Wednesday, 9 July 2025

Snoop - Gordon Korman

Snoop
Gordon Korman
ISBN 9781546126089
eISBN 9781546126096
ASIN B0DBCKHJG9

Snoop - Gordon Korman

I picked this up a few days after it released. But I had a really busy week at work and with the family. So I had to wait till late in the weekend to give it a read. I have to admit I sat for several hours and devoured the book in a single sitting, on a Sunday afternoon. I could just not put it down!

I absolutely love reading Gordon Korman books, either by myself or with one or more of my children. I have now read over 75 of his works. As I have stated in reviews of several of Korman’s books over the last few years: mid 2022, Korman published his 100th book. Yes you read that correctly, his hundredth book, as of the summer of 2025 he is up to 209 volumes in print. My introduction to Korman’s works was the 39 Clues back in 2009. 

My son and I started reading Gordon Korman books together a few years ago, when he was given one as an end of year gift by his teacher. She gave the whole class the same Scholastic edition and wrote a note to each student in their copy of the book. Prior to that I had a read a few of his contributions to the 39 Clues series and had enjoyed them. Since they we have both been hooked. My son often reads these books to me or with me. I picked up this to read next because of it being the newest release.

The description of this volume states:

“If Carter hadn't been checking his phone, he might have seen his brother coming down the ski slopes in his direction. And if Carter had seen his brother in time and avoided the crash, he might not have two broken legs right now.

Oops.

Now Carter is stuck at home for weeks, with both his legs in casts. Bored, he starts checking out the live feeds from police cams around his town. Before he knows it, he's obsessed -- watching his classmates when they don't know he's looking, and discovering some other VERY STRANGE things going on that no one else is noticing.

But what happens when Carter is found out... and the people he's watching know where he lives?”

The about the author for this edition states:

“GORDON KORMAN wrote his first novel, This Can’t Be Happening at MacDonald Hall, when he was thirteen years old. Since then, he’s written over a hundred other books, including the #1 New York Times bestseller Restart, the Sydney Taylor Honor Book Linked, Slacker, The Fort, and Mixed Up. He lives in Long Island with his family and can be found online at his website.”

I highlighted two passages in this book because both were very poignant, they are:

“It makes no sense. I was never the kind of person who checked the phone all night. But now just the fact that I can’t makes me want to. Oh, sure, probably no one is trying to reach me at three a.m. That’s beside the point. They can’t reach me even if they want to. I’m unreachable, offline. The vast electronic network that connects everybody on the planet is passing me by. It’s like I don’t even exist. I’m invisible.”

and

“For weeks, nobody sneezed around here without my saying “Gesundheit,” even if they couldn’t hear me. And yeah, I took it too far. I own that. There’s a point where snooping turns into spying—where a hobby becomes an obsession—and that’s not good. But it’s proof of how much information is out there if you’re willing to go find it. You just have to know where to draw the line.”

Oh my goodness, what an excellent read. We fallow Carter as he experiences two broken legs, then recovery at home living vicariously through screes. When he discovers the municipal cameras and then figures out how to exploit private cameras he starts spending a lot of time watching what is going on around town. AT first he is following a girl he likes and a guy he doesn’t, and soon he has nicknames for people he encounters frequently. But when he confesses his new obsession after a false alert to the police, he becomes a modern ‘boy who cired wolf’. And he keeps pushing harder and harder. But he soon realized that things are not always as they appear. 

He seems to be ostracized by the entire 7th grade class. He believes his teacher is not who he thought he was. He knows there is an endangered species smuggling ring using the town as a base of operations. And he knows on at least 2 occasions he might be the only one able to prevent disaster. 

The story is masterfully written. The way Korman tackles screen addiction is excellent. The set up with the accident, and the life changing experiences, and the way the story concludes, just wow!

Only a few of the over 75 titles I have read by Korman have not got a 5/5 start rating. And this one get a strong 5/5 as well, it is one of the best. 

Another excellent School Story from the master of the genre.         

Books by Gordon Korman:
MacDonald Hall Series:
         (formerly The War With Mr. Wizzle)
Light’s Camera, Disaster (1991)
          (aka Macdonald Hall Goes Hollywood)
The Jokes on Us (1995)
          (formerly Something Fishy at Macdonald Hall)

Bugs Potter Series:

Jeremy Bloom Series:
The D−Poems of Jeremy Bloom (1992)
The Last-Place Sports Poems of Jeremy Bloom (1996)

Monday Night Football Series:
The Quarterback Exchange (1997)
Running Back Conversion (1997)
Super Bowl Switch (1997)
Heavy Artillery (1997)
Ultimate Scoring Machine (1998)
NFL Rules! Bloopers, Pranks, Upsets, and Touchdowns (1998)

Masterminds Series:
Masterminds (2015)

Slapshots Series:
The Stars From Mars (1999)
All-Mars All-Stars/The Dream Team (1999)
The Face-off Phony (2000)
Cup Crazy (2000)
Ouch I got slapped (2023)
4-in-1 Slapshots: The Complete Collection (2008)

Nose Pickers Series:
Nose Pickers from Outer Space! (1999)
Planet of the Nose Pickers (2000)
Your Mummy Is a Nose Picker (2000)
Invasion of the Nose Pickers (2001)
4-in-1 The Ultimate Nose-Picker Collection (2006)

Island Series:
Shipwreck (2001)
Survival (2001)
Escape (2001)
3-in-1 Island Trilogy Collection (2006)

