The London Eye Mystery, by Siobhan Dowd

2012 Book 62 The London Eye Mystery, by Siobhan Dowd (4/16/2012)

Reason for Reading: Autism Awareness Month

My Review 3/5 stars
When Ted and Kat’s cousin Salim mysteriously disappears while riding the London Eye they team up to find him. Ted and Kat never got along in the past because Ted has Asperger’s Syndrome and is difficult to relate to; however, they discover that a combination of his rational thinking skills and her intuitive action makes them an ideal team. It may be because I’ve OD’d myself on Autism books this April, but I wasn’t overly impressed by this story. I don’t regret reading it–it was a cute story, and handled the issue of Ted’s Asperger’s symptoms well enough. But I didn’t feel a strong attachment to the characters. I also felt that the mystery (and the way it was solved at the very, very end) lacked verisimilitude. I understand why the frantic parents didn’t listen to what the kids had to say…but I felt that the cops should have given the kids a much more rigorous questioning, considering that the kids were the key witnesses to a rather suspicious event. I felt that the kids endangered themselves unnecessarily when trying to solve the mystery. I prefer it when books develop a plot such that the kids MUST do what they do, rather than it just being reckless behavior. But maybe that’s because I didn’t have that sort of fearless independence when I was a kid. I would have MADE the adults listen to me, instead. 🙂 But like I said, I think I’m just OD’d on fantastic Autism books right now and so this one just wasn’t what I needed at the moment. Final recommendation: read it if it’s convenient, but don’t rush out to get it.

Mockingbird, by Kathryn Erskine

2012 Book 61: Mockingbird, by Kathryn Erskine (4/11/2012)

Reason for Reading: Autism Awareness Month

My Review 5/5 stars
Caitlin Ann Smith is a 5th grade girl with Asperger’s Syndrome. When her brother dies in a school shooting, she must find closure. Her brother had been her one friend who could explain to her how she should say and do things without insulting them. Without her brother, she has difficulty comforting her grieving father. This is a heart-rending story but, though it starts out very sad, it comes to a warming conclusion. I know children’s books about grief abound, but this book is special because it also shows readers how children with Asperger’s might seem rude when they are really trying to be helpful. Definitely recommended.

The Speed of Dark, by Elizabeth Moon

2012 Book 60: The Speed of Dark, by Elizabeth Moon (4/9/2012)

Reason for Reading: Autism Awareness Month

My Review 4/5 stars
Lou Arrendale is a high-functioning autistic man in a near-future world. When his employer starts to put pressure on him to be one of the first human subjects in a dangerous brain-altering experimental “cure” for autism, he questions what it is to be Lou. Is his autism part of his personality? What does it mean to be “normal?” Are the normals even normal? This book is full of deep questions of identity and categorizing of humans. It is also about mistreatment of disabled people by bigots. In fact, I thought the bigotry was a little over-done to the point of not being realistic…but maybe this is Moon’s idea of what the near future will be like. Or maybe I’m naïve. 🙂 This book was very thought-provoking and interesting, though I thought it lacked verisimilitude. And there were three (apparently) independent secondary characters named Bart within a 25 paged interval. Not sure what Moon was trying to say there—maybe she really likes the name Bart. 🙂 Anyway, despite my nit-pickiness, I thought it was quite a good book.

Al Capone Does My Shirts, by Gennifer Choldenko

2012 Book 59: Al Capone Does My Shirts, by Gennifer Choldenko (4/6/2012)

Reason for Reading: Autism Awareness Month

My Review 5/5 stars
12-year-old Moose Flanagan is angry when his family uproots and moves to Alcatraz island so his father can work as a prison guard. Additionally, he must accept the responsibility of an adult sooner than he wishes because he needs to help his parents take care of his mentally-disabled older sister. I got a few chuckles as Moose tried to adjust to his new responsibilities, new home, and new friends and enemies. The book was both frustrating (because of Moose’s situation) and humorous at the same time. Overall, a light, funny, and meaningful read.

Marcelo in the Real World, by Francisco X. Stork

2012 Book 58: Marcelo in the Real World, by Francisco X. Stork (4/5/2012)

Reason for Reading: Autism Awareness Month

My Review 5/5 stars
17-year-old Marcelo has an Asperser’s-like condition. He has lived a sheltered life until the summer before his senior year of high school, when he is pressured into working at his father’s law firm for a summer. Marcelo learns many “real world” lessons—some sad, some uplifting. This was a wonderful little book. Although I really felt bad for Marcelo when he had to learn some of his life lessons, I also felt that it was good for him to learn these lessons. These mixed feelings of compassion for Marcelo’s situation made this a memorable book. There was one fleeting moment in this book where I felt that Stork had packed perhaps a few too many lessons into too small a space…but other than that the book was perfect.

