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How to write a book for middle school boys - Lesson #1: Put the word 'Fart' in the title. Lesson #2: Include lots of fart puns through the book. Joan Holub's book Fartboy and Reeky Dog completes both lessons. Fart Boy and his classmates are on a special field trip to the museum, but someone gave our intrepid protagonist peanuts and garbanzo beans for dinner - an explosive combination! The resulting massive and stinky farts bring the dinosaur exhibits to life! Fart Boy and his friends have to find a way to stop the rampaging dinosaur bones - as well as the evil Dr. Gravypants - who is also in the museum with some evil plans. I've read a few different 'fart' books for middle schoolers and I was honestly a little underwhelmed with this. The fart humor was like a high-pitched squeaky fart - a little bit forced. Like a lot of books for school-aged readers, this is more than just fart and scat humor - readers might actually learn a little something while snickering...

Reacher! It feels good to have another Reacher novel in hand.  Jack Reacher can be a hard man to find when you want him but when you have the resources of the U.S. military intelligence at your disposal even finding Reacher is possible. Fortunately, General Susan Turner has that ability.  Turner needs to have someone look into an incident - off the record - in which one of her IT reports was killed in Colorado. Officially declared a mugging gone wrong, Turner suspects there's much more to it. And the fact that there is likely a breach in their internal communications suggests that it might be an inside job. Reacher, along with Turner and her most trusted aide, slowly unravel a multi-billion dollar scheme involving cutting edge technology.  Being unable to ask for much help, not knowing who to trust, severely handicaps the trio in their efforts to avenge the slain soldier and secure the military's communications once again. What is there to say about this? It's a Reacher n...

I'm familiar with Magic the Gathering - I understand the mechanics of it and I know people who once played it almost religiously - but I have never played the game or gotten into all the various cards.  I am also generally not a fan of reading books based on a game ... I've yet to read one that I've enjoyed. BUT ... I am a big fan of Seanan McGuire's work and I was definitely curious to see what she could bring to to this game franchise. Five students from different worlds/universes/realities are invited to attend Strixhaven - an elite school for training those who already have a propensity for wielding magic. There's a war that's been devastating the Multiverse. Some worlds have managed to come through fairly well so far, but others have been all but destroyed. One student, Eula Blue, comes to Strixhaven from a world that has not survived the war very well, and she feels like an outsider in a community of outsiders. The new group of students is setting the stag...

An unusual magical illness is affecting the children of Boston. Junior Auditor Grimshaw Griswald Grimsby and his partner, the veteran Hunstman Mayflower, are tasked by the Department of Unorthodox Affairs with uncovering the cause and putting a stop to it - by any means necessary - before it spreads even further. It doesn't take long into the investigation, however, before Grimsby and Mayflower encounter some strange beings that appear to have ancient origins and a heck of a lot of magic power. The duo will visit a depth far below the streets of Boston to face off against unbelievable monsters and then off to a completely different reality, drawing on every bit of knowledge and strength they can muster to protect the humans on earth. This series actually is getting better and better with each book. The character of Grimsby has grown nicely through the series so far and while I've read the previous three books, I don't think it's necessary to have read them in order to e...

On the surface, it would appear that FBI agent Kate O'Hare is hot on the trail of con man Nicolas Fox. The truth, however, is that the pair are working together to bring down some of the biggest criminals in the crime business - people who are untouchable by standard, legal means. People like Evan Trace - the casino magnate know for his welcoming of the wealthiest patrons who like taking risks, but also known for his brutality. To infiltrate Trace's kingdom, Fox and O'Hare will have to get Trace's interest and an invitation to gamble 'off-the-record' - which is part of his major money-laundering operation. And to do that, they'll have to look and act the part of a couple of billionaires just looking to have a good time, even if it means losing a few million on some gambling. And to do that ... well, the FBI won't miss a few million dollars if it gets put back in time, right? Fox and O'Hare will be pit against some of the world's most dangerous mo...

My youth was spent reading a lot of sword & sorcery (Robert E. Howard, Lin Carter, Fritz Leiber, etc) and playing a great deal of dungeons and dragons. Since then (some 40-50 years later!) I've had a desire to recreate some of that youthful S&S and D&D fun. It would seem a natural fit then to read books from the Dungeons & Dragons publishing company. Maybe it's that my expectations are too high, but I've just not found the enjoyment that I've been hoping for. This book is the fourth in a series and perhaps this is some of the problem because I never felt pulled into the story. I was an observer to the action rather than experiencing the action. The story: A pounding rain is disrupting everything in Sea of Fallen Stars and the coastal areas around it. From destroyed crops to to a halt in trading, the people affected are willing to do anything to recover. That includes worshiping the dreaded goddess Umberlee. Umberlee's chosen warrior is an undead pira...