***Lina Mayfleet and Doon Harrow live in the city of Ember, where lightbulbs are the only source of light. They are surrounded on each side by total darkness and because they have no way of creating a movable light (i.e. a flashlight), no one h

Dial/Penguin, New York: 2008 ISBN 978-0-8037-3227-8 $16.99 408 pp Three juniors assigned to write about their "most excellent" year all choose the freshman year they became friends in this coming out/coming of age story that blends bas

 ***Theodosia Throckmorton (Theo for short), the young daughter of the curator of the Museum of Legends and Antiquities in London, is very busy these days. The year is 1906, and the world’s western powers are busily excavating the treasure

 ****Inspired by Leonardo's Notebooks, author Grey creates a portrait of the famous painter and inventor as imaginitively seen through the eyes of his faithful young servant Giacomo. Much of the plot concerns the completion of the fresco, th

Life is looking pretty dreary for the orphans of the Windcity orphanage and cheese factory. They work excruciating shifts producing the most foul cheese on the earth (2 ounces make you hallucinate. 3 ounces will kill you) and to top it all of they mu

The Celebutantes: On The Avenue by Antonio Pagliarulo

This new fantasy series, meant to appeal to early elementary school age girls, concerns four nine year old who discover they are fairies, each with a special power.

Review of The Book Thief