Empire of the Summer Moon by S. C. Gwynne

In the tradition of Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, a stunningly vivid historical account of the forty-year battle between Comanche Indians and white settlers for control of the American West, centering on Quanah, the greatest Comanche chief of them all.

S. C. Gwynne’s Empire of the Summer Moon spans two astonishing stories. The first traces the rise and fall of the Comanches, the most powerful Indian tribe in American history. The second entails one of the most remarkable narratives ever to come out of the Old West: the epic saga of the pioneer woman Cynthia Ann Parker and her mixed-blood son Quanah, who became the last and greatest chief of the Comanches.

Although readers may be more familiar with the tribal names Apache and Sioux, it was in fact the legendary fighting ability of the Comanches that determined just how and when the American West opened up. Comanche boys became adept bareback riders by age six; full Comanche braves were considered the best horsemen who ever rode. They were so masterful at war and so skillful with their arrows and lances that they stopped the northern drive of colonial Spain from Mexico and halted the French expansion westward from Louisiana. White settlers arriving in Texas from the eastern United States were surprised to find the frontier being rolled backward by Comanches incensed by the invasion of their tribal lands. So effective were the Comanches that they forced the creation of the Texas Rangers and account for the advent of the new weapon specifically designed to fight them: the six-gun.

The war with the Comanches lasted four decades, in effect holding up the development of the new American nation. Gwynne’s exhilarating account delivers a sweeping narrative that encompasses Spanish colonialism, the Civil War, the destruction of the buffalo herds, and the arrival of the railroads—a historical feast for anyone interested in how the United States came into being.

Against this backdrop Gwynne presents the compelling drama of Cynthia Ann Parker, a lovely nine-year-old girl with cornflower-blue eyes who was kidnapped by Comanches from the far Texas frontier in 1836. She grew to love her captors and became infamous as the "White Squaw" who refused to return until her tragic capture by Texas Rangers in 1860. More famous still was her son Quanah, a warrior who was never defeated and whose guerrilla wars in the Texas Panhandle made him a legend.

S. C. Gwynne’s account of these events is meticulously researched, intellectually provocative, and, above all, thrillingly told. Empire of the Summer Moon announces him as a major new writer of American history.

Instances of Swearing:

• Hell: 2
• Bitch: 1
• God: 10 

The Dark Tower Book One: The Gunslinger by Stephen King

In 1978 Stephen King introduced the world to the last Gunslinger, Roland of Gilead.  Nothing has been the same since. Over twenty years later the quest for the Dark Tower continues to take readers on a wildly epic ride. Through parallel worlds and across time, Roland must brave desolate wastelands and endless deserts, drifting into the unimaginable and the familiar as the road to the Dark Tower extends beyond its own pages. A classic tale of colossal scope—crossing over terrain from The Stand, The Eyes of the Dragon, Insomnia, The Talisman, Black House, Hearts in Atlantis, ‘Salem’s Lot and other familiar King haunts—the adventure takes hold with the turn of each page.

And the tower awaits…

Stichley's Rating:
Intriguing idea, I didn't care for it myself.

Experiment 429's Rating: How many thumbs ups can I give?

Instances of Swearing:

• Hell: 15
• Ass: 5
• Damn: 9
• Shit: 5
• Bitch: 3
• Bastard: 1
• Fuck: 6
• Genital Related: 11
• God: 34

Hearts in Atlantis by Stephen King

Stephen King, whose first novel, Carrie, was published in 1974, the year before the last U.S. troops withdrew from Vietnam, is the first hugely popular writer of the TV generation. Images from that war -- and the protests against it -- had flooded America's living rooms for a decade. Hearts In Atlantis is composed of five interconnected, sequential narratives set in the years from 1960 to 1999. Each story is deeply rooted in the sixties, and each is haunted by the Vietnam War.

In "Low Men in Yellow Coats," eleven-year-old Bobby Garfield discovers a world of predatory malice in his own neighborhood and that adults are sometimes not rescuers but at the heart of the terror.

In the title story, a bunch of college kids get hooked on a card game, discover the possibility of protest...and confront their own collective heart of darkness, where laughter may be no more than the thinly disguised cry of the beast.

In "Blind Willie" and "Why We're in Vietnam," two men who grew up with Bobby in suburban Connecticut try to fill the emptiness of the post-Vietnam era in an America which sometimes seems as hollow and haunted as their own lives.

