Friday, June 28, 2013

Tuesdays at the Castle

Tuesdays at the Castle by Jessica Day George.
Youth Fiction - Lower Level - GEORGE

Welcome to Castle Glower, a magical castle that changes itself regularly, usually on Tuesdays. It redecorates, creates new rooms, and moves other ones around at will. It’s an intelligent castle, and the people of the kingdom are used to heeding its advice on who should rule the kingdom. The current king has four children, and the castle made it clear, by filling the oldest brother’s room with astrolabes and other wizardly tools, that he should train to be a wizard, while Rolf, the next youngest son’s room was moved closer to the throne room, as an indication that he would be the next king. Celie, the youngest of the bunch, has a close understanding with the castle, and her ongoing project is creating an atlas of the castle, trying to keep it up-to-date as the castle constantly reinvents itself. Lilah, the older girl, does not so far seem to have any castle-prescribed destiny, but while of an age to start being interested in boys, remains an intelligent and sympathetic person.

I introduce the characters first because I loved them so much (the castle counts as both character and setting here), but the plot kicks off quite nicely, too. The king and queen go off to fetch their oldest son home from Wizard School, but the carriage is ambushed on the way back. After a very brief search, the king, queen and prince are all declared dead. The three children left at home don’t believe it – surely the castle would let Rolf know if he were king – but the council believes otherwise and forces the children to hold a funeral. An unwelcome guest at the funeral who refuses to leave afterward, the sinister Prince Khelsh makes it clear that he has plans to become the next king of Glower himself. As the council appears to have turned traitorous (for reasons that are never gone into), it’s up to the three children, with help from the Castle, to save the castle and find their parents. Their only dubious magical power is Celie’s bond with the castle, which means it’s up to the three of them to come up with their own plans as well as following the lead from the clues the castle gives them. I enjoyed it heartily and felt certain that my elementary-aged self would have adored it, as would my own eight-year-old son. 

Saturday, June 22, 2013

Giant Dance Party

Giant Dance Party by Betsy Bird. Illustrated by Brendan Doorman.
Youth New Books - Lower Level - BIR

Lexy loves to dance, but as the story opens, she’s decided she’s done.  The problem is her stage fright: she turns into an “ice pop” every time she gets on stage.  Nothing she’s tried makes any difference.  In a stroke of brilliance, she decides she’ll be a dance teacher instead, so that she can dance all day without having to go on stage herself.  But the only ones willing to take free dance lessons from a child with stage fright are – a party of giants.  Lexy accomplishes the very difficult task of teaching large, clumsy giants to dance, but then an even bigger problem comes up: helping the giants get over their stage fright when they also turn into ice pops during the recital.  The art is vivid and three-dimensional, shifting between smaller sequential scenes and full spreads.  Lexy is charming with her full dance skirts and perky brown ponytails, but the giants, fuzzy and blue with pink electrical outlet noses, really steal the show.  It’s a fun story with a strong message of overcoming fear and doing what you love. 

Monday, June 17, 2013


The Kill Room by Jeffery Deaver
 Main Level - New Fiction


This new mystery thriller by Deaver once again features the characters of forensics expert, Lincoln Ryme and his NYPD assistant, Amanda Sachs. The very current topic of assassinations of American citizens  sanctioned by the U.S. government is front and center, especially when they are carried out from a secret place right in the heart of New York City.  Deaver is a master of twists and turns in the plot, never letting the reader become complacent or guessing how the story will ultimately end.  There is just enough technical detail to keep readers of forensic mysteries engaged as the scene switches from the Caribbean back to New York.  

This is a great way to start a summer of reading fun and I highly recommend it to all fans of thrillers.  It would make a great movie! 

Friday, June 14, 2013

Learn Something New Every Day

Learn Something New Every Day: 365 Facts to Fulfill Your Life
By Kee Malesky
Adult Non-fiction - Upper Level - 031.02 M

Here's a fun little book filled with random facts. The entries follow the calendar year, so naturally I went straight to my birthday. That date's fact is about the history of salt - which is much more fascinating in a one-paragraph blurb than you'd think!  That's the beauty of this book: each date has a paragraph-long fact, so you can literally learn something new every day with very little time or effort required.

 Big Questions from Little People and Simple Answers from Great Minds
Compiled by Gemma Elwin Harris
Adult Non-fiction - Upper Level - 031.02 B

The entries in this book are a bit longer - a few pages each in most cases. It is a fairly little book, though, so the pages are short. Questions answered include "Why does the moon change shape" (p.133), "Where did the first seed come from?" (p.137), and even philosophical questions like "Who is God?" (p.197, answered from multiple perspectives).  This is a great book for all ages! (Where did the first seed come from??)

The Where The Why and the How: 75 Artists Illustrate Wondrous Mysteries of Science
By Jenny Volvovski, Julia Rothman, and Matt Lamothe
Adult Non-fiction - Upper Level - 502 V

Rounding out this "learn something new" theme is a book that answers questions about science with illustrations. Each section asks a question, gives a (fairly scientific) answer, and illustrates it with full-page artwork. These are mostly two-page sections - one for the question-and-answer and one for the illustration. There are awesome cross-sections like the one on the cover, beautiful intricate drawings like the one about the Circadian Clock (p.78), and a more fanciful drawing of giant sea creatures riding a giant wave to answer "Do rogue waves exist?" (p.46). This book is wonderfully browsable and the questions and answers are very interesting.

Friday, June 7, 2013


How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia 
by Mohsin Hamid
Adult Fiction HAMID

The narrator of this ersatz self-help book could be the love child of Jane Austen and Thomas Friedman. This memoir of one man's rise to riches is written in a breezy and accessible style. Like Jane Austen, the narrator is keenly aware of the layers of society and how far upward he can reasonably expect to rise. Our narrator falls in love early in his life with a woman on her own upward trajectory and their poignant romance is much more significant that the mere mechanics of making money.

"Rising Asia" or, in this case, Pakistan is a major character in this story.  The vibrant chaos of life in countries with emerging economies will be familiar to readers of Thomas Friedman's books and articles. Mr. Friedman gives readers a panoramic view of life in an emerging economy, where Mohsin Hamid's novel gives the reader a taste of what it is like to eat, sleep, and survive in all that vibrant chaos. How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia is gritty, sad, sweet, and memorable.