Shadow The Books

Anthony and Joan both could not put this book down! Anthony read it first, then read parts of it to Joan, then Joan read it. In the spirit of The Work and the Glory series by Lund, Standing on the Promises, combines factual history and characters with an outstanding story. The characters really come alive and the reader can truly imagine themselves right in the story and experiencing the events portrayed. The actual events and research are documented after each chapter and provide a wonderful historical review of the evidence. After, becoming acquainted with Elijah, Jane and Isaac in other publications, being able to read their stories was truly inspiritational. We are eagerly awaiting the next book in this series!

The following review appeared in November 2000 online in "Dunbar on Black Books" (http://www.queenhyte.com/dobb/dobb_archives/dobb_00/nov_00.htm ):

One More River to Cross by Margaret Blair Young and Darius Aidan Gray (Bookcraft, ISBN 1-57345-629-2) is the first of a trilogy entitled Standing on the Promises. It is a historical novel about black Mormon pioneers. With it "Dunbar on Black Books" (DOBB) makes an exception to its custom of reviewing only nonfiction books. We do this for two reasons. First, this book, albeit a novel, observes canons of history more dutifully than some works that hold themselves out as pure works of history. In the author's notes, the reader is told: "We have been true to all the facts that we could find but have freely fictionalized the spaces between the facts." Second, this book deals convincingly with an important subject about which very little has been written: black Mormon adherents whose membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City dates back as far as 1832.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints makes much of the point that this book is not an official publication of the church. Bookcraft, its publisher, states that the book does not represent its position. One must know that Deseret Books publishes doctrinal works by Latter-day Saint leaders, biographies, and "enlightening" church historical books and that Bookcraft is a registered trademark of Deseret Book Company. It is in this context that DOBB reviews One More River to Cross.

When we overhear Delilah Abel whispering to her sleeping son Eli[jah] on the plantation just before they flee, we may think that they are fictional characters. We later learn from citations of the records of baptisms in the Nauvoo Temple Church of the Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City that they were living people and that Eli[jah] Abel was baptized there. So that while we may have reservations about the dialogue between the persons in the book, or even the accounts of events that took place on the journey to Salt Lake City from Maryland or from Alabama, or from wherever, we know that Elijah Abel made it to Salt Lake. More than that, we are provided with evidence that he was one of the very few blacks to receive the priesthood in the early church and that he was ordained by the Prophet himself.

This book is one of the first, if not the very first, that this reviewer read by starting with the end notes. Quite frankly, to me the notes are a most significant part of this book. The authors make excellent use of records in the Missionary Record Books of the church, of information from conversations of Joseph Smith, as reported in Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, from U.S. Census records in Salt Lake City, and from Brigham Young's Journal, to mention a few of their sources. They have given us a book providing information about African Americans in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that is not widely available.

A word about the authors is in order. Heber G. Wolsey, former managing director, public communications, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints says of Darius Gray, the black co-author, "I know of no one who can express a more objective, more compassionate, more honest portrayal of blacks in the Mormon Church than Darius Gray." Gray is a former journalist and presides over the Genesis Group, an official arm of the Mormon Church. The Genesis Group was organized in 1971 to support church members of African descent. Coauthor Margaret Blair Young is a lifelong white member of the church, "with pioneer heritage," Mr. Wolsey points out. "She has felt deeply over the past few years the inspiration of her pioneer forebears, many of whom knew the Saints of color portrayed in this novel," he says.

This is an important book. It ought to be read by everyone as it throws light on some little-known facts about the history of the membership of African Americans in the early Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In this era in which Protestants are looking to their roots after decades of ecumenism, Darius Gray, as a black Mormon should not be on the defensive because of widely held, erroneous perceptions of the history of black membership in his church.

If this book were a nonfiction work, I would make the observation that an index would have been useful. The bibliography is excellent. William G. Hartley, associate professor of history, Smith Institute, Brigham Young University, says it all when he says, "In a way that pure history cannot do, this story attaches us to black Saints who deserve to be known about and appreciated by our generation."

With two more volumes to come, the contributions of African Americans to the Mormon Church should be well documented for the general public. It has been said that the best way to keep information from black men is to put it in a book and classify it as nonfiction. Perhaps Margaret Blair Young and Darius Aidan Gray have found a formula to set this situation right.

The uninhibited Chanukah dance that graces the cover of Serrotta's "picture book" invites you to sit down and spend the rest of the evening in the world he discovered. While some of the information is since outdated -- synagogues have been rebuilt, Jews from Russia moving westward changing the landscape -- you still taste the life he found behind the Iron Curtain.

