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The Stone Child

Eddie has a lot on his plate. A new town, a new school, and a missing author. The missing man happens to be Eddie’s favorite author, a man famous for his scary stories. A man who hasn’t been seen for thirteen years. A man whose monsters seem to be walking right off the pages of his best-selling novels.

When Eddie finds an unfinished novel with the worst monster yet, he knows he cannot let that monster, The Woman, into his world. He and his friends set off to figure out what happened to the monsters’ author and to discover how his stories are coming to life. What they find is more terrifying and more dangerous than they ever imagined. Soon the fate of the world relies on three kids racing against time. For once The Woman’s story is complete, she will be able to torment our world.

The Stone Child is a spooky story with loads of suspense. It is written for younger readers with an appetite for mysteries, but may not be the best choice for children who scare easily.  Eddie has creepy encounters with supernatural beings. Although monsters chase Eddie and his friends, the scenes are not graphic.

Eddie does get into a bit of trouble for the sake of the mystery. He trespasses, cuts class, and lies to his parents about where he is and what he is doing. But the whole time he is trying to stop The Woman, he is working to keep his parents and the rest of the world safe.

Sexual Content

  • Harris warns Eddie, “‘She’s a real witch…Be careful. She probably put a spell on you. You might fall in love with her and have little witch babies.’ Then he started kissing his own hand in a really gross way.”

Violence

  • Eddie and his family crash into a strange creature. “His father smashed his foot against the brake pedal. The car began to fishtail; the tires squealed. Eddie felt himself jerk forward against the seat belt . . Then came the horrible crunch as the front of the car crashed into the creature, sending it flying into the greenish darkness of the woods.”
  • Eddie says a creepy guy was “sort of cool.” His mother jokes, “If serial killers are cool, then sure.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • Hell is said twice. For example, Harris screams, “You scared the hell out of us!”

Supernatural

  • People believe in the Olmstead Curse. They think characters that Olmstead wrote about have come alive in the town of Gatesweed.
  • People say a ghost haunts the woods behind Olmstead’s old house.

Spiritual Content

  • The Garden of Eden becomes a central part of the mystery. According to what Eddie discovers, two statues guarded the garden against “creatures…doomed to exile.” These creatures are the ones haunting Gatesweed. Lilith, Adam’s first wife, was banished from the garden. “Lilith’s only companions in her new home were the Exiled – the most vile wretched creatures.” Those creatures have escaped from another world into ours, and now Lilith is trying to follow suit.

by Morgan Lynn

Better Off Undead

Adrian Lazarus has always felt like an outcast. But now that he’s dead, life gets even worse. Even though Adrian does not have a beating heart, he still feels the pain of people talking behind his back. When the school bully, Daryl, decides to target him, Adrian isn’t sure what to do. Then a mysterious girl, a beekeeping boy, and a seventh-grade sleuth enter his life. Can his friends help Adrian stay safe?

Now that Adrian is a zombie, he notices that the world is changing. Forest fires burn, super-flues spread, and bees vanish. While advertisements claim everyone is safe, Adrian and his friends are worried. Is there anything they can do to help the earth?

Better of Undead takes a humorous look at the inside of a junior high school and explores the need to fit in. When the school bully targets Adrian, he and his friends come up with an interesting way to stop the bullying. As Adrian suffers through junior high, he learns that being beautiful isn’t important. It’s what inside that matters. He also realizes that he does not have to let his zombie instincts take over.

Adrian tells his story in a humorous way that will make readers laugh. At the end of the story, the action slows as the author reinforces the messages. One message is that the environment is changing and you should do something about it. The danger of having personal data mined is also shown.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • Daryl, the school bully, pushes a girl and then hits Adrian in the face. “He turned away from me, head ducking down, then turned back and landed a sharp, compact punch to my face.”
  • Gia talks about all of the bad things that have happened. “Outside Quebec, massive fireballs incinerated part of a town. Thirty buildings melted into a thick greasy mass. Cars burned like crumpled paper. Forty-seven people died, and five of those bodies were never found. They were vaporized by the sudden blast of radiant heat.”
  • Adrian found a dead squirrel outside of his house and ate it. “A fresh kill, blood still leaking from its nose, but otherwise not too shabby.”
  • Adrian is taken to see a man who is interested in learning about Adrian’s condition. When a bodyguard tries to block his path, he thinks about biting him. “I felt a surge of power inside me that was beyond myself. It was something other, and greater, than my ordinary being . . . My eyes locked on the vein in the bodyguard’s neck. As I was about to attack, teeth bared. . . “
  • In order to trick the school bully, Adrian and his friend stage a fight at a school dance. “Adrian grabbed Zander by the shoulder, spun him around, and landed a right cross to his face. Zander fell backwards . . .” The two are kicked out of the dance and meet in the woods. “Zander charged forward, tackling me to the ground. . . Zander gained the advantage and viciously kicked me in the stomach . . . I leaped on Zander’s fallen body . . . I burst a large packet of fake blood that had been planted inside Zander’s shirt. While Zander shrieked in agony, my two hands tore up the string of sausage that had been hidden in the hollow. They dripped with bloody sauce.”
  • A doctor wants to run experiments on Adrian. In order to get him to agree, Adrian’s little brother and Adrian’s friends are kidnapped and held hostage. In order to escape, Zander “was punching the bodyguard on the head . . . The guard shrugged him off and with one backhanded blow swatted Zander to the ground . . . He snarled and gave me a two-handed shove that propelled me into the window. My forehead cracked against the thick pane.” When the house catches on fire, everyone is able to escape.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Pretty Pillz are mentioned several times. The Pillz claim to make everyone beautiful. “It’s as easy as swallowing a pill.”

Language

  • Profanity is used rarely, but includes: jerkwads, school butt, hell, and damn.
  • A kids at the smells the air near Adrian and says, “Stinks in here, don’t it? I mean, crap, it’s totally disgusting.”
  • A kid at school threatens to kick Adrian’s butt. When someone tells him to stop, the kid says, “Who. . . in the hell . . . are you?”
  • After being hit, Adrian yells, “Get out of here now or I’ll fire-trucking eat your brains! Only I didn’t say ‘fire-trucking.’ Because, like, who would? Is it even a word? No, I said a different f-word, one that I have heard before, plenty of times (I used to ride the school bus, after all).”
  • “Oh my God” is said several times. When told a story, Adrian replies, “Oh my God.”

Supernatural

  • Adrian dies when hit by a car. He describes himself as a “shuffler, ankle-dragger, shape-shifter, howler, freak. I am a living dad, soulless corpse, brain-sucker, crawler, spitter, wraith, wuss, dumb butt, flailer, mutant, haunt.”
  • Gia, who is allergic to bees, was stung by a swarm of them. “I woke up. I was alive, and I wasn’t supposed to be alive. . . That’s when I saw her, the queen bee. She sat on my chest, and I swear, Adrian, we regarded each other in perfect silence, like equals. . . And she spoke.”  The queen bee told Gia, “It all connects.”

Spiritual Content

  • None

 

The Lightning Queen

Eleven-year-old Teo lives in the Hills of Dust, where not much happens. His life is dull and there is not much hope of things changing in the future. Then a gypsy caravan arrives. The caravan’s Mistress of Destiny tells Teo his fortune–Esma, Queen of the Lightening, will be his lifelong friend. Once Teo and Esma know their fortune, they band together to make it come true.

Teo tells his own story in The Lighting Queen. Teo and his companions, a duck, a blind goat, and a three-legged skunk, bring the story of rural Mexico to life. However, what ultimately drives the story is Esma. She is a plucky heroine who believes that anything is possible, and her optimistic attitude brings inspiration to both Teo and the reader.

The Lightning Queen has plenty to love for readers of all ages. The characters (including the animals) are loveable. The story is engaging and sprinkled with humor. The storyline shows the harshness of life without going into graphic detail or adding unneeded violence. Through the story, the reader sees the importance of looking beyond the physical appearance of people and finding friendship in unlikely places.

Sexual Content

  • Teo and Esma kiss goodbye once. “Our lips touched like two bird wings brushing against each other for the tiniest of moments, then flying apart on their own separate journeys.”

Violence

  • Teo tells the story of when his father was hit by a car. “There was a screech and a thump . . .I remember blood and tears on his eyelashes . . . I remember the driver standing over my father, talking to another driver. Calmly. Too calmly. And most of all I remember their words . . . ‘It’s just an indio.’ Then the other man shrugged and said, ‘What’s one less indio?’ They dragged my father to the side of the road. They wiped his blood from their shirts with handkerchiefs. Then they got back into their cars and drove off.”
  • When Teo’s uncle sees the gypsies giving fortunes, he becomes angry and, “flipped the table over. Cards scattered . . . other Romani woman gasped and skittered backwards with the toddlers. My aunts pulled away, against the wall, holding their own children. My uncle lunged toward Uncle Paco, trying to restrain him.”
  • The schoolteacher hits a boy’s hand with a ruler. “Tears streamed down his cheeks and he cried out. Twice. Now the boy was sobbing, trembling. Three times. Snot and tears covered his face, and his eyes were wide with fear.”
  • The schoolteacher hits Teo’s hand with a ruler. “There was a crack, a bolt of pain like fire that shot through my entire body. My hand wanted, more than anything, to pull away.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • The gypsies tell fortunes. At the beginning of the story, a gypsy tells Teo’s fortune—that he and Esma were destined to be friends for life. The two decided to do everything they can to make the fortune come true.
  • Esma puts a “pretend” curse on the schoolteacher in order to make the teacher kinder to the students. Teo’s grandfather tells the two that he doesn’t like curses, even pretend ones.
  • Teo dies. In death, he sees his sister, father, and grandfather. Esma comes and sings to Teo’s dead body. Teo, “felt the strain of the silvery thread pulling me towards my body. At the same time, I felt the tug of the other world, so easy and glittering and colorful, the promise of an eternity playing with Lucita [his sister], basking in the warmth of Grandfather and Father . . . My soul string was stretched to a single, quivering delicate strand.” When Esma sings, Teo “floated downward” and comes back to life.
  • When Esma sings, people say they can feel their dead loved ones. “I can almost feel my grandmother here with me, as though Esma’s song has opened a path to somewhere hidden.”

