Review: Chase to the Brazen Head by Gregory Payne

Chase to the Brazen Head by Gregory Payne -- Guest review by Kathy of Mom Crusades

If Indiana Jones met The Hardy Boys and The Magic Tree House, the end result wouldn’'t be too far from what the reader meets in Chase to the Brazen Head, from the China Exploration Club series by Gregory Payne.

Brazen Head is chock-full of well-paced adventure, squeaky-clean characters, and information about the Chinese culture, and of course - there’s a mystery to be solved: Who is Lee, and why does he want an ugly, wooden key?

Archer, aka Archie, Blaine is our American teen living in Shanghai, where his father works. He hates living there, but is doing what he can to make the best of it. I wanted more character development for Archie, as he learns about a new culture, fitting in at a private school, missing his old friends, and so forth.

Archie meets Edward Montague de Lisle, "[a] rather small lad," a bespectacled misfit who is a veritable font of knowledge. While exploring the school grounds one day, Edward and Archie find an old church that is being used as someone’s private museum - housing a collection of Chinese artifacts and a library of sorts about the artifacts and Chinese culture. Ah Sook is the elderly Chinese gentleman who oversees this collection, and between his conversations and Edward’s, we get that Magic Tree House element to the story.

In the Magic Tree House books, for those who are unfamiliar with them,  the characters travel in their tree house to various places around the world and have grand adventures, all the while learning tidbits about the culture, etc. of the places they’'ve landed. In Brazen Head, the information sharing is set up well enough by the author, but it still seems somewhat forced, as though the point of the novel is to educate the reader about many facets of another culture rather than take the reader on an adventure and make the reader think about how the character is feeling or why he/she does what he/she does.

Archie and Edward enroll in a martial arts class taught by a brother-sister team who were trained by Shaolin monks. Sze and his sister, Yan Yan, soon befriend Archie and Edward. After a rather contrived Hardy Boys style mishap, directed to their elderly friend Ah Sook (at the hands of the evil Lee), the quartet are planning an adventure.

It is refreshing to read a story where the female character is not someone’s love interest, or isn’t trying to become someone’s love interest, and she can actually kick some serious hiney. She was, after all, trained in martial arts by Shaolin monks. However, Yan Yan could just as easily be a male for all that anything is made of her femaleness. All of the characters seem asexual and flat, to me. Yan Yan is the token female. Sze is the hungry one. Edward is the studious, knowledgeable one. Archie is the somewhat stupid, athletic one, compared to Edward - but heck, compared to Edward, anyone would be stupid.

The goal of the foursome is to stop the evil Lee from obtaining the Brazen Head. I admit that by this point in the story, I was reading simply to finish the novel, so I had to go back and find out just what the heck a Brazen Head was. Roughly paraphrased, here it is:

Dominican saint and scholar Albertus Magnus, of the Middle Ages, and expert on the human brain, spent most of his adult life creating the Brazen Head which is a mechanical device in the shape of a human head, which could answer questions. The real Brazen Head was created by Tao Hongjing, a Taoist master and alchemist, and it is this Brazen Head that our four friends seek.

The rest of the book is pretty much like an Indiana Jones movie. In fact, this novel would translate well on the big screen - the special effects could be incredible.

The whole time adventures are going on, somewhat noisily, I might add, Archie, Edward, Sze, and Yan Yan are trying to catch up to the evil Lee. The adventures are interesting, but there is never any real sense of danger inherent in them. I was always sure that no one would be seriously injured or die, and even when the characters were faced with being shot with eight gajillion arrows if they even sneezed, I figured they’'d find a way out of it.

For readers interested in Indiana Jones-style adventure, and who have few concerns about why a character said or did something, this would be a fine read. There are lots of sticky situations to get out of, and in 290 pages, that kind of fun never ends. Readers who want more character development, though, will be disappointed.

All novels should have well-developed characters and an interesting plot line. Chase to the Brazen Head: China Exploration Club had only the interesting plot line, and even that, well, there weren'’t many surprises.

