Yet another book I finished earlier in the month...
Fiendish Deeds (Joy of Spooking) by P.J. Bracegirdle
Joy and her little brother, Byron, live in the town of Spooking – a town that is as creepy as its name implies. Joy doesn’t mind, though, as she loves the mysteriousness of their home – especially of the bog that in centered there. She is even more enraptured of Spooking and the bog when she discovers that her favorite horror writer, E. A. Peugeot, more than likely lived – and disappeared – there!
When she finds out the plan to replace the bog with a major water park, Joy decides to take action. Can she save her beloved bog?
Joy’s spunk and imagination help to make this book more enjoyable. The relationship with her little brother is one that many would recognize. She looks out for him, bosses him around, and is annoyed by him – all at the same time. There’s a good deal of action in this short children’s novel, and several funny parts. I love Joy’s wit and sense of humor.
According to the book’s website , the second book of this trilogy was to be published the summer of 2009. Hrm. I don’t see it even on amazon.com.
ETA: As I was looking through my blog reader this morning, I saw that this book was also recently reviewed on another blog: Welcome to my Tweendom.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Friday, August 28, 2009
two more reviews...
Two more reviews! I'm almost caught up. Yay!
Fablehaven by Brandon Mull
Kendra and Seth aren’t too happy about spending part of the summer with grandparents who have always seemed distant and somewhat unwelcoming. Expecting it to be a boring time, they are beyond surprised to the realities of their grandparents’ vast estate. Awaiting them are adventures beyond their wildest dreams, for their grandparents are caretakers of a secret sanctuary for mythological creatures of all shapes and sizes. This will be one summer they will never forget!
What a fantastic tale! The author creates a world within our own, filled with the sort of beings that dreams, fantasies…and nightmares…are made of, without managing to scare the pants off of younger readers. Kendra and Seth’s personalities and relationship are realistically drawn, as is the world surrounding them at Fablehaven. I’ve already started the second book in this series, and passed my copy of this book on to others!
The Journey That Saved Curious George: The True Wartime Escape of Margret and H. A. Rey by Louise Borden
Curious George is a beloved book character whose antics have delighted generations of children. He is also a character that was nearly lost during World War II.
This wonderful biography tells the story of how Curious George survived the war – as his creators narrowly escaped Nazi occupied France and traveled to America. Written in a way that younger elementary school students can understand, the text does not trivialize the danger that H. A. and Margret Rey experienced. The book is filled with photographs – many taken by Margret Rey, drawings – some are H. A. Rey’s work, and pictures other historical documents and memorabilia, such as the couple’s visas and letters to publishers. This book was different than I imagined, and so much more wonderful than I expected.
Fablehaven by Brandon Mull
Kendra and Seth aren’t too happy about spending part of the summer with grandparents who have always seemed distant and somewhat unwelcoming. Expecting it to be a boring time, they are beyond surprised to the realities of their grandparents’ vast estate. Awaiting them are adventures beyond their wildest dreams, for their grandparents are caretakers of a secret sanctuary for mythological creatures of all shapes and sizes. This will be one summer they will never forget!
What a fantastic tale! The author creates a world within our own, filled with the sort of beings that dreams, fantasies…and nightmares…are made of, without managing to scare the pants off of younger readers. Kendra and Seth’s personalities and relationship are realistically drawn, as is the world surrounding them at Fablehaven. I’ve already started the second book in this series, and passed my copy of this book on to others!
The Journey That Saved Curious George: The True Wartime Escape of Margret and H. A. Rey by Louise Borden
Curious George is a beloved book character whose antics have delighted generations of children. He is also a character that was nearly lost during World War II.
This wonderful biography tells the story of how Curious George survived the war – as his creators narrowly escaped Nazi occupied France and traveled to America. Written in a way that younger elementary school students can understand, the text does not trivialize the danger that H. A. and Margret Rey experienced. The book is filled with photographs – many taken by Margret Rey, drawings – some are H. A. Rey’s work, and pictures other historical documents and memorabilia, such as the couple’s visas and letters to publishers. This book was different than I imagined, and so much more wonderful than I expected.
