Dave Luckett

Fantastic book. Followed one family through the generations as they made armour and also showed the other inventions that came as a side benefit of learning to make different armour. Beautiful illustrations.

An unobjectionable children's fantasy about a girl who's failing out of magic school, but then finds out that it wasn't because she was stupid and untalented, but rather because she was *too* talented. I don't think it's really the right message to send to most children. Most of them don't fail because they're "too smart" for what they're doing. The book was nice, though.

In my opinion, this is one of the best juvenile fantasy series to come out recently. They are funny and just right for the 8-12 age group. My only complaint is that they are too short! Rhianna is a below- average magic student suddenly diagnosed as a wild- magic worker and must learn to use her power in a completely different way than anyone else (which is why she is flunking out of school in the first place). Her abilities lead her into both trouble and adventure.