Fruits Basket Vol. 14 by Natsuki Takaya

Book Jacket

Isuzu loves snooping through Shigure's life, especially when she's totally convinved that he's hiding something.  But when Tohru finds a passed-out Isuzu in the house, she tried to drag Isuzu to the hospital.  Meanwhile, Yuki goes to the ASB student council room only to find it trashed again!  But as the secrets of who vandalized the room come out of the closet, Yuki accidentally gets locked in one.  Who will be the one to help him get out?  The answer is right inside this next volume of the super-popular Fruits Basket, the world's most popular shojo manga!

Review

Okay, so Rin and Shigure were not kissing that one time.  Which I guess is preferable, because I really like Rin and Haru together, but let's be honest, that would have been awesome and dramatic.  However, even without that twist, Rin's history is brilliant.  I love that someone (or multiple someones) other than Tohru are trying to break the curse.  The fact that everyone is trying for the sake of someone else is exactly why I love these characters so much.

Then we've got Yuki.  I'm warming to this student council.  They are kind of crazy, and I'm pretty sure they are building a romance between Yuki and Machi.  I think Yuki needs Tohru's love, no doubt.  I don't think he should stay in a relationship where he is always getting.  He is the sort of person who needs to pour out his life and love to someone else who is broken.  Machi seems pretty messed up, which I read as a love connection!

Good stories, but I wasn't blown away by anything.  It felt like these stories were both the beginning of plots that will be further developed later.

Three out of five sad little horse girls.

Release Date:  August 2006
Reading Level:  Grade 7+
Where In Dunlap Public Library's Collection: Not currently part of Dunlap's collection.

Ouran High School Host Club by Bisco Hatori

Book Jacket

In this screwball romantic comedy, Haruhi, a poor girl at a rich kids' school, is forced to repay an $80,000 debt by working for the school's swankiest, all-male club--as a boy!  There she discovers just how wealthy the six members are and how different the rich are from everybody else...

Hikaru and Kaoru's fight over Haruhi is taking its toll on Hunny and Mori, who are trying to watch over the estranged twins.  Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Tamaki, Kyoya starts looking for Tamaki's mother in France.

Review

Oh man, I'm so sad to say this, but I'm not really in love with Ouran High School Host Club anymore.  I don't know when this drifting started, but as of this volume it's official.  I know this because volume 12 has everything I usually love--a focus on the twins and a side story where Kyoya is sneakily awesome.  But I think the plots are being drawn out way too much, and any character development feels repititious at this point.

For instance.  I am super glad that Hikaru and Kaoru have officially come to terms with their desire to have individual lives.  Hikaru's hair dye will assure that people can tell them apart, and treat them as unique and beautiful snowflakes.  But the plot that leads up to that?  Been done before.  The twins fight, but the fight means something different than it looks like on the surface.  Kaoru is self-sacrificing, Hikaru is relationally blind.

Tamaki and Haruhi continue to blindly adore one another, and that annoys me!  Who in the world has such a massive crush on a person for so long, and DOESN'T REALIZE IT?  I'm sorry, but that's absurd.  And I'm not interested in reading about it volume after volume.

I will continue to read this series, because I'm near catching up with what's released, but....nope, I'll be optimistic.  Maybe the magic will return!  But for now, I can't help comparing it with Fruits Basket, which has gotten better and better of late.  C'mon Ouran!  You can do it!

Three out of five trips to France.

Release Date:  June 2009
Reading Level:  Grade 6+
Where In Dunlap Public Library's Collection:  Not yet owned by Dunlap.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J. K. Rowling

Book Jacket

You have in your hands the pivotal fourth novel in the seven-part tale of Harry Potter's training as a wizard and his coming of age.  Harry wants to get away from the pernicious Dursleys and go to the International Quidditch Cup with Hermione, Ron, and the Weasleys.  he wants to dram about Cho Chang, his crush (and maybe do more than dream).  He wants to find out about the mysterious even that's supposed to take place at Hogwarts this year, an event involving two other rival schools of magic, and a competition that hasn't happened for a hundred years.  He wants to be a normal, fourteen-year-old wizard.  Unfortunately for Harry Potter, he's not normal--even by wizarding standards.