Spiritual Content

  • Teo and Esma find a statue that looked like, “a raccoon wearing a giant crown of corncobs.” Teo tells Esma, “We call them diositos—little gods. People say they’re good luck. Most of us have one or two at home. But don’t tell the priest about it.”
  • Teo’s grandfather gives his uncle a “limpia to clean his spirit. That meant spitting on him with cactus liquor and beating him with bundles of herbs.”

 

The Lightning Thief

Percy’s life consists of him being moved from boarding school, to military school, to private school. Pretty much any school that will take him. Because no matter where he goes, or how good he tries to be, something always goes wrong.

At the end of sixth grade, Percy figures out why is life has always been so difficult. He is the son of the Greek god Poseidon, which makes him a half-blood. A demi-god. Monsters are attracted to him. To protect himself, Percy goes to Camp Half-blood, where he learns sword fighting, archery, and a myriad of other skills that he will need to survive. He soon learns that his father is on the brink of war with Zeus and that he may be the only one who can stop it. The Lightning Thief is an enjoyable adventure that will keep readers engaged. There is a lot of fighting with monsters, but asides from that this book is friendly to younger readers.

Sexual Content

  • Dionysus is on probation because he, “took a fancy to a wood nymph who had been declared off-limits.”

Violence

  • Percy is taught in class how Kronos ate his children “And later, when Zeus grew up, he tricked his dad, Kronos, into barfing up his brothers and sisters.”
  • It turns out Percy’s teacher is a monster in disguise. “She snarled, ‘Die, honey!’ And she flew right at me . . . I did the only thing that came naturally: I swung the sword. The metal blade hit her shoulder and passed clean through her body as if she were made of water. Hisss!”
  • Percy is in a car crash. “There was a blinding flash, a jaw-rattling boom!, and our car exploded. I remember feeling weightless, like I was being crushed, fried and hosed down all at the same time.”
  • Percy loses his mother. “Then, with an angry roar, the monster closed his fists around my mother’s neck, and she dissolved before my eyes, melting into light, a shimmering golden form . . . A blinding flash, and she was simply . . . gone.”
  • Furies attack Percy. “I turned and sliced the Fury on the right. As soon as the blade connected with her neck, she screamed and exploded into dust.”
  • Percy kills Medusa. “I slashed up with my sword, heard a sickening shlock!, then a hiss like wind rushing out of a cavern – the sound of a monster disintegrating . . . I could feel warm ooze soaking into my sock.”
  • A Chimera attacks Percy. “Before I could swing my sword, it opened its mouth, emitting a stench like the world’s largest barbecue pit, and shot a column of flame straight at me. I dove through the explosion. The carpet burst into flames; the heat was so intense, it nearly seared off my eyebrows.”
  • Percy kills a monster. “The ropes readjusted themselves at my command. Crusty’s whole head struck out the top. His feet stuck out the bottom . . . I had no qualms about what I was about to do . . . I swung the sword. Crusty stopped making offers.”
  • Percy goes to the Underworld. “Even from far away, I could see people being chased by hellhounds, burned at the stake, forced to run naked through cactus patches or listen to opera music. I could just make out a tiny hill, with the ant-size figure of Sisyphus struggling to move his boulder to the top. And I saw worse tortures, too – things I don’t want to describe.”
  • Percy kills a wild boar in self-defense. “I slashed upward. The boar’s severed right tusk fell at my feet, while the disoriented animal charged into the sea . . . a wave surged up from nowhere and engulfed the boar, wrapping around it like a blanket. The beast squealed once in terror. Then it was gone, swallowed by the sea.”
  • Percy’s mother turns her abusive husband to stone with Medusa’s head.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • The director of Camp Half-Blood is Dionysus, the god of wine. “He waved his hand and a goblet appeared . . . The goblet filled itself with red wine.”

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • Percy Jackson is a demi-god, the son of Poseidon. He goes to Camp Half-Blood, where there are demi-gods, satyrs, nymphs, a centaur, and even a minor god. All the monsters of Greek mythology are real too.

 

Spiritual Content

  • Percy and Chiron discuss the existence of the Greek gods. Percy said, “You’re telling me there’s such a thing as God.” Chiron replies, “God – capital G, God. That’s a different matter altogether. We shan’t deal with the metaphysical . . . gods, plural, as in, great beings that control the forces of nature and human endeavors: the immortal gods of Olympus. That’s a smaller matter.”
  • Percy visits the Underworld, ruled by Hades.
  • After every meal at camp, “everyone was taking a portion of their meal and dropping it into the fire, the ripest strawberry, the juiciest slice of beef, the warmest, most buttery roll . . . Burnt offerings for the gods.”

The Battle of the Labyrinth

The inevitable fight with Kronos is still building, and this time Percy must travel with his friends into the depths of the ever-changing Labyrinth. No one knows who to trust, as Kronos continues to convert monsters, half-bloods, and demons to his side of the war. Percy finds himself battling monsters he has never seen, all while dealing with his confusing relationship with Annabeth and helping Grover finally track down the lost god Pan.

The setting is full of tension and excitement.  New characters arrive on the scene, adding intrigue and mystery. The ending will leave the reader gasping in surprise as they reach for the next book in the series.

Percy has finally reached high school, and begins to notice the opposite sex; however, there is no romantic relationship. There is a burgeoning physical attraction between him and Annabeth. The Battle of the Labyrinth is a little more mature, and the fight scenes become slightly more graphic. Despite this, the novel is appropriate for younger readers.

 Sexual Content

  • When Percy meets two empousai (monsters similar to vampires) they use their powers to charm him. One asks Percy for a kiss. He thinks, “She smelled like roses and clean animal fur–a weird but somehow intoxicating smell.”
  • Sea demons watch a video about puberty. “As a young sea demon matures, the narrator said, changes happen in the monster’s body. You may notice your fangs getting longer and you may have a sudden desire to devour human beings. These changes are perfectly normal.”
  • Annabeth kisses Percy. “Annabeth glared at me like she was going to punch me. And then she did something that surprised me even more. She kissed me.”

Violence

  • An empousai attacks Percy and Rachel. “I slashed with Riptide. Tammi tried to dodge my blade, but I sliced straight through her cheerleader uniform, and with a horrible wail she exploded into dust all over Rachel.”
  • Percy meets flesh-eating horses. “Come inside! Eat you! Tasty half-blood! . . . Poseidon can come in, too! We will eat you both! Seafood!”
  • Percy fights a monster called Geryon. “I went on the attack. Geryon parried my first strike with a pair of red-hot tongs and lunged at my face with a barbecue fork. I got inside his next thrust and stabbed him right through the middle chest.”
  • Daedalus kills his nephew. “Somehow he managed to grab the rim of the tower with his fingers as he fell. ‘Uncle!’ He screamed. ‘Help me!’ The old man’s face was a mask. He did not move from his spot.”
  • Percy meets Antaus, who decorates his court with skulls. “They grinned from pikes at the back of the stands and hung on chains from the ceiling like horrible chandeliers. Some of them looked very old–nothing but bleached-white bone. Others looked a lot fresher. I’m not going to describe them. Believe me, you don’t want to know.”
  • Percy kills Antaus. “I stabbed the giant in the stomach. He bellowed, and sand poured out, but he was too far up to touch the earth, and the dirt did not rise to help him. Antaeus just dissolved, pouring out bit by bit, until there was nothing left.”
  • During a battle, Nico summons the dead to help him. “The earth trembled. A fissure opened in front of the dracaenae, and a dozen undead warriors crawled from the earth.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Half-bloods drink nectar when they are injured. The nectar heals and strengths them.

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • Nico, son of Hades, summons the dead. ” ‘In my day, we used animal blood,’ the ghost mumbled . . . The grave started to bubble. Frothy brown liquid rose to the top like the whole thing was filling with soda . . . Nico had summoned the dead with Coke and cheeseburgers.”
  • Percy meets many monsters, such as giants, hundred-handed ones, and Kampe. “It was sort of like a centaur, with a woman’s body from the waist up. But instead of a horse’s lower body, it had the body of a dragon–at least twenty feet long, black and scaly with enormous claws and a barbed tail.”
  • Kronos possesses Luke’s body. “Luke sat bolt upright. His eyes opened, and they were no longer blue. They were golden, the same color as the coffin. The hole in his chest was gone. He was complete.”

Spiritual Content

  • Percy and his friends discuss how immortal gods and monsters can still die. “Even immortality has limits. Sometimes . . . sometimes monsters get forgotten and they lose their will to stay immortal.”
  • Daedalus, who has cheated death for two millennia, decides to pass on. ” ‘Whoa,’ I said. ‘Pass on? But you can’t just kill yourself. That’s wrong!’ He shook his head. ‘Not as wrong as hiding from my crimes for two thousand years . . . My time has come.’ “

 

 

The Last Olympian

Percy has reached sixteen, the age at which the Great Prophecy will be revealed. Percy can’t spend time worrying about what the prophecy means because Kronos has stepped out of the shadows and has declared war against Olympus. It will take all the Olympians and demigods that Percy can muster to stop Kronos, and that might not even be enough.

The Last Olympian’s content grows with Percy, who must deal with death and war. The entire second half of the book spans a series of battles that take place in New York City. This is by far the most action-packed book in the series. While a couple of deaths are intense, the majority are monsters simply disintegrated into dust and the war is not graphically described.

Sexual Content

  • Rachel hints that she wants Percy to kiss her. Rachel says, “And so . . . hypothetically, if these two people liked each other, what would it take to get the stupid guy to kiss the girl, huh?”
  • Percy thinks about how demigods aren’t related to the children of other gods. “A demigod would never think about dating someone who had the same godly parent . . . But a daughter of Aphrodite and a son of Hephaestus? They’re not related. So it’s no problem.”
  • Annabeth kisses Percy. “Then she laughed for real, and she put her hands around my neck . . . When she kissed me, I had the feeling my brain was melting right through my body.”

