More From Michael

Our old friend Michael has come through again. Michael has always found good reads and this time he's giving us the lowdown on a very well-known series.

The Shadow Children Sequence, book 1
Among the Hidden
by Margaret Peterson Haddix
    In an depressing future, the government has only allowed two children to be born. Third children will probably be killed, along with their parents. Luke Garner is one of those kids. He's had to hide for years on his family's farm, and only his four family members know about him. Then one day a new neighborhood is built in the woods, and Luke has to stay inside for the rest of his life. He's never ridden in a car, never watched TV, and never even walked through the corn pasture. Luke is 12. But when he finds that there are more third children and that they're planning a rally, Luke finds an unbelievable adventure and danger waiting for him at every turn. Well, I must say that this review really hypes up the book a lot. It's pretty slow-moving, and there's no mystery or intrigue at all until chapter 9. I kept reading because I thought that there might be some thriller-type stuff, and there is, a little bit. Mostly it's an alternate future book. I will keep reading the series, though, and more book reviews are yet to come! Overall, it's worth reading.

The Shadow Children Sequence, book 2
Among the imposters
by Margaret Peterson Haddix
    After coming out of hiding, Luke Garner is enrolled in Hendricks School for Boys. But there he finds suspicious things about the students and the building itself. Plus, he thinks there might be other third children like him there. But are any if them spies for the Population Police? Well, I must say that this book is an improvement on the last time, but again, not much excitement til chapter 14. But there are twists I never would have expected. If you like realistic fiction with a touch of thriller, than this is more your series. It's kind of like Gordon Korman's On the Run meets Haddix's The Missing. I'm still hoping it picks up on the action as I read more and more.

The Shadow Children Sequence, book 3
Among the Betrayed
by Margaret Peterson Haddix
    At the end of Among the Imposters, Jason was arrested. You might also remember that Nina was arrested too, since she was his accomplice. Well, she wasn't. Or, so she tries to tell the Population Police. She claims that Jason betrayed her. But when the Population Police offer her freedom, she can't resist. All she has to do is pretend to be somebody's cellmate, get them to trust her, and then betray them. But later she finds out that her cellmates are 10, 9, and 6 years old. Can she betray such lovable kids? Should she betray anybody at all? And what will happen if she fails? These questions will be answered in the book. As you can see if you just read this review, once again Haddix has everything but excitement in this book. She has intrigue, romance, emotional qualities, inspirational parts, and realistic aspects. But she completely lacks excitement. I don't know if this book is worth the read. Yes, it does have some amazing twists at the end, but it's not at all exciting. Plus, we've been following Luke Garner this whole time, and suddenly a secondary character, a bad guy no less, now becomes the main character. I fail to see how this is Haddix's most popular series. You can read it if you want to, but for a thrill-seeker like me, it was boring until the very end.

The Shadow Children Sequence, book 4
Among the Barons
by Margaret Peterson Haddix
    Now that the situation with Nina is worked out, we can return to Luke Garner, who has taken on the identity of Lee Grant. Well, lo and behold, the real Lee Grant's brother, Smithfield, comes to school. Smits is annoying, but he's also mysterious, and no one know quite why the Grants sent him to school there. Things complicate when Luke and Smits are asked to return home, to the Grants' house. Plus, can Luke trust Smits' menacing bodyguard, Oscar? This book is probably the most mysterious and intriguing so far. And... wait for it... there's and exciting scene! I wasn't even expecting it! Haddix finally delivered! This book is definitely worth the read!

The Shadow Children Sequence, book 5
Among the Brave
by Margaret Peterson Haddix
    Trey, who had just saved Luke's life from that chandelier, still considers himself a coward. But when he, along with Luke's brother Mark, have to rescue Luke, Nina, Joel, John, the chauffeur, and Mr Talbot, Trey is forced into courage. Finally! A car chase and shootout! This is what I've been waiting for! This book is the best one yet. Definitely worth reading!

 Thanks, Michael! I'm very impressed by your honest reactions. It's good to see that it got good at the end. How about the rest of you? Have any of you read any of The Shadow Children books? Did you like them? Or not? What the books in Haddix's Found series? I read the first one and liked it a whole lot. (see my review here) Send us  your reactions. Reader guys everywhere are dying to know!

Michael Tells Us About Great Graphic Novel Goofiness!

