Book source ~ Gifted

On the morning of her thirteenth birthday Lily touched her father and saw his death. Thinking it was a bad dream, she realizes it’s a curse when he dies that very day. Her mother whisks her away from the village she grew up in to the outside world that doesn’t have any magic. Joining a traveling tent revival the evangelical preacher uses Lily’s gift for his own gain. In the meantime, Baba Yaga has taken an interest in Lily. Which is surely not a good thing. How will Lily get back to the only place she loved, rescue the girl she’s falling in love with, and complete the quest Baba Yaga has given her?

This is a fascinating tale about Baba Yaga and a girl who can see death. Strange and compelling I couldn’t help but drop into the story and stay there to cheer Lily on to a satisfactory conclusion. It defies pigeon-holing and crosses several genre lines. It’s young adult, fantasy, horror, and LGBT. Plus, it’s illustrated! This is my first read of Michael Thomas Ford and I look forward to delving into more of his works.

Prose as delightful as a crystal clear pond in a mountain stream on a baking summer's day.

Excellent for kids!

by Barry Cox, R. J. G. Savage, Brian Gardiner, Colin Harrison

You're never too old for dinosaurs.

This is a beautiful book with very professionally drawn full-color glossy illustrations on every page and all the scientific information that a student or researcher might look for.

The chapters are organised by species, separating fishes, amphibians, reptiles, ruling reptiles, birds, mammal-like retiles and actual mammals. Each entry starts with the name, era, locality and size of a typical example, followed by an overview of the species. The descriptions don't go into massive detail, but they do make all of them easily recognisable in case you fall into a jurassic world and wonder what's about to eat you.

The book is a wonderful reference volume and I could be tempted to get a physical copy just for the fantastic pictures.