Japan Ai: A Tall Girl's Adventures in Japan
by Aimee Major Steinberger



rating: 5.5 out of 10 "books"

Japan Ai is the story of self proclaimed "geek" Aimee; obsessed with video games, comic books, and cute girly girl hair accessories, as well as a newfound obsession for Japanese Manga. When Aimee is invited to Japan by a representative who noticed her help in building a website about an exclusive type of Japanese Doll Company called VOLKS, Aimee finds her and her friends immersed in a totally new culture. From the beautiful shrines in Kyoto to the theme restaurants in Tokyo, Japan Ai is packed with interesting little bits of information about Japanese culture. For instance, did you know that people with tattoos are not allowed in the public baths of Japan? Or that there are certain hotels in Tokyo for "salary" men only, who stay at these hotels when they've worked too late and missed the last train home? This "manga journal" includes all these interesting facts and more, all illustrated by Aimee herself. I felt this story was a quick read and a very original way of recounting one's trip abroad.

City of Ember
Jeanne DuPrau



rating: 8.5 out of 10 "books"

Review from Amazon.com:

"It is always night in the city of Ember. But there is no moon, no stars. The only light during the regular twelve hours of "day" comes from floodlamps that cast a yellowish glow over the streets of the city. Beyond are the pitch-black Unknown Regions, which no one has ever explored because an understanding of fire and electricity has been lost, and with it the idea of a Moveable Light. "Besides," they tell each other, "there is nowhere but here" Among the many other things the people of Ember have forgotten is their past and a direction for their future. For 250 years they have lived pleasantly, because there has been plenty of everything in the vast storerooms. But now there are more and more empty shelves--and more and more times when the lights flicker and go out, leaving them in terrifying blackness for long minutes. What will happen when the generator finally fails?

Twelve-year-old Doon Harrow and Lina Mayfleet seem to be the only people who are worried. They have just been assigned their life jobs--Lina as a messenger, which leads her to knowledge of some unsettling secrets, and Doon as a Pipeworker, repairing the plumbing in the tunnels under the city where a river roars through the darkness. But when Lina finds a very old paper with enigmatic "Instructions for Egress," they use the advantages of their jobs to begin to puzzle out the frightening and dangerous way to the city of light of which Lina has dreamed. As they set out on their mission, the haunting setting and breathless action of this stunning first novel will have teens clamoring for a sequel".--Patty Campbell

So I got this review from Amazon.com just FYI (me giving credit where credit is due, and so I'm not breaking copyright laws). Originally I tried to think of how best to sum up this story and came up short, but I think a large majority of it is just that I've been on a lazy streak again. I have to say I really liked this book. I saw the movie when it first came out on DVD, and it was yet another one of those movies that I was surprised to find had come out of a series. I don't know why I was surprised as most movies are adapted from novels... But anyways, this book was a super quick read and I personally couldn't put it down. I do a lot of my reading before bed so this combination did not help my sleep cycle one bit. A lot of the time I had to force myself to put the story down and go to bed!

The best part about City of Ember is the idea of it. I had never heard of anything like this story before and that's what really attracts me to certain books. It seems like a lot of books these days are either knock-offs, or stories that borrow themes/ideas/plots from others. It would get to the point where I would literally come away from story after story thinking I had already read something just like it. City of Ember is truely original though and although it's technically a children's book, I'd recommend it to anyone. Read the book, and then go rent the movie, because both are fabulous :)

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (Graphic Novel)
By L. Frank Baum
(Adapted by writer Eric Shanower and artist Skottie Young)


rating: 6.5 out of 10 "books"

Like many people, I had seen the Judy Garland film production of “The Wizard of Oz,” but never actually picked up the original story written by L. Frank Baum. It was only after my boyfriend suggested I read the graphic novel version of the story that I even thought about the original text created so long ago.

The main story line is still the same: Dorothy is caught in a tornado in her Kansas farmhouse that transports her to a strange but beautiful land called Oz. When she discovers her house has fallen upon and killed the Wicked Witch of the East, she is hailed by all the “Munchkin” peoples, who were at the time enslaved by the Wicked Witch of the East. But this does not make her feel any the better, and longs to return home to her aunt and uncle in Kansas. Thus begins her journey to the Emerald City to see the Wizard of Oz, whom she has been told is her best chance of getting home.

