Dragonbreath stars Danny Dragonbreath, a young dragon who hasn't yet learned how to breathe fire, and his best friend Wendell, a green iguana. Whereas Wendell studies, does his homework, and would probably never get into trouble on his own, Danny has waited until the morning bus ride to write his science paper. He was going to ask Wendell for help, but his topic was the ocean and Wendell's was bats. Danny's science teacher isn't particularly interested in Danny's paper on “the rare and elusive snorklebat” and tells him to turn in a better paper tomorrow. Library research isn't really Danny's style, so, at his mother's suggestion, Danny visits his cousin Edward, a sea serpent. Danny drags Wendell along with him.

When my local entertainment store announced that it was closing for good, I spotted this on the shelves during the ensuing “going out of business” sales and decided to buy it. I had my oldest niece in mind, but I'm pretty sure it's above her current reading level. I still plan to leave it with my sister next time I visit – the kids might at least enjoy the pictures. Like Vernon's Harriet the Invincible, the book is a mixture of plain text and graphic novel-style pages with illustrations and speech bubbles.

Dragonbreath was a little more focused than Harriet the Invincible, although Danny didn't work quite as well for me as Harriet did. Harriet was fearless, smart, and brave. Danny was fearless but didn't always think before he threw himself into potentially dangerous situations. Wendell had to be the voice of caution, and even then he rarely managed to rein Danny in.

Wendell was basically me. I couldn't help but laugh at this bit: “It was one thing to bring Cousin Edward along – Edward was mythological, after all, and used to this sort of thing – but Wendell was an iguana. Epic tales of heroism and disaster were notably lacking in iguanas. His best friend just wasn't cut out for high drama.” (121) If Wendell had been the star of the story, the whole thing would have taken place in a library.

The story itself was a bit of adventure plus some fairly straightforward edutainment. Danny and Wendell learned about the bends, sea cucumber defense mechanisms (gross), jellyfish, anglerfish (one of which was correctly referred to as female), and more. Mixed in with the real-world stuff was the lost city of Atlantis and a Kraken.

In addition to their underwater adventure, Danny and Wendell also dealt with a bully. Like the rest of the book, these parts were pretty light-hearted. The fierce potato salad was great, and I really liked that it was technically Wendell who got rid of the bully the second time around.

All in all, this was pretty good. I may try the next book in the series.

 

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)

Iguana Love - A talented writer, Vicki Hendricks, lives in Hollywood, Florida. A few years ago I was on a quest to read only Florida based writers; there turned out to be many more than I expected. I ended up reading a number of short stores (love short stories) by Hendricks and found out she was a student of James W. Hall, one of my favorite writers, who teaches creative writing at Florida International University in Miami. I really enjoyed Hendricks off-beat writing.

Goodreads friend Jackson Burnett recommended Miami Purity but he forgot to give the triple X warning (maybe double X?) so I was taken by surprise with the descriptive sexual content from a woman's point of view which I thought was interesting and unique. Let me state firmly, that I’m not a prude, reading many books with sexual content.

Miami Purity was my first introduction to Vicki Hendricks books (not short stories) and I loved her tough writing. Miami Purity got a very solid five stars from me. (I’m stingy with my stars, too, seldom give five.) Sex, yes there was enough, for certain but it did not seem gratuitous.

So I was ready for sex this time around, in Iguana Love; there were no surprises that sex played a big part in Ramona Romano’s life. She is addicted to sex, addicted to bodybuilding, addicted to scuba diving. She seems to be trying, whatever it takes, to fill a void within and unfortunately she chooses to fill it with pure and simple self-destruction. And, she knows, she acknowledges that it’s self-destruction. The plot of the book was great, I thought.

The name, Iguana Love, comes early when Ramona finds an iguana and captures it for a pet. She, well maybe, she falls in love with Ignats the iguana? Not sure but there definitely some symbolism going on. Not sure what though. (Made a quick store run and was thinking about this review, and it hit me! The symbolism of Ignats. I think it hit me. Others might see it differently.) She has cats, too…five she’s had since kittens. She likes to rescue animals; herself though?


A Face Only A Mother, Ramona Could Love?

Hendricks writes with much imagery so there’s a constant challenge, what does that mean? There are obscure meanings throughout the book. That’s how Hendricks writes. So the reader must think, and constantly read between the lines. That, to me, doesn’t make for fun reading when I’m challenged constantly with her use of imagery. I enjoy some but every sentence, not so much. (Ok, every other sentence.)


Photo Courtesy Philip Greenspun

I got the message with the first five very descriptive sexual encounters and when I say, very descriptive, I mean very descriptive. In my mind it leans toward hard-boil erotica genre. Or noir erotica if there is such a genre. If not, this book can create it although it’s the only book I have read that would be in the genre class.

