The Last Summer Of The Death Warriors Review

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(More customer reviews)At seventeen, Pancho has decided the last thing he needs to do with his life: kill the man he thinks responsible for the death of his sister. It's not so simple, though...first he has to figure out who exactly the man is, how to find him, and how to get past the annoying, aggravatingly happy D.Q., another teen boy with a mission of his own: live life to the fullest in his last months...before he dies of brain cancer. And...honestly...I can't do justice to the plot here. Throw in some conversations about life, death, faith, love. Mix up with heart-wrenching backgrounds, wise children, foolish adults, and sucking every drop of marrow from life.
As my little synopsis probably makes clear, The Last Summer of the Death Warriors is one of those fathoms-deep, meaningful stories that you rarely come across in YA lit. It is also an extremely subtle story--almost too subtle for my taste (the ending didn't feel wrapped-up enough for me), yet I love the way it left me thinking after I finished it. I can guarantee that it will make you question the way you're living your life, embrace the beauty of every day, and appreciate things you never thought to notice. You will never forget Pancho and D.Q. or the friends they make on their journey--Francisco Stork is a master at character and relationship development, and these aspects of the story are truly what make it shine. Even every description, although technically all of them are extremely basic and simply worded, serves to develop character--and does so perfectly.
As a bit of a warning, this is a very difficult book to read...certainly not in actual pacing or readability, but simply because it delves into topics and a world that are hard to be in. This is not a story to be read casually, and it is certainly for mature readers who can handle its issues. Yet it is a beautiful book, and it is an important book.


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Drinking Closer to Home: A Novel (P.S.) Review

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(More customer reviews)I was at once appalled and in love with this quirky family!
Anna, Portia and Emery are summoned back home when their mother, Louise, has a massive heart attack. During Louise's time in the hospital recovering, the three children reminisce about their childhood, their odd parents, Buzzy and Louise, their even odder extended family and where the road has taken them.
"It has only been recently that Anna forgave her mother for a litany of crimes Anna had been carrying in her stomach like a knotted squid."
As soon as I started reading Drinking Closer to Home, it felt so much like a memoir, I had to look at the copyright page just to make sure that it said "fiction" at the front. At the end of the book, the author interviews her own family, on whom the characters are based. What happens in between is pure magic.
Oh, how I cringed! Oh, how I laughed! Oh, how I felt compelled to turn the pages!
The very things that might make another family miserable are the very things that make this family work. The prolific swearing, the filthy house, and the unabashed drug use made me want to read the pages with my eyes half closed while learning about this crazy family. The humor, the brutal honesty, and the love made me want to want to be a part of it.
There were several scenes in the book that made me laugh out loud. There was one part in the book where we flashback to 1976 and the kids were visiting their grandparents Otto and Billie.
"Emory was hovering nearby, hiding himself from Otto, who had publicly called him Sissy Boy at least three times in the last hour. Emery thought that if only his grandfather could see the singing and dancing extravaganza of the Corny Kids Variety Show, he'd never call Emery a sissy again."
Emery was my favorite character in the book. He was embarrassed by his family, but didn't like being on the outside of things either. His struggle with his identity both in and out of his family moved me deeply.
All of the characters in this book were, in a word, colorful!
If you enjoyed The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, you will fall head over heels backward in love drunk with Drinking Closer to Home by Jessica Anya Blau.


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Diary of a Psychic: Shattering the Myths Review

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(More customer reviews)Diary of a Psychic is a facinating read. The way the author writes left me feeling as if I've known her forever. Her story illustrates how she learned to develop and trust her gift despite what logic might tell her. It's clear to me that she was put on this earth to manifest her gift as a healer and teacher. To the skeptic the book may seem far fetched. As one who has had an opportunity to have a reading done by her, I can only marvel at her gift.

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Sonia Choquette differs from other psychics in that she has developed her skills to see beyond predicting the future ...she helps people find and deeply connect to their pre-ordained life plan. She works with her clients to help them identify their specific soul path to ensure that they make the most of all the opportunities that are available and helps them dissolve the blocks that stop them being who they truly are. The closest thing to spiritual life coaching Sonia Choquette's work is eminently practical - she is the soul guide for happy endings.

