adventure
A Mutiny in Time Book One of the Infinity Ring
I found this to be a fun an entertaining way to approach history. Things aren't they way they should be and our band of time travelers are on a mission to correct history and set it on its natural course.
We read this book aloud as a family a few weeks ago. We chose it because we had listened to Endymion Spring, another book by Matthew Skelton, a few years ago on audio. I prefer Endymion Spring because it is more complex and because of it’s historical roots and being set in the library in Oxford. Cirrus Flux is a good book, though. It is the story of the orphan, Cirrus Flux, an orphan in 19th century London, whose father left him a mysterious artifact that a bunch of adults all seem to want. Oh, yeah, and he gets to ride in a hot air balloon that is powered by a bird whose wings set on fire. There’s cool stuff like that in the book. Overall, a good book. A-
The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet
This book, written in 1954, was a fun read for our family. I read it outloud to my kids ages 6, 8 and 9 and we all truly enjoyed it. When I finished a chapter they wanted me to keep going and a few times we stayed up past our bedtime to read a little more. Previous to reading this book I had read an amazon review that said this book was science fiction so I thought I wouldn't like it, but if this is what science fiction is I do like it! It tells the story of two boys who build a space shuttle and take it to an unknown planet to help the 'beings' that live there. The story kept us captive and I truly enjoyed the way the words flowed. It made for a great read aloud. This book is number one in the series of 5. I liked Eleanor Cameron's style and might try some more of her books for my kids.
A fabulous addition to the fantasy genre!
** please note!! Colette Bezio is a librarian at the Muehl Public Library in Seymour, WI.
Congratulations to Colette Bezio on her debut fantasy for chapter book readers! If you love fairy tales (and who doesn’t love a good fairy tale?) , you will love this book. Replete with a castle and a moat, spells and witches, royalty and servants, power struggles and wizardy, this story provides more than lovely drawn magical settings.
This tale also gives us tension and a quickly moving and changing plot with a cliffhanger at the end of several of the chapters! Colette is a master of set up and plot devices. If something is mysterious, you can be assured that it will be cleared up later in the yarn.
Miggin and Druzilla are two girls who are similar in that they have no families. They are moved into Castle Crabapple and are being “rated” by the king and queen to see which one is suited to become the princess of the castle and thus inherit the kingdom. At first this competition is not clear to the girls as they are too busy getting on each other’s nerves and trying to share a bedroom! However, over time they come to realize that they are players in a “Conspiracy of Fate” and that they actually are beginning to “influence” one another. Eventually a friendship blossoms and that friendship emerges into a strong one of sisterhood.
This book is highly entertaining in that it is infused with humor and word play. Colette assembles some of our modern phrases into the dialogue and text and challenges us with new vocabulary for a rollicking and edifying ride. Even her spells are catchy and imaginative. I am very much looking forward to book two in this series!
The Familiars are back!
I actually liked this book better than the first one. This book really picks up speed and it shows the talents of the co-authors. (It is so cool that Adam and Andrew are able to write jointly--how do they do that?) I was really impressed with the vocabulary in this book. It was very rich and challenges the reader to think deeply.
The focus in this book was the familiars: Aldwyn (the cat), Skylar (the bluejay) and Gilbert (the frog). They are separated from their loyals (Jack, Dalton and Marianne) for most of the book and I missed them. However, there are a couple of additional characters who were fun: Scribius, the enchanted Quill, who travels with Skylar and Shady, the shadow pup, who follows Gilbert.
There is a very intricate poem that the familiars follow (it contains several clues) to get to their destination and find the Snow Leopard Crown before the next full moon. If not, it could mean the destruction of their land called Vastia by the "Dead Army". The poem was also referred to as a nursery rhyme and I really liked this because in times past nursery rhymes "covered" for messages or had allusions to reality. This book is greatly set up for book three!
A cool new series begins...
I'm not much of a fantasy fan yet loved this concept of familiars helping out wizards and seeing from their point of view. Action packed--one mishap or adventure on top of another. I think kids would love this and be anxiously awaiting the next in the series.
Is there more to life than white, black and blue?
Edna is a penguin who is tired of the endless white, black and blue and she knows there must be more. Read this book to find out what she discovers on her explorations.
Nighttime adventures
Since children are often in bed when it is dark outside, a nighttime adventure to explore the natural world when the moon is full is a special treat. Enjoy 13 full moons over a year as Alan and Elva walk when the moon is full.
Morpurgo Does It Again!
Imagine your family in World War II Germany, missing your father who is fighting the Russians, and fearing the day you know is coming when the Allied Forces will bomb your city. Add in a young elephant who is dependent on your mother... now the story gets intriguing!! Terrific multi-generational story told as a remembering from an elderly confined woman to a young boy and his mother, this book will keep you engaged from page one to the end. I really enjoy historical fiction that has strong ties to particular events, and this story, while the location has been adapted from Belfast, Ireland to Dresen, Germany, is a great example of how to learn history through fiction. Pair it with Number the Stars by Lois Lowry and Snow Treasure by Marie McSwigan.
Gregor the Overlander
Book 1 of the Underland Chronicles
In this fantasy, eleven-year-old Gregor and his two-year-old sister, Boots, fall into an amazing underground world underneath New York City. This Underland is populated with humans and various giant-sized talking creatures. These creatures include bats called “fliers”, cockroaches called “crawlers”, spiders called “spinners”, and rats called “gnawers.” They have all lived in harmony but “The Prophecy of Gray” has changed that existence. The prophecy states that Gregor may be the “overlander” destined to save the humans from the warlike rats. Gregor is more interested in finding his way home, until he discovers that fulfilling the prophecy might also mean finding his father. Thus there are two quests unfolding in this story. One is that the Underlanders must fulfill the Prophecy of Gray and prevent being annihilated by the rats. The other is Gregor’s quest to find his father and bring him home.
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