Once again, our good friend Michael has written in to tell us about another great read. Let's hear what he has to tell us:

Stone Rabbit, book 7
Dragon Boogie
by Erik Craddok
    Stone Rabbit, Henri, Andy, Judy, Milton, and Grandpa are back in their newest comic book! When Stone Rabbit, Henri, and Andy play a medieval board game with magic dice, they are transported to the land where the game takes place, where they must defeat the evil Lord of Darkness. All of their friends appear as characters in the game to help them along, and this book introduces a new character who turns out to be the ultimate villain. This book is for fans of Fishhooks, Fairy Odd Parents, Spongebob Squarepants, and other shows like that. This book is written and illustrated in the goofy-style humor that appears on many of today's TV shows for kids. So this book is really like watching TV. I was never really a fan of magic and wizardry, but this book doesn't focus so much on that as it does the humor that can come with magic spells. I think overall that this book is worth the read, but it's not real high on my top books to read list.

Michael Lanier
Pianist, guitarist, banjoist, autoharpist, jaw harpist, Ukeist


Thanks, Michael! A lot of guys like goofy-style humor, so we may have some takers on this one. The library has copies of this book and others in the Stone Rabbit series, so come on in and take a look!

Yep, that cover looks pretty goofy to me. That could be a high recommendation! I think I'll find a copy. How about you reader guys? Have any of YOU read the Stone Rabbit graphic novels? Did you like them? Your fellow reader guys are dying to hear what you think.

Another Blast from the Past: Island of the Blue Dolphins

Every once in a while the Iron Guy likes to set conventional wisdom on its ear. (When I say "conventional wisdom," I mean "The way people say it's always done") The conventional wisdom says that boys won't read books with a girl as the main character. Well, I stick out my tongue and say, "Ppphhhhttttt!!" to that. Give a guy an exciting story about a boy or a girl and he'll read it. I've seen guys sitting around the library reading Nancy Drew graphic novels. So there! I've got a book that any guy would enjoy. I read it several years ago (which makes it a Blast from the Past) and it's Island of the Blue Dolphins by the terrific Scott O'Dell. This is a great survival story in the tradition of Hatchet. (see my review of that book here) In this story, a Native American girl named Karana and her little brother get left behind when her tribe has to leave their island, which is a desolate spot off the coast of California. They learn to fend for themselves but then her brother gets killed by a pack of wild dogs. Can she learn to survive on that lonely island? Can she make peace with that pack of dogs or be killed by them too? Is it possible to make it through the winter on her own? Add to this an unforgettable fight with a "devil fish" and you've got one fantastic book that will stay with you long after you finish.So go and check it out. You'll really like it.

This gets the Iron Guy Seal of Approval as One Terrific Book!

(sorry about the glare on the cover--must the glow of MANLINESS radiating from the Iron Guy!)

The Return of Michael!

Yes, indeed, guys, our good friend and reviewer par excellence Michael has returned with FOUR great new reviews of good stuff for guys. But first, let me share something really exciting:

You see the Iron Guy beaming with happiness because he has just received his copy of The Serpent's Shadow, the final book in Rick Riordan's Kane Chronicles trilogy. I'm Charlotte's # 1 Rick Riordan fan and any new book from him is the cause of much joyous celebration. (What?? Did you say that you're a BIGGER Rick Riordan fan than me??? HA!!! I don't believe you!! If I'm WRONG, then write in and PROVE it!)

But, as I said, we have four reviews from our friend Michael. Let's not waste any more time:

The Adventures of Tintin, volumes 1-7
by Herge
      Tintin is a reporter who is always finding intriguing stories to follow. Usually, he gets caught up right in the middle of his story, and he's always having to fight off enemies with guns and knives in addition to the ones trying to find creative ways of killing him. There aren't many dull moments in this series. When I first heard about it, I thought it was just a cute kiddie comic about a boy and his dog, but the dog, Snowy, really doesn't have much to do with the stories. If you like thrillers and hilarious lines, you won't better than this comic-book series right here! Read them all!

The Adventures of Tintin: the movie novel
by Alex C. Irvine
      If you're not sure about the Tintin movie, or if you really want to see it but it's not on DVD yet, then this novel is right for you. It has the exact same details and dialogue as the movie, and in some ways, this book is even better than the movie. The author has done well making the complicated scenes simple enough to understand without watching the movie. I think it's a great novel, and if you want to be the ultimate Tintin fan, then you can watch the movie and read the novel, like I did! It was a great book and a great movie.

