Archives

The Garden of Abdul Gasazi | Chris van Allsburg Summary: When the dog he is caring for runs away from Alan into the forbidden garden of a retired dog-hating magician, a spell seems to be cast over the contrary dog. Recommendation: I forget to read the words, I’m so captivated by the art! See more …

A Princess of Mars | Edgar Rice Burroughs Summary: In the spring of 1866, John Carter, a former Confederate captain prospecting for gold in the Arizona hills, slips into a cave and is overcome by mysterious vapors. He awakes to find himself naked, alone, and forty-eight million miles from Earth a castaway on the dying …

Cyrano |2021 Summary: This is a romantic historical musical version of the same classic story made completely attainable by Steve Martin’s modern take with Roxanne (1987). Whether or not the music is part of what you enjoy about this version, that’s up to you. I don’t want to talk it down just because I found …

The Disasters | M. K. England Summary: Like many science fiction stories, this one has the main character facing an explosive crisis from which only his perspective tells the ‘truth’. Nax and his crew of survivors must get a message to those authorities who are not teaming up to sabotage the station themselves (for fun …

Etiquette & Espionage | Gail Carriger Summary: Sophronia is 14, a member of the gentry, and “a cracking bother” as she displays all the hallmarks of an under-stimulated overeager puppy. She wants to know how things work, is willing to take systems apart to study them, and can’t help but eavesdrop on interesting conversations. What’s …

Ava (2020) Summary: I tend to like well-done spy and espionage movies, but can get bored with the heavy politics and gratingly slow pace. Ava doesn’t have those issues. Chastain completely RULES as the assassin looking for a way out. What will her purpose in life be once she steps away from the job? Can …

The Help (2011) Summary: Skeeter just graduated college and is hoping to find a worthy job as a journalist or writer. Given a chance with a weekly column on housekeeping tips, she notes she’d have to take lessons from ‘the help’ to learn what to write. This takes her into the world of 1950/1960s southern …

The Spy Kid franchise (2001) -or- Little Nikita (1988) Note/Summary: I wanted to review Little Nikita, the story of an unwitting dependent child of parents who happen to be Russian moles in 1980’s USA. However, the IHLS does not appear to have a copy available for viewing at this time. As the character played by …

Old Venus | by George R. R. Martin and Gardner Dozois (eds.) Summary: This collection of short stories visits Venus when we thought it was swampy and jungle-thick with exotic life. Never mind that our scientific observations have eliminated this possibility – the various writers ignore the real acidic atmosphere and create a world both …

Dear Librarian | Lydia M. Sigwarth Summary: Many children don’t gain the experience of knowing a ‘library home’ – having enjoyed several myself as I grew up, this story is a great callback to comfortable surroundings. The main character is unnamed in her own narrative, but it becomes clear that she represents the author when …

From Cinda: The holidays are on their way! I associate holidays with family coming together. Do you have a favorite family movie? Does it happen to involve a holiday or not? Some of my favorite movie families are shown without any holidays involved. I also love a few traditional (and not so traditional) Christmas movies …

The Great Chicago Fire: Rising from the Ashes | Kate Hannigan & Alex Graudins Summary: A fictionalized account of what happened before, during, and after the Chicago Fire (which burned for 30 hours before it was done), this story follows the movements of a couple of kids as they try to reunite their lost puppy …

The Bad Guys (#1) | Aaron Blabey Summary: Hosted by The Wolf, readers meet a gang of bad guys who can’t refute their reputations, but still want to be heroes. We even see the suspects’ rap sheets. But anyone cruising around just looking for trouble (in order to combat or alleviate it) can’t be all …

Blood Quantum – 2019 Summary: This amazing story is told in two large parts: before the discovery of immunity and what happens after. The native Canadian people (the Mi’gmaq) introduce their lives as an infection blazes through the other populations around them. Once they put into effect the natural immunity they seem to hold, the …

The Hate U Give (listing the movie only because I have yet to read the source material, 2018) , book by Angie Thomas – 2017 Summary: Starr is witness to a terrible moment, the police shooting of her black friend who was holding a hairbrush. Conflicted in her identity and purpose, she eventually gives up …

We Are Not Free | Traci Chee Summary: This is a novel written by a single author; yet, like a collection of short stories in an anthology, this bound grouping of fictional memoirs and autobiographical experiences are linked by a theme, varied in their voices and messages. As the USA-born children of Japanese immigrants, these …

When No One Is Watching | Alyssa Cole Summary: Enamored with her hometown neighborhood, Sydney pays attention to the changes being introduced from outside forces. Not only are the businesses and buildings becoming more upscale, the tenants are moving away – sometimes suddenly. Is this area of Brooklyn getting gentrified or stolen piecemeal? Having her …

Movies/Books by the same name: AtonementThe Bridge Over the River KwaiThe Call of the WildThe Color PurpleCrazy Rich AsiansDivergentThe Fellowship of the RingForrest GumpThe GodfatherThe Great GatsbyThe HelpHidden FiguresThe Hunger GamesThe Last of the MohicansLittle WomenThe Lion, the Witch and the WardrobeThe MartianMe Before YouThe NotebookOne Flew Over the Cuckoo’s NestThe Perks of Being a …

The Last Thing He Told Me | Laura Dave Male: This husband and father takes off in a suspect manner when the business he works for goes under. Female: Wife and stepmom researches her husband’s activities when the public announcement is made that the business was a failure, leaving plenty of people without their investments. …

Birds of Prey | 2020, starring Margot Robbie Summary: If only criminals were more trustworthy… ehh! Harley Quinn is finally done with the Joker, so she claims her independence in a big (boom) noisy way. Anyone after her for retribution or payback now knows she’s without protection. Except there are these accidental teammates that keep …