Alright, so my summer is officially over, and school is back in.  In the near future I will be posting messages for all of the books I read this summer, and yes, that includes the seventh and final Harry Potter book.

Allende, Isabel.   City of the Beasts.  Translated by Margaret Sayers Peden.  New York:  HarperCollins, 2002.

In City of the Beasts, Alexander Cold has the typical life of a fifteen year old American boy, that is until his mother gets sick with cancer, and his parents send him to live with his Grandmother Kate while his mom undergoes chemotherapy treatments.  Unlike most ordinary grandmothers, Kate is a writer who hates being called “Grandma”, and believes that experiences are the best way to learn.  When Alex gets to New York, Kate is no where to be found, and he must make his own way to her apartment that he has never seen.

However, if Alex thought New York was a hair raising experience,  he’s bound to have trouble when his grandmother takes him to the Amazon on assignment for International Geographic.  As he enters a world unknown to him, Alex must learn to trust his instincts, see with his heart, and keep his eyes open for danger.  With the help of a new friend Nadia, Alex must discover who is threatening the People of the Mist, and why members of the expedition keep turning up dead.

This book was great.  It kept me entertained and guessing right until the end.  If I had to critique one thing about it, it would be a lack of definitions for key terminology specific to the story.  I found it distracting when the book would mention a particular animal/bird that I had never heard of, but there was no description to help the reader contextualize.

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