Kate’s 2¢: “Dance Upon the Air” and others by Nora Roberts

“Dance Upon the Air” and others by Nora Roberts

Kate’s 2¢: There is a plethora of in-depth biographies of authors and reviews of their books, that state the title, author, published date, and genre; as well as,     describing what the book is about, setting, and character(s), so, Kate’s 2¢ merely shares my thoughts about what I read.  I’m just saying…

   While I do enjoy Roberts novels better than the “in deathe series”, I chose these books because my favorite narrator, Martha Harmon Pardee, was at the mike.

“Three fates” is an hearty, rollicking  Irish tales, following two brothers and a sister as they recover a stolen family treasure, finding adventure and love along the way.

“Brazen virtue” is an example of family dinamics, especially, between the two sisters.

“Dance upon the air” is not normally what I like to read, however, Pardee does wonderful things with her voice as she reads this Paranormal romance fiction.

From NLS/BARD/LOC:

Dance upon the air DB52276

Roberts, Nora. Reading time: 9 hours, 0 minutes.

Read by Martha Harmon Pardee. A production of the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Library of Congress.

Paranormal romance fiction

Bestsellers

Nell Channing fakes her death to escape the clutches of her abusive wealthy husband. Mysteriously drawn to Three Sisters Island–to which she is unknowingly connected through her ancestors–she works for Mia Devlin, a witch, who introduces Nell to her own latent powers. Some explicit descriptions of sex and some violence. Bestseller. 2001.

Downloaded: March 15, 2020

Three fates DB54462

Roberts, Nora. Reading time: 14 hours, 25 minutes.

Read by Martha Harmon Pardee. A production of the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Library of Congress.

Suspense Fiction

Romance

Bestsellers

Irish siblings Malachi, Gideon, and Rebecca Sullivan seek the return of a family heirloom–a small antique statue–and the whereabouts of its matching pieces. During their dangerous quest, they manipulate suspects but also fall in love. Strong language, some explicit descriptions of sex, and some violence. Bestseller. 2002.

Downloaded: March 15, 2020

Brazen virtue DB53372

Roberts, Nora. Reading time: 8 hours, 25 minutes.

Read by Martha Harmon Pardee. A production of the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Library of Congress.

Romantic suspense fiction

Mystery writer Grace McCabe comes to Washington, D.C., to visit her sister, Kathleen, hoping for rest and a sisterly bond. But everything changes when Kathleen, who works at night as a phone-sex operator, is strangled to death. Violence, strong language, and some descriptions of sex. Bestseller. 1988.

“Dance Upon the Air” and others by Nora Roberts

Kate’s 2¢: There is a plethora of in-depth biographies of authors and reviews of their books, that state the title, author, published date, and genre; as well as,     describing what the book is about, setting, and character(s), so, Kate’s 2¢ merely shares my thoughts about what I read.  I’m just saying…

   While I do enjoy Roberts novels better than the “in deathe series”, I chose these books because my favorite narrator, Martha Harmon Pardee, was at the mike.

“Three fates” is an hearty, rollicking  Irish tales, following two brothers and a sister as they recover a stolen family treasure, finding adventure and love along the way.

“Brazen virtue” is an example of family dinamics, especially, between the two sisters.

“Dance upon the air” is not normally what I like to read, however, Pardee does wonderful things with her voice as she reads this Paranormal romance fiction.

From NLS/BARD/LOC:

Dance upon the air DB52276

Roberts, Nora. Reading time: 9 hours, 0 minutes.

Read by Martha Harmon Pardee. A production of the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Library of Congress.

Paranormal romance fiction

Bestsellers

Nell Channing fakes her death to escape the clutches of her abusive wealthy husband. Mysteriously drawn to Three Sisters Island–to which she is unknowingly connected through her ancestors–she works for Mia Devlin, a witch, who introduces Nell to her own latent powers. Some explicit descriptions of sex and some violence. Bestseller. 2001.

Downloaded: March 15, 2020

Three fates DB54462

Roberts, Nora. Reading time: 14 hours, 25 minutes.

Read by Martha Harmon Pardee. A production of the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Library of Congress.

