Review of The Hidden Gallery, by Maryrose Wood

Children's Fiction Review, Fantasy, Historical, Starred Review 0

The Hidden Gallery

The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place, Book Two

by Maryrose Wood
read by Katherine Kellgren

Listening Library, 2011. 5 hours, 57 minutes, on 5 compact discs.
Starred Review

The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place simply make me laugh and laugh. For Book Two, I started listening to the series on audio, and I found myself chuckling on the way to work and had to tell my co-workers about the series. Listening always slows me down, and in this case it made me smile throughout the day.

Now, for most of the CDs, the narrator’s voice is lovely to listen to, a nice proper English voice, and perfect for the series. She gets awfully shrill when she’s doing some of the voices, particularly Lady Constance, and the children are a bit hard to make out when they’re howling. But overall, the reading is so good, I can overlook some shrill moments. (And they are totally appropriate for Lady Constance, I must admit.)

Okay, the plot of the books is getting yet wilder. Governess Penelope Lumley is making great progress in teaching her three pupils who were raised by wolves. In The Hidden Gallery, they go to London. Many strange and mysterious things are hinted at and there is a scene of uproar at the end. Most of the fun is found along the way, and Penelope’s naive but earnest approach to governessing and the big city makes a truly delightful book. In this book, she meets a young man, a playwright, who lives in a London garret, and Penelope’s making a “good friend” adds a heart-warming element.

Even though I listened to the book, I decided to check out the print version so I could include at least one of the delightful diversions.

If you have ever had the misfortune of getting lost in a crowded city, you are no doubt already acquainted with a surprising and little publicized fact: The greater the number of people who might potentially be asked for directions, the more difficult it becomes to get someone to actually stop and help.

Scientists who study human behavior call it the Who, Me? syndrome. For example, if you should have the truly awful luck to get a sliver of sparerib stuck in your throat while dining alone in a restaurant in which there is only one other customer, your fellow diner, although a total stranger, will almost certainly leap up and start performing the Heimlich maneuver as soon as you make the universal sign for choking. (If in doubt as to what this sign is, please refer to the informative poster on display in the dining area; this is assuming you are still conscious, of course.)

Whereas, if the same incident takes place in a bustling restaurant full of people, by the time you draw attention to your plight you may have already turned blue and fallen to the floor. At that point you are truly in a pickle, for instead of swift action there will be a lengthy discussion as onlookers try to determine which of them is best qualified to assist. Some will suggest mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, while others will strive to recall episodes of medical television dramas that may or may not be relevant to your case. A few will phone for help; others will panic and require medical assistance themselves; and many, alas, will simply be annoyed that their dinner was interrupted and will tip their waiters ungenerously as a result.

Knowing this, in the future you might well choose only to dine in unpopular restaurants. Penelope did not have this option. London was crowded, and there was no getting away from it. Each new street she trudged down with her three weary charges in tow seemed more packed with unhelpful people than the one before. After an hour’s aimless wandering she knew that she and the Incorrigibles were lost, but all her attempts to ask for directions went unanswered in the din and rush of the crowd.

I do recommend reading these books in order. There’s suspense slowly building, and questions about the children’s background and about Penelope’s background, too. A mysterious gypsy tells the children, “The Hunt is on!” and there are other ominous indications that they may be in danger.

I do know that if Maryrose Wood’s sense of humor appeals to you — and it fits mine exactly — then you will definitely want to read these books from start to finish. This episode deals with children raised by wolves in the big city, coming face-to-face with “culture.”

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Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Fiction/hidden_gallery.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a library audiobook from Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Please use the comments if you’ve read the book and want to discuss spoilers!

Review of The Fire Chronicle, by John Stephens

Adventure, Children's Fiction Review, Fantasy 1

The Fire Chronicle

The Books of Beginning, Book Two

by John Stephens

Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 2012. 437 pages.

I’m reviewing this book not so much as a fan, but as a librarian. I’ll explain some of the reasons it’s not a personal favorite — but why I will be very happy to hand it to certain kids who often come to the library looking for more books to read. And I did enjoy reading it. Enough to review it even when I’m swamped and much choosier about which books I review, just not enough to think of it as a favorite.