Son of the Mob Series:
Son of the Mob 2: Hollywood Hustle (2004)

Everest Series:
The Contest (2002)
The Climb (2002)
The Summit (2002)
Everest Trilogy Box Set (2002)

Dive Series:
The Deep (2003)
The Danger (2003)

On the Run Series:
Public Enemies (2005)
Hunting the Hunter (2006)

Kidnapped Series:
The Search (2006)
The Rescue (2006)

Swindle Series:
Swindle (2008)
Zoobreak (2009)
Framed (2010)
Showoff (2012)
Hideout (2013)
Jackpot (2014)
Unleashed (2015)
Jingle (2016)

Titanic Series:
Unsinkable (2011)
Collision Course (2011)
S.O.S (2011)

The 39 Clues Series:
Vespers Rising (2011)
The Medusa Plot (2011)
Flashpoint (2014)

Hypnotists Series:
The Hypnotists (2013)
Memory Maze (2014)
The Dragonfly Effect (2015)

Ungifted Series:
Ungifted (2012)
Supergifted (2018)
Hypergifted (2026)

Slacker Series:
Slacker (2016)
Level 13 (2019)
...

Non Series Books:
Born To Rock (2006)
Schooled (2007)
Pop (2009)
Restart (2017)
Notorious (2019)
War Stories (2020)
Game On (contains The Chicken Doesn’t Skate and The Toilet Paper Tigers (2021)
Unplugged (2021)
Linked (2021)
The Fort (2022)

Gordon Korman Books



Tuesday, 8 July 2025

The Month of Mary - Abbe Berlioux - Practical Meditations for every Day of the Month of May

The Month of Mary: 
Practical Meditations for every Day of the Month of May
Abbe Berlioux
John Cuthbert Hedley (Preface)
Laetitia Selwyn Oliver (Translator)
ISBN 9781957066240
eISBN 9781957066264
ASIN B09Z9FVFGF

The Month of Mary - Abbe Berlioux

I do not even recall how I stumbled upon this volume. But I picked it up towards the end of Lent, and then read it during the month of May. I have since found out it is one of 4 volumes available in English by Abbe Berlioux, a couple of them have a number of editions, and Mediatrix press has all 4 available but currently only 2 of the 4 are available as eBooks. Because of a dual form of dyslexia I greatly prefer eBooks so I can change the font, and the colour of font and page to make reading easier. I Hope Mediatrix will release the other 2 in English. For the day I finished this volume I started Month of the Sacred Heart: Practical Meditations for Each Day of the Month of June, because this was an excellent volume to work through. The description of this edition of this book states:

“In May we run with excitement to endow Mary’s altars with boughs of flowers that vie with nature’s splendor, and spiritual offerings as well as good works to pay homage to the most generous of queens. To more fully live the spirit of the season, we must enter into the very spirit of the Mother of God.
Each chapter contains the whole day’s reading, prayer, and a fitting example for the reading, usually taken from the author’s personal knowledge or some other historical example.

The subjects, containing two short points each day, range from Our Blessed Mother’s Immaculate Conception, her holy name, her motherhood, each of her shining virtues, her devotion to Holy Communion, and other subjects.

It was originally written in the 19th century by the Abbé Berlioux, who was a priest in the diocese of Grenoble in 1872 and was the Curé, or parish priest, of the church of St. Bruno. The devotional enjoyed ten editions of popularity in the French language before being translated and printed in English in 1884. As each of the thirty-one days of May progresses, the subjects cover every possible facet of the known life of Mary, historical tradition, apparitions and the life of the Church surrounding this ancient devotion, solidifying for the devotee a rich theological truth and piety. As the preface states: “She is a spiritual universe.” There is nothing in our path toward heaven, which she cannot supply, if we but study her soul and apply her works in our lives.

The author uses literary tools in his writings so as to awaken his reader from a spiritual slumber. Particular emphasis in this book is derived from the daily repetition of the phrase “Children of Mary”, addressing the reader affectionately and with a personal effect that cannot be ignored. It is as though the very voice of our heavenly mother is calling out to the reader, as a mother calls her children to her, and should we all not come running? Come, Children of Mary, come to the safety of your mother’s mantle.

In this book you will find:
An organized 31 days of devotions to the Blessed Mother for the complete month of May
Daily spiritual reading on the life, virtues, and traditions surrounding the Blessed Virgin
Daily prayers to Mary
Daily examples of true-life stories that draw out the truths within each day’s reading.
Various ways of consecrating oneself to Mary
Various ways of praying the Holy Rosary and a unique Marian way to attend Mass.

The book is most excellent for the original purpose, to devote one’s life to the practices of the May altar, but it is also an excellent choice during the time of Lent, when the entire Christian world is tuned in so singularly to the deep sorrows and grief of Our Blessed Mother; and Advent, at which time we contemplate Our Blessed Mother’s expectation of her Divine Child.”

The volume has:

Nihil Obstat:
P. J. TYNAN, S.T.D.,
Cens. Theol. Dep.

Imprimatur:
Eduardus Card. Mac Cabe,
ARCHIEPISCOPUS DUBLINENSIS.

Imprimatur :
Gulielmus
ARCHIEPISCOPUS DUBLINENSIS,
HIBERNIÆ PRIMAS.

