Each story is connected and flows together as the wolf is trying to desperately come up with his next meal.  This impeccably dressed wolf, just can’t seem to catch a break when he’s outwitted by the pigs, attacked by the sheep, and declothed by little red riding hood (who’s  better known as Rhonda).  Kids who are familiar with the original stories will love the new story twists and those who aren’t will fall in love with the illustrations.  In the chapter about the boy who cried wolf, I got a kick out of one of the townsfolk who came running each time the boy cried wolf in various states of getting dressed for the day.  In a towel straight out of the shower and next with a blow dryer.

There’s a Wolf at the Door is a great book to introduce young readers to the graphic novel format, fables, and the classic stories that we grew up with.  I haven’t tried reading it to my three year-old.  It is quite long with a decent amount of text.  I wouldn’t want to read the whole thing in one sitting as a bedtime story.  You’ll probably be there for awhile.  But the chapters make for good stopping points as long as you don’t wait to long to pick it back up again, or else children might not see how the stories are connected.  Overall, I enjoyed this new take on these classic tales.

R.W Alley website.

Copyright 2010. Maw Books Blog

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Far World is fantasy.  I have to admit that I’m reading a lot more fantasy this year but don’t consider myself well read in this genre at all.  In fact, I’m far from it.  After mentioning to J. Scott Savage that he could end up with a review like this one, he said he was willing to take the chance!  But I’m really worried that I’m not going to be completely honest about this review because I read Far World a good six weeks ago (not a good idea to let books stack up for reviews) and well, my memory is a bit rusty.  I’m sure I’ve forgotten some of the things that I was thinking while reading it.

Okay, so let me assume you don’t know what Far World is about.  Because really, like I mentioned earlier, if you are prone to browsing book blogs, chances are pretty good that you’ve already seen this one reviewed a hundred times (which by the way, I haven’t seen a negative review yet).  In Far World, Marcus Kanenas is thirteen.  An orphan (which makes me think of my recent review of The Willoughby’s by Lois Lowry) and a cripple confined to a wheelchair.  Marcus dreams of a place where he’s not an outcast, in his mind he calls it Farworld.  Marcus is different for more reasons than being in a wheelchair, he can also do things that other kids can’t.  Magic.  Marcus magically travels to Farworld and meets another orphan Kyja, who also is different from everybody in her world.  She can’t do magic in a world where everything is.

Master Therapass is a wizard who knows the history of both children and how they are connected to each other.  The fate of Farworld is in their hands.  But the Dark Circle is growing in their evil influence and are out to get both children.  Their only hope is to find the four mythical Elementals – water, land, air and fire – and convince them to help.  Marcus and Kyja jump back and forth between Farworld and Earth as they search for the Elementals and attempt to avoid the Dark Circle.  This first book in what will be a series, dealt with the search of the water elemental.  So we have to a lot to look forward to when the other books come out.

Far World was full of adventure.  It was extremely fast paced.  I loved how I didn’t have to wait for anything to happen.  Things moved along quickly.  If you have a reluctant reader in your house, especially a reluctant boy reader, in your house, Far World will be perfect.

I do remember being a bit perturbed with just how magical everything was in Far World.  I mean, even the grass talked!  I thought it was pushed to far and I got really distracted.  But I think young readers will probably like that a whole lot more than me.  Also, as soon as I finished the book, I turned to the front cover and told my husband, “Uh oh, this is not a good sign.  I just finished the book and I don’t have a clue who these people are on the front cover.”  But luckily I was able to ask the author directly about this and you’ll find out the answer in my author interview tomorrow.

J. Scott Savage has offered to do a giveaway at each blog who received a ARC.  So if you keep entering and haven’t won yet, you have another  chance.  Simply mention here that you’d like to enter and you’ll be entered to receive a signed Advanced Reading Copy before the book hits the store.

I’ll be interviewing the author tomorrow.  In the mood for strawberry soup?  J. Scott Savage will teach us how to make it!