Violence

  • Percy kills a giant crab monster. “I jabbed Riptide into the chink in its armor . . . The monster shuddered and hissed. Its eyes dissolved. Its shell turned bright red as its insides evaporated.”
  • Percy and Beckendorf blow up an enemy ship, but Beckendorf doesn’t make it out. “The Princess Andromeda blew up from both sides, a massive fireball of green flame roiling into the dark sky, consuming everything. Beckendorf, I thought. Then I blacked out.”
  • Percy gets frustrated with a stubborn satyr. “I grabbed him by the shirt, which seriously wasn’t like me, but the stupid old goat was making me mad.”
  • Percy fights an army of the dead. “There was nothing left of them but weapons in the sand and piles of smoking, empty uniforms. I had destroyed them all . . . I looked down at my clothes. They were slashed to pieces and full of bullet holes, but I was fine. Not a mark on me.”
  • Conner thinks about looting a candy store when everyone in New York City is asleep.
  • Luke destroys Kronos by killing himself. “He stabbed himself. It wasn’t a deep cut, but Luke howled. His eyes glowed like lava. The throne room shook.”
  • The last half of this book is a giant war that takes place in New York City. There is a lot of violence and some deaths, but most of it is not graphically described.
  • “An entire phalanx of dracaenae marched in the lead, their shields locked together, spear tips bristling over the top. An occasional arrow would connect with their snaky trunks, or a neck, or a chink in their armor, and the unlucky snake woman would disintegrate.”
  • “I tossed [the Minotaur] over the side of the bridge. Even as he fell, he was disintegrating.”
  • “Annabeth and I raced from block to block, trying to shore up our defenses. Too many of our friends lay wounded in the streets. Too many were missing.”
  • “Her features, once beautiful, were badly burned from poison. I could tell that no amount of nectar or ambrosia would save her.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • Percy says “Oh, gods” once or twice.

Supernatural

  • The Oracle gives prophecies about the future that always come true.
  • Percy rides on a hellhound, who can travel through shadows.
  • Luke’s mother sees horrible visions of the future. “My child . . . Must protect him! Hermes, help! Not my child! Not his fate – no!”
  • Morpheus puts the city of New York to sleep.
  • Percy is dipped in the River Styx and becomes invincible.
  • Kronos resides in Luke’s body because Kronos has no form of his own.
  • Percy is a half-blood, the son of Poseidon. The Greek gods, monsters, and most things from the old Greek tales are all true.

Spiritual Content

  • Percy feels guilty for the deaths of the demigods who were killed when he blew up the enemy ship. Poseidon tells Percy, “They all chose to battle for Kronos . . . they chose their path.”

by Morgan Lynn

The Titan’s Curse

Percy, Annabeth, and Thalia are working together to save a pair of half-bloods from the monster who kidnapped them. But when Annabeth is lost, Percy will stop at nothing to save her. Meanwhile, Kronos bides his time, forever scheming to take over the world. His General has escaped eternal punishment and is amassing an army to take down Olympus.  A prophecy tells of a quest to stop the upcoming terror, and Percy joins despite not being chosen to go. Soon he is traveling across the country with Thalia and three of Artemis’ Hunters on a journey to save Annabeth, a goddess, and the world itself.

This installment of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series is riveting and full of suspense. As Percy grows he comes into his own as a powerful son of Poseidon. New characters keep this book fresh, while the constant action keeps readers on the edge of their seats. Aside from the frequent, non-graphic violence, there is little in this book that would exclude younger readers.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • When Apollo’s sun bus crashes into a lake, “steam billowed up . . . ‘Well,’ said Apollo with a brave smile . . . ‘Let’s go see if we boiled anyone important, shall we?'”
  • Thalia and Percy get into a fight. “Thalia pushed me, and a shock went through my body that blew me backward ten feet into the water . . . Anger roared in my ears. A wave erupted from the creek, blasting into Thalia’s face and dousing her from head to toe . . . Thalia yelled, and a blast of lightning came down from the sky, hit her spear like a lightning rod, and slammed into my chest.”
  • Percy fights a lion with his friends. “Immediately, arrows pierced the lion’s maw—two, four, six. The lion thrashed wildly, turned, and fell backward. And then it was still.”
  • Percy fights skeleton creatures. “I thought I was doing pretty well, until the other two skeletons shot me in the back . . . I landed face down in the street. Then I realized something . . . I wasn’t dead. The impact of the bullets had been dull, like a push from behind, but they hadn’t hurt me.”
  • Bianca climbs into a giant robot to stop it from killing her and her friends. When Bianca stops the robot, it collapses, and Bianca “was gone.” Bianca’s friends assumed she died.
  • Dionysus, the god of wine, saves Percy from a manticore (a flying monster) and skeletons. “SNAP! It was the sound of many minds breaking at the same time. The sound of madness. One guard put his pistol between his teeth like it was a bone and ran around on all fours . . . the planks under his paws erupted into grape wines, which immediately began wrapping around the monster’s body . . . until he was engulfed in a huge mass of vines, leaves, and full clusters of purple grapes. Finally the grapes stopped shivering, and I had the feeling that somewhere inside there, the manticore was no more.”
  • Zoe is wounded in a fight. “She leaped between her father and Artemis and shot an arrow straight into the Titan’s forehead, where it lodged like a unicorn’s horn. Atlas bellowed in rage. He swept aside his daughter with the back of his hand, sending her flying into the black rocks.”
  • Luke is mortally wounded. “Talia kicked Luke away. He lost his balance, terror on his face, and then he fell . . . We rushed to the cliff’s edge . . . They were staring at Luke’s broken form on the rocks.”
  • The Olympians debate whether to smite Percy and his friends. Poseidon says, “They are worthy heroes. We will not blast my son to bits.”
  • While fighting a monster, Percy is injured. “My coat and shirt were pinned to the wall by some kind of spike—a black dagger-like projectile about a foot long. It had grazed the skin of my shoulder as it passed through my clothes, and the cut burned. I’d felt something like this before. Poison.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Thalia’s mother died. Someone explains her death: “heavy drinker, and apparently she was out driving late one night about two years ago, and . . . “
  • Dionysus mentions wine several times and procures it once or twice. “He glanced up innocently from the pages of Wine Connoisseur He said, ‘Ah, pinot noir is making a comeback.'”

Language

  • Percy and his friends visit Hoover Dam and start making jokes about “the dam snack bar” and “some dam French fries” and “the dam restroom.”

Supernatural

  • The ancient Greek gods, heroes, and monsters are all real.
  • Bianca pledges herself to Artemis, and when she becomes one of Artemis’ maidens, she is granted immortality.
  • Zeus brings a pair of angel statues to life, so they can help his daughter.

Spiritual Content

  • After a battle, Artemis thinks the monsters are stirring. She says, “Let us pray I am wrong.” Percy asks, “Can goddesses pray?”

by Morgan Lynn

The Sea of Monsters

Percy is a year older, but much remains the same. Once again, Percy is expelled from school when attacked by monsters, and he must flee to Camp Half-Blood. But Camp Half-Blood is not the safe haven Percy was looking for. The camp’s magical boundaries are dying, and soon Percy is on another quest. Joined by Annabeth and his new half-brother Tyson, Percy traverses the Sea of Monsters to both rescue Grover and save the future of Camp Half-Blood.

A wonderfully engaging story, Percy takes readers on an epic journey of strength and heroism. The reader will learn about acceptance alongside Percy because one of the themes is not to judge someone based on his or her looks.  The Sea of Monsters has many, well, monsters. As a result, there is much fighting, but the violence is not portrayed in a bloody manner.

Sexual Content

  • When they win a race, “Annabeth planted a kiss on [Percy’s] cheek.”

Violence

  • Percy plays dodgeball with cannibals. One cannibal says, “We Laistrygonians aren’t just playing for your death. We want lunch!” Then the cannibal “waved his hand and a new batch of dodgeballs appeared on the center line . . . They were bronze, the size of cannon balls, perforated like wiffle balls with fire bubbling out the holes.”
  • Annabeth kills one of the cannibals. “Suddenly the giant’s body went rigid. His expression changed from gloating to surprise. Right where his belly button should’ve been, his T-shirt ripped open and he grew something like a horn—no, not a horn—the glowing tip of a blade.”
  • Tantalus tells the story of why he was punished. “No one noticed that his children were missing. And when he served the gods dinner, my dear campers, can you guess what was in the stew?”
  • Percy is attacked by a Hydra. “There was a flash of light, a column of smoke, and the Hydra exploded right in front of us, showering us with nasty green slime that vaporized as soon as it hit, the way monster guts tend to do.”
  • Percy’s boat explodes. “I spun in the air, got clonked on the head by something hard, and hit the water with a crash . . . The last thing I remembered was sinking in a burning sea, knowing that Tyson was gone forever, and wishing I were able to drown.”
  • Percy runs into piranha sheep. “The deer stumbled and was lost in a sea of wool and trampling hooves. Grass and tufts of fur flew into the air. A second later, the sheep all moved away, back to their regular peaceful wanderings. Where the deer had been was a pile of clean white bones.”
  • Percy and Clarisse fight the Cyclops. “She charged the Cyclops again and again. He pounded the ground, stomped at her, grabbed at her, but she was too quick. And as soon as she made an attack, I followed up by stabbing the monster in the toe or the ankle or the hand.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Percy drinks a potion that turns him into a guinea pig.

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • Percy is a half-blood, the son of Poseidon. The Greek gods, monsters, and most things from the old Greek tales are all true.

Spiritual Content

  • None

by Morgan Lynn

Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer

Theodore Boone is the son of two well-respected lawyers in the town of Strattenburg. He aspires to be a lawyer himself. In fact, he prides himself on providing legal advice to classmates, and even some adults. But when a murder is committed and the trial commences in the otherwise peaceful town, Theo discovers that there is a witness to the crime that no one knows about. But the witness, an illegal immigrant, is hesitant to come forward. Theo must decide how to carefully work around the delicate issue that could result in someone getting away with murder.

