Reading Level: Junior High

Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer

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

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

Sexual Content

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

 

Violence

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

Drugs and Alcohol

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

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

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

13 Treasures

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

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

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

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

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

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

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

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

Supernatural

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

Spiritual Content

  • None

 

Five Epic Disasters

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

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

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

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

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

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

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

 

A Plague of Bogles

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

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

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

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

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

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

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

Drugs and Alcohol

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

Language

  • None

Supernatural

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

Spiritual Content

  • None

 

 

The Last Bogler

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

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

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

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

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

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

Drugs and Alcohol

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

Language

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

Supernatural

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

Spiritual Content

  • None

You Go First

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

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

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

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

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

Sexual Content

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

Violence

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

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Charlotte’s father takes pills for his heart.

Language

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

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

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

 

The Hypnotists

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

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

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

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

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

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • None

Supernatural

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

Spiritual Content

  • None

 

The Dragonfly Effect

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

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

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

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

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

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

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

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • None

 

 

 

Inside Out & Back Again

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

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

Sexual Content

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

Violence

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

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

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

Podkin One-Ear

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

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

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

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

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

Drugs and Alcohol

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

Language

  • None

Supernatural

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

Spiritual Content

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

 

Love Sugar Magic: A Dash of Trouble

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

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

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

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

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

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • None

Drugs and Alcohol

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

Language

  • None

Supernatural

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

 Spiritual

  • None

 

Wishtree

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

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

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

Sexual Content

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

Violence

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

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • None

 

Timeless: Diego and the Rangers of the Vastlantic

Time collided. Now dinosaurs roam with robots. Humans from three different time periods now live on Earth. Diego’s parents come from two different time periods and hope to make their home, New Chicago, a better place.

In Diego’s world, conflict is ever-present. Not everyone believes that kids from different eras of history and from different cultures should interact. Some still wish for the world that they came from before time collided.

When Diego’s father, a New Chicago’s top engineer, is taken by rebels, Diego vows to help free his father. Diego thinks the key is to build bigger, stronger weapons. However, when he and three others accidentally end up on a pirate ship, Diego’s beliefs are challenged.

Diego and the Rangers of the Vastlantic gives the reader a glimpse of the struggles others faced during different eras, which gives the story interest. The story doesn’t just focus on how boys and girls often do not understand each other, but also how people from different cultures can also have conflict.

Although the story is full of action and has an epic battle scene, the violence is not described in great detail. Instead, sights and sounds are left to the reader’s imagination. Stunning illustrations enhance the story and help bring the new world to life. Diego and the Rangers of the Vastlantic is a story about friendship, family, and seeing others in a new way. In the end, Diego learns that powerful weapons are not the key to keeping his world safe.

Sexual Content

  • Two boys have a sparring match and the winner gets a kiss from Paige. One of the boys says, “Sadly for you, only one lovely lady will get to know the thrill of these lips.” Later the winner describes the kiss, “But it wasn’t exactly a kiss. More like an attack on my face. Her lips were, like, strong.”

Violence

  • Diego and a group are cornered by a bully and his gang. Diego “Slammed Fish across the face with it (skateboard) and a girl ‘judo flipped’ a boy to the floor.”
  • A rebel group attacks a power plant and kidnap about a dozen engineers. “A marine lay on the floor nearby, unmoving . . . Shots. More gunshots. Fists colliding, the thump of bodies hitting the floor.” During the attack, a man holds a sword against Diego’s father’s throat.
  • Rebels attack a boat carrying some of the engineers’ families. “More pops. Splintering cracks. . . The gunfire seemed to come from everywhere . . . Bullets zinged past Diego’s head.” Diego’s mother shoots the rebel’s boat and it explodes.
  • When trying to escape from dinosaurs, Diego crashes his gravity board on a cliff. “The beast began to throw their massive bodies against the wall, trying to dislodge him.” Diego is rescued.
  • The rebels attack the pirate ship and the battle plays out over an entire chapter. The battle is not described in graphic detail.
  • The pirates, trying to save the engineers, attack the rebel’s base. The attack happens over several chapters. Diego shoots at one of the bad guys. When someone is injured, the description jumps in time, which allows the reader to imagine what happened. One of the characters is killed, but his death is not described.
  • When someone calls Diego a “clock mongrel,” Diego’s father hits him. “George spun and crumpled to the floor.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • A boy “sucked on his cigarette, the end glowing. . .”
  • The pirate captain is seen asleep with a half-empty bottle of vodka and Diego assumes he is drunk.

