Songs Without Words

SONGS WITHOUT WORDS: Ann Packer: Knopf: 2007: Fiction: 321 pages

Ann Packer’s newest novel takes a deep look into the souls of women and the choices they must make in life.

Packer takes us on a journey into the lifelong friendship of Sarabeth and Liz who are pushed to the breaking point when Liz’s teenage daughter attempts suicide. Liz who has always been more of a mother figure to Sarabeth since her own mother killed herself when Sarabeth was sixteen, has little patience for Sarabeth’s neediness when she should be comforting Liz over her daughter’s troubles. This is a sad but engrossing novel that asks us to examine the role of friendship in women’s lives.

AJ

The Luxe

THE LUXE: Anna Godbersen: HarperCollins: Young Adult: 433 pages

Two young women are in love with Henry Schoonmaker and neither of them is his fiancé, perfect society girl Elizabeth Holland. Despite her high society upbringing, proper manners, and engagement to Henry, Elizabeth is in love with someone else, but her involvement with both men creates a tangled web of deceit, jealousy, and misunderstandings. When Elizabeth’s carriage overturns, her death appears to be accidental, but with so many enemies, it could be suicide or even murder.

With its intrigue, romance, and talented writing, The Luxe is perfectly set to be the next big thing in teen literature. A sequel is in progress, and readers will be clamoring for it after their first taste of this addictive new series.

MBC

A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier

A LONG WAY GONE: MEMOIRS OF A BOY SOLDIER:Ishmael Beah: Farrar, Straus and Giroux: 2007: 226 pages: Nonfiction

Ishmael Beah currently works for the Human Rights Watch Children’s Advisory Committee but he was once a child soldier in Sierra Leone. As a child of 13, after running for nearly a year from the violence that separated him from his family, he was pressed into the army and taught to use an AK47. Food, drugs and a feeling of security after months of running turned him into a killing machine loyal to his unit. He experienced unthinkable violence over a period of three years before he was released to a UN rehabilitation camp. His story is gripping and frightening. It is remarkable that a person can find not only health and sanity after such terrible experiences but also dedicate himself as an adult to help other children in the world who are affected by war.

This book is very well written. After coming to the United States, Ishmael obviously has used the opportunities given him to transform himself and contribute to the welfare of others like him. This is a painful book to read. If you found that you learned from They Poured Fire on Us From the Sky you will also be moved by this book. An interview with Mr. Beah can be seen on You Tube.

SH

People of the Book

PEOPLE OF THE BOOK; Geraldine Brooks; New York: Viking, 2008; 372pp. Fiction

The people of Ms. Brooks' book are Muslims, Christians, and Jews, as one might have guessed, but the book (besides The Book) is the Sarajevo Haggadah, an illuminated version of the seder prayer dating from the 15th century. Hanna Heath, a book conservator from Australia, is called in by the United Nations to prepare the Haggadah for display after it has been saved from the bombing of Sarajevo by a resourceful museum curator. What she finds in the book--a butterfly's wing, a stain of mingled wine and blood, a saltwater stain, a single white hair--leads the reader into the true stories of the book. Layer by layer Ms. Brooks tells the stories of the creation and travels of the Haggadah, from the two Muslims who risked all to save it from the Nazis, to the horrors of the Spanish Inquisition, to the unlikely creator of the pictures in Spain. People of the Book is rich in culture, ceremony, history, art, personality, and love, a must-read.

LW

Beginner's Greek: A Novel

BEGINNER’S GREEK: James Collins: Little, Brown, and Co.: Fiction: 441 pages

Peter Russell is a romantic, and when Holly sits next to him on a flight from New York to Los Angeles, he knows that it’s love at first sight. Unfortunately, Peter loses Holly’s phone number and the two don’t meet again until Holly is reintroduced to Peter as his best friend Jonathan’s girlfriend. In the meantime, Peter’s boss is attempting to destroy him, Peter’s engaged to a dull but “proper” Francophile, Jonathan’s conducting multiple love affairs, and Peter still pines for Holly. Collins examines love and relationships in a story that twists and turns and entwines the lives of his characters around and through one another right up to the end, when everybody gets what’s coming to them.

