Book Review: Library of the Unwritten by A.J. Hackwith

Library of the Unwritten
by A.J. Hackwith (Download Audio)

If you have ever spent any significant amount of time either working in a library or around people who work in a library, this book will delight you. If you haven’t done either of those things, this book will still delight you, but maybe in a less specific way. A gloriously meta fantasy adventure follows Hell’s librarian and her assistants on an quest that traverses realms from Heaven, to Valhalla. Hackwith’s witty and quick writing is a pleasure to read, and their dry humor and genre-aware jokes will delight any book lover.

[Similar in style to Terry Pratchett, Garth Nix’s Abhorsen series, and Seanan McGuire‘s non-horror.]

[ publisher’s official Library of the Unwritten web page ] | [ official A.J. Hackwith web site ]

Recommended by Lane G.
Bennett Martin Public Library

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New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

DVD Review: Beauty and the Beast (2017)

Beauty and the Beast
[DVD j Beauty]

As a huge Beauty and the Beast fan, and an even bigger Disney fan I knew I had to see this one in theaters and it did not disappoint.

You know the main storyline I’m sure, but what’s nice about this version is that they managed to fix a few of the plot-holes in the animated version without straying too far away from the original. I hate when they do remakes and it ruins everything. This does have some things added to the storyline but they’re more like extensions of what’s already there instead of new material entirely.

The casting was excellent – Emma Watson was perfect in the role — and the remakes of the musical numbers were updated but not too far off from the original soundtrack which was the best part. I also recommend checking that out if you’re a fan of Disney movies/music. I’ve watched it several times since being released on DVD and I think it’s my favorite of the remakes of Disney movies they’ve released recently.

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try Madame de Villeneuve’s The Story of the Beauty and the Beast: The Original Classic French Fairytale, which the movie is based on, the Kendra Chronicles Series by Alex Flynn, Beauty and the Beast (the original 1991 Disney animated film), and the sequel to that Beauty and the Beast: Enchanted Christmas, the Beastly movie from 2011, Beauty and the Beast TV series from 2012-2016 on the CW starring Kristin Kreuk and Jay Ryan (or the original CBS series from 1987-1990 starring Ron Perlman and Linda Hamilton), the various Beauty and Beast Soundtracks, Enchanted with Amy Adams which is a nice mix of animation and real life, and other Disney classics such as The Little Mermaid, The Princess and the Frog, and Mulan]

[ Internet Movie Database entry for this film ] | [ official Beauty and the Beast (2017) web site ]

Recommended by Carrie R.
Bennett Martin Public Library

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New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

Book Review: Mae Among the Stars by Roda Ahmed and Stasia Burrington

Mae Among the Stars
by Roda Ahmed (j Biography Jemison)

Charming picture-book biography of astronaut/scientist Mae Jemison. At its heart, this is an inspiring story about a young girl and the grit and determination it took for her to follow her dream to become a space explorer. But it’s also a good general lesson for any child to not allow ridicule and disbelief from the people around you to prevent you from reaching for your goals.

Adorable story, with very nice artwork from Stasia Burrington. I only wish it had been a little longer, and that it covered more of the kind of education Jemison had to acquire to reach her dream of becoming an astronaut. Still…very nicely told!

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try I Am Neil Armstrong, by Brad Meltzer and Chris Eliopoulos.]

[ publisher’s official Mae Among the Stars web site ] | [ official Roda Ahmed web site ] | [ official Stasia Burrington web site ]

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library

Have you read this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!