A sample day is:

THIRTEENTH DAY: MARY, MODEL OF CHASTITY

I. She knew all its value.
II. She avoided all that could endanger it.

First Point.—Purity was always the favorite virtue of Mary. At the age of three she left her home and family, went up to the temple of Jerusalem, and consecrated herself to the Lord by a vow of perpetual chastity. Oh, how beautiful were the first steps of this royal Virgin! To thee, O Holy Mary, was reserved the privilege of planting the first lilies in the garden of the Church and of unfurling the banner of virginity, under which so many virgins, in succeeding ages, have taken their stand. “Adducentur virgines.” When the Archangel Gabriel proposed to her to become the Mother of God, she only consented to accept this exalted dignity, after having received the assurance that her divine maternity would not tarnish her virginal purity. Thus she preferred the glory of her virginity to the glory of being the Mother of God. Was it possible to give a greater proof of her love for chastity? St. Bernard says: “By the most incomprehensible of all mysteries, it was the virginity of Mary that obtained for her the privilege of the divine maternity.” “Virginitate placuit.” A virgin, by choice and inclination, she found her delight and her happiness in this admirable virtue. A virgin in body and soul, all her thoughts, words, and actions breathed holiness and innocence. A virgin before being a mother, a virgin after having brought into the world her Divine Child, she was always, and will be for eternity, the purest of creatures. The Church calls her the Queen of Virgins, and shows her to us in heaven, walking at the head of that glorious band of virgins who form round the Lamb a guard of honor. “These follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth, and they sing a new canticle before the throne” (Rev. 14:1, 3, 4).

Whatever our state and condition in life may be, we are all obliged to be chaste and pure. Jesus Christ by his words, Mary by her example, have made it a strict command. St. Ambrose says: “That he who observes chastity is an angel, and he who loses it becomes a demon.” Children of Mary, have you always valued and practiced this precious virtue? Alas! perhaps the impure breath of your passions has often tarnished and sullied the beauty of your souls, O, Jesus! create in us a clean heart and renew a right spirit within us. O Mary, mother of chastity, inspire us with a horror of vice and love of virtue.

Second Point—“Mary, more pure than the rays of the sun,” says St. Jerome, “had nothing to fear from the poisoned breath of Satan, and yet she lived in continual fear of anything that might tarnish her purity.” Although confirmed in grace she distrusted her own strength, as if she was the most fragile of all creatures. She watched over her heart, her thoughts, her words, and all her senses, so as to avoid every occasion of sin. She spoke little, all her words were full of modesty, and her conversation was in heaven. She led an interior life, practiced fasting and mortification, and lived continually in the presence of God, in order to avoid the seductions of the world. According to the beautiful expression of a holy Father, “she breathed only the Lord.” “Her whole deportment was angelic,” says St. Ambrose, “The purity of her soul was reflected as in a mirror, in her person and countenance. Mary preserved the lily of chastity in all its whiteness, and it is thus that she attained the high degree of glory she now holds in heaven.”

If Mary, so pure and so holy, was so careful to preserve this most beautiful and most delicate of virtues, what precautions should we not take who are so weak and inclined to sin? Oh, let us watch over our thoughts, our looks, our words, and fly all dangerous occasions. Let us often ask of God the grace of purity. The wise man says: “And I knew that I could not otherwise be continent, except God gave it” (Wisdom, 8:21). We must, then, have recourse to prayer, for it is a grace that prayer can obtain. Let us also not forget that the saints recommend devotion to Mary as the great means of acquiring and preserving this admirable virtue. This is why the Church places on our lips this beautiful prayer: “Incomparable Virgin, make us chaste and mild; make us lead lives so pure as to bring us to heaven, where we may enjoy the happiness of seeing and loving thy Son.” Mites fac et castos, vitam præsta puram.

EXAMPLE
A virtuous mother, living in Paris, had great devotion to the Blessed Virgin. She consecrated all her children to her, giving each the name of Mary, so that they might be under the special protection of the Mother of God. This good woman had a great horror of vice, but especially of anything that savored of immodesty. She could not endure the thought that her children should ever be sullied by it, and her generous heart inspired her with the idea of sacrificing herself to preserve them from that misfortune. Many times had she addressed to God the following prayer, conjuring Mary to obtain her request: “My God,” said she, “do with me what Thou wilt. Send me the most terrible of torments, but save my children; never permit them to lose their innocence.”

A dreadful illness, with which she was seized, gave her reason to hope that her sacrifice was accepted. Her illness lasted five years, during which time she often said to her children: “Be careful to preserve your innocence; it is for that end I suffer and die.” At length, satisfied with the heroism of this tender mother, God called her to Himself the 21st day of February, 1834. She gently expired, her hand stretched out to bless her children, her radiant countenance reflecting the angelic innocence of her heart.

Happy mother to have had the courage to make such a sacrifice. Happy children to have had such a virtuous mother. Christians, we too shall be happy if we know how to suffer and endure all, rather than lose the inestimable treasure of chastity.

PRAYER
O Mary, Virgin of virgins, God has chosen thee to be the model of chastity. We hasten then to thee and range ourselves under thy standard. Lead us and protect us so that we may be victorious. Virgin, most pure, virgin most chaste, pray for us and help us. Virgo purissima, ora pro nobis. Amen.”

I highlighted a few passages while reading this volume, some of them are:

“If hitherto your prayers to Mary have been few and cold, let them this month be more frequent and fervent. Oh, yes, pray often, ask much, and ask with confidence, then will all your requests be granted. “Heaven and earth shall pass away,” says Louis de Blois “sooner than the Blessed Virgin should fail to assist those who have recourse to her.”