MBC

The Wednesday Wars

THE WEDNESDAY WARS: Gary D. Schmidt: Clarion Books: Young Adult: 264 pages

Holling Hoodhood lives in the Perfect House with his ambitious father, his hippie (or at least she’d like to be) sister, and his ineffective mother. Because Holling does not attend Catechism or Hebrew School, he spends his Wednesday afternoons reading Shakespeare with his 7^th grade teacher, Mrs. Baker, finding parallels between his own life in 1967 and Shakespeare’s universal themes.

This delightful novel has a very similar feel to the classic Peter Billingsley film, A Christmas Story. Holling’s struggles with classmates who threaten to pound him if he doesn’t produce cream puffs for the entire class, his humiliation at wearing bright yellow, feathered tights to play Ariel in a local Shakespeare production, and the overall tone and voice of the work are reminiscent of the movie, but Schmidt (who won Printz and Newbery honors for Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy) also addresses social, political, and family issues that give The Wednesday Wars a great deal of depth and meaning.

MBC

Thirteen Reasons Why

THIRTEEN REASONS WHY: Jay Asher: Razorbill: Young Adult: 288 pages

When Clay Jenson plays the casette tapes he received in a mysterious package, he's surprised to hear the voice of dead classmate Hannah Baker. He's one of 13 people who receive Hannah's story, which details the circumstances that led to her suicide. Clay spends the rest of the day and long into the night listening to Hannah's voice and going to the locations she wants him to visit. The text alternates, sometimes quickly, between Hannah's voice (italicized) and Clay's thoughts as he listens to her words, which illuminate betrayals and secrets that demonstrate the consequences of even small actions. Hannah, herself, is not free from guilt, her own inaction having played a part in an accidental auto death and a rape. The message about how we treat one another, although sometimes heavy, makes for compelling reading.

This was a captivating, thought provoking novel. It deals with some very serious issues: suicide, rape, depression…and really makes you think about how your actions affect the people around you. Although this is an “edgier” book, I think that it would make an incredible book discussion book. I would recommend it to older teens and adults.

AMM

Ian Pollock's Illustrated King Lear

IAN POLLOCK’S ILLUSTRATED KING LEAR: William Shakespeare & Ian Pollock: Workman: Nonfiction: 139 pages

Ian Pollock’s illustrated rendition of William Shakespeare’s classic play, King Lear, was first published in the 1980s. With the popular rise of graphic novels, Pollock's work was reprinted in 2006 and marketed (appropriately) as a graphic novel. The text is the complete, unabridged play, but the illustrated edition provides the dialogue in speech bubbles attached to each character in typical graphic novel or comic book fashion.

I often struggle with graphic novel formats, but I actually enjoyed the graphic novel version of the play more than the plain text version. Since plays were written with the intention of being visually represented rather than being read straight through like novels, the illustrations and speech bubbles clarify and enhance the story. Pollock’s drawings are eerie and surreal, adding a fantastic depth and mood to Shakespeare’s famous tragedy.

MBC

The Senator's Wife

THE SENATOR'S WIFE: Sue Miller: Alfred A. Knopf: Fiction: 305 pgs.
Miller's latest examination of relationships introduces readers to neighbors sharing a common wall in a two-family townhouse tucked away in a cozy New England college town. Meri, young and unsure of herself, is newly married to Nathan, a distracted college professor. Genteel, elderly Delia lives alone, apart from her philandering husband, former senator Tom Naughton. Each experiences major life changes in the summer of 1994. New mother Meri looks to Delia unsuccessfully for nurturing. Delia takes in Tom after he suffers a stroke, and the women begin relying on one another for caregiver relief. But the unexpected transpires one steamy July afternoon.

Written like a journal, the book alternates between Meri and Delia. Pleasurable, engaging and an easy read, the final chapter brings us to the present and catches up on the intervening years since the pivotal summer.

DLD

Stalin's Ghost

STALIN'S GHOST; Martin Cruz Smith; New York: Simon & Schuster, 2007. 332pgs.

Arkady Renko is back in another bleak but darkly humorous police procedural in post-Soviet Russia. When Arkady's partner Victor picks up a ringing phone on a fellow officer's desk, he
gets in on an arrangement for a hit. As Arkady and Victor play along in order to bring their colleagues to justice, a vision of Josef Stalin appears at the Chistye Prude Metro station. Renko is pulled off the first case to chase Stalin's ghost, only to find the two cases linked by a paper candidate's run for office in an attempt to siphon votes from the legitimate opposition. There is much mayhem and thuggery here, as Renko single-mindedly pursues the truth and justice--also some language and sex--but this is a very rich narrative about how it has become convenient in the new, apparently never to truly be free, Russia to ignore and even glorify the past.
Highly recommended.

