Oresama Teacher, vol. 1

Tsubaki Izumi's second series is less focused on love than humor. Kurosaki Mafuyu is, or at least was, a delinquent. She was expelled from her previous high school for fighting and has consequently been sent to a school that will pretty much let you in as long as you pay. There she meets/rescues a boy named Takaomi from a group who are trying to fight him. Takaomi ends up extorting her food from her, and she goes to school hungry the next day- where she meets Saeki Takaomi-sensei...her homeroom teacher.

Without giving too much away, Mafuyu finds out that Takaomi was that boy who lived next door. She also becomes friends with Hayasaka, a delinquent boy who sits next to her, and encounters a whole series of complications. It's hilarious. You can see slight romantic tendencies in the plotline, but they are not the main focus at all. I began reading this series from the first chapter, and I eagerly await Tsubaki-sensei's furhter installments.

Blue

Kimi ni Todoke, vol. 1

I started reading Shiina Karuho's work when the first chapter was translated and put online about three years ago. Ever since, I've been a fan. I would say that I've read manga somewhat extensively (thousands of stories, but I have huge gaps in my knowledge), and I can certainly say that this is the best-written shoujo manga of this caliber that I have read. This is first and foremost a love story. It makes you go "Awwwwww..." and "Ohhhhhh!!!". I'll keep reading 'til the end, then I'll read it over and over again.

Kuronuma Sawako comes off as a terribly frightening person- the majority of the school mistakenly thinks her name is Sadako (from The Ring)- but is actually sweet, honest, and sincere. her hobbies include studying and picking up trash. Kazehaya Shouta is a super friendly, super nice boy who has developed an interest in Kuronuma- basically, he likes her. However, she doesn't fit in with the class, and Kazehaya partly wants to help her there, but he discovers that as she gains friends, he is able to spend less time with her. There is little doubt that Kazehaya likes her, and Sawako-chan is beginning to develop feelings for him, although she has no idea what those feelings are. The volume ends when another girl who likes Kazehaya (there are several) starts spreading rumors that Sadako is calling her friend Yoshida Chizuru a delinquent, and her friend Yano Ayane, essentially, a slut.

Blue

Something Rotten

Alan Gratz said he'd been working with the character of Horatio Wilkes for 17 years. Well, it paid off. Something Rotten is a modern rendition of Shakespeare's Hamlet, set in the small town of Denmark, Tennessee. Horatio visits his friend Hamilton for a month and discovers Denmark's unique quality right off the bat: the smell. Hamilton's family runs a highly successful paper mill that is polluting the river.

Horatio has keen wits and a smarter mouth, so he quickly tangles with Hamilton's mom, uncle-turned-step-father, and Olivia, Hamilton's ex. When Hamilton discovers that his father was murdered, Horatio promises to act detective and get to the bottom of the mystery. Oh, the tangled web...

Gratz writes cleverly, and adapts the story well. If one is familiar with the play, it is possible to match scenes as our adventure progresses. I must admit, there were some surprises. For one, Olivia is a strong environmentalist and becomes very ill after drinking the polluted water straight from the river for a publicity stunt. No, she does not die. For another, "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern" do die- in flames. No pirates, though.

This story is as interesting as it is witty, and both rank up there. I was glad to have given it a try, and I might just take a look at some more of Gratz's work.

Blue

Searching for Dragons

Cimorene is back with new friends. Patricia Wrede has written an amazing sequel, using a new characters point of view. We see this story through the eyes of Mendanbar (King of the Enchanted Forest) as he teams up with Cimorene to find the kidnapped King Kazul.

I absolutely love the different views of Cimorene and Morwen we gain in this book. We know how Cimorene thinks, and in the first book she is generally right about most things. After all she is dealing with a lot of silly people. However, now she is dealing with someone who accepts her as she is and is on par with her, about most things. Mendanbar has a different way of viewing the world, and is less jaded in my opinion. So, how he deals with people and animals is more polite, more straight forward, and less pushy until he has to step in as KING. I love stories where the King thinks of it more as a job than a right and treats it as such.

So now I've dealt with dragons. I've searched for dragons. On to Calling on Dragons.

Brown

Dealing With Dragons

Patricia Wrede truly is one of the great authors, tackling various storylines. Her trademark is magic of some sort, but not in the normal way we think of magic. Magic definitely has its own complications. The same is true in her Enchanted Forest Series.

In the first book we meet, Cimorene, a bored, yet intelligent princess who runs away to escape an unwanted marriage. And that's all I'm going to tell you. This is one of those books that you just have to read for yourselves. It will make you look at fairy tales in a completely different light.

Brown

Never After

Rebecca Lickiss' second work is one of my absolute favorites. Sometimes, I read a book, go 'Oh, that was nice' and put it down for several years. This one, I can finish and immediately start reading again. Never After is in the vein of fairy tales, but treats them in the manner of turning them upside down and spinning them 'round on their heads.

The main tale is that of Sleeping Beauty, except instead of one sleeping princess, it's three sleeping princes, as Prince Althelstan finds out after he finally hacks through the tangled briar barrier and searches for a month for the sleeping princess. He does find one, but kissing her does no good for the general curse. Also, there is a severe shortage of princesses in the land, so Althelstan comes up with the idea to get his cousin, the Lady Vevila, who technically is a princess, to come a'kissing. One problem: Vevila is more interested in adventuring than princes. After bribing Vevila with her own horse and a sword, he finally gets her to agree, but that's only the beginning.