“O Mary, my Sovereign, I am unworthy to appear in thy presence, but nevertheless I will invoke thee each day of this blessed month. My tender Mother, when I come to thee in prayer, cast on me a look of compassion; when I offer thee a sacrifice, give me thy blessing; when I make an act of love, speak to my heart. From this day forward I give thee my heart, entirely and without reserve: it belongs to thee, keep it always, and let it repose on thine. Amen.”

““It is true,” replied the priest; “but we stand in need of it. Communion is not so much a reward as a grace and a help. Unworthy of so great a favor, we ought to humble ourselves like the Blessed Virgin, at the moment of the Incarnation: humilitate concepit.”

“When the Archangel Gabriel proposed to her to become the Mother of God, she only consented to accept this exalted dignity, after having received the assurance that her divine maternity would not tarnish her virginal purity. Thus she preferred the glory of her virginity to the glory of being the Mother of God. Was it possible to give a greater proof of her love for chastity?”

“Children of Mary, have you always valued and practiced this precious virtue? Alas! perhaps the impure breath of your passions has often tarnished and sullied the beauty of your souls, O, Jesus! create in us a clean heart and renew a right spirit within us. O Mary, mother of chastity, inspire us with a horror of vice and love of virtue.”

“Let us pray in the morning, for prayer is then a ray of strength and joy which lightens the toils of the day and draws down the blessings of heaven. Let us pray in the evening, for it is then a canticle of gratitude for blessings received, and an offering of sleep during the night. Let us pray before and after our meals, let us pray in our joys and in our sorrows, in our struggles and in our victories, and then all our actions will be holy and meritorious for eternal life.”

“O Jesus! O Mary! teach us to pray with fervor, confidence, humility, and perseverance.”

“O Mary! ark of the New Covenant, first Tabernacle of the Word made Flesh, thou who didst so often and with so much love receive Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, obtain for us the necessary dispositions to make always holy and fervent Communions. We are not worthy of assisting at the Banquet of the Angels, but say only one word to thy Divine Son, and we shall approach with confidence. Amen.”

“I sent for you, Father, so that you might tell the religious of your Order what I have made known to you; convince them that tepidity leads to the greatest excesses, and may my example be of use to them.””

“Remember, Christians, that in order to die as true Children of Mary, it is necessary to live as such, for, ordinarily speaking, death is but the echo of life.”

“Let, then, your practice be detachment from the world, vigilance over your hearts, the practice of good works, the imitation of the virtues of your heavenly Mother.”

“Let us always carry our Rosary about us, as the insignia of the servants of the Queen of Heaven, and as a safeguard in the perils which surround our innocence; let us carry it with reverence uninfluenced by human respect.”

“Those who never fail saying the Rosary every day cannot be lost, for it unites them to Mary as with a chain, and each Hail Mary is like a precious pearl which is added to her eternal crown.”

“We give thee thanks, O Mary, for having given us the holy Rosary, a chain of love, composed of fifteen golden links, which unite us more Closely to thy heart and to that of thy Son. To show our gratitude, we promise that we will profit by so precious a gift, often and devoutly reciting it. Oh! may this Rosary which we shall frequently bear in our hands, be the pledge of the crown which thou wilt one day place on our brows.”

I hope those quotes give you a feel for the book. This was a wonderful volume to work through. It was between 4-6 pages a day through the month of May. It was a wonderful volume to use to spend a month with Mary our Mother. There were a few minor formatting errors and typos, but no anything enough to distract from the wonderful material in the volume.

I can easily recommend this book, and look forward to others by Abbe Berlioux. This book would be a great read for any Catholic.

Note: This book is part of a series of reviews: 2025 Catholic Reading Plan

Books by Abbe Berlioux:
The Month of Holy Souls: Practical Meditations for Every Day of the Month of November
The Month of St. Joseph: Practical Meditations for each Day of the Month of March
Month of the Sacred Heart: Practical Meditations for Each Day of the Month of June

The Month of Holy Souls - Abbe Berlioux

The Month of Mary - Abbe Berlioux

The Month of Saint Joseph - Abbe Berlioux

The Month of The Sacred Heart - Abbe Berlioux

Monday, 7 July 2025

The Contest - Gordon Korman - Everest Book 1

The Contest
Everest Series Book 1
Gordon Korman
ISBN 9780545392327
eISBN 9780545666350
ASIN B00E9BJ8J0

The Contest - Gordon Korman - Everest Book 1

This book was originally published in 2002, unlike the other 2 trilogies that published around the same time; the Island Series or the Dive Series, this series has not gone through a rebranding in 2025. Though there are a couple different versions of the cover of book one, one in brown and the current in blue. According to Goodreads there are 24 editions of the first volume in this series, including editions in English, French, Dutch, Italian, and Spanish editions listed. My introduction to Korman’s works was the 39 Clues back in 2009. Since then I have read 65 of his books including this volume, a few of them more than once. I set the goal of reading all his books about 2020. I am over half way thorough his canon, and have completed all the stand alone books and am now just working my way through the remaining series. Not counting omnibus editions I believe that as of the summer of 2025 Korman has published 109 books. With each that I read I am entertained and often challenged, and I am always entertained. My son, who is 17 often, reads these books to me or with me, and he still loves them. 

