Mr. Fox Claims His Prizes!

Look at this! Our World Series of Reading champion, the great Mr. Fox, came in today to claim his well-deserved prizes. As first place winner, he received all three books in The Last Dragon Charmer trilogy by Laurie McKay. (and all of them signed by the author!)

And, form the ultra-cool prize box, he choose a really terrific book, Hamster S.A.M. Odd-Ventures in Space by Dave McDonald. (a very fun book! See my review here. And the author came to visit us once)

Congratulations, Mr. Fox! Keep sending us those reviews! The Iron Guy and all the other guys out there are always looking for good reads, so it's good there are boys like you who will tell us about them.

Isn't This GREAT?? An Interview With Laurie McKay

October greetings, reader guys everywhere. Fall is here now but that doesn't mean I can't remember some of the fun I had over the summer, especially all the fun I had reading The Last Dragon Charmer fantasy trilogy by Laurie McKay. All three of them are terrific books and they're set in Asheville, NC, which is only a couple of hours from Charlotte. (click on "The Last Dragon Charmer" tab under this post to see reviews of them)



Well, guess what--I've got an interview with the author! How cool is that? Let's  not waste any time but let's hear what Ms. McKay has to say:

The talented Laurie McKay

I’ve heard this nasty rumor that it’s uncool for boys to read. I bet you disagree. Tell us why.

Oh, yes, I completely disagree. Boys who read are cool. How could they not be? Reading takes kids to other worlds – some very real and some very imagined and all fantastic. That is amazing.

There are so many great stories out there, too. Personally, I like stories with dragons and swordfights, and mystery, magic, and humor - so that’s what I write books about. Who doesn’t find dragons cool?

Even if you’re not into dragons, there are un-put-down-able books about anything and everything: school, life in another world, life in another time, bullies, monsters, superheroes, sports. There are funny books and super-serious books, long books and short books and books of poetry. The list goes on and on. And, if you don’t want to read a book, you can read a comic book or a graphic novel or a short story or a manga.

There are a hundred cool stories just waiting for the right reader to choose them.

You’ve written a very terrific fantasy. Did you read a lot of that growing up? If so, what were your favorite books or series? Did you read a lot of other sorts of books as well? What were your favorites?

I read a little bit of everything growing up and fantasy was one of my favorite genres. I especially liked ‘portal fantasies’. That’s where characters go from one world to another like in The Wizard of Oz. The Oz books are a series and I read most of them. I also loved Choose Your Own Adventure books. I’d reread them over and over until I’d found all the possible endings. 

Two of my very favorite books growing up were The Girl with the Silver Eyes – it is about a group of kids with psychic powers, and The Mixed-up Files of Ms. Basil E. Frankweiler – it’s about a brother and sister who run away from home and live in a museum.  

I also read Garfield and The Far Side Comics. So I suppose I read a bit of everything. I still do!

Why did you decide to set your books in Asheville?

I picked Asheville for three specific reasons:

One, I’m from North Carolina and I wanted to set the book in this state. 

Two, Asheville has a fiery name, rocky slopes, and mountainous terrain. It seems an ideal home for a dragon!

Three, Asheville is this modern, artsy city set among the Appalachian Mountains. Shops sell t-shirts that tout the city as ‘Asheville Weird’. There are a lot of worlds and people colliding so it seemed a good place for people from another world to blend with the locals.

I don’t normally ask questions like this but these books got me to thinking. You seem to have a theme going—that language is powerful and knowing how to use it properly (even the old languages) can give you power. Is that right?

Definitely. There is a lot of power in words and in language. Words can hurt and heal. They can bring peace or war. Deciphering ancient languages, helps us understand peoples of the past, and sharing common languages lets us communicate. As the books progress, Caden comes to understand and harness some of that power. He uses it for good, but he has to think about what to say, what he means, and what the consequences of his words will be.

Will there be any more books about Caden and Razzon?

I have an idea for two books set in the Greater Realm with Caden and company. I’m working on a few other books right now, but I’d like to get these written and out in the world one day! The actual writing just takes a while…

I always ask these last two questions. Which do you prefer—cheeseburgers or pizza? What do you like on them?

I like pizza. My favorite toppings are not olives and not anchovies. All other vegetables, meats, and cheeses are welcome.

Thanks, Ms. McKay!! We really appreciate your taking the time to answer our questions--and for writing those terrific books! We're so grateful, in fact, that we're going to give you the highest honor we could possibly bestow and make you an HONORARY GUY.

Yes, that means you now have the right to make obnoxious noises at sporting events, crack all the dumb jokes you'd like and eat insane amounts of foods with no nutritional value. We know that you're probably so stunned and overwhelmed by the greatness of this honor that you can't even say anything. Don't worry--your terrific books have said everything for you!

Well, all silliness aside, we truly appreciate this interview. Be sure to check out these books, guys, and let us know what you think of them!

The Third Really Good Book of the Summer--and What a Terrific Book It Is!

Sometimes, after a great movie or a hard-fought sports game or a truly delicious meal, all you can do is sit back and just say, "Wow. Wow." over and over again. That's exactly how I felt after finishing Realm Breaker, the third and final book in Laurie McKay's terrific trilogy, The Last Dragon Charmer. Wow. Oh. Wow. What a terrific read!

