Genre: Fantasy

Tristan Strong Keeps Punching

In the final installment of Kwame Mbalia’s series, Tristan’s problems are greater than ever. The gods of Alke are scattered across his world and there are ghosts everywhere  —  good and bad, as it turns out. What a wonderful time to have a Strong family reunion in New Orleans, amidst all the chaos!

Tristan also has another issue: his powers are flaring with his mood swings, causing him to be covered in magical fire. And of course, Cotton, the main antagonist of the series and a powerful and evil spirit is back and ready to put up a fight. This time Cotton has brought even darker moments from American Black history. Tristan just hopes he can find his friends and the gods of Alke – and figure out how to control his temper – before Cotton can enact his plan on Tristan’s world. 

Tristan Strong Keeps Punching wraps up loose ends from the previous two books, includes familiar friends and foes, and introduces new characters in creative ways. For instance, Tristan and his friends encounter the Redliners, a barely disguised reference to the historic practice of redlining in the United States.  However, middle school students may who are not familiar with the historical practice of redlining may be confused by Mbalia’s dialogue. For example, the Redliners tell Tristan and his friends, “We, the Redliners, are the most tolerant and welcoming group you could find! We just don’t think you belong here.” The Tristan Strong Series deals heavily with the injustices that have occurred in American Black history, and Mbalia continues to handle the topic with grace and gravity, balancing historical facts with Tristan’s emotional stake in the issues at hand.

In this book, Tristan finds himself reckoning with his grief and anger, and he learns how to handle his emotions in a productive way. His emotions are validated, but he starts to understand how to conduct himself in a manner that accounts for other people involved. Previously, his actions previously endangered his friends. It is only when his magical animated sticky doll friend, Gum Baby, dies that he realizes his actions directly led to her being put in harm’s way. From that point forward, Tristan reckons with the consequences of his actions without losing the fire that keeps him fighting for justice.

Tristan Strong Keeps Punching is an excellent end to the trilogy. Readers should read the first two installments before tackling this one as this book makes many references to the previous books. Young readers will enjoy the fast-paced action plot and the balance between humor and grave historical fact. This book would appeal to fans of Riordan Reads mythology novels, like Aru Shah and the End of Time by Roshani Chokshi or Percy Jackson and the Olympians by Rick Riordan himself. Tristan’s remarkable gift as a storyteller of the gods of Alke is made more perfect by his perseverance to keep telling these important stories. If these books teach readers anything, it’s to keep dreaming, create a better world, and never forget the stories of those who came before.

Sexual Content 

  • None

Violence 

  • Tristan must fight various magical and evil entities. In one sequence, Tristan fights a haint (an evil spirit). Tristan narrates, “But I was attacking, too. The shadow gloves flashed in and out, jabs and straights, hooks and uppercuts. Gum Baby flipped from my left shoulder to my right and back again, hurling sap balls and insults with equal intensity. I dodged a slicing strike, slipped a bull rush, and turned and fired three punches at the back of the haint.” This sequence lasts for a chapter.
  • There are descriptions of slavery as this series deals heavily with the history of Black Americans and Black American culture. Tristan recounts some of these details, saying, “I read about the barges that had hauled the shackled enslaved north, up the river, to a giant plantation. A free man’s protests were scrawled in the grass of Artillery Park, where he’d been kidnapped and sold into slavery. A family’s prayers were carved into the pillars lining the docks along the Mississippi, where they’d been separated, never to see each other again. These were the hidden narratives Folklore hero and god High John had been talking about. This is what he had meant.” These descriptions come up somewhat frequently throughout the book.
  • Tristan fights coffles (malicious spirits) that have trapped some kids. Tristan “swung again and again, trying to take out the coffle before it could rise. The monster wriggled and writhed on the ground, and I had to hop and dodge its flailing limbs or my legs would’ve been ripped to shreds.” This fight sequence lasts for several pages.
  • Tristan’s friend, Ayanna, tells Tristan about one of her former friends who died in a fight. She says, “He wanted to go out and kill [evil magical creatures, including the fetterlings], and I didn’t, and we argued about it. He flew into a rage, took his raft, and left. We heard fighting and went out after him, but by then it was too late. The fetterlings used his anger against him, and I lost a friend.” 
  • Gum Baby is loudly and badly playing music, and Tristan asks her to stop. Gum Baby responds, “Gum Baby’s gonna tune your face with some sweet chin music if you keep talking,” insinuating that she’d hit him with her banjo if he insulted her again. She does not actually hit him.
  • Tristan says he thinks Cotton is going to Fort Pillow as he’s “raiding places where Black people suffered in large groups…[Fort Pillow] was the site of one of the biggest massacres of Black soldiers in the entire Civil War. People fighting for their freedom were cut down by Confederate soldiers without remorse.”
  • Tristan goes into High John’s memories and sees a town being burned to the ground. “Flames exploded out of broken glass and spread everywhere. More shouts and screams…Flames shot fifteen feet into the air. Every house in the small neighborhood was on fire. I couldn’t see anyone, but the screams…I knew the screams would haunt me for the rest of my life. So many. Old, young. I heard them all.” The memory lasts for a few pages and it is clear that Tristan witnessed the “Memphis Race Riots of 1866. Nearly all of South Memphis was destroyed…Black-owned homes, businesses, restaurants. People were killed. Abused. Beaten. And yet no one was ever brought to justice.”
  • Another magical being, Granny Z, tells Tristan, “My children are kicked, beaten, harassed, stolen, abused, abandoned, forgotten and stripped of their rights every single day. And it’s a sad fact that their abusers are always gonna be afraid that their own sins will be revisited upon them.”
  • Tristan and his friends Gum Baby, Ayanna, and Thandiwe are attacked in a Wig Emporium. “Gum Baby flipped out of nowhere, her hands moving a blur as sap rocketed through the air. Breakers exploded into smoke five at a time. I limped forward to help her, but she disappeared in a crowd of foes. I tried fighting my way free, but there were too many. We were being overwhelmed.” This scene lasts for a page. Gum Baby dies but the death isn’t described. 
  • Tristan helps ghosts save their stories from Cotton, who wants them erased. Tristan hears one ghost say, “I moved here to get away from the lynchings.” This point is not elaborated upon.
  • Tristan fights with many Breakers, magical creatures that can strip people and gods of their spirits, thereby killing them. Tristan describes how the Breakers “rained blows on me, snarled at me, shrieked at me, roared at me, sent wave after wave after wave of pure hatred and malevolence, and it was all I could do to keep my arms raised and defend myself, because I was so tired, incredibly tired, of defending myself, but it wasn’t just me I was defending, now was it?” The scene lasts for several pages.
  • One of the old folk gods, John Henry, fights Cotton. John Henry gripped the ghostly tentacles, “lifted one foot, and then exploded into motion, charging Cotton like a linebacker and planting a shoulder squarely in the haint’s chest. Cotton flew back a dozen yards —  through the air! —  before landing and skipping across the sand like a stone across a pond.” This battle sequence lasts for several chapters.
  • Tristan has one final battle with Cotton that lasts for several pages. Tristan narrates, “Cotton’s momentum carried him past me, and he was off-balance. My right fist, my power fist, knifed through the air and connected flush against Cotton’s chin. Just my fist, not the shadow gloves, because I needed them for what came next…The black flames flared to life one more time, with as much energy as I could muster flowing through them. Just as I’d done on the barge, I willed the gloves together, merging six into two shining beacons of black in the light of the setting sun…I darted forward and grabbed Cotton. He twisted, turned, fought, and struggled, but I didn’t let go. The flames of the akofena [magic] spread to him, devouring the thorns and cotton as if they hungered for the hatred binding the haint together.” Tristan destroys Cotton by turning him to ash.

Drugs and Alcohol 

  • Tristan ends up at an outdoor strip mall. He says, “Shelves are stocked with products you’d never heard of, or weird stuff you’ve seen advertised on TV — all two-a.m. hangover purchases, as my dad called them. I’m not sure what a hangover is, but if it made me buy an automatic toenail clipper that looked like two machetes taped together, I want no part of it.”

Language 

  • Gum Baby, a magical sticky being, loudly and frequently refers to Tristan as “Bumbletongue” or “thistle-head.” As they’re friends, it’s done mostly in jest.
  • Light language is occasionally used. Words include chump, rejects, and doofus.
  • Tristan meets a kid named Memphis, who uses they/them pronouns. 
  • A slave-patroller haint chases Tristan, yelling, “You ungrateful little stain on society, get over here! I will hunt you down, you hear?”

Supernatural

  • Tristan is having issues with his magic. Most notably he keeps bursting into flames when he gets angry. For instance, Tristan notes, “I stared in utter horror at the small silver flame popping out of my knuckles.” This happens frequently throughout the book.
  • As this is the third installment in the series, Tristan gives a quick recap of the last couple books. He says of his summer, “I’d eaten a bunch of key lime pie, done a little boxing, fallen into another world with powerful gods and made a bunch of folk hero friends…You know, the normal summer.” These gods and folk heroes feature throughout the book as Tristan is trying to rescue them.
  • Tristan’s magical smartphone is controlled by Anansi, the trickster god. Tristan says, “He was the Weaver, the owner of all stories, from truths to tall tales, and his name was embedded in my title of Anansesem.”
  • Tristan and his granddad enter Congo Square in New Orleans, where “ghostly apparitions dressed in their Saturday night finest were hitting moves that made my calves cramp as I watched…as if on cue, everybody started doing the Electric Slide.” Ghosts appear frequently in this book; many of them are friendly or give helpful advice.
  • Gum Baby announces that she’s been following a “ghostie” for a while because it was terrorizing everyone. This creature is like the haints, which are malicious spirits. Tristan describes the creature, saying, “I looked up and saw a long, lanky creature scuttling down from the top of the wheelhouse like a monstrous crab.” The group spends a chapter fighting the creature.
  • Tristan discovers that the haint that they’ve encountered is a coffle. His cousin explains its odd appearance, saying, “They were used to fasten slaves together when they were marched from the house to the fields and back.” Tristan describes its appearance, “Two long, wooden, bone-like structures protruded from the opposite sides of a loop, forming what looked like the skull of a hammerhead shark. Its body was a chain, and its four limbs were thorny, viny branches.”
  • Tristan’s magic storyteller abilities occasionally cause him to have visions. In one instance, he describes, “I saw stories — written in French and Spanish and Chitimacha and English — about the birth of jazz and the death of neighborhoods. I saw tales of Fon and the Ewe and the Igbo, and legends of Vodun and Vodou and the spirits within…I read about the slave ports that had dotted the Mississippi River. I read about the glamorous buildings that had been built around the sale of men, women, girls, and boys like me. Some older, some younger.” This description continues for several pages.
  • Cotton is the main antagonist of the series and is a powerful and evil haint. He is a manifestation of the evils of slavery. Tristan describes, “I once again saw the horrific true form of the haint underneath the disguise. Complete with his burning hatred and desire for power.”
  • A god, Mami Wata, rides in a boat that encounters Angola. Tristan notes that “a monstrous, nearly see-through house was superimposed over the prison…The house I was seeing was Old Angola, a long-gone plantation.” In this house and prison reside many trapped spirits and evil haints, including Cotton.
  • Tristan’s usual Ananasem powers (storytelling powers) change when he meets ghosts of former soldiers. He says, “I was inside the story!” In this instance, the sequence lasts for several pages and details the lives of a couple Black soldiers escaping the South to Vicksburg.
  • Tristan teaches some kids magic. When he tells them what he’s going to do so, one kid responds, “Ain’t no wizards ‘round here. That’s movie stuff.” Tristan then demonstrates that all the kids have magic within them. Tristan says, “Each of the kids had a story fragment nestled in their chest, right above their heart. A piece of the story of Alke lived on in each of them.”
  • Tristan meets Granny Z, who tells Tristan about Loa. Granny Z says, “L-O-A. The mysteres. The links between the High God and his people on earth, serviced by the mambos, their priestesses.”
  • Tristan and his friends drive a magic SUV after a magical horse that’s kidnapped a child. Tristan says, “We looked out the front windshield to see Twennymiles (the horse) leaping into the air and disappearing. Old Familiar (the SUV) followed.” They are magically transported through the air and through neighborhoods, and the scene lasts for a couple pages.

Spiritual Content 

  • Tristan encounters many different gods (like Anansi and Mami Wata) on his journey, and they’ve given him powerful artifacts for his magical powers. These gods exist throughout the book, and sometimes Tristan mentions his magical gifts. He says, “I reached for the adinkra bracelet on my right wrist. Dangling from it were my gifts from the gods. The Anansi symbol. The akofena from High John. The Gye Nyame charm. The Amagqirha’s spirit bead from Isihlangu. They gave me strength, power, and right now, all the confidence I needed.”
  • Tristan meets a girl named Hanifa, who “wears a hijab.” 
  • The gods of Alke, due to the events of the previous books, are now scattered in Tristan’s world. Some of them are weakened and some die in nonviolent ways. Tristan often laments that “Gods can’t die,” but the events of the book say otherwise, like when High John passes away beneath a tree. 
  • High John’s ghost tells Tristan, Ayanna, and Thandiwe about his upbringing and the influence of the Church. He says, “some Sundays, his lordship and most honorable, the man who wanted to be called Boss, graciously allowed the people who actually worked the fields to rest.”

The Sister Switch

Addie Asante of Columbus, Ohio, feels stuck in the middle. Her big sister, Sophie, bosses her around while her little sister, Camille, gets whatever she wants.

When Addie receives a mysterious package with a magic bracelet, she makes a wish to no longer be in the middle and—POOF—she’s transformed into her big sister!

Being Sophie is amazing: Addie can hang out at the café after school, have her own room, and sing in the talent show. But as her friend Becca warns her, having a wish come true can get really messy. Plus, in a twist of magical chaos, Addie’s big sister has become the baby sister, and the baby sister has become Addie!

With friendships—and grades—on the line, plus a sneaky stranger determined to get her hands on the magic bracelet, can Addie and her sisters find a way to switch back before it’s too late?

The Sister Switch is told from Addie’s point of view which allows the reader to understand her frustration at being the middle child. However, Addie isn’t a very likable character because she is self-centered and doesn’t think about the consequences of her actions. When Addie is in Sophie’s body, Addie thinks about how she can use the situation to her advantage. She never thinks about how her actions will affect Sophie. In the end, the sister switch brings all three sisters closer together, but there is no large character growth. 

Addie’s sisters, Sophie and Camille, aren’t very likable either. When Sophie enters Camille’s body, she acts like a bratty child who throws temper tantrums, refuses to do schoolwork, and causes havoc. Meanwhile, Camille’s cheerful attitude and focus on having fun isn’t realistic. Plus, her terrible behavior causes trouble. For example, she begins a food fight in the cafeteria. While some of the scenes are supposed to be funny, it’s difficult to ignore that when the three sisters interact, there is little kindness between them. 

Anyone who has a sibling will be able to understand Addie’s difficulties and find humor in some of the situations. In the end, Addie learns that she should stay true to herself and embrace what causes her joy. However, the story glosses over Addie’s selfishness. While The Sister Switch is a book that younger readers will likely enjoy, parents won’t want their child to copy Addie’s behavior. Overall, the sisters’ bad behavior, the tired plot, and the lack of character growth make The Sister Switch a book that is best left on the shelf. If you’re looking for an entertaining book that reinforces positive sister behavior, read Disney Frozen Polar Nights: Cast Into Darkness by Mari Mancus and Jen Calonita. If you want another dash of magic to add sparkle to your day, check out Love Sugar Magic: A Dash of Trouble by Anna Meriano.

Sexual Content 

  • None

Violence 

  • Addie’s twelve-year-old sister, Sophie, is “stuck in Camille’s five-year-old body.” When Sophie goes to school, she “apparently threw a fit. And a chair? Plus, she refused to do any of the activities.”
  • When Camille is stuck in Addie’s body, she goes to lunch with Addie’s friends. Camille and Addie get into an argument and then Camille “smiled wickedly. . . she’d picked up her leftover sandwich and tossed it at my face.” A food fight ensues. 

Drugs and Alcohol 

  • None

Language 

  • OMG is used as an exclamation often.

Supernatural

  • While at school, Addie makes a wish. “Suddenly, I felt something tighten around my wrist. The lights in the hallway flickered. . . My skin felt weird. Like it was being tickled by a million tiny feathers.” The bracelet’s magic switches Addie’s and her sister’s bodies. 
  • After the wish, Addie’s “fingers looked different. . . And then I looked into the mirror. Sophie’s face stared back at me.” Meanwhile Addie’s twelve-year-old sister, Sophie, “was stuck in Camille’s five-year-old body.”
  • A blond woman wants Addie to give her the magical bracelet. The woman can track the bracelet and has a gold bead that “warms up and glows when the magic is working.” It’s similar to a “radar.”

Spiritual Content 

  • When Addie’s sister takes over her body, Addie prays that her friends don’t laugh at her. 

The Beast and The Bethany

What the Beast wants is what the Beast gets. The Beast demands a variety of foods to be brought to him. From necklaces to singing parrots, he eats it all. Ebenezer Tweezer gives the Beast these rather unorthodox foods. However, Ebenezer does not leave empty-handed. 

Once Ebenezer meets the Beast’s demands, Ebenezer is given whatever he pleases. The Beast has given him luxurious items like a piano and a 15-story house. But the one gift Ebenezer wants and needs the most is a potion to keep him young and beautiful—a magical potion that has kept him alive for 511 years. As Ebenezers’ birthday nears, he needs more potion. However, the Beast is craving a different taste, one he has never had before. He wants to eat a child. So, when the Beast gives Ebenezer an ultimatum – bring me a child to eat or no potion – Ebenezer knows he must find a child before his birthday in three days. 

After many failed attempts of retrieving a child, Ebenezer is pointed towards an orphanage. He needs to find a child worthy of being eaten by the Beast. Ebenezer does want anyone nice and he’s doubtful he will ever find a suitable child as they are all either too kind or too cute. Then Ebenezer and Miss Fizzlewick, the head of the orphanage, hear yelling in the hall. When they find a little girl named Bethany shoving worms up another child’s nose, Ebenezer knows she is the one. 

When the Beast sees Bethany, he refuses to eat her until she has been fattened up. This allows Ebenezer time to get to know Bethany. For the next three days, they go on crazy adventures and learn a lot about each other. Ebenezer comes to see her as a friend, his only friend. But Ebenezer now had a choice: should he save Bethany, or himself?

The Beast and The Bethany is a great read because the author adds humor through jokes and the characters’ behaviors. Both main characters, Ebenezer and Bethany, develop from people who only looked out for themselves into more caring and selfless people. The story also has themes of pride and greediness. The reader sees this with Ebenezer’s desire to live another 511 years, and the Beast’s yearning for a new, tastier treat. However, when the characters learn and grow, this reinforces the lesson of being grateful for what you have. 

Another positive aspect of the story is black and white illustrations sprinkled throughout the book. These illustrations give the reader a better sense of the setting and characters. Readers will get to see Bethany’s face as she is riddled with disgust, Ebenezer as the potion wears off and he ages, and the Beast’s three eyes and sharp teeth. 

Although the story has a simple plot line, the author keeps the plot interesting with silly settings and crazy characters. In addition, the author does a great job showing each character’s personality; how they clash but ultimately complement each other. Readers will find their interactions hilarious and heartwarming. Some readers will relate to Bethany’s stubbornness but see her maturity and apologies as a good lesson.  In addition, The Beast and The Bethany teaches about the value of friendship by showing that life is not as meaningful unless you have someone to spend it with. Readers who want to read another humorous, monster-related story should also read Castle Hangnail by Ursula Vernon. 

Sexual Content 

  • None

Violence 

  • The Beast eats a parrot. There are no graphic details, but its death is implied. “It was the last question [the parrot] ever asked.” Then, the Beast thanks Ebeneezer for “a delicious dinner” and says, “It’s so nice to eat something with personality.”
  • It is implied the Beast has eaten a poodle when Ebenezer says, “Is it a poodle? Do you want me to go to the dog shelter again!”
  • The Beast says he wants to eat a child. He says, “I want to know what one tastes like. I want a juicy, plump little child. I want to gobble it up in one oozy, squishy bite.”
  • Bethany shoves worms up a boy’s nostrils. “Geoffrey was pinned on the floor by the small, bony girl from the bird shop. The girl was shoving worms up his nostrils, and she was shouting, ‘Rat! Rat!’ at him.”
  • Ebenezer imagines cooking Bethany to serve to the Beast. “Ebenezer considered chucking Bethany in the oven, roasting her for forty-five to fifty minutes, and then serving her in a bowl for the beast.” 
  • Bethany tells Ebenezer she wants to shove a trumpet down the Beast’s throat. 
  • The Beast eats Miss Fizzlewick. The Beast “wrapped its two tongues around Miss Fizzlewick and dragged her into its belly . . . The Beast crunched down on Miss Fizzlewick until eventually the only sound left in the room was the happy purr of the Beast.”
  • After finding out Ebenezer’s plan, Bethany punches him in the stomach and calls him a “stupid idiot.” She continues punching him until she starts hitting him in the head with a cushion. “She picked up a cushion and started bashing him over the head with it.” There is also a picture of her doing this.  
  • The Beast threatens Bethany, saying “First, I will drag you into my belly with my tongues, and then I will start gnashing.”
  • Both Ebenezer and the Beast talk about the Beast eating Ebenezer’s cat, but there is no description. 

