The White Ram: A Story of Abraham and Isaac

Book: The White Ram: A Story of Abraham and Isaac
Author & Illustrator: Mordecai Gerstein
Audience: Grades K-3
In a Nutshell: A traditional Jewish story of Abraham and Isaac- from the ram's point of view

In Scripture, we first meet the white ram when Abraham is about to follow God's command to sacrifice his son, Isaac. God stops Abraham and tells him there is a ram caught in the bushes that he should sacrifice instead. In this picture book, we see the other side of the story, where God creates the ram and tells it to wait, because there is a special purpose for it to fulfill. When the time comes, the ram must pass the Enemy in many disguises as the Enemy tries to convince, trick, or bully the ram into not following through. In the end, it willingly sacrifices itself to obey God and save Isaac's life. A nice retelling of a traditional (though not scriptural) story, and the artwork is energetic with lots to look at on each page.

Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom

Book: Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom
Author: Carole Boston Weatherford
Illustrator: Kadir Nelson
Audience: Grades 2-4 or so
In a Nutshell: Harriet Tubman listens to God and finds freedom for herself and many others

The illustrator of Ellington Was Not a Street and the author of several black history titles offers up a gorgeous depiction of Tubman, her faith, and the part it played in her escape from slavery and the leadership in the Underground Railroad that followed. The word that comes to mind is transcendent. A beautiful and memorable book.

A History of the World in 6 Glasses

Book: A History of the World in 6 Glasses
Author: Tom Standage
Audience: High School and Adult
In a Nutshell: beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea and Coca-Cola explain everything

Beer was portable wealth in ancient Egypt; Coke represents-- and pioneered-- current globalization trends. In between, lots of other stuff was either influenced or reflected by various major beverages. Very interesting angle on world history with lots of tasty factoids to wet your whistle.

I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have To Kill You

Book: I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have To Kill You
Author: Ally Carter
Audience: Teen
In a Nutshell: James Bond boarding school for girls

They speak 14 languages, but they don't know how to talk to boys. They are students at the Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women. Most of the world thinks it's a hoity-toity boarding school for rich girls. In reality, it's a spy school. They have all the high-tech gadgets, they can blend and infiltrate anywhere, hack any database, mix deadly poison. But mingling in the real world? Not so easy. Since her mom is the headmistress, Cammie Morgan gets out even less than the other students. But on a pratice mission in town, she meets Josh. He's normal, cute, and he noticed her. But he can't find out she goes to the snob school, and he definitely can't find out she' s a spy in training. Good thing Cammie and her friends are experts at covert operations.

There's nothing too heavy here, but I liked it. Light and fun, and there's a sequel in the works.

Endymion Spring

Book: Endymion Spring
Author: Matthew Skelton
Audience: Teen
In a Nutshell: book finds boy. book bites boy. boy must solve book's mysteries and guard its ancient secrets from nasty scholars at Oxford.

Blake Winters and his little sister, Duck, are spending the year with their mother at Oxford. She spends all day in the library researching, so Blake and Duck are stuck there, too. One day, a book bites Blake. No, really- it's got fangs and everything. The book is really, really old, and the cover says only Endymion Spring, whatever that means. When Blake opens it, there are a lot of blank pages and one very mysterious riddle, and he's the only one who can see it. The book is powerful, it seems to have a life of its own, and there' s something it wants from Blake.

The other storyline in the book begins 500 years ago in Germany, where a young printer's assistant named Endymion works with Johann Gutenberg, inventor of the printing press. A very sketchy character named Fust shows up with a very creepy, carved chest that practically screams "I'M EVIL!!", and Endymion finds magic, mystery, and danger within.

This book got oodles of hype before it was published, and it is a good read- if you like books about libraries, books, and mysteries with a dark and sinister historical twist. A bit of a Da Vinci Code angle, if you like sort of thing. But does this story have the crazy blockbuster appeal of Da Vinci? No, not really. But it's a decent readalike for teen DVC fans.

The Oaken Throne

Book: The Oaken Throne (Book Two of The Deptford Histories)
Author: Robin Jarvis
Audience: Grades 4-6
In a Nutshell: two young enemies, a bat and a squirrel, team up to fight evil and destruction. I think.

I'll be straight with you: I couldn't do it. I couldn't keep reading this book. I was supposed to read it for a review group, but I just can't. It's an animal fantasy, and I like those. The author is well-reviewed and respected and all that, and I'm sure plenty of people get into his books. It's got similar appeal to Redwall, but with a much higher creep factor, which would be a selling point for fans of creep. It just seems overdone to me- overwritten and overdramatic. Here's an example of dialogue as Morwenna the "treacherous handmaiden" squirrel poisons her kindly mistress: "'Now you have drunk from the cup of my ambition,' she spat venomously. 'To me it seems sweet, but I fear you have not found it so. '" Maybe it's just me, but I can't get into that. It's rodent fantasy with Shakespearean hack tendencies, complete with thou's and thee's thrown in for flavor. The time period is medieval, but it still doesn't work for me, like the author is trying too hard to make squirrels seem truly threatening.

I'm not even going to get into the plot, because I have no idea what happens past page 63. I read the entire Deptford Mice Trilogy thinking I would start liking it more eventually, but I never really did. Now here's the prequel trilogy, and this is as far as I go. They're not badly written, I just...can't. Sorry.

Cinderella (as if you didn't already know the story)

Book: Cinderella (as if you didn't already know the story)
Author: Barbara Ensor
Audience: Grades 3-6
In a Nutshell: Cinderella with funky silhouette illustrations

The title of the book pretty much says it all. This is Cinderella, as if you didn't already know the story. Not really any deviations from the norm here. The time period is sort of a cross between Once Upon a Time and modern day; Cinderella has both a royal ball and homework to contend with. Cinderella's letters to her dead mother are reproduced in her own handwriting, and there are lots of silhouette-style illustrations throughout. Our heroine has a spunky voice, and there are memorable writing gems and quirky, non-traditional details added here and there, but overall it didn't make a huge impression on me. It's pretty much...Cinderella. So if you're looking for a Cinderella story, this will definitely fit the bill. And all the illustrations and letters make it a superquick read.