Brother Odd by Dean Koontz

unabridged audio read by David Arron Baker

Odd Thomas is one of Koontz's most compelling characters. He is philosophical, fearless and committed to forward movement in his life, regardless of where it takes him. In this third story that features the character (The first book, Odd Thomas, was followed by Forever Odd) Odd continues to come to terms with the loss of his love, Stormy Llewellen, and the strange road he walks as a ghost seeing fry cook. Odd has finally left Pico Mundo for the greater world, as represented by a monastary in the New Mexico mountains (at least I think it was NM). There his unique ability to see ghosts and spirits of ill will confound him in confronting monsters of physics. He is assisted by an assortment of colorful monks (most notable, Brother 'Knuckles' Salvatore, former gangster now dedicated to the Lord) and a mysterious Russian librarian from Indianapolis (or is he a secret agent?). If these two had more opportunity to interact with Odd's fat writer mentor Ozzie, that might have been funny. Unfortunatly, Ozzie's only a brief blip on this story, so perhaps in the next Odd book.

Odd acquires a ghost dog named Boo, helps Elvis move on the next realm, and acquires a new famous dead companion, Frank Sinatra. It all looks nuts when you write it out like this, but again , this is one of Koontz's best stories, and has moments of brilliance that shine like a supernova.

Spirit Horses by Tony Stromberg

With an introduction by Linda Kohanov, this is a beautiful collection exclusively of photos of horses. Some are so amazing, showing tight details of haunch or forelock or eye, and others show the freedom and glory of wild horses. Clearly a subject close to the photographers heart, and to add more pleasure for the reader, the photos are often accompanied by wonderful quotes that bring to life the symolism and vitality of horses and their ancient connection with people.

Mitch Albom revisits mortality in For One More Day

This time, Albom creates a pathetic sports loser, Chick Bennetto, who was once (very briefly) in the World Series and is now more commonly found in the nearest dive bar. After losing career, wife and daughter, he decides to kill himself, and as he teeters between this life and the next, he finds himself on a spirtual visit with his mother. I hope Albom has exorcised all his ghosts now, and will return to some kind of meatier writing, because I personally have had enough of the morality plays.

This book is the classic illustration of a very well orchestrated marketing campaign that drove a sappy short novel to the top of the bestseller charts. Ugh!

Storytime at the Children's Museum 1-2007

So today was the first storytime of 2007 at the CM and it was fun enough. A rather small yet apreciative audience enjoyed these five books:

Big Bug Surprise by and illustrated by Julia Gran
Prunella is excited to share one of her collection of bugs at show and tell, but before it is her turn, a queen bee flies into the classroom, naturally followed by the entire swarm. Everyone except Prunella panics. Prunella saves the bees and the school by using her jelly sandwich to lure the queen and her swarm to a new home in a tree. After that excitement, Prunella finally gets to share her show and tell dung beetle! Reading the gasps and eeks of this portion of the story is the best part, for my hambone self and for the kids as well!

Outside Over There by and illustrated by Maurice Sendak
Sendaks beautiful illustrations carrry this story of goblins who steal Ida's baby sister and Ida's adventure to save her sister before she becomes a goblin bride.

Hello Twins by and illustrated by Charlotte Voake
Loose illustrations flow over the pages that tell the story of Simon and Charlotte, twins who are not alike and who like each other.

Not A Box by and illustrated by Antoinette Portis
A story that sparks imagination in the kids who hear it. It features a bunny who has to repeatedly explain that his box is not a box . . . it is a burning building, a race car, a rocket ship, a robot, a million things, but not a box!!

January's Child: The Birthday Month Book by Andrea Alban Gosline Illustrated by Lisa Burnett Bossi
A nice take on the Monday's child poem, featuring the twelve months instead of the seven days of the week.