Showing posts with label adventure. Show all posts
Showing posts with label adventure. Show all posts

Thursday, October 11, 2012

Olivia (Age 9) Reviews Her Recent Reads

By Olivia Neal (nine years old)



Stolen Children by Peg Kehret. 
Fourteen-year-old Amy is babysitting a three-year-old girl while the little girl's grandmother is in the hospital and her mom has to be gone a lot helping the grandmother. While the three-year-old is taking a nap, Amy falls asleep too. When Amy wakes up, the little girl is gone. After looking everywhere but not finding her, Amy tries to call the police, but two bad guys burst in and kidnap Amy, too. They take Amy and the little girl to a cabin in the woods. Amy has to figure out a way to get herself and the little girl away from the kidnappers. This is the first Peg Kehret book I read, and it was so scary and thrilling. I loved it. 




Runaway Twin by Peg Kehret.
 Sunny has a twin sister, Starr, but they were separated when they were three years old. Sunny set out to find Starr. So a lot of the story is about her journey to Starr, and then what happen when she does. Sunny's journey was really exciting. I liked the idea of the story, that it was about sisters who didn't really know each other.  It's kind of like me: I have a half sister that I've never met, and I thought about what would it be like if she showed up on my doorstep. Will I like her? Will she like me?





Abduction!  by Peg Kehret.
I just finished reading this one. A little boy is kidnapped from his kindergarten class by his father, who's a crook. And then his older half-sister also gets kidnapped. It's a tense and nail-biting book. I don't really know how to describe it without ruining the story for you, just read the book. You'll like it!






Wilma Tenderfoot: The Case of the Frozen Hearts by Emma Kennedy.
Wilma's a ten-year-old orphan who was abandoned when she was a baby, outside a children's orphanage. She's a bit of a troublemaker, not in a mean way, but out of curiosity. She drives the matron crazy. She wants to be a detective so she can find her parents. Her favorite detective is Theodore P. Goodman and she aspires to be like him. When the matron forces her to go live with a mean lady, Mrs. Waldock, she discovers that Mr. Goodman lives next door. She wants to be his apprentice, but he refuses. So behind his back she tries to help him solve his current case.  I like Wilma because she just so curious and funny (and she has a dog named Pickle). The inspector's pretty funny too. And the case they are trying to solve is interesting and very mysterious.
I have the next book in the series, but it didn't start as interesting as this one. My mom says I have to give it more of a chance.

The Puzzle of the Paper Daughter by Kathryn Reiss.
When Julie finds a note in an old jacket, she and her best friend, Ivy try to find what the note means. When Ivy's Chinese Grandmother deciphers the note (which is in Chinese), she tells them the note is from the grandmother's mother that she gave the grandmother when she was fifteen and immigrating from China. Then Julie and Ivy's dolls get stolen, and 'though the dolls are worthless, they try to discover why someone would want to steal them and what it has to do with the note, if anything.
It was an interesting story, history-wise. I liked the immigration aspect, and I like that it was about dolls, 'cause I like dolls. I just discovered the American Girl mysteries at our library and I think I'll look into more of them.

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Book Review: Thornspell by Helen Lowe

From the back cover of my Yearling paperback edition:
"Prince Sigismund has grown up hearing fantastical stories about enchantments and faie spells, basilisks and dragons, knights-errant and heroic quests. He'd love for them to be true - he's been sheltered in a country castle for most of his life and longs for adventure - but they're just stories. Or are they?
  From the day that a mysterious lady in a fine carriage speaks to him through the castle gates, Sigismund's world starts to shift. He begins to dream of a girl wrapped, trapped, in thorns. He dreams of a palace, utterly still, waiting. He dreams of a man in red armor, riding a red horse - and then suddenly that man arrives at the castle!
  Sigismund is about to learn that sometimes dreams are true. That the world is both more magical and more dangerous than he imagined. And that the heroic quest he imagined for himself as a boy...begins now." 

  First of all, what a great cover! The artist is Antonio Javier Caparo. I love good cover art.
  This debut novel by Helen Lowe is a clever re-imagining of Sleeping Beauty: it's the prince's story. I love this about the book. In the traditional stories, the prince, while playing a major role, gets very little page time, so his part seems almost incidental. I loved that that this story was all about the prince, and his training to fulfill his role.  I love the role the princess played in here as well, even though she wasn't in it a lot. (I can't say too much without spoiling it for you.) The premise of the story is very creative, and the story has depth and complexity; I love the plot. Her characters are well done, and in the end I was sorry to say goodbye to them.
  Having said that, it was sometimes hard for me to stay focused on the story. It took a long time to get it finished because I kept putting it down. It dragged in quite a few places with too much wordiness; weighed down by too much description. Despite this, I was definitely interested enough in the story that I didn't want to give up on it, and I'm glad I didn't. I will be reading her next book with enthusiasm.
 


Saturday, January 29, 2011

Book Review: The Golly Sisters series by Betsy Byars; illustrated by Sue Truesdell

We discovered the Golly Sisters books by Betsy Byars at our local library. And we've checked them out a LOT! Written in the 1980's and early 1990's, these books are a delight.

Meet the Golly Sisters: two singing, dancing, thoroughly lovable, slightly dim-witted sisters traveling west in their covered wagon, who love putting on shows for people in the towns they pass through. They get into one misadventure after another.

I think the antics of the two sisters really resonates with my girls, because it reflects the rivalry and love that real sisters have. And Sue Truesdell's whimsical, funny illustrations fit the text perfectly. These books make my six year old laugh out loud and come running to share passages and even whole chapters with me. They are great fun for reading aloud to your non-readers, too.

Published by HarperCollins Publishers. Later versions list them as a reading level 3.