I’m calling the niche this book fills Magical Adventure Saga books. I think of them as books after Harry Potter, books for kids who find the Eragon books or the Ranger’s Apprentice books. They are very often quest books. One thing after another happens and evil sinister sorcerers and their creepy minions are after Our Heroes and they find out they have special powers of their own, and they must stay ahead of the bad guys, and the fate of the world is at stake.

Now to really give The Fire Chronicle a fair reading, I should have started with Book One, The Emerald Atlas, and The Emerald Atlas is the book I will hand to the readers I think might enjoy this trilogy. (One more book is planned.) On the other hand, I read the first book of another Magical Adventure Saga, The Dragon’s Tooth, and by the time I finished it, I found I couldn’t bring myself to finish the second book. (Though I had read enough in the first book to also be sure that it will have eager readers.)

In The Fire Chronicle, Kate, Michael, and Emma have been discovered, and are chased right away by the evil and creepy Screechers that they encountered in the earlier book. In the process of escaping them, Kate goes back in time and gets trapped there. So Michael is in charge in the present of the quest for The Fire Chronicle, the second of the Books of the Beginning, about which it’s been prophesied that three children will bring them together.

In the quest for The Chronicle, Michael and Emma get into one breathless life-threatening adventure after another. Meanwhile, I enjoyed Kate’s more thoughtful adventures in the past. She has arrived just before the Separation, when the magical world is going into hiding, and all of us ordinary folks will forget that magic exists. But meanwhile she meets someone whose fate she may affect, and whom she’s met before — in the future.

I am not a big fan of plots involving time travel, or prophecy, and the magic-working seemed pretty iffy to me, too. I didn’t like how many different perspectives the author used and felt some of the soul-searching was overdone. But there were many moments I enjoyed. I found the budding romance wonderfully poignant, and the spell the elf princess casts hilarious. I also think there are a lot of kids not as detail-oriented and persnickety as me who will thoroughly enjoy this tale. I like that the kids are firmly kids. Yes, they grow, but this is a children’s book from start to finish, and even J. K. Rowling moved her series to young adult before she finished. I’m not sure I’ll go back and read the first book, and I’m not sure I’ll read the third book, but in a time when I’m swamped with books to read, I couldn’t bring myself to stop reading this one until I’d finished. And I’ve already thought of a reader I’m going to recommend these books to the next time I see him.

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Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Fiction/fire_chronicle.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Please use the comments if you’ve read the book and want to discuss spoilers!

Review of The Time-Traveling Fashionista at the Palace of Marie Antoinette

Children's Fiction Review, Fantasy, Historical 0

The Time-Traveling Fashionista at the Palace of Marie Antoinette

by Bianca Turetsky

Poppy (Little, Brown and Company), 2012. 266 pages.

This book is simply fun. Not heavy, not overly philosophical, but with a bit of adventure and definite fun.

In an earlier book, The Time-Traveling Fashionista On Board the Titanic, which I haven’t read, Louise Lambert, lover of vintage clothing, tried on a dress worn on the Titanic — and traveled back to experience the voyage from the perspective of the girl who wore the dress. In this book we know by the title that she’s going to travel to the court of Marie Antoinette.

The set-up works for the book. Louise’s seventh grade French class is going to travel to Paris this summer (okay, maybe that’s a little unbelievable), but when her father’s laid off from her job, her parents tell her they can’t afford to send her. In history class, they’re talking about the French Revolution — not that I really think that’s in seventh-grade curriculum, but it’s told convincingly and Louise isn’t paying as much attention as the reader does (because of that title), so it doesn’t seem like a convenient information dump, but just enough for the reader to know what’s going on.

When she goes to another Traveling Fashionista show, she tries on a dress that takes her to Paris. She sees Marie Antoinette as a girl her own age. The events in the book take place well before the French Revolution, but the author does a good job of humanizing Marie Antoinette while making Louise think about her own life at the same time. And all the groundwork is laid for further adventures, as well as her finding out there are other time travelers out there.

Louise’s passion for vintage fashions and knowledge of historic designers makes her character all the more genuine. I read this in Advance Reader Copy form, so I didn’t see the full color art, but even the black-and-white artwork of clothes worn and palaces visited adds flavor to the book.

This has a little bit of magic, a good dose of history, and some information about vintage fashions, all thrown into a mix as much fun as playing dress-up.

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Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Fiction/time_traveling_fashionista.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on an Advance Reader Copy I got at an ALA conference.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Please use the comments if you’ve read the book and want to discuss spoilers!

