Reading Level: Junior High

EndGames

Blue arrives in the capital city of Altalus, where she is determined to find her friend Crow, the boy who was created to be a flying war machine, and Jack, the engineer who built him. But soon she is inadvertently kidnapped by Snow and Red, twins from the enemy side of their ten-year war. They set off on a dangerous adventure that brings them to the front lines of the war, and eventually realize that they must work together to help end it. But with larger, more powerful forces at work, the fight for peace and survival will be more difficult than they ever imagined.

The majority of EndGames’ plot focuses on the war between Goswish and Grimmaea. However, readers may have a difficult time following the story because of the abrupt transitions. The story jumps from scene to scene causing readers to struggle with keeping up with the new characters and all of the new information. While NewsPrints focused on Blue and Crow’s relationship, in EndGames the two are separated and have little contact. Readers will miss the interaction between the two.

Even though the story is recommended for readers eight and up, younger readers may not be able to understand the more mature themes that appear in the book. The story is very anti-war and shows the dangers of using children to fight an adult’s war. EndGames also shows how governments only print news that is beneficial to them. Instead of being concerned with the truth, many newspapers only spread the government’s propaganda. The newspaper only runs an important true story when “the truth happens to sell even better for the Bugle.”

Unfortunately, EndGames tries to accomplish too much. The story has themes of imperialism, gender roles, and discrimination as well as an anti-war message. EndGames features both a blind character and a transgender character. A female aviator tells Blue, “Oh I’ve always knon I was a boy. . . Other people just didn’t know it yet.” However, the transgender reference is brief and awkward.

Although the artwork is stunning, younger readers may be confused because of the quick transitions. Even though the illustrations help tell the story, some scenes are still confusing. The frantic pacing allows the story to skip over information that may have made the scene’s action clear.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • While flying, two airplanes shoot at each other. A plane is knocked out of the sky by “friendly fire.” No one is injured. The scene is illustrated over six pages.
  • When another country’s Navy appears, a soldier uses a weapon in an attempt to “destroy that machine before your Goswish troops can get it back.” The weapon hits a target and starts a fire. The soldier is shown celebrating the destruction. The scene is illustrated over six pages.
  • As airplanes approach, the army is told “to protect Goswing, we must destroy Grimmaea!” Airplanes are shot down and fall into the ocean. The scene is illustrated over four pages.
  • Blue is left on unstable land that is being consumed by lava. Blue falls into a crack in the ground, but is saved.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • “Goose Butts!” is occasionally used as an exclamation.
  • Heck is used once.
  • Someone calls Blue an “idiot.”

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • None

Lintang and the Pirate Queen

Lintang loves her family, but she doesn’t want to be a homemaker. Lintang dreams of leaving her island home. She longs to go on dangerous and daring adventures. When she meets the infamous pirate, Captain Shafira, Lintang wants to join her crew. When she gets her chance, Lintang promises to follow orders. However, Lintang’s curious, impulsive attitude always gets her into trouble.

Lintang discovers that living on a pirate ship can be difficult. Her loyalties are divided when she finds that her best friend, Bayani, has stowed away and is desperate to stay hidden. Lintang knows that Bayani is hiding a secret that could change the world. However, she has promised the pirate queen that she will never lie to her. How can Lintang impress the pirate queen and keep Bayani’s secret at the same time?

Readers will relate to Lintang, who has a difficult time following orders. Despite her best intentions, Lintang gets into trouble time and time again. When Lintang is demoted to a cabin girl, she gains the crew’s respect through her positive attitude and work ethic. During her voyage, Lintang “had turned into Lanme Vanyan (the mother of all monsters), faced a Kanekonese siren, fought a dragon, almost drowned twice, battled a sea serpent, [and] worked as a cabin girl.”

Moss creates a beautiful world full of mythies. Some mythies are friendly and others are deadly. In order to introduce the different creatures, many of the chapters being with a page from The Mythie Guidebook, which describes each type of mythie. The information describes how to eradicate the mythie, their behavior, danger level, and provides a description.

Lintang and the Pirate Queen has non-stop action as Lintang, Captain Shafira, and her crew embark on a dangerous journey where they fight fearsome monsters. The story ends in an epic multi-chapter battle that has many surprises. Because of the complex world, the complicated plot, and the large cast of characters, Lintang and the Pirate Queen is best for strong readers. However, adventure-loving readers will love this tale of friendship and adventure.

Sexual Content

  • Lintang tells a legend about Pero, who “was not afraid of the Goddess of Death.” When he left home, he “packed his bag, said goodbye to his mother, kissed the barmaid, and left.”
  • Avalon is transgender. One of the ship’s crew treats him unkindly. She says, “Avalon pretends she is a boy. I remind her she is not.”

Violence

  • While walking in the forest, Lintang and Bayani are attacked by a malam rasha. “A night terror (malam rasha) is a humanoid forest mythie in the predator category. It appears as a woman with wooden skins, long dark hair, and a white dress. Instead of arms, it has tree roots, which are sharp enough to dig through flesh.” Bayani’s fey friend, Pelita, helps. “Before it could attack, a ball of white light zipped in front of its face. The malam rasha recoiled, snarling.” Lintang raised her sword and the “malam rasha reared up. It moved to strike with its arm of tree roots, but she stabbed and it retreated. Slash. Dodge. Stab. Dodge. . . Lintang ran to Bayani, shoved him to the ground, and threw herself over him.” When the two are laying on the ground, someone chases the mythie away. The fight scene takes place over four pages.
  • The malam rasha goes to the temple and goes after Lintang. “The mythie barreled into her. She landed on the stone floor, winded. Pelita fluttered out of the way just in time. The malam rasha curled its lip and slashed at Lintang’s stomach. . . The malam rasha tried again, clawing and tearing until the front of Lintang’s sarong was in tatters.” Panna leaves that were smeared on Lintang protected her. Captain Shafira jumped in to help. “Captain Shafira aimed sword blows at the malam rasha so fiercely that it was forced to retreat.” The Captain’s crew assists her in capturing the malam rasha. “Captain Sharfira brought her sword down and chopped off its arm. It released an earsplitting shriek.” The battle is described over three pages.
  • Once the malam rasha is captured, Captain Shafira “directed a kick to the malam rasha’s wooden head, and it slumped, unmoving.” Later when the light of day appears, the mythie “burst into flames, leaving only a silhouette of ash and the broken fishing net.”
  • A predator mermaid uses her power to make Lintang jump into the sea. “Stinging spread across her body, from both the impact and the chill. It didn’t matter. Nothing mattered anymore. She was with the mermaids now.” The mermaids try to pull Lintang deeper into the ocean. “Splinters sliced at Lintang’s lungs. Her head felt light. . . She barely noticed the flash of steel, or the clouds of blood in the water, or the fact that the mermaids had released their deadly grip.” Lintang is saved. The scene is described over a page.
  • When leaving the island, Nyasamdra picks up Captain Shafira’s ship. Nyasamdra “let them float in the air. She watched them swirl inside the bubble, her face childlike with curiosity.” Trying to help, a “bird darted past Nyasamdra’s fingers and pecked the bubble. There was a pop, and everyone had to hold on as the ship plummeted back into the waves.” Bayani comes above deck and gives Nyasamdra the correct tribune, then she lets them pass. The scene is described over four pages.
  • A sea serpent attacks Captain Shafira’s ship. The huge serpent tries to break the ship up by squeezing it. “Lintang acted without thinking. She raced forward and shoved a harpoon into the serpent’s mouth to wedge it open. The serpent started to snap but stopped as the dragon’s claw dug into the roof of its mouth and sprayed blood across the deck.” One of the crew members “swung out on a rope, caught the harpoon with one hand, and used the dragon talon to slash the serpent through the neck.” Lintang is injured. The fight is described over three pages.
  • When Governor Karnezis tries to get Lintang to give up Captain Shafira’s location, Lintang tries to escape. “. . . Governor Karnezis snatched her hair. She cried out as he yanked her backwards.” Lintang uses a dart to put the governor to sleep. Captain Shafira and her crew help Lintang escape.
  • Farah and her family helped Captain Shafira when she was injured. The Vierzan counsel sent “people to kill Farah’s family and burn the place down.”
  • While under the sirens’ spell, Avalon attacks a crewmember, Mei. “Avalon lunged. He wrapped his arm around Mei’s throat. . .Mei strained to pull his arm from around her neck. Her round cheeks turned pink. She was suffocating.” A crew member hits Avalon over the head with a frying pan, causing him to pass out.
  • Captain Shafira boards Captain Moon’s ship and the two fight with swords. “The two thrust and parried, each as skilled as the other. A few clashing blades and a clever maneuver later, they’d switched positions. . . Captain Shafira managed to kick Captain Moon’s ankle, dropping her to one knee. Captain Moon blocked an attack while she was down, then stabbed forward so violently that Captain Shafira had to jump two steps down the staircase. . .” When the sirens threaten both ships, the two captains work together.
  • The ship’s dragon awakens. Captain Shafira and Captain Moon bait the dragon, causing it to tear down a locked door.
  • At one point in the fighting, Bayani is “standing on the bridge with the spear side of the khwando pointed at Zazi’s neck.”
  • Lintang jumps in the ocean, then turns into the mother of monsters named Lanme Vanyan. Lanme attacks a dragon. Lanme “sprang, clamping her hands on the dragon’s shoulder. It tried to toss her aside, but she held on and slashed at its wings. They twisted in the air like a whirlwind.” She flings the dragon away and then attacks a siren. “Lanme zipped toward it and bit it beneath the arm. . . The siren tried to crush her with its free hand. She bit its fingers. Bubbles hissed from its mouth, but it didn’t pull back.” The siren swims away.
  • The dragon returns and attacks Lanme again. Lanme “whipped her tail into the air, wrapped it around the dragon, and slammed it onto the waves. The dragon shuddered with the impact, then floated, stunned.” Then, Lanme turns back into a human.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • The Vierzans developed a medicine that “kills dangerous things in your body. Stops illnesses, disease; you name it, the Curall fixes it.” When Pelita is sprayed with Curall, she glows brighter. “Pelita’s squeaks turned into tiny shrieks. She sounded like she was in pain. . . And then, as swiftly as a sneeze, a human body burst out of the pixie. A girl lay in Pelita’s place, an Islander barely ten years old.”

Language

  • While practicing sword fighting, Lintang says to her best friend, “You ebony-nosed loobatoon! You brown-tailed barbanees! You blood-eyed ruberrince!”
  • “By the Gods” is used as an exclamation four times.
  • When Lintang scares the ship’s cook, she says, “Mother of monsters, you scared the petticoats off me!”
  • Someone calls another character a gnome.

Supernatural

  • Lintang’s world has various mythies, such as sirens, propheseeds, mermaids—both predator and friendly types. For example, “Propheseeds are sky mythies that take the form of three glowing dandelion seeds. They appear harmless, giggling childishly, and do not physically attack. . . The propheseeds will say your name three times, then, in a form of a riddle or rhyme, give you the time and details of your imminent death.”
  • Those born on the twin Islands have “small, shiny fish scales” on the back of their necks. A ship can only leave the island if they have someone from the Twin Islands. But the island’s mythie guardian Nyasamdra drowns ships “that tried to leave her territory unless they carried someone with her mark.”
  • Sirens are predator mythies. “Like the common siren, it calls for males, but unlike the common siren, it gives power to its victims, making them strong and violent, unable to think of anything but getting close to the mythie.”
  • Mythies did not appear in Lintang’s world until “shooting stars had passed overhead when the mythies arrived. No one knew why the Three Gods had sent the mythies. The creatures had caused havoc throughout the world, but the priest always said in serene voices that the Gods had reasons for everything they did, even if humans could not understand them.”
  • One of the characters is a talking clamshell.
  • Lintang turns into the mother of monsters named Lanme Vanyan.

Spiritual Content

  • People believe in Ytzuam, which is “high above, past the clouds, past the sun, there’s a world in the stars. . . It’s separated from our world by a single thick curtain. There are three Gods who live there: Niti, Patiki, and Mratzi.”
  • As Lintang walks she sees the temple, which makes her think about the gods. “Lintang used to learn about the Gods from the priest there when she was younger, but the only time she visited now was during seasonal festivals.” The three gods are Neti, the creator of the stars, Patiki, the planter of stars, and Mratzi, the harvester of stars.”
  • When Lintang accidentally sets the house on fire, she needs water fast. “Their offerings to the Three Gods had been freshly lain on the stone alter that morning. She reached between a scattering of juicy bubleberries and thin, smoldering sticks of mollowood to take the earthen jug.” She uses the water to help fight the flames.
  • When Lintang fights the malam rasha, she was “praying to the Three Gods that her plan would work.” Then she “dredged up a memory of a prayer from temple. ‘Hear me, Niti, Patiki, Mratzi—Gods of Ytzuam, givers of life, guardians of stars. Please protect us, please don’t let the malam rasha eat us.”
  • People believe that when someone dies, they continue to live. Lintang thinks about her dead grandfather. “Lintang hoped her grandfather’s star, blazing high in the sky” was not ashamed of her.
  • Bayani had died and Mratzi told him that the mythies were human. She then allowed him to return to the living.
  • Lintang trusted the Pirate Queen, but then “prayed to Niti she wasn’t wrong.” Later, when the Pirate Queen decides to stay with Lintang until she gets to her destination, Lintang “sent a silent prayer of thanks to the Gods.”
  • In Vierzan, the people have destroyed the Gods’ monuments because “they think the Gods sent mythies to wipe humans out. . . Now they refuse to pray or build temples or leave offerings.”
  • When Lintang must jump off a building, Bayani thinks she is injured. When he discovers that she is fine, he says, “Thank the Gods, thank the Gods—”
  • When almost drowning, Lintang sees a vision. Shooting stars crashed “through a field of unplanted seeds. . . the impact of the shooting stars scattered seeds throughout the world. . . She saw a man unwittingly absorb one of the star seeds, then he burst apart as a gnome sprang from him.” The vision shows Lintang how humans became mythies.
  • Lintang turned into a mythie.

 Cabin Fever

Most people love the holiday season, but it makes Greg a nervous wreck. Greg believes that if he makes a mistake in the first eleven months of the year, it’s not a big deal, but if he does something wrong during the holiday season, then he’s in trouble with Santa and won’t get any presents. With Thanksgiving gone and Christmas fast approaching, Greg becomes obsessed with playing Net Kritterz online – a game where he takes constant care of his internet pet Chihuahua. Greg needs money in order to feed and clothe his virtual pet, but after his mom says money is tight, Greg has to create new ways to earn cash quickly.

After Greg’s request to his local church for a ‘donation’ and his snow shoveling business fall through, Greg and his best friend, Rowley, decide to hold their own Holiday Bazaar where they will sell concession snacks, offer holiday games, and make gifts like their school’s own Bazaar. However, after Vice Principal Roy stops them from handing out advertisements at school, the young duo decides to advertise their Bazaar by hanging signs on the outside school wall. But while taping them up, rain begins to pour and the paint on the signs runs, staining the bricks a neon green. With the police hot on their tails, Rowley and Greg flee the scene of the crime.

After the local newspaper carries a story about the vandalism and Vice-Principal Roy demands that the guilty parties come forward the next day, Rowley submits an anonymous note indicating that he and Greg are responsible for the vandalism. Refusing to identify Rowley as his partner in crime, Roy forces Greg to clean the outside bricks alone for hours. When Greg gets home, he learns the police have paid his house a visit and left a note saying that they would be back later. That night, a huge snowstorm traps Greg and his family inside their house. Greg now has to wait out the snowstorm while stressing about the police as his family’s food rations and electricity run out. Will Greg survive the snowstorm and get the chance to clear his name or will he be sent to jail like he fears?

Cabin Fever’s plot revolves around everything that happens in Greg’s life and is told from his 12-year-old perspective. The story contains a lot of bathroom and childish humor and at times the humor and illustrations can be crude and inappropriate for really young readers. At one point in the story, Greg clears a neighbor’s driveway of snow using a sprinkler and feels annoyed when his neighbor slips on the resulting ice. In another part, Greg tries to steal from the collection tray at church in order to pay for his Net Kritterz. Many illustrations also depict a butt, someone using a toilet, or Greg in his underwear.

Despite the book’s bathroom humor, Cabin Fever has positive lessons for young readers. Jeff Kinney has a natural talent for using humor to mask important messages. In this book, Kinney uses Greg and his humor to address gratefulness. When Greg is on the verge of losing everything – electricity, food, shelter, video games – while snowed in, he realizes how grateful he is for his family, friends, and home.  Also, the consistently funny black-and-white comic illustrations will help younger readers transfer their reading skills from picture books into full-fledged novels, helping even the most reluctant of readers start reading. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever is a fun, easy-to-read story that will entertain readers and teach them to be grateful for their families and friends.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • One of Bryce Anderson’s cronies shoots Greg with a BB gun.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • Bathroom and immature humor are used consistently. Words like stupid, jerk, and poop are used frequently.
  • After Greg went to the bathroom, somebody asks, “Did you poop?”
  • Every time someone gets hurt on a piece of playground equipment, the teachers remove it for safety issues. Eventually, the only thing left is the balance beam and Greg thought it would never leave, “but believe it or not, some idiot wasn’t looking where he was going the other day, so now that’s gone, too.”
  • Greg thinks Rowley’s skipping “looks stupid.”
  • When Greg was in elementary school, his teacher, Mr. Harkin, accidentally walked in on him while he was using the bathroom. Greg says he “felt like a jerk” after he told his mom about it.

