Dreamhunter

This one is for fantasy fans! It does well what truly excellent fantasy does - it creates a world that pulls the reader in and makes him believe. Elizabeth Knox blends elements of our world with a world in which select people can enter "The Place," an area where dreams can be caught, and then shared - for a price. Exciting dreams, healing dreams - and nightmares. 15 year old Laura is the daughter of Southland's most esteemed dreamhunter, and is in training to become a dreamhunter herself, when her father suddenly disappears. Political corruption, ethical debates, personal relationships - many issues are brought up, but are left unresolved - I'm looking forward to Dreamquake, the conclusion of Knox's duet, to get some answers.

The Graveyard Book... :)

You know the saying, "It takes a village to raise a child"? Well, in Neil Gaiman's Newberry winning novel, The Graveyard Book, what it takes is a graveyard. Orphaned at 18 months by a mysterious murderer, Bod (short for Nobody) is taken in and raised by Mr. & Mrs. Owens, a loving but childless couple, who just happen to be dead (long dead - about 300 years or so). You can't help loving these graveyard inhabitants! The tale, as it unravels, is by turns scary, funny, and touching, and the conclusion is dead on. I just loved it!

Flowers for Algernon book club

And we're off! As you start reading this (truly fantastic!) book, think about a few things. First of all, about how old, mentally, do you think Charlie Gordon is? Would you call him a happy person? What things seem to matter to him? Let me know what you think.

Born on a Blue Day

To all my Born on a Blue Day book club members: Talk to each other - comment on what your classmates are saying. We want to get a dialogue going!

Okay, a question. Daniel Tammet is now 27 years old. What do you think his life will be like 30 or 40 years from now? Why?

The Reformed Vampire Support Group

Catherine Jinks had me laughing hysterically with her new book - The Reformed Vampire Support Group. Forget your powerful, gorgeous, Twilight-type vampires - these are my kind of vampires - pale, listless, pitiful, and prone to puking. How'd you like to live on a diet of guinea pig blood? Have some compassion! They don't want to infect others - thus the support group for these "reformed" vampires. You will chortle your way through a plot replete with vampires, vampire slayers, kidnappers, and werewolves. The complications multiply like rabbits, but there is an eminently satisfying conclusion. There's even a touch of romance! What more could you ask?

Roxanne and I both recommend...

Another recommendation! Standing Against the Wind - it's about a girl who finds courage she did not know she possessed when life's forces threaten to knock her down. What Roxanne C. (821) loved was the "meaning behind it. Any kid would enjoy it!" (Now you don't just have to take my word for it....)

Born on a Blue Day - Marcelo in the Real World

Just read two fascinating books that were merging in my mind at times, although one was autobiography and the other was fiction. Born on a Blue Day is the story of Daniel Tammet's life. Tammet is autistic - he has Asperger's syndrome, which means that while he is extremely intelligent, he has great trouble with social skills and interactions - and he also has synesthesia, which causes him to see numbers as shapes, colors, and textures. And he is a savant - a mind-boggling genius - in the field of numbers. Think Dustin Hoffman in The Rain Man. Marcelo in the Real World (Stork) is a fictionalized account of a teenager with Asperger's, who has been sheltered in a special school for years, but whose father now thinks that it is time for Marcelo to face "the real world." Who he meets, how he copes, and what he learns about himself and others is told in a moving and powerful story. Read them together, and then for good measure, if you haven't already, pick up Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, which was a best seller a few years ago. They will give you an amazing persepective and understanding of this illness.