Storm Runners: book 3
Eruption
by Roland Smith
      This is the final book in the Storm Runners trilogy. If you've read my reviews on the other two books, than you should be caught up. In this book, the Rossi Brothers' circus has gone missing in Mexico, so Chase, John, Tomas, Nicole, Cindy, and Mark head down to Lago de la Montana to go and find them. The only problem is that Lago de la Montana is right at the base of Mount Popocatapetl, which is showing signs of eruption, which could turn out to be the worst in its history. Plus, if the circus has had an accident, the animals could escape... and Chase would rather not have an incident like what happened in the last book happen again. Although all this suspense is built up, and it seems as though something great is going to happen, nothing actually happens. This book is more about the characters' relationships with one another and animal attacks more than storms. There is not one storm in this book, and in the end, Mount Popocatapetl doesn't even erupt. Plus, I don't approve of this being only three books. He could have had 50 books in this series! But he only chose three. I hate to say it, but this is the worst book in his trilogy. Look out for his next book coming in September: Cahills Vs. Vespers, book 4: Shatterproof.

 Herbert's Wormhole, book 2
The Rise and Fall of El Solo Libre
by Peter Nelson and Rohitash Rao
      After 6 years, Alex, Sammi, and Herbert are finally back in this mediocre sequel! GOR-DON, the evil G'Dalien from the last book is back, and this time, he has a guaranteed plan to get rid of the three pretend Alien-slayers. Alex sets out on a mission to find his 110-year-old self, like Herbert, but Alex suddenly gets prideful and wants to be a solo Alien-slayer. Will Herbert and Sammi tell him the truth? The main happening in this book, however, is when GOR-DON, in disguise, tricks Alex into trash-talking the G'Daliens' sworn enemy, the Klapthorians! The Klapthorian general promises an attack on Earth! What will happen to the planet? Plus, Sammi thiks it's wrong to let all of Merwinsville keep thinking that the three of them are still real alien-slayers when they had really just used a life-size video game. She doesn't want to go back to the future, but Herbert made a rule that either all threre of them or none of them went through the wormhole. Could this be their last mission to future Merwinsville? It all unravels in this long-awaited sequel! Like I said at the beginning, this book is pretty average. It's mostly stupid humor and immature behavior, so it's a little boring. There was one really good thriller-type scene (no guns or anything), and that was my favorite part of the book. For those of you who read the original Herbert's Wormhole when it was released in 2006, I found that I'm really too old for the series now. It was great when I was 10 like the characters, but now the characters are still 10 and I'm 16. So, all-in-all, it's an average, nonsense book with a few exciting parts. It's probably worth the read.

Thanks, Michael! We really appreciate the way you tell us just how you see things. The Tintin graphic  novels have looked really interesting and now the movie novel does too. I'm sorry you found the last Storm Runners book disappointing. And the same for the Herbert's Wormhole book. But maybe there are a lot of 10-year-old guys out there who would like it! So you may have done us a favor. Have any of you out there read the Herbert's Wormhole books? Would you like to? Write in and tell us!!

And, if any of you have the mistaken idea that reading is not for guys, here's a picture of the Iron Guy striking his MANLIEST pose and showing that he is a walking advertisement for guy reading:

There!! How could you argue with a MANLY MAN like the Iron Guy???

More Blasts from the Past

Hey all you reader guys in the fabulous land of blog! This is Iron Guy Carl and I'm sorry that I haven't been around for a while. Life in the library gets very busy and sometimes I hardly have time to read, much less blog. But the Iron Guy always rises to the occasion and so I've decided to re-institute the Blasts from the Past, something I tried a couple of years ago. That was when we were all undergoing major changes. There was no time at all for reviewing new books, so I recommended books I'd read before but not reviewed. One was The Whipping Boy by Sid Fleischman. (see the post here) The other was The Hound of the Baskervilles and you can see that post here. Except this time I'll do something different--I'm going to refer you to books I have reviewed before. It's been a while since these posts were first published, sometimes even a few years, but these books were terrific then and they're terrific now.

And I'll go back four years for one of the most terrific books I've ever read. It's Hatchet by the great Gary Paulsen. One of the great survival stories of all time. Young Brian has to crash-land a plane in the Canadian wilderness with no survival gear, no extra food, and no idea where he is (this was in the days before GPS) and no way to contact anyone. How could any kid possibly manage? It's one thrilling tale and you will nwever forget it! (see the original review here)

HATCHET + GARY PAULSEN= a great read! Go and check it out!

Michael Writes Again!

Hey, guys, our good friend Michael, that reading and writing machine, has sent us three more reviews of books that sound really interesting. Let's hear him:

Explorer: The Mystery Boxes
by Jason Caffoe, Emily Carroll, Kazu Kibuishi, Stuart Livingston, Johane Matte, Dave Roman, Rad Sechrist, Raina Telgemeier, Saymone Phanekham, and Stephanie Ramirez
Some of the world's best graphic novelists have come together to make this amazing collaboration of seven stories that all have to do with mysterious boxes. You'll get everything you want: morals, live dolls, treasure, aliens-- it's all there! Don't miss out on these great stories from great writers! A fabulous piece of work!

