A good story well-told does not have age guidelines for its audience. Fire Pony is written for a middle school audience, the protagonist is an 11 year old girl, but even though I am more than a half century older than the intended demographic for this book, I found it to be a real page-turner that I found myself picking up whenever I had a few moments to myself.

How could I have gotten through an English major without reading any Austen? We are considering celebrating Jane Austen Day in September at This House of Books, so now is my chance to correct this omission. I went to the bookstore and added a copy of Austen's 1813 novel, Pride and Prejudice, to my personal library.