The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff is one of the books I have been pressing into hands this year.  On a bookshelf filled with vampires, werewolves, fairies and angels, (It sometimes feels like a tide of the paranormal doesn't it?) Mackie Doyle stands out.  Not only is his story well written, it's gripping.  It's about decisions you make and the results of your choices. 

Mackie shouldn't exist.  He's a replacement; a fairy changeling left in the place of a stolen child.  He's allergic to iron and most replacements don't last long; but he did, and now he's 16 and the cycle is about to begin again.  Will he challenge the accepted order in Gentry and let another child be taken, or will he stand up?  What will it cost him?  What would you do?

You see?  Gripping.  Read it.

Here we have a sample of what can happen when you just use your imagination...  Herve Tullet came out with a picture book called Press Here. 

I love this book.  Lovelovelovelovelove.  There has been so much fuss about INTERACTIVITY lately; kids won't love a book unless it whizzes and bangs, right?  Well, what if you could pretend that it was interactive? 

Every child I have given this to (boys, girls, grownups who can pretend for a while) has laughed out loud and wanted to read it again. 

The "book trailer" for this picture book is a realistic portrail of what happens when kids open the first page: Enjoy!

August's Multicultural book, Kabul Beauty School, by Deborah Rodriguez, is the memoir of an American beautitian who traveled to Afghanistan with a non-profit organization in 2001. The hope was to train Afghani women in skills that would allow them to earn income.

More on Deborah Rodriguez:

Interview on Fora.tv

Kabul Beauty School Dropout Daily Mail (son kidnap threat)

Kabul Beauty School (25 min.) Mary MacMakin and her non-profit project

This month's Multicultural Book Group book is a challenging title from Norway and the first novel in a trilogy by Sigrid Undset, Kirsten Lavransdatter. First published in 1921 to critical acclaim, the book is noted for its historic accuracy in portraying life in 14th century Norway. It has become a classic and Sigrid Undset went on to win a Nobel Prize in 1928. The trilogy was originally translated into English by Charles Archer using archaic English words in an effort to capture the flavor of Medieval Norwegian. A more recent translation by Tiina Nunnally has been widely praised and is much easier to read. Nunnally grew up in Milwaukee and earned her MA at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and later studied in Seattle Washington.

Check out the film:

Download the ebook