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Please Ignore Vera Dietz Review

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(More customer reviews)I'll keep this short.
I'm a middle-aged man who gave up on YA literature when he was a YA. Which was a long, long time ago.
But PLEASE IGNORE VERA DIETZ is the real deal. No glittery vampires. No baloney. Just real, live people with real, live problems. Like the ones I had when I was a YA myself. And like the ones you might have right now.
It's a book with heart, a book with soul.
It's a book that will endure.
Buy a copy right this minute, and help make sure that that happens.

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I Heart You, You Haunt Me Review

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(More customer reviews)He's here, in this room, right now. Jackson. Ava knows he's dead, and that it's impossible, but that doesn't stop her from being able to smell his unique, sandalwood aftershave. Or seeing his image in her mirror, hearing his words in her head,and finding him in her dreams. Her boyfriend is a ghost, and it's Ava's fault he's dead to begin with.
So now what?
Ride the waves of Ava's emotions, sometimes rippling, sometimes crashing, in this haunting book. Written in verse for maximum impact, the book grips readers and keeps them turning page after page, waiting for a release that never comes. I know, because I'm still waiting to be released from the clutch of feelings invoked by Ava's tale.
That's why I'm nominating this one for the Gold Star Award for Excellence in the TeensReadToo Hall of Fame. This award is reserved for books that we'll read again and again. A definite for me in this case.
Reviewed by: Julie M. Prince

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Girl meets boy. Girl loses boy. Girl gets boy back... ...sort of. Ava can't see him or touch him, unless she's dreaming. She can't hear his voice, except for the faint whispers in her mind. Most would think she's crazy, but she knows he's here. Jackson. The boy Ava thought she'd spend the rest of her life with. He's back from the dead, as proof that love truly knows no bounds.

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Closer to the Light Review

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(More customer reviews)Not to repeat what several others have mentioned here in these well written reviews, but this is a wonderful book.
The most notable element I see in this book is that children do not pass ALONE. There is always a loving presence - someone that goes with the child - and takes away their fears and eases the transition.
There was one story about a young girl (age 7) who tried to kill herself. She'd been the victim of horrible child abuse and chose suicide as the only way out. She left her body and found herself surrounded by "a bubble of love and life". She was shown a tree - encased in ice and snow - and told she was in the winter of her life now, but that summer was coming and much joy was ahead of her in life.
She was 47 when interviewed for this book and her adult life had been one of stability, joy and much peace.
The other good reason to buy this book is because on page 147 is "the rest of the story" about the 1986 bombing of the elementary school in Cokeville, Wyoming.
Many of the children who were there when the bomb went off (they'd all been stuffed into one classroom by David Young, the bomber) told of angelic beings that gave them very specific instructions as to where to go to be safe.
Not one or two, but many children talked about the angels, or "nice ladies who were all lit up" and voices - all giving them clear direction.
And by the way, only David Young died when that bomb went off.
This is a well written, informative, enlightening and good-news book.

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The skeptics have had their say; now listen to the experts. In hundreds of interviews with children who had once been declared clinically dead, Dr. Morse found that children too young to have absorbed our adult views and ideas of death, share first-hand accounts of out-of-body travel, telepathic communication and encounters with dead friends and relatives. Finally illuminating what it is like to die, here is proof that there is that elusive "something" that survives "bodily death.""New information on what may await us after death...Responsible, highly readable, and certainly thought-provoking."THE KIRKUS REVIEWS

