I've Been Reading More Alice..

In keeping up with the Alice in Wonderland theme, I've been reading a series by Frank Beddor.
This trilogy is called the Looking Glass Wars.

In it, Alyss Heart comes to reign, but is thwarted by Redd. There is a war. The top soldier for Alyss is Hatter Matigan. The top soldier for Redd is The Cat, who is half cat and half Wonderlander.

This series is full of action and adventure. The characters are intriguing and totally re-imagined.
It does get a bit chaotic at times. In Arch Enemy, each chapter jumps from character point of view to character point of view. This is fine since they are all over the map geographically and many things are going on in each of their heads. When you put a book down and go back later to pick it up, it is hard to remember what is going on when you begin with a different character each time. Not that this is a bad thing, because I've written and read many things this way, but that it can be jarring.

Frank goes on to write a graphic novel series around this warrior Hatter.

I'd love to get my hands on these, but they are hard to find. Go Amazon! Now you know one thing to get me for Christmas.

Or these...

And yes, I know these are from the 1st movie.

These are from the second..

But of these, I really only would like the rabbit. I like the costumes more in the first set.

Hee.

What I've Been Reading

A large part of being a good writer is being a good reader. We wouldn't want to write stories if we weren't in love with stories!

One of the perks of being a teacher is that I get to share my love of reading with my students. We read Lord of the Flies recently. I did skip a little bit of the pig killing part and instead of "sucks to your ass-mar" I said "Stinks to your asthma!" My students are 14-15 years old and boys. They loved it! They understood the breakdown of the society into tribes, bullying, the need for both meat and fire, and we talked about how heat can make you hallucinate. They drew maps of the island. We made a pig's head pinata and named her Lulu.

It was great fun. My students have special needs and had never made anything with paper maché before. They chose not to fill her with candy and break her. She is now our classroom mascot.

I've also read the Splintered series by A. G. Howard. @aghowardwrites on Twitter

This is a twist on Alice in Wonderland. I've been in a Wonderland mood lately. I even used Christmas money to order a mug.

My next series is Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor. @frankbeddor on Twitter

My stack of 'To Read' books is large. I probably won't get to them until summer.

What is my class reading next? Number the Stars

Did we do The Giver? You betcha.

What are you reading?

Go Read and Review my Free Ebook "Alex in Hunterland"

Alex in Hunterland is a parody of Alice in Wonderland, but with a redneck spin. See if you can find all the 'redneck' stereotypes in this work.



Alex, scared of his drunken Step-Father, seeks solace in the gun cabinet. Climbing in, he discovers a world with an elusive snowshoe hare whose pelt would make his Step-Father proud of him and maybe stop hitting him. Chasing the rabbit, he encounters an array of characters and nonsensical outcomes. 

Please also give me some stars and a review! This is a quick read, at just under 2,000 words.