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The Marvels, Whitney Troxel
The Marvels, Whitney Troxel
Children's Book and Media Review
Joseph Jervis runs away from his boarding school hoping his Uncle Albert, who he’s never actually met, will help him find his best friend, Blink. Blink’s father took him away from school unexpectedly and left no forwarding address. Blink and Joseph always talked about running away to find Joseph’s long lost uncle. But Blink’s sudden disappearance finally gave Joseph the courage to try. He arrives on the doorstep of Uncle Albert’s strange but beautiful house, soaking wet and freezing cold. Albert only intends to let Joseph stay for one night, but the two form a strong bond as Joseph discovers …
Dreamland, Shelly Darrington
Dreamland, Shelly Darrington
Children's Book and Media Review
Odea Donahue has always been different. She and her mother are dreamwalkers--individuals who are able to visit the dreams of normal people. While on the surface this seems like an exciting superpower, Dea has to dreamwalk just to survive. The more time that passes between walks, the weaker and sicker Dea becomes, so visiting dreams became a necessity. Dea never questioned her mother’s strict rules of never interfering, never being seen, and never visiting the same person’s dream more than once, but things change when a boy named Connor moves to town. Dea finds herself drawn to him and his …
Escape From Asylum: An Asylum Prequel, Cynthia Frazier
Escape From Asylum: An Asylum Prequel, Cynthia Frazier
Children's Book and Media Review
The year is 1968. Ricky Desmond, sixteen years old, has been institutionalized after being treated in several facilities for his anger issues and homosexual tendencies. This time, however, he is admitted into Brookline. Things are different at this asylum and he finds that he can’t charm himself out of this place like he had the others. Terrible things are happening at Brookline. The Warden is a monster, people disappear, and others are ‘cured’ with awful operations and procedures. Ricky’s only friend Kay is subjected to shock treatments to treat transgender inclinations and Ricky himself is drugged, starved, and hypnotized to …
Zom-B, Roger Layton
Zom-B, Roger Layton
Children's Book and Media Review
“B" watches zombie attacks on TV and online but isn’t sure what to make of them. Friends and family argue that it must be a hoax or even an amazing marketing gimmick for a new film. B hopes they are a huge joke. Meanwhile B must deal with things closer to home. Avoiding parents fighting. Playing the politics of school with friends and enemies. Trying to figure out if it makes sense to act up to impress your parents when you know inside some of what they believe is wrong. Hardest of all are the times B tries to figure …
Torn, Lisi Hong
Torn, Lisi Hong
Children's Book and Media Review
Hours after arriving in Afghanistan on her first tour as a British medic, Elinor—or Ellie for short—saves a soldier’s life, upsets her superiors, and survives her first firefight. It would have been an ordinary day on the front line, if it weren’t for the fact that the sniper’s on the hill were not ordinary Taliban fighters—they were children. Resolved to bring justice to the Young Martyrs, the group fighting to avenge the deaths of their parents after their village was bombed by an American drone, Ellie, her unit, and some visiting American soldiers travel to the village to find the …
Sword And Verse, Abigail Packard
Sword And Verse, Abigail Packard
Children's Book and Media Review
Raisa is Arnathian, and in a the country of Qilara that means she’s a slave. After watching her parents’ and brother’s brutal murder during a raid, Raisa escapes the same death by pretending that she is not the daughter of a Learned One (an Arthanian who can read and write; a blasphemy in a world where only Scholars of Qilara are allowed this ability). Instead, she is enslaved by the people of Qilara. After the treason and execution of the current tutor in training, Raisa is selected to be the next future tutor, an honor only allotted to two Arnathians …
The Littlest Witch's Story, Cynthia Frazier
The Littlest Witch's Story, Cynthia Frazier
Children's Book and Media Review
What does a little witch do when her mother won’t let her go out riding her broom late at night? Winnie the witch has a plan to give Mamma witch a potion that would cause her to fall asleep; then Winnie can zoom through the skies. But instead of getting sleepy, Winnie’s mom is full of energy! Winnie however is having a hard time staying awake and she just can’t figure out why. Maybe Mamma witch knows a thing or two about potions and spells.