Suspense Fiction

Romance

Bestsellers

Irish siblings Malachi, Gideon, and Rebecca Sullivan seek the return of a family heirloom–a small antique statue–and the whereabouts of its matching pieces. During their dangerous quest, they manipulate suspects but also fall in love. Strong language, some explicit descriptions of sex, and some violence. Bestseller. 2002.

Downloaded: March 15, 2020

Brazen virtue DB53372

Roberts, Nora. Reading time: 8 hours, 25 minutes.

Read by Martha Harmon Pardee. A production of the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Library of Congress.

Romantic suspense fiction

Mystery writer Grace McCabe comes to Washington, D.C., to visit her sister, Kathleen, hoping for rest and a sisterly bond. But everything changes when Kathleen, who works at night as a phone-sex operator, is strangled to death. Violence, strong language, and some descriptions of sex. Bestseller. 1988.

Downloaded: March 15, 2020

Kate’s 2¢: “Hidden in plain sight: a Detective William Warwick novel by Jeffrey Archer

“Hidden in plain sight: a Detective William Warwick novel by Jeffrey Archer

Kate’s 2¢: There is a plethora of in-depth biographies of authors and reviews of their books, that state the title, author, published date, and genre; as well as,     describing what the book is about, setting, and character(s), so, Kate’s 2¢ merely shares my thoughts about what I read.  I’m just saying…

   The elusive drug ring was scooped up, but the birth of the Warick babies over-shadowed the fact that various loose-ends were left dangling at the end of the story.

   George Blagden did a good job reading this story for the NLS.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jeffrey Howard Archer, Baron Archer of Weston-Super-Mare (born 15 April 1940)[1] is an English novelist, former politician, convicted perjurer, and peer of the realm. Before becoming an author, Archer was a Member of Parliament (1969–1974), but did not seek re-election after a financial scandal that left him almost bankrupt.[2] He revived his fortunes as a best-selling novelist; his books have sold more than 320 million copies worldwide.[3]

Archer became deputy chairman of the Conservative Party (1985–86), before resigning after a newspaper accused him of paying money to a prostitute. In 1987, he won a court case and was awarded large damages because of this claim.[4] He was made a life peer in 1992 and subsequently became Conservative candidate to be the first elected Mayor of London. He had to resign his candidacy in 1999 after it emerged that he had lied in his 1987 libel case. He was imprisoned (2001–2003) for perjury and perverting the course of justice, ending his elected political career.[3]

Archer’s latest novel, Hidden in Plain Sight, was published in October 2020, and is the second book in a new series featuring detective William Warwick.[38] The third book in the series, Turn a Blind Eye, will be published in 2021. The Short, the Long and the Tall, an illustrated collection of Archer’s short stories, will be published in November 2020, with watercolour illustrations by artist Paul Cox.[39]

From NLS/BARD/LOC:

Hidden in plain sight: a Detective William Warwick novel DB101354

Archer, Jeffrey. Reading time: 8 hours, 9 minutes.

Read by George Blagden.

Mystery and Detective Stories

1986. William Warwick from Nothing Ventured (DB 96828) has been promoted to Detective Sergeant. Along with the rest of his team, he is assigned to the Drugs Squad. Their mission is to capture a notorious drug dealer, but a trap is hidden in plain sight. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. 2020.

Downloaded: January 4, 2021

Kate’s 2¢: “The Law of Innocence” by Michael Connelly

“The Law of Innocence” by Michael Connelly

Kate’s 2¢: There is a plethora of in-depth biographies of authors and reviews of their books, that state the title, author, published date, and genre; as well as,     describing what the book is about, setting, and character(s), so, Kate’s 2¢ merely shares my thoughts about what I read.  I’m just saying…

   I’m amazed at how quickly this book was published. Mid-March, 2020, was when countries quarantined its citizens, mandated face masks, and other efforts to impede the pandemic spread of the Corona-19 virus. This book must have been written at that time to be able to refer to it; then, rush the manuscript to the publisher and hit the market before the end of 2020. I guess being already famous will give the writer a leg up.

   I enjoyed the story and, although, I’m not sure what was fact and what was fiction, the whole thing is scary  to think of the nastiness that happens.  On second thought, look at the siege of the U.S. Capitol Building  on January 6^th!

   Peter Giles did a good job of reading this story for the NLS. Thank you.

