Read this! Now!

I have two things for you to read. Two completely different things, each completely wonderful.

The first is an NPR OpEd piece by Matt De La Pena. This will move you. It will give you more faith in  humanity. It will make you believe that all people have the potential to become something wonderful (and books are a part of that process!).

Sometimes the 'Tough Teen' is quietly writing stories

Secondly, we've found a new series. We love this series. Love it. Everyone. We've been listening to it in the car, and Shaemus and Flannery are just as enamored as the older kids, though the book is way too advanced for them to read. Calvin read it first and couldn't get enough. Mary loved it too. Mary. Mary who could take or leave Harry Potter and the fantasy genre in general loves this Viking fantasy series. She stole the second book and refused to let anyone else get their hands on it until she was finished (except that I stole it last night and got a hundred pages in before my eyes would not stay open another second.)

I don't know if it's the writing or the plot or the wonderful, endearing characters or the world or just everything put together.

It's probably everything put together.

The covers on these books aren't the sort I generally lunge for. This type of fantasy is generally out of my realm, but Nancy Farmer is a master, the kind that can make any story a part of anyone's comfort zone.

And if you want to check out a great book on tape for a long Thanksgiving drive, check out the Sea of Trolls audiobook. So, so well read. The narrator's Scottish accent for the main character is delicious.

This is definitely my top read for this year so far. No question. I've been more engrossed in this series than I've been engrossed in anything in a long, long time.

Give it a go! This is Harry Potter good. Or maybe even better.

Sea of Trolls

The Land of the Silver Apples

The Islands of the Blessed