I’ve let this slide for so long that I have two review posts to do, instead of one. So let’s just launch into it, shall we? This batch is everything that isn’t SF and F, basically, though I snuck some comics and even a genuine graphic novel into the mix.
Everyone knows Dar Williams as a singer/songwriter. That is, if they move in the right circles, anyway. If you don’t, I’d suggest starting at The Honesty Room and going forward from there. But like that other New England singer/songwriter who writes books, Williams writes prose on occasion. Most specifically, she’s written two books for teens about a precocious girl named Amalee, who has been raised by her father and his very eclectic set of friends. I found both books pretty charming, with Amalee an interesting character. Great kids’ lit? Probably not. Will I keep buying them? Yeah. They’re well-written, have Dar’s trademark sense of humor about them, and the character strokes are strong. In this one, Amalee decides to make a movie as a result of getting to meet her grandmother for the first time. Perhaps the best part of the book is the way that the long-dead emotional undercurrents about her late mother are brought forward mostly through what the supporting cast doesn’t say; they all knew her, and have been keeping secrets about her until they felt that Amalee was ready to hear them.
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