Review of Lulu Walks the Dogs, by Judith Viorst

Beginning Chapter Books, Children's Fiction Review, Contemporary, Delightfully Silly 0

Lulu Walks the Dogs

by Judith Viorst
illustrated by Lane Smith

Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2012. 145 pages.

Another book about the irrepressible Lulu! She’s back, and although she no longer throws temper tantrums, “she’s still a girl who wants what she wants when she wants it.” In this book, she wants something that requires a lot of money, so she decides to start a dog-walking business. How hard could it be?

Actually, Lulu takes a whole chapter to decide her job. Here’s how it goes:

Well, maybe you already know and maybe you don’t. Because maybe Lulu first decided her jobs — or job — should be baking cookies, or spying, or reading to old people, and then those jobs did not turn out too well. And maybe instead of writing a chapter about how those jobs did not turn out too well, I’m moving right along to Chapter Four.

This book begs to be read aloud, especially with all the authorial asides, but it’s too long for storytime. It would make a fabulous bedtime book. The chapters are short, and it’s also a perfect beginning chapter book, with wonderful illustrations to entertain you as you go.

Lulu’s nemesis is Fleischman, the goody-goody boy down the block. So when walking the dogs doesn’t turn out to be as easy as Lulu thought, she above all doesn’t want to accept help from Fleischman, but that is her only recourse.

This book is about friendship and annoyingly perfect people and accepting help and lots of silliness about dogs who are sensitive about their names or only speak German, and it is a whole lot of fun.

lanesmithbooks.com
KIDS.SimonandSchuster.com

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Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Fiction/lulu_walks_the_dogs.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Please use the comments if you’ve read the book and want to discuss spoilers!

Review of Earthling! by Mark Fearing

Children's Fiction Review, Graphic Novel, Science Fiction 0

Earthling!

by Mark Fearing

Chronicle Books, San Francisco. 245 pages.

Earthling! is a children’s graphic novel that’s a lot of fun. Bud and his father move to a new home next to his father’s new job at the Von Lunar Telescope Lab. The next morning, Bud gets on the wrong bus — and ends up on a bus to Cosmos Academy, the best in the galaxy. Fortunately, a friendly alien helps him out right at the start, and warns him not to tell anyone he’s an earthling. Earthlings are feared and hated.

So Bud has all the challenges of fitting in at a new school where he is truly an alien from another planet. But at the same time, he must figure out how to get home. He has to learn how to play ZeroBall, make friends and be a team player — in a very different environment. He must avoid suspension and expulsion — because it would be suspension for eternity in molecular binding gel or being expelled into deep space to die.

The art in this book is excellent, and naturally the aliens are easy to tell apart. (Though come to think of it, the bullies look a lot alike. Is that species prejudice?) The story is fun, with Earthlings clearly seen through a distorted lens. The plot is engaging — Bud just wants to get home, but there are many paths he must take to try to get there. The pages are bright, colorful, and action-packed. This is one book that will be easy to put into kids’ hands.

markfearing.com
chroniclekids.com

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Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Fiction/earthling.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Please use the comments if you’ve read the book and want to discuss spoilers!

Review of Fake Mustache, by Tom Angleberger

Children's Fiction Review, Fantasy, Humorous 0

False Mustache

by Tom Angleberger

Amulet Books, New York, 2012. 208 pages.

This book is silly, over-the-top fun. Lenny’s friend Casper saves his money and buys the one-of-a-kind Heidelberg Handlebar Number Seven fake mustache. It is so good, that next thing Lenny knows, Casper is able to mesmerize anyone and everyone. He goes on a crime spree, takes over the town, and threatens to take over the country. Only Lenny knows the mustache is fake, so only Lenny can stop him. Well, only Lenny and Jodie O’Rodeo. (Why she is so smart kind of went by me quickly.)

After the first robbery, Lenny tries to give the FBI an anonymous tip, but Casper knows it was him and then convinces everyone — even Lenny’s parents — that Lenny is the Evil One, the one responsible for all the crime. He has to go into disguise. Good thing it’s Halloween.

Tom Angleberger never goes for plausibility with this one, but he does have fun giving us a genuine, nerdy middle school kid caught up in the middle of events beyond his control.

No, I didn’t find it believable. I did find it fun. Here’s a section from the first chapter:

Don’t ever buy a fake mustache at Sven’s Fair Price Store.