Drugs and Alcohol 

  • Ebenezer puts sleeping powder in candy in hopes of taking a child. However, he accidently uses it on himself. 
  • A painting on Ebenezer’s wall is a skeleton head smoking a cigarette. 

Language 

  • A button on Bethany’s backpack reads, “Bog Off!”
  • Bethany tells one of the boys in the orphanage, “Shut up, you little rat!” 
  • Bethany calls other people names often. Names include rat, idiot, and loser. She says shut up as well.
  • When Bethany cannot finish another piece of cake, Ebenezer calls her “a weakling” and “pathetic.”  
  • The Beast calls Bethany an “ignorant brat.” 
  • The Beast refers to Ebenezer as a “rotten, treacherous twit” and a “stupid fool.” He also says, “I am glad he is dead!”

Supernatural

  • The beast can grant wishes. He does this by throwing it up. For example, Ebenezer requests a piano. “The beast closed its three black eyes and shut its dribbling mouth. It started to wiggle its blob of a body and made a low humming noise as it moved side from side. Then, all of a sudden, the eyes opened again. The beast stopped wiggling, stretched its mouth wide open, and vomited out a baby grand piano.”
  • The Beast tells Ebenezer he will not get the potion that makes him young unless he brings him a child. He tells Ebenezer he will die without the potion’s powers. 
  • The beast describes the potion as an “elixir of life–a magical potion containing all the vitamins needed for youth, life, beauty, and shiny hair. It’s so powerful, even I can’t control it . . . ”
  • The gifts that the Beast gave to Ebenezer become alive and begin walking.  

Spiritual Content 

  • None

Unleashed

One month after the events of Jinxed, Lacey wakes up in a hospital room with no memory of how she got there. With Jinx missing and MONCHA, the company behind the pet robot, threatening her family, Lacey doesn’t know who to turn to for answers.

After Lacey gets expelled and her mother acts strangely from the latest update from MONCHA, Lacey and her friends must get to the bottom of a sinister plot at the heart of the company, one that would ruin the interactions between bakus (pet robots) and their owners. Lacey must use all her skills to stop the corporation from carrying out their plan. But how can she take on the biggest tech company in North America with just a level one baku? 

Without the resources from her school, Lacey relies on her ingenuity and smarts to modify her baku. However, she hadn’t prepared for the company to remove public access to any information about the customization of bakus. Lacey soon learns that MONCHA, now headed by a temporary CEO, wants absolute control over the look and function of all their products, including the beloved pet robots. 

Departing from the action-packed baku battles of the previous book, Unleashed delves into Lacey’s world, which is fascinating and distinctive. Everyone relies on their baku, and each baku can make its owner happy. From copying hairstyles of famous celebrities to competing in races alongside similarly modeled species, bakus give a positive spin on day-to-day life. Yet, Jinx is different than the other bakus. He can feel and perceive things, which allows him and Lacey to converse. Jinx’s standoffish behavior adds tension to their relationship while furthering the suspense. 

Unleashed builds upon the action of the previous novel. In place of the well-known baku battles of the previous book, Lacey’s encounters with MONCHA will keep the reader engaged. Though a few characters are predictable—the incompetent adults; the spoiled rich boy; the corrupt CEO of a tech company—the story never feels stale. On top of that, Lacey’s story gives the reader a realistic look into a world in which everyone is on a device 24/7. The story has a satisfying end, answering any lingering questions the previous book left unresolved. 

Through Lacey’s experiences, readers learn an important lesson about following your dreams. You don’t have to go on a predetermined, well-trodden path to achieve your goals. The message in Unleashed is clear: going a different way doesn’t mean you will fail to reach your destination. If you’d like to go on another adventure with a mechanical animal and an unlikely hero, check out Wizard for Hire by Obert Skye.

Sexual Content 

  • Lacey blushes when Tobias, her crush, touches the back of her arm. 

Violence 

  • None

Drugs and Alcohol 

  • While hospitalized, Lacey receives some medication.  

Language   

  • One of Lacey’s classmates texts “OMG” on a group school messaging board.
  • Lacey says “Oh my god” twice.
  • Jinx exclaims “Holy bakus.”
  • One of Lacey’s friends calls Tobias’s brother a jerk

Supernatural 

  • None

Spiritual Content 

  • None

The Taken

Isla and her family are foxes who have always lived in the Graylands, not too far from the furless. She and her brother, Pirie, being young cubs, are slowly learning to survive the many dangers that face them. Suddenly, Isla returns to her family’s home to discover the smell of fire and strange newcomers – and no trace of her family.

Alone and afraid, Isla plunges deep into the world of the furless to search for her family. While dodging danger at every turn, she meets Siffrin, another fox who knows magic and can shapeshift. More importantly, Siffrin is also looking for her brother, but Siffrin won’t explain why. Shrouded in mystery, Isla begins to learn about the world beyond that of the Graylands and seeks to find her brother before the foxes who caused the disappearance find him.

The Taken is the first in the Foxcraft Series and it is an action-packed start to the series. As this is a fantasy world with foxes and other supernatural forces, there are plenty of new terms for readers to take in while reading. For instance, the characters refer to humans as “the furless” and roads as “the deathway.” Fortunately, if readers are confused, there is a glossary of terms at the back and a map of the near the front of the book.

Isla, much like the reader, does not know anything about foxcraft or foxlore, much to Siffrin’s chagrin. The Taken sets up what will follow in the coming books, continuing the mysterious disappearance of Isla’s brother, Pirie. Importantly, it introduces the reader to Isla, whose self-confidence and compassion for others grow as the book progresses. Despite not knowing if her family is alive, she will do anything to get them back and she learns to confront foxes and any other creatures who get in her way. 

Isla, Siffrin, and Pirie are hunted by a dark magical force living in the aptly-named Darklands that can seemingly control foxes that it captures. Iserles is one of the authors from the Warriors Series, and there are similar amounts of fighting in both series. Fans of the Warriors Series will not find the violence upsetting, but some young readers may be upset by the descriptions. For instance, there is a scene in which Isla describes death in gruesome detail, saying, “From where we were perched, I couldn’t see the impact, and the rain distorted the cracking limbs. I was spared the mangle of her broken body.” However, those familiar with other Erin Hunter Series will feel at home in this world and will enjoy the high-octane plot. 

Foxcraft: The Taken is a solid start to this exciting series, which leaves plenty of unanswered questions to stir readers’ excitement for the second book, The Elders. Despite many new terms, it’s relatively easy to fall into the world and understand the various plot points. Isla’s resilience and love for her family drive this book and nicely sets up the character that will lead the rest of this series. Those ready for a fun adventure should absolutely read the Foxcraft Series. 

Sexual Content 

  • None

Violence 

  • The dangers of cars and roads are always present. Isla’s grandmother says, “The death river claims more foxes than all other assassins.”
  • A dog attacks Isla, but at the last second, she manages to free herself from the trap she’s in. Isla “flailed and bucked, desperate to free my trapped foreleg. The creature’s great jaws gaped above me; I felt the dampness of his breath.”
  • Some human children throw rocks at Isla. “One of them grabbed a rock and flung it at me. It struck the stone ground by my hind paw, and I sprang back in confusion.”
  • A guard dog announces that she “killed a cat the other night.” 
  • Ilsa’s grandmother, Greatma, tells how foxes have historically been treated, especially by humans. She says, “Our kind has been hunted, tortured, attacked, and turned into pelts to warm the necks of the furless. They have shot us for fun and chased us as a game –  they do not even eat those they kill. By the death river or their casual cruelty; by gas, or dogs, or simple starvation. The land of the furless is full of deaths and each one whispers a fox’s name.”
  • Isla attacks Siffrin, a messenger of the Elders, because he’s been following her. She “bit him hard on his wiry tail. The dog yelped in surprise.”
  • Siffrin shapeshifts to fight the foxes that are hunting him and Isla. Isla “heard the scrape of their claws as they scrambled on stone, and I craned to see what was going on. With a snarl, Siffrin broke free, this time in the form of the mongrel dog. He vaulted into the air, at least at full brush-length, slamming down on the fox that was snapping at his paws. He sent her tumbling onto the deathway.” This fight scene lasts for several pages.
  • Isla learns how to catch a mouse. Isla pounces on it, and “with a bite and a jerk of [her] head, it was dead.”
  • A fot named Karka orders her cronies to capture Isla and Siffrin. Karka says, “Get them or I’ll tear out your filthy throats!”
  • One of Karka’s minions (known as The Taken) jumps across the buildings to chase Isla and Siffrin, but misses the building and lands on the street below. Isla describes, “From where we were perched, I couldn’t see the impact, and the rain distorted the cracking limbs. I was spared the mangle of her broken body.” The description lasts for a paragraph.
  • Siffrin reveals that he watched Karka kill Isla’s family. “When [Siffrin] arrived, it was almost over. Your ma and fa, they were already dead…Your greatma was courageous. She fought hard. [She] was already falling, was already wounded.” The description lasts for around a page and doesn’t describe the specifics of their deaths.
  • Animal control captures Isla and she is scheduled to be euthanized. She talks with another captured fox as they watch an animal be taken to another room by humans. The other fox says, “Another one taken to be killed.” This scene lasts for a chapter.
  • The wolf that Isla freed saves her life by attacking Karka and the Taken. “The great wolf opened his jaws. Karka stayed frozen, held in his thrall. He sprang upon her and threw her down, fastening his deadly fangs around her neck. With a brutal snap he shook her and then dropped her, letting her head roll on the graystone. She stared at him with her single gray eye. Would stare like that forever.” This scene lasts for a couple pages.

Drugs and Alcohol 

  • None

Language 

  • Isla has a confrontation with a wolf. Isla tells the wolf that she eats rats, and the wolf says to Isla, “A thing that eats rats has no right to exist!” He also calls her a “rat-munching coward.”
  • Light language is used often. Terms include: idiot and stupid.

Supernatural

  • The book details the story of Isla and Pirie, who are foxes who think and talk like humans, as do some other animals in the book. Isla meets a wolf who speaks the same language as her, and she’s surprised. Isla says, “He must have been a cub of Canista –  a creature like me – though I could hardly imagine how we might be related.” Canista is the name for the Fox deity from which they come from.
  • Isla has a vision of her brother being captured, being led into the world of the humans. Isla describes her vision, saying, “I was moving with difficulty, my flank throbbing with pain. Up ahead there was a row of tall furless dens. In the front of them was a huge stone yard with a lone furless standing at the center. Her skin was cool gray, her eyes stared blindly, and great wings unfolded from her back. I gazed at her in fear and wonder.” Siffrin explains that this is a rare kind of foxcraft called “gerra-sharm” that can happen between cubs of the same litter.
  • Isla meets a small dog who “cast no shadow.” As Isla learns, he is a “messenger of Jana, one of the Elder Foxes from the Wildlands.” When Isla asks why he is a dog, he says, “I am in wa’akkir. I have assumed a disguise.” It is explained later that wa’akkir is an ancient fox magic called foxcraft.
  • Siffrin, the magic fox messenger, explains foxlore to Isla. He explains how foxes, wolves, and dogs are “cubs of Canista” and that, “Only Fox had the courage to live without rules, without the hierarchies of others – to hunt and survive in freedom and peace. For while Wolf and Dog are so brutalized that they will gladly kill their own kind, Fox avoids conflict at all costs. She does not yearn to control others –  only to live by her own wits.” The history lesson lasts for several pages, as he explains the magical powers they possess, like imitating other animals (“karak”) and invisibility (“slimmering”). These magic powers are used by Siffrin throughout the book, and he teaches Isla to use them as well.
  • Siffrin uses his powers to heal Isla. Siffrin says, “With my touch, I sense you; with my eyes, I heal you. By Canista’s Lights, I share what I have; we are knit together and you are whole.” During this, Isla has a vision of Siffrin as a cub where he was “desperate and starving.” The scene lasts for a page.

Spiritual Content 

  • Siffrin heals Isla using his Maa. He describes to Isla that the Maa is the “essence of every fox,” or the spirit.

Black Bird, Blue Road

Twelve-year-old Ziva has two goals in life: to become a judge like her father and to save her twin brother, Pesah, from leprosy. Because of his health, Pesah lives in his quarters alone. Against her parent’s wishes, Ziva visits him every day. Pesah is dying and he doesn’t have long to live. When Pesah has a dream that he will die on Rosh Hashanah, Ziva refuses to accept this fate and decides to take Pesah’s health into her own hands. When Pesah tells Ziva about a town, Byzantium, that is full of doctors, medicine, and hopefully a cure, the twins steal their family’s wagon and start their journey to Byzantium.

Their journey is interrupted by a boy, Almas, who freezes Ziva and shackles her to a wagon. The boy says he will help her and her brother if she helps him in return. Desperate, Ziva agrees. He instructs her to find a specific bowl in the wagon and break it. After breaking it, the boy changes into something completely different—a half-demon boy. Almas says he is bonded with them until he fulfills his promise to help. Ziva is hesitant to trust Almas, but Pesah reassures her that Almas can be trusted. Almas tells them they do not need to go to Byzantium but, instead, to go to Luz. A place where the Angel of Death is not allowed, and the people live forever.  

The three of them journey to Luz with some pit stops along the way. Ziva hopes Luz will be the answer to her prayers and she will find a way to heal Pesah. Black Bird, Blue Road introduces readers to the Jewish religion and culture, including the angels they trust and the demons they fear. Although death is talked about throughout the entire story, Ziva, as well as the reader, is taught that death is not a punishment but a gift. 

Black Bird, Blue Road is best suited for strong readers or for those who are already familiar with Judaism. The book contains a glossary to help readers understand the Jewish language and culture. However, since the Hebrew and Jewish cultures are intertwined in the story, passages can be confusing and hard to read. It is up to the reader to go to the glossary in the back to fully understand some of the text.

The story is told from the first-person limited point of view of Ziva. Ziva is admirable as she is loyal to her brother. Her bravery comes from her dedication to her brother as she takes on trials to save his life. Pesah is logical and keeps her grounded. His kindness compliments her stubborn nature. Lastly, we have Almas. He is judged for his parents’ title as “Sheyds” but fights for a different reputation. He relates to Ziva and Pesah because he understands the pain of death, just as they do.      

Although Black Bird, Blue Road takes on the devastating topic of death, the author allows Ziva, Pesah, and the reader to laugh, smile, and become at peace. Readers with an interest in religion and ethical thinking will love this book. The author does a great job connecting with the audience using emotion and creating a relationship with the characters. The theme allows the reader to reflect on personal experiences around death. While the conclusion can be considered unhappy, the reader feels satisfied because Ziva grows to eventually accept Pesah’s fate.

Sexual Content 

  • Almas and Ziva walk together in the dark, leading the horses through the path. They share a touch that sparked something in Ziva. Almas’ “hand touched hers. His fingers closed tightly around hers, hand warm and steady, and Ziva felt a flush heat her face and neck. He pulled her closer.” After this interaction, Ziva blushes as Almas hands her the horse’s reins and they continue to walk down the path. 

Violence 

  • Ziva needs to cut off her brother’s finger so his disease does not spread. “Ziva held his infected finger out straight, away from his other fingers, and slipped the shears’ blades a tiny way down from where the blackness ended . . . She needed to pull the handles of the shears together swiftly, smoothly. The infected finger dropped into the bucket and was lost in the gauze there.”  Ziva wraps Pesah’s amputated finger in linen to stop the bleeding.
  • Ziva sticks up for her brother by punching a bully, Reuven, in the face. “Ziva’s fist connected with Reuven’s nose before she even realized she was swinging. He yelped, staggered back, and tripped over the edge of the reflecting pool.”
  • When the brother and sister duo run away, they are stopped by local thieves. Ziva tries to fight one of the boys, Almas. Ziva lunged “for the boy. She was about to give him another scar to complement the one he had. He barely dodged her swiping hand in time. . . Almas caught her wrist as she tried to smack him again, ‘stop!’” Almas holds her arms to stop her from hitting him. Ziva eventually calms down.  
  • One of the thieves slaps Ziva for snarling at him. He then says, “There’s more where that came from. Maybe I’ll break your nose next time . . . ”
  • After breaking a bowl, Almas is released to his natural form as a half-demon. Enraged at being enslaved by the two thieves he was with, Almas kills them. “Avag was pulled away from [Ziva].  And flung out the back of the wagon. He skidded across the rocky ground and came to a stop near a horrified Petros.” Almas then, “seized Avag by the throat. Petros turned and ran.” Ziva and Pesah run away, and the remainder of the fight between the two thieves and Almas is not described. Pesah sees the Angel of Death, Malach ha-mavet, arrive and then hears screams. 

Drugs and Alcohol 

  • Ziva tries to give her brother a medicine to cure his leprosy. She found this remedy in “a medical pamphlet from Byzantium.” The recipe calls for: speak-leak, crop-leak, wine, and bull’s gall. It needed to be put in a brass bowl for nine days. However, Pesah never ingests this mixture. 

Language 

  • Ziva calls one of the men that tried to rob her and her brother a “stupid thief.”
  • One of the thieves calls Ziva a “stupid girl.”  
  • Ziva gets called a “brat” for sticking up for a local fruit vendor. 

Supernatural

  • Almas uses one of his powers as a sheyd, a demon, to freeze Ziva.
  • Almas can hear the future, but he never uses this power in the book. It is only mentioned. 

Spiritual Content 

  • Pesah has a vision of the Angel of Death, who said he will die on Rosh Hashanah.
  • Several demons are mentioned. Mazzikims are invisible demons. Shabriri are water demons that appear when humans come close to water at night. These demons are talked about and briefly explained.
  • The Angel of Death is mentioned multiple times in both English and Hebrew – Malach ha-mavet. This Angel is described by Ziva as having six wings and many eyes. The Angel of Death can also disguise itself as a little boy. 
  • To break Almas’ curse, Ziva breaks a bowl that is carved with demonic figures that have birds’ feet and fangs. 
  • The Milcham bird is the leader at Luz. The kids talk about how one of the Milcham’s feathers could cure any illness. 
  • While at the river, Ziva is stopped by a demon called Shabriri. The demon tries to take her to be punished for coming to the river at night, but Pesah banishes the demon with a saying he learned at the Synagogue. Pesah says, “Briri.” He then repeats, “Ri!”
  • Ziva talks about Elul and its practices. Elul is a Jewish holiday celebrated on the twelfth month on the Hebrew calendar. It is a time to reflect on wrong-doings and strive to be better for Rosh Hashanah.
  • Ziva and Pesah pray nightly. She offers to pray with Almas but is hesitant because of Almas’s half-demon nature. He accepts their offer to pray.
  • When they see wolves leading their wagon, Ziva talks about “Celestial Khazars” who are shapeshifters. These wolves lead the group to the Asena camp. There is no description of these animals’ shapeshifting. 
  • Before arriving at Luz, the group stops at a camp. A shaman, Chichäk, greets them and says the twins brought the Angel of Death to their camp. Ziva begs Chichäk to help her brother. The shaman takes Pesah to perform rituals telling Ziva she will ask the spirits to help. The ritual performed is not described. It does not heal Pesah, but it gives him three more days to live. 
  • At the camp, Ziva is greeted by a boy. They talk about the different religions, Gods, and beliefs. One part of this conversation is narrated as, “The boy pointed upward into the darkness. ‘Tengri is the god of the sky.’ Ziva smiled at him, trying to keep it from looking as patronizing as it felt. ‘In the city, we believe in Hashem.’” The boy then asks Ziva if she believes these Gods are different. She answers yes. The boy responds to this by saying, “There are many paths to the heavens. Because one path would not be enough.”

The Minor Third

Theo Stein-Meyer likes being a part of the Magical Misfits. They had been together since the beginning of summer and have become good friends while helping to protect Mineral Waters from the nefarious troupes that come to town. With his trusty violin bow, Theo completes the team with his levitation skills, his unruffled calm, and proper manners.    

But when a girl named Emily starts to spend more time with the group, Theo is notably drawn to her. They quickly bond over their shared interest in not only magic but also music. Emily appears to understand the pull he feels between music and magic, and between friends and family.  

