New Moon (The Twilight Saga, Book 2)

New Moon
By Stephanie Meyer
563pp
Little Brown & Company
Ages 11 and up
Review by High School Sophomore

Stephenie Meyer's New Moon is breath-taking sequel to Twilight. After reading Twilight, the author cleverly inserted a preview chapter to her sequel. I was immediately hooked and had to read New Moon. There were so many unanswered questions in my mind--mostly--will Bella become a vampire to be with Edward for all eternity?

New Moon introduces the legendary feud between vampires and werewolves. Edward disappears from Bella's life with little explanation driving Bella into a deep depression. She believes she hears Edward speaking to her in times of danger. Bella continually puts herself in dire straits with her childhood friend Jacob who is a Quileute Indian. Their friendship blossoms when she discovers Jacob has a secret of his own--he is a werewolf. Bella relies on Jacob to protect her from the diabolical, revenge-seeking vampire, Victoria until Edward reappears to claim Bella.

This book was not as quick moving as Twilight. New Moon dwelled too much on Bella's depression over Edward's leaving but however provided an opportunity to disclose important details about the vampires and the werewolves, their history, and the controversy between them. Much of the action and excitement takes place past the halfway point the book. If you can keep yourself reading, the book does have a suspenseful conclusion which puts most the pieces of the puzzle together. You will not be disappointed in the end!

I recommend this book; it was a quick read (for the most part). The book is the perfect combination of romance, fantasy, action, and suspense that will entertain teenagers as well as adults. I would not recommend this book to anyone who is too serious or dislikes romance novels. I would also not suggest New Moon to someone who has never read Twilight. Read that first before reading this one. Trust me--the story will not make any sense.
Buy New Moon (The Twilight Saga, Book 2)!

The Vaccine Book: Making the Right Decision for Your Child (Sears Parenting Library)

I bought "What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Children's Vaccinations" and Dr. Sear's "Vaccine Book" from Amazon. I was a mom who didn't want to skip vaccinations all together but was very concerned about giving my baby too many chemicals and who knows what else. I had a lot of questions and picked these two books because I thought they'd be the best.

I tried to read "What Your Doctor May Not Tell You" but didn't get too far. It had a hysterical, "beware!!" tone to it, and I felt like I couldn't necessarily trust the author's perspective. It was very quickly apparent that the book is anti-vaccine. It is the perfect book to convince someone on the fence to skip vaccinations (and scare them to death in the process) and the perfect book to reaffirm the beliefs of someone who already thinks all vaccinations are the greater risk. There are little stories throughout the book of babies and children whose poor, hapless parents thought they were doing the right thing getting their kids vaccinated when actually, the vaccinations caused horrible, frightening things to happen. I put this book away because I didn't want to be scared to death of all the horrible things that could happen (but probably wouldn't); I wanted balanced information that would help me make a good decision.

Fortunately, I also had "The Vaccine Book." Dr. Sear's "Vaccine Book" presented the information in an easy-to-read, balanced way that answered my big questions: "Which vaccines does my baby really need, and how should I go about this?" He told me just how great the risks were, what chemicals were in each vaccine, helped me weigh the cost/benefit of each vaccine, and answered all my big questions. I went into my pediatrician's office prepared, knowing what I wanted. Pediatricians don't have time to answer all your questions if you have a lot of concerns, like I did, and this book is perfect for that. I ended up following Dr. Sear's Alternative Vaccination Schedule where you split up the vaccinations and only do the ones really necessary. For parents who don't want to vaccinate at all, he also includes a schedule that will vaccinate babies and kids for only the most dire diseases. This is the "if you avoid all else, at least do these vaccines" schedule. And, of course, there is the recommended schedule included, the one with every vaccine and the time frame recommended by the government. Dr. Sears is cautious but optimistic, informative without using scare tactics. I'm so grateful I have this book.

So, I definitely recommend "The Vaccine Book." It is good for basically all types of parents who care about their kids: the full-steam-ahead, full vaccination parents; the on-the-fence, concerned parents; and the no-thank-you, no-way parents. It provides great information. "The Vaccine Book" is the only book you'll need to make decisions about how to proceed with vaccinations. Also, Dr. Sears has a great blog he keeps updated about vaccines.

Reading this book made me feel confident in Dr. Sears' authority; he felt like a knowledgeable, caring dr. I could trust. I hope this review helps.Buy The Vaccine Book: Making the Right Decision for Your Child (Sears Parenting Library)!

Eclipse (The Twilight Saga, Book 3)

I did not sleep until I finished this book. It is a true page turner and a MUST read. I highly recommend it!Buy Eclipse (The Twilight Saga, Book 3)!

His Majesty's Dragon (Temeraire, Book 1)

Don't judge a book by its price! This free download turned out to be a marvelous read. Clever, unusual treatment of dragons. I want more! And, hey, more is available. I'll be reading the rest of this series very soon.Buy His Majesty's Dragon (Temeraire, Book 1)!

Twilight (The Twilight Saga, Book 1)

Nothing happened until near the very end. It was an interesting development but I feel anything would have been welcome at that point.
Pages and pages (and pages) of Bella gasping over Edward's beauty, Edward warning Bella he is dangerous (huh - not in the bedroom department he isn't)and a depressing teen angst storyline that had me thinking it would end in joint suicide.
Edward was vampire 'lite'. He was intriguing but just needed to be a little more lively, sexy, powerful etc for my liking.
Bella didn't get why Edward wanted her. Frankly, neither did I.Buy Twilight (The Twilight Saga, Book 1)!

People of the Book: A Novel

I could not even finish it. Formulaic, cartoon characters, predictable plot. Our protagonist book conservationist has questions, and we get snippets from the past to answer them. Nothing original, nothing enlightening, nothing transformative. After a third of the book I did not care about any of characters, or the book. I've been waiting a long time to get this on my kindle and not I'm sorry I wasted my time. Buy People of the Book: A Novel!

The Graveyard Book

I won't re-hash the plot -- others here have done nice jobs of that. I just want to say that I had a wonderful time with this book and I am not EVEN a kid. This is, however, the kind of book I would have devoured when I WAS a kid -- flashlight under the pillow after I was supposed to be asleep and everything.

Gaiman finds the balance between adult fiction and juvenile fiction. In fact, the copy I read had a gold seal on it where it had won an award for "Young Adult Fiction". It's probably a little too heavy in places for little kids (the beginning which others have discussed, plus the death of a character who was defending Bod) but Gaiman handles them with just the right amount of honesty without belaboring them. Bad things happen sometimes; Gaiman knows it and he knows we - kids and adults - know it too.

On the main, I found the whole story completely engaging and hated to see the last page. The charm of it, of course, is all the interaction between Bod and the family that raises him...who just happen to all be dead. Beyond that, they're pretty much like you and me with a few restrictions on what they can do, but also a few abilities we don't have, all of which are positive or at least benign.

In a way, I think the book could provide some kids (and adults?) with a point of view that might make death a little less fearsome. At no time is death advocated - in fact, it's rejected by the ghosts as a possible solution to a problem Bod's having at one point - but, especially for kids, death can be such a taboo subject that seeing it handled as almost a footnote to the characters' interaction at times might be a nice alternative viewpoint. After all, none of us knows for sure...

I've read almost everything Gaiman's written (my favorite adult fiction of his: American Gods) and I'd LOVE it if he'd write a sequel to The Graveyard Book. I'd like to know what happens to Bod as he grows into adulthood and (hopefully) finds a way to span the worlds of life and death so we can find out about his world outside the graveyard and once again meet the ghostly friends we've made in this book.Buy The Graveyard Book!