A Novel Idea: Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit

Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit by Nahoko Uehashi has just recently been translated into English (click the link to reserve it at our library!). However, the book and it's sequel, anime series, and manga series are already quite popular in Japan.



Instead of following the traditional fantasy plot model (young person gets quest, young person travels to other location, gaining friends along the way, young person accomplishes task, and gets girl/boy or becomes king/queen/famous hero) but since this book was initially written for a Japanese audience, it doesn't follow that model at all. The difference makes for a much more interesting read!

Balsa, the heroine, is a bodyguard. Far from being young and inexperienced, she is in her thirties and talented in martial arts. Her primary weapon is a spear, when she needs a weapon at all. Trained since childhood, Balsa promised to save eight lives to make up for the lives lost to save her own.

Balsa travels constantly, taking jobs when she can. As the story begins, she is crossing the commoner's bridge as the Second Prince, Chagum, is crossing the nobleman's bridge. As she looks on, an ox is spooked and it knocks the prince into the flooded, raging river below.

Instinctively, Balsa rescues him. But she is unaware of Chagum's real problem--he's guarding the egg of the Water Spirit, placed within him while it matures. If Chagum's father, gets his way, Chagum won't be around much longer. But that still could be more merciful than if the egg is eaten by Rarunga, an Earth Spirit. Not only would Chagum die, a drought would overtake the country.

Balsa agrees to protect Chagum as the two of them ensure the egg makes it to maturity. As she protects him, he learns how life is outside the palace. He also begins to really appreciate life for the first time.

I loved this book, and I think the second will be even better. Uehashi had to spend some time introducing all the characters that will show up in Balsa's life again--Jiguro, Tanda, and Torogai to name a few.

The writing doesn't suffer from the translation or the action, as I too often see in literature. It's an exciting and engaging story that will keep readers wanting more.

As an added bonus (and guys who love to read will understand what a big deal this is)--Moribito is suitable for male and female readers! That's right, no sappy love stories here. Instead, Balsa is a fantastic protagonist with strenth and martial arts skills that will appeal to any lover of Japanese culture or fantasy (Not to mention young women (me) tired of wimpy girls that need rescued by big, strong, handsome men).

Make sure to check out the Moribito anime series while you're reading this. It's also fantastic, but I'd read the book first if I were you. It's made by the same people who brought us all Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex and those of you who know that series get what a big deal that is!

New Arrivals

We have another Maximum Ride novel...

Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports is the third in James Patterson's The Fugitives (Maximum Ride) series. Having read them all, I can tell you that reading these novels is like watching an action movie. They are tons of fun, a quick read, and perfectly suitable for guys and girls.

Take a second to click on the picture, which will take you to James Patterson's website. Unlike many authors, Patterson puts a lot of effort into his official site, including a whole separate site for Maximum Ride where you can read Fang's blog (and Max's, and Angel's, and Totals...) in addition to leaving messages for the flock on their profiles and talking with other fans in the forums.

The site also gives you some neat updates on what's going on with the flock--including a movie in the works...


Throwing Stones by Kristi Collier is another new addition. Collier is an Indiana author, and as an added bonus, set her novel in Indiana.

Set in the years following WWI, it follows Andy, who at 14 is beginning to feel the loss of his brother and the burden of living up to his older sibling's success on the basketball court. Then, Andy is injured and has to redefine his ideas of sportsmanship.


Dark Water Rising by Marian Hale describes the events leading up to and following the Galveston Storm of 1900 through the voice of Seth, a young man aspiring to become a carpenter whose parents insist he pursue medicine instead. He then has to face his father, man to man, for the first time.


I love Tamora Pierce. She always writes strong female characters who don't take no for an answer. Starting with Alanna, Pierce has written stories filled with girls who challenge authority figures (or even their peers) to see them as equal to boys their own age.

That being said, I have yet to start her Beka Cooper series. I'll have to start! I think her main character in this series, Beka, is related to George Cooper (one of Alanna's love interests) in some way. Now I'm curious...

Take a look and enjoy!

Book Review: Paper Towns

I have to recommend Paper Towns to you all.

The author, John Green, has had a great deal of critical acclaim for his books--including winning the Michael L. Printz Award, a very big deal. Paper Towns was showing up on all the sites I use to research new books for the YA collection. Since we already had it (and all his others), I decided I'd better read it.

I am not big on the whole teen romance thing. I spent my teens in a corner with a book (go figure) and thought the social spectrum of junior high and high school too strange to delve into. I was worried that Paper Towns would follow the cliques and angst of teen life closely, and I had convinced myself it would be depressing.

It wasn't. Not at all.

In fact, the book had me laughing out loud, the kind of laughing that makes you want to read the funny parts to the people around you, even though you know they don't have any idea what you're talking about.

An example, you ask? Here's one.

Talking about a popular girl, Q (the main character) states, "Those of us who frequent the band room have long suspected that Becca maintains her lovely figure by eating nothing but the souls of kittens and the dreams of impoverished children" (38).