LW

Persepolis II: The Story of a Return

PERSEPOLIS II: The Story of a Return: Marjane Satrapi: Graphic Novel, 2004, Pantheon Books: 187 pages

In this follow up to "Persepolis I: A Childhood" we follow Marjane through her adolescence and into adulthood. After experimenting with drugs, hippies, sexuality, intellectualism and ultimately homelessness in Austria, Marjane returns to her native, now post-war, Iran.

I was a little disappointed that this book was largely about generic young adult debauchery, but there was still an underlying theme of Marjane’s mutating Iranian Identity - if a bit faint through the middle.

Mister Pip

MISTER PIP; Lloyd Jones; New York: Dial, 2007; 271 pgs. Fiction

Mr. Watts becomes Mr. Pip in this story of a territorial war over a copper-rich island
in the South Seas. Mr. Watts, the only remaining white man on the island after Australian miners are driven off by "redskins" from the mainland, offers to teach school. Although the children cannot physically escape the terrors of their island, Mr. Watts offers them a way out
in a daily reading of Charles Dickens' Great Expectations. Victorian London becomes their haven, and Matilda, the young female protagonist, finds herself trapped between her love of Mr. Pip's story and her mother's envy of Mr. Watts' hold over her daughter. The tension between mother and teacher, between art and life, between the redskins and the rebel rambos, between the villagers and the soldiers on both sides, suddenly erupts into horrible brutality, which Matilda's eventual escape is hard put to overcome. Mister Pip is an odd little book, with some memorable good scenes, and the striking final unity of Mr. Watts and Matilda's mother on a very elevated piece of moral ground, but for some reason its ultimate effect on the reader is a feeling of uneasiness. (In my case, anyway.)

LW

The Rest of Her Life

THE REST OF HER LIFE: Laura Moriarty: Hyperion: Fiction: 303 pages

Now a junior high school English teacher married to a college professor, Leigh has spent much of her adult life trying to distance herself from her dysfunctional childhood. Raising their two children in a small, safe Kansas town not far from where Leigh and her troubled sister, Pam, were raised by their single mother, Leigh finds her good fortune still somewhat empty.

Daughter Kara, 18 and a high school senior, is distant; sensitive younger son Justin is unpopular; Leigh can't seem to reach either—Kara in particular sees Leigh (rightly) as self-absorbed. When Kara accidentally hits and kills another high school girl with the family's car, Leigh is forced to confront her troubled relationship with her daughter, her resentment toward her husband (who understands Kara better) and her long-buried angst about her own neglectful mother.

Laura Moriarty’s writing is similar to Jodi Picoult, who I also enjoy. This was an interesting novel about mother-daughter relationships. I liked the story, but felt like the ending sort of died out. I would recommend this to those that like Jodi Picoult’s novels.

AMM

Mom's Cancer

MOM’S CANCER: Brian Fies: Abrams Image: Nonfiction: 117 pages

In a suave comic-strip style, Fies traces the events of his mother's illness primarily from the perspective of her three children, including "nurse sis" and "kid sis" (adult but the youngest) as well as himself. After a "mini stroke," his mother was diagnosed with lung cancer that had metastasized to the brain. A vital and positive woman who had been a model with hopes of Hollywood, she opted to fight the disease whole hog. Fies and his sisters pitched in to help her during the ensuing debilitation, seeing her through to tentative remission and an -eleventh-hour (as it happened) move to Hollywood with kid sis. Depicting a family dependably if warily dealing, not without anger and feelings of inadequacy, with each crisis and change that cancer brings, Fies' book may be one of the most well balanced contributions to the literature of coping with cancer.

This was an interesting medium for discussing cancer. I enjoyed this graphic novel because it dealt with a serious issue in a very respectful manner.

AMM

Nancy Drew, Girl Detective. #1, The Demon of River Heights

NANCY DREW, GIRL DETECTIVE #1, THE DEMON OF RIVER HEIGHTS: Stefan Petrucha, writer and Sho Murase, artist: Young Adult Comics: 96 pgs.