From  Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Michael Joseph Connelly (born July 21, 1956[1]) is an American author of detective novels and other crime fiction, notably those featuring LAPD Detective Hieronymus “Harry” Bosch and criminal defense attorney Mickey Haller. Connelly is the bestselling author of 31 novels and one work of non-fiction, with over 74 million copies of his books sold worldwide and translated into 40 foreign languages. His first novel, The Black Echo, won the Mystery Writers of America Edgar Award for Best First Novel in 1992. In 2002, Clint Eastwood directed and starred in the movie adaptation of Connelly’s 1997 novel, Blood Work. In March 2011, the movie adaptation of Connelly’s novel The Lincoln Lawyer starred Matthew McConaughey as Mickey Haller.[2] Connelly was the President of the Mystery Writers of America from 2003 to 2004.[3]

From NLS/BARD/LOC:

The law of innocence DB101096

Connelly, Michael. Reading time: 12 hours, 30 minutes.

Read by Peter Giles.

Suspense Fiction

Mystery and Detective Stories

Legal Fiction

Defense attorney Mickey Haller is pulled over by police, who find the body of a client in the trunk of his Lincoln. When Haller is charged with murder and can’t make the exorbitant bail slapped on him by a vindictive judge, he must strategize and build his defense from his jail cell. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. 2020.

Downloaded: January 4, 2021

Kate’s 2¢: “The Sentinel” by Lee and Andrew Child

“The Sentinel” by Lee and Andrew Child

   I liked this story and couldn’t help draw a parallel to the very real world of computers being held for ransom. There ought to be a law and there probably is, but how do you police and patrol cyber-space?

   I’d down-loaded this story from NLS/BARD/LOC on December 26, 2020, but, when I went to retrieve the written description, it was gone. I’m not sure what happen, but, I went to the WEB for more information on the authors and the story.

From the WEB:

“The Sentinel” by Lee and Andrew Child

   I liked this story and couldn’t help draw a parallel to the very real world of computers being held for ransom. There ought to be a law and there probably is, but how do you police and patrol cyber-space?

   I’d down-loaded this story from NLS/BARD/LOC on December 26, 2020, but, when I went to retrieve the written description, it was gone. I’m not sure what happen, but, I went to the WEB for more information on the authors and the story.

From the WEB:

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Jack Reacher is back! The “utterly addictive” (The New York Times) series continues as acclaimed author Lee Child teams up with his brother, Andrew Child, fellow thriller writer extraordinaire.

“One of the many great things about Jack Reacher is that he’s larger than life while remaining relatable and believable. The Sentinel shows that two Childs are even better than one.”—James Patterson

As always, Reacher has no particular place to go, and all the time in the world to get there. One morning he ends up in a town near Pleasantville, Tennessee.

But there’s nothing pleasant about the place.

In broad daylight Reacher spots a hapless soul walking into an ambush. “It was four against one” . . . so Reacher intervenes, with his own trademark brand of conflict resolution.

The man he saves is Rusty Rutherford, an unassuming IT manager, recently fired after a cyberattack locked up the town’s data, records, information . . . and secrets. Rutherford wants to stay put, look innocent, and clear his name.

Reacher is intrigued. There’s more to the story. The bad guys who jumped Rutherford are part of something serious and deadly, involving a conspiracy, a cover-up, and murder—all centered on a mousy little guy in a coffee-stained shirt who has no idea what he’s up against.

Rule one: if you don’t know the trouble you’re in, keep Reacher by your side.

Kate’s 2¢: “Heaven Is a Long Way Off: a novel of the mountain men”; “Beauty For Ashes; A Novel of the Mountain Men”; A long and winding road: a novel of the mountain men” by Winfred Blevins

“Heaven Is a Long Way Off: a novel of the mountain men”; “Beauty For Ashes; A Novel of the Mountain Men”; A long and winding road: a novel of the mountain men”   by  Winfred Blevins

Kate’s 2¢: There is a plethora of in-depth biographies of authors and reviews of their books, that state the title, author, published date, and genre; as well as,     describing what the book is about, setting, and character(s), so, Kate’s 2¢ merely shares my thoughts about what I read.  I’m just saying…

   I seem drawn to the historical fiction stories. The old wild west days of the beaver trappers, mountain law and lore.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: winblevins.com