The novel is well-paced, the information presented is interesting, but the characters are undeveloped and there aren'’t many surprises within the plot. I would rate this novel 2 ½ stars out of 5.

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Guest review: A Small Death in the Great Glen by A.D. Scott

A Small Death in the Great Glen by A.D. Scott -- Guest review by Pam of Rambling Pam

A Small Death in the Great Glen, A.D. Scott’s debut novel, begins with the tragic and heinous murder of a young boy. The book doesn’t reveal who killed the boy until the last few chapters. In between, we meet and get to know a host of colorful characters, some good, some bad, all residents of a small Scottish Highlands town.

While the Highlands usually call to mind an idyllic setting and soaring beauty, Scott’s Scotland is a bit harsher. This mid-1950s community is still recovering from the emotional ravages of World War II and its residents can be as cold and cruel as the Highland’s weather. They condemn a foreign man simply because he’s an outsider and turn a blind eye to abusive husbands and corrupt men of power.

Whodunit actually makes up a small part of the story. The bigger stories are the lives of the people in the town, especially those who work at the Highland Gazette: editor-in-chief McAllister, reporter Rob McClean, subeditor Don McLeod and typist/cub reporter Joanne Ross. Joanne is the most interesting of the group to me. Joanne works at a time when most married women were expected to stay home, and she works in a “man’s job” at the newspaper. It’s the kind of story that made me want to work as a reporter as a youngster.

Joanne contributes an important piece to the puzzle of who killed the young boy, although she thinks it’s just silly stories from her two daughters. Together with the other members of the reporting team, she helps solve this mystery that the police would rather just sweep under the rug.

There are no graphic descriptions of what happened to the boy. In fact, the language used to describe the crime is what you’d expect from the middle of the last century. They say the boy was “interfered with” rather than molested or raped. There are also plenty of colorful Scottish phrases to better immerse you in the culture. For instance, Joanne and her husband head west through the bealach (Gaelic for mountain pass) and a child is often referred to as a bairn.

The word “dreich” comes up more than once and is fitting to both the subject matter and the weather. “The rolled ‘r’ and the harsh ‘ch’ conveyed the texture and color and feeling of the days of gray,” one of the characters thinks.

Although often gray and gloomy, A Small Death in the Great Glen is never dull or dreary and kept me turning page after page. It reminded me a bit of The Shipping News, with its small-town newspaper, its close-knit – odd and isolated – community, its secrets, its harsh environment and tough characters.

Although A.D. Scott’s debut novel may not win a Pulitzer Prize (as The Shipping News did) I thoroughly enjoyed this book and find myself missing the characters and wanting to read more about them. My copy of the book includes a preview of the sequel, and I look forward to picking it up when it comes out.

If Scott can keep up the interest and intrigue in her second novel that she achieved in her first, she’ll earn a true fan in me.

Clicking on the book cover will provide more information on the book. It is NOT an affiliate link; I earn nothing by you clicking, so go for it!

PSA: PEDIGREE Adoption Drive

My friend Amber -- whose ever-amazing dog, Mayzie, writes her own blog -- is the very biggest animal lover I know. She's always encouraging folks to make a difference when it comes to animals, especially dogs, so this here is me following her lead in helping out the PEDIGREE Adoption Drive.

• Each year, more than 4 million dogs end up in shelters and breed rescue organizations. Pedigree created The PEDIGREE Adoption Drive to help shine a spotlight on the plight of these homeless dogs.
• This year the PEDIGREE Adoption Drive is raising awareness for homeless dogs by donating a bowl of food to shelter dogs for everyone who becomes a “Fan” or “Likes” The PEDIGREE Adoption Drive on Facebook. So far more than 1  million bowls have been donated.
• For each blog that posts about the PEDIGREE® Adoption Drive through September 19, PEDIGREE® will donate a bag of their new Healthy Longevity Food for Dogs to shelters nationwide. It’s simple: Write a post, send out an email, add a blurb to a newsletter and help a dog.
• Thursday, September 16 through Sunday, September 19, the Pedigree BlogPaws bloggers will host a Blog Hop, to help raise awareness for the “Write a post, help a dog” effort. You can make a difference.

