Thirteen-year-old Charlie stands up to a bully and soon finds himself on the run. When he ducks into an abandoned warehouse, he discovers someone else already hiding there: a giant! Charlie soon learns that the giant is on his way to meet his family, but an evil doctor and his team of scientists are close to finding him. If they find the giant, they’ll harvest growth hormones and use them to make a fortune on athletes and soldiers. Charlie vows to help his new friend escape and to keep him from becoming anyone’s science experiment.
The story moves quickly, right from the first page. The bad guys are uncomplicated in their villainy. Charlie and the giant, whom he names Bruce, develop the kind of friendship that can only come of shared adventures. At one point, they visit a drive-in movie theater to watch a movie, and of course, things go horribly but hilariously wrong. Charlie teaches Bruce some moves he learned in Bruce Lee movies, something he used to share with his brother who’s now gone. Opening up to the giant allows Charlie to begin processing his grief over his brother’s absence. It’s clear the friendship has a healing effect on both boys. Giant Smugglers is perfect for fans of urban adventure and friendship.
Recommended for Ages 10 up.
Cultural Elements
Mostly white characters.
Profanity/Crude Language Content
Mild profanity and crude language used rarely. The bad guys drop a few mild swear words.
Romance/Sexual Content One kiss between a boy and girl.
Spiritual Content None.
Violent Content A boy punches another kid. A giant tosses a human around. One man called The Stick attacks a giant and clearly has no remorse for harming others.
At one point Charlie takes his stepdad’s car without his permission. Charlie doesn’t know how to drive, but he’s the champ of a car racing video game called Total Turbo, and he relies on his gaming skills to keep him safe on the road.
Drug Content
A man uses his son to test a steroid-like drug to make him faster and stronger.
Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
11-year-old Alex Petroski loves space and rockets, his mom, his brother, and his dog Carl Sagan—named for his hero, the real-life astronomer. All he wants is to launch his golden iPod into space the way Carl Sagan (the man, not the dog) launched his Golden Record on the Voyager spacecraft in 1977. From Colorado to New Mexico, Las Vegas to L.A., Alex records a journey on his iPod to show other lifeforms what life on earth, his earth, is like. But his destination keeps changing. And the funny, lost, remarkable people he meets along the way can only partially prepare him for the secrets he’ll uncover—from the truth about his long-dead dad to the fact that, for a kid with a troubled mom and a mostly not-around brother, he has way more family than he ever knew.
My Review
See You in the Cosmos is told as if it’s the transcripts of Alex’s iPod recordings. I loved the unique format and the rambling voice Alex had, but it also meant for lots of long paragraphs which made the pages a little harder for me to read. Struggling readers might have trouble with this, too.
At the beginning of the story, 11-year-old Alex takes a train by himself to a convention where he hopes to launch his rocket. I loved his bravery and how innocent he was in taking off on this journey like it was nothing (his maturity and independence definitely reminded me of Willow from Counting by 7s.) But as I read the story, I was so nervous about his trip. I have an 11-year-old, and kept thinking about how terrified I’d be for her to be riding trains across the country and traveling with strangers. Obviously Alex finds great friends along his journey, and his trust in the world pays off in that way. I struggled—he did not.
I thought the reveal of the family situation (don’t want to give it away) pulled a lot of things together. Just as I started thinking, wait, this isn’t right, the pieces fell into place and Alex learned what was really going on. The one character I really didn’t connect with was his brother. I thought he did some odd things that really didn’t add up.
I loved the fact that Alex was so interested in rockets, but I wished there was more about those mechanics and his plans in the story. Most of the focus ends up being about his hopes in extraterrestrial life and his relationships with his family and community, which were also enjoyable themes. If you liked Counting by 7s, add See You in the Cosmos to your list.
Recommended for Ages 10 up.
Profanity/Crude Language Content
“Bleep” appears instead of any profanity.
Romance/Sexual Content None.
Spiritual Content Alex meets a new friend who is Buddhist and has taken a vow of silence. He communicates through writing on a small chalk board.
Violent Content One young man punches another in a fight over a girl. Alex is injured in an accident and hospitalized.
Drug Content
Alex’s friends (who are much older) drink alcohol. Later, one of them listens to the recording Alex made while they were drinking. She hears herself in the background talking and feels embarrassed about her behavior. She expresses regret for drinking in front of Alex.
Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
Eighteen-year-old Piper Sail’s best friend Lydia goes missing from a neighborhood street in 1924 Chicago. Piper vows to find her friend, even if she has to take up the investigation herself. As Piper begins to hunt for Lydia, she soon learns everyone in her neighborhood hides a secret, even her father and the handsome detective who’s working the case. Piper realizes finding the truth may cost her newfound love, her respect for her family, and possibly, her own life.
I loved this book! I was hooked from the first page. Immediately we meet interesting (and funny!) characters and see complex relationships. There were a few elements of the mystery that I kind of saw coming, and I worried that would make the ending too obvious. It did not. The Lost Girl of Astor Street had plenty of twists and turns to keep me guessing at the real story behind Lydia’s disappearance and the odd behavior of some of the other characters.
The plot elements tied together well enough to be believable but also not feel too convenient—which I think is a delicate balance in a mystery. Piper kept busy with a lot of sub-plots, all interesting stuff that ultimately provided other pieces in the grander puzzle of the story.
One really random thing I enjoyed a lot was all the hats. It seemed like whenever anyone went anywhere, there were great hats involved. I loved that!
I definitely recommend this book. I loved the characters, found the mystery elements well-paced, and seriously enjoyed the adventure in 1920s Chicago. This one is a must-read for mystery and historical lovers.
Recommended for Ages 14 up.
Cultural Elements
Piper learns a little bit about the Irish and Italian mafia. She dates an Italian detective, and some friends/family members disapprove of the relationship. Piper’s friend Lydia has seizures.
Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.
Romance/Sexual Content A few brief male-female kisses. Piper hears a story about a girl her age rescued from a human trafficking ring. She visits some places that prostitutes frequent as part of her search for Lydia.
Spiritual Content At one point, Piper feels discouraged, feeling like she’ll never find Lydia. She says the only thing left to do is cry out to God, if you believe He’s there.
A couple of scenes are set in a church—funeral and wedding.
Violent Content A young woman is shot. A captor interrogates a young woman, hitting her and shoving her underwater when the girl refuses to answer questions.
Drug Content
Piper’s family enjoys wine with dinner, despite Prohibition laws. (Piper herself doesn’t drink.) Piper’s brother comes home drunk and says some unkind things to her.
Today I’m part of a blog tour with Disney to celebrate Beauty and the Beast: Lost in a Book by Jennifer Donnelly! My review copy of Beauty and the Beast: Lost in a Book and a complimentary copy of Belle’s Library: A Collection of Literary Quotes and Inspirational Musings was provided by Disney.
Beauty and the Beast: Lost in a Book
Jennifer Donnelly
Disney Press
January 31, 2017
Smart, bookish Belle, a captive in the Beast’s castle, has become accustomed to her new home and has befriended its inhabitants. When she comes upon Nevermore, an enchanted book unlike anything else she has seen in the castle, Belle finds herself pulled into its pages and transported to a world of glamour and intrigue. The adventures Belle has always imagined, the dreams she was forced to give up when she became a prisoner, seem within reach again.
The charming and mysterious characters Belle meets within the pages of Nevermore offer her glamorous conversation, a life of dazzling Parisian luxury, and even a reunion she never thought possible. Here Belle can have everything she ever wished for. But what about her friends in the Beast’s castle? Can Belle trust her new companions inside the pages of Nevermore? Is Nevermore‘s world even real? Belle must uncover the truth about the book, before she loses herself in it forever.
My Review
I won’t lie– I agreed to review this book for two reasons: one, because I love Jennifer Donnelly’s writing (A Northern Light is still my favorite, though I’ve enjoyed other books she’s written) and because I needed a little more Beauty and the Beast in my life to tide me over until the movie comes out next month. Right? You know.
Because I know what a fantastic writer Donnelly is, I didn’t worry that this book would be overly cheesy, and in fact it wasn’t. Don’t get me wrong– there are still silly antics between the household characters, like Cogsworth rambling about grand stories and Lumiere gently teasing him while Mrs. Potts mothers everyone. But on the whole, the story has a more serious tone– much like the original animated movie. The prologue and epilogue feature two sisters– Death and Love playing chess together and discussing a wager they’ve made over the lives of Belle and her Beast. That sets a darker tone for the story, but for the most part, the tale isn’t dark.
