Rapunzel's Revenge, by Shannon Hale

I seem to be reading a lot of graphic novels lately. I don't know what it is about 2010 that is making me read so many G.N.s, but I'm glad I'm reading some good stuff here. When the story is good and the art style is appealing, they are quick and easy reading. I think that's what I love about them. I can go to a book store or a library and leave having enjoyed another wild adventure.

Anyway, after just a couple visits to the library (once a few days ago and once yesterday), I finished my first book by Shannon Hale. How cool that it was a graphic novel. I've heard that my friend Q is quite the fan of Shannon Hale. Well, she has pretty good taste. Rapunzel's Revenge was a wonderful take on an old fairy tale, with a few certain changes. For example, Rapunzel escapes from her own tower (a taaaall tree hollowed out at the top) with her extremely long hair, which she braids and uses as a couple of lassos. (Go girl power!) Then she befriends a guy named Jack (who seems to be Jack from the Beanstalk story) and together they journey across the land so Rapunzel can settle the score with her "mother", the witch.

Quite action packed and well worth looking into. In fact, I've learned that this book actually has a sequel that was published at the beginning of the year. It's called Calamity Jack. I suppose it focuses more on Jack this time, but Rapunzel still follows him. From the cover alone, it looks great. Since I liked the first book so much, I've already reserved it from the library. I hope it comes in soon.

While at the library, I also had time to finish another graphic novel, though this one was really short. Wallace and Gromit are such a funny claymation duo. It's a very quick mystery about dogs going missing and since Wallace and Gromit are amateur sleuths, they get to solve it. Well, Gromit the dog does, anyway. Wallace just runs into dead ends, but ends up taking the credit anyway. Very sweet, anyway.

The Bar Code Rebellion, by Suzanne Weyn

Well, it looks like I had more of an opportunity for reading fiction on the side than I thought I would have. ^_^ Yay! And this was a good book. I mentioned it in my latest review. It's the sequel to Suzanne Weyn's The Bar Code Tattoo and I think it gave a pretty nice conclusion to the story.

The Bar Code Rebellion continues the tale of Kayla, the girl who refused to get a bar code tattooed to her wrist. There seems to be a lot more people who sympathize with her here, and think that the bar code is bad news. It makes most of the general publics' lives more miserable and even drives most to attempt suicide. Is there more to the tattoo than appearances? Kayla and her friends go on a quest to find out more, which is a bit of an improvement from the previous book, in which Kayla's goal was basically to escape and avoid detection from the system.

In addition, Kayla learns a lot of strangeness about her past. For example, how many people there are out there who are almost exactly like her. Literally. If you don't have any idea what I'm talking about, you haven't read the book, in which case I highly recommend that you do. ^_^

The Bar Code Tattoo, by Suzanne Weyn

I chose to take this book off the library shelf pretty much for 3 reasons:

1. It was written by Suzanne Weyn, and I absolutely loved Reincarnation, so why should this be any different?
2. I'd had my eye on it even before Reincarnation, since the cover and synopsis were both highly fascinating.
3. It came from the Treasure Trove.

So obviously, what was not to like? ^_^

Wow, what a story. It takes place about 15 years in the future, and not too much seems different. Oh, except for the fact that people are being required to wear a bar code tattoo in order to be a part of society. Hey, it makes life easier, doesn't it? You don't have to carry a driver's license or a credit card that you can lose. All your information is right there on your wrist to be scanned.

But is it really so wise to wear your identity PERMANENTLY on your skin?

Mostly the story follows Kayla (another teenage heroine whose name starts with a K. Isn't it interesting how many of those there are in fiction these days?), a 17 year old who, despite all the pressure from her peers and general society, is rebelling against the bar code tattoo. She has some help from her friends, as well as from helpful strangers who also know that the code is no good. She has a little romantic interest, she adapts to the wilderness, and somehow she develops psychic-like powers. (What? How on earth does Kayla do that? Bettina's not telling us enough! Well yeah, that's the point. I'm keeping stuff from you in order to get you guys to read it. ^_^)

The ending is very open, ready to be most likely concluded by the sequel, The Bar Code Rebellion. Eventually I will pick this book from the library, but for now, like I said in a couple posts previously, if I succeed in staying away from fiction, this will be my last post for perhaps a few days. Happy reading!

Some Graphic Novels I've read

I love graphic novels, but usually I read them so fast and in one sitting, in the library or in the bookstore, that I doubt whether or not they should count in my book count or not. Well, last night I read a really cool graphic novel, so I decided that now would be as good a time as any to bring up some of the books I've read this year that I neglected to review.

First, there is Zot. I read this in my Borders, on the first Friday of the year, I believe. Well, it was a Friday. Anyway, I was attracted to the book right away, because of it's author, Scott McCloud. This guy has written a bunch of other books: Understanding Comics, Reinventing Comics, and Making Comics. And guess what? All those books are written in a comic format! It's really cool to be learning about comics as you're reading them. So I read all of these a couple years ago, and when I saw this book, I quickly picked it up and read as much as I could before we had to leave. I couldn't finish it, unfortunately (I'll have to wait until we go back to Borders again), but here's what I picked up.

