Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk by David Sedaris

I am going to admit right here and now, for all the internet to see, that I have never read a David Sedaris book before this one. Oh I'd heard enough about him and I was pretty sure that I'd enjoy his tales, but never enough to push me to actually pick up a book and read it. That is until I listened to an interview of him on NPR. HILARIOUS! I had to have this book of short stories (thanks mom and dad!).

In obvious David Sedaris-style the stories are dark and humorous, but I didn't quite expect the fable-like quality that they have. Maybe the fable description is a little misleading, the stories are more like small snapshots into human behavior. Mr. Sedaris starts off with a light story about a cat, baboon, and customer service; it quickly takes a turn toward morbid as he flits from topics like racism to adultery. He cleanses the palate at the end with some stories about redemption and friendship, which I have to admit I needed by the end. Overall what really skeeved me out were the illustrations by Ian Falconer (you know, the author and illustrator of the Olivia books?) that are quite twisted. Find the illustration for "The Crow and the Lamb" and try and tell me that it's not just a little gross. Which is why it's so brilliant.

You might have noticed by now that I haven't actually summarized anything about this book. This is mostly because the stories are so short that if I were to summarize them I would be writing the stories down verbatim. I will say though that I have a couple favorites: "The Sick Rat and the Healthy Rat," "The Vigilant Rabbit," and "The Grieving Owl." So go forth, get the book, give yourself a good hour and a half to read it, and let me know what you think.

A Whole Nother Story by Dr. Cuthbert Soup

Ethan Cheeseman, the famous inventor, is on the verge of creating his greatest invention: the LVR. This is fortunate, as it is the only chance he has to go back in time and save his beautiful genius wife. Unfortunately, there are dastardly enemies who wish to control the LVR. There is the evil corporation PlexiWave, with the violent Messrs. 5, 29, 88, and 207; the Russian spy Pavel and his multilingual monkey Leon; and secret government agents El Kyoo and Aitch Dee.

Ethan manages to avoid capture time and again with the help of his three smart, witty, attractive, polite, and relatively odor-free children; a sock puppet named Steve; and their psychic dog Pinky. There is Jough Psymthe, the eldest, who is fourteen and is a better than average pitcher. Twelve year old Magenta-Jean Jorgenson, an archer who takes particularly good care of her hair. Lastly comes eight year old Gerard LaFontaine; who wears Steve the sarcastic sock-puppet, chews massive wads of gum, and collects dirt clods that look like former presidents. On their journey between they will befriend a cow-less poetry-spouting cowboy, a circus of injured performers, and a few neighborhood children. Which is good, because the people following them are getting closer and they'll need all the help they can get.

The Kneebone Boy by Ellen Potter

The Hardscrabble siblings are weird. Otto, the eldest, is a mute and has a way with animals. He also has a tendency to go berserk if someone touches his scarf. Lucia, the middle child, talks enough for her and Otto and enjoys a morbid tale. She's been looking for a lost sultan for the past four years. Max is the youngest. He likes to think deep thoughts and has an excellent sense of direction. Animals do not like Max. Their father is an artist, who goes on long excursions doing portraits of dignitaries. Their mother left them five years ago, no one knows why and the Hardscrabble children have given up hope that she's still alive. They have learned to live with the fact that people whisper about them because they are weird and their mother is gone. They lead relatively normal lives, until their father sends them off to London to stay with their aunt. All of a sudden the Hardscrabbles are on an adventure that will change their entire world.

Plain Kate by Erin Bow

Kate is alone; her father has just passed away from the unknown disease that is tearing through the country and her known friends are slowly leaving her side as the allow fear to color their judgment. Kate has a gift with wood that seems magical to some, and makes other whisper witch. All Kate wants now is to survive, and to do so she makes a deal with the unknown. In exchange for her shadow, Kate receives her secret desire and the tools to survive. It is only later that she understands the repercussions of her actions and how it will impact those she is coming to care about.

So there's not a ton of stuff I want to say about this. It was good. It reminded me a lot of a Russian fairytale. Kind of dark and pleasing all at the same time. I wouldn't say that blew me away though. It was acceptable, or rather above average. Not super stupendous, but neither boring nor falling into stereotypical tropes. I don't know why I didn't love it. Possibly because I didn't really find the main character all that empathetic until the very end. Anyways, I liked it, didn't love it. Read it, but maybe borrow it from the library instead of buying it.

Scumble by Ingrid Law

To say that Ledge's family is different would be an understatement. Once every child hits their thirteenth birthday, they don't just join the ranks of the pubescent adolescence they also develop their savvy. A savvy is a secret magical ability, it can range from controlling minds to being invisible, and Ledge has just gotten his. This isn't a seemingly cool ability like his mom's ability to control people's actions with a smile and comment or the much hoped for ability like running at incredible speeds, no this savvy seems to be literally destructive. As Ledge scrambles to scumble his savvy, try and break out from under his mother's controlling thumb, readjust his father's hopes and dreams for Ledge's running future, he breaks the family's cardinal rule and reveals the family's abilities to nosy thirteen year old Sarah Jane aka SJ Cabot; the same SJ whose father is trying to take over the family's safe haven. Now Ledge is trying to not only control his destructive powers but also try and figure out SJ and have her help him stop her dad. Turning thirteen just got a little more complicated.

The Poisons of Caux: The Tasters Guild by Susannah Appelbaum

I apologize for taking so long to write my reviews, and to be honest a couple of them have since been published, but in my defense I wasn't super stoked about a couple of them and had to work up the enthusiasm to start. On with the reviews!

