Reviews

Kansas author Moriarty follows The Center of Everything with a second thoughtful book, The Rest of Her Life. When high school senior Kara accidentally hits and kills a fellow high school student in her car she changes the course of not only her own life, but of family, friends and strangers alike.

This poignant story of a remarkable and complex struggle in one of the darkest corners of Africa brings light to our shaken world. Mark and Delia Owens have developed a revolutionary and enlightened economic system which uplifts the local population and preserves wildlife.

I am not a huge TV watcher but here are some shows I picked up in 2009.

10 Things I Hate About You

I don’t know how, but DiCamillo has done it again. In The Magician’s Elephant you will find a beautiful tale of “what if’s” and impossibilities.

When David was eleven, a family friend noticed a bump in his neck. Three and a half years later he would finally have the lump removed. Despite being told he was fine, two surgeries left David with only one vocal chord and a huge scar down his throat and neck. It wasn’t until later that David would learn he had had cancer and had not been expected to live. Small, a well-deserved award winning illustrator possesses an almost creepy ability to convey complex emotions through his drawings. The story itself is remarkable and the illustrations serve to heighten the impact.

Oliver Watson is not your typical eighth grade student. He is actually a genius well on his way to world domination, and incidentally, unspeakably evil as well. Naturally, in order to protect himself, he must pretend to be a moron of vast proportions; and no one, neither his parents nor his classmates suspect a thing. Out of sheer spite for his father, Oliver decides to run for class president. In the end he discovers that the thing we loath the most in the world is the very thing that can bring us peace.

Anyone who has read the original text of Fahrenheit 451 is familiar with the central themes of censorship, governmental manipulation, blind faith, and betrayal. Anyone who hasn’t and doesn’t have time can benefit by reading Hamilton’s adaptation.