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • It’s Christmastime in the novel; Jesus and God are mentioned.
  • The family goes to church three times and to folk mass one time. Greg says, “Our family usually goes to church at 9:00 a.m., but today we went to the folk service at 11:00.” Greg and his family even go to church on Christmas morning.
  • Greg feels bad for people who have their birthday right around the holidays because it gets lumped together with Christmas and they get cheated out of a gift. Greg guesses it’s been happening for thousands of years and an illustration shows God handing a gift to Jesus saying, “This gift counts for Christmas AND your birthday, Jesus!”

by Matthew Perkey

The Grand Escape: The Greatest Prison Breakout of the 20th Century

At the height of World War I, brave Allied and German forces battled on land, air, and sea. During these battles, captured Allied soldiers and pilots were sent to the dangerous web of German prisons where they were neglected, beaten, and robbed. The most troublesome prisoners of war were sent to

Holzminden – an inescapable landlocked prison designed to break prisoners. The prisoners are in the middle of Germany, locked down by armed guards and barbed-wire fences. The camp’s ruthless commandant, Karl Niemeyer, enforces the camp’s cruel rules. Escape seems impossible for the rag-tag prisoners.

Faced with a Herculean task, a group of determined Allied soldiers and pilots defy the impossible, daring to escape the prison by building a tunnel right under Niemeyer’s nose. Scraping away mere inches of dirt every hour, the team tunneled through the prison’s foundation underneath guard towers, dogs, barbed wire fences, and into a nearby farm. As Niemeyer becomes suspicious of a possible escape, the team of escapees works tirelessly forging documents, smuggling in supplies, and bribing guards. The hardest challenge of escaping Holzminden was yet to come for the 29 men—making it back home undetected through war-torn Germany.

The Grand Escape will leave readers on the edge of their seats as they read the true story of how a team of Allied prisoners banded together to escape Germany and became an inspiration for their fellow countrymen during World War I’s darkest hours. Bascomb does an extraordinary job bringing the story to life. His vivid details, page-turning suspense, and well-developed research alongside photographs, maps, and diagrams of the tunnel and prison camp make the reader feel like they are actually in the tunnel escaping with the prisoners.

The suspense will keep readers turning the pages until the very end. However, the book discusses some of the atrocities of World War I, including the intense violence and hatred between the German and Allied soldiers. Some descriptions are graphic; therefore, the book is not for the faint of heart. This book is aimed at older readers who have some pre-existing knowledge about World War I and the development of modern aircraft. Nonetheless, The Grand Escape is a terrific nonfiction book that will teach readers to persevere through hard times.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • When Cecil Blain and Charles Griffiths are sent on a mission to find warehouses in Germany, they are shot at by German artillery. “A shell rocked one plane on the port side of their formation, but its pilot recovered. Another cut confetti-sized slits into the wings of Blain’s plane, and shrapnel pinged against his engine cowling.” Although no one is injured, Blain and Griffith’s plane sustains heavy damage and they are forced to land behind enemy lines where they are soon held as prisoners.
  • On a bombing run, English pilot David Gray and his machine-gunner are ambushed by Böelcke. A “close-quarter rake of bullets from Böelcke ripped through Gray’s engine and shredded an aileron. Propeller stopped, balance control lost, the plane plummeted into a spin.” Gray and his gunner are both severely injured, with broken bones and lacerations covering their faces, but they manage to survive, crash landing behind enemy lines.
  • Holzminden’s commandant, Karl Niemeyer, is easily angered and loves to both psychologically and physically torture his prisoners. In one instance, he “ordered a guard to fire at prisoners in the barracks building who were mocking the Germans during their morning drill marches.”
  • Private Dick Cash was “ordered across no-man’s land in an early morning assault on the strategic German stronghold at Bullecourt. The Australians faced withering heavy machine-gun fire in their approach to the enemy lines. During the attack, Cash was shot in the chest. The bullet punctured his left lung, but he continued ahead. A series of mortars threw him first skyward, then sideways. Shrapnel pierced his back, and many of his teeth were knocked out before he landed in a shell hole, boots first.” However, Cash manages to “survive the maggot-infested squalor” and is sent to Holzminden after recovering in a German hospital.
  • At another camp, Harold Medlicott and Joseph Walter were murdered, but the German guards lie to prisoners, saying they were shot on the run. The guards return to camp with two stretchers covered in dark sheets and “while several British officers distracted the guards watching over the bodies, another officer rushed up and threw aside the sheets. Medlicott’s and Walter’s bodies were riddled with over a dozen bullets and stabbed with several bayonet wounds.” The British officers realize that Medlicott and Walter were not shot while escaping, but brutally murdered by their captors.
  • While escaping to Holland, a border guard sees Bennet and Campbell-Martin and starts to fire. “The crack of a rifle echoed behind as they charged headlong into Holland. The first shot and the next missed. They ran and ran until they splashed into the Dinkel River in free Holland.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • On their way to a new POW camp, the guards and prisoners stop at a train station restaurant and form a temporary truce where “the British bought every bottle of wine behind the bar, some of them a lovely pre-war vintage.”
  • During a Christmas party at Holzminden, “Douglas Lyall Grant, of the London Scottish Regiment, supplied a cellar’s worth of bottles that he joked cost more than a night out at London’s swanky Carlton Hotel.”

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • On the night of the escapes, “A religious man, Butler muttered a short prayer before pushing his kitbag into the tunnel and following it in.”

by Matthew Perkey

Through the Untamed Sky

After winning the wild Pegasus mare named Echofrost in a contest, Rahkki Stormrunner is officially a rider in the Sky Guard army. Rahkki is terrified of heights though, and Echofrost doesn’t want to be tamed. But with Echofrost’s herd captured by the giants and a fierce battle looming on the horizon, the duo will have to conquer their fears if they want to fly with the army and free the herd.

Meanwhile, back in his village, Rahkki learns of a growing rebellion to overthrow Queen Lilliam. Unfortunately, the queen suspects Rahkki’s family is behind it, and she places him under intense watch.

As Rahkki and Echofrost escape to Mount Crim to save Storm Herd, Rahkki worries that the greatest danger may not come from the impending battle against the giants, but from within his own clan.

Through the Untamed Sky continues the story of Echofrost and Rahkki. In order for Echofrost to free her herd from the giants, Echofrost joints the Sky Guard with Rahkki. However, it soon becomes apparent that none of the Landwalkers (humans) care whether Rahkki lives or dies. To make matters worse, someone is actively trying to assassinate Rahkki. In a world where political power can only be gained by killing the current Queen, danger lurks in the shadows.

Although Echofrost’s desire to be free is understandable, she never thinks about Rahkki’s needs. Echofrost’s selfish behavior continues to the very end of the story. It takes a battle with the giants for Echofrost to see that “freedom meant choosing her bonds, because a Pegasus could not live alone or act only for oneself.”

The second installment of the Riders of the Realm Series shifts its focus away from Echofrost’s conflict and focuses more on the political unrest. As the story unfolds, Rahkki remembers the night his mother died. Even though the flashbacks help explain the political structure, readers may become upset that someone would kill a pregnant woman in order to gain the throne. The death of Rahkki’s mother is not the only violence in the story. An epic battle is fought and many lose their lives. Although the descriptions are not gory, there is blood and violence that may upset sensitive readers.

Through the Untamed Sky will entertain readers. However, the long descriptions, the large cast of characters, and the complex storyline make the story suitable only for strong readers. Like the first book in the series, Through the Untamed Sky ends with a cliffhanger that will have readers reaching for the third book in the series, Beneath the Weeping Clouds.

Sexual Content

  • The princess and Rahkki are talking when the princess “placed her hand in his, and a jolt of heat shot through his body.”
  • During the battle, Rahkki “leaned forward and kissed [the princess’s] lips. She tasted sweet, like peppermints.”

Violence

  • As part of a ceremony, Rahkki and Echofrost are branded. After the branding, Echofrost’s “eyes bulged and her breath came in rapid bursts as she absorbed the pain of the branding. Rahkki’s body had gone numb except for his throbbing shoulder.”
  • The giants come to talk to the queen, but the queen upsets the giants, then, “The Sky Guard ascended. Guiding their pegasi with their legs, the Riders fired arrows at the Gorlanders. . . Led by the two elephants, the Gorlanders rushed out and their huge strides carried them swiftly toward the jungle.” The Gorlanders’ dragons “dived down, shooting hot jets at the new pair. Rahkki cringed when the flames licked the back of his neck.” The scene is described over three pages. No one is seriously injured.
  • A giant lizard, Granak, chases after Rahkki and the princess. In an attempt to hide, the two “quickly pushed vines and leaves over their bodies, but Granak reared back and uprooted their tree with his massive clawed foot. Thick roots popped out of the soil, throwing Rahkki and l’Lenna into the air.” As the two run, their pegasi “swooped down, attacking like angry birds. Echofrost landed a barrage of kicks to Granak’s head. Shysong kicked him hard across his ear hole. . . The lizard’s huge foot swung at the roan, just grazing Shysong’s wing. She spun out of control.” When I’Lenna gets to the fortress, the guards close the gate, locking Rahkki out.
  • When the lizard catches up to Rahkki, “Granak swiped his huge paw and slammed Rahkki’s chest. The boy tumbled across the yard. . . Rahkki tumbled across the soil, his body vibrating from the power of the dragon’s paw. His armor clanged, protecting his skin. . .” Rahkki throws hot pepper spice “straight into the dragon’s open mouth. Granak reared back with a roar and shook his great head.” The lizard flees. Some people believe Rahkki defeated the giant lizard with magic. The chase scene is described over eight pages.
  • Rahkki remembers the night his mother was assassinated. His mother’s Pegasus was injured as he tried to fly the kids to safety. “A long sharp sliver of wood was embedded in the stallion’s chest like a spear. . . [Rahkki’s] tears dripped onto the stallion’s face. They mixed with the rain as he [his brother] stroked the boy’s cheek and listened to his soft breaths.”
  • Giant spiders attack and try to wrap the pegasus in their web. Rahkki’s brother, Brauk, tries to help. “Brauk picked up a sharp stick. The closest spider had reared back and shot a band of silk at them. . . then he charged the waist-high spider and smashed it across its fangs.” The spider is able to grab Brauk with its web. The pegasus is able to help. “Drael stomped its head, and pale-blue blood squirted across Rahkki’s nightdress.” The spider scene is described over three pages.
  • Someone tries to kill Rahkki with a poisonous snake. “A pillow slammed onto Rahkki’s head. He tried to shove it aside, but the person pressed it into his face, cutting off his air. Meanwhile, the serpent bumped against his thigh.”
  • When Echofrost tries to find her herd, giants see her. “A small tree spiraled up from the Gorlan party, thrown like a spear. It struck her between the eyes.” Echfrost and Rahkki fall to the jungle floor. “Hot blood trickled from Rahkki’s hairline. He ran his hands along his body, checking for injuries; but other than his raw skin, a few cuts, his throbbing ear, and a pulled muscle in his thigh, he was undamaged.”
  • A giant finds Echofrost. “Suddenly, a rock struck her flank and she whirled around.” Echofrost saw “an adult Gorlan male, squatting and facing her . . . Reaching into a bag strapped to his back, the giant threaded out a long rope. At the sight of it, Echofrost pinned her ears back. He caught her, tugged hard, and rolled her onto her side.”
  • Rahkki finds the captured Echofrost and fights the giant, who is a prince. “Desperate, he sliced the prince’s arm with his dagger.” Then a huge python reached the giant and “it sank its teeth into his short neck. The giant roared and toppled onto his back, and the snake’s great weight pinned him.” Feeling sorry for the giant, Rahkki helps. “He reached the base of the python’s skull and drew his dagger. . . Then he tightened his fists around the pommel and drove the sharp blade straight into the python’s brain.”
  • When the Land Guard is commanded to attack the giants, Rahkki is forced to go with them. The army is supposed to steal the wild herd from the giants. While trying to get to the pegasi, “screams and shouts and smoke filled the valley.” The tiny dragons use their fire and “several Land Guard soldiers rolled across the grass, trying to snuff out their burning tunics. Others swiped at the burners with their sawa blades, cutting them out of the sky.”
  • The giants use their saber cats to help them fight the battle. “The first saber cat reached the captured wild herd, and its long fangs punctured a mare’s throat, severing the vein.”
  • A saber cat attacks Rahkki. The cat “galloped at him, tail lashing, jaws wide.” Echofrost threw Rahkki out of the way. Rahkki “grabbed his sawa sword instead. The cat turned on him, muscles rippling, lips curled back in a snarl, whiskers bristling. . .” Echofrost goes to help and “kicked the cat in the head, knocking it out. It tumbled onto Rahkki, pinning him to the ground.”
  • When the princess claims to be “the rightful Queen of the Fifth,” the head soldier Harak tries to kill her. General Tsun helps the princess, then “Harak loosed the arrow, and the shaft plunged straight through Tsun’s throat. His breath cut short, the general collapsed and his life force pooled atop soil. . .”
  • When the giants take the princess captive, Rahkki jumps in to help her. “Rahkki sliced the bindings around I’Leanna’s wrist. . . the king roared at the sight of I’Leanna being cut free, and the line of ten giants loosed their stones at the princess. Rahkki clutched her close, blocking her body with his.” Rahkki is injured when a stone “slammed into his anklebone. Another stone struck his helmet. He released I’Lenna and crumbled to his knees, his ears ringing.”
  • Harak shoots an arrow at Rahkki, but Echofrost “darted between the arrow and Rahkki’s neck. It slid between her armor and into her rib cage. . .”
  • During battle, a mare named Rizah “tossed the man across the field and then kicked another.” A young soldier shoots an arrow at Rizah. “The arrow lodged deep in Rizah’s neck . . . The golden mare pinwheeled toward land and struck the grass. She toppled over, wheezing.” The battle scene takes place over 50 pages.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • When Rahkki’s brother is injured, he is given “medicine to keep him asleep.”
  • An animal healer explains how she uses dragon drool to make a medicine that puts people to sleep. “Boiling the venom removes all of the toxins but leaves the anesthetic properties intact.”
  • During a meal, the Queen’s table has food and rice wine.
  • A merchant sells food and rice wine to shoppers.
  • After Rahkki gives a girl his food, she was found “convulsing in the dirt. Another groom screamed for help as white froth poured from the girl’s mouth.” It turns out that Rahkki’s food had been poisoned.
  • During the battle, Rahkki uses “drool-soaked” darts to put giants to sleep.

Language

  • Bloody rain is used as an exclamation frequently.
  • Lands to skies, sun and stars, and by Granak are all occasionally used as an exclamation.
  • Rahkki’s brother says, “My brother’s an idiot.”
  • By the Ancestors is used as an exclamation once.
  • When a group of boys was wrestling, a boy calls someone a “Gorlan-blooded freak.”

Supernatural

  • Each clan “claimed a different mascot, and the queens fed their respective beasts live animals to keep them content, then stared at the gnawed bones as if their futures were written in them.” In one clan, the queen’s adviser “oversaw the sacrifices to the clan’s mascot, read omens, and made predictions.”
  • Someone tells Rahkki that curiosity calls the kaji spirits. “Kaji spirits harassed the seven clans, causing people to trip and slip and blunder where they were otherwise sure-footed and agile. Kajies came in flurries when Sandwens were either up to no good, full of pride, or curious about things that had nothing to do with them.”
  • When attacking a python, Rahkki says, “Granak protect me!”

Spiritual Content

  • After winning Echofrost in a contest, Rahkki goes to talk to the queen. When he returns, he climbed onto her back, “with a small prayer to the wind spirits.”

 Masters of Mischief

After successfully trapping Ralph and his two cronies in South Ridge Middle School, Max’s crazy night seems almost over as police sirens approach. There is just one last thing to do – go home! While evading the police and possible suspensions, Max and Erin dive into the back of a pickup truck just as it is about to take off. What they don’t know is that the pickup truck is driven by the thieves – Ralph, Tucker, and Moose – who all escaped from Max’s traps and the police!

Successfully ditching the pickup truck when it stops for fast food, Erin and Max head home for some well-needed rest. Throughout the weekend and at school on Monday, Max must dodge police, his parents, his nosy neighbors, and a brutal bully to avoid any possible suspicion for his involvement with Friday’s robbery. If Max is caught, he risks detention and probably homeschooling by his grandmother for the rest of his life. However, Max and Erin discover the thieves’ new plan – to pose as security guards to steal the new, expensive school computers when no one is looking. Can Max and Erin avoid detection and detention while stopping the malicious thieves?

Masters of Mayhem is a fun, suspenseful read for young readers. Throughout her three books, Russel has created a character who is troubled just like any other boy his age but manages to strive through his problems and think of others. Max does not flaunt or boast about how he stopped Ralph and his gang and saved the school but instead keeps it to himself. He considers the consequences of his actions and worries about involving Erin and tarnishing her perfect school record. Max cares about other people more than he cares about himself. He even swears to put a stop to the thieves again, risking his own life to protect his new school. He is a role model for young teenagers.

Unlike other books in the series, Russel does not depend on bathroom humor or inappropriate behavior for her jokes. Instead, she puts Max in hysterical and wacky scenarios to entertain her readers. In addition, the book’s cartoonish, manga-like black-and-white illustrations will help readers transfer their reading skills from picture books into full-fledged novels, making this story great for young, reluctant readers.

