The Graveyard Book

Author: Neil Gaiman
Illustrator: Dave Mckean
Year: 2008
Publisher: HarperCollins
Pages: 320
Reading Level: Intermediate (ages 9-12)

Awards: 2009 Newbery Medal, 2009 ALA Notable Books for Children, 2009 ALA Best Books for Young Adults, 2008 Horn Book Fanfare Award

Genre: Gothic fantasy
Location: A forgotten graveyard in Britain
Time Period: Present Day (2008)

Plot: When a baby boy hides in a graveyard while a man named Jack murders the rest of his family, the inhabitants of the graveyard agree to adopt him. They name him Nobody (Bod) Owens, and bestow on him the power of the graveyard, which allows him to fade from sight, walk through walls, and see in the dark. Bod spends the next fourteen years in the graveyard. He makes friends with the inhabitants, learns to read by deciphering gravestones, and learns English history from people who lived it. While Bod wants to learn all he can about the world, his not-quite-dead and not-quite-living guardian, Silas, warns him that the man Jack is still out there, searching for him. SPOILER! When Jack discovers where Bod is, he and his band, the Jacks of All Trades, infiltrate the graveyard. It will take all that Bod has learned and the help of all of his friends in the graveyard to defeat this mighty foe. However, when this is done Bod no longer needs the protection of the graveyard, and he is allowed to leave the graveyard and seek his fortune in the world.

Comments: I did something I don't normally do when I read—instead of actually reading the book, I listened to the book on CD, which is narrated by the author. Gaiman is a great storyteller, and it was fun to hear the story come to life in his telling of it. He gave different inflections to most of the characters in the book, sounding young and youthful whenever Bod spoke, ghostly and ethereal when a character from the graveyard spoke, and deep and harsh whenever the man Jack spoke. My favorite voice, however, what the Scottish accent Gaiman used whenever Bod's only living friend, Scarlet, was on the scene.

The story itself is interesting, and it grabs your attention from the very first sentence: "There was a hand in the darkness, and it held a knife." Although the wording and the setting are both dark and tense, Gaiman keeps this book light, allowing the reader to experience Bod's wonder and pleasure in the world around him. The book follows Bod's adventures as he grows up, and for awhile I wondered if the tense scene at the beginning with the man Jack would ever be referred to again. The time Gaiman takes in telling the story pays off, however, when Bod uses the knowledge he gained from almost every chapter before when the man Jack finally makes another appearance.

It's the small touches Gaiman adds to this book that really make it great. With every new character introduced, the epitaph on their gravestone is read. Bod is a precocious main character, and he learns life lessons that even adults will find interesting and applicable. Even though Bod is in a situation that would never really happen, it seems completely natural that a boy in this situation wouldn't find death scary or frightening at all, which makes the book more believable. Oddly enough, despite all that happens in this book, the scenario I had the most trouble accepting was that fact that Bod was allowed to leave the graveyard and seek his fortune at the young age of 15. This is a fact that will be appealing to younger readers, however, and it's not a hinderance to the story.

I really enjoyed this book. My only regret from having listened to the book instead of reading it is that I missed Mckean's dark, jagged drawings, a few of which I have seen and which I think would add just as much character and life as Gaiman's inflections added. I'll just have to read the book again, won't I?

Themes: Murder, Family, Definition of Home, Seeking one's Fortune, Destiny, Standing up for what you believe in.

Red Flags: Bod deals with bullies, Silas gets run over by a car (but that's okay, because he's not alive), the book contains (good) werewolves, goblins, ghouls, murderers, and other creepy things that go bump in the night.

Haroun and the Sea of Stories

Author: Salman Rushdie
Year: 1991
Publisher: Viking
Pages: 219
Reading Level: Young Adult

Awards: 1992 Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Children's Literature

Genre: Fantasy
Location: On Earth, in a city that has forgotten its name in the mythical country of Alifbay; Also, the mythical moon Kahani
Time Period: Once upon a time (but in the near past)

