How I Lost My Heart At the Beach

I had two days of good fun and photographs with the little stone heart (pictures to be posted later, when I have both net and picture access).

Then I thought it would be fun to get a shot of the heart as the waves washed around it.

This was in the morning and the tide, though ebbing, was still pretty strong. It came in, and went out, and I saw the stone tumble once, twice out in the surf, where I, cumbered by my camera could not go.

And then it was gone.

Someone else will find it later, smoothed more, and will take it home in delight.

In the meantime, I think it's safe to say that the Heart Series is a limited edition!

Found on the Beach (1)

I went for a walk on the beach, and very shortly after setting out, I found a stone heart.

I photographed it, of course. After that, I started to look for other interesting objects, photographing them together and apart, so that both relationships and objects are found.

Found by Margaret Peterson Haddix

While I was at the library the other day, I noticed that Margaret Peterson Haddix has a new book out, Found, the first book in a new series. So, of course, I grabbed it.

It's a fun read, with the Haddix's usual array of strengths and weaknesses.

Strengths include an intriguing mystery, an interesting premise, and strong protagonists. The brother-sister relationship between Katherine and Jonah is well done, one of the best portrayals of sibling relationships I've read recently. It starts with a bang and is a genuine page-turner, lean and strong.

Weaknesses include the too-familiar scenes of hysteria. Yes, I'd panic too if I were locked in a cave outside time, but at the same time, the response here very much resembles similar scenes in the Hidden series; she's moving toward an authorial tick. More seriously, there is also a certain hand-waving about the basic premise/solution to the mystery. It does, as I said above create a fascinating dilemma and I am looking forward to seeing how the story plays out. I also find, however, that I can't quite believe it, just as I could never quite believe the third-child persecution and hysteria in the Hidden books. There's a certain tension between wanting to let go and just enjoy the plot and not being able to get the disbelief to remain fully suspended; it keeps sticking its toes on the ground and demanding my attention.