Last year my daughter read and did an oral presentation on The Book of Three, first volume of The Prydain Chronicles by Lloyd Alexander. To help her with the project I re-read it and reviewed it for Cannonball 8. I read aloud to her at bedtime and her most recent choice was book two of The Prydain Chronicles, The Black Cauldron. Re-reading these books as an adult has been an eye opener to the craft of Alexander’s writing. Previously unnoticed seeds are planted in this book that don’t […]
The way audiobooks should be
This is an awesome audiobook production! Tamora Pierce, the author, reads the narration, but all of the characters have different actors who voice them. And they do an awesome job! (Honestly, Tamora Pierce sounds a little stodgy, like she’s reading to a child, and you can tell she’s very deliberate with her words and annunciation. But hey, she’s not a voice actor, and it creates a noticeable difference between the narration and the actors. And you get used to it!) (In listening to the interview at […]
Just as good as I remembered!
So, my library was having a new front door installed, so everyone had to temporarily enter through the basement door, which is where the bargain sale books are. So, despite having *two* stacks of unread books at home, I bought some. One of them was Tamora Pierce’s First Test, which takes place in the “medieval and fantastic realm of Tortall.” I loved these books when I was younger, so I forked over my $0.25 for a bit of nostalgia. The King’s Champion Alanna the Lioness […]
Be careful what you wish for…
Ah, the glory of the library basement book sale, where books are $0.50, or even free! Thanks to the generosity of people donating books during the holiday season, my local library was practically begging people to take their donated and overstock books to give them forever homes. I am a little sad to learn that this one was my library’s only copy, but since it hadn’t been checked out in so long it got booted to the sale bin. I had a few free hours […]
Not just for kids
Predator’s Gold is the second book in Philip Reeve’s Hungry City Chronicles, following Mortal Engines where we were first introduced to a world in which great traction cities stalk the land, preying on smaller or weaker cities. We catch up with Hester and Tom two years after the MEDUSA blast that destroyed Tom’s home city of London. Having taken the airship The Jenny Haniver as their own following the death of its badass previous owner, they’ve since eked out a life trading and travelling the […]
A book so sweet you’ll get cavities
This is a very sweet book about acceptance and friendship. Twig Fowler is a 12-year-old girl living in Sidwell, Massachusetts who doesn’t have any friends. That is not by choice, but her mother insists that they not visit other people, because then a reciprocal visit would be expected, and no one is to come to their house. Because they have a secret. The secret is Twig’s brother, James, who no one else knows exists. He is a secret because he has been hit with the […]