Pages: 243 pages
Ages: 8+
First Published: Jan. 2010 (Canada only)
Publisher: Scholastic Canada Ltd.
Rating: 5/5

First sentence:

George phoned me long distance at six o’clock this morning to wish me happy birthday.

Reason for Reading: I am in the process of reading the whole series. I am particularly fond of WWII stories and this one takes place near where I grew up, Fergus, ON and we went to Guelph many, many times.

Comments: As per all books in the Dear Canada series, this is written as a series of diary entries that cover the span of one year. Charlotte receives the diary for her twelfth birthday and the book finishes a few days after her thirteenth birthday. The book focuses on a family and their close neighbour who both receive War Guests from England. A brother and sister who have been evacuated from London and sent to live in Canada for the duration of the War. When the family picks them up from Toronto they are sent off by two other children they sailed over with a little 5yo girl and a much older teen boy.

Through Charlotte’s eyes we experience life on the homefront for a family who has a son in the army and a Jewish family who worries about what is happening to their relatives in Europe. Many horrible things are reported in the papers and on the radio that terrify Charlotte but some things she cannot comprehend and her father explains many things to her but when it comes to her questions about the Jews he is unable to give her answer telling she must wait till she is older, his reason being that he himself is unable to explain the inhumanity of the Nazi’s hate.

Through Charlotte’s eyes we see the adjustments the children from England must make in their new homes. The terror and shock they have experience from the bombings and air raid alarms, their worry for their parents and the gradual settling in with a new family who has foreign ways but treats them lovingly and as a member of their own family. We also get to see the flip side of other War Guest children when they meet the little five year old girl in town and see she is being neglected (by her own aunt at that) and how the boy receives regular letters from the older boy he met on ship telling him how much he hates the family he is with, how he wants to runaway, go home and please may he come to visit him.

In this modest appearing book Jean Little manages to capture so many experiences from differing peoples that one gets a very diverse view of life both on the homefront and the life of a War Guest. She even manages to mention recurringly about the treatment of a German shopkeeper in town. I found the book to have covered all the issues I could think of and they came with the naivete of a child’s point of view and the innocence with which a child can blurt out the simple truths. The story is highly entertaining and informative. Things are not all war, war, war either; there are plenty of happy times and a wonderful first-hand glimpse into 1940s wartime life for children and in general is portrayed. Since I’ve lived in the area it was fun to hear mention of places I knew: my own Fergus a couple of times, the quarry and Belwood Lake to name a few dear to my heart.

I really enjoy the Dear Canada series, but of course the quality of each depends on the author and when Jean Little’s name is spied on the title page you just know you’ve got a winner in your hands. As usual the book ends with a chapter telling us what happened to the characters in the future, then an historical note that tells the real history behind the story and is finally followed by a section of related photographs. This book would make a great introduction to reading about the War as many feelings are dealt with but war details are not graphic. Highly recommended.

Going Bovine by Libba Bray

Pages: 480 pages
Ages: 14+
First Published: Sept. 22, 2009
Rating: 3.5/5

First sentence:

The best day of my life happened when I was five and almost died at Disney World.

Reason for Reading: I enjoyed Libba Bray’s Gemma Doyle books so was up for reading whatever she wrote next.

Summary: The book starts of with Cameron, your typical slacker 16-year-old living in a family that has drifted into typical modern, busy, note-leaving suburbanites, while he and his popular younger sister are at that stage where they hate each other at home and she pretends he don’t exist outside of the house. Since Cameron often does strange things it isn’t easily noticeable when he first starts showing strange behaviour, yelling out at hallucinations and twitching. Not until he has a major seizure at school and is taken to the hospital do the doctor’s start their weeks long testing and it is diagnosed that Cameron has Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease (often referred to as the human form of mad cow disease). It is at this point that Cameron is visited by a punk angel, and sent on a road trip with his hospital room mate, a hypochondriac teen dwarf. Thus starts their surreal, hallucinogenic, out of this world journey across the States which has them visiting a happiness cult, picking up a yard gnome who think he is a Viking god, meeting a dead New Orleans jazz player, playing weird TV game shows, being chased down by the snow globe corporation and meeting up with a group of scientists who are on the verge of parallel world travel. This is the tip of the iceberg.

