This is a very brief review of my three children's perspective on the entire series. No-one suggests that the core teaching of these books is inaccuraThis is a very brief review of my three children's perspective on the entire series. No-one suggests that the core teaching of these books is inaccurate. On the contrary: we wish we were taught the basic principles of Libertarian capitalism in the mainstream instead of primarily in these special-audience series. But my children (ages 8-12 when these were purchased) found them simultaneously shallow, preachy, and even insulting. They also found the art annoying and poor (my kids tend to have very strong opinions about artwork!) Even the youngest agreed they were irritating to read, and as a 3rd grader she should have been in their sweet spot. As an adult I appreciated that they referenced higher level books such as I, Pencil: My Family Tree As Told to Leonard E. Read so that we can do additional research. However, aside from providing this valuable reading list, I don't feel that they add much value. ...more
I liked this book, but I had already read it before I read it. Bridget was a classic “child that didn't know she wasn’t Review by Lucy, Age 9, 8/12/22
I liked this book, but I had already read it before I read it. Bridget was a classic “child that didn't know she wasn’t with the family she was born from.” This is the stereotypical plot-twisting book about the amazing girl that no one notices, turned from a gutter rat to a super spy. It was a good book, but I want to read something I haven't read before. If you've already read too many overpowered child, plot-twisting mystery novels, this one is no different. I liked some of it, but I already knew what was going to happen. It's the same classic mystery child novel in a different skin.
Characters in this book showed these Virtues or Fruits of the Spirit: Bridget showed loyalty and understanding
Characters in this book showed these Vices or Sins: Section 23 showed greed and willingness to lie to an innocent child for money
7/23/22 Reviewed by James, age 13, who wants to give the book 5 stars but is not allowed by his mother who shares the Goodreads account and prefers to 7/23/22 Reviewed by James, age 13, who wants to give the book 5 stars but is not allowed by his mother who shares the Goodreads account and prefers to save 5 stars for CS Lewis, George MacDonald and the like.
There was only one thing on the mind of Lord Fredrick Bleedham-Drye: revenge! Revenge on who? (Whom?!) The Fowl Twins, of course. His plan is quite simple: interrupt the lecture that Miles is giving, shoot the place up, kill Miles and probably Becket, and leave. It's worth mentioning that Miles was giving a lecture to a group of criminal pathologists from the CORPSE association. The only problem with Teddy's plan, as it seems, is that as soon as his hover-plane enters the building through the hole it had just blown in the roof, both Becket and Lazuli (the fairy ambassador) jump on the plane. After some quick thinking, they turn one of the guns toward the other gun. Then, when it fires, the other gun has automatic protection protocols and shoots at the thing that is shooting at it, never mind the fact it's the plane's other gun. The plane explodes, apparently taking Teddy with it. However, Miles, being the genius he is, is a wee bit suspicious that Teddy would go down so easily. Miles plans a break-in into a secret lab owned by MI6, which they are using to dissect Teddy. He wants to make sure that Teddy is dead. But once Miles gets there, before he can do any dissecting, he is jumped by about 10 goblins. I will end the plot summary here. (By the way, in the second book we learned that Teddy has figured out how to clone things, specifically himself.)
I really enjoyed this book. However, if you are looking for valuable life lessons beyond "Don't mess with the Fowls," then maybe read some CS Lewis or George MacDonald. In terms of pure entertainment value, this book would get a 5 star rating. ...more
Review by Lucy, age 8 This book is about a girl/princess (or royal) named Devinaria who could talk to animals and was really not very princess-y. Her dReview by Lucy, age 8 This book is about a girl/princess (or royal) named Devinaria who could talk to animals and was really not very princess-y. Her dream was being an animal caretaker. One day when she was out helping some animals, their footman Jacques called her from the woods. Fortunately she was done mending a little bird's wing. Jacques tells her that she needs to go to her mother, because her invitation to "Royal Academy" has arrived. The invitation tells her that she must be there in one week. Despite her really not wanting to go, she has to, because it's the law. Royal Academy is run by Headmistress Olivina, who is the fairy godmother. Her mom really wants her to go. She has no choice. And her dad tries to help convince Olivina not to make Devin go. But she ends up going anyway. One of the major events that happens here is at the first night, there's a First Knight Out ball. During the ball, harpies attack! They are undead. Devin thinks this is all real and that people are going to get hurt, so she decides to take matters into her own hands, instead of what she's supposed to do, which is let the princes deal with it. She then learns it was all just a test. Olivina is not happy about Devin's actions. She gets one strike. If she gets three of them, she'll get banished - but the fairy godmother says that rarely ever happens. That's all I'm going to tell you or there will be too many spoilers. I liked the not princess-y princess, because I don't like books about princess-y princesses. I didn't Not like much of anything, but if I told you who I didn't like, it would give spoilers.
Mom: What does Devin learn about herself in this story? Lucy: She learns that she is very not what a princess is expected to be. She learns to be OK with this.
Mom: What virtues does Devin show in this book? Lucy: Courageousness. She protects other people and animals with her own life. She learns to be loyal to her roommates.