So here you go:

. . . every blessing ignored becomes a curse.  I don’t want anything else in life.  But you are forcing me to look at wealth and at horizons that I have never known.  Now that I have seen them, and now that I see how immense my possibilities are, I’m going to feel worse than I did before you arrived.  Because I know the things I should be able to accomplish, and I don’t want to do so. – page 58.

When I had my sheep, I was happy, and I made those around me happy.  People saw me coming and welcomed me, he thought.  But now I’m sad and alone.  I’m going to become bitter and distrustful of people because one person betrayed me.  I’m going to hate those who have found their treasure because I never found mine.  And I’m going to hold on to what little I have, because I’m too insignificant to conquer the world.  – page 39.

. . . when each day is the same as the next, it’s because people fail to recognize the good things that happen in their lies every day the sun rises. – page  29.

If you start out by promising what you don’t even have yet, you’ll lose your desire to work toward getting it. – page 26

It’s [your Personal Legend] what you have always wanted to accomplish.  Everyone, when they are young, knows what their Personal Legend is.  At that point in their lives, everything is clear and everything is possible.  They are not afraid to dream, and to yearn for everything they would like to see happen to them in their lives.  But, as time passes, a mysterious force begins to convince them that it will be impossible for them to realize their Personal Legend. – page 22.

If God leads the sheep so well, he will also lead a man. - page 37.

When you know [the Universal Language], it’s easy to understand that someone in the world awaits you, whether it’s in the middle of the desert or in some great city.  And when two such people encounter each other, and their eyes meet, the past and the future become unimportant.  There is only that moment, and the incredible certainty that everything under the sun has been written by one hand only.  It is the hand that evokes love, and creates a twin soul for every person in the world.  Without such love, one’s dreams would have no meaning. – page 98

When a person really desires something, all the universe conspires to help that person realize his dream.  – page 121.

You must understand that love never keeps a man from pursuing his Personal Legend.  If he abandons that pursuit, it’s because it wasn’t true love. – page 126.

One is loved because one is loved.  No reason is needed for loving.  – page 128.

There is only one way to learn . . . It’s through action.  Everything you need to know you have learned through your journey. – page 131

Wherever your heart is, that is where you’ll find your treasure.  – page 128.

Treason is a blow that comes unexpectedly.  If you know your heart well, it will never be able to do that to you.  Because you’ll know its dreams and wishes, and will know how to deal with them  You will never be able to escape from your heart.  So it’s better to listen to what it has to say.  That way, you’ll never have to fear an unanticipated blow. - page 129

People are afraid to pursue their most important dreams, because they feel that they don’t deserve them, or that they’ll be unable to achieve them. – page 130

. . . the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself.  And that no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dreams, because every second of the search is a second’s encounter with God and with eternity. – page 130.

When you possess great treasures within you, and try to tell others of them, seldom are you believed. – page 134

Do you have a favorite among them or one that stands out?

Links of interest: Maw Books Alchemist book review, Paulo Coelho website.
Genre: Fiction, Fable
Publisher: HarperCollins. April 25, 2006. (Original publication 1988)
Paperback, 208 pages. ISBN 0061122416
Source copy: Own
The Alchemist is available from your favorite independent bookstore, Powell’s, and Amazon.

When I first opened it up and glanced through the blurbs, I groaned because three of those blurbs mentioned how it was like The Little Prince, which I did not like.  Oh great!  While reading, I could definitely see the similarities but because I actually understood the message of The Alchemist much better than The Little Prince (I can’t even recall what that message was supposed to be anymore), I liked it.  But I do wonder, if I had not just read The Little Prince would I have still liked it?  I’m not entirely sure.  But I’m not really averse to self-help books, so I didn’t really mind this one.  Hmm. . . . still deciding. . . . yes, I liked it.  Why?  It really made me think about some things in my life in a way a book hasn’t done for a really long time.  Like a call to action.