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Mick Harte Was Here Review

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(More customer reviews)When I was a kid I rode my bike all the time. I rode it all around my block and up and down my street. I rode it with my dad and brother to the local high school where we'd play a makeshift game of bike tag. This was all in the 1980s and I have delightful memories of the time. Sure, there was the occasional scare. Once I rode into a street without looking and a car had to stop quite short to avoid hitting me. My dad wasn't too thrilled about that, but nothing bad happened and it wasn't as if I was punished. And not once, NOT ONCE, did I ever wear a bike helmet. At the time, I probably had some vague sense that I was invincible. Today, I look at that near miss with the car and silently shudder. Today kids know about bike helmets and most of them wear them. But there's nothing like a book like, "Mick Harte Was Here" to kinda drill the point home. I'm not saying that this book is just a good public safety message. I'm saying it tells a compelling story that will probably encourage your kids to take a little more care of their lives than if they hadn't read it in the first place.
"So this isn't the kind of book where you meet the main character and you get to like him real well and then he dies at the end", says narrator Phoebe Harte. Mick Harte is dead, to begin with. In a straightforward voice, thirteen-year-old Pheobe tells of how her brother's death was an accident in the purest sense of the word. He was on his bike, he hit a rock, and he smashed into a passing truck. Instantaneous head wound. Instantaneous death. But before you get to that you get to see a little of Mick on that last day. You see how he messed around with his sister and how they had a mild fight that morning. You get a sense of his sense of humor and wacky style. Without really meaning to, you discover that you really like Mick. And now he's dead. With the barest minimum of text, author Barbara Park shows exactly how one family chooses to deal with Mick's death. Pheobe adjusts better than her parents, but she still has a great deal of difficulty figuring out exactly where Mick is. Fortunately, by the end of the book she's reached a kind of peace. A slow understanding that sometimes this is the way things are. And as a reader, you feel good about that. Sad, but good.
Barbara Park's real strength here is the age group she's written this tale for. This is a kind of young reader chapter book, just perfect for fourth and fifth graders. Park's Phoebe has a definite dark sense of humor. For example, after she remarks that the only upside to someone's death is that you have no appetite she points out that she lost some weight just in time for the funeral. Says Phoebe in a bleak comedic voice, "Nature's real thoughtful that way". "Mick Harte Was Here", is ultimately hopeful, though. For people who have always associated Miss Park with her pre-eminently popular "Junie B. Jones" series, they may find themselves a little shocked to realize that Park can be a deeply profound author when she chooses. Death isn't glossed over here. There's a satisfying moment where Phoebe takes on a teacher who keeps talking about the girl's "loss" and how she's "lost" a sibling. As Phoebe is quick to point out, no one here is lost. Mick's dead. But by the end of the book, she's come to accept that. And to find a good way to grieve.
It's difficult locating well-written books on death for kids in this reading age group. Most of the stuff you're going to find is going to concentrate on dead pets or dying horses and the like. Few writers have the authorial guts to take on the death of a child. Louisa May Alcott did, but she's one of the few. Now Barbara Park has come to join her. This is no "Little Women", but it's a good read and a true account of how a family must stay together in the time of a crisis. It's not going to answer any questions for kids about death. It'll just tell them how some people deal with it. And that's enough.

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The Tenth Good Thing About Barney Review

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(More customer reviews)The little boy who is the narrator of this book has just had his pet cat Barney die. He can only think of nine good things about Barney, until the day after the funeral, when he spends the day in the garden with his father. The plot is extremely simple and spare, but the book depicts grief very well, and so we understand just how broken-hearted the little boy is, and how much he loved his cat. The Tenth Good Thing About Barney is an excellent springboard for families of every religious persuasion (including agnostics and atheists) to discuss what they feel happens after we die. The book helps children put into words many questions that they might be too young to articulate, and helps parents answer them for him as best you can. The writing is excellent, and perfectly captures the voice of a young boy, and the illustrations are elegant. It's a classic book, and belongs in every library.

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My cat Barney died this Friday. I was very sad. My mother said we could have a funeral for him, and I should think of ten good things about Barney so I could tell them... But the small boy who loved Barney can only think of nine. Later, while talking with his father, he discovers the tenth -- and begins to understand.

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Zombie, Ohio: A Tale of the Undead Review

