This book is on the edge of what I would normally read and maybe on the edge for what is appropriate for YA (depending on what you believe). The strength is that it attempts to lend some guidance and understanding in manipulative (possibly abusive) situations that are happening with teens. Rose is going through a major family crisis, causing and paralleling her teenage angst. She takes a road trip to see her grandmother and make peace with herself regarding her actions of the previous summer. Her mother catches a ride with her, giving her space, making a pain of herself, providing information that might have helped Rose if she had known sooner.

REVIEW

The selection for November 2009 is A Perfect Season for Dreaming by Benjamin Alire Sáenz, illustrated by Esau Andrade Valencia, and translated by Luis Humberto Crosthwaite. The artwork first caught my attention. I love the unique dreams of the old man. And in the end the artwork is what influenced my decision. That and my 10 year old son’s agreement.

REVIEW

Current Pick and List of Previous

In celebration of the release of The Gathering Storm by Brandon Sanderson/Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series, I read the 6th book of the series, Lord of Chaos. Yes, I am only halfway through the series.

Since it is maybe a little silly to review all of the books in a huge series (you are either hooked by now or not), I’ve decided to Ultra-Condense the books, as I have been doing with the Pratchett Discworld books.

I will say it is one of the best so far of the series, of a series that I think is the best of fantasy. Challenging for YA and adults alike, but worth the time and effort.

Ultra-Condensed

Wheel of Time

BookAdvice has had a Book of the Month for 3 years now. Yea! This month’s selection is City of Fire, the first book of Laurence Yep’s new trilogy. Because I love Yep’s writing and because he’s trying his hand at alternate history.

REVIEW

Current Pick and List of Previous

In keeping with the season, I have chosen a garden book for this month. I have concentrated mainly on fiction books with artists as illustrators for my Picture Books of the Month, because I wanted to spotlight illustrators and creativity. I couldn’t resist this book with photos, as Pumpkin Circle by George Levenson and Shmuel Thaler is a creative work of art despite being nonfiction. I like a more recent book by them even better, but it is less of a picture book.

REVIEW

Current Pick and List of Previous

A creepy carnival that can transcend time is the theme of this Ray Bradbury classic. All three protagonists (friends Jim Nightshade, Will Halloway, and Will’s father) sense the coming and arrival of this carnival that tempts people to fulfill their dreams regarding age. The young wish to be older, the aging want to lose years. The transformation also comes with a price. Each must work for the carnival in some mutated form to pay for the service rendered. The carnival is timeless, having traveled through centuries.

Read More

Wolf by the Ears is an emotional depiction of Harriet’s (Sally Hemings’ daughter) preparation to leave forever the home she loves at age 21, a home where she was pampered,loved and educated, though still Thomas Jefferson’s slave. The book is a fictional journal of what might have been her thoughts. Not intending to leave, she is confronted by certain realities – that living at Monticello she would be a slave and not protected after Jefferson’s death, that there is no guarantee of physical protection 24 hours a day for a “black” girl of marriageable years. Ultimately she decides she must leave and struggles with her decision and whether or not she is Jefferson’s daughter.

Read More

Have you started reading The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan yet? The beginning of the end has come. In celebration of the publication of the first ending book, written by Brandon Sanderson since Jordan died, Fantasy Folder is hosting a drawing for The Eye of the World, which started the series, and Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn.

Post a comment on Fantasy Folder today to enter for the drawing. Three sets will be given away.

A representation of the moving pictures industry. There are some amusing allusions to certain movies and the beginnings of the industry.  It’s twisted and wacky in the normal Pratchett way. A whole sidetrack of dog evolution through the eyes of Gaspode, the talking dog. An abandoned and forgotten temple starts the cycle of the industry. Mind control through dreams and the obsession of the stories. A great book for quotes.

Ultra-Condensed

At last Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld will be available, Oct 6. My son and I have been waiting for this alternate history book for quite some time. It deserves a mention, because there aren’t many YA books of this genre. Also, because it has one of the coolest covers. Hope it lives up to our expectations.