RING! RING! Mr. Penguin And The Lost Treasure Blog Tour

Most of us are familiar with the saying be careful what you wish for.  In other words, it's wise to prudently weigh all the consequences attached to our heart's desire.  While we can never anticipate all the possible outcomes, we can at least be prepared for some of them. 

In the world of children's literature, a new character has entered the realm.  His greatest desire is for adventure.  In fact, he recently placed an advertisement in The Cityville Times claiming:

All Adventures
considered!
No mystery too big
or too small!
Competitive prices!

Mr. Penguin And The Lost Treasure (Peachtree, April 1, 2019) written and illustrated by Alex T. Smith (Little Red And The Hungry Lion) is the first title in what promises to be a rip-roaring, laugh-out-loud, non-stop action series for those who crave mystery and adventure just like Mr. Penguin.  Grab your favorite hat, your trusty backpack and don't forget a tasty fish finger sandwich. 

CHAPTER ONE

ALL ADVENTURES 
CONSIDERED!

It was 10:32 on a Monday morning, and Mr. Penguin was twirling about slowly on his swizzly office chair and flipping the end of his beak with a crabstick.

He was bored.

On the verge of despair at the lack of interest in his advertisement, the ringing of his phone startles Mr. Penguin so much he, through a series of unbelievable events, ends with his bottom stuck in his waste basket.  It makes taking his first real job a tad bit uncomfortable, but it is Boudicca Bones from the Museum of Extraordinary Objects.  When he hears the words toilet plunging through the ceiling, stuffed walrus and buried treasure, he nearly explodes with joy.

Within minutes Mr. Penguin and his trusty associate Colin, a bowler-hat-wearing spider with the strength of a ninja master, are standing in front of the museum.  (As they make their way to the building, they encounter a friend, Edith Hedge who lives in the park.  She wears fifteen raincoats and a pigeon named Gordon is usually on her head.)

In short order, Mr. Penguin, Colin, Boudicca Bones and her odd brother, Montague are searching every nook and cranny of the museum floor by floor.  (Montague is odd because he is at least seven feet tall and has hands the size of frying pans in contrast to short, round-as-a beach-ball Mrs. Bones.)  Using a copy of A History of the Museum of Extraordinary Objects and a clue of x marks the spot the searchers are stumped until Mr. Penguin brilliantly solves the puzzle of finding the x.  During their explorations Colin hears strange sounds and feels as though someone or something is watching them.

After traversing a darkened staircase leading them under the museum, the foursome encounters a hot steamy rainforest, a cryptic note, unscrupulous thieves, a raging river, a thunderous waterfall and gigantic hungry beasts, not necessarily in that order.  It seems as if everything is conspiring to keep them from locating the buried treasure. To make matters even worse, Mr. Penguin and Colin find themselves in serious, life or death trouble.

With twists and turns as frequent as those on the underground trail, the story keeps you guessing. You will gasp at the surprises and cheer for the cleverness. And just when you think it can't get any better, it does.


Twenty-three short chapters combine descriptive narrative and snappy conversations penned by Alex T. Smith.  The chapter titles along with the final sentence in each chapter invite, sometimes demand, that you continue.  The pacing is fast, and humor is found in abundance.  Here is a passage.

Monty cracked his knuckles (which sounded like a wooden fence breaking in a tornado) and knelt down next to the X.  He pressed the button.  Then he pressed it again.
Nothing.
He smacked it with his fist, stamped on it with his shoe, grunted, and hurried off to the nearby janitor's cupboard to grab a sledgehammer.
He was just raising the hammer above his head when Colin tapped him politely on the ankle and held up his notepad.
It said ALLOW ME. (Note: Colin does not talk but uses a notepad to voice his thoughts which adds to the hilarity.)
Everyone stepped back and watched as Colin took the floor.  He scuttled over to the button and carefully observed it for a few seconds.  Then he pressed four of his feet together and bowed respectfully.  He took a deep breath, narrowed his eyes, and . . .

KA-POW!


Readers get their first glimpse of Mr. Penguin and Colin on the front of the matching dust jacket and book case.  The adventurer's hat, satchel and magnifying glass are essential to Mr. Penguin's pursuits.  On the opening and closing endpapers in hues of orange, we are privy to lush rainforest flora.  At the beginning and end of the book, a front page from The Cityville Times gives readers a peek into the community and shows how the status of Mr. Penguin and Colin as adventurers changes. 

The highly detailed, fine-lined drawings done in black, orange and white by Alex T. Smith appear on almost every page turn in a variety of sizes depending on the narrative and pacing.  At times in order to enhance the text the canvas of white shifts to orange and even black with white lettering.

One of my many favorite illustrations spans two pages.  It shows Mr. Penguin and Colin on the left speeding through the exotic plants and trees they discover under the museum.  Mr. Penguin's body shape trudging along on his tiny legs is funnier than funny.  Adding to the comedy is his hat with the arrow through it, and the magnifying glass held in one of his flippers as if he hopes to spy something important. 


Readers will hardly be able to stop reading Mr. Penguin And The Lost Treasure written and illustrated by Alex T. Smith once they start.  Who can resist mystery, adventure and giggles and grins?  I believe this would be a fun read aloud or book club selection.  Be sure to place a copy on your professional shelves and in your personal collections.  (Book two has already been released in the UK and book three is set to be released there this autumn.)

To learn more about Alex T. Smith and his other work, please visit his website by following the link attached to his name.  Alex T. Smith maintains an account on Twitter.  At the publisher's website there is a link to Activity Sheets.  You can get a peek at the first few pages, including the first newspaper front page, here.


Be sure to stop at the other sites on the blog tour.

March 25---Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers
March 26---Librarian's Quest
March 27---BOOKS4YOURKIDS
March 28---The Library Voice
March 29---Mom Read It

Finding Your Way...