If you are Jewish, this book reminds you that there is always hope, that the shtetl gave us great literature and tremendous inner strength.

If you are not Jewish, you will still revel in the stubborn life that hung in there through awfully dark days, preserving tradition against all odds.

Edward Serrotta's lens makes magic.

This is a sensational book of photography. Why? Edward Serotta, the photographer, displayed the life of Jews after the Holocaust in an interesting and unique way. Buy looking at these pictures, Serotta tells the story of the lives of people from Bulgaria to Romania. By looking at the book, one gets the feeling that the culture and religion of the Jewish people in Central Europe remains and flourishes. However, it still seems as though the marking of the Holocaust hangs around the lives of people who live in Europe. In addition, Edward Serotta gives a substanial amount of information about what he encountered when he explored the countries. All of his writing is to the point and is intruiging to read. Overall, I feel anyone who wants to get a good idea of live after the war in Europe must read this book.

A griping read. The author does an excellent job describing her life as a rape victim and bizarre intricacies of the Mormon religion

Mormonism permeates just about every aspect of a believer's life. Pam McCreary does an excellent job of relating, in a gripping and well written manner, what it is like to grow up in the Mormon church. She exposes the not so well hidden sexism that infects the church at all levels. And she describes how Mormonism requires its followers to sacrifice their individuality and uniqueness on its altar of obedience and conformity. She also poignantly tells how discovering the truth about the Mormon church fundamentally altered her life and forever changed her relationship with her parents, her spouse, and her friends.

As a former Mormon, I found that much of Pam McCreary's life mirrored my own and that she has successfully battled many of the same demons that I have. I highly recommend this book for anyone who is and has struggled with being Mormon or anyone who has a spouse, close friend or relative undergoing such a struggle.

If you find yourself in a position to care for a parent, then this is the book to read. It is an excellent book to begin to understand all of the emotions, mental and physical challenges that a primary caregiver experiences. Until I read this book, I thought I was all-alone with these feelings. I thank Fred Hill for making me feel that I am not alone anymore. This book is a must read for any caregiver. It is packed with inspiration to carry on!

If you find yourself in a position to care for a parent, then this is the book to read. It is an excellent book to begin to understand all of the emotions, mental and physical challenges that a primary caregiver experiences. Until I read this book, I thought I was all-alone with these feelings. I thank Fred Hill for making me feel that I am not alone anymore. This book is a must read for any caregiver. It is packed with inspiration to carry on!

I'm surprised that more people haven't discovered Robert Skinner's Wesley Farrell series. Skinner's work is always well written, has interesting story lines, and has believable characters. However, unlike Skinner's previous novels in this series, our hero, Wesley Farrell isn't as prominately displayed this time around. Completely absent is his paramour, Savanna, a black club owner with a voice as rich as the delta. Rather, this time around Marcel Aristide, Wesley's cousin, makes a return appearence and steps to the forefront to follow in his sleuthing relative's footsteps.

It certainly wasn't unusual for a light-skinned black man to pass himself off as a white man in the New Orleans of the 1930's and 1940's. Farrell is such a man and cunningly dangerous to boot, but he doesn't disregard his black heritage or disrepect his white father, an Irishman and Chief of Detectives, Frank Casey. Most father's would regret having a son who has been an unconvicted career criminal, but Frank Casey's life has been saved and his career enhansed because his son knows the wrong side of the law as well as his father knows the right side.

Add to the complex story line the flavor of New Orleans, the taste of danger, a bit of intrigue, a wealth of racial mix and you have one of the most entertaining mysterys around. For other flavorful African American mysteries in New Orleans, try Barbara Hambly's Ben January series and James Sallis' Lew Griffin series.

I am a kid again when I read Robert Skinner, which is why I truly recommend
Pale Shadow, the fifth novel in his crime series featuring Wesley Farrell of New
Orleans. I'm breathless and at the edge of my seat as a gunman "reached down
and jacked a cartridge into the breech of his .45. The metallic clash was like the
crack of doom in the dim room."

I am a longtime devotee of Wesley Farrell, a professional gambler, a nightclub
owner on Basin Street, and (by nature) an alley cat given to prowling the mean
streets of New Orleans. This time out, Farrell seeks to help out an old friend
Luiz Martinez whose mother is dying of lung cancer in El Paso.

Farrell and Martinez go back a long ways, back to Prohibition when both worked
with rum-runners. Martinez was "a Texan by birth, a mixture of Mexican, Indian
and Negro that they called mestizo in Old Mexico." Even then Farrell respected
Martinez: "He had the kind of brains that criminals rarely have, the kind that keep
you out of alive, out of jail, and with enough money to last beyond the next
week." Martinez is a guy whose ex-girlfriends shed tears when they remember
how good they used to have it together.

