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 […]
My twelve-year-old self might have loved this book, but we’ll never know
The problem with reading beloved children’s classics as an adult, especially having not read them as a child, is that you tend to find the outdated bits. Not outdated in the form of technology, which is also apparent, but in character development. The children seem to do what they are told without questioning here. Today’s literative children are a lot more inquisitive, and also less trusting. And the female characters are stronger and more developed. Fantasy and children’s literature have both evolved since this was […]