Book Review: The Halloween Tree

Book Review: The Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury Eight boys are out in costume tonight, looking for Halloween fun. Skeleton, witch, ape-man and so many more. Eight boys, but it should be nine. Where is Pipkin, merriest of the lot? He is taken, vanished into the darkness. What can be done? They must search for… Continue reading Book Review: The Halloween Tree

Book Review: Looking for Humboldt & Searching for German Footprints in New Mexico and Beyond

Book Review: Looking for Humboldt & Searching for German Footprints in New Mexico and Beyond by Erika Schelby The author is a German immigrant to New Mexico. While studying the history of her new state, she learned that Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859), the famous Prussian naturalist and explorer, had passed through what would become New… Continue reading Book Review: Looking for Humboldt & Searching for German Footprints in New Mexico and Beyond

Comic Book Review: Bone Sharps, Cowboys and Thunder Lizards

Comic Book Review: Bone Sharps, Cowboys, and Thunder Lizards by Jim Ottaviani & Big Time Attic It is the Gilded Age, a time of prosperity for some, and the advancement of knowledge.  Science is making great steps forward, but so is entrepreneurship, seeking any way to make a fast buck.  Professor O.C. Marsh, a paleontologist, and… Continue reading Comic Book Review: Bone Sharps, Cowboys and Thunder Lizards

Book Review: Under a Wild Sky: John James Audubon and the Making of THE BIRDS OF AMERICA

Book Review: Under a Wild Sky: John James Audubon and the Making of THE BIRDS OF AMERICA by William Souder When John James Audubon arrived in Philadelphia in 1824, he carried with him a portfolio of beautiful bird paintings he hoped to turn into a book, and a backstory of childhood in Louisiana, being the… Continue reading Book Review: Under a Wild Sky: John James Audubon and the Making of THE BIRDS OF AMERICA

Book Review: The World of HIstory

Book Review: The World of History edited by Courtlandt Canby & Nancy E. Gross History is a very wide and deep subject.  It extends from the beginning of the universe (though much before written records is speculative at best) to just this last minute, and from the movements of great nations to what precisely people… Continue reading Book Review: The World of HIstory

Book Review: London Falling

Book Review: London Falling by Paul Cornell It’s New Year’s Eve, and Operation Goodfellow is  about to end.  The years spent infiltrating Rob Toshack’s organized crime network, the money spent, it’s all produced nothing they can use to pin a charge on the kingpin.  So at midnight, the Metropolitan Police are pulling the plug.  But… Continue reading Book Review: London Falling

Book Review: Lincoln and Chief Justice Taney: Slavery, Secession and the President’s War Powers

Book Review: Lincoln and Chief Justice Taney: Slavery, Secession and the President’s War Powers by James E. Simon Those of us with a cursory knowledge of American history, like myself, have heard of the Dred Scott decision of 1857, in which Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger B. Taney opined that the black man had no… Continue reading Book Review: Lincoln and Chief Justice Taney: Slavery, Secession and the President’s War Powers

Comic Book Review: Action Presidents: George Washington

Comic Book Review: Action Presidents: George Washington by Fred van Lente and Ryan Dunlavey Our story begins with two modern tweens glued to their portal screen devices while Parson Weems bores them with the cherry tree legend.  The day is salvaged when Noah the Historkey appears and reveals that George Washington’s father Augustine didn’t raise… Continue reading Comic Book Review: Action Presidents: George Washington

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

Book Review: Time and Mr. Bass

Book Review: Time and Mr. Bass by Eleanor Cameron Long ago and long ago and even before that, came the Mycetians to Earth from Basidium, the Mushroom Planet.  Much of their history has been lost to Deep Time, but it is known that they were stranded on this planet, and eventually wound up settling in… Continue reading Book Review: Time and Mr. Bass