The Rock of Ivanore - Laurisa White Reyes

The Rock of Ivanore by Laurisa White Reyes
Each year in the village of Quendal, young men on the verge of manhood are sent on a quest. This year it is 14yr old Marcus turn, along with Jerriod, Zody, Clovis, Tristan and Kelvin. The six are on a quest to find the Rock of Ivanore.  They have no idea, what or who the Rock of Ivanore is or even where to begin the search,  discovery that is all apart of the journey.  The story revolves around Marcus, who is an orphan and always felt like an outsider.  He is the only student of Zyll an older sorcerer who the other boys laugh at. Marcus has a natural talent for magic, he simply has to practice and the quest gives him the opportunity. 

Reyes doesn't do anything new with this story but she tells it well.   Marcus and Kelvin's growing freindship is a nice dymanic.  As is the very solid diagolue throughout.   There are a lot of close calls and the author does a very good job with these scenes.  The visual appeal of them will grab a few reluctant readers. 

"Marcus ran and within moments stumbled upon the gruesome sight.  Kelvin lay unmoving on the ground. Bryn sat on his haunches beside him, his mouth stretched unnaturally wide like a python about to swallow its prey. His eyes glowed yellow. Upon seeing Marcus, the creature let out a deafening, animal like howl.  Marcus rushed forward, swinging Xerxes like a club.  The creature leapt out of the way and slashed at Marcus's back with needle like claws that had grown along its fingertips.  Marcus fell to his knees beside Kelvin.  He could feel blood trickling down his back."  

 I loved the action that leads up to the end which was very satisfying.  It is nice to read a book in a  middle grade fantasy series that does not end in a cliffhanger.  An enjoyable page turner.

Read prologue and chapter one via authors site

On Sale Now - New Releases (Playing Catch Up)

Every month I list all children's and young adult titles, that  I am aware of, that feature characters of color or a diverse cast. This I can't find that many new releases for this feature for the month of April, I decided include the titles from previous month that I didn't mention at the time of their release. 


Auntie Yang's Great Soybean Picnic by Ginnie Lo, illus. by Beth Lo (April)

Lone Bean by Chudney Ross

The Choke Artist by David Yoo
Snow Wolf by Fred Lit Yiu
Back to Me by Earl Sewell
Transcendence by C.J. Omolou
Shake It/Got Pride by Stephanie Perry Moore
Black Boy White School by Brian F. Walker (Jan)

Yell Out/Do You  by Stephanie Perry Moore
Settle Down/Be Real by Stephanie Perry Moore
Always Upbeat/ All That by Stephanie Perry Moore
Keep Jumping/ No Hating by Stephanie Perry Moore
Shadows on the Moon by Zoe Marriott (April)

A Confusion of Princes by Garth Nix (May)
The Good Braider by Terry Farish (May)
The Drowned Cities by Paolo Bacigalupi (May)
Nothing Special by Geoff Herbach (May)

Saying Goodbye to Leo Dillon 1933- 2012

Awarding winning and groundbreaking illustrator Leo Dillon died on May 26th.  The first I heard of Dillon's passing was when I stopped by illustrator Shadra Strickland's blog yesterday.  Today a friend sent me the link to Dillon's obituary in Publishers Weekly.

The first picture book that I read that was  illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon was Honey I Love by Eloise Greenfield and I was hooked ever since.

Leo along with his wife/ artistic partner have given so much to children's literature.  Together they opened doors, along with a few others and  made publishing industry pay attention to the beauty of diversity.   Looking at their work always puts a smile on my face. So when I think of Leo Dillon I will visualize myself reading The People Who Could Fly (a gorgeous classic) or  Why Mosquitoes Buzz in Peoples Ears or any of the numerous picture books the Dillon's have illustrated with their signature style that is so easy to love

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I am going to continue on for bit but only because  I think Leo Dillon would approve (or at least I hope so).  

Award winning illustrator R. Gregory Christie is opening Gas Art Gifts an art studio/children's bookstore in Atlanta, GA's North Dekalb Mall. 

