Snuff

Terry Pratchett. The man's a living legend, and his Discworld series is one of the few works out there that proves humorous fantasy has a place in this world. At this point, reviewing his books is about as useful as giving a thumbs up to a work by John Grisham, right? So why bother with a review of his latest book, SNUFF?

Plenty of reasons.

First of all, some Pratchett fans out there might not be aware that he has a new book coming out. As a diehard Pratchett fan myself, I know I wouldn't want to miss one of his works just because I was too busy being distracted by other books at the moment...hey, it happens. But let's be honest: any serious Pratchett fan should already well aware of the latest book on its way. That said, Discworld has over 35 books in it, and that sheer number alone is the main reason I'm writing this review. There might well be fantasy readers out there who've heard of Pratchett, but have no desire to devote themselves to a 35+ novel epic. It'd be like tuning into Lost for the last three episodes, right? Wrong.

Pratchett's Discworld series is a series only insofar as it all shares the same globe, and some of the same characters. In reality, the series is cut into smaller chunks, with certain characters taking the lead role in certain books. Thus, you have the Witches books, the Death books, the Wizards, Tiffany Aching and the like. Fans have their favorite characters. I personally really like the Death books and the City Watch books, and so I'm really happy to report that SNUFF is a City Watch book.

So what does that mean exactly? It means that it has Sam Vines as the main protagonist. He's the street-wise head of the of the City Watch, and he usually has a full rank of watchmen below him. SNUFF is a bit of an oddity in this regard, as Sam takes a trip to the country with his wife and son (and awesome butler Willikins). Other City Watch characters appear in the novel, but they take on fairly minor roles--many of them no more than cameos. This is all just to say that if you haven't read a Discworld novel, there's no time like the present to start. SNUFF isn't the best of the bunch, but just being a Discworld book sets it above most of the other books being published today.

Another unifying aspect most of the Discworld novels have is that they each take on a certain theme. Religion, tradition, free agency--I don't mean to say that Pratchett hammers his readers over the head with a theme (well, not usually), but each book often drives home a certain point. In Snuff, Pratchett tackles the very weighty subject of racism. What makes a person a person? In Discworld, there are many different sentient beings. Humans, Trolls, Dwarfs, Nac Mac Feegle (sort of militant Scotch Smurfs)--they all get along, more or less. At the very least, they treat each other as beings worthy of some degree of respect. Except goblins. Goblins are just about as bad as rats. They're disease-ridden, incapable of higher thought, and killing an entire group of them is no worse than getting the exterminator to come out and take care of a nasty spider problem.

The story in SNUFF involves Sam going to the country, and he meeting a colony of goblins who have been treated very poorly over the past few decades. Not that he really cares about it--until someone kills a goblin and tries to use its blood to implicate Vimes in a murder. Then it's personal. Vimes starts to get to know some goblins personally, and he discovers (surprise surprise) that they really aren't too different from humans. (Aside from the propensity to like eating turkey gizzards, that is. And the bathing habits)

It's a twisty, turny plot, with rollicking boat rides, deep caves, and some key harp music. In the hands of a lesser author, all of this would get overwhelming and dry. Even in Pratchett's well-practiced pen, the book has a tendency to bog down a bit more than some of his other Discworld novels. I think this is mainly due to how bleak the subject material is. It's hard to make something like that be humorous at the same time.

In the end, however, it's a subject worth addressing. Using fantasy characters, Pratchett's able to let his readers look at their own prejudices in a non-threatening way. Is it too much to hope that someone reading SNUFF will read about the way goblins are treated and realize that they mistreat some people based on preconceived notions? Possibly, but I applaud Pratchett for trying.

Recommended Age: 14+
Language: Light
Violence: Some, but never overly bloody. Violence happens, but Pratchett keeps the tone light enough to keep it from becoming gory.
Sex: Nothing but a few heaving bosoms.

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Books We Like , Fantasy , humor , Terry Pratchett

Darth Paper Strikes Back (MG)

Darth Paper Strikes Back. Tom Angleberger. 2011. Harry N. Abrams. 176 pages.