This pre-teen novel has a well-developed and interesting plot. While there is mention of a murder, there are few gory details, making it pre-teen friendly. There are many positive role models in the book, including lawyers, judges, policemen, and teachers. Theodore explains the basics of the judicial system in a way that young readers can easily understand. Although an illegal immigrant is one of the main characters in the book, there are very few political influences that affect his treatment. There are several references to drugs and alcohol, but in no instances are they glorified. Overall, this book is educational, exciting, and well-suited for pre-teens.

Sexual Content

  • Theodore lacks any romantic interest for his friend, April. “It wasn’t a romance; they were too young for that. Theo did not know of a single thirteen-year-old boy in his class who admitted to having a girlfriend. Just the opposite. They wanted nothing to do with them. And the girls felt the same way. Theo had been warned that things would change, and dramatically, but that seemed unlikely.”
  • Because girls and boys were split into different classes, there was flirting in the hallways. “There was some awkward flirting between the rooms as the boys mixed with the girls. During classes, they were ‘gender separated,’ according to a new policy adopted by the smart people in charge of educating all the children in town. The genders were free to mingle at all other times.”
  • Theo has a romantic interest in a woman who works as a court clerk. “Jenny, the beautiful, was waiting. ‘Well, hello, Theo,’ she said with a big smile as she looked up from her computer at the long counter. ‘Hello, Jenny,’ he said. She was very pretty and young and Theo was in love. He would marry Jenny tomorrow if he could, but his age and her husband complicated things. Plus, she was pregnant, and this bothered Theo, though he mentioned it to no one.”
  • The narrator mentions the prettiest, most popular girl in Theo’s class; “The most popular girl in the eighth grade was a curly-haired brunette named Hallie. She was very cute and outgoing and loved to flirt.”
  • When Hallie tells Theo to call her, Theo gives an excuse related to her flirtatiousness; ‘“Why don’t you call me sometime?’ she asked. Why? Now that was a good question. Probably because he assumed she was too busy talking to all the other boys. She changed boyfriends every month. He’d never even thought of calling her. ‘I’ll do that,’ he said. But he knew he wouldn’t. He wasn’t exactly looking for a girlfriend, and besides, April would be devastated if he began chasing a flirt like Hallie.”

 

Violence

  • Theo has a hatred for April’s parents because they treat April poorly. “He despised her parents for the way they treated her. He despised them for the chaos of their lives, for their neglect of April, for their cruelty to her.”
  • Murder is mentioned frequently throughout the book. ‘“About eighty percent of those indicted for murder eventually plead guilty, because they are in fact guilty. The other twenty percent go to trial, and ninety percent of those are found guilty. So, it’s rare for a murder defendant to be found not guilty.”’
  • Theo considers the likelihood that Mr. Duffy will commit another murder. “Why would the real killer be a security risk if he showed up to watch the trial? What’s he gonna do? Kill somebody else? In open court? In front of dozens of witnesses?”
  • Ike, Theo’s uncle, gives him details on how the murder was committed. “’He choked her?’ Theo had read every newspaper story about the murder and knew the cause of death. ‘That’s the theory. She died of strangulation. The prosecutor will claim that Mr. Duffy choked her, then ransacked the house, took her jewelry, tried to make it look as if she had walked in on a burglar.’”
  • In the prosecutor’s opening statement, he says how the body was found. “When the body was found, the front door of their home was unlocked and slightly open.”
  • In the prosecutor’s opening statement, he mentions what Mrs. Duffy’s dead body looked like. “The cause of death was strangulation. With the approval of Judge Gantry, Mr. Hogan stepped to a projector, hit a button, and a large color photo appeared on the screen opposite the jury. It showed Mrs. Duffy lying on the carpeted floor, well-dressed, seemingly untouched, her high-heeled shoes still on her feet… Apparently she was ready to leave the house when she was attacked and killed.”
  • The prosecutor gives further, more detailed information as to how Mrs. Duffy was killed. “An autopsy revealed the true cause of death. The person who killed Mrs. Duffy grabbed her from behind and pressed firmly on her carotid artery. Mr. Hogan placed his fingers on his own carotid artery, on the right side of his neck. ‘Ten seconds of firm pressure in just the right place and you lose consciousness,’ he said, then waited while everyone else waited to see if he might just collapse himself right there in open court. He did not. He continued, ‘Once Mrs. Duffy passed out, her killer kept pressing, firmer and firmer, and sixty seconds later she was dead. There are no signs of a struggle—no broken fingernails, no scratches, nothing. Why? Because Mrs. Duffy knew the man who killed her.”’
  • The narrator mentions Mrs. Duffy’s time of death. “The autopsy placed her time of death around eleven forty-five.”
  • The prosecutor reiterates that Mr. Duffy did in fact kill his wife. “The mere fact that a good lawyer kept saying that Mr. Duffy killed his wife made his theory sound believable.”
  • The prosecutor mentions Mrs. Duffy’s death once more at the end of his opening statement. ‘“This was a cold-blooded murder, ladies and gentlemen. Perfectly planned and carefully executed. Not a hitch. No witnesses, no evidence left behind. Nothing but a lovely young woman brutally chocked to death.’”
  • In pet court, someone demands to have a snake destroyed. ‘“Can’t you order it destroyed?’ ‘You want the death penalty for Herman?’ ‘Why not? There are children in our building.’ ‘Seems kind of harsh,’ Judge Yeck said. It was obvious he was not going to order the death of Herman.”
  • In pet court, Judge Yeck threatens to destroy all of the defendant’s pet snakes if they escape again. ‘“If Herman escapes again, or if your snakes are caught outside of your apartment, then I have no choice but to order them destroyed. All of them. Clear enough?'”
  • In pet court, tempers fly and a pet snake is threatened. “‘I swear I’ll kill him. Should’ve killed him this time, but I wasn’t thinking. And, I didn’t have an ax.'”
  • Theo thinks about the blood, or lack thereof, at the murder scene. “There was no blood at the scene, right? So there would be no traces of blood on the gloves.”
  • Theo thinks about hair possibly being the proof that he needs to prove Mr. Duffy’s guilt. “A strand of hair would be even more proof that her husband killed her.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Mr. Boone smokes. “Mr. Boone smoked a pipe, and preferred to do so with the windows closed and the ceiling fan off so that their air was thick with the rich aroma of whatever flavored tobacco he happened to favor that day. The smoke didn’t bother Theo either, though he did worry about his father’s health.”
  • April’s parents were arrested on drug charges. “Both her parents had been arrested on drug charges, though neither had served time.”
  • Theo’s father mentions the consequences that would result from him missing school to watch the trial and makes a reference to alcohol. ‘“I will not bail you out of jail. You’ll sit there for days with common drunks and gang members.”’
  • Theo mentions how dangerous the neighborhood is where his friend’s brother lives. “The Quarry was a rough part of town where the lower income people lived. Strattenburg was a safe city, but there was an occasional shooting or a drug bust, and these always seemed to happen around The Quarry.”
  • Theo’s uncle has a drinking problem. “Ike drank too much, and this unfortunate habit made for slow mornings. Over the years, Theo had heard adults whispering about Ike’s drinking. Elsa had once asked Vince a question dealing with Ike, and Vince replied with a curt, ‘maybe if he’s sober.’”
  • Theo jokingly asks his uncle for a beer; “Ike opened a small refrigerator on the floor behind his desk. ‘I have Budweiser and Sprite.’ ‘Budweiser,’ Theo said. Ike gave him a Sprite and popped the top of a can of Bud for himself.”
  • Theo’s classmate, Woody, has a brother who was arrested for drug possession and distribution. “‘What’s the charge?’ ‘Drugs. Possession of pot, maybe distribution.’ ‘There’s a big difference between possession and distribution.’ ‘Can you help us?’ ‘I doubt it. How old is he?’ ‘Seventeen.’ Theo knew the brother by reputation, and it was not a good one. ‘First offense?’ Theo asked, though he suspected the answer was no. ‘He got busted for possession last year, his first. Slap on the wrist.’ ‘Your parents need to hire a lawyer, Woody. It’s that simple.’ ‘Nothing’s simple. My parents don’t have the money, and if they did they wouldn’t spend it on a lawyer. There’s a war in my house, Theo. Kids against parents, and nobody’s taking prisoners. My stepfather has been fighting with my brother over the drug thing, and he’s promised a thousand times he will not get involved when the cops bust him.’”
  • Theo is watching the trial from a secret spot when he sees someone smoking. “Theo froze and got a whiff of something burning. The man was smoking a cigarette, which was against the rules because they were still inside the building. He blew a huge cloud, then stepped onto the landing. It was Omar Cheepe, visible now with his massive slick head and black eyes. He looked up at Theo, said nothing, then turned and walked away. Theo did not know if he had been followed, or if the stairwell was one of Omar’s smoking places. There were cigarettes everywhere. Maybe others sneaked down there for a smoke.”
  • A group of teenagers is seen smoking. “A gang of young teenagers loitered about, all smoking and trying to look tough.”

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • God is mentioned at the beginning of the trial. ‘“Let all who have matters come forth. May God bless this court.”’
  • Theo’s friend, Julio, tells Theo how his cousin prays for his family; ‘“He finished his lunch and was saying his prayers for his family when the man came out of the same door.”’
  • Once again, Julio’s cousin is said to pray for his family. ‘“Our man liked to sneak away from the others, eat by himself, say his prayers, and look at a photo of his family back home.”’

13 Treasures

Tanya can see fairies—evil fairies who want to keep their existence secret. When Tanya writes about the fairies in her diary, they come to punish her. They pinch her, rouse her from her sleep, and cast spells on her. Tanya’s strange behavior can’t be ignored or explained, and her mother isn’t sure what to do. In an effort to get Tanya to behave, her mother sends her to Elvesden Manor, her grandmother’s secluded estate.

In the hopes of learning more about how to protect herself from the fairies, Tanya sneaks into her grandmother’s library. Soon Tanya is mixed up in a fifty-year-old mystery of a missing girl. But as Tanya tries to unravel the mysteries of her second sight, she soon discovers that there is more to the fairy realm that she first believed. And if she is not careful, she may be pulled into the fairy world and never be able to return home.

