Brightwing by Sullivan Lee

Edgar Battle is not having a good day.  Following a prison bus break, he and his brother, Mallory are on the run.  The problem is that Mallory is a sociopath and the body toll keeps rising.  Now the biggest manhunt in Florida for many years has the brothers right in its headlights.  They need to change cars and they need to do it now.

Coming up on a woman with a stranded car on a backroad, they quickly take her hostage.  Nothing they haven't done before, but this time things don't go as planned.  They have kidnapped Lucy Brightwing.  Lucy is the sole survivor of the Tequesta Indian tribe.  She is in the process of buying enough land to create her own reservation, but that kind of dream takes lots of money.  Lucy is on her way home from a jewelry heist and has millions of dollars worth of jewels hidden in her car.  She decides that the easiest thing to do is to take these two men to her home deep in the swamps where she will have the upper hand.

Lucy is right.  The Battle brothers stomp around the swamp like a bull in a china shop, totally out of their element.  Lucy quickly loses her fear of them and starts to teach Edgar how to survive using the old Indian techniques.  In the meantime, the unthinkable happens.  Captor and captive become lovers and both realise that they have found what they have been searching for their entire lives.

But life doesn't just let dreams come true, especially when lots of laws have been broken.  Can Lucy and Edgar figure out a way to be together without worrying about the long arm of the law?

Sullivan Lee has written a quirky crime novel with engaging characters.  Against all odds, readers start to have sympathy for Lucy and Edgar, and by the end of the book are hoping they can find a way to live their dreams.  Along the way, the reader learns about the Everglades ecosystem, and the techniques the Indians used to survive in this hostile environment.  This book is recommended for suspense readers.

The Transformation Of Barthlomew Fortuno by Ellen Bryson

The Transformation Of Barthlomew Fortuno takes the reader inside the lives of the men and women who made up P.T. Barnum's 'Curiosities'.  Barthlomew is The Thinnest Man Alive; there is Martina the Fat Lady, Ricardo the Rubber Man, Emma and Alley the giants and many others.  As the book opens, a new act has arrived; Iall, a gorgeous woman with flowing red hair and a flowing beard to match.

Barthlomew is instantly entranced.  He is determined to win Iall's heart.  But there are many obstacles in his way.  Barnum is not interested in his acts falling in love, and furthermore, seems to be interested in Iall himself.  Mrs. Barnum, who controls the pursestrings, is interested in moving Iall to a new location where her husband will not be tempted.  Barthlomew must decide if he is willing to take on his employers, on whom he depends for his livelihood, in order to win his heart's desire.

This is a lovely book.  There is enough historical detail to transport the reader back to New York City in the 1860's, and it all rings true.  But the novel is about much more than just a nostalgic look backward.  It forces the reader to think about the different types of control in each person's life.  The acts are controlled by their physical characteristics and by the determination of others to make money from their differences.  Some of the acts like Barthlomew and Martina have made themselves into curiosities by controlling themselves; in Barthlomew's case by controlling the small amount he eats and in Martina's by controlling the enormous amounts she consumes.  There is the question about free will and how much an individual truly is in control of their own life.  This book is recommended for all readers.  Those who read it will ponder the questions raised long after the last page is finished.  This is Bryson's debut novel, and readers will eagerly await her next one.

The Sense Of An Ending by Julian Barnes

Tony Webster is an average man.  We read of his life growing up, and his circle of friends.  His most striking friend was Adrian, a brilliant student who the other boys never quite felt they knew.  We read of his first love, Veronica, and how that worked out.  We read how Tony felt when he and Veronica broke up and he later finds out that she and Adrian are now a couple. 

The book then skips ahead forty years.  Tony is now retired, having put in his years at an average job.  He is divorced and still sees his ex-wife for lunches, no great hate or love there.  He has one child he sees occasionally, and grandchildren he is more or less a stranger to.  Average, average, average, Tony's whole life has been about getting by without making waves.