Zot is about 2 worlds. There's our Earth, where teenage girl Jenny (I think that's her name) lives, and then there's an alternate Earth, where there are flying cars and robots and world peace, where the boy nicknamed Zot lives. Even if he lives in an idyllic reality though, Zot's world has supervillains, and he's the hero who saves the day with his rocket boots and gadgets and boundless optimism. He never loses on his world. At the beginning of the book, I immediately think I'm missing something, because it's from Jenny's point of view, and it seemed as if they were already tentative boyfriend girlfriend, and she knew about his world, but she was missing him because he hadn't shown up for a while. But I kind of got up to speed, and there's cool saving the world fights, and Zot kind of realizes that on our Earth, he doesn't always win and stop the bad guy. Like I said, I'd have to read more to find out what happens, but I'm definitely going to pick this book up next chance I get.

It was probably sometime last week when I read this book, Dead High Yearbook. It was at the library, and I read it all in one shot. This graphic novel was... okay. Not something I'd rave about or recommend to everybody, but the stories were kind of good, and I really liked the artwork. See, I wouldn't be reading any graphic novel if I didn't like the look of it's artwork. This actually seemed to be a bunch of different styles, because it was by different artists. It was a collection of stories about the supernatural deaths of some high school students. It reminded me a little of the Twilight Zone or something. I wonder if there will be any other books like this in the future. I think it hinted at the end that there were more, but maybe those stories won't be told. I don't know. I don't need to get my hopes up.

Finally, the last book I want to talk about. I read this, too, at the library, in just one sitting. The art attracted me immediately, plus I remembered that a friend had once recommended the series to me. (Thanks Rainy! ^_~) It was a graphic novel adaptation of Alex Rider, Stormbreaker. Really a cool story. It takes place in England, and it's about this teen boy named Alex Rider, whose uncle is a secret agent, but Alex doesn't know it. One day the uncle is killed, and Alex finds out that all his life he's been trained to one day take his uncle's place. It's funny, because the first thing he says when he discovers the spy headquarters is, "Is this Hogwarts?" He gets all these gadgets and, predictably, uses them all in the course of the story to defeat the villain and his evil plot to take over the world.

In graphic novel form, I thought the story was really entertaining and funny. It was like when I read the graphic novel to the first Pendragon book, and found that I loved the series! Later I discovered that there are a couple graphic novels that come after this one, so I might find these and go through the first 3 books in the series that way. I don't know if I want to read the actual books. I might, but I won't count on it. There is also a movie of Stormbreaker, which I've posted a trailer to, but I'm really hesitant to watch it. Since it was a graphic novel, it was fun to notice all the scenes I'd read about when I saw them in the preview, but I've heard that the film actually isn't that good. It's a little too cartoony, and the believability of it flies out the window. It's an awesome story in book form, though not in a live action movie.

I'll try to be a lot better at reviewing the graphic novels I read in the future! I promise.

Coming up next, very soon: Shades of Grey, by Jasper Fforde.

House of Many Ways, by Dianna Wynne Jones

This book I took out because it was a sequel to Howl's Moving Castle. (Well, actually there's a sequel that came before this one, but it didn't have much to do with the original characters. This one did.) Even though I hadn't thoroughly enjoyed the original (see my review here), I decided I'd give this one a try anyway. I have to admit that this book was a tremendous improvement to it's predecessor. ^_^

The story is about a girl named Charmain who's only pleasure is reading, and somehow she's forced to housesit for a sick Great-Uncle, who is actually a wizard. His house is quite unusual. At first glance it would seem like the house only had a kitchen and a living room, but if you go through a door and immediately turn left, it takes you to the bathroom and bedrooms. There's also a sweet little white dog that the Uncle left behind, called Waif, who likes to eat a lot. Eventually Charmain is joined by a boy named Peter, who was supposed to be her uncle's apprentice before he got sick. So they're stuck together and take care of the house. Peter is a big help, since Charmain knows next to nothing about doing dishes and laundry and other boring chores. Still, for some reason she finds him annoying.

In the middle of taking care of her Uncle's magic house, Charmain becomes assistant librarian to the King, so she plays a part in solving a mystery that Sophie (remember her from the first book?) is trying to solve, along with her friend Calcifer the fire demon, her husband Howl, although he's disguised himself as an adorable young boy with a horrible lisp named Twinkle (no idea why 0,o) and their 2 year old son Morgan, who I think is something of a brat. I'd rather not reveal what that mystery is, since it would take too long to tell.