The Alchemist is a fable about following your dreams.  In this fable, Santiago, a shepherd follows his inner yearnings to travel, but wants to see more.  After having a dream about finding treasure in the Pyramids of Egypt, he contemplates seeking after it.  After meeting a gypsy woman and an old man who advise him to follow his dream, he leaves his homeland of Spain and sets off across the desert to the Pyramids.  While searching for his treasure, he learns about love, loss and the feelings of his heart.

The copy that I read had a forward written by Paulo Coelho himself.  Honestly, if I had not read that forward I would have thought that this book was over the top.  But because Paulo had written so plainly about the story and what it was about, I didn’t mind the fact that everything was so obvious, not to mention really weird, in the story.

Paulo Coelho states:

What is a personal calling?  It is God’s blessing, it is the path that God chose for you here on Earth.  Whenever we do something that fills us with enthusiasm, we are following our legend.  However, we don’t all have the courage to confront our own dream.

Why do we not achieve our dreams?  Paulo Coelho says that there are four obstacles standing in our way.

1. We are told from childhood onward that everything we want to do is impossible.  We grow up with this idea, and as the years accumulate, so too do the layers of prejudice, fear and guilt.
2. Love.  We know what we want to do, but are afraid of hurting those around us by abandoning everything in order to pursure our dream.  We do not realize that love is just a further impetus, not something that will prevent us going forward.  We do not realize that those who genuinely wish us well want us to be happy and are prepared to accompany us on that journey.
3. Fear of the defeats we will meet on the path.  We who fight for our dream suffer far more when it doesn’t work out, because we cannot fall back on old excuse; ‘Oh, well, I didn’t really want it anyway.’  We do want it and know that we have staked everything on it and that the path of the personal callling is no easier than any other path, except that our whole heart is in this journey.
4. The fear of realizing the dream for which we fought all our lives. . . . The mere possibility of getting what we want fills the soul of the ordinary person with guilt.  We look around at all those who have failed to get what they and feel that we do not deserve to get what we want either.

This book really opened up a lot of discussion when we met at book club as we all opened up to our goals in life.  Mine?  I have a secret to confess.  The entire time I was in college pursuing my degree in Photography, I felt like a fraud.  Like everybody else were the real photographers and I was just there for the ride.  Don’t get me wrong. I am creative.  I really felt like I did some great projects.  “Seeing” the photo comes very natural for me while the execution of the photo was difficult.  This came mostly because I had a hard time with the numbers. and the calculations.  The light meter was my worst enemy.  It just didn’t seem natural to be holding a light meter.  I HATED my studio/portrait photography class because I could not calculate how all the lights were supposed to be set up.  The first time I was introduced to a large format 4×5 camera, I thought I would die.

Which seems funny looking back on it now because I chose for my HUGE senior project to photograph flowers in the studio with lights I hated using a large format 4×5 camera (think of those cameras where people are under the big black cloth).  While it was very technical and hard for me, I succeeded.  I think I chose to do it that way because I had to prove to myself that I could do it, despite being scared and feeling very inadequate.  And I loved the finished project.  In fact, the whole thing is hanging on my living room wall.  Every time I look at them, I tell myself, wow, that was hard.  I did it!  The studio didn’t kill me.  The lighting came out great.  The exposures were spot on.  The Polaroid emulsion lifts were a success.  My matte cutting skills were impeccable.  And my frames came out great (which I cut and assembled myself, including cutting the glass).

Anyways, the point?  I graduated with my photography degree about five years ago.  What am I doing with my photography now?  If you don’t count taking photos of the kids (which I do) than I’m not doing anything.  Why?  I’m scared that someone is going to discover that even though I went to school and have my BFA degree in photography, someone is going to discover that I’m not a real photographer.  Isn’t that crazy?!  Which is why I will never say yes to photographing a wedding.  Ever.  I’m scared that I’ll look like I have no clue what I’m doing.  And sometimes I feel like that’s true.

So the whole following your dreams and the obstacles that get in the way really resonated with me.  And I wasn’t the only one.  In my book club, one woman wanted to start a online business, another wanted to publish a local magazine, and another, well, she wanted to have sex with a certain vampire.  But let’s not count that shall we.

