Lesa Boutin

Special Agent is out!

December brought more than Christmas to my house. Amanda Noble, Special Agentwas released last month. I think I had more fun writing it than I did the first one. It was a blast. A patron of the library where I work bought both books for her girls for Christmas, and less than a week after, they were in the library to see me. The oldest girl, almost 17, had read both books in one day! She was sooo complimentary. In fact, that's putting it mildly. She was bubbly! Asking me all sorts of questions about why I chose to say this or that, and who did I base this character on. I told her she made my day, my week, and my month with her exuberance. 

Now it's on to Amanda Noble, Swamp Thing!

   

Front and back layout.

New Book cover!

   

Check out the new book's cover. Joe, the snake, and Toby, the tortoise, were great. Oh, and Oliva--she wasn't bad either.

Just kidding. She did an awesome job. Poor thing, I'm beginning to think I could ask her to take a trek through the Amazon and she would do it.

The Red Necklace by Sally Gardner

 

This was a mesmerizing read. It takes place around the French Revolution with a fourteen-year-old gypsey named Yann at the center of the story. Yann is an orphan raised by a dwarf and the magician they work for. At a performance for local royalty the magician is murdered by a man that it is obvious the dwarf knows, and has had dealings with in the past. The murder puts Yann and the dwarf, Tetu, on the run, but not before meeting the young daughter, Sido, of the very aristocrat they have just performed for. From this point on their lives are forever entwined. This romantic historic novel, like its gypsey hero, plays out like a tail being spun by a gypsey--all the way to its climactic ending.

Ranger's Apprentice by John Flanagan

     I noticed this series some time back, when it first came out, but didn't pick it up right away. Now I'm glad I waited because I don't have to wait to move on to the next ones as I go along. This is a wonderful series that both boys and girls should be able to enjoy. The title is somewhat misleading. Although the crux of the story is about a young apprentice named Will, it's the supporting characters that make the whole thing work. I especially like the relationship played out in the first book between Will and his rival, Horace. There is adventure and humor, and I am completely hooked. I've read the first 3 and I'm on to the Battle for Scandia next.

Unwind by Neal Shusterman

  I read this at the beginning of the summer and was mesmerized by it. It's a creepy good read. This a futuristic "what if" and really gives you something to think about. In this future, at the age of 16, children can be Unwound, that is, they can be pieced out--harvested--for body parts. The three main characters are marked as Unwinds for different reasons. Connor is a trouble maker and his parents want to be rid of him. Risa is an orphan and the orphanage needs her space for the next kid in line, and Lev is scheduled for Unwinding as a part of his religion. These three end up on the run together because, if they can make to the age of 18, they are free to go on living as a whole human being. This is a dark story, and although fictitious it feels strangely real. When one character--a young man who received the brain of an Unwind, begins to have the unconscious thoughts of that Unwind, it is disturbingly real. And by the end of the book, when the reader experiences an Unwind first hand, it gives a picture of a future that we don't want.

Monte Cristo for teens

 

My favorite book, ever, is the Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas. I've always wanted to share it with kids, but its complicated plot is long, and  not many are willing to hang in there to finish it. So when I saw that Airman, by Eoin Colfor, was being likened to Monte Cristo I knew I had to read it. Fantastic book. I was not disappointed,

In the 1890s,Connor Broekhart is literally born in an air balloon, and without a doubt is destined for greatness. When, at the age of 9, he saves the king's daughter he is greatly favored and knighted for his actions. By the time he is 14 Connor is groomed to be a great man of science, educated by the best. When he realizes, and proclaims, his feelings for the king's daughter, and the feelings are reciprocated, it seems Connor's life is set. But like Edmond Dantes, in Monte Cristo, favor brings enemies. And when Connor stumbles into a plot, and the actual assassination of the king, he is falsely accused of conspiring in the act and sentenced to prison on an inescapable rock island. As Colfer describes life on the prison island you wonder if Connor will be able to survive. On the first day when he's beaten and battered, then dunked in water with feeder mites, you would think it can't get much worse. But when Connor meets Malarkey, a thug hired to beat him daily, and you read the tattoos on the mans chest, a price list of the cost for beatings, stabbings, and mamings, you wonder if he'll make it through another day.

This is a fabulous read if you like swashbuckling, betrayal, poison, and even some humor. I do!

making a fool of myself over a book

You know it's a good book when reading it in an airport makes you gasp aloud. Or when you're sandwiched in the middle seat of the plane, and you absolutely screech at a scene that evokes mirth and excitement, causing you to pitch forward, hoping the people on either side of you don't think you're a lunatic for reacting to a book like that. I was not at all prepared for this book. I was told it was fantasy, and to a degree it is, but it is sooooo much more.

Andrea is a rebellious princess in a medieval world who longs to be her own person, but her parents demand that she become a lady. Sound like a plot you've heard before? Just wait. When Andrea finds an opening (for lack of a better word) that allows her to leave her world and enter a parallel world, modern day California, she believes this to be the place she belongs. I like the way the author reveals Andrea's experiences as she adjusts her archaic lifestyle to that of the twenty-first century. Andrea is awed by the "cubical rock" called a mall! and amazed at the way clothing hangs ready made for purchase.

Still, this is only the beginning to an action packed adventure. As Andrea inadvertently ends up back in her world, setting off a chain of events that plunge that world into war, a much more complicated story evolves, yielding many unexpected twists and turns. You will not be able to put this one down.   

Read this book!!

 

The inner beast

 This is a twist on the traditional Beauty and the Beast. Kyle Kingsbury is an arrogant, spoiled, rich kid who gets his kicks hurting others. But his latest prank, embarrassing the Goth girl at the dance, lands him in a heap of trouble. Goth girl turns out to be a witch who puts a spell on Kyle, turning him into a beast. Kyle has two years to find true love or remain a beast forever. This a great read (during a snow storm at midnight) and if you care for fairy tales at all, you'll love this one.

Keturah and Lord Death

   

This is an achingly beautiful love story. I find it hard to say much about it without giving anything away. When Keturah is lost in the woods, she finds herself face to face with Lord Death. Of course he wishes to take her life, but Keturah makes a deal which postpones his demand, and she sets about changing things around her, the village, friends, and even herself. This is a bitersweet love story for the romantic at heart.

Skulduggery Pleasant

 

I admit it, I'm a sucker for cheesy, and this is cheesy at its best. Skulduggery Pleasant is a detective, a wisecracking skeleton, modeled after old film noir gumshoes, and well, it just doesn't get any better. Skulduggery comes into the life of 12 year old Stephanie Edglie after her uncle dies, leaving her his home. You might wonder why a 12 year old girl would willingly, not only believe in, but get involved with, a walking talking skeleton, but somehow the story just works. Probably because Skulduggery is a hoot. When he tells Stephanie the story of how he came to have the head he was now sporting (not his original) I absolutely laughed out loud.

I listened to this on CD, which made it even more fun, since it is so well done. Sorry reading teachers, but it's good. After the end of the book Skulduggery is interviewed and it's hilarious! If you can't get the audio version, get the book and read it. Then follow this link, http://www.skulduggerypleasant.com/us/world/ and listen to the interview there.

Cheesy--you gotta love it!