Right from the start, 13 Treasures creates suspense as the fairies attack Tanya. Tanya struggles to keep the fairies secret (or they will seek revenge) but also explain her strange behavior. When Tanya is sent to her grandmother’s house, no one is particularly glad to see her, except Fabian the care keeper’s son. The tension in the house creates suspense. The evil fairies, the unwelcoming grandmother, and the string of missing children all lead to a creepy mystery. However, Tanya proves to be a compassionate, plucky heroine that befriends a goblin.

13 Treasures is full of fairy lore, strange creatures, and complicated characters who add interest to the story. Younger children will enjoy having a few scares that don’t leave them frightened. Even though the story is written for 8-12-year-olds, the language and the long descriptive passages may be difficult for some children.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • When Tanya writes about the fairies in her diary, they come into her room and warn her to stop.  One fairy makes Tanya float in the air and turn somersaults. Then, she is dropped and crashes to the floor.
  • When a goblin tells Tanya too much information, the other goblins beat him. “The goblin howled as Toadface drove a heavy fist into his stomach . . . The bruised goblin was left weeping in a heap on the ground. He had sustained several cuts to his face and was bleeding profusely, his lower lip split and swollen.”
  • When Warwick sneaks up and grabs Tanya’s shoulder, she kicks him in the shin.
  • When Tanya and Fabian try to go into the woods, a raven attacks Fabian. “It hooked onto the back of Fabian’s mud-drenched clothes with long, black talons, and began a frenzied attack on the back of his head.”
  • A drain dweller grabs Tanya’s wrist, trying to rip off a bracelet. As Tanya struggles to get the drain dweller to let go of her, it bites her. “She felt, rather than saw, the blood running down her arm and dripping from her elbow.” When the drain dweller gets the bracelet, it runs out the door and is eaten by the cat. “The creature did not scream when the cat’s claws found their target, or even whimper as the broken, aged teeth clamped down on its windpipe for the kill.”
  • In order for a human to escape the fairy realm, they must have another to take their place. Tanya is tied to a tree with spider twine so she can be forced to go into the fairy realm.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • When Fabian sees a drain dweller he yells, “And what the hell is that?”

Supernatural

  • There are fairies, goblins, and other creatures.
  • Tanya has the second sight because someone in her family was switched with a changeling. “The second sight comes from having fairy blood.”
  • A gypsy who lives in the woods is said to be able to see into the past. The gypsy gives Tanya a compass that will show the direction of her home.
  • The fairies threaten to use rosemary that grows in the piskies’ domains to wipe Tanya’s memory.
  • Fabian believes that a girl he saw in the woods could be a ghost. “Maybe she’s trying to tell us that he did kill her all those years ago. Maybe she can’t move on until justice is done.”
  • The fairies use a glamour to disguise a fairy child that was switched with a human child. One of the characters is afraid the glamour will wear off and the baby would be, “put under observation in a laboratory somewhere—analyzed, poked, prodded, and experimented on.”
  • Tanya is told that she must destroy anything that the fairies could use to control her. “Blood. Saliva. Fingernail and toenail clippings. Teeth. All the stories of witchcraft, of people being controlled by a witch in possession of a lock of their hair or a tooth—it all stems from the truth. You don’t leave anything to chance.”
  • Tanya is given a potion to rub on Fabian’s eyes so he can see the fairies.

Spiritual Content

  • None

 

Voyage with the Vikings

Mr. Whittaker uses the Imagination Station to send cousins Patrick and Beth back to the time of the Vikings. Mr. Whittaker asks the cousins to bring back a sunstone, but they don’t know what a sunstone looks like. Even if the two knew what they were looking for, finding the sunstone would be difficult. Once they arrive in Greenland, Erik the Red accuses them of being spies and threatens to enslave them. Patrick and Beth wonder if they can complete their mission and find the sunstone without angering Erik the Red and becoming his slaves.

Full of action, Voyage with the Vikings introduces young readers to the life of a Viking. Although the reader gets a glimpse at Erik the Red’s violent temperament, there is no actual fighting. Part of the storyline shows the difference between Vikings and Christian beliefs.

This story gives the reader a view into another time period and creates suspense that will keep the reader wanting to know what happens next. Voyage with the Vikings is easy to read with kid-friendly language. The end of the book will leave even the most reluctant reader wanting to pick up the next in the series.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • Erik the Red threatens to kill Patrick. When Erik the Red goes to throw his spear, a polar bear roars, and he is thrown from his horse.
  • Erik tells Patrick, “I would kill you if I could.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • The Vikings throw beer onto the fire as a sacrifice to a Norse god.

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • Patrick and Beth use the Imagination Station to travel back in time.

Spiritual Content

  • Leif’s father, Erik the Red, is angry that his son went to trade and brought back, “a new God. The God of the Cross.”
  • Leif explains that the Vikings worship the Norse gods and offer sacrifices to them.

Five Epic Disasters

Five Epic Disasters brings five epic disasters to life through the eyes of young survivors. Blending an informational and story format, the series gives young readers a glimpse into historical disasters without scary details.  As Five Epic Disasters unfolds, readers learn about a tsunami, a tornado, a flood, the Titanic, and a blizzard. Each section begins with a story of a young person who survived the tragedy. The end of each section ends with facts and statistics about the disaster.

Because the author tells each story in a matter-of-fact tone, the stories are not frightening. The stories have plenty of pictures and illustrations to enhance each story. Each story is just a small glimpse into the disaster, which may spark the readers’ interest to read more about the events. The end of the book gives other titles about the same topics, so children can easily find additional material to add to their reading list.

Five Epic Disasters presents historical events in a simple, kid-friendly way that will spark readers’ interest and make them want to read more in the I Survived True Stories Series.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • Nature’s violence is shown, but there is no human violence.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • “Native Americans told stories of whirlwinds created by the Thunderbird, a powerful god who created swirling winds by flapping his gigantic wings.”

 

A Plague of Bogles

Bogles don’t hide in closets; they hide in small, dark places where they lie in wait for children they can devour.  Many adults don’t believe bogles exist, but Jem has seen a bogle.  When a child is sent to fetch some sherry from a basement and never returns, Mable goes in search of help and finds Jem.  Jem searches out the only person who can help, a bogler named Alfred.

In order to catch a bogle, Alfred needs some bait—a singing child.  In order to get off of the streets, Jem agrees to be bogle bait.  Jem and Alfred meet several interesting characters who have bogles that need eradicating. Soon they discover they need the help of Birdie, a gutsy girl with a beautiful voice.

To complicate the story, Jem is also trying to hide a secret.  As Jem tries to help solve the mystery of why there are so many bogles in one area, he is also trying to find Sarah Pickles, the woman who sold him as bogle food.

The story begins with suspense and mystery that make it more interesting for readers, but the language may be difficult for younger audiences.  For example, Jem says, “I never prigged a thing, save for that morsel o’ cheese.” The book also mentions debtors’ prisoners and homeless children.  The complicated themes and adult nature of some scenes may not be suitable for all children.

Jem is frightened of going to prison because of his past misdeeds, and he thinks about this often. Even though Jem does not want to end up in prison, he does not feel bad about stealing. Instead, Jem seems to think thievery is acceptable.  Jem, “had always favored the idea of bogling, because bogling was such a flash occupation, like smuggling or highway robbery.” As Alfred and Jem go about the city, they spend time in a tavern, where alcohol is served. (Although Jem would like some, Alfred won’t allow it.)

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • When Jem picks a morsel o’ cheese off the floor and eats it, he is beaten.
  • Jem is in a circle of salt when a bogle puts its two viscous arms around him. Then he jumps out of the way when he hears “a cry and a loud hissing noise. The air filled with foul-smelling steam,” and the bogle is dead. (In total there are three bogles that are killed, in a similar fashion.)
  • Jem thinks about Newgate prison, a place he fears, because he knew “several people who had been hanged there.”
  • At one point in the story, Jem remembers a time when he “once helped to rob a woman’s house while she was making her regular weekly visit to her dead child’s grave.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • A child was working for a tavern. She was sent to fetch some sherry when she disappeared; she’s presumed to be eaten by a bogle.
  • Jem sings the following song: “There is a nook in the boozing ken,/Where many a mug I fog,/and the smoke curls gently, while cousin Ben/keeps filling the pots again and again,/ if the covers have stumped their hogs./The liquors around is diamond bright,/And the diddle is best of all;/ But I never in liquors took much delight,/For liquors I think is all bite.”
  • After Alfred and Jem dispose of a bogle, they go to a tavern where Alfred was jostled by “loud men in dirty clothes, many of whom were so drunk that only the press of bodies kept them upright.  Jem noticed at least two gaping pockets just asking to be picked-pockets belonging to men who would never know, by morning, whether they had spent their missing money or been fleeced of it.”
  • The following is another song Jem sings: “The heavy wet in a pewter quart/ As brown as a badger’s hue, More than Bristol milk or gin,/ Brandy or rum I tipple in, With me darling blown, Sue.”

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • To catch a bogle, Alfred must lay out a circle of salt with a gap in the ring so the boggle can enter it. In order to kill a bogle, it must be hit with a spear.
  • When a bogle is near, a child feels a sense of despair.

Spiritual Content

  • None

 

 

The Last Bogler

Alfred Bunce is out to rid Victorian London of bogles. In order to reach his goal, Alfred needs all the help he can get. Alfred and his apprentice, Ned, work with the Sewers Office to find and eliminate bogles. However, the bogles are acting unpredictably and Ned wonders if he has enough skill to become the next bogler.

To add to the suspense, an old enemy is out for revenge, and Ned’s life is in danger. Can Ned survive long enough to help Alfred rid London of bogles?

Ned is thankful that Alfred has taken him off the street, but Ned doesn’t think he wants to take Alfred’s place as the last bogler. The Last Bogler focuses more on Ned and his internal conflict, which makes the book less interesting than the previous two.