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(More customer reviews)I am a huge fan of all things zombie, and to be honest, this has sometimes made me fall prey to less than well written, self-published, needs-actual-editing, type of novels. Lacking depth and, at times, imagination, these books left me feeling a little brain dead myself upon their completion. FINALLY I found the Kenemore! I have been a fan of his humor books from the beginning (starting with The Zen of Zombie), these books are pro-zombie and very tongue in cheek type of humor (comparing Jesus to a zombie, oh my!) And while these are humor books, I have always found them very thoughtful and well written. I have also read some other Scott Kenemore work which was published in the Kenyon Review a while back, and it wasn't a zombie story at all, but about a man tattooing a dead body. Scott Kenmore's a writer capable of many layers, and I believe he especially proves his mastery of the horror genre itself in his latest, and first, full length novel. Zombie, Ohio is a rip roaring fun, tearing up the country side with my zombie horde at my back, in this ultimate "I was raised from the dead and I can still think" adventure type of novel! Wow, that was really a mouth full!
Zombie, Ohio had me chuckling with it's asides to HP Lovecraft (where was the meteor reported?) And it's knowledge of everything from local folk lore (Wild Black Turkeys representing some type of witch?) to the intimate layout of the Ohio countryside. This book was well thought out and planned in three parts. I believe you could actually make a study of some the additional symbolism that Kenemore uses in the book, but you also would need to be aware of his allusions to Zombies in pop culture (movie references throughout also). . again, this is a novel with many layers, on the basic level it is a book about a sad, alcoholic professor who loses his life in a zombie outbreak and finds himself a lucid zombie. But on another level, it is about a man who finds himself ineffectively prepared to live courageously until he becomes one of the undead, and then, we find he is not only effective but indestructible and fearless! Scott Kenmore's novel is also the first "pro-people" Zombie novel I have read, where the people keep it together and adjust and fight the zombies back, another statement of social commentary? And that's not the only example throughout the book of social commentary, and no it is not all positive either.
I would also like to give a big nod and a chuckle to the "first time" scene. . ahh Kenemore says, you never forget your first time. Stinking hilarious! Also, because I am also a baseball fan, the reference to the minor league ball team "The Kernels" was very well received by me! Again, this book had many layers, including it's final part labeled "redemption" which ends without such a thing, if you ask my opinion (I will not give it away, this is a MUST READ, not only if you like zombies but if you enjoy horror at all!) left me very thoughtful and also feeling like Mr. Kenmore was making a statement without ever saying a word. . perhaps, in the end, there is no redemption for any of us, except in death? hmmm. . . ?
This is it guys and gals, the Zombie novel you have been waiting for and craving. . . with BRAINS!!!!!

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Daytripper Review

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(More customer reviews)DAYTRIPPER is a mysterious little book. I read the first three issues when they came out, and though I was absolutely intrigued by what was happening in the story, the way each installment came and ended without explanation made me not want to have to work through the serialization. Rather, I wanted to get it all at once. It's a book where the payoff is going to require some faith, and where the individual moments matter to the cumulative whole. I didn't want them lost in the gaps between.
This creator-owned comic is by the Brazillian twins Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá, who have electrified the world of graphic literature over the last several years with their work together, separate, and in collaboration with others. DAYTRIPPER is their first truly substantial work as a solo team. It tells the story of Brás de Oliva Domingos, but it does so in a fractured fashion. Time bends here, the narrative pieces are scattered. When we first meet Brás, on his 32nd birthday, he is an obituary writer on the way to see his father, a famous novelist, receive a lifetime achievement award. In chapter two, he is 21 and seeing the world. The youngest we see him, not counting the oft repeated tale of his birth--a blackout baby who emerges into the darkness like the light, or even life, itself--is at age 11, the oldest age 76. We jump through time to watch his romances and failures, his family benchmarks and even the lows of an important friendship. Each chapter of DAYTRIPPER has a definite end, finite in its way, and one which I shan't reveal here, but you'll discover it soon enough. Fittingly, only the very last ending deviates from the pattern.
It takes a while to get an explanation as to what is happening. The book is a string of second chances and missed opportunities--though never squandered ones. For as spectacular as some of the failures, they never come with a sense that someone wasn't trying. It's more that things just don't turn out as expected. It's why you never wait to go for whatever needs going for, events may turn before you get the opportunity to seize it. It's at the end of the eighth chapter when we start to get a sense of what it all means, how Brás' each and every action creates a reaction, and DAYTRIPPER is the study of that resonance. I could have done without the penultimate entry, but that just might be personal taste. The dreamy ninth chapter is the only time where I feel the book has to strain for its mood, the only time the creators are trying to create the feeling of strange wonder that so naturally blossoms in the rest. I feared it was the last chapter, actually, and was frightened that the whole thing would fall apart.
Thankfully, we had one more step to go, and honestly, had I jumped from eight to ten, from age 47 to the big 76, DAYTRIPPER would be just about perfect. It seems a minor complaint, however, like whining that an otherwise spectacular car race is ruined because no one crashed during the second-to-last lap. Plus, that eighth chapter also has some of the most beautiful artwork in the comic. The duo's impressionistic linework and Dave Stewart's striking, painterly coloring really come alive when let loose to roam the unbridled realm of imagination. Then again, that seems so wrong to say, because it's very much alive throughout. DAYTRIPPER isn't a comic where you ever wonder why its creators opted for this particular medium. Every watery ink scratch undulates with passion for the form. Perhaps it's because they are twins that Bá and Moon manage to inspire two diametrically opposed reactions at the same time. Every panel of DAYTRIPPER compels you to stop and stare at the beauty of the drawing while also pushing you on to the next. You want to stop and smell all the roses, and yet you must go forward, you have to see the ways the scenes play out.
In that sense, while reading the book, we are also living the lesson that Brás must learn. Don't let any of the details of this existence pass you by without noticing them, but also don't ever accept those details as being the last. There is always more to be seen just out of frame.