Language

  • Profanity is used rarely, but includes bastards, crap, crud, damn, hell, holy crap, and pisses.
  • When Lucy is saved from a dinosaur, she said, “Oh my God, I thought I was done for!” She uses this phrase twice.
  • When Diego finds out that pirates have been hired to find his father and the other engineers, Diego said, “Hell, I should be allowed to go before some hired guns.”
  • When Diego tells his friend about the pirates, his friend replies, “bloody hell!”
  • The rebel group is referred to as “bastards.”
  • When Paige makes a meal, the available food is referred to as “nasty crap.”
  • According to Diego, one of the girls acts like “everything I do pisses her off.”

Supernatural

  • Diego and his father have “the Maker’s Sight,” which allows them to see how different machine parts work together. “It shows me a series of images that allow me to make or fix anything.”
  • Diego wills baby turtles to surround Lucy. He explains how he did it. “It’s more like I can send them a thought, feeling, or image, and they seem to . . . act on it. It’s like hypnosis, I think.”
  • When describing “the Maker’s Sight,” Diego’s friend said, “You sound like one of those spiritual mediums we have back in London, communicating with the dead through their crystal balls.”

Spiritual Content

  • During a battle, the pirate captain said, “A prayer to your god of choice might also be helpful.”

The Last Kids on Earth

When the monster apocalypse hit Jack’s town, the thirteen-year-old retreated to his tree house. Everyone Jack knows has either run away or been zombified. Jack has been living in his tree house, which he’s armed to the teeth with catapults and a mote. Living on Oreos and Mountain Dew, Jack spends his time playing video games and scavenging stores.

Jack realizes that he can’t handle zombies, Winged Wretches, and Vine Thingies alone. He goes out to search for his best friend, Quint. Along the way he finds a team comprised of a reformed bully named Dirk, a pet monster, and a girl named June (who becomes Jack’s love interest).

Surviving a monster apocalypse will be difficult; however, life gets more dangerous when the intelligent gargantuan menace known as the Blarg sets his sights on Jack. He will need his entire team to defeat the monster.

Told from Jack’s point of view, the monster apocalypse comes to life with humor. Jack’s desire to care for his friends is clear. When Jack searches for June in the hopes of rescuing her, he discovers that she is a strong character that doesn’t need a knight in shining armor. Black and white illustrations add to the story. For a book filled with monsters, the story is more fun than frightening. Packed with action, The Last Kids on Earth will engage readers from the first page to the last.

Sexual Content

  • June Del Toro is Jack’s “love interest”. When introducing her, Jack says, she has “legs that just won’t quit (no idea what that means, I’ve heard it in a movie. I guess her legs are resilient?)”
  • Jack finds June in the school building. “In the dim light, I can make out that it’s June. Hey, I just used ‘make out’ and ‘June’ in the same sentence. Go me!”
  • Jack and his friend discuss if it is possible to “call dibs” on a girl.