I liked that the story tied into some of the memorable moments from the movie– Beast sharing his library with Belle, and the way he saved her from the wolves. But there were added moments, too, where the reader gets to see expanded scenes from those referenced in the movie and a lot more of the process of Belle trying to figure out where she belongs and whether to trust her new castle friends.
The story about the enchanted book felt like it definitely could have happened between scenes of the original movie. I liked that I didn’t have to abandon one of my favorite childhood movies in order to enjoy this, but it didn’t try to compete with the movie, either. This was a fresh, different story that still tied in with the overarching tale.
Overall? I definitely recommend this one to Beauty and the Beast fans, especially those counting down the days to the release of the new movie who need a little something to get through until it hits theaters.
Recommended for Ages 9 up.
Cultural Elements
Belle comes from a small French town. In Nevermore, she meets a fair-skinned countess and her sister, who has dark skin and silver hair.
Profanity/Crude Language Content
One instance of mild profanity near the beginning of the book. (Beast makes a comment that he and his companions are cursed.)
Romance/Sexual Content None.
Spiritual Content Some magical elements. Two sisters– Death and Love appear as sisters and make a wager on Beast and Belle. Death intends to win the bet by any means necessary. Throughout the story, as in the original Disney movie, Belle learns that it’s the strength of heart, of love that matters and that loving takes great courage.
Violent Content A brief battle scene in which Belle fights off clockwork beings and briefly faces down Death herself.
Jennifer Donnelly is an award-winning, best-selling author of books for young adults and adults, including the Waterfire Saga: Deep Blue, Rogue Wave, Dark Tide, and Sea Spell. Her other young adult novels include These Shallow Graves, Revolution, and A Northern Light, winner of Britain’s prestigious Carnegie Medal, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Young Adult Literature, and a Michael L. Printz Honor. She has also written Humble Pie, a picture book, and the adult novels The Tea Rose, The Winter Rose, and The Wild Rose. She lives in New York’s Hudson Valley. You can visit her at www.jenniferdonnelly.com, or on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @jenwritesbooks.
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The BookBurners review is a little different than my usual spiel, and not only because it’s part of an Irish Banana Blog Tour. BookBurners is not actually a traditional novel. The story (well, actually, stories) was first published at Serial Box in, you guessed it, serial form. Readers have the option of subscribing to a particular series and getting the latest episodes via an app for phone and tablet or purchasing them on Amazon individually, and now as a whole season. The whole thing is almost 800 pages, so it’s pretty whoppin’.
The sixteen episodes were written by a team of authors whose names you might recognize. And rather than the longer form of a novel, these episodes read like segments of a TV show, with a team of characters who face individual challenges resolved in each section but building together to form a larger story.
Confession time: Apparently I’m a doof and didn’t read the description of the series very thoroughly before agreeing to review it. Bookburners is not young adult or new adult literature. The main character is actually in her thirties. So… um. Oops? Despite this, I really enjoyed the format and got pretty hooked on the story and its characters as well. So, let me give you a bit of background about the book and then I’ll launch into my thoughts on it…
Bookburners (Bookburners #1.1-1.16)
Max Gladstone, Margaret Dunlap, Mur Lafferty, and Brian Francis Slattery
Saga Press / Simon & Schuster
Published January 31, 2017
The critically acclaimed urban fantasy about a secret team of agents that hunts down dangerous books containing deadly magic—previously released serially online by Serial Box, now available in print for the first time!
Magic is real, and hungry. It’s trapped in ancient texts and artifacts, and only a few who discover it survive to fight back. Detective Sal Brooks is a survivor. She joins a Vatican-backed black-ops anti-magic squad—Team Three of the Societas Librorum Occultorum—and together they stand between humanity and the magical apocalypse. Some call them the Bookburners. They don’t like the label.
Supernatural meets The Da Vinci Code in a fast-paced, [fierce] character driven novel chock-full of magic, mystery, and mayhem, written collaboratively by a team of some of the best writers working in fantasy.
My Review
Though this isn’t at all my usual genre, I was totally hooked on the premise and immediately sucked into following the characters and their stories. I loved that individual episodes gave more time to explore some of characters more deeply (Grace and Asanti were my favorites) while still keeping the larger story moving forward.
One of the things that’s always tricky for me is a story that mixes faith with lore and secular ideas. So that was the biggest hurdle for me in reading this book. For the most part (see the spiritual content section for more specifics) the Catholic Church operates more like a political entity or force rather than a source of spiritual guidance and practice. This kind of storytelling can cause a lot of confusion about what practicing Catholics actually believe and value.
