Kaleidoscope's Reading Room

Books for everyone on your gift list.

Keri recommends books for gift giving:

Things to do: Puzzles, Let's Build a Clubhouse, Mouth Sounds

Medal of Honor

Letters from the Front Lines

Madonnas of Leningrad

Abundance

My Half of the Sky

Best by Number

Rain Village

Truck

Prayers for your Newborn

I Will Hold You 'Til You Sleep

Before I Go

St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves

How It's Done

Fragile Things

I-State Lines

Watership Down

Buy books for the holidays now at The Kaleidoscope. Shop on-line at OurFocusisYou.com.

Keri reviews books about Christmas for the season:

Christmas in the Trenches

Countdown to Christmas

12 Days of Christmas

Gift of the Magi

Snow Sounds

Buy books for the holidays now at The Kaleidoscope. Shop on-line at OurFocusisYou.com.

Kevin Prochaska was born in Iowa, but now lives in Tennesee. His novel, "The Christmas letter" is the newest addition to Keri's Iowa shelf at the Kaleidoscope.

Buy books for the holidays now at The Kaleidoscope. Shop on-line at OurFocusisYou.com.

Wando is part historical fiction (Civil-War era South Carolina), part exotic fiction (Cuban voo-doo practice and belief), and part who-done-it (twin 140-year old unsolved murders), wrapped up in a contemporary family drama with the usual amounts of family secrets and dysfunction. Yes, there's truly something for everyone in Wando Passo. You'll want to read what Kirkus Reviews calls "...a fine, twisty marvel..."

Buy books for the holidays now at The Kaleidoscope. Shop on-line at OurFocusisYou.com.

Imagine a world where every fantastic story your best friend told you turns out to be true. Imagine knowing you're a freak, but discovering later that you're a star. Imagine a painful childhood, a mentor who shows you how to dream, and equips you to escape. imagine running away to join the circus, and finding there the family you've longed for. Imagine these things, and you've imagined the world of "Rain Village" by Carolyn Turgeon. A fairy tale in the best sense of that word, "Rain Village" is as magical as Neil Gaiman's "Stardust", but grounded in this world. Mary gives Tessa a life, but cannot save her own in this lyrical story about knowing yourself and finding your place in the world.

Buy Thanksgiving and Christmas books now at The Kaleidoscope. Shop on-line at OurFocusisYou.com.

It's a shame we skip from Halloween directly to Christmas in this country. Today's show features a new Thanksgiving novel by Suzanne Berne called The Ghost at the Table. It's Thanksgiving morning. Dinner is at 4pm. The turkey is still in the freezer.

Buy Thanksgiving and Christmas books now at The Kaleidoscope. Shop on-line at OurFocusisYou.com.

Just in time for Hallowe'en, Houghton Mifflin has sent a "Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich" lunchbox full of edible treats to The Kaleidoscope. So we're giving it away! Buy any Hallowe'en title and have your name entered in a drawing for the lunchbox. Drawing will be held during Scary Godmother's visit on October 31!

Buy Hallowe'en, Thanksgiving and Christmas books now at The Kaleidoscope. Shop on-line at OurFocusisYou.com.

Abundance by Sena Jeter Naslund.

Naslund reads from her new historical novel, a sympathetic portrait of Marie Antoinette.

Naslund tells why Marie's story needed to be retold. Did you know that Marie never said "Let them eat cake."?

Order Abundance online at www.ourfocusisyou.com

The End is Near. Keri previews the final book in A Series of Unfortunate Events.

Lemony Snickett has finally done it. He's submitted the last chapter in the saga of the Baudelaire orphans.

On Friday, October 13 we'll open the box and be among the first to experience The End. At the Kaleidoscope, 7pm.

Order your copy online at www.ourfocusisyou.com

In-Store Event: Randy Pischel joins Keri to discuss the Sept 26 world-wide release of Secrets of the Alchemist Dar. Randy and his son, Evan, found one of the jewel-encrusted treasures as part of the first "A Treasure's Trove" nation-wide treasure hunt. The new hunt, global in scale, will have treasure hunters searching for more than $2million (USA) in hidden treasures. And it all starts Tuesday, when Secrets of the Alchemist Dar is made available for sale. In addition, several books for children will be released along with the main clue book, and each of the children's books contain an additional clue! Join us in the store Tuesday, Sept 26, 2006 at 7pm. Or order your own copy of the book on-line at OurFocusIsYou.com. Shipping is free within the USA.