Superman/Batman: Search for Kryptonite

A graphic novel by Michael Green and Mike Johnson, illustrated by Shane Davis, Superman/Batman: Search for Kryptonite is a fun adventure with these two very different yet compatible superheroes. A second rate villain gets a lucky break and defeats Superman because there happened to be some kryptonite lying around. Batman was able to call the Flash who came to the rescue, but Superman was annoyed by how vulnerable he is to kryptonite. He and Batman teamed up to find and destroy all the kryptonite on Earth, but it turned out there was a lot more than they thought there was!

I would recommend this book to any fan of Batman and Superman. Just a couple teasers: there is a monster who is version of Doomsday combined with kryptonite, and just try to guess who came up with that one! Also, it's possible that Lana Lang could turn out to be a villain, but I'll leave you hanging so you read the book!

Review by David Dunkerton

Antsy Does Time by Neal Shüsterman

This sequel to The Schwa Was Here was even better than the first! Anthony "Antsy" Bonano returns with many of his friends from the previous story. Calvin Schwa is not in the story, and while there is some mention of him, this book does not build on the last one--it is its own story.
A new character is Gunnar Ümlaut, who believes himself to be dying of a terminal illness called Pulmonary Monoxic Systemia. Antsy goes on a campaign to have people donate a month of their lives to Gunnar, and it seemed like a noble, symbolic gesture, until Antsy realizes that Gunnar's diagnosis wasn't from a very reliable source. Antsy has to learn why Gunnar kind of wishes he was dying, as well as why Gunnar's older sister Kjersten really wanted to go out with him.
This story is hilarious and really deep at the same time, and I would recommend it to anyone. It doesn't matter which one you read first, but make sure you read Antsy Does Time and The Schwa Was Here (and if you don't already know what they mean, look up "schwa" and "ümlaut").

Review by David Dunkerton

Ultimate Spider-Man by Bill Jemas and Brian Michael Bendis

Ultimate Spider-Man is a retelling of the classic Spiderman story set in the 21st century. Peter Parker is still bitten by a spider in a lab that gives him his powers, and all of the other characters are pretty much the same, but instead of working as a freelance photographer for the Daily Bugle, Peter troubleshoots their webpage. The Green Goblin is more monstrous, Uncle Ben and Aunt May are much cooler, and the biggest difference is that Peter tells Mary Jane his secret.

This graphic novel is a great read for people unfamiliar with the Spiderman story, but it will not disappoint the long-time Spiderman readers, either.

Review by David Dunkerton

Runaways by Brian K. Vaughan

Six teenagers find out that their parents have always been a part of a secret society called "The Pride" that controls all the crime activities in Los Angeles, with a greater plan to take over the world. What would you do if you discovered your parents were super-villains?

After finding out that their parents are evil, it is not long before the teens discover their own special powers. They want to use them for good, but one of them may be a traitor, and who is good and who is bad may be more complicated than they thought.

Runaways is a graphic novel is published by Marvel Comics, and there are references to several of the Marvel super-heroes and villains, but except for a brief story arc featuring "Cloak and Dagger", this story is unique from other Marvel graphic novels. The excellent artwork and clever storyline make this an enjoyable read.

Review by David Dunkerton

Smiler's Bones by Peter Lerangis

This is a novel based on the true story of an Eskimo from Greenland named Minik. It begins in Quebec in 1909 with Minik trying to kill himself, and then takes us back to the beginning of the story in 1893. Robert Peary was a famous explorer in the Arctic who was recognized by the Eskimos who lived there. In the name of science he took some Eskimos back to New York City with him, but four of them soon died, including Minik’s father, because they could not adjust to the new climate and environment.
Minik was young when he was taken to New York so his body was able to adjust, but he did not find out until much later that the American Museum of Natural History never buried his father or the others, but preserved and kept their bones. The few people on Minik’s side were able to expose the deception, but the damage was done. After living in New York for 12 years, Minik had a hard time going back to the culture in Greenland, and he never really fit in the United States, either.
This is a sad but meaningful story, and it is important for us to understand the darker parts of our history.