This is not the Nancy Drew novel that I grew up reading. But it is a contemporary pocket-sized graphic novel rendition of my favorite girl detective series. While the characters, best friends Nancy, Bess and George, are familiar, their high tech tools are nothing like the old-fashioned magnifying glass used by author Carolyn Keene’s crime solvers. The sleuths utilize gadgets like cell phones and WIFI connected tablet PCs.

The manga-style illustrations will appeal to a new generation of young readers eager to watch the titian-haired Nancy outsmart a bear, solve the mystery of the missing film students and bring justice to an ethically-challenged business man.

DLD

Superman Returns: The Prequels

SUPERMAN RETURNS: THE PREQUELS: Bryan Singer, Michael Dougherty, and Dan Harris: DC Comics: Young Adult Comics: 128 pages

The movie Superman Returns picks up with Superman coming back to Earth after a five-year absence. These prequels give glimpses of the same five years in the lives of the three most important people in his life. In the first, Martha Kent reminisces about Clark's formative years. In the second, Lex Luthor bides his time in prison, nursing a grudge and vowing revenge for Superman's "theft" of five years of his life. The final episode shows Lois Lane, heart in turmoil, pressed to write another article about the Man of Steel. Frustrated and wanting to move on, she writes a story that earns her a Pulitzer, "Why the World Doesn't Need Superman."

This is the first DC comic book that I have read. I surprisingly liked this book, even though I wasn’t really familiar with the timeline of the Superman series. I would recommend this book to any comic book enthusiast.

AMM

Confessions of a Teen Sleuth

CONFESSIONS OF A TEEN SLEUTH: Chelsea Cain: Bloomsbury: Non-Fiction: 160 pages

America’s favorite girl detective, Nancy Drew, is back to set the record straight. According to our titian-haired heroine, she was not in fact a fictional character, but an intrepid real-life sleuth who investigated some of the twentieth century’s biggest mysteries. And the famous series she starred in was not cooked up by a team of writers, but plagiarized from her exploits by her nosy college roommate Carolyn—who, not surprisingly, got a whole lot wrong.

I enjoyed this parody quite a lot. It was fun to see “the other side” of the Nancy Drew novels. I loved the descriptions of what Nancy considered ‘essentials’ when she left town to solve a mystery. I would recommend this to anyone familiar with the Nancy Drew novels who wants to be entertained.

AMM

Slam

SLAM: Nick Hornby: G.P. Putnam’s Sons: Young Adult: 309 pages

Fifteen-year-old Sam Jones is a British teenager who loves Tony Hawk, talking to a poster of Tony when he needs advice. And Sam does need advice. He’s recently broken up with his girlfriend, Alicia, only to discover that she’s pregnant.

Nick Hornby has frequently been praised for his accurate portrayals of British men, and in this first teen novel, he gives a great, rare look at the male perspective on teen pregnancy. Both the subject matter and the language make this a book intended for an older teen or adult audience, but it is a well-written, insightful look at a choice and the many consequences and phases that follow it.

MBC

The Year of Living Biblically

THE YEAR OF LIVING BIBLICALLY: A.J. Jacobs: Simon & Schuster: Nonfiction: 388 pages

What would happen if you attempted to literally interpret and live every admonition in the Bible? Jacobs undertakes this task for one year, first studying the Bible for several months and recording all the laws and commandments in the Old and New Testaments and then attaching tassels to the corners of his clothing, observing food restrictions, tithing, and attempting to do everything the Bible mandates. Additionally, Jacobs visits religious groups that interpret the Bible literally. He attends a meeting with snake handlers, invites a Jehovah’s Witness to his home for several hours, and goes to the Creationism Museum in Kentucky.

With a premise that could potentially be offensive, Jacobs does a very nice job of fairly and respectfully examining the Bible and its adherents. He does his research, reading multiple versions of the Bible and commentaries and gathering a board of religious advisors from several Jewish and Christian faiths. While there are absurd portions of the book (the author “stones” an adulterer with pebbles in a park) and Jacobs is, admittedly, agnostic, the work as a whole is both interesting and thought-provoking for believers and non-believers alike.

