Grreat Read Outloud for Young Children

Title: Whose Ears are Whose?
Author: Lana Jordan
Illustrator: Pam Farrance & Melanie Babcock
Publisher and/or Distributor: Jorlan Publishing, Inc.
Publisher Website: www.jorlanpublishing.com
Pages: 32
ISBN: 978-1-933830-01-8
Price: $14
Publishing Date: 2008
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating:5 hearts

A boy comes into his room to find all his stuffed animals very upset. His little sister has removed all their ears and thrown them into a pile on the floor. He sorts them all out and returns them to each animal properly. The animals don’t recognize their own ears because they are too loose. The boy resorts them into some very funny combinations and duct tapes them on so they feel fitting and tight. The animals all love their ears now, although the elephant has sheep ears; the lion has rabbit ears; the pup has deer ears and antlers; the deer has mouse ears; and so on.

This is a delightful read-a-loud. First, it teaches patience when the boy doesn’t become angry at his little sister. It demonstrates sorting skills, inventiveness with using the duct tape, and flexibility in how the ears are finally matched. The animals demonstrate how people don’t always know what’s really best for them. My wife and I eagerly look forward to sharing this book with our young grandchildren. It is indeed rare that a picture book teaches so much so quickly and easily. We rated it five hearts.

A Fantastic Book for Reluctant Readers

Title: The Secret Zoo
Author: Bryan Chick
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Second Wish Press
Publisher Website: www.secondwishpress.com
Pages: 252
ISBN: 978-0-9791887-3-2
Price: $5.99
Publishing Date: Oct 2007
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating: 5 hearts

This is an excellent book for reluctant readers. Four pre-teens (the Adventure Scouts) become involved in their town’s zoo, which they discover is connected to a very secret underground city designed to allow people and animals to live together in peace. In doing so, Megan mysteriously disappears and her brother Noah and friends Ella and Richie find themselves in this adventure of their lives that has earth-changing potentials. The riding of a huge polar bear and a sharp-horned rhino, as well as a giant penguin while being supported by birds and a colony of prairie dogs will fire the imaginations of young readers. Thrill to their conflict with a mysterious Shadow Man and a colony of evil Sasquatches. Discover a decades old secret that is protected by a secret society of humans and animals. We rated this book with a constant lightning pace five hearts.

48 Demons of Tezuka

Title: Dororo Vol. 1
Author: Osamu Tezuka
Illustrator: Osamu Tezuka
Publisher and/or Distributor: Vertical, Inc.
Publisher Website: www.vertical-inc.com
Pages: 342
ISBN: 978-193428716-3
Price: $13.95
Publishing Date: 2008
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating: 5 hearts

This Manga is yet another Japanese classic brought to us from the New York publishing house that is dedicated to bringing the best of Japanese literature to the United States. The first in a three-volume series. Its movie version grossed $30 million. This is the first time it has been rendered in the English language.

There is a battle on almost every page—definitely an action graphic novel. A samurai seeking to become warlord of Japan. He agrees to trade his soon to be born son’s 48 body parts as payment toward that end. When born, he throws the deformed baby into the river to drown. The boy is discovered by a doctor who makes prosthetics for the missing body parts and adopts him as his own. Grown now, our hero meets a wild bandit boy with whom he teams. Along the way, he kills demons and regains a missing body part for every demon he kills.

This is one of the most influential Manga artists in Japan’s history. We rated it a solid five hearts.

YA About Foster Children

Title: Kyleah’s Tree
Author: Janet Muirhead Hill
Illustrator: Publisher and/or Distributor: Raven Publishing, Inc.
Publisher Website: www.ravenpublishing.net
Pages: 192
ISBN: 978-0-9772525-9-6
Price: $12
Publishing Date: Aug 2008
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating: 4 hearts

This young adult story addresses the problems of being an abandoned or orphan child living with foster care givers and the child imagining many threats that either don’t exist or are misinterpreted. Kyleah believes that if she could become prettier, her abandoning father and twin brother might come for her. She also believes that if she climbs a tall oak tree in the front yard right at sun rise, she will get her wishes.