Mom: What vices does Devin, or anyone else show? Lucy: The bad guy showed dishonesty and greed and selfishness.
Mom: Did this book have a primarily virtuous, neutral, or negative message? Lucy: neutral to positive. That's normally what my books are, because they're normally not negative, but neither are they just neutral.
Mom: Would you read the rest of the books in this series? Lucy: Yes, that's what I am trying to do....more
This book is about Carter and Sadie Kane. They live apart because after their mom died, their grandparents sued their Review by James, age 12, 1/15/22
This book is about Carter and Sadie Kane. They live apart because after their mom died, their grandparents sued their father and gained custody of Sadie. On Christmas the dad returns for one of the only days he's allowed to be with her. So of course, he being an archeologist, takes her to The British Museum. A lot of stuff happens too quickly for the kids to understand until quite a while latter. But suffice to say, the Rosetta Stone went "Boom!" As it turns out, their dad is - or was - an Egyptian magician, and artifacts from Egypt build up massive amounts of magic because there are so few of them. He uses the Stone to attempt to release the Egyptian god of the dead (not Anubis, but a different one.) Trouble is, he didn't realize how much power was in the Rosetta Stone, and apparently these gods are a package deal. He also releases four other gods: Isis, Horus, Set, and someone else I don't remember. Set, of course, being the god of chaos, immediately sticks their dad inside of a golden coffin and teleports out of there with him, setting the museum on fire in the process. Of course when the gods escaped they had to go somewhere, and most gods in order to be on earth have to basically posses someone. Some are nastier than others and really take over, but others are perfectly willing to share your body. Egyptian magicians of old used this to gain massive amounts of power. Since Carter and Sadie were right there, they both got possessed, Carter by Horus God of War and Sadie by Isis Goddess of Knowledge. I will end here before I give away the entire plot. Overall I enjoyed this book. I love that it's bringing in the Egyptian gods and all this fantasy into modern day. It's rather interesting. I intend to read the rest of the series.
Q: In what ways to the values of the characters align or not align with Scripture? A: There was a mention of Moses as the only non-Egyptian to ever beat a magician. They had a statue of his snake eating their snakes. The characters both had a lot of dedication to their father and immediately wanted to rescue him. But they also had to elevate saving the world over saving him. They demonstrated courage, loyalty, and integrity. As far as not lining up with Scripture, Egyptian Gods spring to mind. It is a harmless book: it's not like the author is suggesting they're actually real. But, Egyptian Gods! In the story of Exodus our God demonstrated twelve separate times that he was greater than each major Egyptian god. ...more
If this book was food, it would be most like: Chicken & Corn (better than fast food, not as good as steak)
The ElevatReviewed by James, age 12, 9/4/21
If this book was food, it would be most like: Chicken & Corn (better than fast food, not as good as steak)
The Elevator Pitch In 1600’s London, Christopher is apprenticed to an apothecary. All is going well for him, except that shortly into the book his master is murdered! His master’s will has been stolen from the apothecary guild’s archives because someone didn’t like what it said. Christopher, knowing his apprenticeship is at an end unless something turns up, sets out to follow the clues his master left for him just before he died.
The Review In the first sentence of this book, Christopher says to his friend “Let’s build a cannon!” This might seem a little bit obscure, but as it turns out, Christopher has just cracked the code on the recipe for gunpowder that his master has. He is apprenticed to an apothecary in 1600s England. Although it appears that the cures and remedies work quite a bit better than they probably did in real life. So, they set about to build a cannon. Needless to say, this does not end very well. Sure, they create functioning gunpowder, and sure, the cannonball leaves the cannon. The problem is they had the stupidity to fire it inside. The cannonball disintegrates one of his master’s prized hunting trophies. Needless to say, his master isn’t very happy. A few days after this, his master is murdered. There have been actually quite a few murders of apothecaries during this time. Christopher learns that the bad guys who murdered his master are looking for something called “The Fire.” At the time he doesn’t know what this is, although he follows a coded list of clues his master left him. He knows that now that his master is dead he will be kicked out of the guild and does not have enough to pay for a new apprenticeship. Even if it did, the new master probably wouldn’t be as good. Also, his master’s will is missing. So he decides that he has nothing better to do than to follow the clues, in hopes that they will lead him to justice for his master’s murder. He decodes and follows the first clue to someone’s grave where there is a statue of St. Peter with his sword hovering an inch above the ground, almost as if he’s pointing at something. It turns out he was. And now I can stop on that perfect cliffhanger.
Characters in this book showed these Virtues or Fruits of the Spirit
Christopher showed loyalty to his master, and his best friend showed an insane amount of loyalty to him. He also had a lot of courage to keep on going after people tried to kill him once or twice. So did his friend
Characters in this book showed these Vices or Sins
The main bad guy showed quite a lot of greed. He really wanted the power he could gain from “The Fire.” He also showed violence.
Christopher had some pride and foolishness. He might have improved during the book, but he never really had harmful amounts of it.