One description of this volume states:

“A thrilling adventure trilogy from Gordon Korman that follows a group of young climbers to the top of Mt. Everest!

The height of competition. Who will be the youngest person ever to climb Mount Everest? It's the ultimate test of endurance and skill. The mountain has claimed the lives of many climbers. Now Summit Athletic, the sports drink and energy bar company, is sponsoring a reality contest-twenty of the county's youngest climbers competing for four spots in a chance to climb Everest, the tallest mountain the world. The competition is fierce, and the kids haven't even finished with boot camp in the Rockies. Some aren't ready for what they will face. And some will stop at nothing to get to the top."

another states:

“A thrilling adventure trilogy from Gordon Korman about a number of kids competing to be the youngest person to ever reach the top of Mt. Everest

Four kids. One mountain.

They come from all across America to be the youngest kid ever to climb Everest. But only one will reach the top first. The competition is fierce. The preparation is intense. The challenge is breathtaking. When the final four reach the higher peaks, disaster strikes-and all that separates the living from the dead is chance, bravery, and action.”

The story begins with a prologue. That prologue lets us know that there will be a death in the series, but no indication of who, it states:

“It was a funeral in every way but one: The body was missing.

Not missing, exactly. Its location was common knowledge — that was the most horrifying part of all this. The body was nine thousand miles away in a country called Nepal, twenty-seven thousand feet up Mount Everest, the highest point on planet Earth.

On Everest, everything above twenty-five thousand feet is known as the Death Zone. There, overpowering wind gusts approaching two hundred miles per hour can wrench a strong person clear off the mountain, and bone-chilling nighttime cold of one hundred degrees below zero causes frostbite and hypothermia. Wherever the body was, it was surely frozen solid.

Twenty-seven thousand feet is above the range of any helicopter. At that altitude, the air is simply too thin to provide the rotor blades with any lift. A stranded climber would have a better chance of being picked up off the surface of the moon than in the Death Zone. Atop Everest, you are your only rescue squad — you and the others who take on the mountain with you.

It was easy to spot those teammates among the mourners, and not just because of their young age. Their physical bodies fidgeted in the chapel, constricted by grief and tight collars. But their minds were still on the other side of the globe, five miles straight up, in the Death Zone.

They had that much in common with their unfortunate friend. It was a place they might never truly leave.”

From the very beginning we know this is a tragic tale. This first instalment in the series begins with Dominic Alexis desperate to find a letter ‘V’ in a wrapper or cap of a Summit Athletic Fuel or Energy Bar. He is seeking the last spot on a competition to win a trip to climbing school and a shot at being part of a youth trip to climb Mount Everest! His older brother Christian already has an invite to the camp and is considered a shoe in for the final team.

The main events in this instalment of the series are the training camp, the elimination of hopefuls. We go from 24 candidates to a team of 4. And what started as friendly challenges soon turns into a push to make the final team. And readers being privy to information around the financing of the climb, and the influence that money has on who is being selected and who is not. We also get to see the team in action as they attempt a climb in Alaska as a test run. 

It is a story in the adventure story with four young readers.  This series is published as three short works; it is also published in an omnibus edition with all three stories in 1 volume. Unfortunately that 3 in1 edition is out of print and it looks like it was never released as an eBook. What I like about the shorter versions, is they are great for the classroom, or reluctant readers. This volume is another short read, it grabs your attention, and draws you in. And the ending leaves you desperate for the next volume. And as mentioned this is one of a few series written around the same time, in a similar format. 

This story is another great read from Korman’s masterful pen. 

I still have about 40 books from series left to read to have completed the canon of Korman’s works. I am grateful I finally gave this one a read; I look forward to the other 2 in the trilogy, and finishing the other 2 trilogies as well. It is an intense read start to what looks to be an exciting series! 

Books by Gordon Korman:
MacDonald Hall Series:
         (formerly The War With Mr. Wizzle)
Light’s Camera, Disaster (1991)
          (aka Macdonald Hall Goes Hollywood)
The Jokes on Us (1995)
          (formerly Something Fishy at Macdonald Hall)

Bugs Potter Series:

Jeremy Bloom Series:
The D−Poems of Jeremy Bloom (1992)
The Last-Place Sports Poems of Jeremy Bloom (1996)

Monday Night Football Series:
The Quarterback Exchange (1997)
Running Back Conversion (1997)
Super Bowl Switch (1997)
Heavy Artillery (1997)
Ultimate Scoring Machine (1998)
NFL Rules! Bloopers, Pranks, Upsets, and Touchdowns (1998)

Masterminds Series:
Masterminds (2015)

Slapshots Series:
The Stars From Mars (1999)
All-Mars All-Stars/The Dream Team (1999)
The Face-off Phony (2000)
Cup Crazy (2000)
Ouch I got slapped (2023)
4-in-1 Slapshots: The Complete Collection (2008)

Nose Pickers Series:
Nose Pickers from Outer Space! (1999)
Planet of the Nose Pickers (2000)
Your Mummy Is a Nose Picker (2000)
Invasion of the Nose Pickers (2001)
4-in-1 The Ultimate Nose-Picker Collection (2006)

Island Series:
Shipwreck (2001)
Survival (2001)
Escape (2001)
3-in-1 Island Trilogy Collection (2006)

Son of the Mob Series:
Son of the Mob 2: Hollywood Hustle (2004)

Everest Series:
The Climb (2002)
The Summit (2002)
Everest Trilogy Box Set (2002)