It is a dark time at McQuarrie Middle School...when did it start? I can tell you exactly when it started.
The first day of school. The very first day of seventh grade. We didn't even get one good day. We got, like, five minutes.

Darth Paper Strikes Back is the sequel to The Strange Case of Origami Yoda. Sixth grade is over, seventh grade is just beginning. And it seems the wisdom of everyone's favorite origami Yoda isn't as revered or respected as in previous days. Teachers and administrators aren't so fond of the "disruptions" made by Dwight and his paper puppet. And there are some in the class who are oh-so-tired of it all. Or at least tired of Dwight getting all the attention. Harvey a student who can be a little mean at times--but isn't quite a complete bully at heart--comes to school with Darth Paper. And thus a NEW saga begins.

So the novel begins with bad news. Dwight has been kicked out of school. He may or may not be allowed to return after a few weeks. His case has to come before the school board. His friends want to help him, of course. And so they set about writing this casebook as to why Dwight and his origami Yoda are positive influences on the school, on the class. They're defending their friend.

So the book has multiple narrators. And there are many stories to tell. If you liked the first book, then you'll definitely want to read this one! It's an entertaining read!

© 2011 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in 2011 , friendship , Harry N. Abrams , humor , J Fiction , J Realistic Fiction , review copy , school

Home to Harmony

Home to Harmony. Philip Gulley. 2002. HarperCollins. 225 pages.

When I was in the second grade, my teacher, Miss Maxwell, read from The Harmony Herald that one in every four children lived in China. I remember looking over the room, guessing which children they might be. I wasn't sure where China was, but suspected it was on bus route three. 

One of the best, best, best books I've read lately. One of those books that had me at hello. It may not appeal to every one. I suppose you might say it is a little sentimental now and then. But. It is truly one of those cozy books that make you feel oh-so-happy. Or, I should say it made me feel oh-so-happy. There were chapters that had me laughing--really laughing hard. There were chapters that had me close to tears. And almost every chapter had something worth quoting. I realized this right away and didn't even try to mark them all. (Some books are like that.)

So the premise of this one is simple. Sam Gardner lives in the small town of Harmony. He went away--to school, to seminary--but now he's back. And unlike some in the town, he's very happy to be back, very happy to be living in Harmony. He understands--better than some--why it may not be a town for everyone, but to him it's right where he wants to be.

The book is a collection of stories. Some set in the past, some set in the present. The stories are arranged by season--spring, summer, fall, winter. And the stories are about the community, the people who live there or who have lived there. We meet Bob Miles Sr. and Dale Hinshaw. The narrator is a Quaker minister.

My favorite stories were: Miss Rudy, Wilbur, and Friday Nights; Burma-Shave; The Birds and the Bees; This Callous Pride; Mutiny; The Twins; Miriam and Ellis; and The Spelling Bee. 

"He had been inoculated with a small dose of Christianity, which had kept him from catching the real thing." (51)

"When love takes you by the hand and leaves you better, that is home." (63)

"The Dale Hinshaw Effect is simply this: If there is a bad idea to be thought, Dale Hinshaw will think it." (67)

© 2011 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in 2002 , adult fiction , humor , library book , short stories

Withering Tights (YA)

Withering Tights. Louise Rennison. 2011. HarperCollins. 288 pages.

Wow, this is it. This is me growing up. On my own, going to Performing Arts College. This is good-bye, Tallulah, you long, gangly thing, and helloooooo, Lullah, star of stage and ...owwwwooo. Ow and ow. The train lurched and I've nearly knocked myself out on the side of the door. I'm bound to get a massive lump. Oh good, I can start college with two heads...

Tallulah, our fourteen-year-old-heroine, is such a delight. She is on her way to a performing arts summer program in Yorkshire. As she was the last to sign up for the course, she won't be staying in the dorm, there wasn't enough room, but a local family, the Dobbins, has welcomed her into their home. As a reader, I must admit, I'm GLAD there wasn't room for her in the dorm. Else we would have missed out on this quirky family and the squirrel slippers. And Tallulah may not have caught so many glimpses of local bad boy, Cain, outside her window. Not that she likes him likes him.

