My picks for July

Fiction Book: The Face on the Milk Carton, by Caroline B. Cooney

What would you do if everything you knew turned out to be untrue? Janie Johnson's parents did not have any pictures of her as a baby- but they had told her it was because they did not own a camera until she was older. So Janie has never seen a photograph of herself as a toddler...until one day, when she takes a look at the "Missing Person" picture on a milk carton and recognizes herself! But she cannot be "Jennie Spring"- at least she does not recognize that name. Nor does she remember being kidnapped from a mall at age 3. But now she's having flashbacks about living somewhere else before coming to live with the Johnsons.

Janie's parents tell her that their daughter, Hannah, had joined a cult. And that Janie was Hannah's daughter, but Hannah had returned to the cult and had left Janie to be raised by Mr. and Mrs. Johnson. Janie tries to convince herself that the memories are of the cult- but she cannot get the Jennie Spring kidnapping story out of her mind. She writes a letter to the Spring family- but cannot bring herself to mail it, nor to call this family in a place that she has no memory of at all.

Non-fiction book: The Sky's the Limit- Stories of Discovery by Women and Girls, by Catherine Thimmesh

Did you know that lichens are both algae and fungi? What came first- counting or writing? How do chimps use tools? What does the earliest cave painting depict? Can most of the matter in the universe be seen, or not? All these discoveries and more can be credited to women and girls whose curiosity led them to learn more and more.

Manga: RG Veda, by CLAMP

"Six stars shall strike the earth", the prophecy says. Yasha-ou has awakened the child Ashura and sets out to seek the other four Stars in order to overthrow the evil emperor Taishakuten and his even more wicked wife Shashi. Aided by the mysterious Kujaku, the six Stars head in a journey towards the palace. There are supposed to be four generals to Taishakuten, so why do they see only three? Who could be the fourth one? And how much power does Ashura wield with the sword? Based on the ancient Hindu scripture RigVeda- but with CLAMP's famous plot twists.

Anime: Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo

It is now the year 5053. Albert de Morcerf and his friend Franz have journeyed from Paris to the Luna festival. Here they meet a very mysterious gentleman- the Count of Monte Cristo, alias Gankutsuou, who promises to visit Albert in Paris. It may be Albert's first time meeting the Count, but it is not the first time the Count (or should he be called Edmond Dantes) has crossed paths with Albert's family. A magnificent adaptation of the original novel by Alexandre Dumas. Gankutsuou is especially famous for the colors and patterns used in the characters' clothes...but it has substance and not just style!

Website: Deviant Art

Upload and display all your artwork here- whether you drew it on paper and scanned it or created it using a picture editing program! Receive and give feedback about art. There's even a message board and a news page. Great place to store and show your art if you don't have a website- yeppers, it is free!