I got nothin’

Osterlund, Anne. Academy 7. New York: Speak, 2009.

This book was weird and jumpy and weird. And really weird.

Not only is “It’s a Small World” one of the most annoying songs ever, it is now terrifying! Thanks for that, really thanks.

Pearson, Ridley. The Kingdom Keepers. New York: Disney Editions, c2005.

First book in The Kingdom Keepers series and I loved it. I had previously read Peter and the Starcatchers (and subsequent books), but I wasn’t sure how Pearson would do without Dave Berry. He did great. However, if you’ve never been to a Disney park—you should give this book a miss. He definitely expected you to know the parks set up and attractions; he doesn’t describe them in much, if any, detail. Didn’t bother me, but I’ve been (and recently). 

Perhaps, they should have stayed “Lost”

Flannagan, John. The Lost Stories. New York: Philomel Books, 2011.

Dear John, (Hee hee)

You can’t stop while you’re ahead (that was at least 3 books ago) so just do us all a favor and stop period! I mean honestly, this is the eleventh book (the fourth I’ve purchased because I “couldn’t wait”) and they’ve lost the magic. In the beginning our heroes fought worgals and kalkara in the lovely fantasy world Araluen: Redmont Fief. In the last book we hung out with a Roman legion and Japanese ninjas! I know you called them something else but I don’t remember what that was. Yes, I can remember worgals and kalkara, but not the name of your not so fantastic “fantasy.” Actually, what was most annoying in this book is that the character bios changed. Don’t worry, I took a pencil to my book and fixed it. What on earth do you pay you editors for and why don’t you know your own peeps?

Love, Amy

PS Are you really plugging your new series in this book? Well, played. You’ll probably trick me into reading it.

And who am I kidding, I’ll buy it.

Ah! Why am I such a glutton for punishment! We have a serious love-hate, John. You should just know that.

I just don’t know…

Crossley-Holland, Kevin. The Seeing Stone. New York: Arthur A. Levine Books, 2001.

I loved the story and the format (one to two page chapters), but while it was acceptable for husbands to beat there wives in 1199, it is NOT acceptable now!!!!!! And in one line Crossley-Holland left a sour taste in my mouth when the hero said that he knew his father beat his mother, but would never do it in public. That ruined the book for me. I don’t want to read the other two books in the series. Even if it was historically accurate, this book was published in American in 2001 and that’s not ok message. This was seriously, a small part of the book. My rant was longer than then incident. But this line wasn’t needed. I got that the other fellow was a scoundrel without Crossley-Holland telling me the hero’s father was abusive.

Ok, I might have a trippy double standard, because it didn’t bother me when the guy got his hand cut of for “thieving.” Hmmm….I need to think about this…

Mission One?!? Please tell me there aren’t more! There was too much in this one.

Butcher, A. J. Spy High: Mission One. Boston: Little, Brown, 2004.

A boarding school that trains teenagers to be spies, romance/teenage angst, global warming, social prejudices, a villain claiming ancestry to a famous fictional character who quotes the bible...and this book was only like 200 pages and I read everyone. Oh, my gosh!! I almost forgot the mutants! There were mutants, too. Really creepy mutants not like X-men mutants…

BTW, there are apparently five of these books.

The thoughts of an open bibliophile...

So, I love books. True story. And I read a lot of them. Since it has come up more than once this month, I am writing a quick note about the books I read.