Year of the Historical: Theodosia and the Eyes of Horus

Theodosia and the Eyes of Horus R. L. LaFevers

This series is growing on me. In this latest installment, Theo is once again facing many obstacles. Theo and her brother Henry have stumbled upon an Emerald Tablet, and every Egyptian society is after the tablet, and Theo. Even more than the Egyptian societies, Theo has to deal with an actual Egyptian magician. She can't trust anyone but the Chosen Keepers, but she's lost access to them. They still think of her as a child and when she and Sticky Will refuses to go through Clive Fagenbush (whom she also doesn't trust). Theo and Sticky Will are all alone, Henry's possessed by an evil spirit, and Grandmother is forcing Theo to attend the funeral of a traitor. Really, it's just another day in the life of Theodosia Throckmorton.

I like all the different loyalties in this one, and how Theo is not always the greatest judge of character. I also really like the interplay between Theo and Henry. Henry's rather absent in this series, so I like it when he shows up. I continue to love Sticky Will, and very much liked his brothers. While he's often around for comedic value, we get to see more of Will's vulnerability in this volume and I appreciated that.

Book Provided by... my local library

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Spaceheadz Giveaway

Have you entered my Spaceheadz Giveaway yet? YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO! Click on over and fill out the form! Easy-peasy lemon squeezy!

Wednesday Witch

The Wednesday Witch Ruth Chew

The Wednesday Witch's magic is stronger on Wednesdays. She has a scrawny, talking black cat and flies on a vacuum cleaner named James. One Wednesday, when Mary Jane's mother is out of house, Mary Jane opens her mother's new bottle of perfume. Attracted by the smell of Mischief* the Wednesday Witch comes to Mary Jane's house, and accidentally leaves her cat behind... when she comes back the next week to get her cat back, she accidentally leaves behind her flying vacuum cleaner. Mary Jane and her friends have several adventures and misunderstandings with teachers and parents caused by the cat and the vacuum cleaner. When the witch returns a final time, she ends up shrunken, and with flying roller skates. Together with Mary Jane, they come up with a plan and a spell to return things to rights.

It's a nice, gentle story with fun adventures. A really great book for advanced reader who's ready for longer, harder books, without harder content. It's definitely old-fashioned, but in the best sense. It was fun and enjoyable. I don't think I read this one as a child, but I wish I had. It was the type of story I loved and devoured. Usually when I say that, it's because my 8-year-old self would have enjoyed the book so much more than my adult-self does. This time, though, it just reminded me what it was like to read when I was young, which is such a great gift.

Sadly, it's out of print, but hopefully you can find one at a library or used book sale...

*I love the word play between the witch smelling mischief and the name of the perfume.

Book Provided by... my local library

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Spaceheadz + BIG GIVEAWAY

Spaceheadz Jon Scieszka with Francesco Sedita, illustrated by Shane Prigmore

Are you ready for some good, silly fun? (You didn't think Scieszka would be writing something that wasn't good, silly fun did you?)

Michael K. has moved and started at a new school. His fifth grade teacher thinks he's Bulgarian and sticks him with these other two (very, very weird) kids whom she also thinks are Bulgarian. No one is Bulgarian. Michael K. is American, and Brian and Jennifer (and the class hamster) are actually aliens from Planet Spaceheadz! On Planet Spaceheadz, they feed on our TV waves and if Brian and Jennifer and Major Fluffy don't find 3,140,001 people to be Spaceheadz, Earth will be turned off.

As if Michael K. didn't have enough problems to worry about on his first day of school (really, ALIENS?!) Brian and Jennifer have seen every commercial ever. And think they're real. Charmin really is ultra-strong AND it makes bears happy, so they should probably get a lot of it...

But, Agent Umber from the Anti-Alien Agency is hot on their trail. Luckily, he has no idea what he's doing, so they might be safe. For now.

Very silly and funny. Agent Umber is classic doofus bad guy, which a lot of silly/cool gadgets. Like a Pickle phone. My favorite parts were actually the inter-chapter interludes with information about waves and patterns and super organisms and other cool science things that did play a role in the book. ALSO! All the websites in the book (and there are several) are real sites that you can go to for extra content and fun things. (Like if you go to www.sphdz.com you can sign up to be a Spaceheadz and get your Spaceheadz name. Mine is Original-Scent Cornflakes. Also, they are a long way away from getting 3,140,001 people, so you should probably go join.)