So what is Withering Tights about? It's about her summer. It's about her going to summer school and taking all these classes. It's about her failing to make a great impression with the teachers, and making a funny impression on her classmates. It's about her making some GREAT friends: Jo, Vaisey, Flossie, Ruby, etc. It's about her meeting a couple of guys and getting her first and second kiss...not that either is perfect. Are the guys worth swooning over? Maybe. There's local bad boy, Cain, whom Tallulah does NOT like in that way, not even a little bit. There's Charlie and Ben, two friends of Jo's crush. There are a group of guys that like hanging around with this group of girls. (No one is exactly pairing up and getting serious.) And then there is Alex. He is THE ONE that makes Tallulah swoon the most. He turns her silly--or should that be sillier. He's also Ruby's older brother.

What did I love about Withering Tights? Well, I loved Tallulah. I just loved her. She was such a fun person to spend time with. I did enjoy Alex. And Cain. And Charlie. (Ben didn't thrill me all that much.) I loved Tallulah's friends. I think Ruby may just be my favorite--she is a bit younger than Tallulah. But there was just something about her that made me smile. The great thing was that none of these friends annoyed me. (One of my biggest annoyances with the Georgia Nicholson series was Georgia's friends. I'm not sure if I found them annoying because Georgia found them annoying. Or if they were just super-obnoxious all on their own.) I loved the humor! I did! For example, ONE of the assignments in this drama school was for them to put on a musical based on Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights.

Here's one of the songs she writes:

I'm out on the moors, the wild moors,
Let's roll about in rockpools.
Oh, it gets lonely without you,
I hate you, I love you.
It's Cathy, trying to get in your Windoooooow ow ow ow... (171)

and

I'm out on the moors, the windy moors,
Let's roll about in mud pools,
Or sheep poo, I hate you, I love you, tooooo.
Heathcliff, it's me, tap-tapping on your windooooow. (220)

Of course, that's just a small part of the Bronte humor!

So I'd recommend Withering Tights for anyone who loves funny romances. Of course, anyone who loved and adored Georgia Nicholson should give Tallulah a try. I actually liked Withering Tights more than most of the more recent Georgia novels. There was nothing tired about it.

© 2011 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in 2011 , friendship , HarperCollins , humor , library book , Summer , YA Fiction , YA realistic fiction , YA Romance

Beauty Queens (YA/Adult)

Beauty Queens. Libba Bray. 2011. Scholastic.  400 pages.

This book begins with a plane crash. We do not want you to worry about this. According to the U.S. Department of Unnecessary Statistics, your chances of dying in a plane crash are one in half a million. Whereas your chances of losing your bathing suit bottoms to a strong tide are two to one. So, all in all, it's safer to fly than to go to the beach. As we said, this book begins with a plane crash. But there are survivors. You see? Already it's a happy tale. They are all beauty queen contestants. You do not need to know their names here. But you will get to know them. They are all such nice girls. Yes, they are nice, happy, shining, patriotic girls who happen to have interests in baton twirling, sign language, AIDS prevention in the animal population, the ancient preparation of popadam, feminine firearms, interpretive dance, and sequins. Such a happy story. And shiny, too.

Beauty Queens has action, adventure, drama, romance, and humor. I can't promise that you'll love Beauty Queens--or even like Beauty Queens. I'm not even sure how I feel about it. It kept me reading. It was over-the-top. It was sarcastic. It was funny. Perhaps some of the humor is a bit twisted, a bit out of the ordinary, a bit insane. A satire of sorts I believe examining our culture, our society, our obsession with reality TV, our obsession with beauty and fashion and celebrity status, our commercialism, our materialism. I do believe there were some hidden and not-so-hidden messages that tend towards the truth--minus some of the exaggeration and ridiculousness. So part of me thought Beauty Queens was clever. At least clever in premise. For I do believe that Beauty Queens is driven by the premise. It is a story where beauty queens battle to survive and are forced to come to terms with who they are as individuals without the attention, without the glamor, without the immediate need to be objectified and validated by others, by society. In other words, can these thirteen survivors get beyond the pretty?