Farrell learned enough in his night work that he began smuggling liquor on his
own. In the dozen times since then that he had seen Martinez, his friend "had
had some kind of new racket, and had been doing well with it."

What Farrell doesn't know is Martinez has stolen a perfect set of counterfeit

plates and the bad guys are after his buddy. Martinez, on the other hand,
knows the score. Going to the cops meant time behind bars. Returning the
plates was an admission of defeat and submission to execution. "All that was
left was to make war."

The situation Farrell has stumbled into -- a band of counterfeiters out to kill the
renegade Martinez -- can leave Farrell and his buddy as roadkill. Farrell's fight
to save his friend is tooth and claw to the bittersweet end.

Farrell has to find his friend before the evildoers do. Dixie Ray Chavez, the
hired killer out to beat Farrell, tells his bosses, "Martinez has three friends in
New Orleans. I'm bettin' he'll go to one of `em for help, sooner or later." Who
gets there first gets to shoot first.

Chavez is one mean dude. He tortures one friend of Martinez "with a hot iron `til
her heart gave out." On another victim, "it looked as though skin had been
flayed from her." Dixie Ray Chavez is a tuning fork for other bad guys to home
in on. He "liked to think of himself as a bullet who stayed on course until the job
was done." Chavez plans to be there before Farrell and gone before the
Treasury agents stumble in.

Farrell and Pale Shadow are fun for all Farrell's secrets, the most important
being that he is Creole and passing for white in a racist society. His next best
secret is his close relationship with his father, Frank Casey, a red-headed Irish
cop ready to retire from the New Orleans Police department.

Skinner has written four previous Wesley Farrell novels and four nonfiction
books about the hard--boiled detective tradition. He is actually a well-respected
academic at Xavier University in New Orleans.

Pale Shadow takes place during September, 1940, in New Orleans, when the
Negro Detective Squad covered the crimes the white guys won't and backed off
the "white" cases. A time for riverboat gambling. A time when "a well-dressed
man with a slick line of jive" can go a long way.

The counterfeiters are pros: "The engraving technique is so good that the
Bureau of Engraving and Printing is jealous. And the paper is good enough to
fool ninety-seven percent of the people who touch it."

No all cops in Pale Shadow are good guys, either, which surprises no one who
knows New Orleans and its histories. "If there had existed in Detective Matty
Paret even a scintilla of honesty, he might have been an outstanding detective.
He was intelligent, thoughtful, and even possessed a certain shrewd insight into
the foibles of his fellow man. Had he liked money a little less and hard work
more, he'd have been a sergeant already."

I envelope myself in this mythical past of crooked cops, honest robbers and the
gray people who slide between them like a sharpened knife edge. I luxuriate in
the world I am too young to have ever been a party to, a world I most likely
would never have survived within, a world that helps me deal the real, everyday
villains on the front page and the cable headlines.

Wesley Farrell is a questionable hero in the same way that the 1930 and 1940
movies celebrated questionable heroes with actors like Humphrey Bogart, Dick
Powell, and Bob Mitchum. Skinner writes, "Farrell moved silently through the
crowd, his eyes glowing in that peculiar way from the shadow of his hat brim.
Occasionally somebody felt the feral quality emanating from him and stepped to
the side, hurriedly dragging a companion from Farrell's path." Locals whisper
his name when he passes.

Wes Farrell has that classic tenuous relationship with the cops, too. He has
some friends, but even his friends suspect there's much wisdom percolating
behind his mulatto features.

Yes, Wesley Farrell is biracial. So few writers are multicultural, and yet this
world grows more so every day. True cities like New Orleans have always been
multicultural -- although that phrase is still rings new to the city and the world --
and yet Farrell is not part of that 1940s racist past. In the real 1940s Farrell's
story would have been played out as another Example of the Tragic Mulatto, or
worse the Tragic Half-breed. (Think of Paul Newman playing Elmore Leonard's
Hombre; a man so marginalized, he isn't allowed a name until after he dies
saving all the whites.)

Farrell passes for white, and many call him "the great white hope, Wes Farrell,
who reaches down to help all the poor, helpless niggers in distress." Farrell
generally pulls off the masquerade, but not all the times. "Men never asked him
why he did the things he did. It was always the women who tried to understand,
who wanted an explanation for why he behaved in ways that were inexplicable in
a white man."