Then a famous ventriloquist arrives in town, and the Misfits are sure that he is up to no good. When their mentor, Mr. Vernon, unexpectedly gets called out of town and tensions bubble among the friends over their differences, it comes to question if the group can come together to stop another member of the Emerald Ring. Under pressure from both his friends and his family, Theo must make a choice about where—and with whom—he belongs.  

Theo is in the spotlight in this installment of Magical Misfits. A limited third-person perspective lets the reader learn about Theo’s interest in magic and music as well as his struggle to decide whether to practice magic tricks with his friends or perform music with his family. Readers will relate to Theo’s dilemma of having to choose to live up to his family’s expectations for him or be there for his friends. This causes a rift between Theo and his family and deepens the falling-out amongst him and his friends.  

Theo doesn’t want to disappoint his family or friends, especially when both want him to take part in their respective performances for the talent show. His siblings and parents encourage him to play the violin, and whenever he performs with them, he feels like he belongs. On the other hand, his friends support him in practicing magic. Theo feels like he can be himself around his friends too, even with their occasional tiffs. But when his friends realize that the ventriloquist is behind their recent quarrels, they finally mend the cracks in their relationship. With that, the Magic Misfits learn a valuable lesson: friends can overcome any obstacle if they work through the problem together. 

Occasionally, an omniscient unnamed narrator chimes in with a recap of the story’s events, which blends in seamlessly with the overall narration. As a bonus, black and white pictures are scattered throughout the novel and help readers visualize the setting and the action scenes. In order to more fully engage readers, there are how-to magic tricks sprinkled throughout the story. These sections contain instructions for performing the magic tricks, along with illustrations to reference. Tricks such as levitating a roll of bread and making a card rise from one’s palm are easy to do, but adults are encouraged to help with these activities.   

The Minor Third is a lively and riveting story that gets its energy from the tension of being true to oneself while living up to family expectations and dealing with positive peer pressure. Combined with phenomenal narration and vivid descriptions, the striking visuals of various styles complement an incredible story. Readers will enjoy reading about the friendship between Theo and his friends and how they patch up their relationship as well as stop the ventriloquist. If you are looking for stories about magic, friendship, and secrets, give The Minor Third a read! Readers who enjoy Magic Misfits will also enjoy the magical world created in the Kingdom Keepers Series by Ridley Pearson. 

Sexual Content  

  • None 

Violence  

  • None 

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • Near the vestibule of the magic shop, the Magic Misfits see a person smoking a cigarette. 

Language    

  • Theo’s friend calls him a jerk. 

Supernatural  

  • Many of the characters use tricks related to illusion or trickery, such as Carter’s sleight-of-hand or Theo’s levitation. They are in no way similar to supernatural magic or the paranormal.  

Spiritual Content  

  • None 

Breaking Time

When a mysterious Scotsman suddenly appears in the middle of the road, Klara thinks the biggest problem is whether she hit him with her car. But, as impossible as it sounds, Callum has stepped out of another time, and it’s just the beginning of a deadly adventure.

Klara will soon learn that she is the last Pillar of Time—an anchor point in the timeline of the world and a hiding place for a rogue goddess’s magic. Callum believes he’s fated to protect her at all costs after being unable to protect the previous Pillar, his best friend, Thomas. For a dark force is hunting the Pillars in order to claim the power of the goddess—and Klara and Callum are the only two people standing in the way.  Thrown together by fate, the two must learn to trust each other and work together. . . but they’ll also need to protect their hearts from one another if they’re going to survive.

Since the death of her mother and moving to Scotland, Klara’s life has been turned upside down. Things only get worse when Callum arrives. At first, Klara doesn’t believe he has traveled from the past nor does she understand the strange powers that have manifested through her. While many readers will relate to Klara’s grief and her inability to be honest with her father, Klara is not a very memorable character. Even after a man steps out of a mist and tries to kill her, Klara is still unwilling to believe Callum’s story. This conflict takes too long to resolve and slows the story’s pacing.

Breaking Time introduces many ancient Gods as well as some lore for the Fair Folk; however, some of the story’s magical elements are inconsistent. For example, while one goddess is only able to appear to Klara at a mystical site, another appears to her through a dream, and demon monsters can appear anywhere. Since Klara doesn’t understand her powers, she goes on a quest to different mystic sites in an attempt to understand them. At each place, she learns more about herself and what it means to be a Pillar. Unfortunately, the story’s worldbuilding is lacking and the magic elements are inconsistent which causes confusion.  In addition, some of the people and events are not clearly connected to the central conflict. To make matters worse, the conclusion is ambiguous and doesn’t wrap up any of the conflicts, which many readers may find frustrating.

Unfortunately, Breaking Time’s unremarkable protagonist and inconsistent worldbuilding make the story difficult to enjoy. Readers who have some previous knowledge of Scottish folklore may still find Breaking Time an interesting read; however, readers who have no previous knowledge of Scottish folklore may want to leave the book on the shelf. If you’re looking for a time-traveling romance, Time Between Us by Tamara Ireland Stone and the Ruby Red Trilogy by Kerstin Gier both have mystery, excitement, and some swoon-worthy scenes.

Sexual Content

  • Klara sees Callum watching for danger. Klara goes to him and Callum “took her waist between his strong hands, pulling her close. In a swift movement, he turned Klara so that her back was against a nearby tree. His body flush against hers. She could feel every inch of him. . . His lips pressed hungrily against hers, and she grasped the nape of his neck, wanting him closer. . . Their lips danced. She willed him to move faster, harder against hers. Her tongue dipped into his mouth and he moaned at the contact.” The two do not go further. The scene is described over a page.
  • After kissing Klara, Callum thinks about how “He had only kissed one girl before.”
  • After a near death experience, Klara tells Callum to kiss her. “His lips descended on hers, slow and meaningful. . . He slid the palm of his hand down to the back of her neck, she shuddered.”
  • Klara told Callum that she could send him back to his own time. He refuses her offer. Then, “his lips found her hairline and lingered there. He felt her palms up his back, felt his muscles tighten in response to her touch. . . Klara wanted him here, too. . . Everything that was fierce and gentle in Callum flowed out of his touch and into her . . .” They stop kissing when they are interrupted. The scene is described over a page.
  • While listening to a band and dancing, Callum “pulled her even closer, lifting her so she was on her toes. . . She pushed her fingers into his hair. He moaned, feeling euphoric. His lips descended to hers.” The kiss is described over half a page.

Violence

  • To pay for their meals, Callum and his friend, Thomas, fought in a local pub. Callum recalls one fight when “Thomas got pummeled. . . Sounds still rang in Callum’s ears: the thud of fist and flesh, the sickening crunch of bone.”
  • One night, Callum comes across Thomas lying in the street. “Thomas lay on the ground, his legs splayed at sickening angles. Blood seeped through his shirt. . . [Callum] pressed his hands against the deep slice that marred his friend’s torso. A knife wound.” 
  • While Callum kneeled next to Thomas, his “world flipped sideways. A blow had hit Callum like a runaway carriage. . . pain exploded along his ribs.” Thomas’s killer steps out of the shadows and “Callum didn’t see the blow coming, only felt the pain searing across his temple as he was thrown to the ground again.” 
  • During the fight, the man stabs Callum. “Callum touched his side, and his fingers came away with blood. He watched as crimson spread across his shirt. . . He tried to take a step, only to crumple to the ground beside Thomas, whose head rested limp against his chest.” Callum passes out. When he awakens, he is in another time period and he assumes Thomas is dead. The fight scene is described over four pages. 
  • A man steps out of a fog and grabs Klara’s throat. “He squeezed tighter, making her sputter. Her lungs worked fruitlessly, burning and straining like her ribs had been welded shut. He was trying to kill her. Was killing her.” Callum jumps to Klara’s aide and “ lunged forward and sunk his dagger into the man’s thigh. . . crying out in pain, the man released his grip slightly, allowing Klara to pull out of his grasp.”
  • While fighting the man, “A powerful burst of energy exploded inside [Klara], moving in electric waves outward from her chest into her limbs. Her fingertips felt like live wires. . . it suddenly sparked into a bright, white light that wiped away everything else.” Klara’s power sends the man into a different realm. The fight scene is described over four pages.
  • A beast appears “standing as tall as a horse and twice as wide, it bore the head of a snake, the form of a panther, and the cloven hooves of a demon.” The beast corners Klara, and Callum comes to her aid. “The creature lunged at Callum. He threw all of his strength at the beast, ducking down and ramming his shoulder into its stomach. . . [Klara] slam[ed] her phone into the beast’s snapping jaws.” 
  • During the fight with the beast, “the monster swung its neck like an unbroken horse, throwing Callum head over heels into the nearest partition wall. . . His body exploded with pain.” While Callum is down, “The monster lumbered toward [Klara], its tongue lashing the air as its hideous head darted and swayed. Its monstrous skull smashed into Klara’s side and sent her sliding along the floor.”
  • As the fight with the beast continues, Callum “slammed the rock into the beast’s spine, the spot on the neck where the scales met fur. The monster shrieked in pain. . . its scaled back, [was] now slick with dark blood as the monster fell on its side.” After being injured, the monster turned into “a pile of dust on the floor.” The bloody fight is described over five pages.
  • While fighting in the pubs, if Callum had a bad fight, his master “would be so mad that the beatings wouldn’t stop until I did better in the next fight.”
  • While in the forest, a god in the shape of a stag appears to Klara. Soon, another monster appears and attacks the stag. “The stag was crumpled before her, his neck in the jaws of another beast. Familiar teeth sunk into the animal’s furred flesh.”
  • Once the stag is out of the way, the monster goes after Klara. The beast “snapped its head up from the stag’s neck, blood dripping from the pearly points of its teeth.” Klara ran, but “spit flew from its mouth and landed with a heavy smack on the tree, acid sizzling where it met the bark—right next to her face.” Eventually, “the leopard-like tail came around and pinned Klara against the tree. Splinters cut through the back of her jacket and into the soft flesh of her skin. She convulsed with a full-body shiver as its jaws opened.” 
  • During the fight, the stag recovers and charges the monster that has Klara pinned against a tree. Once free, “Klara grabbed the broken antler from the forest floor and rammed it into the beast’s eye. The black pupil sunk like putty around the shard, which shuddered violently in her hand the deeper she plunged it in . . . the beast shrieked then collapsed into darkly shimmering dust.” The fight is described over six pages.
  • Aion, a man who Callum has only seen once, follows Callum. When Callum confronts him, Aion refuses to answer any questions. “Callum’s knuckles sunk into Aion’s cheek and nose, glancing off bone. His cry was muffled by Callum’s fist. He drew his hand back, chest heaving. A line of dark blood trickled from Aion’s nostril and over his lip.”
  • While at a mystic site, another monster attacks Klara and Callum. “Callum crouched in front of the beast, sword raised. With a twist of her heart, she noticed the blood splashed across his leg. His limp. . . [Callum] lunged again, this time striking the beast’s neck with the broad side of the sword. Rearing its head, the beast cried out. Then, it swung down in a flash. . . sinking its teeth into Callum’s side.”
  • As Callum and the beast fight, Klara jumps in. “She grabbed the hilt and ran headlong toward the creature. . . leaping as high as she could, Klara bore down and drove the blade into the monster’s open mouth.” When nothing else works, Klara uses her power against the beast, causing the beast to dissolve “until nothing more than a shimmering curtain of gold dust remained.” The scene is described over four pages.
  • Four beasts that “looked as if they were plucked straight from the pits of hell” attack Callum. When the lead beast runs at him, Callum “dropped, flattening his body against the ground to avoid the snarling beast . . . One hand grasped the beast’s muzzle, the other the meat of its neck. Callum felt the crunch of its crooked and uneven teeth under his fingers as he tightened his grip, then used the beast’s own weight to swing it away—and let go.”
  • As the fight continues, “Callum fell to his knee and thrust the dirk upward, catching the creature’s soft belly with his blade. . . The terrible sound of ripping flesh filled his ears. Hot blood splattered in his hair and face. . .” 
  • The beasts almost overtake Callum when one of them “sunk its claw into the front of Callum’s chest. The bite of fang and flesh tore a scream from his lungs.” After Callum fights the beasts, Llaw, a demigod who is trying to kill all of the Pillars, appears and attacks. “Llaw was strong. He stole the remaining breath from Callum’s belly with a sharp kick, sending his body reeling like he had run full force into one of the standing stones. Pain flared in his injured shoulder. Callum fell to his knees. Llaw drove a fist into his chest.”  At the end of the six pages of fighting, Callum’s “vision faded, along with the beat of his heart.”
  • When Klara finds Callum’s body, she pleads to the god Cernunnos. However, Llaw appears. “Llaw’s boot slammed against her chest, pinning her to the ground. The hound by his side. . . crouched. With its sickening sharp claws carving up the earth as it moved, the creature inched toward her until its snapping, snarling jaw was nearly pressed against her throat.” Llaw “pressed his foot down on her chest until a rib snapped.”
  • Klara calls on her powers and is able to distract Llaw. Then, she swung her sword. “The hilt shuddered in her fingers as the blade met resistance—as it cut through the flesh and bone of Llaw’s arm. Then the sword was free again, a swatch of blood on silver the only evidence that she hadn’t missed.”
  • At the end of the fight, Klara stabs Llaw in the chest. “He shuddered violently, like he’d been pushed onto her blade. . . She felt his body go limp.” Klara and Llaw’s fight scene is described over seven pages. 

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Callum thinks back to a time when he had whisky at a pub.     
  • After Callum gets into a fight, Klara calls a doctor. The doctor assumes Callum is drunk. The doctor said, “this young man needs aspirin, water, and perhaps to reconsider his life choices, if he’s already this drunk so early in the morning.” 
  • Klara and Callum go to a bar to listen to a band. Other people are served beer.
  • Klara’s grandmother “smoked a joint every Christmas.”
  • Klara’s father talks about the night before he married Klara’s mother when they had champagne.

Language

  • Profanity is used infrequently. Profanity includes ass, bastard, crap, damn, hell, pissed, and shit.
  • Goddamn is used once.
  • God, oh my God, and Jesus are used as exclamations a few times. 

Supernatural

  • In the woods, Klara and Callum come across an area that looks like a fairy ring. Then, a fog begins to take form. “The air in front of [Klara] began to shimmer as if it was the height of summer—but the air turned suddenly cold. . . The mist grew thicker still with every passing second, until it was a curtain of light and shadow. . . Callum watched in horror as a hand emerged from the mist and reached for her.” A man steps out of the fog. 
  • The story revolves around Samhain, “a Gaelic holiday, similar to Halloween, celebrating the barriers of the human and spirit world thinning out on October 31 through November 1, allowing crossover from both realms.”
  • Callum learns that Thomas was visiting mystical centers. A man tells Callum, “Different centers are thought to be closer to different gods or different locations in the Otherworld. . . Some say energy flows at these sites – at these mystic centers, or thin places— especially at certain times of the year, or with specific celestial events, the power of which is beyond our understanding.”
  • If Klara concentrates, she can feel the “pull of the Otherworld.” While trying to understand her powers, Klara walks into a forest and a stag steps out of the mist. “She watched in awe as the stag fell away, its body transforming until the only thing that remained of the beast were its antlers” that “crowned a man.” The man is Cernunnos, the god of the wilds, of nature, and of life itself. He tells Klara that “my essence is connected to the soil, the leaves, the trees, the ocean.” 
  • Callum wants to find the “bean-nighe” who is part of the Fair Folk. The bean-nighe “appears to those she chooses, and those who will die.” To find a bean-nighe, Callum will need to go to a lake, take part of his shirt, “soak it in your blood, and leave it in the waters. With it, you must swear to leave your life—if the bean-nighe would so choose to take it.” When Callum follows these directions, he asks the bean-nighe for “the strength of ten men” so he can protect Klara.
  • Klara goes to a mystic site. While there, a “pearl of light” appears. “The pearl grew. . . the spin stopped abruptly, and it flattened in the air in front of her, casting her in a blaze of white. . . Klara cried out, at first in shock, then in agony. It felt like she was being scorched alive.” The light takes her through a vision of the past.

Spiritual Content

  • Arianrhod, the Goddess of the Silver Wheel is “a primal figure of female strength—often associated with the moon, she had dominion over the sky, reincarnation, and even time and fate itself.” The goddess appears to Klara and Callum. Arianrhod shows a vision to Callum. “The fog gathered around them again. . . A familiar form took shape in front of Callum’s eyes. His chest wrenched open with disbelief and wonder.” Callum is shown his friend Thomas, and Arianrhod explains that “Thomas’s life was precious—more precious than most of the humans who walk this earth. There was a power in his blood more valuable than any mortal treasure. . .”
  • The Goddess reveals that Callum’s friends, Thomas, and Klara are both “pillars.” Arianrhod divided her powers “amongst ten human souls that would be born into your world. . . Spread across the centuries, each of the ten chosen ones became a Pillar of Time, with my power sealed within their blood.” 
  • Arianrhod’s son, Llaw, is a demigod who is trying to kill all the Pillars so he can gain their power. The goddess explains that “Llaw has already taken the power from the other nine vessels, but my power can all be restored as long as you live past Samhain.” If Llaw isn’t stopped, chaos will reign and time itself will be destroyed.

The White Giraffe

The night Martine Allen turns eleven years old is the night her life changes completely. Martine’s parents are killed in a fire, so she must leave her home to live on an African wildlife reserve with a grandmother she never even knew she had. When Martine arrives, she hears tales of a mythical animal living there – a white giraffe. They say no one has ever seen the animal, but it does leave behind footprints. Her grandmother insists that the white giraffe is just a legend, but then, one stormy night, Martine looks out her bedroom window straight into the eyes of the tall, silvery animal. Could it be just Martine’s imagination, or is the white giraffe real? And if so, why is everyone keeping its existence a secret?

The White Giraffe is the perfect book for anyone who has ever dreamed of going on an African safari. After tragedy befalls Martine, she gets sent to Africa where she is overcome with a sense of wonder at the beauty of Africa’s wildlife. However, she is also frustrated because she knows the adults in her life are keeping secrets from her. St. John brings Martine’s story to life with a mix of joyous encounters with wildlife and the confusion of being surrounded by secretive adults. The blend of suspense, suspicion, and surprises will keep readers flipping the pages until the very end. 

Even though Martine isn’t necessarily a relatable character, she is interesting and likable. Like many, Martine struggles with loneliness and the desire to have friends; unfortunately, the kids in Martine’s class are bullies who harass classmates who are different. Plus, Martine’s struggle to understand her own power is made even more difficult because of her classmates’ taunting, and her grandmother’s strange silence. Despite these difficulties, Martine is willing to put her life in danger to care for injured animals. This, along with the strange prophecy about a white giraffe, highlights Martine’s love of animals. 

While the story’s pacing is fast with both action and adventure, The White Giraffe clearly shows the greedy nature of humans who poach and capture animals for material gain. In addition, the story gives a brief look at racism when Tendai, who works at the animal reserve, shares his personal experiences of police brutality. Because of this experience, Tendai realizes that “only a man can crush you inside, in your heart, for no reason other than the color of your skin.” Despite this, Tendai has forgiven his abusers because “sometimes the thing that hurts your enemies most is to see that you are not like them.”

The White Giraffe takes the reader into the African bush and leaves them with a sense of wonder. Readers will gain a new appreciation of the people who strive to save wildlife. The story also has important life lessons, including showing that no one is perfect. When Martine makes a mistake, she is not chastised, instead her friend says, “We all make mistakes, chile. That’s human. But not everybody had the courage to admit what they done and go out into the world to try to mend things.” Readers who love animals and would like more exciting stories about helping animals should add the Vet Volunteers Series by Laurie Halse Anderson and the Zoe’s Rescue Zoo Series by Amelia Cobb to their reading list.

