Reviews written by Jason Gallaher

Pardon the pun, but this thing really starts off with a bang! You learn from the get-go that Fitz, Mick Cochrane’s title protagonist, is carrying a gun that has no safety. My instant thought was that by the end of this book, Fitz was going to accidentally kill himself by...

So your alarm went off late, your car won’t start, your DVR forgot to record that latest episode of the “Real Housewives.” We all have so many problems. After reading Michael Harmon’s “Under the Bridge,” I’ve learned that all my so called “problems” don’t even come close! ...

Murder, child abuse, and baby abandonment. You might think topics like these are a bit too mature for young readers, but with Mo LoBeau on the case, you can sit back, relax, and enjoy a Big Gulp full of sweet tea ‘cause she’ll keep your young’uns in good hands. ...

You had me at “Weirdest. Crime Fighters. Ever.” I gotta tell you, Scholastic wasn’t lying. These are in fact the weirdest crime fighters I’ve ever heard of. At first glance, it appears that Kieran Larwood’s “Freaks” might be about superheroes. The three kids on the cover (even...

I was blowing my nose with more gusto than an elephant trumpeting its trunk after finishing Katherine Applegate’s “The One and Only Ivan.” I even made an audible grunt as I tried desperately to stifle my body’s instinct to burst into tears at the end of this book. Grab the...

Lookin’ for a new book to read is you, guvnah?! That was my attempt at a Cockney version of a British accent, and if you’d like to experience that on a much grander (and infinitely better) scale, then pick up Terry Pratchett’s “Dodger. “ Now, I’m no...

The first line of Christopher Healy’s “The Hero’s Guide to Saving Your Kingdom” had me literally LOL-ing, and it just never stopped. Reading his book was such a pleasure that I had this huge grin plastered across my face the entire time. My only complaint is that my face is...

If somebody were to ask me to recommend a good story for teens that sheds light on race relations I never would have thought I would someday be suggesting a book about dragons. After reading Rachel Hartman’s “Seraphina,” however, that’s exactly what I’m going to do. ...

After watching “FernGully” and “The Lorax” (which I love by the way) I thought I’d had my fill of environmental themed pop culture. It seems that all environmental themed children’s work sends the message that we should save the trees. This is a message that I completely agree with, and...

The Romanov story is a memorable moment in history that has been told time and time again in pop culture. The story of the mass murder of the tsar line is often told, and more than once has it incorporated the idea that perhaps Anastasia, the youngest of the tsar’s...

So when I got done reading Becca Fitzpatrick’s "Hush, Hush" I was left with one overriding question: Why in the heck is this thing called "Hush, Hush?" Nobody was quiet in this thing or ever shushed for that matter. I just really think this is a misnomer. To the book’s...

As I’ve been going on my Maggie Stiefvater binge, I’ve realized that while her stories incorporate fantastical elements, she really writes about the human condition. Reading "The Scorpio Races" completely affirmed this idea. While on the surface the book seems to be about a race on a tiny island featuring...

Finally we get a glimpse at the Controller experience in the sixth installment of the Animorphs series, The Capture. Unfortunately for us, it’s Jake who gets an intergalactic space slug in his brain. But fortunately for us, it all works out as we all know thanks to the fact that...

I finally decided to pick up a copy of “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” to see what all the fuss is about. After reading Jeff Kinney’s first book in the series, I discovered it's because it's just so relatable. Kinney expertly points out the humor in the everyday life of...

We’ve all heard the saying slow and steady wins the race. But in books, sometimes that seems counterintuitive. If the storyline is just too dang slow, you’re gonna put that sucker down. So it takes a lot of skill to make a story progress at a slow pace, yet still...