Review by David Dunkerton

Zorro: Skull and Crossbones by Frank Lauria

Alejandro de la Vega is the adopted son of Don Diego de la Vega, the original Zorro. In addition to inheriting the late landowner’s ranch, Alejandro has also taken his adopted father’s mantle. In Zorro: Skull and Crossbones, the pirate Captain Elijah Bone, also known as El Fuego for his bright red hair, has plotted with several greedy Californian landowners to murder General Santa Anna and make the Californian coast a haven for pirates and thieves.
As Zorro, Alejandro fights for the freedom of the people of California. With the help of Diego’s daughter Elena, his sidekick Mateo, and an American secret agent going by the name of Fernando Goya, Zorro is able to rescue Santa Anna to keep order in California, and to defeat the pirate El Fuego. This story is set in a California of the past that is very different from the state it is today, and it is full of action and excitement!

Review by David Dunkerton

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

This book is not written like a diary as the title might suggest, but it is written in the first person from the perspective of a young man from the Spokane Indian tribe who lived with his family on a reservation. It is a beneficial novel for teens because it helps the reader to understand a culture that very few people know about. Arnold Spirit was not satisfied with life on the reservation because the people in his tribe seemed to have given up on life. Almost everyone he knew was an alcoholic, and no one he knew ever ended up going to college. Arnold decided to go to a public school outside the reservation where he was the only Indian. His people back at the reservation mostly thought he was a traitor, including his best friend, Rowdy.
Arnold was able to get along well with the white kids at the school he went to, and he even ended up playing varsity basketball and having a girlfriend. Even though he wanted to do better than the people he grew up with, he noticed that while the white people seemed to be very successful, the parents did not seem to pay much attention to their kids. For Arnold, even though his father was an alcoholic and would often use the last of his money on alcohol so that sometimes the family did not have food and Arnold had to hitchhike over 20 miles to school because they did not have enough gas, he knew his family cared about him and made sacrifices for him.
This is a sad story in many parts, because life is often hard for Indians on a reservation, but it is still hopeful. Even though it is about a different culture, I still felt like I could identify with what Arnold experienced in several ways, and that is important for people to understand.

Review by David Dunkerton

2099: Doomsday by John Peel

Taking place one hundred years in the future of when it was written, the setting of this story is a possible world under a totalitarian system. Devon considers himself to be better than anyone else on Earth, and he finds it fun to destroy people and show his power. His clone, Tristan, was adopted and raised by the Connors, and did not know anything about where he came from. Devon, Tristan, and Genia are all genius computer hackers in a world where absolutely everything is networked. Devon has programmed a computer virus called “Doomsday,” which is designed to destroy every network function in the world and cause utter chaos. Tristan and Genia each try to stop the virus in their own way, but at the end of the book their efforts have so far been unsuccessful.

Review by David Dunkerton

Tiki: My Life in the Game and Beyond by Tiki Barber and Gil Reavil

The former running back for the New York Giants gives his story, from when he and his twin brother Ronde were raised by their single mother to his time in the NFL, and after that to when he joined the Today Show on NBC. I am not a big fan of sports but I still really enjoyed this book, and football fans will love it even more!
This is a fascinating autobiography, and we see things about the life of a famous football player that one never hears about on television. He tells the story of the relationship with his wife, and how he never got along very well with his coach, Tom Coughlin. It is too bad that he retired from the Giants the year before they won the Super Bowl, but this is still a great book.

Review by David Dunkerton

How Starbucks Saved My Life: A Son of Privilege Learns to Live Like Everyone Else by Michael Gates Gill

Michael had grown up in a wealthy family and was always able to go the best schools. His parents had good connections so he was always able to get a good job. He did not know or care that anyone else knew anything different. However, after he got older and was not cool anymore, he was fired from his marketing position, and he did not know what to do.
One day as he was sitting in a Starbucks coffee shop in New York City feeling depressed about his situation, a manager saw him and asked him if he wanted a job. He figured she was probably kidding, but he took her up on her offer, because he needed a job and this one had benefits.
He worked with people that he had never made any contact with before, learned new skills, and learned to appreciate life and friendship a lot more. Many of the people he worked with were much younger than he was, so teenagers would enjoy reading about other teenagers who had authority over an adult. This autobiography is an encouraging story that I would recommend to anyone!