This is a sequel which started with The Hollow Beetle, when I went to the stall at the ALA conference, I was told that this could be read as a standalone. HA! Let me give you the fast summary of the first book that was at the beginning of The Taster's Guild: Caux is a land that used to be known for its healing knowledge, now a tyrant is ruling and poisons dictate your position in the new regime of which Ivy our protagonist is a prodigy. Ivy is a noble and is given two food tasters to keep her safe, both whom have hidden agendas. Ivy is not satisfied with the status quo and secretly starts learning healing potions, which get her into trouble with the Taster's Guild (the power behind the throne), and lead her to discover that she is the Noble Child that is destined to save the rightful king and restore the kingdom to its healing glory.

Now onto the plot of the sequel. A very talented forger has taken mystical texts from the Tasters Guild, and his knowledge of creating the books has caught the attention of the deadly Tasters Guild. It seems by creating such perfect copies of the original texts, that he has stumbled upon a deadly plant that could end up destroying the entire land. It eats away at the land and drives people crazy as it kills them. In the mean time Ivy has been learning greater healing knowledge of healing through regimented apothecary lessons. She becomes impatient to begin her quest to find the king and heal him so that the kingdom can be restored to greatness. With the help of her friends she is able to escape her home and head towards the magical gateway that is supposed to lead her to the alternate reality where the king is being hidden. Unfortunately the only known gate is in the Tasters Guild underground labyrinth, where the director is concocting a plan to destroy the land's hope and kill Ivy so she cannot restore the king. Taking many risks, making a few mistakes, and losing some friends along the way, Ivy and Rowan make it to the king only to discover that their quest is not nearly as easy as they first assumed.

C.H.E.R.U.B.: The Recruit by Robert Muchamore

CHERUB is an unknown adjunct to M15 - founded during WWII it has successfully ended wars, stopped terrorists, and saved lives. The organization sends its undercover operatives where others cannot go, they have the ability to gain trust and get away when no one else can: CHERUB's operatives are children. Ages ten to seventeen all CHERUB operatives are fluent in several languages, black belts in multiple fighting styles, and have the knowledge to survive in the wildest of environments. The newest recruit is twelve year old James, he has anger management issues and a fear of water. Growing up with no one to trust except for his nine year old sister, James has some troubles trusting his fellow recruits and being molded into a CHERUB spy. Though after one hundred days of brutal basic training, James learns to take his punches and use his talents effectively. It's a good thing too, as James is being sent off to spy on a possible terrorist group with plans to unleash a deadly poison on the public.

Raised by Wolves by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Bronwyn Alessia St. Vincent Clare, better known as Bryn, has grown up as part of a werewolf pack after her parents were brutally murdered by something called the Rabid. Bryn grows up feeling like she's always needing to keep herself apart from the pack, after all she's human not Were, and therefore fights against the dominance games, rules, and expectations that seem to follow her everywhere. Her rebellion ends when she meets Chase, the boy who was bit and survived. Soon Bryn is consumed with seeing Chase again and is willing to put herself at the mercy of Pack laws in order to talk to Chase about his attacker, someone he calls Prancer and she knows as the Rabid. Bryn doesn't realize that everything that she worked so hard to stay away from is exactly what she'll be turning into.

I know, I know, not another lame werewolf/vampire romance (except this one doesn't have vampires). But honestly this one was kind of awesome! I wouldn't go so far as to say it was perfection, but highly enjoyable. I think I needed a little break from all the action books I found myself reading recently. The whole romance thing was mostly downplayed which I appreciated, and Bryn herself is pretty dubious of the whole "love at first sight" shenanigans. I think this mostly comes out of the fact that Jennifer Lynn Barnes had a really solid werewolf mythology and well-developed main characters. Nice. It got a little slow and inner-monologuey in the middle, but otherwise it all comes together for a rather lovely, fluffy, fast, summer read.

Thomas and the Dragon Queen by Shutta Crum

Thomas has a little problem. As in he's short, wee, petite; which is unfortunate considering he's a squire of the realm and it's difficult to be taken seriously as a squire let alone a knight when everyone thinks he's seven instead of fourteen. He does have some things going for him though - he's fast, brave, and he has a big heart. Surprisingly Thomas is knighted, and sent off on his first quest to save the princess from the dreaded dragon queen on the Barren Island (everyone taller is fighting in the war). So off 'Sir' Thomas goes with his trusty sword (that he loses), his jerkin (which is stolen), and his donkey Bartholomew (that he gives away). Perhaps Thomas got himself into a predicament in which he won't survive...

Falling In by Frances O'Roark Dowell

Falling In is the not so quintessential story of a girl that doesn't fit in. Isabelle Bean ponders the beauty of dirt, doesn't like to shop with her mother, considers spilled jam beauty marks, feels like she is always precariously standing on the edge of something new, and hears a consistent buzzing noise rising from the floor. Isabelle isn't crazy, it turns out she belongs in a different world! It is in this new world where she is able to make friends and understand that her daydreaming can be an asset. But she is soon given the difficult task of helping the people there overcome their fears and push herself to learn new skills to save children.

13 Treasures by Michelle Harrison

Thirteen year old Tanya has grown up being able to see faeries. She is able to pass off their tricks as clumsiness, practical jokes, and bad luck, until her mother fed up with her misbehavior sends her to her grandmother's estate. That's right; not a house, cabin, shack, or apartment, but the large estate and manor that Tanya and her mother usually vacation at for a week during the summer. To say that Tanya and her grandmother have a disconnected relationship is an understatement, and the prospect of living with a woman who views with seeming disgust for unnumbered days is not a prospect that Tanya looks forward to. This is especially clear to Tanya as the faeries are become more malicious, the disappearance of a girl fifty years ago is related to her own family, and the only person to help her is weirdo Fabian the caretaker's son.