May Bird Books 1 & 2 (a.k.a. It could be the ugliest animal in the world, but if no one wants it, I'll love it)

NEW MAY BIRD NEWS! A comment from the author! CLICK HERE! July 13, 2008

May Bird and the Ever After : Book Oneby Jodi Lynn AndersonI saw the second book on the display table before the first. I took note of the author's name and went to raid the Young Adult section at the local bookstore. This isn't exactly a Young Adult novel, so I made a new category for Young Readers (9 - 12), the bookstore actually gave me the age idea, since that's the section the books were found in. There was an awful lot happening in this book for it to be really young, but I don't think there was anything inappropriate for kids, nothing too scary. I didn't have any nightmares... So I guess Young Reader fits.May Bird is a ten year old girl living somewhere in West Virginia with her mother and her hairless cat, Somber Kitty. May doesn't think her cat is all that great and always tries to send him away when all he wants is to spend time with her. Right there? That part of the plot? I already had tears in my eyes. Poor little unwanted, ugly kitty. I will love you, Somber Kitty! I will be your friend! *sniffle*Ok, so May Bird is a little odd, she doesn't fit in with the rest of the kids around, she's got a brilliant, though weird imagination. She would much rather be exploring the woods as May Bird Warrior Princess, with Somber Kitty (even though she acts like she doesn't want him around!) than play with the other kids. May gets lured into the woods and finds a pond, odd since there has been a drought in her part of the world for ages. The pond apparently is a portal to the Ever After which is being taken over by Bo Cleevil and his henchmen, like the Bogey.Before May gets sucked into the pond, she sends Somber Kitty away in a fit of anger. Somber Kitty devotes his life to tracking her down and spends almost the entire book in his own perilous travels through the Ever After just trying to track down his May Bird. Dear, God, my heart was in my throat every chapter that dealt with this poor kitty. Not that it was all that scary, but I can't handle rejected animals, especially when they just want to be loved!Somber Kitty reunites with May at the end of the book (and we'll not talk about the fact that I cried through the last 15 pages of the book from that reunion!) and May Bird is so happy to see her Kitty again and feels awful for yelling at him. Yadda, yadda.Anyhow, aside from my own personal issues with rejected animals, the book is wonderfully entertaining and amusing. It's full of ghosties, and goblins, and undead things and all sorts of things that go BUMP! in the night. Some are friendly some are not. May makes friends in the oddest of places and suddenly finds herself and the quest is afoot!And the quest just gets interesting and... THE END! Oh, bother! Luckily I was smart and I bought both books at the same time. Ha ha! Foiled the cliff-hanging suspense! Take that, Book That Has a Rejected Ugly Kitty!May Bird Among the Stars : Book Twoby Jodi Lynn AndersonAnd so we find our heroine, May Bird and her hairless cat, Somber Kitty and their little group of friends continuing on their journey to reach the Lady of the North Farm.May finds out that she's supposed to save the Ever After from the baddies, but all she really wants is to go home and be with her Mother (and kitty!). Throughout the journey, May learns more about herself and who she really is, she's no longer the shy, odd girl. She is a leader, she has friends, she is so much more than she ever thought.I really like how the author combines the self discovery of this shy girl in with all the fantastical supernatural stuff as well. May doesn't have super human powers or anything, it's just her, who she really is that makes the difference. Once she's found the confidence and so one, that's what makes what she does special in the end.The group of spirits and ghosts and whatnots that May travels with and encounters are amusing and a good group of, um, non-people. The bad guys are sufficiently scary and bumbling idiots at the same time, so as to not be TOO scary. Good obviously triumphs over bad in the end, though not without perils along the way.I just found out as I was linking the titles up that there is a Book Three due out in September, but what do we have here? IT'S IN HARD COVER! Oooooooh! That makes me MAD! *shakes fist in consternation* My other books are all in soft cover! I do not like when my series are different sizes and bindings! I want to buy this book, but not if it's in Hard Cover (aside from the price!). I don't even know if my local library carries English books (oh, the perils of living in the Province of Quebec!) and even if it does, I don't think it will be as on top of new book releases as I am. Grr. I suppose whenever my husband and I can get over there to get a library card I can check it out. *kicks piles of books next to the desk* I am so frustrated!!Nonetheless, May Bird Warrior Princess : Book Three, is due out in stores September 18, 2007.