Sexual Content 

  • None

Violence 

  • Martine learns that her grandfather, Henry, died but “the events surrounding it were still shrouded in mystery. The police theory was that Henry had stumbled upon a gang of poachers trying to steal a couple of giraffes or maybe kill them for trophies. . . There had been a struggle. When it was over, Henry had been fatally wounded.”
  • On a field trip, Martine’s classmates chase her, intending to cause her harm. However, she is able to hide and stay safe.
  • Tendai tells of a time when he was beaten because of his skin color. Tendai’s “back and broad chest were crisscrossed with fifty or sixty thick, raised scars. It was as if someone or something had tried to cut him into a million pieces.” 
  • After Martine sees Tendai’s scars, he tells her about a police officer who “tore my shirt. . . I’m sorry to say I punched him as hard as I could. After that, Tendai remembered very little. When he regained consciousness, he was in a prison hospital covered in welts.”
  • Martine and Tendai are watching a kudu when “a bullet ripped into the tree trunk above Tendai’s head, simultaneously spraying him with splinters and terrifying Martine. . . a second bullet hit the kudu in the throat. Blood spurted from his neck in a fountain and he dropped to the ground and lay still.” 
  • Martine’s classmates torment her by writing witch “all over her books, and on another occasion she opened her pencil case to find a hairy baboon spider—an African tarantula—lurking inside.”
  • One day, the kids at school surround Ben and start saying that “he’s a waste of space,” a “runt” and a “mongrel.” One boy says, “You’re like one of those sad-looking dogs you find down at the shelter.”
  • Someone captures the white giraffe, Jemmy. When Martine finds him on a cargo ship, “Jemmy was lying on the floor, his legs at odd angles. His white and silver coat was covered in cuts and matted blood.” 
  • When Martine and Jemmy get to the deck of the cargo ship, the poacher, Alex, yells “Raise the gangplank!” Jemmy “swept across the deck, striking Alex a glancing blow with his hoof as he went. Alex dropped like a stone.” Martine and Jemmy escape.

Drugs and Alcohol 

  • A woman teaches Martine how to use healing herbs. 
  • When Martine finds the giraffe on a cargo ship, she also sees two leopard cubs that “were clearly drugged.” Martine leaves them behind. 

Language 

  • Because Ben won’t talk to the other kids at school, they say he is “deaf, stupid or a nutcase.” One of the girls calls Ben “Bonkers Ben.”
  • Martine’s grandmother calls a woman a “crazy old magic woman.”

Supernatural

  • An African legend believes that “the child who can ride a white giraffe will have power over all the animals.” Martine learns that she is the child in the legend.
  • When Martine touches an injured, dying goose, her hands “heated up to the point that they were practically glowing. After a few seconds, the Egyptian goose jerked and its eyelids flickered. She loosened her palm. It shook out its wings and flew into the darkening sky.” Afterwards, Martine’s classmates think she’s a witch that used voodoo or black magic to heal the goose.
  • When a kudu is shot, Martine helps it. “Martine places her hot hands over the kudu’s dying heart and began pressing down every few seconds. Under her touch, the beat grew stronger and the kudu’s skin became warm.” A few minutes later, the kudu “gets on his feet . . . and bounded weakly away.” 
  • A woman named Grace uses bones to tell the future. Martine’s grandmother explains, “Africans with second sight throw bones the way Western fortune tellers use crystal balls and tarot cards.” The woman told Martine’s grandmother that “the bones had told her that a tragedy would bring [Martine] back to Sawubona. . . She said that if you came of your own accord, the gods might be appeased and the tragedy would be averted.” After the woman’s prediction, Martine’s parents were killed in a fire.
  • Grace takes out a pouch and dumps out “a collection of small bones, a portion of porcupine quill, a guinea fowl feather, and a couple of elephant hairs.” Then “a thin spiral of blue smoke rose from the objects on the floor. It flattened out and blurred images began to flash across it.” The vision helps Martine save the white giraffe.
  • When Jemmy is injured, Martine “put her hands on the white giraffe’s heart. Unbidden, technicolor memories of their time together came flooding into her mind. . . Martine was aware of her hands becoming hotter and hotter and a pure feeling, like love, flowing through her.” Jemmy recovers and they are able to escape.

Spiritual Content 

  • None

Kitty and the Treetop Chase

Girl by day. Cat by night. Ready for adventure! In the fourth book of this chapter book series, Kitty, a little girl with catlike superpowers, teams up with another superhero to save a bakery from certain disaster. 

When a new family moves into town, Kitty is excited to make another friend. But Ozzy, Kitty’s new neighbor, is quiet and seems to have nothing in common with Kitty. Then a member of Kitty’s cat crew tells Kitty about a dog causing a commotion in the bakery. Kitty decides to use her catlike superpowers to investigate, and it turns out that Ozzy has his own superpowers, too! Together, the pair sets off to track down the mischievous dog before he can cause even more damage.

With his owl superpowers, Ozzy adds an interesting and fun dynamic to Kitty and the Treetop Chase. At first, Kitty isn’t sure what to think about Ozzy, but when she’s called to solve a mystery, she welcomes Ozzy’s help. There are bumps in the road when Ozzy and Kitty don’t agree with each other, and both think that they’re right. But with the help of a friend, the two superheroes learn to work together to solve their mystery. Through their adventure, Kitty realizes “having superpowers was amazing fun, but it was going to be even better now that she had someone to share it with!”

In her quest to help animals, Kitty uses superpowers, her new friend Ozzy, and her cat crew to solve mysteries. Together, Kitty and Ozzy discover two dogs that look identical, but one of them has been naughty. Once the two superheroes discover the dogs’ plight, they jump in to help. Instead of being judgmental, Kitty listens to the naughty dog’s story and feels compassion for him. In the end, everyone gets a happily ever after.

Independent readers will fall in love with Kitty and her cat crew. Kitty is a likable and interesting protagonist who is curious, brave, and kind. The story is well-written with beautiful imagery, but readers will also appreciate the large illustrations that appear every one to three pages. Each illustration uses black, white, and orange which gives the pictures a magical quality. Since much of the action takes place at night, many of the illustrations have a black background which allows Kitty and her cat friends to pop off the pages. In addition, many of the pages include fun elements such as cat prints. However, Kitty’s willingness to help animals in need is the story’s real magic. 

While Kitty and the Treetop Chase is part of a series, the series does not need to be read in order because each story focuses on a new mystery. In addition, the beginning of the book gives a short introduction of Kitty and her cat crew. Independent readers who are ready for adventure will find Kitty and the Treetop Chase the perfect book for them. Since the story revolves around superheroes and animals, the fast-paced mystery will appeal to a wide range of readers. Readers who crave more superhero actions should also read the Princess in Black Series by Shannon Hale & Dean Hale.

Sexual Content 

  • None

Violence 

  • None

Drugs and Alcohol 

  • None

Language 

  • None

Supernatural

  • Kitty has superpowers. “Kitty could see in the dark and hear noises from far away. She could also balance perfectly and perform amazing somersaults. Best of all, she could talk to animals!”
  • Kitty’s new friend Ozzy “is training to be a superhero, and his owl-like powers give him amazing eyesight and super hearing.” Ozzy can also talk to owls. 

Spiritual Content 

  • None

Minecraft: Mob Squad #1

The village of Cornucopia is practically perfect in every way. Plenty of food, cozy homes, and a huge wall to keep everyone safe from the scary world outside. What more could a kid possibly need?

Well, a lot, actually.

Mal, a fearless girl, needs adventure, and her friends are right there with her. There is Lenna, a dreamer whose family underestimates her every day, and Tok and Chug, two brothers who love to build stuff (Tok) and smash stuff (Chug). They’re best friends, and in a town whose grown-ups value safety over bravery and fitting in over standing out, they’re the bad apples.

But when a mysterious mob sneaks past Cornucopia’s defenses, the village is in huge trouble. And nobody knows what to do. Finally faced with the adventure they’ve always wanted, Mal and her friends defy the rules their elders have always followed and set out beyond the wall for the first time.

On their journey across the Overworld, they discover wonders they’ve never dreamed of and dangers they’ve never imagined. To save the day, they’ll have to prove they’re more than bad apples. They’re the Mob Squad!

Minecraft fans will love Mob Squad’s action and adventure. As the four friends venture out into the unknown, they quickly learn that they aren’t “bad apples” like the people of Cornucopia have labeled them. Instead, they begin to understand how their unique talents are perfectly suited for the world outside of Cornucopia’s wall. As they fight mobs, they discover more about the world as well as themselves. Through their experiences, the kids gain confidence and realize being different is what makes them special. 

The Mob Squad shows the world of Minecraft from the viewpoint of the four friends. Readers will enjoy seeing aspects of the game through their point of view. Each chapter alternates between the four kids; however, the characters’ voices are not very distinct so readers will need to pay attention to the name that appears at the beginning of each chapter. 

Mob Squad’s quick pace will keep readers interested with plenty of action, adventure, and battles against mobs. The battle scenes are suspenseful, but not long or gory. However, what makes The Mob Squad shine is the friendship between the kids. Not only do they learn to survive on their own, but they also learn the importance of teamwork. When the kids save the town, they realize that their destiny doesn’t have to be chosen by their family, but they can choose to do what is best for themselves. Readers will be eager to learn what happens to Mal, Lenna, Tok, and Chug in their next adventure which appears in Mob Squad: Never Say Nether.

Sexual Content 

  • None

Violence 

  • A group of boys corner Tok in an alley. Tok’s brother, Chug, punches the leader of the bullies, Jarro. Then Chug “lands a kick right in Jarro’s backside.”  
  • Tok was running into town when Jarro put his arm out causing him to fall flat on his back. Chug is “just about to give in and woop some rumpus when a shadow looms over us all.” An elder stops the fight. 
  • Once the four friends leave Cornucopia, they fight mobs often; not all fights are listed below. On the first night out of Cornucopia, Tok forgets his cat outside. However, Chug and the others must help because zombies are waiting for them. Chug is “hacking at one monster, but it hits him back, and he grunts in surprise. . .” Lenna shoots arrows and “one of the zombies makes a splattery hiss and flops over dead. . . Lenna aims for the two zombies on the left with her arrows, one after the other, while Chug and Mal hack away at the one with the sword and helmet.” 
  • During the fight, Chug and Mal work together. “Mal swipes at [the Zombie’s] legs with her diamond pickaxe, and the moment it turns to groan angrily at her, Chug deals a massive blow against its back with his sword, and the zombie finally falls over.” The fight is described over three pages.
  • Skeletons start shooting at Lenna. Lenna describes, “On instinct, I throw the torch at the skeleton and use its moment of distraction to reach into my pocket and prepare my own weapon. I fire off two shots before it returns an arrow.” An arrow hits Lenna in the leg. “It feels hot and dull, and I yank it out and shoot it right back at the skeleton, destroying it.” The scene is described over three pages.
  • While in the wilderness, zombies attack the Mob Squad. Lenna takes down a zombie. “We’re all feeling confident, right up until someone runs around the corner and hits Mal with an ax.” Mal “stagger[s] back, seeing stars. . . The monster sprints at me again, axe raised, and my arm feels dead. An arrow lodges in the creature’s chest, and then Chug darts forward and gets in a strike with his new diamond sword.” 
  • The kids have to fight evokers, vindicators, and other mobs. When a vex attacks, Lenna takes “it down with two fiery shots. . .I’ve landed two shots on it when Poppy yelps and something slashes at my legs. I look down and see a spectral fang rolling past. My leg burns with pain, and I stumble.” No one is seriously injured.
  • The story concludes with vexes, vindicators, and other mobs attacking Cornucopia from inside the wall. One of Cornucopia’s members, Krog, is commanding the mobs. As the mobs climb out of an underground cavern, “three vindicators barrel out, axes ready, grunting. Chug and [Mal] engage them, working as a team as Lenna keeps harrying the vexes with flaming arrows. . . More vexes fly out, and one lands a hit on my back before Lenna can nock another arrow. The cry of pain flies out of my mouth before I can stop it.”
  • During the battle, “more vexes swarm out the door of Krog’s house, followed by their evoker. Ghostly white fangs ripple up from the ground, hitting Dawna [a resident of Cornucopia] in the leg and making her scream. . . Dawna reaches for one of Tok’s swords, takes her first swing at a vex, and incredibly, lands a solid hit.”
  • As the battle continues, someone grabs Lenna. Lenna “flail[s] and shout[s] . . My elbow catches someone in the face—I feel the pop of their nose at the solid hit, and they grunt and drop me.” Lenna discovers the person is her sister.
  • Tok is surprised when he hears “a snort and look[s] up to find a huge beast snarling at me. It’s like a cow crossed with the biggest, ugliest rock I’ve ever seen. It paws the ground with an enormous hoof and charges.” Tok runs for his life, leading the beast into a narrow alley. Tok jumps onto the beast’s back. “The creature screams and throws me, and I skid on my back across the cobblestones. It hurts. . . . I look up, and all I see is a ton of stinky beast butt. I raise my sword. . . I stab it.”
  • When the villain, Krog, begins throwing harmful potions at the Mob Squad, Tok hits him on the head with an iron sword. Krog “topples forward.” In the end, Krog is arrested and the mobs are defeated. The village attack is described over 30 pages.

Drugs and Alcohol 

  • A vex puts a potion on all of Cornucopia’s crops, causing them to die.
  • Chug licks a potion off the floor. Afterwards, he describes how he doesn’t “feel every rib when I breathe. I can do cartwheels again.”
  • Someone throws a slowness potion at Mal. The potion makes her do everything “super slowly.”
  • Krog throws a poison at Mal.  Once the poison hits her, “her cheeks are sinking in, there are purple hollow pooling made her eyes, her lips are going dry and cracked.” Mal feels “like being sunburned on the inside, like I’m drying out, all my blood turned to ash.” Mal drinks milk which reverses the effects of the potion.
  • Krog throws a potion of weakness at Chug. Chug’s arms feel like they “are made of noodles. I can barely lift the sword.” When he drinks milk, his strength returns.

Language 

  • Chug insults Jarro by saying, “You’re a thief? You certainly stole all the ugly around town for yourself.” 
  • Because of her imagination, Lenna’s family refers to her as “loony Lenna” and “liar.”
  • Lenna’s sister calls her an idiot.
  • The town people call the Mob Squad “Bad Apples.”
  • An adult calls the Mob Squad kids “rapscallions,” “scalaways,” and “dunderheads.”
  • Darn is used three times.
  • Chug tells his brother to “shut your piehole.”
  • Twice, Chug calls someone a jerk. For example, when thieves steal from Chug and his friends, he calls one of the men a jerk. 

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content 

  • None

The Okay Witch

Thirteen-year-old Moth loves everything witchy. She spends much of her time watching shows and reading books about witches, but she soon discovers that witches are not the stuff of spooky stories, movies, and fantasy. 

After a run-in with some eighth-grade bullies, something strange happens. Moth soon discovers she is a witch and her town, Founder’s Bluff, has a centuries-long drama with witches. If that’s not surprising enough, her family is at the center of it all. When Moth’s powers show up, things get strange. She finds a magic diary, meets a talking cat, and discovers a hidden witch world. Through these, Moth unravels more secrets from generations past, learning more about the town, her family’s history, and herself. 

The graphic novel The Okay Witch focuses on Moth, allowing the readers insight into Founder’s Bluff, the history of the witches, and how Moth acclimates to being a witch. Readers will relate to the seemingly fast and strange changes in Moth’s life. Moth is excitable, passionate, and stubborn. She butts heads with her mother occasionally. Moth’s mother doesn’t want her to get involved with “witch-stuff” because Moth’s mother thinks that “witch-stuff” is dangerous. However, by listening to her mother and her grandmother, Moth realizes her mother was trying to make her more aware of the attention her powers will bring and the weight of the responsibility in learning the history of the witches.

The drawings in this graphic novel are colorful and do an excellent job of portraying the characters’ emotions through their facial expressions. Reluctant readers may like that most pages do not have words but instead tell the story through drawings. Readers will love the switches from soft pastels to saturated colors, which not only makes the characters pop off the page but also makes it easier to tell the difference between the diary entries and the real world. 

Moth learns about her family history, her grandmother’s cohort of witches, and how Moth herself fits into it. Her grandmother and mother have figured out where they feel they belong in terms of being with or without their kind; now Moth gets to find the answer for herself. When Moth’s grandmother tells her about finding solidarity with the witches, Moth decides to watch and think about what she wants to do with her magic. Through this interaction between Moth and her grandmother, The Okay Witch shows the importance of family and legacy as well as the personal choice each person must make in order to make life fulfilling. 

Though many readers will enjoy reading the graphic novel The Okay Witch, the plot is not unique and there is too much focus on Moth’s understanding of the past and not enough focus on the present consequences of being a modern-day witch. While not unique, The Okay Witch is a good story for readers who like stories about the everyday lives of fictional witches. Readers who enjoy graphic novels about friendship should also read Stargazing by Jen Wang. Ravenous by MarcyKate Connolly tells a unique story involving a witch, and readers who want to know more about historical witches should read What Were the Salem Witch Trials by Joan Holub.

Sexual Content 

  • None

Violence 

  • Mayor Kramer kidnapped Moth’s mother. Moth goes to the Kramer residence to get her mother back. However, she badmouths Mayor Kramer’s family’s ancestors and ends up angering the ghosts living in the paintings. The ghosts are depicted grabbing Moth and holding her up against a pillar. 
  • To help her daughter, Moth’s mother distracts the ghosts and is seen whacking them with several objects, including a potted plant and a sword, to no avail. Moth and her mother use magic to eradicate the ghosts. The ghosts are seen disintegrating into tiny, green pieces that eventually disappear. This scene occurs over seven pages.
  • To attempt to defeat Moth and her mother, the ghosts try to possess Moth’s friend but fail. However, they succeed in possessing the mayor. The possessed mayor lifts Moth’s mother up to a broken window to throw her out of it, but Moth, in desperation, uses magic to get rid of the ghosts. The ghosts are seen going up in green smoke. This scene lasts for two pages. 

Drugs and Alcohol 

  • None

Language   

  • Two students call Moth “Mothball.” 
  • A bully calls Moth and her friend “mutants.”
  • A girl says “OMG.”
  • Judge Nathaniel Kramer, one of the mayor’s ancestors, calls the witches “she-devils.”

Supernatural 

  • Moth Hush is a witch, like her mother and grandmother. She spends a lot of time around her mother, who doesn’t want her to practice magic. However, Moth learns a lot of spells when her mother isn’t looking. Throughout the course of the story, she uses a lot of charms and spells. In short, she involves herself with magic whenever she can. As such, not all instances of magic will be listed here. 
  • Witches cast magic spells in many ways. The magic can be done non-verbally with intent behind the spell, incantations, gestures, or a mix of the three. For example, Moth’s grandmother levitates a few photographs by lifting her hand. 
  • There is a realm called Hecate where the witches from Moth’s grandmother’s cohort live. The witches offered a piece of themselves to Hecate, the goddess of magic, in order to seek refuge from the regular humans that were trying to hurt them. 
  • When someone dies, “their spirit may still hang around if they have unfinished business. . . Some ghosts possess bodies and objects and buildings.” For example, Mr. Laszlo is a ghost because he wanted to help Moth be the best witch she can be. He possesses a black cat and shares the body of the cat.   

Spiritual Content 

  • Moth’s grandmother tells a story about how the Sun became good. “Once the Moon was the only light in the world, and there was only night. Until the Moon was called away on business by our dear Hecate. So Moon said to her daughter Sun, ‘Keep watch over the world. Be a good girl and go around the whole thing. But forget not that you are precious, bright and fearful hot. If you get too close to the things below, you’ll burn them up in your fire.’”  

The Tea Dragon Festival

A worthy sequel to the debut graphic novel The Tea Dragon Society, The Tea Dragon Festival immerses readers in a charming fantasy realm where humans and dragons dwell in harmony. Readers may recognize cheerful bounty hunters, Hese and Erik, from the previous installment in the series, but the couple appears noticeably younger and are able-bodied, as this story takes place before Erik’s debilitating injury in battle. 

New characters include Rinn, a young chef learning to use natural ingredients in their recipes with the help of their grandmother, Gramman. While foraging in the woods outside of Silverleaf Village, Rinn stumbles upon a shapeshifting creature named Aedhan who has been asleep for eighty years. Aedhan belongs to the Shining Wing clan of dragons, whose duty it is to oversee the Tea Dragon Festival and protect Silverleaf Village. 

Soon Hese and Erik arrive from their bounty hunting escapades and reveal that they have been tracking a forest spirit that has the power to make its victims sleep for decades without aging. They follow clues to a magical glade and tell the spirit that if it wants to share memories of its flourishing species from thousands of years ago, it should make people dream for a matter of hours rather than decades. The creature bows its head and leaves peacefully. 

When it is time for the Tea Dragon Festival to begin, the village sets up decorations and shares a bounteous feast of home-cooked recipes made from foraged ingredients and tea leaves that will allow Aedhan to glimpse the memories and events during the eighty years he was asleep. Rinn and Aedhan share this meaningful meal and notice their new feelings for one another. Rinn decides that they would rather enjoy cooking as a hobby than as a vocation. Hese and Erik set out on new adventures hinting at the events of the other two books in this lovable trilogy. 

Nonbinary readers will likely identify with Rinn, as well as Aedhan, who remarks that dragons are capable of shifting between male and female forms. Queerness is not called into question or judged in their world. The Tea Dragon Festival also provides positive representation for disabled people, especially the deaf or hard-of-hearing and users of sign language. 