If Beauty Queens has a weakness, it is that the book lacks in believability and characterization. While half the girls are more realized than the others--some we never even learn their names, we just know their state--few really reach their full potential. Perhaps because this novel is told through so many narrators. Or perhaps because we're told more than we're shown. Readers first see stereotypes, then ever so slowly, readers learn more about the characters. Readers come to see them grow through the novel. But some of this growth is a little too sudden. In one chapter they'll be doing this, saying that--and then the next chapter, it seems they've radically changed into better, stronger, smarter, more empowered women. We do follow their individual journeys; we do learn their secrets one by one. So I'm not saying the novel is lacking in all characterization. Perhaps just that it's a bit uneven?

Did I like it? Did I love it? I'm not sure I can say either. I found it a compelling read. I found it hard to put down. I had the need to know what happened next. I found myself smiling at some of the foot notes and some of the commercials and advertisements. I do think this one is so unique, so creative--at least at this moment*--that it will be hard to forget it. I can definitely see the appeal to this one. But did I personally love it--like LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it? Probably not. Still, it was a good way to spend the afternoon.

*There was probably a time when "good" vampires were unique.

© 2011 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in 2011 , humor , review copy , Scholastic , Survival , YA Action , YA Adventure , YA Fiction , YA Romance

Nightlight: A Parody

Nightlight: A Parody: The Harvard Lampoon. 2009. Knopf Doubleday. 160 pages.

The hot Phoenix sun glared down on the car windowsill where my bare, pallid arm dangled shamelessly. My mom and I were both going to the airport, but only I had a ticket waiting for me, and that ticket was one-way.
I had a dejected, brooding expression on my face, and I could tell from the reflection on the window that it was also an intriguing expression. It seemed out of place, coming from a girl in a sleeveless, lacy top and bell-bottom jeans (stars on the back pockets). But I was that kind of girl--out of place. Then I shifted from that place on the dashboard to a normal position in the seat. Much better.

You'll either love it or hate it. Depending on how you feel about sparkly vampires. If you think of Edward as your ideal match? Probably not so much. But for the rest of us, those that see Twilight as something to be mildly tolerated--at best--to outright ridiculed, well, this is your kind of book.  And I found it to be just the right length. IF this one was as long as Twilight itself, well, it might have become old. But as it is, it's funny enough to entertain you for one afternoon. It's a satisfying read too.

Our narrator, Belle Goose, has just moved to Switchblade, Oregon, to live with her father, who has just gifted her with a U-Haul truck. On her first day of school, she is wowed by Edwart Mullen, a boy more interested in computers than girls. To her delight, this dreamy boy (she's the only one who finds him swoon-worthy) is in her biology class. Here's how she describes him, "I hadn't seen something this beautiful since I was a kid and the Skittles in my sweaty fist turned my hand rainbow." (18) She wants him, but does he want her? How far is she willing to go to get him to notice her? to talk to her? Will he play her games? Will he pretend to be the bossy, controlling vampire that she foolishly imagines him to be? 

I enjoyed Belle Goose. I enjoyed Edwart Mullen. I did. I liked him better than Edward. And I really loved the ending!!! This one had me smiling throughout. When I was looking for what quotes to include, well, I accidentally reread half the book. I think that says something about how well this one works--as a parody, at least. Like how Shamela complements Pamela. When it's done well, you almost wish there were more of these parodies being published.