Review by David Dunkerton

George's Secret Key to the Universe by Lucy & Stephen Hawking

George's Secret Key to the Universe is written at a younger reading level, but I think teens would still enjoy it because it has an interesting story and there are several fascinating and beautiful pictures and facts inserted. Stephen Hawking is a well-known genius and the authority on the theory of black holes, and just the fact that he had input in a children’s novel gives it some instant appeal!
George’s parents are very concerned about the environment, so they do not use much electricity in their home, they do not drive cars, and they only eat organic vegetables. George really wants a computer, but his parents refuse to get one for him because they believe technology is destroying the world.
George found out that his neighbor owned Cosmos, the most amazing computer in the world. This computer could transport you into outer space, and George learned a lot about the universe, including comets and our solar system. When someone else found out about Cosmos, though, things got dangerous!

Review by David Dunkerton

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

This story by Douglas Adams has existed in several media, including, radio, television, comic book, and film. The book version was first published in 1980, but the edition I read was printed in 1995. The random humor is quite funny in places, and it is an enjoyable read if one does not think about it too seriously. It begins with the Earth being disintegrated, and only Arthur Dent escapes with his friend Ford Prefect. Ford is a hitchhiker/editor of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy from a planet near Betelgeuse. The only other Earthling who was not blasted into tiny bits is Trillian (formerly Tricia McMillan) who had left Earth previously with Zaphrod Beeblebrox.
This book is a satire of just about everything one could think of, and I do not think the author intended to have a point. I think certain teens would enjoy it, and others would be turned off because it does not make any sense. I wonder, though, how many people would read it and admit that the Emperor is not wearing any clothes.

Review by David Dunkerton

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

When Orson Scott Card wrote this novel in 1985, he was ahead of his time. At a time when PCs were brand new and outrageously expensive (I know because my dad programmed them), and having the internet in one’s home was a foreign concept, in this story the characters are always carrying around their “desks”, which seem quite a bit like laptop computers, and communicating on the “nets” using pseudonyms.
Ender's Game is about an alternate future where aliens known as “buggers” have attacked Earth twice, and the unified world governments are recruiting genius children to train them to destroy the buggers. Andrew Wiggin, who is known by the nickname “Ender”, is the best of these, and this story covers his life from when he was taken to a space station at six years old to when he inadvertently destroyed the buggers when he was eleven years old, and where his life went from there.
I do not know if this book would appeal to all teenagers, but it is the perfect book for fans of Science Fiction!

Review by David Dunkerton

"Aliens from Neptune" by Morgan McClaine & Kirsten Wolff

"Aliens from Neptune Who Came to Earth & Kidnapped Dogs (but not pit bulls)"

by Morgan McClaine & Kirsten Wolff

(edited by David Dunkerton)

Scene 1:

A 10-year-old named Bob was out walking his dog, Andrew, on a bright summer day on Maple Street in Arizona in 1999. He was grounded and was supposed to come right back home, but that wasn't going to happen because aliens from Neptune in a flying saucer transported Bob and his dog up into their spaceship!

Scene 2:

The Neptunians had only been trying to capture the dog so they could eat him, but they accidentally transported Bob as well. Bob and Andrew found themselves in a room full of dogs on the spaceship, and they didn't know what to do. Papperozzie, the chief Neptunian, was in another room, and when he and the others saw Bob they started zapping him with potty rays (which would have turned him into a potty if he had been hit) from their antennae. Bob ran into another corridor of the flying saucer, leaving Andrew in the room with the other dogs.