Plot: Rashid Khalifa is a storyteller who is so good at his craft that people clamor for his stories from miles around. However, when his wife leaves him and his son, Haroun, Rashid loses the will to tell another story. Alarmed, Haroun decides to go on a quest to restore his father's storytelling ability. With the help of the water genie Iff and his mechanical Hoopoe bird Butt, Haroun flies to the moon Kahani, where the source of all stories, the Ocean of the Streams of Story, is located. There, Haroun finds trouble is brewing. The evil villain Khattam-Shud is poisoning the streams of story, and plotting to put a stopper in the wellsprings of the ocean. Khattam-Shud has also captured Princess Batcheat, and he is threatening to sew up the lips of her and her rescuers in an attempt to rule the world and turn it into a place of eternal silence and darkness. It is up to Haroun and his friends to defeat Khattam-Shud before it becomes too late. SPOILER! Haroun and his friends succeed when Haroun manages to get the moon to start turning again, assuring that no one will ever be in complete darkness forever. Khattam-Shud's evil lairs of ice and shadow are ruined in the sunlight. Because Haroun has helped save Kahani, the people of Kahani offer Haroun a boon. He wishes for a happy ending, and arrives home to find that everyone is happy, Rashid's powers of storytelling have been rekindled, and Haroun's mother has come back home.

Comments: I read this book for book club, and it was interesting to see the different opinions people had about it. One person loved it. Another person couldn't stand the writing style. The book had many elements of a classic hero adventure tale, which is something I love, but I could see where the person who didn't like the book was coming from.

Rushdie's writing style is very epic and exotic. He frequently repeats the same idea three times in three different ways. For example, Rashid the storyteller is an Ocean of Notions, the Shah of Blah, given the Gift of Gab, etc. The repetition sets the tone of the story nicely, but it also has an edge of humor in it. This is, after all, designed as a child's tale. The humor can be somewhat off-putting because it is sometimes silly, but it is something that children should love.

This is a story that I think adults would appreciate too. Despite the sometimes silly humor and repetition, there are many layers of meaning to the story. What goes on in Kahani can be directly related to what is going on down on Earth below. The book also tries to raise the question, "what's the use of stories if they're not real?"

Haroun is a likeable character whose braveness is fueled by his love for his father and by his yearning for Rashid to be happy. Most of the other characters are somewhat cookie-cutter characters, but that works for this type of story.

I liked the story a lot, and I would recommend it to others. The ending left a little something to be desired because it all ended so suddenly and so neatly, but it is the classic happy ending that a tale of good vs. evil should have.

Themes: The power of Storytelling, Good vs. Evil

Red Flags: Haroun's mother leaves Rashid for the upstairs neighbor, who ends up being Khattam-Shud.

Multicultural Elements: Although this is a fairy tale, the characters and storytelling elements are very much influenced by an Indian/Asian storytelling influence.

Chalice

Author: Robin McKinley
Year: 2008
Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons
Pages: 263
Reading Level: Young Adult

Genre: Fantasy
Location: Willowlands
Time Period: Not specified

Plot: Mirasol was a simple beekeeper until the leaders of the country, called Master and Chalice, were killed in a violent fire. Suddenly, Mirasol's bees are making fountains and fountains of honey—a sign that Mirasol is the new Chalice, destined to protect the land and help keep it whole. This is not an easy task, especially since the next Master left Willowlands seven years ago to become a priest of fire, and therefore he is now more fire than human. The people are wary of their new Master, and others are considering revolting and finding a new one. Mirasol knows that losing another Master so soon would completely destroy Willowlands, and it is up to her to keep the land together, no matter what the cost.

Comments: Robin McKinley is one of the authors I keep track of. When a new book of hers comes out, I tend to read it without even looking to see if I'll like it first. I like her continued theme of strong female characters who have to embrace their true potential in order to save the country. Even in the strangest of circumstances, her characters are believable, and the world they inhabit is believable too.

There is one thing that is sometimes off-putting to me, however, and that is the fact that McKinley's writing style is very much a stream of consciousness. This sometimes leads to large tangents in the middle of conversations, and going in roundabout ways to make her point. This style is what makes the characters believable, but there are some times when I'm reading a book, and I just wish she would get to the point.

I kind of felt this way when I started reading Chalice, but when I finally sat down and read it and just relaxed into the story, it didn't matter as much. I think I like this book more than her last few offerings, but that might be because with this book she goes back to the fairy tale feel that her last two books were lacking. Beauty and The Blue Sword will probably always be my favorite Robin McKinley books, but this one is one of my top picks too.

Themes: Beekeepers, Monarchs, Duty, Fire

Red Flags: Nothing too graphic, but there is a light battle sequence and a description of a forest fire.

