Book Reviews...

Wicked History: Grigory Rasputin, Holy Man or Mad Monk?
by Enid A. Goldberg and Norman Itzkowitz

The teen section at the library has recently acquired a set of biographies called Wicked History. They are really short and fun to read. I chose to read about Grigory Rasputin, who was a holy man in Russia during the late 1800's and early 1900's. He was known for being friends and advising the royal family, but not always in a positive manner. His reputation in history is that of a power hungry con artist. This book is great because it gives you a timeline, pictures, maps, and a chart of his relationships. I think this series is really great for teens who just need a basic understanding of these historic characters. Check out this biography and the others in the Wicked History Collection.
Other Bigraphies include:
-Napoleon I: Emperor and Conquerer
-Alexander the Great: Master of the Ancient World
-Vlad the Impaler: the Real Count Dracula
-Attila the Hun: Leader of Barbarian Hordes
-Francisco Pizarro: Destroyer of the Inca Empire
-Ivan the Terrible: Tsar of Death
-Henry VIII: Royal Beheader
-Hannibal: Rome's Worst Nightmare
-Cixi: Evil Empress of China?
-Leopold II: Butcher of the Congo
-Ghengis Khan: 13th Century Mongolian Tyrant

The Dust of 100 Dogs
by A. S. King

I loved this book! I am not even sure I can adequately describe its greatness, but I will try. It is about a teen girl, Emer, who leads a life of piracy during the 1700s. Just when she is reunited with the love of her life, Emer is killed and cursed by an old enemy. The curse is that she will live the lives of a hundred dogs - a.k.a. the dust of a 100 dogs. After living years and years as a dog, she is reborn (present day) as a girl named Saffron, but with the memory of all her past lives. Basically, Saffron's parents think she is a genius because of her world knowledge. While Saffron pretends to be a normal teen girl for the benefit of her new family, she is really plotting how to get her treasure back that she lost on the day of her curse. If you're worried I gave anything away, don't worry because this is all basic setup for the story. I hope you check this book out and enjoy the adventure!

The Band Name Book
by Noel Hudson

Calling all music freaks! This is the book for you. It is one of those books that you don't even have to read fully or straight through. Instead, it is a great book to just randomly flip through and pick and choose what to read. This book primarily offers information about bands, especially names. Each section has a theme related to band names, and then the section discusses how different bands chose the names and what names that are still up for grabs (Example: The Human Body/The Shins/name of a fictional family in the musical "The Music Man"/ a name up for grabs is Brain Vein 3000). You can find this book in the new non-fiction at Mesa County Libraries!

Shanna
~Teen Librarian