Comments: What can I say? The book is very well written and one wild ride from start to finish. There is plenty of humour, the events are so out there that everything is surreal. Written in the first person of Cameron, the reader knows from the outset that we have an unreliable narrator. Cameron will tell us the hallucinations he is having then he tells us the ‘real’ strange things he sees. What is reality?

The book’s whole purpose seems to be to examine death. The process of knowing you are to die soon, how you handle that knowledge. When do you start living? Is it ever too late to start living? What is living anyway? What happens at the end? There are no spiritual connections made and for me that made the examination process fall flat and ultimately meaningless. However you may reach a different conclusion.

Even though the book’s message didn’t hit home with me, I enjoyed the road trip (mostly) for what it was, a lot of eccentric characters and crazy events. There does come a time in the story though when everything suddenly became clear and from that point on I felt the book was longer than it needed to be. The charade kept being played and the hints kept being dropped to the point of frustration for this reader. I would have liked to have seen more of the family’s reactions, feelings and coping during this time that Cameron was away. Finally, the language in the book is very vulgar and I found that hugely off-putting though I do realize it was realistic of the characters.

Ultimately, I did have some problems with the story and some other issues with some of the content that I would rather have done without but it certainly is an entertaining story. I enjoyed the characters of Gonzo, the Mexican dwarf, and Balder, the Viking garden gnome the best. I couldn’t put the book down and read it quickly over the weekend. This book isn’t going to appeal to everyone, and it is not anything like the author’s Gemma Doyle books, but if the strange, phantasmagoric and surreal appeal to you then this may be right up your alley.

Pages: 154 pages
Ages: 9+
First Published: Feb. 1, 2010 (Canada only)
Rating: 4/5

First sentence:

The woman who said she was my mother was so ill on the ship from Europe that she wore a sickness bag around her neck almost the whole time.

Reason for Reading: I enjoy historical fiction about WWII, especial from a child’s point of view.

Comments: This is an extremely compelling story about a subject which I know very little about: The Lebensborn Program. I knew such things were done but haven’t really read anything about it before. The story is of Nadia, who moves to Canada with a Ukranian man and woman who are not her parents after World War II. She must call them Mother and Father, though she knows they are not, but they are kind and loving. Nadia is in somewhat of a state of shock and really doesn’t remember any of her past but this book is a slow unraveling of her past as she starts to have flashes of memories from her past that are haunting and confusing, making her question whether she is a Nazi. Her new “parents” assure her she is not and encourage her to keep on remembering, which she does. At the same time, Nadia must also deal with fitting into her new country and its customs which, unfortunately, a couple of children at school make very difficult.

This is a bittersweet story that brings to life an aspect of the Nazi regime that is perhaps not so well known. While not as physically horrifying as other acts the Nazis perpetrated , it is an awful “experiment” that tore families apart, and ruined the lives of hundreds of thousands of children. The book is a compelling read, and coupled with its shortness is a fast read. The book’s brevity does not however affect the power of emotion contained within its pages nor the development of Nadia’s character. The reader connects with Nadia as a person and feels great anguish with her as she also learns who she is and what has happened to her.

The book ends with an Author’s Note which includes just enough historical background to place the story within context and to pique the reader’s interest in the subject. I will certainly look twice if I find another book that deals with the same topic. I had never heard of Skrypuch before but after a quick look I see she has written quite a number of historical fiction which all seem to centre around either one of the World Wars and be set in Eastern Europe. I would most definitely read other of her books. Recommended.

A Ruth Galloway Mystery #2

Pages: 335 pages
First Published: Mar. 2, 2010 CAN (Aug 10, 2010 USA)
Rating: 4.5/5

First sentence:

A light breeze runs through the long grass at the top of the hill.

Reason for Reading: Next in the series.

Summary: A Victorian home is being pulled down to make way for a luxury apartment building but is stopped due to the finding of Roman remains. As archaeologists work they find a headless skeleton of a child under the doorstep of the home and forensic archaeologist Ruth Galloway is called in for her expertise by DCI Harry Nelson. The house was last used as a Catholic children’s home and that sends the investigation in a direction that will not easily bring answers. At the same time someone is literally trying to scare Ruth to death and when that doesn’t work perhaps they’ll have to get up close and personal to finish off the job.

