"The Maxwell Daily Reader" by John C. Maxwell

Featuring timeless wisdom from fourteen of John C. Maxwell's leadership books, The Maxwell Daily Reader is an excellent resource for group inspiration. I recently attended a showchoir camp and was introduced to the book by my choreographer, Stephen Todd. He would read the daily message to us every afternoon when we were starting to feel tired and lethargic. It would rejuvenate and motivate us faster than anything else ever did. Each entry delivers a powerful leadership principle, ready for real-world practice. Anyone in need of inspiration or motivation is sure to find The Maxwell Daily Reader a perfect fit!

Grace gives it four out of five carrots!

Hardcover, 19.99

Click here to buy this book at The Velveteen Rabbit Bookshop!

"The Strain" by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan

Put together an aged Holocaust survivor (who is also the world's foremost expert on vampires) and a down-on-his-luck epidemiologist, throw in a violent vampire uprising and you get a horror story you can really sink your fangs into. Guillermo del Toro is perhaps best known for his films, like the uber-violent "Pan's Labyrinth" or the dark comedy "Hellboy". He and co-author Chuck Hogan spin a dark tale of an impeding apocalypse in this intriguing, novel first book in a trilogy that's sure to be just as compelling. Vampires in this book are not of your average Transylvanian, Count Chocula variety--they are inflicted with an incurable virus (which sounds increasingly realistic and probable through many in-book medical descriptions) that causes them to drink blood. Not through fangs, but through "stingers". Dwell on that horrifying image for a moment. I won't spoil the other imaginative changes to the "classic vampire" that del Toro dreamed up, but he has essentially invented a whole new monster. This book is 100% horror, through-and-through. You'll find yourself being jerked from story to story as del Toro and Hogan explore a wide variety of characters. Watch out for my favorite, an exterminator named Vas. As strange as it sounds, all of the research the authors poured into rat behavior (and how they are tell-tale signs for world crises) makes Vas the most interesting subplot.

Beth gives it four out of five carrots!

Hardcover, 26.99
Click here to buy this book at The Velveteen Rabbit Bookshop!