It's there.  Every single time you open the cover of a book, whether it's new or you're revisiting a favorite.  You may not even be aware of it's presence.   Then again, anticipation, for a few moments may be flowing in your veins instead of blood; you can feel it so strongly.

The hope one experiences in beginning a book by a known author, a preferred genre or in a title already receiving accolades from professional reviewers, is for a lover of books like receiving the greatest of gifts.  If an author decides to heighten this sense of wonder with an enticing beginning word, sentence or paragraph, we readers know a treasure is being offered.  In her second title, Navigating Early, Clare Vanderpool, winner of the 2011 Newbery Medal for Moon Over Manifest, sets the stage for what will be an unforgettable, life-affirming and life-changing adventure with a paragraph on the first page plucked from within the book itself.

The great black bear, awesome as Ursa Major, wagged her head from side to side, and her bellow shook the nearby passage of the Appalachian Trail. ...

It's not the end of World War II that brings Jack Baker's dad, a captain in the Navy home, but his mother's sudden death.  In true shipshape fashion he removes all evidence of Jack's mom's life in their home.  He then takes Jack away from all he knows in Kansas, placing him in a boarding school in Maine along the ocean.  

What neither Jack nor his dad could have foreseen is the strange boy, living and attending Morton Hill Academy, Early Auden.  Early needs quiet so he lives in custodial quarters in the basement.  He plays specific musical records on certain days, lines up rows of colored jelly beans when he's upset, believes his brother killed in action overseas is alive, is obsessed with the mathematical constant pi (even using the numbers to create a story of a man named Pi), knows there are still timber rattlesnakes in Maine and is on a quest to track down the largest black bear on record on the Appalachian Trail... and to find the lost Pi of his story.

Both Jack and Early are left alone on the campus during a fall break (not intentionally).  Rather than allow Early to set off down the Kennebec River alone, the two having developed a tenuous friendship, Jack agrees to what he considers a crazy scheme.  Jack cannot see this journey with the same eyes as Early; numbers as story not simply as mathematics.  

"...For me, they are purple and sand and ocean and rough and smooth and loud and whispering, all at the same time." He paused for breath.

I wished I could see what he saw---color and landscape, texture and voice.

Before long the fictional story of Pi parallels the real story of Jack and Early.  Encounters with pirates, a volcano, a whale, the Ancient One and wandering in the Catacombs like separate balls of yarn are knit together to form heart-pounding suspense.  Loss and fate woven into the pattern like strong, fine golden threads deliver a conclusion, stunning and ultimately satisfying.

Clare Vanderpool's writing immediately draws the reader into the story with her characterizations.  Through dialogue and point of view we are intimately aware of the personalities of the primary and secondary characters; identifying with their wants and needs.  The technique of inserting several pages, chapters, of Early's Pi story within the narrative further invests readers in the boys' endeavors. We are also keenly conscious of the surroundings in which Vanderpool's characters are placed through her descriptions; the Appalachian Trail, the Morton Hill Academy.  Her skill, needles in hand, at fashioning all the threads into an astonishing whole at the end, is the work of a master.  Here are a couple of excerpts from the book.

My mother was like sand. The kind that warms you on a beach when you come shivering out of the cold water.  The kind that clings to your body, leaving its impression on your skin to remind you where you've been and where you've come from.  The kind you keep finding in your shoes and your pockets long after you've left the beach.

Early and I stared at this ghost of a camp, looking for any signs of life, half-dead or otherwise.

"This has to be it," said Early. "This is just the way it's described in the numbers.  They have to be here. The lost souls."

"There's nobody here, Early.  Just look at this place.  This must have been abandoned years ago.  Maybe they moved the camp farther north, where there are more trees."

But just as I was saying this, there was a noise inside one of the shacks. A soft plink, plink, plinking sound, as if some ghostly person were stirring a metal spoon in a pot. 

Words like risky and rescued, perilous and planned, death-defying leaps of faith and sure-footed paths from the past, all come to mind when thinking of Navigating Early written by Clare Vanderpool.  It's one of those books the more you read the faster you have to go; wanting and needing to know.  It's one of those books you'll finish and go back to reread those passages you've underlined or marked.  It's one of those books, memorable books, to cherish...always.

Please follow the link to Clare Vanderpool's official website embedded in her name above.  Clare Vanderpool was also a guest writer at the Nerdy Book Club this year.  Below the publisher offers fifty plus pages of the book for your enjoyment.

O Say! Can You See?

Ranking up there in the top five favorite inside or outside games, at least with my students, is Capture the Flag.  Strategy, speed, and quick thinking on your feet contribute to one team being victorious over another.  Some team members enjoy guarding the flag, tagging those who would try to steal it.  Others relish the opportunity to sneak in, grab it and spirit away undetected, well, at least for awhile.

In her first book of a new series, author, Kate Messner has expanded the boundaries of the intended playing field.  Beginning in the Smithsonian Museum of American History, then to the Washington DC airport and eventually to the state of Vermont, Capture the Flag (Scholastic) is no game.  This high stakes heist has the nation's capital under high alert.

They never should have unlocked the door.

That first line is like the finger needed to gently push, setting a domino effect in motion.  As a gala event to celebrate the restoration of the flag which inspired Francis Scott Key to write The Star Spangled Banner is drawing to a close, one final group of dignitaries is taken to see this artifact.  Three seventh grade students, although strangers, are seated together on a bench close to Washington's statue, waiting for busy adults to complete their parts in the evening's activities.  Little do this girl and the two guys know, their lives are about to be connected in more ones than one.

Anna Revere-Hobbs, daughter of a TV news anchor and United States senator, had hoped to get more of a scoop for her Vermont school newspaper.  Proud of the work his mother, a textile scientist, has done on the flag, Jose McGilligan nevertheless goes back to reading his well-loved copy of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire anticipating the evening's end.  Having to spend time with his Aunt Lucinda while his dad is on his honeymoon with his new stepmother is not game-playing Henry Thorn's idea of a good time.