Comments: I love this series! This book is even better the first, The Crossing Places. This was a fast, page-turner that I read very quickly; I just couldn’t put it down. Not only are there several possible suspects there are a few possible choices for the identity of the victim! I only just managed to stay a few pages ahead of each reveal but the final solution is one that you could not possibly see coming from the beginning.

Both Ruth and Harry are back the same as we remembered them from book one, only Ruth is less self-conscious but still her same outspoken, hard-headed, overweight, unfashionable self. For me personally, she is a character I could like ( I want to like) only I have great issues with her moral conduct and Harry’s as well, though both of their personal lives take new directions and this is being addressed. I am eager to see where they are each headed personally in the next book. Since the personal life is integral in these books I do recommend reading them in order.

I also was quite taken with the Catholic part of the story. Of course, starting with the investigation into a children’s home the usual preconceived prejudices are rampant and several characters are anti-Catholic. But once a retired Sister and Father are introduced as characters the journey of these characters and the Catholic part of the plot which leads to the eventual reconciliation of one of the characters is very satisfying.

Elly Griffiths, pseudonym of Domenica de Rosa, has created a wonderful mystery that is going to appeal to a lot of people. There is plenty of action and forensic detail for thriller fans and yet no gory bits for more cozy mystery fans. The plot has many layers, is quite intricate as it twists and turns upon itself and is a ton of fun to read. I’m glad to have started this series at the beginning and can’t wait for the next Ruth Galloway Mystery!

Pages: 315 pages
Ages: 15+
First Published: Mar. 1, 2009
Rating: 5/5

First sentence:

“Marcelo, are you ready?”

Reason for Reading: I have Aspergers and have wanted to read this book since I first heard of it.

Summary: Seventeen year old Marcelo has Aspergers (high functioning form of autism) though he doesn’t like to label himself that way but when asked does say that the closest diagnosis for his condition would be Aspergers. He’s lived a very happy life, going to an upscale private school for kids with learning or psychological difficulties. Here he is allowed to be himself, follow his interest and gently learn how to communicate with the “normals”. Aspies have obsessions and Marcello’s special interests (as he prefers to call them) are first and foremost God. His family is Catholic, he prays the rosary and memorizes scripture but he also reads theology from all sorts of perspectives and meets regularly with a Rabbi friend of his mother’s for hour long sessions on discussing God. His other interest is Halflinger ponies which are raised at his school and used as therapy for autistic and other hard to reach children. He looks after them and has planned once again to work there this summer vacation but Marcelo’s father has a different plan for him this time. His father refuses to believe that Marcelo has any sort of condition that (now that he’s a man) getting out in the “real world” will not help him overcome and he has arranged for Marcello to work in his law firm’s mail room for the summer with the stipulation that if he does well he can decide whether he wants to go back to his special school for his last year of high school or to public school but if he fails to meet all tasks assigned to him he will have to go to public school for his last year. Thus his father hopes a dose of “real world” will cure his son.

Comments: I loved this book! I have Aspergers myself and I was continuously turning page corners down because there would be sentences or groups of them that would ring so true for me. Being female my outward presentation is very different than Marcelo’s (except for the eyes thing) but I found such a soul mate with his inner thoughts, fears and reasonings with the “real world”. Marcelo does not want to go to the law firm at first and is very annoyed. This part of the book gave me great anxiety as I knew how Marcelo felt and I didn’t want him to have to go either. But as it turns out Marcelo is very good at communication, yes he’s blunt and forthright, not always saying the most appropriate things but he certainly did not let that stop him for speaking which was an inspiring trait of his for someone who rarely speaks unless necessary.

This is a coming of age story as Marcelo pushes his boundaries to experience new things in his life but he also end ups facing the same challenges we all do when we take that step from childhood to adulthood. Marcelo comes upon something in the law office that shocks him and he knows is not right, he is compelled to do something about it but when he has finally tracked down the information he needs and confronted with his choices of action he must decide between the good of his family over the good of the unjustly treated. Marcelo’s Aspergers actually helps him a lot in making decisions, looking at things logically, putting his knowledge of God to the test, and in accomplishing routine tasks at work very efficiently.

