The Canyon's Edge
By Dusti Bowling
Read by Casey Holloway
Hachette Audio
Narrator Casey Holloway keeps you on the edge of your seat as Eleanor works through her present danger and her tragic past in this novel-in-verse adventure.
I reviewed this audiobook for AudioFile Magazine. Click the link for my complete review.
The Turnkey of Highgate CemeteryIn a story that is more mysterious than horrific, Flossie rallies allies from the ranks of the dead to combat a threat to the living. The Turnkey of Highgate Cemetery is a genre-bending mix of middle-grade historical fiction, thriller, and ghost story. Turnkey should appeal to a wide variety of readers. Only the extremely timid will find it disturbing; most will enjoy this unusual tale of ghostly heroism in time of war.
"Flossie simply couldn't work it out. Who was this man? What was he doing in London? And why had he run away like that?
Maybe if she described him, one of the newly interred at Ada's cemetery might know of him. He was obviously an officer of great importance. Perhaps he had been in the newspapers."
"Everyone saw Clayton leave the school with his mother. Some had even laughed at him and teased him about the whipping he had coming.Clayton Byrd Goes Underground is Clayton's journey through the blues. Rita Williams-Garcia infuses this story of family grief, anger, and reconciliation with the bluesy notes of Clayton's harmonica, the smooth sounds of Cool Papa Byrd and his group, the Bluesmen, and a ragtag band of hip-hop street performers who ply their trade in New York's subway system. No slow-starter here—Clayton Byrd Goes Underground grabs the reader from the pickup note.
Clayton wasn't worried about a whipping. His mother wasn't the whipping kind. She'd take away his treasures first, the things he loved, and the things he loved to do. But she didn't believe in whipping. She did, however, believe in scolding.
Clayton's mother scolded from the time they left the school to the time she drove home to the time they got in the house. Even when she wasn't out-and-out scolding, she spoke in scolding tones, In you-know-betters, what's-gotten-into-yous. She said over and over, 'Your grandfather's passing is no excuse for this behavior.'
Clayton remained silent through the scolding. He couldn't tell her what was wrong even if he wanted to. He didn't understand it all himself. Even if he could tell her, she would only blame Cool Papa, and Clayton was tired of her being angry at the person he loved the most. He said nothing.'
GALE, Laurel. Dead Boy. 5 CDs. 6 hrs. Listening Library. 2015. $35. ISBN 9781101916827. digital download.
Gr 5-7–Crow was once a regular boy who played baseball and had friends and loving parents. But now, he’s dead. At first, being dead wasn’t so bad, but then his rotting flesh began attracting maggots. He couldn’t eat or sleep. His parents divorced. His mother will tell him only that his parents “wished him back to life,” but what kind of life? He’s trapped in a house kept purposefully cold to slow the putrefaction of his flesh. When Melody and her father move in next door, she and Crow become secret friends against the wishes of their parents. Together, they begin to unravel the terrible secret of his parents’ wish. Their forbidden friendship will be tested as they face a series of deadly challenges in their quest for the truth. Though the book’s description promises humor, narrator Robbie Daymond’s presentation of Crow is morose and forlorn. His cheerful portrayal of Melody offers the only break from the macabre atmosphere. VERDICT - Not for the squeamish, this one will be best for middle school fans of ghoulish favorites like The Night Gardener (Abrams, 2014) or The Cavendish Home for Boys and Girls (S. & S., 2012). [“A great recommendation to middle grade fans of dark humor”: SLJ 7/15 review of the Crown book.]
Another North Carolina book caught my eye last year (I love the cover art!) but I just got around to reading it."Yes, Lord. Please help us," Miss Florenza said. Miss Lottie Pearl rolled her eyes at Miss Florenza. Poor Miss Florenza can't even talk to Jesus without Miss Lottie Pearl putting her two cents in.
"I thought we were in a Depression," Pole whispered to me.There's also Uncle Goat the liar,
"We are." I whispered back.