   Win Blevins (born October 21, 1938)[1] is an American author of fiction and non-fiction. He has written many books about the western mountain trappers,[2] and is known for his “mastery of western lore.”[3] His notable works include Stone Song, So Wild a Dream, and Dictionary of the American West. According to WorldCat, the Dictionary of the American West is held in 728 libraries.[4]

   Blevins, of Cherokee, Welsh-Irish, and African-American descent, is a native of Little Rock, Arkansas. After attending school in St. Louis, Missouri, he moved to New York, where he received a master’s degree from Columbia University, graduating with honors, and continued to California, where he was graduated from the Music Conservatory of the University of Southern California.[6]

Journalism and Writing Career[edit]

Win Blevins started his writing career as a music and drama reviewer for the Los Angeles Times. He then became the entertainment editor and principal theater and movie critic of the Hearst newspaper in Los Angeles, the Herald Examiner.[9] His first book was published in 1973 and since then he has made a living as a free-lance writer. He has written articles for magazines,[10][11] essays,[12] published forty books, one a dictionary, several travel guides to the West, and the rest novels, including fantasy, historical fiction and modern works of the West such as his contemporaries Rudolfo Anaya, John Nichols, Scott Momaday, Max Evans and Barbara Kingsolver write. For fifteen years he was an editor at Macmillan Publishing. From 2010 – 2012, Win spent two years as Gaylord Family Visitor Professor of Professional Writing at the University of Oklahoma.[13]

Screenplays[edit]

He has also written thirteen screenplays, including Atlas Shrugged for Al Ruddy; several for Paramount Pictures; The King of Paris with Dale Wasserman for CBS; The Real Dracula with Dale Wasserman (for Telly Savalas), CBS; Spring in Czechoslovakia for David Picker; John Milius’s A-Team; Oonadaga for NBC; The Last Free Man for Fred Read, and six others. (In 1974 David Picker announced he would produce Ranch Life and the Hunting Trail directed by John Milius and written by Winfred Blevins, about Theodore Roosevelt.

From NLS/BARD/LOC:

Heaven is a long way off: a novel of the mountain men DB70420

Blevins, Winfred. Reading time: 9 hours, 44 minutes.
Read by Jim Zeiger. A production of the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Library of Congress.

Historical Fiction
Adventure
Western Stories

California, 1820s. Wanted for murder, widowed mountain man Sam Morgan must elude authorities while he searches for his infant daughter Esperanza, who he believes has been kidnapped by a wealthy don. Sequel to Dancing with the Golden Bear (RC 70377). Some violence and some descriptions of sex. 2006.

A long and winding road: a novel of the mountain men DB70528

Blevins, Winfred. Reading time: 10 hours, 7 minutes.

Read by Jim Zeiger. A production of the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Library of Congress.

Historical Fiction

Adventure

Western Stories

New Mexico, 1833. Sam Morgan sets out to rescue two brides kidnapped by Navajo raiders. Sam’s adopted son Tomás–a former slave–joins him, as does Sam’s fellow trapper Jean-Baptiste Charbonneau, son of Sacajawea. Sequel to Heaven Is a Long Way Off (RC 70420). Some violence and some descriptions of sex. 2007.

Beauty for ashes DB70220

Blevins, Winfred. Reading time: 12 hours, 45 minutes.

Read by Jim Zeiger. A production of the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Library of Congress.

Historical Fiction

Adventure

Western Stories

Rocky Mountains, 1820s. Mountain man Sam Morgan seeks Meadowlark, the Crow woman he loves. But when Sam faces competition from a Crow warrior, he realizes he must learn the tribe’s ways to win Meadowlark’s heart. Sequel to So Wild a Dream (DB 61705). Some violence and some strong language. 2004.

From NLS/BARD/LOC:

A long and winding road: a novel of the mountain men DB70528

Blevins, Winfred. Reading time: 10 hours, 7 minutes.

Read by Jim Zeiger. A production of the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Library of Congress.

Historical Fiction

Adventure

Western Stories

New Mexico, 1833. Sam Morgan sets out to rescue two brides kidnapped by Navajo raiders. Sam’s adopted son Tomás–a former slave–joins him, as does Sam’s fellow trapper Jean-Baptiste Charbonneau, son of Sacajawea. Sequel to Heaven Is a Long Way Off (RC 70420). Some violence and some descriptions of sex. 2007.