The story is also a romance though Marcelo does not figure this out until the end of the book! Marcello has a lack of emotions. He feels them but does not recognize them for what they are when he has them nor can he show them outwardly very well without faking it on purpose because he believes it would be appropriate. This lack of emotion is an obvious sign of Aspergers in males but is not always found to this degree and it is much less common in females, at least at a visibly noticeable level. So when Marcelo becomes friendly with his co-worker Jasmine, he does not realize why he thinks of her so much and says poetical things to her about her eyes, etc. He tells her truths about herself which are so honest and innocent such as “Does Jasmine know she is beautiful?” that the reader can tell Jasmine (18 years old) is falling for him. What follows is a beautiful awakening of awareness of romantic feelings in Marcello.

I could go on and on writing about every individual aspect of this book! It’s wonderful. A fantastic look inside the mind of a young adult male with Aspergers. Others with Aspergers will feel Marcelo’s anxieties as they read, the writing is that good. I was worried for a while as the book started to near the end that things wouldn’t end the way I had envisioned they should but happily for me everything swung into position at the last moment and the ending was the best one possible. You are missing a treat if you don’t read this book.

Pages: 298 pages
First Published: January 5, 2010
Rating: 4/5

First sentence:

“Run along, make your calls, and enjoy His Lordship’s hooley,” said Mrs. Maureen Kincaid, “Kinky” to her friends, as she knelt in the hall and sponged Ribena black-currant cordial from a small boy’s tweed overcoat.

Reason for Reading: The Irish Country Doctor series has been on my tbr list for a while and when I had an offer to read this fourth book, which can also be read as a stand-alone, I jumped at the chance to get my feet wet with the series.

Summary: This fourth book in the series takes a different direction than the other books by centering on Maureen Kincaid, housekeeper/cook for two country doctors in the 1960s. The book actually takes place during a few hours near the end of Book Three while Maureen is at home preparing Christmas dinner and the doctors have gone out. During this time Mrs. Kincaid reflects back on her earlier life in the 1920s, specifically following the years she was fourteen to eighteen years-old. The book tells the story of Maureen’s biggest characteristic, being that she has “the sight” and how she first became that way, when she first saw the fey and had her first visions of the future. Her story also answers questions such as why she came to be called “Kinky”, how she became a Mrs., and how she finally ended up as the doctors’ housekeeper.

Comments: First, I’ll say the book was not what I had expected. Not having read any of the other books in the series I did not know Mrs. Kincaid had “the sight” making the story a lot more whimsical than just the cozy village story I had expected. I thoroughly enjoyed the book from start to finish and since this book is so different from the others, as a newcomer to the series the only character I had to get to know was Maureen herself. A wonderful story, with exceptional characters, that tells a tale full of romance and heartbreak, life and death, religion and folklore at a time when people spoke of God in the same breath as they warned away the spirits.

Maureen is a lovely, spirited girl with such a bittersweet story. I took to her right from the first page. Actually the rest of her family was just as real and enjoyable that they all felt like people I knew by the end of the book. I wonder if any of them ever came to visit or vice versa in the previous books or if they may pop up again in future books now that they have been introduced. I am now even more eager to get started reading the first book, meet the doctors and read the type of story I was more expecting in the first place but now I will have a familiar face to greet me when I open its pages. Charming tale for those who enjoy cozies, but also appreciate a good dose of Irish folklore.

Pages: 306
First Published: Jan. 12, 2010
Rating: 4.5/5

First sentence:

Momma left her red satin shoes in the middle of the road.

Reason for Reading: I love southern fiction with eccentric characters, then throw in mental illness to boot and you’ve so got a book I have to read.

Summary: 12-year-old CeeCee Honeycutt lives with her mother who is crazy. She relives the glorious day that she was crowned the 1951 Vidalia Onion Queen often donning her winning dress, sash and tiara, blowing kisses to cars that pass by. Always wearing ballgowns and forever going to Goodwill to purchase more. CeeCee looks after her mom as her dad has virtually left them on a traveling salesman job, rarely returning home and refusing to deal with the situation. Then tragedy strikes as her mum dies and CeeCee is picked up by her great aunt and taken to Savannah, Georgia to live.