"Look like to me Reverend Hornbuckle should have been thinking about how the folk at Sandy Branch Baptist Church are gonna eat come winter instead of buying a new car," Pole said. Wasn't sure if the preacher heard my sassy friend, but she didn't seem to care. She got a whole of Miss Lottie Pearl in her as sho' as Mr. Bro. Wiley was dead in the house.
Ma swears Uncle Goat is the biggest liar in Northampton County. Papa said that ain't so. He said Uncle Goat is the biggest liar in the state of North Carolina. That's how he got the nickname Goat. Ma says he eats the truth up faster than a goat eats grass.
"I will never forget Mr. Bro. Wiley," I thought as we headed to town. Mule Bennett must have felt the same way. He was slowing down and barely lifted his head. Papa kept saying, "Get-get, get up, mule, get up." But Mule Bennett took his own sweet time.Mr. Bro. Wiley,the reader gets to know through the remembrances of the living.
The cat rolled over at looked at me upside down. "Who's the Maestro?" I rolled over on my back too. Staring at him like this made my head hurt, but it was kind of fun. "Well, technically, he's half my DNA. But I don't like to think about that."
The cat blinked slowly, like he was already half asleep.
"I mean, I guess, yeah, he's my father." I made quotation marks with my fingers. "On paper, maybe. But not to me. I've disowned him, I guess you could say. " I paused, tapping my feet together. "Everyone at school thinks I'm crazy these days, you know. Because of my clothes and because I draw all the time instead of talking to people. I guess by talking to a cat I'm proving them right."Until she makes an unlikely friend in Henry, the "perfect" kid from school.
"Hey, cool," a voice said from above. "You found a cat."
I scrambled up into a sitting position and faced the voice: red hair, tons of freckles, stupid ears that stuck out.
Henry Page.
Ugh.Together, Olivia and Henry meet the other inhabitants of Emerson Hall - ghosts, or more specifically, the affable Frederick, the mysterious Mr. Worthington, and the close yet strangely disconnected pair, Tillie and Jax. Frederick and friends may be friendly, but they are desperate as well. Desperate to move on to the world of Death. And there are other more dangerous things than these ghosts haunting Emerson Hall.
In the beginning, there was the donut.
Ruby should move on to the math books. She really should. But she can't help but be a little curious. "Who decided?"
"Nobody knows for sure. That's what bugs me. Some medieval guys discovered this list and said was based on a bunch of other lists from some ancient guys, including ..." Nero flips to the introduction. "Including a historian dude called Herodotus and another guy name Callimachus, but nobody knows who really decided what the Seven Wonders are. So how come we're all supposed to just say, 'Yeah, okay. Those are the Seven Wonders.' What if there was something else around that Callimachus just didn't like? Some kind of awesome tomb or statue or something that was made by one of his enemies, so he left it off the list?"
This is exactly the kind of questions that gets Nero DeNiro in so much trouble at school -- the kind of questions that teachers can't answer....
"Also, says Nero, "how come nobody gets named Callimachus anymore?"
I’ve always been interested in small things. Tiny gestures, phrases, moments that can seem insignificant to one person and hugely important to someone else. In my books, I write about the small things that matter in a big way.
As much as I enjoyed The Lost Hero, I'd be lying if I didn't say that it's good to have Percy back in the story. Lost no more, but without his memories, Percy finds himself in the midst of the Roman demigod stronghold, Camp Jupiter. In this installment, the listener learns little of Camp Half-Blood's activities, but is thrust into the militaristic world of the Roman demigods. Before the story ends on a culture-colliding cliffhanger, a clear picture of the identities of "the seven" is unfolding,Seven half-bloods shall answer the call,The narration by Joshua Swanson is beginning to grow on me (but perhaps that's because Leo doesn't appear much in The Son of Neptune). My favorite new character in the series? Hands down, it's Bella the Harpy, voiced perfectly by Mr. Swanson.
To storm or fire the world must fall.
An oath to keep with a final breath,
And foes bear arms to the Doors of Death.