This book had a primarily Negative / Neutral / Positive (Virtuous or Fruity) message Relatively or moderately positive. Pretty much everyone was Christian at the time and talked about Christianity. My guess is that the author is either a Christian or did really good research and didn’t add any snarky comments. ...more
Who: Ranger, a golden retriever trained in search and rescue Sam, a boy who is also going on the Oregon Trail with his family
When: Book doesn't say. MoWho: Ranger, a golden retriever trained in search and rescue Sam, a boy who is also going on the Oregon Trail with his family
When: Book doesn't say. Mom says probably about the middle of the 1800s. Also the Author's Note says this.
Where: The Oregon Trail. They're starting from Independence, Missouri.
What: Ranger time travels with a magic first aid kit that he found in the garden. In this book he appears at the beginning of the Oregon Trail. The first thing he does is find Sam's little sister Amelia. Then he follows them along on the trail. When Ranger was finding Amelia, Sam met a girl, Sarah, who was also going on the trail with her family in order to live with her aunt and uncle. It doesn't really say where Sam's family is going or why. I think they have family in Oregon. They drive a wagon with oxen or something. They packed for every adult 200 lbs of flour, 75 lbs of bacon, 30 lbs of pilot bread, and 10 lbs of rice. The also have tools, medicine, and other stuff. They are traveling with a group of families, and there's even a doctor.
They get into trouble crossing a river, and their dad almost drowns in it. They also get into trouble with a buffalo stampede. They shot at the buffalo to make them change course. Sarah's parents died on the trail. I think it was a sickness. Sarah didn't go all the way with Sam: her aunt and uncle lived before the big river crossing.
At the end of the story, Sam's family found Uncle Finnegan. Ranger returned to his own time with the magic box and a quilt square from Sam.
I liked this story because the main characters aren't only humans, and it's a good book with just a little bit of magic. (Mom's note: She liked learning about the Oregon Trail even though after reading the book she couldn't remember when it was set, where they started from, where they finished or why they were going. Oh well!) ...more
Book review by Lucy, age 8, 7/17/21 When: The near future Who: Lacey Chun, and Zora, who is Lacey's friend. They only talk to eachother by messaging. ThBook review by Lucy, age 8, 7/17/21 When: The near future Who: Lacey Chun, and Zora, who is Lacey's friend. They only talk to eachother by messaging. There are other characters but you don't meet them until later. Lacey is a girl who has always dreamed of working at MONCHA Corp and going to their school. She got rejected on her application, but then another message said she had not been rejected, and that she was invited. Where: MONCHAville, a town. There are a lot of MONCHAvilles, and they keep popping up. Don't ask me why. What: A Baku is an electronic pet with all the features of a smart phone. They can talk to you directly in your ear so no-one else can hear it. They follow you like pets. They never leave your side unless they are forced to. One day Lacey was looking for Zora's Baku, Linus (a mouse). When she was looking she also stumbled upon a broken Baku with the MONCHA label mark. So she took it home because she figured it would be good for repairing other Bakus. This is where we find out she wasn't rejected on her MONCHA application after all. At least that's what she thought! So she spent the whole summer repairing the Baku because the letter said they would send her a level 3 cat Baku, and that's what the broken Baku was. Then a while later in the school her Baku got stollen by her classmate who's dad hated Lacey's father. Lacey's father doesn't live with them. We don't know if he's dead or ran away. The mean kid's name is Carter. He's the one who taunted Lacey on her first Baku, the beetle. He stole the cat Baku because of his dad, I think. So Lacey finally leashed her old beetle Baku, which is named Slick. Eventually Lacey had found out that Jinx, the cat Baku, was a rogue Baku who did not follow you around. It just had a mind of its own like a normal cat. But Slick was not like that because Jinx was the only rogue Baku. Slick was very polite and followed Lacey around. The rest of the storey is about Lacey finding her Baku. There is another book called Unleashed where she continues finding her Baku. All the little details I will not spoil to you. I liked this book because it is about a talking cat (kind of) that has all the abilities of a smart phone but is like a normal cat. I like Lacey because she never stopped working on getting into the school that she wanted. She never stopped trying on things. (Mom's big words: dilligence and determination!) ...more
Daniel Coldstar, The Relic War. By Stel Pavlou Report by James, age 11 11/12, 4/17/21
Daniel Coldstar is a slave, along with thousands of other childrenDaniel Coldstar, The Relic War. By Stel Pavlou Report by James, age 11 11/12, 4/17/21