Although new characters are added, none of them are particularly memorable. The Last Bogler is not a stand-alone book; if the first two books haven’t been read, it may be hard to follow the plot. Additionally, much like the first two books, the language may be difficult for some readers.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • Alfred and Ned kill bogles. None of the deaths are described in detail. When one bogle is killed, it “reared up, frothing and hissing, its tentacles writhing, caught in the glittering trap—Bang! It exploded like a giant grape, releasing a geyser of black liquid.”
  • Alfred kills another bogle. “Suddenly there was no bogle. Nothing remained except a rapidly deflating, crusty black thing that looked like an oversized boil. Alfred’s spear was sticking out of it.”
  • Mr. Harwood is attacked, but it is not described. “By the time Alfred and Ned rounded the next corner, Mr. Harwood was already on his back in the middle of the alley, with both hands clamped over his nose.”
  • Someone tries to kill Ned, but the attack is not described. Ned’s “hair was ruffled, his knuckles were grazed, and there was a rip in the knee of his trousers.” Later, the attacker confesses that he was paid to kill Ned.
  • Jack Gammon tries to kill Ned and Alfred. Jack threatens to “chop him into pieces.” In the end, Jack falls to his death. Ned “would never forget the horror of shouting for help . . . with Jack Gammon’s shattered body lying in a pool of blood at his feet.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Alfred and another man talk about a missing person. They are unsure if he was taken by a bogle or “he’s tucked away in the Nell Gwynne public house, drinking himself witless.”

Language

  • When a newsboy is seen following Ned, someone says, “Why, what a damnable cheek!”
  • Alfred tells someone that a lady only cares about “that hoard o’ coins in her piss pot.”

Supernatural

  • Alfred is called a “Go-Devil Man.”
  • To catch a bogle, Alfred must lay out a circle of salt with a gap in the ring so the bogle can enter it. In order to kill a bogle, it must be hit with a spear.
  • When a bogle is near, a child feels a sense of despair.
  • Alfred visits a lady known for making potions and curses. She also talks about types of herbs that are “for deathwork” and others that drive away the devil, or attack magic.
  • Alfred learns that his spear is made from “blackthorn with a consecrated point on it” and that it has herbs that are “used for cursing.”

Spiritual Content

  • None

Shark Bait

Sam expected to view sea life while on vacation at the Great Barrier Reef. What he didn’t expect was to become shark prey. But when a huge wave hits Sam and another boy, they are swept into the open ocean. Sam must keep himself and his new friend, Michi, from drowning. He also has to worry about the predators that lurk underwater.

When Sam and Michi finally see land, their troubles are far from over. Michi’s foot gets stuck in a giant clam and when Sam goes for help, smugglers throw him in a cage with an angry bird. Sam must figure out a way to escape in time to help Michi get to shore before the tide comes in.

Action-packed suspense will keep readers turning the pages of Shark Bait. Because Sam tells his own story, the reader will be able to relate to his fear and determination. Although Sam seems to have the worst luck in the world, his story is believable. Shark Bait is an easy-to-read story that is sure to entertain.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • A shark attacks Sam. “I felt myself knocked head over heels. The next moment I was upside down, looking back through the inverted V of my splayed white legs . . . I couldn’t believe a real live shark had just head-butted me and then swum away.” When a shark bites the cast on Sam’s foot, Sam “hit my attacker in the eye” and the shark lets go.
  • During the night, a boat hits Sam. “It spun me around, rolling me helplessly along the hull beneath the water line . . . The hull wacked me again, on the shoulder this time.”
  • Sam wrestles with a sea snake. “Grabbing its neck with my other hand, I yanked it off my watch . . . It coiled itself into a writhing green football around my wrist and arm, its mouth biting and snapping in my tightly clenched fingers.”
  • Michi attacks a smuggler, who is holding Sam captive. “Michi darted forward and tripped the smuggler with his stick . . .” Then Michi uses a karate kick. “The toe of Michi’s heavy leather shoe struck him squarely in the temple. Whomp! Baldy went down like a sack of wet cement.”
  • A smuggler throws a spear at Michi, but no one is injured. Later Michi kicks the smuggler and the man “fell in a heap.”
  • A smuggler shoots a gun at the boys.
  • A smuggler tries to stab Sam with a bowie knife. Sam “formed a karate ridge-hand and struck him with all my strength right on the point of his elbow . . . he screamed, dropped the knife, and slid from view.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • None

Scorpion Sting

When Sam and his brother, Nathan, go on a caving expedition, the cave roof suddenly collapses, trapping Nathan. Nathan needs medical help in a hurry, and Sam is his only hope. When Sam reaches the cave’s entrance, he’s trapped by angry scorpions. But that’s just the first obstacle he must overcome in order to save his brother.

Once out of the cave, Sam must survive the desert heat and avoid terrorists, all while trying to figure out which direction to go to find help. On his way, he must remain calm and use all of the skills his brother taught him just to stay alive—because staying alive is the only way Nathan will get the help he needs.

Told from Sam’s point of view, Scorpion Sting is full of suspense right from the start. Sam is a likable character, who relies on his brother’s advice to get him through each obstacle. Full of kid-friendly adventure, readers won’t want to put this book down until they reach the exciting and surprising ending.

Although Sam is in danger of being killed several times, the scenes are not described in detail which allows the reader to use their imagination. Even though Sam faces several near-death experiences, the events are not scary because of Sam’s bravery and the lack of graphic detail.

The ending of the book will give the reader several unexpected surprises, including that the terrorists weren’t terrorists at all. A fast-paced adventure, Scorpion Sting will be enjoyed by children, especially boys, of all ages.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • While lost in the desert, Sam comes across a pack of dingoes. The dingo tries to eat a joey, so Sam wants to prevent the joey from becoming lunch. “I caught the dingo in a flying tackle, knocking it to one side. I landed on top . . . There was a whoosh of air being driven from its lungs and the horrible sound of a rib cracking. It let out a yowl of pain and bit me on the shoulder.”
  • Someone shoots at Sam. He believes that the shots came from terrorists, who are conducting a training exercise.
  • Sam and another boy hide from tanks. The boys inadvertently hide behind billboards that the tanks are firing at. “One of the tanks belched a yellow ball of flame. There was a whistling sound, followed by a loud crack. The billboard next to ours shuddered as a spray of wood chips and debris flew out of the back of it.” The boys are able to move and hide before they are hurt.
  • Twice, a shell almost hits the boys. “A huge shock wave drove me face down into the sand with the force of a pile driver. All the wind was knocked out of me. I saw stars. For a few seconds I was completely out of it.”
  • In order to save the Prime Minister, Sam tackles him. “The Prime Minister went down like a bag of cement, with me on top of him. As we hit the ground, there was an ear-splitting boom. I felt a blast of hot air and saw the jeep’s door spinning overhead like a Frisbee.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • When Sam is surprised or upset he yells, “Holy guacamole!”

Supernatural

  • Sam follows Min Min lights, which are part of Australian folklore. The lights appear and disappear quickly, but the source is unknown.

Spiritual Content

  • None

 

You Go First

Charlotte has had the same best friend since elementary school. Charlotte wants to be a geologist and understand facts. When Charlotte starts middle school, she doesn’t understand why her best friend no longer wants to spend time with her. She doesn’t understand how to fit into middle school.

Ben doesn’t have any friends. He isn’t going to let that stop him from making an impact on his middle school. He’s determined to run for a student body office. But Ben isn’t prepared for a high school bully.  And life only gets worse when his parents announce that they are getting a divorce.

On the outside, Charlotte and Ben’s lives are completely different. Charlotte lives in Pennsylvania. Ben lives in Louisiana. But internally, both are smart, and both are struggling to fit into middle school. An online game of Scrabble brings the two together, but can a game break up their loneliness?

Beautifully written in easy to understand language, You Go First shows the power of having a friend. At first, Charlotte and Ben’s struggle seems stereotypical—smart kids enter junior high and realize they have no one to sit with at lunch. However, the characters are so unique and well-developed that the readers will feel their confusion, pain, and desire for someone to talk to.

Unlike many stories, You Go First looks at not only how mean middle school students can be, but Charlotte also begins to see how she is similar to the mean kids. Through the story, the reader will come to a better understanding of what friendship should look like. You Go First does not end with a happily-ever-after ending; however, the story does show how one friend can make a difference in a person’s life.

Sexual Content

  • Charlotte’s friend said that she “didn’t want to graduate from middle school as the only girl who’d never been kissed.”

Violence

  • A boy shoves Ben’s head against a wall and later smears ketchup on Ben’s shirt.
  • A boy trips Ben in the school hallway. “He did tumble. It just happened to be over Theo Barrett’s sneaker.”
  • Just as Ben is beginning his speech, a group of kids throws firecrackers at him.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Charlotte’s father takes pills for his heart.

Language

  • Two girls are talking about a boy. When he walks in, a girl says, “Oh, God. Speak of the devil.”
  • A girl calls her brother Dorko and tells him, “God, you’re such an idiot.”
  • When Charlotte trips and drops her lunch, someone says, “Well done, Lock-nerd.”

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • Ben was in his bedroom preparing for an oncoming speech. He really wanted his dad to leave the bedroom, and “then the gods gave him an unexpected gift: His phone buzzed. . . ”

 

The Hypnotists

Jax’s eyes have always changed colors. And when people begin doing exactly what Jax tells them, he wonders if there is more to his color-changing eyes than he knows. Soon, Jax finds himself invited to meet Dr. Mako. Dr. Mako promises to teach Jax to harness the power to hypnotize people.

Excited by the prospect of learning more about his powers, Jax falls under Dr. Mako’s spell. However, Jax begins to wonder why Dr. Mako is so interested in his powers. Jax isn’t sure if Dr. Mako can be trusted. Soon Jax is tangled in a web of deception. Jax must figure out how to save his best friend, his parents, and the United States from Dr. Mako’s evil plan.

