Kid's picks:


One Cool Friend by Toni Buzzeo

4.5/5 stars.

This is a really cute, funny book. 
A very proper young man named Elliot goes on a trip to the aquarium with his father. There he makes friends with a penguin whom he names Magellan, who he proceeds to take home. Elliot must learn how to properly take care of his new friend. And how will his father react when he finds out? 

Very cute, and I really like the way the illustrator did the pictures. The verso says the were done with pen & ink, ink wash, watercolour and coloured pencil. 

I have to admit I'm a little embarrassed. I made it all the way to the end without catching any of the 'hints' about the dad... : ).



Fabulous: A Portrait of Andy Warhol by Bonnie Christensen

3\5 stars

A short, but interesting look at the artists life. I know nothing about Warhol to start with, so for me it was quite informative. It's not presented as a bunch of facts though. The author did put work into trying to make it interesting for readers.
The book follows the author from his childhood onward, with short entries of text (about 2 paragraphs) talking about what was going on in his life at that time. 
The illustrations are interesting - the jacket says they're reproductions of Warhols' paintings. I'm not sure if this means all of them (again, not familiar with the artist) but included are examples of his more well-known paintings, like his Campbell soup series. A reviewer below says differently, so perhaps they just include the odd work? Either way, the art in the book is very nicely done. There's lots of detail on every page for readers to examine. 

It'd be a good resource for a school or public library, or for children who have an interest in art.


Never Cry Wolf by Farley Mowat

4/5 stars.

Last semester of high school, this was one of the options to read for a group project. Unfortunately no one else wanted to read it, so I ended up borrowing it from the teacher and reading it myself. (The group I was in ended up reading 'The Englishman's Boy'. Ugh.)

I was seriously glad I decided to read it. My clearest memory of reading it is just sitting in class and having to stop and put the book down in the midst of a giggling fit so I could calm down enough to keep reading (and not look like a total moron in class). 

Farley Mowat is hired by the government to go up north an investigate the wolves they say are threatening the northern economy by wiping out herds of caribou. They basically want justification to cull the wolves. 
Unfortunately for them, Mowat was actually competent. (Not that they probably cared about the actual findings...)

Some of the points I found most amusing were the actions he took in emulating the wolves - when he had problems sleeping due the wolves coming too close to the cabin at night, he attempted to "cordon off" a section of land around it -- needing to return to his cabin several times to fill up on tea during the process.
He emulated their eating habits as well - during his observations he rarely saw the wolves take down game. But he would frequently see them catching mice and other small mammals and eating those. Finding it hard to believe that they could survive on such a diet he copied them 9and a warning if you have a weak stomach, he shares the experience with his readers). What's even better is when some of his neighbours find out. Apparently according to first nations beliefs, eating mice can shrink certain parts of male anatomy. His neighbour was concerned and decided to bring him an owl egg to cure the problem... by the time Mowat received it, however, it was fairly far in the incubation process. 

A good book for anyone interested in animals. I have heard mention before of Mowat maybe not being the most reliable source, but it still makes an entertaining read, with a good message.

Goodreads reviews

       So, for anyone who doesn't know, this blog was mainly started for a class I was taking, teaching us about using media at work. Since the class ended, I haven't really touched it. I'm not sure why.

      However I've decided I'm going to try to post more frequently. First, though, I'll back up some older reviews from goodreads to the site. For anyone who doesn't know, goodreads has changed their policies so they are able to delete people's reviews without notice. I haven't noticed any issues yet, but I thought I'd put them up here just in case. 

     Plus, since this is a personal blog, I don't have to stick to books either! I'll keep posting interesting links to interesting sites, and fanfic I find around the web. 

     I'm terribly sorry about the long silence. Hopefully I'll be able to make up for it in the future.

           SakuraKat.

Site links.

Today I will share a few more site links.

The first is the blog of a store in Toronto that shares lots of information about graphic novels, manga, and other books of that type. I'm not suggesting you go buy books there, or anything, but it looks like a good resource that could be used to find manga (etc.) that look interesting to you.

Labyrinth Books

The second link is the Pitch Black - Books with Bite site, put out by the publisher Harper Teen. It offers 3 options of genre for vampire/supernatural fiction. You can also use links on the site to summaries of other books published by harper. Many of the books also include the first chapter or so, so readers can see if they're interested in it before buying the book. The site also has a bunch of small games and activities.

Pitch Black

Author Sites.

Today I'm going to post links to the sites of some of my favourite authors. I'll try to post a variety of genres so there's options for everyone.

Author: Tamora Pierce
Genre: All of her books are fantasy, usually for Young Adults. However, they often contain elements of Adventure, Romance, Mystery, and even political intrigue like in the Trickster series.
Website: Tamora Pierce
Series: She mostly writes her series in quartets. Some of these are: The Song of the Lioness quartet, The Immortals quartet, and the Circle of Magic quartet.
My Favourties: I love The Circle of Magic series, and the sequel series The Circle Opens. I also really like one of her newest series, The Beka Cooper series. But all of her books are really great, and I'd definitely recommend them.

