Illusions

Illusions
Aprilynne Pike
New York: HarperTeen
2011

In this third installment of the Laurel books by Aprilynne Pike, we find our heroine with a dilemma of the heart. After surviving a massive altercation with her enemies at the end of the last novel, Laurel finds herself once again at home in the human world but torn between her human boyfriend David, and her Faerie protector Tamani. Mix in a mysterious new faerie and hunter duo and the threat of attack at any moment, Laurel is a mass of conflicting emotions and faced with many difficult decisions.

There are many faerie books out on the market these days, but to my knowledge only this series has described faeries as a sentient form of plant life! Filled with science experiments, teenage angst, and a little mayhem, this series is a lot of fun for those who enjoy similar stories by Melissa Marr and Lesley Livingston.

Book Count: 5 read, 195 to go!

Amulet Book 4: The Last Council

Amulet Book 4: The Last Council
Kazu Kibuishi
Toronto: Scholastic, 2011
210 pages

Yet another graphic novel for our collection!

The latest volume in the Amulet series finds our heroine Emily and her brother and mother in the city of Cielis looking for help to battle the evil elf king. A series of misfortunes and revelations ensues that propel Emily to further her powers as a Stonekeeper, and form alliances in order to prepare for a confrontation with the evil consuming the land. With friends becoming foes, and foes becoming friends, this book will keep you on your toes!

Beautifully illustrated, the Amulet series by Kazu Kibuishi is a brilliant addition to the juvenile/teen graphic novels genre. Any reader looking for a series to read after enjoying the Bone series by Jeff Smith should try the Amulet series as well.

Book Count: 4 read, 196 to go.

Page by Paige

Page by Paige
Laura Lee Gulledge
New York: Amulet Books, 2011
192 pages

Paige's family has just moved to New York city, and she's not so happy about it. She buys a sketch book to help her practice drawing and to make her into a new "Paige". Through meeting new friends, opening up her heart, and sharing her art work with the city around her, this 16 year old is a road map to the confused feelings and frustrations of a teenager.

Marketed towards the teen years, this book is absolutely brilliant. An English teacher could go crazy with the stunning imagery of the book and the realness of the characters. If you only read one teen graphic novel this year, it should be this one!

Book Count: 3 read, 197 to go...

Chi's Sweet Home: Volume 6

Chi's Sweet Home: Volume 6
Konami Kanata
New York: Vertical, Inc., 2011
146 pages

This series of graphic novels features an adorable kitten named Chi and her adopted family. Somehow Kanata has managed to perfect the mindset of a kitten and capture those every day hi-jinks that drive pet owners mad, as well as make them run for their camera!

The books are in full colour and are set up western style (ie the comic is read from left to right instead of the traditional right to left of Japanese manga). The stories are broken up into small chapters of Chi's life with his family, and are suitable for younger children.

A note for parents: This series is actually on the New York Times Bestseller list. See, told you graphic novels are good!

Book Count: 2 down, 198 to go...

Detour: Graphic Novels

The next two books I'm going to blog about are graphic novels and the Librarian in me is just itching to rant about the misunderstandings surrounding this form of media.

If I had a dollar for every parent or teacher who said something like "Jimmy only reads graphic novels, I want him to read real books" I'd be rich. I'd also still be pretty T-d off. In a nutshell, graphic novels are books! Okay? Trust me.

For those of you new to the show, here's a definition of "graphic novel" from dictionary.com: a novel in the form of a comic strip. There's pictures and words. Simple enough?

Like novels, short stories, etc., there are good graphic novels and crappy ones. There are graphic novels suitable for kids and teens, and graphic novels that are most certainly only for adults.

As this medium progresses, graphic novels are becoming more and more mature. Yes, there's stuff like Captain Underpants which is hilarious and enjoyable, but there are also really interesting compilations of novel and graphic novel together such as The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick, and the new Bone: Quest for the Spark series by Tom Sniegoski and Jeff Smith.

Like any other material (book, movie, video game) that your child/student is interested in, look at the graphic novels on the shelf and see what the content is like. Are there images or topics that you don't want your child to read about? It's a lot easier to discover the content of a graphic novel than a traditional book!

And maybe you have trouble following the action on the pages. That's the special, key thing about graphic novels. Not only are your children reading (yippee!), but they are also learning visual cues on how to follow this kind of media. It's good for their brains - bonus!

Forcing a kid to read something they are not interested in runs the risk of turning them off reading all together. Don't dismiss graphic novels out of hand. If your kid is reading and enjoying them, what's the harm? Read it yourself, and then you can talk about it together. How's that for a bonding opportunity?

10th Anniversary

10th Anniversary
James Patterson and Maxine Paetro
New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2011
395 pages

What better way to start off our journey than with the most prolific writer I have ever heard of - James Patterson.

I have been reading Patterson's books for years - certainly since I was a young teenager. One of my favourite things about his novels is just how quickly I can get through them. Take 1oth Anniversary for example - less than two hours from cover to cover!

Truthfully, I think it's critical that Patterson's novels are quick reads simply because the man publishes so many of them every year - at least half a dozen. How does he do it... I've been writing the same bloody book for over a year now and I'm still only on chapter five. The man is magic! Yes, I know he has co-authors. It's still insane.

In this particular Patterson novel, we once again meet up with the Women's Murder Club - Lindsay, Claire, Cindy and Yuki. Not the original crew, but that would be spelling out spoilers from earlier novels in the series. Love and babies seem to be the theme - the girls are all in love, people are getting engaged and married, a wife is accused of murdering her husband and a newborn baby is missing. Ya gotta take the good with the bad!

The plot in this particular novel is a bit more predictable than earlier books in the series - when the bad guys are fingered its more of a "well, duh" moment than "holy crap, I had no idea!". That said, I still enjoy watching the characters as they progress through the high and low points of their lives, and look forward to their continuing adventures.

A note to the publisher (in case you actually check for reviews): There is a typo in Chapter 43 (on page 150, line 3). I suspect it is supposed to read "Careful, the plate's hot." instead of "Careful, the plate's not,"... the plate's not what? Seriously, you're leaving me hanging here! What is it?!?! Tell me!!! Sigh.

Book Count: 1 down, 199 to go.