If this book was made into a movie, I wouldn't mind at all. The characters are lively with full personalities, and the adventures that Charmain had quite held my interest. I liked how Charmain could sort of do magic, like Sophie found she could in the first book. And the ending panned out a TON better than Howl's Moving Castle. Sure, it was just as much a happily-ever-after as before, but at least everything made sense and all the ends were neatly tied up. If you could get any enjoyment out of this series, I'd say watch the Hayao Miyazaki film of "Howl's Moving Castle," and then read this book.

Howl's Moving Castle, by Diana Wynne Jones

I actually finished reading this late last night. Naturally, I was too tired to write a review, but from now on I'm going to do my best to, once I turn the last page of a given book, write a review immediately. I have to do what I can to fight my procrastinative nature (not sure that's a word, but whatever).

My reason for picking this book up is that I absolutely loved the animated film version, directed by Hayao Miyazaki. (I embedded a trailer at the bottom. Although the book wasn't bad, I think I would have been better off if I hadn't seen the movie beforehand, because I kept thinking of how awesome that story was, and the book just couldn't live up to it. ~,~

The book and the movie couldn't have been more different. Well, at least the beginning answered a lot of back-story questions I had while watching the movie. But everything that follows Sophie (the girl cursed with old age) entering and becoming a part of Howl's castle was absolutely nothing like I expected would happen. There are a couple added characters and scenes in the plot, and nearer the end I believe it became almost episodic. Like the Time Quake, the conclusion only came in the last chapter, and it was much too quick and happy to be entirely satisfying.

So my advice is to not necessarily read the book at all and just check out the movie, because that is truly awesome, engaging and rewarding story. However, if you're honestly curious and want to give the book a try (it isn't all that bad, after all), I suggest reading the story before you view it, because then you can appreciate how much better the movie is. This is rather than experiencing it the way I did, having the movie in my mind and getting let down by the book.

Posting this review has made me realize that I've forgotten to embed trailers of movies based on books I've read in a few reviews. I'm going to fix that now...

Zenith, by Julie Bertagna

Okay, this book was really quite fascinating! This is the sequel to Exodus, which I reviewed not long ago, so you should remember it. It takes place in the future, not quite the dystopian series, but definitely post-apocalypse. It takes place shortly after Exodus ended, where Mara, the girl that the story follows, has escaped from the New World on a huge ship with a couple dozen of her friends, set for Greenland.

It was a tiny bit confusing, this book, because it was one of those that followed multiple points of view, depending on the chapter. Most of the time it was about Mara, other times, though rarely, it was about the boyfriend she left behind, the cyber-Fox, who now lives under his old city, and then the rest of the time it was about this totally new character, named Tuck, who joins Mara's group of friends later. Tuck's world is cool, because it reminds me of the territory of Cloral from the 2nd Pendragon book, where everyone lives on the water. It's the same thing here. Tuck's lived his whole life on a whole city of connected boats, surrounded by water, and he doesn't believe much in the concept of Land. Weird, huh?

Since I read Catching Fire just before this book, I was still kind of thinking about the set up of that, so I guess I kept getting reminded of it. It isn't a game, but Mara and her friends have to work really hard to survive when they reach land, because it's winter.

An interesting part of the story is that Mara's got a very wide array of love interests. Much more than is fair in just one book. =P She's a heart-breaker. Well, first she has the Fox, who she left behind so she could take all the refugees to a better place, but she still connects with him through her cyberwizz sometimes. Not often though, and eventually her power dies, so that's not good. Then there's Rowan, who was one of her close friends on her home island Wing, but was a slave in New Mungo before getting rescued again. Then Tuck shows up and joins the group, and he falls in love with Mara. He's too much of a stranger though, so he doesn't really have a chance.

It's really hard to describe this book, but I found it an extremely satisfying read. I really liked it whenever one of the characters found an old 21st century artifact, like a digital camera, or a cigarette lighter or something, and the author describes the object so well that the reader knows what it is, but the characters in the book has know idea what the thing is for until they discover the purpose. Also weird is when they discover a strange symbol, what looks like a snake winding around a stick, and they have no idea what it's supposed to mean. Is that a clue that this --> $ <-- will no longer be important in the future? Hmm... Well, I do love books that keep you thinking even after you've closed it. I think there might be a sequel to this, though the release date is unknown, and anyway, it seemed to have a pretty satisfying ending.

Love, Stargirl, by Jerry Spinelli

Yes, so soon after reading the original Stargirl, I dived into it's sequel. I started it yesterday and barely came up for breath until I finished it this evening. I loved, loved, loved it even better than the first one. It's about the same silly character who brings joy to strangers lives and experiences every day to it's fullest, but this time, it's from her point of view.

The book has quite a fascinating format. It's written in sort of a journal like fashion, though Stargirl calls it the World's Longest Letter, because she pretends that she's writing to the boy that broke up with her in the last book, Leo. She starts at the beginning of an unknown year, on January 1st, and writes nearly every day, like a regular journal, all the way to the close of the year, spilling over to January 2nd. In this World's Longest Letter, Stargirl reveals and relates all her year's adventures in the town she's recently moved in and introduces readers to quite a cast of funny, authentic characters, the neighbors she makes life-long friends with.

