Review: Three Little Birds — Cedella Marley

Three Little Birds is a wonderful board book adapted from the Bob Marley song (by Cedella Marley). The lush, colorful illustrations are beautiful. This is a board book, but is perfect for babies, toddlers, and even older kids because the message transcends. “Every little thing is gonna be all right.” My mom purchased this for [...]

Review: My Big Animal Book — Roger Priddy (board book)

Shop Indie Bookstores I bought this for Connal when he was four months old. He loved it then and continues to. The book is quite big. It has bold colors and beautiful photographs. Each animals picture has the name of the animal beneath it. This type of book can grow with your child. He started [...]

Review: Fairy Hunters Ink. — Sheila A. Dane

Rose Csorba beautifully illustrated this journal-of-sorts about a group of Fairy Hunters. Ashley and narrator Laura, aided by their friends Big Rabbit and Turtle, find the fairies that exist in every day things. Pocket Fairies, Teacup Fairies, Sock Fairies, and others have their own brief story and the story of their capture. The idea that [...]

Review: Jesus Land: A Memoir — Julia Scheeres

Shop Indie Bookstores The title Jesus Land is from a sign that Julia Scheeres and her adopted brother David see when exploring their new town, “This here is: JESUS LAND.” Julia is a white girl who has two, adopted black brothers. One, Jerome, is older and prone to stealing, running away, and molesting Julia. David [...]

Review: Fearless Fourteen — Janet Evanovich

Shop Indie Bookstores Fearless Fourteen Loretta Rizzi needed a Tom Collins, so she robbed a liquor store. Vinnie bonded her out. When she failed to appear in court, Stephanie was tasked with bringing her in. There was a slight hitch in the plan though. Loretta had no assets to use as collateral and no money, [...]

Review: Lean Mean Thirteen — Janet Evanovich

Shop Indie Bookstores Stephanie owes Ranger a favor, only this time it isn’t sexual. She has to plant some bugs on her ex, Dickie Orr, who just happens to be boinking Joyce Barnhardt again. When she goes to Dickie’s office, Stephanie sees a picture of Joyce and Dickie and goes postal. When she leaves, she [...]

Review: Twelve Sharp — Janet Evanovich

Shop Indie Bookstores Frustratingly, Twelve Sharp does not pick up where Eleven on Top left off. 11 ends with Stephanie smashing into Stiva’s and Ranger’s infamous one-word response to her, “Babe.” Skipping ahead, we don’t know how Morelli reacted to her ditching him to go chase Stiva or what happened after she did. She is [...]

Review: Eleven on Top — Janet Evanovich

Shop Indie Bookstores Next to Four to Score, I think Eleven on Top is one of the funniest Stephanie Plum books to date. Stephanie decides to quit bounty hunting and look for a normal job, one that won’t get her shot at or result in her cars getting blown up. She does very short stints [...]

Review: Ant Farm — Simon Rich

Shop Indie Bookstores Ant Farm is described by Jon Stewart as “Hilarious.” I would say that term applies to some parts of it. Overall though, I’d call it “Amusing.” Simon Rich (a former Harvard Lampoon president) wrote this comical collection of short stories. Actually, I’m not sure if these are considered short stories. I consider [...]

Review: Ten Big Ones — Janet Evanovich

Shop Indie Bookstores There is no big FTA to capture in Ten Big Ones, but after accidentally witnessing a robbery with Lula, Stephanie lands herself on a gang hit list. During the robbery, Lula shoots out the Red Devil Robber’s motorcycle tire and Stephanie’s Ford Escape is fire bombed to bits. Ranger’s out of town [...]