Jax’s newly emerging power adds humor and suspense to The Hypnotist. Younger readers will enjoy watching Jax learn to use his power and struggle with the responsibility of being able to hypnotize others. Jax works through many of his problems by talking to his best friend Tommy. This allows the reader to understand Jax’s emotions. The relationship between Jax and Tommy adds to the story’s plot and helps keep the story’s tone kid friendly. Even though much of the conflict revolves around Dr. Mako, who turns out to be an evil villain, the violence is age appropriate for children because it is not described in detail or in a scary manner.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • A man is hypnotized and ordered to jump off a bridge. Jax, “could hear the sound of someone in terrible distress, sobbing as if the end of the world were at hand . . . they watched in horror as the young man hoisted himself over the barrier and stood poised, trembling, on the narrow ledge.” Jax re-hypnotizes the man and saves his life.
  • Dr. Mako puts a post-hypnotic suggestion on Jax’s parents. If Jax doesn’t do what Dr. Mako wants, he will tell Jax’s parents to kill themselves. Dr. Mako tells Jax, “I won’t mention the trigger word yet. It’s too dangerous. When they hear it, both your parents will proceed to the nearest subway station and throw themselves in front of an uptown train.”
  • Jax parents throw themselves in front of a train. No one is injured.
  • Dr. Mako hypnotizes Jax and has him jump off a building. A mob of people hold up curtains and catch Jax, which prevents him from being killed.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • Many of the characters in the book can hypnotize others. One of the character’s specialties is, “A series of post-hypnotic suggestions that could be activated later.”
  • Throughout the story, many characters are hypnotized without their knowledge.
  • When Jax is learning to hypnotize others, he learns that, “the mesmeric connection is a powerful coupling of two minds. . . When you ‘see’ through your subject’s eyes, you’ve admitted a stranger’s consciousness into your head.”

Spiritual Content

  • None

 

The Dragonfly Effect

Jax is unsure if the military is protecting him or keeping him prisoner. The military promised to protect Jax and his family from Mako, a hypnotic mastermind who wants Jax dead.

Soon Jax learns that the military’s protection comes at a price. They want to use Jax’s hypnotic powers as a military weapon. The military wants to figure out how to use Jax’s ability to control people through video broadcast, but Jax only wants to use his powers for good. Soon Jax is using his hypnotic power in military experiments that could cost people their lives.

Then Mako escapes from prison. With the help of a young boy with hypnotic powers, Mako plans to put the entire world into a hypnotic state, which will not allow people to move as the world falls apart without them. Jax, with the help of two friends, must avoid being captured by the military or Mako in order to save the world.

The Dragonfly Effect is filled with suspense and adventure. Jax is stuck between following the orders of the adults around him and doing what he knows is right. Although there is violence in the book, it is not described in detail and is age-appropriate for children.

One likable aspect of the story is Jax’s parents. They know about Jax’s hypnotic powers, and even when Jax uses his skills to hypnotize them, they are smart enough to know that Jax is trying to manipulate them. Even though Jax is the main focus of the story, his parents come across as a smart, loving couple, which is rare in today’s books.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • Jax puts a pilot into a hypnotic state. While in the hypnotic state, the pilot crashes his plane. “The fireball lasted only a split second before the video went blank.” Jax becomes upset that “You made me kill him!” It is only then that Jax finds out the pilot was in a simulator and is fine.
  • When Jax breaks into a military facility, he is caught. “MPs stormed the room. Rough hands grabbed him, threw him to the floor, and flipped him over on his face. He felt his arms pinned behind him as cuffs were slapped on his wrist.”
  • In an experiment, Jax puts an entire town under a hypnotic state. The people are given an order to stop moving. As the people are frozen in place, disaster happens around them. Cars crash, houses burn, and other disasters begin, but the people never move.
  • Jax’s friend drives a Bobcat into a police station to free his friends.
  • Jax is kidnapped and put into a “chokehold. A knee in the small of his back lifted his heels slightly off the floor . . . He hung there paralyzed with pain.”
  • There is a fight between boys, which is described over a page. “Jax charged his enemy, grabbed him around the midsection, and drove forward like a wrestler.” In the end, no one is injured.
  • Under a hypnotic state, Jax is told, “The only thing that will make you feel more wonderful . . . is to take the pistol from that security man, hold it to your temple, and squeeze the trigger.”
  • A plane carrying Jax’s parents almost crashes when the pilot is put into a hypnotic state and freezes, unable to move.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • None

 

 

 

Inside Out & Back Again

Despite the war, Hἁ loves her home in Saigon. She loves going to the market, her friends, and family traditions. Best of all, Hἁ has her very own papaya tree. When Saigon falls, Hἁ’s family is forced to move to America. But once they get to America, adjusting to a new culture, a new language, and new traditions are more difficult than Hἁ imagined.

Told from Hἁ’s point of view, Inside Out & Back Again is a story that gives the reader a glimpse of life in Saigon during the Vietnam War. Hἁ’s conflict with other people and with her own feelings shows the confusion of adapting to a new culture. Written in poetry format with beautiful descriptions, children will enjoy this engaging story.

Sexual Content

  • When Hἁ’s neighbor hugs and kisses a man, Hἁ thinks, “only husbands and wives do that when alone.”

Violence

  • The story takes place during the Vietnam War. On TV, “a pilot from South Vietnam bombed the presidential palace downtown that afternoon. Afterward the pilot flew north and received a medal.”
  • When South Vietnam loses the war, a “woman tries to throw herself overboard, screaming that without a country she cannot live.”
  • When they get to America, someone throws a brick through the family’s window “along with a note. Brother Quang refuses to translate.”
  • A teacher shows pictures of “a burned, naked girl running, crying down a dirt road/of people climbing, screaming, desperate to get on the last helicopter out of Saigon.”
  • At school, Hἁ is teased. When a boy threatens to beat up Hἁ, she hits him. “A thud. Pink boy writhes on the pavement.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • When Hἁ’s mother discovers that those whose visa applications say “Christians” get sponsored quicker, her mother “amends our faith, saying all beliefs are pretty much the same.”
  • In order to be more accepted into the American community, Hἁ and her family get baptized.

Audacity Jones To The Rescue

Audacity Jones doesn’t complain about being raised in Miss Maisie’s School for Wayward Girls.  Audacity’s life isn’t full of adventure, but she has friends and a clever cat named Miniver. When Audacity is sent to the Punishment Room, which is often, she finds plenty of books to fill her time.

When Commodore Crutchfield visits the school seeking an orphan, Audacity volunteers to go on a secret mission to Washington D.C. Soon, Audacity begins to question the Commodore’s intentions. As she tries to discover the Commodore’s true mission, she meets interesting new people that help her along the way.

Audacity is a plucky, optimistic heroine, who is full of adventure. When circumstances are bleak, Audacity keeps her wits and looks at the bright side of things. The story weaves the girls from Miss Maisie’s School into Audacity’s story, which highlights the friendships Audacity left behind.

The historical novel will give readers a glimpse of life in the 1800s as well as a peek inside President Grant’s life. Audacity Jones to the Rescue is an interesting story with unique characters that add to the book’s enjoyment. Although the story is easy to read, the detailed descriptions and lack of action at the beginning of the story may make it difficult for some readers to make it to the end of the book. However, the action and suspense pick up at the end of the story and leave the reader with a satisfying conclusion.

Sexual Content

  • None

 

Violence

  • Audie faints when turtles are being made into soup.
  • Dorothy, the niece of the president, is drugged and kidnapped. The kidnappers tie her hands but do not hurt her.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • When Audie is worried that Mrs. Finch will “be cross,” another character tells Audie not to worry because she has “poured her a lovely glass of sherry.”

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • One of the characters mentions a reverend who advises people to “pray but swing the hammer.”
  • A character wonders, “Why did God make girls anyway? Total waste of time as far as he could see.”

Podkin One-Ear

The legend of Podkin One-Ear has been passed down through traveling bards. On Midwinter Night, a traveling bard arrives at Thornwood Warren. He tells the exciting story of how Podkin One-Ear overcame the Gorm, a fierce, cruel, evil enemy. The legend of the greatest warrior their land has ever known will entertain and surprise readers.

Through the bard’s storytelling, Podkin and his siblings come to life. Podkin, the lazy son of a chieftain, never dreamed of becoming a great warrior. When the Gorm appear in their warren, kill their father, and capture their mother, Podkin and his siblings run for their lives. With the help of a magic dagger, a witch, and a blind mercenary, Podkin and his siblings might be able to defeat the Gorm. As Podkin One-Ear and his siblings flee for their lives, they discover the history of their land and the terrible truth behind how the Gorm came to be.

Told in the style of old legends, Podkin One-Ear contains suspense, monsters, and a bit of magic. The author’s descriptions bring the rabbit world to life.  Readers will cheer for Podkin and his siblings as they run from the Gorm and battle their way to save their mother. The Gorm and several of the battles are described in vivid detail and may frighten children. Through Podkin One-Ear’s tale, the reader will see how “you don’t have to be brave or strong or powerful to do incredible things.”