If you're a blogger and would like to make a difference, there's still time ... if you do it TODAY! All you do is create a little post including the bullets above then link up at PEDIGREE's Blog Hop Special Edition. And you do NOT need to be a doggie blogger to participate!

Review: Four books for children

When Bubby last visited, I seized the opportunity to review a few of the picture books from my review pile with him. Sure, I can read picture books and say "yay" or "nay" on what I think of them and their potential to entertain little ones. But there's nothing like going straight to the source for true and accurate feedback. So I took advantage of having a two-year-old book lover in my midst.

The first book we read together was It's Vacation Time by Lerryn Korda ($8.99 Candlewick Press). It's one in a series for kids ages 1-3 called "Playtime with Little Nye."

The attractive, simple illustrations in It's Vacation Time immediately caught Bubby's eye. When I presented several books to read before bedtime, It's Vacation Time was his first choice.

About halfway through the story, though, it was clear the illustrations weren't enough to hold my grandson's attention. We did finish the book -- a quick read about Little Nye and his pals getting ready for vacation, with Nella being in charge of the packing -- but were thankful for its brevity. It really just wasn't all that exciting or interesting for either of us. The biggest appeal was that Nella made ice pops -- something Bubby and I had recently done. Other than that, Bubby didn't identify with any of the objects or characters in the story. He had no experience with going on vacation, packing a suitcase, or any of the items removed from the suitcase, such as a swim tube, fins, face mask and a boat. I'm not sure how many kids in the targeted demographic do have experience with such things.

Bubby's opinion on It's Vacation Time -- which pretty much mirrors mine -- is a gentle "Meh." There's nothing truly negative about the book, but also nothing truly exciting or endearing that makes you want to read it again and again.

One book Bubby did want to read again and again was a little spiral-bound treat called Nito's Tale: A True Story of an Assistance Dog of the West by Judith M. Newton and illustrated by Sue Blackburn. All proceeds from the $12 book -- and its two accompanying books, Nito Meets Chloe! and Nito and Chloe Get an Invitation, also $12 each and from Sunstone Press -- benefit Assistance Dogs of The West.

Bubby immediately identified with the drawing of the dog on the cover. (Of course, what little boy doesn't love dogs?) Inside is the story, told from Nito's perspective, of the little dog's training to become an assistance dog. Nito learned basic dog etiquette, such as teeth brushing and potty training, along with how to push a wheelchair through a door and pick things up from the floor. By the end of the book Nito graduates, earning his red Assistant Dog of the West vest.

Bubby loved not only the illustrations of dogs throughout the book, but also the text. He followed the story along and pointed out illustrations as they matched the words I was reading, especially enjoying the page filled with puppies lining up for training time after hearing the "teaching time" bell ring.

In Nito Meets Chloe!, Bubby identified right away with the various activities of Nito and the wheelchair-bound girl to whom he was assigned. Chloe's home included kitties, balls and clocks (all favorite things of Bubby's). Outings featured a school bus, swimming at the pool and going out for pizza -- all things Bubby easily and happily identified with.

The invitation of Nito and Chloe Get an Invitation is an invitation for Nito and Chloe to visit Washington, D.C. as Nito was named "Service Dog of the Year" and was to be recognized for such by the President (clearly President Obama, from the illustrations). Nito and Chloe fly in a plane (which Bubby and I had just done), visit the National Gallery of Art and the National Zoo. Best of all, Nito is given a medal on the lawn of the White House -- then proceeds to splash and play in the White House pool with Bo, the first dog.

Bubby's enjoyment of all three Nito books was undeniable. Although the original, Nito's Tale, was his clear favorite (based on requests to read it several times), I'm sure we'll be reading all three stories of Nito for many years to come.

Clicking on the book covers will provide more information on purchasing each book. These are NOT affiliate links; I earn nothing by you clicking on them, so go for it!