The Misadventures of Max Crumbly is a series that should be read in order. Like every book in the series, Masters of Mischief ends with a suspenseful cliffhanger, so make sure you have the next book in the series ready for your reader.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • None

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • After Max and Erin fall into the school dumpster, Max worries that unless he and Erin “can figure out how to get out of this stupid dumpster,” they might never roam free again.
  • Erin doesn’t want her ice princess costume to get damaged. Max says, “Erin only cared about her STUPID ice princess costume.”
  • When Max and Erin hide in the back of a truck, Max worries that “those Neanderthals would see us through that big window in the back of the truck and try to run over us or something.”
  • Max says that if “Erin could sneak out of her house to rescue me, then I could at least sneak INTO my house to save my butt.”
  • Max screams when he sees his sister in an oatmeal face mask. Max’s sister tells him, “Shut up, you birdbrain!”
  • After the police visit their house, Max’s sister comes downstairs and asks if the police were there. Max says his sister is hearing things and she responds with, “Actually, the voices TOLD me to give YOU some mouthwash, BUTT BREATH!”
  • Thug Thurston, Max’s bully, asks Max, “Did you have a nice weekend, BARF?!”
  • Erin fumes and says they “can’t just let these JERKS get away with this!”

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • None

by Matthew Perkey

Scarlett Hart Monster Hunter

Scarlett Hart isn’t afraid of monsters. As the orphaned daughter of two legendary monster hunters, she is prepared to rid the entire city of monsters! The only problem is that the Royal Academy for the Pursuit and Eradication of Zoological Eccentricities says she’s too young to fight perilous horrors. But that doesn’t stop Scarlett and her trusty butler. They fight mummies, a horrid hound, and save the city from a monster attack.

Scarlett is a plucky heroine who isn’t afraid to fight. With the help of her butler, Napoleon, Scarlett is able to keep her monster hunting a secret. However, her parents’ rival, Count Stankovic, wants all of the monster hunting glory for himself. The Count will try anything to get Scarlett out of the way. Every time Scarlett turns around, the Count is hiding in the shadows, waiting for his chance to get proof that Scarlett is breaking the law. When a group of monsters starts mysteriously manifesting, Scarlett knows she has to risk breaking the rules and being put in jail. She will do whatever it takes to save the city.

Scarlett goes around the city fighting sea monsters, fire-breathing monsters, and gargoyles. Even though the monsters always meet their demise—sometimes in creative ways—the illustrations keep out the bloody gore. Most of the story revolves around battling monsters and the Count. However, Sedgwick includes enough detail and family background to give the story a little depth.

Scarlett Hart Monster Hunter is an entertaining story with elements of steampunk. Even though the action revolves around monsters, no one is seriously injured. The story has many elements that will entertain middle school readers, like the string of funny, creative insults Scarlett uses when referring to the Count. The illustrations use many onomatopoeias, such as, “creak, fazaza, tweak, phut, phut, sputter.” The cartoon-like illustrations use shades of brown to mimic the darker tone of the story.

Readers who love monster fighting fun and have read The Last Kids on Earth series will miss the humor and friendship that is lacking in Scarlett Hart Monster Hunter. Despite this, Scarlett Hart Monster Hunter is a fast-paced story that is worth spending an afternoon reading. However, readers may want to make sure they aren’t alone in the house when they decide to jump into Scarlett’s spooky world. Monster-loving graphic novel fans should also add Ghostopolis by Doug TenNapel to their reading list.

Sexual Content

  • When the Count is running after Scarlett, his pants slip down and show his buttcrack.

Violence

  • While walking, a monster jumps out and a man falls into the water and sinks.
  • The Count uses a rocket launcher to fire a weapon that blows up a monster. The scene is illustrated over two pages.
  • Scarlett reads a newspaper article that says, “The Black Dog of Suffolk County. Also known as Black Shuck. Ghost-dog with glowing red eyes. Has caused four deaths this past month alone. Last sighted in Devil’s Hollow.”
  • Scarlett goes to capture the Black Dog. When she shoots at it, the Black Dog attacks her car. When the Black Dog runs off, Scarlett chases it and hits it with her car. They load the dead dog into a sack and put it on top of the car. The scene is illustrated over five pages.
  • When a mummy sees Scarlett and Napoleon, it says, “Urrr. Brains. Fresh brains. . .” The mummy chases Scarlett and Napoleon. A group of mummies appears, trapping the two monster fighters. Scarlett uses her sword and a stage curtain to capture the mummies. The scene is illustrated over five pages.
  • While hunting a ghost, a ghostly bishop jumps out of a closet and chases Scarlett and Napoleon. The Count shoots the ghost who shrivels. “Fzzzzz. Pop.” The ghost disappears. The scene is illustrated over four pages.
  • When the Count takes a picture of Scarlett ghost hunting, she holds a gun up to threaten him. The Count gives Scarlett the camera and leaves.
  • Scarlett follows the Count. When he hears her, he shoots at her. Scarlett shoots back. Then, she throws a container of black spiders at the Count, who freaks out and drops the gun. The scene is illustrated over three pages.
  • Scarlett and Napoleon go to a cathedral and see swarms of living gargoyles attacking people. The Count drives up and begins shooting the gargoyles. When a gargoyle grabs the Count, Napoleon drives into the creature, saving the Count. A gargoyle grabs a boy and Scarlett shoots the gargoyle. The boy falls safely to the ground. The scene is illustrated over 10 pages.
  • Napoleon tells Scarlett about a dance her parents attended. Scarlett’s father and the Count argued over a girl. The Count “went to punch your father. . . Stankovic (the Count) fell over a balcony into a fountain. He was humiliated. Everyone laughed at him. He left in a huff, and no one saw him for months.”
  • When Scarlett and Napoleon are put in jail, someone slams a car into the building to free them.
  • When a group of monsters attacks, several people (including Scarlett and Napoleon) try to stop them. People use a variety of weapons, including a gun, a shovel, and a sword. A giant octopus-like monster with many eyes goes after Scarlett. She jumps in a car with Napoleon and drives away. The battle takes place over 14 pages.
  • Scarlett jumps in an airplane and looks for an octopus-like monster. When she finds the monster, she shoots it. The monster throws parts of a building at the plane. Scarlett drops a bomb into the monster’s mouth and it blows up. The fight is illustrated over 16 pages.
  • When Scarlett is flying home, she sees the Count hit Napoleon with a car. The Count points his gun at Napoleon. Scarlett flies close and the Count shoots at the plane. When Scarlett turns the plane around, she flies close to the Count, who falls off a cliff. He falls into a shark’s mouth. Later, the Count is seen hanging onto the shark’s fin; it is not clear if the Count is a zombie or still living. The scene is illustrated over eight pages.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Scarlett goes into a pub and orders “a triple whisky and easy on the ice.” The bartender glares at her. Then she says, “Just kidding. Ginger beer, please.”
  • After battling monsters, Napoleon tells Scarlett, “Since you will arrive first, perhaps you could ask Mrs. White to pour me a glass of beer? A large one.”

Language

  • Scarlett exclaims, “leaping lizards, piston heads, and gaskets and cylinder rings.”
  • Scarlett says, “I’m just a great idiot.”
  • Scarlett calls the Count a series of names, including: “pea-brained tire muncher,” “scabby nosed cat eater,” “animal-faced sewer dweller,” “dog-bottomed ferret face,” and “weasel-headed monkey brain.”
  • Scarlett says, “that toad faced Count stole our kill the other day.”
  • Someone calls Napoleon “an old fusspot.”
  • Someone calls the Count a “swine.”

Supernatural

  • Scarlett has a pair of ghost goggles that let her see ghosts. Without the goggles, ghosts “only materialize when they want to scare you.”
  • The Count learns how to bring monsters to life.

Spiritual Content

  • While hunting ghosts, Napoleon takes holy water and Scarlett takes the Bible.

Six of Crows

When it comes to the magic-wielding Grisha, nothing is ever easy. Especially not when Grisha are subjected to jurda parem, a dangerous new drug that not only enhances their latent abilities but also throws those same Grisha into a never-ending cycle of addiction and suffering.

Now, the only man who knows the formula to jurda parem, Bo Yul-Bayer, is locked up in the Ice Court, one of the most secure prisons in the world. There are many people looking to free Bo Yul- Bayer in order to use his knowledge, but Kaz Brekker is hired for the exact opposite.

Kaz and his crew, Inej, Jesper, Nina, Wylan, and Matthias, are about to breach the toughest prison in the world to free Bo Yul-Bayer and make sure he doesn’t fall into the wrong hands. They could very well die or be imprisoned, but the promise of four million kruge (the main currency of their home city of Ketterdam) is all too compelling. Plus, the six want the chance to fix all the mistakes they have made over the course of their lives. Kaz and his crew are the best at being thieves, yet not every plan can go perfectly. Jurda parem could flip the world on its head, and if the six fail, the world could plunge into a world war.

Bardugo’s Six of Crows is an adventurous story from the very beginning. The story follows the distinct personalities of gang leader Kaz, the silent assassin Inej, the sharpshooter Jesper, the Grisha Nina, the aristocrat Wylan, and the Fjerdan witch-hunter Matthias. The story ebbs and flows between the six main characters and their grand plan to sneak into the Ice Court to free the maker of a powerful drug.

There’s suspense, great action, and wonderfully compelling characters. Most of all, there’s a great sense of progression, both in the overarching plot development and in the main six characters.

Bardugo incorporates the members of Kaz’s crew into the flow of the story, and each character is vital in the plan to infiltrate the Ice Court. For instance, Matthias was once a guard was stationed at the Ice Court, allowing him to be the one to create a map of the prison. Each character’s backstory also comes into play quite frequently, bringing forth the idea that each member is struggling with something that has been haunting them for years. This is a strength of Bardugo’s writing, as her themes of overcoming one’s past and staying true to one’s feelings play out brilliantly. The biggest example of this is found in Matthias and Nina’s relationship. The two are obviously in love, but because one is a Grisha and the other is a Grisha hunter, the two often get very close to killing each other, quite literally. In the end, they manage to overcome their past prejudices and open up to each other.

Overall, Six of Crows is a wonderful read for any young adult reader. Its main characters are incredibly likable and the story flows well. The plot isn’t overly complicated, though there are a lot of characters to keep track of. Six of Crows is a page-turner that will have readers wanting more. For readers who want a blend of romance and a group of skilled characters pulling off a heist, Six of Crows is definitely the right choice. This novel also would be best suited for mature young adults.

Sexual Content

  • When a guard is mulling over how to tell if a girl likes her, his companion says, “Just tell her she’s got skin like moonlight. Girls love that.” That same guard later thinks, “He and Anya only ever exchanged a few words on his rounds, but she was always the best part of his night.”
  • In the pleasure district of Ketterdam, known as the Barrel, there are many brothels. Inej, one of the main characters, was in a brothel known as the Menagerie before she came to the dregs. “She’d lost most of her modesty during her time with the Menagerie, but really, there were limits.” In the Barrel, “peepholes were a feature of all the brothels.” Inej thinks about the Menagerie, “If you had a taste for a Shu girl or a Fjerdan giant, a redhead from the Wandering Isle, a dark-skinned Zemeni, the Menagerie was your destination.”
  • Kaz and Inej have a budding romance throughout the novel. For instance, Inej thinks, “What would Kaz say if she suddenly stripped down and started washing herself in front of him?” Again, Inej thinks, “One minute he made her blush and the next he made her want to commit murder.” Later, Inej thinks, “Feeling anything for Kaz Brekker was the worst kind of foolishness.”
  • When talking to Nina Zenik, Kaz says, “A man doesn’t need a bed to get ideas, Nina.” During their conversation, Nina “shucked off the red kefta, revealing a slip of satin so thin it barely counted as cloth.”
  • Kaz also points out to Nina, “You have crumbs on your cleavage.”
  • Nina and Matthias have a dangerous relationship. Nina thinks about Matthias: “In another life, she might have believed he was coming to rescue her, a shining savior with golden hair and eyes the pale blue of northern glaciers.” After rescuing Matthias from prison, Nina “pressed a kiss to his temple.”
  • Matthias thinks at the same time that “In the bad dreams, he kissed her.” Again he thinks, “He kissed her, buried his face in the sweet hollow of her neck.”
  • After first meeting and surviving an explosion on a boat, Nina and Matthias huddled naked together for warmth. “He gave the fire a stern jab, but she ignored him and stripped off the rest of her clothes.”
  • When thinking about her parents, Inej remembers her father “leaving little bouquets of wild geraniums for her mother to find everywhere, in the cupboards, the camp cook pots, the sleeves of her costumes.” When thinking about her own love life, Inej thinks, “There had been no boys to bring her flowers, only men with stacks of kruge and purses full of coin.”
  • Jesper and Wylan, two main characters, flirt sometimes. When Wylan tells Jesper to close his eyes while they’re under attack, Jesper says, “You can’t kiss me from down there, Wylan!”
  • When she was captured by Fjerdan witch-hunters, Nina heard one say about her, “I like this one, still nice and round. Maybe we should open that cage door and hose her down.” Immediately after this, Matthias asks his comrades, “Would you fornicate with a dog?”
  • When Kaz and Inej finally reveal their true feelings to one another at the end of the book, Inej says, “I will have you without armor, Kaz Brekker. Or I will not have you at all.”

Violence

  • A merchant has his guard cut open a boy’s arm for an experiment with jurda parem, a powerful drug. “The guard gave the boy a pat then slashed a bright red cut across his forearm. The boy started crying immediately.” In that same experiment, the merchant tells the guard to “Cut off the boy’s thumb.” This is commanded to be done because the merchant wants to see if a Grisha, a magic user, can use their power with the extra boost of jurda parem to heal a body part that was cut off.
  • When thinking about Kaz, Inej thinks, “The boy they called Dirtyhands didn’t need a reason any more than he needed permission—to break a leg, sever an alliance, or change a man’s fortune with the turn of a card.”
  • When Inej climbs into a tank, she’s desperate to get it working. “Finally one of the guns rolled upward. She pulled on the trigger, and her whole body shook as bullets rattled against the enclosure glass like hail, pinging off in all directions.” Inej fires the tank at Fjerdan soldiers, who are desperate to either capture or kill her and her comrades.
  • Nina attacks Jarl Brum, who was once Matthias’s drüskelle captain. “Then her hand shot out once more, and Brum shrieked. He clapped his hands to his head, blood trickling between his fingers.”
  • When Kaz and the others free Matthias from Hellgate prison, Matthias attacks Nina. “He launched himself forward, flipping her to the ground, hands fostered tight around her throat, straddling her so that his knees pinned her arms to the ground.” Nina isn’t injured in this interaction.
  • Big Bolliger, a member of Kaz’s gang, betrays Kaz and Jesper, so Kaz retaliates. “It was certainly why he’d let Holst put a bullet in Bolliger’s gut.”
  • As Jesper and Wylan are about to be killed by a Shu Tidemaker, a member of a foreign team, Jesper uses his Grisha powers to save himself and Wylan. “The female Tidemaker screamed as the metal burrowed into her flesh, and she tried to turn to mist.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Gambling is a backdrop for the Dregs (the gang Kaz and the others work for). Kaz has “been the floor boss at the Crow Club for more than two years.” The Crow Club is where the Dregs make the most money through gambling. Drinking is sometimes mentioned at the Crow Club, as explained below.
  • The drug, jurda parem, is a main focus of the story. Jurda parem is a drug that enhances a Grisha’s magical abilities, but also one that is incredibly addictive and dangerous. It comes in a “powder” substance. For instance, “Jurda was nothing to fear, a stimulant everyone in the stadwatch chewed to stay awake on late watches.” Van Eck, the man who hires Kaz’s crew to hunt down the creator of jurda parem, says, “Jurda parem is something completely different, and it is most definitely not harmless.” He also says, “It’s lethal. An ordinary mind cannot tolerate parem in even the lowest doses.”
  • When Kaz’s crew is surrounded by the Fjerdan military, Nina takes jurda parem to alter her Grisha abilities in order to save them all. “Her blood began to thrum, and her heart was suddenly pounding.” After Nina takes jurda parem to save the entire group from the Fjerdan military, she thinks, “Everything felt wrong. All she could think of was the sweet, burnt taste of the parem.”
  • Kaz and Geels, a fellow gang leader, make small talk about “the suspicion that the Kooperom was serving watered-down drinks now that the rent had been raised.”
  • Per Haskell, the leader of the Dregs, “preferred to sit in the warmth of his room, drinking lukewarm lager.”
  • When talking about the success of the plan to steal Bo Yul-Bayer, the creator of jurda parem, Kaz says, “We’ll have waffles. And whiskey. If this job doesn’t come off, no one’s going to want to be around me sober.”
  • When Kaz is attacked by two Grisha in an alley, before passing out he thinks, “‘Drugged,’ Kaz thought, trying not to panic. ‘I’ve been drugged.’” Immediately after, he thinks, “A ghost with a syringe?” Later on, it says about Kaz that “Whatever they’d injected him with had left him groggy.”

Language

  • The word crap is used a few times. For instance, Kaz, the pseudo leader of the Dregs, is called a “cocky little piece of crap” by a fellow gang leader. When that same gang leader threatens to shoot him, Kaz replies with, “Find your balls and give the order.”
  • The word ass and bastard are used sometimes. For instance, Kaz calls the Black Tips, another gang, “a spectacular bunch of asses.”
  • The word hell and damn are used frequently. For example, when Kaz wakes up after being kidnapped, he says, “so what the hell was going on?”
  • The word whore is used sometimes. When Kaz is debating with a high-class merchant, Van Eck tells the merchant, “I don’t run whores, and I kill for a cause.”
  • When bantering with Jesper, Kaz “replied with a time-saving gesture that relied heavily on his middle finger and disappeared below deck.”
  • The word fuck is used once in the novel. When Kaz once demanded to see the man who ruined his life, he says, “Jakob fucking Hertzoon. I want to talk to him.”
  • When someone’s watch is stolen, the person says, “Son of a bitch.”