Comments: An immensely entertaining book! Very much character driven, CeeCee enters a totally new world seemingly controlled by women of charm, etiquette and manners but also the most eccentric people she has ever met. There is Miz Goodpepper who dresses in exotic clothing and skinny dips in an old bathtub in her backyard each evening, Miz Hobbs the busybody nobody likes who secretly entertains a married policeman in a see-through yellow peignoir, Oletta Jones the cook at CeeCee’s aunt’s a firm yet loving black woman who becomes the mother CeeCee always wanted and CeeCee the daughter she once had. And this is only to mention a few!

Along with CeeCee’s encounters with these women she must come to terms with her past, the childhood she was denied and it takes the length of the book for her to do so. That in itself is the plot of the book. Taking place in the late sixties events do occur which spar with elitism, snobbery, racism, adultery, negligent fathers, the possibility of the heredity of mental illness but all are neatly solved and tucked away, as the book once quotes Scarlett O’Hara, for “tomorrow is another day”. This to me is the book’s minor downfall. It’s too sugary, sweet with a “Care Bear” ending that left me needing to brush my teeth.

For me the book’s gold lies in it’s study of character. While I simply adored the white women on Gaston Street with their parties and eccentricities, I particularly loved the black women that the cook, Oletta, introduces to CeeCee. Another complete set of eccentric characters from Aunt Sapphire in the nursing home who swears up a storm to her friend who can’t talk and likes to put small things in her brassier while everyone pretends not to notice and the one who looks like a man and tells fortunes with carved stones that come from several generations back to Africa.

A really, wonderful, delightful read of southern fiction with great characters you’ll love but I wish the author had taken on one of the issues presented to add a bit of tension that could have been resolved in the end to a plot that otherwise lacked any.

Pages: 214
Ages: 15+
First Published: Feb. 9, 2010
Rating: 3/5

First sentence:

It’s like she can’t breathe anymore, no matter what she does.

Reason for Reading: Next (and last) in the series.

Summary: Janie has been left with a decision to make about her future and concentrates on making that decision. However, a wrench is thrown into her contemplations when her never before known father shows up in ICU causing her alcoholic mother to go off the deep end and add a twist to her previous choice. Now she must decide which is lesser of two evils.

Comments: Right of the bat I’ll say this was rather disappointing. For a good portion of the book, from the beginning, the story mostly concentrates on Janie’s dealing and coping with her alcoholic mother. Which would have been fine if this was just another teen dysfunctional family novel (which I abhor) but it was supposed to be the final book in a, so far, exciting paranormal trilogy. Janie has become very good at blocking out dreams unless they hit her out of nowhere, so during this part of the book there is barely any semblance of paranormal activity.

The introduction of Janie’s father and his story that Janie learns through his comatose dreams was an interesting plot move and was certainly the highlight of the book. I enjoyed the twist it brought to the story and the extra dimension it added to Janie’s decision. In the end though, I thought her decision lacked logic and I came up with a different way in which she could have possibly solved her dilemna.

I won’t go into any details about what I thought of the casual, s*xual relationship between Janie and Cabel, except that I was not impressed. In general I was not impressed with Gone much at all; I read the book very quickly, I was already committed to the characters and enjoyed the previous two books *very much* but Gone just did not share an exciting plot with them. The father’s part was good but not that exciting and I didn’t pick up this book to read about the trials, tribulations and effects of an alcoholic on a family. Readable, but disappointing for the last book in a trilogy.

Book 1

Pages: 317
Ages: 12+
First Published: June 29, 2009
Rating: 4/5

First sentence:

In a different time, in a different place, Mornak ruled the realm of Mythos from the city of Aspiria.

Reason for Reading: The combination of members who joined the quest in this fantasy is what initially intrigued me enough to want to read the book.