Then a surprise bequest causes Tony to reevaluate his entire life.  He looks back at his schoolboy days, his college years and his marriage.  One piece of information after another opens the floodgates of memory, and he remembers conversations and actions that he has long forgotten, but that now reframe his life in a different light.  He tracks down old acquaintances and friends, until he uncovers a startling secret--one that makes him wonder what his life has been about and how his life has affected that of others.

The Sense Of An Ending won the 2011 Man Booker prize for literature.  It is a gem of a book, short but thought-provoking.  This is Julian Barnes at the top of his form, effortlessly shaking the snow-globe of memories to rearrange the outcome of events in myriad ways.  He forces the reader to examine what place memories play in our lives, and to question how accurate our memories are.  This thought-provoking novel is recommended for all readers interested in examining the human condition, and the ways we find to make it through life. 

Blink Of An Eye by William S. Cohen

The unthinkable, unspeakable has happened.  A nuclear explosion has destroyed an American city.  Thousands of American lives are lost.  Entire blocks of the city are vaporized.

Who could have done such an act?  Further, how will America respond to such an egregious act of terrorism?  The shock and horror quickly turn to demands for revenge and war, even before responsibility for the act is known.  Will the President declare war, and will he do it because it is the right thing to do, or because he is pushed into it politically by rival factions determined to steer the course of the country?

Iran is the first suspect and the one most people instinctively believe is behind the horror.  Other nations start to line up on either the side of America retaliating against Iran or against such action.  Israel has been poised to take action against Iran itself; where will it come down in the balance?  Will the other countries with nuclear weapons stay on the sidelines or use whatever happens as entry for settling old feuds?  Is Iran the true answer or is another country responsible and using Iran as a smokescreen?  What about the domestic groups determined to steer the country towards their vision of how the future should unfold?  Are any of these groups involved?

William S. Cohen has written a heartstopping novel of terror and intrigue. Cohen is a former Secretary of State, serving under President Clinton.  His background and expertise gives the book the immediacy and weight of details known only to a select few; those who daily balance what is best for the country and how America must relate to the myriad needs and desires of other countries, both friends and foes.  This book is recommended for readers who enjoy spy and suspense novels; it is indeed a must-read.

Customers Clients Patrons and Morons by Jim Schulte

In Customers Clients, Patrons and Morons, Jim Schulte narrates his experiences over his working life.  His resume includes working at a sheltered workshop and in various hardware shops.  He covers the range of customer mishaps; misinformation, insistence that they are correct when they are clearly wrong, misusing products in such a way that the product is ruined.  He covers out-of-control children who create chaos, and those customers who are dishonest or out and out unintelligent.

In the second half of this short book, Schulte then flips the tables and discusses his own experiences as a shopper with customer experience.  He discusses both bad experiences and those where the service was superb. 

Readers looking for a quick read that will bring a smile to their face will be pleased with this book.  It details the shopping experience from all sides and may make the reader cringe in acknowledgement as they recognize some of their own characteristics. 

Secrets Of A Christmas Box by Steven Hornby

It's Christmas and the tree is up and decorated.  But once the family goes to sleep, something magical happens.  The ornaments all wake up and welcome each other after a year sleeping in the Christmas Box.  They promenade around the tree, greeting old friends and welcoming new ones.

Larry the Snowman and his girlfriend, Debbie, a reindeer, are two of the mainstays in the ornament family.  This year, a wooden toy soldier named Splint is a newcomer, talking to Larry and Debbie to determine the rules of this new world. 

But Larry is worried.  He can't find his brother anywhere.  Not content to just accept that he hasn't made it this year, Larry is eager to do anything to find him.  Being new and less tied to the Christmas tree traditions, Splint proposes that they leave the tree, find the Christmas Box and see if his brother got overlooked.

Thus begins a grand adventure.  Children will thrill at the excitement and dangers the three overcome as they set off on their grand adventure.  This book is recommended for families with children and can become another holiday tradition, as children may want to hear the story over and over.  Hornby has created a unique world and one that those full of the magic of Christmas may eagerly inhabit.

Black And Orange by Benjamin Ethridge

It is almost October 31st, the high holy day of the Church Of Morning and The Church Of Midnight.  Separated for eons by the gateway between two worlds, this day is the sole chance each year to push the gateway open and reunite the churches into an one entity that can control all universes.