"Well, mister," she informed me with no trace of sympathy in her voice, "I'm going to march your father into this room and make him cut you down to size. And when he finishes with you I'll make him wish he had already built that bomb shelter because he might be living in it." ... It took two days for Dad to march into my room and cut me down to size. He knew he had gotten me in trouble with Mom and so he quickly wrangled a construction job in West Virginia for a couple days of paid work. He thought Mom might cool down, but he could have been away for two years and she would still have been just as angry. It was as if she could preserve her anger and store it in a glass jar next to the hot horseradish and yellow beans and corn chowchow she kept in the dank basement pantry. And when she needed some anger she could just go into the basement and open a jar and get worked up all over again.Throughout the long, hot summer, Jack's only respite from digging the bomb shelter and reading in his room are the frequent calls from the elderly Miss Volker, the town medical examiner and writer of obituaries for the local paper. Her arthritic hands prevent her from typing and Mrs. Gantos, ever solicitous of neighbor's needs, sends Jack to help. In doing so, Jack learns much more than the history of his town, founded by Eleanor Roosevelt.
Brown, Don. 2011. America is under Attack: September 11, 2001: The day the towers fell. New York: Roaring Brook Press.in the North Tower, another elevator sat stalled and locked closed at the lobby. It had come to a halt when the plane struck. Chris Young, its lone occupant, knew nothing of the catastrophe around him. Firefighters going up couldn't hear his shouts and marched past him, unaware of his predicament.Near the story's conclusion, the reader is confronted with an eerie, two-page spread in shades of yellowed grays. A man in a suit is dwarfed by an enormous space littered with debris,
In the North Tower lobby, the doors of a stalled elevator opened. The collapse of the South Tower had cut the power to the elevator's door locks. From the car emerged Chris Young, the trapped passenger who'd been overlooked by rescue workers. Earlier he had boarded the elevator from a polished, modern lobby. Now he shuffled through clouds of dust, over rubble and debris.
Alone.
For young listeners, Carmen Agra Deedy's, 14 Cows for America (Peachtree 2009), is the best book I have seen on the topic.
There is not always a good guy. Nor is there always a bad one. Most people are somewhere in between.When the monster calls, Conor is not afraid. For this monster, this powerful, all-seeing monster, born of the earth, the trees and all the ages is not nearly as frightening as the monster that lurks within his nightmare.
... it does not matter what you think, the monster said, because your mind will contradict itself a hundred times each day.
You do not write your life with words, the monster said. You write it with actions. What you think is not important. It is only important what you do.
On the day that Zach Harriman's dad dies in a plane crash, his life begins to change. At first, he's not sure what is happening. He has an intense sixth sense. He feels to compelled to do things but can't explain why. His eyesight has sharpened. He can't get hurt.
When he meets "Mr. Herbert" at the remote crash site on Long Island, he discovers the truth. With Tom Harriman's death, Zach has become the world's only hero. There's no time to think about it. He's got work to do.
There's nothing on earth I deplore..... and the wisdom of the deceased will warm your heart .........
Like fighting over money - oh bore!
So mine now jingles,
Whene'er it mingles.
Now do you know what to look for?
Well, you learn your lesson. You make a small change. Then you try again the next day. It sounds simple, I know. But it's a grand arrangement you have there when you're living.Another solid entry in the series from the always popular Klise sisters. Great ghostly fun in Ghastly!
"...college will show you a thousand other paths." Are you sorry you took this one?" Mater startled like I'd poked her. "Not hardly!" She turned to me, her face pale and waxy in the faint light. "Life's hard, Lyza. Filled with little invisible walls you have to climb over. The walls surprise you. Or, who knows, maybe you put them there yourself to keep your parents out, but the climbing's the thrill of it. The real work. I love your pater. I love you. And this house. My sewing. And God forgive their stubbornness, my family."Lyza is afraid, but her only close friend, Jake, entreats her to go. He will be tied to a life of fishing. He wants Lyza to see more. He wants to go with her. When tragedies strike, Lyza will go to Portland; and she will find the way into her father's world, willing or not.
I headed down a shoreline road just wide enough for a horse and a body to pass each other. Trees lined either side. As darkness filled the road with shadows, I cursed myself for forgetting a lantern. The moon pitied my foolishness and lit the way.
As we read disturbing news accounts of dying manatees , environmental disasters caused by toxic waste, and ocean pollution on the scale of ...
