Where Have the Unicorns Gone?

By Jane Yolen
Illustrated by Ruth Sanderson

If you're looking for a Unicorn PB, this is a great one. The words are seamlessly-dreamy and the illustrations . . . Gorgeous! There's a nice little surprise for the kids (and adults) at the end.

In the author's notes Jane quotes Leis Carroll in Through the Looking Glass, the Unicorn says to Alice, "If you believe in me, I'll believe in you. Is that a bargain?"

Psssst!!! Come a little closer. I have a secret to share.

the Genie Scheme by Kimberly K. Jones

a review from a writers perspective

Do you ever have things magically disapper? Socks, toys, jewelry, books? Psst . . . . ! Come a little closer. I've got a secret to share with you.

I've done a little research on this "disappearing epidemic" and I found some interesting intel. The answer to this phenomenon? Genies. Yep. That's right.

I learned this info from Janna, a teen who feel like she lives in poverty because her mom drives an old car and they have to shop at second hand stores, showed a random act of kindness to a bag lady. Turns out this wasn't your run-of-the-mill bag lady. Nope! She was a Genie. Apparently when you show kindness to a Genie, this binds them to you as their master.

Janna was finally able to have everything she had ever dreamed about. Unfortunately, she learned very quickly that genies don't just *poof* things out of thin air. Anything that they give to you has to *poof* out of the possession of someone or someplace else. Janna learns that there are consequences to our greed and materialization of our wishes.

So . . . all those socks that you've lost, they've gone to some poor sap that needs to learn how to make better wishes. Missing books? Gone to some lucky reader who has a magical-endless supply of reading material.

Story: The Genie Scheme is a cute and humorous story best suited for the tween reader. I think an older teen audience would think the moral of the story might be too preachy.

Chracterization: The main character has realistic problems and realistic reactions to them, her character was written well. The genie is funny and likeable. I love the Genie!
The only downside to the characterization is that the "bad guys" fall flat. There seems to be little (if any) redeemable qualities in the antagonists making their personalities unrealistic. Also, there seems to be a blanket idea that all "rich" people are self serving and bad.

Voice: Each character had their own distinctive, consistent and believable voice. Great job on voice!

Overall this is a cute, fast and fun read. And with all our hopes and dreams building up in anticipation of the New Year, this is a good book to remind us to "be careful what you wish for because you just might get it!"

That lead me to ask . . . what do you wish for 2011 to bring?

I hate it when my antiques hurl me into the space/time continuum . . .

Depressed teen, Martin Conway didn't like it much either. Martin lives in the shadows of an alcoholic father, an overcritical mother and an over-achieving sister. What makes is worse is that everyone hopes that he will measure up to his namesake; a WWII hero of a Grandfather. But Martin can't measure up. He makes poor grades in school, has few friends and when he is picked on by a group of boys at school, he ends up suspended for something that he didn't do. It turns out that he has more in common with his alcoholic father and his mentally ill uncle more than his grandfather.

Everything changes when his mystical grandmother dies and leaves him her antique radio from the 1940's. As he falls asleep to the radio static, he is transported back in time to WWII Where a a boy named Jimmy is pleading for his help, although he's not exactly sure what he needs Martin to do. . . . yet.

This book was a pleasant surprise. I picked it up at the library on a whim. I luv, luv, luv it when that happens!

Book characterization: I like how the characters in this book are believable. They are all flawed yet have their own endearing traits. This book gently explores alcoholism, depression and mental illness in a positive way. I would recommend this book for children facing such issues.

Voice: I think the main characters voice was a little weak. He used several words that I wouldn't expect a teenage boy to use. However that didn't take away (much) of my enjoyment of the voice. I cared about the character and his circumstances. I loved the voice of the WWII boy, Jimmy. I felt like I got a good sense of who he was and his perspective.

The underlying drive of the book: I think this is what sets this book apart from other time-travel/historical fiction books. The underlying question asks, "What do you think makes one man a disgrace and another one a hero?" The story explores how some of those who have been deemed "great" may not be as wonderful as we would like to think. Likewise, those who we tend to look down our noses at may actually be the ones who come through for us in the end.

On a scale of 1 LUV to 5 LUVS, I rate it 4Luvs! <3 <3 <3 <3

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go find an old radio and see where (and when) it will take me.

It's a 2 book giveaway!

I'm Spring-giddy. The trees are budding, the air is warm, Critter is gaining lots of friends on Facebook and I feeling like giving books away. I have this mental image of me in a white cotton dress, skipping through the forest with a basket full of . . . not flower petals . . . . BOOKS! As I whistle a tune I toss books in the air for all those around me to enjoy.

Back to reality. I'm in my office wearing yoga pants and a t-shirt, I'm sitting on a bed (yes, I have a bed in my office instead of a desk. Gotta problem with that?) and I have a blog instead of a basket. This is as close as it gets.

The books in my spring basket:

Prada and Prejudice, by Mandy Hubbard and Ten Ways to Make My Sister Disappear, by Norma Fox Mazer, were both part of the book pack that I won from Christina Farley. I hate to just let a couple good books collect dust on my shelf, so I'm sharing the love with you.

I'll choose a random winner Next week on Wed. So be sure to come back and see if you are one of the two winners.

shhhhh! This post is top secret! Read at your own peril!

Listen very carefully. This is important. The world as you know it could be at stake depending on how you answer these questions.
1) Do you think that having a talent for breaking things could quite possibly be the best talent ever known to man?

2) Would you risk your life to rescue a bag of sand?

3) Do you think a sword is more high-tech than a gun?


If you answered "NO" to any or all of these questions, I have bad news for you. You are under the control of the Evil Librarians. If you want to know the truth about how your world is under the control of the Evil Librarians, then you must read the memoirs of Alcatraz Smedry. This information is only available because his story is being published as fiction under the title Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians. Alcatraz has been forced to use the pseudonym Brandon Sanderson.

Hurry, read the book before the Evil Librarians discover what this book is REALLY about and all the copies will be pulled off the shelves and destroyed! Hurry! Before it's too late.