Dive Series:
The Deep (2003)
The Danger (2003)

On the Run Series:
Public Enemies (2005)
Hunting the Hunter (2006)

Kidnapped Series:
The Search (2006)
The Rescue (2006)

Swindle Series:
Swindle (2008)
Zoobreak (2009)
Framed (2010)
Showoff (2012)
Hideout (2013)
Jackpot (2014)
Unleashed (2015)
Jingle (2016)

Titanic Series:
Unsinkable (2011)
Collision Course (2011)
S.O.S (2011)

The 39 Clues Series:
Vespers Rising (2011)
The Medusa Plot (2011)
Flashpoint (2014)

Hypnotists Series:
The Hypnotists (2013)
Memory Maze (2014)
The Dragonfly Effect (2015)

Ungifted Series:
Ungifted (2012)
Supergifted (2018)
Hypergifted (2026)

Slacker Series:
Slacker (2016)
Level 13 (2019)
...

Non Series Books:
Born To Rock (2006)
Schooled (2007)
Pop (2009)
Restart (2017)
Notorious (2019)
War Stories (2020)
Game On (contains The Chicken Doesn’t Skate and The Toilet Paper Tigers (2021)
Unplugged (2021)
Linked (2021)
The Fort (2022)

The Summit - Gordon Korman - Everest Book 2

The Climb - Gordon Korman - Everest Book 2

The Contest - Gordon Korman - Everest Book 1


Sunday, 6 July 2025

A Prayer of the Day Prayer Imploring for Holy Popes

Prayer Imploring for Holy Popes   
Prayer of the Day  

A Prayer of the Day Prayer Imploring for Holy Popes

Kyrie Eleison! Christe Eleison! Kyrie Eleison! Lord Jesus Christ, You are the Good Shepherd! With Your almighty hand You guide Your pilgrim Church through the storms of each age.

Adorn the Holy See with holy popes who neither fear the powerful of this world nor compromise with the spirit of the age, but preserve, strengthen, and defend the Catholic Faith unto the shedding of their blood, and observe, protect, and hand on the venerable liturgy of the Roman Church.

O Lord, return to us through holy popes who, inflamed with the zeal of the Apostles, proclaim to the whole world: “Salvation is found in no other than in Jesus Christ. For there is no other name under heaven given to men by which they should be saved” (see Acts 4:10-12).

Through an era of holy popes, may the Holy See—which is home to all who promote the Catholic and Apostolic Faith— always shine as the cathedra of truth for the whole world. Hear us, O Lord, and through the intercession of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Mother of the Church, grant us holy Popes, grant us many holy Popes! Have mercy on us and hear us! 
Amen
  
Pope Leo XIV Coat of Arms

Every so often I post a prayer I use as part of my daily prayers. I started praying this one while the seat was empty in 2025, I plan to continue praying it daily.

Books about Pope Leo XIV:
LEO XIV: Portrait of the First American Pope - Matthew Bunson
When the White Smoke Clears: A Guide to Pope Leo XIV's Early Days
- Fr. Mike Schmitz, Jeff Cavins, Dr. Edward Sri, Dr. Marcellino D’Ambrosio, Fr. Josh Johnson, and Katie Prejean McGrady
Pope Leo XIV - Jesús Colina
Pope Leo XIV Inside the Conclave and the Dawn of a New Papacy - Christopher White

Books By Pope Leo XVI:


Saturday, 5 July 2025

The Winter’s Tale - William Shakespeare - The Pelican Shakespeare

The Winter’s Tale
William Shakespeare
Frances E. Dolan (Editor)
ISBN 9780143131748
eISBN 9781101161845
ASIN B06XVWVTXZ

The Winter’s Tale - William Shakespeare - The Pelican Shakespeare

Five years back I started reading Shakespeare again, as my children were being introduced to it in High school. Then three years ago my son who is now 17 found he had a love for the Bard and for his plays, much as I did at that age. We had been sticking to the Oxford School Shakespeare editions as those were the versions they were reading in school, but my son decided to collect these Pelican editions because they are all available as individual volumes. We loved that the Pelican has the complete works of Shakespeare in individual volumes, and we have been picking those up to read, he gets the physical and I grab the eBooks. I loved that there are eBooks for all volumes in this series, because of a dual form of dyslexia. This year we picked up tickets for three Shakespeare plays at The Stratford Festival, including this play, we did three of the Bards plays there last year and year before as well.

The Pelican Classics were among my favourite editions of the plays when I was a youth myself. I often hunted used bookstores for the hard cover edition. I think the last time I read this would have been about 35-40 years ago. And even though I have not yet seen a production it came back fairly quickly. The description of this edition states:

“The legendary Pelican Shakespeare series features authoritative and meticulously researched texts paired with scholarship by renowned Shakespeareans. Each book includes an essay on the theatrical world of Shakespeare’s time, an introduction to the individual play, and a detailed note on the text used. Updated by general editors Stephen Orgel and A. R. Braunmuller, these easy-to-read editions incorporate over thirty years of Shakespeare scholarship undertaken since the original series, edited by Alfred Harbage, appeared between 1956 and 1967. With definitive texts and illuminating essays, the Pelican Shakespeare will remain a valued resource for students, teachers, and theater professionals for many years to come.
 
For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.”