Summary: Alex is your typical high school teen with one major obsession, playing rpg/mporg video games and a secondary fixation as the leader and lead guitarist of a band called the Axemen. Alex’s biggest dilemna in life is whether to skip a history exam to go to a real studio audition with the band. Meanwhile, in another realm of existence , Mythos, the dark forces have started to take over. Kidnapping and torturing the king to get the source of all his power, the magical scroll which is in possession of his 11 year old daughter, Dara. The King’s army, aptly named the Axemen have become lost in an ensorcered wood with no way out. When Dara summons the leader of the Axemen, Alex appears before her and he is stuck in her world until he has completed his mission, protect her until her father is free. As they search for the Hall of Shadows where her father is imprisoned and try to stay clear of the Shadow Warriors as they track Dara in search of the scroll they call upon teen warriors to join them in their quest: Scorpius, a Roman legionnaire, Genjuro, a Japanese samurai, Bantu, an African warrior, Maya, an Amazon archer and Tenzin a Shaolin monk.

Comments: First off this book is unique in that the pages have been designed with a scroll background which makes for a very attractive presentation. However, this left the reading page a very light grey with black text which I think did interfere with my normal reading speed as it did take me longer than it should have to read this book and I know it was not from lack of enjoyment. While the story follows the basic ‘group of companions on a quest’ format, a lot of originality has been brought into play making this a very enjoyable treat. They must follow many mini quests on the way to their larger goal and they face many dangers from the elements, monstrous creatures and their pursuers. At the beginning of the book, I did find it a bit confusing as it jumped back and forth between Alex in the modern world and Mythos as the trouble started. I had this lost feeling as to who were these people and what was going on but rather than distracting from the story it made me determined in the beginning to keep reading until the two sets of characters merged, as I knew they would. I started reading the book in bed and my dh asked me to turn the light off so he could sleep and I told him plainly, “No, not until this Alex guy somehow gets to Mythos so I can figure out what’s going on!”

I loved the group dynamics of the various races and cultures of the group members. Each person comes from such a strong ethnic group/profession that they all must also learn to get along with each other. As they struggle to flee from the enemy they also struggle to reject some of their own bias along with accepting other’s different ways. Each of the characters has a very strong character and their background life is developed enough that I formed great feelings for each of them even though I liked them in varying degrees. Bantu, the African teen who was a very strong warrior in this group but who had just gone out on his mission to prove his manhood in own real time, was my favourite of the bunch. Young Dara was characterized very well. While she needed protecting, she was still portrayed as a strong character with smart ideas who added to the group’s overall success, yet accepted when her role as child meant she had to obey the others or stay away from the danger.

The creatures (good and bad), the adventure, the fighting, the excitement, and the general theme were all very entertaining and I really enjoyed the story very much. My only complaint here is the the ending. If you read my reviews regularly you’ll see it coming. The book ends by letting us know it is the end of book one and has no proper ending. In fact, it ends mid-story, mid-action, a cliff-hanger if you will and I am not fond of such endings. I much prefer books in a series to contain individual mini-plots that have a resolution within the book while still remaining a part of the overall story arc. But at least this leaves you wanting more!

Pages: 433 pgs.
Ages: 15+
First Published: Nov. 3, 2009
Rating: 4/5

Comments: This collection of 19 never previously unpublished short stories by mostly well-known authors is written for an “all ages” audience, meaning for adults but an acceptable cross-over for older teens. The book is entirely language and s*x free, though the themes keep the book form being suitable for anyone younger. There were a couple of stories I didn’t appreciate but for the most part I rated the others 4s or 5s. I really enjoyed that this book of short stories contained one longer almost novella sized story along with several lengthy 30 page stories along with the shorter short stories, making for a wide range of reading, with the longer stories letting the reader become quite involved in the story. I certainly had my appetite whetted for some of the others here I hadn’t read before, which was shamefully quite a few. Of the 19 authors, I had heard of 12 (even owning books by most of them), of those 12, alas, I had read only 8. A very engaging collection of stories with an amazing array of dragons: good, bad, those who fly and those who swim, with wings and without, those who breath fire, those who breathe ice. Plus the stories are told from all sorts of points of view including that of the dragon itself. A very enjoyable collection of stories. Recommended!