Baby Brains: The Smartest Baby in the Whole World

Author/Illustrator: Simon James
Year: 2004
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Pages: 32
Reading Level: Beginning Reader (ages 4-8)

Awards: 2004 Horn Book Fanfare award

Genre: Picture Book/Fantasy
Series Information: First of the Baby Brains series
Location: Anytown, USA
Time Period: Present Day (2003)

Plot: Mr. and Mrs. Brains wanted their baby to be smart, so even before he was born Mrs. Brains read to him at night and played classical music and foreign language tapes during the day. The morning after Mr. and Mrs. Brains bring him back from the hospital, he is discovered reading the newspaper and he fixes the family car. He attends school and earns a medical degree in a matter of weeks. When NASA finds out about Baby Brains, they ask him to go on the next space mission. SPOILER! Finding himself alone in the middle of space, Baby Brains finally does something normal: he asks for his mommy. Baby Brains is sent back home, where he decides to enjoy the benefits of being a baby, except for on weekends when he helps out at the local hospital.

Comments: Children will probably love the absurd idea of a baby who is so smart that he can fix a car, practice medicine, and become an astronaut. Simon James has an artistic style similar to that of Quentin Blake of the Roald Dahl books fame. In fact, the slightly absurd subject matter and pictures made me feel like I was reading a Roald Dahl book written for younger readers.

Themes: Genius Children, Babies, The importance of families

Red Flags: None

The Arrival

Author/Illustrator: Shaun Tan
Year: 2006
Publisher: Arthur A. Levine Books
Pages: 128
Reading Level: Young Adult

Awards: 2008 ALA Notable Book, 2007 New York Times Best Illustrated award, 2008 Ten Best Books for Young Adults, and many many others

Genre: Graphic Novel/Fantasy
Location: A new land
Time Period: late 1800s/early 1900s

Plot: A man travels by steamship to a new and exotic land, where the animals, food, words, currency, and almost everything else about the place are completely unfamiliar to him. SPOILER! With the help of friendly people and the companionship of an odd gilled animal that resembles half lizard half dog, the man builds a new life in the country, and sends for his family to join him there.

Comments: This wordless graphic novel was completely different from what I expected it to be. Tan captures the immigrant experience in a somewhat disturbing, surrealistic style, but that is how a person feels when they've moved to a strange new place. The pictures are absolutely beautiful. Depicted in rich sepias and dark blacks and grays, Tan even gives the book the feeling of an old photo album by making some pages look crumpled and mold-spotted, and by including cracks and tears in the pictures. It is obvious that he spent a lot of time on this book, and I appreciated the note he included in the back that talked about all the research he did and how he tried to model his pictures after old photographs of Ellis Island, the Titanic, and other subject-appropriate depictions of the past.

Themes: Immigration, Coping with Change, New Places, Oppression, Friendship

Red Flags: Disturbing images of what immigrants to the new country have left behind: a battlefield strewn with skeletons, large men who are setting the city on fire, long tentacled arms looming over a city.

Multicultural Elements: The main character is Caucasian, but he meets many different people from many different cultures.

Victory

Author: Susan Cooper
Year: 2007
Publisher: Aladdin
Pages: 224
Reading Level: Intermediate (ages 9-12)

Awards: 2007 National Social Studies Trade Book

Genre: Fantasy/Adventure/Historical Fiction
Location: Connecticut, England, H.M.S. Victory
Time Period: 1803-1806/Present Day (2006)

Plot: Molly Jennings is an English girl who lives in 2006, while Sam Robbins is a farm boy who was pressed into service on H.M.S. Victory back in 1803. Their stories are told simultaneously, and each character has a different yet similar problem to face. While Sam has to learn about the perils of life on the sea and is involved in the famous battle of Trafalgar, Molly also has to deal with homesickness and loneliness when she moves to Connecticut, where her new father's job is located. Molly and Sam's lives are connected when Molly finds Robert Southey's book Life of Nelson at a nautical souvenir shop. Pasted inside the cover of the book is a scrap of the flag that covered Lord Nelson's body after he died. Sam had been given that piece of flag, and passed it on to his children, who pasted it into the book. SPOILER! Molly and Sam's lives truly converge when Molly goes back to England for a week in an attempt to get over her homesickness. While there, her grandfather takes her to Portsmouth, where they take a tour of H.M.S. Victory. There, Molly reconnects with Sam and experiences through Sam's eyes the battle of Trafalgar and the death of Lord Nelson. Molly later discovers that the reason she had such a vivid experience is because she is actually a descendant of Sam's.

