Planet Middle School is told in poems that show moments in Joylin’s life during her first year of middle school. Although spare in words, it’s full of emotion and insight. My daughter identified with the things Joy is going through even though the specific details of their lives are different. Typically I’m not a huge […]
The Penderwicks at Point Mouette
February 8, 2013 by 1 Comment
The Penderwicks at Point Mouette is the third book about the Penderwick Family. It assumes, as I will, that you’ve read the other two. (In fact, I accidentally picked up this one when I meant to read the second one and by the first paragraph knew I was missing part of the story—and honestly, if […]
The City of Ember
February 7, 2013 by Leave a Comment
My son read The City of Ember for school and thought I might like it as well. He and I had opposite reactions, actually—he thought it was kind of boring until toward the end, whereas I found the earlier parts more compelling. Regardless, it’s an interesting and thought-provoking read. Lina and Doon live in Ember […]
Villain School: Good Curses Evil
January 24, 2013 by Leave a Comment
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 […]
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 Great Good Thing
December 31, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Review written by Jonathan Lavallee. The Great Good Thing tells the story of Sylvie; she’s a 12 year old princess and has been for the last 80 years. When you’re a character in a book, you say your lines in the appropriate places and you get to where you need to go in order to […]
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 […]
My Sister the Vampire 9, 10, &11
December 6, 2012 by 3 Comments
We managed to get the next three My Sister the Vampire books through Scholastic, so we’re all caught up now! Rather than write three separate reviews, I’m going to do them all together. I’m just going to assume you’re familiar with the series. If not, you can read about the earlier books here and here. […]
