Fiona Thorn and the Carapacem Spell is the story of a young girl who loves to blow things up. She’s (mostly) well trained with explosives and she’s on a quest to save her friend who has been wrongly accused of putting a boy in a catatonic state. Along the way, she needs to free herself […]
Uncommon Criminals
May 7, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Review written by Jeff Dougan. I’m going to assume you’ve already read my review of Heist Society. If you haven’t, take a few minutes to look it over, because most of the same issues you may want to be aware of before recommending it crop again here. Uncommon Criminals opens about two months after Kat […]
Amelia Lost
May 2, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Amelia Lost: The Life and Disappearance of Amelia Earhart is a nonfiction biography of Amelia Earhart. I rarely read nonfiction for fun, but my daughter—who also rarely reads nonfiction—enjoyed this and asked me to review it. It’s an interesting book that provides a nuanced picture of Earhart. She’s certainly not painted as a heroic saint, […]
Heist Society
April 30, 2013 by 3 Comments
Review written by Jeff Dougan. About two years ago, a book cover jumped out at me at my local supermarket. The cover was an extreme close-up of a girl’s face peering knowingly over a pair of slightly oversized sunglasses, with the words Heist Society. I have a hard time resisting a good pun, and I’ve […]
Beyond Dinocalypse
April 10, 2013 by Leave a Comment
My 10 year old son is so excited that Beyond Dinocalypse, the sequel to Dinocalypse Now, is finally available! Full disclosure up front: I edited this book, so I may be biased on quality—although that’s not really what Reads 4 Tweens is about, and therefore I think it’s fine to review books I’ve edited. Beyond […]
The Escape of Princess Madeline
April 9, 2013 by 3 Comments
The Escape of Princess Madeline is described by the author as a novella, although in print I think it would be at least comparable to a typical 10 chapter style book for younger readers. It tells the story of Princess Madeline who has to come to terms with the expectations of growing up as she […]
Princess of the Midnight Ball
April 4, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Princess of the Midnight Ball is probably my favorite retelling of “The Twelve Dancing Princesses” (and yes, there are a lot to choose from!). It’s the first book in a trilogy following the twelve princesses, each book focusing on a different princess. The curse is explored in full and the princesses are sympathetic. They are […]
Scarlet
April 1, 2013 by Leave a Comment
I usually wait until an entire series (or at least most of it) is published before I start reading—that avoids the situation of anxiously waiting for the next book to come out, a situation I faced with Scarlet, the hotly anticipated sequel to Cinder. Of course, as soon as the book was in my house, […]
Rapunzel, the One With All the Hair
March 27, 2013 by 4 Comments
The Twice Upon a Time series by Wendy Mass tells a familiar fairy tale from the point of view of both the heroine and the hero. Rapunzel, The One With All the Hair certainly takes liberties with the tale (Rapunzel is taken by the witch on her twelfth birthday instead of at her birth, for […]
A Tale Dark & Grimm
March 26, 2013 by Leave a Comment
A Tale Dark & Grimm takes several familiar and a nice variety of less familiar Grimm fairy tales and links them together, casting Hansel and Gretel as the main characters in all of them. The premise is that these seemingly unconnected tales are actually all parts of one story. The author is also very straightforward […]