Later while these three and the rest of the evening's attendees are soundly sleeping, a hidden figure in the flag's chamber methodically folds the aged fabric, places it in a case and walks away with no one the wiser.  As circumstances would have it, the three meet again at the Washington DC airport the next morning, stranded, as are many, due to a freak snowstorm.  It is with shock they and others there hear the news of the flag's disappearance.

In short order Anna's nose for news and observations skills, piece together two important points.  The three of them have close family who are members of a secret society pledged to protect priceless world antiquities.  Second, and most critical, the stolen flag and the thieves are likely stuck in the airport too.

As the trio join forces, each with their unique skills, clues start to pile up as quickly as the snow falling outside.  Innocent people are being held as suspects, a man with a snake tattoo is stalking a presidential candidate, and their new young friend, Sinan, has disappeared.  Determination and a need to help those in trouble lead them into an off-limits arena; a room of conveyor belts, high ceilings and thousands of pieces of luggage and bags.

Nearly frantic, trying not to panic, each of them summon all their courage to do what they believe is right.  Time is not their friend nor are those who will do anything to keep their plot from being exposed.  A dangerous game of cat and mouse ensues with the outcome for our characters held in a tenuous balance as they literally speed to the conclusion.


Kate Messner's talent as a writer is her ability to hook readers with an intricately developed plot, peopled with likable characters of varying personalities and backgrounds and despicable villains, non-stop adventure, intriguing bits of history, and set among places of interest.  Each chapter ends with a sentence, thought or statement that moves readers eagerly into the next chapter.  Her descriptions of the minute by minute action are downright nail-biters.

Between her characters the dialogue is completely realistic, evoking an emotional response in the reader.  As the action progresses more of her characters' traits are revealed.  We readers get to see what really makes them tick depending on the situation.

Here are a couple sample passages.

The man counted to one thousand.  One thousand shallow breaths from behind the table.  His knees creaked when he finally stood.
He stepped forward and slipped one hand under the edge of the table until he felt the first cold metal clamp that secured the flag, on its protective backing, to the display table.
Slowly, he turned the clamp until he felt its cool weight drop into his palm.

"My responsibility is to knock out these bank robbers." Henry picked up his SuperGamePrism-5000 again. "Otherwise, I can't get to Level Ten."
Jose looked at Henry, poking at his GamePrism, and shook his head at Anna. "Sorry, I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think I agree with him." He took out his book.
Anna threw her hands in the air. "You are such...boys! What is wrong with you? You spend your whole lives looking for excitement in video games and movies and books, and then when something big finally happens, you're too busy reading and poking at some SuperGameThingy to do the real, live, exciting thing right there in front of you!"


Kate Messner's Capture the Flag captures the reader's attention on page one weaving, twisting, turning and racing toward the final sentence; a sentence filled with the assurance of more excitement to come.  The second book in the Silver Jaguar Society series is slated for publication in the spring of 2013 bearing the title, Hide and Seek.  Raise your hand if you can hardly wait!


The link embedded in Kate Messner's name above takes you to her website.  This link is to her author interview about this title.  At the Scholastic web site is a link to the accompanying teaching and discussion guide.  Kate Messner has provided a Pinterest board for Capture the Flag linked here.  This final link is to the Smithsonian website for The Star Spangled Banner.

Into The Wood...

Nothing quite tops the thrill of entering the pages of a good adventure; the lure of the unknown, the challenge of unprecedented risks and the pure excitement of a new undertaking.  For an author to articulate the compelling spontaneity of the action well, is never easy; conveying the characters' thoughts, emotions and assessments.  With the makings of a classic, Wildwood:  The Wildwood Chronicles, Book I (Balzer + Bray) written by Colin Meloy with illustrations by Carson Ellis, is a story addressing every element of a such an escapade creating a realm few will want to leave.

Beginning with the very first line (duly noted in my journal of gripping first lines) readers are swept up in the whirlwind as are the two protagonists of this tale.

How five crows managed to lift a twenty-pound baby boy into the air was beyond Prue, but that was certainly the least of her worries.

After a typical day in Portland, Oregon, taking care of her one-year-old brother, Mac, while her parents scout out an art fair, Prue, twelve years of age, is relaxing on a park bench only to watch in amazed fear as a murder of crows kidnaps her brother.  Shaking herself as if from a trance, Prue follows on her bike, the attached red wagon bouncing along like a pinball, through the streets of the St. Johns neighborhood to the bluff above the Willamette River.  In despair she stares as her airborne brother disappears into The Impassible Wilderness.

At all costs her parents must not discover her brother is missing.  Despite warnings from her father to never venture into that area Prue knows, she and she alone, must bring her brother home.  Leaving early the next morning her journey begins but nothing could have prepared her for what she will encounter including secrets from her parents' past.

Ready to cross the railroad bridge into the wilderness, she encounters a fellow classmate Curtis, somewhat of a loner and thinker, who is determined to follow regardless of Prue's insistence he return.  What the two discover is The Impassible Wilderness is another world altogether.  Here what they believe to be true about the world in general must be abandoned if they are to survive.

In short order Curtis is taken captive by a band of coyote soldiers walking on two legs, appropriately if shabbily attired, and talking.  Making her way to a main road Prue hails a red mail truck bound for South Wood knowing she must leave Curtis, for the time being, in what is called Wildwood.  Crossing through The Avian Principality, the country populated and ruled by birds, she and her new friend, Richard, the postmaster, travel to seek an audience with the Governor-Regent; hoping for assistance in locating her brother.