And in his case, different can be deadly.

Review

Thus continues my epic reread of the Harry Potter series before the final movie comes out on July 15!  (What will we do when there is no longer a new Harry Potter creation to look forward to?)

If you haven't read the Harry Potter series yet, WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?  Go out and read them immediately.  Thank you.  For the rest of us, spoilers are ahead, because I will talk about each book with the revelations of the whole series in mind.

While Prisoner of Azkaban is my favorite Harry Potter book, it is Goblet of Fire that, on first read, hooked me and made me a die-hard HP fanatic.

The Quidditch World Cup is the perfect way to introduce international wizards to us.  It came as much a shock to me as it did to Harry to realize there are wizarding schools other than Hogwarts (like Pigfarts, on Mars!  ...Sorry, no more Very Potter Musical references...probably).  I love Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, and Rowlings ability to make these schools and their students fully formed in a matter of two or three descriptions is absolutely masterful.

Let's continue to speak of Rowling's brilliance.  Goblet of Fire is maybe the most shocking and complex of her mysteries.  Moody, beloved Moody, is actually the Death Eater Barty Crouch, whose father is Percy's boss and whose house elf now sobs in the kitchen at Hogwarts.  I analyzed every single line that Moody speaks, and it is amazing how each one could be spoken by either Moody or Crouch, though for very different reasons.  Crouch is a clever, clever man.  As is his creator, Rowling, obviously.

Harry's unwilling participation in the Triwizard Tournament is so underplayed.  We know he's a hero, we know he has enemies.  So even though it's mildly terrifying that someone is forcing him to evade dragons, swim in the lake, and outwit sphinxes, it is easy to get lulled into a sense of "Harry can do anything!"

And then.  Then there is "Kill the spare!" and Lord Voldemort rising again.  And the whole game changes.  Harry is no longer a lucky innocent.  He has seen death, been mocked and tortured, and the face that killed his parents is back.  I CANNOT EVEN.  Voldemort's return and the Priori Incantatum spell rocked my world.  I remember reading the whole passage to my mom from the passenger seat of the car when it first came out.  (Bit of advice, if your mom is not yet convinced that Harry Potter is good and not satanic, it is probably best not to read her the bit about a snake-baby murdering a teenager.  Just saying.)

The chaos at Hogwarts when Harry returns is horrific.  Moody's betrayal is jaw-dropping.  Snape's confession of being a Death Eater, and then his agreement to return to Voldemort's side sparked the most epic internet debate in (my) history of the interwebs:  Is Snape good or evil?

I love this book.  It is still awesome after six or seven rereads.

Five out of five shrieking eggs.

Release Date:  July 2000
Reading Level:  Grade 3+
Where In Dunlap Public Library's Collection:  YPL ROW

Comedian Chris McBrien

Chris McBrien's summer reading comedy theme is this:  Read. Lead. Succeed. 

And let me tell you, learning to be respectful is way more fun when a rude puppet is involved.  Life rule.  Chris McBrien rocks the hilarity with magic, jokes, puppets, and buckets with plungers that either a) make you smarter, or b) cause your head to disappear.

There are few things as fun as listening to 80 kids and parents laugh uproariously.  The fact that I get paid to choose entertainers and then enjoy them with library patrons is ridiculous.  I love my job, for keeps.

More pictures below the cut!

Fruits Basket Vol. 13 by Natsuki Takaya

Book Jacket

The number one manga in America continues!

The time for Yuki's parent-teacher conference has finally arrived, and Yuki must learn how to make his own decisions if he wants to have a say about his future.  Later, Tohru sets off on a quest to find out if Kureno Sohma is the same person Arisa has been in love with all this time.  But along the way she will discover a tragic secret about Momiji's sister Momo...