Kate’s 2¢: “A thousand moons” by Sebastian Barry

“A thousand moons” by Sebastian Barry

Kate’s 2¢: There is a plethora of in-depth biographies of authors and reviews of their books, that state the title, author, published date, and genre; as well as,     describing what the book is about, setting, and character(s), so, Kate’s 2¢ merely shares my thoughts about what I read.  I’m just saying…

   I wasn’t real thrilled about this story. It was so derogatory to just about every group of people, as well as being sure to let everyone know that there were gays and lesbians back in the day.

From the WEB:

Sebastian Barry was born on 5 July 1955 in Dublin and educated at Trinity College, Dublin. His academic posts include Honorary Fellow in Writing at the University of Iowa (1984) and Writer Fellow at Trinity College, Dublin (1995-6). His early plays include Boss Grady’s Boys (1990), which opened in 1988, and won the BBC/Stewart Parker Award.

From NLS/BARD/LOC:

A thousand moons DB99509

Barry, Sebastian. Reading time: 7 hours, 47 minutes.

Read by Kyla Garcia.

Historical Fiction

Winona Cole, the adopted Lakota daughter of John Cole and Thomas McNulty from Days without End (DB 87906), works on forging a life for herself in Tennessee. But her identity as an Indian woman and other prejudices threaten what peace her family has achieved. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. 2020.

Downloaded: October 2, 2020

“A thousand moons” by Sebastian Barry

Kate’s 2¢: There is a plethora of in-depth biographies of authors and reviews of their books, that state the title, author, published date, and genre; as well as,     describing what the book is about, setting, and character(s), so, Kate’s 2¢ merely shares my thoughts about what I read.  I’m just saying…

   I wasn’t real thrilled about this story. It was so derogatory to just about every group of people, as well as being sure to let everyone know that there were gays and lesbians back in the day.

From the WEB:

Sebastian Barry was born on 5 July 1955 in Dublin and educated at Trinity College, Dublin. His academic posts include Honorary Fellow in Writing at the University of Iowa (1984) and Writer Fellow at Trinity College, Dublin (1995-6). His early plays include Boss Grady’s Boys (1990), which opened in 1988, and won the BBC/Stewart Parker Award.

From NLS/BARD/LOC:

A thousand moons DB99509

Barry, Sebastian. Reading time: 7 hours, 47 minutes.

Read by Kyla Garcia.

Historical Fiction

Winona Cole, the adopted Lakota daughter of John Cole and Thomas McNulty from Days without End (DB 87906), works on forging a life for herself in Tennessee. But her identity as an Indian woman and other prejudices threaten what peace her family has achieved. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. 2020.

Downloaded: October 2, 2020

Kate’s 2¢: “Early Riser” by Jasper Fforde

“Early Riser” by Jasper Fforde

Kate’s 2¢: There is a plethora of in-depth biographies of authors and reviews of their books, that state the title, author, published date, and genre; as well as,     describing what the book is about, setting, and character(s), so, Kate’s 2¢ merely shares my thoughts about what I read.  I’m just saying…

   I’m not a fan of science-fiction. I enjoyed Thomas Hunt’s voice as he narrated  this story, so I persevered listening to this lengthy story.

   At one point, a character said, “If you mix dreams with reality, sooner or later, the lines become blurred.”  I did detect some of the subtle humor here and there.

   As I neared the end of the story, all the seemingly odd, loose threads began to weave into a more cohesive picture. It was scary. I realized I was beginning to understand  what the story was about. But then when the story ended, I was wrong. The premise was simple: good guy goes underground to rout the bad guys.

   I’m still not a fan of sci-fi, but, I do recognize how well Fford wielded his craft.

From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jasper_Fforde:

 Fforde was born in London on 11 January 1961, the son of John Standish Fforde, the 24th Chief Cashier for the Bank of England. He is a grandson of Polish political adviser Joseph Retinger, and a great-grandson of journalist E. D. Morel.