Sven’s Fair Price Store is an awesome place, and I recommend it if you want to buy fake tattoos, fake noses, fake thumbs, fake eyelashes, fake tuxedo shirts, fake books that have secret compartments, fake laughter machines, fake fog makers, fake feet, fake teeth that you wind up, fake teeth that you stick in your mouth, fake gum that snaps people’s fingers, fake dog poop, or fake people poop.

But the fake mustaches are just too good. They’re made out of real human mustache hair. Apparently, there are men in Belgium who grow their mustaches for a year, then cut them off and sell them to the Heidelberg Novelty Company.

This makes the fake mustaches really expensive. But they’re worth it . . . if you really want a good fake mustache — which you don’t! It’ll only lead to trouble. That’s what I’m trying to tell you.

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Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Fiction/fake_mustache.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on an advance review copy I got at an ALA conference.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Please use the comments if you’ve read the book and want to discuss spoilers!

Review of A Hero for WondLa, by Tony DiTerlizzi

Children's Fiction Review, Science Fiction 0

A Hero for WondLa

by Tony DiTerlizzi

Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2012. 445 pages.

I had the privilege of having dinner with Tony DiTerlizzi and a group from Simon & Schuster at 2012 ALA Midwinter Meeting. He talked about how, with the WondLa books, he wanted to write an imaginative adventure story like The Wizard of Oz, a story that would appeal to boys and girls alike. When he was a boy reading The Wizard of Oz, he never minded that Dorothy was a girl. The adventures in a fantastical world completely captured his imagination. He wanted to add illustrations, like those books had when he was young. For the second book, he reread Brave New World in preparation for writing it.

I think Tony DiTerlizzi achieved those goals. I’ve been a fan since childhood of The Wizard of Oz myself, and the WondLa books have the same feel. They’ve got adventure, a quest, and exuberantly imaginative details. They are on the long side, but I don’t think a young audience will mind, and the wonderful illustrations help to move the story along and keep the reader entranced.

In the second book, A Hero for WondLa, Eva Nine has found a human city. She’s excited to find a place where she belongs. Her alien friend warns her, though, “A village of your kind does not necessarily make a home.” Knowing that the author had read Brave New World before writing it, I was not surprised when something seemed off. In fact, Eva felt a little slow to figure it out. What she finds there leads to further adventures.

I didn’t quite track with the plot all along the way in this book. It felt simplistic, which perhaps is appropriate for the young audience it’s meant for. But there were times when a simple explanation won people to Eva’s side, and there were other times when people irrationally opposed her. I didn’t really believe, for example, that she would have gone into the city without Rovender by her side, or then that she’d be able to find him as easily as she did. Yes, the author is wonderfully imaginative, but some of the events at the end seemed over-the-top. What do you think? I’d love to discuss details in the comments. (So please avoid the comments until you’ve read the book — then feel free to include spoilers.)

And despite those quibbles, like The Wizard of Oz, The Search for WondLa and A Hero for WondLa present an adventure saga that’s firmly kid-based and kid-friendly. I am looking forward to the series continuing. May it find many readers.

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Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Fiction/hero_for_wondla.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Review of Greenwitch, by Susan Cooper

Children's Fiction Review, Fantasy, Old Favorites, Starred Review 0

Greenwitch

by Susan Cooper

Collier Books, 1986. First published in 1974. 131 pages.
Starred Review

This book is the third in the Dark Is Rising sequence, which I’m rereading in honor of Susan Cooper winning the 2012 Margaret A. Edwards Award.

I love that in Greenwitch the ordinary children from Over Sea, Under Stone get to come back into the story and have a crucial part. Will, seventh son of the seventh son, who’s discovered he’s immortal, doesn’t seem like he has as much challenge once he got his powers as an Old One.

But the grail that they discovered has been stolen from the museum. And I love that Jane, Simon, and Barney have a part to play in its recovery. They go back to Trewissick, meet a sinister stranger, and Jane gets to witness the making of the Greenwitch — usually only reserved for locals. Jane does a small act of kindness that has big repercussions.

In her Margaret Edwards speech, Susan Cooper talked about a sense of place, and that’s something she does so well here. You feel what it’s like to be kids in Trewissick, surrounded by ancient magic.

