Hello!
Here is my second update/book reviews, for
Heidi's Adventure of Reading Challenge! My first update was my review of
The Jungle Book, here.
Thank you, Heidi for hosting this challenge! I had no idea what these books were about at first, and I had a lot of fun reading them!
My guarantee: On ALL of my reviews there are NO spoilers unless it says so.
1.
Dave at Night - by Gail Carson Levine
"Tell for you your fortune?"
When Dave's father dies, his step-mother sends him to an "orphanage." The teachers, and everybody are not nice, only the art teacher, Mr. Hillinger, is. Dave learns about art, music, and the world. With the help of the other boys he is able to get out at night, and he meets some interesting people.
'If I could have painted it, I would have used bright colors and straight lines.'
Genre: Young Adult, Historical Fiction.
'I was going to get caught because of The Song That Went On Forever.'
Characters: 8.
'"Where do you live?" I said.
"Why? You're planning to send me flowers?"'
My favorites:
Dave, Irma Lee, Solly, Mike.
'Mosquitoes are small but they bite.'
Words: 8, only a few bad words. Reference to
Through the Looking Glass ("Twas brilig...") and
Robin Hood.
'The music didn't know about locks and iron fences---it would blast through anything.'
Storyline: 6, there is a mention of bathrooms, fights, smoking, sneaking, and nude statues.
'The music got inside me. It felt like my bones were humming and bouncing along.'
Good For: Those who feel alone and scared.
Overall Score: 7.5
"Your son, Dave the rascal. Dave the gesture artist."
2.
Liesl & Po - by Lauren Oliver
"That is the strangest thing about the world: how it looks so different from every point of view."
Liesl's father has died, and her stepmother has locked her in her attic room. She meets Po, a ghost who loves her drawings. After talking to him she decides that she wants to put her father's ashes in her old home, with her mother is buried.
Will is an apprentice who has gotten two boxes mixed up.
Together they learn what it really means to die, what is on 'the other side', and how beautiful it is to live.
Genre: Fantasy.
Characters: 9, they are very well written.
My favorites: Liesl (she loves to read!), Will "The boy should really have a hat.", and Mo.
Words: 8, very good! Only one bad word.
'As ridiculous and deluded as a frog trying to turn into a flower petal.'
Storyline: 5, there is a description of body parts, death, ashes, and ghosts. There is magic.
Good For: People who are mourning those who have died, those who are afraid of death.
Overall Score: 7!
"Life is a very funny business indeed."
3.
Esperanza Rising - by Pam Muñoz Ryan
"
No hay rosa sin espinas. There is no rose without thorns."
Esperanza is a happy girl living in Mexico. But, disaster after disaster strikes her family, and she and some friends must escape to America for a better life. After being the daughter in a rich family, having to work is not easy. Working conditions are bad, and there are angry strikers who could hurt you. She has to learn to be kind, stay strong, and continue to hope (
esperanza).
'It was quiet and peaceful here, the sweet silence broken only by the swish of dried grass from the wind.'
Genre: Historical Fiction.
Characters: 8.
'He seemed as happy as Esperanza was irritable.'
My favorite: Esperanza, Miguel, Isabel, Hortensia.
'The words stopped her as if someone had slapped her in the face."
Words: 9, I love how there is so much Spanish, and that each chapter begins with food, it measures the time by the seasons.
'It looked as if someone had taken a giant comb, dipped it in black paint, and gently swirled it across a huge canvas.'
Storyline: 7, there is mention of bathroom, blood, death, fire, and deviousness.
'Sometimes she felt as if she lived in a cocoon, protected from much of the indignation.'
Good For: Those who have to change, people who have lost someone.
Overall Score: 8!
"I think my heart is dancing!"
4.
Pegasus - by Robin McKinley
"'Sculptors don't sculpt, you know,' Ebon said. 'They set things free.'"
On a royal's twelfth birthday they get bound to a pegasi, but on Princess Sylvi's something happens that is different then all the other bindings. A connection is formed that leads to an amazing friendship, but magicians and others are scared, and will do anything to stop it.
"'There's always a next time,' said the king, 'unfortunately. You just don't know what it's going to be about.'"
Genre: Fantasy.
'They moved, gently, gracefully, so that their heads were toward her as she passed them: cream and gold, brown and copper.'
Characters: 8.
'There was something almost miraculous about this bead; it shone like a tiny moon.'
My favorite: Sylvi, Ebon ("...royal pain in the pinfeathers."), Hirishy, Glarfin.
'Imagine learning to swim by being thrown into a lake in perfect darkness, never having seen water before.'
Words: 6, there are a few bad words.
'You could never quite say what you wanted to; your mind seemed to slip from you, like a sled on a snow-slope, and the language seemed to writhe away from you like a small wild animal you had inadvertently caught: let it go, or it might bite.'
Storyline: 5, there are some suggestive stuff, mention of bathrooms, magic, taking bath, "gods". It is confusing at first.
"Your history is only what someone remembers or has written down."
Good For: Those who feel different.
Overall Score: 6.
'It was like...the warmth of summer with the endless skies of a cold winter day; the bursting greens of spring and the rich russet-gold of autumn.'
(These were supposed to be
mini reviews. Oh well, I got excited.)
So, some exciting news. I have finished my first book. On Monday I wrote THE END. It was fabulous. We are working on editing now!
And, all the way back in JUNE, I put out this game and only one person has guessed so far, so if you are interested,
check it out!
Thanks again to Heidi!!
MovieCritic