Fforde was educated at the progressive Dartington Hall School. In his first jobs, he worked as a focus puller in the film industry. He worked on a number of films, including The Trial, Quills, GoldenEye, and En…

Early Riser (novel) (category Novels by Jasper Fforde)

Riser (2018) is a standalone alternate history satire novel of novelist Jasper Fforde. The story takes place in an alternate version of the United Kingdom

The Last Dragonslayer is a fantasy novel by Jasper Fforde. It is set in an alternate world in which magic is real, but has become weakened and is also

3 KB (287 words) – 09:06, 31 May 2019

The Eyre Affair (category Novels by Jasper Fforde)

The Eyre Affair is the debut novel by English author Jasper Fforde, published by Hodder and Stoughton in 2001. It takes place in an alternative 1985, where

15 KB (1,829 words) – 20:49, 22 May 2019

Early Riser (novel) (category Novels by Jasper Fforde)

Riser (2018) is a standalone alternate history satire novel of novelist Jasper Fforde. The story takes place in an alternate version of the United Kingdom

5 KB (520 words) – 13:58, 10 August 2019

The Well of Lost Plots is a novel by Jasper Fforde, published in 2003. It is the third book in the Thursday Next series, after The Eyre Affair and Lost

Something Rotten (Fforde)

Something Rotten is the fourth book in the Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde. It continues the story some two years after the point where The Well

6 KB (790 words) – 14:33, 31 December 2018

Shades of Grey (category Novels by Jasper Fforde)

dystopian novel, the first in the Shades of Grey series by novelist Jasper Fforde. The story takes place in Chromatacia, an alternate version of the United

8 KB (1,065 words) – 17:06, 31 July 2018

The Song of the Quarkbeast (category Novels by Jasper Fforde)

of the Quarkbeast is the second book in the Dragonslayer trilogy by Jasper Fforde. It is set in an alternate world in which magic is real, but has become

2 KB (143 words) – 06:01, 13 August 2016

First Among Sequels (category Novels by Jasper Fforde)

Sequels is an alternate history, comic fantasy novel by the British author Jasper Fforde. It is the fifth Thursday Next novel, first published on 5 July 2007

12 KB (1,375 words) – 21:02, 10 December 2018

The Fourth Bear (category Novels by Jasper Fforde)

The Fourth Bear is a mystery/fantasy novel by Jasper Fforde published in July 2006. It is Jasper Fforde’s sixth novel, and the second in the Nursery Crimes

4 KB (481 words) – 17:52, 15 July 2019

Lost in a Good Book (category Novels by Jasper Fforde)

Lost in a Good Book is an alternate history fantasy novel by Jasper Fforde. It won the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association 2004 Dilys Award. It

9 KB (1,180 words) – 05:10, 10 July 2019

One of Our Thursdays is Missing

Thursdays is Missing is the sixth Thursday Next book, by the British author Jasper Fforde. It was published in February 2011 in the United Kingdom and was

5 KB (466 words) – 13:46, 2 January 2019

and the list goes on!

From NLS/BARD/LOC:

Early riser DB93810

Fforde, Jasper. Reading time: 15 hours, 17 minutes.

Read by Thomas Hunt.

Humor

Science Fiction

Every winter, the human population hibernates and the Winter Consuls protect the sleepers. The rich get through more easily with the help of the drug Morphenox, which has an unfortunate side effect of turning some into flesh-eating Nightwalkers. New Consul Charlie Worthing investigates an outbreak of viral dreams. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. 2019.

Kate’s 2¢: “Dragon Masters” Series by Tracey West

“Dragon Masters” Series by Tracey West

Kate’s 2¢: There is a plethora of in-depth biographies of authors and reviews of their books, that state the title, author, published date, and genre; as well as,     describing what the book is about, setting, and character(s), so, Kate’s 2¢ merely shares my thoughts about what I read.  I’m just saying…

   As our children were growing up, I tried to read as many of the books they read for school or on their own. Some books were not in an accessible format for this blind mother, but I did the best I could.

   Now, when my 9-year old grandson, a very capable but reluctant reader, suddenly delved into “Dragon Masters” by Tracey West, my curiosity was piqued. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the entire series of early chapter books was down-loadable from BARD, a division of the National Library System of the Library of Congress.

   Each wonderfully imaginative story kept my interest, too. There were several questions and activities at the end of each short story to guide the readers to think about what they’d read.

   Unfortunately, I’m not able to comment on the illustrations by Damian Jones and the other illustrators’ work.

