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Payal Kapadia
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Sep 2, 2004
"A Gathering Light," "The Coldest Day in the Zoo"
"A Gathering Light," Jennifer Donnelly, Bloomsbury; 2004; 383 pp. "Tell the truth!" It's not just children who get that all the time: Writers do, too. The only difference is that writers don't have to treat the truth too literally, as Jennifer Donnelly shows us in "A Gathering Light."
LIFE / Lifestyle / ON THE BOOK TRAIL
Aug 5, 2004
"The Silver Spoon of Solomon Snow," "Granny Torrelli Makes Soup"
"The Silver Spoon of Solomon Snow," Kaye Umansky, Puffin Books; 2004; 224 pp. "Picture it." With that short command to her readers, author Kaye Umansky opens her latest novel and dispatches you on a real joyride of an adventure. In short, here's what you're in for -- a comic tale of: Solomon "Solly"...
LIFE / Lifestyle / ON THE BOOK TRAIL
Jul 1, 2004
"The Supernaturalist," "The Reading Bug and How to Help Your Child Catch It"
"The Supernaturalist," Eoin Colfer, Puffin Books; June 2004; 291 pp. It's official. There's an N.E.C.B. out there (a New Eoin Colfer Book, that is). And if you're not a first-time reader, this should have the same effect on you as it does on so many others, so get on the Internet, call your nearest...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / ON THE BOOK TRAIL
May 27, 2004
"The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time," "Fergus Crane"
"The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time," Mark Haddon, Random House; 2003; 272 pp. You know from the first paragraph that this is no ordinary book.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / ON THE BOOK TRAIL
Apr 1, 2004
"Sideways Stories from Wayside School," "Where Willy Went/ Cinderella's Bum and Other Bottoms"
"Sideways Stories from Wayside School," Louis Sachar, Bloomsbury; 2004; 139 pp.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / ON THE BOOK TRAIL
Feb 5, 2004
"The Pig Scrolls," "Blood Red Horse"
"The Pig Scrolls," Paul Shipton, Puffin Books; March 2004; 224 pp. Author Paul Shipton warns us at the outset of his (sort of) Greek-style epic that though every effort was made to ensure the accuracy of the material, the Great Library of Alexandria was closed on the Tuesday afternoon he tried to go...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / ON THE BOOK TRAIL
Jan 8, 2004
"The Legend of Spud Murphy," "Lily Quench and the Dragon of Ashby"
"The Legend of Spud Murphy," Eoin Colfer, Puffin Books; March 2004; 90 pp. If you have no clue why your older siblings rave about author Eoin Colfer, you're probably too young to have read about the wild escapades of Colfer's hero, Artemis Fowl. But his latest book, "The Legend of Spud Murphy," is your...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / ON THE BOOK TRAIL
Dec 4, 2003
"Lionboy," "The English Roses"
"Lionboy," Zizou Corder, Puffin Books; 2003; 352 pp. How old do you have to be to write your first book? Thirty years old? Twenty? How about 10? If you're Isabel Adomakoh Young, 10 is as good an age as any.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / ON THE BOOK TRAIL
Nov 6, 2003
"The Goose Girl," "The Tiger Bone Thief"
"The Goose Girl," Shannon Hale, Bloomsbury; 2003; 383 pp. Once upon a time, two German brothers published a collection of children's stories inspired by popular European folk tales. The stories of the Brothers Grimm became fairytale classics, and many of them -- Cinderella, Snow White, Little Red Riding...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / ON THE BOOK TRAIL
Oct 2, 2003
"The House of Windjammer," "Boolar's Big Day Out"
"The House of Windjammer," V.A. Richardson, Bloomsbury; 2003; 349 pp. No matter where you grow up, whether it's in 21st-century Japan or in 17th-century Europe, some things never change. People everywhere, at every time, are at the mercy of larger forces -- political upheavals, market fluctuations,...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / ON THE BOOK TRAIL
Sep 18, 2003
"Ruby Holler," "The Robodog Superhero"
"Ruby Holler," Sharon Creech, Bloomsbury; 2002, 310 pp. How do you reform a pair of 13-year-old twins who spend every spare moment breaking, spilling, throwing or dropping things -- and cursing loudly when they're caught?
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / ON THE BOOK TRAIL
Sep 4, 2003
On the book trail
A Single Shard, by LINDA SUE PARK, Clarion Books; 2002; 160 pp. If recent children's books are any indication, we might be led to believe that boy-wizards who fight evil and that children lucky enough to embark on wild adventures exist only in Britain or the United States. In fact, why does almost every...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / ON THE BOOK TRAIL
Aug 21, 2003
"Toad Heaven," "Ada Lovelace"
"Toad Heaven," Morris Gleitzman, Puffin Books; 2002; 192 pp. Humans are always complaining about how unfair life is. Limpy is a cane toad, but he thinks it's unfair, too. For starters, no one likes him (except his family). Female cane toads don't think he's much of a looker. (Cane toads are ugly enough,...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / ON THE BOOK TRAIL
Aug 7, 2003
"Tell the Moon to Come Out," "Illustrated Oxford Dictionary"
"Tell the Moon to Come Out," Joan Lingard, Puffin Books; 2003; 208 pp.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / ON THE BOOK TRAIL
Jul 24, 2003
"Fox," "Stravaganza: City of Masks"
"Fox," Matthew Sweeney, Bloomsbury; 2002; 176 pp. Every city has its ghosts. I don't mean spirits of the dead, I mean real people who might as well be invisible because no one takes notice of them.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / ON THE BOOK TRAIL
Jul 10, 2003
"Big George and the Seventh Knight," "Bang on the Door Animals"
"Big George and the Seventh Knight," Eric Pringle, Bloomsbury; 2002; 200 pp.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / ON THE BOOK TRAIL
Jun 26, 2003
"Follow Me Down," "Frank and the Chamber of Fear"
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Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / ON THE BOOK TRAIL
Jun 12, 2003
"Ned Mouse Breaks Away," "The Devil's Toenail"
"Ned Mouse Breaks Away," Tim Wynne-Jones, Groundwood Books; 2003; 192 pp. If you were caught playing with your spinach -- or worse, using long, stringy bits of it to write "I hate what Mom makes me eat" -- what would happen? You'd probably get grounded for a few days, right? But imagine if you got locked...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / ON THE BOOK TRAIL
May 29, 2003
"Power and Stone," "Rome"
"Power and Stone," Alice Leader, Puffin Books; May 2003; 249 pp. There's so much more to history than memorizing dates.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / ON THE BOOK TRAIL
May 1, 2003
"The Eternity Code," "The Countess's Calamity"
"The Eternity Code," Eoin Colfer, Puffin Books; 2003; 329 pp. The 13-year-old, pint-size mastermind of every heist known to man -- or to fairy -- is back. And in the latest installment of the "Artemis Fowl" series, time is running out not for Artemis' poor adversaries, but for him. His father, rescued...

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