Skeleton Hiccups by Margery Cuyler; ill. by S. D. Schindler

When Skeleton wakes up, he has the hiccups.  He tries everything to get rid of them including holding his breath, eating some sugar, pressing his fingers over his eyeballs, drinking water upside down and nothing works. With the help of his friend Ghost, the hiccups finally stop.  But how?  Read this book to find out!

-Julie B.

Big Al and Shrimpy by Andrew Clements; illustrated by Yoshi

Big Al is a very large fish and Shrimpy is a very, very small fish. The two become fast friends. When they venture to the Big Deep, they play by throwing rocks down and listening as they tumble down to the bottom. As Big Al pushes on a large white rock, his fin gets stuck in a crack on the rock and down he goes. How will Shrimpy and the other fish save the day?  Read Big Al and Shrimpy to find out!

-Julie B.
 

Llama Llama Time to Share by Anna Dewdney

 When new neighbor, Nelly Gnu pays a visit to Llama Llama’s house, Llama Llama must learn how to share his toys. But when Nelly Gnu starts to play with Llama Llama’s Fuzzy Llama, there is dolly drama! Llama Llama has decided he doesn’t want to share anymore. Will Llama Llama learn to share his doll? Perfect book for young children learning to share.

-Julie B.

Sanctuary by William Faulkner

Appropriately, I finished Sanctuary around five in the morning between two of the last blazing hot days in August. A few years ago I tried and failed to read Absalom, Absalom! but really wanted to give Faulkner another chance after watching Paul Newman simmer through The (very Tennessee Williams-influenced, very Hollywood) Long, Hot Summer. The poster for that barks: "The people of Faulkner...the language of Faulkner...the world of Faulkner!" Well, that's a gross over-simplification. 

While Sanctuary's more straight-forward plot is accessible, his writing still caused me to trip in a way his Nobel Prize in Literature still doesn't convince THIS humble Missourian is entirely artistic and intentional. It gives the impression of a disorienting, kleidoscopic whirl, where not even the characters speaking to each other in the same world seem to be able to connect. Or maybe that was the moonshine. 

The plot is gripping, though, and frightening. It concerns Temple Drake, a college girl who hops from dances with collegiate boys to car dates with the townies. After one of her dates drunkenly crashes his car on the way to a bootlegger, Temple is stranded among dissolute lowlifes in a ruined plantation house. The following events are nightmarish and the novel deals unflinchingly with the aftermath. It's honestly still a shocking, disturbing read, full of sex, violence, and the thankless struggle for justice and love. If you want a "cleaned up" version, the first movie adaptation with Miriam Hopkins is fantastic: The Story of Temple Drake. 

-Michael G. 

Nameless by Grant Morrison, illustrated by Chris Burnham

Recommended to me, if you can call such a dubious statement, with: "Can I show you an illustration I think is hot but might make you think I'm messed up?" Nameless is a nightmare-logic horror story, mostly set in space in an alien prison, but also in haunted minds and a Victorian house of occult abominations.

A layered, existential Lovecraftian story without actual Lovecraft, Morrison draws instead from myths and writings that originated pre-Lovecraft and may also have inspired the master of cosmic horror. It's frightening, disturbing, and the illustrations are excellent. This vision of an omnipotent, invisible lifeform polluting minds and threatening "eternal agonizing torture in a cosmic concentration camp" is a terrifying version of Christian God. 

- Michael G.