This month's book reviews

A February readers' bonus In celebration of Black History Month, YSL.com has two lists of special African-American books. Click here.

A dog gets himself and his new owner in trouble

William's mom and dad were divorced. His grandfather, who was William's best friend along with being a grandpa, had just died two months earlier. To help William's loneliness, his mom had told him she would take him to the pound to pick out a dog to bring home. She thought William would pick a middle-sized dog. Instead William fell in love with a big friendly Labrador-collie mix, named Riley. When William brought Riley home, the dog seemed like the perfect pet and companion. He was smart and seemed well-trained. When out of school, William spent all of his time with Riley. He even slipped Riley into bed at night so they could sleep together.

Nest door to William's family lived an elderly widow named Peachie. She and William had been good friends since William was real little. She even called him "Sweet William" after a type of flowers that grew in her garden Peachie had an old race horse named Sultan as a pet. Sultan as a young horse had been a great race horse, wining many races for Peachie and her now deceased husband. She loved the horse and was trying to provide a happy and comfortable old age for him.

William had to take Riley over to Peachie's house and show her his new pet. To his horror, when Riley saw Sultan, the dog took out after the old horse. Nothing William could do would stop the dog. The feeble old horse tried to run but collapsed on the ground and it appeared he might die from the fear and exertion. The veterinarian was called and managed to keep Sultan alive. However, Peachie and the vet pointed out that by state law dogs that chased farm animals like cows and horses were supposed to be destroyed. Peachie was so angry, she reported Riley to the county animal officer. Riley was taken back to the pound. A county board would decide if and when Riley had to be killed.

William and his friend Grace decided to run a campaign to gain public support to save Riley from being put to death. They wrote letters, made signs, and passed out printed flyers in an effort to save Riley. Although a few people were sympathetic, public opinion seemed to be against them. Can these kids save Riley? Will William and Peachie ever become good friends again? Is there some kind of solution that will satisfy both sides in the dispute? You should enjoy reading "The Summer of Riley" while finding out the answers.

A young girl provides stories for
the Shahrazad, the Sultan's wife

Most of us have heard the story of "A Thousand and One Nights." A powerful Sultan has been betrayed by one of his wives. He is so angry, he had all of the wives in his harem executed along with their servants. He decreed that, thereafter, he would spend one night with any new wives and have them executed the next day. Shahrazad, a young woman, was brought in to be one of his new wives. She had the idea to tell the Sultan a story each night that would make him want to hear the next part on the following night. As long as she told him stories that entertained him and kept him wanting to hear more, she and the other wives in the harem could stay alive.

In the book, "Shadow Spinner," a crippled young girl named Marjan has become a story teller herself. She admires the famous Queen Shahrazad, but never expects to meet her. However, on a business trip with her guardian to the Sultan's palace, Marjan tells stories to some of the children there. To Marjan's surprise, she is summoned before Shahrazad. The Sultan's wife is starting to run out of stories. She asked Marjan's help in pulling together the parts of an old story. She knows the Sultan vaguely remembers this particular one from his childhood and wants to hear it again in its entirety. Marjan and Shahrazad are aware the story and the characters' names have to be accurate or the Sultan will be angry and go back to executing his wives.

"Shadow Spinner" is a retelling of the old Arabian Nights tale and is told through the eyes of an orphaned young crippled girl. The author adds new characters and much detail that cannot be found in the old tale.

A young girl is charged with the murder
of her older sister's ex-boyfriend

Dovey Coe is a twelve-year-old who lives with her family on a mountain side near Indian Creek, North Carolina. There are Coes in the town cemetery with headstones dating back to 1844. Dovey is a tomboy who loves the out-of-doors and likes to do mechanical repairs with her father who is the local fix-it man. Dovey's mother is always encouraging Dovey to be more ladylike. Dovey has a strikingly beautiful older sister, sixteen-year-old Caroline. Amos, her thirteen-year-old brother, although deaf from infancy, is a fun-loving outdoorsman. Because of his deafness, Amos had never gone to school, since the small town had no special classes for kids like him.

Parnell Caraway is the spoiled son of the richest family in Indian Creek. He is seventeen, has plenty of spending money, and drives his own car. He has a history of doing mean things to the other kids around the town, but because he is from a well-to-do family, is nice-looking, and has a car, plenty of girls in town wish he would ask them for dates. But Parnell has decided he wants to marry Caroline and spends the summer hanging around the Coe house trying to convince Caroline and her family that he would make a good husband for her.

Dovey knows that the Parnell's nice-guy personality is only an act . She hates it that Caroline as well as her mom and dad seem to encourage Parnell to keep coming around. Besides, Caroline has applied for teacher's college and her father has already paid for her to go away to college in the fall.

The whole situation comes to a head when Caroline holds a going-away-to-college party in the late summer. Parnell tries to turn it into an engagement party by putting a ring on Caroline's finger while standing in front of the large group of guests. When Caroline rejects him by refusing the ring, Dovey knows that there will be real trouble for the Coe family. And, of course, there is.

The mystery within the story is did Dovey really kill Parnell. She certainly had a reason to do so and she was found unconscious with her open pocketknife in the room with his dead body. Almost everybody in town thinks she killed Parnell. Will the young inexperienced lawyer sent to defend Dovey in court be able to save her from going to prison? If Dovey didn't do it, who did? Maybe you can figure out the answer by the end of the book.

Troublesome brother and sister leave
orphanage for home in Ruby Holler

The Boxton Creek Home for Children was run by Mr. And Mrs. Tripid, who really didn't like children. The orphanage housed about a dozen orphans at any one time. The intent was that kids moved through the home as they were picked up by foster parents or, occasionally, adopted into new families. The twins, Dallas and his sister Florida, had been in the home for years. They had been placed in different foster homes, but had always been returned as too troublesome to keep. Mr. And Mrs. Tripid, who believed in lots of rules to keep children quiet and controlled, were afraid that nobody would ever show up to take the twins to a new home. Dallas and Florida were kept in back rooms so that they wouldn't be a "bad influence" on the rest of the kids.

The twins spent many hours in "the Thinking Corner", a damp, dark cobwebbed corner of the basement. Outside, beyond the home the two could hear the wail of freight trains moving through town. They planned to run away and jump on the night freight train and start a new life free of the orphanage. To their surprise, an elderly white-haired couple, Mr. Tiller Morey and his wife Sairy, showed up one day and wanted to take the kids home with them. Because the kids had such bad experiences with previous attempts at foster home placements, they were distrustful of going home with the Morey's. They decided that they could still run away and ride off on a freight train if things didn't work out.

The kids were impressed when they reached the pleasant little house in Ruby Holler. The Moreys didn't yell at them when the kids did stupid or clumsy things. The food was the best the kids had ever eaten. They weren't ordered to do work, but asked if they would like to help with certain jobs. They were paid real money for some of the chores they did help out with. The twins were allowed to run around and explore the woods and hills around Ruby Holler. The two stayed suspicious and mistrustful, but they were gradually coming to love the Morey's and their new life.

The plot gets more complicated when Tiller and Florida take a river trip and Sairy and Dallas plan a long hike in the woods. While they are gone from Ruby Holler, the bad guys, Mr. Tripid and a character named "Z", sneak in and try to find and steal the Morey's money which had been hidden over the years. Tiller and Florida almost drown on their river trip and Sairy and Dallas get lost in the woods. If you want to know how it all turns out, you need to read the book.