My picks for November

Fiction Book- Nothing but the Truth by Avi

Philip Malloy is not the most motivated ninth grader- which shows in his English grade. But he was not a troublemaker. Until he hummed "The Star Spangled Banner" to get transfered from his teacher's homeroom. Philip would have never suspected this would turn into a national incident involving newspapers and lawyers. This book is written as a documentary novel- complete with memos and articles. So what did actually happen? Who is telling the truth?

Nonfiction Book- Hayao Miyazaki: Master of Japanese Animation by Helen McCarthy

Did you like Princess Mononoke? Want to find out more about the animation of Castle in the Sky? Want more Studio Ghibli titles? Then this book is for you. All about Hayao Miyazaki and the movies that he directed or did character designs for. Guess what- the very first movie I watched in the theatres was a Miyazaki film!

Manga- A Little Snow Fairy Sugar by Haruka Aoi

Saga is a very tidy girl living with her grandmother in Germany. She plays her mother's piano at the music store and works at a coffee shop. But her ordinary life becomes not so ordinary when she meets Sugar- a snow fairy in training! Sugar, and her friends Salt the Sun Fairy and Pepper the Wind Fairy, also decide to plant their seeds in Saga's place! Now Saga has to keep the Fairies a secret from her classmates- while Sugar and her friends have to find the true twinkle that will allow them to become full-fledged Weather Fairies!!!

Anime- Pretear

Himeno is a normal sixteen year old whose father has gotten remarried to a rich woman with two daughters. But that is not the most extraordinary thing happening to Himeno this year- she has also met the seven Leafe Knights who harness the powers of nature and who can merge with Himeno to become the Pretear! It is up to Pretear Himeno and the Leafe Knights to stop the Princess of Disaster- but why is the Princess of Disaster so evil that she needs to be stopped? And who is this mysterious maid that comes to work for Himeno's new family? And why does Sasame sound so melancholic, even though he is a Leafe Knight fighting for good?

Sugar and Pretear both have manga and anime versions. I like both the manga and anime for Sugar about the same- but the Pretear anime has a plot twist that makes it just plain awesome. Both have theme songs sung by Yoko Ishida- whom I saw in concert at AWA 2005!!!

Website- Jump the Shark

OK, so you've been watching a TV show you like for a few seasons. And it just does not seem as good as it used to be. Can you think of when things changed and it just stopped serving its purpose? The phrase for this is "jump the shark"- named for when Fonzie jumped over a shark with jet skis in the show "Happy Days" and viewers realized the show was no longer the same. This website talks about when a lot of TV shows stopped being good and changed for the worst- and it lets visitors pick the exact moments and reasons when a show has "jumped the shark".