So what about you?  Do you have something that you feel is one of your life callings but feel that any of those obstacles listed above get in the way?

There were a lot of great quotes from The Alchemist. This post has already gotten so long and I’ve picked out so many, I’ll go ahead and do up a second post:  Quotes from The Alchemist.

Links of interest: Maw Books Alchemist book review, Paulo Coelho website.
Genre: Fiction, Fable
Publisher: Harper Collins. April 25, 2006. (Original publication 1988)
Paperback, 208 pages. ISBN 0061122416
Source copy: Own
The Alchemist is available from your favorite independent bookstore, Powell’s, and Amazon.

Nefarious means utterly, completely wicked.  The character in the Wizard of Oz could have called the Nefarious Witch of the West but authors like to use the same beginning consonant, often.

Ignominious means shamefully weak and ineffective.  Oliver Twist saying, “Please sir, might I have some more?” would be ignominious, except that he isn’t shameful, just sort of pathetic.  The book has ignominious illustrations.  They are shamefully weak because the person who drew them is not an artist.

He, he.  So much of the charm of The Willoughbys comes from the fact that Lois Lowry did the illustrations.  I loved them!  So, so glad that she had that bright idea.

The Willoughbys is a tongue in cheek parody aimed at all the wonderful “old-fashioned” books about orphans, benefactors, nannies, and long lost heirs.   The four Willoughby children, Timothy, A, B, (you’ll have to just read the book for the explanation of that one) and Jane are tired of their parents and are determined to get rid of them, once and for all, so they can become good old fashioned orphans.  But their parents whom “frequently forgot that they had children and became quite irritable when they were reminded of it” have a plan of their own to rid the children as well.  The Willoughbys is full of all the “old-fashioned” goodies, such as orphans, benefactors, nannies, and long lost heirs, even a baby in a basket makes its way into the story.

This book was so much fun.  I really think adults would enjoy this one much more than children because they’ll get “it.”  Do kids read books like The Bobbsey Twins anymore?  Will they understand why it’s so funny?  Even if they don’t, they’ll still love the story.  It was highly entertaining and laugh out loud funny.

I found myself wanting to write down all the books that Lois Lowry mentioned in the book and was relieved to find a bibliography on “Books of the past that are heavy on piteous but appealing orphans, ill-tempered and stingy relatives, magnanimous benefactors, and transformations wrought by winsome children.”

So what are they, you ask?

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maude Montgomery
The Bobbsey Twins and Baby May by Laura Lee HOpe
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dicken
Heidi by Johanna Spyri
James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers
Pollyanna by Eleanor H. Porter
Ragged Dick by Horatio Alger Jr.
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Toby Tyler; Or, Ten Weeks With the Circus by James Otis

(All of these books may be found in my Amazon store)

This is a cute, little video of a kid reporter interviewing Lois Lowry about The Willoughbys:

While reading The Willoughby’s I was not lugubrious or irascible.  Nor did I think it insignificant, nor as the author mentioned, the illustrations ignominous.    Nor was the reading of said book, regrettable.  And if you are oblivious as to how many glossary words I’m trying to fit into this pathetic paragraph, well, you’ll just have to read this book, which is made out of paper, not alabaster.  I could be my winsome self and send you a copy, but that would by obsequious of me.  And nobody likes people who are obsequious.  Plus, I’m no tycoon.  You’ll have to find another way to ascuisition the book.  Perhaps, your affable book seller of librarian, if you are so fortuitous.  Or is this to obfuscating?   You won’t hear my giving out any expostulations after reading The Willoughbys.  Thus ends my beastly, hopefully uncryptic and undespicable, contemplative and meticulous book review.