Daniel Coldstar is a slave, along with thousands of other children, forced to work in this mine trying to find relics from a lost civilization. They wipe all of the slaves’ memories so that whenever they even start to think about escaping, “poof,” the memory is gone. They don’t remember their parents or anything. The book starts when Daniel Coldstar is thrown into “the stacks,” or the dormitory, and a bunch of people recognize him, but he does not recognize them because it turns out his memory has just been wiped. One day as he is mining there is a cave-in caused by someone who is not very fond of Daniel Coldstar. The reason for this is that he was assigned to Daniel’s hammertail, a genetically modified beast with a big ball of spikes on its tail used for mining. Daniel witnessed him beating Alice (the hammertail), and Daniel has a big connection with Alice. When he witnesses the unnecessary beating he vaults over the fence and punches him in the face. He gets landed in solitary confinement, or “the pit.” When he figures out how to use his floating light he sees his name scratched on the wall many, many times. “How many times have I been in here?” he wonders. “You’d think I’d learn my lesson!” Once he gets helped out of solitary confinement, it had an unintended effect as far as the people who put them there because he now remembers a little bit and is more defiant than ever. Back to the cave in: the guy he punched in the face caused it indirectly. But it ended up causing a cave in and he found a relic. He has an emergency rescue device. You plug it into its slot and it transmits your coordinates to the overseers, very scary hardly human, and they send one to rescue you. He finds the transmit button, lifts it, and yells “Relic,” and before he knows it a whole team of overseers is there, but not because they care about him: they care about the relic. The overseers tell him “grab the relic!” So he does. He picks it up, and it attaches itself to his chest and it won’t come off. As he found the relic, a door opened in the side of the cave and the overseers sent another prisoner / slave in – the one who had the grudge against Daniel – to check it out. His f-light wouldn’t work; it was too big. Daniel was told to go assist the other guy who was exploring the new room. As this is happening the grudge dude spotted the relic on Daniel’s chest and yells to the overseers “He’s stealing a relic!” The relic acts up and sends out like a miniature tornado that slams all of the overseers against the wall, unconscious or dead. By this time several of the other grubs (slaves) had made it over and they see the giant room. They decide “You know what, if they find us they’re going to wipe our memories anyway, so we might as well explore this.” They start exploring the room and move into the next room and come face to face with an overseer. Or at least it looks like one. It turns out it’s actually a set of armor for an overseer, stood up. It turns out there isn’t just one but hundreds of thousands. It turns out this armor is most of what they were supposed to be mining for. Daniel continues and actually finds a gravity generator – for whatever reason he knew what that was. He wonders where the heck he is. He wanders around and finds a giant machine with his friends inside of it. An evil creature then finds Daniel. It is called a “sinja,” and it points at a jar and tells Daniel that the contents of the jar are Daniel’s mind, and should Daniel ever leave or try to escape the mine, Daniel will die. Daniel does not believe him and thinks the sinja is probably bluffing, but he doesn’t know for sure. The sinja appears outside his mind (he’d been talking to him inside his mind) and says “You have ruined everything! I’m going to kill you!” He lies to Daniel and says the relic on Daniels‘s chest, called an Aegis, is a feeble weapon. Daniel responds by using it to slice the sinja in half. Daniel finds one of his close friends from the mine and they both find a way to the surface. His friend runs right out, but Daniel, remembering the words of the sinja, is afraid he might die. So he walks out about 30 paces and waits to die. Spoiler alert: he doesn’t! But the overseers soon find them and chase them toward a cliff they didn’t know was there and corner them. They say “It’s over, report back to the mines or you’ll be in even more trouble.” The friend says “Come back for me,” and shoves Daniel off the cliff, figuring the Aegis will probably save him. Below the cliff is a wrecked and ruined city. The overseers flying companions, called Night Watchers, follow him. He knows he needs cover fast, and since he landed on the roof of a sky scraper he goes inside and hides. He can see there are massive ships and freighters, and loaders. They’re all loading up into ships going to a massive freighter. He figures the freighter is going somewhere and that anywhere is better than here, so as he is running from the Nigh Watchers he jumps on a loader. The Night Watchers see this, but Daniel realizes that his mine rescue device can, when activated, transmit his exact coordinates. So he drops it down into the city below and rides his loader to the freighter. I will end here because it gets confusing. The freighter is rather small by merchant standards, just 167 miles long, 15 miles deep, and a crew of 70. That comes a little later in the book, but I’ll end before there are any serious spoilers because most of this happens in the first quarter of the book. One thing I have to say about the book is that the writer is good, but he’s part of that trend where you make a chapter every two pages. So there are a lot of chapters. This can be a little annoying. I liked this book and think it was good quality science fiction. I would recommend it to most kids ages 10 through 13 who enjoy science fiction. Four stars. ...more
Characters: Beckett and Myles Fowl. Myles Fowl has an IQ of 170. Beckett's IQ is to be determined because he chewed Reviewed by James, age 11, 3/27/21
Characters: Beckett and Myles Fowl. Myles Fowl has an IQ of 170. Beckett's IQ is to be determined because he chewed up the test and made it into wet paper globs which he built into a sculpture of a hamster in a bad mood, which he named "Angry Hamster." That's Beckett for you. Whistle Blower: Toy troll (you know those breeds of dogs that are much smaller? Well, most trolls are about 12 feet tall. Whistle Blower is about 6 inches. This is a little bit important later as the troll is mistaken for an action figure. ) Antagonist: Lord Teddy Bleedham-Drye, duke of Scilly.