Supernatural

  • Magic is a backdrop, with most magic users known as Grisha.
  • Matthias is a drüskelle, “one of the Fjerdan witch-hunters tasked with hunting down Grisha to face trial and execution.”
  • Grisha are typically placed into different groups based on their power. The groups include the Corporalki, the Etherealki, and the Materialki. Corporalki “specialized in the human body. They could stop your heart, slow your breathing, snap your bones. They couldn’t get inside your head.” An Etherealki, the Tidemaker, “can control currents, summon water or moisture from the air or a nearby source.” Materialki, as the name suggests, allows Grisha to create a variety of materials: “Because it’s made with Materialki corecloth. It can withstand rifle fire.”
  • A Grisha “raised an arm and a gust of air slammed Joost backward.”
  • Kaz’s ship is attacked while the group is on an island. “Before anyone could draw breath to protest, two huge walls of water rose and shot toward the Ferolind. They crushed the ship between them with a resonant boom, sending debris flying.” Inej is kidnapped after the ship is destroyed by another Grisha: “The Squaller barreled into Inej and sped upward with her into the sky.”
  • When Grisha are given jurda parem, their powers become amplified. For instance, when a Grisha named Anya uses her power on a boy, “She waved her hand through the air, the gesture almost dismissive, and the cut on the boy’s arm sealed instantly.”
  • Another Grisha used his powers to kidnap Kaz. “And then a figure stepped through the wall.” The Grisha steps through the wall behind Kaz and then restrains him.
  • Under the influence of jurda parem, Nina stops an entire army. “‘Sleep,’ she commanded. Nina swept her hands in an arc, and the soldiers toppled without protest, row after row, stalks of wheat felled by an invisible scythe.”
  • Nina alters a person’s appearance. “Nina had been a passable Tailor at best—under the influence of jurda parem, well, as Van Eck had once said, ‘Things become possible that simply shouldn’t be.’”
  • Some Grisha use other means to amplify their powers such as “animal bones, teeth, scales.”

Spiritual Content

  • None

 

Enemies

Klawde and Raj are back! As summer turns to fall, our favorite warlord cat remains in his pitiful, exiled existence. But Raj has an even scarier prospect than cosmic exile: starting at a new school. And if things didn’t seem complicated enough, both cat and human are confronted with two figures from their past they did not expect to pop up in Elba, Oregon.

While Klawde trains three kittens to become warriors, Raj is trying to make new friends and win a robotics contest. The tense story atmosphere chronicles Klawde and Raj as they both seek revenge on an enemy. When Klawde feels depressed and hides out in his bunker, Raj cheers him up with Klawde’s own words: “Revenge is a dish best served as often as possible! Revenge is the best medicine!” Klawde is truly an evil alien warlord who believes “an excellent lie is better than an inconvenient truth.” Even though Raj realizes that revenge isn’t the best medicine, the story has some bullying and gives no advice on how to conquer the problem.

Klawde: Evil Alien Warlord Cat #2 jumps back and forth between Klawde’s and Raj’s points of view. The story focuses on the drama of middle school, using humor and fun illustrations that are washed in blue. Klawde’s violent behavior is often outrageous and humorous, and he perfectly captures cats’ disdain for others. The conclusion shows Raj learning that revenge isn’t the right course of action because it hurts others.

Readers will enjoy the fast-paced story but may have difficulty with some of the advanced vocabulary, such as perfidious, malevolence, nefarious, and exponentially. However, readers will be able to use context clues to understand the meaning of the difficult words. Short chapters, large font, and pictures that are scattered throughout the story will keep even reluctant readers interested. Even though Klawde: Evil Alien Warlord Cat #2 doesn’t have an anti-bullying message, the highly entertaining story will keep readers flipping the pages until the very end.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • Klawde teaches kittens to be warriors. As they train, the calico kitten “dispatched each of her brothers so quickly that, for the final match, I paired both girls against her. The fight was even, until on one the grays caught the calico with a strike to the head that sent her sliding across the floor. She crouched in a corner, meowing pitifully… The boys went to check on the state of their sister. Once they were near, the girl sprang forward with a leap so lightning-fast, they had no time to react. She landed on their backs, slashing and biting and yowling with glee.”
  • The calico pretended to be heading towards a nap and then, “she turned, rose up behind her brothers on her hind legs, and crashed their skulls together.”
  • Klawde finds his enemy, who was “finished slurping up the innards of whatever creature he had captured, and crunched its bones between his teeth.”
  • Klawde and his sworn enemy fight. Klawde “cuffed him on his cheek as an answer to his insolence. Then I reached with my other paw to strike at his shoulder. I ducked his next swing, and at the same time used my right hind leg as a surprised cudgel, jackhammering him with a blurred series of blows.” The fight is described over two pages.
  • Klawde is upset, so he attacks a human by “grabbing at his leg. His hideous bare skin now bore four perfectly parallel scratch lines.”
  • After Klawde tampers with Raj’s robot, the robot goes crazy during an assembly, and “it shot the coffee out of Miss Natasha’s hand, and next it sprayed water at Principal Brownepoint, nailing him right in the crotch of his pants. It looked like he’d peed himself!”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Klawde gets high on catnip.

Language

  • On the human side, there is some name-calling, including jerk and dork.
  • Klawde has many funny names that he calls both humans and cats alike. For example, he calls a cat an ignorant imbecile, a dim-witted dolt, and a moron.
  • Heck is used twice.

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • When Klawde challenges his enemy to a duel to the death, his enemy “looked like he’d just seen the ghost of King Si-uh-meez, whose spirit is known to appear to cats on their deathbed.”

Double Team

Eleven-year-old Amar’e Stoudemire has always had fun playing basketball with his friends. Competing in tournaments with his two best friends, Deuce and Mike, has made Amar’e realize that his true passion is basketball.

Amar’e and his two best friends usually play as a team, but when the competition gets intense, Amar’e thinks that he is the only one capable of getting the ball into the net. Amare’s getting attention from older, better players. When Amar’e gets invited to a special invitation-only tournament, he wonders if ditching his friends is the right thing to do. Will Amar’e’s friends stand by him even if he leaves them behind on the basketball court? In order to keep his friends, will Amar’e need to turn down the opportunity to play in the special tournament?

Basketball fans will enjoy the play-by-play action Amar’e and his friends compete in a tournament. When Amar’e’s friends get angry that he is “hogging the ball,” Amar’e doesn’t try to see things from his friends’ point of view. Instead, he is overconfident and focuses on how his friends aren’t being fair. In the end, Amar’e talks to his mother and brother about the conflict, which allows him to solve the problem and keep his friends. Amar’e brother tells him, “You’ve got to do your thing, but you don’t want to hurt anyone along the way.”

Although Amar’e has positive interactions with his parents, the story focuses on the tournaments. Because the play-by-play action is told from Amar’e’s point of view, he comes off as arrogant. Amar’e is confident that he is the only reason the team wins so he cuts his teammates out of the action. In the end, Amar’e realizes that friendship is more important than winning.

Basketball fans will appreciate Double Team’s easy vocabulary and the black and white illustrations that are scattered throughout the story. Amar’s has positive interactions with his family and works hard. Younger sports fans with enjoy Double Team because of the relatable character and the realistic conflict. Readers who are looking for similar books should try the Zayd Saleem Chasing the Dream Series by Hena Khan.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • None

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • “Holy Finger Roll” is used as an exclamation.

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • None

Maybe This Time

One year. Nine events. Nine chances to . . . fall in love?

Weddings. Funerals. Barbecues. New Year’s Eve parties. Name the occasion, and Sophie Evans will be there. Well, she has to be there. Sophie works for the local florist, so she can be found at every big event in her small hometown, arranging bouquets and managing family drama.

Enter Andrew Hart. The son of the fancy new chef in town, Andrew is suddenly required to attend all the same events as Sophie. Andrew is entitled, arrogant, and preppy. Sophie just wants to get her job done and finish up her sketches so she can apply to design school. But every time she turns around, there’s Andrew, getting in her way and making her life more complicated. Until one day she wonders if maybe complicated isn’t so bad after all . . .

Told from Sofie’s point of view, the reader comes to understand why Sofie is focused on getting out of her small town. However, Sofie’s obsession with moving to New York has made her judgmental, snobbish, and self-centered. When Sofie meets Andrew, she automatically dislikes him and often says things just to irritate him. Sofie ends up falling in love with Andrew, which comes as no surprise. The change from dislike, to friendship, to love is very natural. Instead of instantly falling in love, the two slowly learn about each other, which allows their feelings to change.

Maybe This Time doesn’t just focus on the romance. The story also hits on difficulties with parents, misunderstandings with friends, and the dynamics of a small town. Even though Sofie often is snarky, her sweet side also comes out in unexpected places. Sofie’s little brother is one of the highlights of the story, and Sofie’s love for him is apparent.

Maybe This Time will give readers insight into small-town life. The story progresses at a steady pace and has many interesting characters. In the end, Sofie realizes that she actually loves her small town and even though she does plan to leave, she will always come back. The sweet romance touches on friendship, ambition, trust, and dreams without getting bogged down with a message. Readers looking for an easy-to-read romance will enjoy Maybe This Time.

Sexual Content

  • When Sofie hurts her foot, Andrew “squatted down, his hand brushing along my calf until it reached my ankle. Tingles spread up my leg all the way to my stomach. My cheeks went hot, and I leaned my head back against the mirror to try to keep that fact to myself. He wasn’t allowed to have this kind of effect on me.”
  • While walking by a car, Sofie sees a boy and a girl “in the passenger seat, and they were kissing.”
  • When Sofie and Andrew were arguing, Sofie’s “body seemed to be on autopilot. I leaned forward and pressed an angry kiss to his lips. . . Then all at once his free hand moved to the back of my neck. . . He tilted his head, deepening our kiss.” The kiss is described over ½ a page.
  • While serving at a dinner, a drunk man dropped a fork. When Sofie went to pick it up, she “felt a hand brush [her] leg. The man gave me a creepy smile and I stood. I pointed his own fork at him. ‘Please keep your hands to yourself.’”
  • Sofie doesn’t want to think about “a certain hot day by a certain shed kissing a certain boy whose mouth tasted like cherries.”
  • At a New Year’s party, Sofie’s friend says, “In fact, I’m going to find myself a boy to kiss at midnight tonight. I don’t care who.” Later Sofie’s friend says, “He was a midnight kiss. . . Don’t try to tie me down to someone I kissed at midnight.”
  • During a New Year’s party, Andrew kisses Sofie. Sofie thinks, “He tasted like heaven.”
  • Andrew and Sofie kiss several times. Once he tells Sofie, “You’re beautiful.” Then, “his lips brushed mine softly.”

Violence

  • Sofie’s brother is afraid of firecrackers because “Momma had a party in the backyard. . . Some guys started shooting their guns into the sky and my window got broke and a piece of glass hit my arm and I thought I was shot.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • While Sofie was at a wedding, she stepped on the “amber colored glass of a broken beer bottle.”
  • During a eulogy, the pastor talked about how the man “had a problem with alcohol when he was younger.”
  • While serving at a dinner, some of the people drink wine.
  • At Thanksgiving dinner, Sofie’s mom says, “Point me to the wine.”

Language

  • Holy crap is used twice.
  • Crap is used five times.

Supernatural

  • Sofie had a short conversation about her belief in an afterlife. She says, “I believe in an afterlife . . . I’m not sure exactly what it will consist of, but I believe we all have a soul, something that makes us who we are. When my gran died, I remember looking at her body and knowing something was missing, that she was no longer her.”

Because of the Rabbit

On the last night of summer, Emma tags along with her father, who is a game warden, on a routine call. They’re supposed to rescue a wild rabbit from a picket fence, but instead, they find a little bunny. Emma convinces her father to bring him home for the night.

The next day, Emma starts public school for the very first time after years of being home-schooled. More than anything, Emma wants to make a best friend in school. But things don’t go as planned. On the first day of school, she’s paired with a boy named Jack for a project. He can’t stay on topic, he speaks out of turn, and he’s obsessed with animals. Jack doesn’t fit in, and Emma’s worried he’ll make her stand out. Emma and Jack bond over her rescue rabbit, but will their new friendship keep Emma from finding the new best friend she’s meant to have?

Because of the Rabbit combines several subplots into one story. Not only is Emma struggling with attending public school for the first time, but she also is upset that her brother, Owen, has less time for her. Emma’s family demonstrates healthy relationships and positive communication skills. Emma revisits tales that her grandfather shared with her. She also names her pet rabbit Monsieur Lapin after a character from her grandfather’s stories.

Attending public school isn’t an easy transition for Emma. The author does an excellent job describing Emma’s complex feelings in kid-friendly language. Like many students, Emma hopes to find a best friend and worries that telling the whole truth will make others dislike her. One of her classmates, who appears to have autism, is kind to Emma. Even though Emma likes spending time with the boy, she worries that others will judge her if she spends time with him. In the end, Emma learns that it is important to look at things from another person’s perspective. Emma realizes that “I’ve wanted them all to be the kind of friend I needed, but I hadn’t tried as hard to be the one they needed.”

Anyone who has ever been left out of a group or is facing a new school will relate to Emma. Because of the Rabbit is beautifully written and has many positive life lessons. However, the story focuses on Emma’s personal conflicts. Readers who enjoy fast-paced, adventure stories will have a difficult time staying engaged. Because of the short chapters and easy vocabulary, Because of the Rabbit would be an excellent story for a parent to read aloud to their child.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • None

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • None

A Wrinkle in Time

Meg’s father is a physicist. Or at least he was, before he disappeared. While her mother insists that he will come back, Meg and the rest of the town doubt he’ll ever return. It doesn’t help that Meg is having trouble at school and thinks that her curls, glasses, and braces make her a “moron.” In fact, Meg is convinced that her life will be terrible forever–until Mrs. Whatsit blows into her kitchen one stormy evening.

Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who, and Mrs. Which definitely aren’t from Earth, and Meg doesn’t trust them. But her little brother Charles says they’re alright, and Charles has always been able to see below the surface of people. When Mrs. Whatsit says they can help the children find their father, Meg doesn’t care what they are, as long as they can help. Suddenly Meg finds herself traveling to other planets with Charles and their friend Calvin. Together will the three of them be able to rescue Meg and Charles’ father? Or will they too become lost?

A Wrinkle in Time has memorable characters that will quickly find their way into readers’ hearts. Meg is very relatable to young readers, as she deals with her fears, her braces, and with not fitting in at school. Watching Meg struggle, grow, and find her inner strength will leave readers cheering for her. The beautiful, imaginative planets that Meg journeys to will awe and delight.

Throughout A Wrinkle in Time, Meg will glimpse a cosmic battle between good and evil, light and darkness, and knowledge and ignorance. While rescuing her father is just a tiny piece of this battle, Meg’s journey is filled with gravitas. Numerous lessons are learned along the way: Meg learns how to be brave, how to take responsibility rather than blaming others, and she discovers the one thing that the Shadow doesn’t have: love.

Sexual Content

  • The rumor is that Meg’s father “left your mother and [went] off with some dame.”
  • When Meg has to go into mortal danger to save her brother, she says goodbye to Calvin. “Calvin came to her and took her hand, then drew her roughly to him and kissed her. He didn’t say anything, and he turned away before he had a chance to see the surprised happiness that brightened Meg’s eyes.”

Violence

  • Charles thinks a man is a robot, so he “darted forward and hit the man as hard as he could.” When he realizes the man is not a robot, he says, “I’m sorry if I hurt you.”
  • The mind in charge of a planet that has been lost to the Dark Thing tells Meg, “We let no one suffer. If it is so much kinder simply to annihilate anyone who is ill . . . Rather than endure such discomfort they are simply put to sleep.”
  • When Charles is hypnotized, Meg tries to knock him back to his senses. “She hurled herself at him. But before she could reach him his fist shot out and punched her hard in the stomach. She gasped for breath.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • Charles says, “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.”
  • Moron is used often. The town thinks Charles is a moron because he never talks, and Meg calls herself a moron several times. When Charles speaks to Calvin, Calvin is surprised. “Aren’t you the one who’s supposed to be the moron?”
  • Calvin calls Charles and Meg “dope” several times as an affectionate nickname. “Look, dope. I just want to get things straight.”
  • Ass is used once. Mrs. Who says, “And old ass knows more than a young colt.”

Supernatural

  • Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who, and Mrs. Which are not from earth, though they can appear in human form. It’s never directly stated what they are, but it’s mentioned that Mrs. Who is a “paltry few billion years” older than Mrs. Whatsit, and that Mrs. Which is even older.
  • At one point, Mrs. Whatsit morphs into a new form. “Outwardly Mrs. Whatsit was surely no longer a Mrs. Whatsit. She was a marble white body with powerful flanks, something like a horse but at the same time completely unlike a horse, for the magnificently modeled back sprang a nobly formed torso, arms, and a heard resembling a man’s but a man with a perfection of dignity and virtue.”
  • The children tesser across space (a form of faster than light travel) several times with Mrs. Which. “All light was gone. Darkness was complete . . . Just as light and sound had vanished, she was gone, too. The corporeal Meg simply was not . . . She was lost in a horrifying void.” They visit several different planets and meet the occupants of those planets.
  • The children visit the “Happy Medium,” a very happy woman who can see the entire universe through a crystal ball.
  • The children visit a planet that has been lost to the Shadow. There, they find a man who is possessed by IT, the mind in charge. “His eyes were bright and had a reddish glow. Above his head was a light, and it glowed in the same manner as the eyes, pulsing, throbbing, in steady rhythm. Charles Wallace shut his eyes tightly. ‘Close your eyes . . . He’ll hypnotize you.’ ”
  • The children finally meet IT and realize, “It was a brain. A disembodied brain. An oversized brain, just enough larger than normal to be completely revolting and terrifying. A living brain. A brain that pulsed and quivered, that seized and commanded.”

