A Tale of Two Mommies and A Tale of Two Daddies by Vanita Oelschlager

Titles (this is a review of two books): A Tale of Two Mommies and A Tale of Two Daddies
Author: Vanita Oelschlager
Publication dates: Sept. 1, 2011, and Apr. 1, 2010
Length: 40 pages each

A Tale of Two Mommies is a conversation between three children at the beach, about how one of the kids has two mommies. The other two children ask all sorts of questions about who takes various roles in the boy's life.

A Tale of Two Daddies is a similar conversation between a girl who has two daddies and another kid.

The problem I had with both of these books is that I don't think kids would ask these questions. Am I wrong here? What kid thinks that only one of your parents is there when you scrape your knee? Or that only one of them would help you take your bath? I'd be sad if a kid had gender stereotypes built into their brain at so young an age that they assume only dads can build treehouses or only moms can bake birthday cakes.

On the other hand, I do like the answers to the questions. I noticed that the author does not make it so one of the parents is doing all of the traditionally masculine work with the other doing the traditionally feminine work.

My favourite parts were when both parents do something. Of course, both moms help look for a lost kitty, and both dads are there when you need to talk.

So, despite their flaws, these are still nice books. They'd probably be more appropriate for kids who don't understand LGBT families, rather than the actual kids they're about.

3 stars each.

Full disclosure: I received free e-book copies of these books from the publisher through NetGalley.

Check out my new Goodreads group!

I started my own Goodreads group! It's called Book Compatibility Test readers, and its purpose is to encourage people to read the books on the Goodreads book compatibility test, and discuss them. Since those books were chosen because they're well-known books in various genres, this is almost like a 100 books to read before you die kinda thing. But the reason I started it was because whenever I do the book compatibility test with a new Goodreads friend, it doesn't tell me much, because I haven't read most of the books.

The first book of the month will be in September, and it will be one of the books from the popular books category (of which I've read only 2!). If you join, make sure to vote in the poll! Currently, Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris and Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut are tied for the lead, but the poll's open until the end of August, so it's still anyone's game!

While you're at it, why not add me on Goodreads? I love Goodreads so much, and like to be friends with ALL the people. :)

Animorphs #3 - The Encounter by K.A. Applegate

Title: The Encounter (Animorphs #3)
Author: K.A. Applegate
Publication Date: August 1996
Length: 154 pages

Warning: This is a review of a book in the middle of a series, and may therefore contain some spoilers of earlier books.

The Encounter is the third book in the Animorphs series, and this one is narrated by Tobias. I enjoy Tobias's narration, because he's so level-headed, and doesn't have any annoying tendencies (except feeling sorry for himself, but it's understandable, seeing as how he's stuck as a hawk).

Tobias is out flying one day when he sees, or rather senses, as it's invisible, a gigantic Yeerk ship flying overhead. The Animorphs investigate, and discover that the ship is going to a lake in the mountains each day to collect water. So, they decide to try the craziest possible plan: morph into fish, get scooped up into the Yeerk ship, somehow disable their cloaking device from within, and therefore reveal the Yeerk plot to the world. Umm, right. These kids are seriously nuts.

So, much danger ensues. The action was definitely more satisfying in this one than in The Visitor. Also, this book has some nice interaction between Tobias and Rachel, who is the only one that can make him feel better when he's feeling depressed about being a hawk. Overall, it's an enjoyable read.

4 stars.

This book counts towards the Read Your OWN Library! Challenge (hosted by The Beauty of Eclecticism) for August. For September, my book for the challenge will be The Witching Hour by Anne Rice. This book also counts for the 2012 A-Z Book Challenge and the Mount TBR Reading Challenge.

Bandwidth by Angus Morrison: DNF

Title: Bandwidth
Author: Angus Morrison
Publication Date: 2010
Length: 232 pages

I didn't finish this one. It's not even that it was bad, I just wasn't feeling it. And goodness knows, with my TBR list, I don't need to spend time reading things I'm not really into.

I see this as personal growth on my part! I'm just learning to put aside something I don't really want to read. It's a good skill to learn.

WWW Wednesday - August 15

WWW Wednesdays is a meme hosted by Should Be Reading. To participate, simply answer these questions three:

1. What are you currently reading?
2. What did you recently finish reading?
3. What do you think you'll read next?

1. I am currently reading Quarantine by John Smolens, The Complete Works of Lewis Carroll, and the audiobook of Memnoch the Devil by Anne Rice. That's more than I usually read at once, but the audiobook is for my walks to and from work, and I started Lewis Carroll because I needed a paperback for the beach.

2. I recently read Lucretia and the Kroons by Victor LaValle and Talisman of El by Alecia Stone (DNF), as well as finishing the audiobook of The Tale of the Body Thief by Anne Rice.

3. Books I'm planning to read soon include the rest of my NetGalleys: The Devil in Silver by Victor LaValle, The Enchanted Truth by Kym Petrie, The Infects by Sean Beaudoin, and The Blueprint: Averting Global Collapse by Daniel Rirdan.

Teaser Tuesday: Talisman of El

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading.

To participate, just do the following:

• Grab your current read.
• Open to a random page.
• Share two (2) "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page. (I always cheat and use more than 2!)
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS!
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR lists if they like your teasers!

My teaser this week is from Talisman of El by Alecia Stone:

An ear-piercing scream ripped through the building. Derkein froze, his eyes the only things that moved. His gaze fixed on his father, who was rummaging through his bag. He took out a black pistol and turned to Derkein, a tortured expression on his face as he placed the weapon in his son's trembling hand.

Auraria by Tim Westover

Title: Auraria
Author: Tim Westover
Publication Date: July 10, 2012
Length: 398 pages

The first sentence of this novel gave me high hopes: "Holtzclaw hadn't heard of Auraria until his employer sent him to destroy it." And for the first chunk of the story, it lived up to those hopes. Holtzclaw has been sent to the small town of Auraria to buy the land from the people living there, so that his employer can develop there. As he visits the various landowners and attempts to convince them to sell, he meets some very strange characters, and sees some even stranger things. And the whole thing is presented in this very matter-of-fact sort of way, that I really enjoyed. I think that's what really made it feel like Alice in Wonderland (which is the comparison everyone seems to be making).

However, after a while, Holtzclaw and his boss, Shadburn, have built a hotel, and a good portion of the book is basically them running this hotel and desperately trying to make any money from it. I found this part to be a lot less entertaining than when he was meeting ghosts and being shown broken springhouses that were letting out the cold air and freezing sections of land.

Thankfully, I enjoyed the ending, so it brought me back around to having positive feelings about the book. And throughout it all, Princess Trahlyta is the most delightful character, far more likable than Holtzclaw and especially Shadburn, so I found myself just wanting everything to go her way. I'm not entirely sure if I was supposed to feel that way or not.

3 stars.

Full disclosure: Free e-book copy received from the publisher through NetGalley.