How the troll came to be named Whistle Blower is Beckett's fault. He doesn't give much thought to things. When the troll popped up on the beach he named it Whistle Blower on the way back inside because Lord Teddy Bleedham-Drye was shooting at the troll with a cellophane slug. Upon impact it releases an electric charge and wraps the target in plastic which is tight enough to restrict movement but does allow air through. This is the latest thing in poaching. As it turns out, Lord Teddy - who is about 150 years old and trying to stay alive as long as possible - wants the troll because its venom is apparently the key to eternal life. Yes, this is actually true from the standpoint of the book.. He's not just an eccentric crackpot. Well, he is, but he was right about this one thing.
The two kids are actually alone in the house under the guardianship of their Artificial Intelligence named NANNI. I should mention that this is an insanely advanced house that could probably hold off a small army if such a thing was needed. So NANNI sends two drone-bots to retrieve the kids. During the time the drone-bots are coming out, Beckett finds Whistle Blower and names him. The troll make a squealing noise and Beckett knew that people who squeal are sometimes called Whistle Blowers, so that was where the name came from. The twins end up on a series of adventures that start with a mysterious nun riding in a helicopter, who picks them up and crazy things happen. Let's just say the nun didn't have their best interests at heart. She works for some department that looks for magical things that shouldn't be happening. It gets confusing. Myles knocks down a large building. A lot of things happen, and I'm not going to spoil it all. Let's just say it's a very funny and sometimes strange book.
Who I would Recommend This Book To: Most people ages to 8 to 16, I recommend the Artemis Fowl series first. ...more
Reviewed by Mom (Annette), age ?, 3/22/21 This book was recommended to us as a read-aloud by a fellow dance mom. She warned us that it was very long, bReviewed by Mom (Annette), age ?, 3/22/21 This book was recommended to us as a read-aloud by a fellow dance mom. She warned us that it was very long, but that her kids loved it. I did not spend much time questioning whether to read aloud: all of my kids are desperate for long, chewy books they can enjoy during the library semi-shut-down. Both girls, age 7 and 10, devoured it in a matter of days and also enjoyed the sequel. When it was my turn, it took me a few moments adjusting to the illustration style (which both girls also struggled with). But I quickly began to appreciate both the line drawings and the story itself. Very, very British in its absurdist humor, we learn to accept wind-up wings, cheese hunts (on "horses" made up of two men in a horse costume!) machine loving box trolls, vegetable loving cabbage heads, and kindly retired lawyers without twitching an eyebrow. We should not, then, have been surprised at the talking rats who comprise half the crew of the Laundry ship, but somehow I was anyway! There's something sillier around every corner as Arthur and his newfound allies work to prevent Snatcher from unleashing his great, gooey revenge on the entire town of Ratbridge. Well worth a read even by adults, and one I would happily place on my permanent shelf (should I find a nice, second-hand copy, of course!)
Reviewed by Lucy, age 7 3/4, 2/27/21
Main Character: A boy named Arthur. Other characters: Box trolls. Arthur’s Grandpa. Willbury. Snatcher and his crew. Rats and their master that work in the Ratbridge Laundry, which is a pirate ship. Setting: Ratbridge. This world is very weird because it has freshwater sea cows, wild cheeses that live in bogs, box trolls, cabbage heads, and rabbit women. Inciting Incident: Arthur gets caught by Snatcher who steals his wings. But in the end Arthur gets away without the wings and meets Willbury. Willbury is friends with box trolls, cabbage heads, and other “underlings.” Rising Action: They try to get the wings back from Snatcher and find out what he’s doing. Now if you want to find out more, Read the Book!
I thought this was a good book because I just like books with things from the underworld and small children who get into difficult-to-get-out-of places and situations and have to have to go on a big questy-journey-thinkamabob to get back. In other words, exciting books. I did not like the pictures very much. One sneak peek: A giant rat explodes and covers everything in cheese. Don’t come back at me for spoilers because if you read the back of the book you would know.
