Book Review: Nine Strange Stories edited by Betty N. Owen When I was a lad, one of the fun annual events I looked forward to was the Scholastic Book Fair. Scholastic Publishing would send boxes of books around the country to schools so that kids could get the thrill of picking out their own low-cost… Continue reading Book Review: Nine Strange Stories
Tag: children
Book Review: Enchantress of Numbers
Book Review: Enchantress of Numbers by Jennifer Chiaverini Augusta Ada King-Noel, Countess of Lovelace (1815-1852) is better known to us today as Ada Lovelace. Her primary claim to fame is her “notes” on Charles Babbage’s Analytical Engine, which anticipated uses for this theoretical calculating device far beyond mere number-crunching, and provide the first known published… Continue reading Book Review: Enchantress of Numbers
Comic Book Review: Zita the Spacegirl
Comic Book Review: Zita the Spacegirl by Ben Hatke Zita and her friend Joseph are engaging in horseplay in the meadow when then stumble across what appears to be a meteorite crater. Within the crater they find a curious device with a big red button. Zita pushes the button, and Joseph disappears. When Zita gets… Continue reading Comic Book Review: Zita the Spacegirl
Manga Review: Alice & Zoroku Volume 1
Manga Review: Alice & Zoroku Volume 1 by Tetsuya Imai Reality-warping superhuman beings exist, but the government is keeping them a secret, stashing any they find in a hidden facility to be studied as “Dreams of Alice.” The most powerful of these is Sana, the Red Queen, who can summon up anything she can imagine,… Continue reading Manga Review: Alice & Zoroku Volume 1
Book Review: The Inkblots
Book Review: The Inkblots by Damion Searls “What do you see?” Hermann Rorschach (1884-1922) was a German-speaking Swiss psychiatrist who developed an interesting experiment involving inkblots. The son of an artist and himself artistically trained, Rorschach was fascinated by visual perception and hoped to use the things people saw when they looked at his inkblots to… Continue reading Book Review: The Inkblots
Manga Review: Black Jack 2
Manga Review: Black Jack 2 by Osamu Tezuka Before Osamu Tezuka became a full-time manga creator, he was a medical doctor. He drew upon this training and experiences with Japan’s medical establishment for his work on Black Jack starting in the 1970s. Black Jack (birth name Kuro’o Hazama) is a brilliant physician and surgeon who is… Continue reading Manga Review: Black Jack 2
Magazine Review: Short Stories May 25th, 1939
Magazine Review: Short Stories May 25th, 1939 Edited by Dorothy McIlwrath Short Stories started life in 1890 as a literary magazine, but switched to being a “quality pulp” in 1910, featuring stories of adventure and crime a cut above many of its competitors. Like many of the pulps, it lost sales badly after World War… Continue reading Magazine Review: Short Stories May 25th, 1939
Manga Review: The Birth of Kitaro
Manga Review: The Birth of Kitaro by Shigeru Mizuki Blood bank worker Mizuki (no relation) is sent to investigate a report of tainted blood provided by his business, which has turned a hospital patient into the living dead. Narrowing down the possibilities, Mizuki is startled to learn that the blood donor put down his, Mizuki’s,… Continue reading Manga Review: The Birth of Kitaro
Manga Review: Rin-Ne Volume 25
Manga Review: Rin-Ne Volume 25 by Rumiko Takahashi Quick recap: Rinne Rokudo is a shinigami, a psychopomp who guides stray spirits to the afterlife for rebirth. But he’s part-human, so he has to use (often expensive) tools to make up for his weak powers. That, plus debts his deadbeat father Sabato saddled him with, and being… Continue reading Manga Review: Rin-Ne Volume 25
Comic Book Review: The Building
Comic Book Review: The Building by Will Eisner This is a ghost story. In New York City, a brand new building has risen where another one stood for eighty years. But not all remnants of the old building’s history are gone. Today, four people from the past appear, their tales entwined with this site. Will… Continue reading Comic Book Review: The Building