldview of Fiction, All About Children’s Books, Becky’s Book Reviews, Book Review Maniac, Cafe of Dreams, Dolce Bellezza, Hyperbole, KidzBookBuzz.com, Looking Glass Reviews, Maggie Reads, Never Jam Today, Reading is My Superpower

© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

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Gaiman, Neil. 2008. The Graveyard Book. With illustrations by Dave McKean.

I really loved this one. The atmosphere, the pacing, the characters, everything is just right with this one. The Graveyard Book is the story of a young boy, Nobody Owens, whose parents (and sister) have been murdered. The young baby--toddler--wanders into the neighboring graveyard and happens to escape the killer. The residents of the graveyard take pity on him. They adopt him. Mr. and Mrs. Owens especially. (Along with Silas.) Give him the freedom of the grave yard. They raise him. They teach him. He is one of their own. And yet...and yet he's not quite of them. He's alive. Can the dead really and truly raise the boy right? Silas is his guardian. He is one of the few that can leave the graveyard. He walks amongst the living and the dead. Him being quite neither. They only know this. Someone is out to kill 'Bod' (their nickname for Nobody). And it is only if the boy remains there that he is safe. But how long will the boy be content with them, with only the dead for company, alone from others his own kind?

This is an adventure-filled story with great characters and amazing atmosphere. The book is slightly unusual in that it is episodic. The book spans a dozen years or so. We see Bod grow from a toddler to a young man--a teen boy of fifteen or sixteen. We see him learn to walk and talk and fade and haunt and dreamwalk. We see him learn to explore the world around him both in and out of the graveyard.

Definitely recommended.

First sentence: There was a hand in the darkness, and it held a knife.

© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

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Green, John. 2008. Paper Towns. October release.

Prologue opening paragraph: The way I figure it, everyone gets a miracle. Like, I will probably never be struck by lightning, or win a Nobel Prize, or become the dictator of a small nation in the Pacific Islands, or contract terminal ear cancer, or spontaneously combust. But if you consider all the unlikely things together, at least one of them will probably happen to each of us. I could have seen it rain frogs. I could have stepped foot on Mars. I could have been eaten by a whale. I could have married the queen of England or survived months at sea. But my miracle was different. My miracle was this: out of all the houses in all the subdivisions in all of Florida, I ended up living next door to Margo Roth Spiegelman.

First sentence: The longest day of my life began tardily.

My favorite quote: I spent the next three hours in classrooms, trying not to look at the clocks above various blackboards, and then looking at the clocks, and then being amazed that only a few minutes had passed since I last looked at the clock. I'd had nearly four years of experience looking at these clocks, but their sluggishness never ceased to surprise. If I am ever told that I have one day to live, I will head straight for the hallowed halls of Winter Park High School, where a day has been known to last a thousand years. (18)

Quentin Jacobsen, our narrator, has been trying to puzzle out the mystery that is Margo for years now. And as their senior year comes to a close, the mystery is only deepening as far as he's concerned. It all starts with a late night visit. Margo appears at his bedroom window asking Quentin to join her in some mischievous revenge--she needs his car, or rather she needs his mom's car. And Quentin, or Q as she calls him, would do anything and everything for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to spend some quality time with the girl of his dreams.

What happens that night and in the following weeks will shape Quentin in ways he never would--never could have--expected.

John Green's first novel, Looking for Alaska, won the Printz award in 2006. Green's second novel, An Abundance of Katherines, earned a Printz honor. And, of course, along the way he's picked up an enormous number of fans both through his books and his vlogging with the Brotherhood 2.0. (And though that's over and done with, more videos and blogging can be seen on the Nerdfighters Ning site.

Note: I'm reviewing an ARC, so keep that in mind when I'm pulling a few quotes out. They may or may not be the same as what makes it into the finished book that will be released in October.

Now for some Weekly Geeks Q&A fun:

Bart's Bookshelf asks, "I've not read any John Green, so have you a favourite quote/line from Paper Towns that best sums up the relationship of the main protagonists?"

