Monday, September 20, 2010

A Town of Super Heroes



My Rating: 4/5

Review: I enjoyed reading this with my six-year-old son. He couldn't wait to get to the next couple of chapters every night at bed time. I guess you can't go wrong with a story about a town full of super heroes. My son doesn't agree with me, but I think O Boy has really does have a super power, his intelligence.

Book Description: hilarious new series that proves superpowers are no match for brainpower.

In the town of Superopolis, everyone has a superpower. Everyone, that is, except Ordinary Boy. He's–well, he's pretty much ordinary. But that won't stop him from taking on supervillains like the sinister Professor Brain–Drain....

This spring, welcome to Superopolis and The Extraordinary Adventures of Ordinary Boy, a clever, funny new series for kids who've outgrown Captain Underpants or anyone who loves The Incredibles and The Tick. Packed with dynamic illustrations and starring a smart young hero who could hold his own with Charlie Bone, Klaus Baudelaire, and Stanley Yelnats, this is a series that kids will find undeniably super!

Saturday, September 18, 2010

Picture Worth a Thousand...Questions



My Rating: 4/5

Review: What happens when someone slips a mysterious photo in with your collection at the photo shop? Well, according to Grace Lawson, plenty. First, her husband disappears. Second, she starts finding out some strange truths. Third, someone starts threatening her life. Fourth, and most concerning, they start to threaten her children. There a lot more thrills in this story, along with some interesting twists and turns. I got caught up in the mystery right away, and was thrilled with the suspenseful climax. A lot of truths were revealed at the end, but it seemed to take forever to get to them all. Still, quite a good read.

Book Description: When Grace Lawson picks up a newly developed set of family photographs, there is a picture that doesn't belong-a photo from at least 20 years ago with a man in it who looks strikingly like her husband, Jack. And though Jack denies it, he disappears that night, taking the photo with him. Now, to save her family from a fierce, silent killer who will stop at nothing to get the photo, Grace must confront the dark corners of her own tragic past.

Friday, September 3, 2010

Going Places



My Rating: 4/5

Review: This was an interesting story about a young woman who can't make herself stay in one place for very long. It all begins on a bitter cold night with her footprints in the snow and broken glass scattered about. She was escaping from something, but what? Why is her father, whom she hasn't seen in over a year, suddenly taking her away into the night? She doesn't remember anything before that moment, and later, she can't explain why she leaves her lovers without warning over and over again. It's tragic, and intruiging, and strange. The story jumped around so much that it made my head spin. I was bored one minute and on the edge of my seat the next. After all of that, the ending left me feeling a little hollow and dissatisfied. The thing is, though, that seems to be the right sort of feelings to have upon closing this book.

Book Description: Last Night in Montreal is a story of love, amnesia, compulsive travel, the depths and the limits of family bonds, and the nature of obsession. In this extraordinary debut, Emily St. John Mandel casts a powerful spell that captures the reader in a gritty, youthful world — charged with an atmosphere of mystery, promise and foreboding — where small revelations continuously change our understanding of the truth and lead to desperate consequences. Mandel's characters will resonate with you long after the final page is turned.

Lilia Albert has been leaving people behind her entire life. She spends her childhood and adolescence traveling constantly and changing identities. In adulthood, she finds it impossible to stop. Haunted by an inability to remember her early childhood, she moves restlessly from city to city, abandoning lovers along the way, possibly still followed by a private detective who has pursued her for years. Then her latest lover follows her from New York to Montreal, determined to learn her secrets and make sure she's safe.