King Burue Changes the Rules by Natalija Bajlo

Genre:  Children, Picture Book, Traditional

Source:  I received a copy to facilitate my review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

The author of the book is an eight year old who has written a wonderful fable.  Goose King Burue is a kind and fair king who always follows the rules.  One day while flying around he met a Japanese Parrot named Kimiko.  He fell in love and asked her to marry him.  Then he realized he had broken one of the rules. The rule stated that only a goose could marry a goose.  He didn’t know what to do. He tried to disguise her to look like a goose, but that did not work.  He flew off to think and find the answer.  He met and talked with many friends.  He met eagle and his companion pelican, then he met bunny and porcupine, finally he met frog and chameleon.  They had all broken the rule.  They understood how important all the rules were except the last one.  The King flew to his grandfather to ask him and met his companion a flamingo.  He learned he could change the rules and that, “kindness, honesty and happiness are not found in the color of someone’s fur or feathers.  I love the lessons taught in this story. This is a simple way of teaching children that you should like someone and treat them kindly based on what is in their heart.  I would gladly read more books by this author.

About the Author

Natalija Bajlo, eight-year-old author of King Burue Changes the Rules, is an extraordinary young lady who is very observant of the world around her. It is with an open heart that she adamantly delivers her message based on how she was taught to treat others. When Natalija is faced with issues at school where kids seem to act quickly to ridicule others, she does the opposite and speaks out on behalf of the one being challenged. The true beauty in her refusal to see the differences in people lends itself to seeing more of the uniqueness in them instead.

About the Illustrator

Illustrator Amene Beheshti, is quite a unique and talented young lady. Born in the Persian province of Qom in 1986, Amene was in love with colors and colorful pencils ever since she created her first drawing. She received her degree in painting from Iran’s Isfahan Art University in September, 2013. Now, Amene works as an illustrator and shows her feelings via her illustrations. When she had the opportunity to read Natalija’s book, Amene felt an instant connection to the meaning of the story that served as inspiration for her delightful drawings of the characters and the world in which they live. Children will be enthralled with the messages in her illustrations and how playful they are with such a creative twist. Amene has many great visual stories to tell through her art. We anticipate seeing much more of her in the near future and look forward to more collaborations.

The Forgotten Knight by Eilie Deritter

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy

Source:  I received a copy to facilitate my review. The opinons expressed here are y own.

From Goodreads:

Sir Christopher of Calidore has had better days. He has no kingdom to defend, he is locked in a curse, and then he found himself swimming a moat and battling a wizard - all to rescue the most spoiled princess in Christendom. Now, he and his companion, a mysterious sorceress who was once advisor to his former liege, are escorting the opinionated princess home. Along the way, they are forced to battle evil and help those they find in need. With a little assistance from some strange friends during their journey, they struggle to find a way to change their destinies, break the curse that binds them together and reclaim their lives.

My Thoughts:

I really enjoyed this book and its fairy tale qualities. The first adventure is the rescue of a Princess trapped in a mirror. He battles a Cyclops, ogres and wizards. All along the way he leans on his faith. But what is the secret that will break the curse and who knows it?  This is why you must read the book.  You must read it for the adventures, for the faith Christopher has in his friends and in his God.  You must read it for the twists and turns you don’t see coming.   Finally you must read it for the ending that is not at all the way fairy tales should end.  But, I guarantee you that you will enjoy it. I remember before school let out for winter break, one of my students, a sixth grader, telling me I needed to help her find some romance books.  I told her the type of romance books that are out there are not appropriate for teens in my opinion.  This book has magic, friendship, loyalty and love, all rolled into one.  It is a clean read and one I can now recommend to that student.  I am so glad I had the privilege of reading and reviewing this book for the author.

Adam Forever and Adam's Caverns by Lawrence Lapin

Genre: Adult, Science Fiction
Source: I purchased them

Adam Forever 

This was a strange book, intriguing, but strange.  Adam Boatwright is a geneticist.  His wife is afraid she will inherit breast cancer and have to go through what her sister is going through.  Adam decides to try to find a way to prevent his wife and others in the world from developing this cancer.  As a geneticist he works on what he believes is a cure.  The cure will keep the virus active in the body while preventing cancer. As always, there is a side effect, immortality.  Adam can’t just test this on anyone so he does the unthinkable and tests it on himself.  It is here we run into the normal issues that would arise.  Is it ethical? Who should be allowed this treatment if the known outcome would be immortality?  As I read this it played in my head like a movie.  I could see future events that could become very difficult and in some cases catastrophic.  If you have a race of people who all have immortality, how do you weed out the bad ones?  Who has the right to play God and choose who gets to live and who doesn’t?

Adam’s Caverns

In the second book in the series we have gone beyond the treatment and immortality issue.  As a scientist, Adam and a group of his friends prepare for the end of the world.  A meteor is going to crash into the earth and only a few will survive.  Adam and his friends stockpile embryos, animals, plants and other things they will need to repopulate the earth once life is destroyed by this meteor.  But, like all societies, even the post-apocalyptic ones, life isn’t perfect and never goes as planned.  There is fighting among them and among a group who survived in Antarctica.  Once again we are face with all types of ethical and social issues.  This book was actually better than the first one.  If you are into this type of read then I would definitely recommend it.