1. Dragon’s Deep by Cecelia Holland - I really enjoyed this story of a fishing village that the Duke visits one day and tells them their taxes are now doubled. Not knowing what else to do they venture into the dangerous waters called “Dragon’s Deep” to fish where they are attacked by a dragon and one girl, Perla, is accidentally taken away by the dragon. The story shows that a beast can learn to love through human tenderness and that humans can turn to beasts when they forget human tenderness. 4/5

2. Vici by Naomi Novik - An enjoyable and funny story with a quirky ending set in Ancient Rome of a man presumably sentenced to death when his punishment is to single handedly kill a dragon. Pure luck makes him successful and he comes home rich with the dragon’s hoard and an egg, presumably is dead. When the egg hatches the man’s life takes a turn for adventure and will never be the same again. Quite humorous while rather violent at the same time. 4/5

3. Bob Choi’s Last Job by Jonathan Stroud - A dragon hunter goes out on a hunt has an encounter with a couple of dragons. Didn’t really get this one. Well, I “got” it but wasn’t that entertained. 2/5

4. Are You Afflicted with Dragons? by Kage Baker - This was a fun, clever romp of a man who owns a seaside hotel and has a bunch of small dragons come to roost on his roof. After trying the usual pest control measure for ridding oneself of these wyrmin pests he encounters a man who specializes in the job and promises to rid him of his troubles forever. A clever, humorous tale. 4/5

5. The Tsar’s Dragons by Jane Yolen and Adam Stemple - Much longer than the other stories at 35 pages this is the story of the beginnings of the Russian Revolution and the repeated attempts to kill Rasputin. Dragon’s are in the story but don’t really come into play until the end, when the Tsar’s black and the revolutionaries red dragons are leashed upon the world. The dragons have a more metaphorical place in this story of empire vs communism. 3/5

6. The Dragon of Direfell by Liz Williams - I really enjoyed this story of a mage who has been hired by a small Dukedom to rid itself of a worm-like dragon wrapped around a mountain. The mage undertakes what should be a routine job and finds more than he expected. Deeper magic is at work and as he tries to expose the hidden dark mage things are even more complicated than they had appeared. 4/5

7. Oakland Dragon Blues by Peter S. Beagle - A Police Officer gets called to a traffic hold-up to find an old, sad-looking dragon sitting in the middle of the intersection. Not wanting to deal with all the hoopla that capturing a dragon is going to cause him he convinces the dragon to move out of the way and out of sight where the officer will see if he can fix his problems for him. Turns out the dragon is a remnant from an unfinished story and he wants to find the author, to have his revenge. Absolutely loved this one. Very humorous and we get to see a dragon’s life from his point of view. 5/5

8. Humane Killer by Diana Gabaldon and Samuel Sykes - at 55 pages this started to feel more like a novella than a short story and contained a lot of plot. I really enjoyed it though very much. Two pairs both set off to kill the fierce dragon unbeknownst to each other. One pair is the weakling son of a recently deceased valiant hero who must return with his father’s mace to prove himself and joins up with a heartless warrior woman wearing a full body leather thong. The other pair is a half heathen girl, therefore a sorceress, but a nice girl who has reanimated a dead soldier to be her protection and strength as she needs to kill the dragon to rescue a precious spell book. Obviously they meet up and the story is quite hilarious. But it was confusing when it first started with the jumping back and forth between these people without the reader knowing who they were or what was going on. 4/5

9. Stop! by Garth Nix - A short, interesting story that doesn’t seem to have anything to do about dragons until the strange ending. 3.5/5

10. Ungentle Fire by Sean Williams - The author has written ten books set in the same world and this short story is also set in that world. A young man is bound to apprentice a warrior until he is deemed fit to go on a quest for his master. After five years his master sends him off to find and slay a dragon plus to bring back proof of the dragon’s death, then he will set the man free to return to his homeland and marry his intended. The story starts on the 23rd day of that quest. I really, really enjoyed this story! I’ve never heard of this author before and this is the first story in this book that makes me want to read more by a new-to-me author. 5/5