Through The Youth Innovators Program, GAS-ART GIFTS will to expand its reach into the community by providing an opportunity for youth to explore the art fashion design, illustration and entrepreneurship. Each group of youth will be engaged in 12 hours of learning.

Since I live in Atlanta I have had the opportunity to see Christie's space and I like it a lot.  See for yourself    Christie has a funding campaign at Indiegogo until Saturday June 23rd, to raise money to help give back the gift of art.

I am very excited about Christie's new endeavour.  Even more so after getting to meet Christie, who is very nice and hearing him talk about how much wants to give back the community through Gas Art Gifts. 

I thought long and hard about whether or not it would be appropriate to include information about R Gregory Christie's new project   in a post about Leo Dillon passing. In the end I decided that yes it was;Leo Dillon was an artist gave simply by doing what he did best and Christie is an artist is looking to give back.   Plus I'd must rather end on a note of possibility then one of loss. 

The Great Cake Mystery - Alexander McCall Smith, Iain McIntosh

The Great Cake Mystery by Alexander McCall Smith, Illustrations by Iain McIntosh
The author has a bestselling mystery series called The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency. The stories are quaint and a whole lot of fun.  Since I am a fan of the series, I was excited to discover that the author wrote an early chapter featuring Precious Ramostswe, the detective in the series, in her very first case.

In The Great Cake Mystery, readers are introduced to a young Precious Ramotswe who like her adult self lives in Botswana.  Precious loves to listen to her dad's stories, but she can always tell when it starts turning into a tall tale.  Precious pays attention and listens she knows when someone isn't telling the truth.  These are two very important skills for a detective.  When Precious's dad suggest she become a detective, she thinks its a good idea.     

When food starts going missing at school, Precious gets are first case must sooner than expected.  Everyone in the class but Precious, believe a boy named Polowko is the thief.  Precious knows he's innocent and must prove it to clear his name. 

I very much enjoyed this introduction to a young Precious Ramostswe.  McIntosh wonderful illustrations and the short chapters make this an excellent for young readers who are mystery fans and new to chapter books

An excerpt 

Best Shot in the West - Patricia & Fredrick McKissack, Randy Duburke

Best Shot in the West by Patricia C. McKissack & Fredrick L McKissack Jr illus. by Randy Duburke
This is a graphic novel based on the life of Nat Love who was born into slavery in 1854 and grew up to become a famous cowboy.  The author's based this graphic novel off of Love's autobiography.  "The Life and Adventures of Nat Love.

I was confused by the first few pages, it felt as if I was thrown into Nat Love's post cowboy life as a porter. Being unfamiliar with Nat Love's life, a part of me even wondered if I was reading the right story.    An old friend visits and convinces Love to write about his cowboy days.  Love begins by recounting his years as a slave.  After slavery is abolished Love earns a living by breaking horses, the first step to becoming a cowboy.

I did not  connect with this graphic novel textually or visually.  Part of problem was that I was still out of sorts from the early confusion. However I did try to compartmentalize, focusing only on what was in front of me and it still didn't work from. From a textual standpoint I felt it lacked the excitement  a cowboy story should have.  Within the panels the clarity of the faces drawn varies. I would've preferred if Duburke committed to using one style.

The story  focuses a lot of the camaraderie of the cowboys as they take on dangerous jobs, like herding cattle.   There's also much time spent on the battles between cowboys and Indians. Seeing Indians portrayed as the bad guys in Best Shot in the West, made me cringe. 

"We'd just left Dodge City after driving a herd of cattle. Our time there was not well spent: we'd boozed it up pretty good.  I believe I'd left my good sense there. As we passed the fort, I got the notion that we could use a cannon back at the ranch to protect us from rustlers and Indians."

Good or bad history is what  it is and can not be changed nor should it be rewritten. While I am against the rewriting history I am all for having a supplement in the back that places the history of this context.  I got off on the wrong foot with this graphic novel and it never got better. 

I am linking this post to Non Fiction Monday. This weeks round up can be found at Apples with Many Seeds.