While the yellow brick road and the scarecrow, tin man, and lion are all the same, there are some major differences between the Hollywood movie and the original story. For one, Dorothy’s shoes, which she confiscates from the Wicked Witch of the East, are silver not ruby red (a minor difference but so what!), but also the timeline of the story is different. Dorothy meets the colorful characters of the scarecrow, tin man, and lion, but the greatest part about these characters is that we are given their back stories. We not only find out the usual stories of the scarecrow wanting brains, the tin man a heart, and the lion courage, but we discover how these wishes came to be. For instance, I would never have known that the tin man (called the wooden tin man in the story), had actually once been a man, but when his ax was enchanted by the Wicked Witch of the East it caused him to chop off his limbs and body, and he had them replaced with tin. I thought the most interesting back story was that of the flying monkeys. Having only seen the movie, I thought they were pure evil, doing the bidding of the Wicked Witch of the West, but it turns out they were not that way at all, that there was a lot we did not know from just watching the film.

The City of Emeralds was also very different. When Dorothy and the rest of the group arrive at the city gates, they must wear spectacles when entering the city because they are told the brightness of the city could blind them. Everything in the city is bright green, even the people. They end up staying in the palace of the Wizard of Oz for several days, because although Oz has agreed to see them, he will only see one person a day. Oz only agrees to help them if they can all ensure the destruction of the Wicked Witch of the West, who is very different from the movie character herself. The Wicked Witch of the West is terrified of the dark as well as water and only has one eye. There is really no mention of the Wicked Witch of the East and West having been sisters, and it seems the only reason she wants Dorothy and her friends destroyed is because they are in her territory and unfit to be slaves. I don’t think it had anything to do with Dorothy accidentally killing the Wicked Witch of the East. Other differences occur involving wolves, crows, bees, a city made of china, etc., that make for a pretty entertaining story.

Overall, it was a pretty enjoyable read. It was a bit repetitive at times. Between the characters repeating that if they had a brain/heart/courage they could do this, or because they didn’t have it (a brain/heart/courage) they could not do whatever, it got a little annoying. If I had been more interested in the story matter, I probably could have knocked this graphic novel out in one sitting. I found the background on writer L. Frank Baum a bit more interesting than the actual story. I never knew that he had actually written thirteen sequels to “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,” or that after the rights to the story were made public after the 1950’s, there have been tons of adaptations. However, I have to take into account the adaptation itself when it comes to rating this story. The story, combined with the awesome drawings interpreted by Skottie Young, led me to the 6.5 rating I landed at. If you are looking for something short to read with a lot of really cool pictures, I’d recommend this story. Or, if you are a huge fan of the Wizard of Oz, then this graphic novel is definitely for you.

The Graveyard Book
Neil Gaiman


rating: 9.5 out of 10 "books"


I saw Neil Gaiman speak about a month ago with my boyfriend at an area library but embarrassingly enough, had never read any of his works. Hearing him read a selection from “The Graveyard Book,” combined with the repeated mention of him in “The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl” by Barry Lyga (reviewed below), not to mention having seen “Coraline” and “Stardust,” I was determined to get some of his stories under my belt. As such, “The Graveyard Book” is my first attempt at doing this.

TGB is the story of Nobody, or Bod, a young boy raised in a nearby graveyard after his family was murdered when he was only a mere toddler. The beginning of the story starts off with the terrible murders, by a character known only as “Jack.” We are unaware of his motives, a theme that continues throughout the story until we finally discover his reasoning for the murders at the very end of the book. Much to the dismay of the man "Jack," the tiny toddler manages to get away before becoming the last family victim, by slipping into the local cemetery where he is protected by its inhabitants. After he is adopted by the Owens,’ a pair of husband and wife ghosts, the boy is named “Nobody,” by cemetery ghosts because he is deemed “nobody but himself.” Having been taken in by the dearly departed means that Bod is granted the freedom of the graveyard, which enables him to be undetected by the living, and also grants him the powers of the dead.

Each chapter reads as almost a separate story itself, and could potentially be read as a stand-alone from the rest of the book. From his adventures through the Ghoul Gate, to his teachings by his mentor, Silas, a ghost neither living nor dead, Bod’s life is full of non-stop excitement. He spends his time playing with the ghost children and learning to read and write by studying gravestones. But soon this cannot fill the longing that Bod develops for proper schooling with live children. More adventures ensue, and near the end of the book, Bod at last encounters his family’s killer, the man Jack.

I thought this story was excellent. Gaiman confessed that he got the idea for this story from the beloved children’s tale “The Jungle Book” by Rudyard Kipling. Although I have not read that story, I can see the correlations. Normally I don’t like fantasy stories but everything about this book was enjoyable. Neil Gaiman has a true gift with words and I recommend “The Graveyard Book” for anyone who likes a good old fashioned fun story.