Well, I’m happy to announce that we’ve finally reached the point when books for juvenile readers set in magical schools don’t feel like cheap, Harry Potter knockoffs. Frank Beddor‘s Hatter Madigan: Ghost in the Hatbox provides middle grades readers with a balance between J.K. Rowling’s fantasy and Beddor’s own take on Lewis Carroll’s Wonderland. The result is a wholly original little book that will delight anyone looking for light-hearted fantasy. Continue reading
I wasn’t planning to reread Anne of Green Gables – or any book for that matter – this year, but the book began to call to me several months ago. Suddenly, Anne Shirley is everywhere. Just in the last week, I wrote about the life lessons I learned from Anne of Green Gables, and I learned the CBC is working on a new film adaptation, set to premiere in early 2016. In line with this resurgence, here is my review of L.M. Montgomery‘s most famous novel, Anne of Green Gables. Continue reading
A verbal Wunderkind, I began reading at age three. I don’t chalk that up to my own sheer brilliance, because no part of my literary progress would ever have occurred, were it not for my mother. Thanks to her, books and reading have always comprised a huge part of my life. As a child, I went to sleep every night only after she had read something, anything to me. I became friends with Laura Ingalls Wilder and learned all the Uncle Remus tales by heart. I devoured books. Sometimes I got in over my head, like the time I tried to read The Shining at age 10.* Overall, though, my experiences with books have been positive. Continue reading