Spiritual Content

  • On one of the planets they visit, centaur-esque creatures are singing a song of pure joy. Mrs. Whatsit tries to translate the song into words: “Sing unto the Lord a new song, and his praise from the end of the earth, ye that go down to the sea, and all that is therein; the isles; and the inhabitants thereof. Let the wilderness and the cities thereof lift their voice; let the inhabitants of the rock sing, let them shout from the top of the mountains. Let them give glory onto the Lord!” When Meg hears the song, she “felt a pulse of joy such as she had never known before.”
  • The children learn their father was taken prisoner while fighting the Dark Thing. Meg sees the Dark Thing, a huge shadow stretched across space. “What could there be about a shadow that was so terrible that she knew that there had never been before or ever would be again, anything that would chill her with a fear that was beyond shuddering, beyond crying or screaming, beyond the possibility of comfort?” When they ask what it is, Mrs. Which says, “Itt iss Eevill. Itt iss thee Ppowers of Ddarrkknesss!”
  • The children realize that many people have fought the darkness on Earth for years. Mrs. Whatsit says, “They’ve been lights for us to see by.” They include Jesus, Gandhi, Buddha, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Shakespeare, Bach, Pasteur, Madame Curie, Einstein and more.
  • Meg’s father said, “We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”
  • When struggling to describe Mrs. Whatsit to aliens, Calvin says they are “Angels! Guardian angels! Messengers! Messengers of God!”
  • Before Meg goes to confront It, Mrs. Who tells her, “The foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble men are called, but God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty. And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to naught things that are.”

by Morgan Lynn

 

 

Waking the Monsters

Mega robot monsters are popping up from the ground, and they’re too big for Hilo to battle on his own. Luckily, Gina can use her magic to help fight the battle. But the closer Hilo and Gina get to the secret behind the monsters, the closer they get to the secret of Hilo’s past. Do they really want to know what happened in the past?

Gina needs to help Hilo, but that means missing cheerleading practice and keeping her activities hidden from her mother. D.J. and Izzy are determined to keep their two friends safe, but every time a monster is powered down another one appears. With all of the unusual events, Hilo is now on the military’s radar. Can Hilo avoid being captured by the army? Is there any way that Hilo and his friend can stop the monster invasion?

The fourth installment of the Hilo Series has the same characters, but a host of new mechanical monsters that need to be defeated. Unlike the previous books, Waking the Monsters focuses on battle scenes. It takes Hilo and all of his friends working together to stop the creatures. Gina is allowed to shine by using her magical ability to help Hilo. Gina’s excitement at being Hilo’s “sidekick” brings humor to the fighting. During the battles, no one is seriously injured and the mechanical monsters are powered down instead of destroyed.

Hilo’s lost memory, the long battles, and the military joining the battle give Waking the Monsters a slightly darker tone than the previous books. However, Hilo’s desire to help others in creative ways will leave readers with a smile. The story has some humor based on farting and butts. For example, Izzy makes an owl that “farts roses” and she shows her friends how it works. Izzy also makes a chicken that speaks Portuguese and “when she gets mad, her butt falls off.”

Brightly colored illustrations will capture readers’ attention, but readers will want to keep turning the pages because of the engaging story and the likable characters. The detailed illustrations show exaggerated facial expressions which will help readers understand the characters’ changing emotions.  For maximum enjoyment, the stories should be read in order. Even though the first chapter recaps the events in the previous books, the story’s plots build on each other.

Readers will be endlessly curious about Hilo’s forgotten memory. The action-packed scenes, the friendships, and the mystery will keep readers turning the pages to the very end. If you’re looking for a story full of action and humor, the Hilo Series is a perfect choice.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • Giant mechanical animals begin appearing from out of the ground. The first one, a giant turtle that breathes fire, is going to “smash a town.” Hilo and the turtle fight; Hilo blasts the turtle with an ice blast, and then the turtle hits Hilo who falls to the ground. The turtle then stomps on Hilo. Izzy does a “diagnostic scan” and figures out how to power down the turtle. The fight takes place over eight pages.
  • Over the next several days, other mechanical monsters pop up from the ground and Hilo fights them. One creature looks like an alligator. The fights take place over two pages.
  • A giant mechanical ape appears. The ape is able to detach his hand and grab Hilo. People run screaming as the ape gets closer to the town. Hilo’s suit is damaged and “his audio link in his helmet got bonked. He can’t hear [his friends].” A mechanical monkey and the army show up. Izzy makes a suit for Gina, who joins in the battle and she’s “fighting a giant robot monkey with magical wands.” The monkey learns how to “calibrate your blast and build up a resistance.” Gina uses magic to grow twine that wraps up the monkey. During the battle Hilo gets confused. Izzy is afraid that Hilo is “not in control and he might destroy the other robot.” Gina is able to create vines that go through the ape’s body; the vine takes down the ape by popping its arms off. The battle takes place over 21 pages.
  • While in a military institution, the scientist fixes the mechanical animal that then attacks. The scientist made the creature nine times stronger. Hilo shoots lasers at the creature’s head. Two army men shoot at the creature, but it deflects the shot and blows up the army men’s vehicle. Hilo saves the men and eventually takes the creature down with an ice blast. Hilo goes to sleep and falls to the ground. The scene takes place over eight pages.
  • While Hilo is injured a mechanical creature knocks over the military doctors and tries to communicate with Hilo. When the creature touches Hilo’s hand, it causes Hilo to remember the past. The creature shows Hilo’s home planet being destroyed and the creature says, “They made me into a weapon. They made me destroy my own kind. I asked them to let me stop. But they kept sending me back to destroy more. And more. And more. Just robots like you and me. Robots who were only doing what humans made them do.” Gina appears and uses magic against the creature. The scene takes place over two chapters.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • “Holy Mackerel” is used as an expression occasionally.

Supernatural

  • Polly is a magical warrior cat and an “apprentice sorceress third class.”

Spiritual Content

  • None

The Ugly Truth

School’s back in session for Greg Heffley, but this time without his best friend Rowley. After Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days where Greg and Rowley end their friendship, Greg is all alone to face the trials and tribulations of middle school. Everything around Greg changes when puberty starts to strike the middle school population and Greg’s Mom returns to her schooling. He finds himself dealing with the pressures of boy-girl parties, increasing responsibilities, and the meaning of getting older all without his best friend. Will Greg survive until winter break or will he have to face the “ugly truth”?

The Ugly Truth’s plot revolves around everything that happens in Greg’s life and is written from his 12-year-old perspective. The story contains a lot of bathroom and childish humor. At one point in the story, Greg puts a whoopie cushion on his Grandma’s chair. When she sits down on it, he can’t stop laughing. After Greg hid rotten eggs in one of his uncle’s pants, his uncle has to move out of the house. The humor is awfully crude and disrespectful at times, and throughout the story Greg is obsessed with trying to get a girlfriend.

Despite the book’s bathroom humor, The Ugly Truth has some positive aspects. Jeff Kinney has a natural talent for using humor to entertain while teaching important life lessons. The Ugly Truth addresses the issue of puberty and the challenges puberty brings in a fun manner. Kinney makes it easy for readers to see that everyone goes through puberty, and it is not something to be ashamed of. Many of the characters even show off some of their changes, like Rowley’s first zit.

The consistent funny black-and-white illustrations help bring Greg’s struggles to life. However, parents should be aware of the book’s drawings and jokes as Kinney often uses bathroom jokes such as Greg’s friends going behind the curtain to make fart sounds at the lock-in. Many of the jokes are inappropriate for really young readers. The topic of sexual health and puberty’s changes comes up often. In addition, parents will not want their children to emulate Greg’s behavior because he demonstrates qualities such as laziness, selfishness, and narcissism. But at the end of the story, Greg shows a sign of maturity and decides to be a better friend to Rowley. He makes the first move in patching things up between them instead of waiting for Rowley to come crawling back to him.

Readers should read the books in sequential order in order to get the full effect of Greg’s character and humor. Many of the events and jokes overlap from book to book. Despite the story’s flaws, readers will relate to Greg as he goes through puberty. The Ugly Truth is a funny, enjoyable story that will entertain and teach practical lessons.

Sexual Content

  • Greg has a major crush on his dental hygienist, Rachel. Greg says, “Rachel always lectures me about brushing and flossing and all that, but she’s so cute that it’s hard to take her seriously.”
  • Greg gets invited to Jordan Jury’s big party along with Rowley and agrees, saying, “I can definitely pretend I’m friends with Rowley for one night if it means I get to play ‘Spin the Bottle’ with a bunch of girls who are a whole grade ahead of me.”
  • Greg thinks about the pros and cons of going to Uncle Gary’s wedding. He thinks about the bachelor party he might be invited to and says, “And as a bonus, at the wedding, I’ll be paired with one of the bridesmaids. I’m just crossing my fingers that Sonja has some cute friends.”
  • Greg’s uncle is getting married for the third time.

Violence

  • After Greg’s big brother, Rodrick, accidentally spits in his father’s face, his father chases after him in the parking lot. Dad trips over the curb, twisting his ankle and having to go to the hospital.
  • Greg accidentally bites his new dentist.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • Bathroom and immature humor are used frequently to entertain. Words like pee, bra, butt, and fart are used frequently.
  • This book is full of bathroom jokes. In one instance, Mom called a household meeting and says, “she was tired of having to clean the floor around the toilet because of our ‘lousy aim.’” Greg continues to tell the story of how he got stuck to the bathroom floor after Manny used the bathroom.
  • Greg fakes his mother’s instructions to his Grandpa when he is babysitting the three Heffley boys. The note tells Grandpa to spank Rodrick and has a picture of a naked butt.
  • Greg goes into a locked-in night at his school. Greg remembers, “Every once in a while, somebody would cut the cheese, and that made Mr. Palmero really mad because he couldn’t figure out who was doing it.”

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • None

by Matthew Perkey

Worthy

Everyone at Linden’s high school is obsessed with a new app called Worthy. The app posts pictures of couples and asks, “Is the girl worthy of the guy?” Some use the anonymous platform to post cruel comments. As the voting goes viral, not every couple can handle the comments that begin to collect. The comments aren’t only online: the app and the couples it features are the topic of every conversation at school.

At first, Linden is focused on other things like cute Alex Rivera, the Prom Committee, and her writing. But soon, Linden is just as obsessed with Worthy as everyone else. Soon, the app is causing problems between Linden and her best friend, Nikki. What will happen when the spotlight turns on Linden?

Readers will relate to Linden as she struggles with online bullying. Even though Linden knows that posting mean comments online is wrong, she doesn’t have a problem voting. As the story progresses, four different couples are featured on Worthy. Linden overhears many conversations about the couples that allow the reader to understand how superficial the voters are. As more and more teens get caught up in the voting craze, Linden is forced to evaluate her own motives for voting. When Linden and Alex are featured on the app, Linden finally realizes how devastating people’s comments can be.

In a world where so many teens are connected on social media, the story has a realistic conflict; however, there are so many minor characters that it is often difficult to keep track of them all. Because the minor characters seldom appear, readers may find it difficult to care about how the app affects them. It isn’t until the app focuses on Linden that the conflict becomes more suspenseful. The story is told from Linden’s point of view, which allows the reader to understand her insecurities and her fears as well as see her personal growth.

Worthy is a cute romance that has several positive aspects. Nikki, Alex, and Linden’s parents all make a short appearance in the story. Despite that each family is different, they are all portrayed in a positive light. The story shies away from profanity and sex. Even though the story drags at points, the positive messages in the book make it worth the read. Connor makes it clear that teens need to look past people’s appearances. The story also shows the damage that online bullying can cause in relationships. Worthy isn’t afraid to explore difficult topics and would be an excellent book to use as a conversation starter.

Sexual Content

  • While in the school hallway, Linden sees her best friend Nikki kissing her boyfriend.
  • Linden thinks about her neighbor, Max. “When we were twelve, we shared our first kiss in the treehouse his dad built.”
  • While sitting outside of Linden’s house, Alex “raises his hand, still caught in mine, and traces his thumb gently against my lips. My face explodes with heat, and when his hand slips away, I lean in toward him. The first kiss is soft. Just a touch. . .He leans back on the grass, pulling me against his chest, and we are kissing. And kissing. And kissing.”
  • While in the school hallway, Alex tries to kiss Linden, and she jerks “backward because I’m not expecting it and it ends up a totally awkward kind of face bump.” Linden is embarrassed and thinks, “I’m not so sure public displays of affection are my thing. . . It’s funny we weren’t awkward at all when we were kissing Saturday night. I blush and smile at the memory.”
  • At school, Linden notices two kids kissing and notices that the girl “gives him a kiss right on the mouth, completely oblivious to the rest of the group.”
  • While at Alex’s house, Linden thinks “about kissing him in my front yard.”
  • At a school assembly, Alex sits next to Linden and gives her a “quick kiss. This time our lips touch confidently, like we greet each other like this all the time.”
  • Linden imagines asking Alex to prom and “then we’ll kiss.”
  • While sitting in Alex’s car, he “cups [Linden’s] cheek in his hand . . . He runs a thumb along my bottom lip. Slowly. Then he leans in to kiss me—very softly—following along the line his thumb travels with his lips.”
  • Linden thinks about her best friend and remembers “when Nikki told me Martin Wells had kissed her behind the trees outside the playground.”
  • While at a quinceañera, Linden brushes “[Alex’s] thick black hair back off his forehead, my fingers lingering as they slide down his face. . . Then he turns his head and his lips are on my palm. The heat explodes into my cheeks.”

Violence

  • None

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • Oh my God and OMG are used eleven times in total.
  • Crap is used once. When Linden accidentally throws the bowling ball the wrong way, she thinks, “crap.”
  • Freaking is used once.

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • While bowling, Linden doesn’t want her feet touching the shoes. She thinks, “Thank God for the thick boot socks I put on under my cowboy boots.”

A Match Made in Mehendi

Fifteen-year-old Simran “Simi” Sangha comes from a long line of Indian vichole – matchmakers — with a rich history of helping parents find good matches for their grown children. When Simi accidentally sets up her cousin and a soon-to-be lawyer, her family is thrilled that she has the “gift.”

But Simi is an artist, and she doesn’t want anything to do with relationships, helicopter parents, and family drama. That is until she realizes this might be just the thing to improve her and her best friend Noah’s social status. Armed with her family’s ancient guide to finding love, Simi starts a matchmaking service via an app.

But when she helps connect a wallflower of a girl with the star of the boys’ soccer team, she turns the high school hierarchy topsy-turvy, making herself public enemy number one.

Simi starts her sophomore year with the intent of standing out and being her true self. As she tells her own story, the reader gets an inside scoop on her thought process. Simi’s story bounces between her home life, her love life, and her school life. Simi is surrounded by a large and loving family. She also relies on her best friend, Noah, to help her through the day-to-day struggle of school.

The story’s large cast of characters doesn’t allow the author to give each person a unique personality, and many of the characters are not well-developed. Simi’s best friend Noah is struggling with his sexual identity, but his thoughts and feelings are never expressed, which makes it hard for the reader to connect with him. Readers may also have a difficult time because Simi’s family is from India, and they often use their native language; however, there are few context clues to help the reader understand the word’s meaning.

A Match Made in Mehendi gives the reader a look into Indian culture as well as the matchmaking process. The action slows down when Noah, Simi, and her brother work on the app. The matchmaking app is an interesting twist, but Simi seems more concerned with the app’s functionality than the couples the app matches.

Like many teens, Simi is trying to find her voice and stand up for herself. Simi’s story is unique and follows several couples as they try to navigate romance. However, the character-driven story does not contain a lot of action or conflict. Although the story has several interesting facets, A Match Made in Mehendi will easily be forgotten.

Sexual Content

  • While working on an art project at a boy’s house, the two take a break. “He leans close, picking a blade of grass from my hair, and for a second, I think he might kiss me.” But then the dog jumps between the two and the moment is over.
  • After a date, Simi’s “heart rate kicks up as he ducks his head and moves closer.” She thought he was going to kiss her and thinks, “I want him to. I have for so long.” But then, the boy “veers towards my cheek, laying the softest kiss there. It’s innocent and sweet, but all the same, shivers fan out over my arms.”
  • Simi’s friend Noah has a crush on a boy, but he isn’t sure how to handle it.
  • While at a gathering, Simi is talking to a boy. The boy “gently pulls me in toward him for a kiss. Except I’m so surprised, I knock over my cup of ginger ale before our lips can connect.” Simi tells him to try again, which he does. Simi thinks the kiss is “slow. Delicious. Sweet like ate-ki-pinni.”

Violence

  • A mean girl tricks Simi, then “as I crash onto my hands and knees, my phone careens through the air and smashes face down on the concrete.” The girl stomped on the phone, then “she laughs, does a haughty pageant wave, and keeps moving.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • During a dinner at Simi’s house, her dad “keeps everyone happy with drinks ranging from lassi and lemonade to Patiala pegs of his favorite single malt whiskey.”