Reviewed by Grace, age 10, 3/20/21
Once upon a time there was a boy named Arthur who lived underground with his “Grandfather,” who was an inventor. That boy lived in a strange and fascinating world with trolls that live in boxes and cheese wheels that run around and are about as easy to catch as dead sheep. A little while ago, eating cheese had become illegal. This is because the Cheese Guild was selling poisonous cheese. One day Arthur was out to get food for him and his grandfather, who wasn’t really his grandfather, but close enough. He made some noise while he was stealing bananas and a lady walked in and whacked him with a big stick, damaging his wings which Grandfather had made so he could fly. So he flew away – because his wings still worked a little bit – and stopped on top of the Cheese Guild Hall. Suddenly he saw men on horses capturing cheese! So he followed them – and got into trouble! When he got away he met a nice, kind lawyer (retired) named Wilburry. He took care of Arthur and they tried to find a way to get him home. Wilburry had a couple of friends: three boxtrolls and a cabbagehead. They could not get Arthur home, but they made friends with a bunch of pirates who do laundry, and some rats. They discovered a terrible plot to release a huge cheese rat into the town and had to foil it. He got back to his grandfather. He’s happy – until the next book. The End
What I liked about this book: It was hilarious. The entire plot of the book and the ridiculous situations were funny. What I didn’t like about this book: It was a little weird. Maybe a lot weird. I wasn’t exactly a huge fan of the drawings, but he (the illustrator) definitely knew what he was doing. ...more
Somehow I managed to miss out on an awful lot of classic children's literature while growing up. While I read voraciously, I nevertheless had to discoSomehow I managed to miss out on an awful lot of classic children's literature while growing up. While I read voraciously, I nevertheless had to discover Elizabeth Enright, E Nesbitt, and even Lois Lenski as an adult. When I think of how much time I spent re-reading Encyclopedia Brown and his equally insipid crime solving competitors when I Could have been reading "The Little White Horse..." Suffice to say I am very grateful that someone on Goodreads pointed me towards Elizabeth Goudge generally and The Little White Horse specifically. It is a beautifully told, highly satisfying fairy tale that should please children and adults of all ages. In a nutshell, 13 year old Maria Merrywhether, recently orphaned by the death of an already distant father, arrives at Moonacre Manor to become the ward of her cousin-once-removed, Sir Benjamin. She immediately falls in love with her aging cousin, the house, its servants and animals, the surrounding park and gardens, and the village. But there is trouble in paradise, not only in the shape of the cruel, thieving men of the nearby dark wood, but also in the sad mystery of why there have been no women residing in the manor for more than 20 years. Soon Maria learns that she is just one more in a long line of Merrywhethers who are doomed to recapitulate both the conflicts and the unhappy ending of their ancestor Sir Wrolf, unless they can break the curse brought on them when he stole Paradise Hill from God and his monks - and possibly worse. Thankfully Maria, with her pure heart and brave spirit, proves equal to the task. While the story is lacking in overt magic, a host of preternaturally wise animals are the true stars of the tale. Animal loving children should be especially charmed by Wrolf, Serena, and Zachariah the cat. The themes of courage, honesty, integrity, and sacrificial righting of old wrongs are strongly present, but naturally presented without any hint of preaching. Overall, a highly worthwhile read. ...more
The story starts out when Pat and Bomby were playing hide and seek. Pat looked in a bush. Bomby wasn't there. Suddenly JReview by Lucy, age 7, 1/16/21
The story starts out when Pat and Bomby were playing hide and seek. Pat looked in a bush. Bomby wasn't there. Suddenly Jen jumped up and almost scared Pat to death. So they talked about Bomby and how he'd been hiding for 7 hours. "No would hide that long," said Jen. Pat, misunderstanding, said "yeah, he's really good at this game." Jen said "No, I mean he must have gotten lost or something terrible must have happened." So they went looking for him. They ran into Captain Cookie's mobile boat home. It was on land right then. They found that Captain Cookie was not in there. At first Pat suggested he must be on a short walk. But then Jen found a moldy oatmeal cookie. Captain Cookie would never leave one out so long! So Captain Cookie was missing too. They went on looking. One time Jen almost fell into a hole, but later she actually did. Turns out this hole went into a new world. (Duh, duh, dun!) Suddenly when they're in the new world their clothes magically change. Pat is wearing blue armor and a green sword. Jen is wearing a pink dress, pink slippers, a pink bow, and two blue-with-hearts swords. They run into zombies. (Duh, duh, dun!) So they made a plan to fight through the zombies. On the count of three they would run for a hill. But as soon as they were running for the hill, someone - they don't know who this is yet- put a blindfold over Jen's eyes. It turns out that he blindfolded the wrong person, and he was Carter, a friend of Bomby's. He thought Jen was Evil Jen, a very bad person who turns people into zombies. And if you don't think that's bad, you're weird. So they looked through and found a cave. Turned out it was full of bats, but they found a key in it that was probably a key to Evil Jen's castle where she does the zombifying stuff. So now Carter leads them into the Realm of Mr. Rainbow, a rainbow sheep. At first Mr. Rainbow thinks Jen is Evil Jen, but Carter explains this is the good Jen. He gives them mystery boxes that will help them storm Evil Jen's castle. So it turns out Bomby is in that castle and Evil Jen is trying to turn him into a zombie who does her commands. It's not working very well. Even though Bomby is already a zombie, he's a good zombie. Finally she tries the human finger cheese sandwich. It's supposed to make whoever eats it hers forever. She gave him a choice: either he eat it, or they force him to eat it. He does not want to eat it , so they force him to eat it. Then Jen, Carter, and Pat come to the castle and get to have a big fight and stuff. At first they can't get over the castle wall but then there's an evil guard golem. Soon they get over the wall, and they don't have to fight the golem because in Jen's mystery box contains - guess what - chocolate chip cookies. But they turned out to help because they bonded with the golem. Soon they got over the wall. We're stopping here - so read it!