Based on the commonly accepted chronological order of Shakespeare’s plays this usually ranked as the ante-antepenultimate or the fourth from last written believed to have been written in 1610-1611. The sections in this volume prior to the text of the play are:

Publisher’s Note
The Theatrical World
The Texts of Shakespeare
Introduction
Note on the Text

The publishers note states:

“Certain textual features of the new Pelican Shakespeare should be particularly noted. All lines are numbered that contain a word, phrase, or allusion explained in the glossarial notes. In addition, for convenience, every tenth line is also numbered, in italics when no annotation is indicated. The intrusive and often inaccurate place headings inserted by early editors are omitted (as has become standard practice), but for the convenience of those who miss them, an indication of locale now appears as the first item in the annotation of each scene.

In the interest of both elegance and utility, each speech prefix is set in a separate line when the speakers’ lines are in verse, except when those words form the second half of a verse line. Thus the verse form of the speech is kept visually intact. What is printed as verse and what is printed as prose has, in general, the authority of the original texts. Departures from the original texts in this regard have the authority only of editorial tradition and the judgment of the Pelican editors; and, in a few instances, are admittedly arbitrary.”

And the introduction begins with:

“THE WINTER’S TALE IS ONE of Shakespeare’s last plays. First performed early in 1611, it was written then or shortly before. In it, we encounter many types familiar from Shakespeare’s earlier works: the jealous husband, the falsely accused wife, the female confidante, the true friend, the loyal servant whose integrity is such that he can disobey a wrongheaded master, the cross-dressed heroine, and the beleaguered lovers. Indeed, Shakespeare seems to sample his career in this play, replaying favorite themes and recombining reliable characters and conflicts. Yet the play also includes a host of surprises. Some, such as a Bohemian seacoast, Shakespeare borrows from his source, Robert Greene’s prose romance Pandosto, which was first published in 1588, but had gone through many editions by the time Shakespeare wrote The Winter’s Tale. Shakespeare also borrows most of the characters and the basic situation from Greene; in shaping the character of Autolycus, he may also have drawn on Greene’s and Thomas Harman’s pamphlet accounts of vagrant criminals in contemporary England. The range of materials on which Shakespeare seems to have drawn in composing The Winter’s Tale suggests the richness and hybridity of this play, which owes debts to the magical transformations in Ovid’s Metamorphoses and the generous sense of possibility in prose romances, to folktales about abandoned princesses, to brief, cheap accounts of murdered babies dumped in London privies, to elaborate masques performed at court, and to street entertainers. Figures of myth, history, the imagination, and contemporary popular culture share the stage. For instance, Autolycus, cavorting and picking pockets amidst the shepherds of pastoral fantasy, is a figure from London street life - from the underworld, not the green world.”

The introduction concludes with:

“The Winter’s Tale can be viewed as a revision of Othello, for in it a similar conflict and cast find comic rather than tragic resolution. The wrongly accused wife is vindicated and restored; the outspoken woman does not die; the hero learns and grows, rather than killing himself. Why can this play work out so much better than Othello does? Genre, of course. But the question of genre is connected to the grace that pervades the play, for it is grace that lifts the doom and opens up the horizons of a dark, cramped, cold, tragic world. Time is also crucial to the difference in genre. While the time frame of Othello is sharply compressed, leaving no time for reflection or doubt, the “wide gap of time” here expands possibilities. The duration in the play also makes it possible to conjoin the generational concerns of both tragedy and comedy. Shakespearean comedy generally attends to marriageable young people as they define their identities and make matches. Their parents are sometimes obstacles, but most often irrelevant. Shakespearean tragedy often considers conflicts between the generations, as well as the ways in which parental grievances and failures haunt and blight the next generation. In The Winter’s Tale, we are invited to care equally about the marriageable young people, and their estranged parents, about how parental mistakes shape children’s options, but also how children can make “old hearts fresh” (I.1.38).

In fact, the two generations, and the two plots, are not neatly separate. When Leontes, upon meeting Perdita and Florizel, claims that he “lost a couple” like them, he refers, of course, to his own lost children; Florizel and Mamillius were only a month apart in age (V.1.132-34). But given that we are told that Perdita resembles her mother, and Florizel his father, Polixenes, Leontes also faces the images of the wife and friend he lost so many years ago. The strangers from far away turn out to be his own daughter and the son of his best friend. The promise of the future is an image of the past.”

This play comprises 5 acts and a total of 15 scenes, but the story spans many years, 16 years in fact.  With a dual form of dyslexia I greatly prefer eBooks. I do so because I can change the colour of the page and the font, and also change the font. I really wish that with eBooks of plays such as this one that there would be 2 copies of the play. One completely unadorned, no footnotes or end notes. And the other with the usual accompanying notes. I want a reader’s edition of the play to just be able to read it. Second if that is not to happen, I wish the notes were at the end of the act or even the end of the whole play. But that is just a personal preference. The Pelican Classics were originally published between 1956 and 1967. The Complete Pelican Shakespeare was first published in 1969. With this edition having copyright dates of 1956, 1971, 1999, and 2017. Making it one of the most currently revised that I have read. I believe the Pelican is one of the few editions to have released all 38 plays and the volume of Sonnets, as separate editions. Some other academic publishers limited to specific popular editions, and even then have not released eBooks of them all. (OUP School Shakespeare less than half have eBook editions) As such I am thankful that all 39 volumes from this series are available and available digitally. 

