BALANCING ACT BOOKS

SPOILERS FOR HALF BLOOD PRINCE: A week ago I reread my favorite Harry Potter Novel. The first time I had read Half Blood Prince, I was focused on Voldemort and his delicious backstory. The second time around, as I read the book to my daughter, Pepper, complete with voices to match each of the actors of the film adaptations, I focused on the tragedy of Dumbledore.  I go back and forth about whether it is a good idea for me to be reading these last few Potter books to her. I know that JK Rowling's master plan was to have Harry Potter age at the same rate as his readers, and that the books increased in their level of Maturity, all the way up to the final book. Harry is sixteen, by the time of Half Blood Prince. Pepper is eight. I know girls mature faster than boys, but that is still a bit of a gap in age. I do feel like this book isn't beyond her ability to relate to it, though. This picture above represents an aspect of the story that really stood out to me, this second

Please don't tell either Sam Humphries or Dennis Hopeless, but sometimes I get the two of them mixed up with each other. I understand how that might seem insulting. I certainly wouldn't want to be indistinguishable from another writer. I mean no insult, however. I don't think I have ever truly disliked a single trade I have read by either author.     I have been a fan of Humphries work on this book, and I am going to make it a point to focus on his other works as well, to get a true idea of his voice. Both Simon Baz and Jessica Cruz have distinct voices of their own. Jessica is the agoraphobic, paranoid shut in, who is just getting used to the idea that she needs to be out in the world, since it is her duty to save it.    Simon is a Muslim man, who decided to rage against the machine, by stealing cars, which utlimately led to his incarceration. So much of Simon's arc has been about trying to come to terms with his former criminal life and the price he had to pay fo