Category: Book Review

Posted in Book Review

Diary of an Ice Princess

Posted on by Bridget

By Christina Soontornvat

Book Source: provided by Christina to review

Book Status: Available July 30, 2019

This book is about a girl who is an ice princess who thinks she is a wind taker but she isn’t. When her family goes on a family picnic she really messes up because she knocks down all of her family. Her grandpa is the north wind and he wants her to practice her wind powers every Saturday. But when she goes to the beach to visit her best friend (she lives in a castle in the sky) her friend, Claudia, wants her to go to her school, Hilltop Academy, she applies, gets in, but her parents aren’t happy, they agree after a while, and of she goes there. But her powers keep acting up and she finally tells her mom about it after she accidentally makes icicles in her classroom, freezes her classmates feet in ice blocks, and freezes her science project and they have to figure out how to fix it!

This book is unique because it’s an ice & snow book and it comes out in July, and that the ice princess has 1 bestie, because most princesses have a lot of friends.

Posted in Book Review

Fallen Empire

Posted on by Bridget

By Mike Maihack

Book Source: Provided by Scholastic for review

Book Status: Out on March 26, 2019

I finally got Cleopatra In Space 5!!! In this one there’s even more EXPLOSIVE EXPLOSIONS!!!!!!! Half of it is about GOZI!!! Okay, on with the review!!

This book is about Cleopatra who—- no. 😑. It’s about Cleopatra and GOZI!!!!!!!! So the first half reveals why Gozi hates, hates, and hates Cleo, ( he thinks that she left him on purpose ). It shows how a miscommunication in a friendship can horribly, world destroyingly wrong. There are also lots of twists and turns.

Cleopatra and her friends get into real deep trouble. She sees who will stand by her even in when she is accused of a crime. The cat council is really visible in this book. I like the cat council so much I just named my new cat “Khensu”. (yea I really like this series).

Mike did an awesome job on the illustrations. The pages that show Gozi’s life without Cleopatra and without words are really cool. I can forgive Mike for making me and all of us wait an extra year for this one. Because it is AWESOME! It is definitely worth the wait.

If you haven’t read Cleopatra In Space yet, read the first four and then this one. You will love it.

If you are a Cleopatra fan make sure you have you have your plan for getting a copy as soon as possible. Preorders are always good. Even though I got a review copy, my comic book store has it preordered for me. I first found Cleopatra via them in a free Kids Day Comic. Boy, I wish I knew where that comic is now (Mike told me it has a small difference from the book).

Mike also assures me there is a book 6 but this time he isn’t telling me when it should be out. Just don’t make me wait too long!

Posted in Book Review

A boy called BAT

Posted on by Bridget

By Elena K Arnold

illustrated by Charles Santoso

Book Source: Owned

Book Status: Available

This book is about a boy named Bixby Alexander Tam (B.A.T.) who’s mom brings home a baby skunk who was born after his mom was ran over by a car. Bat immediately falls in love with the skunks and names it Stripy, but bats sister says it should be named Thor, because it was born on Thursday, which was first called Thor’s -Day. But Bat’s mom says they can only keep it for a month and then Bat realizes that he must convince his mom to keep Thor until hes old enough to be released into the Wild. At school he practices with the class pet, an adorable little bunny, Babycakes. He then finds a skunk expert, Dr. Jerry Dragoo! He emails him about Thor– SPOILER ALERT 🚨 SPOILER ALERT 🚨 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This book is unique because usually somebody doesn’t want a skunk as a pet. ( I’m not speaking for myself, I would love have one)

Posted in Book Review

Narwhal’s Otter Friend

Posted on by Bridget

By Ben Clanton

Book Source: Gifted by Kim Campbell

Book Status: Available February 5, 2019

This book is about Narwhal’s friend Jelly, who is jellyous (haha! See what I did there?) that Narwhal has a new friend, an explorer otter. Jelly try’s to find a friend but, Sea turtle is going to a birthday shellabration, Shark is playing Buoy Ball with octopus, and crab is crabby, grumpy, and, like, 😠😡😠. But then,– SPOILER ALERT 🚨🚨🚨🚨SPOILER ALERT 🚨🚨🚨🚨Oops😬😬

This book is unique because snails are not, well, seafaring, Sea Serpent ridding, explorers!! But still, this book is awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Psst! You should read this if you’re jealous of a friend!!!

