Wednesday, January 2, 2008

Back To School, Back To Work

Hey, everyone, and Happy 2008! Once again, I (Carl) hope you had a good holiday break. I sure did. Now it's back to school, huh? Do you all like this first day back or not? Some don't because they've had such a good time during the break; others get bored, miss their friends, and are ready to get back. Me? I enjoy what I do, so I don't mind. Well, in any case, here are some books to enjoy:

The Tiger's Apprentice trilogy by Laurence Yep. Ever read an epic fantasy adventure based on ancient Chinese mythology? No? That's because you haven't read these books. They're grrreeaattt!!! ("They're grreatt?--Tiger? ah ha, ha,ha....oh,well) Tom Lee lives in Chinatown and shouldn't be surpriesd when a tiger wearing a suit knocks on the door. After all, his grandmother studies the Lore, which is ancient Chinese magic. Events suddenly make Tom become apprentice to the tiger, who has a very short time to teach Tom the Lore in order to stop the truly evil Lord Vatten. These are terrific books tht get you at the beginning and keep you to the jaw-dropping finale. The three books in this trilogy are:
Tiger's Apprentice, Tiger's Blood, and Tiger Magic

I have longer reviews on the Bookhive. If you want to read about each one, click here and here and here.

Star Wars: The Ultimate Visual Guide by Ryder Windham. Boy, this book really lives up to the title! This really has to be the ULTIMATE guide to the Star Wars Universe. Not only does it cover all 6 movies, it gives the history of the galaxy before the movies, information on the Jedi and Sith orders (Darth Bill could have told them about that!), behind-the-scenes info from the movies, and videos games based on Star Wars. I really liked that they also included artwork from some the Star Wars magazines and comics as well as photos from the movies. If you have the least interest in Star Wars, this is the book for you!

The 2000 Year Old Man Goes To School by Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner. OK, I have to talk about another picture book, but this one is funny and everyone would like it. A 2000-year-old man goes to an elementary school and gets questions from the kids like, "What did you use for transportation?" ("Mostly fear...an animal would growl at you and you'd go 2 miles in a minute!") You also found out that Murray was the world's greatest inventor, no matter what happened to him. There's a CD that goes with this book. I haven't heard it, but I know it would be funny because Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner are a comedy team from way back. I've heard them do this before and it's great! So don't wait 2000 years--go get it now!

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