Holiday Shopping Book Giveaway!

Three books will be given out this month! Each book is a recommended gift book for the boy, girl, mom or dad on your shopping list.

Just post a comment to this blog with your choice, and you'll be entered to win... link to this blog on yours or on Facebook or Twitter, send me the link and you've been entered 2 times (or 4 if you do all three!). Become a "follower" of this blog and you've been entered another time! Not yet a fan of Aaron's Books on Facebook, or following us on Twitter?? Join us there and be entered to win again!

Deadline to post here and enter the other ways is Dec. 11th. Winners will be announced the 12th, and books in the mail on the 13th... arriving in time for the gift giving!

The books:

Merlin's Dragon

Basil, a small, flying lizard who is searching for others like himself, discovers that there is more to him than he knows, as he becomes engaged in Avalon's great war between the evil Rhita Gawr and the forces of good.

Gr 6 Up Set between Barron's "Lost Years of Merlin" and "Great Tree of Avalon" series, this book focuses on Basil, a unique lizard that sets out to understand his identity and his destiny. While small, Basil has a magical ability to create smells, and he uses his talent and his wits to escape a number of foes. After a series of encounters with the wizard Merlin, including attending his wedding, Basil learns from the good spirit Dagda that the evil spirit Rhita Gawr has entered the lands of Avalon and that Merlin is in grave danger. With the wind sister Aylah, he travels to all seven realms, learning about each one and about himself in his quest to save Merlin and all of Avalon from the magic-devouring kreelix. While this adventure starts out slowly and spans almost 40 years, the pace picks up rapidly during the second half. Basil is a prickly and entertaining hero, and his comments about life at the start of each chapter add tone and humor. Barron's return to Avalon will be welcomed by his many fans, who will have the patience to explore the lands with Basil and learn more about their history.Beth L. Meister, Milwaukee Jewish Day School, WI[Page 173]. Copyright 2008 Reed Business Information.

Mudbound

In 1946, Laura McAllan tries to adjust after moving with her husband and two children to an isolated cotton farm in the Mississipi Delta.

Jordan's poignant and moving debut novel, winner of the 2006 Bellwether Prize, takes on social injustice in the postwar Mississippi Delta. Here, two families, the landowning McAllans and their black sharecroppers, the Jacksons, struggle with the mores of the Jim Crow South. Six distinctive voices narrate the complex family stories that include the faltering marriage of Laura and Henry McAllan, the mean-spirited family patriarch and his white-robed followers, and returning war heroes Jamie McAllan and Ronsel Jackson. In every respect, the powerful pull of the land dominates their lives. Henry leaves a secure job with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to buy their farm, never noticing that the refined and genteel Laura dreams of escaping the pervasive mud and dreary conditions of farm life. Ronsel, encouraged by his war-hero status as a tank commander, wants to break away from the past and head North to a better future, while his parents, knowing no other life but farming, struggle to buy their own land. Jordan faultlessly portrays the values of the 1940s as she builds to a stunning conclusion. Highly recommended for all public libraries.Donna Bettencourt, Mesa Cty. P.L., Grand Junction, CO[Page 100]. Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.

State By State

Collects original writings on all fifty states by leading novelists, journalists, and essayists, in a volume that includes Anthony Bourdain on New Jersey, Dave Eggers on Illinois, and Louise Erdrich on North Dakota.

Weiland (deputy editor, Paris Review ) and Wilsey, who coedited The Thinking Fan's Guide to the World Cup , were inspired by the famous WPA guides of the 1930s to bring together this collection of original essays. Each piece here may be smaller in scope than the original WPA state guides, but the overall editorial task is ambitious. Consisting of 50 essays from 50 different authors, including Dave Eggers (Illinois), Anthony Bourdain (New Jersey), S.E. Hinton (Oklahoma), and Jhumpa Lahiri (Rhode Island), this work aims to provide more than mere demographic information about each state (though it does include that). Each also offers a personal, distinct, and often humorous look at the state in question. Particularly inventive are two pieces told in the style of graphic novels, one by Joe Sacco (Oregon) and the other by Alison Bechdel (Vermont). Readers with an interest in the endless variety of attitudes, lifestyles, viewpoints, and experiences to be found across America will enjoy this work. Recommended for public libraries.Elizabeth L. Winter, Georgia Inst. of Technology, Atlanta[Page 146]. Copyright 2008 Reed Business Information.