Kids, Cancer And A New Green Leaf, Leah Christopher
Kids, Cancer And A New Green Leaf, Leah Christopher
Children's Book and Media Review
Soon after Ms. Hansen runs a 5K race to fundraise for cancer research, she discovers that she has breast cancer. Instead of hiding the news, Ms. Hansen, a teacher, tells her fifth-grade class. They learn about cancer as they support her through the operations, chemotherapy, and radiation treatments. One troublemaker, Jamon, learns to look outside his own problems to care about his teacher, and he gives more effort at school. As Ms. Hansen explains, he is turning a new leaf. By the end of school, her cancer treatments are over and Jamon is a more committed student. Ms. Hansen and …
Hedgehug's Halloween, Cynthia Phillips
Hedgehug's Halloween, Cynthia Phillips
Children's Book and Media Review
Hedgehug the hedgehog has been invited to a Halloween party, but wait--is that tonight?! He has forgotten all about it and has nothing to wear to the costume party! It’s okay his friends are there to help him find a costume. The only problem is that no matter how clever the costume Hedgehug’s spines keep ruining it. Is it time to just give up and go home? No way, Hedgehug’s friends come through for him in the end with the perfect costume. The party is a huge success thanks to his friends.
Crimson Bound, Whitney Troxel
Crimson Bound, Whitney Troxel
Children's Book and Media Review
The Devourer once ruled over Rachelle’s world with endless night. The Devourer and his Forest Born servants terrorized and killed all in their path, until Zisa and Tyr defeated him. But that was a long time ago and few people believe in the Devourer anymore. Even fewer believe that he’s coming back. Rachelle knows the stories are real, and fears what will happen if the Devourer is not destroyed once and for all. The problem is Rachelle is a bloodbound. She was marked by a Forest Born three years ago and will eventually turn into one. Even though she’s sworn …
Blocks, Amanda Judd
Blocks, Amanda Judd
Children's Book and Media Review
Sharing is so hard sometimes. When Ruby has all the red blocks, and Benji has all the blue blocks, what happens when Benji wants some red blocks too? At first they fight, then decide its best to work together and share all the blocks creating a wonderful masterpiece.
Asylum, Cynthia Frazier
Asylum, Cynthia Frazier
Children's Book and Media Review
Dan is sixteen and has come to New Hampshire College Prep to get a jump on college courses over the summer. Since the regular dorms are under renovation, students are assigned rooms in an old crumbling structure, a former psychiatric hospital called Brookline. Dan and his new friends Abby and Jordan decide to explore the building and discover disturbing photographs of patients and old case files in a dusty office. Curiosity leads the trio in detecting a hidden door leading to an old operating theater in the basement. Murders start happening, strange notes appear in Dan’s room, messages are sent …
Abracadabra: The Story Of Magic Through The Ages, Aylea Stephens
Abracadabra: The Story Of Magic Through The Ages, Aylea Stephens
Children's Book and Media Review
Even from the earliest recorded history, people have been performing magic to fool, inspire, educate, and entertain. In this nonfiction book, it summarizes the history of magic from the beginning to the modern day. Nequist explains how the most famous magic tricks were created, how the most influential magicians got started and developed their craft, how magic went from being punishable by death to requested by world leaders, and many things relating to how magicians perform tricks and astound their audiences every day. The book contains instructions to perform eight of the most common and oldest magic tricks, sections on …
Heidi Heckelbeck #1: Heidi Heckelbeck Has A Secret, Amanda Durrant
Heidi Heckelbeck #1: Heidi Heckelbeck Has A Secret, Amanda Durrant
Children's Book and Media Review
Heidi Hecklebeck is about to start her first day of school EVER, but she has some bumps along the way. As she transitions from being home-schooled to attending second grade at Brewster Elementary, Heidi deals with being the new girl in an unfamiliar setting. To make things worse, Heidi is bullied by another girl in her class and absolutely hates school. With encouragement from a new found friend and her family, this seemingly normal eight-year-old comes up with a plan using her secret powers as a witch to get back at the class bully.
Earmuffs For Everyone! How Chester Greenwood Became Known A The Inventor Of Earmuffs, Abigail Packard
Earmuffs For Everyone! How Chester Greenwood Became Known A The Inventor Of Earmuffs, Abigail Packard
Children's Book and Media Review
Earmuffs for Everyone! is the fun story of how Chester Greenwood “invented” earmuffs. You see, he technically wasn’t the first person to invent covers for people’s ears. But he was the one to improve earmuffs so that they stayed snugly on people’s heads. McCarthy has filtered through the folklore surrounding Greenwood to bring us the chronology of the invention of the earmuff, Greenwood’s eventual patent of the earmuff we know now, and Greenwood’s journey into Maine folklore and even into Maine’s holiday calendar.