Skinner gives these denizens of New Orleans the wonderful names that 1940s
crime novels thrive upon: Wisteroa Mullins, Little Head Lucas, cheap thugs
named Tink and Rojo, Margaret "Jelly" Wilde, Marcel Aristide and Theron
Oswald.

I love this world where bodyguards and bouncers can be murdered silently in the
night, this frontier of hard-boiled and noir. Where cons talk of "dumb twists,"
cons mumble about `ofays," where only four aces always win.

A world that of course includes classic femme fatales: "She was tall, maybe
five-seven, with a lean, high-breasted figure and velvety skin the color of hark
honey." She has a devastating effect on men, too. Even men hard as rock get
goofy; "he had the insane urge to race around the room on all fours while he
barked the lyrics to `Jingle Bells.'"

These are dangerous women. One of Skinner's gloriously described femmes
owns and operates Sparrow's Joint, a most curious night club down along the
riverfront warehouses. "Her sallow skin and bold, handsome features were
those of a Jew or an Arab, Farrell had never known which." Sparrow tells
Farrell, "I'll simply tell you to be careful. The other side of the world is on fire

now, but evil energy is in the air even here."

Skinner doesn't over-furnish the 1940s. We get just enough to locate us in that
special time and place. A man might wear "a carefully trimmed mustache" and
"a stylish Wilton fedora tipped over his right ear." Another has a collarless shirt
and thick glasses made of window glass. A neon sign has the colorful shape of
"a top-hatted crawdish leaning negligently against a martini glass." Drinkers
toss down rye highballs in juke joints. Where men keep bottles of whiskey and
Colt .38 Supers in their suitcases.

Pale Shadow unfolds like a movie, and I love watching as "Farrell moved
through the noise and destruction like a hot wind, his rage and blood lust blotting
out all but the faceless shadow that retreated down toward the opposite end of
the building. His gun jumped in his hand until the hammer fell on an empty
chamber."

I love the town that Skinner loves. New Orleans is a border town between the
races. More complex than a love affair, and more shifting than standing on
quicksand. "The center of New Orleans was beating like a healthy heart, and
the death of a Negro woman in Gentilly meant little or nothing to the teeming life
of Rampart Street." Meanwhile, at the bordello, one can hear the bells at Holy
Ghost Catholic Church. We may want to visit Maxwell's Chicken Shack on
Derbigny Street or the Sassafrass Lounge for an matinee drink.

Pale Shadow is great fun. It's fun to watch how Skinner makes sure all the
interested parties keep abreast of exposition. Pale S

This book is the first book by Gloria Whelan, and I will definitely be picking up her others sometime soon after reading Parade of Shadows. First, it's historical fiction, which I love. But what really makes this book is the characters. They were so well drawn and real. Julia was feisty, exciting, and an utter joy to read about. Graham was mysterious and it's impossible not to have some feelings for him after you're done reading. The writing was beautiful and mysterious and you could never really tell what was going to happen next. All in all, this was an amazing book (except for the ending, which I thought was anti-climactic.) So. Read this book and you will not be disappointed.

It's 1907, and sixteen-year-old Julia Hamilton lives an uneventful life in London, though she dreams of seeing distant places and having exciting adventures. Her mother died of an illness when Julia was very young and her father is often traveling in his work for the British Foreign Office. When she learns her father is to take a trip to the Middle East, she begs to come along, and to her delight, her father agrees.

On the journey, Julia befriends Graham Geddes, a handsome young student from Oxford whom she learns is to be part of their tour group. Graham shows her the sights of the exotic city of Beirut - and also awakens her to the political unrest in the region. Graham is sympathetic to the Young Turks, who wish to reform the Ottoman Empire, a position Julia's father strongly disagrees with. Julia is attracted to Graham but feels torn between him and her father. Their fellow travelers, and even their tour guide, seem to have hidden motives as well.

Parade of Shadows was another excellent historical novel with a unique setting by Gloria Whelan. Julia was a wonderful character - she starts out as a sheltered young girl, but during her journey she matures and becomes more aware of the world around her. In light of the current situation in the Middle East, it seemed particularly relevant to read about the political unrest that existed there a hundred years ago. I'd highly recommend this book to young adult readers who enjoyed the author's previous novels or who enjoy historical fiction

Another series that the granddaughters are looking forward to with each
purchase I make. Wonderful series.

