Through the Looking Glass Book Reviews: What I saw and How I lied

Welcome!

Dear Book Lovers, Welcome! I am delighted that you have found The Through the Looking Glass blog. For over twenty years I reviewed children's literature titles for my online journal, which came out six times a year. Every book review written for that publication can be found on the Through the Looking Glass website (the link is below). I am now moving in a different direction, though the columns that I write are still book-centric. Instead of writing reviews, I'm offering you columns on topics that have been inspired by wonderful books that I have read. I tell you about the books in question, and describe how they have have impacted me. This may sound peculiar to some of you, but the books that I tend to choose are ones that resonate with me on some level. Therefore, when I read the last page and close the covers, I am not quite the same person that I was when first I started reading the book. The shift in my perspective might be miniscule, but it is still there. The books I am looking are both about adult and children's titles. Some of the children's titles will appeal to adults, while others will not. Some of the adult titles will appeal to younger readers, particularly those who are eager to expand their horizons.

Monday, January 5, 2009

Judy Blundell wins the 2008 National Book Award

A week before Thanksgiving it was announced that Judy Blundell's book What I saw and how I lied won the National Book Award for Young People's Literature. Presented by the National Book Foundation this prestigious award has been given to such books as The Penderwicks (2005), The Canning Season (2003), The House of the Scorpion (2002) and Holes (1998).

Though she has written many books under other names, this is the first book that Judy Blundell has written using her own name on the book cover. Judy Blundell has written books for middle grade, young adult, and adult readers under several pseudonyms. Her novel, Premonitions, was an ALA Reluctant Readers Best

Picks and was chosen by the New York Public Library as a 2004 Best Books for the Teen Age. Judy Blundell is well known to Star Wars fans by her pseudonym, Jude Watson. Among her forthcoming projects is Book #4 in the New York Times bestselling series, The 39 Clues. Judy Blundell lives in Katonah, New York, with her husband and daughter.

Here is a synopsis of the book from the publisher:

When Evie's father returned home from World War II, the family fell back into its normal life pretty quickly. But Joe Spooner brought more back with him than just good war stories. When movie-star handsome Peter Coleridge, a young ex-GI who served in Joe's company in postwar Austria, shows up, Evie is suddenly caught in a complicated web of lies that she only slowly recognizes. She finds herself falling for Peter, ignoring the secrets that surround him . . . until a tragedy occurs that shatters her family and breaks her life in two.
As she begins to realize that almost everything she believed to be a truth was really a lie, Evie must get to the heart of the deceptions and choose between her loyalty to her parents and her feelings for the man she loves. Someone will have to be betrayed. The question is . . . who?

If any of you have read this book please let me know what you think of it. I hope to review it myself very soon.