MBC

Undercover

UNDERCOVER: Beth Kephart: HarperTeen: Young Adult: 278 pages

Very loosely drawing on the classic Cyrano story, Elisa uses her way with language to help the boys in her high school write love notes to the girls that interest them. Elisa becomes personally interested in one the boys she helps, and her ice skating serves as a way for them to become friends.

Language is very important in this story, perhaps more important than the story itself. The lyrical text slows the pace of the story and distances the reader from forming attachments to any of the characters or feeling emotionally involved in the story. Nicely written, but somewhat cold in tone.

MBC

Travels with Herodotus

TRAVELS WITH HERODOTUS; Ryszard Kapuscinski; New York: Knopf, 2007; Nonfiction; 275 pgs.

Having graduated from the university in 1955, and taken up a job as a journalist, Ryszard Kapuscinski desires nothing more than to "cross a border"--any border. So his editor sends him to India, and from there to China, Africa, Indonesia. He takes as his companion a gift copy of Herodotus' Histories and learns from him the importance of encountering other cultures and other peoples firsthand, and of recording historical events as best as possible. Kapuscinski writes with elegance and warmth about the global village. Translated from the Polish by
Klara Glowczewska.

LW

Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac

MEMOIRS OF A TEENAGE AMNESIAC: Gabrielle Zevin: Young Adult: 271 pages

After falling down the school steps, Naomi awakes without any memory of the previous four years, including her parents divorce, the birth of her sister, or her relationship with her boyfriend.

The premise for this story is intriguing. As she attempts to make sense of her current situation, Naomi provides a fascinating, outsider perspective on her own life. This would be a good book club discussion book, because it explores decision-making and the evolution of individuals and relationships in such a unique way.

MBC

Rebel Angels

REBEL ANGELS: Libba Bray: Delacorte Press: 2005: 548 pages

In this sequel to A Great and Terrible Beauty, Gemma and her friends, Ann and Felicity, have mastered the power to transport themselves to the mystical Realms and are now seeking the way to bind the powerful magic so that it will not fall into the hands of the evil Circe and her minions. Meanwhile, Gemma must also deal with problems in the real world such as her laudanum addicted father grieving for his wife and her attraction to affable Tom, the son of a viscount, and the mysterious Indian boy, Kartik.

As the author points out near the end of the book when referring to the new electrical underground railroad, the Victorian time period was on the cusp of the modern world. Gemma, Ann and Felicity are perfect examples of the changes taking place in this world. They are supposed to grow up to be well-mannered wives, but they long for more power in their lives. Libbra Bray does an excellent job of creating complex and fallible characters.

AJ

A Great and Terrible Beauty

A GREAT AND TERRIBLE BEAUTY: Libba Bray: Delacorte Press: 2004: 403 pages

Growing up in British ruled India in the late 1800s, Gemma Doyle has longed to visit London. When her mother dies mysteriously, something that Gemma witnesses in a dark vision, she is finally sent to London where she is enrolled in a secluded girls’ finishing school. Gemma encounters trouble at the new school with the rich and popular girls and is frightened over her growing visions. She also discovers she has been followed from India by Kartik, a young Indian man who warns her to fight off her visions. Gemma has difficulty controlling them and one night she is led by a child-spirit to find a diary that reveals the secrets of a mystical realm.

Part Gothic mystery, part teen school drama and part other-worldly fantasy, this novel will delight a variety of readers and leave them wanting to know more about Gemma and her strange powers.

AJ

Soldier's Heart: Reading Literature Through Peace and War at West Point

SOLDIER'S HEART: READING LITERATURE THROUGH PEACE AND WAR AT WEST POINT; Elizabeth D. Samet; New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007; 259pgs. Non-Fiction

Elizabeth Samet, Harvard and Yale-educated professor of English, is beguiled into taking a teaching position at West Point when she reads the memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant. As she becomes acquainted with the plebes, yearlings, cows, and firsties of the Army Corps of cadets she learns much about soldiers in time of war, and uses literature (and film) to help them know themselves even better. Soldier's Heart is a tender and enlightening account of young men and women who become dear to the reader, and dearer because they may not survive the course of the war. Along the way we become acquainted with the literature of war and the uses in wartime of the literature of peace. Samet is a thoughtful, deeply intelligent writer whose prose and sensibilities linger in the mind long after the book is closed. Highly recommended.