The ending is just a partial one for one adventure-- it's obviously a series (the next one is coming out in late December.) But it's not a cliffhanger, which is nice. And refreshing.

Fans and Scieszka will like this one-- we got it in at the library at mid-July and I can't keep it on the shelf. I just peeked a look at the circ figures and the stats prove what I already knew-- it's going like hotcakes.

You can read the first chapter right here!

Look! A book trailer:



AND NOW! FOR THE BIG GIVEAWAY NEWS!

To celebrate Spaceheadz, the good people at Simon and Schuster are giving one reader of Biblio File a Middle Grade Book Pack! With 5 awesome books! Just fill out the form below by midnight (eastern) on Monday, September 13. One name will be chosen at random!

Spaceheadz by Jon Scieszka
Brixton Bros: The Case of the Case of Mistaken Identity Mac Barnett
Amelia Rules! The Tweenage Guide to Not Being Unpopular Jeff Gownley
Nightmare at the Book Fair Dan Gutman
Keepers of the School: We the Children Andrew Clements

How can you NOT want to win those? Just fill out the form!




Book Provided by... the publicist, for review consideration

Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.

Last Apprentice: Rise of the Huntress

The Last Apprentice: Rise of the Huntress Joseph Delaney

Ok, so I was under the impression that this was a 7-book series, making this the LAST book.

But I was wrong. This is definitely not the last one.*

The war that has always been in the background of this series has finally come to the county. Chipenden is a burned-out shell and the Spook's house, and library, are gone. As is Bony Lizzie.

The Spook, Tom, and Alice flee to Mona, an island between the County and Ireland. Mona's being overrun by refugees and they are cold people-- if you're lucky, you'll be sent back to the County. If you're not, the old are fed to the fishes, the young are pressed into labor, and many are tried as witches. And when Bony Lizzie also shows up on the island... it goes from bad to worse.

The people of Mona chilled me-- more than any of the supernatural creatures and Dark Magic that we've come across. In this book, it wasn't the buggane that creeped me out, it was the citizens of Mona-- their extreme cruelty. Also, the savageness of the invading army.

And, once I realized I wasn't getting all of my answers or a final resolution, I was actually really happy I don't have to say good-bye yet. I like the fact that this series never sucker-punches you at the end. There is an over-arching plot with unresolved issues, but you can stop reading at any time. I don't continue to read because I must know what happens next, I keep reading because Delaney tells such a good, creepy story. I keep reading because it's so good, not because a major bombshell is dropped in the final pages.

I have some thoughts I'm mulling through on the title of the book, but they're kinda spoiler-y, so I've hidden them here.

*In addition to talking about doing edits on Book 8, Delaney's website mentions that he's writing a separate book about Alice, and a separate one about Grimalkin. SWEET.

Book Provided by... my wallet. I couldn't wait for my library to get it in. I am impatient.

Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.

Dead-Tossed Waves

The Dead-Tossed Waves

Initially I didn't want to read this. The Forest of Hands and Teeth didn't need a sequel and why is EVERYTHING being turned into a series these days?

Then, I read a bunch of reviews here in bloggy land and learned that it's not a direct sequel, but rather the story of Mary's daughter. A related story in the same world? Now that I can handle. And crave. Like the Mudo crave to infect...*

Gabry has grown up in the lighthouse with her mother, helping her rid the beach of the Mudo after high tide. But one night, she sneaks outside the barriers of town, to the ruins of the old amusement park. Disaster strikes. Gabry gets away, but her friends that survive are severely punished. She goes back to look for Catcher, who is one of the missing, and what happens pushes Gabry, her mother, and others back into the Forest, running from the Recruiters, who help keep the Mudo at bay...

Did you like the first one? It has that same suspense and horror with a romantic subplot feeling. It's gripping. I'm not really one for horror-filled zombie stories, but I love the world that Ryan has built. I loved learning more about it, how the Return spread, how people survive, what's been happening elsewhere, outside of the forest, and off the beach. (We do get a few unresolved questions from Forest of Hands and Teeth answered.)

I could have done without the constant Elias vs. Catcher drama. THERE ARE ZOMBIES AFTER YOU! WHO CARES? But I did love Gabry's changing relationship with her best friend. And, I have to admit, I CANNOT WAIT until March, when we get The Dark and Hollow Places, which is Annah's** story. So, another related book, but not a direct sequel, which I really like.

