This is an oldie but goodie. Within, young Mary Lennox has been raised in India, but her socialite parents had little to do with her. When they die in a cholera epidemic, she’s sent to live with her uncle in England. Unfortunately, Mary has become a sickly, ugly, and a nasty little tyrant. And misfortune […]
I've reviewed lots of books and written 20 of my own.
Breadcrumbs, by Anne Ursu, 2011, Book Review
I’d like to say I liked this book. It has beautiful a flow, beautiful images, beautiful prose. Ms. Ursu has an amazing skill with the written word. Her subject has substance, her characters are many-faceted. Every thought is well-developed and wrapped up tight. She draws from no less than eleven well-known children’s stories and delivers […]
Peter and Wendy, by J. M. Barrie, 1911, Book Review
Who hasn’t grown up loving Peter Pan? I still enjoy the Disney movie, and just last year I took my kids to a high school production. Peter has prompted several excellent spinoff stories, such as the 1991 live action movie, Hook, and the Starcatchers children’s literature series. I haven’t seen the 2003 movie version, but I […]
The Fires Beneath the Sea, by Lydia Millet, 2011, Book Review
The jury’s still out on how much I liked this one. It has some beautiful moments. It also has some awkward moments. The story is entertaining, but I’m really not compelled to find out when the next book of the series comes out. The characters are all likeable, but I didn’t fall in love with […]
An interesting bit of history
Last night I was talking to my elderly uncle who shared a bit of family history I had never heard before. In light of the book I just released, Beneath the Slashings, I found it pretty interesting. It seems I have a great, great, great Uncle Peter whose father died when he was 13 years old. […]
Peter and the Sword of Mercy, by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson, 2009, Book Review
This final book in the Starcatchers series was an afterthought by the authors, written at the request of readers who weren’t satisfied with a trilogy. It’s crafted with the same humor and style, but it takes place twenty years after the others and, incidentally, one year before Mr. Barrie published his classic Peter Pan play […]
The Graveyard Book, by Neil Gaiman, 2008, Book Review
Because of the title, I went into this a little leery. And the first few pages didn’t help. It starts with a man creeping through a house holding a knife. “The knife had done almost everything it was brought to the house to do, and both the blade and the handle were wet…The hunt was […]
Child of the Mountains, by Marilyn Sue Shank, 2012, Book Review
I loved this book. I sank into it immediately, like an overstuffed couch, and only came out for chores. It’s a beautiful, gentle story of strength despite injustice with a good dose of picturesque Appalachian culture. A wonderful combination. Eleven-year-old Lydia finds herself unexpectedly living with her Aunt Ethel Mae and Uncle William after a […]
Pie, by Sarah Weeks, 2011, Book Review
This book is delightful. That’s not a word I usually use. It’s sort of an old-fashioned word that’s not really my style. A word old ladies might use to describe a chickadee singing on a sunny day or a glass of spiced tea in the winter. But it’s the word that comes to mind. Pie […]
Matched, by Ally Condie, 2010, Book Review
Matched is the first in a trilogy of dystopian YA fiction by Ally Condie that I’ve heard so much about on the web I had to read it for myself. It’s good enough that I want to finish the trilogy, but at the same time, it doesn’t feel very original. Maybe I’m just burning out […]