Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

by Barbara Kingsolver

Novelist Kingsolver and her family commit to living off the farm in Virginia for one year. Raising their own crops, canning and freezing, shopping at local farmer's markets, even making their own cheese, everyone in the family gets involved in the project. Nine year old Lily sells chicken eggs and meat, her husband Steve compares industrial agriculture with ecology in useful sidebars, and daughter Camille contributes recipes and essays to the book. Of course the book discusses the implications of shipping food afar and how much healthier it is to eat organic foods than those grown with chemicals but Kingsolver infuses it with humor and veers off onto other topics like rural politics or turkey sex. Readers that might be drawn to this tome include "budding Martha Stewarts, green-leaning fans of Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth and kids outraged by Eric Schlosser's Fast Food Nation.

The Watchmen

The Watchmen

By Alan Moor

The Watchmen, a now disbanded and aging group of superheroes are being hunted down and killed. A young woman searches for the identity of her father. And the ultimate superhero comes to terms with his identity. This critically acclaimed graphic novel has won awards and has spawned a movie. It has been said that this is the greatest of the genre. The Watchmen disproves the notion that graphic novels can't be great literature. The graphics are equally amazing. The reader is able to enjoy the many layers of meaning. The artwork gives clues and details which the text fleshes out in interspersed text sections. Moderately difficult

Truth About Forever

Truth About Forever

By Sarah Dessen

Macy is a teen who has witnessed her father's death and deals with it by becoming a perfectionist. She gets good grades, has a perfect boyfriend, and is always neat and tidy. Despite the facade, Macy is drowning in grief. Summer comes, her boyfriend leaves and eventually rejects her. Her carefully crafted life begins to unravel when she takes a job at Wish Catering. Her coworkers are a band of teens who live seemingly without a care though most of them have experienced some kind of loss. The author throws in a love interest as well. Ultimately Macy comes to terms with her grief and learns it's okay to be human. Readers will enjoy the interesting, well-crafted characters and the humor which is sprinkled in. Easy