You Never Can Tell With Bees (Review: The Bees by Lalline Paul)

The Bees
Lalline Paul
Ecco, 2015

I have to make an admission before we get started: I’m pretty damn scared of bees. They don’t instill the same mind-numbing terror as wasps or my new Taiwanese nemesis the giant hornet. Still, it takes a lot for me to get through a book whose cover is swarming in aphid…

On a Wing and a Prayer (Review: Winger by Andrew Smith)

Winger
Andrew Smith
Egmont, 2014

This review contains spoilers. Consider this fair warning, although we'll warn you again below, before things get REALLY spoiler-y. You may now proceed.

Ryan Dean West is 14 and, as such, Ryan Dean West has problems. Not exactly abject poverty, incurable disease, d…

This is Halloween! Some Terrible Treats for the Weekend...

I love Halloween, I always have.  I think anybody who is a reader, or who spends a lot of time on their imagination can't help but be entranced by an evening so driven by stories.  Even as a very young child, I liked the sharp thrill of fear, found between safe pages and each year, I ferret out…