   I’d recommend this series for the students in Grades 2 through 5 and even 6^th grades. I’m a big supporter of reading with and to children of all ages, creating awesome memories and a spring board for discussions  that will last a life-time.

From her website:

I grew up in a small town in New Jersey. Every day, my brother Michael, sister Katie and I would play in the street with our friends on Walnut Avenue. We rode our bikes, played kickball and Ultimate Frisbee, or rode down the hill on sleds in wintertime. On Saturday mornings, we were glued to the television set eating cereal and watching cartoons. In the summer, I loved to walk across town to the library, take out as many books as I could carry, and read them all under a shady tree somewhere.

After high school, I attended Rutgers University and studied English and Journalism there. I knew I wanted to be a writer, and journalism seemed to be a way to write and get paid for it. I worked on the college newspaper and even worked as a newspaper reporter for a little while, but when I graduated I got a job as an editorial assistant at a small publishing company. I learned a lot there about how books are edited, published, and sold.

From there I moved to a company that packaged children’s books and sold them to other publishers. I started out submitting ideas for books that other writers would then turn into stories. Then I began writing outlines for those writers. Finally, I wrote my first book, a Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys Supermystery called Spies and Lies.

At the same time, my friends Bonnie and Lisa and I came up with an idea for a children’s book called Great Uncle Dracula. We wrote the book under the pseudonym Jayne Harvey. It was the first time one of my original ideas got published, and I really liked that feeling.

I went to work for Scholastic after that, and when I left in 1996 I decided to try writing books full time. In 1997 I started Pure West Productions and began writing, editing, and packaging books and magazines. My sister Kate came to work for the company. These days she writes children’s books too, as Katherine Noll.

A few years later I got the job writing Pokémon books, and that’s when the fun really started. Although writing Pokémon kept me busy, Scholastic picked up my original series, Pixie Tricks. A few years later, I debuted Scream Shop, a Pick Your Path published by Grosset & Dunlap.

I still love writing books based on cartoons, website and movies. Some of the properties I’ve enjoyed working on include Poptropica, Kung Fu Panda, Club Penguin, Star Wars: the Clone Wars, Plants vs. Zombies, and many more.

I write non-fiction books, too, and I have had several series out since Scream Shop, including Hiro’s Quest for Scholastic. I think writing chapter books is my favorite thing to do.

In 2005, I married Bill Hancock, who was my friend in high school. I became a step-mom to Bill’s three great kids, Will. Kyle, and Zane. Today I Bill and I live in the Catskill mountains with our dogs, a cat, and a bunch of chickens. When I am not writing books (which is most of the time), I like to work in my garden, hike in the woods, read books, and watch cartoons and food shows on TV.

From NLS/BARD/LOC:

Dragon Masters. Books 1-6 DB96217

West, Tracey. Reading time: 5 hours, 8 minutes.

Read by Joe Peck. A production of the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Library of Congress.

Adventure

Books one through six, written between 2014 and 2016, featuring eight-year-old Drake and several other kids who are trained to be Dragon Masters. Includes Rise of the Earth Dragon, Saving the Sun Dragon, Secret of the Water Dragon, Power of the Fire Dragon, and two more. For grades 2-4. 2016.

Downloaded: December 26, 2020

Dragon Masters. Books 7-12 DB96224

West, Tracey. Reading time: 3 hours, 59 minutes.

Read by Michael Scherer. A production of the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Library of Congress.

Adventure

Books seven through twelve, written between 2017 and 2019, featuring fantastical adventures. Includes Search for the Lightning Dragon, Roar of the Thunder Dragon, Chill of the Ice Dragon, Waking the Rainbow Dragon, Shine of the Silver Dragon, and Treasure of the Gold Dragon. For grades 2-4. 2019.

Downloaded: December 26, 2020

Download Dragon Masters. Books 7-12

Dragon masters. Books 13-14 DB97215

West, Tracey. Reading time: 1 hour, 49 minutes.

Read by Julie-Ann Elliott.

Adventure

Books thirteen and fourteen, written in 2019, featuring fantastical adventures. In Eye of the Earthquake Dragon, kids race to stop the evil wizard Maldred’s plans to release the Naga, the powerful earthquake dragon. In Land of the Spring Dragon, a fairy causes problems in the kingdom. For grades 2-4. 2019.

Downloaded: December 26, 2020