Through three parts, twenty-eight chapters and 541 pages readers are held spellbound by the narrative as it flows back and forth between the perils of Prue and Curtis as each attempts to find their way in and out of danger in a world on the brink of upheaval.  A host of characters, the dark-hearted Dowager Governess, commander of the coyote army bent on revenge, the bureaucratic menagerie of South Wood, a group of bandits, hearts like Robin Hood of old, prowling the woods, Owl Rex, supreme ruler of The Avian Principality, Septimus the rat, the Mystics, guardians of The Council Tree among the peaceable folk of North Wood and Prue's parents, all play their parts like notes in an intricate symphony.  It's a battle of the highest order, a fight between good and evil, a fight for life.

In this debut novel, Colin Meloy, the lead singer and songwriter for the Decemberists, displays his gift as a weaver of words depicting an extraordinary world, rich and elaborate in detail, set among an ordinary world equally defined.  In Prue and Curtis, as well as the secondary characters, struggles with personal values, definition of self and how one fits into the grand scheme are convincingly portrayed with vivid descriptions.  The feeling of being smack-dab in the middle of the events is clearly tangible.

There was a sudden rush of wind, and she looked up in the sky and was horrified to see that the group of crows had grown twentyfold.  The individual birds were now indiscernible from the mass, and the murder coalesced into a single, convulsive shape, blotting out the flat light of the afternoon sun.  The shape swung and bowed in the air, and the noise of their beating wings and screeching cries became almost deafening.  Prue cast about, seeing if anyone else was witnessing this bizarre event, but she was terrified to find that she was alone.

His warnings had no effect on Prue, who kept marching up the wooded slope, steadying herself on the trunks of the trees as she hiked.
"And coyotes, Prue!" continued Curtis, scrambling up the incline but stopping at the first tree of the boundary.  "They'll tear you apart! There has to be another way to go!"
"There isn't, Curtis," said Prue. "My brother's in here somewhere, and I have to find him."
Curtis was shocked.  "You think he's in here?" Prue was far enough into the woods now that Curtis could barely make out the red of her scarf through the bramble of trees.  Before she disappeared completely from view, Curtis took a deep breath and stepped into the woods. "Okay, Prue! I'll help you find your brother!" he shouted.

At the Wildwood website linked above, a video conversation between Colin Meloy and his wife, illustrator Carson Ellis, relates their collaboration to bring this title to fruition.  Ellis is well known in the world of art for her distinctive fine line drawings.  Illustrations in this title were first drawn in pencil on watercolor paper prior to being recreated in ink and paint.

Readers are treated to a map of The (Impassible) Wood on the book's endpapers.  According to an interview at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast this title showcases 85 illustrations; six as color plates.  Intrinsic to the narrative, giving readers a window into this magical world within our world, her drawings are remarkable in how they invite the reader into the story and in their conveyance of emotion.

The combination of writing by Colin Meloy and illustrations drawn and painted by Carson Ellis in Wildwood:  The Wildwood Chronicles, Book I is a true melding of vision, art and heart.  I, for one, can not wait to read it again, probably when the next book in the trilogy, Under Wildwood:  The Wildwood Chronicles, Book II, is to be released in September of this year.  Excelling in every aspect, this fantastical adventure is a definitive title in the field of literature.

Toothy Tale

Good books, like good recipes, not only need specific ingredients of the highest quality and exact quantity, but the perfect combination of those elements added at the precise moment.  The placement of a word, phrase, sentence or paragraph heightens the experience for the reader as a pinch of spice enhances the flavor of a delectable dish.  Certainly this opening sentence provides the enticing whiff, the first glimmer, of what promises to be a first class feast for the mind for those turning the pages of Chomp (Alfred A. Knopf) by Carl Hiaasen.

Mickey Cray had been out of work every since a dead iguana fell from a palm tree and hit him on the head.

Dead weight, courtesy of a freaky freeze in the Florida Everglades, has left Mickey Cray, a wildlife wrangler, seeing double and enduring killer headaches.  Behind in mortgage and truck payments his wife, an expert at Mandarin Chinese, has no choice but to go to China assisting big wigs in American companies from making language blunders.  With summer vacation looming in the near future it's up to Wahoo, Mickey's son, named after a professional wrestler not the saltwater fish, to manage the family menagerie populated by alligators, snakes, parrots, mynah birds, rats, mice, monkeys, raccoons, tortoises and a bald eagle.

Within minutes of Mrs. Cray's departure Wahoo, answering a phone call, accepts, to his father's disbelief, a job.  Wrangling for Derek Badger, superstar of Expedition Survival!, at one thousand dollars per day, just might save them if Wahoo can sooth his father's disgust and indulge the star's inflated ego.  Within one day Wahoo realizes survival for all of them is going to be a serious challenge; more grave than he can even imagine.

Thrown into the mix are the Cray's snapping turtle who disagrees with getting up close and personal with Sanders and Alice, their twelve foot alligator, who does not want a pudgy, fake, survivalist crawling around on her back.  Despite what happens at the Cray's, caution has been thrown to the wind.  Derek Sanders wants to shoot the rest of the show in the wild with only untamed animals. At this point the storyline, already a gripping, action-adventure, clicks it up a couple more notches.

Joining the ever present Raven Stark, Sanders' production assistant, sporting a red beehive hairdo, giving new definition to the term multi-tasking, is Link, a true blue good ole' boy of the swamp built like a bulldozer, loving his airboat like a child, Sickler, owner of the store and docks where the crew sets up camp, eager to make money any way he can, and a gun-toting alcoholic who has lost all reason.  Bag in hand asking for a ride when the Crays are stocking up at WalMart, Tuna, a girl in Wahoo's grade, needs a safe place to be.  With this cast of characters loose in the Everglades anything can and everything does happen.

Hiaasen's following has ever grown since his publication of Hoot (2002), followed by Flush (2005) and Scat (2009), not to mention the host of adult titles he has penned.  What sets Chomp apart, making it one of my favorite reads of 2012, is the descriptive, detailed, fully developed characters and the interplay between the characters through the sharp, snappy dialogue.  The pacing is brilliant, quick and flawless.  And the wit and humor tie it all together like the best bow on a prized package.

