Now 2023 Previous Articles Road Essays Road Reviews Author Black Authors Title Source Age Genre Series Format Inclusivity LGBTA Portfolio Artwork WIP

Related ACEsts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...

Recent posts

Month in review

Reviews
Attention All Shipping by Charlie Connelly
Blood Lure by Nevada Barr
Bombardiers by Po Bronson
City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
Clementine and the Family Meeting by Sara Pennypacker
Dark's Tale by Deborah Grabien
Finders Keepers by Russ Colchamiro
Fullmetal Alchemst 15 by Hiromu Arakawa
The Gathering by Kelley Armstrong
The Ghost and the Goth by Stacey Kade
Havana Real by Yoani Sanchez
Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins
Home by Marilynne Robinson
Imagine a Place by Sarah L. Thomson and Rob Gonsalves
Immortal by Gene Doucette
June 29, 1999 by David Wiesner
Life After Joe by Harper Fox
Magyk by Angie Sage
No Castles Here by ACE Bauer
The Otherworldlies by Jennifer Anne Kogler
Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes by Jonathan Auxier
The Postmistress by Sarah Blake
A Princess of Landover by Terry Brooks
Queen of the Dead by Stacey Kade
The Runaway Mummy by Michael Rex
The Stainless Steel Rat Returns by Harry Harrison
A Tinfoil Sky by Cyndi Sand-Eveland
We Are in a Book by Mo Willems
Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick

What Am I Reading
February 06, 2012
Feburary 13, 2012
February 20, 2012
February 27, 2012

Previous month


Rating System

5 stars: Completely enjoyable or compelling
4 stars: Good but flawed
3 stars: Average
2 stars: OK
1 star: Did not finish



Privacy policy

This blog does not collect personal data. It doesn't set cookies. Email addresses are used to respond to comments or "contact us" messages and then deleted.


No Castles Here: 02/28/12

cover art

No Castles Here by ACE Bauer is another one of those display shelf gems from the library. I was curious about the graffiti style castle on the cover, especially with the title. I didn't even bother to read the blurb before deciding to read it.

Augie Boretski lives with his mother in Camden, New Jersey, if you call hiding from bullies and avoiding drug dealers living. His idea of escaping is a ride across the river into Philadelphia.

On his most recent trip to Philly, he does something he never does. He shoplifts — and worse yet, it's a fantasy book. Embarrassment or maybe something else, convinces Augie to read the book. As he reads he begins to see things in common between the story and his life in Camden.

Meanwhile, Augie's mother has forced him to join Big Brothers and the school chorus. Although Augie reluctantly does both, he does learn from both.

Of the two plots, I was most interested in the Big Brother one as Augie's Big Brother is gay. It was refreshing to see a positive representation of a gay man working with a teenager.

Among all of this regular coming of age plot lines, there is this underlying urban fantasy twist that is tied to the book. This aspect of the book reminds me of The Neverending Story by Michael Ende, but with the heroics being done here instead of in a fantasy realm.

Five stars.

Comments (0)


Lab puppy
Name:
Email (won't be posted):
Blog URL:
Comment:




Twitter Tumblr Mastadon Flickr Facebook Facebook Contact me

1997-2023 Sarah Sammis