She and foster brother Benjamin decide to run away from the foster home in Kansas to Canada, where they almost freeze while trying to escape border patrol and RCMP policemen. This is an exciting story that teaches much about many critical concepts as well as entertaining the reader. We rated it four hearts.

A Spanish Author Writes GRREAT YA Fantasy

Title: Ivan of Aldenuri: The Forest of the Taurocs
Author: J.P. Foncea
Translator: Stephen Caro
Publisher and/or Distributor: Cambridge Brick House, Inc.
Publisher Website: www.cbhbooks.com
Pages: 261
ISBN: 978-1-59835-058-6
Price: $19.99
Publishing Date: 2008
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating: 5 hearts

This is an excellent YA fantasy written by a lawyer in Spain and translated by a successful actor in England with lots of stage play translation experience.

Twelve-year-old Ivan discovers a medal in a hollow tree. Shortly afterwards, Ivan discovers he can float and fly. His new ability helps protect his community by allowing him to spot sea raiders. Ironically, they manage to kidnap him for a ransom effort later on.
An attack by sea monsters helps break him away from captivity and he flies away from the raiders’ ships to a land far away from his home. There, he becomes involved in saving new friends and communities from horrific monster Taurocs (a cross between bulls and dinosaurs). In the meantime, Ivan’s home community is being asked for a huge ransom by the sea raiders, even though they have lost Ivan.

This is a cleanly written and exciting story for young adults. We especially liked the emphasis on instinctively doing the right thing, no matter how frightened you are. We scored this five hearts.

Literacy by and for Tweeners

Title: Journey to the Homeland
Author: Hannah Stahlhut
Illustrator: Hannah England
Publisher and/or Distributor: Baker Trittin Press
Publisher Website: www.bakertrittinpress.com
Pages: 107
ISBN: 978-0-9814893-0-8
Price: $10.95
Publishing Date: 2008
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating: 4 hearts

This delightful YA novel won the first Tweener Time International Chapter Book Competition. Written by a teen for tweens (8-12), this wonderful chapter book follows a young man, Keegan, who wanders around in search of a home. His quest is complicated by his secret talent—the ability to speak telepathically with animals. His best friend and protector is an imposing jaguar, Adrian. His life becomes complicated and endangered by an arrogant girl, Nora, who suddenly takes the credit for animal speaking. They find themselves traveling together to a neighboring country trying to escape agents of their greedy king, but the chase doesn’t end with their crossing of the border.

The author and illustrator have won large scholarships for their efforts. This competition is an exciting addition to the book industry by providing young people an opportunity to prove their talents. We welcome this first competition’s winners and rate her book four hearts.

New YA Series for Horse and History Lovers

Title: Eclipsed by Shadow: The Legend of the Great Horse Series
Author: John Royce
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Micron Press
Publisher Website: www.micronpress.com
Pages: 288ISBN: 978-0-9724121-3-1
Price: $19.95
Publishing Date: Summer 2008
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating: 5 hearts

This fascinating YA first book of a trilogy on the history of man’s relationships with the horse is particularly well done. Meagan, a young teenager, witnesses the arrival of a new colt she names Promise. She enjoys socializing the colt and caring for him until it’s time for him to grow up with other colts. Several years later, the now young adult horse returns to Meagan’s horse farm to begin saddle training. Unfortunately, a crooked horse trainer is out to steal Promise. Meagan stumbles on the plot and manages to leap onto Promises back and jumps a fence in order to escape. Suddenly Promise sprouts wings and carries Meagan back in time to caveman times. Meagan falls off, only to find herself in the middle of a caveman horse hunt for fresh food. After a short time there, she jumps on another horse and finds herself as a slave in Rome, and then she moves forward to ride with the Mongols. After more hard times, she moves forward in time to the times of the Crusades, where the book ends with the reader anxious to know what is next.

This series teaches not only the history of Man’s relationship with the horse, but the history and day to day cultures of different civilizations of the past. We rated this first book five hearts.