The characters are strong, well-formed, and interesting. Vevila is sure and no-nonsense, who can take care of herself. The three wizards are all humorous, and Lickiss pulls an interesting trick by cursing one wizard to only speak in quotes from The Merchant of Venice. The story is excellent. Though is draws on familiar material, the plot is fresh and inventive. So far I've been borrowing Brown's copy for the last 150 times I've read it, and I will certainly have to get a copy of my own.

Blue

The Thirteenth Child

What if history had gone a different path? What if magic was prevalent? Patricia Wrede shows us such a world. A world where steam dragons and wooly mammoths still exist in the US, except it's called Columbia. Here we meet Eff, who is the thirteenth child. Her twin brother is Lan, a double-seven, which everyone knows means a natural and powerful magician. Too bad his twin sister has to be unlucky and will one day turn to evil.

Hearing this growing up, Eff believes it with her whole being. She is constantly apologizing for things that aren't her fault. Finally, her Uncle Earn brings the police around to arrest her because she placed a curse on his house. ...only she didn't. And the police refuse to arrest her because she's only five. But her parents have had enough and they move with the younger children to Mill City near the Great Barrier where all the monsters are. Now what are children to do?

A lovely blend of true history and made-up history making us to believe in this world whole heartedly. Patricia Wrede's style is familiar, yet never the same through all her books, showing us again what a talented writer she is.

Brown

Twice Upon a Marigold

One year after Christian and Marigold married, things heat up again when Queen Olympia regains her memory. For the past year, Olympia has had amnesia and an alternate personality- a nice one called Angelica. But when she becomes Olympia again, all memory of Angelica disappears. Of course, Olympia finds her way back to the castle and behaves as though she never left- but worse.

I was not as impressed with Jean Ferris' sequel as I was with Once Upon a Marigold. Though that work did end on a suitable cliff hanger, the follow up was not quite what I expected. Stan Lucasa and Susan seemed to come out of nowhere, and I'm not sure that their actions at the castle were in-character. It's a nice read, but not as well done as the first.

Blue

The Exiled Queen

Cinda William Chima has an amazing depth to her story telling. Her stories are not simple situations for everyday characters, yet it is everyday characters who are having to decide what to do. Each character stays true to form. Raisa, the runaway princess; Corporal Byrne, the captain and Raisa's protector; Han Alister, street lord turned wizard... etc.

This book takes place at Oden's Ford, a place of peace amidst warring nations. The most difficult part is traveling there, trying to avoid being recruited into the roaming armies. Once there, each student can learn their desired vocation. There is a soldier school, a engineering school, a temple school, a wizard school, and a couple others. Students can mingle or stay separate depending on their choice. Raisa, known as Rebecca Morley, needs to stay hidden while learning how to become a good strong leader. Han Alister, needs to learn magic, a power he did not know he had until recently. Unfortunately for both of them, other people decide to meddle with their lives causing them to take what could be drastic measures.

An amazing sequel to The Demon King. I can't wait for the next one.

Brown

Found

This is another book I first read in middle school, and I had a heck of a time finding it again. I couldn't remember the title, so I had to make due with a Google search for "book character Ren"... While I enjoy the Fruits Basket series, this Ren is not malicious or twisted. In fact, she's a rather brave child.

In June Oldham's book, the time is sometime in the distant 21st century, the place doesn't really matter (but is probably England, given the landscape and because allusions are given to a certain "henge"). In this place, the people either live in living-working units with loads of computers, or out on the street. In this particular place, there is a tax on extra children (one allowed per unit), and if you can't pay, the child is placed in a Surplus Children Unit, and doomed to an unfavorable fate.

Our story takes place because Ren's mom is pregnant and cannot afford to pay the extra child tax. However, she does not want to abandon either of her children to the SCU, and so uses illegal connections to find passage for Ren out of the province to an area without restrictions on children. Ren is dropped off to wait at a cave in the countryside and meets Brockett, a boy who was brought up on the moor after being abandoned there as a baby. Later Ren meets Lil, a street person who is also trying to get out of the province and is being chased by patrolmen, who get their kicks in beating up street people and refusing to let them leave. Lil is hardened and competent and can take care of herself, but she's not much more than a child herself. When Brockett brings Ren a baby he found, the three end up caring for her and decide to take her out of the province as well. (Plus a chase by a scary person, a fight to the death, mortal illness, etc.)

There's more to the story to that, and it gets complicated. Oldham's work is a complication of the setting she places her story in, but other than incidental references, the time period and circumstances of society are very little described. Characters come and go and more often than not you are left to guess at how old they are or what they look like. Other than their decisions and actions, all that would normally go into a character's description isn't important in this story. Overall it's odd, but an intriguing race of a story. I'm glad I found it again, if only to lay to rest the ghosts of memory.

Blue

The Snow Maiden and Other Russian Tales

Bonnie C. Marshall did (does) what I would dearly love to do, albeit all over the world: collect folk and fairy tales from the source. In this work, Marshall has collected, translated, and retold traditional Russian folk tales. Plus, she tells a bit about how she did it, and gives some Russian history for contextual reference.

I've always been a fan of folk tales, and this work represents a wide variety of them from four categories: animal tales, fairy tales, tales of everyday life, and tales of spirits and the supernatural. Some stories end happily, others are a bit of a kick in the pants, and some, well, let's just say I won't ever be going into a Russian bathhouse alone, let alone at midnight...

I admire Marshall's work not just for its entertainment value or its educational merit, but because she worked hard for a subject she truly cares about. It shows. And it inspired further interest in the lands and peoples (and recipes!) from which these stories came.

Blue