Word Out! 2009

Book Recommendations

Here's a post for book recommendations (making, asking, whatever).  It's permanently linked from the lefthand sidebar of the site as "Review/Recommend" (under the "Explore the Site" navigation section), so you can find it again easily even after it ceases to be a recent post.

A few of my own to start things off:

Fiction of the Week for July 27: The Juvie Three

Our featured Fiction book this week is Gordon Korman's The Juvie Three, and selector Little n. shares her thoughts with us.

The Juvie three is a great read about second chances, calamity and best-case scenarios. If you like Gordon Korman, then you’ll like this book - it’s a classic Korman story. Let me first introduce you to the players; born to be bad Terence, get-away driver Gecko, friendly giant Arjay, and fearless leader Douglas Healy. Terrence, Gecko, and Arjay are young boys who found themselves in bad situations on the streets and in juvenile hall as a result. These boys had little chance of living a normal life until they meet Douglas Healy. Healy is an adult who’s seen the inside of juvenile hall and has struggled with the system to give these three boys a second chance at a normal life.

Nonfiction of the Week for July 27: Animation Unleashed (Part 2)

Animation Unleashed by Ellen Besen and Bryce Hallett

Bryce Hallett is an independent Canadian animator who lives and works in Toronto. He is a graduate of Sheridan College classical animation program  and Canadore college's Graphic Communication Program. Bryce has been creating many cartoons with his company Frog Feet Productions since 1999.

He is the illustrator for the nonfiction book "Animation Unleashed" and I had the immense pleasure of interviewing him via email to find out more about the animation process and his influences and career. He was kind enough to provide the library with some images that demonstrate the creative process for an illustrator/animator.

All the Way from Arizona!

Wake author Lisa McMann gave a shout-out yesterday through Facebook to the BATTLE OF THE BOOKS launch event, where Wake was the audience favourite.  Wake will be our featured fiction book next week.

Lisa is in Arizona, which is quite far from Toronto, but the Internet makes everything local.  Thanks Lisa! :)

Graphic Novel of the Week for July 27th: Runaways: Dead End Kids

Helena returns to share her thoughts on this week's featured graphic novel, Runaways: Dead End Kids by Joss Whedon:

Runaways: Dead End Kids is about the children of the Pride (the villains of the Marvel comic universe) and how they rebel against their moms and dads by fighting for good and justice in the world. 

Third Week's Prizes Drawn

Check your email--we've drawn the prize winners for the July 20 - July 26 period and sent emails to the winners.

Full details on prizes here.

Congratulations to the winners!  If you didn't win a prize--there's five more weeks of prize drawings to go!

Nonfiction of the Week for July 27: Animation Unleashed (Part 1)

The fantastic book that was my portion of the blog is the animation/illustration guide entitled: Animation Unleashed. This book is the product of two people, the author Ellen Besen and the illustrator Bryce Hallet. Today's blog will focus on my interview with Ellen and later in the week I will blog about my interview with Bryce.

What We Read Last Week - July 27

Last week I read Canadian author William Bell's The Blue Helmet, a short novel (166 pages) with deep themes (madness, youth violence, dealing with the death of a parent).  Loved it!  A fast read that will get you thinking.

Graphic Novel of the Week for July 20th: Flight Volume 5

Flight Vol. 5 by Kazu Kibuishi

I have been a HUGE fan of the series Flight for some time now. The artwork and stories never cease to amaze me.  It has been nominated for the Harvey Awards.

Fiction of the Week for July 20: The Devil's Breath

The Devil's Breath by David Gilman

The urban dictionary defines "devil's breath" as: "a noxious or toxic smell".

In terms of this novel by David Gilman it refers to the fact that our hero has uncovered an environmental polluter who is ruining the waters in Africa by dumping drugs and pharmaceuticals. But let's backtrack on this a little bit - how did our hero Max get from England to Africa?