Happy New Year!!

Vivi the Reading Pug wishing you a very happy, healthy new year full of good things to read and the sharing of those good books! Be kind to each other, be kind to yourself, and read as much as you can! In fact, if you are one who makes new year's resolutions, resolve to read a number of minutes every day in 2019! Maybe a book a month? Or a week? Maybe reading 20 minutes every day, or more? As the late great Dr. Seuss said, "The more you read the more you know, and the more you know the farther you'll go!" I'll keep reading with you, and together we'll go very far! Happy New Year!

The House in Poplar Wood, by K. E. Ormsbee

A very fun read by an author I have not read before, nor heard of (although she has a 3-book series that begins with The Water and the Wild)! This book reminded me of Scythe (Shusterman), Famous Last Words (Alender), and The Graveyard Book (Gaiman)...all good books, all with some level of scariness to it, all well-written and clever. In fact, this one goes into my top 5 books of 2018! Great fantasy story involving the characters Death, Memory, and Passion, as well as spells (Rites), murder (or was it an accident?), mystery, and more! Treat yourself to something that is not predictable and cleverly written - this book is a treat! 5 paws (and a tail wag)!

The Phantom Tollbooth, by Norton Juster

Merry Christmas, everyone! I managed to catch about 20 minutes of the play of this story at school last week (no one knew I had snuck in...dogs aren't allowed at school while kids are there...too bad, right?), and it was wonderful! But I also realized that I had never read this classic tale, and the play definitely sparked my interest! I'm glad it did - what a wonderful story FULL of word play and language twists, with a dose of bored teenager and demons thrown in for fun! In fact, there is so much going on with the writing in this book I sometimes I had to re-read parts of it, because it was very language-rich, in a fun way, like triple chocolate cake (which I shouldn't eat, but still...). This book was first published in 1961, which was way before my time, even in people years, but I don't recall anything at all that made the story seem dated...one sign of a truly good book, I think! Anyway, if you've ever been bored, and you enjoy having words be turned and twisted and explored in really clever and fun ways, like Lemony Snicket meets Alice in Wonderland with a dash of Charley and the Chocolate Factory, give this a try...it's a really fun read! 5 paws (for the play, too)!

And the Ocean Was Our Sky, by Patrick Ness (illustrated by Rovina Cai)

This isn't likely a book you know! It wasn't a book I knew or had heard of, either...I was at the bookstore with Mr. O'Dea looking for something good to read, something new, something I hadn't seen or heard of before..that new! I also wanted something I could donate to the library later, so something middle school students would enjoy. I saw this, the artwork intrigued me, and I know Patrick Ness because I've seen some of his books around, but I don't think I've ever read them. So we bought this, I started it once, thought it was really weird, set it aside...and it sat next to my kennel pillow, waiting for me...calling me...taunting...sometimes the right book just needs the right time, you know? Apparently last weekend was the right time, so I picked it up and started it again.  And the Ocean Was Our Sky is a retelling of the classic book Moby Dick, by Herman Melville, except that this story is told from the whale's point of view. And it takes place in a world where not only men hunt whales, but whales hunt men. The ocean is the sky (to the whales), which makes it hard to read this book quickly - I kept having to remind myself that down is up and up is down. In this story the whales also have the ability to create things like ships and weapons, which the whale hunters carry with them as they hunt whaling ships. Sound confusing? It is, sort of...it took constant reminding that I was reading a whale's thoughts, and that directions were reversed, but the artwork that is woven throughout the story helped! It also helped set and keep the mood of the tale...dark and tense.

I don't know if I have ever read the entire book of Moby Dick, but apparently this incorporates a lot of the language from that book. I imagine that if I read that, and then came back to this, I would appreciate this book even more. I only finished it last night, but it is sticking in my brain...I like that about a book! For that reason, I think this is 4 paws!

Magnus Chase and the Sword of Summer, by Rick Riordan

I have to be honest here and admit that I don't read much of Riordan's books...not because they're not good, they are! But because most of you already know how good they are - they fly off the shelves, always and seemingly forever! So there isn't much I could tell you that many of you don't already know. However, in the case of The Sword of Summer I took the plunge because this is one of this year's OBOB books, and I try to read all of them every year...with success most of the time! So as I make my way through this season's OBOB books, it was time for this one...and it is a good one! SoS takes on Norse mythology, much like the Lightning Thief tackled Greek mythology, so I had to learn some new words (always a good thing!) and plenty of mythology I didn't know (also a good thing!) and of course Riordan weaves a great story every single time! The only reason I give this book 4 paws and not 5 is because there were many times while reading I was wishing for it to end so I could move on to whatever my next book would be. Not because it was boring - it wasn't! - or poorly written - it wasn't! - but it just seemed to go on about 100 pages too long. I don't mind long books, if their length is needed...I never felt that way reading Marie Lu or Richard Paul Evans...again, not bad, just a bit long.  If you like action/adventure/fantasy, Riordan is a must-read author! But know that his books can be long, and that isn't always a good thing.