When I saw him waiting for me outside the terminal, I walked towards him shyly, tripping over a toddler and soaring into a key chain display. Embarrassed, I straightened up and fell down the escalator, somersaulting over the roller luggage inconsiderately placed on the left side. I get my lack of coordination from my dad, who always used to push me down when I was learning how to walk. (5)

"It looks like your first class is English."
"But I've already taken English. A few semesters of it, actually."
"Don't be smart with me, young lady."
So she knew I was smart. Flattered, I conceded.
"You know what?" I said. "I'll go. What the heck, right?"
"Down the hall to your right," she told me. "Room 201."
"Thank you," I said. It wasn't even noon yet, and I'd already made a friend. Was I some kind of people-magnet? (10)

One girl walked with me to the cafeteria for lunch. She had brown bushy hair in a ponytail that was more like a squirrel tail in the context of her beady squirrel eyes. I thought I recognized her from somewhere, but I couldn't place it.
"Hi," she said. "I think I'm in all your classes." So that's why I recognized her. She reminded me of a squirrel I hung out with in Phoenix.
"I'm Belle."
"I know. We've introduced ourselves already. Like, four times."
"Oh, sorry. I have a hard time remembering things that won't be useful to me later." (12)

It was then that I saw him. He was sitting at a table all by himself, not even eating. He had an entire tray of baked potatoes in front of him and still he did not touch a single one. How could a human have his pick of baked potatoes and resist them all? Even odder, he hadn't noticed me, Belle Goose, future Academy Award winner. (13)

First, I told Tom and Lucy that Edwart saved me from a snowball. They weren't impressed. So I started saying Edwart saved me from a rock with snow around it, and, later, I started saying he saved me from an avalanche. One day, I said that Edwart ran with superhuman speed, stopping a car that was about to hit me with his superhuman strength. (33)

© 2011 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in 2009 , humor , library book , unreliable narrators , YA Fiction , YA Paranormal , YA Romance

Jane Goes Batty

Jane Goes Batty. Michael Thomas Ford. 2011. Random House. 304 pages.

"Not again."

Jane Goes Batty is the sequel to Jane Bites Back. The premise is simple (and fun): what if Jane Austen were a vampire? Where would she be living? What would she be doing? What would she think of this 'modern' world? What would she think of the Twilight books? Jane Fairfax knows the answer because she is Jane Austen. True, most folks know her as the owner of an independent book store. And more are getting to know her as the newly published author of Constance. But only a few know her true identity. One, Lucy, is her closest friend. The second, the man who turned her, none other than Lord Byron! (And then there's Our Gloomy Friend. She too knows about Byron and Austen and their new lives as modern writers.)

In the second novel, Jane is struggling with writer's block. Now that her "first" novel, Constance is a success, now that it is being adapted into a movie, she's expected to be hard at work on a second novel. But. Jane finds herself unable to write coherently. Is she distracted by her boyfriend, Walter? Perhaps. Is it worry about his mother coming to town? That she is expecting Jane to convert to Judaism? Could be. Is it anxiety that Walter is thinking of marriage?! That certainly plays a large part in her anxiety. For the question then becomes should she or shouldn't she--tell him the truth. Which would he find harder to believe? The fact that she's a vampire? Or the fact that she's Jane Austen?

I loved the humor and the drama. It's just very clever. I especially liked the scenes about the movie. How it is being "adapted." I loved the references to Twilight too! Very funny! It's just great fun to read these books!

Byron laughed, earning him another fierce look from Jane. "Literature has always been spectacle," he said. "Do you really think we held all those literary salons so that we could exchange ideas? Of course not. It was so we could gossip about everyone who wasn't there. And don't you remember how James Joyce used to wander through Paris mumbling nonsense words until people recognized him?"
He cleared his throat and in perfect imitation of Joyce's impish Irish brogue said, "Spifflepond puppetdingle griffintide! Woozlewoozle crumpetpeal dirf! Why yes, I am James Joyce. You enjoyed Ulysses? Bless you, madam. Bless you." (3)

"Does Walter want children?" Kelly asked.
The question took Jane by surprise. "I don't know," she said. "We've never discussed it. But it really doesn't matter. I'm far too old for that sort of thing."
"You aren't," Kelly said. "They can do wonderful things with in vitro these days. A friend of ours is pregnant for the first time at forty-seven. With twins. Can you imagine?"
Jane did imagine it. And she was horrified. It had never occurred to her that Walter might want children. She wasn't even sure she could have children. Of course, the girl in the Twilight books did, she mused.
"You know I'm joking," Kelly said after Jane had been silent for some time.
"Of course," said Jane. "I was just trying to imagine going to my child's graduation at the age of two hundred and fifty-three." (47)

© 2011 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in 2011 , adult fiction , humor , library book , Random House

The Teacher's Funeral (MG)

The Teacher's Funeral. Richard Peck. 2004. Penguin. 208 pages.