Reviewed by Mary Johnson (age 15) for Reader Views (6/08)

"Phantom Stallion: Wild Horse Island #6: Sea Shadow" is a wonderful book about a 13-year-old girl named Darby Leilani Kealoha Carter and her half-wild mustang named Hoku (which means star in Hawaiian), who live on the island of Moku Lio Hihiu with Darby's Grandpa. When earthquakes start shaking the island everything changes. When one creates a tsunami just off the coast the wild horses of the island are in trouble. After getting stranded on a dangerous hilltop, it's up to Darby and her friends to save the herd. But, after the lead mare, Medusa, is injured she refuses to go a shore.

Will Darby and her friends be able to save Medusa? You'll have to read "Phantom Stallion: Wild Horse Island #6: Sea Shadow" to find out. Terri Farley did an excellent job on "Phantom Stallion #6." I have read many of her books before and I thought it was interesting how she incorporates characters from her previous books into "Phantom Stallion #6." It isn't even hard for a reader to understand the words she writes in Hawaiian because; she has an index in the back that tells you what they mean.

I would say "Phantom Stallion: Wild Horse Island #6: Sea Shadow" By Terri Farley is a book for any reader, especially anyone who loves horses. I loved this book and hope to be able to read more in the series of "Phantom Stallion: Wild Horse Island."

I don't usually read poetry, but author and poet Liz DeJesus has a way of nurturing her readers. Her poems resonate with life. Her compelling imagery and thought-provoking prose made "Poems to Use When Hiding from
the Shadows" a pleasure!

With this collection of poetry, not only has Liz DeJesus won me over even more with her writing but she's also reignited my interest and love of poetry. I'd become pretty jaded with poetry because there was such a lack of originality from much of what I'd read over the last couple of years. While Liz touches on subjects familiar to us, she does it with her unique voice. Although I enjoyed and could relate to this body of poems as a whole, my favorites were: "Home", "I Found Myself", "Writers" (which succinctly describes those of us who put pen to paper) and "The Girl" (I felt Liz was peeking into my life). Liz DeJesus proves yet again why she is one of our most talented young writers.

Shelley Halima
Author of Azucar Moreno & Los Morenos

I loved this book, it displays the spooky shadows on the book. I have brought other shadows books and you need to shine the shadows on the wall which makes it is too hard to see the patterns. My grandkids aged 4 and under love this book and ask me to read it again and again. It's also a quick book to read, so now we are making up our own spooky stories. This book came with a flashlight but I have a flashlight that flashes colors and added to the shadows spooky effects.

This is a great fun book. Unlike some shadow books which you need a blank wall or use the ceiling the shadows are projected on a back drop that compliments the story. Nice to have the light included also. FAP

This story finds us looking at an era that isn't looked at too much now adays. Most times you find the good vs. evil story played out by 2 seperate characters, in this story however, you do not see who is truely good and evil and that makes for an exciting read.

Another change that we see is the grammar. The language of this story is one of that is not seen too often and adds to the mystique of the Prince of the universe story.

I most definitely enjoyed this book and I hope to see more from this young and rising Author. Excellent Job!

The title may seem generic, but the content inside is anything but!

The story is about a young boy who is presented with the oppurtunity to save the universe from the evil gods that wish to rule it. What really caught me was that his initially response in the opening chapters is more or less "no" and then gravitates towards "why"!

I don't want to reveal anything about the story, but as the boy tries to make his decision concerning his destiny, the reader is treated to a journey through space to unique worlds inhabited by savumen (basically non-Earth humans), elves (definately no Legolas descendents here), and other fanciful sentients who are interesting and believable.

The story also includes a starship too, which was something I totally didn't expect from a story that seemed to be going the way of the rest of the fantasy series out there. So it was a bit of Lord of the Rings-meets-Star Wars...and since I'm a huge fan of both, that worked for me!

I am also a big fan of Roman and Greek mythology, and the villains in this book made me think to myself "So that's where all the ancient gods went in this modern age." I think the authour intended this as the villain's main villain's name is Amenek-Ra...a name that will strike a familiarity with anyone who likes Egyptian mythology. I personally hope that the authour includes more characters based on our own mythology. It really makes the book feel like it is a part of our universe's history, and the things that could be going on above and within our atmosphere.

A weird statement? Not when you read the book and the authour reveals a kind of invisible battle going on all around us. Angels and demons of Christian tradition also make a cameo in this book! I couldn't believe it, and it was incredible the way the authour portrayed the battles between the two sides!

If you like epic fantasy in the tradition of Lord of the Rings...if you like the space fantasy of Star Wars...if you enjoy the romance of mythology...and you don't mind a subtle hint of Christian themes, this book is for you. It's the first in the series, so I hope the authour finds out a way to get some epic space battles in there soon!