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • The Gorm and rats that were changed chase Podkin. “At the front, where their heads should have been, were fanged, drooling mouths, and glaring out of holes in their armor were blank, rust-red eyes . . . the things were now beasts. Iron beasts. Monsters.” Podkin escapes.
  • The Gorm have Paz, Podkin’s sister, corned. In order to save her, Podkin cuts a tree down. The tree falls on the Gorm, who have “surprised clouds of breath gushing from behind their iron masks, and then the tree hit with an explosion of snow crystals and a roar that echoed through the forest . . . the riders, nothing could be seen except a twisted shard of armor and a splash of rusty crimson blood on the snow.”
  • As Podkin tries to escape from rabbits, who are trying to capture him and turn him over to the Gorm, his ear is pinned to the ground by a prong of a portcullis. “Her brother’s eyes were bulging and his teeth were gnashing in pain.” In order to set her free, Paz has to cut the ear off. “It was funny to be running off into the woods, leaving a part of his body behind. But the funniest thing of all was that even after his ear had been sliced off, he could still feel the burning pain of the portcullis piercing it.”
  • A rabbit throws a rock at one of the Gorm’s birds. “. . . When it suddenly exploded with a clang and a puff of iron feathers . . . the crow had been knocked to the ground, stone dead.”
  • Podkin hires a mercenary, Crom, to help him free his kidnapped siblings. There is a fight over the course of several pages. “Crom strode right up and cracked him between the ears with Starclaw’s hilt. There was a hollow clinging sound, and Quince folded up into a senseless heap on the floor . . . The huge rabbit went flying backwards crashing into the earthen wall of the burrow, smashing a hole right through it, and bringing half the ceiling cascading down to bury him.”
  • When the head Gorm is looking for Podkin and his siblings, “The Gorm Lord grabbed the guard rabbit and threw him across the chamber. He sailed through the air like a broken doll, crashing into a candle stall, and sending sparks flying and hot wax showing everywhere.” The destruction of the market and the children’s escape is described over several pages. Someone throws “little black balls of something” at a warrior. “The balls exploded, filled with black sticky goo that smoked and burned. The warrior roared, dropped his sword and clawing at his face.”
  • Crom tells about how he and Podkin’s father learned to battle. During a battle, Crom “was positioned, and he (the enemy) was about to bring his stone ax down on my head. I just stood there, staring up at him in surprise.” Podkin’s father saves Crom.
  • Crom describes the battle that caused him to lose his sight. While fighting the Gorm, they went into battle but were unprepared. There was a witch rabbit. “She rode a black rat and called down lightning from the sky . . . her magic took my sight, and for days I lay under a pile of bodies in some kind of trance.” Some rabbits that were fleeing healed his wounds.
  • Podkin and his crew sneak into a Gorm camp to free other rabbits (including Podkin’s mother). The battle scene takes place over a chapter. Podkin slashes Scramashank’s ankle. “. . . He slung the dagger sideways, aiming for the spot above Scramashank’s ankle. Starclaw switched through, as if it were nothing more than a blade of grass.” Then a bank of mist appears, and the Gorm “fell to the ground, choking, gasping, and clutching at their throats. Their already terrified beast toppled over, trampling and crushing them in the snow.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • The chief has a cup of “frothy honey mead.”
  • One of the kidnappers is described as “clutching a half-drunk bottle of mead.”

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • A warren of rabbits were turned into the Gorm, evil and unnatural beings. No one knows what exactly happened; “some say they tunneled too far down and came across something cursed and poisonous. Others say it was the work of witches.”
  • The Gorm are not rabbits anymore. One of them is described as “a walking slab of metal and meat, pierced through with rusty thorns and nails. Its armor overlapped in sheets of jagged, dented iron, mottled with rust and splashes of dried crimson that looked very much like blood . . . Skulls hung from its belt. Rabbit skulls, painted all over with evil-looking runes.”
  • Podkin has a magical dagger that came from the Goddess. The dagger can cut anything that is not metal.
  • A rabbit, who is a witch, uses bones to tell the future. Her warren is safe because “there’s enough glamours and enchantments about this place that Hern himself, god though he be, couldn’t find it if I didn’t want him to.”

Spiritual Content

  • During Midwinter, a holiday much like Christmas, the Midwinter Rabbit visits the warrens bringing gifts.
  • The story often contains the phrase, “thank the Goddess,” and Podkin prays to the Goddess. The Goddess made the twelve tribes of rabbits.
  • Podkin hides from the Gorm and “gave a small prayer to the Goddess.”
  • As a warren of rabbits was digging a new longburrow, they found jutting metal, pulsing metal. Because they thought the metal thing was evil, “our priestess sealed off the tunnel with magic charms.”
  • A bard tells a group of children that there is a god of bards and storytellers. “His name is Clarion, and he has been known to whisper the art of stories into the ears of a chosen few rabbits while they sleep.”
  • Twin sisters Estra and Nixha, Goddesses of life and death, came to “our world and decided it was the place for them.” However, they had to get rid of Gormalech. They played a game that no one really won, but they came to an agreement. “The goddesses would rule the surface of the world, bringing life (and death) back to it, as before. Gormalech would go deep underground, where iron and all the other metals come from, and between them they would share the place.” Now Gormalech is creating the Gorm and “the Balance is broken.”
  • When talking about Podkin gambling, the bard said, “I’m sure lots of people have won lots of things, including the Goddess herself. But for everything they won, I bet . . . I mean, I’m sure . . . they lost even more. Pook won because he had a touch of magic about him when it came to casting bones. Not many other rabbits have that blessing. Whatever tales of glory heard, gambling is for idiots.”
  • The forest rabbits worship the god of the forest. When Crom declines leading his warren, the warren moved on. “Maybe the tribe had never been happy at Darkhollow in the first place. Or, more likely, losing their chieftain had been seen as some kind of sign from the gods. Religion made rabbits do some very strange things sometimes.”

 

Love Sugar Magic: A Dash of Trouble

Leo wants to be able to help her family prepare for the Dia de los Muertos festival. Leo’s family owns a bakery in Rose Hill, Texas. Every year, her family spends days preparing for the big celebration. This year, when Leo is told that she is once again too young to help, she sneaks out of school and into the bakery. She soon discovers that her mother, aunt, and four older sisters have been keeping a secret from her. They’re brujas—witches of Mexican ancestry—who pour a little bit of sweet magic into everything that they bake.

Leo is determined to test her magical abilities, even when her sisters tell her to wait until she is older. When her best friend Caroline has a problem, Leo is confident that she can craft a spell to solve Caroline’s problem.

A Dash of Trouble is the first book in a series about a Mexican-American family that lives in a diverse Texan town. The fantasy includes Spanish vocabulary that is easy to understand in the context of the book. The story brings the Mexican traditions for Día de los Muertos to life.

Even though Leo doesn’t always feel appreciated by her family, her family clearly loves her and wants what is best for her. Readers will be able to relate to Leo’s desire to be treated more like an adult (even when she doesn’t act like one) as well as her desire to help her friend.

Leo spies on her family, makes promises she does not intend to keep, and practices magic against her family’s wishes. When Leo accidentally shrinks a boy from her class, his mother is frightened and calls the police. When Leo is able to reverse the spell, her family is proud of her for figuring out how to solve the problem. The boy covers for Leo, saving the family’s magical secret. Leo’s story is entertaining and filled with humor. A Dash of Trouble would lead to a good discussion on the importance of honesty.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • None

Drugs and Alcohol

  • On the Day of the Dead, some people put alcohol on their family’s shrines.

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • The females in Leo’s family are witches, and they have a spellbook that has been handed down for generations. Leo’s sister explains, “But we’re not just any kind of witch. Brujería is practiced by lots of people in lots of different ways, and our special family power comes from the magic of sweetness; sweetness from love and sweetness from sugar.”
  • In Leo’s family, “each group of sisters gets magical talents based on the order in which they were born. Second-borns, like Mamá and me have the power of manifestation, which means we can produce objects—small ones, for the most part—whenever we need them.”
  • Another one of Leo’s sisters has the power of influence. “They make . . . suggestions. They can change a person’s feelings, make you happy or sad for no reason.” In one part of the book, she tries to influence Leo’s feelings.
  • Leo uses a spell to make pig cookies fly. They fly around and make a mess out of her room.
  • Leo’s sisters have the power to channel the dead, which they do during the Day of the Dead. “Belén spoke again, but it wasn’t her voice that came out. It was a man’s voice, and it came out of Belén’s throat.” Leo thinks, “. . . Day of the Dead was invented as a way to talk to people who have passed away, to remember them and show them that you still loved them. If messages helped people do that, they couldn’t be so scary.”
  • Leo’s sisters explain, “We can see and talk to any of the ghosts who are hanging around, no problem. It’s calling them, or channeling them so other people can hear, that takes extra effort.” The twins can see their abuela, or grandma, who hangs around because “she still has so much love tying her to the world of the living. The older ghosts get a little more . . . scattered, and then sometimes they stop showing up altogether—“
  • Leo’s sister, Marisol, tells her not to mess with magic, especially “big spells. They can have terrible consequences . . . And the more complicated the spell, the more one tiny experiment can mess things up, big-time.”
  • Leo makes cookies with a spell in the hopes of making a boy named Brent like her friend, Caroline. The spell does not work correctly. Instead, Brent begins writing love notes to all the girls in his class. He also tells several girls that he loves them “more than anything in the world.”
  • Leo accidentally shrinks Brent. “Inside the jar was a person. A tiny person unmistakably. The person was curled up and suspended in the honey, eyes closed and hands folded as if he were enjoying a nice nap.” With the help of her sisters and her dead grandmother, Leo is able to reverse the spell.
  • Leo’s abuela appears. “Sitting—no, actually, standing in the center of the bed, her body from the waist down disappearing through the mattress, was Abuela.”

 Spiritual

  • None

 

Wishtree

Red, an oak tree, has watched over his neighborhood for generations. As a “wishtree,” people have been putting their wishes on Red’s branches. Through his time watching and hearing people’s wishes, Red has gained much wisdom. Still, people confuse him.

Red’s best friend, a crow named Bongo, and the animals that live in Red’s hollows give Red’s life a sense of meaning. But when a new family moves into the house across from Red, he wishes that he could do something for the sad little girl who sits at the base of his trunk every night.

Red narrates this beautiful story about the complicated nature of friendship. Red comes alive and shines with personality in Wishtree. The story deals with the complicated issue of people who hate, but the themes are dealt with in a kid-friendly manner. Red’s animal friends come alive and bring a touch of humor to the story. Although Wishtree was written for 10- to 14-year-olds, the story will captivate an older audience as well.

Sexual Content

  • Red explains that he is different than other trees. “Some trees are male. Some trees are female. And some, like me, are both . . . call me she. Call me he. Anything will work.”

Violence

  • A boy carves the words “leave” into Red’s bark. “I couldn’t tell what he was carving, of course. But I could tell from the determined way he moved that it was meant to hurt.”
  • Red talks about some things that happen in his neighborhood. “Someone threw raw eggs at the blue house. One afternoon, a car passed by, filled with angry men yelling angry things, things like ‘Muslims, get out!’”
  • Someone throws raw eggs at Red. “Splat. Splat. Two more times, and the car roared off with a screech of tires.”
  • Bongo leaves a “large deposit” on the boy who carved the words into Red’s trunk.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • None

 

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