Apart from that, it’s a well-paced, edge-of-your-seat story. Again, not what I’d normally pick up, but I really enjoyed reading it. For the most part I found the writing to be really solid, too, not just in terms of plot and character development, but also in its use of clever and unusual descriptions that painted really vivid pictures. If you like adult supernatural thrillers, you definitely need to check this out. You can read the pilot issue for free here.
Recommended for Ages 16 up.
Cultural Elements
Asanti references her youth in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Grace is Chinese. Liam is Irish. Father Menchú is Spanish.
Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used pretty infrequently– only a few times per episode.
Romance/Sexual Content Sal engages in sex with a male friend. No descriptions of the event itself, but a few details leading up to and picking up afterward. While the two seem agreed to keep the experience “casual,” stress about the relationship and about their feelings for each other definitely affect their lives as a whole.
Spiritual Content The team technically works for the Catholic church, but there’s not a lot of overlap in spiritual content in terms of practice or prayer. Father Menchú was at one time a practicing priest and remains faithful. At one point he prays for a team member. At another point, though, he asks a being he believes to be a demon for help. (Spoiler: it goes badly.) When he reflects on this later, another team member questions his take-away from the instance. Menchú believes the lesson was that he should never have asked this demon for aid. The teammate suggests that the real lesson is that he should have made a better deal.
On the whole, I wouldn’t say the book follows any real Catholic doctrine or practice very deeply. In fact, as in the above example, a lot of the spiritual content is muddled and mixed together with the idea that demons exist bound in books and other artifacts and that they can be controlled or contained using pure silver (often but not necessarily in the form of a cross necklace) and perhaps other benevolent magic (though this is contested within the team.) The demons themselves seem to be as much monsters from another realm as anything else. There’s no explanation connecting them to any Biblical understanding of demons other than that the teams fighting them are part of the Catholic Church.
In one episode, the team visits the Oracle at Delphi for information about the future.
Violent Content Lots of battle scenes. In every episode the team faces some sort of encounter with a demonic force. Often the descriptions of battle feature gory bits and some creepy descriptions. For instance, in one episode, releasing a demon causes an apartment to become a living thing. The door breathes. The floor grows hair, skin, and even grabby fingers.
Drug Content
Sal and other team members (all over 21) drink alcohol together.
Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
About the Authors
Max Gladstone
MAX GLADSTONE has been thrown from a horse in Mongolia, drank almond milk with monks on Wudang Shan, and wrecked a bicycle in Angkor Wat. Max is also the author of the Craft Sequence of books about undead gods and skeletal law wizards—Full Fathom Five, Three Parts Dead, Two Serpents Rise, and Last First Snow. Max fools everyone by actually writing novels in the coffee shops of Davis Square in Somerville, MA. His dreams are much nicer than you’d expect. He tweets as @maxgladstone. Bookburners, which he wrote with Margaret Dunlap, Mur Lafferty, and Brian Francis Slattery, is available from Saga Press in January.
Margaret Dunlap
Before joining the Bookburners, MARGARET DUNLAP wrote for ABC Family’s cult-hit The Middleman in addition to working on SyFy’s Eureka. Most recently, she was a writer and co-executive producer of the Emmy-winning transmedia series The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, and co-created its sequel Welcome to Sanditon. Her short fiction has previously appeared in Shimmer Magazine. Margaret lives in Los Angeles where she taunts the rest of the team with local weather reports and waits for the earthquake that will finally turn Burbank into oceanfront property. She tweets as @spyscribe. Bookburners, which she wrote with Max Gladstone, Mur Lafferty, and Brian Francis Slattery, is available from Saga Press in January.
Mur Lafferty
MUR LAFFERTY is the author of The Shambling Guides series from Orbit, including the Netfix-optioned The Shambling Guide to New York City and Ghost Train to New Orleans. She has been a podcaster for over 10 years, running award-winning shows such as I Should Be Writing and novellas published via podcast. She has written for RPGs, video games, and short animation. She lives in Durham, NC where she attends Durham Bulls baseball games and regularly pets two dogs. Her family regrets her Dragon Age addiction and wishes for her to get help. She tweets as @mightymur. Bookburners, which she wrote with Max Gladstone, Margaret Dunlap, and Brian Francis Slattery, is available from Saga Press in January.