Scene 3:

Back on Earth, Bob's mom and dad were mad that Bob hadn't come home, and his dad was about to call the police when he noticed a note on the kitchen table from Papperozzie. It read:

We will bring your child back under one condition.

You have to give us over 500 dogs for the return of the kid.

Bob's mom and dad didn't know what to do!

Scene 4:

Bob had been recaptured by the Neptunians, and Papperozzie told him he must pass 3 tests for them to release him and his dog:

1. Eat the horrible chocolate
2. Walk through the room full of bubbles
3. Listen to the dreaded music of Michael Jackson

All these things are deadly to Neptunians, but they didn't know they are harmless to humans (some may disagree about the Michael Jackson part). Bob passed all the tests and they released him and his dog off the ship back to Earth, and all was well.

But what about the other dogs...

Haunted Schools: True Ghost Stories by Allan Zullo

This book consists of nine short stories about ghosts that have made contact with young people in schools. The title and the introduction suggest that these stories are based on actual occurrences. I am personally skeptical about that, but teenagers would probably enjoy these stories even more wondering if something like that actually happened. They are about ghosts—that is, individuals who had died and appeared to certain people—but for the most part I did not find them scary or even very creepy; just interesting.
This is a fun book to read because it makes one think about things no one knows much about. This could possibly be a good book to recommend to young teens who feel uncomfortable about the concept of ghosts, because it suggests that even if ghosts did exist, they would not necessarily be bad. Regardless of the reader’s personal feelings about ghosts, I think this is an enjoyable book. The fact that there are several short stories instead of one continuous story may be positive for some and negative for others.

Review by David Dunkerton

Athletic Shorts by Chris Crutcher

The title of this book is funny because of its double meaning. The book contains six short stories about athletes, and sports are mentioned, but the stories are really about the people. I think young athletes would enjoy it because the stories are about people like them, and they could probably relate to the descriptions of the sports. This is a great book for anyone, because the stories are about the relationships between the main characters who are athletes and their families and friends.
It was a good book for me to read, because I am not an athlete, but I think I am better able now to respect people who are athletes, because they have lives besides their sports. The characters have to learn how to be respected and to respect others who are different from them. I could relate in a way to the white kid who went to a school with mostly black kids. I was really touched by the last story about learning to be a friend to someone with AIDS. Some of the characters in the stories come from novels that Chris Crutcher had written, so when I have get a chance I want to read his other books now!

Review by David Dunkerton

Brian's Return by Gary Paulsen

Gary Paulsen is famous for Hatchet, the first of his books about Brian, a young teen who had to learn how to survive in the wild in Northern Canada. In Brian’s Return, Brian had been found and rescued two years earlier, and he went back to school and tried to get along with people, but he found that he could not fit into society after surviving on his own in the woods. Life as most people knew it did not seem real to him anymore.
After sharing his experiences with a counselor who was very interested in what Brian had learned, it became clear that Brian needed to go back. The first time, Brian had been stranded in the wilderness after a plane crash, and all he had to work with was a hatchet that his mom had given him. He told his parents that he was going back to Canada to visit the Native American family that had rescued him, but he neglected to tell them that for most of the trip he would be on his own. This time he packed lots of gear to make it easier than it had been the first time.
This is a good book for escape because it takes the reader into another world. At the end of the book there is an author’s note where he explains that most of the things Brian experienced were very close to what he had actually experienced. That made the book much more meaningful to think about how this could all actually happen!

Review by David Dunkerton

Zorro by Isabel Allende

This is an origin story of the masked sword-fighting hero, Zorro. As far as I know, Zorro never really had much of an origin story, and the author took some liberty in recreating the legend of Diego de la Vega. This is an excellent book because it looks at the cultures of both California and Spain, and how prejudice affected everyone’s life. Diego is presented as a young man with personal issues, and he has to get past that to become the hero he feels destined to become. I really liked how Bernardo was presented as much cooler that the bald servant on the Disney version of Zorro (although I liked that guy, too), and it explained why he was mute.
This novel looks at some very touching issues such as rape, clashing cultures, and how Spain mistreated the natives of California, so it is a valuable read for anyone. It is exciting because Diego is learning how to be a clever swordsman and take his stand against injustice. If someone is not familiar with the Zorro stories he/she would still enjoy this book, but it is even better for fans of Zorro!