And in "Heavenly Shades of Night Are Falling," Bobby returns to his hometown where one final secret, and his heart's desire may await him.

Full of danger, suspense, and full of heart, Hearts In Atlantis takes some listeners to a place they have never been...and others to a place they have never been able to completely leave.

Stichley's Rating:
Not a bad book, but a little slow.  I read it because the movie was coming out, so I read it a long time ago, and it neither encouraged me or discouraged me from seeing the movie.  It just didn't inspire me.

Instances of Swearing:

• Hell: 43
• Ass: 29
• Shit: 47
• Damn: 9
• Fuck: 52
• Bitch: 41
• Bastard: 15
• Christ: 24
• God: 64
• Genital Related: 14

Eragon, Book One: Inheritance by Christopher Paolini

Perfect for fans of Lord of the Rings, the New York Times bestselling Inheritance Cycle about the dragon rider Eragon has sold over 35 million copies and is an international fantasy sensation.


Fifteen-year-old Eragon believes that he is merely a poor farm boy—until his destiny as a Dragon Rider is revealed. Gifted with only an ancient sword, a loyal dragon, and sage advice from an old storyteller, Eragon is soon swept into a dangerous tapestry of magic, glory, and power. Now his choices could save—or destroy—the Empire.

Stichley's Rating:
I enjoyed the first book in-spite of some parts being a little immature in the writing style.  If you can overlook that it is a great book.  Nothing like the movie.  I also read the second and third book, but was so disappointed with the last book that I never finished it.  So to me it is an unfinished series.  That being said the first book is enjoyable and while it does have similarities to many other stories (Star Wars being just one), it is a decent book.

Instances of Swearing:

• Ass: 1

Harry Potter Series by J. K. Rowlings

I wasn't going to do it because I figured EVERYONE had read the Harry Potter series, but my cousin pointed out that he had only seen the movies and his brother hasn't done that even.  So rather than go about it by doing just one I will do all of them.

Harry Potter has no idea how famous he is. That's because he's being raised by his miserable aunt and uncle who are terrified Harry will learn that he's really a wizard, just as his parents were. But everything changes when Harry is summoned to attend an infamous school for wizards, and he begins to discover some clues about his illustrious birthright. From the surprising way he is greeted by a lovable giant, to the unique curriculum and colorful faculty at his unusual school, Harry finds himself drawn deep inside a mystical world he never knew existed and closer to his own noble destiny.

Instances of Swearing: 

• Damn: 1

The Dursleys were so mean that hideous that summer that all Harry Potter wanted was to get back to the Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry. But just as he's packing his bags, Harry receives a warning from a strange, impish creature named Dobby who says that if Harry Potter returns to Hogwarts, disaster will strike.

And strike it does. For in Harry's second year at Hogwarts, fresh torments and horrors arise, including an outrageously stuck-up new professor, Gilderoy Lockheart, a spirit named Moaning Myrtle who haunts the girls' bathroom, and the unwanted attentions of Ron Weasley's younger sister, Ginny.

But each of these seem minor annoyances when the real trouble begins, and someone--or something--starts turning Hogwarts students to stone. Could it be Draco Malfoy, a more poisonous rival than ever? Could it possibly be Hagrid, whose mysterious past is finally told? Or could it be the one everyone at Hogwarts most suspects...Harry Potter himself?

Instances of Swearing:

• None we could detect

For twelve long years, the dread fortress of Azkaban held an infamous prisoner named Sirius Black. Convicted of killing thirteen people with a single curse, he was said to be the heir apparent to the Dark Lord, Voldemort.

Now he has escaped, leaving only two clues as to where he might be headed: Harry Potter's defeat of You-Know-Who was Black's downfall as well. And the Azkban guards heard Black muttering in his sleep, "He's at Hogwarts...he's at Hogwarts."

Harry Potter isn't safe, not even within the walls of his magical school, surrounded by his friends. Because on top of it all, there may well be a traitor in their midst.

Instances of Swearing:

• Damn: 2

Harry Potter is midway through his training as a wizard and his coming of age. Harry wants to get away from the pernicious Dursleys and go to the International Quidditch Cup. He wants to find out about the mysterious event that's supposed to take place at Hogwarts this year, an event involving two other rival schools of magic, and a competition that hasn't happened for a hundred years. He wants to be a normal, fourteen-year-old wizard. But unfortunately for Harry Potter, he's not normal - even by wizarding standards. And in his case, different can be deadly.