Violence

  • A monster tries to smash Jack. The battle is described over several pages. “The monster’s massive fist pounds the roof until it cracks like thin ice. I trip, tumble back, and land hard on my bony butt .” When the monster smiles, he reveals “an army of dirty fangs, with chunks of flesh between each tooth.” When Jack hits the monster over the head, the monster drops him and Jack gets free.
  • A monster grabs the school bus. “The monster tilted the bus so the back pointed toward the sky. We all pinballed, plummeting down the aisle, smashing against the seats, backpacks flying through the air.” Jack and his best friend escape. The fate of the other occupants on the bus is not mentioned.
  • Zombies come after Jack. The zombie’s “throat is missing—just a bunch of gnarly old flesh there. He comes at me, practically jumping.” Jack whacks the zombie in the face with a hockey stick.
  • A monster eats a zombie. “He roars and shoves the undead thing into his mouth. As he chews, the sound of the poor zombie’s snapping ones echoes across the empty suburban street.”
  • A flying monster almost gest Jack. Dirk saves him. “Dirk hurls the Winged Wretch into the closest building . . . The monster lets off a pained howl, then flies off into the distance. . . “
  • A Blarg attacks. “Blarg’s like a tank, crushing cars and stomping shopping carts beneath his feet.” Jack and Dir use butter to make the monster crash.
  • June throws tennis balls at the zombies, who used to be her teachers. Later, the zombies attack the kids and there is a fight that is complete with illustrations. The fight goes on for several pages.
  • The Blarg attacks the kids. Jack uses a sling shot to fling an acid capsule into the Blarg’s eye. “A demonic howl erupts from Blarg’s lungs. He paws at his face, trying to wipe away the sizzling chemical mixture.” When the Blarg chases the kids, they throw a big-screen TV at him. The battle against the Blarg last for three chapters. Jack kills the Blarg with a “Louisville Slicer.”  The monster “howls. I’m dangling from the blade, gripping tight, as the monster’s legs give out and he comes crashing down.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • Jack calls a monster a jerk. Later he thinks, “I hate jerks—whether they’re monster jerks or zombie jerks or just regular human jerks.”
  • Jack says “crud” several times. When a monster tries to hit Jack, he thinks, “oh crud.” When the monster is looking for Jack, he says, “holy crud.”
  • Dirk calls Jack a dork.

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • None

 

The Last Kids on Earth and the Zombie Parade

A strange shrieking. Disappearing Zombies. New monsters appearing. Jack and his three friends keep hearing an eerie shrieking that summons the zombies. They are determined to discover where the zombies are going. Along the way, they encounter a giant Wormungulous, a pizza parlor monster hideout, an ancient evil who destroys worlds, and a stereo system that is totally the bomb.

The mystery of the strange shrieking isn’t the only problem Jack is facing. As a foster kid, Jack never had the chance to make friends. The monster apocalypse changed that. Now that he has a family, he wonders if he can trust them to stay alive on their own. He worries about all of the what-ifs—what if they get hurt? Or eaten? Or chopped up? Or zombified? Can Jack learn to trust his friends and allow them to help him stay safe?

In the end, Jack realizes that “Friends are important. Family is important. . . But even a post-apocalyptic action hero can’t keep them safe all the time.” He also learns that not all monsters are wicked and that battling together is the only way to defeat evil.