Like in The Tea Dragon Society, O’Neill’s endearing artistic style continues to immerse readers in a flourishing realm that values family, traditions, nature, and following one’s heart. The story is introduced with an author’s note about the depiction of sign language in italicized captions, to distinguish it from verbal dialogue without diminishing its value as a form of communication. 

The Tea Dragon Festival is an adorable companion to its precedent and fluently builds readers’ curiosity about the third installment in the trilogy. Although the premise of making peace with the forest spirit rather than slaying it is appealing, its execution is anticlimactic. The story does not explain how Hese and Erik avoid succumbing to slumber in their encounter with the creature, nor how they manage to communicate with it. Other than this oversight, this graphic novel shows an impressive capacity for storytelling, art, and positive representation. 

Sexual content 

  • None 

Violence 

  • Aedhan fights off a large griffin to protect Rinn and their little sibling, drawing blood from a painful gash. 

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • When brewed into tea, leaves harvested from the small household pets known as tea dragons have the power to send the drinker into a trance and glimpse their own memories or past events experienced by those around them. 

Language  

  • None 

Supernatural 

  • The book includes multiple fantasy creatures, such as shape-shifting dragons, anthropomorphic birds, and humans with features like tails, horns, furred ears, or goat legs. 

Spiritual Content  

  • None 

A Grimm Warning

While his sister, Alex, decided to stay in the fairy world to become a fairy trainee, Conner hasn’t had any adventures and he’s starting to like it that way. While he misses the Land of Stories and its endless fun, the real world has presented Conner with exciting opportunities, such as a school trip to Europe with his crush, Bree. While Alex busies herself with her upcoming acceptance into the Happily Ever After Assembly – the council of kings, queens, and fairies – Conner travels to Europe for a reading of three recently recovered stories written by The Brothers Grimm that had been sealed away for 200 years. 

But the final story reveals a grave warning for the fairytale world, and Conner knows fate has brought him here to decipher the message. He must warn Alex and his friends that General Marquis, a French officer from Napoleon’s Army, wanted to launch an attack on the Land of Stories centuries ago. The Brothers Grimm were able to delay them until the present time, but very soon a portal will open and the French Army will pour into the fairytale world to wreak havoc. Conner must warn them before the army arrives. 

Bree, who has been suspicious of Conner’s tales, tags along as they travel through Europe with the help of a German boy named Emmerich and search for an entrance to the Land of Stories. Conner warns Alex of the coming threat, but sadly, Alex has news in return: The Fairy Godmother, their grandma, is sick. Despite their grandmother’s impending death, the twins work together to rally the kingdoms and prepare for war. Though the battle is difficult, the fairytale world is able to beat back the French Army, but the victory is bittersweet. The Fairy Godmother passes away and now Alex must step up and take on the role of Fairy Godmother. But at least through everything, the twins still have each other.

Alex and Conner are entertaining and relatable narrators. Alex’s serious and scholarly nature contrasts Conner’s witty and easy-going personality, making them a fun duo. As the twins grow older, this installment of the Land of Stories attempts to deal with more mature themes, such as first love and the death of close family members. However, Alex and Conner always support each other during rough times. The twins’ selflessness is admirable, as is their dedication to doing what’s right even if it interferes with their personal desires.

Though the plot for this novel was a bit more outlandish than the previous stories, the Land of Stories series stays true to its themes of relying on family, protecting one’s friends, and staying brave in the face of evil. Additionally, one of main conflicts in this book is that to defeat General Marquis’ army, all the factions in the fairytale world will need to work together. The kingdoms haven’t always seen eye to eye, and they have also excluded certain groups like the elves and troblins (the name used to refer to the troll and goblin community) due to past grievances. However, everyone is stronger together. Alex says, “Every creature is an individual and we can’t punish an entire race for mistakes made by individuals. As easy as it is to label large groups with the reputation of their ancestors, it isn’t right.” 

With the new council in place, Alex and Conner hope that the Land of Stories can recover from the war and move towards a more united future. However, the book ends by suggesting that the twins’ greatest personal battle is about to begin: a strange, masked prisoner who vows to eliminate all fairies is caught stealing an unknown potion from the twins’ late grandmother’s bedroom. It seems that Alex and Conner will still have plenty of adventures ahead of them. Readers who enjoy epic stories with feats of bravery should also check out the Percy Jackson and the Olympians Series by Rick Riordan and the Kingdom Keepers Series by Ridley Pearson

Sexual Content 

  • Conner makes a joke to Alex about how their personalities are so different. Conner says, “Alex, I’ve been impressed by you since the womb. I’m sure your part of the uterus was much neater and more organized than mine.” Alex replies, “Really, Conner? A uterus joke?”
  • Goldilocks and Jack, members of the Land of Stories, kiss at their wedding. “Jack and Goldilocks locked lips and their crowd of guests cheered wildly.”
  • Rook, a village boy who Alex is crushing on, kisses Alex several times throughout the story. “Rook stepped even closer to [Alex] and placed a hand on the side of her face. He looked into her eyes for a moment and then slowly leaned his head closer to hers. . . Rook kissed her for the first time.” Later, Alex says that her favorite days are the ones that end with a good-night kiss from Rook. 
  • Bree kisses Conner on the cheek. Conner says, “I’ve come to the conclusion that I might – possibly – maybe – do have a crush on you.” Bree replies, “I have a crush on you too.” 

Violence 

  • General Marquis threatens the Brothers Grimm. “. . . The brothers were gagged again, their hands retied behind their backs, and the black sacks placed over their heads. . . “ Then the general says, “Find a portal in two months or I’ll make you watch as I personally kill everyone you love.”
  • The talking lion statue explains how Mother Goose and the Brothers Grimm made the magical portal open. “Mother Goose took a dagger and made a cut in her hand and one in Wilhelm Grimm’s hand . . . they held their hands tightly together and let some of the magic from Mother Goose’s blood flow into his.”
  • When the portal is opened and all the French soldiers fall out, the scene is gruesome. “Hundreds of men and pieces of equipment rained from the sky . . .  many soldiers barely missed being crushed by the carriages or cannons or horses that fell beside them . . . Most of [the soldiers] held their heads in agony or vomited.” 
  • General Marquis executes an old man who helped the soldiers. “‘Unfortunately, you know too much,’ [General Marquis] said. ‘Get rid of him.’ The old man screamed. ‘No! Please! I have a family!’ he pleaded, but it was no use. The general didn’t have an ounce of mercy to spare. [The soldiers] dragged the old man into the foggy woods and his screams echoed through the trees around them. A moment later a gunshot was heard and the woods were silent again.”
  • While Alex and Conner are on the back of one of Mother Goose’s geese—Lester—a cannon shoots him. “A rogue cannonball bolted through the sky and blasted through Lester’s right wing. The gander squawked in pain as he and the twins began rapidly descending toward the trees on the horizon. . . They crashed hard into the ground. . . Alex and Conner were too wounded to get to their feet. They both had broken several bones. They heard Lester squawking in the distance – he was perhaps in even more pain than they were.” Alex and Conner fall unconscious. Their injuries are magically healed by a witch. 
  • A witch describes how she healed Little Bo Peep’s broken heart. “I cut out a small piece of Little Bo’s heart, the part that was full of hurt and longing for the men in her life, and I turned it to stone.”
  • General Marquis shoots two of his soldiers. “General Marquis turned to [the soldiers] and shot them both in the foot. They fell backward and slid down the canyon walls. They moaned as they tried to get to their feet. A low growling noise vibrated up the canyon walls and the [soldiers’] moaning increased. A series of deafening screeches echoed next from the canyon, but they weren’t human. . . the camp heard the [soldiers] scream as they were eaten alive” by a dragon.
  • The battle between General Marquis’s army and the Land of Stories takes place over nearly 40 pages. A few people’s deaths are described. There is some violence, such as when Alex fights back by using magic. “Alex swished her wand through the air at [the soldiers]. Their rifles were transformed into long-stemmed roses that pricked their fingers before they could shoot.” 
  • When Rook betrays Alex, she gets angry and lashes out violently. “Without thinking, Alex took her heartbreak out on the soldiers charging at her. She cracked her wand like a whip and a burst of white light sent the soldiers flying into the air.” 
  • Gator, a troll, dies in the battle. “Gator was too small to fight the soldier off alone and lost his balance. The soldier stabbed him in the stomach and Gator fell to the ground. . . the little troll died before he could say another word.” 
  • Little Bo Peep dies. “Bo Peep clutched the side of her chest. . . [she] collapsed on the ground and became very still. . . Little Bo Peep had died of a broken heart.” 
  • The unicorns help fight the dragon. “The unicorns stabbed their horns into the dragon’s feet and he roared in pain. The dragon picked the unicorns up with his front claws and threw them into the forest. . . The dragon grew impatient and scorched the remaining unicorns with his breath.” 
  • The dragon turns on General Marquis and kills him. “The dragon took a deep breath and exhaled a long and powerful fiery geyser from his lungs. The geyser hit the general and he was consumed in its vicious flames. When the dragon stopped, the ground beneath the general had been scorched black and General Marquis was gone.” 
  • The Fairy Godmother kills the dragon. “A long, silvery trail erupted from the tip of the Fairy Godmother’s wand. She happily waved her wand in the air as if she were conducting an orchestra and the trail slashed through the air like a giant whip. The trail grew longer and longer by the second. The dragon jumped back and forth, trying to avoid it. Eventually, the trail was so long the dragon tangled himself in it when he tried flying away. . . She cracked her wand like a whip again, and the trail that was wrapped around the dragon grew brighter and brighter. The others covered their eyes at the blinding sight and the dragon burst into clumps of ash.” 
  • When defeating the dragon, the Fairy Godmother exhausted her powers. “The Fairy Godmother’s eyes closed for the final time. Her body became weightless in [the twins’] hands, transformed into hundreds of bright sparkling lights.”  

Drugs and Alcohol 

  • Mother Goose gets poisoned while in a tavern. 
  • Mother Goose says, “Last time I officiated a wedding, Puss in Boots drank all my bubbly.” 
  • Mother Goose has a flask hidden in her hat and “takes a swig” from it twice. 
  • Mother Goose talks about a tavern that she went to with her “drinking buddies.” 
  • Mother Goose wakes the unconscious Conner by splashing him in the face with alcohol. “Mother Goose removed her flask from her hat and splashed [Conner’s] face with the liquid inside.”

Language   

  • General Marquis calls Mother Goose an “old lush.” 
  • Mother Goose calls Lester, her goose, “mattress filler”
  • Queen Red Riding Hood refers to her rival Bo Peep as “Little Bo Bimbo” and, “A pain in the shepherdess.” 
  • When the fairies don’t want to join the war, Conner says, “Screw the code.” 
  • Conner calls Rook a “stupid boy who needs a haircut.” 
  • Conner refers to the evil enchantress Ezmia as a “narcissistic wench.” 
  • General Marquis calls Conner a “stupid, pathetic, ignorant little boy.” 

Supernatural 

  • All fairytale stories are true in the Land of Stories . . . there is a portal connecting the Land of Stories to the human world, called the Otherworld.
  • Because Alex and Conner’s mother is from the human world but their father is from the Land of Stories, they have a bit of magic in their blood which brings them good luck.
  • The Fairy Godmother can do magic. She is described by General Marquis as someone who “wears robes that sparkle like the night sky, has white flowers in her hair, and carries a long crystal wand.” She can travel between the fairytale world and the Otherworld as well as transform objects. 
  • Mother Goose is another main character in the story. She can do magic, such as teleport, and she travels on a giant goose named Lester. 
  • Mother Goose escapes the Marquis by using magic. “She reached out an open hand and the golden egg floated straight out of the box and into the wagon where she sat. And, with a blinding flash, Mother Goose and the golden egg disappeared into thin air.”
  • Conner has a magic mirror that allows him to contact the fairy world so he can talk to Alex. He uses it periodically throughout the story.
  • Alex uses magic to transform her clothes. “Alex picked up her crystal wand from her nightstand and waved it around her body. Her plain nightgown was instantly turned into a long, sparkling dress the color of the sky, and a headband of white carnations appeared on her head.” 
  • Alex has a unicorn. Unicorns have silver horns that can guide them to people in need. 
  • As part of Alex’s fairy training, she goes out each day and performs three wishes to townspeople in need.
  • Conner and Bree get information from a talking lion statue. 
  • Conner and Bree open the portal to the fairy world with a magical panpipe.
  • The twins cast a magic spell that teleports all the soldiers of the Land of Stories’ kingdoms to the same place. “The world appeared in slow motion as they raised the wand above their heads. The twins could feel magic rush through their bodies and into the wand in their hands. . . a gigantic blast of white light erupted from the tip and surrounded them… Alex and Conner had turned themselves into a shooting star that bolted across the sky faster than anything had ever traveled before. . . Upon seeing it, every soldier of the armies, on duty or in hiding, turned into his or her own sphere of light and instantly shot through the sky to join the twins.” 
  • General Marquis hatches a dragon, the first of which to be seen in the fairytale world for many years. “The dragon emerged from the trees and landed at the edge of the fairy gardens. He was almost as tall as the fairy palace. Red scales covered his body and a forked tongue slipped in and out of his sharp teeth. He had two horns and sharp spikes covered his head and traveled down his spine. Two large wings grew out of the dragon’s back and a long tail whipped around behind him.” 

Spiritual Content 

  • Mother Goose says, “Thank God.” 
  • Conner sees a painting of Jesus in a castle in Germany. 
  • When the dragon attacks and there is little hope left, Conner says that the only thing they can do is pray. 

The Second Story

Growing up in an orphanage, Leila was bullied for being different. The other orphans would make fun of her whenever they could, sometimes going so far as to lock her in a closet and get her in trouble. Then Dante Vernon, a renowned magician, adopted her and Leila turned her hardship into a skill. With time, Leila becomes an escape artist, a valuable trait in a group of magical best friends.  

But when one of Dante’s old friends, the famous psychic Sandra Santos, comes to town, Leila and her friends can’t keep away from the mysterious incidents that came upon the psychic’s arrival. Leila especially can’t resist the offer to perform in one of the psychic’s shows, especially because the psychic could provide answers on why Leila was left at an orphanage, who placed her there, and the key they left with her. But trouble disrupts the peace in Mineral Waters. From chasing angry monkeys to banishing ghosts from a hotel, the Magical Misfits do their best to protect the town and to figure out the enigma behind the latest acts of mischief.    

Leila takes center stage in this installment of the Magical Misfits! A limited third-person perspective allows the reader to learn about Leila’s backstory and her struggle to be more open with her friends. Readers will empathize with Leila’s desire to tell her friends about herself and the possible rejection that might follow. This causes Leila to keep secrets and hide her negative emotions behind a smile. 

Leila assumes that her new friends wouldn’t want her around if they knew about her days as an orphan, so she doesn’t confide in her friends about the mystery behind her key. But the group’s friendship deepens because of their collective interest in the magical arts. When Leila finds the courage to tell the group about herself, Ridley, one of Leila’s friends, says, “We know exactly who you are, Leila. And we love all your various parts . . . even the ones you think you keep secret.” This interaction carries an important lesson: friends stick by their friend’s side and accept them for who they are. Because Leila’s friends accept her, she learns to open up to her friends instead of keeping her feelings locked away. 

Occasionally, an omniscient, unnamed narrator chimes in with a summary of the story’s events, which blends seamlessly with the overall narration. As a bonus, black and white pictures are scattered throughout the novel and help readers visualize the setting and the action scenes. 

In order to fully engage the readers, how-to magic tricks are sprinkled throughout the story. These sections contain instructions for performing the magic tricks, along with illustrations to reference. Tricks such as changing a card by shaking it and making a coin vanish out of a glass are easy to do, but adults are encouraged to help their little ones with these activities. Ciphers and Morse code add even more to the book’s visual flare and create opportunities for further involvement. 

The Second Story is a dynamic, dazzling novel that gets its energy from the tension of performers trying to up-stage one another at every opportunity. Combined with excellent narration and evocative descriptions, the striking visuals of various styles complement an eye-catching story. Readers will enjoy reading about the friendship between Leila and her friends, and watching how the characters solve the mystery behind Sandra Santos. If you are looking for stories about magic, friendship, and secrets, then give Magic Misfits: The Second Story a read! 

Sexual Content  

  • None 

Violence  

  • None 

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • None 

Language    

  • Carter says “crud” when he failed to catch the monkey that had been skulking around the magic shop. 
  • Ridley calls a parrot a “nut-so.”  

Supernatural  

  • Many of the characters use tricks related to illusions or trickery, such as Leila’s escape artist tricks or Dante Vernon’s sleight-of hand. These tricks are in no way similar to supernatural magic.  

Spiritual Content  

  • None 

by Jemima Cooke 

The Astonishing Color of After

After her mother died of suicide, Leigh Chen Sanders is only sure of one thing—when her mother died, she turned into a large, beautiful, red bird.

Days after her mother dies, Leigh feels “colorless, translucent . . . [like] a jellyfish caught up in a tide, forced to go wherever the ocean willed.” She begins sleeping on the downstairs sofa, farthest away from where her mother died. The night before the funeral, Leigh hears a “sharp rap on the front door.” She is greeted by a “red-crowned crane . . . with a long feathery tail” where “every feather [is] a different shade of red, sharp and gleaming.” “Leigh,” the bird cries out, in the voice of her mother. Suddenly, the bird flies away and all Leigh is left with is “a single scarlet feather.”

Leigh tries to explain to her father what she has seen, but he is dismissive of her. After the bird delivers a package and note from Leigh’s maternal grandparents, asking Leigh to visit them in Taiwan, he still doesn’t fully believe her. Eventually, after Leigh’s father is visited by a strange wind and even stranger red feathers, he finally books himself and Leigh two plane tickets to Taiwan.

In Taiwan, Leigh meets her maternal grandparents for the first time. It’s awkward because even though she is half Taiwanese, Leigh does not speak Mandarin Chinese and knows very little about her grandparents. To make matters worse, after an argument with Leigh’s grandparents, her father decides to leave for Hong Kong, leaving Leigh alone with them.

But Leigh decides to take advantage of being in Taiwan. She is determined to find her mother—as the bird—and search for answers about her mother’s death. She asks her grandmother and her grandmother’s friend, Feng, to take her to every place her mother loved, in the hopes of finding traces of her mother and of the bird. On Leigh’s journey, she finds a box of incense. Every time Leigh lights one of the sticks of incense, she is brought through space and time into memories of the past—some are her own memories, but others are her mother’s and grandmother’s memories. As Leigh enters each memory, she learns more about her family history and their secrets, including memories about an aunt that Leigh never knew she had, and memories about her mother’s illness and the pain she went through. Through her search for her mother, Leigh connects with her grandparents and eventually finds comfort in their support and love.

As she grieves, Leigh also comes to terms with her mother’s suicide. While her mother was taking her own life, Leigh was kissing her long-time best friend, Axel. In a way, she not only feels responsible for her mother’s death but also for ruining her friendship with Axel. As Leigh travels through time and memory, she also traces her friendship with Axel, wondering where they went wrong and why their friendship was “crumbling.”

The Astonishing Color of After is a story about loss and grief, but also about love and growing up. In the end, Leigh never truly catches her mother, the bird. Yet as Leigh is grieving, she learns to remember her mother during both her illness and during the happy moments. Leigh realizes that catching the bird will not fix the pain she feels. She learns to accept that, when grieving, it will hurt for a long time.

Since The Astonishing Color of After deals with difficult topics of suicide, depression, and mental health, it is better suited for a high school audience. Leigh explains, “[My mother’s] illness was something I’d been afraid to look at head-on . . . There was also the fiery, lit-up version of my mother. How could a person like her be depressed?” Leigh discusses the stereotypical image she had of a depressed person, that made her “think of this group of kids at school who wore all black and thick eyeliner and listened to angry music and never showed their teeth.” Leigh comes to understand that depression is a disease, and her mother’s illness did not have a singular cause, that no one is to blame for her suicide. Leigh learns, “We can’t change anything about the past. We can only remember. We can only move forward.”

Overall, The Astonishing Color of After is a fantastic book. Though it deals with serious issues, it also works to break down barriers surrounding mental health. Leigh is a great leading character who is a flawed, complex person, who struggles to understand the world around her. But she is also incredibly strong and brave as she works through grief and tragedy. She shows readers that even in one’s darkest times there is hope, not necessarily for things to return to normal, but to move forward. With beautiful prose, terrific characters, and great use of magical realism, The Astonishing Color of After is a must-read.