As soon as we arrived, we found ourselves in the elevator with Nathan Hale. And this is a embarrassing story that is even more embarrassing because I’m fessing up and telling you about it. I really should keep this to myself. I made a complete idiot of myself by saying, “Oh, you must be Shannon’s husband.” What was I thinking!?! Either he didn’t hear me or he was overly polite to correct me. Dumb me! Dumb me! I really hope that was my only blunder of the day. I’m so embarrassed! Have you ever done anything like that? Ugh. At least I knew he illustrated Shannon and Dean Hale’s latest graphic novel Rapunzel’s Revenge. That’s a photo on the right of Nathan hard at work doing portraits of the kids.

Because we didn’t show up at start time we caught the end of a book reading and Brandon Mull was just finishing up reading from Fablehaven: Rise of the Evening Star. He was getting quite a few laughs and was very animated.

Next we attended a science fiction/fantasy panel with the authors shown below. From left to right: James Dashner, Brandon Sanderson, Mette Ivie Harrison, and Brandon Mull.

More about each of them later. I tried to take notes but I was also trying to attend to my noisy kids at the same time. So I missed some of the finer details. Here are the notes that I jotted down:

Why do you write for children and young adults? And why fantasy?

• Brandon Mull – I wrote down C.S. Lewis which looking back I have no idea where he was going with that.
• Mette Ivie Harrison – Kids don’t prejudge a genre like adults do. And it’s not divided up into different genres. Fantasy is mixed right in with the realistic fiction.
• Brandon Sanderson – “Why fantasy? Frankly, Everything else bores me. If you can have romance with a wizard in the story, why not?!”
• James Dashner – He likes to make believe and pretend.

Where do you get your ideas?

• Brandon Mull- I didn’t write anything down for Brandon. I must have been trying to find snacks for the kids.
• Mette Ivie Harrison – Her problem is trying to get rid of ideas. She has way too many. She never writes her ideas down because they never leave.
• Brandon Sanderson – He said that he is a meticulous planner and has multiple ideas at once. He described it as atoms in your head, zipping around, colliding and forming molecules. He writes down all of his ideas because he’ll never remember them. He’s always worried about the story that got away.
• James Dashner – Said he didn’t really have an answer for that one. While driving, showering (but asked us to not picture that!), etc.

What books were influential to you?

• Brandon Mull – Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis. He always thought that if he punched the back wall of his closet he would be able to get through. Also Lord of the Rings by J.R.R Tolkien because he saw everybody reading it, but was told that he was too young (before age 12). So he read it and knew he was too young because he didn’t understand anything that was going on but he loved it nevertheless.
• Mette Ivie Harrison – Arthurian legends, Perry Mason, Sherlock Holmes, James Bond, and all the Star Trek novelizations. She has to read an entire series all the way through before she can move on to anything else.
• Brandon Sanderson – I don’t know the first book he mentioned but the second was the Dragonflight Series by Anne McCaffrey.
• James Dashner – Fablehaven by Brandon Mull (obviously sucking up). Seriously though, A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L’Engle and Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card.

What is your favorite book that you have written?

• Brandon Mull – Fablehaven: Grip of the Shadow Plague
• Mette Ivie Harrison – Son of Arthur. Did I get this one right? Is this what she’s writing now or something she just wrote for fun?
• Brandon Sanderson – Acatraz Versus The Evil Libariansis the funniest and I didn’t catch the other book he mentioned.
• James Dashner – Book two of 13th Reality serieswhich will be released next spring.

How do you learn to write?

• Brandon Mull – Read a lot! Be critical and deconstruct your favorite books. Brandon wrote for a comedy troupe in college and because of the instant audience feedback became aware of what the audience wanted.
• Mette Ivie Harrison – Sit down and write. You’ll never write anything perfect so don’t even try.
• Brandon Sanderson – Read and practice!
• James Dashner – Practice and be a voracious reader.

What type of creatures are going to be in your next book?

• Brandon Mull – Griffins and dragons.
• Mette Ivie Harrison – Something that she called a Snowbird, which when she thinks about it, is really just a dragon.
• Brandon Sanderson – Undead librarian ghosts. Huh??
• James Dashner – Some type of robotic monster.