Goodreads does have an erotica groups with book choice read every month. I’m not a member but someone should suggest this book for that group read. A disclaimer here, for me, I’ve never read erotica unless Letters to the Editor in Playboy are considered erotica. So perhaps my opinion that it should be in a genre other than mystery, is off base. Not sure of that.


Thought This Sign Was Appropriate for the Book Theme

My Goodreads friend Col gave it more stars than I did, and so did Jackson and Jeff. So they’re welcome to set me straight on my review and my giving it three stars. Three solid stars since I had to read about so many times about her explicit sexual experiences. Otherwise, a shorter book with less explicit sex on every other page and it would have easily gotten four stars from me.

To brighten up this review, thought you folks would like a few pictures of Iggie...and is that Romona in tub? Probably not.

Feel like shooting the moon? Read this one, you may enjoy it much more than I did, especially the sex.

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After my rating, after the review, after thinking about this book most of the day, I am increasing to four stars from three. She's tough though, I'll put Vicki Hendricks' writing up there with any of the hard-boiled writers today.

Hank Zipzer #3: Day of the Iguana - Lin ... The book was pretty good but I was interested enough in the series to continue reading. I think some of my boys would really like the books but they are put off by reading chapter books. I may have to read it to them to get them hooked.

I had a really tough time writing this review, and I can't exactly place my finger on why. I love novels that tackle tough, timely issues like immigration, so I was excited by Stone's story of a Mexican couple crossing the border and trying to make a home in South Carolina. While reading this book, I was appreciative that Stone didn't whitewash the experiences of Hector and Lilia, but at the same time, I felt some disconnect with their story.I think, for me, this book didn't feel particularly nuanced, and I can't decide if that's a problem or not. Stone's characters go through absolute hell on their way to the U.S., and the events and experiences she writes about are ones I've seen in documentaries and read about in immigrant testimonies. She's certainly not exaggerating. But I found myself wanting a little more from the story -- more introspection, perhaps, or more voices -- or some space to reflect and chew on what had occurred. There are some lovely threads in this book about marriage, belonging, and making one's place in the world that I would have liked to see more developed. Hector and Lilia's marriage is understandably strained as they search for their daughter, and I wished that was explored more deeply. The South Carolinian magnolia farmers, Lucas and Elizabeth, were also intriguing characters, and while their distance made sense -- how well did Hector know them? -- I still found myself yearning for their voice in the narrative, especially as they are clearly concerned about Hector and trust him. In some ways, I was reminded of a John Sayles movie: this book felt like a snapshot of one family's experience with immigration; at the story's end, it was clear there was another beginning. This next bit is possibly a spoiler, so don't read on if you want to be totally surprised by the way the book develops. On a totally childish, knee-jerk level, I really hated how the novel ended. I've seen a few reviews by folks who found it hopeful but I didn't -- I felt a bit like what occurred through the entire book needed to culminate in a different way, and Stone's conclusion left me feeling hollow and sad. It's probably a realistic ending, but it was a little too much reality for me.This would make a fantastic book club selection as there's so much to discuss, especially for those who love immigrant stories. Like Sarah McCoy's The Baker's Daughter, this book provides an emotional look at immigration in a way that doesn't wholly swing one way or the other politically, allowing readers on any side of the spectrum to find a way in.

I loved Iguana Bay, every moment of it, the love story was incredibly sweet and engaging.

Dylan and Elise I loved them totally. Even though Dylan kidnapped Elise, scared her and put her in the trunk of his car, he was a good guy, loved his family, friends and got kind of messed up when the guy he testified against when he went undercover(he was a cop) killed his girlfriend instead of him. He feels guilty because he didn't love her and she didn't deserve to die, so he's been working as a bounty hunter, drinking and ignoring the world when his friend tells him that the guy he wanted to bring down Sebastien is going to trial again.

Elise is his alibi and she kind of regrets it. She left her job as a teacher after her grandma died and regrets taking a lift from Sebastien. She's more or less a prisoner so when she goes out Dylan kidnaps her. What I enjoyed was that Elise was sweet, gentle but tough and I loved how she tried to escape twice.

I also enjoyed how we see the growing bond between these two even when Elise let's Dylan believe that she is Sebastien's woman. He can feel the pull between them, him liking her still thinking that she's involved with a bad guy. The most wonderful scenes for me were, him taking care of her, her doing his hair-cut and when Dylan makes the decision to let her go and they take a break out of time.

I found the book poignant, there were some really aww worthy moments in the book, when the tears start especially and the handcuffs. Not to be missed.