Reading Abounds

Title: I Am Not a Serial Killer Series:  John Cleaver (Vol. 1) Author: Dan Wells Perma-Bound Catalogue #: 52522 Description: John Wayne Cleaver keeps his obsession with serial killers in check by a set of rigid rules  that he lives by, hoping to prevent himself from committing murder, but when a body turns up behind a laundromat, John must confront a danger outside himself. Rubric Rating: Level 1: Leave It Why I Read It: I'm a fan of mystery novels and this cover was intriguing. Lori's Notes: This book started out really well for me.  The story would have been fantastic and would have earned a level 3 if it hadn't strayed out of the realm of realism.  John Wayne is obsessed with serial killers and thinks he could be one.   He lives in a mortuary with his mother and helps out in preparing the bodies for the funerals.  The family is dysfunctional and I actually liked the dispassion of emotion from John.  He is amazingly cool and calculati...

Title:   The Graveyard Book Author:   Neil Gaiman  (Illustrations by Dave McKean) Perma-Bound Catalogue #: 27007 Description:   Nobody Owens is a normal boy, except that he has been raised by ghosts and other denizens of the graveyard. 2009 Newberry Award Winner 2009 Carnegie Medal Winner Rubric Rating:   Level 4: Love it Why I Read It: I read the first chapter of this novel while standing at a display and couldn't put it down.   Lori's Notes:  After his parents are murdered, "Nobody Owens" is raised in a graveyard by a curious lot of spectres.  You find three different types of character in this novel: the living, the dead, and the undead.  The archetypes of ghosts, vampires, and werewolves are inverted as they become the protectors of this young human boy.  They are not monsters to be feared but Nobody's "Honour Guard" his protectors, teachers, and friends.  The "man Jack", w...

  Title:  Half Brother Author: Kenneth Oppel Perma-Bound Catalogue #: 45359 Description: In 1973, when a renowned Canadian behavioural psychologist pursues his latest research project, an experiment to determine whether chimpanzees can acquire advanced language skills, he brings home a baby chimp named Zan and asks his thirteen-year-old son to treat Zan like a little brother. *** Canadian *** Rubric Rating: Level 3 - Laud  It Why I Read It:   I thought the premise of this story was quite interesting.  The cover art is great.  Simple and exactly what the book is about. Lori's Notes:   Zan (short for Tarzan) comes to live with Ben’s family as part of a social experiment.  Can a chimpanzee be raised to be part of a human family?  Not wanting a brother, Ben doesn’t want to be involved, but Zan eventually wins him over.  Soon Ben is his biggest advocate.  When the experiment looks like it will fai...