Beth Hilgartner

It's tough being a cat. Eat, sleep, decapitate rodents, repeat. Life is good! That is until their human companions decide to take jobs out of the house to help make ends meet. Gone are the days of home cooked meals, quality time and easy access to the out of doors. What are poor kitties to do? Fortunately for Fluffy and PKP, Dana has bought a laptop computer for the home and tries to introduce Collin to the wonders of the internet. And that's when inspiration strikes! The two felines take it upon themselves to learn how to navigate the information superhighway and figure out how to make some money to help their two-feets out.

Cats in Cyberspace is a fun read about two cats and their adventures navigating the internet to help out their poor humans. The author starts the ebook off with a note to let the reader know the setting is the late '90s and to keep things in perspective of the technology of that era. Hilgartner does a wonderful job of writing the cats and giving them mannerisms that cat owners can easily identify with and in some cases are uncannily accurate. I really enjoyed cat logic and the creative ways the cats came up with solutions to their problems. It's a fun story from start to finish, great for any cat lover.… (more)

Summary: Young Alice Tuckfield is out playing when she oversees something terrible - the murder of her father. Unable to go home for fear that the men responsible will find her too, she heads to the nearby city of York in search of a family friend. But young girls are not typically on their own in Elizabethan England, and overwhelmed and alone, she is quickly taken in by the boys of the York Minster Cathedral Choir. Once they discover her musical ability, they disguise her as a boy and hide her in their ranks. But it's only a matter of time before her true identity is revealed - especially since one of the men involved in the plot against her father works at the cathedral.

Review: This was a solid, enjoyable, mid-grade historical fiction. I probably would have loved it if I'd read it in grade school. And luckily, it made the transition to adult readership pretty well; the plot is obviously pretty simple but it also didn't feel juvenile, which can be problematic in books for this age level. (In particular, the court politics involving Alice's father weren't developed super-strongly.) I do always like the "girls disguising themselves as boys" device in historical fiction (and fantasy), and while this wasn't the most effective version of this plot I've read - most character's reactions to Alice's female-ness were a little anachronistically nonchalant - it was still fun. I did enjoy the setting - the life of choir boys in Elizabethan England is not something that I'd ever read (or thought?) about before, and Hilgartner manages to bring the setting to life without large obtrusive sections of description. There's an obvious love of music, especially choir music, but it's still perfectly accessible for someone (like me) whose musical background extends no further than childhood piano lessons. All in all, I had a fun time reading this, and can see myself revisiting it as a comfort read. 4 out of 5 stars.

Recommendation: It's not at all thematically similar, but it's at a similar age level to books like My Brother Sam is Dead. Younger fans of historical fiction should have a good time with this, as well as adult readers who want something easy but not silly. It's set around Christmastime, so it would be a good winter read.… (more)