Review written by Jonathan Lavallee. The world of Divergent is a very fragmentedly ordered world. There are five official factions that govern the life of everyone based upon their personality. There are the selfless Abnegation who are the governors, the intelligent Erudite who develop the technology, the truthful Candor who are the investigators, the fearless […]
How NOT to Spend Your Senior Year
January 10, 2013 by Leave a Comment
I decided to give the Romantic Comedies line one last chance by reading How NOT to Spend Your Senior Year by Cameron Dokey, since she’s one of my favorite authors. While the writing was better—I appreciate Dokey’s tendency to have her narrators tell the story directly to the reader—the plot was still convoluted to the […]
The Penderwicks on Gardam Street
January 8, 2013 by Leave a Comment
The Penderwicks on Gardam Street, the sequel to the delightful The Penderwicks, gives us some insight into what life is like for the lovely Penderwick family when they’re at home. We get more insight into Martin Penderwick (always called “Mr. Penderwick in the text, like the reader is friends with the girls and he’s very […]
Tuesdays at the Castle
December 12, 2012 by 1 Comment
In Tuesdays at the Castle, 11 year old Celie and two of her older siblings, Lilah and Rolf, must protect themselves and their magic castle from the evil adults who are plotting to take over the kingdom. Celie, the youngest, is the main character. She has a special relationship with the castle—a living thing that […]
Belle
December 3, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Belle is Cameron Dokey’s retelling of “Beauty and the Beast.” Like all of Dokey’s work, it’s very readable and is an interesting take on the story that inspires it. I’ve read a lot of retellings of “Beauty and the Beast.” This one doesn’t really break any new ground, but it was enjoyable to read. Like […]
The Sound & The Echoes
November 30, 2012 by Leave a Comment
The Sound and the Echoes tells the story of Will who learns that each person in our world (we’re called Sounds) has an Echo in a world that exists beneath ours. An Echo is born every time a Sound is born and it looks like a transparent version of the Sound. It turns out that Will’s […]
The Willoughbys
November 26, 2012 by Leave a Comment
The Willoughbys is “A Novel Nefariously Written & Ignominiously Illustrated“ by Lois Lowry. The plot is mostly about apathetic families trying to split themselves apart by whatever means they can, all while being as “old-fashioned” as possible. Being old-fashioned means trying to base your decisions on the tropes of old children’s classics—so we have abandoned […]
Pawn of Prophecy
November 19, 2012 by 4 Comments
Review written by Clark Valentine. Pawn of Prophecy kicks off David Eddings’s Belgariad series, which chronicles the adventures of the ancient sorcerers Belgarath and Polgara, with their young companion Garion, in a quest to save the world from the evil god Torak. It is Nope Not At All Just Like The Lord Of The Rings […]
Sunlight and Shadow
November 15, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Sunlight and Shadow is another fairytale retelling by Cameron Dokey. I think this is bordering on obsession for me! This one is a version of “The Magic Flute” which is a story I wasn’t familiar with. It’s essentially an origin story of how the Sun and Moon came to share precedence in the world, with […]
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
November 12, 2012 by 1 Comment
Review written by Jonathan Lavallee. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian tells the story of Arthur Junior Spirit, a fourteen year old boy who decides after his first day of high school at Wellpinit High School that he’s going to go off the reservation and go to school at the white high school. […]
