Children’s Literature

The Dragon of Cripple Creek

I saw The Dragon of Cripple Creek cover in a recently reviewed spinner on our library website and it looked interesting – so I reserved it. Cute little middle grade fiction book about a girl who is crazy for gold – and what happens when she convinces her dad to take a detour so they can go on a tour of an old gold mine – and she takes a detour away from the group.  She finds gold and a dragon and sets off a modern day gold rush.

… So that’s where gold REALLY comes from. Cool…

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Three More Nancy Drews

The Double Jinx Mystery – birds, birds, and more birds. I never did like this one, lol.

Mystery of the Glowing Eye – awesome. I love the robot helicopter and the glowing eyes and the magnet problem.

The Secret of the Forgotten City – oy. What are the odds? Really?  Full skeleton. Gold nuggets. Gold plates. Nancy is sometimes a little too hard to believe, ya know?

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Night Owls

And with Night Owls, I’ve finished the Cybils Shortlist for 2011. Yay me!

I had to buy Night Owls for Elly for Christmas in order to finish the challenge because my library didn’t have it. Which is a shame, for library patrons – it’s a great graphic novel. Well drawn. Well written. Well worth buying for Elly (and for me.)

The Timony twins are talented. Very talented.

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The Throne of Fire

I just don’t like the Kane series as much as either of the two Percy Jackson series. They’re good but not Percy Jackson good – which is why it took me a week to read The Throne of Fire.  It must have something to do with the Kane siblings because I really do like Egyptian mythology – more than I like either Greek or Roman mythology.

Next book – I’m not reading it anywhere near reading The Heroes of Olympus series. Maybe that will help?

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Darth Paper Strikes Back

I loved Origami Yoda so it’s not much of a surprise that I loved Darth Paper Strikes Back, is it?  I always worry a little bit about a second book in a series, after loving the first book so much but there’s nothing to worry about this one. I really, really loved the “bonus game included” bit. Brilliant. Clever. Oh so awesome. Even Harvey comes through in the end. I liked that.

Looking for a good ‘tween gift at the last minute? Buy both books and some awesome origami  paper.

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Reckless

Reckless. Confusing. It reads like a sequel but it’s not a sequel. I didn’t like that. I didn’t like it that I felt like I’d missed out on a ton of stuff – when I hadn’t. I’m a stickler for reading books in a series in order. This one made me feel like I was reading out of order and that made the whole book less enjoyable.

It wasn’t just me, either. TW thought it was a sequel (though she doesn’t have a problem reading out of order), too.

Now there is a sequel coming to this book and while I’d like to read it, I’m afraid it will just make me feel even more like I’ve missed the first books in the series.

Gah. Jacob had been going to Mirrorworld for 12 years… why didn’t the story start there, with the first time he went in?  Grrrr.

(By the way, I really did like the book – I liked the fairy tale magic and how it was woven into the story. Nicely done.)

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Ship Breaker

People who write in library books should be shot. DEAD. Seriously.

Some idiot wrote in the copy of Ship Breaker I picked up from the library. They didn’t just make a couple of notes or underline a few passages – they marked up the entire book. Going so far as to write down the name of the character speaking in the margins. Who does that? Who even NEEDS to do that? The writing made it incredibly difficult to focus on the story – my eye kept getting drawn to the recap written in the margin. Or the extra stupid rephrased question. Or the name of the character.

Anyway, enough of that.

Ship Breaker was… not bad, all things considered (see above).

I feel like I’ve read a similar story – or met similar characters but I can’t quite put my finger on the story or the characters I’m thinking of. It will come to me – probably in a dream (or the next time I come across a marked up library book.)  

I found myself more interested in the supporting characters than I was in Nailer. Or even Nita.  For instance, I’m fascinated by Tool and would love to see his story in another book.  I want to know more about Pima and her mother. Even Lucky Strike. And Robertson? Reynolds? (What is her name?) The woman on the Dauntless, the one who was the patron of Knot – what’s HER story?

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Milo: Sticky Notes and Brain Freeze

Sad, sad, sad. Also, did I mention Milo: Sticky Notes and Brain Freeze is sad? I think it’s miss-titled, too. Otherwise – good book. I liked the drawings a lot.  I’m not sure whether middle graders will really love this book – sad, sad, sad – but I definitely did enjoy it. Except where it made me almost cry.

It was the blanket that did me in.

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Spilling Ink

When TW read Spilling Ink, it made her want to write so badly that we had to dig around in the car to find a piece of paper and a pen so that she could write RIGHT THAT MOMENT. When I read Spilling Ink, it didn’t really make me want to write. It did make me want to pull out my altered book, though. So it definitely does something to spark creative juices.

I was hoping it would be a good book for RJ but it’s a little young for her – or she’s a little too sophisticated for it. Or … she’s too “something” for it. That’s ok, it did cause me to think of another book about writing that I think she will appreciate…

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