The Final Battle!

Do you see what is on the cover of the latest Ranger's Apprentice? The Final Battle........ I am reading it as I write and will let you know .........

A Bit of History

"The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate" by Jacqueline Kelly, a Newberry Honor Book and as well as a YRCA 2012 choice, is a detailed look into the life of an 11 year old girl in the year 1899 in Texas. A time when girls were girls, not scientists.


What are you reading today?

Another Dreamdark

I know it has been awhile..... I have been reading adult books instead of books for kids! But I am back and have been reading and tracking down some great new titles. Stay tuned.

For now I have to write about the second book of the series Dreamdark called " Silksinger" by Laini Taylor that I enjoyed so much.

After a slow start I thoroughly enjoyed her first book, "Blackbringer" and was excited to get my hands on this story that takes place shortly after the other leaves off, with champion Magpie Windwitch, her friend Talon and her loyal band of crows on the quest of finding the fire elementals, the djinn, who together will save the world from chaos and destruction.

We soon meet up with Whisper, a young faerie who is the last of her clan and who is entrusted with the task of protecting the Azazel, a long lost fire elemental, tucked safely away in her tea kettle! Another character we are introduced to is Hirik, a young male faerie with a hidden past who is set on being the champion to the Azazel. These brave and engaging fighters come together, with a host of other intriguing characters, to fight the devils who are slowly getting closer in succeeding in their goal to find Whisper and take over the world. I think you will be suitably shocked to see who is behind all this!

This book is wildly imaginative and yet seems very real. You become immersed in the history and the culture of the clans. The plot is brilliantly woven together giving us insights into these characters' minds where we are aware of their feelings, their desires, their fears. There is both humour and despair. This book is beautifully written with wonderful lyrical descriptions and I know you will be as caught up in this tale as I have been and you will not be able to put it down.

What are you reading today?

Girls and Girls

One of my ex students, Amanda, didn't like fantasy and would always ask, "Don't you have anything real?" So I used to go looking for good "real" books just for her and the others like her.... those who didn't share my love of fantasy. I did pick up two this week, both "realish" and very different from each other.

The book I finished late last night is "Close to Famous" by Joan Bauer. This book had me simply drooling over all the glorious cupcakes described and I have learned so much about cupcakes that I am inspired to go and make some and I hate to bake!

I really enjoyed this book as I have enjoyed so many of this author's in the past. In this book Foster is a 12 year old girl, fleeing with her mom in the night to get away from an ugly incident, and finally ending up in West Virginia in a small hiccup of a town. Foster is one of those girls that I admire so much. Not a whiner or complainer or a poor me, well maybe just a little when her pillowcase full of mementos gets lost, but instead she epitomizes the saying "when the going gets tough.... the tough get going".

No job? need money? Not a problem! Foster prepares some of her scrumptious cupcakes and heads over the the town's diner to share her treats. She comes away with orders for the next day and the next... Foster's goal is to be the youngest chef on tv and she is an amazing baker.

But Foster does have a problem or two of her own and the biggest is - she can't read. She is one of those kids who are so good at getting others to read for her but because Foster is that type of kid who is likeable, honest and is a straight shooter she soon has quite a few of the town folks helping her over come this particular obstacle.






The second is "Encore Edie" by Annabel Lyon. Set in Metro Vancouver, Edie is a 13 year old girl who is just having trouble with life; trouble with her sister Dexter, trouble with her cousin who has Down syndrome and has come to live near her, trouble with her new school, trouble with the school play she has involved herself in and even trouble with a boy who likes her.

Life seems very overwhelming for Edie and I think for a lot of young girls today who just get so wrapped up in themselves and forget to look at the big picture. Things do eventually resolve with Edie feeling and acting better but I can just hear the tone and voice throughout..... whatever!

What are you reading today?

The Youngest Templar - Orphan of Destiny

I have been waiting for this book, the last in the "The Youngest Templar" trilogy, for eons.

"Keeper of the Grail" the first book by Michael Spradlin was a book I very much enjoyed a while ago. Set in the Holy Lands at the time of the Crusades, the Holy Grail is placed into young Tristan's hands for safe keeping and he must deliver this most sacred of relics back to England. However, Tristan seem to be the target of another Knight Templar other than his master, one who knows who Tristan really is and also knows of his importance of his mission.

A second book, "Trail of Fate" followed where Tristan and his two friends, Robard Hode and Maryam, have managed to make it to France but the evil Sir Hugh still manages to find him and threatens once again to end his mission.

In this final book, "Orphan of Destiny", Tristan along with his two friends have made it safely back to his home in England where his beloved abbey, his home where he had been placed as a baby, has been burned to the ground. The trio makes plans to head to the safety of Sherwood Forest, an area well known to Robard, but once again Sir Hugh interferes and places everyone and everything in jeopardy.

Adventure and intrigue, suspense and secrets make this book one difficult to put down.

Dreamdark - Blackbringer

Just look at the cover of "Blackbringer", the first book of "Dreamdark" by Laini Taylor and you know this is going to be an unusual book. There is a picture of a very small fairy with tiny pointed ears, her wings aloft, holding a tiny dagger and sitting high on the back of a crow.

In fact she is scruffy, headstrong and determined. Magpie Windwitch is her name. She is not only a fairy but a very special one who, up till now, flies around the world with her band of crows, defeating devils and imprisoning them once more into bottles. But she stumbles upon evidence of a very powerful being and hurries home to Dreamdark to find out all she can in order to defeat this horror who devours all in his way.

This story is complicated at the beginning as you maneuver among the dialogue and characters who are djinns, the creators of the world and a multitude of faeries and imps, both good and bad. One particular endearing soul to both the reader and to Magpie is the warrior Talon, a Prince of Dreamdark, who is a fairy who cannot fly because of stunted wings. His determination is evident when he finds his own way of overcoming his disability.

But we finally discover who Magpie really is and why it is her birthright to overcome the Blackbringer, that creature who is about to rip open the fabric of the world.

I am amazed at the complexity of this world that the author has created where events and explanations unfold in an unexpected and detailed manner. It took me a while but I loved it. Good readers - try it.

Moon Over Manifest

This book, Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool, is the Newberry Award winner of 2011. I always know a Newberry Award winner is going to be good but will it appeal? Do judges look for things that readers may not? I picked this one up, I read, I could not put down and I loved.

Once again this is a story that entwines so many things so beautifully. Abilene is a spunky 12 year old girl who has come to live in the dusty small town of Manifest in the year 1936 when her father Gideon is supposedly off to work where she can cannot go. After a life of running the rails and not having a home Abilene is determined to find out about her father's past in this town that he has sent her to and told her about through his stories.

Abilene is staying with Shady, a preacher/bartender in his church/bar, she meets Miss Sadie, a diviner, who seems to be able to read Abilene's thoughts and wishes and who tells her stories about a time years before that are connected to a box of mementos that Abliene finds under the floorboards of her room; things like a fishing lure, a cork and a skeleton key.

And she meets a whole host of townsfolk, both in real life and through these stories that ulitimately show her what she is looking for.

I think you will love Abilene and this book.