“John W. Otte leads a double life. By day he’s a Lutheran minister. By night, he writes weird stories.” Failstate is kind of weird. Robin Laughlin aka Failstate and Robin’s brother Ben aka Gauntlet are both unlicensed superheroes. Failstate is a “cognit” who can mess with the power grid. The theory is that Failstate’s super-power …
Category Archive: 2012
Apr 16
The Drowned Vault by N.D. Wilson
About the first book in this fantasy series by N.D. Wilson, I wrote: The Dragon’s Tooth by N.D. Wilson. Too much action and it moved way too fast for me. I think there was a sub-text that I just didn’t get, and I think Mr. Wilson is too smart for my Very Little Brain. Reading …
Apr 07
Code of Silence by Tim Shoemaker
Living a Lie Comes With a Price. This thriller is book with a moral, but it didn’t feel preachy to me, just real. Three teens–Cooper, Hiro, and Gordy—witness a robbery and attempted murder. Because Cooper and his family are threatened by the robbers and because they have reason to believe that at least one of …
Feb 01
Mira’s Diary: Lost in Paris by Marissa Moss
Time travel at its most historically teach-y. I learned a lot about the Dreyfus affair, but the time travel elements of this story were too unbelievable. Mira keeps traveling back and forth from our time to various times in the late nineteenth century, and she meets many of the same people at different key points …
Jan 27
Middle Grade Fantasy and Science Fiction: What’s In, What’s Out
Some observations from my Cybils reading: What’s In Clockwork/mechanical animals, birds, monsters, objects, steam-punk: The Dead Gentleman by Matthew Cody, The Peculiar by Stefan Bachmann, Above World by Jenn Reese, The Brightworking by Paul B. Thompson, Goblin Secrets by William Alexander. Ghosts: Tilly’s Moonlight Garden by Julia Green, The Whispering House by Rebecca Wade, A …
Jan 19
Spirit Fighter by Jerel Law
Angels, nephilim, winged demons, kidnapping, creepy. A not-too-compelling entry in the Christian horror-dystopia-weird creatures genre. I dunno. If you like stories about supernatural creatures but want to keep your reading theologically borderline sound and sexually pure (those vampire/zombie stories get nasty sometimes), then this debut novel from Thomas Nelson Publishers might fit the bill. I …
Jan 18
Horten’s Incredible Illusions by Lissa Evans
I liked the second book better than I did the first, I think. Children who like puzzles and magic tricks would really find this book and its prequel, Horten’s Miraculous Mechanisms, quite compelling. I just wanted more character development, more reasons to like or at least sympathize with the children in the two stories. Stuart …
Jan 01
12 Favorite Middle Grade Fantasy and Science Fiction Books from 2012
For my Cybils judging responsibilities this year I read 84 of the 151 books nominated. I still have more that I would like to read in the next couple of months. Of those 84, these are my twelve favorites: Darkbeast by Morgan Keyes. Deadly Pink by Vivian Vande Velde. Iron-Hearted Violet by Kelly Barnhill. Princess …
Dec 31
55 More Bits of Wisdom and Advice from Literary (Mostly Cybils) Sources
Do you need a new philosophy for the new year? “Do right. Fear nothing.” Crazy Dangerous by Andrew Klavan. “The universe is not a wish-granting factory.” The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. “A song can be sung once but can be heard forever.” Sword Mountain by Nancy Yi Fan. “Explorers are supposed to …
Dec 23
Preview of 2012 Book Lists #1
SATURDAY December 29th, will be a special edition of the Saturday Review of Books especially for booklists. You can link to a list of your favorite books read in 2012, a list of all the books you read in 2012, a list of the books you plan to read in 2013, or any other end …
CYBILS
Preschool Curriculum:
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