Here are a few examples:

Mickey seemed dazed.  "I used to like iguanas."
"We'll be okay."
"My head hurts."
"Take your medicine," said Wahoo.
"I threw it away."
"What?"
Those yellow pills, they made me constipated."
Wahoo shook his head. "Unbelievable."
"Seriously.  I haven't had a satisfactory bowel movement since Easter."
"Thanks for sharing," said Wahoo. 

"Think positive," Raven said.
At that moment, a disgusting glop of something flew out of the monkey pen and splatted in her hair.
"You have got to be kidding," she said.
The director ran for cover as the monkeys threw more, yowling uproariously.

But Mickey's hands were locked in a death grip on the steering wheel, and he was squinting like a stamp collector through the windshield.

Two admirable teen protagonists thrown together by the daunting circumstances supplied by life, the flora and fauna of the Everglades, and a group of real people, flawed, funny and frightening, make for one spectacular, wild read, Chomp by Carl Hiaasen. 

Here is a link to an educator's guide at Random House Kids for Chomp.  Don't miss a visit to the Carl Hiaasen for Kids website complete with a video book trailer for Chomp, information about the other books and a couple of games.

A Matter of Life and Death; Light and Black

Much as he did in his Pendragon series, D. J. MacHale takes readers into worlds that are so unique, so believable, so detailed that they must be real; they can't really be fiction can they?  His Morpheus Road trilogy that began with The Light (April 20, 2010), which I featured in the Middle School Book of the Week, follows sixteen-year-old Marshall Seaver into what he figures must be madness.  Two years earlier his photographer mother was killed on assignment by an earthquake, his best friend Cooper Foley is missing, a graphic character of his own creation, The Gravedigger, has come to life trying to kill him, people are turning up dead and Marshall has no doubt that ghosts are real.  He is being haunted by a powerful and deadly being.

Life in Stony Brook, Connecticut has crossed the line of normal into the creepy, frightening world of the supernatural.   With the help of Coop's sister, Sydney, Marsh gathers clues desperate for answers; until what can only be described as a downright nail-biting, horrifying ending leaves him barely alive with more questions than answers.

Check out these two videos about The Light, one a trailer and the other D. J. MacHale's discussion of the Morpheus Road books.

In book two, The Black (April 19, 2011), MacHale changes the point of view to Cooper.  Coop has landed in Trouble Town, big time, as a traveler on the Morpheus Road, a bridge between the living and the dead.  We see Marsh's tension filled trials from his turbulent week from the other side.  People that he never thought he would see again, people from the near and distant past, and places and images from each person's vision create a landscape that Cooper can hardly comprehend.

I shook my head and turned to the guy who had just come in.  He walked deliberately, like an old man with sore joints.  "I figured on finding you here," he said.  "Either here or that place with the french fries.  Never cared for 'em myself.  Too greasy."  My head was spinning.  The guy knew me.  "This is much better," he said.  "If I had a nickel for every ice cream I bought you here, I could buy the place out myself."  The guy sat down on the stool next to me and I got my first good look at him.  It was the best possible person I could have hoped to see...and the worst.  He was my favorite person in the world.  The old lady called him Gene.  That was short for Eugene.  Eugene Foley.  My grandfather.  "Close your mouth, Cooper.  You look like a trout."  Seeing my gramps made me want to throw my arms around him and hug him like I was six again.  Only one thing stopped me.  My grandfather was dead.

There is a war looming on the horizon in a world outside of our reality; a war started by a force from the time of Alexander The Great, that threatens to rip apart the tenuous threads that hold humanity together.  Damon, a general from ancient times with an appetite for murder and his enemies, literally, is mounting his forces seeking to destroy the crucibles and gain power of the poleax.  Damon needs Cooper.  Cooper needs to protect Marsh from Damon.  Marsh and Cooper must find a way to unite or existence as we know it will be crushed.

With communication between their two worlds shaky at best Marshall, wondering how he landed  in the Mother of all nightmares, and Cooper, racing against time seeking to understand his new existence plagued by guilt, redemption and Watchers, journey in these tension-filled thriller adventures that will have readers looking over their shoulders.  MacHale's handle on character development and their dialogue couldn't be better executed.  Eerie, descriptive scenes right out of the Twilight Zone or an Alfred Hitchcock movie raise the bar on a reader's breaking point; making them torn between putting the book down for a breather or gripping it even tighter, continuing desirous of a conclusion. 

The final chapter in this trio is highly anticipated.  Follow the link to D. J. MacHale's web site above.  He has much to offer readers in addition to his books; games, videos and downloads.  Enjoy!

Hear Them Roar...GRR #2

Colleen Houck follows the phenomenal success of series opener, Tiger's Curse, with a spellbinding sequel, Tiger's Quest, that strengthens the story at every turn of page. 

Kelsey Hayes has returned to life in Oregon having spent several months in India immersed in the traditions and mythic stories of a culture nearly as old as time, prophecy fulfillment, surreal adventure and finding a love whose thread can not be broken.  Successful in the initial stages of her role as the one chosen to release the two 300-year-old Indian princes from their curse, living as a tigers, she will be attending college until the prophecy can be further deciphered by Mr. Anik Kadam.  While trying to assume the life of a normal college freshman, studying classes enhancing her knowledge of the quest and dating other men, she is living a half life without her beloved.  Leaving Ren in India against his wishes was the hardest thing she ever had to do but she felt it was best for him.   Personally, as a reader, it defied belief that she could do this.

On Christmas Day when she answers the door at her adopted parents' home, there is Ren standing in the doorway.  From that point on the romance escalates with steamy, though chaste, scenes that truly define a steadfast and enduring love. 

