I haven't QUIT reading...

I haven't stopped reading entirely. I did read Ranger's Apprentice, Book 5, that my 9 year old son, Jack, got for his birthday. Unlike the Harry Potter books, Ranger's Apprentice reading level doesn't grow with the age of the main character. It's perfectly suited to a 9 year old, the entire series.

This book is set the year after Will becomes a "real" Ranger (not an apprentice). There are two drawbacks with this book:

first, it is not a complete story. It concludes in book 6 (to be released in August 2009, although it has been previously released in paperback in Australia). The second drawback is that book 7 actually occurs before books 5 and 6. It is out of chronological order. 

Here's the description on the Ranger's Apprentice site http://www.rangersapprentice.com/the-series.htm

I recommend the entire series, and I've even considered spending the $80 to import the next 3 from Australia. I think I can wait... for $80.

The Graveyard Book

I borrowed this book from our school library, as I was intrigued by the premise of "it takes a graveyard to raise a child." Loosely based on the concepts of The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling (not Disney's version), "Bod" Owens escapes death at only 18 months old, the same age as my own Max. I have a very, very hard time with this believability, but reading requires a strong suspension of disbelief.

Bod Owens' life is detailed in the book, and it is often lonely and macabre. Neil Gaiman is the author of Coraline, and like Coraline, The Graveyard Book is dark, even in it's child-like story. Bod is no older than 15 when he leaves the safety of the graveyard, and he leaves a hero. However, he's still an orphan, he still has no name, and he loses the only family he's ever known the second he leaves the graveyard for the last time.

What I was left with was a sadness. There was no triumph. There was no heroic victory. There was simply life: and life was the end of the beginning, but the point of the entire book. All in all, I recommend it. It's a nice, quick read, but it's thoughtful, and it's not a warm-fuzzy book. Emotionally, it's quite detatched, and perhaps it's better that way. After all, life doesn't begin in a graveyard.

I'd recommend this book for students in middle school. It's not hard reading, but it's not a comfortable subject.

Nefertiti

In preparation for my unit on historical fiction and researching history, I bought 4 novels at Barnes & Noble. Actually, I was at Barnes & Nobel as a Den Mother for my new 8 year old scout's field trip. While waiting for our tour to begin, the pack stood next to a table with "buy one get one half off" books on it. I saw 4 books that were historical fiction, and we'd discussed (the day before) doing and using historical fiction as part of research which is required in the state core.

I bought 4 books that day. The first book I've read of the 4 is called Nefertiti by Nick Drake. Had I bought it from Amazon.com (as I usually do), I would have noticed it only had a 3 star rating. It's a "meh" as far as mysteries go. It's a bit "history light" and I didn't really care much for the narrator, the missing Nefertiti, nor the whole Ra/Rahotep religion issue. I didn't care, one single bit, for the way the mystery played out, and although I'll use the book again as an example next year, it will be my "don't choose this book because of the cover" book.

Book Review: Larklight by Philip Reeve

Larklight is a science fiction novel written for a younger audience, a darling chapter book that would be great for kids in 5-7th grades.

Philip Reeve is a British author, and he has set this novel in an "alternate" reality in Victorian England: however, these plucky Englishmen have discovered how to travel the cosmos based on principles learned (or given) to Sir Isaac Newton.

The young man, Art Mumby and his sister Myrtle are hurtled into an adventure that eventually circles back to their home, Larklight, which is a space ship that is orbiting the moon.

It's a very British book; All the spelling, punctuation, and issues are distinctively British. There's a sense of social class, racial intolerance, and yet, Reeve has people from all planets co-mingling and enjoying what they can from others.

This is a fast moving adventure, and I enjoyed it very much!

Ironside by Holly Black

Ironside, a Modern Fairy's Tale is book 3 in a very older, young adult book series. While the books are interesting reading, I would definitely not recommend these books to the same readership as the Spiderwick Chronicles.

Ironside is definitely written for a teen girl audience. It pushes the boundaries having a homosexual male "side-kick" to our tough-as-nails pixie main character. It has an honorable knight unwillingly crowned as king of the underworld (very Persephone/Hades, and indeed makes the connection so the reader doesn't have to.)

While I enjoyed it, Ironside is not for everyone. If you are a teen aged girl, into fantasy, and not bothered by what may be in the "dark" side of faerie, then this is the book for you. It's much in the style of the current sensations of The Luxe, Libba Bray's series A Great & Terrible Beauty and Blue Bloods by Melissa De La Cruz. They are modern tales, presumably for a more "modern" girl, in the sense that modern means "shocking."

I guess this is the new trend: Darker, edgier, bloodier, and more fantastical than ever before. With Twilight's opening weekend raking in 70+  million dollars, I guess this is the answer to Stephanie Meyer's almost clinically "clean" vampire novel.