Ashleigh's Bookshelf

Rotto! Clancy the Quokka of Rottnest Island by Jonathan Macpherson Clancy is a young quokka (a type of marsupial found on Rottnest Island) eager to see the world. When he strays from home one day, he experiences the adventure of a lifetime, making new friends along the way. Before reading this, I had no idea what a quokka was. Unfortunately, the book did little to describe the animal, so I was confused through most of the book. I really liked Clancy and his adventure and would definitely recommend this story for children reading early chapter books. The author sends the message about caring for others and the importance of family. Overall, I would rate this story four quills and place it on my middle shelf.

Reverend of Silence by Pamela Sparkman Despite my rave review, I have very little to say about this book. I could not put this book down, reading into the wee hours to see how the story ends. As a life-long resident of Southern Connecticut, and someone who has been studying Deaf culture for thirty years, this story spoke to me on a level I cannot fully explain. I instantly fell in love with the characters, before they even fell in love with each other. I even found myself crying with their plight. Overall, I would rate this story five quills and place it on my top shelf.

Finding Miss Write by Gena Webb Carla Williams (aka Kay Wyont) is working on a new novel when she decides she might want to kill one of her main characters. When her conversation is overheard, a concern citizen tries to report her to the police, resulting in Carla being brought in for questioning. When the concerned citizen refuses to let the matter go, Carla becomes headline news and a serial killer's next target. With her safety an issue, Carla grows closer to the detective trying to protect her. I really wanted to enjoy this book. A novel about a romance writer who also writes cozy mysteries and always wins at Scrabble? I had to read this just to make sure it wasn't a biography about me. However, I found it very difficult to finish. While I enjoyed the story, several characters had very similar names (Roger & Randy, for example) to easily confuse me. The fact that they were also characters in Kay's novel didn't help, although I happened to enjoy that particular ...

The Wonders of the Peculiar Parasol by Mark M. Even I really wanted to like this book. It reminded me a lot of the Magic Tree House series, where the children go on different adventures to storyland adventures. When describing the adventures, the author uses fantastic imagery. However, there was entirely too much exposition for my taste. The book is shown from a single character's point of view. Since this character is not the first to go on an adventure, the other characters describe their adventures. I felt that if the author was going to go into so much detail, he should have shown us the adventure itself. I also found some of the backstory very repetitive. While this was a creative story, it was not one of my favorites. Overall, I would rate this three and a half quills.