Where do you come up with the names of your characters?

• Brandon Mull – If it’s a everyman character he chooses a everyman name. Otherwise he looks for the “flavor of the sound,” brainstorms or it just comes.
• Mette Ivie Harrison – Her husband wouldn’t let her name her kids after literary figures so she names most of her characters after them instead.
• Brandon Sanderson – He just really, really likes the sound of Alcatraz.
• James Dashner – Atticus is homage to To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee and Higginbottom was a kid in his high school.

Next was book signings! Everybody was really nice, especially since I admittedly hadn’t read many, if any, of their books. Gasp!  I am looking forward to discovering many new great books! First up was Ann Dee Knight Ellis (left) and Jessica Day George (right). And I might note that this photo is my first ever debut of a photo of myself on this blog. Now you know what I look like. Lucky you.

Ann Dee Knight Ellis debut YA novel This is What I Did came out last summer. I’ve since visited her blog here and read reviews of her book and I have to tell you, I’ll be reading it for sure. I kinda felt guilty that I didn’t have her sign a book but she was very nice. And I read from her blog that the library where this event was held was where she had her wedding party. It’s a beautiful library with a really nice ballroom.

Jessica Day George is the author of Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow (which is the one she signed for me), as well as Dragon Slippers and Dragon Flight. I look forward to reading all of these books. She told me that Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow is the best of the three and if I were to only read one, it should be that one. Visit Jessica Day George’s website here.

Next up: James Dashner.  How’s that for a big photo.

This was the first time that I’ve met James Dashner although we do have a back history. My husband Taylor is an aspiring writer. While on the train to work one day he noticed a guy reading over a manuscript and so Taylor asked if he was a writer. It was James Dashner going over the final proof of The 13th Reality: The Journal of Curious Letters. He was kind enough to answer all kinds of questions and even emailed Taylor with some further advice. When James saw Taylor he said, “Hey, the guy on the train!” When I introduced myself as Natasha Maw, he immediately said, “Oh yeah, the one with the blog!” Yay! He knew about my blog without my having to mention it! Plus we found out that we literally live down the street from each other (okay a few miles, but still). He signed our book by saying, “So glad to know you guys. Keep writing.” He was really awesome and loved to talk. So stop by his blog here and find out what he thought the highlight of the festival for him was. Book two of The 13th Reality series comes out next spring.

Who’s next? It’s Brandon Sanderson. And what an awful picture. You would think that we could have come up with something better than this. Please disregard the backlight and the girl in the background. My degree is in photography so I really hate photos like this. But it’s the best I’ve got and I obviously wasn’t taking the photo.

I have to admit that my husband did most of the talking here as my kids were almost on the verge of a breakdown. I believe that they talked about how to write, book suggestions and the likes. My husband says that Brandon told him for a really good story you need 3-4 really good ideas and 3-4 good ideas per character.

Brandon is a new to me author and I asked him which of his books I should read first. Especially to someone who is new to the Fantasy genre and who has never read any C.S. Lewis or J.R.R Tolkien (Gasp! Well, I have read The Hobbit). Brandon said Alcatraz Versus The Evil Libarians was really funny and if I could get past the weird names in Elantris that would be my best bet. I told him I actually never sound out names while reading, I see it but don’t register it. Sometimes I’ll finish a book and not know the names of main characters. So we bought Elantris so he could sign it and I think my husband took it to bed with him last night. Visit Brandon’s website here.

Next I met up with Mette Ivie Harrison. And even my little guy got in on the action.

Mette Ivie Harrison signed Mira, Mirrorand inscribed “the best magic is love!” I’m looking forward to reading this one to find out what it means. Mette’s other books are The Princess and the Houndand The Monster in Me. Read Mette’s blog here to find out what she thought of the event and I’m pretty sure the person in question is Stephenie Meyer who was in town doing a book signing. And Mette is a runner who apparently ran a half marathon the very same morning.

Next was the very gracious Sara Zarr.