I think Stargirl has turned into one of my favorite characters of all time. I may have a lot of other authors, stories and book series that I like better than Jerry Spinelli and his novels (no offense to Jerry! I absolutely love his writing style. Still, I have my favorite epics), but Stargirl is totally awesome! ^_^ She's homeschooled, like me, but she's just someone else!

All the little stories contained in the larger story were so intriguing, and it was wonderful how it all came together in the end. I liked the romance part about it, in which there's a guy Stargirl thinks she likes, but she still believes she's in love with Leo. Yes, even Stargirl's life gets confused like that once in a while. She is a teenager, after all. But I simply loved the entire thing. The feeling that I'm reading someone like Stargirl's personal journal is, personally, quite a thrill.

You must read this book, as well as it's predecessor. Read both of them, one after the other. Your life will not be complete until you do!

Exodus, by Julie Bertagna

Man, this book was excellent! I should just call the YA shelf in my library the Treasure Trove, because it seems that all the books I've read from it so far, Storyteller, The Rule of Won and Stargirl, have turned out to be pure gold! You can add this to the growing pile of winners on my list. ^_^

Here's the basic storyline: It takes place in the post-apocalyptic Earth future of 2100. (Boy, can you imagine what could happen in 90 years?) In this speculative future, global warming has melted the ice-caps and flooded most of the planet. There isn't very much human life, but at least one island has managed to survive so far, called Wing. That's where 15-year-old Mara lives. She's the main character. She loves being outside on the rare occasions that it stops being stormy on her island, she loves hanging out with her friends and visiting her grandfather figure Tain, she dreams of a better future, and she absolutely loves playing with this awesome computer-toy, a cyberwizz. Even on a small, isolated island, technology is highly advanced. (To give you a picture of just how advanced, they called a laptop computer the parents pulled out a dinosaur! =P)

While digitally surfing (you actually are able to surf in your mind!) through this old, abandoned site, called the Weave, she comes across a strange creature. A cyber-fox. He's amazed that anyone else could still be on this network as much as she is, and before she's forced to log off, he tells her he lives in this New World city, New Mungo. With some research, she discovers this New World concept is actually dozens and dozens of cities that are built a safe distance above the water. Filled with hope, Mara convinces her island to move to New Mungo, and it's a good thing, because the island was pretty close to being drowned. There aren't enough boats for everyone, however, so all the old people are forced to stay on Wing. Hey, they're going to die anyway, right? Might as well be in the place they know and love. Needless to say, Mara misses her friend Tain.

So she goes on this great adventure for New Mungo, trying to find a better future for herself and her friends. When her boat gets to the city, they find there's an enormous wall that no one can get through, and all these other boats from different islands that have tried to get in can't either. Mara also learns that her parents and younger brother, who got on a different boat, got drowned at sea and never made it to the city. Somehow though, our heroine manages to sneak her way into the city (I won't tell you exactly how, though. You'd have to read it for yourself), but only into the dark, dank basement of the city. This is where a semi-primitive group of people, the Treenesters, live. Yeah, they nest in trees.

When Mara arrives in the Treenesters' midst, they think she's some sort of prophesied hero or something, because they have a statue that, freakily enough, looks exactly like her! Even down to the scar on her face! (You'll find out how she gets the scar in the book.) Mara's not sure how she feels about that, but she lives with them for a while anyway, never forgetting though about her friends and the other boat people waiting outside the wall. One day, a Treenester friend of hers gets kidnapped by the New World police, (they need slaves for their labor, of course) so she decides to go up top and rescue him. She disguises herself in a dead police-girl's clothes, and manages to sneak her way into this world as well.

Man, this part was my absolute favorite!!! This is where you really get a taste of the shiny, high-tech future that everyone dreams about! It's like utopia! Well, of course you know that this is just a trick, an illusion, to cover up what it really is. It's like the Axiom spaceship in the Pixar film Wall*E. But still, it's really quite an awesome place. And somewhere in Mara's exploration of this amazing city, she stumbles upon the person who was behind her friend the cyber-fox all along! ^_^ My favorite chapter is when the Fox person is showing Mara these famous twentieth century figures that the world has all but forgotten. The references are hilarious. He mentions people like Marilyn Monroe, Elvis, Hitler, Martin Luther King Jr., the Beatles, Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz, even Harry Potter! Ha, can you believe it?!

Alright, that's all I'm revealing. The rest of this story is yours to discover. I want you to know that the book's writing style was simply phenomenal. I think it's because the author, Ms. Bertagna, wrote the whole thing in the present tense, which is a really exciting and involving format. Like, "Mara looks over her shoulder", or "he says," you get the idea. I'm definitely sure to check out the next book in this series, called Zenith, as well as perhaps Julie Bertagna's other novels. Trust me, this woman writes fantastic.