Instances of Swearing:

• Hell: 2

In his fifth year at Hogwart's, Harry faces challenges at every turn, from the dark threat of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named and the unreliability of the government of the magical world to the rise of Ron Weasley as the keeper of the Gryffindor Quidditch Team. Along the way he learns about the strength of his friends, the fierceness of his enemies, and the meaning of sacrifice.

Instances of Swearing:

• Damn: 3

The war against Voldemort is not going well; even the Muggles have been affected. Dumbledore is absent from Hogwarts for long stretches of time, and the Order of the Phoenix has already suffered losses. 

And yet . . . as with all wars, life goes on. Sixth-year students learn to Apparate. Teenagers flirt and fight and fall in love. Harry receives some extraordinary help in Potions from the mysterious Half-Blood Prince. And with Dumbledore's guidance, he seeks out the full, complex story of the boy who became Lord Voldemort -- and thus finds what may be his only vulnerability.

Instances of Swearing:

• Damn: 3

Readers beware. The brilliant, breathtaking conclusion to J.K. Rowling's spellbinding series is not for the faint of heart--such revelations, battles, and betrayals await in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows that no fan will make it to the end unscathed. Luckily, Rowling has prepped loyal readers for the end of her series by doling out increasingly dark and dangerous tales of magic and mystery, shot through with lessons about honor and contempt, love and loss, and right and wrong. Fear not, you will find no spoilers in our review--to tell the plot would ruin the journey, and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is an odyssey the likes of which Rowling's fans have not yet seen, and are not likely to forget. But we would be remiss if we did not offer one small suggestion before you embark on your final adventure with Harry--bring plenty of tissues.

The heart of Book 7 is a hero's mission--not just in Harry's quest for the Horcruxes, but in his journey from boy to man--and Harry faces more danger than that found in all six books combined, from the direct threat of the Death Eaters and you-know-who, to the subtle perils of losing faith in himself. Attentive readers would do well to remember Dumbledore's warning about making the choice between "what is right and what is easy," and know that Rowling applies the same difficult principle to the conclusion of her series. While fans will find the answers to hotly speculated questions about Dumbledore, Snape, and you-know-who, it is a testament to Rowling's skill as a storyteller that even the most astute and careful reader will be taken by surprise.

A spectacular finish to a phenomenal series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is a bittersweet read for fans. The journey is hard, filled with events both tragic and triumphant, the battlefield littered with the bodies of the dearest and despised, but the final chapter is as brilliant and blinding as a phoenix's flame, and fans and skeptics alike will emerge from the confines of the story with full but heavy hearts, giddy and grateful for the experience. --Daphne Durham

Instances of Swearing:

• Damn: 5
• Hell: 11

Stichley's Rating:

Overall there really  is not much swearing in the Harry Potter Series.  It becomes darker and more suspenseful as you go through the series, and so we aren't going to give it a Movie rating tag.  The books have lots more information in them then the movies did, and much of the humor that exists in the books was completely cut out of the movies.  They are worth reading, but as some people hate the movies because of the books you may find yourself in the same crowd.  Myself I love them both but have to view them almost as separate stories that end the same.

The Lord of the Rings, Book One: The Fellowship of the Ring by J. R. R. Tolkien

One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them

In ancient times the Rings of Power were crafted by the Elven-smiths, and Sauron, the Dark Lord, forged the One Ring, filling it with his own power so that he could rule all others. But the One Ring was taken from him, and though he sought it throughout Middle-earth, it remained lost to him. After many ages it fell into the hands of Bilbo Baggins, as told in The Hobbit. In a sleepy village in the Shire, young Frodo Baggins finds himself faced with an immense task, as his elderly cousin Bilbo entrusts the Ring to his care. Frodo must leave his home and make a perilous journey across Middle-earth to the Cracks of Doom, there to destroy the Ring and foil the Dark Lord in his evil purpose.