11. A Stark and Wormy Knight by Tad Williams - A funny story in which a mother dragon tells her children a bedtime story of the days of old when there were big bad knights who slayed dragons and relates a time when their great great great grandpap pulled one over on such a knight. Humorous story, told with lots of word play in the vein of “Jabberwocky” with Williams creating his own fun words but also adding a “snicker”, “beamish” and “uffish” here and there. 4/5

12. None So Blind by Harry Turtledove - Set in some time and world of an explorer’s age with magic, a group of explorer’s and sorcerers set out to explore a part of the map that has always been labeled “Here Be Dragons”. The go to find if these dragons are real and also to find any other unusual flora and fauna. An ok story but I figured out the surprise ending and just didn’t enjoy this more than ok. 2.5/5

13. JoBoy by Diana Wynne Jones - DWJ is one of my fav. authors and I loved this one! Can’t really tell much without giving anything away but it’s about a boy who experiences adolescence with both joyful and painful revelations. 5/5

14. Puz_le by Gregory Maguire - One rainy afternoon, a boy works on an old jigsaw puzzle picked up at a garage sale with strange results. Can’t say much as this is short and has a twisty ending. Really enjoyed it! 4/5

15. After the Third Kiss by Bruce Coville - May Margaret is cursed and turned into a dragon by her wicked stepmother and only three kisses from her sea adventuring brother will return her to her rightful form. He unexpectedly does arrive home after hearing his homeland is threatened by a dragon. May Margaret gets her three kisses and the stepmother is punished and you would thing all would be well. But this is just the first few pages! No, this fairy tale-like story has much more to it and May Margaret finds that though she no longer breathes fire, there is a yearning fire burning in her blood. I loved this one! 5/5

16. The War that Winter Is by Tanith Lee - In a land where winter lasts 9 months of the year, and may well last longer as time goes by, the tribes have learnt to cope in this harsh land but one thing they have no control over is the dragon, Ulkioket, who can blast a village with it’s breath of of ice and freeze everything and everyone glass-like ice that will shatter. Until one day, a small group of scavengers find a frozen city with a pregnant women near the edge, when they touch her she shatters and a live baby is born, one with pale skin and white hair. This, they believe is the hero who has come to rid them of the dragon. At 29 pages, this short story has a lot of space for a well developed story that I just loved. I’ve only read a few books and stories by Lee but I’ve never been disappointed yet. 5/5

17. The Dragon’s Tale by Tamora Pierce -This story is set in Pierce’s fictional universe of Tortall, which I haven’t read before. At 39 pages, this one felt like a novella and really had plenty of time to be a well-developed tale. Told through the point of view of a young dragon who is on a trip with an entourage visiting the Emperor’s villages, he gets bored and watches a group of boys through stones at a lady scrounging in the garbage who then runs away. Feeling magic in the air, the dragon follows her and discovers magic and a whole lot more. He keeps his secret and comes up with a plan to keep him occupied with big results. I loved, loved, loved this story!! 5/5

18. Dragon Storm by Mary Rosenblum - Tahlia’s eyes are different from every one else in the grove and the other children call her “bad-luck eyes”. But she does have a special closeness to the surf dragons and one day when she finds a dragon egg a bit different than usual and it hatches, the dragon does not appear to be a surf dragon. In fact it starts to grow at an alarming rate, protects her against any harm, talks to her and reveals the truth that has been kept secret from her for so long. Another fabulous story that I just loved, just shy of 30 pages making it long enough to really develop some character along with the plot. 5/5

19. The Dragaman’s Bride by Andy Duncan - It’s the 1930s, in the Virginia mountains and every so often when the sheriff’s men are around a few of the adolescents will go missing. At first this caused great concern but they all eventually came back after 6 weeks with tales of a hospital, being treated well, and fed well. The girls all had small scars as they’d had to have their appendix out. The boys, well, they had tiny scars a bit lower down, but after finding out everything worked fine they had no complaints. That is until Allie Harrell goes missing for 3 months causing the mountain folks to rile up against the sheriff and his men. Then one day Pearl Sunday follows an old Fire Dragaman down a hole and discovers a lot of answers. Another longer story just shy of 30 pages that combines some historical fiction with a shapeshifting giant/dragon that reads a lot like a folk tale. Really enjoyed this as well 5/5