In order to force the gateway open and have it remain so, each year a Heart is chosen.  The sacrifice of the Heart makes the gateway easier to open; October 31st is the day of the Hunt.  But there are opposing forces that do not want to see the churches united in their evil purposes.  The Nomads are charged with protecting the Heart each year.  Nomads live off the grid, endlessly traveling to escape detection so that can perform their sacred duty each year.

There are also power plays within the churches.  Bishops plot against bishops while Archbishops plot the overthrow of their peers on the other side.  There are constantly shifting alliances, deception and subterfuge as each individual jockeys for power and position.

Benjamin Ethridge is a new name in horror, but Black and Orange indicates that he will be one of the masters.  There is a fine line in horror, to be suspenseful and ratchet up the tension to a fever pitch while not going over the top.  Etheridge balances on this line and never strays to one side or the other, creating a perfect pitch that leaves the reader breathless and eager to experience more.  He also avoids the pitfall of making all the characters so obnoxious that the reader can't care much about what happens to any of them.  Black and Orange is a great new entry into the world of horror, and highly recommended to readers who love this genre.

Luka And The Fire Of Life by Salman Rushdie

Luka is a twelve year old boy who lives in India with his family. He has a big brother, Haroun, and his parents, Rashid and Soraya. He was a perfectly normal boy, except. Except that his big brother had gone on a magical adventure. Except that his father was a famous storyteller, known as the Shah of Blab. Except that Luka had been born when his parents were in their forties, and had the magical ability to make them younger instead of their real age. Except that Luka was left-handed, with all the magical and sinister facets that fact opened up. Except that Luka had the power of the curse. He had cursed the local circus which treated its animals horribly and had thus acquired his two best friends, Dog and Bear. Dog was a famous dancing bear, while Bear, the dog, could sing any song.

One day the unimaginable happened. Luka’s father, Rashid, fell ill. He went to sleep and wouldn’t wake up and as time went by, started to disappear a bit at a time. What could be done? The doctors held out no hope and everyone else seemed willing to give up. Luka could not accept that. Out for a walk, he met a strange man, a man who looked like his father named Nobodaddy, and he told Luka what could save Rashid. Luka would need to enter the world of magic and steal the Fire of Life. The Fire of Life could revive his father. The man agreed to go with Luka and be his guide through all the dangers such a trip would entail.

Thus the journey began. Luka, Dog, Bear and Nobodaddy had many adventures and encountered magical beings. Some were friends who helped on the mission, others were deadly enemies. There were the elephant-ducks, who remembered all things. The Respectorate of Rats was populated by politically correct rats, who were determined to jail Luka and his friends, but they were saved by the sudden appearance of The Insultana of Ott, a vibrant, exultant, insulting female ruler. There were magical beings galore, and all the ancient gods and goddesses of all cultures and countries were encountered, some to help, some trying their best to stop the band of travelers. Could Luka overcome the obstacles and capture the Fire of Life, the fire that no one in history had been able to steal, in time to save his father?

Salman Rushdie has created a magical place in which the reader can frolic for a time. The language is glorious, painting marvelous images and full of inventive word-play. This is Rushdie at his best yet more accessible so that even children can delight in his inventive mind. This book is recommended for all readers who remain young at heart, ready to be amazed and uplifted.

Haunted by Douglas Misquita

FBI Special Agent Kirk Ingram has lived through a nightmare.  On the verge of taking a desk job so that he could spend more time with his family, he instead is targeted and watches as his family is massacred in front of him.  He is the only survivor and when he recuperates, he returns to work, more determined than ever to put an end to the criminal activity around him.

There are plenty of candidates for his expertise, but he is assigned to uncovering and stopping a vicious network of Balkan terrorists.  This network is used by a cabal of deposed leaders from other countries and greedy industrialists.  They have combined to capture the sole cache of a deadly nerve gas which they intend to use as leverage to extract billions from governments around the world. Ingram's assignment is to stop them before they can succeed.