Bunnies!!!, Amanda Judd
Bunnies!!!, Amanda Judd
Children's Book and Media Review
Bunnies!!! is the story of an adorable little monster who just wants to play. This friendly little monster is just going for a stroll saying hello to everything he sees: trees, clouds, rocks, a stump, and BUNNIES! Because he is a monster, the bunnies might be scared of him. But all monster wants to do is make friends and play too.
Beautiful Idols #1: Unrivaled, Kati Penovich
Beautiful Idols #1: Unrivaled, Kati Penovich
Children's Book and Media Review
The bright spotlight of fame and flashing cameras sometimes hide the darkest secrets. Unrivaled introduces four teenagers whose fates seem to be mysteriously intertwined. All four have high ambitions: Layla wants to be a journalist, Aster wants to be an actress, Tommy wants to be a rock star, and while Madison Brooks may already be at the top of the Hollywood food chain, she wants to keep her fame while somehow hiding the skeletons of her past. These determined teenagers are sucked into the glamorous Hollywood nightclub scene and pulled together by a cutthroat competition with the promise of riches …
Assassin's Heart, Rachel Wadham
Assassin's Heart, Rachel Wadham
Children's Book and Media Review
Lea is a clipper, one of nine families who are sanctioned by the city to murder for hire. Dating the son of the Da Vias, a rival family, is just a fun game until her family is brutally murdered. Enacting her revenge on the Da Vias is the only way Lea knows to find peace but she can’t do it alone. Seeking out a lost Uncle, Lea finds it's his untrained apprentice who is the most likely to serve her needs. But training him while escaping those hunting her is much more difficult than Lea anticipates making it necessary to …
A Thousand Nights, Abigail Packard
A Thousand Nights, Abigail Packard
Children's Book and Media Review
Lo-Melkhiin has married and killed over three hundred girls since emerging from the desert a changed man. The laws stipulate he can only take one girl from each village once. Our unnamed heroine just wants to save her beloved and beautiful sister from being taken and destroyed. So she takes her place and goes with the king to his qasr to become his wife. While in the qasr she discovers the “copper fire,” magic that emanates from her because of the prayers her family say to her as their new smallgod. As she weaves and lives within the walls of …
The Impostor Queen, Abigail Packard
The Impostor Queen, Abigail Packard
Children's Book and Media Review
The Impostor Queen follows the story of Elli, the Saadella waiting to inherit the throne from the current Valtia of Kupari. When a Valtia dies, her magic, a perfect balance of fire and ice, is passed on to the Saadella who then rules in her stead. However, when the current Valtia dies Elli does not inherit the magic. Instead, her life is thrown upside down and put in mortal danger. She flees the city and the elders who wish to kill her quietly and find the real Valtia. Elli is rescued by Oskar who lives in the Outlands. Through an …
Dear America: Down The Rabbit Hole: The Diary Of Pringle Rose, Amanda Shrum
Dear America: Down The Rabbit Hole: The Diary Of Pringle Rose, Amanda Shrum
Children's Book and Media Review
Life takes a devastating turn for Pringle Rose when her parents are killed in an accident. Pringle and her brother Gideon are put under the guardianship of their cruel aunt and apathetic uncle who have no understanding of Gideon’s unique mental condition, which today would be diagnosed as Down syndrome. To avoid Gideon being sent to a school where abuse is likely, the two run away to Chicago to try and start a new life. On a very eventful train ride, the siblings are befriended by Gwen Pritchard and her three children. Gwen and her husband, Peter, ask Pringle to …
Balance Keepers #1: The Fires Of Calderon, Loretta Farnsworth
Balance Keepers #1: The Fires Of Calderon, Loretta Farnsworth
Children's Book and Media Review
Eleven-year-old Albert Flynn spends his summers with his father and grandfather in Wyoming. When he is asked to deliver a letter to a hermit in the middle of the woods, he discovers that his postal worker father is actually a professor in a strange land in the center of the earth. In the Core, children from around the world are taught to keep balance in realms that are connected to Earth. As each child agrees to become a Balance Keeper, they obtain a white tile that gives them a superpower to assist them. However, Albert’s tile is black and does …
The Science Of Life: Animal Classification, Laura Trumbo
The Science Of Life: Animal Classification, Laura Trumbo
Children's Book and Media Review
The Science of Life: Animal Classification is a reference book that introduces young readers to how scientists classify and organize animals. Without going into depth, Jenny VanVoorst defines important terms like taxonomy, and takes the reader on a brief sampling of the animal kingdom. She begins with taxonomy's founding father, describes all the divisions of animal classification, and ends with explaining where the human reader fits within taxonomy's classification system.