If your teacher has to die, August isn't a bad time of year for it. You know August. The corn is earring. The tomatoes are ripening on the vine. The clover's in full bloom. There's a little less evening now, and that's a warning. You want to live every day twice over because you'll be back in the jailhouse of school before the end of the month. Then our teacher, Miss Myrt Arbuckle, hauled off and died. It was like a miracle, though she must have been forty. You should have seen my kid brother's face. It looked like Lloyd was hearing the music of the spheres. Being ten that summer, he was even more willing to believe in miracles than I was. 

I love this book. I am CRAZY in love with this book. It is in my opinion one of those practically-perfect-in-every-ways books. It's a funny historical novel--set in 1904 in Indiana--and it has heart! (Though not *too* much sentiment! It is narrated by a fifteen year old boy after all!) So Russell Culver, our narrator, is thrilled when his teacher dies just days before school was to start. (Who could they ever find to replace her?!) But his joy is short lived, for the answer to that question is his very own sister. Now, he doesn't hate his sister. He's quite fond of her cooking--it being SO MUCH better than his aunt's cooking which they try to live on doing the school year when the sister is away from home. But as his teacher?! It's too unbelievable. It's just SO unfair!!!

The Teacher's Funeral is a funny novel set in rural Indiana at the turn of the century. It draws quite the picture of country life--both at home and school. We get to know each of the eight students in this one-room school house. (Russell, Lloyd, Charlie, Pearl, Glenn, Floyd, Lester, Little Britches). And, of course, we get to know their teacher, Tansy, too! It's just a charming book, a funny book. One of those rare books that I love completely. I wouldn't change a thing!

This was the night me and Lloyd always went to the crick and camped out. It was a sacred part of our year. After the Case Special came through, we always spent that night at the crick, and hung on till morning, no matter what. It was how we kissed the summer goodbye before the darkness of learning fell about us. (13)

"Who died?" I inquired.
"Take a guess," Charlie said. "Go ahead."
"Somebody we know?"
"You can believe that."
"Somebody old or young?"
"Old," Charlie said, "as the hills."
Lloyd was looking back and forth between us, clutching J.W. He was on the hook again, and I was getting there.
"Old as Old Man Lichtenberger?"
"Nobody's that old," Charlie said.
"Man or woman?"
"That'd be tellin' too much."
"Somebody we like?"
"Not hardly," Charlie said.
"Somebody who's been feeling poorly late?" I was wracking my brains.
Charlie shrugged his big shoulders. "She must of felt pretty poorly tonight. She died."
"So it's a woman!"
"More or less," Charlie said.
The truth burst over me. "You don't mean Miss Myrt Arbuckle!" (24)

Nobody would miss Miss Myrt, so Preacher Parr got them to miss the good old days when the winters were worse and the kids were better. At a funeral you want to miss something. (39)

When Pearl came back, she had a grip on the little kid who didn't want to be anywhere near here. Her bonnet hung by its strings. Her dinner pail scraped the floor. She kept setting her bare heels. "Turn me loose," she squawked. "I don't wanna, and I'm not gonna!"
Pearl pushed her toward Tansy and resumed her seat.
Tansy pulled the small girl's skirttails free of her drawers and settled her skirts for her. But it was too late. Forever more, she was known as "Little Britches." Even unto the distant day of her wedding. Besides, come to find out her real name was Beulah.
"Who are you?" Tansy asked with an arm around her.
"I ain't sayin'," said Little Britches. "I ain't stayin'."
"Then whisper who you are in my ear before you go."
Little Britches whispered. It would turn out that she was a Bradley. They were a family who hadn't had anybody in school for some years. Little Britches was an afterthought. "I'm goin' on home now." She wiggled free of Tansy. "Pleased to meetcha."
"Well, you can go home at noon, Tansy told her. "Till then just wait up there at my desk. You can...help me be teacher." (80-1)