I've already quoted a bit of this one. But here are two more that will give you a feel for the book:

"Margo always loved mysteries. And in everything that came afterward, I could never stop thinking that maybe she loved mysteries so much that she became one." (8)

"I smiled. She smiled. I believed the smile. We walked to the stairs and then ran down them. At the bottom of each flight, I jumped off the bottom step and clicked my heels to make her laugh, and she laughed. I thought I was cheering her up. I thought she was cheerable. I thought maybe if I could be confident, something might happen between us. I was wrong." (58)

Jennie asks, "Is Paper Towns everything that we've now come to expect from John Green? Because I'm DYING to read this one!!! Will I just be disappointed, so is my internal hype well-deserved?"

Yes. If you've followed his vlogging and come to love his personality just as much as his fiction, then you won't be disappointed. Green's personality shines through on this one. I haven't read An Abundance of Katherines yet, but this one is just as good as Looking for Alaska.

M. Molly says, "John Green said that Paper Towns was written as a response to Looking for Alaska. Do you see signs of this in PT? Also, does PT break out of JG's "Nerdy boy meets awesome girl who changes his life" equation (not that I mind it...)?"

Yes and no. In some ways the two books are similar. Two guys on the fringe of 'the-in-crowd' find a few wacky friends, two unforgettable girls to dream about and idolize, and thus "come of age". Both have humor and sarcasm in just the right amount. Both have their serious and meaningful layers. Where they differ, in my opinion, is in the mixing. Looking for Alaska is very bittersweet, very contemplative. And Paper Towns has this too. But it's not as bittersweet. It's a bit wackier than Looking for Alaska. Miles and Quentin are not mirror images or anything. Quentin has enough of a personality--as does his friends and dream-girl--to make this one unique. It is not Looking for Alaska part two. But if you boiled it down to the basics, it would have many of the same ingredients, just in different amounts.

Suey says, "I 2nd everything everyone's said about Paper Towns. Dying to know if it's like his others. Better maybe even?"

It's good. It's very good. I won't say I think it's the best, best, best book ever written. But it's definitely one of the better books I've read of YA published in 2008. It would make my top ten list--so far at least--for YA novels published this year. I can't say it's better necessarily. But I can say it met my expectations. I expected really good work, and it delivered. I was surprised by Looking for Alaska. I read it before it was published. It was his first book. I didn't know quite what to expect. And it just blew me away, I thought it was one of the BEST books of the year. So it's hard to match my enthusiasm and passion since with this one I went into with different expectations.

Melissa asks, "Trying to say something different about Paper Towns: how does it compare to his other two? Better? Worse? Different? Do you think that his style works well for the story? (I don't even know the story!)"

I think Green is great at coming-of-age stories about awkward guys who come into their own and get comfortable with who they are and what they want. And he's great at depicting the highs and lows of teen life. The best and worst and most embarrassing. He definitely is a great storyteller.

I haven't read An Abundance of Katherines, but I thought this one was just as good as his first one, Looking for Alaska.

Joy Renee asks, "I'm interested in the technique and art of storytelling itself so anything along that line would interest me. My questions are for any or all of the fiction titles in your list:

How was Point-of-View handled? Was there a single POV character or did it alternate among two or more. Was it always clear whose eyes and mind were filtering?

It was written in first person. And I think this was an effective way to tell a very personal story.

How does the title relate to the story? Was it fitting?" It was very fitting. I can't really go into it all here because it would contain spoilers. I think if you *know* ahead of time what the title is all about, then you might approach the book differently. It's best just to go with it and learn as the character grows.

© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

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George, Madeleine. 2008. Looks.

