Lucas Blogs About Books

The photo will never change!   The Intro Welcome back to Whan That Month, my ongoing blog-within-a-blog chronicling my year reading The Canterbury Tales . Last month, I covered the sixth fragment which also happens to contain the last of the tales which I've already read, so from now on I'm in uncharted waters. What does Chaucer have in store for me in the seventh fragment? Well, come aboard matey it's time to discuss— The Shipman's Tale So in St. Denis (a town just north of Paris) there's this wealthy merchant and his wife. His wife loves to party and is a spendthrift. And us girls know that borrowing money can get you in trouble (Chaucer has apparently forgotten that this story is supposedly being told by a man). In any case, the merchant's household frequently hosts daun John (daun is his courtesy title), a monk and bon vivant. So frequent are his visits that John and the merchant call each other "cosin" and John calls the merchant's wife "...

Oh, deer, it's a g-g-g-g-ghost!   So, what's this book's dea—Oh, I'll bet those library stickers mean that this was another book you auditioned for a Christmas gift, like Skunk and Badger  last week. That'd be a smart bet. Snapdragon by Kat Leyh is a young adult graphic novel about . . . well it's about a lot of things. Oh, and in case you're wondering, this ended up being a gift for my cousin's daughter. The same one who received The Prince and the Dressmaker   last Christmas. I seem to recall that The Prince and the Dressmaker was a big hit. Was this? Well, she did start reading it as soon as she opened it in the family Christmas zoom. But I haven't received a gushing thank you note either, so I dunno. Anyway, it's the story of Snapdragon, a tomboy-ish mixed race girl living somewhere in the South. When we first meet her she's riding her bike out to the edge of town to confront the so-called witch who lives there. See, her dog, Good Boy (Ge...

It took more than one try to get this picture without glare. So, what's this book's dea—wait, is this a library book? Yeah, when I was scoping out books to give as Christmas gifts, I checked a couple out of the library. This one ended up being given to my goddaughter, she's six. Aren't you supposed to give library books back to the library? I didn't give this copy to my goddaughter, I bought a new copy of it for her. Anyway, it turns out that her teacher had read it her class.  Anyway, this book's deal is that it's Skunk and Badger  by Amy Timberlake with pictures by Jon Klassen. It's a chapter book that you might read to a child of about six or seven or that a child of about eight or older might read on their own. Or a blogger in his thirties might read to see if it's an appropriate gift. Exactly. So, as you might have guessed from the title and cover, Skunk and Badger  is one of those books about anthropomorphic animals who are named for their spe...

Water, water everywhere and not a drop to — AUGH! What's that on the back cover? So, what's this book's deal? Island Book  is a young adult graphic novel by Evan Dahm, who you may recall was the artist behind The Harrowing of Hell . I recall that that wasn't a blog post in the Hypothetical Reader format. Oh, right. Well, I really liked it. It's actually my favorite book I read last year. It made me curious about Dahm's other work so I picked up this book thinking that it might be a good gift-giving candidate for younger readers. And was it? Def-o! Unfortunately, I did my Christmas shopping at the last minute and this was already sold out most places, so I went with Superman Smashes the Klan instead. Anyway, this is sort of a high seas fantasy adventure story for kids. It begins on an island inhabited by green humanoids. The protagonist, Sola, is ostracized by everyone but her guardian because a monster attacked the island when she was a child, seemingly drawn b...