I am glad I picked this up to read with my son before going to see a performance we both finished it just days before attending. It reminded me how much I loved these editions when I was young and we have started collecting the eBook versions now. If you are looking for a good copy of the play to read or study I can easily recommend this edition.

Other Posts Related to Shakespeare:

Reviews of Stratford Shakespeare Productions:
Richard III – 2022
Hamlet – 2022
King Lear – 2023
Goblin MacBeth - 2023
Cymbeline – 2024
Reviews of Shakespeare Movies:
Cymbeline – 2014

All Pelican Shakespeare Individual Titles

Friday, 4 July 2025

Wolf of Mars - Karina Fabian - A Rescue Sisters Story

Wolf of Mars
A Rescue Sisters Story
Karina Fabian
Laser Cow Press
ASIN B0F9QKSZQ2

Wolf of Mars - Karina Fabian - A Rescue Sisters Story

Wow what a great story! I absolutely loved this new Rescue Sisters Story. This is the 43 book or story I have read by Karina Fabian, not counting anthologies. I really enjoy her style, her sense of humour, and the variety of stories she writes. This is a short story set in the Rescue Sisters Universe, one that was previously published in an anthology. I picked this up The day I found out about it. I read it one evening while waiting to pick up different kids from different events. This new story was a fairly sombre, but well worth the read. 

The Rescue Sisters is an order of nuns in space, who do search, rescue, and in this case run an orphanage. It is the second story in the collection to feature an orphanage, though this time it is on Mars proper. The description of this volume is:

“It's a new Rescue Sisters Story! "Wolf of Mars" is about a boy orphaned on Mars, desperate to get home to Earth, and a wolf willed to the orphanage when the Mars zoo closes. With coyotes terrorizing the colony, Darvin insists fear stops Gubbio from howling at the twin moons. When the children sneak Gubbio out to prove Darvin wrong, the wolf escapes--and Darvin knows it's his fault. Can Devin find Gubbio before the coyotes attack him--or Devin himself?”

About the rescue sisters we are informed:

“The order started on the L5 station, which is on the LaGrange trailing the moon. Gillian (Later St. Gillian of L5) was the wife of the inventor of artificial gravity. Ironically, he was so severely injured in an accident with his machine that he could no longer manage in Earth’s gravity, so she left Earth to join him on L5. After his death, she took holy vows and petitioned to start an order of religious sisters in outer space. 

While they do many things, Gillian chose search and rescue for the mission because it was a high-demand, high-risk operation that commanded high prices. By doing the work for “air, supplies and the love of God,” they paved the way for their religious order to grow.”

The acknowledgements state:

“This is one of those stories I was called to do—or, more accurately, emailed to do. Andrew Seddon, whom I met when he wrote a story for Infinite Space, Infinite God II, asked me to write a story for an anthology he was doing, Wolf Wanderings. 

“I just know there’s a way a wolf fits in the Rescue Sisters universe,” he said. 

I couldn’t think of anything, but promised to consider it. Well, time went by, and I toyed with the idea and kept coming up blank. Finally, he was ready to roll with the anthology so he asked one more time. By then, I’d written an orphanage story and read a book that mentioned a zoo on Mars…and the idea of a wolf on Mars came to life. 

You were right, Andrew. Thanks for keeping on me!.”

I have picked up the anthology this comes from but have not got around to reading it. I really should. After reading this piece it has jumped way up in my ‘to be read’ pile’. This is an excellent story, about finding your place, and helping others as well, even if they are a lone wolf on Mars. It is an intense little story with kids from the orphanage making some not great decisions, because they want to help each other and their new wolf. A fantastic read I can easily recommend. Well done Fabian, well done!

Note: This book is part of a series of reviews: 2025 Catholic Reading Plan!

Books by Karina Fabian:

Dex Hollister Series:

The Old Man and the Void
Dex's Way
...

Neeta Lyffe, Zombie Exterminator Series :
Neeta Lyffe, Zombie Exterminator
I Left My Brains in San Francisco
Shambling in a Winter Wonderland


DragonEye PI Series:
DragonEye PI Novels:
9.0 Gapman
10.0 Magic, Mensa and Mayhem (Revised edition forthcoming)
11.0 Live and Let Fly (Revised edition forthcoming)
...

DragonEye PI Short Stories:

DragonEye PI Original First Editions:
...

Space Traipse Series:
Space Traipse: Hold My Beer, Season 1
Space Traipse: Hold My Beer, Season 2
Space Traipse: Hold My Beer, Season 3
Space Traipse Stories

Madness of Kanaan Series:
(formerly The Mind Over Series)

Edited by: Karina Fabian:
Infinite Space, Infinite God I
Leaps of Faith
Infinite Space, Infinite God II
...


Contributed to:
Firestorm of Dragons
The Zombie Cookbook
The Book of Tentacles
Twisted Fayrie Tales
FRIGHTLINER: And Other Tales of the Undead
Mother Goose is Dead
Word by Word: Slowing Down with the Hail Mary
Image and Likeness Literary Reflections on the Theology of the Body
Corrupts Absolutely? Dark Metahuman Fiction
Weird Noir
The Complete Guide to Writing Paranormal Novels
Manifesto UF
Avenir Eclectia
Planetary Anthology: Jupiter
Planetary Anthology: Pluto
Planetary Anthology: Luna
Planetary Anthology: Uranus
FlagShip Science Fiction and Fantasy v2i5
My Little Book of Headdesks
To Be Men: Stories Celebrating Masculinity
...