"Tansy, how come the female sex think they know more than the male sex?"
"Because we do. What's the capital of Delaware?"
"I don't know."
"Know by tomorrow," Tansy warned. "I'm the teacher, and I won't have dumb brothers." (107)

I thought we'd need a block and tackle to lift her. But getting Aunt Fanny Hamline out of the ditch became one of Tansy's most famous days of teaching. It was a lesson in engineering too. It should have been studied at Purdue University. (127)

© 2011 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in 2004 , humor , J Fiction , J Historical Fiction , library book , Penguin USA

The Butler Gets a Break (MG)

The Butler Gets A Break. A Bellweather Tale. Kristin Clark. Venuti. 2010. Egmont USA. 240 pages.

In the village of Eel-Smack-by-the-Bay there stands a lighthouse on a hill, known to the residents as the Lighthouse on the Hill. Inside that structure resides the most chaotic family ever to live. And their butler. And sometimes endangered animals that have the ability to poison, maim, or kill in a gruesome manner. And sometimes hobos. And sometimes famous works of art that have been Anonymously Borrowed.
As always, if one is brave enough to get close to the Lighthouse on the Hill, one can look up into the third-story window and see an upright man, at an upright desk, up writing in his diary.


The Butler Gets A Break is the sequel to last year's Leaving the Bellweathers. In my review of the first, I wrote "If ever a book surprised me--completely surprised me--it was this one. Looking at the title, the cover, even the first sentence, nothing whispered the promise of how much fun this book would be, how funny and how right this book would be." I wasn't surprised by the sequel. I expected it to be just as wonderful, just as right as the first. And I was NOT disappointed! It was a delight to read this one.


Tristan Benway, the mostly loyal butler, is still in service to the Bellweathers. But he's about to take an unexpected vacation. When he falls--literally--through the triplets latest art experiment. (Spike, Brick, and Sassy being fascinated with negative space.) His leg is broken bad enough to put him in the hospital. Thus begins this butler's latest countdown. (Cast Removal And Vanquishment Event--CRAVE).

Will Spider, Ninda, and the triplets be able to "survive" without their butler? How will Mr. and Mrs. Bellweather deal with his absence? Will he be missed? Can he be replaced? Will Benway ever relax? Will Benway ever admit that he's become addicted to TV?

I enjoyed this one. It was a great book. Very funny, very enjoyable. I would definitely recommend both books. (Though I think you could read this one all on its own.)

© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in 2010 , dysfunctional families , Egmont USA , humor , J Fiction , J Realistic Fiction , library book

A Hat Full of Sky (MG/YA)

A Hat Full of Sky. Terry Pratchett. 2004. HarperCollins. 288 pages.

It came crackling over the hills, like an invisible fog. Movement without a body tired it, and it drifted very slowly. It wasn't thinking now. It had been months since it had last thought, because the brain that was doing the thinking for it had died. They always died. So now it was naked again, and frightened.

I just LOVED The Wee Free Men. So I was very excited to read the second Tiffany Aching adventure in the series, A Hat Full of Sky. While I still loved Tiffany, still loved Rob Anybody, it didn't wow me as much as the first.

In A Hat Full of Sky, Tiffany leaves home to train to be a witch. She'll be living with Miss Level--a witch with two bodies--and "studying" under her. Which means she'll be serving not only Miss Level but the community as well. Miss Level is a kind, compassionate person who is always thinking of others. She'll meet hags--of all ages and persuasions--like Annagramma, Petulia, Mistress Earwig, Mistress Weatherwax, etc. Not every 'hag' she meets agree on magic, on what witchcraft is.

During her time away, Tiffany faces a new danger. A danger that Rob Anybody and the other Nac Mac Feegles will try to alert her of...before it's too late.

I still enjoyed this one. I still enjoyed the writing--the humor. Still liked the adventure of it. But not quite as much as the first.

© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in 2004 , HarperCollins , humor , library book , YA Adventure , YA Fantasy , YA Fiction