Stichley's Rating:
My copy of the LOTR series are all extremely beat up, one even has lost it's cover.  They were my Dad's before I read them and I read them long before they became a movie series.  This is a great fantasy series for those who like fantasy.  If you have only seen the movies, and liked them, you are missing out.  I suggest you consider picking up the books because there is some details that can't be fit or must be slightly altered for movies, though they did better at keeping as much in as they could than most movie adaptions have done.  Also for the book we have gone with PG, vs the PG-13 of the movie, due to the fact that books aren't as intense as movies and that the violence is not 'shown.'

Instances of Swearing:

• Ass: 1
• Damn: 5

Charlie's Monument by Blaine M. Yorgason

Adults scorned him, school children jeered him, yet Charlie was determined that his life would amount to something, that he would have not lived in vain. Born with only one arm, a twisted back, and badly deformed legs, and orphaned while still a boy, Charlie also carried with him the legacy of his resolute mother: 'You can do anything you want if you want it badly enough.'

Charlie's will to live--and to live largely--will eventually win him the respect of his peers, the gratitude of his town, and even the love of a very special woman who is able to look beyond his deformities into his noble heart.

Published originally in 1976, Charlie's Monument is a much-loved story that has endured to be embraced by succeeding generations of new readers.

Stichley's Rating:
I found this book again after years had passed from my original reading.  It is a book that inspires and touches the heart.  It doesn't have anything in it that would prevent children from reading it, but it is probably more the age group of teens and adults.  It isn't a very long book and you can easily read it in one day.  Well worth the read.

Instances of Swearing:

• God is used but it is always in a non-swearing context.

The Lost Years, Book One: The Lost Years of Merlin by T. A. Barron

Though the character Merlin is world famous as an ancient wizard, this story of his lost youth is original to the author.

Stichley's Rating:
Now this series of books has eleven in it, but when I first received my autographed ones that were in hardback there was only five.  This first book in the series is the beginning of Merlin discovering who he is and his past that he doesn't remember.  It is a great book for kids, teens, and adults.  

Instances of Swearing:

• Hell: 3
• Ass: 1
• God: 18
• Bastard: 2

The Orphan Train Adventures, Book One: A Family Apart by Jean Lowery Nixon

When their mother can no longer support them, six siblings are sent by the Children's Aid Society of New York City to live with farm families in Missouri in 1860.

Stichley's Rating:
This first book tells the story of Francis and Petey in the family.  This was a book that my sister and I both enjoyed having read to us by are parents before bed every night.  As the children are forced to separate from their mother and each other they have to learn how to have new lives where not all are loved as they once were.

Instances of Swearing:

• None that we remembered

Across Five Aprils by Irene Hunt

This beautifully written novel offers valuable insights into the difficulties faced by families and communities caught up in the political, economic, and personal upheavals of war. The events of the Civil War unfold Across Five Aprils in this moving story by Newbery Award winner, Irene Hunt. It is set in southern Illinois where Jethro Creighton, an intelligent, hardworking boy, is growing into manhood as his brothers and a beloved teacher leave to fight in the Union and Confederate armies. Hunt presents a balanced look at both sides of the conflict, and includes interesting information on lesser-known leaders and battles. Of course, Abraham Lincoln is a frequent topic of conversation, and Jethro even receives a letter from his fellow Illinoian.

Stichley's Rating:
This is a great story about a family and the times of the Civil War. It also shows how hard it was on people trying to decided which side was right and whether to fight for one side or the other.

Instances of Swearing:

• Hell: 1

Little Britches by Ralph Moody

Ralph Moody was eight years old in 1906 when his family moved from New Hampshire to a Colorado ranch. Through his eyes we experience the pleasures and perils of ranching there early in the twentieth century. Auctions and roundups, family picnics, irrigation wars, tornadoes and wind storms give authentic color to Little Britches. So do adventures, wonderfully told, that equip Ralph to take his father's place when it becomes necessary.

Stichley's Rating:
I don't even know where I got this old beat-up book.  My version didn't have a cover anymore it was so "loved" before I got it. This is a great story about young Ralph Moody growing up that is filled with adventure, excitement, and at time sadness.  I think that anyone who dreams of having lived in the old west would love this book.

Instances of Swearing:

• Damn: 7
• Hell: 10

The Perilous Gard by Elizabeth Marie Pope

In 1558, while exiled by Queen Mary Tudor to a remote castle known as Perilous Gard, young Kate Sutton becomes involved in a series of mysterious events that lead her to an underground world peopled by Fairy Folk—whose customs are even older than the Druids’ and include human sacrifice.