I liked this book because I like books with youngsters who go into different worlds. I noticed this world is very much like Minecraft. So if you want to have a bunch of fun with this, then go play Minecraft. It will run on Windows 10! ...more
Report by Grace, age 10, 12/12/20 This book is about a girl named Charlotte. You see that girl with the aura of grumpieness about her? And the bright rReport by Grace, age 10, 12/12/20 This book is about a girl named Charlotte. You see that girl with the aura of grumpieness about her? And the bright red hair? Anyway, one day when she was walking home from school she found a cat that she named Bartholomew, even though it was a girl. Mew, for short. A little while later they are pretty much keeping the cat. Her cousin Zee came from London to live with her and go to her school. Shortly after he arrived, kids started getting sick. So school was out. Then Zee told Charlotte all about why he thought the kids were getting sick. Soon, Mew saved their lives from evil footmen. Then Charlotte and Zee went to the Underworld to save the world from this evil guy named Phil. The end. I liked this book because Charlotte is a lot like me: red hair, sarcastic, things like that. I hope I'm not very prickly, though. I like to hear about Greek myths, and the cute three-headed dogs and the mean harpies. Stuff like that. Mom: Would you want to live in a world where the Greek myths were true? Grace: No, because then God wouldn't be true. The book was well paced and exciting, but sometimes a little bit slow. About the middle of part two (named "Now the Beginning") it started to get more exciting. I recommend this book to people who like Greek mythology and magical cats. ...more
This book is set on the islands of Chincoteague and Assateague. There are wild horses on Assateague. They gotReview by Grace Collins, age 9, 9/19/2020
This book is set on the islands of Chincoteague and Assateague. There are wild horses on Assateague. They got there when a Spanish ship got beached and there were ponies on that ship, and the ponies learned to live on that island and were undisturbed by men until a little while later. One day Paul and Maureen Beebe were at Assateague when they saw the Pied Piper and his band. And they saw the Phantom, who was a horse with a map on her whithers who would never be caught on Pony Penning Day. But Paul decided that this year's Pony Penning Day would be different - he was eligible for the first time to help pen ponnies. Paul and Maureen had set their hearts on buying The Phantom, so between that day and Pony Penning day they worked really hard to save money for the horse. On Pony Penning Day, Paul was sent away for a straggler - a lone horse - while his companions went towards the actual heard. It turned out that the straggler was the Pantom's colt, and The Phantom. Paul was able to move the two horses towards Tom's Point and pen them. When they got back to Chincoteague Island there was a storm, and Paul didn't know where his grandfather and sister were. So he looked around and he went to the pony grounds to get The Phantom and her colt. but they weren't there. When he finally gave up searching and went to his grandfather's truck, Misty (the colt) and The Phantom were there. Later, when they were finally selling the ponies, The Phantom and Misty were sold, and not to them. Paul and Misty were sad. All their hopes were down. Later, there was a man in a truck who was looking for the fire cheif. He told the Chief that he wanted to give back the Phantom and her colt - because he was the man who bought them. So Paul and Maureen got the Phantom and Misty after all. But in the end, the Phantom decided to go back to the wild island, but her colt stayed with them. The End. I liked this story because it had horses. ...more
This book is about a boy and his horse. (Not a horse and his boy!) The book is set in Morocco, Africa, in a horse stablReview by Grace, age 9, 9/12/20
This book is about a boy and his horse. (Not a horse and his boy!) The book is set in Morocco, Africa, in a horse stable. Agba is a horse-boy in morocco. this book starts with the birth of Sham the horse of a prophecy and a curse. Agba is called by the Sultan and is told to ride with a few other horse boys to France. He meets a cat and loses Sham. When Sham is found he mates a female horse and has three sons. I like this book because it is about horses. I don't like this book because it is hard to follow....more
In this book there are three main characters: Ivy, Leaf, and Wyrn. They are scavengers (aka "humans.") This story takesReview by Grace, age 9, 5/30/20
In this book there are three main characters: Ivy, Leaf, and Wyrn. They are scavengers (aka "humans.") This story takes place in the world of Pyrrhia in the general time of books 1 to 6 of Wings of Fire. Ivy lives in Voaler . Leaf lives in a village near the Skywing kingdom. Wyrn lives everywhere. She used to live with Leaf. And then the Dragonmancers, who are totally evil people, had her get sacrificed to the dragons. Totally didn't happen because she got out of her bonds and found a little baby dragon, who was light orange. She named him Sky. Sky couldn't breathe fire and was abandoned by his parents. He is also weirdly obsessed with snails. He and Wyrn, after a few years, had developed a human/dragon hybrid language. Leaf was Wyrn's brother. He really, really wanted to kill dragons because they killed his sister. And it's really a horrible way to spend your life, avenging someone who is already dead. (Even though she wasn't really!) So he trained with his oldest sister, Rowan, and Cranberry, Mushroom, and Thyme (and one other but I don't remember her.) Eventually he became a Dragonmancer's apprentice, and was with Master Trout, the boring dude. (Wyrn called him a "daft blueberry." Mom's note: what a great band name!) Finally he gets into the Dragonmancer's room and figures out that the Dragonmancers are really treasure smugglers, or least were. Anyhow, there's a map of the Skywing palace they probably stole from the dragons. Leaf copied it over a few months. He wanted to attack it. Ivy, the girl who draws dragons (just like me!), has a dad who is The Dragonslayer. She has two friends, Violet and Daffodil, who always fight. They have a club called "The Truth Seekers." After a little while, they meet Leaf and then a lot of the Wingwatchers were arrested because they were thought to have attempted to murder the Dragonslayer. Leaf, Daffodil, and Ivy and her Uncle Stone were able to escape. Things happened. They met Sunny the dragon and then Wyrn and Sky and Sweetface (another dragon.) Then they scare the Dragonmancers, and that's it.
