Christopher and Allen Miller -- The Miller Brothers -- have crafted an interesting, fun, and fast-paced young-adult fantasy story in Hunter Brown and the Secret of the Shadow, the first in The Codebearers Series. (Not only did they write the story, they did the artwork, too! Check it out on their website.)
Tomorrow, I'll dive into my thoughts on the book, but for now I'll say that, despite the fact that I'm ready to read some grown-up fiction after spending so much time among books intended for children and teens, I was drawn into Hunter's story, and found him to be an engaging protagonist.
And, as I am always on the lookout for books that are kid-friendly and read-out-loud-able, I recognize in this book an excellent candidate for weekly Story Time at the Boys & Girls Club, and as a possible addition to my niece's bookshelf. In my world, a book can't get any higher praise than that!
For other reviews, check out other readers' opinions at these links:
Brandon Barr
Melissa Carswell
Valerie Comer
Amy Cruson
CSFF Blog Tour
Stacey Dale
D. G. D. Davidson
Shane Deal
Jeff Draper
April Erwin
Karina Fabian
Marcus Goodyear
Todd Michael Greene
Katie Hart
Ryan Heart
Timothy Hicks
Jason Isbell
Cris Jesse
Jason Joyner
Carol Keen
Mike Lynch
Magma
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Nissa
Wade Ogletree
John W. Otte
Steve Rice
Crista Richey
Chawna Schroeder
James Somers
Rachel Starr Thomson
Steve Trower
Speculative Faith
Fred Warren
Phyllis Wheeler
Jill Williamson
7 comments:
Nice, informational first day. Maybe I'll use this technique myself to spread the blog tour to the full three days.
stacey
word-up-studies.blogspot.com
nice lead in! :)
I think it's a good read-out loud book for some of my kids as well!
I liked it too, though I found it pretty scary at times -- I think it might freak some of my read-aloud kids out! Looking forward to your review tomorrow :).
Stacey - Blame it on life and work interruptions. I try to be prepared, and to compose my CSFF Blog Tour posts ahead of time, but that's not what happened this month. I'm makin' it up as I go!
Amy - Some of the books I've tried to read aloud have been mistakes, because they don't translate well to an audience of children with a wide range of ages. The Secret of the Shadow, however, has great Story Time potential.
Rachel - I've read scary material to kids (Coraline, for instance), but only after 1) a warning, and 2) a choice between the scary book and a milder book. Every time, the audience votes for the scary one. I have no idea why, but maybe they're curious, or they feel safe during daylight and with an adult in the room. Perhaps it's the idea of catharsis: "If I let the bad things happen in fiction, I won't be so scared of the bad things in reality." (shrug) I'm not an expert, just a reader!
Fantastic idea reading it to kids at the Boys and Girls Club. If kids at his age can read the Harry Potter books, which are scary too, this would seem be a great book for that age group.
Alex - Absolutely. In fact, I'm considering it as the next chapter book we tackle. (This week, it's a couple of picture books that can be read in one session.)
I LOVED Hunter Brown! the best YA fiction EVER!!!
~Aviad
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