The Amulet of Samarkand

Ashamed isn't even the word I should use to describe how bad I feel about my personal reading habits lately.  I've failed as a librarian!  No, not really.  But I haven't read as much as I normally do lately.  I started this series right before Christmas and haven't finished.  I know...it's been 3 months.  (One of my excuses for not reading is that we've had only 1 snow day and I had to clean my house that day!  NO snow days means NO free reading days.) 

Oh well, let me go ahead and review this book...I already know what you're thinking...the cover is atrocious.  I agree.  Not typically my kind of book, but I agreed to read it with one of my sixth grade students so we could discuss it.  And then...he abandoned it.  So then I went looking for another student to read it with...an 8th grader this time.  He also abandoned it after a few pages.  You see, it has to do with the fact that the protagonist is a demon.  Yep.  A demon.  I don't like it much either...but I'm going to finish.  The book is well-written.  The author does have an issue with point of view...(like I obviously have an issue with elipses---I like them, okay?!).  Stroud switches point of view without appropriate transitions and it's difficult for my middle school kiddos to keep up.  I think that's what loses them.  The plot is action-packed, though, I'll give him credit for that. 

Perhaps in an urban middle school, this book would sprout wings and fly off of the shelves, but not here in our rural Kentucky school.  And I'm not complaining.

So, I wouldn't necessarily suggest this book to just any reader...those tweens who like Cirque du Freak, maybe. 

Happy Reading!
RC