Deadly Royals
Here are reviews on two of the books I finished earlier in the month. I'm still working on a few others!
Doomed Queens: Royal Women Who Met Bad Ends, From Cleopatra to Princess Di by Kris Waldherr
This book was an impulse buy while at HalfPrice Books. A non-fiction book, it gives a synopsis of the lives of queens from the earliest recorded histories to the present day. Each woman has a sad story to share. Death is abound in this short book – beheadings, poisonings, murder, suicide, executions…few lives were spared in exile or the convent.
The stories were interesting. I read about many royal women that I had never heard of before, or had only heard of in brief references to their male counterparts. The more recent eras were not nearly as represented as was the ancient and medieval times. The short chapters and biographies made for an easy book to put down and come back to later without missing a thing.
While I liked the book, I’m glad that it wasn’t an expensive one. If you are interested in that sort of thing, check it out from the library or borrow it from a friend.
Ink Exchange by Melissa Marr
In this sequel to Wicked Lovely, the story follows Aislinn’s friend Leslie. Her father an alcoholic with a gambling addiction, her mother having abandoned the family and her older brother a drug dealing addict, Leslie lives in a constant fear and fight for survival. She longs to get a tattoo as a way to show control of something in her life. When she chooses an intricate tattoo from a special book, she unknowingly chooses to intertwine her life with that of the King of the Fae’s Dark Court. Will Leslie survive the ink exchange?
I liked this book better than I remember liking Wicked Lovely, which I read nearly two years ago. The characters – even some of the minor ones – are well developed. The storyline is intriguing. I enjoyed this book enough that I bought Wicked Lovely (in paperback) and gave it to my mom, telling her to read it first.
Hrm…there’s now a third in the series (Fragile Eternity). Time to place it on hold.
Doomed Queens: Royal Women Who Met Bad Ends, From Cleopatra to Princess Di by Kris Waldherr
This book was an impulse buy while at HalfPrice Books. A non-fiction book, it gives a synopsis of the lives of queens from the earliest recorded histories to the present day. Each woman has a sad story to share. Death is abound in this short book – beheadings, poisonings, murder, suicide, executions…few lives were spared in exile or the convent.
The stories were interesting. I read about many royal women that I had never heard of before, or had only heard of in brief references to their male counterparts. The more recent eras were not nearly as represented as was the ancient and medieval times. The short chapters and biographies made for an easy book to put down and come back to later without missing a thing.
While I liked the book, I’m glad that it wasn’t an expensive one. If you are interested in that sort of thing, check it out from the library or borrow it from a friend.
Ink Exchange by Melissa Marr
In this sequel to Wicked Lovely, the story follows Aislinn’s friend Leslie. Her father an alcoholic with a gambling addiction, her mother having abandoned the family and her older brother a drug dealing addict, Leslie lives in a constant fear and fight for survival. She longs to get a tattoo as a way to show control of something in her life. When she chooses an intricate tattoo from a special book, she unknowingly chooses to intertwine her life with that of the King of the Fae’s Dark Court. Will Leslie survive the ink exchange?
I liked this book better than I remember liking Wicked Lovely, which I read nearly two years ago. The characters – even some of the minor ones – are well developed. The storyline is intriguing. I enjoyed this book enough that I bought Wicked Lovely (in paperback) and gave it to my mom, telling her to read it first.
Hrm…there’s now a third in the series (Fragile Eternity). Time to place it on hold.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Waiting on Wednesday
It’s Wednesday – and I am back in town – so that means it is time for another edition of Waiting on Wednesday!
This Wednesday I am waiting for the newest book in the Outlander series to be published. Specifically in audiobook, since that is how I’ve read the rest.
Good news for me, the book comes out this fall – September 22. Even better news for me, according to Amazon.com, the audio version is set to be released on September 30. Here’s hoping that my library buys it! By the time I’m able to get my hands on a free copy, I should actually be ready for it. I still have one more book in the series that I still need to listen to, and it is going into my car’s CD player when I leave work tonight.
Here’s the synopsis of An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon (text pasted below) – the seventh book of her fantastic Outlander series.
This Wednesday I am waiting for the newest book in the Outlander series to be published. Specifically in audiobook, since that is how I’ve read the rest.