I have seen Sweetheartsbeing reviewed by bloggers everywhere. So how could I resist picking this one up to be signed. I’m also looking forward to reading Story of a Girl, which was a National Book Award finalist. She said to let her know if I enjoyed it. But if I didn’t like it, well, she’d rather not know. Read her blog post about the event. And I thought it very funny that the second photo down my husband is in the background (long hair, white shirt) and you can see my toddler’s legs hanging from his stroller.

Next we waited in line for Brandon Mull.

The first thing Brandon says is “Hey, I’ve met you!” But he’s not talking to me, he’s talking to my husband. And in fact it’s true. They did meet when my husband got the first Fablehaven book signed. And my husband afterwards emailed him for writing tips and Brandon was relieved to hear that he did email us back.

I knew it was risky but I went ahead and mentioned to Brandon that I had read and reviewed the first Fablehavenbook on my blog (my review here). “Thanks! Thanks so much” he said with so much enthusiasm that it almost broke my heart to tell him that the review was actually lukewarm. I mean I couldn’t tell him that it was a great review, what if he actually read it and then thought “She lied right to my face!”

Anyways, I went on to say that I was obviously very much in the minority and everybody said that I had to continue with the series because it only gets better. And that he has some very enthusiastic fans out there. Plus, I’m fairly new and not well read to this genre, but discovering a new genre was one of my 2008 reading goals. He was glad to hear it and said that if I didn’t like the second book by the end that I should just move on and not bother.

And I wish that I had congratulated him on the recent birth of their baby girl. Brandon Mull’s other books include Fablehaven: Rise of the Evening Star, Fablehaven: Grip of the Shadow Plague, and The Candy Shop War. Visit Brandon’s website here and his blog here.

Who’s next? How could there possibly be more? Yes, it’s SHANNON HALE! I was most excited to meet Shannon. Probably because I’ve actually read her books and she had this energy around her that was amazing. And seriously, don’t you think we could be sisters? I think we have the same face shape.

Shannon was super nice. In fact, Shannon was our last stop of the day and my kids were done! Needless to say that they were making so much noise that Shannon called us up and we got to cut in line. Shannon signed Book of a Thousand Daysmy review here) with “For Natasha – You are cooler than yaks” and Princess Academy(my review forthcoming) with “For Natasha – Thanks for being such a wonderful mom and reader. You rock” and The Goose Girl (still to be read) with “For Natasha – Who is a true princess in disguise.” I thought it was fun that she took the time to write fun messages. And I realized that I left my copy of Austenland(my review here) at home. Didn’t even think of that one.

And if you’re wondering what Shannon was doing for dinner that night, I’ll tell you. Apparently having dinner with Stephenie Meyer. Fun! Visit Shannon’s blog here.

What a day!! So many authors. I only wish that we could have attended more of the readings and workshops but you can only do so much. And if you can believe it, this was the first annual Provo Children’s Festival. I can only imagine that it will only get better. There were also a lot of children’s picture book authors and illustrators as well.

So that was it. Hope you had fun reading all about it. And as I read these great books watch for upcoming author interviews because each one said they would love to do a Q & A. So if you’re not subscribed to my feed I suggest you do!

As for me, on to book reviews!

Well, a few things have convinced me to take part in J. Scott Savage’s blog tour for his upcoming series Farworld.

• One, I had a goal this year to explore a new genre. Thus far, it’s been fantasy. I’m assuming Farworld is fantasy, although I forgot to ask! But let’s assume that I’m able to discern this from the title. If I’m wrong, I’m an idiot.

• Two, I have to support my local authors! Scott is from . . . where do you live Scott? Somewhere in the Salt Lake City valley, maybe Utah Valley? Anyways, he’s my neighbor! Can’t beat that.

• Three, his blog is really funny.

• Four, seems like I’m the last one of the book bloggers to sign up for this thing, and frankly I just don’t want to be left out.

• And fifth, J. Scott Savage was kind enough to stop by my blog and we’ve been having a great conversation on this post here. After that, I really do want to read his book!

