Like any good mystery — suspense novel, Charles Soule’s “The Oracle Year” is filled with thrills and chills, twists and surprises. But Soule’s work here takes us far beyond those classic characteristics. Its science-fiction elements raise, once again, the “big questions” that have fascinated and frustrated many of us virtually since the birth of our species. Is my destiny pre-decided or do I truly have free will? What would I do and how would I act if I could accurately predict the future? Are human beings fundamentally good or evil? How and why might we eventually cause our own extinction? Are there gods or is there a God or have beings from other worlds created and formed us?
“Diego’s New America” (La nueva America de Diego) by Evelyn Sanchez-Toledo is a charming picture book about Diego, a curious and intelligent boy who loves to ask questions. When the students need to do a project for an International Fair the school is producing, students are told to pick a country to present at the fair. All of Diego’s friends decide to pick countries that their families are from. One student’s family is from Austria, another’s from Greece.