Stichley's Rating:
I had a younger cousin loan me this book and even though I wasn't sure at first that it would be something I would like I decided to give it a try.  This book combines history with an element of fantasy that is not only believable but could be possible.  The Fairy Folk aren't some mystical creatures that we have never seen but made into a believable possibility.

Instances of Swearing:

• Hell: 5

Pit Dragon Trilogy (Chronicles): Dragon's Blood by Jane Yolen

Training a dragon to be a fighting champion is the only way to freedom for fifteen-year-old Jakkin.

Stichley's Raing:
This series of books by Jane Yolen were originally a Trilogy, but recently another book was released in the series and the title has been changed to Chronicles. I have not read the newest book, but the original three are excellent.  A very talented young boy who has worked with Dragon's his whole life takes a risk to earn his own freedom... He steals a Dragon Egg.  To get an egg with a real dragon in it is nearly impossible, but he takes the risk anyway.  I enjoyed this rather unorthodox view of Dragons and their interaction with humans.

Instances of Swearing:

• We haven't been able to search this book for specifics, however the author has her own invented swear words in the book.

Beyonders, Book One: A World Without Heroes by Brandon Mull

Jason Walker has often wished his life could be a bit less predictable—until a routine day at the zoo ends with Jason suddenly transporting from the hippo tank to a place unlike anything he’s ever seen. In the past, the people of Lyrian welcomed visitors from the Beyond, but attitudes have changed since the wizard emperor Maldor rose to power. The brave resistors who opposed the emperor have been bought off or broken, leaving a realm where fear and suspicion prevail.

In his search for a way home, Jason meets Rachel, who was also mysteriously drawn to Lyrian from our world. With the help of a few scattered rebels, Jason and Rachel become entangled in a quest to piece together the word of power that can destroy the emperor and learn that their best hope to find a way home will be to save this world without heroes.

Stichley's Rating:
Another wonderful series from Brandon Mull.  I just finished this book and think that it is a good one.  Imagine a world where all people willing to fight for the right thing have already been crushed.  When something bad happens nobody does anything to stop it or help those in need because they are simply indifferent to the suffering of others.  Yet in this world there are still good people who try to help each other in small unnoticed ways.  While most of Brandon Mull's books are meant for children and teens I found it enjoyable as an adult as well.

Instances of Swearing:

• No swearing that we could detect.

Ancient Mysteries by Peter James and Nick Thorpe

For centuries, philosophers, scientists, and charlatans have attempted to decipher the baffling mysteries of our past, from Stonehenge to the lost continent of Atlantis. Today, however, DNA testing, radiocarbon dating, and other cutting-edge investigative tools, together with a healthy dose of common sense, are guiding us closer to the truth. Now historian Peter James and archaeologist Nick Thorpe tackle these age-old conundrums, presenting the latest information from the scientific community–and the most startling challenges to traditional explanations of mysteries such as:

• The rise and fall of the Maya
• A lost cache of Dead Sea Scrolls
• The curse of Tutankhamun
• The devastation of Sodom and Gomorrah
• The Nazca Lines and the Vinland Map
• The existence of Robin Hood

These true mystery stories twist and turn like a good whodunit, as James and Thorpe present the evidence for and against the expert theories, shedding new light on humankind’s age-old struggle to make sense of the past. Ancient Mysteries will entertain and enlighten, delight the curious and inform the serious.

Stichley's Rating: 
Okay this book is a little different from the usual fare found here.  It looks like a reference book, doesn't it? Well I picked it up at the mall on one of those bargain bins and ended up reading the whole thing.  It is easy to read and interesting .  All these little facts and information about all sorts of mysteries from the past... Some I didn't even know about.  It could use some updating since archaeology has come up with new information since it was published in 2001, but all the same it is good.  It is well documented too.  I think anyone who likes history and ancient unexplained mysteries would like this.  Add it to documentaries... only books.  I like to watch documentaries and see how much they fail to now that I have read this.