Review by David Dunkerton

Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse

Written in free verse, Out of the Dust is about life in the Oklahoma dust bowl during the Great Depression. It really strikes the reader to visualize a time when the dust storms were so bad that people were just dirty all the time. Sometimes it would rain a little, but never enough, and the dust storms kept coming. In an economy that was so dependent on farming, people lost hope when nothing would grow.
Part of what makes this a valuable read is how we can learn about what life was like in the early to middle 1930s. It was implied that people made some unwise decisions in how they used the land during the First World War, and that was what led to the dust bowl era. The U.S. Government did a lot to try to get people going again, but it took time. Even though most of the book is depressing, anyone who reads this would probably recognize that we don’t have it so bad! We see people who learned how to try doing things differently when the old way had not worked very well. At the end of the story the narrator had come to realize how important home is, and she had hope for the future.

Review by David Dunkerton

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

From the beginning of this story the reader can tell Melinda has issues, but we do not get the whole picture laid out until more than halfway through the book. It is written in the first person, and Melinda gives us hints that something traumatic had happened to her. As I read her story I had pretty much figured out what was going on, but I wanted to keep reading to know for sure and to see things work out.
Before the story started, Melinda had gone to a party with some friends during the summer, and she was raped. She called 911, and everyone was upset that she ruined the party, but she never told anyone why. This story goes through her entire school year and she talked about how she used to be a good student with good friends, but this year was different, and she was not able to move on until she told someone what had happened. Throughout the book the question comes up asking whether it is right or worth it to speak up.
This book is about a very serious topic that teenage girls have to be concerned about, but it was balanced by fun and interesting characters and situations so it was not too dark or depressing. Some elements that I liked were how the school librarian came across as very nice and helpful compared to some of the other teachers, and I liked the fact that her Lab Partner, whom everyone admired because he was not afraid to speak his mind, was named David! :) There were a few Bible references that readers who are familiar with the Bible would notice, but they were not really part of the story.

Review by David Dunkerton

Bone: Out From Boneville by Jeff Smith

Out From Boneville is the first of nine volumes in the Bone Adventures. The Bone stories are a series of graphic novels that have been compared to the Lord of the Rings trilogy. I think the setting reminds one of Middle Earth, but the stories themselves are completely different. This volume begins with three cousins who are Bones from Boneville (no explanation is ever given of that), and they have very different personalities. They were run out of town because one of them, Phoney Bone, is a crook.
A massive swarm of locusts separates them, and before they are reunited Fone Bone comes into contact with various creatures including a dragon, rat creatures (one of which loves quiche), bugs that look like leaves, a family of opossums, and people. As this is the first volume, here the characters mostly meet and get to know each other, and the reader is left knowing that more is going to happen in later volumes. It is a fun graphic novel to read, and the artwork is simple and enjoyable.

Review by David Dunkerton

Heartbeat by Sharon Creech

Heartbeat is written as a poem, but it doesn’t rhyme. It is a story and reads like a story, but I think the fact that it is written as a poem guides the reader to follow the story and not be distracted by too many words. It is in the first person, as most Young Adult novels seem to be, and the girl telling the story likes to run, but she is not competitive. She does not understand why people race to win, because she likes to run by herself or with one friend, and she runs barefoot just because she likes to run.
Throughout the story she is learning about life and thinking about what she likes to do, and besides running she loves to draw. In the story she is having a hard time seeing her grandfather forgetting things, but this is balanced by the joy of her mother having a baby. This is a peaceful story that is enjoyable to read.
I enjoyed the parts about what she was learning from her teacher about footnotes, “forbidden words,” and using the thesaurus. For a book written as a poem with no real sentence structure, there was a lot about grammar in it!