The Last Kids on Earth and the Zombie Parade is told in the same humorous tone as the first book in the series. Each of the kids is given unique talents and is shown to be strong in different ways. The Last Kids on Earth and the Zombie Parade will be a hit with readers of all ages.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • A Wormungulous lives in the mall and chases the kids. Jack hits the monster with a boomerang. “There’s a BLAST as smoke bombs and bang snaps and sparklers explode. The monster jerks to the left, veers band to the right. . . “ Jack and Quint are able to escape.
  • Later the Womungulous finds the kids and gives chase. Jack sticks the monster with a blade. “The monster shrieks in pain and its thick tail whips into me . . . I slam into the side of PacSun.” A man-monster pushes the kids out of the way.
  • A Hairy-Eyeball Monster attacks the Jack and Quint. The monster fires quills at the kids. One of the quills pins Quill to a headstone.
  • Zombies follow a strange shrieking noise. The kids follow, trying to figure out where the zombies are going, they see “undead bodies soar through the air like they’ve been launched from a catapult . . . We watch as limp zombie bodies pound the cement like mortar shells.” The zombie’s brains had been sucked out.
  • A Winged Wretch attacks. “The monster’s razor-sharp talons grab the zombie by the shoulders . . . the Winged Wretch beats its wing and thrust upward, into the sky.”
  • The kids find strange insects that combine to make a huge creature.  “. . . The insects begin to gather themselves. Amassing, assembling, joining together to form something nightmarish . . . I try to run, but the horror in front of me is too much . . .” Dirk saves Jack.
  • The zombies follow a strange shrieking sound. “As each zombie stumbles into the clearing, the tree’s branches move and shift. The branches snap and reach down in a series of chilling, herky-jerky movements. . . The branches open at the end, like ferocious wooden mouths—and they inhale the zombies.”
  • The Wormungulous chases Jack into a cage. “It’s wrapping around the cage like an oversized, ultra-awful anaconda . . . I feel like I’m in the trash compactor in Star Wars.” The monster’s energy runs out and Jack realizes that the Wormungulous has a festering wound and needs help.
  • Thrull, a giant monster, grabs Jack and throws him through the treehouse wall. “Wood splinters and shatters. A second later I crash-land into a pile of leaves.” When Dirk tries to help Jack, “Thrull backhands him—a slap that sends Dirk sprawling into Rover so that they both land in a heap.” Thrull puts the kids in a cage and takes them to the Tree of Entry. When Thrull is eaten by the tree, he turns into a monster.
  • The kids unite with monsters to defeat Thrull the Tree Beast. The battle is described over several pages. Jack is swallowed by Thrull the Tree Beast. “Thrull the Tree Beast shrieks! Wood snaps and cracks around me. At my feet, jutting out of the barrel, the bottle rocket burns . . . The trunk of the tree shatters completely. . . My body is rocked—a title wave of explosive energy rips through me, hurling me from the inside of the tree.” In the end, Jack is saved when the kids defeat Thrull the Tree Beast with weed killer and bottle rockets.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • The children are tricked into completing a bestiary. “I have filled the bestiary with magical energy. When the bestiary is full, the essence of the creatures inside will transform the book into a key.” The key will be used to let an ancient monster into the world, which wants to feed on others.
  • Thrull plants vines that turn into a Tree of Entry. The tree feeds an ancient monster. Trull must complete an incantation in order to bring the ancient monster to this world.
  • Thrull sacrifices himself to the tree. “He cackles like a mad, giggling demon and gives me a final look before his eyes shut and her roars, ‘TAKE ME.’” The Viney-Thinks eat Thrull.

Spiritual Content

  • None

 

The Last Kids on Earth and the Nightmare King

Life couldn’t get much better for 13-year-old Jack Sullivan. He eats Twinkie sandwiches for breakfast, lives in a cool treehouse, has a hoard of monster friends, and battles zombies. Jack loves his life with his friends and wouldn’t change a thing about it.

Then Jack and his friends discover they may not be the last kids on earth. When a human voice comes from a radio, everyone except for Jack is excited to discover that others have survived the zombie apocalypse. June and the others hope to be reunited with their parents, but Jack is afraid that finding others will lead to his friends forgetting about him. Jack goes on a quest to prove that their life is crazy, fun, and perfect.

As jack creates crazy fun activities for his friends, a monstrous Nightmare King hunts Jack and his friends.  Jack soon learns that an ancient evil will use any method necessary to gain Jack’s loyalty and help him come into Jack’s world.

The Last Kids on Earth and The Nightmare King is another action-packed book that will keep readers entertained. New complications and new monsters are introduced to keep the plot interesting. The story shows a diverse group of friends who work together to defeat monsters. Although each character may seem stereotypical at first—the brainiac, the bully, the damsel—each character is fully developed and reveal that a person cannot be put into a category. For example, June is not a damsel in distress, but a strong girl who is capable of contributing to the group.

Although there is violence, the kids spend most of their time running from the monsters. The battle scenes contain humor and are not frightening. In the end, the story reminds readers that it often takes both kids and monsters to defeat evil.

Sexual Content

  • June and Jack are playing a game. June asks Jack, “Which prize would you like honey?”  Jack knows she is teasing him, “but I don’t care; I like hearing her call me honey—it makes my belly region warm.”