Language

  • Profanity is used sparingly. Crap is used three times; holy crap and shit are both used once.
  • When Simi draws a picture of two people with hearts over their head, her sister says, “Good God.”
  • God, OMG, and dear God are all used as an exclamation once or twice.
  • Freaking is used five times.
  • Badass and kickass are both used once.
  • When someone takes credit for Simi’s artwork, she says, “They call it bullshit. Are you gonna tell her [the teacher] or am I?” Later she thinks the person is an “ass.”

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • When Simi’s grandparents got married, they were from different religions, but it wasn’t “a big deal.” Her grandparents “lit a lamp for both Wahe Guru and Mata Rani in our home after we got married and called ourselves doubly blessed.”

Guest: A Changeling Tale

Mollie knows that it’s dangerous to praise a baby. The Kinde Folke, who are anything but kind, may overhear and snatch the beautiful child away. Mollie loves her baby brother Thomas and somehow flattering words escape. She knows her baby brother could be snatched, but she isn’t expecting a hideous changeling to take his place. When her brother disappears, her father leaves town and her mother tries to keep the changeling alive. Mollie’s mother hopes that the Kinde Folke will take the changeling home and return Thomas.

Mollie watches the joy and strength leave her mother. In the hopes of saving her family, Mollie decides to sneak away and return Guest (the changeling) to the Kinde Folke. But the Kinde Folke do not want Guest back, and they will do everything in their power to keep Mollie from finding them. Determined, Mollie journeys over mountains and through forests filled with otherworldly foes. Can Mollie find the treacherous Kinde Folke and convince them to let go of her brother?

Mary Downing Hahn weaves a tale of frightening fairies who use trickery and violence to keep Mollie from finding her brother. Although the Irish folklore is interesting, none of the characters in the story are likable. Mollie is spoiled, mean, and says hateful words. The story hints that Guest’s father cares about him, but the man only steps in to help when Mollie and Guest are in danger. Even though Guest is described as a disgustingly ugly changeling, he grows as a person and realizes that his previous actions were wrong. Readers may be put off by the host of unlikeable characters.

As Mollie searches for her brother, she continues to make the same mistakes over and over again. If it wasn’t for the help of the traveler and sympathetic Kinde Folke, Mollie would have surely met her demise. In the end, Mollie is reunited with her brother; however, he is so mean and ill-tempered that the reader will wish that the fairy queen had sacrificed him as she had planned.

Mollie travels through the forest and has to overcome many difficulties. The changing relationship between Mollie and Guest will give readers hope. Throughout the story, several people ask Mollie, “Why must you speak your mind without giving a thought to what you say?” By reading Mollie’s story, readers will understand the need to think before they talk. Readers who are interested in folklore and the darker side of fairies will enjoy Guest: A Changeling Tale. Readers interested in folklore with mischievous and often dangerous characters should try better alternatives, such as 13 Treasures by Michelle Harrison or The Spiderwick Chronicles by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black.

 Sexual Content

  • Mollie finds out that Guest’s father is Madog. Guest’s half-brother says that Guest’s mother “should not have lain with Madog.”

Violence

  • Mollie’s mother thinks about taking the changeling baby to the crossroads. “Those who’d killed themselves were buried in this place. Murderers, too, and thieves, all those who weren’t allowed to lie in the churchyard. Changelings and unwanted babies had both been left here to die.”
  • A Stallion horse takes Mollie into the sky. When she asks to be returned, “I understood that the horse meant to dive into the lake and drown me. I lunged to one side, but the black threads of his mane wrapped themselves around me and held me fast. Into the water we plunged, going so deep, I thought I’d never see the sky again. . . I used all of my strength to push the silver heart against the horse’s neck. With a shudder, the stallion threw me from his back.” Mollie is able to swim to the surface, but the Stallion races after her. “And then, though I scarce believed what I saw, the horse changed to a man as beautiful and wild as the horse.” With the help of the traveler, Mollie is saved.
  • Guest tells Mollie that his birth mother does “not like me. Scream, hit, hurt me.”
  • Creatures “wearing tattered leaves and cobwebs” try to get Mollie to follow them. When she doesn’t, “they surrounded us, hundreds of them, no bigger than wasps. . . No longer pretending to be friendly, they pinched us, they bit. They pulled our hair as if they meant to yank it out. They tore our clothes as if they wished to strip us to our bare skin.” Mollie thrust the locket at the Tinies and “at its touch, the creatures shrieked in pain and spiraled upward.”
  • The Kinde Folke tricked Mollie into believing a wolf was her brother Thomas. The wolf “struggled to escape, and when I tightened my hold on him, he snarled and sunk his teeth into my arm. Shocked, I let him go. His lips drew back and exposed long, sharp teeth. Fur covered his body. . . As he leaned over me, poised to attack, I pulled out the locket and pressed it as hard as I could against one of his eyes. With a savage howl, he leapt backwards, one eye gone, nothing left of it but a smoking hole and the stench of burned flesh.”
  • One of the Kinde Folke appears to Mollie and her companions. When they go into a circle, “Green flames raced across the ground toward us. My skin tingled and my hair crackled. Guest and Aidan glowed as if they were burning from within. The flames vanished as quickly as they’d come, and a terrible silence fell.” When Aidan approached the woman, “the lady struck his face with her open hand. Aidan’s head snapped back and he raised an arm to protect himself from the second blow.” When the woman asks Mollie a question, Mollie stays quiet. “The air stirred before I felt the blow. Stumbling backwards, I almost knocked Guest down. He whimpered and held my skirt tightly.”
  • When Madog tries to keep Mollie from following the Kinde Folke, she “yanked the locket from around my neck and thrust it into Madog’s face. With a cry of pain, he sprang back.” When the Kinde Folke try to convince Mollie to go with them, she lifted “the locket high, I thrust it against their shoulders, their faces, their arms, their hands. The dancers screamed in pain.” The Kinde Folke flee.
  • The Kinde Folke plan on sacrificing Mollie’s brother. One of the Kinde Folke tells her, “Every seven years, we are sworn to give the Dark Lord of these lands a tithe. That’s the price we pay to roam the world as free as the wind.”
  • When a girl spills wine, the Kinde Folke’s queen called her a “stupid, clumsy girl.” The queen then “slapped Aislinn’s face so hard, the girl nearly fell from her chair.”
  • When Mollie steals her sleeping brother from the Kinde Folke, the Kinde Folke try to get him back. “The hounds were upon us, dark, long and lean, red-eyed and sharp-toothed, more like shadows than actual dogs. They ripped at the horses’ legs, leapt at their throats, and tried to pull us to the ground.” In order to escape, someone gives Mollie a pouch. Mollie “fumbled with the cord and then hurled the sack at the Kinde Folke. Its contents exploded in a flash of lighting. Small iron balls shot into the Kinde Folke crowded around us. They screamed in pain and tried to shield themselves.” Mollie and her companions are able to flee.
  • While Mollie and her companions are fleeing, “a strange darkness fell upon us. . . Thunder crashed so loudly the earth seemed to shake. Lightning exploded across the sky with a force that split the clouds.” The Dark Lord speaks, then he “destroyed the Kinde Folke just as he said he would.”
  • When Mollie brings her brother home, their father is afraid the Kinde Folke will seek vengeance. He says, “Remember what they did to the Millers’ barn and house—burned them both to the ground just because Mistress Miller refused to call them kind.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • A shapeshifter gives Mollie a “pretty little blue bottle.” The shapeshifter said the bottle contained “my elixir of health.” But Guest hit the bottle, which poured onto the ground. When a butterfly drank the elixir, “in a moment, it lay still and the ferns around it withered.”
  • During a ceremony, the Kinde Folke drinks wine. When a girl drops a glass of wine, someone says, “Bring more wine. But give none to this one. She’s had more than enough already.”
  • Mollie’s brother is given a potion that puts him to sleep.

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • Mollie has an iron necklace that is covered in silver. When the necklace touches a Kinde Folke, the necklace hurts them.
  • The story centers around the Kinde Folke, who have magical powers. “Worst of all, if the Kinde Folke learned of a beautiful baby boy’s birth, they’d steal him away and leave one of their own sickly creatures in his place.”
  • Pookas, which are ghosts, “live in dark lakes and take lasses.” A Pooka turns into a stallion and tries to keep Mollie from entering the Kinde Folke’s Dark Lands.
  • Tinies lead people into the swamp and drown them.
  • The Kinde Folke try to trick Mollie. Two of them “glamorized to look like” her parents.
  • Mollie is given a cloak that had invisibility woven into every thread.
  • Some of the characters can shapeshift.

 

Spiritual Content

  • None

Across the Dark Water

Twelve-year-old Rahkki is a stable groom for the Riders in the Sandwen army, who must battle deadly spit dragons and hordes of warring giants. The Sandwens believe they have tamed all the wild pegasi in the lush jungles of the Realm and turned them into flying warhorses. But when a herd of wild steeds flies over their village, Rahkki and his clan mates are stunned.

Meanwhile, a small herd of pegasi has journeyed across a treacherous ocean to settle in a new and free land. Led by Echofrost and Hazelwind, the Storm Herd steeds are unaware of the Sandwen clan. But when the unthinkable happens, Echofrost and the rest of Storm Herd will have to come to trust the Sandwens, or both may not survive.

Pegasi, giants, fire-breathing lizards, and landwalkers come together in an exciting story full of suspense. Echofrost desires to be free and she has vowed that no pegasi will be held captive. When her friend Shysong is captured, Echofrost sacrifices her freedom in the hope that she will be able to help Shysong escape. But escaping the Landwalkers is more difficult than Echofrost could have imagined. She fights every Landwalker who comes near her. When a young boy tries to help Echofrost, Echofrost begins to understand that some Landwalkers can be trusted.

Across the Dark Waters uses Echofrost’s voice to highlight the pegasi’s plight and their desire for freedom, while Rahkki’s voice brings the landwalker’s complicated political system to life. The beginning of the story may confuse readers because of the many names and the detailed descriptions that are necessary to build the realm’s world. However, it does not take long until both Echofrost and Shysong are captured and the non-stop action begins. Readers will empathize with Echofrost as she tries to escape captivity, and they will also root for Rahkki as he fights to help the wild pegasi.

Although the publisher recommends Across the Dark Waters for readers as young as eight, younger readers may have a difficult time with the complex story that contains many references to the past in both the pegasi and the landwalker’s lands. The advanced vocabulary and sentence structure may also be difficult for younger readers. In her fight for freedom, Echofrost is treated brutally and, although the descriptions are not gory, there is blood and violence that may upset sensitive readers.

As the first installment of the Riders of the Realm series, Across the Dark Waters will be impossible for readers to put down. With battles, political intrigue, plot twist, and an unlikely friendship, Across the Dark Waters is a beautifully written, complex story that is engaging and exciting. The surprising conclusion will leave readers reaching for the next book in the series, Through the Untamed Sky. Readers who love horse stories will also want to read The Rose Legacy by Jessica Day George.

Sexual Content

  • When looking at the princess, someone asks Rahkki, “You like what you see?” Rahkki is told to “Keep away from the princess, yeah?”
  • When Rahkki’s brother Brauk is injured, Rahkki kisses his hand. His brother says, “If you’re going to practice kissing, could you use your own hand?”

Violence

  • Only women can inherit the throne. Queen Reyella only had sons. “Eight years ago, a bloodborn princess from the Second Clan named Lilliam Whitehall had pounced on Reyella’s weakness. She assassinated the boys’ mother and took her throne, becoming the Fifth’s new monarch.”
  • Rahkki thinks back to when the queen killed his mother. Rahkki “winced at a flash of memory—Queen Lilliam’s cold hand around his throat. He’d been four years old when she’s snuck into Fort Prowl, killed his mother, and then gone after him. . . But then another memory struck him: his mother’s round belly. She’d been pregnant too when Lilliam had assassinated her.”
  • The Storm Herd pegasi leave their land because of a battle between “two immortal pegasus stallions: Star the Healer and Nightwing the Destroyer.” Star and Nightwing use their supernatural power to try to destroy each other. “The earth shook and the land below her hooves fractured, creating fissures in the soil that spread like cracked ice.”
  • Later Echofrost thinks about “Nightwing’s treacheries: burning Morningleaf’s feathers with his silver starfire, turning hundreds of pegasi to ashes, stealing newborns from their dams, and murdering the five over-stallions of Anok.”
  • While flying over a human establishment, the Landwalkers try to shoot down the pegasi. “One adult retreated into his den and then returned carrying a bowed contraption. Soon he was shooting barbed sticks at the pegasi. One struck Shysong in the wing. . .and blood dripped from the wound.”
  • The Landwalkers capture Shysong. “Several lashings were looped around Shysong’s neck and legs. The mare bucked and kicked, but the Landwalkers steered their mounts out of her reach, keeping an equidistant circle around her body.” Echofrost tries to help her friend. “She rammed the closest enemy pegasus. . . The golden steed faltered, and her rider lost her balance, almost falling off.” The mare “kicked Echofrost in the flank and sent her spiraling toward land.” The scene is described over three pages.
  • After Shysong is captured, Echofrost allows the Landwalkers to catch her. The Landwalkers throw ropes at the Storm Herd. “One fell around Echofrost’s neck and then tightened around her throat. She reared back, and it clamped tighter, like the constricting grip of a snake. She opened her mouth to scream, but the noise came out a strangled gasp.” When the Landwalkers catch Echofrost, they cut her wings so she cannot escape.
  • Echofrost thinks back to the past. Another herd had captured her and “she’d been tortured and kicked. Yearlings had made a sport of yanking out her mane and tail hairs by the roots. She’d eventually been released.”
  • The Landwalkers take Echofrost captive. The Landwalkers “tossed ropes that tangled around her neck and hooves. They each held tight, and she couldn’t stop herself from struggling. The Landwalkers shouted to one another in excited voices and then gave a mighty tug, yanking her off her hooves. She hit the ground. . .They bound her wings and legs.”
  • While walking, someone threw a coconut at Rahkki. He was hit “in the back of the head and he flew forward, striking the ground so hard it knocked the breath out of him.”
  • In order to keep Echofrost captive, the Landwalkers need to cut her wings. Brauk “produced a stick similar to Harak’s and followed her, brandishing it at her throat. She lunged, jaws wide, and Harak leaped to help Brauk. They struck her chest, driving her deeper into the corner until her flanks brushed up against wood.” In order to put a halter on Echofrost, Brauk “clubbed her over the head so hard that her vision flickered. . . With a sharp tug, they yanked her off her hooves and she slammed onto the hard floor. Her chest [was] heaving as she absorbed the pain.” The scene is described over three pages.
  • Angry at Brauk, Echofrost tried to strike him, but Brauk “slammed his club down on her forehead, making her stagger into the barn wall. Her vision blackened, and she gasped for breath.”
  • While trying to tame Echofrost, Brauk “wacked her left shoulder, stinging the muscles there. . . . Echofrost dripped her head and limped along behind him, her shoulders stinging where he’d hit her.”
  • When Echofrost’s friends try to free her, the Landwalkers shoot arrows at the wild pagasi. One pegasus is slightly injured.
  • A giant grabs Echofrost. The giant “tightened his grip around her neck. Her vision darkened and her body went limp. . . The Gorlander held Sula [Echofrost] by her throat with both hands, trying to suffocate her so he could drag her away. Her tongue lolled form her mouth, and her eyes popped wide.” Rahkki grabs a dagger and “drove it toward the giant’s brain.” The giant “snatched Rahkki’s arm, and tossed him into the creek before the blade could find its mark.”
  • Echofrost tries to free herself from the giant’s grasp by twisting and kicking. “Her hooves sliced through the Gorlander’s goat-hide vest, raking red streaks across his moon-pale skin.” Brauk tries to help his brother and Echofrost. “Brauk parried in and out, slicking at the giant in sections from head to foot until the beast was streaked in blood.” When Echofrost gets free, she uses “her flightless wings to propel and balance herself, she reared and clubbed the giant with her front hooves. Meanwhile Brauk hacked at the Gorlander like he was chopping down a tree.” The scene is described over seven pages.
  • The giants attack the Landwalkers. “The giants lifted heavy shields and mowed down the front line of Sandwen soldiers, crushing them with their spears. The horde roared in unison and advanced over the bones of the dead. . . One [elephant] had a Sandwen warrior hanging off his tusk. The elephant tossed him off, and a giant speared the man straight through.” Rahkki takes the wild pegasi to his uncle’s farm.
  • While at the farm, a giant attempts to grab Rahkki. “The giant followed him, but as Rahkki predicted, he was too large to change course. His eyes widened, and then he slammed into the trunk. The tree cracked and splintered.” Rahkki’s uncle helps fight the giants. Rahkki stabs one “through her naked foot. She threw back her head and howled.” The giant grabs Rahkki and “shook him so hard his teeth rattled. . . The female giant tugged Rahkki’s arms hard enough to make him scream.” The giant ties Rahkki up and throws him into her sack.
  • Echofrost tries to help free Rahkki. A giant swings a weapon and “knocked her into the side of the barn. . . He swung at her again and knocked her into the side of the barn. With her head ringing, the giant stomped toward her—his bludgeon lifted.” The Storm Herd appear and help defeat the giant. The fight takes place over eight pages.
  • After Rahkki tries to free the wild pegasi, two guards beat him. “A guard lifted his club, his blue eyes flashing, and Rahkki threw his arms up to protect his face and head. He didn’t see the blow, but he felt it. Once. Twice. An earsplitting scream. That was him. . . Then one more blow. And darkness.
  • Someone teases Rahkki. One of his friends “coiled back her fist and punched him square across the jaw, knocking him off the bench.”
  • While Echofrost was being auctioned off, Harak uses his whip to bully Echofrost. Angry, Echofrost strikes out. “Echofrost whirled around and kicked out with both hind legs. She heard a sharp crack when her hooves connected with flesh. A body flew across the sand and struck the fence.” Echofrost accidently injures Brauk instead of Harak. Brauk is seriously injured.
  • After hurting Brauk, Echofrost thinks back to her brother’s death. “The dire wolves had attacked them. Their leader, a white she-wolf, had snatched Bumblewind and thrown him into a tree, cracking his head against it.”
  • During a contest, young men try to ride Echofrost. Every time someone gets on his back, Echofrost bucks them off. No one is injured. The scene is described over six pages.
  • While trying to find their herd, giants try to capture Echofrost and Shysong. Fire lizards, called burners, try to force the pegasi to the ground. “The burners caught up to Echofrost and attacked, shooting flaming tendrils at her and Shysong. There were hundreds of them moving as one creature, like a flock of sparrows. She twisted away when a few of her feathers caught fire. . . Shysong flew in to help. They kicked at the lizards, knocking some out of the sky.” The pegasi are able to escape.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • In order to treat Shysong’s injury, the clan’s animal doctor gave her a dose of “strong medicine.”
  • The queen’s table is laden with food and also has rice wine on it.
  • While at a pegasi auction, Rahkki notices that one of the pegasi has been drugged.