A GRREAT Book for Young Horse Lovers

Title: Twoey and the Goat
Author: Robbie Timmons
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Mitten Press
Publisher Website: www.mittenpress.com
Pages: 182
ISBN: 978-1-58726-517-4
Price: $15.95
Publishing Date: March 2008
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating: 5 hearts

This is great story for young equine fanciers. This fictionalized novel is based on a true-life story about a young racing thoroughbred and is friend and constant companion Captain Kidd, a billy goat. The story follows their whole lives from Twoey’s birth, the training he receives from his mother and advice he receives from a racing champion. He makes the transition to yearling and adulthood, winning race after race, with his ever present friend, Capt Kidd always there to calm him down. After a racing injury, we watch his slow but courageous decline into racing obscurity, always accompanied by Capt Kidd as he is sold from owner to owner. Finally, he finds redemption in retirement.

The author has done an excellent job of switching points of view to tell the horse’s story. She has an intimate style of writing that allows her readers inside her characters’ minds. We rated this book five hearts.

Into the Volcano

Here is our first graphic novel review. This one is focused toward 2nd grade and up:

Title: Into the Volcano
Author: Don Wood
Illustrator: Don Wood
Publisher and/or Distributor: Scholastic / Blue Sky Press
Publisher Website: www.scholastic.com
Pages: 175ISBN: 978-0-439-72671-9
Price: $18.99
Publishing Date: Oct 2008
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating: 4 hearts

This graphic novel for ages 7 and up follows two young brothers who are sent by their father with a strange cousin to a remote Pacific volcanic island to see their aunt Lulu. One of the brothers, Sumo, is afraid of doing or experiencing anything. His brother Duffy is just the opposite.

They are flown by charter jet to the island and there, they quickly involved with going inside an active volcano, trying to escape their so-called family. Their mother, supposedly doing research in Borneo, shows up in an underground cavern. She shows them a treasure trove of magical gems which may solve all mankind’s energy problems. Finally, the family comes back together and Sumo gains a modicum of bravery.

The artwork and the characters have a definite Samoan flavor. We rated this graphic novel by a Caldecott Award Honors winner four hearts.

Graphic Novel Category

Recently, I have been offered many more graphic novels for review than in the past. It's a sign of our times where so many people have become visually oriented in their communications due to the evolving technologies. Comic specialty store employees say that by far the age group of customers shopping for comic versions are adults in their twenties, not children. Many of the major publishers have begun producing Manga (Japanese comics) books.

For these reasons, I have decided to add a graphic novel genre to HeartlandReviews.com. Many of these graphic novels are appropriate for young adults, and I will include these reviews in this blog because many reluctant readers find they identify more with graphic novels. Please let me know your thoughts on this topic.

The Hunger Games

Title: The Hunger Games
Author: Suzanne Collins
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Scholastic Press
Publisher Website: www.scholastic.com
Pages: 420
ISBN: 978-0-439-02348-1
Price: $17.99
Publishing Date: Oct 2008
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating: 5 hearts

This YA is the best book I have read in the past year. In a possible future, America no longer exists. It has been replaced by Panen, a wealthy capitol surrounded by twelve districts. (It was thirteen districts until one was utterly destroyed as an example to the others) which are kept dirt poor and starving. To remind the districts they are totally under the control of the capitol, a unique levy is required every year. Each district must select one boy and one girl aged 10-17 to travel to the capitol to compete in the Hunger Games—a battle to the death of the selected youngsters until only one is left alive. The survivor’s district and the survivor are given vast rewards (money, food, and a life of ease ever after), so there is a strong vested interest in the districts participating willingly.

The tension is constant and the heroine, 16-year-old Katniss Everdeen, is an accomplished hunter (poacher) and survivalist who brings her outdoor skills to the games. The boy selected from her district, Peeta, claims to have loved Katniss since they were five, much to her surprise. What if they have to try to kill one another? The conflicts are multiple and deadly. The book ends with the perfect set up for a series. Its treatment reminded me of Stephen King when he wrote The Long Walk as Richard Bachman. It is a theme dating back to the days of the Minotaur. The author handles the violence in a tasteful manner, but it still is pretty intense—a book more suited to the older segment of the YA genre. This promises to be an exciting series and will be ideal for reluctant readers. We rated it five hearts.