Author: MaryJanice Davidson
Genre: Romance, usually with strong elements of humour. Some fantasy, some AU (alternate universe/alternate history), adventure, and a few sci-fi.
Website: Welcome to MaryJanice Davidson.net
Series: The Undead series (a.k.a. Betsy the Vampire), The Mermaid series (a.k.a. Fred the Mermaid series), The Wyndham Werewolf series, The Gorgeous series, and The Royal series. She also has the Jennifer Scales series for YA.
My Favourites: I love The Royal Series. It's totally romance, and totally hilarious. An American woman gets stranded in Alaska (which in the books is it's own country instead of part of the U.S.) after getting fired from the cruise liner she works on. She ends up meeting Alaska's King, Al, who drags her home with him to meet family - especially the Crown Prince, David. I'd also have to recommend the Fred the mermaid series, which is also incredibly funny.

Author:Mercedes Lackey.
Genre:Fantasy, Romance, Sci-Fi, Fairy Tales re-written, Adventure,
Website:Mercedes Lackey - The Official Website
Series: Lackey has an insane number of books written. Her most famous is probably the her Heralds of Valdemar series (which is made up of about 10 sub-series). Also worth checking out are her Five Hundred Kingdoms series, Elemental Masters series, Elves on the Road series, Dragon Jousters, and Bardic Voices series.
My Favourites: Pretty much all the series I mentioned above. I do have 3 favourites, though - I really like the Valdemar books, and the Elemental Masters series. I also like the Elves on the Road Series.

Author: James Moore
Genre: Horror.
Website: Horror of Horrors - The Official Website for James A. Moore.
Series: Serenity Falls trilogy. He also has several stand-alone books, although they often share common characters and appear to share a 'universe'.
My Favourites: My favourite books he's written is The Dark Carnival, the third book in his Serenity Falls Trilogy. It is a really creepy book, even to read in the day time. Moore's descriptions really draw you in and make the characters and situations real. The books will stick in your mind days after you've finished reading them. I think one of the factors I found the most disturbing was that a lot of the stuff that happens isn't from monsters or demons - it's from what the everyday human characters are willing to do with just a little nudge from outside forces.

I'll add more another time, so I hope you have fun reading!

More web comics.

I promised you more, didn't I? ^_^

Questionable Content
Author: Jeph Jaques
Genre: Real life, contemporary, humour, drama, romance, sci-fi,
Rating: um... I'd probably say for older teens, at least. Mostly for off-colour jokes.
Updates: Monday through Friday.
Book Available: Not yet, though he's working on it.
Questionable Content is about a group of friends, all young adults, who it more or less follows day to day. The main character is Martin, who works at the university library when he isn't out with his band.

Red String
Author: Gina Biggs
Genre: Romance, contemporary, Drama, Humour.
Rating: Teen. 14+ or so, I'd say. Some adult stuff - two of the characters have sex. It's not graphic - you see them in their underwear, and a shot from the waist up but the guy's arm is covering her breasts, so you still don't see anything. There is also a F/F pairing. Arranged marriages, which the characters generally accept to some extent. Love triangles.
Updates: Comics are Monday to Thursday, Fridays are Sketch days.
Book Available: 4 so far, with #5 available to pre-order.
You start out with the main character, Miharu, who is informed that her parents have arranged a marriage for her. Needless to say, this doesn't go over well, and she runs off. While wandering around the city, she ends up at the park and meets a young man around her age, who she quickly forms a connection with. I'll avoid saying any more to avoid spoilers, so if you want to find out what happens next you'll have to read for yourself!

I'll put some more comics up later. Have fun reading!

Webcomic (sorta)

A Distant Soil
Author: Colleen Doran
Genre: Sci-fi, Fantasy, Psychics, Magic,
Rating: Maybe about 14+? There's some more adult scenes and subjects, but I don't think it's too graphic.
Notes: Gay/Bi characters, Het characters, some violence, mature subjects.

A Distant Soil is now up as a webcomic. It was out a few years ago in print form, however, and is probably still available in many libraries. It's also up for sale on Amazon.

There are four books in the Distant Soil series:

1. A Distant Soil
   
2. The Ascendant
   
3. The Aria
   
4. Coda
   

Online reading.

The Baen Free Library is from the Baen publishing company. They offer a selection of their book up for readers to read for free online. Yes, the entire book. You can download them, as well for e-readers.

There are even popular authors like Mercedes Lackey! I like Eric Flint's Grantville series, as well, although I tend to let some of the military-type talk pass over my head. Holly Lisle's Fire in the Mist is one I really enjoyed, as well.

There are a ton of different titles, so you shouldn't have any problem finding something to read. Go check it out!