The best part is that you read along not suspecting that the book will make you laugh.

The story follows a young man (Q) about to graduate from high school and in love with the girl next door (Margo). Margo disappears after the two spend a night of petty crime, breaking into the homes of various former friends of Margo's and leaving behind whole dead fish (don't ask--read the book and you'll find out).

Margo leaves clues that Q feels he has to follow in order to find her, because no one else is looking. Even as he does this, the night of crime he and Margo spent together gives him a new found confidence that leads him to truly appreciate his friends, understand himself and his plans for the future, and to finally know Margo as a person instead of just a pretty face.

I expected Q's quest to end either in a horribly predictable, depressing way or an equally predictable, disgustingly romantic way. It did neither.

I finished the book wanting to read it again and determined to read the rest of Green's work.

I recommend this book for guys searching for a good read (I know it's hard) and girls (who will almost certainly identify with Margo's character).

And, just so you all know--John Green is an Indiana writer!

More new books!

I walked into the office today and found we'd received two new books!

I am particularly excited about this one...


Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit by Nahoko Uehashi

I picked this especially for all the Japanese history, martial arts-loving guys out there that also love a good read. There is also a manga series based on the novel, and it's being adapted for television. The novel was written in Japanese originally and translated into English and--there are more to come in the same series!

The story follows Balsa, a woman destined to protect the innocent in a quest to make up for the eight lives lost for her sake. She rescues the Second Prince, Chagum, who is also the Guardian of the Spirit. He must deliver the egg of the Water Spirit to its home in the distant sea. If he fails, the country will be ravaged by drought.

So no pressure.

Meanwhile, they're being hunted by the monster Rarunga, who wants to eat the egg, and the prince's father.

I'm hoping it's as good as it sounds (I'm about to read it)...

The second book that came was Giving Up the Ghost by Sheri Sinykin which is a ghost story (obviously) set in a Louisiana plantation home called Belle Foret. Davia has arrived there with her family to care for her ailing aunt and discovers Emilie, a young Creole girl dead since the 19th century.


While dealing with Emilie's unpredictable nature, the fear of her mother's cancer returning, and the illness of her aunt, Davia learns about her family's past and works toward finally releasing Emilie's spirit from Belle Foret.

New Book: On Jellicoe Road

Melina Marchetta's new novel, Jellicoe Road, is the winner of the 2009 Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature. If that doesn't convince you that it's a great book, I'll give it a whirl myself.


Taylor Markham's mother abandoned her at a gas station when she was just 11. She is sent to the Jellicoe School, a state-run private school that draws some local students, some young criminals (arsonists included), and other kids like Taylor who are wards of the state--in this case, Australia.

Now 17, Taylor is abandoned again by Hannah, the only person she trusts. Hannah took Taylor in after her mother left and has been a mentor and friend ever since. Not quite a mother, but still the closest thing Taylor has to family.

Or so she thinks.

As the novel progresses, Taylor finds that her group of school friends, Raffaela and Jessa are more like family than she wants them to be, and her so-called enemies in the territory war between the Townies, Cadets, and her schoolmates are really the closest friends she's ever had.

Taylor also learns more about Hannah from the manuscript of her novel, left behind when she left. She discovers the depth of Hannah's childhood friendships and how they come to play in both their lives now.

Through her friendships and Hannah's manuscript, Taylor deciphers the deepest secrets of her life: who she is, where she came from, why the Hermit begged her for forgiveness, and why Griggs has stayed with her.

The hazy story progression reflects Taylor's disconnect from the world around her after Hannah leaves. As the world comes back into focus, she is able to clearly remember what has happened to her. She also can finally put the fractured events in Hannah's novel together into a cohesive story.

Marchetta's flawless prose will leave you wanting more. In fact, I'm on the hunt for her other novels right now...

Check Out All the New Books!

We just got tons of new books! This is always exciting for me, because they always have that new book smell that I love. If they made a perfume of that smell, I would wear it.

Confessions from the Principal's Chair by Anna Myers


All of the Above by Shelley Pearsall


Hurt Go Happy by Ginny Rorby


Deep Wizardry by Diane Duane (this is book two of her Young Wizard's series--we have the rest too! And, just for the record, I love Diane Duane).


Kissing Coffins by Ellen Schreiber (look for her name again).


Ink Exchange by Melissa Marr (she wrote Wicked Lovely too).


Listen by Stephanie S. Tolan


Naruto 8 by Masashi Kishimoto


The Last Battle of Icemark by Stuart Hill


The Night Tourist by Katherine Marsh


One Handed Catch by M.J. Auch


The Mailbox by Audrey Shafer


Night of the Howling Dogs by Graham Salisbury


Vampire Kisses by Ellen Schreiber (of Kissing Coffins), another new manga.

New Book: What I Saw and How I Lied

Another recent addition to our collection you should know about is Judy Blundell's What I Saw and How I Lied.