I love post-apocalyptic stories like this. It pretty much reminded me of the City of Ember, except the difference is that these people still know that they live on Earth, and the old ways aren't completely forgotten. I don't mind saying that all the cool cyber-stuff described in the book certainly did it for me either. Keep an eye out for this!

Stargirl, by Jerry Spinelli

I remember that last year (before this blog) I read a couple Jerry Spinelli books and really enjoyed them. For some reason I haven't read anything else by him in quite a while, but I found this book of his on the library's YA shelf. It was of a thin length, so I knew it would be an easy read. I basically based my decision for checking out a book on whether the synopsis on the back or the inside flap told a good story that would hook me in. And this book certainly did that trick.

Like The Rule of Won, this book takes place in the regular world of high school students, no fantasy or sci-fi elements whatsoever. On the first day of school, a strange new girl no one has seen before shows up and blows their minds away! Why, you ask? Because she's crazy! Incredibly friendly to perfect strangers, genuinely kind and caring, spontaneous, and a joy to be around. She absolutely does not believe in peer pressure. Other ways that she is different: She dresses in weird costumes, she brings her pet rat to school with her, she plays the ukulele (which she uses to sing Happy Birthday to whoever's birthday it is on any given day. Yeah, somehow, she knows everybody's birth dates) and at school games, she cheers for the other team as well as her own!

Her name, oddly enough, is Stargirl. This actually isn't her given name, but she claims that she likes to wear names like articles of clothing, and she replaces them when they don't fit anymore, so this time she calls herself Stargirl. At the start, everyone loves Stargirl and she becomes the most popular girl in school, because she's so honest and not fake, and gives off such a good energy. But then the kids find a reason to strongly dislike her different-ness, even hating her for it, so they collectively shun her. But Stargirl doesn't seem to care, either way. She just goes about business as usual.

The boy who narrates this story in the first person gets lucky enough to be Stargirl's boyfriend, and he loves every kooky thing about her. But when Stargirl starts getting ignored, so does he. Everyone stops talking to him, acknowledging his existence. He can't have both Stargirl and his friends, so how could he choose? Will it be possible for him to turn innocent Stargirl... normal?

This story seemed to have a pretty powerful message about nonconformity, and breaking the status quo. If anyone can take a leaf out of Stargirl's book, it seems that overall they'd be much happier, and more grateful to be alive every day. It's fun to do crazy, unpredictable things. At least, it's fun reading about it, but it makes you wish you could be brave enough to do those wacky things. But being human, aren't we already all crazy, in our own special way? Give this book a read. I think you'll enjoy it.

Once (and Twice) Upon a Marigold, by Jean Ferris

Now this is pretty funny. This would mark the first time I've had to review a book my fellow Book-Club member, J. N. Future Author, has already covered (see his review here). ^_^ Of course, there's a major difference between our two reviews: I'm gonna go the extra mile and review both books in the series, both of which I read and thoroughly enjoyed. Hey, I guess this would also be the first time I review a series, and not just one book at a time. Maybe I should do that more often... That's what my friend Graham does. He "Chops" books, as well as series. ^,~

Anyway, let me say that J. N. was right about how great this book really is (not to mention it's sequel, which I'll get to later.) In the beginning there's a troll who finds a young boy named Christian lost in the woods, and the troll eventually takes him in and raises the boy as his own. I gotta say, Edric the Troll is definitely a ton nicer and good-natured than Shrek the Ogre is. Not to mention funnier. Ed has these silly expressions that sound like familiar sayings, only they're kind of mixed-up, so it doesn't make much sense but you get the idea of what he's saying anyway. He's a good character.

But what J. N. did not tell you (but what I'm about to =P) is that 11 years later, the teenage Christian starts falling in love with Princess Marigold, who lives in the castle across the river. It's a very sweet, innocent type of love, since he's lived with a troll for many years and doesn't know much about girls. On impulse, he sends her a message by carrier pigeon one day, and when she sends him her reply, a close kind of pen-pal friendship develops and blossoms beteen the two teenagers. To me, that's pretty romantic. ^,^

So a year later, Chris decides to get a job at the palace, even though he knows that he can't talk to Marigold at all, because after all, royalty never fraternizes with servants. While working however, he learns that the princess is about to be married off, so that's pretty tough for him. PLUS he overhears a plot from the evil Queen Olympia, who wants to "get rid" of Marigold, as well as her father, the kindly but quite lazy King Swithbert, so that she'd be the only one running the kingdom. And that wouldn't be good at all!

This book is a wonderful (and yes, short) read with an innocent, fairy-tale like style of story-telling and characters that seem almost literally to leap off the pages, fully formed with a personality, dreams, feelings, something to offer the world, and a history of life. The jokes are funny, the action is gripping, the romance is something to smile at, and at the very end every single loose end is tied up and everybody lives happily ever after. Nothing and nobody gets forgotten.

Or do they?...