Language

  • The characters occasionally use “bloody rain” as an exclamation. For example, when Rahkki asked a guard to leave, the guard askes him, “Bloody rain, what yuh doin’ ‘ere so early?”
  • When someone shoots a pegasus, the queen calls them responsible idiots.
  • “By Granak” is used as an exclamation several times. For example, after the fight with the giant, Rahkki’s brother says, “By Granak, Brother. If you cry, I’ll break your nose.”

Supernatural

  • Queen Lilliam believes in omens. Before she will send her warriors out to battle the giants, the queen would consult with “their guardian mascot—Granak, the Father of Dragons. The queen would offer the gigantic lizard a fattened sow. If he ate it, they’d fight. If he didn’t, Lilliam would consider that a terrible omen. She’d keep the warriors home.”
  • Queen Lilliam won’t attack the giants because “her Borla had a bad dream, a vision. He said he saw the giant hordes on the move with over a hundred captured Kihlari steeds. . .So even though Granak ate the sow, the bad dream foretells defeat. She won’t attack until there’s a better omen.”
  • Nightwing “had woken from a four-hundred-year hibernation. . . He’d come to kill his rival, a young black stallion named Star.”
  • When Echofrost hurts a rider, a rumor begins. People think Echofrost killed the rider. “A Kihlara steed that killed a Rider was a bad omen—bad luck.”

Spiritual Content

  • After a pegasus dies, they go to “the golden meadow.”
  • In the morning the tame pegasi “greet the sun. . . All the pegasi faced east” and nickered toward the sun.
  • When Echofrost is upset, she thinks, “Ancestors, help me.” Later when Echofrost is trying to kick her way out of the stall, she says, “By the Ancestors. That door is as hard as stone.”
  • Echofrost and Shysong are being put up for sale. To encourage Shysong, Echofrost says, “the Ancestors are with us.”
  • The Landwalkers believe that “Sunchaser was the moon spirit, and he was always brooding because he lived in the dark.”
  • When the Landwalkers see the wild pegasi, someone says, “Maybe they’re a gift from the wind spirits, or maybe they rose out of the foam in the sea, or maybe they’re fallen stars.”
  • Echofrost takes flight with Rahkki on her back. Intending to escape, Echofrost flies quickly away from the settlement. Rahkki “threw up a silent prayer to the Seven Sisters.”

 The 26-Story Treehouse: Pirate Problem

Life is never boring in a 13-story treehouse, especially when you add 13 more stories! Andy and Terry have added a bumper car rink, a skate ramp with a crocodile-pit hazard, a mud-fighting arena, an antigravity chamber, an ice-skating pond with real ice-skating penguins, a mechanical bull named Kevin, an Automatic Tattoo Machine, an ice-cream parlor with seventy-eight flavors, and the Maze of Doom–a maze so complicated nobody has escaped. Fun seems endless in their new 26-story treehouse!

Distracted by their new, amazing stories, Andy and Terry do not notice their new book is due Friday until their publisher, Mr. Big Nose, threatens to fire them. While writing their book about how Andy, Terry, and Jill, their animal-friendly neighbor, met, Captain Woodenhead suddenly appears. Threatening to destroy the treehouse and enslave Andy, Terry, and Jill on his ship, the trio must outwit and outsmart the captain and his evil crew before time runs out. Can the boys save their treehouse and fight off the pirates all while writing their new book?

The Treehouse Series is an imaginative series for young readers who are reluctant to read. Griffiths and Denton created a silly story that will have young readers laughing from beginning to end. Along with their crazy slapstick scenarios, Griffiths and Denton teach readers about the importance of friendship. Andy, Terry, and Jill must work together throughout the book to solve their complex problems. Without each other, Andy, Terry, and Jill would never have been able to perform “open shark surgery,” fight off pirates or escape the Maze of Doom. Also, the funny black-and-white illustrations contribute to a positive reading experience and will help younger readers transfer their reading skills from picture books into full-fledged novels.

However, The 26-Story Treehouse may upset some readers. Before his entire crew dies in a terrible shipwreck, Captain Woodenhead’s head is bitten off by a giant sea monster. Later in the book, he is pictured being eaten alive by man-eating sharks.

The 26-Story Treehouse has very simple vocabulary and sentence structure, reading more like a comic book rather than an actual chapter book. In the end, The 26-Story Treehouse is an easy-to-read story that will teach the reader practical lessons about friendship while causing readers to giggle.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • During a sea battle, Captain Woodenhead fights the large, greedy fish nicknamed Gorgonzola. “The pirate captain drew his cutlass and tried to spear Gorgonzola from the deck of his ship, but as he leaned over the side, the fiendish Gorgonzola leaped right out of the water and bit the pirate’s head clean off his neck!” After fashioning a new wooden head for himself, Captain Woodenhead was swallowed whole. Inside Gorgonzola’s stomach, he found some dynamite and his old head, which was moldy and waterlogged. After putting his head back on his shoulders, “he did what any self-respecting pirate captain would have done. He collected up all the barrels of dynamite, tied them together, lit the fuse, and blasted that beast to pieces!” Gorgonzola, a large sea monster, is pictured blasted to pieces for two pages.
  • If Andy and Terry don’t open the treehouse and let Captain Woodenhead in, he threatens to blow up the treehouse. The Captain yells, “Men, prepare the canon.”
  • After tricking the captain’s crew, Andy, Terry, and Jill are chased by Captain Woodenhead with a cutlass and gun in his hand. This is a one-page event.
  • At the end of the book, Captain Woodenhead threatens to kill Andy, Terry, and Jill. Then, the captain falls into the man-eating shark tank and there’s “a wild frenzy of flashing fins and teeth, and then all is quiet.” The Captain is eaten alive. This is illustrated over two pages and does show him in the mouth of a shark, but there is no blood or gore involved.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Jill uses “Dr. Numbskull’s Sleepy Shark Sleeping Potion” to sedate the man-eating sharks before their “open shark surgery.” During the surgery, the shark’s kidneys and intestines are shown along with some of the ridiculous things they have eaten.

Language

  • After getting lost in the Maze of Doom, one of the penguins blames it on his “stupid GPS!”
  • Andy thinks that using their man-eating shark tank as a washing machine was one of Terry’s dumbest ideas. “You know, Terry has done some dumb things in the past, but this has got to be the dumbest ever!”
  • When he struggles to put on his swimsuit before he enters the shark tank, Andy says, “Stupid tight wetsuit.”
  • Captain Woodenhead enslaves Andy and Terry and forces them to swab the poop deck. Terry exclaims, “Oh, gross, there’s poop on the poop deck.”

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • None

by Matthew Perkey

Klawde

Klawde is not your average cat. He’s an emperor from another planet, exiled to Earth. He’s cruel. He’s cunning. He’s brilliant… and he’s about to become Raj Banerjee’s best friend. Whether he likes it or not.

Klawde had everything. Sharp claws. Fine fur. And, being the High Commander of the planet Lyttyrboks, an entire world of warlike cats at his command. But when he is stripped of his feline throne, he is sentenced to the worst possible punishment: exile to a small planet in a quiet corner of the universe… named Earth.

Raj had everything. A cool apartment in Brooklyn. Three friends who lived in his building. And pizza and comics within walking distance. But when his mom gets a job in Elba, Oregon and he is forced to move, all of that changes. It’s now the beginning of summer, he has no friends, and because of his mother’s urgings, he has joined a nature camp.

It’s only when his doorbell rings and he meets a fur ball of a cat that Raj begins to think maybe his luck is turning around.

Klawde does not like Earth. He doesn’t like humans. He doesn’t even like his human boy Raj. In order to leave Earth and get revenge on his home planet, Klawde has no choice but to reveal his real Identity to Raj. In order to get Raj to help him, Klawde tries to hide his true nature. He is hateful, evil, and continuously plotting and manipulating. On the other hand, Raj is completely ordinary and relatable. He is unhappy about moving and afraid that he will never make friends. Readers get an inside view of both Klawde’s and Raj’s thought processes because each chapter switches between the two characters’ points of view.

Klawde: Evil Alien Warlord Cat is exceptionally engaging, humorous, and fun to read. Readers will appreciate the short paragraphs, the easy vocabulary, and the hilarious blue-and-black illustrations. Not only do the illustrations help the reader imagine the story’s events, but they also highlight Klawde’s various emotions of misery, distaste, and disgust. Readers will fall in love with the evil alien cat, understand Raj’s conflicts, and cringe when Raj’s mother expertly wields her power over the household.

Despite the humorous tone of the story, readers will learn the importance of friendship and working together. Klawde: Evil Alien Warlord Cat mixes realistic human conflicts with an outlandish alien warlord cat to create an action-packed story that readers will love. Readers will be eager to pick up the next book in the series, Enemies.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • When Klawde was napping, his enemies came for him. “Before I could even unsheathe my claws, they pounced atop me. They tied me up and chained my paws, and then they dragged me from my holding cell into the Supremest Court of All Galactic Order.” When Klawde’s minion speaks up for Klawde, “someone smacked him on the back of the head.”
  • Klawde is taken to the veterinarian for vaccinations. When the veterinarian tried to give him a shot, “with a bloodcurdling yowl, Klawde flew at the vet’s face and latched on. The vet started screaming and flailing his arms around.” Later, Klawde explains how he attacked. “First, my claws ripped at its hands. Next, its face. Oh, how sweet the feeling! I left long red scratch marks all over its vile, furless cheeks. When I was but seconds away from murdering it, my Humans pulled me off.”
  • While at camp, Raj meets some kids that are bullies. When they were playing nature tag, “Scorpion and his pals took the kill-or-get-killed concept way too seriously. Their idea of tag was to shove the younger kids into the mud and try to step on us.”
  • When Raj’s father tries to give Klawde “dried food pellets,” Klawde bites him. Then Raj’s father put “the finger I’d just bitten into his mouth.”
  • While at camp, a group of bullies throws rocks at Raj and his group.
  • When Klawde goes to scratch Raj’s mother, she tells him, “If you try it, I’ll skin you alive and turn you into a fur hat.”
  • Klawde sneaks to Raj’s camp. During a game, Klawde thinks the camp’s counselor is “planning to devour my human—or worse!” In order to help Raj, Klawde “paused, took aim, and launched myself into the air. . . My aim was true, and I made a direct hit on the plant-monster’s head. My claws made quick work of its face. . . I showed the monster no mercy, but its strength was that of ten thousand cats. It grasped me by the neck and tore me off itself. Then it dangled me from its hideous leafy paws.” When the counselor grabs Klawde, Raj gets angry and jumps out of the tree. Raj lands on the counselor and Klawde runs away. The fight is described over five pages.
  • When Raj and Klawde return home, Raj calls Klawde “kitty.” Klawde tells him, “Don’t ever call me that again or I will vaporize you across ten galactic quadrants!” Then Klawde swipes at Raj, “leaving a bloody scratch on my finger. It hurt a little, but I didn’t care.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • In his thoughts, Klawde often calls others names. The characters also call each other names often, including losers, morons, idiot, fool, jerk, little babies, and rodent.
  • When a cat crouches in attack mode, Klawde thinks, “At least these Earth cats were not all meek morons!”
  • Klawde is given a mouse with catnip inside of it. In order to get another one, Klawde says, “Mrow,” and then he wonders, “What had become of me? I had said it! The idiot Earth cat word! These mouse dolls—this was how the Humans controlled felines. This was how they made Earth cats stupid! The fiends!”
  • When the TV remote is broken, Raj’s dad says, “Darn it!”
  • As part of a contest, Raj climbs up a tree. When he gets to the top, he wonders, “How the heck was I going to get back down?”

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • None

The Icebound Land

After a fierce battle with Lord Morgarath, Will and Evanlyn are captured. Erak, a Skandian warrior, forces Will and Evanlyn onto a ship destined for Skandia. Erak plans to sell the two young people as slaves. When the group returns to Skandia, Will and Evanlyn are separated. Their lives are full of grueling work, freezing cold nights, and hopelessness. Will the two ever be able to find each other? And if they do, is there any chance of escape?

Halt, determined to rescue his young apprentice, purposely defies the king. Expelled from the Rangers, Halt is joined by Will’s friend Horace as he travels toward Skandia. On their way, freelance knights block their way, demanding tribute. Unwilling to pay to pass every bridge, Horace uses his combat skills to challenge the knights. Unknowingly, Horace has attracted the attention of an evil warlord, Deparnieux, who plans to kill the young knight to prove his power. Deparnieux traps Halt and Horace, taking the two captive. Halt patiently watches, trying to learn the key to defeating Deparnieux and continuing the journey towards Skandia. Will Halt and Horace free themselves in time to rescue Will?

Unlike the two previous books, The Icebound Land focuses more on the characters’ individual struggles. Even though Will is held captive, his master, Erak, soon comes to respect the boy and he recognizes that Will is an honorable warrior. Erak tries to keep the two slaves, Will and Evanlyn, together. However, Erak is unwilling to let the two free.

After Erak takes a short journey, he returns to find Will addicted to the powerful narcotic, warmweed. Erak decides to help Will and Evanlyn escape. Erak knows that Will’s death is fast approaching, and the only way to save Will is to help him escape. Erak helps Will because “a boy like that, he’s a real warrior. He may only be knee-high to a gnat, but he’s got the heart of a true Skandian.”

While Evanlyn and Will hide out in a camping cabin, Halt and Horace are fighting their own battle. As Deparnieux’s prisoners, the two are faced with countless hours of boredom and must patiently watch Deparnieux’s cruelty. Halt knows the key to their survival is patience, but how long can they watch Deparnieux terrorize and kill others?

The Icebound Land has a darker tone than the other two books because it focuses on slavery, drug addiction, and the abuse of power. Throughout the story, several people abuse their power and treat others cruelly just because they can. The slaves are not immune to this problem. One slave, who is in charge of the others, purposely gets Will addicted to warmweed because Will stopped the man from beating a young slave. Erak is the only supporting character that shows kindness, but that kindness was born out of respect for Will.

As the third installment of the Ranger’s Apprentice series, The Icebound Land has less action than the previous books. However, readers who are familiar with the main characters will want to know what happens next. The Icebound Land continues to teach the importance of not being boastful or overconfident. The story does not wrap up any of the plot points, but instead ends in a cliffhanger. Readers will want to jump into The Battle for Skandia as soon as they finish the last page of The Icebound Land.

Sexual Content

  • Halt says, “I’ve heard it on good authority, that good King Duncan is not the lawful occupant of the throne. I’ve heard it said that he is, in fact, the son of a drunken privy cleaner. Another rumor has it that he was the result of his father’s fascination with a traveling hatcha-hatcha dancer.”
  • Horace and Halt see a young woman who is wearing a short skirt. Later, Horace thinks about the girl. “The memory of the girl, and her shapely legs, was causing his cheeks to burn with embarrassment again.” Horace asks several questions about the girl’s dress. Halt jokingly tells Horace the girl is a messenger, who needs to be able to run when necessary and the girl cannot run in a long dress. Horace believes Halt and “for a moment, Halt regretted his deception, feeling a slight pang of guilt. . . Then, the Ranger looked at those clear blue eyes and the contented, honest face of the warrior apprentice and any sense of regret was stifled. Horace had plenty of time to learn about the seamier side of life, he thought.”