This post-WWII story follows Evie, a young woman whose step-father, Joe, has just returned from the fighting in Europe

The cryptic title drew my attention right away, though I usually avoid novels set in this time period. All through the book, I eagerly awaited the grand revelation.

Evie and her family travel to Florida following a telephone call for Joe. They impulsively drive, off-season, south from New York City, hoping for a vacation. When they arrive, they find the majority of the hotels are closed. In fact, only one place is available for them to stay and many of the shops and restaurants are closed. As a result, the family turns to their fellow guests for entertainment.

Evie is especially attracted to a young man and former soldier, Peter Coleridge from her step-father's company. As her attachment to Peter grows, she begins to notice peculiarities in her parents' behavior that only become clear to her as the novel concludes.

An undercurrent in the novel is the Holocaust and how it is viewed by each character. The start of the novel shows us Evie and a friend, Margie, walking home and teasing a Jewish girl to keep her away from a boy Evie likes. Evie wishes Margie had not treated the girl so harshly, but doesn't move to stop her friend. Later Evie sees the harsh prejudice against Jews in Florida as a couple she meets at her hotel is mistreated.

Throughout the novel, Evie is met with subtle and overt references to the genocide overseas. She watches friends and family deal with the Holocaust differently and eventually comes to her own conclusions.

The way Blundell addresses the Holocaust appealed to me far more than the main plot of the novel. She took a heroine with little understanding of the war and Hitler's crimes and developed Evie until she was more compassionate than many other characters. Evie frustrating naivete becomes silent strength by the novel's conclusion.

Velcro Poetry

Take a look at this!

I just put the finishing touches on the Velcro Poetry board in the Young Adult Section! This is a big deal for me, because I cut out each and every word you see right here, and all the others that wouldn't fit in the photo frame.

That's a lot of words.

I put together a few examples, and when I came in this morning, I saw that some of you have been contributing too! Here are a few for you to read...







If you haven't visited the board yet, come over and write a few poems while you wait for a copy of Crank to get checked in (we just got two more copies, it should be soon).

National Poetry Month

April, as your English teachers may have told you, is National Poetry month.

I am not a fan of the one month a year celebration of literature--I think we should enjoy poetry all year long--but I think as long as it is April, and as long as most of the world flees before poetry as from large marine chondrichthyes and sweeping musical numbers in a Spielberg film, now is as good a time as any to start reading!

Here are some resources you can use to find poems, read about famous poets, or get help and inspiration for your own writing:

Poets.org From the American Academy of Poets. This is a great site for help reading, writing, understanding, or just enjoying poetry. They feature a poem-a-day and also have a poetry podcast. The site provides reviews that can introduce readers to outstanding new poets. It's a wonderful all-around resource.

Poetry Foundation The website of Poetry magazine, they feature archived issues of their journal, a poetry search engine to help you find something you're looking for (especially fun to use), audio podcasts, special events, and more.

Against National Poetry Month As Such An essay written by Charles Bernstein, author of My Way: Speeches and Poems. This is a humorous argument against pinning poetry appreciation down to one month. Bernstein paints a picture of a world with an anti-poetry month, "As part of the activities, all verse in public places will be covered over—from the Statue of Liberty to the friezes on many of our government buildings...Ministers in the Black churches will be kindly requested to stop preaching. Cats will be closed for the month by order of the Anti-Poetry Commission. Poetry readings will be replaced by self-help lectures." This guy is hilarious.

Poetry.com This site, though a bit chaotic in appearance, has a lot of references for poets, an ongoing poetry contest, and help marketing your work, if you're that serious!

Remember, as with all creative writing, the first step to becoming a better writer is to read as much as possible! The library has a fantastic poetry section and we'll be happy to help you find just what you're looking for.

New Book: If I Stay

I just finished reading one of our new titles for the Young Adult section, If I Stay by Gayle Forman, and I thought I should tell you a little about it.


The novel centers around Mia, a 17 year old girl torn between staying in her Oregon hometown to be near her family, friends, and boyfriend, or leaving for Julliard to pursue her passion for the cello.

Mia's choices dissolve, however, when she is faced with a horrific tragedy that leaves her trapped in an out of body experience that lit-buffs like me will connect with Alice Sebold's The Lovely Bones

Far from being depressing, the novel focuses on the bonds between Mia and her mother, father, brother, grandparents, best friend, and boyfriend. As Mia looks on, her family and friends try to cope with what has happened. Mia reflects on moments in her past that have defined each relationship, all leading to her choice: should she stay or should she go?

I expected the novel to break my heart, but instead it left me feeling hopeful and appreciating all the people in my life that support and love me every day.

If you're interested in this book, stop by the new book cart in the young adult section of our library and check it out. You can also take a peek at Gayle Forman's fantastic website where you can read her blog, take a look at the trailer for the upcoming movie adaptation of the novel (or at an interview with the author), and even listen to the playlist she compiled while writing If I Stay.