"Once Upon a Marigold" was published in 2004, and the author, one Jean Ferris, had apparently meant the story to be a stand-alone novel, despite one last, obvious, tiny detail that didn't get wrapped up in the end. Last year however, the sequel "Twice Upon a Marigold" was released as a result of people writing Jean Ferris and asking to know what exactly happens after Chris and Marigold's "happily ever after." (Yes, they get married. Sorry I couldn't save you the suspense. ~_~) It's a good thing she wrote this next book, because to me, that one tiny detail I talked about just begged for a sequel to be made!

This takes place a year after the events of the first book. Unfortunately, I will have to reveal a couple more spoilers for you to understand the story. See, the evil Queen Olympia gets defeated in the end (sorry) and pushed off a terrace into the river, where she's washed away and supposedly never heard from again. But what really happens is that she turns up in another village where she's lost her memory and doesn't remember about being a queen or anything from her past life. So she starts life anew and actually gets a better personality, which seemed impossible to those who read the first book. Eventually however, she somehow gets her memory back and loses her niceness, so she begins a journey back to the kingdom, plotting a new scheme to be the one in charge of everything.

Meanwhile, it's been a year since Christian's and Marigold's marriage, and they've hit their first bump in the road. They start fighting for the first time and they don't even know why. Of course, things get really bad when Olympia shows up again and throws Edric, King Swithbert and Prince Magnus, the dude who was supposed to marry Marigold in the first place but had since got a life, in the dungeon. When Christian and Marigold find out about it, they start making a plan to get the servants, guards and the general public riled up about the Queen's return, so they can rescue their friends and King and Olympia can get what she deserves.

This story is a bit (okay, a lot) more complicated than the first one, so I've held myself back from revealing too much. I think I did pretty well, too, if I do say so myself. ^,~ But just like in "Once Upon a Marigold," in the end everything gets wrapped up nice and neat, with every character going off to live their dreams (mm-hmm, even Queen Olympia. Or should I say, Angelica?) and living happily ever after. And I'm sure that this time, there's no room for debate that this story is over, because I don't see how this series can possibly be made into a trilogy. Ms. Ferris definitely made a clean cut this time.

I liked this book because of the addition of a couple new characters, who showed just as much life as the original cast, and because of the funny references to future inventions, such as the development of knock-knock jokes (imagine how that came about. Someone actually doubted it would catch on! ^,^) and the start of Christmas. It was all just hilarious.

I honestly absolutely loved this series of two and recommend it highly. Both books remind me somewhat of the Shrek movies, though these books were much better in my opinion. Also, the style in which they were written made me think of the classic fairy-tale modernized, just like J. K. Rowling's "Tales of Beedle the Bard." Collectively, it really seems like a great story for young and old readers alike. Pick them up! You won't be sorry!

Edit: Oh, and I forgot to mention something really cool... I read Twice Upon a Marigold in just one day! Can you believe that?! Yeah, it's that short a read. So why don't you check both these books out? Because they won't take up too much of your time!

Spaniard in the Works, by John Lennon

A few years after writing "In His Own Write," the famous Beatle, John Lennon, came out with a new book that was just as wonderful, funny, and just flat-out silly as his first one! The same hilarious style of suggestive mis-spellings, purposeful grammatical errors and non-sequiting sentences is applied to this volume, and is still extremely funny. Trust me! ^,^

There's not much difference between John's two works. His stories and poetry barely make any sense, but they're sure to raise a smile every time you read them aloud. The books appear to share roughly the same dimensions and page length as well. The only real difference is that in "Spaniard in the Works," the stories are longer than just a page per. So that means fewer stories to laugh at. ~,~ But it's quite alright. It's still a perfect read for when you're in that particular silly mood. (Or, if you don't already feel silly, this book will quickly put you in a good mood, that's for sure. ^_~)

Oh, and of course I can't forget to mention the doodly pictures John provides. They're all so cute and funny. ^,^ John Lennon may be most famous for being a member of the Fab Four, but this guy was a true artist in just so many areas, on many levels. He could write, he could draw, he could sing, he could play, he could act... What could this guy not do?

I also wanted to mention, for John's sake, that I've tasted the Ben and Jerry's ice-cream flavor that was named in his honor, "Imagine Whirled Peace." I gotta say, he sure is tasty! Plus, on September 9, 2009, (ha ha. 9-9-9!) a new edition of the video game Rock Band will be released that is all about the Beatles! It'll play Beatle songs, the characters will be the Beatles, the instruments will be just like they used to play, and if you master the songs you get to see never before seen bonus material about the Beatles!!! I don't play video games that much, but I know that I'd definitely start if I owned this game!

Once upon a Marigold

Once upon a Marigold is a fantastic short read! Clocking in at 266 pages its a pretty short read

What I love most about this book is the fact that it really does keep to the old style of fairy-tales. While at the same time it has a lot of humor in the story that will make you smile and even on occasion, laugh out loud.

The story starts with the character Edric, a forrest troll with two dogs that will walk paths and scavenge all the treasures he finds there.