Good news for me, the book comes out this fall – September 22. Even better news for me, according to Amazon.com, the audio version is set to be released on September 30. Here’s hoping that my library buys it! By the time I’m able to get my hands on a free copy, I should actually be ready for it. I still have one more book in the series that I still need to listen to, and it is going into my car’s CD player when I leave work tonight.
Here’s the synopsis of An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon (text pasted below) – the seventh book of her fantastic Outlander series.
Diana Gabaldon’s brilliant storytelling has captivated millions of readers in her bestselling and award-winning Outlander saga. Now, in An Echo in the Bone, the enormously anticipated seventh volume, Gabaldon continues the extraordinary story of the eighteenth-century Scotsman Jamie Fraser and his twentieth-century time-traveling wife, Claire Randall.
Jamie Fraser, former Jacobite and reluctant rebel, is already certain of three things about the American rebellion: The Americans will win, fighting on the side of victory is no guarantee of survival, and he’d rather die than have to face his illegitimate son–a young lieutenant in the British army–across the barrel of a gun.
Claire Randall knows that the Americans will win, too, but not what the ultimate price may be. That price won’t include Jamie’s life or his happiness, though–not if she has anything to say about it.
Meanwhile, in the relative safety of the twentieth century, Jamie and Claire’s daughter, Brianna, and her husband, Roger MacKenzie, have resettled in a historic Scottish home where, across a chasm of two centuries, the unfolding drama of Brianna’s parents’ story comes to life through Claire’s letters. The fragile pages reveal Claire’s love for battle-scarred Jamie Fraser and their flight from North Carolina to the high seas, where they encounter privateers and ocean battles–as Brianna and Roger search for clues not only to Claire’s fate but to their own. Because the future of the MacKenzie family in the Highlands is mysteriously, irrevocably, and intimately entwined with life and death in war-torn colonial America.
With stunning cameos of historical characters from Benedict Arnold to Benjamin Franklin, An Echo in the Bone is a soaring masterpiece of imagination, insight, character, and adventure–a novel that echoes in the mind long after the last page is turned.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
I've got a fever...
It’s been a few weeks since I last posted. As I noted previously, I was out of state for my sister’s wedding. While I was away, I finished reading several books. The one I finished most recently is:
Dreamfever by Karen Marie Moning
This was a surprise when I returned to work. While I knew that the book was coming out soon, I didn’t expect to have it waiting on my desk! Wow! What a read! I’ve decided that while I wait for the next – and final – book in this series to be published, I need to reread the books in both the Highlander and the Fever series.
At the end of the previous book, Mac had ventured out on October 31 - and ended up running in to the LM and his Dark Fae Princes. She's now Pri-ya - something that no human has been known to recover from. She's also been captured by the LM. Out of her mind with sexual desire, Mac is unable to escape without the help of others. Thankfully, the superfast, superpowerful Dani is the help Mac needs.
The book takes us over several months as Mac and company try to restore the massive disorder the world has suffered since October 31.
I think Moning's writing keeps getting better and better with each book - amazing since her previous published works are all excellent.
I've a few more to share, but I still need to type up those reviews. Perhaps by the end of the week I can have that finished.
Dreamfever by Karen Marie Moning
This was a surprise when I returned to work. While I knew that the book was coming out soon, I didn’t expect to have it waiting on my desk! Wow! What a read! I’ve decided that while I wait for the next – and final – book in this series to be published, I need to reread the books in both the Highlander and the Fever series.
At the end of the previous book, Mac had ventured out on October 31 - and ended up running in to the LM and his Dark Fae Princes. She's now Pri-ya - something that no human has been known to recover from. She's also been captured by the LM. Out of her mind with sexual desire, Mac is unable to escape without the help of others. Thankfully, the superfast, superpowerful Dani is the help Mac needs.
The book takes us over several months as Mac and company try to restore the massive disorder the world has suffered since October 31.
I think Moning's writing keeps getting better and better with each book - amazing since her previous published works are all excellent.
I've a few more to share, but I still need to type up those reviews. Perhaps by the end of the week I can have that finished.