GRREAT New SF/Fantasy Series

Title: Paraworld Zero
Author: Matthew Peterson
Illustrator: Matthew Peterson
Publisher and/or Distributor: Blue Works
Publisher Website: www.windstormcreative.com
Pages: 251
ISBN: 9781590924914
Price: $16.99
Publishing Date: 2008
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating: 5 hearts

Twelve-year-old orphan Simon Kent is a much abused nerd at school who wears glasses he doesn’t need in hopes that bullies won’t hit him. He has a whole drawerful of broken glasses, so that doesn’t work so well. All that changes when he accidentally meets Tonya, a girl whose hair changes colors like a giant mood ring and comes from a parallel universe. Simon discovers he can perform magic and uses it when he and Tonya find themselves running for their lives between parallel worlds.

This is the first in a wonderful series for mid-grade young adults that promises many more adventures. The author has mastered the formula for injecting a constantly increasing level of tension in his story. No, this does not replace Harry Potter. It’s totally different—it’s more SF than fantasy and definitely more American cultural oriented. This series should become a bestselling set of stories. We rated it an almost perfect five hearts.

Now It Can be Told

Most of my readers here and at my book review site http://www.heartlandreviews.com have probably notice I haven't written a review since November. Now I can tell you why. Once again, I was selected to be one of the judges in this year's Publishers Marketing Association's Benjamin Franklin Awards. I don't get paid for that, but it is a huge credibility booster and a chance to see some of the newest small press and self-published books for this past year. Imagine my dismay when I received two shipments totaling 54 books of popular fiction. This week I finished reading the last of these and rendering my scores. One book I had to recuse myself from judging because I had been its content editor (Ascent into Darkness).

Since I finished on Tuesday, I have read a wonderful YA SF Adventure novel, Para World Zero, which I will write its review later this morning. I also tried to read another book, but it was too poorly written to review. Despite our attempt to filter books offered, we still get substandard ones occasionally. That's when I prove my worth by sifting the wheat from the chaff.

You're going to see many more reviews of excellent books for gifted and reluctant readers now.

The Direction's the Reading World is Taking

I had an interesting conversation with a client in Arizona recently. I had suggested he might want to convert his novel into a graphics novel as well, to try and capture a share of that market. He was not aware of recent developments in the book industry, so the picture he had in his mind was of a series of 42-page comic books which would be serialized into a novel. He was shocked when I explained that now we have 300-page novels rather than much smaller comics. He was also shocked when I told him the cost of turning a novel such as his into a graphic novel would be between $75,000 and $250,000 just for the artwork, never mind the designing and printing. We immediately tabled that discussion.

Herein lies one of the problems in the reluctant reading field. Not only kids, but now many adults will only read something that is visually based rather than written word based. For a more detailed analysis of where this all is leading, you may want to subscribe to my FREE monthly newsletter. You can find a subscription form at any of the pages at http://www.grreatbooks.com .

Latest Word on Books

We're back! My wife and I drove to Louisville, Kentucky, and back over the weekend to attend the American Booksellers Association's Winter Institute. This is an excellent get-together for over 500 folks from independent bookstores all over the United States. We attended many seminars that brought us up to date on customers service, technology, and what's happening in the industry. We were able to attend four different sessions with bookseller reps from many different major publisers to hear and see what they are releasing onto the marketplace within the next three months.

I was very pleased to see how many young adult and childrens books could easily qualify as books for gifted and reluctant readers. I will be reviewing many of these (we got advanced copies) and will be posting them here on this blog.

I should also mention that my review activities have been greatly slowed because I am busy reading and judging general fiction books in a major national book award competition. That will continue through March. This promises to be a very exciting year in the book industry and what is available to readers.

Reluctant reader Books Just Got Cheaper

As one of my last actions before I take a week off for a medical procedure, I have programed our new online catalog site http://www.grreatbooks.com/ to provide a 15% discount on most of the books we are recommending. That is also true for many of the books in our distributor's 2,000,000 title database. We made the decision to do this as a way to compete against the big corporations. We hope this makes acquiring a library for your children and yourselves just a little bit easier.

I'll be back in a week, just in time to put together our first reluctant reader newsletter. If you would like to be on our mailing list, go to our catalog pages. I have not automated the process yet, so I will send you our free special report on gifted and reluctant readers when I get back. Thanks for understanding. I'm a one-man band here with no webmaster other than myself, but I'll eventually build in all the bells and whistles.