*Yes, I am a book zombie. Like you didn't know that already. It's all about MY braaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaains.

**If you don't know who that is, I'm not going to spoil it for you.

Book Provided by... my local library

Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.

Carrie Diaries

The Carrie Diaries Candace Bushnell

So, full disclosure upfront, I've only ever seen the show and movies of Sex and the City and haven't read the book. The Carrie Diaries is a prequel to the book. Carrie's trying to navigate high school, her youngest sister has turned into a juvenile delinquent, and she's trying to decide what to do next with her life. She's been rejected from the New School's writing program and will probably end up at Brown, which is where her father went and wants her to go. She's staunchly feminist and wears wacky clothing and tries to be a good friend.

The main part of the book is Carrie trying to juggle two relationships-- one with George, a college student she met while interviewing at Brown and Sebastian Kydd-- the bad boy every girl wants who's just come back to town.

While I really enjoyed the bits with Carrie and her friends and family, the romantic main plot left me cold. I couldn't understand why George liked Carrie (he meets a high school kid and starts a relationship with her even though she lives over an hour away? Really? WHY?) or what was going on with her and Sebastian. Lots of telling and not showing. I never bought either relationship and therefore didn't care, which left me bored for large portions of the book. Which is sad, because the dynamics of her social group, the bullying, and her relationship with her sisters was really well done and I wanted more of that.

Book Provided by... my local library

Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.

Impossible

ImpossibleNancy Werlin

Short version-- it's a novelization of Scarborough Fair.

Longer version-- Lucy has a good life with her foster parents, even if her crazy birth mother, Miranda, shows up periodically to remind her how precarious it is. As Lucy prepares for the end of her junior year, everything goes wrong. Lucy's family is the subject of an ancient curse placed by a vengeful Elfin Knight. He worms his way into Lucy's current family, causes her prom date to rape and impregnate her, and is willing to claim her as his prize, like he claimed Miranda when Lucy was born and Miranda's mother when Miranda was born and so on through the generations. Lucy's only hope is to solve the riddles of the song-- to make a magical shirt without a seam or fine needlework, to find an acre of land between the salt water and the sea strand, and to plow it with just a goat's horn and so it all over with one grain of corn.

This is one of those I really enjoyed while reading it, but didn't do much for me afterwards. Lucy changes pretty dramatically in ways I don't always fully buy. Also, while I didn't like the Elfin Knight on principle, some of his actions were a little too easy-- he was really charismatic and everyone loved him and told him everything he needed to know, even things they'd never tell anyone else, and then he wiped their mind so they don't remember. It was frustrating, and not just because he was the bad guy, but he was just so... flatly bad to the point where he just started annoying me instead of me fearing that he might get Lucy, like he wanted.

Book Provided by... my local library

Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.

Nonfiction Monday: Beyond

Beyond: A Solar System Voyage Michael Benson

Visually stunning. Benson takes full advantage of all the photographs sent back to Earth from the various satellites and telescopes and robotic explorers that we've sent into space over the years.

Exploring our solar system-- our Moon, the other planets, the asteroid belt, and some major moons of other planets, Benson walks us through the history of what humankind has thought about each body over the centuries and what we know now.

Throughout, there are many photographs of each body, helping illustrate his points.

It's a perfect combination of art, history, and science. It's fascinating and readable. While it is published for elementary school and middle school readers, I think it's really an all-ages book.

And seriously, it's jaw-droppingly gorgeous. Or at least, it does a really good job of showing the beauty of our solar system, because that's what's really so visually amazing.


Round up is over at Playing By the Book.

Book Provided by... my local library

Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.

Cinderella: From Fabletown with Love

Cinderella: From Fabletown with Love Chris Roberson

Here we go! This is the first Fables-verse story where Bill Willingham doesn't get top billing. In fact, he's not even on the cover. He's listed as a consultant on the title page...

Long-term fans of the series know that Cinderella appears as a flaky socialite, but is really one of Fabletown's top spies. Sometime after the war, before Fabletown is destroyed, Cinderella is sent on a mission to see who is smuggling guns into the Homelands and smuggling magic items into Mundy.

She has to team up with Aladdin and face some demons from her past...