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Before I Fall Review

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(More customer reviews)Friday, February 12th should be just another average day for popular, beautiful Samantha Kingston. But it's far from it--her ride home after a late-night party ends in a car accident, only when Sam wakes up, it's Friday, February 12th again. Forced to re-live the last day of her life seven times, Sam struggles to understand the meaning behind these experiences and the significance in her own life and actions. Because only when she can get her last day exactly right will she ever be able to take the next step.

With keen insights and startling candidness, Lauren Oliver's debut novel is a frank, if not at times brutal look at high school social circles and the careless cruelties and bullying that occurs on a daily basis. Sam is one of the mean girls, and she shrugs off her biting words and actions as something that just happens, collateral damage of living through high school. But through every complex and carefully plotted event, Oliver peels back the layers of Sam's life and teaches us all that every little deed has a consequence, and no act goes unnoticed. Though Sam is by no means a likable character at the beginning of the novel, as her character is revealed and she learns a thing or two about the things she has done in her life and the person she has become, she morphs into a true, selfless, and caring heroine, despite her many flaws. The story line is addicting and suspenseful. and as each "day" passes and Sam begins to get things right, the question that has been looming in the back of your mind since the end of the first chapter--What will happen to Sam?--becomes more and more urgent. Oliver is skillful at wielding suspense and heartbreak, making you think hard about the value of your own life and actions.

Before I Fall is a haunting and beautiful book. It will float around at the back of your mind long after you've read it.

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23 Minutes In Hell: One Man's Story About What He Saw, Heard, and Felt in that Place of Torment Review

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(More customer reviews)With a heavy heart, I must give an honest review of this book. Before I begin, I want to start off by stating upfront that I am a born-again Christian, and I do believe that unbelievers who die without Christ will suffer eternal torment in Hell. However, with this said, I must say that I do not believe Bill Wiese' account.
I had heard about this book for quite some time before I had actually read it. At first I thought this was going to be a story about a man who wasn't a Christian, clinically died and went to Hell, came back to life and is now a Christian. Instead, I was surprised to find out that not only was Wiese already supposed to have been a Christian, but he didn't even die. Instead, he just went to bed at 3:00a.m. one night, fell into a pit and ended up in literal Hell. In this Hell he was tormented by demons, heat so intense that he should have been dead, and he witnessed a pit of fire where souls were being tormented. During his time in Hell, Wiese claims that he didn't know about God and had "forgotten" he was a Christian. He later supposedly gets rescued by Jesus and is told that he was purposely made to forget that he was a Christian. The entire reasoning behind this experience is so that Wiese can know that Hell exists and he can now tell others about it. He wakes back up in his living room where he fell asleep at 3:23a.m.
Right away, one would think that Wiese just had a nightmare, but Wiese is convinced that he had an out-of-body experience where his soul literally descended into Hell. Wiese insists that this wasn't just a dream.
This is all told in the first three chapters of the book, and the rest of the book is simply accounts of Wiese' evangelistic testimonies and answering a few questions about Hell. But the first three chapters are really the "highlight" of the book. In fact, I found myself getting bored after the third chapter, because the rest of it becomes testimonies of Wiese being invited to speak about his experience, and then the book going into answering standard philosophical questions about Hell that can be found in many other books.
The main problem I have with Bill Wiese' story is that it just simply isn't consistent with what the Bible teaches about how God operates. One of the claims Wiese says in his book is that God made him forget that he was a Christian while he was in Hell. On the contrary, the Bible teaches that God cannot lie, and therefore, I don't see how God would make Wiese "forget" that he is a Christian.
Also, in Luke 16:19-31 Jesus tells a story about a rich man who dies and ends up in Hell. The rich man becomes concerned that his family might end up in Hell too. So he asks if he can go and tell his family about Hell. And the response he received was, "If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead" (v. 31). So, knowing that Jesus told his story of the rich man, and the bible teaches that if someone isn't persuaded by the Scriptures, then they will not be persuaded by someone returning from the dead, why would Jesus send Wiese to Hell to basically do what Jesus himself says won't persuade unbelievers anymore than the Scriptures will? The simple answer is, Jesus wouldn't do that.
Another problem I have with Wiese's account is that Jesus said that anyone who believes in him will not see death (John 8:51).
After reading the book, I must admit that I am really disappointed. And while I am a born-again Christian who believes in the existence of Hell (and by that I mean eternal punishment, not annihilation), I must tell the truth of what I believe about this book. I had thought about not writing a review at all, but Christians need to stand on biblical truths, not lies. I'm still not even sure why Wiese is so convinced that he didn't just have a really bad dream... which is what I think he had if he's not just making this whole thing up.


