Kate's Tales of Books and Bands

Last of Her Name , by Jessica Khoury, is a an excellent sci fi adventure for any fans of the fall of the Romanovs and the possibility that Anastasia survived, and a good one simply for those who enjoy sci-fi adventure featuring strong female leads! Stasia has spent her sixteen years roaming her father's vineyard with her dear friends Pol and Clio on a peaceful planet, one of a group known as the Belt of Jewels.  These planets were settled by humanity eons ago, and each went its own way until they were united through the communicative power of prisms and the family of scientists who discovered that power and became Emperors.   But sixteen years ago, the ruling family was overthrown, and now the planets are  held in the tight fist of  the Direktor Eminent and his Union henchmen. When a union ship unexpectedly lands in Stasia's home town, on a mission to find the one daughter of the last emperor who might have survived, her life is upended.  The Direktor himself ha...

Here's a fun picture book for Timeslip Tuesday (which is code for "yet another week in which Charlotte wasn't organized enough to read a longer book in a timely fashion"). I have to confess I have never read Dragons Love Tacos, by Adam Rubin, illustrated Daniel Salmieri.  I feel, however, that I grasped the point, and the sequel ( Dragons Love Tacos 2 ) gracefully fills in what happened in the first book. In this sequel, dragons still love tacos, but there are no more tacos to be had!  They are all gone.  The unnamed human protagonist fortunately has a time machine, and he takes a few of the dragons back to when there still were tacos, so they can bring them back and plant them and restore tacos to the grieving world.  Time-travel with taco-eating dragons is tricky; spicy tacos make Dragons flame, which is bad for the time machine, as is accidently using salsa in place of engine grease...so things get a little wonky, and the pure time travel of the first few hops in ...

Here's what I found this week; please let me know if I missed your post! The Reviews Beanstalker And Other Hilarious Scarytales,, by Kiersten White, at Reading Books with Coffee Bone Hollow, by Kim Ventrella, at Ms. Yingling Reads The  Crimson Skew, by S.E. Grove, at The Crimson Skew Dragon Pearl, by Yoon Ha Lee, at Fantasy Literature and Puss Reboots Endling: The Last by Katherine Applegate, at proseandkahn (audiobook review) Freya and Zoose, by Emily Butler, at Book Nut The Girl with the Whispering Shadow (The Crowns of Croswald #2) by D.E. Night, at Log Cabin Library Klawde: Evil Alien Warlord Cat #1 and #2, by Johnny Marciano, Emily Raymond, Emily, and Robb Mommaets (illustrations), at Ms. Yingling Reads The Light Jar, by Lisa Thompson,  at Ms. Yingling Reads The Mona Lisa Key (Time Castaways #1), by Liesl Surtliff, at Charlotte's Library The Mysterious World of Cosentino: The Missing Ace, by Cosentino with Jack Heath, at Mom Read It Nest of Serpents (Wereworld #4), by C...

Secret in the Stone is the second book in the Unicorn Quest series by Kamilla Benko (Bloomsbury Feb. 29, 2019). It continues the adventures of two sisters, Claire and Sophie, in the magical land of Arden that they'd entered (in good portal fantasy fashion) by climbing up one of the chimneys of their great-aunt's home. Arden is a place full of magic, with different guilds each with their own domain of power.  Claire had discovered in the first book that she has Gemmer magic (an affinity with all things stone).  Sophie has yet to manifest any talent. But though Arden still has lots of magic, it's diminished since the unicorns were massacred by an evil queen years ago.   Meeting a unicorn toward the end of book one has given Claire hope that she can find out how to restore unicorns and their magic to Arden, keeping it from falling into civil war.  She and Sophie are possibly the last descendants of Arden's royal family, and if anyone can  wake the unicorns again, i...