Meanwhile, there's her cover life back in Fabletown, as the owner of a shoe store that she's too busy jetting around the world to actually work in. Crispin, her poor abused employee has some own ideas up his sleeves about what type of shoes they should be selling...

Very fun. I liked the adventure of it-- I fun spy story with some fun twists. I also liked the world of Ultima Thule (think East of the Sun, West of the Moon). The art was a little weird-- for the most part, it looked like most of the Fables art, but the Beast was a little off as was Cinderella in profile. BUT! I did like all the pink and how it was used to outline certain frames and panels.

And, of course we get more Frau Tottenkinder-- just what types of favors is she asking of Cinderella and will we ever find out?

Book Provided by... my wallet

Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.

New Adventures of Jack and Jack

Jack of Fables Vol. 7: The New Adventures of Jack and Jack Bill Willingham

After the great literal battle, Jack and Gary are on the road, Jack never letting his money out of his sight. We start with a side story about Jack's time as King of the Apes. So, it's Jack's spin on how he was really Tarzan, but most of the animals he meets are talking Fables, including Pooh and Friends by other names (you can label him Saunders, but a stuffed bear who hangs out with a stuffed Piglet and Donkey and says "Oh Bother?") and a very curious monkey named George.

Then, the real story begins. Jack is getting touchier and touchier about the money and also really gaining weight and getting uglier and uglier. I thought they were going for some sort of Dorian Gray thing, but they weren't. The real reason is even funnier and better.

At the same time, Jack Frost has renounced the powers of his mother and has ventured into the homelands, performing good deeds with a wooden owl named MacDuff.

And, of course, random delusional interludes by Babe the Blue Ox.

I actually really liked this one. I liked Jack Frost's story, especially once he comes against the evil sorcerer.

Plus... what happens to Jack Horner is priceless. And perfect.

Book Provided by... my wallet

Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.

Fables: The Great Fables Crossover

Fables: Great Fables Crossover Bill Willingham

So, this collects not just the next few issues of Fables, but also the next few issues of Jack of Fables, and all four issues of The Literals. Over all 9 issues, we have the entire story where Jack and the literals end their battle once and for all.

Some updates on the Fables story-- Mr. Dark is still wrecking havoc in Manhattan and his evil presence if felt up on the farm-- Bigby, the Beast, and Clara are crankier than normal and we finally see Bigby and Beast throw down.

Jack gets the Fables to help in his fight, but first beds Rose, who refuses to get out of bed and run things because her depression over Blue's death. And many of the animals think Jack is Blue come back.

Jack's son, Jack Frost has come back to help and in order to get rid of him, Jack Horner sends him on a quest to prove his worth. (Waaaaaay too many Jacks here!)

Of course, my favorite bits are the the parts with Kevin Thorne and the literals. There's the comedic value of how Kevin keeps trying to write Bigby out (and turn him into a pink elephant) but I most enjoyed the gathering of the genres and the roles they play in the battle.

I just like meta-fiction, and when meta-fiction elements go into battle against what they've created... well... it's pretty fun. Especially because if Kevin wins, he wipes us all out so he can rewrite the story from the beginning...

A really fun way to do the crossover-- a good flavor of both series and a good finish to the storyline...

Book Provided by... my wallet

Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.

Peter and Max

Peter & Max: A Fables Novel Bill Willingham

This is a new one for the fables-verse... a novel. There are a few black-and-white illustrations by Steve Leialhoha-- more than you usually get in an adult novel, sure, but not nearly as many as we're used to because this is a comic book series...

So, how does the jump to straight prose work? Really, really well.

You don't have to be a Fables reader to enjoy this one (although after the epilogue, there are 8 pages of comics, an epilogue to the epilogue if you will, about the war, so if you want that to make sense, you should be up on your Fables. Or ask me. I'll explain it to you. But you should really just go and read the series, ok?) If you are a Fables reader, this book takes place in the two years leading up to the war against the Empire.

Anyway, you know Peter as the boy who ate a peck of pickled peppers and who kept his wife in a pumpkin shell. Both of which aren't true, of course, but have their roots in reality. His older brother, Max, is the piper who stole all the children of Hamlin.*

Peter's family were musicians and Peter was the most gifted. His father gave him Frost, a magical pipe that plays beautifully, but will cut your lips with its razor-sharp mouthpiece. It must stay in the family and can, for each owner, drive away danger three times.