Sexual Content 

  • Axel, Leigh’s long-time crush and best friend, kisses her. “Instead of bursting into sparks, my body froze.” Then, “Axel’s hands stretched around my back and unlocked me. I was melting, he had released my windup key, and I was kissing back hard, and our lips were everywhere and my body was fluorescent orange – no, royal purple – no. My body was every color in the world, alight.”
  • Caro, Leigh’s good friend, complains to Leigh about her family’s snowboarding trip. Caro exclaims “My grandparents were killing me . . . half the time they sat in the lodge making out.”
  • Leigh and Axel join Caro and her girlfriend Cheslin at a photo shoot. “At one point, Cheslin began to shed her clothes. Off came the shorts, the tank. She unhooked her bra–.” While Axel and Leigh are slightly bothered by her actions, Cheslin shrugs saying, “It is, after all, just a body.” Eventually, Axel and Leigh walk away from the photo shoot. They comment on Caro and Cheslin’s intimacy, saying “It was almost like we were watching them have sex or something.”
  • After almost seeing Axel naked, Leigh is flustered. Thinking about that specific memory, Leigh explains, “My right hand ended up down between my legs and I wondered about sex. I thought of all the skin you saw in R-rated movies and the way bare limbs just slid together like they were made to be entwined. I thought of Axel, imagined us sitting on his couch and taking off our clothes.”
  • During a school dance, Leigh is talking to a senior. He asked her if she had “ever been kissed” and she replied no. He then leans in and Leigh thinks, “I knew what was coming. His face loomed close, his lips first finding the edges of mine before sliding in toward the center. He was eager with his tongue, and he didn’t taste great.” When he leaned in again, Leigh “moved aside before he could make contact,” and walked quickly away.
  • When Leigh asks Caro how her relationship is going, Caro confides in her that she and Cheslin have “decided [they’re] ready to . . . y’know. Go all the way.”
  • After Axel and Leigh discuss their feelings for each other, Leigh does “possibly the bravest thing I’ve ever done: I close the space between us and kiss him hard. He’s surprised for only a fraction of a second. Then my hands are at his face, peeling his glasses up over his head and tossing them on my nightstand. My body, drawing him down onto the bed. His lips, between my teeth. Our legs, sliding against each other.”

Violence 

  • The premise of this book surrounds the topic of suicide, as Leigh’s mother kills herself. The act is not described in great detail, as Leigh “never saw the body up close.” She explains, “All I could see were my mother’s legs on the floor” and a large pool of blood.
  • Suicidal thoughts are briefly mentioned. In a memory, Leigh sees her mother “rising from her bed in the middle of the night. She walks quietly, slowly avoiding the creaks in the floor. Down in the garage, she slides into the sedan and sits in the driver’s seat, car keys biting into her palm. She’s thinking. Debating. If she turns on the car. If she doesn’t open the garage door. If no one in the house wakes, and she falls asleep at the wheel. The vehicle doesn’t even have to move. She could sleep forever.”

Drugs and Alcohol 

  • Before she dies, Leigh’s mother takes “a bottle of sleeping pills.”
  • When searching for a note left by her mom, Leigh and her father find “a pile of capsules. . .  Mom’s antidepressants” in the garbage; they hadn’t been taken in weeks.
  • Leigh’s mom was taking medicine for her depression and Leigh often sees her mom with a yellow pill bottle next to her. At one point, Leigh’s dad explains her mom has “tried so many medications. They work well for a lot of people, but they haven’t really worked on her.”
  • In a memory, Leigh sees her mother “in the basement, holding a bottle of OxyContin and a jug of bleach. She heard once that it takes ten seconds for something swallowed to reach the stomach.” Before Leigh can see more, the memory moves on. 
  • During a school dance, Leigh goes outside for air and sees a senior. He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a steel flask, “unscrewed the top and took a swig.” He offers some to Leigh, but she declines. 

Language   

  • Profanity is used sparingly. Profanity includes goddamn, shit, and bullshit.

Supernatural 

  • One visit, the bird delivers a box, saying “The box is from your grandparents . . . bring it with you.” The box contains “yellowed letters, neat in a bundle. A stack of worn photographs, most of them black-and-white . . . [and] an intricately carved [jade] cicada” necklace, the necklace Leigh’s “mother wore every single day of her life.” Later, Leigh finds out her “grandparents put this package together [and] they burned it. . . They burned it so that your mother could have these with her on her next journey.”
  • One night “some strange, unexplainable compulsion makes” Leigh “roll out of bed and walk over to the dresser.” She finds “a curved Winsor red feather. And a slim, rectangular box [she’s] never seen.” Inside are “long sticks smelling of smoke and wreckage and used-up matches . . . incense.” Holding them, Leigh explains, “It’s strangely hot, like it’s been warming in the sun. And then: the whispering. The tiniest, most hushed of voices. It’s coming from the incense.” When lit, “the smoke that rises is inky black, drawing lines through the air . . . The smoke fills the room, until there’s only black.” By lighting each incense stick, Leigh is brought back in time, visiting memories. 
  • One night, as Leigh tries to fall asleep, she begins to see odd things. Leigh explains, “It happens in a flash, in a blink: My eyes close, and when they open again, the room is bright as day, the ceiling so white it’s glowing—except for the inky cracks branching off in all different directions about me. . . The in-between lines so thin, so black – like there’s nothing beyond that layer of ceiling but a gravity-defying abyss.” In the subsequent days, Leigh notices that the cracks on her ceiling are “widening, spreading farther. They’ve stretched across the entire surface and begun fissuring down the walls. An entire corner’s missing, like someone just took out a chunk of it. There’s nothing to be seen there, only oblivion made of the blackest black.” 
  • As Leigh wonders if her mother is a bird, something happens. “It’s as if my thoughts summon some kind of magic. The colors of my room begin to deepen their hues, like flowers blossoming. Crimson in the corners. Cerulean along the southern crack. Indigo by the window. Bioluminescent green tracing the creases of the wall closest to the bed. The things that are already black somehow take on a truer shade, pitch dark and empty.”
  • At a restaurant with her grandmother, Leigh finds a note stuck to the bottom of a dish, it has a few lines of an Emily Dickinson poem on it. Fred, who is helping Leigh, explains “This came from a ghost.” He sends the note back by burning it. Fred tells Leigh that this poem was burned for the wedding. Leigh questions him asking “what wedding?” Fred replies, “When I married the ghost of Chen Jingling. ” Chen Jingling is Leigh’s aunt. Fred married her aunt because Leigh’s grandparents were “grieving. So they could have peaceful hearts if they know their daughter has a husband.” He continues, “It’s like a normal wedding, but they made, like, a doll for her. Using bamboo and paper. She wears real clothing and jewelry. And afterward, everything was burned. We send it all to the spirit world.” Leigh asks Fred if he’s ever seen her ghost or spirit. Fred responds, “I see and hear and feel enough to know she is there.”
  • Fred explains that in Jilong, during Ghost Month, the Ghost Festival “is so big it brings the attention of many ghosts. And because of higher concentration of ghosts, they are more noticeable to the living . . . When ghosts come up here, they become more visible.” 
  • When Feng and Leigh are in a park, they see a young child and her mother. “The girl says she sees their grandfather. Her mother’s saying that’s impossible. . . Children know the truth . . . they hadn’t learned to walk around with a veil over their eyes. That’s a habit that comes with adulthood. Kids always know what they see. That’s why ghosts can’t hide from them.”
  • On the forty-eighth day after her mother dies, Leigh awakens to a weird smell. As she steps into the hall, the “scent gathers . . . [reeling her] in, down the hallway and toward the bathroom . . .”  As she opens the shower curtain, Leigh sees “in the bottom of the tub is a thick layer of feathers, dark and drenched, sticky and shining red.” Leigh calls her grandmother, but her grandmother does not see what Leigh is seeing. 
  • After the final memory Leigh sees, she “land[s] on the moon. Not the whole moon, but just a patch of it.” She is greeted by her mother, the bird. Her mother tells Leigh, “Goodbye.” Then, the “bird rises higher and higher. She turns and arcs. [Leigh] watch[es] as she burst[s] into flames . . . She burns like a star.”
  • Weird things happen to Leigh’s phone. For example, it begins to play music randomly – music Axel made for her. Leigh has been getting emails from Axel, he later explains while he wrote them, he “didn’t send those emails,” but instead kept them in his drafts. But magically they were sent to Leigh, and in their place in his draft inbox is a picture of a bird’s shadow. 
  • Towards the end of the novel, Leigh finds out the true identity of Feng. She was not Leigh’s grandmother’s friend. In fact, no one even remembers Feng’s existence. Feng is revealed to be the ghost of Jingling, Leigh’s aunt. She was there as Leigh’s guide “during the most difficult times,” after Leigh’s mother’s passing.

Spiritual Content 

  • In Taiwan, Leigh, her grandmother, and Feng visit Leigh’s mother’s favorite Taoist temple. Her grandmother explains to Leigh that her mother “would come here when she needed guidance when she was looking for an answer.” In “the heart of the temple, people bow before a crowned statue with a face of black stone, and dressed in imperial reds and gold.” 
  • In the temple, a young man is tossing things into the air. “In Taiwanese they’re called bwabwei. He’s asking his god a question. If one lands faceup and the other lands facedown, the answer is yes. If both land facedown, it means the god doesn’t like what he’s asking. If both land faceup, it means the god is laughing at him.”
  • Leigh, her grandmother, and Feng also visit a Buddhist temple, where Leigh’s mother spent most of her time and “where her spirit is.” There are hundreds of wooden plaques “painted in the color of marigolds. . . [The] yellow tablets bear the names of the dead,” including Leigh’s mother. There is a ceremony and “after a person’s death, they have forty-nine days to process their karma and let go of the things that make them feel tied to this life—things like people and promises and memories.” 

Just Dance

Put on your dancing shoes! Believe it or not, there’s a fairy named Maryrose LIVING in my house. And she’s sending me and my brother, Jonah, through the magic mirror and into the story of The Twelve Dancing Princesses. There, we meet the twelve sisters who sneak out every night to go dancing. But Jonah and I have our own mission. It’s up to us to find the enchanted object that will give Maryrose her fairy powers back.

So now we need to:

-Get our hands on an invisibility cloak

-Follow the twelve princesses to their secret hideout.

-Learn some VERY complicated dance steps.

-Avoid being thrown in the dungeon.

We better wiggle our way out of this magical mess or we’ll never help our fairy friend in time!

Whether you’ve read all the Whatever After books or none, Just Dance will entertain young readers with a fun new version of The Twelve Dancing Princesses. In this version, the prince who is trying to discover the princesses’ secrets is silly and slightly unintelligent. Yet, this doesn’t stop one of the princesses from crushing on the cute prince. In order to have a happy ever after, Abby and Jonah step in. 

When Abby and Jonah get to know the princesses, they realize that each girl has their own hopes and dreams. For example, Ellie loves chess and wants to go to a chess competition, but the twelve princesses have a dance recital at the same time. After taking Abbi’s advice, Ellie decides “that I have to put myself out there. Take risks. Because that’s how I achieve what I want. It’s about having fun and following my heart.” 

Even though Abby is scared to dance, she is determined to help Ellie. So, Abby learns Ellie’s dance steps and takes Ellie’s place on the stage. Through this, Abby realizes that you shouldn’t let your fear keep you from doing things such as dancing. Instead, “you’ve got to aim and hope for things to go right.” 

Just Dance has some silly moments and the conclusion is a bit ridiculous, but the enjoyable story will leave readers with a smile. The fairy tale retelling uses core facts from the original but reimagines them. In the retelling, the princesses, the prince, and the king are given distinct personalities which allow readers to connect with the story. Plus, the fairy tale ties into Abby’s and Jonah’s personal lives, which makes the story’s lesson more memorable. Readers who want to step into a fairy tale with more complexity can find a land of magic by reading The Land of Stories Series by Chris Colfer or the Fairy Tale Reform School Series by Jen Calonita.

Sexual Content 

  • None

Violence 

  • The prince has three days to discover the princess’s secret, or “it’s off with this guy’s head if he fails!”

Drugs and Alcohol 

  • In order to keep their activities secret, one of the twelve dancing princesses puts a sleeping potion in the prince’s wine. The other nights, they put the sleeping potion in something else so the prince won’t catch on to what they are doing.

Language   

  • Abby uses “crumbs” as an exclamation. 
  • OMG is used as an exclamation once.
  • When a soldier begins stealing from the castle, one of the princesses calls the soldier a jerk.

Supernatural

  • The fairy, Maryrose, sends Abby and Jonah into the fairy tale world through a mirror. Abby explains that when it’s time, “I knock three times on the mirror at midnight, the glass starts hissing and then turns purple and my brother and I can jump through the mirror, right into a fairy tale.”
  • A fairy gives Abby and Jonah an invisibility cloak. Later, the fairy gives a soldier an invisibility cloak, but when Abby and the soldier are both under their cloaks, they can see each other.
  • Maryrose is able to get out of the mirror, but she keeps getting weaker. When Abby and Jonah bring a ruby back from a fairy tale, the fairy “puts her hand on the ruby. It sparkles and shines. And then Maryrose sparkles and shines. And then shines brighter. And brighter.” Touching the ruby makes Maryrose “feel so much better. . . But the more I touch the ruby, the stronger I’ll get.”

Spiritual Content 

  • None

Medusa

If I told you that I’d killed a man with a glance, would you wait to hear the rest? The why, the how, what happened next?

Exiled to a far-flung island by the whims of the gods, Medusa has little company except for the snakes that adorn her head instead of hair. But when a charmed, beautiful boy called Perseus arrives on the island, her lonely existence is disrupted with the force of a supernova, unleashing desire, love, betrayal . . . and destiny itself. 

Medusa talks directly to the reader in this first-person account of her life. When the book opens, Medusa has secluded herself on a deserted island, but when the handsome Perseus arrives, he awakens a hope in Medusa—the hope that someone can love her despite the fact that she has snakes instead of hair. As Medusa reveals her secrets, the reader is slowly pulled into her life before.  

Medusa’s story allows the reader to see the girl Medusa was before being cursed. Much of the story revolves around Medusa as a fourteen-year-old beauty. When Poseidon begins to pursue her, the misogynistic views of society become clear. Despite repeated rejections, Poseidon stalks Medusa. Medusa’s attempts to dissuade Poseidon; however, he appears on land, and Medusa “screamed for him to leave me alone, I called out to Athena, I said, No, no, no! But . . . Poseidon took what I had never wanted to give him. Me.” After Medusa is sexually assaulted, the villagers have no sympathy for Medusa. Even Athena feels no sympathy for Medusa and instead of helping the young girl, Athena curses her.  

Much of the story focuses on Medusa sharing the events in her life with Perseus. Although Medusa’s pain is clear, the story has a detached tone that cuts out graphic descriptions. However, Medusa shares the wisdom she’s gained from her experiences. For example, she believes that “remembering’s a blessing and a curse. You can’t erase your bad memories, but a life without regrets is a life unlived.”  

Towards the end, Medusa’s personal musings become somewhat tedious; however, her story will leave readers considering if our experiences are determined by our actions, fate, or a combination of both. Medusa also explores the difference between being a monster or a hero; although in Greek mythology Medusa is considered a monster, reading Medusa allows the reader to see her as a complex character who is like all of us—a person who wants to be comfortable in her own skin. Even though Medusa and Perseus bonded, a happy ending could never happen. Medusa realizes that “I had thought [Perseus] was my one true hope. But it turned out my one true hope was me.” 

Medusa hits several difficult topics including sexual assault, the curse of being beautiful, and society’s double standards. Medusa’s story highlights the importance of accepting yourself. In the end, Medusa shows readers that the only person that needs to love us is ourselves and that “self-awareness is a great banisher of loneliness.” While Medusa’s storytelling is at times slow, those interested in Greek mythology will enjoy seeing Medusa in a new light. Readers who love delving into the hearts of characters who are usually portrayed as villains should also read Heartless by Marissa Meyer.   

Sexual Content  

  • After Perseus tells Medusa about his girlfriend, Medusa thinks, “Driana had had Perseus’s hand in hers, his mouth on hers!” 
  • Perseus reveals that he is “still a virgin.” 
  • To confront Perseus, Medusa grabs his hand. Then he was “lifting my hand to his lips to kiss it, again and again. My fingers, my wrist, the soft inner skin of my lower arm.” 
  • When Medusa was fourteen, Poseidon began perusing her. When Medusa avoided Poseidon, people began saying that Medusa was “flaunting her curves all right, but won’t give him what he wants. She made a promise, won’t keep it—typical, fickle. . . She’s taunting him.” 
  • Medusa was hiding from Poseidon in Athena’s temple. But Poseidon came for her. “Poseidon didn’t care whose temple he was entering. He just pulled the pillars down. I screamed for him to leave me alone, I called out to Athena, I said, No, no, no! But in the rubble of that night, Poseidon took what I had never wanted to give him. Me.” 
  • After Poseidon raped Medusa, “some people in the village said I should be grateful for the attention.” Later, Athena appears and calls Medusa a “slut.” 

Violence  

  • After Medusa rejects Poseidon’s advances, he sends a tsunami. “Water coming like a mountain. Fish everywhere, mermaids howling in pain as they tumble. Poseidon’s power breaks their backs, their perfect fins sacrificed to his momentum.” Frightened, Medusa promises that she’d do “anything” he asked. 
  • In order to free his mother from a king’s advances, Perseus must bring the king Medusa’s head. In an attempt to do this, Perseus attacks. “The tip of his sword nicked my arm, slicking open my skin. It was a lightning bolt to the blood, and it woke something in me. . . My foot kicked out and struck the edge of his shield.” Perseus falls backward. 
  • In the fight, Medusa grabs the blade of Perseus’s sword. “He tugged back hard, slicking the sword out of my grasp. He swung it sideways . . . and brought it around toward my neck.” 
  • When Perseus looks at Medusa, “his skin went pale as if the gods had made a straw for his veins and sucked. . . His own irises turning milky gray. His pupils vanished, his flesh turned stony, his arms stiff.” Perseus turns to stone. 

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • None 

Language    

  • “Oh Gods” is used as an exclamation occasionally.  
  • “Oh Hades” is used as an exclamation once.  
  • After speaking about Athena’s role in Medusa’s demise, Medusa thinks, “Athena is a bitch.” 

Supernatural 

  • Athena curses Medusa by changing her hair into snakes. After being cursed, Medusa realizes “my hair was gone, and in its place was a crown of serpents, sinewy, strong, all colors of the rainbow.” 

Spiritual Content  

  • None 

The Tea Dragon Society

The winner of several children’s literature awards, The Tea Dragon Society is Kay O’Neill’s debut graphic novel. The artistic style is wholesome and soothing, and the book’s harmonious color and meandering pace makes The Tea Dragon Society a meditative read. The attention to detail and choice of color schemes also contribute to immersing readers in the realm of this trilogy. The book is divided into four chapters, each titled after a season of the year, beginning with spring. 

The protagonist is a bright, young girl named Greta, the daughter and apprentice of the village blacksmith. After rescuing a stray tea dragon, she returns the hatchling to its owner and caretaker, the gentle and wise Hese. Hese has also taken a shy, young girl named Minette under his metaphorical wing. 

Greta grows increasingly curious about caring for tea dragons, so she returns to Hese’s house and meets his partner, Erik, whose days as a magical bounty hunter left him confined to a wheelchair. From Erik, Greta learns that tea dragon stewardship is a dying art. 

Hese and Erik teach Greta about the history of tea dragons and the Tea Dragon Society, of which they are the last surviving members. As the seasons pass, Greta and Minette’s friendship blooms into something more. Young readers may relate to Greta’s and Minette’s journeys of self-discovery, and queer readers may especially connect with their shy crushes on one another, as well as Hese and Erik’s companionship. Both queer relationships are depicted with healthy and supportive dynamics. Readers may also feel inspired by the author openly identifying as nonbinary. In addition to incorporating LGBTQ characters, the book also features people of color and people with disabilities. 

The Tea Dragon Society is a beautiful story about friendship and finding your place in the world. The story encourages people to honor traditions, the past, and to always remember where you come from. Those who enjoy fantasy for its escapism rather than violence or suspense will find The Tea Dragon Society a relaxing read. Although it feels beautifully brief and ends almost too soon, readers can seek solace in the rest of the trilogy, The Tea Dragon Festival, and The Tea Dragon Tapestry. 

Sexual content 

  • Hese and Erik are depicted relaxing in a hot spring, undressed from the waist up. 

Violence 

  • Erik wipes the blood off his sword after defeating a three-headed dragon that was threatening a village.  
  • Hese and Erik face a gigantic black dragon in battle and have bleeding wounds on their faces and arms. Erik is thrown into the mud and knocked unconscious. 
  • Erik has stitches across a scar on his face and two more scars on his neck from fighting magical beasts. 

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • The tea dragons grow tea on themselves and the tea allows people to experience memories of the past tea masters. For example, Greta drinks tea brewed from the leaves grown on a tea dragon and goes into a trance where she glimpses memories from Hese and Erik’s lives. 
  • Minette drinks the same tea and sees visions of her own memories. 

