Briar’s Book is the final book in Tamora Pierce’s Circle of Magic quartet, which of course is ending just as I’m getting used to the format Pierce wrote them in. Naturally, it focuses on Briar, the former thief and street rat, now plant-mage of Winding Circle Temple. He and the three girls are now a year older than they were in the first book, but still quite young. They’ve adjusted to their new lives and are learning in heaps and loads. For Briar, a large […]
The last Percy Jackson book? Who knows.
This is what I wrote upon finishing the book last month: “My emotions have been played like a cheap fiddle at a hoedown AND I LOVED EVERY MINUTE. I like, am alllllmost tempted to give this five stars, but I’m gonna sit on that impulse for now (see cheap fiddle hoedown comment above.) So for now, 4.5 stars. Also shut up, YOU’RE CRYING.” I’ve cooled off since then, and I’d probably need to re-read before I can form definite opinions about specific details (mostly because […]
A diverse, impressive world for the middle-grade and adult reader
(This post originally appeared in Persephone Magazine.) Akashic Books has long been at the indie forefront of interesting literature. Along with other fun releases like Simon’s Cat and Go the F—k to Sleep, they’ve expanded their stable to include books aimed at middle grade and young adult readers under their new imprint, Black Sheep. Game World by C.J. Farley is one of their first releases, and it’s a diverse, impressive world aimed at the advanced elementary school-aged reader on up to adults. My [now] 10-year-old daughter […]
There is magic in the weaving.
Sandry’s Book is the first book of Tamora Pierce’s I’ve read that wasn’t set in Tortall, and I enjoyed it very much. It was a compact, precise little book all about people coming together. And, you know, magic and stuff. Fair warning, though. My reading of the book probably suffered because it was my second book in the 24 Hour Readathon a couple of weeks ago. I was highly buzzed on coffee for the first half of the book, and during the second I was […]
March (Book 1): An Origin Story
What’s hard for kids to recognize – hell, what’s hard for people to recognize – is that we’re living through history right this minute. That, someday, there’s going to be a kid, bored of his mind, doodling in the margins of his brain tablet (or whatever space technology kids are learning on in the future), barely listening to his teacher drone on and on about ‘the geopolitical ramifications of US drone strikes in 2014’ or – in deference to today’s book – ‘Let’s compare and […]
I’m not sure using kids as spies is a great strategy, but since we did it, we might as well hear about it
Did you know that a 9-year-old boy once wandered into the camp of the British Army, took stock of their troop count & weapons hoard, convinced them he was just a dope who was lost & looking for a mill, all under the orders of General George Washington? Yeah, me neither. Enter Ariel Bradley: Spy for General Washington. The book was well written, and the pictures were engaging: I think the Kindle formatting was not very accessible (it chopped up the pictures and pages […]