"The Dark Frigate" by Charles Hawes

A story about a young man's adventures among pirates. I'm just a few chapters into it.  I like the pace of the story, but I think the language is so antiquated it would be hard for children to understand, especially the Scottish dialect (while beautifully broken-down phonetically, I only can decifer half the words).  Anywho, my first impressions of the book are favorable, and it should be a brief read.

Update 1/11/12:  Finished two days ago.  I think the story would make a great screen-play in the hands of the right writers to be turned into a great action movie.  But the 18th-century language plus the ship jargon that was like Greek to me, the book was hard to persue in some points. Even when the plot was exciting, I didn't feel excited.  Sadly, the author died at a young age shortly after it's publication.  If he'd had the opportunity to write more I'm sure he would've created some wonderful stories.

Next Newbery book:  "Tales from Silver Lands" by Charles Finger.  I already have my copy, I just keep forgetting to get it out of the library bag.

"Clockwork Prince," Book 2 of The Infernal Devices by Cassandra Claire

The Mortal Instruments and The Infernal Devices series are my dirty little secret.  Shadowhunters, demons, vampires, werewolves; love-triangles and steamy passages.  If you like action, fantasy, and teenage romance drama then you must read Cassandra Claire.  The four books (so far) in The Mortal Instruments are City of Bones, City of Ashes, City of Glass and City of Fallen Angels.  Clockwork Angel and Clockwork Prince are the first two books of The Internal Devices series.  Infernal Devices is actually a prequel series to Mortal Instuments; chronologically it happens 100-ish year earlier, but you must read Mortal Instruments first to understand the world of Shadowhunters living among humans and saving them demons.  It's not brilliant writing, often predictable, but worth it's weight in gold when it comes to entertainment value.  IMO.  I got this newest Claire book for Christmas and paced myself as much as possible to enjoy it longer (I made it last a whole week).  Then I went back and dog-eared my favorite sections so when I need a little Will-Tessa-Jem rush, I can find it quickly. 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!