So watch for a pit stop here during the summer as we talk about J. Scott Savage new series Farworld! And he’s promised an interview as well! And to top it off, one lucky winner will receive a ARC of his new book. So stay tuned!

Briefly stated, Fablehaven is about two children, Kendra and her brother Seth, who are off to spend two boring weeks with grandparents they hardly know. Things start off simply enough, but they soon find out that their grandparents are caretakers for a secret magical preserve where all type of creatures (fairies, witches, imps, trolls, satyrs – you get the picture) live. Things get out of hand, evil forces are unleashed, lives are threatened, and Kendra and her brother must save not only the Fablehaven preserve but their family as well.

I felt that Kendra and Seth were emotionally unbelievable. There emotions never seemed to match their situations. It all seemed a bit flat to me. There were plenty of twists and turns but they weren’t anticipated, they just happened out of the blue. The cover art for Fablehaven is beautiful, so I was really disappointed when I came across the first illustration in the book. Not only was it very poorly reproduced and so dark you could hardly make it out, but it was boring and dull. All the illustrations that followed were similar. My husband pointed out that he disliked how the illustration (of a house) on the chapter headers never changed. It would have been fun to see a different illustration for each chapter, otherwise why even have it?

Oh, Brandon, I’m feeling so guilty! I had to keep saying to myself while reading it: I am a twelve year old boy, I am a twelve year old boy, I am a twelve year old boy! So maybe if I was a boy and I was twelve, I probably would like this book. Don’t get me wrong, it was certainly creative and fun, but as an almost 30-something woman, Fablehaven just didn’t do anything for me. I think I wasn’t exactly his target audience. I may be willing to try the next two books, Fablehaven and the Rise of the Evening Star and Fablehaven and the Grip of the Shadow Plague (due out soon). Do they get better?

Visit Brandon Mull’s website.

And I thought I would mention that Brandon and his wife just celebrated the arrival of a new baby girl. Congrats to them!

To tell you the truth I had NO idea what this book was about. I knew nothing about the subject matter, when it took place, etc. I hate knowing too much about a book before I read it, so I purposely glance through the reviews and then go back and read them in full after I’ve read the book. So in keeping that I knew nothing about the book and in keeping with the fact that this is what the dust jacket says, I will not summarize this book in any way:

The story of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is very difficult to describe. Usually we give some clues about the book on the jacket, but in this case we think that would spil the reading of the book. We think it is important that you start to read without knowing what it is about.

If you do start to read this book, you will go on a journey with a nine-year0old boy called Bruno. (Though this isn’t a book for nine-year-olds.) And sooner or later you will arrive with Bruno at a fence.

Fences like this exist all over the world. We hope you never have to encounter such a fence.

If I was smarter, I probably could have figured out what this book was about from the dust jacket. But to tell you the truth I was on page 20 when I realized where this story was headed.

I did think that Bruno, the main character in the story, was much to ignorant and naive for a nine-year old, which is what this book (among some other things I can’t give away) is about. I think any nine-year old would have been smarter than this kid. I’d believe it if maybe he were about six or so. His ignorance isn’t good for him and I could not believe how the book ended! I was shocked. And I didn’t even feel sorry for his father.

So based on the fact that I haven’t given you any details about this book, I would highly recommend that you go and get it. This book is currently being made into a movie. But I couldn’t find a release date for here in the U.S., just Ireland and the U.K. I hope it comes here, I am curious to how it would play out on screen. Edited: Saw the movie and it is FANTASTIC!

Trailer (watching it will totally tell you what the book is about though):

Links of interest: John Boyne’s website. Book club and discussion questions available from BookBrowse.   More book blogger reviews.
Genre: Young Adult Historical Fiction, Fable
Publisher: OUP May 31, 2007.
Paperback, 224 pages. ISBN 0198326769
Source copy: Library (and later purchased)
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is available from your favorite independent bookstore, Powell’s, and Amazon.