Review

I have remained lukewarm about Yuki's relationship with his older brother Ayame, but give them a common enemy (sadly, their mother), and I love them together!  I felt like it was finally made clear why Ayame regrets his past behaviors and is trying so desperately, and inexpertly, to be in Yuki's corner now.  He totally came through when he was most needed too.  Kudos to Yuki for sticking up for himself, as well!  He's really growing up.

Momiji is one of my favorite characters.  He's light-hearted and optimistic, but his family and his past is incredibly sad.  And I forgot to mention it earlier, but the fact that he was the only one to stand up to Akito for Tohru back at the beach house?  OH MY WORD.  Momiji is not to be taken lightly.  I want to adopt him.

But let's ignore the actual plot and Tohru's continued determination to figure out how to break the Sohma curse.  We got official, verbal confirmation that she favors Kyo!  I love how adorable their relationship is.  No flowery speeches.  Just Tohru getting upset when he ignores me and happy when he pays attention to her, then realizing that his actions affect her far more than is normal. 

Something about that struck me as incredibly interesting.  In both Fruits Basket and Ouran High School Host Club, multiple guys have crushes on the main character.  We are let into the guys' thoughts; we know how much they like the girl.  But we never really get into the girl's head to know who she likes.  Compare this to any of the American love triangle stories, where pages and pages are devoted to the heroine's agonized indecision over who she likes best.  I think it's very interesting that (at least two) Japanese stories focus on the emotions of men rather than women.  I am curious to find out whether that is an actual culture difference.  Fascinating!

Now I kind of want to go on a school trip.  :)

Four out of five violin concerts.

Release Date:  April 2006
Reading Level:  Grade 7+
Where In Dunlap Public Library's Collection: Not currently part of Dunlap's collection.

Fruits Basket Vol. 12 by Natsuki Takaya

Book Jacket

The world's most popular shojo manga continues...With the beginning of the school year approaching, the gang returns from summer break--and what a vacation indeed!  A new student council has been assembled, with two new secretaries: Naohito, who has declared himself Yuki's rival, and Kimi, who is known as a devil woman--and a thief of men's hearts.  Later, when Tohru goes to see her grandfather, he brings up a part of Tohru's past that she had tried to shut away.  And with parent-teacher conferences on the horizon, Mayuko gives Shigure some good advice.

Review

I am loving this series more than ever, now that Tohru has switched from wanting to discover each Zodiac member's identity to trying to break the curse.  Increased agency and a more streamlined plot FTW!

I could do without the student council storyline.  I like the idea of it--of Yuki having his own set of friends and gained self-confidence as a result.  But it goes on a bit too long for my tastes.  Introducing a whole new set of characters this late in the game?  Aren't there enough people to care about already?

Kagura and Kyo's date was fabulous.  I never knew I wanted an explanation for Kagura's intense love for Kyo, but I loved it when I got it.  Their story is heartbreakingly real, even if I never forced myself to love a boy because he turned into a monster and I ran away.

As for Haru and Rin...I don't get it.  Rin seems much older than the other kids, and anyway, was she not making out with Shigure that one time?  And Shigure!  What is up with him?  What is he planning?  I tend to think he's on the kids' side, but there's no denying he is mighty shady.  Can't wait to find out how he's been manipulating situations from the very beginning.

Four out of five narcoleptic vice presidents.

Release Date:  December 2005
Reading Level:  Grade 7+
Where In Dunlap Public Library's Collection: Not currently part of Dunlap's collection.

LEGO Club

With summer vacation comes far more LEGO Club participants!  15 boys showed up for our kindergarten and 1st grade club.  That many young boys guarantees hilarity and maybe a little chaos.  Totally worth it. 

In keeping with our Summer Reading theme (A Midsummer Knight's Read), we made castles!  Some castles were more spaceship shaped, but hey, alien royalty need somewhere to live too, right?

Pictures below the cut!