Violence

  • Zombies attack the group. Dirk uses his strength to grab the zombies and “corpses catapulted.”
  • A King Wretch swoops and tries to grab Jack. “I smack into the street, flipping and flopping like a fish. My nose cracks against my knee, and I immediately feel blood bubbling inside my nostrils.” The monster grabs Rover, “dragging Rover across the pavement. The sound of pained scraping fills my ears while dread floods my stomach.”
  • A Scrapken (an octopus-like creature who lives in the junk yard) uses his tentacles to try to smash the kids. Instead, the Scrapken hits a wall and Zombies rush into the junk yard. “Thankfully, the next tentacle swing slams into a tire pile, and about nine hundred ninety-nine pounds of rubber plow into the zombies. Some are knocked aside, and others are sent pinwheeling through the air.”
  • In order to get away from zombies, Jack hides in a car. Before the zombies can get to Jack, the Scrapken picks up the car. “It’s chocking the metal frame like an anaconda—tightening and squeezing and crushing!” Then the Scrapken throws the car. Jack has “aches and pains and bruises, but nothing major.”
  • The King Wretch saves Jack from Zombies. “With one massive, snapping chomp, the King Wretch devours a dozen zombies. A simple swallow, sucking them down.” The King Wretch then grabs Jack. “His talons punch me square in the chest. I hit the cold floor and the claws tighten, digging into my shoulders. Hot saliva drips from the King Wretch’s fangs and splashes against my cheek.” The King Wretch then hypnotizes Jack.
  • While riding a rollercoaster, The King Wretch grabs Jack. “The flying beast snaps out with his talons, tearing into my hoodie and knocking me back.”  Jack’s hoodie tears and, “I plummet downward for a short moment, and then all I feel is PAINFUL AWFUL TREE-LIM-BREAKING-SMASHING ON MY BONES!” Jacks friends come to save him and there is a battle that last over several chapters. In the end the King Wretch is eaten by the Scrapken. “Slithery serpent sounds and then, at last, the King Wretch goes silent. The Scrapken hugs him anaconda tight, squeezing, crushing, and then they disappear beneath the scrap, into the ground . . .”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • Jack occasionally says “crud.”

Supernatural

  • The King Wretch hypnotizes Jack and gives him visions of what the future may be like. When the King Wretch looks into Jack’s eyes, “Soda bubbles in my brain. . . I feel like a tornado of terrible energy whirls past me. Through me... and then everything is altered”

Spiritual Content

  • None

 

Sisters of Glass

Halan, the heir to the Magi Kingdom, is different. Unlike every royal before her, she has no magical powers. Her parents fear that without magical powers, she will be unable to protect herself against a dangerous rebellion that is festering. Halan, on the other hand, is certain that she has nothing to fear and that her father will be able to reunite the Magi Kingdom in peace.

Nalah, a glassblower’s daughter, is an outcast among her peers. In New Hadar, she must hide her magical powers because magic is outlawed. Despite her efforts, her power is growing, and she is fighting the battle to control it. When an old family friend appears, Nalah begins to wonder if using magic is the only way to improve her and her father’s lives.

Two girls’ lives come crashing together when Nalah steps through a magical mirror that takes her to the Magi Kingdom. Each girl must overcome their fears and learn to trust each other before both of their worlds are shattered.

Full of magic and suspense, Sisters of Glass is a new series that is best suited for more advanced readers.  At the beginning of the book, the plot is complicated and confusing. The chapters begin with a history of each girl’s world and alternate between each girl’s point of view. Changing between points of view may be difficult for younger or struggling readers. The story also has graphic violence and the king kills several people in an effort to gain their magical powers. The death scenes may be disturbing, especially when Nalah watches her father die and then is stuck in the dungeon with his dead body.

Unlike most stories, Sisters of Glass, does not have a romantic interest. The platonic relationship between Nalah and her friend Marcus is refreshing and endearing. Readers will be able to connect to Nalah as she struggles with being obedient to her father. Nalah’s strong personality and her loyalty make her a character that readers can look up to. Unlike Nalah, Halan comes off as a bratty princess who thinks that she knows best. Even when her actions endanger others, her remorse is almost nonexistent. The contrast between the two girls is interesting, but Nalah is the character that readers will come to love.