Douglas Misquita has written a heartstopping action novel.  The reader is swept up in the very visual language that Misquita uses.  This language allows the reader to visualize the scenes he is describing as if they were watching a suspense movie; in fact, this book would be an excellent source for such a movie.  This book is recommended for readers who love fast-paced books with tons of action.

The Innocent by Taylor Stevens

Vanessa Michael Munroe is contacted by her best friend.  He tells her of a girl who was snatched from her parents and hidden deep in a cult--the same cult that he grew up in.  He knows well the abuses that children are subjected to, and as a friend of the mother, wants Munroe to bring the girl out.  Heather has been in the cult for eight years, moved from place to place, given new names and almost impossible to trace.  But now there is word that she is in South America and the time is right to try a rescue attempt.

Munroe is torn.  This is the work she does, but the work is slowly killing her.  Raised in an abusive environment herself, she has trained to be a killing machine, able to take out most individuals she encounters.  She is a powerhouse of destruction and cunning, but each kill takes a bit of her soul.  Still, she owes her friend with years of ties and agrees to take on the mission.  Raising a team, the group gathers intelligence and plans their attack.  Can they be successful, or will the cult manage to spirit Hannah away once again?

This is the second novel in Taylor Stevens Munroe series.  Munroe is a complex character, at once determined to do right but doing right by doing wrong.  The intricacies of planning a successful raid is fascinating, but the book's main focus is always, always on this amazing, powerful yet vulnerable woman.  This book is recommended for suspense readers and will transport them away until the last page is turned.  This is a powerhouse novel.

The Crossley ID Guide Eastern Birds by Richard Crossley

If you are a birder or know someone interested in birds, this is a bird you must have for your collection.  The author is a renowned birder and photographer and has combined these interests into a stunning book that will be the premiere reference guide for those who love birds. 

The most striking feature of the book are the 640 scenes of birds in their native habitats.  These scenes were created from over ten thousand photographs the author has taken and show the birds from near and far.  There is a companion website, www.crossleybirds.com with expanded captions for the plates and species updates.

The book is organized into two major sections; water birds and land birds.  Within the water birds there are chapters on swimming, flying and walking waterbirds.  The land birds are organized into chapters on upland gamebirds, raptors, miscellaneous larger landbirds, aerial landbirds and songbirds.

Each scene is stunningly illustrated with large depictions of the birds in their native habitats.  Each bird featured has a description of their plumage, common behaviors, a map showing the bird's range and their species rarity.  This book will quickly become the favorite reference book for birders and an interesting resource to the person who doesn't know much about birds but would like to identify those they encounter daily.  This book is highly recommended and is a unique resource. 

A Watershed Year by Susan Schoenberger

Lucy has been drifting through life and somehow she finds herself thirty-eight without a definite plan.  She is a professor in religion, her specialty the lives of the saints, but she doesn't yet have tenure.  She has not married or had children although she always saw herself as part of a big, happy family like the one she grew up in.  She loves her friend Harlan, but has never told him.

Then everything changes.  Harlan gets sick and dies.  In the midst of her grief, Lucy starts getting emails from Harlan; he had arranged for them to be delivered monthly after his death.  In them he tells Lucy he had loved her too and encourages her to move ahead with her life and go after the things she loves.

Lucy decides to adopt and she quickly discovers a four-year old Russian boy who needs her.  She concentrates on doing all the myriad tasks that an overseas adoption entails, avoiding work and family commitments to focus on this one task.  She is successful and Mat comes home with her.  It is a major adjustment to acclimate him to his new home, and just as she is beginning to believe it will all work out, Mat's father shows up and wants him back.  Will this be another inconclusive chapter in Lucy's life?

A Watershed Year is a thought-provoking novel that makes the reader think about what they really want from their life, and whether there is any reason not to go for broke to get it.  Lucy is an appealing character and evokes sympathy as well as an internal urging for her to be successful in her quest to carve out an independent, happy life for herself.  This book is recommended for all readers.