What I liked: "You daft blueberry!" I liked how both Ivy and Wyrn loved dragons, just like I do.
What I didn't like: That Violet, or maybe Daffodil, had two dads. And I covered up the "s" because people can't actually have two dads. I would recommend this book to people who like dragons. ...more
Review of "The Girl Who Fell Out of the Sky" by Grace, age 9, 3/14/2020 (Pi day!) This is a sequel to "The Girl Who Could Fly" and "The Boy Who Knew EReview of "The Girl Who Fell Out of the Sky" by Grace, age 9, 3/14/2020 (Pi day!) This is a sequel to "The Girl Who Could Fly" and "The Boy Who Knew Everything." Don't read it if you haven't read the other two. This review contains spoilers for the first two books. And this one, if we're honest! This book is about Piper, who could fly. But she was bitten by a bug that made her immune system go all weird-y and now she can't fly. She didn't actually fall out of the sky. She wasn't able to go on rescue missions with her superhero friends anymore. She felt like a normal, and she was sad that she was left behind all the time. Conrad and the crew went to Xanthia (sp?!) where the "Chosen Ones" lived to ask for help with the bugs. Instead they were captured by the Chosen Ones. And they couldn't use their powers very well because, reasons. Anyway, Piper found a way to get to Xanthia without flying and she was able to save them. And her mom had a baby. Piper was staying with the Millers while her mom was at the hospital. Jimmy Joe and Rory Ray Miller tagged along to Xanthia and Rory Ray had dynamite in his pocket. He blew up the wall Elder Equilla made so the bugs wouldn't get in. Later Piper was able to fly again, and she didn't blow up. The bugs got out of their shells and they looked like dragons. And that's enough for me to say "I love this book!" Dragons are awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Mom: What lessons do you think Piper learned in this book? Grace: Don't try to cook. (Her coffee was like mud, and the pancakes had raw eggshells in them and were like rubber balls.) Also, she learned that her powers were not the only thing that made her special and capable. ...more
It all began when there was a boy named Shasta who thought he was a fisherman's son. But the thing is, he was white but Review by Grace, age 7, 5/9/20
It all began when there was a boy named Shasta who thought he was a fisherman's son. But the thing is, he was white but the fisherman was brown. After this a slave driver comes along and tries to buy Shasta, and that's when he discovers that he's not the fisherman's son and runs away with a talking horse from Narnia named Bree-he-hinny-brinny-hooey-haw. But Shasta calls him Bree. Later they meet Aravis and go to Tashban. Aravis had a horse named Whin, also a talking horse from Narnia. When in Tashban, Aravis meets Lazaraleen, her old friend. They get split up because Aravis sees Larzaraleen while Shasta gets "kidnapped" by the Narnian, who thought he was Prince Corin of Archenland. Shasta escapes when Prince Corin comes back and goes to the tombs where they were going to meet up if they got split up. (Bree said they looked like big stone beehives.) That night he meets a large black cat that keeps him company, but at day he finds out the cat went away. Eventually they meet up and go to Narnia where Shasta finds out - well, that's a spoiler. My favorite part of the story is probably the last chapter, "Rabadash the Ridiculous." I liked the story because there's really funny parts with Rabadash and stuff, and Bree is really funny too sometimes. My favorite character might be Bree, but the funniest character is Rabadash the Ridiculous.
Review by Grace, age 9, 3/7/20
This story started out with Shasta and his "father" the fisherman. His home was in a small place with a lake and a hill to the north. Shasta would always ask his "father" what was beyond the hill, but his father would say "don't pay attention to that stuff." Shasta thought there was some sort of surprising secret there, but it was really just that his father didn't know. Later a dude came on a big war-horse. When Shasta was "sleeping," his father was planning to sell him as a slave. Shasta decided to run. He ran from home to the stable, where the lord had tied his horse. Oh yeah, apparently the horse could talk. His name was "Breehy-hinny-brinny-hoohy-hah." ("Bree" for short.) Bree ran away with him to Narnia and the North. Later they came to meet Aravis Tarkheena, who also ran away with a talking horse. Later there was a big battle because this guy Rabadash, the son of the Tisroc of Calormen, really wanted to marry Susan, daughter of Eve, queen of Narnia. Anyway what happened is that the battle didn't work because Shasta warned them Rabadash was coming. Then it was revealed that Shasta was Corin, prince of Archenland's, twin brother. And then Rabadash was turned into a donkey. (That's like my favorite part!) Done. What I liked about this book is that Aslan was there, and Aslan is cool. Also there was a black cat, and also that it was kind of a survival story. I like stories where people are running away. I will be reading the rest of the books in the series. (Also, my Mom's Pokemon Go name is "Cor D'Archenland." Also her Minecraft name. So apparently she likes this book too!)...more
Loading...