Webcomics

Not sure if everyone know about these. Web comics are basically a comic book that is hosted on the internet. The authors seem to use the internet to bring interest to their work. Many authors are eventually able to publish actual books of their comics.

I figured I'd put up a few of the ones I read:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Title: Faux Pas.
Genre: Humour, drama, fantasy.
Rating: I'd say it's acceptable for about 13+ or so. There's pretty much no violence, or rude language. There's a few more 'mature' jokes (the main character, Randy is trying to teach the visiting vixen Cindy how to understand human-speech. He tries to find something on t.v. that will work, but Jerry Springer comes up...). There isn't anything worse than that though.
Updates: Generally 3 times per week.
Books available: Unknown
Faux Pas is a comic that features animals as the characters rather than humans (think Babe or The Incredible Journey).

"Faux Pas (pronounced American-fashion, "fox paws") is the story of Randy and his animal friends, most of whom were trained to be studio animal actors - the animals you see in movies, commercials and in live stage shows. Most of them are now retired, officially or through lack of opportunity, and eke out an existence as best they can while avoiding being hunted, eaten or sold. The main setting for the series is Green Mountain Studio Animals (GMSA), a run-down farm in the Colorado Rockies. They fully realize that they exist at the whim of their human owners, but Randy's new owners are content to let him and his friends live pretty much as they please.

Tossed into the mix are a herd of housecats who think of Randy as their personal cat toy. Chief among the cats is Kira, who tries to help Randy when she can just to keep him from being so predictable. Also prominent in Randy's life is Cindy, a wilderness vixen who finds him charming and attractive, if confusing.

The action mostly takes place at or near GMSA. Other settings include the surrounding mountain woodlands where their wild animal friends live; the nearby zoo, known as St. Mia Hatz; and the occasional trip to remote locations where one or another of the crew might actually get some work. Randy's adventures occasionally take him far afield, but he always manages to find his way back."
~~~~~~~~~~~~

Girls With Slingshots
Author: Danielle Corsetto
Genre: Humour, Romance, Real-Life, Het pairings, F/F pairings.
Rating: Definitely for an older audience. I'd say mid to late teens, at least. Dirty jokes, adult situations, and so on.
Updates: Weekdays, and occasionally Sundays.
Book available: Yes

~~~~~~~~~
A Girl and Her Fed.
Author: Otter
Genre: Humour, Action, Adventure,
Rating: I'd say mid to late teens, again. No explicit sex - that kind of stuff is more fade to black when it comes up. There are some rather off-colour jokes, however, especially when Speedy is involved. Some bad language. No nudity as far as I recall. Some violence.
Updates: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday.
Book available: Unknown, but I don't think so.

"A Girl and Her Fed (AGAHF) is the story of a nameless Girl who finds that she is being watched by government agents. She and the Fed assigned to watch her form a partnership and attempt to untangle one hell of a knotty conspiracy."

More to come later on! ^_^

Sites to read 2.

Back again, with another site recommend. ^_^

Author: Sara Sakana
Genre(s): Romance, Horror, Adventure, Humour.
Notes: Gay characters, language, possible adult content. (If I'm remembering correctly, the content is... probably not as bad as some of the more graphic romance novels, but I could be wrong. Then again, if you're interested in this story, the graphic-ness might not bother you much anyway. And it's not like you can't just skim over it. lol.)

100 Candles is another original fic. It's also about gay characters, another M/M pairing.

Summary: "I deal with a lot of seriously freaky stuff. Like “I see dead people” freaky.
I just want you to know what you’re getting into. The last guy I went out with ran away screaming like a girl the first time he saw a tea kettle with legs walking around some old lady’s house."

Jeff is a perfectly normal young man with a perfectly normal life. Then he finds a cursed fortune-telling doll washed up on the beach, meets author and paranormal investigator Kenny Tachibana in the process of trying to get rid of it, and pretty much kisses that normal life goodbye after that. At least he gets an awesome new boyfriend out of the deal."

Sites to read.

I figured I'd start off with some of my favourite original fiction sites to read at. I might, at a later date, add some fanfiction sites later on... Not today, though. ^_^

Author: Scribe
Genres: Romance, Erotica, Horror, Humour.

Scribe writes both original fiction and fanfiction. Most of her original fiction can be counted as erotica, but also has a large amount of plot - basically like your average romance novel. She also writes fictiion that depicts Male/Male relationships, like her 100+ chapter re-telling of Dracula, Child of the Night.
Oddly enough, she also has a (very small) amount of family-friendly stories.

~ Scribe's Scribbles. Scribe is a an original author and fanfic author. This link is to her Live Journal, where you can find one of her newest works, The Last Chance Carnival series. There are two stories so far in the series. She also has the newest chapters from her re-telling of Dracula up (Child of the Night), while the earlier chapters can be found on her website.

~ Scribe's Scribbles (main site). This is where a large amount of her stories are stored, mostly fanfic, but she has a large section of original fiction as well.


More to come later.