LW

Persepolis

PERSEPOLIS: Marjane Satrapi: Pantheon: 2004: Young Adult Comics:160

For sassy young Marjane Satrapi, growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution of 1979 is pretty confusing. After growing up in a relatively modern society, Marjane is now forced to wear a head scarf in public, wear her jeans only in secret, and stop listening to tapes where people might hear, as these things are now against the law. More seriously, she watches as family and friends are taken away, tortured, and sometimes even murdered.

Told through the eyes of a child, this graphic novel is stunning in its ability to capture the complexities of Iran in the early 80’s while remaining accessible and informative. A really great read for anyone interested in the region.

Wallace and Gromit: The Bootiful Game

WALLACE AND GROMIT: THE BOOTIFUL GAME: Ian Rimmer: Titan Books: Young Adult Comics: 48 pages

When Wallace takes over the running of a local soccer club, he uses all his inventive skills to set it on the road to glory. But all is not as it seems at Growther AFC, and soon Wallace and Gromit’s dreams of success are hobbled by foul play and outright sabotage!

I like Wallace and Gromit and this was a fun book, however I had a hard time with all of the British words, since I didn’t know what all of them meant. The story did have some interesting twists and turns.

AMM

Beowulf

BEOWULF: Gareth Hinds: Candlewick Press: Young Adult Nonfiction: 128 pgs.

Hinds sketches a new take on the oft told epic poem, Beowulf, in this gruesome graphic novel. Why wield away hours struggling through 3,183 lines of Old English when you can slog through a little text and blast past a cavern of dark, harsh and scary illustrations to pierce the tale. Essentially, Beowulf, hero of the Geats, encounters three antagonists: vicious monster Grendel, Grendel's vengeful mother and lastly a virulent dragon.

Hinds breaks the story into three books. He uses gory dark colors and pointed frightful creatures to paint the slaughters in books one and two. "Clang," "Sswackkhack," "Shlup." The colors transform into muted grays in the final book when the hero slays the dragon but is himself mortally wounded. Beowulf, now King of the Geats, is cremated and buried along with the dragon's treasure on a cliff overlooking the sea.

DLD

A War of Gifts

A WAR OF GIFTS; Orson Scott Card; New York: Tor, 2007; 126pgs. Fiction/Young Adult

Ender Wiggins' Battle School is an odd setting for a Christmas story, but when Zeck, the son of a fundamentalist preacher, arrives at the school and refuses to wage even simulated war, the Holiday that Must not be Named (nor celebrated) becomes an issue. When Dink writes his fellow Dutchman a poem for St. Nicholas day, and cuts his pancakes into letters, Zeck complains that if others are celebrating a "Santa Claus holiday," he should be able to observe his religion openly. Soon students of other faiths get riled up, and the War of Gifts is joined. Zeck becomes a pariah among his classmates, and Dink and Ender must use wisdom and restraint to restore peace in the season thereof. Aside from the cookie cutter portrait of the abusive fundamentalist father, the characters in this book are richly realized, and the story is sweetly told. Home, country, tradition, fellow-feeling, and brotherly kindness find a place in Outer Space.

LW

Epic

EPIC; Conor Kostick; New York: Viking, 2007; 364pgs. Young Adult

"Epic" is the name of a computer game that takes the place of representative government and societal ebb and flow in an unnamed country were actual violence has been outlawed and
people's lives and livelihoods are determined by their facility in playing the game. Outside the game, conditions are primitive and workers are assigned to their jobs, transferred to new tasks, or exiled completely depending on their facility at gaming. Erik is a young man who seems not to play well, because rather than slogging away with a faceless character for the slow accumulation of coppers, he challenges difficult opponents and often fails. His parents are afraid that he will be reallocated, but can't convince him to go conventional. Erik's team play becomes dangerous when he and his friends attract the attention of Central Allocations by doing things no one has been able to do before and the Council unleashes the "Executioner" into the game to protect their own power. The book reflects to some degree the current confusion of game life with real life--the Epic scenes in this story are often more vivid than reality, and it isn't always readily apparent whether Erik and his team are in or out of the game--sometimes it is startling when they unclip to go to bed or to eat supper. Kostick, himself a sometime game designer, argues in this well-wrought fantasy against confusing electronic victories with actual achievement. The freedom to grow, learn, and serve is balanced against freedom from violence in this gripping novel of parallel worlds.

LW