Here’s Jane, just arrived and looking out her window:

She was high up on the side of the harbour, overlooking the boats and jetties, the wharf piled with boxes and lobsterpots, and the little canning factory. All the life of the busy harbour was thrumming there below her, and out to the left, beyond the harbour wall and the dark arm of land called Kemare Head, lay the sea. It was a grey sea now, speckled with white. Jane’s gaze moved in again from the flat ocean horizon, and she looked straight across to the sloping road on the opposite side of the harbour, and saw the tall narrow house in which they had stayed the summer before. The Grey House. Everything had begun there.

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Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Fiction/greenwitch.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on my own copy.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Please use the comments if you’ve read the book and want to discuss spoilers!

Review of Tua and the Elephant, by R. P. Harris

Beginning Chapter Books, Children's Fiction Review, Contemporary 0

Tua and the Elephant

by R. P. Harris
illustrated by Taeeun Yoo

Chronicle Books, San Francisco, 2012. 202 pages.

Tua and the Elephant is a sweet book about a little girl in Thailand who finds a young elephant who is being abused and rescues her from the bad guys. The story is not, perhaps, absolutely believable, but it is wondrously detailed with the sounds and sights and tastes of Thailand, and definitely a heart-warming tale of a small child helping a creature who needs it and with a happy ending for everyone.

Tua doesn’t think hard when she feels the elephant beckoning her to rescue it from the cruel mahouts. But after she walks away with it, her thoughts catch up with her:

Where does one take an elephant — a fugitive elephant, at that — in the city of Chiang Mai? How does one hide an elephant? Elephants don’t fit into closets, boxes, or drawers. One can’t simply toss a blanket over an elephant and call it a job well done. Someone is bound to notice. Elephants, for better or for worse, draw attention to themselves. . . .

The very next thought that stumbled into Tua’s mind was: What am I going to tell my mother?

She imagined herself saying, “Mama, guess what I found?”

That might work with a kitten or a puppy, but it wasn’t going to work with an elephant. And how would she get it up the apartment stairs? Where would it sleep? What does an elephant eat?

Taking the elephant home was definitely out of the question.

This is a great choice for children around middle elementary school who have started reading chapter books. The book has twenty-nine short chapters, plenty of illustrations, and a definitely compelling story in a setting not often read about in children’s books. A lovely addition to our library’s shelves.

chroniclekids.com

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Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Fiction/tua_and_the_elephant.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Please use the comments if you’ve read the book and want to discuss spoilers!

Review of Chomp, by Carl Hiaasen

Adventure, Audiobooks, Children's Fiction Review, Contemporary 0

Chomp

by Carl Hiaasen
read by James Van Der Beek

Listening Library, 2012. 6 hours on 5 CDs.

This audiobook is a wonderful choice for family listening. Wahoo Cray (He was named after a wrestler) has always lived with animals. His dad’s an animal wrangler, dealing with exotic animals for TV shows or movies. Unfortunately, his dad recently had a head injury when a frozen iguana fell out of a tree and landed on his head. He gets headaches and double vision and hasn’t gotten many jobs lately.

So when the biggest reality survival show on TV wants to hire Mickey Cray, Wahoo has to make sure it works. Even though the star of the show, Derek Badger, is all too likely to get himself killed — either by their alligator or by Mickey himself.

When Derek Badger decides to take the show into the “real” wild Everglades, he insists that Mickey and Wahoo go with him. But then Wahoo runs into Tuna, a girl from school who needs to hide from her drunk dad, so they bring her along. And things rapidly get out of control.

Even though this book does skirt some heavy issues with Tuna and her Dad, the mood stays very funny and has eye-opening facts about animals and the environment and supposed “reality” shows. As it goes on, Derek Badger’s ineptitude went beyond funny to me into the range of downright unrealistic, but it’s all in good fun.

Highly entertaining and family friendly listening, with plenty of laughs and plenty of excitement. The narrator does a great job of distinguishing between the characters, including Derek Badger’s fake Australian accent. He had me avidly listening all the way. In fact, the characters were in a pouring rainstorm right while I was driving in a torrential downpour, and I think the line between fantasy and reality began to blur for me! I listened to this while driving back from dropping my youngest son off his first time in the college dorm, and it was fantastic to have something to completely take my mind off his empty seat! But I do think if the seats in your car are full, this is one the whole family will enjoy.

listeninglibrary.com

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Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Fiction/chomp.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a library audiobook from Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Please use the comments if you’ve read the book and want to discuss spoilers!