Language  

  • None 

Supernatural 

  • The book includes multiple fantasy creatures, such as goblins, dragons, and humans with features such as tails, horns, furred ears, or goat legs.  
  • Hese is a deerlike creature even though he walks upright, has humanlike hands, and speaks English.  
  • Tea grown from tea dragons has the magical power of giving dreamlike visions of memories.  
  • Minette has the supernatural power of seeing the future. 

Spiritual Content  

  • None 

Into the Storm

After their victory in Texas, the Pawtriots are en route back to their home in Washington, DC. But when a massive storm on the Atlantic Ocean rolls in, Sergeant Rico and his unit are forced to take shelter on a mysterious island in the Caribbean.

While on the island, the Pawtriots meet M—the leader of the island’s animals. M tells them the story of the thrice-cursed pirate Sea Wolf, his crew, and his ship, the Calico Jack. When Sea Wolf and his crew are brought back to life, it’s up to the Pawtriots to defeat the pirates and return peace to the island.

While aboard a Coast Guard Ship, Rico and the Pawtriots meet two brothers: Jet and Jag. While Jag is a “hard-liner” who follows all the rules, Jet breaks rules at every opportunity. The two dogs add interest to the story, but they also give mixed messages. At times rules are followed, but others believe “that some rules are meant to be broken.” Sometimes breaking the rules cause problems, but other times breaking the rules is the only solution.

Rico and the Pawtriots follow Army morals. For example, to save the Pawtriots, Rico agrees to serve Sea Wolf. Rico thinks, “When I was in the Army, there were times when sacrifices had to be made for the greater good and the sake of the mission. This is one of those times.” Because of Rico’s leadership and courage, the Pawtriots are successful in eventually defeating Sea Wolf.

Into the Storm begins by recapping the events from the previous book, Everything is Bigger in Texas. While chapter one is heavy on the military lingo, the sayings are explained. For example, Rico explains that “debrief you” is “Army-talk for ‘getting up to speed on the details of the mission. . . and quickly.’” Despite this, younger readers may struggle with the advanced vocabulary such as makeshift, flotilla, interceptor, and liaison.

Each chapter starts with the location, date, and military time, which makes the timeline easy to follow. Black and white illustrations appear every 1 to 6 pages and show the animals in action as well as some of the dangers they face—including Sea Wolf, the Kraken, and the various characters. The back of the book also includes the Soldier’s Creed, and a glossary of Army terms.

the Pawtriots fight and defeat supernatural pirates, and throughout the story, Rico leads his unit and reinforces the importance of duty, respect, courage, and helping others. As the Pawtriot Dogs Series progresses, readers will have to remember a large cast of characters whose personalities are not well developed. Readers will enjoy Into the Storm because it is a suspenseful story that follows a group of heroic dogs. Dog-loving readers who want more fun adventures should add the Puppy Pirates Series by Erin Soderberg to their reading list.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • Sea Wolf throws Jet off a tower. Rico says, “All I can do is watch as she crashes into a cluster of tall trees below, helplessly clawing at the branches in a desperate effort to slow her fall. She hits the ground hard. . .”
  • Sea Wolf commands his crew to attack the Pawtriots. The fight is not described, but Rico is captured and put in chains.
  • The Pawtriots must face a kraken that has “twelve long, slimy tentacles with suction cups that can pull your skin clean off and fangs that will rip you to shreds.” Rico describes how “a tentacle sweeps my legs out from under me. . .the wet rock presses up against my fur. I try to wrestle free from the Kraken’s grip on my tail, but it’s useless.”
  • Someone kills the Kraken to save Rico. Rico sees “Penny, who has Sea Wolf’s sword in her paw. It’s covered in Kraken blood.”
  • The Pawtriots are in a cavern that starts to collapse. Rico is the last to exit. “I am squeezed in between rocks. . . I wiggle my body and shimmy as fast as I can, falling out of the tunnel onto ground just as the tunnel caves in completely.”
  • Sea Wolf makes the Pawtriots walk the plank. As they struggle to remain afloat in the ocean, they are saved.
  • To defeat Sea Wolf, the “Pawtriots don’t hesitate, and in an instant, they’ve swarmed the Cutthroats, engaging them in fierce paw-to-paw combat.” No fighting is described.

 Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • Sea Wolf calls someone a “treacherous bilge rat.”
  • Sea Wolf calls his crew, “Yellow-bellied sapsuckers.”
  • Sea Wolf calls his former first mate a “backstabbing traitor.”

Supernatural

  • Rico and the Pawtriots end up on a cursed island. While there, a cat tells the story of the “Thrice-Cursed Pirate Sea Wolf” and his ship, the Calico Jack. Sea Wolf’s sword, ship, and crew were cursed. Sea Wolf’s “very soul was trapped inside the eternal flame. . . If the bell were ever to be run, then Sea Wolf would have until sunset to raise his crew, his ship, and retrieve his sword before the flame dies out and Sea Wolf with it.” Someone rings the bell and reawakens Sea Wolf and his crew.
  • When Sea Wolf reappears, “his eyes are bloodshot, and the moon paints his gray fur with an ominous glow.”
  • Sea Wolf’s “strength grows with each passing minute that his lungs draw breath.”
  • The Sea Wolf’s first mate was cured with immortality. She says, “Being alive forever gets old. I’m tired. Very, very tired. And the only way I can rest is if Sea Wolf rises and falls.”
  • In the end, Sea Wolf is defeated and “Sea Wolf vanishes.”

Spiritual Content

  • None

The Enchantress Returns

Alex and Conner Bailey have spent a long time waiting to return to the Land of Stories, a magical world they thought only existed in their favorite fairytales. However, after the events of the first story, The Wishing Spell, the twins know that all their favorite stories are true. After they defeated the Evil Queen in the last book, they returned home dreaming of their next adventure. But, their Grandmother, the legendary Fairy Godmother, has been missing for months, cutting off the twin’s contact to the magic realm. Then, their mother is suddenly kidnapped by the evil Enchantress. In order to bring their mother home, the children are forced to return the Land of Stories without their Grandmother’s help. 

Once in the Land of Stories, the twins quickly realize why their Grandmother has been so busy. The Enchantress Ezmia, a wicked sorceress responsible for the former curse on Sleeping Beauty, has returned to take over the fairytale world and the human world. Their only hope to stop her is the Wand of Wonderment, a staff powerful enough to best Ezmia’s magic. The twins must travel through the fairytale kingdoms with their allies in search of magical items to make the Wand, all while avoiding Ezmia and the wrath of other evil beings. Once the staff is assembled, the twins confront the greatest threat of all: Ezmia’s unwavering cruelty. Is magic powerful enough to convince the Enchantress to put an end to her evil plans?  

The thrilling second installment in the Land of Stories Series has just as much action, adventure, and fairytale magic as the first book. The Enchantress Returns will hold the reader’s attention at every turn, and readers will be fascinated by the conclusion. Unlike fairytales and their shallow villains, the evil characters in this series have more depth than the average book, making this story an interesting read. In the final battle against the Enchantress, Alex says, “Ezmia, I’ll never be like you. I would rather have nothing and a big heart, than everything and no heart at all. . . I’ll always have the most powerful magic of all inside me–compassion. And I have enough inside of me even for you.” When Alex forgives the Enchantress, Ezmia loses her power, proving that love can overpower hate, even when it’s difficult to extend sympathy to others. Alex’s willingness to forgive shows that she’s not only kind but powerful, even without the use of magic.  

The Enchantress Returns also emphasizes the need for belonging. The Enchantress never felt like she belonged, so she made others feel powerless. Alex also never felt like she belonged in the human world since other kids didn’t understood her love for fairytales and magic. Even though it’s a hard decision, Alex chooses to stay in the Land of Stories where she doesn’t feel like an outcast. This parallel ending shows that the heroes and villains of the stories aren’t so different, but how they handle their situations shows their true character.  

Readers searching for a funny yet intricate fantasy about the characters from their favorite bedtime stories will find what they’re looking for in The Land of Stories Series. However, there are some scenes that may disturb sensitive readers. Despite this, The Enchantress Returns is an engaging book that teaches important lessons about forgiveness and compassion. Readers who want more fairytale action can jump into an intriguing world where famous villains such as Cinderella’s stepmother and the Big Bad Wolf have changed their ways and become good in the Fairy Tale Reform School Series by Jen Calonita. 

Sexual Content  

  • A kiss wakes Sleeping Beauty. 
  • Sleeping Beauty’s husband kisses her hand.  
  • Alex is in the library secretly looking at books. When Conner finds Alex, he says, that he is also reading, but “I didn’t try to get to first base with any of [the books].”  
  • Mother Goose says she had a “fling” with Leonardo da Vinci. 
  • While drinking, Mother Goose admits, “I haven’t had this much fun since I was so very young – and used to rub-a-dub-dub with the three men in the tub!” 
  • Jack and Goldilocks kiss once. 
  • Red kisses Froggy. “She pulled [Froggy] closer and kissed his slimy green lips.” She also kisses him later “repeatedly all over his big frog head.” 
  • The twins’ mom kisses her boyfriend. 

Violence  

  • Originally, the Enchantress cursed Sleeping Beauty and her entire kingdom to die after pricking her finger on the spinning wheel, but the curse was reformed by the fairies so that everyone fell asleep instead. 
  • The Enchantress causes a thornbush to grow over Sleeping Beauty’s kingdom. “Scattered all across the castle grounds, [Sleeping Beauty] saw soldiers and servants fighting off the rogue thornbushes and vines growing around them. The plants grew straight out of the ground and attacked them, like serpents wrapping around their prey. The vines crept up the sides of the castle, breaking through the windows and pulling people out, dangling them hundreds of feet in the air… [Sleeping Beauty] saw villagers fall victim to the leafy monsters.” 
  • The Enchantress attacks Sleeping Beauty’s carriage and her soldiers. “Sleeping Beauty looked out the window just in time to see a soldier and his horse thrown high into the forest beside the path. A whooshing sound swooped toward them, and another soldier and his horse were thrown into the trees on the other side of the path. Every other second was filled with the terrified cries of the soldiers and horses as they were flung into the forest. . . One final swoop took the remaining horses and soldiers with it; their cries echoed in the night.”  
  • In the same attack, Sleeping Beauty is hurt when her carriage is overturned. “The carriage crashed to the ground, falling on its side and skidding across the ground until coming to a stop. . . Sleeping Beauty crawled through the carriage door. . . she was limping and clutched her left wrist.” 
  • Soldiers attack Bob, the twin’s mother’s boyfriend. “A dozen soldiers dressed in silver armor barged through the door. One slammed Bob hard against the wall. Alex screamed.” No one is injured. 
  • The Enchantress, Ezmia, says that The Evil Queen, Evly, tried to kill her. “Evly laced a small dagger with poison and stabbed me with it. The poison almost killed me; I shriveled down to the state of a dying human.” Ezmia is later nursed back to health. 
  • The Enchantress kidnaps Cinderella’s daughter. Cinderella threatens the Enchantress by saying, “I’ll pull you apart limb from limb if you hurt my daughter.” 
  • Ezmia describes the abusive nature of one of her past affairs with a man she calls The Locksmith. “The Locksmith was a troubled man. A testament to his profession, he liked keeping his properties locked down, and I was no exception. . . He never looked me in the eye and when he touched me, it was rarely out of affection. He definitely left his mark on me – several, actually.” 
  • A polar bear hurts Goldilocks. The polar bear “charged toward Goldilocks. With one swipe of his paw, he knocked Goldilocks to the ground.” Goldilocks is not injured. 
  • Jack is hurt during a battle with the Snow Queen. “The Snow Queen heard [Jack] and pointed her scepter directly at him. A bright icy blast erupted from its tip and hit Jack. He crashed into a pillar. He scrambled to his feet but was hit again by another icy blast from the Snow Queen – this time, a sheet of thick ice pinned his hands and chest to the pillar behind him.” 
  • The Sea Witch’s cave is filled with her past victims. “Dozens of mermaids were hung upside down from their tails across the dome-shaped cave ceiling. They were all weak and frail; some breathed heavily while others didn’t breathe at all; some were just skeletons, while others were close to becoming one.” 
  • The Sea Witch attacks Froggy and the twins. “The Sea Witch threw her cuttlefish and it hit Froggy, wrapping its legs around his face. [The twins and Froggy] frantically fought off the sea creatures attacking them, but it was no use. The crabs pinched and poked the twins, scratching them and drawing blood. Jack ran to the twins’ side and, with two quick blows of his ax, chopped both the crabs in half.” 
  • Jack, Froggy, Goldilocks, Red, and the twins escape the Sea Witch’s lair, but she sends an army of sharks and fish after them. “Jack was quick to punch [a shark] in the nose. . . Froggy kicked another one and it crashed into yet another. . .” Then mermaids come to their rescue and “the twins saw hundreds of mermaids shooting through the ocean and tackling the harmful fish around them.”  
  • While visiting Sleeping Beauty’s Kingdom, the twins see the destruction left by Ezmia. “The twins saw soldiers and servants and villagers spread across the land with vines coiled around them like serpents covering their prey. Some were pinned to the ground, while others were suspended hundreds of feet in the air over the castle.” It’s unclear if they are living or dead. 
  • Ezmia dangles Queen Cinderella’s daughter, Princess Hope, over a fire. “Ezmia snapped her fingers and her vines pulled Princess Hope through the cage. The child was screaming; tears and snot ran down her terrified face. The vines dangled the princess over the flames of the fire.” Hope is not injured and is returned to Cinderella afterwards. 
  • Rumpelstiltskin, who formerly worked for Ezmia, saves Alex’s life. Rumpelstiltskin “came out of nowhere and jumped in front of Alex. The blast [from Ezmia] hit him in the chest and he fell to the ground. . . [Rumpelstiltskin] smiled up at the twins, closed his eyes for the last time, and died in Alex’s arms.” 

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • The twins get a dog named Buster who misbehaves often. Conner says, “that dog needs to be on medication.” 
  • Mother Goose seems to be constantly intoxicated, indicated by the thermos she always carries with her. She calls the liquid inside “bubbly.” Conner says, “[Mother Goose] really lets loose after a few sips of whatever she was drinking.” 
  • Mother Goose was friends with Humpty Dumpty before he fell off the wall due to being intoxicated. Mother Goose says, “Humpty had a fall, right there and right then, because poor Humpty couldn’t hold his gin.” 
  • Alex gives Mother Goose a bottle of champagne, which Mother Goose drinks. 

Language    

  • Mother Goose reprimands her flying goose by saying, “Good lord. . . You call that a landing?!” She also calls the goose a “stupid gander,” and a “stupid bird.” 
  • Mother Goose says, “Jack is nimble, Jack is quick, but Jack can be such a —” the rhyme isn’t written, but implied. “[Mother Goose] stopped herself from finishing the thought, perhaps remembering she was talking to thirteen-year-olds.” 
  • Conner says, “what the heck.” 
  • Queen Red Riding Hood calls the twins “brats.” Alex calls Ezmia a brat later on as well.  
  • Queen Red and Goldilocks dislike each other. When Goldilocks visits, Queen Red says, “You bet your porridge-loving indecisive behind you won’t be harming me.” 
  • Conner says, “God, I hate this flipping cat.” 
  • Darn, damn, and crap are all used once. 
  • Conner calls Ezmia a “wench.” 
  • “Good lord” is said once. 
  • Sleeping Beauty says, “Dear God. . . Does the Enchantress have no soul?” 

Supernatural  

  • The Land of Stories is a fairytale world where classic fairytales are real, such as Sleeping Beauty and Little Red Riding Hood. Talking animals and mythical creatures like unicorns, mermaids, and trolls are also featured in the story. 
  • Contact exists between the fairytale world and the human world (known as the “Otherworld”) due to portals. One portal exists in the Land of Stories storybook that belongs to Alex and Conner’s grandmother. 
  • The twins’ grandmother is the Fairy Godmother. Fairies can teleport and do magic. One fairy has hair that is constantly on fire. 
  • Buster, the twins’ dog, turns out to be a soldier in disguise. He is transformed from a human into a dog by the Fairy Godmother. 
  • Prince Charlie Charming is known as “Froggy” to the kids because he’s been transformed into a walking, talking frog. 
  • Conner sees a ghost, who eventually guides the twins on their journey. 

Spiritual Content  

  • The twins’ father is dead. When they learn their mother is dating someone new (Bob), Conner says, “It’s something I’ve always wondered about people who lose their husbands or wives. But one day, if we’re all in, well, heaven, I guess, isn’t it going to be a little awkward with Bob and Dad there?” 
  • Ezmia collects the souls of people she dislikes and keeps them in jars. 

 Little Red Rodent Hood

Princess Harriet Hamsterbone is a fearsome warrior. To her parents’ disappointment, Harriet takes any reason to leave her home… but this time a quest finds her. Red, a young hamster from the nearby forest, asks Harriet and Wilbur for help. The weasel-wolves have been getting rowdy, and she needs help to put an end to their antics. Harriet is more than willing to take up Red’s request, though Red is pushy.

Red tells Harriet and Wilbur not to talk to any of the weasel-wolves during their trek. Hoping to get another perspective, the two hamsters go behind Red’s back and speak to Grey, a were-hamster and the leader of the forest weasel-wolves. While Grey asks for help, Harriet and Wilbur realize that Red was not as sweet as she let them—well, Wilbur—believe.

Little Red Rodent Hood uses the story elements of Little Red Riding Hood and The Three Little Pigs, to create a humorous and fun adventure that will have readers turning the pages. Harriet goes on the quest, eager to get out of the castle but wary of Red because of the little girl’s indifference to the dangerous weasel-wolves. As Harriet and Wilbur go through the forest, they discover Red has been kidnapping the weasel-wolves for her Grandmother, who sells them to other rodents who want weasel-wolves as pets. Out of all the antagonists that Harriet has faced, Grandmother is one of the scariest, as she is rough and intimidating. However, readers will enjoy seeing how Harriet defeats Grandmother and frees the weasel-wolves.

Throughout Harriet and Wilbur’s time in the forest, there are multiple instances where recurring jokes overstay their welcome. Harriet asks Grey to bite her so she can become a were-weasel. Her request is innocent at first, but her demands get exhausting. This joke plays off Wilbur’s excessive caution and Harriet’s bravery. Still, Harriet goes to the extreme, to the point where she sticks her hand out in front of Grey’s mouth when he tries to get powdered silver out of his eyes. Harriet’s brashness adds a new dynamic to the conversations between her and her friends but distracts from the story because the humor does not add to Harriet’s character or the overall plot.

Blue and white illustrations add to the wackiness of the book. Drawings with dialogue balloons help break up the text and keep the action moving. Despite the lackluster humor, Little Red Rodent Hood shows the value of teamwork and will engage even the most reluctant readers. Little Red Rodent Hood is the sixth book in the Hamster Princess Series but can be enjoyed as a standalone book. Younger readers who enjoy Little Red Rodent Hood may also want to try Ursula Vernon’s other humorous series, Dragonbreath.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • When Grey tries to catch Red, she throws powdered silver in Grey’s face. “Grey let out a high-pitched yelp and folded up as if he’d struck a wall.” Grey gets drowsy, but the powdered silver burns and stings because were-hamsters and were-weasels are weak against silver.
  • Harriet fights Grandmother so she can take Grandmother back to the castle. “Harriet dealt Grandmother a fearsome blow that would have stopped any lesser monster. . . Harriet blocked claws and teeth with her sword, but now it was Grandmother’s turn to drive her backward, inch by inch.” Grandmother slaps Harriet’s sword out of her hands and whacks Harriet alongside the head. “Harriet crashed down next to Grey. . .” She is dazed because of the blow to the head. Grandmother lifts her clawed hands, but then Red hypnotizes Grandmother, ending the fight. Grandmother is a weasel-wolf and has invincibility, so she does not get hurt from Harriet’s attack. The fight has sections where Wilbur talks to Red or tries to wake up Grey, but the fight itself occurs over eight pages.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • Red was born with “hypnotic eyes” which she uses to hypnotize anyone who makes eye contact with her. Red can make people fall asleep; the victim has temporary double vision if she cannot make them fall asleep.
  • Red uses her hypnotic eyes on Harriet. “Harriet tried to look away, but there was something strange going on. Red’s hypnotic eyes seemed to fill the entire world. Harriet tried to grab her sword, but it felt as if she were moving through molasses.”

Spiritual Content

  • The weasel-wolf packs gather on the first day of the new moon to perform the Howl. “The moon vanishes once a month, you know, during the dark of the moon, and when it comes back, we all howl to greet it.”

by Jemima Cooke

The Angel Experiment

Meet the flock. Max, Fang, Iggy, Nudge, the Gasman, and Angel are six kids who grew up in cages as the School’s most successful test tube experiments. The School is a science lab located in Death Valley, California where the scientists—or whitecoats—experiment on children’s genes. Four years prior, Jeb Batchelder, one of the scientists and the group’s father figure, escaped with the kids and took them to a cabin in Colorado. Two years afterwards, he disappeared, leaving the kids without an adult to care for them.  