There are several messages in the story. One message is treating everyone—no matter his or her station—with respect. This message ties in with the message of bringing peace to a kingdom. Only with justice, understanding, and cooperation can peace ever be realized.

Sexual Content

  • When Nalah meets a boy, her friend says, “He likes you,” and then makes a kissy noise.
  • Each world contains a person who is a tawam. Nalah is Halan’s tawam; however, they have different fathers. They discuss which of the two has a biological father that they don’t know about. Nalah wonders, “Could it be true? Could Zachary Tam have been my real father?”
  • Halan sees her mother kiss a man who is not her father. “ . . . He was leaning into her mother, his lips pressed to hers.” Later she discovers that this man is her biological father.

Violence

  • A metalworker makes a magic circlet. To demonstrate its power, the metalworker puts the circlet on a servant, which causes “the servant to cry out in unbearable pain and crumple to the floor, clutching at the metal around his head.”
  • Nalah’s father is attacked. “Mr. Bardak doubled over and Tam turned and brought his fist up in a swing that caught Nalah’s father across the temple, making him stagger. His knees bent and he fell to the floor.”
  • A man uses a mirror to travel to another world and kill another man. “He silently unclasped the sheath, raised the blade above his head, and brought it down into the back of the old Tam’s neck. . . The rumpled man didn’t make a sound. He spasmed once and fell forward off the chair onto the wooden floor, the papers by his feet scattering like a flock of started doves.”
  • Halan is kidnapped. When she is kidnapped, a cloak is thrown over her head. Later, she is tied up. She tricks a boy into untying her binds, and then “she brought her arm around in a wild swing, and her balled fist struck him hard on the side of the head. He reeled, and she reached up and grabbed his shirt, pulling him down to the floor so his head hit the stone with a horrifying thunk. He lay still.”
  • Nalah goes to the dungeon. “There were sounds coming from the murk. Crying sounds, wails of pain and distress, the low chatter of angry voices, the odd rattle of chains or clang of metal against metal.”
  • A guard throws Marcus to the ground and draws his sword. Nalah grabs the sword, and “suddenly the sword bent under her hand like it was made of clay.” Nalah’s glass bird swoops down and attacks the soldier; Marcus and Nalah get away.
  • In order to return to the palace, Halan must get away from her captors, so she “scooped up a chunk of sandstone, and clunked him on the back of the head . . . Marcus slumped to the ground with a groan.”
  • The king goes to Nalah’s world and kills several people’s tawams so that the tawams in his world will gain more power. Their deaths are not described.
  • The king kills Nalah’s father. “The king struck like a snake. . . A metal ball, about the size of a plum, flew from inside his flowing sleeve and struck Nalah’s father in the forehead. It stuck there, and immediately crackled with tiny fingers of white lightning, sending them climbing all across his body. Amir Bardak’s eyes grew wide with surprise, and his arms and legs spasmed uncontrollably . . . Nalah’s father went limp and fell forward, lifeless in the dirty straw.”
  • The king attempts to hang Nalah. An old man throws an orb at the executioner, “sending out a plume of blue smoke that curled around his foot like the tentacle of a sea monster, dragging him off stage and engulfing him in a pulsating cocoon of smoke.”
  • There is a battle between the common people and the king’s soldiers. The action takes place over a chapter but is not described in detail. When a guard attacks Nalah with a sword, a glass bird, “raked them [his talons] across the guard’s face,” saving her. The king grabs his daughter and threatens to kill her, but Nalah saves her.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Halan goes to a bazaar where two men walk by “drunkenly.” At the end of the night, very few people are still outside, but there are a “few, argumentative drunks.”

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • Thaumas have magical powers that allow them to make things with one element—glass, metal, tapestry, wood, etc.
  • Several of the characters use a mirror to travel to another world. When Nalah goes through the mirror, “it felt like she didn’t have hands—or any physical body at all. She felt herself hanging, suspended in an in-between place, wonderstruck and trembling with fear.”
  • Nalah has several magical powers. She can make metal bend. When she touches a tapestry, she has a vision of the events depicted in the tapestry. “. . . The tapestry in front of her was coming to life, as if every individual thread had a mind of its own.”
  • Nalah’s captors put a Veil of Strangers on her.  The veil changes her appearance. When she tries to remove the veil, “it squeezed tight around her temples, her head filling with throbbing pain.”
  • “Some people exist in both worlds, like twins—except they call them ‘tawams.’ . . . there’s a mirror version of me living here.”