Max never forgave his father for for giving Frost to Peter, the younger son. When the Empire's forces come knocking, the family is scattered and Max's heart is twisted to a point of no return-- so horribly that he can make a mildly magic flute into an instrument of pain and suffering.

Peter ends up as a thief in Hamlin, his long-lost friend Bo Peep, one of Hamlin's deadliest assassins. But Max and Empire are looking for them, and they have to find a way to escape to the Mundy world, our world.

The book flips back and forth between their story in the Homelands and the Mundy world in the modern day, for Max has come to the Mundy Hamlin, and it's time for Peter to end this for once and for all.

Exciting and heartbreaking, a very in-depth story about life in the Homelands and life under the Empire and how two Fables escaped, and how, despite the amnesty, fleeing to the Mundy world doesn't solve everything, even centuries later...

Really, this is up there with Fables: 1001 Nights of Snowfall for my favorite Fables book.

*What is it with Frau Tottenkinder and the children? I really want more of her story. Hopefully in Fables, Book 14: Witches?

Book Provided by... my wallet

Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.

Oops!

Depending on how often my feed feeds to your feed reader, or if you clicked over at the right minute, y'all just got a sneak peek of Thursday's Fables post.

Oh, the joys of sloppy pre-scheduling.

Anyway, it's down now and you can wait until Thursday to read it if you missed it, BUT! to make up for it, check out this twitter feed: Chrisvstwilight with such amazing tweets as:

How can a book about a werewolf who builds motorcycles be this boring? 

At this point, I have to wonder how much of this book is going to be devoted to the fact that Bella is really, really, really sad. #wegetit
It's like if Dickens had taken 200 pages to establish that Marley was really, really, really really really dead.

He reads Twilight  so you don't have to.   

Jacks' Big Book of War

Jack of Fables Vol. 6: The Big Book of War Bill Willingham

Basically, this is just a lead-up to the Fables Vol. 13: The Great Fables Crossover which will deal with those literals once and for all.

I don't enjoy the Jack spinoff series nearly as much as I enjoy Fables, but I do like the concept of the literals-- characters populating the world who have the power to delete and rewrite.

In events that have been twisting for a few volumes now, Mr. Revise and the Page sisters are on the same side as the Golden Boughs Fables in their battle against the Book Burner.

Lots of battle in this one. But, really, it's a place holder book, helping build up to the final battle.

Although, I did like the twist at the end when we find out who Jack's parents are. HA! HA! HA!

I also enjoy all the forgotten Fables that have been locked up at Golden Boughs.

Book Provided by... my wallet

Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.

Fables: The Dark Ages

It's Fables week here at Biblio File!

I love this series and the various spin-offs. I'm also really, really behind in reviewing it, so let's take the entire week to head down to Bullfinch Street and up the farm and maybe even back to the Homelands to see how things are going ok?

First up is...

Fables Vol. 12: The Dark Ages The Dark Ages

I just cannot talk about this book without MASSIVE SPOILERS. So sorry, but. I'm also not going to hide the spoilers because this book has been out for a year now, longer if you read them issue by issue instead of omnibus form, like I do.

So, if you haven't read it yet, what are you waiting for? I've read other reviews that didn't like it that much, while I absolutely LOVED it, so... go read it and then come back.

Now, down to business...

So, we have 4 stories in this one, but I'm really only going to talk about the 5-issue "Dark Ages" arc which sets up Fabletown's next crisis-- with the Empire fallen, dark forces are loose and Fabletown's in more danger than ever. We also say goodbye to some pretty major characters here.

1. Prince Charming's funeral. Interestingly, there's no talk of him coming back, although he's a very important fable, having a staring role in many very popular stories.

2. KAY! Poor Kay. He was never a major character in the series, and I'm not sure he's entirely dead, because Mr. Dark is pretty scary and weird, so... I'm more than a little worried about what it means that Kay's now under his control.

3. Blue. Blue dies horribly and it's sad and awful. There is a lot of talk about him coming back-- everyone's worried because while he was very important to Fabletown, in the mundy world, he just got 1 minor nursery rhyme. No one knows if it will be enough.

With everyone now living on the farm, there is also more to the discord that led to the problems in Fables Vol. 2: Animal Farm. There is also a lot of discussion on who gets to come back and why.