A Small Death In The Great Glen by A.D. Scott

A young boy has been found murdered in a small town in the Scottish Highlands.  At first it appeared to be a drowning accident, but further investigation showed that the boy had been sexually assaulted before dying.  The murder shakes the town to its core, and brings out the secretiveness and mistrust of outsiders that characterizes small towns and its inhabitants.

But there are those who are determined to discover the truth and bring the perpetrators to justice.  Chief among these is the new editor of the local newspaper, McAllister.  Newly established at the paper, he is fighting to change it from a small local weekly to a newspaper worthy of the name.  But he has scarce resources.  There is Don McLeod, old-timer who knows everyone and all their secrets and who is determined to maintain the paper as it has always been.  Rob is the cub reporter, full of vigor but untrained.  Joanne Ross, is the part-time typist who is interested in moving into reporting and sees the newspaper as an escape from her abusive husband.

The case quickly seems to be over when a Polish immigrant is discovered and arrested.  Many in the town sigh in relief that all has been righted, but the story is not done.  Long-held secrets, going back years, will be brought to light before the full story is over.

A.D. Scott has created a stunning debut mystery series.  The reader is instantly transported to Scotland, but this is not the Scotland of bonny lasses and dashing Highlanders ready for a rousing reel.  This is the Scotland of long dreary winters, where tradition is held as iron-clad custom and woe befall those who dare to try to change things from the way they have always been.  The truth emerges slowly but surely and the reader turns the last page yearning for a way to return to this area to learn more.  This book is recommended for mystery lovers who also enjoy a strong sense of place.

Cloyne Court by Dodie Katague

In October 1976, Dodie Katague is a freshman at Berkeley University in California.  This is the age of the hippie, free love, drugs, sex and rock 'n roll.  The problem is, Dodie is missing it all by living at home and commuting to school each day.  On his birthday, he manages to talk his parents into allowing him to live on-campus.  But where to live?  It's too late in the semester to get into a dorm and he didn't pledge a fraternity.  Then he hears about Cloyne Court, a student co-op building.

Cloyne Court is a rundown building that is inhabited and managed totally by students.  The rent is cheap, with students doing various jobs to pay part of their rent.  It is also co-ed.  Co-ed as in male and female roommates--roomies if the relationship is platonic; bunkies if it is a romantic relationship.  Showers are communal and nude sunbathing is a common occurrence.  To a man who has led a sheltered life up to now, this is a whole new world, and one that he will have to figure out how to fit into.

Cloyne Court is an interesting memoir by Dodie Katague of his years at Berkeley and his residence at the co-op.  He learns to get along with people of all persuasions, and also has his first serious love.  Katague discovers sex and all the joys and complications it can bring.  Baby boomers especially will love reading this memoir and reminiscing about their own college days.  Younger generations will read it and get an eye-opening new insight into their parents and that stodgy old guy in the next cubicle.  This book is recommended for memoir readers and those interested in the culture of the 1970's and early 80's.

Guinevere, The Legend In Autumn by Persia Woolley

In this third book of her trilogy about Arthur, Guinevere and the Knights of the Round Table, Persia Woolley ends the telling of her story.  It is above all the story of the triangle that King Arthur, his Champion Lancelot and his Queen, Guinevere, are tangled in.  Both men love Guinevere, but they also love each other as brothers and would do nothing to hurt each other.  Guinevere, in her turn, loves them both.  Arthur is her wedded husband, who honors her, takes her counsel and has her rule at his side.  He cannot, however, express his love easily in words, as his emotions have been trained to be hidden from others.  Lancelot is her true love, but one she is forbidden to have, for fear of hurting Arthur and tearing apart the kingdom.

But even more than the love story, this is a story steeped in historical fact that gives the reader insight into the times.  The reader learns of daily life with its proscribed tasks for each member of the royal household, the petty intrigues of court, the quest for adventures that periodically takes the Knights away.  The rise of Christianity and its gradual erosion of the pagan religions is explored.  The strength of family is evident, but betrayal for position is also common.