If you've read my review of Quest Maker, the first book, and the review of Villain Keeper, the second book, then you already know what's happening. If you haven't, here's a brief synopsis:

Prince Caden, eight-born son of King Axel of Razzon in the Greater Realms, gets pulled into our world, along with a sorceress named Brynne, and they end up in Asheville, North Carolina. They get taken into a foster home and sent to a school that turns out to be a place of banishment for villains from the Greater Realms. Rath Dunn, the worst of all the villains, has been secretly preparing a spell that would break the barriers between the two realms. But to do so would also destroy Asheville and Razzon. In this book, Rath Dunn puts the four-part spell into motion and Caden and his friends must stop him. Right--a few kids with rudimentary powers must confront the most powerful and cunning villain in the history of the Greater Realms. Could they even hope to win? You won't know unless you read this book! But what a great, fun and amazing ride you'll have. The villains are slick, evil, creepy and unstoppable. The action scenes are thrilling, the characters are people you really care about and the magic scenes are--well, pretty awesome. Not to mention that little-old-lady Miss Primrose turns out to be one of the most awesome and memorable characters I've ever encountered in any fantasy story. And there are flashes of humor too--just wait until you see what happens to Caden in the end! As I've said, this was a great read and I couldn't tear myself away from. I bet you won't either!

This book was so good that I'm going to do something I haven't done for a while and give it the--

Iron Guy Seal of Approval as One Terrific Book!

The Second Really Good Book of the Summer (Which Is Also a Second Book!)

Hey, guys, summer is still going on and we have been really busy this year! The Iron Guy has been as busy as a bumblebee after an explosion in a honey factory, so I'm going to give you a quick post today. It's about Quest Maker, the second book in Laurie McKay's terrific The Last Dragon Charmer trilogy. I really enjoyed this!

Prince Caden, eighth-born son of King Axel of Razzon in the Greater Realms, is still stuck in Asheville, North Carolina after being pulled into our world by a mysterious spell. So is Rath Dunn, the most dangerous villain in the Greater Realms, who's been banished here along with a group of other villains who are ruled over (at least for now!) by a powerful Elderdragon. It would take too long to summarize the story, so let me say briefly that the book opes with a bang--literally! A bolt of red lightning appears and from it appears the last person Caden would ever suspect. After this, Caden is given a quest by the Elderdragon. If he fails he'll be eaten! On top of this, the science room at his school blows up in a cloud of green (and stinky!) gas. There's an attack by an enormous swarm of bees. Who's behind all this? Could Caden complete his quest on time? And what is Rath Dunn up to in all this? The answer turns out to be worse for the Greater Realms and Asheville than anyone imagined!

Man, this book really was terrific! There's a lot of mysterious things going on, a lot of creepy villains, a lot of tension among the main characters and a lot of exciting action in the end when everything breaks loose! As you can see, there are a lot of reasons to like this book, so go and check it out! Actually, go and check the first one out (see my review here) and this one and the third one. Maybe, if you're not as busy as I am, you could spend an afternoon or a day or a couple of days reading them back to back to back. I couldn't think of a better way to spend some time this summer!

First Really Good Book of the Summer!

Wow, guys, it's hard to believe that we're into July already! It seems that school let out just a couple of days ago. At least it does to me. This has been a very busy summer here at the library, which is good. That means more guys are checking out more books!
Normally, I'd write about the glories of summer at this time of year but, as I said, I'm very busy, so I'll jump right into the latest review. This book is a real winner and it takes place, when not in the magical realms, right here in North Carolina!

The book is Villain Keeper, the first book in The Last Dragon Charmer trilogy by Laurie McKay. It's one of those fantasies in which someone from another realm gets pulled into our world--but with a few mysteries and surprises thrown in.
Caden, eighth son of King Axel of Razzon in the Greater Realms, gets woken up by his father in the middle of the night and told it's time to go on his dragon quest. That's unusual because princes usually have days to prepare before their quests but Caden is eager to prove himself and takes off. And he does spot a dragon and is about to charge on his mighty Galvanian stallion when the ground around him suddenly turns the dark red of dark magic and he is sucked into another world. Fortunately, he and Sir Horace, his horse are safe but he finds himself in a strange city called Asheville. And they find that Brynne, a girl he grew up with who is also a sorceress, is there too. Also fortunately, a sympathetic policeman finds Caden (after Brynne and Sir Horace hide) and puts him in the care of a tough but compassionate foster mother--which keeps Caden out of the mental hospital when he insists that he's a prince on a dragon quest!
To keep from going on much longer, I'll say that Caden goes to school with Tito, one of the other foster kids but finds out things are much stranger at this school than he suspects. Is the school really a place of banishment for villains from his world? What happened to the Asheville girl who disappeared from the foster home the week before? How can Brynne make a school door explode through a cell phone? And just who is the vice-principal and why are all the villains afraid of her?

This is a really good read, boys! Not only is there magic, not only are there mysteries, there are fights with dragons (yes, they show up in our world!) and close encounters with silky-smooth and deadly villains. And there are flashes of humor, too. Just wait until you find out why Caden is terrified of being grounded or his reaction when he sees "geometric meats" for the first time. It's a great book for fantasy lovers or anyone who just plain loves a good story. I've got books 2 and 3 checked out and can't wait to start them!

PS--Asheville is a beautiful town. If there's any place in North Carolina that magic would live, this would be it! (and it's only 120 miles from Charlotte)

PPS--I first heard about this book on Ms. Yingling Reads, a truly cool blog. Thanks, Ms. Yingling!