Comments: The idea of two people being connected through time is an interesting one, and Cooper does a good job of helping you feel the connection between these two individuals. I think this story would have worked just as well if Cooper had focused solely on Sam's experience aboard H.M.S. Victory, but the addition of Molly's story adds depth of feeling to the plot. The hard issues of death, war, and Molly's depression over her homesickness and her father's death, make this a book I wouldn't recommend to younger readers, but it might be an interesting way for older readers to learn about one of England's most famous battles.

Themes: Battle of Trafalgar, Sea Voyages, Homesickness, Separation from Loved Ones, Coping with Trauma

Red Flags: Description of Battle Scenes, Death, Description of Poverty in the 1800s, Extreme Homesickness

The Chronicles of Narnia

Author: Based on the Books by C.S. Lewis
Illustrator: Pop-Ups by Robert Sabuda; Full-Color Art by Matthew Armstrong.
Year: 2007
Publisher: HarperCollins
Pages: 14
Reading Level: Beginner (ages 4-8)

Genre: Pop-up/Movable Books/Fantasy
Series Information: Based on The Chronicles of Narnia series by C.S. Lewis
Location: Narnia, a magical land where animals can talk
Time Period: The entire life span of Narnia from its creation to its destruction

Book Summary: Each two-page spread of this magical book summarizes one of the books in the Chronicles of Narnia series written by C.S. Lewis. Summaries of each book are only a paragraph long, leaving most of the page open for the artwork of award-winning paper engineer Robert Sabuda.

Comments: The Chronicles of Narnia, especially the first book in the series, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, is one of my favorite books/series ever written. Imagine my happiness when I found out that Robert Sabuda had done a version of these books! Sabuda's art does pop out of the page, and I was enthralled by it. My favorite pages were probably the Chronicles of Narnia page (so pretty!) and The Last Battle page (that page just keeps popping and popping and popping), followed closely by The Magician's Nephew page (Aslan the Lion springs out of the book).

As fun as this book is, because each page is a summary of an entire story, it's not a good one to choose for a story time or even for reading one-on-one with a child who does not know the series. Part of me wishes Sabuda would have summarized just one of the books instead of the entire series. That would have made the book more readable. But maybe that's just the Narnia-lover in me, wishing he'd depicted a few more of my favorite scenes.

Themes: Pop-up Books, Art, Sabuda, Chronicles of Narnia

Red Flags: None

Goose Chase

Author: Patrice Kindl
Year: 2001
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Company
Pages: 214
Reading Level: Intermediate (ages 9-12)

Awards: 2001 Parents' Choice Award

Genre: Fantasy/Retold Fairy Tale
Series Information: Not Part of a Series
Location: The Kingdoms of Dorloo and Gilboa
Time Period: Medieval Times

Plot: Alexandria Aurora Fortunato is a goose girl with a lot of problems. She gave an old woman her dinner, and in thanks the witch in disguise blessed her with surpassing beauty and enchanted hair and tear ducts. Now Alexandria cries diamonds and gold dust falls to the floor whenever she combs her hair. To top it off, the rulers of two warring kingdoms have discovered Alexandria's wealth and beauty, and they suddenly both want her as their bride. As the story opens, Alexandria is locked up in a tower, forced to stay there until she chooses a husband. Alexandria is only fifteen and doesn't want to marry either suitor, so she and her geese escape the tower and go on the run. What follows is an entertaining tale filled with ogresses, dungeons, magical objects, mistaken identities, and more. SPOILER! When Alexandria is kidnapped again by the cruel king of Gilboa and threatened with marriage, Alexandria's geese turn into lovely princesses. They are the true heirs to the throne of Gilboa, and Alexandria is their youngest sister. The king is overthrown and the sisters live together in their castle.

Comments: I stated that this was a retold fairy tale, but I'm not sure which tale it's retelling. The story is part The Goose Girl, part Rapunzel, part The Wild Swans, and part its own individual tale. The language is somewhat archaic (there were a lot of 'tis-es and 'twould-s and in certes-es), but it is also light and fun and easy to read. The heroine is strong and spunky and she has a lot of character. This is a good book to recommend to girls (like me) who like reading retold fairy tales like Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine.

Red Flags: None

The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane

Author: Kate DiCamillo
Illustrator: Bagram Ibatoulline
Year: 2006
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Pages: 200
Reading Level: Intermediate (ages 9-12)

Awards: 2006 Horn Book Award

Genre: Fantasy/Talking Toys
Series Information: Not Part of a Series
Location: Various Towns across America
Time Period: Several years throughout in the mid-1900s.