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"My sincere hope is that this book is the closest you will ever come to experiencing hell for yourself"--Bill Wiese saw the searing flames of hell, felt total isolation, and experienced the putrid and rotting stench, deafening screams of agony, terrorizing demons, and finally, the strong hand of God lifting him out of the pit--"Tell them I am coming very, very soon!"Wiese's visit to the devil's lair lasted just twenty-three minutes, but he returned with vivid details etched in his memory. Since this life-changing ordeal, he has spent the last seven years studying the Scriptures to find answers and has listed more than 150 Bible verses referencing hell.Everyone is curious about the afterlife, and now Wiese shares his insights to commonly asked questions such as:
Is hell a literal burning place?
Where is hell?
Do you have a body in hell?
Are there Degrees of punishment in hell?
Are there children in hell?
Can Demons torment people in hell?
Can "good" people go to hell?
"Even if you don't believe my story, I hope you will believe the Scriptures and avoid hell just the same."

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Wildwood: The Wildwood Chronicles, Book I Review

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(More customer reviews)I had high expectations for Wildwood. I mean, it's Colin Meloy of the Decemberists: he writes erudite, unique songs that stay in your head forever. Wildwood is his first foray into fiction, a children's fantasy that has shades of Philip Pullman and CS Lewis. It's an enjoyable read and a fine adventure, but it's hard not to wish that Meloy had taken more risks with the story, strayed off the path every so often.
Our young heroine is Prue McKeel, a precocious preteen with an interest in botanical illustration and a baby brother who has been abducted by a murder of crows. And not just abducted, but taken into the Impassable Wilderness, a wooded area in Portland that no one goes into -- and no one has ever returned from. Of course that's not stopping Prue. Accompanied by her nerdy schoolmate Curtis, she plunges into a fantastic world where coyotes, birds, and dogs talk, postmen are armed with double-barreled rifles, and a terrible power struggle is taking place. The stakes: Prue's brother and the fate of all Wildwood.
The plot is pretty basic for a 500+ page book, but there are plenty of interesting characters (plus a memorable villain) and events to keep readers flipping the pages. Colin Meloy's writing is confident, intelligent, and accessible both to his middle reader audience as well as adult readers who know him from The Decemberists. So why not 5 stars? I was frustrated that the true extent of Meloy's imagination seemed confined to brief flashes -- the fate of the Governess's son, a handful of short but quirky character descriptions. And even in a genre known for its pathetic adults, Prue's parents take the cake for being whiny, ineffectual, and dense. Their bad choices are necessary to the plot, but seriously strain credulity.
In plot and tone, Wildwood feels a bit like a loving tribute to classic fantasy adventures by CS Lewis, Lewis Carroll and Lloyd Alexander. Although it contains a few references to Prue's modern day life (yoga, rice milk, computers), it has a distinctively vintage feel. Carson Ellis's many charming illustrations and silhouettes add to the effect.
I don't really think Wildwood is an instant classic, but it's a fast-paced and enjoyable fantasy adventure with a resourceful heroine. I'd come back for seconds.

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