(before I continue, to break the cliche I'm sure you are thinking of, think of the movie Shrek. If you told someone it was a story about an ogre, they would think man-eating monster. when he isnt't. Same thing with Edric, he is not evil, or man-eating, but a generally nice person)

While he was looking around, he found a 6 year-old boy hiding in a bush. After asking him where he was from he found out that his name was Christain, and he was a runaway. Edric, noticing it was getting dark, took Christain home with him for the night. The next morning Edric told him that he was going to go and try and find Christians parents. Christain (being crafty for a 6 year-old) told Ed that if he turned him in he would tell them that Ed had kidnapped him and planned on ransoming him. So Ed had no choice but to let him stay.

11 years later is when the story really picks up. A wild ride involving princesses, curses, fairys, comedy, evil poisen-making queens, befuddled kind old kings, inventors, p-mail and love.

This story is a must read for anyone that is looking for an overall feel-good story

I rate it 4.9 of 5

In His Own Write, by John Lennon

Does anyone recognise this guy? He was part of the best rock and roll group of the 20th century, the Beatles. I love John Lennon, and all his and his band's songs and albums, but now that I've read this book, I love him even more!

John Lennon probably had the best sense of humor of the Beatles, the one who did silly voices and made sarcastic jokes and remarks. He also sometimes drew funny doodles that didn't appear to make much sense, but made good art. Personally, the style reminds me of Shel Silverstein-esque sketches. In fact, just like Shel Silverstein, this book is full of silly drawings and all sorts of nonsensical poems and short stories and things that make very little sense, except for what you make of it.

Every page is humorously filled with misspellings and vague sentences that leave you scratching your head and thinking, "What? I don't get it! What is he supposed to be saying here?" If you're an editor, this book might possibly be one of your worst nightmares. But if you want some audible laughs escaping your mouth from the simple act of reading, I suggest you read all these stories out loud, to a friend or a two. You might find yourself tripping over some bizarre words, but it's all in pure fun. It's almost like reading Lewis Carrol poetry, or a Dr. Seuss book. Well, at least those guys made some sense, whereas John Lennon makes absolutely no sense at all!

I thought I'd give you a taste of the kind of style this book shows, so here are a couple short stories that I personally enjoyed the most. One is especially short and makes absolutely no sense when you think back on it, and the other one might cause a tiny bit of recognition to stir in your brain, but then turn it right on it's head. All the spelling mistakes you might (and will) catch are not my fault. I copied it directly from online. Remember to read it aloud to yourself, for full effect! And if you find yourself wanting to read the other hilarious stories, then you absolutely must find this book!!!

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The Wrestling Dog

One upon a tom in a far off distant land far across the sea miles away from anyway over the hills as the crow barks 39 peoble lived miles away from anywhere on a little island on a distant land.

When harvest time came along all the people celebrated with a mighty feast and dancing and that. It was Perry's (for Perry was the Loud Mayor) job to provide (and Perry's great pleasure I might add) a new and exciting (and it usually was) thrill and spectacular performer (sometimes a dwarf was used), this year Perry had surpassed himselve by getting a Wrestling Dog! But who would fight this wondrous beast? I wouldn't for a kick off.

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Treasure Ivan

In a little seashore pub in Bristow, a ragged gathering of rags are drinking and makeing melly (before sailing to sea in serge of grate treashy on a sudden Isle far across the ocean).

'Belay there me 'earty scaba,' says Large John Saliver entering. Pegging along towards some old saviours whom have soled the several seas.

'Where be the Parable you normally 'ave on your shoulder, Large John ?' Asks Blind Jew looking up.

'Never ye mind' responds Large John 'And anyways where be your white stick ?'

"Ow the 'elf should I know when oi can't see ?'

All of a suddy Small Jack Hawkins creep in unobtrugell with a siddy grip on his head.

'Ha ha aa ear Jack lad' says Large John in a typical mariner merino.

Soon they were heady fir the harboar with Cpt Smellit and Squire Trelorgy. That morgan they sailed with a hearty breeze behind.

Large John began to look upon Jack as a son or something, for he was ever putting his arm about him and saying 'Ha Haaaaar', especially with a Parable on his shouldy. One day, however, Small Jack Hawkins was just happening in a barret of abbeys when he overheated Large John and several other saviours planting to botany against the Captain.

'Lung Ho' cry a voice from the pidgeon tow on high, 'Lung Ho and alls well!' Yes and it were true-a little Ivan, cyril carpet ageist the horivan with palmist trees and cockynuts.

'I wouldn't be suprised if there was not a beardy old man hobbing from rock to rock.' Thought Disreali Hands who'd seen the film, and there was.

The first lungboot ashore contained Large John Saliver Small Jack and some others what were numerous and sweaty to behold. Anyway they landed on the Ivan and an owld loon jumps out calling himself Sten Gunn and he's been living all over the treasure for years because cruel old Captaive Flint has put the Black Pot on him and you know what happens with a black pot.

