Bite Club

October 24, 2011
Caine (Glass Houses) offers a solid new entry in her lengthy Morganville Vampires series. Stellar college student Claire Danvers's boyfriend Shane Collins is drawn into an underground fight club that pits humans against vampires for a pay-per-view website. Under the protection of Morganville's Founder and secret ruler, the vampire Amelie, and with her part-time job as lab assistant to the vampire mad scientist Myrnin, Claire has become a little too comfortable with the local vampires for the hostile Shane. As Shane jumps at the chance to secretly work out his anger in front of an online audience, with the tantalizing prize of escaping Morganville forever, the murder of Claire's lab partner pulls her into a new round of vampire intrigue that threatens the Founder and all the humans of Morganville. Caine effectively balances the immediate mystery plot with long-developing series relationships, including not only Claire and Shane, but the complicated romance between their vampire housemate Michael and his goth girlfriend, Eve, for a satisfying 10th installment that will please series fans and new readers.

June 1, 2011

Gr 2-6-The titles in this series introduce young viewers to a variety of artists and their work. In this program, Puffer the puffin goes to Florence, Italy, where his friend Polly teaches him about Renaissance artists. Elements of the Renaissance are briefly introduced and then information about Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Raphael is presented. A brief biography of each artist is presented, and two examples of his art are examined in detail. The material in the DVD is based on the book (Crystal Prods., 2010) by Pamela Geiger Stephens. Jim McNeill's soft, computer-generated illustrations are simply animated. There are also photographs of these masterpieces: "5 Grotesque Heads" and "Mona Lisa" by Leonardo da Vinci; Michelangelo's "Pieta" and "The Creation of Adam" (carefully framed for elementary audiences); and Raphael's "The School of Athens" and "St. George and the Dragon." This simple yet interesting introduction to an important part of our artistic heritage will be embraced by art teachers for use with young students.-Teresa Bateman. Brigadoon Elementary School, Federal Way, WA

Copyright 2011 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.