This series of books came highly recommended by a student of mine (thank you, Logan).  Part of being an eighth grade teacher is admitting to yourself that somewhere deep inside your inner thirteen-your old is still alive and well.  Because I was such an avid reader at that age, I managed to go through an impressive number of fantasy and sci-fiction books, most of which had sequels or prequels or both.

Due to the popularity of Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings series, most fantasy books followed a similar plot arc complete with fictional maps, expansive histories, richly imagined languages, and epic adventures.  Hobbits were untouchable, but elves, dwarves, gnomes, orcs, trolls and wizards lived on.

Star Wars also influenced many science fiction books, replacing stories like 2001: A Space Odyssey with swashbuckling space tales.  Spaceships no longer plodded through space, swords became standard fare, and roguish pirates were all the rage thanks to Han Solo

But that was back in the day.

In my mind, The Bartimaeus Trilogy bucks those trends in favor of more modern ones. Read the rest of this entry »

What is your favorite Indiana Jones movie?  Is it the first Indiana Jones in which the hero (played by Harrison Ford) is pitted against Nazi Germany and the Fuhrer’s desire to possess the powerful Ark of the Covenant?  Perhaps you are a bigger fan of the third movie during which Professor Jones follows in his father’s footsteps to locate the Holy Grail and once again outmaneuver the Nazis.  My gut instinct tells me that despite your opinion about the most recent adventure, the second movie is your least favorite.  It’s darker.  The villains reflect more sadistic and evil traits than the Nazis ever do.  Children find themselves in the hands of brutal guards while they search to uncover sacred stones.  A man’s heart catches fire as his body becomes submerged in lava.

Ruiz Zafon’s second novel inhabits a similar space. Read the rest of this entry »

Review: The houses in Germany, in Berlin, lie nestled together as close as two lovers. Their multi-storied structures overlook the sidewalks on which pedestrians pass from home to work or to school or to the market and back again. Neighborhoods are filled with friends who call out to each other, who joke, and who share the day over similar chores or chance encounters. It is here, on these sidewalks, that fifteen year-old Michael Berg nearly collapses as he fights an illness and is rescued by Frau Schmitz. It is there, in her home, fresh from vomiting that the seeds of passion are planted. He falls in love with her, a woman twice his age. Read the rest of this entry »

Breaking Dawn: Best Seller or Bad End
By Clare Beusch

Most fans of the Twilight Saga would think “How can this series get any better?”  Anyone who has read the fourth book of the thrilling saga will say, “It can!”  Breaking Dawn by Stephanie Meyer is the fourth and most adventurous of the books in the series.

In the previous books and in the beginning of Breaking Dawn, we get a sense of how Bella, a girl who moved from sunny Arizona to dreary Forks, Washington, feels about her vampire sweetheart, Edward Cullen.  Through a series of vampire battles and struggles, she discovers the fantasy world of immortals that she never thought existed.

The second book in the saga, New Moon, shows how Bella’s life is altered again when she discovers that her best friend, Jacob, is a werewolf.  Werewolves and vampires don’t get along, so Bella is constantly conflicted about which side to be on, without hurting anyone she loves.  Read the rest of this entry »

Two rogues swindle and fight their way through the bloodthirsty and brutal landscapes of the 10th century. Amram, a towering pillar of virility, carries a giant axe known for its propensity to remove heads from necks. His companion is Zelikman, a scarecrow of a man clad all in black who uses a much less devastating but no less effective physicians lance. Their tongues are nearly as nimble as their weapons of choice and get them into and out of more trouble than a lifetime needs. Like two amiable brothers, they carry a strong bond between them, and they work together to separate the drunken and debauched from their money as easily as possible. They are mercenaries, criminals, thieves. They are gentlemen of the road, but when one of their plans goes awry, the two find themselves entangled in a war between nations, and they are forced to choose what is right and what is wrong. Read the rest of this entry »

Review: This book records the life and times of Enzo the dog. Enzo is part labrador, part poodle and german-shepherd, unofficially part terrier (because terriers are problem-solvers, and Enzo would like to believe that he comes from “a determined gene pool”) and wholly sagacious. Plucked as a pup from the lap of his mother by Denny Swift, Enzo becomes fast friends with his new owner. Frustrated by his lack of thumbs, lips that cannot pronounce words, and inability to sit on a toilet and flush it, Enzo works hard both to understand his master and to be understood. Surprisingly, television finally serves a useful purpose, and Enzo becomes assimilated to the urban world he inhabits through days spent watching T.V. while waiting for Denny to return home. The two share a common bond: race car driving. Denny possesses an uncanny ability behind the wheel, especially when weather conditions in the Pacific Northwest make track conditions far from ideal. The two, master and dog, share in Denny’s dream, but life gets in the way and they both must find ways to cope with the harrowing turns that are thrown at them. Read the rest of this entry »

Review: Growing up turns out to be a hard task. Ask any teenager (of whom I know many), and I am sure that they will agree that their lives are filled with drama of the highest order. Friends turn on friends, potential suitors are taken up and discarded in awkward moments, and occasionally one is confronted with emotional trauma related to some horribly embarrassing moment. If there was no angst, the music industry would be broke and Stephanie Meyers would be writing about something other than hormonally charged young vampires. For Robyn Scott, the author of Twenty Chickens and a Saddle, growing up in Selebei, Botswana is infinitely more difficult. Read the rest of this entry »