Review by David Dunkerton

The Schwa Was Here by Neal Shusterman

I loved The Schwa Was Here because it had such an interesting, meaningful story. It is told in the first person by an eighth grader in Brooklyn who meets someone named Calvin Schwa, and it turns out “The Schwa” sits next to him in class but he never noticed him. The Schwa is so unnoticeable that he seems to be invisible, but not really. Just like the “uh” sound symbolized by Ə, he seems to almost always be there but nobody realizes it.
There is a deeper story that develops gradually that looks at the relationships between the different characters and their families. I think many people can identify with the story, because it’s easy to feel “invisible” or unnoticed. This book takes that to an extreme, but maybe that’s what readers need to get the point. It’s funny and enjoyable to read, and the deeper message that gets you thinking is very subtle.

Review by David Dunkerton

Fat Kid Rules the World by K. L. Going

Fat Kid Rules the World is a story written in the first person of an overweight teenager who is depressed and even contemplates suicide, but I did not get the feeling he was ever serious about it. He becomes friends with a high school dropout that he had heard is an excellent guitar player, who lives as a homeless person most of the time. Their relationship is unusual but meaningful, and the protagonist learns to look at the world differently and that he can find a place to fit in.

I enjoyed this author’s writing style, and I liked how you learn little pieces of the background story as you go. The main character’s mother died when he was in the third grade, and it is clear to see how that still affected him. Constantly referring to himself as “Fat Kid,” he had to learn not to worry about what other people thought. As his friend told him, “Like what you like.” (p. 39) Toward the end of the story, he gains confidence and discovers that he has a purpose, and he also develops a better relationship with his father and his brother.

Review by David Dunkerton

Trinity - 1 by Kurt Busiek, et al.

The first volume of Trinity includes issues 1-17 of the Trinity comic book, published by DC Comics. The story of villains out to destroy the world is somewhat interesting, but it comes second to the interaction between the characters. The series is titled "Trinity" because it mostly features Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman, but many other DC Comics characters are also included in the story. This is just the first volume of a continuing story, so the reader is not left with much closure at the end. I didn't find it as interesting or memorable as Batman: R.I.P., but it's still fun to read and has excellent artwork.

(Note: There is another DC Comics book titled Trinity by Matt Wagner that is also about Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman, but it is a different story. Actually, I think I enjoyed that one better.)

Review by David Dunkerton

Inside Out by Terry Trueman

This book had a personal impact on me that won't apply to everyone, but Inside Out is a valuable read for anyone because it looks at a specific situation from the perspective of a young man with Paranoid Schizophrenia. It is not a very long book, and I think it is best read in one sitting. It looks at life with an open mind and I found it to be very realistic. Some of it is kind of weird, but it's supposed to be, because people with this condition struggle with a weird thought pattern. I thought the description of schizophrenia throughout the text was very helpful, and it is an interesting read, but it has a tragic ending.

Review by David Dunkerton

An Abundance of Katherines by John Green

An Abundance of Katherines is an excellent book that deals with things teens go through in a very unique way. There are characters with many different backgrounds and worldviews, including a Muslim and an atheist, people from both city and rural settings, and people from private school, public school, and homeschool. The writing style was interesting, including the use of footnotes to expand upon the story (a technique I also saw in Drawing a Blank or How I Tried to Solve a Mystery, End a Feud, and Land the Girl of My Dreams by Daniel Ehrenhaft), and flashbacks. I could identify with several of the characters in different ways.

I must say there was some twisted logic in the story, but overall it had a good message, and at least they got the "Golden Rule" right.
This is about a child prodigy who was no longer a child, and he was trying to figure out his life. One quote that meant a lot to me was “…how you matter is defined by the things that matter to you.” (p. 200) The moral of the story that I found is that you can come up with theories and patterns to explain the past, but the future is unpredictable.