The central theme is the trial of Guinevere for treason and adultery, her condemnation to death, and her rescue by Lancelot, aided by Arthur.  Above all, each individual in this triangle is called by a love of country and the people, and will sacrifice whatever is needed to insure that the country survives as a strong entity.  This book is recommended for readers of historical fiction.  While it is the last in the trilogy, readers probably know enough of the story to enjoy this one as a stand-alone, but many will choose to then go back and read the first two to see how Woolley interprets the beginning of this magnificent saga.

The Woman In The Fifth by Douglas Kennedy

Harry Ricks has hit rock bottom.  Two months ago, he was a popular professor teaching film criticism with a daughter he delighted in.  His marriage had grown remote, but all in all, he felt blessed.  Then tragedy.  He gets swept up in the adoration of a female student and sleeps with her.  The resulting scandal costs him his job, his marriage and his relationship with his daughter.  To add salt to the wound, he discovers his wife has had a long-standing affair with his boss, and they have made sure the scandal is as juicy and protracted as possible.

Wounded, Ricks flees to Paris.  He isn't sure what he will do, but at least he will be in the city he loves.  But, going to Paris as a well-to-do tourist and coming to Paris to live as an impoverished man is a far different proposition.  He finds himself in the roughest area of town, surrounded by people at best indifferent to his needs and at worst, actively hostile.  He finds a miserable job that is outside the official structure and settles into a mundane existence.

Then, everything changes.  Someone tells him about a salon where educated people gather to talk and mingle; best of all, admittance is just the cost of an evening's meal.  Ricks goes to the salon one Sunday evening and there he meets Margit Kadar.  She is a beautiful woman who seems as attracted to Harry as he is to her.  Older than him by a decade or more, she has an air of mystery and sophistication he can't resist.  Soon Margit and Harry have started an affair.  He goes to see her twice a week for three hours; those are the conditions she has laid down.

Just when Harry starts to believe that he might crawl out of his isolation and depression, things start to get even worse.  One by one, those who make his life miserable start to have horrific things happen to them.  Harry is amazed and soon he starts to get scared.  Can he discover who is behind everything happening to him before it manages to subsume him and take him under?

Douglas Kennedy has written a novel that is compelling, suspenseful and exciting.  Readers who start it won't want to do much else until they finish the story and discover Harry's fate.  Kennedy has a talent for making the unbelievable seem plausible and the reader is pulled into Harry's world.  This book is recommended for readers who enjoy suspenseful reads.

Camp Nine by Vivienne Schiffer

Camp Nine is a coming of age novel set in World War II.  The story is seen through the eyes of thirteen year old Chess Morton.  Chess is the granddaughter of the local wealthy landowner, Walter Morton, who owns most of the land there in the Delta of Arkansas and influences everything.  Far from being raised as a wealthy Southern lady, though, Chess lives in genteel poverty with her mother, Carolina Morton, known as Carrie.  Carrie was raised as the only daughter of Italian immigrants, and considered just this side of unacceptable when Walter's son, Walt, fell in love with and married her.  Walt, Chess' dad, died early, and Walter and Carrie settled into a pitched battle that would last their lives about their differing world views and their views on how to raise Chess.

It is the mid 1940's and something strange has happened in the Delta.  Walter has sold a huge parcel of land to the government and the government has quickly constructed a city there, a city of worn boards and communal kitchens and dining halls.  Who will live in this place?  The answer arrives with the first trainload of Japanese families.  These are the Japanese-American families who lived in California and were rounded up and interned during the war.

Sentiment in the town was quickly divided.  Most of the residents, already living in a defined social structure between black and white inhabitants, are against the new residents of the Delta.  Of course, these residents are not roaming the town; they are restricted to the land within the barbed wire fences guarded by American soldiers.  Carrie, however, is thrilled to see and meet the families there.  It reminds her of her time in California, when she attended college there and planned a life as an artist.  She quickly volunteers her time as an art teacher and soon has established herself as part of the camp life.  Chess accompanies her, and the two become close to many families, especially the Matsui family.