Antarctica, book 1
Journey to the Pole
by Peter Lerangis
In the year 1909, a secret journey is being made to go to the South Pole. Widower Jack Winslow, his two sons, Colin and Andrew, and nephew of the trip's millionaire sponsor, Philip Westfall, are the leaders. There are unbelievable trials waiting for them, and they'll also face things that they never thought possible in their wildest dreams. Will the team make it to the South Pole? Will they even survive? What about the team on the ship? Will they be alright? Will there really be a mutiny? All these questions are answered in this incredible adventure to the bottom of the world! Very well-written. Unfortunately, the library does not have the sequel. Check this book out today!

Time Snatchers
by Richard Ungar
Caleb is a time snatcher. He was abandoned by his parents at a young age, and a mysterious man adopted him and a few other kids his age. They know the man only by Uncle. Uncle is the only man who knows the secret of time travel. He's allowed rich people to request things from history (the first photograph, the first Frisbee, etc.), and then he sends his kids back to get it. But if they fail, there are dire consequences. Caleb doesn't want to live under Uncle's rule, but there's nowhere on earth or in time that Uncle cannot find him. Caleb doesn't want to be a time snatcher; he wants a normal life like everyone else. But more than anything, he wants a family. It doesn't help that Frank, another time snatcher, is trying to poach Caleb's snatches. Frank is becoming more and more of a bully, and Caleb's snatch partner, Abbie (who he's starting to see in a different light) actually seems to be falling for Frank! Is there anything Caleb can do to escape Frank and Uncle, or is he stuck as a time snatcher forever? These questions and more are revealed in this great sci-fi book. It's not as thrilling as I'd expected. No one who Caleb is snatching from gives him a hard time. It's kind of like Star Trek meets soap operas. It's great for time travel lovers (like myself), but it's not a thriller. Too bad. There are also some flaws with the laws of the time-space continuum, but only someone who reads non-fiction about time travel (like me) would notice that. I think that for his first novel, it was pretty well done. I like the first-person narration. And some people might say that the ending was really dumb, but I liked it. One more thing: the book didn't really have a plot. Caleb wasn't really trying to accomplish anything. However, I think that the good outweighs the bad in this case and that this book is worth the read.

Michael Lanier
Pianist, guitarist, banjoist, autoharpist, jaw harpist, Ukeist

Thanks, Michael! Graphic novels, adventure, and sci-fi--they're all here! We're glad you let us know about them. Keep those reviews coming. And let us hear from YOU, all you crazy reading cats out there. What have YOU read lately???

Why Did the Iron Guy Cross the Road?

To get to the library and check out these great joke books! Yes, these books will keep you in stitches--just like Frankenstein after visiting the Mad Doctor!! A--HAHAHA!!! Frankenstein--stitches--get it??? As Foghorn Leghorn would say,


And that joke plus a whole bunch more are in these terrific books:

Laughapalooza Joke Book by Kitty Richards; based on the Phineas and Ferb TV series created byDan Povenmire and Jeff "Swampy" Marsh

You Must Be Joking Two! Even Cooler Jokes Plus 11 1/2 Tips for Laughing Yourself into Your Own Stand-Up comedy Routine--written and illustrated by Paul Brewer



The Biggest Joke Book Ever (No Kidding!) by Michael Pellowski


There are lots and lots and lots of jokes in these books. For example:

"Why don't mummies go on vacation?"
"They are afraid to relax and unwind." (from Laughapalooza)

"How did the convict use his computer to break out of prison?"
"He hit the escape key." (from You Must be Joking Two)

"What did the boa say to the python?"
"I have a crush on you." (from The Biggest Joke Book Ever)

Don't those jokes just make you slap your knee??!!?? AND you don't have to worry about telling them because they are (as the back of The Biggest Joke Book Ever says) "clean, never mean (or obscene), good for the bean, the funniest jokes you've ever seen!" Plus, You Must Be Joking Two has a whole section on how to tell jokes and The Biggest Joke Book Ever has a good sidebar about that on page 99. I guarantee that after reading these books, you'll be the funniest guy in your neighborhood--your school--even your entire state!



Yes, if you read these books, you won't ever have to worry about almost making a joke like our good friend Foghorn. So check these out and Make 'Em Laugh! (and sorry for the Movie Trailers ad at the end)