13 Reasons, Being Pleasant and not Playing with Fire!

Hi all in "The Land of Blog" ti's your forever wandering and trustworthy guide Library Ninja Bill with more news on the latest, at least to him, and greatest, a matter surely open to debate, reads out there.  Okay got a bunch of good stuff this go-round so let's jump into the deep end of the pool (hope everyone can swim).

First things first. I recently heard from my most excellent friend Kirsten Cappy from the great state of Maine. She had this to share with me so check it out:



Pretty funny right! Thanks Kirsten, you Rock!!!! Can't wait to give this book a spin! Now on to more serious. yea right, business:

Skulduggery Pleasant, Playing with Fire by Derek Landy - This is the second book in The Skulduggery Pleasant Series and it is just as fun and full of action as the first. Now is the time to pause reading this review and skip to the next review I made sometime back on another blog. It's all about the first book and some cool stuff. Take your time I promise to wait with this review until you finish that one. All right see you back soon.......Hum, Hum, Hum , Hum, Hummm. Ah back are you? Sounds like great stuff doesn't it? Well, um, now about the second book. Skulduggery is back with his allies Stephanie , or should I say Valkyrie Cain, the kick-butt ninja stylized Tanith Low and others. An old foe of Skulduggery's, Barron Vengeous, has escaped his prison which just happens to be the very same one Skulduggery put him in 80 years ago. He has recruited sinister allies in Billy Ray Sanguine - a Cowboy of the supernatural plains whose power makes everything come undone around him (sounds confusing I know, but man this guy is dangerous), Mr. Dusk - a vampire of the utmost power, and others to bring the Faceless Ones to this dimensional Realm (if you thought Vengeous and his crew was bad, they got nothing on the Faceless Ones). On top of stopping the Barron and his allies from bringing back the Faceless Ones, Skulduggery and crew must defeat the resurrected Grotesquery - a fearsome and vicious creature assembled from various spine chilling monsters, who is also a key to bringing the Faceless Ones into our dimension. Did I mention if the Faceless Ones are brought back to our dimension that it's the end of everything. Oh well, as you can see this book has got it going at 110 ten miles per hour and it won't let you go till it's over!!!! Highly recommended for those 9 and older!!!!!!

All right let's take a trip into Bill's past:

Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy - Who is the best detective ever? Did you guess Sherlock Holmes or Inspector Jacques Clouseau or perhaps The Hardy Boys? Well if you guessed any of those you would be wrong!!!!! The greatest detective ever is none other than Skulduggery Pleasant who is introduced in what I hope is a very long series of books of the same name. What sets Skulduggery apart you ask? Well first off he is not officially among the living and second off he is a walking, talking, and highly sarcastic skeleton who uses magic. His specialty is the investigation of supernatural crime (OOOOO0000000ooo!!!!!! Spooky Stuff I tell ya!!!!!). The story in this book starts when 12 year old Stephanie's eccentric Uncle Gordon dies. At the funeral Stephanie bumps into a very strange character wearing a overcoat, scarf, sunglasses, a wig and a very broad hat so that not one bit of him can be seen. Later in the story Skulduggery saves Stephanie's life while she is at her Uncle Gordon's House, which she inherited, when she is attacked by a very strange creature. Stephanie learns from Skulduggery that her Uncle was murdered and he is on the case to find out who done it!!!!!! Stephanie is fascinated by the strange unseen world Skulduggery introduces her to. A world were magic is very real and monsters exist around every corner. She persuades Skulduggery to let her accompany him on his investigation and things just get weirder and stranger from there. If you like books that are funny but also full of intrigue and action, you will love this one. I laughed so much and got caught up in the fast paced story that I finished it way to soon. Luckily there is a second book and I plan on starting it right away.



To hear a really cool interview with Skulduggery Pleasant himself go to http://www.skulduggerypleasant.com/us/world/interview.htm.






The official website for everything Skulduggery Pleasant can be found at http://www.skulduggerypleasant.com/.








Now in all seriousness, the next book I want to talk about deals with some pretty heavy stuff so if you are one of the younger readers of this blog you may just want to skip even reading further. However if you are at least an older teen, do yourself a favor and give this book a try.

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher - The two main characters of this book are Clay Jenson and Hannah Baker. One is very much alive while the other has recently committed suicide. Clay receives a package that contains tapes that Hannah made before she took her life. He is part of a list of people that Hannah has decided to tell her story to and explain how their actions affected why she did what she did. This is a powerful story that shows how our actions or inaction affect people around us. The story is well written going back a forth between Clay and Hannah as she speaks on the tapes. The reader will find themselves really caring about these characters and wanting to know them better. What did Clay do to impact Hannah's awful decision? Why did Hannah choose to do what she did? If nothing else this book will make the reader think about people they interact with and how they treat them. It will give the reader warning signs of people who are living on the edge. This is a very thought provoking story and even though you know the final outcome for Hannah you want so bad to convince her not to take the action she ultimately does. This book is recommended for readers 14 years and older in my opinion. Serious issues that need to be thought about and discussed so Hannah's fate is not shared by others.

Well that's all ladies and gents! Until next time,

Library Ninja Bill