So after a bit of stockade and that they sail home to Bristow where they're all arrested for development and Jack Hawkins turns round to be a thirty two year old midget and Large John Saliver has to pay for a new woody leg because they run from fireplace on the Ivan. Sten Gunn turns round to be a young man in the prime of minister and Tom the faithful cat returns to Newcastle.

Holes, by Louis Sachar

It didn't take me long at all to read this book. My brother is actually reading this, but I felt bored, so I picked it up. The chapters are so breezy and short, just a page or two on average. Louis Sachar is a good author. I remember loving his Wayside School Stories when I was in elementary school. I've read Holes before, but it's still good the second time around.

I believe the first time I read it was a little before I saw the movie. I can hardly believe that was several years ago already. Shia LaBeouf was really good in that. The movie was very faithful to the book. All the characters and interconnected stories... just awesome. The only thing I totally forgot was that in the book, the main character, Stanley Yelnats (or Caveman as his friends later call him) is described as a bit overweight, but Shia LaBeouf was obviously not fat. I don't know why that little detail was important. I suppose in the book he was fat because then it would make it that much easier to dig his holes. Putting weight on the shovel...

Other than that though, I loved how close the film and the novel were. Of course, the movie was produced by Walden Media, which, in my opinion, does the best job ever when it comes to adapting awesome books to the silver screen as faithfully as possible.

It's kind of funny... I read this while I was at the beach today and for a while I was reading out in the hot sun. So I'm reading how Stanley and the other boys have to dig these holes all day in the desert, with little water, and I'm reading and feeling really hot, so I could relate to them even closer. (Even though my situation was totally different. They were hot, but physically had to work really hard. I was hot, but I was lazing around and reading about it. Still... ^,^) Don't worry, I didn't get burned.

I liked it when I found out that Sachar wrote a sequel to Holes. It's called Small Steps. Instead of concentrating on Caveman or Zero though, the story follows the life of Armpit. Pretty good story. Since this book was made into a movie, I'll follow my tradition and attach a trailer of the film Holes to this review, though I'm betting a lot of you have already heard of it.

Persepolis 2

This book was the sequel to the first Persepolis, which I've already expressed enjoyment reading. I think I liked reading this book better, because it picks up from when the Iranian girl is 14 and goes through her adolescence in Austria. She travels a lot and gets real world experience and grows into a sensible adult. She also gets into a couple heavy romances and after one particularly bad breakup she goes back to her family in Iran and later meets another guy and gets married, only she finds that she dislikes married life and they divorce.

I wouldn't recommend this book to a lot of people, but I personally enjoyed this serious, yet quite witty, coming of age story. Graphic novels are really fun to read. I liked how in this story, the main character, Marjane, grows up and develops a beauty mark on her nose, so you always know which girl is her in each panel, even though she might be wearing a veil or be in a large crowd. That's a pretty important thing to remember in a good picture story.

Happily I've been writing a lot in my story, like I promised myself, but I hope I can review a lot more books soon. When is Flight #5 or Wings or something going to come in from the library?!

Two books at a time.

This will be a short report, because as much as I liked these books, if you know me, there's only one novel I really care about right now. Yeah. These stories absolutely pale in comparison to the epic that is Pendragon # 10: Soldiers of Halla. But I'm not gonna talk about that now.

The book I finished first was a graphic novel that Annette picked up from the library. It's a pretty fascinating plot. The main character is a young Iranian girl living in the '80s. It's based on the author's actual life. It's hard to define what happens, but she definitely had a brutal childhood. It reminded me of the new movie, Slumdog Millionaire. They may be foreigners, but I still cannot believe that people can live the way they do in those stories. Anyway, I think there's supposed to be a sequel to this book, which is a good thing. I really liked the art style. That's a key thing. The story is definitely good, but if the artwork wasn't so simple and easy to follow, I probably wouldn't have shown any interest in it.

The other book I finished, I'd say was... alright. I took it up after it was recommended by Graham. I like Stephen Colbert, but his comic style is a little out there for me. I mean, I have a feeling that everything he writes is all in fun and he's just teasing America, but his manner is pretty harsh. I don't agree with a lot of his beliefs, and all his ideas and opinions are pretty wacky. I know how he runs his T.V. show, and this book was just like that, only probably more... concentrated. Like Graham said, no aspect of American life is safe from this guy's rampage.

I liked the margins and the footnotes, but I wouldn't say I busted out laughing at his political humor. Like, whenever I read something meant to be funny, I probably smiled with a wince. It wasn't funny enough for me to laugh at. My taste is more aimed at SNL style humor, or Jon Stewart. Now there's a nice guy. I wonder if he'll find the time to write a book. Recently I saw Larry King come on the show with his book (seems like an interesting read), and they had a funny talk. My favorite part was when Larry's like, "Hey, I'm a little older than you," and Jon says, "A little?" ^_^ lol.

Okay. I'm done here. Coming up next: The moment you've all been waiting for...

My review of Pendragon #10.