The use of warlike sports to control futuristic, totalitarian societies is a fascinating topic. Some treatments, such as Piere Boulle's Desperate Games, have followed Orwell's notion of the "ten minute hate," namely that an outlet for restrained emotion must be provided lest it be turned on the state. Others follow the 1975 film Rollerball in portraying sport as a means to reinforce the ultimate futility of individual endeavor. The Hunger Games, a new novel by young adult fantasy author Suzanne Collins, is posited as a show of dominance by the Capital City over the twelve remaining districts. In practice, Collins combines the other two themes, however, and it is unclear as to whether, due to a rising tide of decadence, the demand for entertainment is altering the government's control of the form and content of the Hunger Games.

The Hunger Games has received a tidal wave of enthusiasm from Independent Children's Booksellers based on its hypnotically compelling quality. It is true that about a third of the way through the book it is as though the reader has walked around a corner and stepped into a water slide. All else falls away. One can't do anything but read the book.

There are a few elements of this book which Collins will have to address if she is to ultimately make her trilogy succeed. For example, the rule change introduced mid way through The Hunger Games, and the manner in which the narrator, Katniss, is able to force the Gamemakers to sustain the rule after their attempt at reversing it, doesn't entirely convince. Without question, however, with such an unusually dynamic, gripping, and highly developed opening gambit, one hopes that in the the concluding volumes Collins fully embraces the challenging issues she has so deftly raised in this outstanding first book. ...More

There is a sublime quiet behind the work of Patricia McKillip which has made her a literary fantasist with a devoted following. I guess she's been around a while since I can remember putting $3.00 in my sock (don't ask) and jogging down to a bookstore on Central Avenue in 1978 to get Heir of Sea and Fire, and then waiting, waiting, waiting to jog down for the sequel. The Bell at Sealey Head is classic McKillip, full of atmosphere, magic, and elegance....More

Junot's debut novel got awards and raves all around when it was released. This is a no brainer to check out in paperback....More

Walter Moers books are kind of like pomegranates, not for everyone, but a great pleasure to some of us. The City of Dreaming Books is Moers at his absolute best. If you've never sampled this unique author and illustrator, sit down with a copy of The City of Dreaming Books in one of our rocking chairs and let the fates, to whom, as Corinius declared, "we be but their whipping tops," decide the matter!...More

All of the follow ups to the beloved Click, Clack, Moo have been popular, but Thump, Quack, Moo comes closest to capturing the slapstick fun of the original. Duck's hot air balloon venture, and Farmer Brown's corn maze cross paths at the Corn Maze Festival in a manner which delight toddlers who are sure to command many repeat performance readings. ...More

The third book to feature Gonsalves' stunningly conceptual drawings, wave crests seamlessly turning into mountain ridges, star light turning into skaters holding lanterns on a frozen stream, accompanied by Maine author Sarah Thomson's lovely text, Imagine a Place is a source of wonder made to share. ...More