</div>

by Diana Wynne Jones

very very good. i’ve been carrying this book around for years now and everytime i’d pick it up, i’d put it down just as quickly. just a vague ‘um, no’, nothing more. well, yesterday it was a yes – from the bus ride in the morning till 1:30 last night. i did a lot of stuff in between of course but still, a good sign of a good book.

i make no secret of loving fairy tale re-tellings, and story of tam lin has long been a favorite. it’s full of the real magic that you can easily miss in most (ahem, disney) adaptations of fairy tales. the kind that make you realize the only correct way to write Faerie is with a capital F and an ‘ae’. a really good book and one i will definitely read again.

</div>

by Maiya Williams

a one-night read, i was caught up in the story within twenty pages – a good sign. the characters and setting were well-thought out and quickly i started thinking this was going to be a series, since there was so much buildup to the actual action. unfortunately, i think this book suffers from what so many others do – especially those by first-time or newish authors: the ending was just way too rushed! too pat, the boy a little too mature in all the right ways, etc. all in all, a feeling that there was a certain rhythm going on that had been stopped mid-beat and us the dancers, that is, readers, are just looking around waiting for it to pick up again. ah well – still a good book, good writing, and memorable characters.

</div>

by Sally Gardner

i’d been keeping my eye out for this book a while now and was happy to stumble upon in it in the still-new westwood branch of l.a.p.l. – it’s funny how despite the adage, it general you can still totally judge a book by its cover. shoot, sometimes i can just tell a book will be good by the font chosen, or even just the spine standing there were so many other spines.

so yeah, good book – a little bit borrowed from the general cinderella story, enough so to make it interesting, but not enough to make it predictable. i still have some questions about the ending, but i like that – neatly tied-up endings are furstrating and unreal.

</div>

by Meg Rosoff

an excellent excellent book. this book won the printz award, the highest award a YA (young adult) book can win – and i’m so glad it got the praise it deserves. such an original book – though i understand where some of the criticisms coming from regarding the narrator’s voice, it was a little disconcerting initially. soon enough though, i settled into it and was very happy to do so.

for a while now, i’ve been meaning to create a page of books from two of my favorite genres: dystopias and post-apocalyptic lit. don’t know why they’re my two favs, but they have been for years and years. classics like neil shute’s “on the beach� cemented it, but surprisingly there’s a whole lot of YA and kid’s books out there that fit the bill as well. anyhow, “how i live now� was really really good – highly recommended