Start in the sky. Look down at the valley. Green, plush, peaceful landscape. Drop down a little, towards the town, then skim over it, past the low beige buildings of the university, the clean white spires of the Congregational churches, the flat green welcome mat of the town common, out towards the edge of town, towards Valley Regional High School, a rambling, one-story brick building surrounded by soccer fields, field hockey fields, football fields, parking lots. Hover above Valley Regional High. Watch the crowd of kids as it streams into the school like water sucked down a storm drain. And listen: Even from high up you can hear the hum of a school on the first day back in September.
Now drop, plummet straight down like a stone, through the pebbly roof and the air-conditioning ducts and the bundles of wiring and the soft acoustic tiles, until you burst into the teeming front hall of the school. Float up by the ceiling where you can take it all in, the blended smoothie of backpacks and T-shirts and freckled shoulders and tank tops, ponytails and crew cuts and hoop earrings and knotted leather necklaces. Wince at the noise, the crashing surf of screeching, laughing, yelling.
Now pivot, face the light blue cinderblock wall next to the main doors of the school. Someone is standing there, pressed into the auditorium door alcove, someone so huge and still she might be mistaken for a piece of architecture if it weren't for the sky blue windbreaker that marks her as human, the backpack sitting limply on the floor by her feet. Look at her. Nobody else is, but you look at her. Look at Meghan Ball. (1-2)

Meghan Ball, one of our two narrators, is obese. "Meghan Ball is at once the most visible and invisible person in school. In the obvious way, she is unbearably visible. She takes up the most space of any person in the entire school--in the entire town, in fact. She is impossible to overlook in class pictures or on the risers during chorus concerts--they always make her stand in the back row, where her round head hovers above a space big enough to accommodate three normal-sized kids. She has a back as wide as a basketball backboard, perfect for spitting on and pelting things at. In this way, Meghan is a walking bull's-eye target. But then, just when she feels like she can't get any bigger, when she's feeling brontosaurically huge and exposed, someone will walk right past her--right past her--saying something totally private they would never want anyone else to hear, just as if Meghan wasn't there at all--like right now, right this very second, watch." (3)

Heavy on descriptions and details, Looks examines high school life through two sets of eyes. Meghan, whom we've already met, and Aimee Zorn, a girl with an obvious eating disorder, a girl obviously in pain who is struggling with her life the only way she knows how: by controlling what goes in and out of her mouth and by writing poetry. In alternating voices, Looks explores most facets of high school life.

There are moments when the observations, the descriptions, are right on:

"It's amazing what people will say right in front of you when you're obese, like you're deaf or something, like you're retarded. Or like you don't even speak the language, like you're a tourist lost in the land of the thin." (5)

"The fat girl who loses her only friend sees, all at once, how everything works. She sees that all promises are fictions, all friendships are games with winners and losers. The fat girl left alone in the world sees that every human being has a value assigned to them that they are helpless to change no matter what they do, and she sees that people trade each other like baseball cards: three cheap friends for two valuable friends, a whole group of worthless friends for one popular friend. It's like dying and coming back to life, being a fat girl who loses her only friend; it gives you an insight into the people around you that the average person couldn't bear to have.
But if it doesn't break her, this insight makes the friendless fat girl strong. The fat girl left alone in the world becomes the ultimate outsider, and outsiders always know the insiders' secrets, because insiders don't care what's happening on the outside--they never check to see what the outsiders know. They usually don't even know who the outsiders are. The person on the bottom sees what's happening on top, the person at the back sees what's happening in front, the person on the outside sees what's happening at the center, and the fat girl who loses her only friend is under, behind, and outside all at once; if she cares to look, she can see everything in every direction. God must be a friendless fat girl, because only friendless fat girls are as omniscient as God." (144)

But for me, the narrative was too detached. The third person present tense which surprisingly blended seamlessly with passages written directly to address the reader (that would be second person plural???) just didn't work well for me all the time. I became impatient. I became annoyed. While I wanted to love this book--really wanted to love it--I found myself increasingly annoyed by a few things. Nothing major. But the fact that "the fat girl" was always "the fat girl" and sometimes the "friendless fat girl" or the "lonely fat girl" but hardly ever just Meghan was something that really really really really annoyed me. Fat wasn't only a label, it was the defining characteristic for Meghan. And that just doesn't sit well with me. I felt that a bit more fleshing out for all the characters was in order. I felt Aimee Zorn got the better treatment, better back story, more heart and soul. At the end of the book, I felt I still didn't know Meghan. She was still just the fat girl. She may be the fat girl who now has a friend. But still. I didn't feel that way with Aimee. I felt she was more developed as a character. This was her story. Fat girl was just there along to help skinny girl win the day.