Lokesh, a powerful man from the princes' past, is in pursuit of Kelsey seeking her death.  While on a date with one of her suitors she saved an elderly woman from being struck by a car.  It came to the attention of the media which spells trouble for the anonymity that Kelsey currently has.  Sending for Kishan Ren hopes to protect her from harm. 

The trio begins training in earnest, expanding on the wushu classes,  for a possible attack and preparing for a quick exit from the states back to India.  But...

The other men had caught up to us.  What happened next was no fight in a dojo. This was a battle.  War. Ren and Kishan looked like two uber-soldiers.  Their faces showed no emotion.  They moved sharply, efficiently.  They wasted no energy.  They moved in harmony like a pair of lethal dancers.  Ren with the Sai knives and Kishan with the staff.  Between them, they took down at least a dozen men, but dozens more shot out from the trees. 

Even changing from men to tigers and back does not deter the assault.  In the heat of battle to protect Ren, Kelsey discovers she has possession of a power heretofore unknown.  Kishan at Ren's insistence spirits Kelsey away as darts fill the air.  Her white tiger, her warrior angel, Ren, is captured by Lokesh. 

She and Kishan, the black tiger, flee to India following the next course revealed by the prophecy's translation.  Time is of the essence in accomplishing their tasks if they are to save Ren's life.

Now that a new adventure loomed before me, I wanted Ren with me so desperately my insides felt achingly hollow.  The only thing that kept me going was knowing I was doing this for him.  I wouldn't even allow myself to think he might not live through the next few weeks.  He had to.  Life without him would be meaningless.

Visiting the goddess Durga again, a Grandmother weaving the fabric of life, and the Ocean Teacher, traveling to Tibet, walking through the spirit gate into the land known as Shangri-La, passing the tests of the four houses within a sacred tree, gigantic iron birds, the Silvanae tree nymphs, extreme cold, death around every corner---these Kelsey and Kishan face together their friendship growing stronger daily.  Kelsey's love for Ren, her determination to save him never falters, but Kishan now does not hide his love for her.  History does repeat; the two brothers love the same woman.

Colleen Houck further cements her skills as a master storyteller; one dedicated to the geography, culture and myths within which this tale is set.  Descriptions of action and task completion in these magical worlds populated with beings from legend and imagination are luminous and elaborate.  Dialogue heartfelt and true, between the characters that readers have come to know, increases tension that leaves one breathless.

It would not be right to tell you if Kishan and Kelsey reach their goals nor whether they are able to save Ren but I will tell you to get a box of Kleenex handy; no make that two.  And you might want to set a block of time aside.  For once you start Tiger's Quest not much else will matter.

How are we ever to wait until November 2011 to continue in the fulfillment of the the prophecy set forth in The Tiger Series?

Hear Them Roar...GRR

One of the  particulars of this book, Tiger's Curse, that impresses me the most about author, Colleen Houck, is the care and attention that is given to the culture, mythology and people of India.

The story begins with recent high school graduate, Kelsey Hayes, taking a job as a temporary worker at a circus for a couple of weeks when it's in town.  Part of her duties includes the care and feeding of a magnificent Bengal tiger, Dhiren, who she calls Ren.  Over the course of her work assignment she and Ren develop a special bond which commences at their first meeting--Those eyes.  They were mesmerizing.  They stared right into me, almost as if the tiger was examining my soul.  During her free time or at the end of the day she begins reading poetry to the tiger or writing and drawing in her journal near his cage wrapped in the quilt her Grandmother made.  It is at the end of one of these companionable meetings that she, after touching him and his tongue licking her fingers, that she whispers, I wish you were free.  Little does Kelsey know that with those words she has set a chain of events in motion.

Soon thereafter a stranger by the name of Anik Kadam comes to the circus representing a very wealthy employer.  He purchases the tiger to be taken to the Ranthambore National Park, a tiger reserve, in India.  Kelsey is asked to accompany the tiger to India to see him safely delivered to the reserve due to the unique rapport that they share.

On the trip to the preserve imagine her dismay upon looking out a restaurant window to see that the truck carrying the tiger has left.   Running outside she finds the tiger vanishing up the trail into the surrounding jungle.  Readers will discover that this tiger is no ordinary tiger but an Indian prince under a 300-year-old curse which only Kelsey can break. 

What ensues is adventure a la Indiana Jones; deciphering prophecies, codes and finding keys complete with forests of trees with knife-like needles, white Kappa vampires slinking from pools and hordes of monkeys of every shape and size that don't like their kingdom borders breached. 

To spike the tension further the relationship between Kelsey and Ren deepens into a love complicated by his brother's presence, also under the curse.  And someone else is interested in Kelsey...seeking her...needing her to be eliminated.

Colleen Houck's first novel is volume one of the Tiger Saga.  It has achieved success as a self-published eBook and was named a finalist in the 2010 Next Generation Indie Book Award in YA Fiction.   What gives this story distinction above others of this genre is the meticulously described episodes, fully-developed characters, the snappy as well as steamy dialogue between Ren and Kelsey, and Kelsey's independent streak.

I have already pre-ordered the sequel due out June 7, 2011.  It's going to be a grand summer for reading.

Holding out for a..........Hero

Most of us agree that at times the most unlikely character can be a hero coming in all shapes and sizes.  That word, hero, brings to mind varied expectations based on our needs and desires, individually or collectively.  Mike Lupica, best known as an outstanding sports writer, gives his readers in the book, Hero, what all want when that word is spoken or read------hope that the day will be saved; that a champion will shield them from dangers and defend all that is good from evil.

Tom Harriman, advisor to the President of the United States, is on a mission that not even the President is aware is taking place.  Deep inside the borders of Bosnia a Serb war criminal and part-time terrorist is about to be taken from his heavily guarded sanctuary.  Mission accomplished Tom is puzzled to see a figure walk on the runway as his plane takes off; a man with snow white hair barely showing beneath a cap pulled down low nearly covering his eyes.

