Pirates like Thanksgiving as much as anyone else, don't get me wrong. But after all the excitement of Halloween, November can seem a little... tame. If falling asleep on the couch after dinner isn't your idea of the best way to commemorate the eleventh month of the year, you'll be glad to know that there are bold and daring piratey types out there celebrating November as only bold and daring piratey types can.
How? By pledging to write entire 50,000-word novels during the month of November. And they're typing away even as you read this! It's called National Novel Writing Month, NaNoWriMo for short. Check out the special kids' and students' NaNo website here to see what it's like. And if you have a great idea for a novel, it's not too late to sign up. Maybe the crew will be reviewing your book someday soon! In the meantime, we haven't stopped scouting out awesome reads for you.
The highly excellent Starsea returns this month with a review of Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson's Peter and the Shadow Thieves, and she says the sequel to Peter and the Starcatchers is even better than the first. Read more about it here!
And Charlotte Doyle, that worthy seadog, has a review of Magyk by Angie Sage. If you're a fan of fantasy that's not just imaginative but also laugh-out-loud funny, you'll want to check out her review here!
For my review this month, I'm returning to a classic that some people might have missed. Dark Lord of Derkholm by Diana Wynne Jones was first published ten years ago, but it's been reprinted numerous times and is still easy to find. Don't let the title fool you - this book has the warmest and funniest family since Full House, dragons, bards, some freakin' hilarious dwarves, and way too much else to explain on this page. If it sounds intriguing, check out the review here!