Villain School: Good Curses Evil is an amusing book about three young villains who attend Master Dreadthorn’s School for Wayward Villains because they just aren’t quite evil enough. Countess Jezebel—Dracula’s daughter—prefers chocolate to blood. As a youngster, Big Bad Wolf Jr. saved a human child from drowning. Rune Drexler is our protagonist, and also the […]
How to Speak Dragonese
January 17, 2013 by Leave a Comment
How to Speak Dragonese is the third book in the How to Train Your Dragon series. I’m just going to assume you’ve read the other reviews, so this won’t be repetitive. This book is in keeping with the others—humor aimed squarely at middle grader readers, funny drawings throughout, etc. Hiccup and Fishlegs are learning pirating […]
Divergent
January 15, 2013 by Leave a Comment
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 […]
Miri Attwater and the Ocean’s Secret
December 29, 2012 by 3 Comments
Miri Attwater and the Ocean’s Secret is a cute story about a girl who learns she’s actually a mermaid princess. She’s going to spend her summer in the merworld and she has so many things to learn, all while keeping it secret that she grew up among the “leggers.” I know this is a terrible […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Breadcrumbs
November 5, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Breadcrumbs—a retelling of “The Snow Queen” by Hans Christian Andersen—seems very much like a middle grade novel in how it’s presented, where it’s reviewed, the illustrations that remind me a bit of The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats, etc. Amazon says it’s for ages 8 and up, third grade and up. Based on the […]
The Name of This Book Is Secret
October 26, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Lots of people suggested I read The Name of this Book Is Secret, and I’m so glad I finally did. It’s the kind of irreverent metahumor that I love. The narrator speaks directly to the reader, explicitly playing with the nature of what a book is, such as letting the reader write the last chapter […]