Based on what reviews I've read, I'm alone in seeing that this one has a few flaws. Most seem to really really enjoy it. And it's not that I didn't enjoy aspects of it. But it seemed impersonal and detached in places. Unemotional even in a few spots. And while detachment doesn't make a novel good or bad or whatnot. It does make it slightly less satisfying. Would I recommend it? Yes. Other people seem to be enjoying this one a good deal. And the story is a good one even if it reads closer to a parable (is that the right word???) than an actual story.


Other reviews: Little Willow, Bookshelves of Doom, Sarah Miller, Teen Book Review.

Also of interest: Publishers' Weekly article, author's website.

© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

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Godbersen, Anna. 2008. Rumors: A Luxe Novel.

It's sad (but in this case sad-but-true) when the best thing about a novel is the cover. Releasing (according to Amazon) on June 3, 2008, Rumors is the sequel to the largely delightful but lusty teen novel Luxe. (Read my review here.) The first novel I found to be a guilty but highly enjoyable indulgence. A soap opera in historical costumes if you will. But this second one was a huge disappointment. Don't hate me. I'm just being honest. I found it boring. Really really boring. The characters seem lifeless. It's one thing for characters to be fleshed-out stereotypes. It's quite another when even the superficialness of the stereotypes lack the appearance of the appearance of life. Penelope. Diana. Lina. They all lacked the spark of life, of interest. Never have I been so bored with a novel. That along with the ending, killed any pleasure I might have gotten from reading this one.

Rumors, for me, is such a contrast to the first novel, Luxe. Luxe had life. It sparkled with interest. I cared about the characters--for the most part--and I wanted to know what happened next. Unfortunately that interest didn't transfer over to the sequel. The characters that before I had found so interesting, so fun...now were as dull and lifeless and as pointless as could be.

Penelope wants Henry. Diana wants Henry. Henry wants Diana but won't go after her because of Elizabeth's so-called "death." Henry's friends tell him NOT to go after Diana. No one is happy. Everyone is manipulative or calculating. There are a few new characters introduced, but it wasn't enough to keep me interested in this mindless entertainment.


© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

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Goodman, Susan E. 2008. See How They Run: Campaign Dreams, Election Schemes, and the Race to the White House. Illustrated by Elwood H. Smith. Bloomsbury USA. 96 pages.

If you're looking for a down-to-earth, straight-forward, reader-friendly guide to politics that is appropriate for children--probably eight and up if I had to guess--then look no further than Susan E. Goodman's See How They Run. Its engaging text (in combination with photographs, illustrations, and sidebars) makes a complex and often complicated subject a bit easier to digest. This would be a good example of what makes children's (or YA) fiction so accessible to adults. This subject (for most) could have so easily been dull and lifeless and difficult to wade through. But it isn't. It's accessible. It's well researched. It's interesting. Dare I say it--it's fun EVEN if you don't have an assignment due. I'm a big believer in I-didn't-know-that facts saving the day when it comes to nonfiction. And this book has plenty. Recommended for children AND adults.

© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

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Warming Island, Greenland

Coordinates: 71 33 N 1 47 W

Population: 0

Oftentimes surprises make us happy, and these unexpected events or discoveries provoke good feelings. Once in a while however, we are unpleasantly surprised and greeted with a sudden occurrence that comes more as a rude awakening. Greenland’s Warming Island—also known by the less-easily pronounced Uunartoq Qeqertotoq—is a recent geographical example of the latter. (more…)

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