Pawn of Prophecy, by David Eddings


2012 Book 56: Pawn of Prophecy, by David Eddings (4/3/2012)

Reason for Reading: My friend Alicia wanted me to read the Belgariad

My Review 4/5 stars
Garion lives the life of a simple farm boy until the day a storyteller comes to his village and convinces Garion’s aunt that they must leave immediately. As their quest continues, Garion grows confused and must question everything he ever knew about himself. Why do his aunt and this storyteller seem to have powers that Garion doesn’t believe in? Why do they have such powerful friends? This story of sorcery and adventure begins the Belgariad, an epic fantasy in which Garion must fight against the powers of evil in order to save his world. This book was quite enjoyable. It had fantastic characterization (to the point that I was actually getting angry at characters along with Garion). It had an interesting mystery to it because although I could make an educated guess, I don’t know the plot of the Belgariad so I don’t know exactly where it’s going. Quite a good introduction to the characters, land, and problem-to-be-solved.

Columbine, by Dave Cullen

2012 Book 55: Columbine, by Dave Cullen (3/31/2012)

Reason for Reading: It was there

My Review 4.5/5stars
Cullen provides an in-depth look at the events leading up to and following the tragic school shooting at Columbine. He fleshes out the personalities of the people involved, especially focusing on the two shooters. He debunks the myths that confounded the Columbine story for years. This is an amazing work of journalism, as well as a moving narrative. Tears came to my eyes several times while reading. My only qualm about this book is that at the very end Cullen provided some gory details that weren’t necessary. I’m not squeamish, but I think providing those details wasn’t necessary to emphasize how tragic the events were, and gore is much more disturbing when you’re thinking about the real people involved. However, this was only a very short section of the book…and I guess journalists will be journalists.

The River of Wind, by Kathryn Lasky


2012 Book 53: The River of Wind, by Kathryn Lasky (3/24/2012)

Reason for Reading This is book 13 of the Ga’Hoole series which I’ve been slogging through for years. Since well before the movie came out! I’m getting close to the final book!

My Review 3.5/5 stars
Coryn, Soren, and the Chaw of Chaws discover a sixth kingdom of owls across the ocean. While they are on a diplomatic envoy, evil war-like owls make trouble back home. This 13th installment of the Ga’Hoole series is cute (like all the others), but I’m afraid some of my enjoyment has ebbed after slogging through so many books. In the first several books the plot got thicker as each book progressed, but that development ended somewhere in the middle. Now, it just seems she throws in something new and something old and mixes it together for another installment. In this book, the “new” is a previously unknown kingdom of owls who live by some Buddhist-like values. The old is spoiler but not really because it’s achingly predictable the shocking return of the evil owl Nyra who just won’t die no matter how many times you kill her. The nice thing about these books is that they’re really short and I’m SO close to the end that I can’t give up now!

Aside Really, though, if you like anthropomorphic children’s fantasy, then you would probably enjoy the first 6 of the series. It really should have stopped there, even though I did really appreciate a couple of the books after that.

The Land of Silver Apples, by Nancy Farmer


2012 Book 54: The Land of the Silver Apples, by Nancy Farmer (3/27/2012)

Reason for Reading: This is the second book in a trilogy.

My Review 4/5 stars
Jack, the Bard’s apprentice, sets off on a rescue quest when his sister Lucy is kidnapped by Elves. His companions are an unreliable slave/rightful-heir-to-the-throne and a recently freed girl-slave who worships the ground Jack walks on. They meet many magical creatures, re-discover some old friends, and have lots of exciting adventures along the way. I thought this was an excellent sequel to Sea of Trolls. It expanded the mythology of the land while developing the characters already introduced in the first book. I really appreciated the way Farmer handled the three religions that were represented by her characters in this 790AD Britain-based world. She showed the power and beauty of the Pagans as well as the Christians and subtly made the point that they all got their believers where they needed to go—but she did this without forcing the point or lecturing, which is the sign of excellent story-telling! My only quibble about this book is that most of the major plot threads were completed by page 400, leaving 100 pages for the final (and least pressing) plot thread. This is why the book got 4 instead of 5 stars.

The Book of Mormon, by Joseph Smith


2012 Book 52: The Book of Mormon, by Joseph Smith (3/22/2012)

Reason for Reading: I like to read scripture books from a variety of religions because I am interested in how they compare and what sort of message they relay. This book was given to me by a couple of Mormon elders who knocked on my door last year. “Elder,” by the way, means that they were 20 year old boys who weren’t allowed to enter my home without having an older male as an escort because apparently I am a threat to their innocence. Ah! I feel so sophisticated now! The fact that the escorts were meant to protect THEM and not me. 😉

My Review 3/5 stars
Although I think it’s a good idea to educate oneself on other religions (especially those religions which have an undeserved bad reputation), I’m not sure reading the Book of Mormon is the best way to learn about LDS. It was dense, difficult reading. It starts out with some wanderings in foreign lands, then they have lots of wars, then Jesus comes and saves them all, then they have a bunch more wars. Half the sentences begin with “And it came to pass that…” There are some passages of uplifting spirituality, but these passages were few and bogged down by a lot of unexciting depictions of war. Personally, I think the best way to learn about LDS is to talk to some missionaries and THEN (once you’ve gotten a good idea of what the religion is about) read the Book of Mormon if you’re still interested. But that’s just my humble opinion.