Sadly, none of these issues has been touched on again in what's come out in the last year. (To be fair though, we've only gotten 1 volume of Fables proper since then, and it was a cross-over with Jack and solves Jack's major storyline. But I'm hoping we'll see more in Fables, Book 14: Witches, which comes out in December.)

So many interesting questions raised in this issue concerning the nature of the Fables.

Because, looking back at the series, we never see any Fables come back from the dead, the popular ones are the strong ones and they're just really, really, really, really hard to kill. So they never die in the first place.

So, what do we think? Are Charming and Blue gone for good? Or will we see them again? And what about Kay?

Book Provided by... my wallet

Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.

Nonfiction Monday: The Other Wes Moore

The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates Wes Moore

The chilling truth is that his story could have been mine. The tragedy is that my story could have been his.

In December 2000, there were two stories in the Baltimore Sun about two different men, both named Wes Moore. One had just won a Rhodes scholarship, one was wanted in connection with a jewelry store robbery in which an off-duty police officer was murdered. For years, the Wes Moore that won the Rhodes scholarship wondered about the other Wes Moore, who was now in prison, serving a life sentence without the chance of parole. They both grew up poor at the same time, without fathers. Why did one end up speaking at the Democratic National Convention mere hours before Obama accepted the nomination and one end up in prison?

This book doesn't answer the question, because they're not clear. But it tells a story of two boys who grow into two men and the choices they made and why. It shows two very similiar, and two very different lives. I could talk about the details of their lives, but you should read it for yourself to find out. Or, watch Moore explain his book to Stephen Colbert: embed clip:

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Wes Moore
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes 2010 Election Fox News

But, beyond the subject matter, it's just really well written. Moore can tell a story, and tell it well. When I picked it up, I just started reading the introduction. The introduction was not new information for me-- I'd seen him on Colbert and listened to an interview with Moore on the Diane Rehm show. Even though I knew the information from the introduction, I just couldn't put the book down. It's gripping and readable and worth the hype its been getting. Moore also includes information on over 200 organizations to help at-risk youth across the country.

My only quibble with the book is that is says both Wes Moores grew up in Baltimore which is... not entirely true. The author was born on the DC/Maryland border, probably extremely close to where I work. After his father died, his mother moved the family to the Bronx, to live with her parents. He then ended up at Valley Forge military school in rural Pennsylvania before moving back to Baltimore to attend Johns Hopkins (his mother had moved back a few years prior.) Meanwhile, the other Wes Moore spent his entire life in Baltimore City and Baltimore County (which surrounds the city on three sides-- it's a very odd set-up that still doesn't make entire sense 5 years after moving to this area.)

What really shocked me was at the end of the book, when Moore is starting his Rhodes scholarship, right after 9/11. That's when it hit me that the Wes Moore who wrote this book was only a year above me in school, two years older than me. When I was growing up in a mid-sized town in the midwest, watching the crack wars and inner city the evening news, these men were living it. It brought the book back to me in a way that was more personal than a lot of nonfiction is.

In a million different ways, it's an amazing book, and you should read it. I think a lot of teens will really enjoy it as well, and be able to get a lot of it.

Round up is over at Apple with Many Seeds! Go check out the other offerings.

Book Provided by... my local library

Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.

Guardian Challenge: August Reviews

Leave your links to Guardian Challenge reviews for August below!

China Challenge: August Reviews

It's the last month of the China Challenge! Add in your links for China Challenge reviews below and your wrap-up posts (if you haven't left a link yet)! Good luck. I hope y'all had fun. I know I did.

Poetry Friday: Song for Baby-O, Unborn

In my post last week about the 30 most influential books in my life, I mentioned that On the Road led to me to the rest of the Beats and influenced a large part of my high school angst.

I mentioned that, even now, "Song for Baby-O, Unborn" is still one of my favorite poems. So, I pulled my well-read and worn copy of The Portable Beat Reader off my shelf to share it with you.

Song for Baby-O, Unborn

Sweetheart
when you break thru
you'll find
a poet here
not quite what one would choose.

I won't promise
you'll never go hungry
or that you won't be sad
on this gutted
breaking
globe

but I can show you
baby
enough to love
to break your heart
forever

--Diane DiPrima

Round up is over at the Stenhouse Blog! Check it out!

Book Provided by... my wallet, over half a life-time ago.

Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.