Coraline by Neil Gaiman

Coraline's family has just moved to a new neighborhood, they live in a big new house, and Coraline has to attend a new school. She isn't at all happy about this and is bored because she can't find anyone to play with. She decides to explore the new area around her and even goes to visit the other people that live in her house (the house is so big, there are two other apartments in it). Other than the old women who used to be actresses and the man upstairs who's training a circus of mice (which no one ever sees but him), there's nothing very interesting to find. Except for a strange door, which doesn't seem to go anywhere.

Coraline discovers a locked door in her house. Her mother finds the key and shows her that it's only a brick wall behind it that used to lead to somewhere else in the house, but goes nowhere now. Or does it? Seeking adventure, Coraline opens the door when her mother isn't around and suddenly there's a pathway behind it. But where does it go? Who's on the other side of this mysterious pathway? Should she risk going through? There could be danger, or adventure, or both.

In this haunting tale of dark hallways and mysterious doors, Neil Gaiman spins a tale that you won't want to miss. Stop by the media center and find out what happens when you step through a door that leads to a different world...or does it?

Book review by
Mr. DiScala, Media Specialist

MAUS by Art Spiegelman

The book MAUS (prounounced "mouse") is part biography, part autobiography. In the form of a graphic novel (similar to a full-length comic book), Art Spiegelman tells the story of his father's survival of the Holocaust during World War II. Vladek Spiegelman survived the Nazi Germans attempt to kill all of the Jews in Europe during the 1940's. Instead of just writing a biography with words, however, Art Spiegelman uses comics. And instead of showing people, he changes the characters into different animals. The Jews are represented as mice (which are easily attacked and killed), the Germans are cats (chasing after the mice), Americans are dogs (which some think of us protectors, but also predators), and the Polish are pigs (because some people believe that they didn't not help enough Jews and were greedy).

This is an amazing story of one man's survival and how that changed his own life and, in retelling his own story, how it changed his son's life. Art Spiegeleman writes his father's biography and at the same time, is writing his own autobiography. He talks with a great deal of emotion about the Jewish concentration camps and surviving the beatings, starvation, and gas chambers that went on during that time in history. This is an excellent book for anyone that would like to know what it might have been like to survive the Holocaust and how it affected so many people.

Book review by
Mr. DiScala, Media Specialist

The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman

For those craving adventure, quests to the northern reaches of the world, and a journey through another universe - this is the book for you. The Golden Compass is the first book in the His Dark Materials series (the second and third books are The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass).

Though the story begins in Oxford, England, the reader quickly learns that it isn't our Oxford, England. While the land is very similar there are little differences. Of course, there are major differences too. This story is about Lyra, a young orphan who lives with the professors at Oxford University. In Lyra's world, one thing is very different - she is constantly accompanied by an animal named Pantalaimon that changes shape whenever he wants to (from a bird to a tiger to an insect in seconds). Lyra is a mischevious girl and constantly getting herself and Pantalaimon into trouble. When her friend Roger disappears in a mass kidnapping of children, she decides it's her personal quest to rescue him and the others. After being given a mystical tool that helps her seek the truth, Lyra follows the kidnappers to the cold lands of the North, being careful while travelling with gypsies, witches, and talking polar bears (there's no doubt that it's a very different world in which Lyra lives).

Will Lyra be able to save Roger from a fate worse than death? What will become of him and the other children stolen from their homes? How will she survive the cold lands and treacherous beasts that roam the northern lands?

This is the first book in the His Dark Materials trilogy. Here is a list of the complete series:

Book 1: The Golden Compass
Book 2: The Subtle Knife
Book 3: The Amber Spyglass

Book review by:
Mr. DiScala, Media Specialist