Posted in Book Review

Flight of the Bluebird

Posted on by Bridget

By Kara LaReau

illustrated by Jen Hill

Book Source: Own

Book Status: Available

Sooo, I love this book, but it’s the last book which is like, 🥺🥺🥺.

This book is about the Bland sisters who are on a plane to Egypt, and they stop at an airport and a guy attacks them. Then he makes ”V” with his fingers. Then, the Jaundice and Kale read from their mom’s journal and find that it means Victor Gazebo, who is an evil guy who wanted to auction off all of the artifacts from a tomb! That leads to a lot of trouble.

This book is unique because usually people don’t give the bad guy all the power and actually get out of it as quickly as the Bland sisters do!

PSST! I met Kara LaReau and she’s so awesome!! I can’t wait to see what she writes next!!

Posted in Book Review

Kate and the Horses

Posted on by Bridget

By Wendy Ledger

Book Source: Provided in exchange for review

Book Status: Available

This book is about a girl named Kate who moves from New York, New York to California, and goes to a horse camp. Her reason for going is in New York, a carriage horse actually spoke to her! The horse on the flyer looked exactly like the horse that spoke to her. When she gets there, she goes to the stables first, where, not knowing it, the horses spoke to each other in the way she could hear. She asks why they said that in front of her, and they are surprised that she could hear them. The, a councilor comes in and tells her she can’t be in the stables unsupervised. When camp starts, they are assigned a group. Right before camp started, 3 girls had made fun of her because at a deli, she had wanted to order a tongue sandwich. Guess who she’s assigned to? Those girls! Melissa, Donna, and Jill are assigned to her group! She is really good at ridding the horses since she can talk to them.

This book is unique because when somebody can talk to animals,

  • Their life is ABSOLUTELY PERFECT!
  • It’s magic.
  • It’s not the animals choice.
  • It doesn’t happen at a horse riding summer camp
  • The animals don’t have an organization that says that the horses would get into trouble if they talk to her!
    And much more!
  • BUT THIS BOOK IS AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  • Everyone should read this book if they can read long chapter books!
    • Posted in Book Review, Reviews by Lina

    The Cabinet of Curiosities: 36 Tales Brief & Sinister

    Posted on by Bridget
    by Stefan Bachmann, Katherine Catmull, Claire Legrand, Emma Trevayne
    illustrated by Alexander Jansson
    Review by Lina
    PS: Just as a warning, whatever you do, do NOT read the book I have suggested before bed. It may give you nightmares because some of it’s kind of gory.
    *****
    Here’s a brief summary of this book. It’s a collection of 36 slightly gory short stories. They’re a collection of short stories brought together by curators who want to show the world how alive stories can become. The curators are the authors of the stories. They are kind of pretending to be characters themselves by writing letters to each other themed on the stories. 
    One thing I liked was that they were kind of funny but in a gory way. One of my favorite stories was “The Sandman Cometh” by Claire Legrand, based on a fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm. It was a quest and it showed that you didn’t have to be brave to do something hard. In fact, Harvey, the main character, was given six tasks to complete to free his family after an awful wish. So even though he messed up on one, the Sandman actually–seeing that he completed the others well–was quite merciful. Although it was a bit of a challenge, Harvey freed his family.
    There was one I hated because I think it’s going to give me nightmares. “Jack Shadow,” by Emma Trevayne, was about a shadow that was a living being, sort of. So he kills other shadows in order to take their places. He is kind of like Slappy from the Goosebumps books–very overconfident and expects everyone to bend to his will, although he is way more murderous and way more dangerous because for shadows the normal laws of gravity and physics don’t always apply. If you are easily creeped out by things like that, I’d suggest not reading it before bed or skipping it entirely.
    I’d recommend this book to anyone who likes creepy but not-so-creepy stories and who does not have problems with very gory books. The book is practically a nightmare machine for some people. Make sure you have a good degree of resistance to nightmares before you read this. Overall it’s slightly darkly funny but a good book.