If you enjoy quirky time-travel heist stories for middle grade readers, you'll love The Mona Lisa Key , the first book of Liesl Shurtliff's new Time Castaways series (Katherine Tegan Books, Sept. 2018 ) . Matt, adopted from Columbia, and his two younger (non-adopted) siblings, Ruby and Corey, have grown up spending almost as much time at the Metropolitan Museum of Art as they have at home--both their parents work there.  They've also been very sheltered by their parents, forbidden to roam the city and never using public transportation.  Then one morning the kids, running late for school, decide to take the forbidden subway.  And it turns out their parent's rule was warranted, when the subway car turns into a time-travelling sailing ship. The captain of the Vermillion crews his vessel with kids more-or-less randomly plucked from different times, and a few grown-ups of mysterious origin.  His interest in these particular kids, as it turns out, is not random at all....

I have family visiting today, so no time for the round-up!  Come back next Sunday!

If you are in the mood for a late Victorian steampunk adventure (of the escape the bad guys sort) suitable for younger middle grade kids (8-9 year olds) but a pleasant read for grown-ups too, and like mechanical foxes, pick up Cogheart , by Peter Bunzl (Jolly Fox, Feb 12, 2019).  This has been on my Goodreads tbr list since it was first published over in the UK in 2016, and it was great to get the chance to read it now that it's being published here in the US!  (yes I know I could have gotten it through the Book Depository, but that way lies shopping madness....). Lily's life at a regimented finishing school is unpleasant.  But when her father's housekeeper comes to fetch her away, things to not improve.  For one thing, tragedy has struck- her father is presumed to have died when his airship crashed.  For another, the housekeeper has taken over the house, tearing it apart in a mysterious search, all the money is (apparently) gone, and orphaned Lily (her mother d...

Here's what I found this week; please let me know if I missed your post! The Reviews The Adventurer's Guide to Treasure (and How to Steal It), by Wade Albert White, at Say What? Angel and Bavar, by Amy Wilson, at Crossroad Reviews  Big Foot and Little Foot by Ellen Potter (series review) at Geo Librarian The Book of Boy, by Catherine Gilbert Murdock, at Sonderbooks The Boggart Fights Back, by Susan Cooper, at BooksForKidsBlog Cogheart, by Peter Bunzl, at Log Cabin Library , Confessions of a Serial Reader , and Cracking the Cover Dragon Pearl, by Yoon Ha Lee, at the B. and N. Kids Blog Dragon Slippers, by Jessica Day George, at Hidden in Pages Eventown, by Corey Ann Haydu, at Waking Brian Cells The Ghost Road, by Charis Cotter, at Puss Reboots The Girl with the Dragon Heart, by Stephanie Burgis, at By Singing Light The Hive Queen, by Tui T. Sutherland, at Hidden in Pages The Ice Garden, by Guy Jones, at Charlotte's Library Into the Jungle, by Katherine Rundell, at Redeened ...

It's such a lovely thing to enjoy the first book of a series lots (here's my review of Love Sugar Magic: A Dash of Trouble) and then to read the second book and not just enjoy it but love it!  A Sprinkle of Sprits (Walden Pond, Feb. 5 2019) continues the story of Leo, a girl whose family runs a magical bakery in a small Texas town, who longs to learn all she can about magic, even though her family thinks she's too young.  The oldest two of her four big sisters are also unencouraging about her friend Caroline; they don't think that magical folk should share too much with ordinary people.  Leo feels pressured to chose between friendship and magic, and she's knows she has responsibilities to the bakery...and now Caroline's feelings are badly hurt. When Leo wakes up to find her abuela, dead for years, visiting her in very corporal form, she's sure that this time it isn't her fault.  Other spirits are popping up around town as well, and if it isn't Leo...

Outwalkers , by Fiona Shaw (David Fickling Books, Middle Grade, Feb 26, 2019), is set in a future England that closed its boarders after the Faith Bombings.  To keep people "safe", they are chipped, and warned not to venture into the countryside for fear of the virus that lurks there.  When Jake's parents die, he's sent to one of the government homes, which are basically prisons for unclaimed kids.  Jake escapes, and returns to his old home, where he's reunited with his beloved dog, Jet.  But then he's faced with an impossible journey--escape from England to his grandparents in Scotland, on the other side of a heavily militarized boarder. Fortunately for Jake, he's found by a band of Outwalkers, kids in circumstances similar to his own, who are also trying to head to the free north.  The Outwalker kids have been on their own long enough to learn how to survive...but even once they remove their chips, the journey north is fraught with danger.  When a securi...