Protons Do Die

In "Smiles To Go" by Jerry Spinelli,
Will has so much going
for him
He is a chess champ,
skateboarder,
monopoly lover,
stargazer,
proton thinker,
He even contemplates
his existence in the
Universe
So why does he
Find it so hard
To deal with
His
Little
SISTER!

Vlad Might Be Glad

In "The Book of Time" by Guillaume Prevost, Sam is on a mission to find his father who’s been missing for 10 days. Searching through his father’s things, Sam finds an old book, a strange statue, and an ancient coin with a hole in it. After he inserts the coin in the statue he is transported through time to a place called Iona during Medieval times. Trying to escape Vikings he lands in France during World War I, then in ancient Egypt. After he returns, Sam realizes that his father must be stuck in the past and as he looks at the old book he sees on every single page the castle of Vlad Tepes a.k.a. Dracula. The book is very captivating and readers will be scrambling for the second book of the planned trilogy.

Tricky Tricky That's Not Nice

In "Runemarks" by Joanne Harris, it’s been five hundred year since the gods fought at Ragnarok which was an epic war between the Norse gods. A new group called the Order took over and has put everything back into place, but the only thing it’s their view of what is wrong and what is right so basically it's their way or the highway. Maddy Smith was born with a copper mark on her hand which makes her an outcast or a witch you might say. When she meets a friend whom she calls One Eye, she asks him to teach her about the gods and her mark which is called a runemark. After several years of teachings and conversations Maddy is faced with a dilemma. One Eye wants Maddy to open Red Horse Hill and descend into World Below to retrieve something called the Whisperer. He tells her if she fails, it is likely to be another Ragnarok. Hesitantly she decides to go on her quest. Her first meeting is with a intensely nervous goblin named Sugar-and-Sack. He rants about how the General is going to be so mad that she is down there and that she needs to get out fast. Maddy ignores the terrified goblin and continues on her way. Further on she meets a strange boy with fiery red hair. The boy seems to trick her into giving up her plan to find the Whisperer. Well, trick is the perfect word for this character because in reality he is no other than the Norse god Loki. Loki and Maddy seem to have very much in common and as time goes on you will find that there is a long lost secret that binds not only Loki and Maddy, but One Eye as well. Will Maddy have what it takes to stop a return Ragnarok and will she find out her true calling? This book is an epic tale that delves into the heart of Norse mythology with excellent characters such as Loki the trickster, Hel of the Underworld and Odin the General. A true believer of mythology will really wrap their minds around this one.