Blake Morrison's "As If" was this reader's favorite find of the year. Morrison finds himself compelled to view the unfolding of Liverpool's James Bulger murder trial, and in doing so is forced to assess his own life in relation to what it means to grow up "normally". Who is truly guilty or innocent in this shocking act of two ten-year olds murdering a two-year old? He says he must determine the "why" of the crime. As we sink with him into the morass, we find that the answer becomes more and more elusive, and we wonder how different these families are from yours or mine.

I bought this novel in the summer while I was in England. A few weeks ago, when I was looking for a book to read, I came across As If on my book shelf. Since then I have read it three times. Morrison made me ask questions of myself and of society that I would have never asked otherwise. He explains the trial, not only in a factual manner, but in an extrordinarily philosophical way as well.

Daley B.[unny] doesn't know what he is - and he looks at all sorts of animals to decide what to be - my daughter loves to talk about what sort of animals might live in the places he thinks of, or eat what he thinks of eating etc. Its funny and cute, although I have to edit the scary part where the weasel tries to eat him up for my 2 year old daughter, but I think older children would be able to read it themselves without being upset. Its got cute drawings and lots of room for talking about the different animals!

Daley B has become one of our favourite children's story characters. It's about a rabbit with an identity crisis: he doesn't know why his feet are so big, what he is supposed to eat, and where he is supposed to live. Because he's so mixed up he asks lots of naive questions to a hungry weasel named Jazzy D. We especially like reading the questions out loud and pretending to be Daley or Jazzy. Jazzy's intentions are frustrated when Daley discovers his true identity at the end of the book.