Violence

  • A man named Folder “had murdered both of his parents after an argument over a horse.”
  • A group of ten men try to rob a carriage. Halt sees them and intervenes. One of the men “had a brief impression of something flashing past, just in front of his nose. Then, there was an almighty jerk on the raised collar of his cloak and he found himself pinned against the carriage by a quivering black arrow that thudded into the wood.” Halt ties them up.
  • Soldiers appear to arrest Halt for talking badly about the king. “As the Ranger spat out the last word, he had somehow scooped up the longbow from behind him and nocked and fired an arrow. It slammed into the wall behind the spot where the tavern keeper had been standing a second before, and buried itself deep into the wood panel, quivering still with the force of its impact.” Halt misfires another arrow and then “the corporal and his men leaped forward, swinging the short, heavy clubs that they carried, swarming over the small gray-and-green figure.”
  • While traveling, knights stand on bridges and demand money from the travelers. Instead of paying to pass, Horace challenges the knight and wins. This process happens several times. For example, the first time, Horace and the other knight duel and the knight loses his lance in the first pass. During one pass, Horace’s sword “slammed into the back of the other man’s helmet with a loud, ringing clang.” Horace doesn’t kill the knight, but his sword “put a severe dent in the helmet, and the concussion of the blow went straight through the steel to the skull of the knight wearing it.”
  • Evanlyn accidently spills soup on Slagor, a drunk sailor. “Slagor bellowed in pain and grabbed Evanlyn by the wrist, dragging her forward, twisting her arm cruelly so that she was bent awkwardly over the table.” Will picks up a knife, ready to kill Slagor, but Erak stops him from killing the man. After the incident, Erak reprimanded Will. “. . . Erak sent a backhanded fist crashing against the side of the boy’s head, knocking him senseless to the floor.” Will falls to the ground unconscious and has Will dragged to his living quarters.
  • While working, slaves are often slapped or whipped with a leather strap.
  • Will sees a slave being beaten up by another slave. “A thin, ragged boy was huddled on the ground while an older, larger youth flayed at him with a length of knotted rope. . . The boy’s face was heavily bruised, Will saw, and as he watched, a cut opened just under the smaller boy’s eye and blood covered his face.” Will grabbed the knot rope from the youth and stopped the beating.
  • Erak was sent to a settlement to inquire about missing taxes. “It had to be admitted that Erak’s version of investigating consisted of seizing the unfortunate Jarl by his beard as he lay sleeping in predawn darkness. Erak then threatened to brain him with a battleax if he didn’t make a rapid and upward adjustment to the amount of tax he was paying. . .”
  • An evil knight, Deparnieux, has one of his men drop a net over Horace. The net “dropped form the branches of an oak tree that overhung the road, draping itself around the head and shoulders of the boy. For a moment, Horace struggled uselessly in the folds of the net that enveloped him.” Horace and Halt are then captured and made prisoners.
  • Outside of Deparnieux’s castle, metal cages hang. “Horace could make out, to his horror, that the structures were iron cages, only an arm span wide, containing the remains of what used to be men. . . The figures inside were dried-out husks, blackened and shriveled by their long exposure . . . but others were newer and the men inside were recognizable.” One man was still alive—he was put in the cage because he had laughed at Deparnieux.
  • When trying to free Will, Evanlyn gives the watchman money to look the other way. The man “grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her closer to him,” demanding more money. “Then a frown came over his face as he felt a sharp pain in his belly—and a warm trickle running down his skin from the spot where the pain was centered. . . He backed off quickly, waving at the door and cursing her.”
  • A young knight appears outside of Deparnieux’s castle, challenging the man. Deparnieux killed both of the youths’ parents. As the two knights joust, “The young knight’s lance, badly positioned and at the wrong angle, shattered into pieces.” When the young knight begins to lose, Deparnieux “urged his battlehorse after him, following him relentlessly, raining blows on the sword, shield or helmet at will. Finally, there was a duller sound as Deparnieux’s sword struck a vulnerable point—the chain mail protecting the opponent’s neck.” The knight crumbles off his horse’s saddle and dies. The fight is described over two and a half pages.
  • Deparnieux and Halt combat. Deparnieux rides his battlehorse, while Halt stands in the combat field. Halt shoots arrows toward Deparnieux’s eyes. Deparnieux has no problem using his shield to block the arrows. After one pass, Halt shoots an arrow at Deparnieux’s back. “. . . There was a bright flash of pain in his left shoulder. . . he realized that, as he galloped past, Halt had sent another arrow spitting at him, this time aiming for the gap in his armor at the shoulder. . . the wound was a nuisance. A painful nuisance, he amended as he felt the hot blood trickling down his armpit.”
  • After another pass, Halt again shoots arrows towards Deparnieux’s eyes. As Deparnieux shields his face, “Deparnieux heard it. A dull impact of metal on metal—more a metallic thud than a ringing tone. He wondered what it was. Then he felt a small core of intense pain, a bright flare of agony, that began in his left side and expanded rapidly until it engulfed his entire body. He never felt the impact as his body hit the grassy field.” The combat scene is described over two and a half pages.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • An angry slave gives Will an addictive drug called warmweed. The warmweed was used to control the yard slaves. “Warmweed addicts looked forward to nothing, planned for nothing.”
  • Will becomes addicted to warmweed. When Will isn’t given the drug, “his teeth chattered and his body shook and trembled and heaved as he fell to the ground, rolling helplessly in the snow, his knees drawn up to his chest. One hand flailed uselessly at the snow, while the other was jammed firmly in his mouth.” When Evanlyn hands Will the drug, “Will seized the small handful of the gray, herblike substance with horrifying eagerness. . . his attention was totally focused on the drug and she came to realize how completely it ruled his life and his mind these days.”
  • Halt goes into a tavern. He tells the tavern keeper to fill his cup. “There was just the slightest slurring of his words to remind the tavern keeper that this would be the eighth or ninth time he’d refilled the tankard with the cheap, fiery brandy-spirit. . .”
  • When a group of seamen arrive at an island, they are given “brandy-spirit.” One of the men “drank half the brandy in one long gulp.” Later, Erak thinks that the man is a “useless drunk.”
  • While stuck on an island, a group of Skandians “filled their time with drinking and gambling.”
  • During meals, the Skandians usually drink alcohol. When Will and Evanlyn finally reach Skandia, they are taken to the dining hall where they see “nearly one hundred and fifty drunken Skandians eating, laughing and shouting at one another. . .”
  • While staying at a tavern, Halt “accepted a large beaker of red wine with his meal. Horace had settled for water.” While Halt and Horace ate, the room filled with people “coming to eat or to enjoy a few jugs of wine or beer.”
  • While in Erak’s private quarters, the two drink wine as they talk. Evanlyn “was beginning to relax a little and the wine sent a soft glow through her.”
  • While “guests” of Deparnieux, Halt and the knight are served wine with dinner.

Language

  • “Oh God” is used as an exclamation once. “My god” is used as an exclamation three times.
  • Damn is used ten times, mostly in conversation. For example, Erak says, “I hate the damn drug. I’ve seen what it does to people. No one deserves that sort of shadow life.”
  • In anger, Halt exclaims, “For God’s sake. . .”
  • Hell is used three times. For example, when Will and Evanlyn’s skiff begins to sink, Evanlyn says, “Roll like hell!”
  • Halt calls the kind a “poltroon. A coward. And a fool.”
  • Several times a person is called an “idiot.” For example, when a knight is blocking Horace and Halt’s path, Halt says, “Well, I suppose I’ll have to shoot the silly idiot. . . I’ll be damned if I’ll pay tribute to every jumped-up bandit who thinks the world owes him a free living.” Halt then calls the knights who act this way “morons.”
  • Evanlyn thinks Will is a “stubborn, pigheaded idiot.”
  • A knight attempts to insult Horace by asking him, “. . . are you a lying Araleuen dog who barks in the gutters?” The knight then calls Horace a coward and a thief. Later, he calls Horace a “whining pup.”
  • Halt calls the evil knight a swine. Later, the knight calls Halt a commoner. Halt says, “Guard your tongue, you lowborn cur!”

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • Skandians believe that the Vallas are the three gods of vengeance. “They take the form of a shark, a bear and a vulture.” The Skandians’ king makes a “Vallasvow” to kill King Duncan’s family. Erak explains, “It’s when you hate so badly that you swear to be avenged, not just upon the person who has wronged you, but on every member of the family as well. . . It’s a death vow, of course, and it’s unbreakable. Once it’s made, if the person making the vow should ever recant, the Vallas will take him and his own family instead of the original victim’s.”
  • When Evanlyn frees Will, she “prayed now that the Skandian Jarl was right, and that it was possible for an addict, deprived of warmweed, to make a full recovery.”
  • After Will recovers from his drug addiction, he wakes up in an unknown place. When Evanlyn enters the room, he says, “Thank God you’re safe.”

 Middle School Mayhem

After being trapped in a locker for hours, Max Crumbly has discovered three burglars are planning to steal all the school’s new computers and his father’s vintage comic book. Max vows to stop them and get his book back. But after crashing through a ventilation shaft and landing on the burglar’s pizza, he is surrounded by three ruthless criminals. There is no hope in sight as Max is now trapped between the three burglars who are ready to tear him apart and three ruthless criminals. All of a sudden, Erin, his only friend at South Ridge Middle School, comes to the rescue. She shuts off all the lights giving Max valuable time to escape.

Trapped in the school, Max and Erin must get Max’s comic book back and trap the three burglars – Moose, Tucker, and Ralph – before the police arrive. After Max confines Moose in the cafeteria and Tucker in the gymnasium, it seems like Max might actually accomplish the impossible and outwit the thieves. But Ralph, the ringleader of the burglars, poses a much harder challenge for Max than his two cronies. Will Max be able to catch Ralph and save his dad’s comic book, or will he be caught by the most malicious criminal of them all?

Russell creates a character who is flawed just like any other boy his age but manages to work through his problems. Up against an impossible task, Max strives through self-doubt to outsmart and outwit the criminals to save the school’s new computer center. Throughout the book, Max grows as a person and he now considers the consequences of his actions. He also feels bad after he accidentally gets Erin grounded because she was helping him snoop around the school. Young readers can see Max as a role model. They can be inspired to work hard when all hope seems lost and help others whenever possible.

While parents might find the book repetitive and full of too much bathroom humor and slapstick comedy, younger readers will enjoy the story’s amusing mayhem. Many of the jokes come from Max either making a fool of himself or hurting the criminals in some way, like trapping Ralph in a room with a snake and setting his hair on fire. However, the large font, black-and-white illustrations, and consistently funny jokes will help young, reluctant readers transfer their reading skills from picture books into full-fledged novels. Readers should read the first book in the series in order to understand this one. This book also ends with another cliffhanger, so make sure you have the next book in the series The Misadventures of Max Crumbly: Masters of Mischief.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • Ralph grabbed onto Max’s cape in the ventilation shaft. Max rolled over onto his back, brought both of his knees to his chest, and then kicked with all his might. “The chunky soles of my lost-and-found motorcycle boots landed squarely on Ralph’s very sweaty and very surprised FACE!!”
  • Moose chases Max and grabs him by his collar. Moose accidentally “butt-dialed the burner on the stove and set himself on fire.” While on fire, Max dumps a bucket of slime on Moose, wraps him in plastic wrap, and ties him to a pole.
  • Max knocks Turner out in the gym and ties him up in a soccer net.
  • Max shoots a rocket at Ralph. It misses but lights Ralph’s toupee on fire. “As Ralph slowly walked toward me, I noticed the strangest thing. The top of his head was smoking.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • Max knew middle school was going to be challenging, but he never “expected to end up DEAD in the computer lab, wearing a SUPERHERO COSTUME, with four slices of PIZZA stuck to my BUTT!”
  • The students at Max’s school nicknamed him “Barf” after he threw up on his bullies’ shoes.
  • After Moose and Tucker complain they are hungry, Ralph shouts, “How about I rip out your spleens and shove ‘em down your throats?! Then you won’t be hungry anymore, you MORONS!”
  • When grabbing Max, Ralph snarls, “Hold still, you little RAT!”
  • When Ralph gets stuck in a ventilation shaft, Moose and Tucker try to pull him out. Ralph’s saggy pants fall off and he is pictured in his underwear.
  • Max said that releasing his pet turtles into the wild when he was younger was “the STUPIDEST thing I’ve ever done in my life!!”

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • None

by Matthew Perkey

 

 

 

 

 

Enter the Core

Max Tilt thinks his luck is finally changing thanks to his great-great-great-grandfather Jules Verne’s unfinished, unpublished manuscript, The Lost Treasures. Using the clues Verne left behind, Max and his cousin Alex were able to bottle the magical healing elements needed to cure his mother’s illness just in the nick of time.

But then Max and Alex discover that the vials were stolen by their former friend, Bitsy. She has plans to use them to save the world, but her plans might be much more deadly than they seem. And so now it’s up to Max and Alex to stop her before it’s too late.

Working against the odds, the two kids glean clues from one of Verne’s best-loved books, Journey to the Center of the Earth. In it, they discover a map to their most dangerous destination yet—the very core of the world. So, now the two cousins are off on their most unlikely, most important quest yet—literally to save the world!

Max Tilt: Enter the Core has everything that adventure seekers could want in a book: non-stop action, interesting clues to solve, and a wonderful cast of diverse characters. Readers will be taken on a heart-stopping hike into the center of the earth where prehistoric creatures survive. As Max and his friends travel down the dark corridors and enter creepy caves, they use their combined knowledge (and a couple of ancient talismans) to safely solve the clues that Jules Verne left behind.

Even though the same villain from the previous books appears, the villain creates suspense and conflict without taking center stage. Instead, the focus remains on the descendants of Jules Vernes and his friend Arne Saknusseumm. The story highlights the importance of doing what is best for humanity, instead of what’s best for yourself.

Because many of the characters appear in all three books in the series, readers will want to read the previous books first. Unlike the previous books, Max Tilt: Enter the Core leaves the topics of death and illness out and focuses on the adventure, as Max and his friends follow Jules Verne’s footsteps as described in Journey to the Center of the Earth. In addition to the adventure, readers will enjoy the interplay between Max and his cousin, Alex.

Max Tilt: Enter the Core has the perfect blend of action, suspense, and interesting characters. Readers will want to read to the very last page. The heart-warming conclusion will leave readers with a smile. Sci-fi and action-seeking readers should definitely pick up the Max Tilt Series.

Sexual Content

  • Someone saw Alex “kiss the lucky fellow.”

Violence

  • When the bus driver tried to help Bitsy with her backpack, she bit him. “For a big walrus of a man, the driver had an oddly dainty scream. He yanked his arm away, Bitsy’s mouth was left with the taste of stale coffee, laundry detergent and old polyester.”
  • Max gets upset and Brandon “grabbed him by the shoulders, but Max turned and kicked him.” Max began taking deep breaths to calm himself down.
  • While in a cave, a “white object dropped to the ground. A bone. Then a grinning white face burst through. As Alex let out a piercing shriek, Max dove to the ground. He covered his head as a cascade of bones and skulls rained on top of him.”
  • While in a cave, Max falls and slips down a passage and a creature grabs him. Max tried to run, but the thing “held Max tight—with arms, legs, or tendrils, he couldn’t tell. But it was smothering him, smushing his face into its fur, lifting his feet off the ground.” Max hits the creature with his flashlight. “As Max tried to wriggle free, he heard a scream. Something sharp stuck his left ankle. . . The beast let out a guttural moan. It let go of Max and he fell to the ground.”
  • A creature grabbed Max with its talons. “Max felt himself rise, in ridiculous pain. He let out a scream that seemed to come up from below his toenails.” The creature drops Max.
  • While in a cave, Brandon falls off a cliff. Later, Max’s group finds Brandon’s body and Brandon cannot be revived. A creature comes towards the body and Alex attacks the creature. “From the front of the creature’s torso, hidden under the thick mass of hair, an orange tentacle whipped forward. It wrapped around Alex’s arm and tossed her to the side like driftwood. She screamed in surprise, her trowel flying away and into the water.” Later, someone else “blindsided the creature from the other side. With a roar like a creaky door, the hairy thing fell back.”
  • When a crowd of creatures comes towards Max and his group, Brandon “went into a pitching stance, kicked, and hurled the rock into the advancing crowd.” There is a lot of screaming and confusion. Something touches Max and “Max yelled in shock, twisting his body always, instinctively spinning and kicking. His right foot landed square in the face of a furry, monkey-like beast with wings. It fell to the ground, whimpering, and immediately ran away.” Then, Max squirts raspberry Gatorade towards a creature’s eyes causing it to run away. The scene is described over three pages.
  • Prehistoric birds appear and try to snatch up Max and his friends. Before the birds can hurt anyone, “Three of the hairy creatures—just like the one who had poured the liquid over Brandon—were picking the birds out of the sky with their tentacles.” The birds fly away.
  • The villain throws “a small black pellet that missed Max by inches, hitting the wall. . .it exploded into fragments and black dust.” A man is killed, but his death is not described.
  • The villain pulled a gun from his pocket and threatened Max’s group. The villain throws pellets at Max’s group, and “it landed about four feet in front of [the door] and exploded.” No one is injured.
  • Max’s group sets off an explosive that collapses a cave. It is implied that the villain and his daughter die in the explosion.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • While hiking, Max and his group find a “plastic foil wrapper” of Xantax.

Language

  • Heck is used four times. Several times someone asks, “What the heck is that?”
  • When prehistorical birds appear, someone says, “Dear Lord.”

Supernatural

  • Max is given “one of the most powerful talismans of the ancients. . . While wearing this talisman, you will always face the true path.”
  • A creature puts “a clear liquid” on Brandon’s forehead and chest. “Brandon’s skin let out a hiss, sending up wisps of green smoke. . . Where the hissing liquid had touched his body, his pale greenish skin was darkening. From a series of thin lines along his forehead and torso, it spread like the branching of nerves, setting off blotches of deep color that grew and joined until he no longer had the same tinge as the lake.” Brandon’s body repairs itself and he comes back to life.
  • Two men drink a serum that makes them immortal. “The serum slowed the body’s aging mechanism—it destroyed the marker that signals the end of life. In curing disease, the curious side effect was eternal life.”

Spiritual Content

  • The plane that Max was on crashed in freezing water. “Saying a prayer, [Max] jumped out the door.”
  • Someone tells Max and his group that they should “Go back to your family and pray for the best.”

 

 

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