Plot: Edward Tulane is a china rabbit whose ears and tail are made of real fur. He is loved deeply by his wealthy owner, a girl named Abilene, but Edward doesn't think much of anyone other than himself. When Edward is accidentally thrown overboard on a ship headed for England, he begins an adventure unlike anything he has ever known. He is found by an old fisherman and taken home as a present for his lonely wife. He is discovered by a tramp and travels across the country. He is used as a scarecrow in a vegetable garden. He is given as a present to a poor little girl who is on her deathbed. Through all of these adventures, Edward listens to the people's stories, and he learns to think of others and love them individually. SPOILER! When Edward is shattered by a thoughtless store owner, he is taken to a toy repair shop. He sits on the shelf for many months, afraid to love again because it hurts too much. Then one day a woman and her daughter enter the shop. The woman is Abilene grown up, and she takes Edward home.

Comments: This book is now on my list of the best books ever written. The story is beautifully told in an otherworldly, dream-like style with lyrical prose. The pictures are individual works of art, and they compliment DiCamillo's writing style perfectly.

I have described this book as a work of art, and this is true, but it is also a very simple story that can be enjoyed by children as well as adults. It has a very simple message, as is summarized by an antique doll towards the end of the novel: "If you have no intention of loving or being loved, then the whole journey is pointless."

Readers who liked this story may also like The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams. Both stories not only include toy rabbits, but also deal with the theme of the power of love and are written in similar styles.

Themes: Pride, Love, Dealing with Loss

Red Flags: Death, Running Away from Home, Homelessness, Cruelness to Others

Leven Thumps and the Eyes of the Want

Author: Obert Skye
Year: 2007
Publisher: Shadow Mountain
Pages: 406
Reading Level: Intermediate (ages 9-12)

Genre: Fantasy
Series Information: Third book in the Leven Thumps series
Location: Foo, a magical dream world; Oklahoma; Germany
Time period: Present Day (2007)

Plot: On a journey to visit the Want, the ruler of Foo, Leven is separated from his friends, Geth and Winter, and finds himself meeting with the Want alone. There the Want tells Leven that there is a task only Leven can perform in order to save Foo. Apparently the evil dreams of those who live in Reality have seeped into the soil of Foo, causing the very ground of Foo to revolt. It is the ground, also known as the Dearth, that has inspired the villains of the previous two novels, and it is the Dearth that has convinced the inhabitants of Foo to wage a Civil War for the right to enter Reality. Now the Dearth is rising, trying to destroy the Want’s home and take over Foo in an attempt to enter Reality. SPOILER! It is revealed that only Leven can stop the Dearth from its evil plot when Leven discovers that the Want is his grandfather, Hector Thumps, and that the only way he can save Foo is by succeeding his grandfather’s place as the Want.

Comments: Probably the easiest way to describe this book is by comparing the series to the Harry Potter series: Gold embossed cover featuring a teenage boy and magical creatures? Check. Young hero with an odd physical mark who is told that he is the only one who can save the day? Check. Said hero is raised by relatives who consider him to be the bane of their existence? Check. Magical creatures and magical people? Check. Takes place in an odd alternate reality that is supposed to coincide with Reality? Check. Written with a sometimes odd, twisted sense of humor? Check.

While the two series really are alike, there are some major differences that deserve to be noted. Harry Potter is a much darker series with more emphasis placed on the moral that love and friendship can help one win any battle. Leven Thumps is a more light-hearted novel. The narrator has more of a presence in the story, and may be considered to be a character in the book. Most chapters begin with odd anecdotes told by the narrator that have nothing to do with the story. Also, while the chapter headings of Harry Potter include small pictures depicting things that happen in the chapter, entire pages of Leven Thumps are given over to illustration.

Oddly enough, both series work for me. I like the classic fairy tale feel of Harry Potter and the overarching moral. I also enjoy the humor of Leven Thumps. As I read Harry Potter, each installment of the series became my new favorite book. So far I still like the first Leven Thumps book the best, but this one’s not too bad. Of the two, Harry Potter will probably last longer, but I’ll enjoy Leven Thumps as much as I can while it’s around.

Red Flags: descriptions of destruction and mayhem, description of an evil substance taking over a character.