Instances of Swearing:

• Hell: 2
• God: 102, but are used in appropriate context or as quotes

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

Sent by their mother to live with their devout, self-sufficient grandmother in a small Southern town, Maya and her brother, Bailey, endure the ache of abandonment and the prejudice of the local “powhitetrash.” At eight years old and back at her mother’s side in St. Louis, Maya is attacked by a man many times her age–and has to live with the consequences for a lifetime. Years later, in San Francisco, Maya learns about love for herself and the kindness of others, her own strong spirit, and the ideas of great authors (“I met and fell in love with William Shakespeare”) will allow her to be free instead of imprisoned.

Poetic and powerful, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is a modern American classic that will touch hearts and change minds for as long as people read.

April 4, 1928 – May 28, 2014







Stichley's Rating:
I decided to do this book after the death of Maya Angelou, though by time it posts in the order on the blog schedule it will have been roughly a month from her death.  I read this book when I was about 13 years old, and personally I was too young to have read it, but it profoundly touched my life.  This is a book that I don't even really know how to describe.  It's summary doesn't do it justice, but I know I could not. 
So what age group should be appropriate to read this book?  This is something I struggled with on determining for this blog. I don't believe it is a book that should be read by children.  "Although Caged Bird has generated a substantial body of criticism and found a solid place in the humanitarian curriculum, it is not a book that has been received without controversy."  This book has been one of the most frequent books targeted from exclusion from high school and junior high school libraries (page 5; Braxton,1999).  It is so for multiple reasons but primarily for the the fact that includes details about a rape that occurred to Maya as a child.  So for this reason I have given it a PG-13.  It is a singularly unique book that shows a side of this nation and people that so many of us will never experience or imagine, but at the same time it is to only be read by those who are ready to face the less and less obscure darker side of our world.

Instances of Swearing:

• Hell: 9
• Ass: 1
• Bitch: 4
• Shit: 3
• Damn: 6
• God: 38, but the most are in the appropriate context
• Christ: 3
• Negro/Nigger: 65 
• Sexual terms: 18

Falling Leaves: The Memory of an Unwanted Chinese Daughter by Adeline Yen Mah

Born in 1937 in a port city a thousand miles north of Shanghai, Adeline Yen Mah was the youngest child of an affluent Chinese family who enjoyed rare privileges during a time of political and cultural upheaval. But wealth and position could not shield Adeline from a childhood of appalling emotional abuse at the hands of a cruel and manipulative Eurasian stepmother. Determined to survive through her enduring faith in family unity, Adeline struggled for independence as she moved from Hong Kong to England and eventually to the United States to become a physician and writer.

A compelling, painful, and ultimately triumphant story of a girl's journey into adulthood, Adeline's story is a testament to the most basic of human needs: acceptance, love, and understanding. With a powerful voice that speaks of the harsh realities of growing up female in a family and society that kept girls in emotional chains, Falling Leaves is a work of heartfelt intimacy and a rare authentic portrait of twentieth-century China.

Stichley's Rating:
I'm not real sure what made me pick up this book.  I've never bought a book before at an airport, but I was picking up a magazine that a friend of mine was appearing on the cover of when I saw this book.  I had a long flight a head of me and I decided on the spur of the moment to grab it.  For the first time since before I started college I read the entire book in under 24 hours.  This book was very touching and I personally found it difficult to put down.

Instances of Swearing:

• God, but used in the appropriate context

Lost in Shangri-La by Mitchell Zuckoff

Although World War II was the greatest conflict in the history of this planet, many a jaded reader has come to the reluctant conclusion that there aren’t any more World War II stories left to tell. At least not good ones—not tales of the “ripping good yarn” variety. Yet remarkably, in his new book Lost in Shangri-La, Mitchell Zuckoff has found one, and he’s told it with reportorial verve, narrative skill, and exquisite pacing.

What makes this World War II story all the more fascinating is that it isn’t really a war story—not in a strict military sense. It’s more of an exotic adventure tale with rich anthropological shadings. In 1945, near the end of the war, an American plane crashes in a hidden jungle valley in New Guinea inhabited by Stone Age cannibals. 21 Americans die in the crash, but three injured survivors soon find themselves stumbling through the jungle without food, nursing terrible wounds and trying to elude Japanese snipers known to be holding out in the mountains.

The first contact between the three Americans and the valley’s Dani tribesmen is both poignant and comical. The Americans, Zuckoff writes, have “crash-landed in a world that time didn’t forget. Time never knew it existed.” The tribesmen, who have never encountered metal and have yet to master the concept of the wheel, think the American interlopers are white spirits who’ve descended on a vine from heaven, fulfilling an ancient legend. They’re puzzled and fascinated by the layers of “removable skin” in which these alien visitors are wrapped; the natives, who smear their bodies in pig grease and cover their genitals with gourds, have never seen clothes before.