Tuesday, August 04, 2009
Peter, Peter pumpkin eater...
Last week was just plan crazy. Most of the week centered on our end of Summer Reading picnics. Tomorrow is the last big hurrah for this summer. Yay!
I won’t be posting much over the next few weeks as I am heading to San Antonio for my sister’s wedding.
I do, however, have two books to share with y’all before I go.
After the Train by Gloria Whelan
Ten years after WWII ends, the effects of anti-Semitism and Nazi rule are still prevalent in Germany – a fact that Peter’s teacher tries to impart on his class. Over the summer, the boys must write about a German who opposed Hitler, Peter ends up making a discovery that has him questioning the life he has always known.
This is an interesting story. The reader is drawn in by Peter’s struggle to justify who he is with who he thought he was. Written in first person and narrated by Peter, it is hard to not experience some of his conflicting emotions. However, there are times when the writing seems abrupt.
Overall, this is an OK book. Although set in 1955, this is yet another to add to already lengthy list of Holocaust/WWII themed books. The premise of the after effects of the war, and the main character being male, do make this slightly different than many of the books already on that list. Tween boys will probably like the discussion of soccer, fishing, etc.
First Light by Rebecca Stead
When 12-year-old Peter’s father decides to take his family on a trip to Greenland, Peter is ecstatic and his mother is apprehensive. Peter expects six weeks of adventure in the frozen world while his father studies the glaciers and effects of global warming. Instead, he finds a world he never imagined.
Fourteen-year-old Thea’s world is a hidden one. Far beneath the surface of Greenland, lives a society of gifted people who, generations ago, fled persecution in England. Thea dreams of going topside, fully believing that it is time for her people to join that world again.
After a chance meeting, Thea and Peter’s worlds collide more than they could ever dream.
I read this book upon a recommendation of a coworker. We were discussing Stead’s other novel – When You Reach Me, and she asked if I had read this one as well.
The story is interesting. There are a few spots of scientific discussion, but they are written well enough that they don’t lose the reader’s attention. The connections between Thea and Peter are a little far fetched, as is some of the back-story of Thea’s people. Overall, this was an enjoyable read and one that I recommend checking out from the library. The age range is from tweens to adults.
I won’t be posting much over the next few weeks as I am heading to San Antonio for my sister’s wedding.
I do, however, have two books to share with y’all before I go.
After the Train by Gloria Whelan
Ten years after WWII ends, the effects of anti-Semitism and Nazi rule are still prevalent in Germany – a fact that Peter’s teacher tries to impart on his class. Over the summer, the boys must write about a German who opposed Hitler, Peter ends up making a discovery that has him questioning the life he has always known.
This is an interesting story. The reader is drawn in by Peter’s struggle to justify who he is with who he thought he was. Written in first person and narrated by Peter, it is hard to not experience some of his conflicting emotions. However, there are times when the writing seems abrupt.
Overall, this is an OK book. Although set in 1955, this is yet another to add to already lengthy list of Holocaust/WWII themed books. The premise of the after effects of the war, and the main character being male, do make this slightly different than many of the books already on that list. Tween boys will probably like the discussion of soccer, fishing, etc.
First Light by Rebecca Stead
When 12-year-old Peter’s father decides to take his family on a trip to Greenland, Peter is ecstatic and his mother is apprehensive. Peter expects six weeks of adventure in the frozen world while his father studies the glaciers and effects of global warming. Instead, he finds a world he never imagined.
Fourteen-year-old Thea’s world is a hidden one. Far beneath the surface of Greenland, lives a society of gifted people who, generations ago, fled persecution in England. Thea dreams of going topside, fully believing that it is time for her people to join that world again.
After a chance meeting, Thea and Peter’s worlds collide more than they could ever dream.
I read this book upon a recommendation of a coworker. We were discussing Stead’s other novel – When You Reach Me, and she asked if I had read this one as well.
The story is interesting. There are a few spots of scientific discussion, but they are written well enough that they don’t lose the reader’s attention. The connections between Thea and Peter are a little far fetched, as is some of the back-story of Thea’s people. Overall, this was an enjoyable read and one that I recommend checking out from the library. The age range is from tweens to adults.
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