These six kids aren’t your average American children. The whitecoats had the flock’s genes spliced with avian DNA, giving them the ability to fly via physical wings attached to their backs, along with some special abilities. Max, self-named Maximum Ride, is the oldest and leader of the flock at 14 years old. She serves as a mother figure even though she is still a kid herself. Fang is four months younger than Max, a sort of second-in-command, and is usually very quiet, “like a dark shadow come to life.” Iggy is younger than Max and blind due to the scientist’s unsuccessful attempt to surgically enhance his night vision. Nudge is an 11-year-old and, according to Max, “is a great kid, but that motormouth of hers could have turned Mother Teresa into an ax murderer.” The Gasman, or Gazzy, is eight years old, named after his ability to produce very rancid farts. He can also mimic any voice or sound. Lastly, Angel is Gazzy’s intelligent six-year-old sister who has the ability to read minds. 

Suddenly, the School’s Erasers capture Angel and plan to return the rest of the flock to the School. Erasers are half-human, half-wolf mutants who are usually armed and bloodthirsty. At first, they look like male models, but they can transform into hairy beings with claws and fangs. Leading the Erasers’ hunt is Ari. The last time Max saw Ari, he was a three-year-old boy. Now he’s a grown Eraser. Terrified about going back, the flock must rescue Angel from the School without getting. However, along the way they discover new things about themselves, their pasts, and the big plans the School has in store for them. 

James Patterson tells a fascinating story filled with science, action, and kids with wings and superhuman abilities. While most of the story is told from Max’s point of view, when the flock is separated, readers get a third-person perspective from a member of each group. The changing points of view allow readers to keep up to date with everyone. Occasionally, Max also addresses the reader using the second person, adding a memoir-like tone to the novel. Max’s voice is very distinct because of her sarcastic and sassy tone. Readers can easily fall in love with everyone in the flock and look forward to joining them in discovering who really they are. 

Some of the more prevalent themes are freedom, family, and fate. The flock hasn’t talked about their experiences and, as Max explains, they prefer to “forget when we were at the mercy of sadistic jerks in a place that’s a total nightmare and ought to be firebombed.” Because of their experiences, the flock values their freedom. In addition, the flock’s relationships show that family is not always formed through blood and that having a strong base of friends can be all the support one needs. Fate also becomes a part of this story as Jeb says, “Max, everything you’ve done, everything you are, everything you can be, is tied into your destiny.” According to Jeb, Max’s fate is predetermined, which makes her question her own autonomy and freedom.  

Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment is a strong start to this sci-fi series. The chapters are short, the pacing is fast, and the language is clear and concise. These aspects of the novel match well with a large amount of action and the plot, which can be confusing. Max gives readers a warning in the beginning, saying, “If you dare to read this story, you become part of the Experiment. I know that sounds a little mysterious—but it’s all I can say right now.” So, if you decide to read this book, be prepared to become part of the flock. 

Sexual Content  

  • After a fight, Max went over to Fang to look at his injuries and, “With no warning, I leaned down and kissed his mouth, just like that.” 

Violence  

  • During one of Max’s dreams, she’s running from the Erasers. Her “arms [are] being scratched to ribbons by a briar” and her “bare feet hitting every sharp rock, rough root, [and] pointed stick.” When she comes across a drop-off on the mountain, she “let [herself] fall over the edge of the cliff.” However, one of the Erasers raises his gun and “a red dot of light appeared on my torn nightgown.”  
  • While the flock are picking strawberries, Erasers attack them. Max “landed another blow, then an Eraser punched me so hard that my head snapped around and I felt a burst of blood in my mouth.” While they fight, Max watches as “three other Erasers [were] stuffing Angel, my baby, into a rough sack. She was crying and screaming, and one of them hit her.” The fight ends when Max saw a “huge, black boot come at my head, felt my head jerk to one side, and everything went black.”  
  • After Max wakes up, she immediately thinks of Angel as “horror-filled images flashed through my mind—Angel being chased, being hurt, being killed.” 
  • In order to save Angel, the flock fly to the Humvee carrying Angel. Fang smashes a tree branch into the windshield. “The vehicle swerved, a window rolled down. A gun barrel poked out. Around [Max], trees started popping with bullets.” As a helicopter carries Angel away, Max tries to hang on to the landing skid and someone “picked up a rifle and aimed it at [Max].” 
  • The flock watches as the chopper carries Angel away. Max’s anger gets the best of her and she “made fists and punched the chunky bark of the fir tree hard, over and over, until finally, actual pain seeped into my seared consciousness. I stared at my knuckles, saw the blood, the missing skin, the splinters.” 
  • When the flock returns to the house, “Iggy howled and swept his hand across the kitchen counter, catapulting a mug through the air. It hit Fang in the side of the head.” 
  • At the School, the scientists force Angel to be experimented on. During the experiment, Angel ran on a treadmill for three and a half hours and was zapped by a “stick thing” any time she slowed down or stopped. The stick thing “jolted electricity into her, making her yelp and jump. She had four burn marks already from it.” By the end of the experiment, Angel collapses, and her feet get tangled in the treadmill belt. The scientists do a final scan of her body. As the scientists pull electrodes off of Angel’s skin, “ripping sounds and a new, searing pain on her skin pulled Angel back” from a dream.  
  • While traveling to California, Max sees a girl getting cornered by three guys. She decides to help. One of the men, “was holding a shotgun loosely in the crook of his arm.” Max confronts them and a fight breaks out. Max kicks the first guy and “a blow that would have only knocked Fang’s breath away actually seemed to snap a rib on this guy.” Max grabs the shotgun’s barrel and cracks it against his head. Max then punches the last guy, “feeling his nose break, and there was a slow-motion pause of about a second before it started gushing blood.”  
  • After Max beats up three bullies, one of the guys cocks the gun and runs at her but she flies away. The men start shooting at her and she felt “a sudden, searing pain in my left shoulder. I gasped and glanced over to see blood blossoming on my sleeve.” The bullet grazed her shoulder and nicked the bone of her wing. She also has a scratch on her cheek as well as a black eye.  
  • While Nudge and Fang wait for Max to return, they find nests of ferruginous hawks, the largest raptor in the U.S. They sit down at the mouth of the cave and watch as “one of the hawks had a partially dismembered gopher in its mouth” and gave it to its fledglings. 
  • In between experiments at the School, Angel is kept in a dog crate. The scientists had “taken blood from her arm, but she’d fought them and bit that one guy.” Angel bit a scientist, so he hit her. Then, Angel read the mind of another scientist who was thinking about the incident and the scientist thinks, “If he wrecks this specimen, I’ll kill him.” 
  • Iggy and Gazzy decide to build bombs for protection. They find an Eraser camp nearby and set an oil trap for the Humvees. The Humvees “hit the trees at an angle and went airborne, sailing upside down about fifteen feet before landing with a heavy crunching sound.” 
  • The Erasers ambush Iggy and Gazzy, but Iggy and Gazzy fly away and set off a bomb. In the air, “a fireball ten yards in diameter rose from where the cabin had been.” In the aftermath, Gazzy watches as “one dark body had flown upward in the blast,” and “the other Eraser had crawled a few feet away from the cabin, a burning silhouette that had collapsed, its outlines blurred by flame.” 
  • At the School, Angel runs in a maze that changes each time she finds the exit. “If she slowed down, she got an electric shock so strong it scrambled her brain, or red-hot wires under her feet burned her.” 
  • Angel reads the minds of the scientists around her and there are several mentions of them wanting to dissect her brain. 
  • In Arizona, Nudge and Fang are confronted by Erasers. Ari, an Eraser, and Fang fight each other. “Ari was sitting on Fang’s chest, punching him. Nudge gasped and put her hand over her mouth as she saw blood erupt from Fang’s nose.” Then “Ari roared and brought both hands down onto Fang’s chest with enough force to snap his ribs.” Ari pulled out a gun and a bullet soared by Nudge’s ear as Fang and Nudge flew away. 
  • Erasers ambush Max, Fang, Nudge, Iggy, and Gazzy. When the flock uses a van to escape, Max crashes into a sedan head-on. The airbags give Max a bloody nose. Max tells everyone to run, “then hissed in a breath as my nose took another jarring blow” from an Eraser. The Erasers capture Max, Fang, and Nudge but Gazzy and Iggy escape.   
  • At the School, Max, Fang, Nudge, and Angel are stuck in cages with other mutants. “Sometime in the next half hour, [Max] realized the ‘experiment’ was no longer breathing. It had died, right next to me.” 
  • Ari teases Max through the bars of her cage. Max “leaned over and chomped hard on Ari’s fingers.” Ari yells in pain, and “was shaking my cage, slamming it with his other hand, and my head was getting snapped around like a paddleball.” 
  • Iggy and Gazzy arrive at the School and free the others. Max, “backhanded [a scientist] against the jaw, feeling teeth knock loose.” Fang and Ari fought, and “Fang smashed him sideways with a kick, then punched the side of Ari’s head.” 
  • Several times, Max collapses due to “a blinding, stunning pain [that] exploded behind my eyes.” Nobody knows what causes this pain but after the pain passes, she hears a “Voice” in her head that gives her advice. 
  • While the flock navigates the underground rails of Manhattan, Gazzy asks what a sign saying to stay off the third rail meant. Fang says, “It means the third rail has seven hundred volts of direct current running through it. Touch it and you’re human popcorn.” 
  • In New York, the flock is running from Erasers, and “a heavy clawed hand grabbed [Max’s] hair, yanking me backward, right off my feet.” The Eraser starts to drag Max away when, suddenly, the Eraser “hit the ground with a sickening thud, and [Max] cracked [her] head against the sidewalk so hard [she] saw fireworks.” The Eraser had suddenly died. 
  • The flock was surrounded and grabbed by Erasers. Fang was “locked in battle with Ari, who raked his claws across Fang’s face, leaving parallel lines of red.” Max begged Ari to stop attacking Fang, but “Ari seized Fang’s head and brought it down hard on a rock.” Ari then “cracked Fang with an elbow. Blood sprayed from Fang’s mouth, and again he went down.” The fight ends when someone appears and tells Ari to back off.  
  • Max and Ari fight. While they exchange blows, “Ari punched [Max] again, and I thought I heard a rib crack.” Max then grabbed Ari’s neck and it “slammed against the hard side of the tunnel,” breaking his neck and killing him. 

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • The flock talks to a kid who was kicked out of MIT because he wouldn’t take his Thorazine. He said he didn’t like the Thorazine, “or Haldol, or Melleril, or Zyprexa.” 

Language    

  • God is used several times as an exclamation. 
  • The word hell is spelled out once as “h-e-double toothpicks” and used one other time. 

Supernatural  

  • None 

Spiritual Content  

  • The flock seeks refuge in Saint Patrick’s Cathedral. “As we passed through the door, the air was instantly cooler and scented with something that smelled ancient and churchy and just. . .  religious somehow.” Everyone in the flock starts to pray. 

The Griffin’s Feather

Life is good for Ben, the dragon rider. Two years after the events of the first book, Dragon Rider, Ben is living in Norway with the Greenbloom family on a remote sanctuary for magical creatures. Firedrake, his dragon friend, is visiting. However, a problem arises when a male Pegasus, one of the last in the world, loses his mate and leaves three unborn Pegasus eggs behind. The magical care needed for them to hatch can only be provided by the mother, so the Greenbloom family rushes to find a solution to keep the foals alive: a griffin feather.

A griffin feather may provide the right magical touch to incubate the eggs, however, numerous problems arise. First, Griffins are fearsome predators and only exist in sparse numbers around the world. Second, the Greenblooms and their friends only have two weeks to convince a griffin to give up a sun feather, a rare feather that only grows after a griffin performs a great deed. Lastly, griffins are the sworn enemy of dragons, and Firedrake won’t be able to accompany Ben on the journey. The odds are stacked against them.

Though Ben is upset to journey without Firedrake, he decides to undertake the adventure with his adoptive father Professor Greenbloom, a troll named Hothbrodd, his old friend Lola, and his constant companion Twigleg. Before the group leaves, Firedrake gives Ben one of his scales as a parting gift, which will allow them to share emotions no matter how far away they are from one another.

The group travels to Indonesia, where Professor Greenbloom believes griffins live. They do find griffins, but to the group’s surprise, the island is embroiled in a griffin civil war headed by the island’s evil ruler Kraa, who is challenged by his nephew Shrii. Before the group can meet the infamous Kraa, Ben and the others are captured by monkeys. Sensing Ben’s distress, Firedrake, Sorrel, and a young dragon named Tattoo, travel to rescue their friends. Together, the group of adventurers defeats Kraa, restoring freedom to the island. Plus, they retrieve the griffin feather necessary to ensure the survival of the Pegasus foals.

The Dragon Rider Series is great for readers with an active imagination. The Griffin’s Feather is rich with fantasy elements and adventure. However, the number of relevant characters and magical creatures may be confusing. The back of the book has an index of the characters, but it is easy to get lost in the multitude of names and species.

Even if the series can be confusing, the willingness of the characters to extend love and care to others makes reading this story worthwhile. At one point, Ben thinks “revenge can even drown out love.” Firedrake has a similar thought when he is so angered that he has trouble suppressing his violent instincts. In addition, the final battle stands as a reminder to care for others, even when they may not deserve it.

The Griffin’s Feather unites the characters from the first installment with new friends who undertake a dangerous journey to save a threatened species. This story will leave readers with a strong desire to do what is right, as all the characters would gladly sacrifice themselves for the good of others and the world. Readers who want to jump into a realm where mystical creatures live should also enter the world of The Spiderwick Chronicles by Tony DiTerlizzi & Holly Black and Rise of the Dragon Moon by Gabrille K. Byrne. Both are excellent books that will be less confusing than the Dragon Rider Series.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • Ben remembers his parents, noting that they died in a car crash soon after his third birthday.
  • A parrot warns Ben and Twigleg that if they go to where the griffins live, death awaits them. The parrot says, “[The griffins] will line their nests with your feathers and adorn their treasure chambers with the horn of your beak. They’ll use your bones to skewer their prey, and they’ll feed your beating hearts to their young.”
  • A monkey says all of the travelers are spies. The monkey says, “We ought to throw them into the sea. Or send them back to Kraa dead, like all the others whose bones are bleaching beneath the ruins of our nests.” Later, the monkey thinks that Kraa will kill him and the others for helping the group. The monkey says, “He’ll eat us and line his nest with our skins.”
  • Kraa has many names attesting to his violent nature, such as “Kraa the Merciless,” “Kraa of the Blood-Drenched Feathers,” or “Eater of Hearts.”
  • Twigleg has a nightmare. “It was a dreadful dream. . . [Monkeys] were pulling his master [Ben] to pieces the way children take an insect apart! Crowds of monkeys, screeching and baring their teeth, and [Twigleg] was kneeling in front of the parts trying to put them together again, but he simply couldn’t remember what Ben had looked like.”
  • Kraa’s palace is decorated with drawings, some of which show griffins at war with men and monsters, others where griffins are “perching triumphantly on the dead body of a dragon.”
  • A monkey hopes that a servant dies. The monkey says, “May the jackal scorpions tear him limb from limb! May the jenglots drink his blood—I’m sure it’s even more poisonous than theirs!”
  • Kraa plans Shrii’s demise. “Shrii will be the last [of the prisoners] to die. I’ll clip his claws and wings, and feed him on the gold I get for his servants until he chokes on it. And then I’ll tear his heart out of his colorful breast and eat it. Although it will probably taste as soft and sweet as an overripe melon.”
  • The dragon Tattoo sinks the poachers’ ship. “Their boat was already moving out to sea when Tattoo broke out of the forest. He breathed fire after them, and when the blue flames reached the boat’s hull it sank into the waves with the poachers.”
  • Shrii, Tchraee, and the others fight. During the fight, a human boy “hit [Tchraee] on the chest with the club . . . When Tchraee, striking out desperately with his claws, tore one of Firedrake’s wings open, Tattoo lost his self-control. . . the young dragon began breathing fire. Tchraee was enveloped in pale blue flames. . . Tchraee’s body turned to ash-gray stone and fell from the sky, rigid and petrified. With uncomprehending horror, Tattoo watched as the stone body crashed through the canopy of leaves below them and disappeared.” The battle is described over two pages.
  • Kraa says he wants to “rip out Shrii’s beating heart and eat it, so that everyone on the island will know who is their king.” He also says to Ben that, after he kills Firedrake, he’s going to “dip all my feathers in the blood of your dragon friend.”
  • Kraa, Firedrake, and others fight. “Feathers and scales. Claws and paws. Tawny yellow and silver-gray wings; Kraa’s dreadful beak; Firedrake’s bared teeth . . . But the sounds, if anything, were even worse. The dragon’s roar; the griffin’s screech.” The battle lasts two pages.
  • During the battle, Kraa pecks Sorrel’s hand and his snake tail bites her, but she recovers.
  • Tattoo defeats Kraa. “Tattoo soared into the air and breathed fire down on Kraa. Flames licked around the griffin’s coat and feathers… And when it went out, Kraa had turned into stone.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • Sorrel is known to be ill-tempered and she insults creatures and humans frequently, using mushroom names as expletives. For example, “Oh, lopsided liberty caps,” “moldy midgets,” and “mildew fungus of a homunculus.”
  • Other characters also occasionally call each other names such as “idiotic,” “thieving vermin,” “stupid,” “cudgel-swinging fur-faced kidnappers,” and “cowardly moorhen.”
  • Hothbrodd, who is from Norway, curses by referencing Norse mythology. “By Surtr’s flaming sword. . . This island is like an oven. Nifhel on earth.” Surtr is a god and Nifhel is the lowest level of Hell.
  • A monkey calls Kraa a “crook-beaked monkey-murderer.”
  • A character insults griffins. “Plaguey rapacious felines! Brood of snake-tailed robbers!”
  • The poachers refer to a character as an “imp of Satan.”

Supernatural

  • The story is filled with endless mythical creatures. Some are based on legend and others are completely made up. The creatures include dragons, fungus folk, krakens, mist ravens, centaurs, mermaids, elves, and kelpies, among many others. Only some of the creatures are described below.
  • Magical creatures give other creatures, including non-magic ones, the ability to comprehend the same language.
  • Firedrake is a silver dragon; his species lives off of moonlight.
  • Sorrel is a forest brownie, a bipedal, cat-like creature.
  • Twigleg is a homunculus, a small humanoid that was made by alchemy.
  • Hothbrodd is a troll that can make anything out of wood, including machines. He can also communicate with trees. Trolls also have magical spit with healing properties. He has other magical abilities as well.
  • Pegasi are winged horses that come in many colors, and hatch from magical eggs that can’t open unless cracked by the mother. “The egg of the winged horse, Pegasus unicus, is one of the greatest wonders of the world. . . It’s shell . . . resembles the most valuable glass. Yet it is as hard as diamonds. . . If [the mother] comes to any harm, the egg will not grow, and the foal will stifle in the unbreakable shell.”
  • Jenglots are dwarflike zombies who drink blood. Twigleg is often mistaken for one when the group of travelers is in Indonesia.
  • Since magical creatures attract one another, there is no shortage of them appearing in the story. When the group travels through the jungle, they see “a fist-sized spider with a frog’s head let itself down from a teak tree. A cat with fur that shone like molten gold made its way out of the thicket.”
  • Jackal scorpions, scorpions with jackal heads, are under Kraa’s command. Their stingers are made of gold and they eat human flesh. According to Professor Greenbloom, Mesopotamian kings fed their enemies to these scorpions. He also says they “love to tear their victims to pieces with their pincers after paralyzing them with their stingers.”

Spiritual Content

  • The dragons refer to the afterlife as “The Land of the Moon,” and believe that all dragons go there when they die. Additionally, once a dragon dies, it creates new stars.
  • The traveling companions stop at a temple to Garuda, who is a god-like creature from Hindu mythology, the mount of Vishnu. Ben describes him as, “The creature ridden by Vishnu. Thief of immortality and god of the birds.” Birds from all over the world are at the temple to pray to him.
  • A bird insults Twigleg by comparing him to Apasmara, a dwarf in the Hindu faith known for its stupidity and nonsense.
  • Ben thinks that a statue of a griffin with a dish in its hands “reminds [him] of the sacrificial vessels in which bloody gifts to the gods had once been left in ancient temples.”
  • When scared, one of the characters suddenly prays. “He implored whatever god protected homunculi and human boys.”

by Madison Shooter

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