From: Talhartman at aol.com <Talhartman>
Date: Thu, 2 Jan 2003 01:52:00 EST

I have been meaning to post this for the longest time and I know I am way late since we are in the new year but please forgive. Adrian Fogelin is a new voice I hope you all are hearing, our October subject. Her first book, CROSSING JORDAN, received much critical attention. Her characters appear in various family settings which meant that I should have sent this in November for that discussion. In ANNA CASEY'S PLACE IN THE WORLD, a book about foster care and families, I found Anna to be one of those characters I really felt I knew and cared about by the time I finished the book. This book just was nominated for a state award list so I'm not alone in loving this child. One of my favorite books for 2002 is her newest, MY BROTHER'S HERO, so had a chance to mention her in December. Adrian continues with the third book about her neighborhood with characters that reoccur, something that I find intriguing and yet these are not sequels. We know the people as they pop up in the story but major and minor characters change from book to book. This is a marvelous travelogue of the Florida Keys as Ben's family goes there for Christmas vacation. The first two books are set in Tallahassee for any Florida subscribers looking for great stories about our state. Another favorite book of mine for 2002 is Jaime Adoff's THE SONG SHOOTS OUT OF MY MOUTH, A CELEBRATION OF MUSIC, illustrated by Martin French. This is the first book for children for both the author and the illustrator and what a match they are. The poems and the illustrations just sing off the pages. I can't stop without mentioning WHEN MARION SINGS. I hope to see this on many award lists in January as it is at the top of my picks for the year. Happy New Year and Happy Reading! Sharon Hartman
Received on Thu 02 Jan 2003 12:52:00 AM CST