This book is recommended for historical fiction readers.  It outlines the life led by the Japanese who were interned during World War I.  It also covers the history of the Klan, the social structure of the South, the heroism of the Japanese-American soldiers who fought for their country even as their country treated their families as traitors and suspicious inhabitants.  The is Schiffer's first novel, and readers will be ready to read her next one after finishing Camp Nine; ready for more of her deft touch recreating past events.

The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom

Lavinia is born into poverty overseas.  Her parents decide to immigrate to America as indentured servants along with Lavinia and her brother.  On the trip over, the parents become ill and both die.  When the ship reaches America, the captain sells the brother's contract, but Lavinia is only seven and won't fetch much.  The captain decides to keep her contract himself and takes her to his plantation.

There Lavinia, who is white, is sent to the kitchen house to live among the slaves and learn their trades.  This is fairly scandalous, but the Captain's family is not usual.  Belle, who runs the kitchen house is the Captain's daughter from a liaison with a slave woman.  The Captain's wife spends her days drugged up on laudanum, a form of morphine.  She has been driven mad by the loss of her babies, a common occurrence in this time period.

Lavinia learns to love the slaves she grows up among.  They are the only family she knows and she calls the mother and father of the house slaves Mama and Papa the same as her playmates do.  When Lavinia is twelve, the mistress' sister comes on a family visit when the Captain dies.  She is shocked at Lavinia's situation and when the family decides to take the mistress back with them to Williamsburg, they also take Lavinia.  There she grows into a woman, beautiful and determined to return somehow to the plantation and the only family she has ever known.

Grissom has written a story of slavery from an interesting angle, that of an indentured white servant who grows up with a slave family.  It allows her to show the plight of the slaves from a different viewpoint, along with the strong sense of family they hold, and the mechanisms they create in order to survive and thrive.  This book is recommended for readers of historical fiction.

Blue Ocean Bob Discovers His Purpose by Brooks Olbrys

In this children's book, Brooks Olbrys uses a young boy named Blue Ocean Bob to illustrate the power of positive thinking and how to be content with what you have already.  The book is based on the teaching of Bob Proctor.  Bob Proctor has spent 40 years teaching people how to use the power of their minds to achieve success.

Bob is determined to discover his life's purpose.  He asks the creatures around him such as his best friend Alba, a bird.  When he doesn't receive an answer, he decides to take off and find someone who can tell him.  He queries a dolphin and when he doesn't get the answer there, goes further and consults, Doc.  Doc is an ancient turtle who serves as the judge and arbitrator of the ocean animals.  After talking to Doc, Bob decides that his purpose is to protect the animals of the ocean.

The book is written at about a four to eight year old level.  It is illustrated by Aleksandra Beaucher in her debut as an illustrator.  Her art is simple and powerful with bright colors and striking lines.  This book is recommended for children and for parents looking for books that emphasize positive thinking.

Did Not Survive by Ann Littlewood

Iris Oakley arrives at her job as a zookeeper to a horrific sight.  Her boss, Ken Wallace, is in the elephant's enclosure, lying face down and still as the big animals roll him from side to side.  Iris, whose husband was killed by the big cats only months before and who is on lighter duty due to being pregnant, calls the police.

At first it is thought that the elephants have killed him, which causes dismay among the zoo personnel.  But soon an even uglier truth emerges.  Wallace was not killed by the elephants, but struck over the head and left to die in their habitat.  There is a killer loose in the zoo.

Iris is determined to help the police find the killer.  There are lots of suspects.  There are the zoo protesters, who hate the very idea of the zoo.  There is the new zoo veterinarian who seems to have secrets in her past.  New zookeepers have come to work recently and they don't seem to be fitting in well with the existing staff.  Then there are the other issues.  Animals are disappearing and zoo staff are having strange things happen to them; events that could be precursors to another murder.  Can Iris discover what is going on before someone else loses their life?

Did Not Survive is recommended for mystery lovers.  Iris is an engaging protagonist, spunky in her determination to overcome the fate life has served up to her, leaving her pregnant and widowed at an early age.  The plot is intricate enough to please puzzle solvers, with enough action to keep the pace of the book brisk.  Readers will be eager to try additional titles by Littlewood after finishing this one.