Akeelah And The Bee, Abigail Packard
Akeelah And The Bee, Abigail Packard
Children's Book and Media Review
Akeelah Anderson is good with words; not in the eloquent flowing way, but in the spelling way. She’s so good, in fact, that her teacher suggests she enter the school’s spelling bee. Akeelah doesn’t want to be pegged as a nerd and she doesn’t want to show that she cares in a school in which she feels that no one else cares. Despite her worries and protests, she enters the bee and wins! But she’s a big fish in a little pond. What ensues is a touching story of how she meets Dr. Larabee, trains for each level of the …
The Hero Agenda #1: Powerless, Lisi Hong
The Hero Agenda #1: Powerless, Lisi Hong
Children's Book and Media Review
Kenna is an average girl in a super world. Literally. Everyone she knows—except her mom who is exceptional in her own ways—has a super power. The only thing that makes her feel special is her research, but even that doesn’t help her when the lab she is supervising is attacked by villains, earning her a banishment from the labs. But when one of her supposedly evil attackers saves her life that night, she begins to question the heroes she has always loved and worshipped. Are they really as good as they say? When she sneaks back into the lab and …
Music Class Today!, Loretta Farnsworth
Music Class Today!, Loretta Farnsworth
Children's Book and Media Review
Children gather together for music class, but a new classmate is reluctant to participate. The reluctant boy ultimately chooses to take part in the music class through watching his happy peers, through the support by his mother in the background, and through the friendly encouragement of his teacher. The repetitive “chorus” assists young readers in learning to read. The words also have an element of “I spy” as some sentences ask the readers to look at the brightly colored pictures to find certain characters and events.
The Glass Arrow, Whitney Troxel
The Glass Arrow, Whitney Troxel
Children's Book and Media Review
Aya has spent her whole life with her small family in the wilderness, hiding from Trackers that would bring them to the city to be sold at auction. But they are only able to hide for so long before the Trackers find them. Aya is captured and brought to the Garden--a facility in the city that prepares young girls to be sold at the auction. Aya tries to escape and return to her family, but the Garden’s security is too strong. However, she does befriend a Driver she calls Kiran, who tries to help her. Despite their best efforts, Aya …
Unhooked, Tessa Mcmillan
Unhooked, Tessa Mcmillan
Children's Book and Media Review
Gwendolyn Allister has reluctantly moved to London with her paranoid mother. However, Gwen’s best friend, Olivia, has come to help ease Gwen’s transition. Things go supernaturally wrong when the girls are kidnapped by flying shadow creatures—known as the Dark Ones—and taken to Neverland. The girls get separated but Gwen is rescued from the Dark Ones by the handsome, metal-handed Captain Rowan. Peter Pan sneaks onto Rowan’s ship, takes Gwen, and reunites her with Olivia. But this Peter Pan is a seductive teenage leader who magically brainwashes anyone to get his way. When Rowan comes to rescue the girls, Gwen has …
Monstergarten, Cynthia Phillips
Monstergarten, Cynthia Phillips
Children's Book and Media Review
Being scary is one of the rules of Monstergarten, so that means Patrick only has one day left to learn to be scary in time for school! Luckily his friend Kevin is willing to teach him how. His first scare victim is Kevin’s cat snowball. Snowball wasn’t scared. Next Patrick tries to scare Kevin’s sister and her friend. They aren’t scared either. Patrick and Kevin research how to be scary and practice and practice some more. Kevin “of course” is ready for Monstergarten. He’s an “expert at being scary.” What’s a monster to do? Kevin’s mom comes to the rescue …
The Lunar Chronicles #4.5: Stars Above, Aylea Stephens
The Lunar Chronicles #4.5: Stars Above, Aylea Stephens
Children's Book and Media Review
The characters in the Lunar Chronicles have more stories to tell than the ones in the original series. In this short story collection, it answers questions and goes into more details about the lives of the original characters. Stories cover different topics from different parts of the character’s lives. In The Little Android, it talks about Cinder becoming a cyborg. In Glitches, the reader learns about Cinder’s first introduction to her new family. In The Queen’s Army, it discusses how Wolf joins the Queen’s Army. Carswell’s Guide to Being Lucky tells the story of thirteen-year-old Thorne wanting to get a …