Review by David Dunkerton

The Adventures of Blue Avenger by Norma Howe

I first read The Adventures of Blue Avenger because it had a picture of a superhero on the front and a cool title, but it is a really deep book! It's about a teenage boy who decided to change his name to "Blue Avenger" because he saw a lot of hurt in the world and wanted to make a difference. The main theme of the book, though, is how he wonders where everything that happens is predestined or whether we really have free will. It is open-ended about that part, leaving it up to the reader to decide what he/she thinks. It is an enjoyable read with a lot of character development and relationships between characters.

Review by David Dunkerton

The Princess Bride by William Goldman

The full title of this work is The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure ~ The "Good Parts" Version. Abridged by William Goldman. That in itself is a joke. The author writes as if he is abridging a previous work that is based on a true story, but Morgenstern, Florin, and Guilder are all completely fictional.

I had seen the movie several times before I ever read this book, and I love the movie, but it's hard to say whether the book or the movie is better. There are some more details in the book that didn't make it into the movie, but the characters were portrayed well enough in the movie that the extra details really didn't add anything to the story. There were a few slight differences between the movie and the book, and when that happened I actually prefer how it was done in the movie.

William Goldman definitely had a unique approach in writing the different editions of this book, and it was was interesting at first, but he was kind of pushing it and I got tired of it toward the end. I don't want to discourage anyone from reading the book because parts of it are really funny and remind you of the movie, but I want to warn you that the layout of the book is kind of weird.

Review by David Dunkerton

Identity Crisis by Brad Meltzer

Not all comic book fans agree, but I think Identity Crisis is one of the greatest graphic novels ever written. The wife of one of the superheroes is murdered, and it affects everyone. The story is a complicated, involved murder mystery that has great character development and relationships between the superheroes and each other, as well as with their families and the villains. The overal idea of the book is that the reason most superheroes have secret identities is to protect the people they love. They are seriously affected by the death of their loved ones, and you don't always know who you can trust.

Review by David Dunkerton

Drawing a Blank or How I Tried to Solve a Mystery, End a Feud, and Land the Girl of My Dreams by Daniel Ehrenhaft

Drawing a Blank or How I Tried to Solve a Mystery, End a Feud, and Land the Girl of My Dreams is a unique book with two titles, which was common of books in the past but is rather uncommon today. This book is about a teenager who goes to boarding school in New England and likes to keep to himself drawing comics, but circumstances require him to come out of his comfort zone. In addition to being an interesting story, I found this to be a fun book to read because there are footnotes which help give background to the story, as well as comic strips interspersed throughout. Also, the chapters are short so it goes fast.

I would encourage this for young people because it teaches new vocabulary words (e.g. "misanthrope") and history in a fun way, so the reader is learning without realizing that he/she is learning. There are several characters that are very different from each other, so whoever reads it will likely find someone that he/she can identify with.

Review by David Dunkerton

Dancing in Red Shoes Will Kill You by Dorian Cirrone

Dancing in Red Shoes Will Kill You is intended for an audience of young women, and it is an interesting story that deals with issues young women have to deal with. I would not recommend this for young single men because the issues would not apply to them, but young women could probably identify with it.

The story is about a girl who loves ballet, but she doesn't fit the physical stereotype of a ballet dancer. There is a mystery with a surprise ending, and it is an open-ended story that deals with relationships between young people and the decisions they may be faced with.

Review by David Dunkerton

Batman: R.I.P by Grant Morrison

Batman: R.I.P. is a really complicated story because the bad guys are toying with Batman's mind in an effort to clone him, and at the end it's hard to tell what actually happened and what were implanted memories. From what I can tell, though, Batman is not dead at the end, Thomas Wayne was not a sinister villain, and Bruce Wayne is still Batman. I may have to read it a few times to really understand what is going on. (I think Bruce Wayne is thought dead at the end of Final Crisis, but I haven't read that yet.)
In addition to keeping you glued to the page, it gives a great summary of all the important parts of the Batman storyline, including Richard Grayson becoming Robin and then Nightwing, Jason Todd becoming Robin and being killed by the Joker, Barbara Gordon being shot and paralyzed, and Tim Drake becoming Robin.

Review by David Dunkerton