Brian Francis Slattery
BRIAN FRANCIS SLATTERY is the author of Spaceman Blues, Liberation, Lost Everything, and The Family Hightower. Lost Everything won the Philip K. Dick Award in 2012. He’s the arts and culture editor for the New Haven Independent, an editor for the New Haven Review, and a freelance editor for a few not-so-secret public policy think tanks. He also plays music constantly with a few different groups in a bunch of different genres. He has settled with his family just outside of New Haven and admits that elevation above sea level was one of the factors he took into account. For one week out of every year, he enjoys living completely without electricity. Bookburners, which he wrote with Max Gladstone, Margaret Dunlap, and Mur Lafferty, is available from Saga Press in January.
When a skull-shaped cloud kidnaps Nell’s mother and turns her into a bird, she and her brothers vow to get their mother back. To do this, they must find a powerful Fearless Traveler and persuade him to take them to a land of nightmares. Once there, they will have to make the dangerous journey to see Ravenhead, the only Dreamer who can undo the curse and return Nell’s mother to her real form. Along the way, Nell and her brother battle nightmares both outside and inside themselves. The only weapons they possess are the wisdom in the Fearless Traveler’s handbook and the truths they learn about themselves.
This story reminded me a little bit of The Thickety books by J. A. White in its lyrical prose and scary-whimsical storytelling. I liked the voices of each character—Nell and her brother George especially. George cracked me up with his snarky, arrogant-but-cute commentary. I loved the message about mothers and their connection to their children. Nell is told over and over that even if she’s able to transform her mother back to her human form, she’ll have no memory of Nell or her brothers. Nell refuses to believe this. She clings to her mom’s earlier words that a mother cannot forget her children, and that her body becomes the memory of them. The whole story has themes like this—where belief in things that are true trumps fears we hold. I liked that message.
One of the things I struggled with a little bit is the fact that for much of the journey, Nell and her brothers depend on an adult to fight their battles and help them through some obstacles. Especially in a story with a female lead, to have a male adult character taking the hero’s role sort of grates on me a bit. It feels like a statement that says she couldn’t do this on her own. I don’t think the author was trying to say that, but the story came close to feeling that way to me.
However, by about the halfway mark, Nell leaves her adult mentor behind and begins a journey alone. Soon she’s joined by a male friend who takes on a bit of a leading role as far as the fighting goes. Again, I’m not sure if this was deliberate, but I felt like Nell deserved a little more of the spotlight instead of being pushed into more of a support role yet again. I also kept waiting for the song shared between Nell and her mom to become a significant element. At several points it was clear that Nell and her mother’s relationship was special and it seemed like a song was part of their special bond, but that didn’t end up becoming a part of the story’s resolution. Maybe something saved for book two?
Overall, I really enjoyed the writing in this book and the truly unique story-world. I thought the characters were really fun and I couldn’t help investing in them and hoping they won the day. If you liked A Path Begins by J. A. White or Grayling’s Song by Karen Cushman, you should definitely pick up this book.
Recommended for Ages 8 up.
Cultural Elements
Nell and her brothers are white. The witches come from Iceland.
Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.
Romance/Sexual Content None.
Spiritual Content Nell sees things on the people around her. Sometimes their faces change to that of an animal. She refers to this as seeing their “inner animal” and can dispel the vision by saying her name out loud.
Evil witches capture human mothers and intend to kill them as part of a ritual. Sometimes the witches are referred to as demons or in one instance a succubus.
Nell and her brothers cross over to another realm controlled by Dreamers who possess powerful magic. One of the battles they fight is one of transformation. Nell and her brothers transform into animals (their dream selves) at random and inconvenient times. Nell’s dream self is a fox who desperately wants to devour the yellow bird Nell must protect. Nell and the boys learn to combat the change by forcing themselves to remember who they really are. The story places a lot of emphasis on this idea—that there is power in clinging to truths like this or the Fearless Traveler’s motto.
Violent Content A frightening cloud which sometimes looks like wolves and other times looks like a skull seems to be kidnapping women from Nell’s town. Nell fights a creepy octopus/wolf-like critter and takes on a team of creepy witches. Battle lines form between Nell and the Dreamers and the Witches and their allies, including some scary clowns.
Drug Content
None.
Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
