I want to know where the sudden interest in bugs is coming from. Granted, the Yaldiv aren't as scary as the Killiks but still, that's a lot of bugs. I'm being glib to keep from crying. The end of this book was beautiful. I want to go pet my dog.

I have been reading Diane Duane's Young Wizard's series since I was 14 or thereabouts. My 7th grade English teacher gave me a gift certificate (back in the old days before giftcards) to a local bookstore (not a huge chain either, amazing!) when I graduated Junior High. So You Want To Be A Wizard seriously caught my eye. In it, Nita Callahan finds her wizard's manual in the kids section of the library, around the rest of the So You Want To Be A... books. They were books that I remembered (and still do) fondly from my days as a young reader. And so, a relationship was forged. I read, breathless in anticipation as Nita met Kit, battled It in Manhattan, they swam with sharks, I read on while Darianne had her ordeal, when Nita visited Ireland, when Nita's mom died... and watched a wizarding exchange program get turned around into something immense.

I will forever love Nita, Kit, Darianne, Tom and Carl, Ponch, and Carmella more than I could ever love Harry, Ron, Hermione, Hagrid, Dumbledore, McGonnogal, and Ginnie. For one thing, they seem more realistic. And for another, they got me first. The idea that wizardry is a choice, not just a happy accident by birth, is amazing. The idea that along with the ability to do wizardry is a responsibility to take care of the Universe and slow down entropy is even more amazing. Of course, spending a decade waiting for Nita and Kit to wise up... well that's another thing. (on the one hand they are great friends and I would hate to see them break apart... but then again on the other hand I am happily married to my best friend and I would like them to experience it too. Plus literature doesn't have to be like poor television! Just because they get together doesn't mean they can't STAY together... I promise I will be interested in everything else)

That said, I think that as much as I have been in and out of book stores over the last six weeks it (and in the kid's section) it is absolutely criminal that I only just now read this. The funny thing is the last 3 times I was at Barne's and Noble I checked for the wizard's books, and 3 weeks ago I recommended the Wizard's series to a girl at Waldenbooks... maybe the time was just right.

So here's a question for those of you who KNOW what I am yammering on about... how many of you read the oath out loud?

angela