What is this man doing here now when he should be clear across the ocean on the other side of the globe?  Tom knows that he should be ecstatic that his self-imposed assignment has been completed.. So why did I feel as if I were the one being chased?  Even up here, all alone in the night sky?

It seems that Tom Harriman's instincts were right.  He clearly was not safe from the Bads.  The Bads are enemies far more evil than anyone can imagine.

He told stories about them to his son Zach who thought they were fiction but they are the worst kind of fact.  Zach, on his way home to greet his Dad after this latest trip, is feeling compelled to not take his time crossing through Central Park as he usually does; anxious, uneasy and beginning to be scared he breaks into a full run toward his home on Fifth Avenue.  When the elevator doors open into his apartment his apprehensions are realized.  Zach is never going to see his Dad again.  He is never coming home again.

Fourteen year old Zach is changing, not just because of the loss of his Dad, but his physical abilities are growing as is his sense of impending danger to himself and those around him.  His defensive skills are becoming amazing.  He also knows in his heart of hearts that his Dad's plane crash was no accident but murder.  Will John Marshall ( Uncle John), family lawyer and his father's best friend, Kate Paredes, daughter of their paid housekeeper who lives with them or the mysterious man with the snow white hair help or hinder him in his search for the truth?  Who can he trust with the secrets revealed to him about his new superhero status? 

Save yourself some time because once you start Hero you won't be able to stop as the precise, rapid-fire writing zings you toward the inevitable but startling conclusion.

Tick-tock---The Clockwork Three

Matthew J. Kirby has penned a debut novel that is brilliant and breathtaking, The Clockwork Three. 

Initially we are introduced to Giuseppe, a busker making a living by playing violin on the streets of the teeming city.  From his native country of Italy, he was sold by his Uncle to Stephano, a cruel padrone who takes his earnings giving next to nothing in return.  As the story begins Giuseppe has just found a green violin floating in the harbor after the wreck of a ship.

The clear sound that spilled out of the green violin resonated off the walls.  It seemed to penetrate the alleyways and soar up the rickety wooden staircases clinging to the outsides of the buildings.  It cut through the street noise, the clopping hooves, the shouts, the factory machinery grinding away around the city.  It slid through all of that like a slender hand parting a curtain. ...The sidewalk traffic around him had paused midstride.  That time of day it was mostly men on their way home, greasy from work. ... The song acquired the autonomy of a living thing.  Giuseppe watched the invisible tune light on each passerby like a cherry blossom carried on a breeze.  The tired bodies, stooped and trod upon, rose up.  Their eyes, rimmed with dirt and yellow from smoke, filled with tears.

As the final notes are played and Giuseppe counts his money his spirits soar.  Maybe, just maybe, this green violin will help him get enough money for passage so he can leave this city in the United States and return home.

Frederick, who has a gift with gears apprenticed to clockmaker Master Branch, is prowling the streets looking for a piece of metal to continue work on his automation, a clockwork man.  With completion of this project he is sure that he will be accepted as a journeyman in the guild with the ability to have a shop of his own.  But Frederick is haunted by his past.

Prior to rescue by Master Branch, he slaved at the looms with the rest of the orphans suffering terrible physical and mental abuse at the hands of cruel Mrs. Treeless. He yearns for an explanation as to why his mother, whose name he does not know, left him there.  As Giuseppe has found the green violin Frederick comes into possession of a missing bronze head which holds the key to his goal of independence and the importance of being the best at his craft.

The clockwork head, the Magnus head, rested peacefully.  Whether the name was accurate, and this was indeed the lost bronze head created by Albertus Magnus, was irrelevant.  The clockwork inside was all that mattered. ... Even though he had already seen it once before, the staggering workmanship drew a sigh out of Frederick.  He took several minutes, and just admired it without touching, without sticking his fingers in it. ...Frederick went to work with deliberate reverence, refusing to allow his excitement to rush him.  ... There was a larger pattern he was missing, like a painting that was too big to see all at once.  He could observe isolated figures and brushstrokes, but not the work as a whole.  The farther he stepped away from it, the larger the painting grew, as though this genius assembly of clockwork combined to become something greater than a simple combination of the parts would suggest.  An alchemy of arithmetic where two plus two equaled ten. 

With a deep love of learning Hannah has had to give up her education to work as a maid at the Gilbert Hotel tolling through days which seemed as endless as the ocean.


In the early morning hours, Hannah read at the table by the dim light of dawn.  She leaned in close to the pages, chin resting on her folded arms, eyes racing over the words, like chasing butterflies over the hills, to catch as many as she could before going to work.  She wondered at how such tales of magic could be contained by mere paper and ink for her to read again and again.  Which she had.

It is that very day that upon hearing her supervisor, Miss Wood, speaking with the hotel manager, Mister Grumholdt, Hannah overhears them speaking of a treasure hidden in the hotel.  What that treasure, if found, could do for her family fills Hannah with fevered hope.  Since her father, a stonemason, was stricken with illness fear of losing their meager dwelling, having enough fuel to warm them or having food to stave of the specter of hunger stalks them each and every day.  But more surprises await Hannah in the form of an unusual guest and her protector which have arrived at the hotel.

Our three protagonists lives do intersect like intricate puzzle pieces each needing the other to complete the whole glorious adventure.  It is the building of their friendship, its challenges and triumphs, that gives them the strength and commitment to cooperate so each can realize their dreams exactly as the gears on a timepiece are required to do.

Truly the writing of Kirby is a thing of beauty as my numerous quotes clearly illustrate.  More times than I can mention I wanted to stop with a highlighter and underline a sentence or paragraph that created a particular scene in my mind.  This piece of fiction continually reminded me of a masterful, musical symphony with the notes, passages and parts blending to bring to the listener a sound with a hint of magic and a whole lot of majesty that will linger long after the final chord is struck.  Trust me, read the words, close your eyes and you will be there again and yet again as I was and will be.  This reader is waiting and wanting the next escapade by Matthew J. Kirby.

