Stout Hearts & Whizzing Biscuits is an amusing story of 11 year old Oliver Stoop whose family inadvertently stumbles on the kingdom of Patria, a sovereign nation nestled in Indiana and founded thousands of years ago by ancient Greeks. It’s somewhat inexplicably similar to medieval Europe with castles and knights (plus an old Studebaker), although […]
Gregor the Overlander
May 8, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Gregor the Overlander has much in common with other books I’ve read—a bit like A Wrinkle in Time meets Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland—but it still feels like an original tale. 11 year old Gregor follows his toddler sister, nicknamed Boots, into a hole in the basement which leads to a new land (Underland, as you […]
The Mysterious Disappearance of Leon (I Mean Noel)
May 6, 2012 by 2 Comments
Ellen Raskin was one of my favorite authors as a kid, so after the success of reading The Phantom Tollbooth with my kids, I was eager to share her books with them as well. The first book we read was The Mysterious Disappearence of Leon (I Mean Noel). It led to much laughter with the […]
Exile
May 1, 2012 by Leave a Comment
The story of Aurelia and Robert continues in Exile. After Aurelia’s younger half-sister Melony tried to have her killed and their father refused to hold Melony accountable for her treachery, Aurelia flees both to escape assassins and to see the rest of the country she still hopes to rule someday. I enjoyed this book and […]
Lily Dale
April 9, 2012 by 1 Comment
Although this series is made up of four books—Awakening, Believing, Connecting, and Discovering—they’re really better considered a complete novel split into four parts. In fact, they’re probably best read back to back. (I only figured out the A, B, C, D naming convention as I started the fourth novel.) The series follows high school senior […]
Warriors: Into the Wild
April 5, 2012 by 4 Comments
Warriors: Into the Wild is the first in Erin Hunter’s extensive and expanding series. My nine year old son loves these books about clans of feral cats—he read the first six in quick succession, although he got bogged down in the super edition, Firestar’s Quest. Many of his friends have read and loved these books, […]
Aurelia
March 29, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Aurelia feels like a logical stepping stone between the princess stories of Gail Carson Levine and adult novels of romance and intrigue. In many ways, Aurelia is a typical princess from stories like this—she chafes against authority, she thinks she’s less beautiful than her golden younger sister, the common people love her, and she’s smarter […]
The Season
March 21, 2012 by 2 Comments
Set in Regency England (the season of 1815, to be exact), The Season follows the first few months of the social debuts of Alex Stafford and her best friends, Ella and Vivi. In addition to the social pitfalls inherent to their status, there’s also a murder, spies, and romance. The story is full of the […]
