"Call of the Wild" by Jack London

218 pages

Buck, part St. Bernard, part Scotch shepherd, has a pretty fantastic life as the alpha dog on the farm of a wealthy judge. He's got all the food he wants, plenty of space to roam, and people who love him. All of that changes, however, when he is stolen and sold by one of the judge's employees, who needs the money to pay off gambling debts. The Klondike Gold Rush was in motion, and sled dogs were in high demand. This causes Buck to be taken to Alaska, where he joins a crew and begins leading long, strenuous journeys across the frozen landscape.

I wish I'd read this book as a kid. As much as I enjoyed it this time, as an adult, I know I would have really been crazy about it when I was younger. It's got everything I liked back then: animals, nature, adventure, fighting. However, as I said, this is one that adults can enjoy as well. It seems like one that is great for all ages.

Locke & Key: Volume 4: Keys to the Kingdom

by Joe Hill (story) and Gabriel Rodriguez (art), 152 pages

More keys get unearthed by both sides as offense and defense ratchet up--but who's coming out ahead?

Dang it! The Locke kids finally start to notice a pattern and connect the dots, but their antagonist is frustratingly quick on the draw and every step forward seems to be countered by their too-clever enemy. So close! Now what?! He's even scarier than he was before! How many exclamation points can I put in one paragraph?! When's the next book coming out?! :P So good, so good.

Kimi ni Todoke: Volume 11

by Karuho Shiina, 176 pages

Everybody's dealing with the new understanding between Sawako and Kazehaya. Friends and rivals contemplate their own positions and love lives (or lack thereof) while the main couple nervously, but happily, tiptoe down their new path.

"Ulterior motives!" Hee hee heeeee. So cute. Now the lucky reader gets to watch these kiddos adjust. And it's also nice to see their friends have not been forgotten amidst all the starry-eyed romance, as the writer reminds us they all have their own interior existences to explore and share.

Kimi ni Todoke: Volume 10

by Karuho Shiina, 176 pages

Sawako spills the beans! At least, the ones she can manage to put into words. Now it's up to Kazehaya to make sure they're finally on the same page.

Hee! Public confessions are a hoot! Especially when your friends and classmates keep reenacting them in order to better appreciate and understand it all. The warm-fuzzies and laughter make this series one of my favorite escapist reads. It's so embarrassingly silly, but that's what makes it so sweet. :)

Chew: Volume 1: Taster's Choice

by John Layman (story) and Rob Guillory (art), 121 pages

Tony Chu is a cibopath. That means he gets psychic glimpses into the life of whatever he puts into his mouth, be it broccoli, chicken soup, or...a murder victim.

Ew! Also, kewl!

After a devastating outbreak of bird flu, world governments strictly regulate chicken and make it illegal to buy or sell the real deal. This leads to the rise of black market poultry and a good many conspiracy theories about whether or not there was ever any bird flu in the first place. When cop Tony draws attention after a chicken speakeasy stakeout goes belly-up (and he coincidentally identifies a previously-unknown serial killer working in the kitchen), he gets drafted by the FDA's Special Crimes Division. But his new job draws him into a messier, wider, deadlier web than he's expecting.

And the reader happily follows him in. This is hilarious and gross and smart with perfectly matched, quirky art. And I want more!

Day for Night

by Frederick Reiken, 323 pages

A manatee-watching detour starts off this novel of connections and takes the reader from one voice to the next, from Florida to Utah, California to New York, Poland to Israel, World War II to the 1990s, laying out linked personal narratives one by one to little-by-little reveal a larger shared story.

A patron recommended this engaging, by-snippets tale of slowly-unraveling family history, memory, and coincidence. It does require some suspension of disbelief, as the coincidences are (intentionally) many. I think the cult element and Goldman's character feel a little too convenient and insufficiently explored, and there's not enough differentiation between the diverse voices (with the possible exception of addled but endearing Timmy). But fans of Jonathan Safran Foer's Everything Is Illuminated will nevertheless find much here to ponder and appreciate.

Hide & Seek

Hide & Seek
by Katy Grant
230 pp                                                                             
                                                           

This is on the new list of Mark Twain nominees.  I can see why it made the list.  I think boys might enjoy the adventure part, the main character is a boy and in the end, he's sort of a hero.

Plot summary:  Chase lives at an Arizona resort with his mom, stepdad and two sisters.  The whole family has to help run the resort.  Chase is really into using his GPS that his dad gave him.  One day, while searching for a geocache, he finds a disturbing note, seemingly written in a child's hand, that seems to indicate someone is in trouble and needs help.  Eventually Chase meets the two young boys who wrote the note and he has to figure out if the boys are really just camping with their dad or is their something more going on.  Then the suspense and adventure begin.

For an adult reader, it's a pretty thin story but I think kids will like it and they'll learn a lot about geocaching, which is a feature in at least two of our library branches..could spark a kid's program, maybe.

Kim F