The Americans, in turn, are pretty sure their boartusk-bestudded hosts want to skewer them for dinner.

What ensues in Zuckoff’s fine telling is not so much a cultural collision as a pleasing and sometimes hilarious mutual unraveling of assumptions. Though the differences in the two societies are chasmic, the Americans and the Dani become—in a guarded, tentative sort of way—friends.

But when armed American airmen arrive via parachute to rescue the survivors, relations become more tense. The Americans make their camp right in the middle of a no-man’s land between warring Dani tribes—a no-man’s land where for centuries they have fought the battles that are central to their daily culture. Here, Zuckoff notes, the ironies are profoundly rich. The Dani, untouched by and indeed utterly unaware of the great war that’s been raging all across the globe, become thoroughly discombobulated when their own war is temporarily disrupted.

Yes, there are still a few good World War II stories left to tell. And yes, this one meets all the requirements of a ripping good yarn. Zuckoff, who teaches journalism at Boston University, is a first-rate reporter who has spared no expense to rescue this tale from obscurity. His story has it all: Tragedy, survival, comedy, an incredibly dangerous eleventh-hour rescue, and an immensely attractive heroine to boot. It’s extraordinary that Hollywood hasn’t already taken this tale and run wild with it. If it did, the resulting movie would be equal parts Alive, Cast Away, and The Gods Must Be Crazy. It’s as though the Americans have arrived in the Stone Age through a wormhole in the space-time continuum. The Dani don’t know what to do with themselves—and life, as any of us know it, will never be the same.

Stitchley's Rating: 
This is an excellent story that doesn't just tell the story of the downed American's, but of the history of the this hidden valley that few have ever visited.  Very little is known of this part of the world, and Mitchell Zuckoff does a great job weaving the story he is telling and the history of the area together.  Often times you don't even realized that he has veered off to tell a side note of history that is essential to the story before you find yourself back at the core of the story again.

Instances of Swearing:

• Hell: 18
• Damn: 12
• God: 15, *note some of these are appropriate uses

The Original Adventures of Hank the Cowdog by John R. Erickson

Hank has been accused of murder! In a fit of despair, Hank resigns his position as Head of Ranch Security and decides to join the outlaw coyotes. There he's known as Hunk (that's Hank in coyote language). Hank meets Missy Coyote, sister to Scraunch -- the meanest, roughest, toughest, most notorious coyote in the whole country. If Scraunch found Hank with his sister... Well, look out for trouble.

Stichley's Rating:
Hank the Cowdog is actually a series of books.  They are funny and candy books.  They are easy reads that you can get through in a hurry if your an adult, but as a kid they are a good read.  Hank will remind you of any happy go lucky mutt you know as you read the books.  He likes rolling in things that smell, and barking at things, and doing all things a dog loves... only it is funnier in these books than real life.

The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi

Thirteen-year-old Charlotte Doyle is excited to return home from her school in England to her family in Rhode Island in the summer of 1832.

But when the two families she was supposed to travel with mysteriously cancel their trips, Charlotte finds herself the lone passenger on a long sea voyage with a cruel captain and a mutinous crew. Worse yet, soon after stepping aboard the ship, she becomes enmeshed in a conflict between them! What begins as an eagerly anticipated ocean crossing turns into a harrowing journey, where Charlotte gains a villainous enemy . . . and is put on trial for murder!

Stitchley's Raiting:  
I've tried to stay away from books that have awards or are will know simply because it is so easy to find out information about them.  This book is one that I haven't had many other people I know read.  Seems every time I suggest it to others they are always saying they have seen it but not read it.  This is an enjoyable book, mostly because I could completely relate to the young Charlotte Doyle.  I never was a fan of being put in dresses or acting like a girly girl.  I simply wouldn't and still avoid dresses like they are the bane of my existence.  If I could have been a sailor on a ship I probably would have.  My dream as a kid was to be a cowboy, a sailor, or a Starfleet officer.  I think anyone who has dreamed of the freedom of the sea would love this book.  It has an evil and camaraderie as well.  I don't recall any instances of swearing.