The Invention of Hugo Cabret

Author: Brian Selznick
Year: 2007
Publisher: Scholastic
Pages: 533
Reading Level: Intermediate (ages 9-12)

Awards: 2008 Caldecott Award

Genre: Mystery/Fantasy/Picture/Chapter Book
Series Information: None
Location: Paris, France
Time period: 1931

Plot: Hugo Cabret is an orphan who tries to survive by living in the train station, stealing what he needs from the station shops. In his spare time Hugo works on an automaton his father had found and was putting together before he died. Hugo hopes the automaton carries a message to him from his father. In his quest for parts for the automaton, Hugo meets an eccentric old toy maker, Papa Georges, and his goddaughter Isabel, from whom he learns a lot about magic, mechanics, the first movies, and what it means to have a friend.

Comments: I was very intrigued by the idea behind this book. The book is set up much like a movie, beginning with instructions to the reader to pretend that they are sitting in a theater, waiting for the curtain to go up. After that, the pictures begin. Most books use pictures to give an idea of what the text is saying. This book uses detailed pencil drawings to depict the action of the story, and only uses words when absolutely necessary. For example, instead of saying, “Isabel collided with an old man as she was running across the station,” four pictures show Isabel running into the man and slowly falling to the ground. Instead of being weird, this medium helps move the story along. Since this is a story about the first moving pictures, treating the story as if it is a moving picture itself adds to the ambience and magic of the tale.

Red Flags: Homelessness, nervous breakdowns

Gossamer

Author: Lois Lowry
Year: 2006
Publisher: Yearling
Pages: 140
Reading Level: Intermediate (ages 9-12)

Genre: Fantasy
Location: No specific location. Somewhere in America.
Time period: Present Day

Plot: Littlest One and Thin Elderly are dream-givers, shadow-like beings who come into our houses at night. They gather memories from the objects placed around the home and use them to craft happy dreams. When the older woman Littlest One and Thin Elderly are assigned to acts as a foster mother for a young boy whose father was abusive, the dream-givers’ nemesis, the Sinisteeds, come to give the boy nightmares. It is up to Littelest One to save the boy from these dark dreams before they haunt him forever.

Comments: This story is simply told, but it carries a beautiful message: even the littlest and youngest can do great things. We must cling to the happy memories life provides in order to overcome the sad times. Although a fantasy book, this book takes a realistic approach to the problems at hand. The main characters overcome their trials not through magic, but through focusing on the positive.

Red Flags: This book deals with themes of child abuse, foster care, and overcoming hard times.

Breaking Dawn

Author: Stephenie Meyer
Year: 2008
Publisher: Little Brown
Pages: 760
Reading Level: Young Adult (12 and up)

Genre: Fantasy/Vampire/Young Adult
Series Information: Last book of the Twilight Saga (book #4)
Location: Forks, Washington
Time period: Present Day

Plot: In this last installment of the widely popular Twilight series, Bella Swan and Edward Cullen finally get married. SPOILER!: An unexpected honeymoon pregnancy puts Bella in danger when they find out that the baby is half vampire like Edward, and half human like Bella. In order to survive a hard labor, Bella must become a vampire, violating the treaty between Bella’s new vampire family and the local werewolf pack. The treaty is reinstated when Bella’s longtime werewolf friend (and the alpha leader of the pack), Jacob, imprints on Bella’s new baby daughter, Renesmee. But all is not well yet. The Volturi, the ruling family of the vampires, find out about Renesmee and come to destroy the child, thinking her to be an illegally created vampire baby. The Cullen family and the werewolves must band together once again to confront the Volturi. When the Volturi are finally convinced that Renesmee is harmless, they leave the new family alone, finally able to pursue their own version of happily ever after.

Comments: If I were to grade this book, I would give it a C. When I originally wrote this review a few weeks ago, I gave the reason I have used for every other book in the series: Meyer is a good storyteller, but she's not really a good writer. Also, there were a few elements of the story (for example, the mutant baby named after the Loch Ness Monster) that didn't really sit very well with me. That's not the main point, though. I agree with Publisher's Weekly's criticism of Breaking Dawn: "Essentially, everyone gets everything they want. . . . Nobody has to renounce anything or suffer more than temporarily." This is a good happily ever-after story, but there isn't much in the way of character development or growth.

Red Flags: This book spends a lot of time describing the passion Bella and Edward feel for each other. Although not explicit, the number of love scenes in the book makes it one that I would not recommend to most of the young adult readers (read: 12 year olds) who are fans of the series.