Bold, Brillant Base, Graeme That Is...

     Snailing Ship, rise and shine,

Hoist your sails and trim them fine,
     Taste once more the salty brine,
For with this spell I make you mine!

The Legend of the Golden Snail written and illustrated by Graeme Base is his thirteenth book.  He began with My Grandma lived in Gooligulch, followed by Animalia which is to this day the most popular.

Wilbur's favorite book is The Legend of the Golden Snail.  No matter how many times he has heard it, he still dreams of its banishment to the Ends of the Earth where it is doomed to stay until released by a new master.

   One fine day Wilbur decides to set sail for the Ends of the Earth with his cat as crew wearing a captain's hat made by his mother.  Along the way he waters a bush of blossoming butterflies wilting in the sun, cuts a net from a monstrous sea crab creature, and assists lantern fish whose light bulbs are being stolen by earwig pirates.
Slightly downcast by his progress and role as the Grand Enchanter Wilbur is assisted by a wind created by newly blossomed butterflies as he drifts in the Dreadful Doldrums, cut loose from the Slithering Sea by a friend returning a favor and during a frightful storm in the Maze of Madness lantern fish light his way to safety.


At last he reaches The Ends of the Earth only to find the snail no larger than a small pebble.  Still, arms held aloft, he chants the magical words that he knows by heart.  With wide-eyed wonder Wilbur watches as the snail grows and grows and grows complete with mast and sails.  Seeing the snail's chains and bonds he makes a decision.

Wilbur no longer wants to be the Grand Enchanter but the Gallant Captain.   He ties his boat to the back of the Snailing Ship and commands it to take him to its home, The Spiral Isles.  Do they sail on the ocean swells?  No, they sail skyward through a sea of clouds with more marvels to behold.  Upon reaching their destination the Gallant Captain (Wilbur) relinquishes his enchantment on the snail and receives a parting gift granting him a way home. 

Nearly two years are spent on the illustrations for each of Graeme Base's books.  Their wild detail, imaginative creatures and places continue to enthrall readers of all ages.  True to form Base has a miniature book of The Legend of the Golden Snail embedded in the title page with end papers mapping out the journey in mystical soft colors

 At the book's end readers are invited to go back to find the hidden snail 'n' crossbones in every picture.  When found it is suggested that a visit to Graeme Base's web site, highlighted at the beginning of this post, will bring the Golden Snail magically to life.  The web site itself is a colorful exploration of the author's career including several videos about this latest book.  Whether an old fan or new this book is a welcome visual feast for the eyes and imagination with the discovery of something different at each viewing.

Positively Perfect Perkins

As Easy as Falling Off the Face of the Earth is Lynne Rae Perkins latest novel.  It is definitely going on Mrs. Culver's Top Twenty list for next year.  As I write this I am smiling as I look at the cover, read through the chapter headings again or recall the characters and their exploits. 

To begin sixteen year old Ry bound for summer camp is riding the rails through Montana.  When the train stops for some minor mechanical repair Ry decides to disembark.

Wait a minute.  Was the---had the train just moved?  Ry turned his head to look at it straight on, but it sat on the tracks, as still as the lumpy brown hill he was climbing.  As still as the grass that baked in gentle swells as far as he could see and the air in the empty blue sky.  He must have imagined it.  Nothing had moved.  Everything was the same.  but there it was again.  Was it because he blinked?  Maybe it was the water in his eyes; it had wobbled up his vision.  He picked out a post alongside the tracks, directly below the line where the logo on the train changed from red to blue.  As he watched, the red and the blue shifted almost imperceptibly to the right above the post.  Then perceptibly.  The train was moving. 

Oh, yes, Ry is stranded in the middle of nowhere Montana with his backpack still on the train. He left the train to call his grandfather after finally reading a letter from the camp which stated:

  We are so sorry.  The Summer ArchaeoTrails Program will not take place.  A statistically improbable number of things have gone wrong and the camel's back is broken.  Your money will be fully refunded as soon as I sell my car and remortgage my house. 

Gazing out at the wide-open space, wondering just how he is going to find a place with people and after taking stock of what he has in his pockets, Ry remarks,

But at least I have my health.

It is just this kind of wit, humor and dialogue that moves Ry's story forward with readers happily in tow eager to see what new unlikely event will befall Ry. 

Of course his Grandfather, who is at the family home in Wisconsin taking care of their two dogs, Peg and Olie, is not answering his calls.  Why is that?  Taking the dogs for a walk turned into a race through the woods after the pair sighted a doe only to have the earth beneath Grandpa Lloyd's feet fall into an eight foot sinkhole twenty feet wide. The fall has left Grandpa wandering with a concussion and memory loss.


Where are Ry's parents?  They are sailing around the Caribbean with their own mishaps, the least of which includes the theft of their cell phone by a local monkey. 

Peg and Olie are having an adventure of their own that the reader shares via comic book style graphics.

By walking to the nearest town, Ry meets Del.  Del is a self-made, self-employed, jack-of-all-trades, well traveled kind of guy.   He is the bridge that provides the connection between all these incidents.  It is Del that volunteers to take Ry to Wisconsin to solve the puzzle of Grandpa Lloyd not answering the phone.  It is Del that has a friend with an airplane that can take them to an island in the Caribbean.  It is Del's  former girlfriend, for whom he still has deep feelings, that has a boat that can take them to the island of St. Jude where he can hopefully locate his parents.

Each of  the little additional occurrences that transpire as they journey toward this goal are more far fetched than their predecessors.   As a reader one finds oneself shaking their head and asking, "What are the chances of that happening?"


Lynne Rae Perkins delightful illustrations peppered throughout the book add to the cohesiveness of her writing about these likable characters and the outlandish happenings that fate lays before them.  There is nothing quite so fine as a slice of life from Perkins' finely crafted pie.