Spiritual Content

  • None

 

The Stone Girl’s Story

Mayka and her stone family have always lived on the mountain. Their father, a stonemason, brought them to life by etching stories onto their bodies. But now that her father is gone, the markings are beginning to fade. Mayka and her two bird friends go in search of a stonemason to recarve the stories.  As she searches, she learns about the complicated history of stone creations. She also must learn which flesh-people can be trusted—because not all humans are good.

Filled with unique, engaging characters—both stone and flesh—The Stone Girl’s Story explores the importance of making your own decisions and writing your own story. With the power of friendship, Mayka helps other stone creations change their stories, and, in the process, they defeat evil. Through her journey, Mayka shows the importance of words; although she lies, she does so for good reason. She also learns the importance of being brave and how to become the heroine in her own story.

Beautiful descriptions bring The Stone Girl’s Story to life. Mayka retells many stories, which makes some of the action less interesting. Although the ending of the story is action-packed and suspenseful, some readers may have a hard time wading through the first half of the book. However, getting to the end of the book is worth the work because of the lessons learned, the exciting climax, and the hopeful resolution.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • Mayka comes to a stone wall that was created to protect what lies on the other side of it. When Mayka’s bird friend touches the wall, rocks rolled round his feet. The rocks “rolled together to pin him to the wall. As she dug, the rocks rolled against her too, trying to trap her fingers with the bird.”
  • A stonemason creates a huge stone monster who attacks the city, trying to capture Mayka and her friends. “The monster kicked away the guards, and they sprawled against the building, knocking over fleeing people and capsizing pedestals. The monster charged forward. Each step slammed into the ground and caused the buildings to sway. Tile fell off roofs. Chimneys toppled.” Mayka’s friends attack the monster to distract him while Mayka carves a new story onto his body. The monster then grabs the stonemason that built him and leaves the city, never to return.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • According to the old legends, great dragons created all flesh-and-blood life.
  • Stonemasons can carve creatures out of stone and bring them to life. Most creatures are everyday animals such as horses, oxen, or otters, which are used for labor.

Spiritual Content

  • None

 

Dragonborn

Sam lived a quiet life as a wizard’s apprentice. Sam’s only friend was a dragon named Starback. When Sam’s master dies, other wizards come to help bury the man. When the group argues over Sam’s fate, he runs. Sam is unsure of where to go, but he knows he wants to finish his education in magic.

Sam and Starback set off on a journey. They know Sam must avoid the wizards, but there are hidden threats as well. There is someone who wants Sam’s power, and she’ll use deceit and magic to capture Sam. Will Sam be able to find his path without being trapped in her snare?

A book about a boy and a dragon should be amazing, but Dragonborn lacks action. For most of the story, the dragon is off trying to protect Sam, but he isn’t an integral part of the plot. As Sam travels he meets some interesting people and learns about himself, but the story often lacks suspense.

Dragonborn was written for readers as young as eight, but the plot is difficult to follow. The beginning of the story goes back and forth between Sam’s stories and the apprentice’s notebook, which gives information about Sam’s world. Although the transitions between these two are clear, Sam’s story is more complicated because there are flashbacks that may be confusing for some readers. The point of view of the story changes between characters, which adds to the confusing nature of the story. There are so many characters introduced in the beginning chapters that it is difficult to keep track of all of them.

One aspect that may upset younger readers are the scenes that deal with death. The story begins with death, and the final preparations of the body are performed. Later in the story, Sam stumbles into a house where a man has just died and Sam must perform the burial rites, including taking the man to the Finished World. Although the book does not address what happens after one dies, the story may lead to questions about the afterlife.

Although the story has plenty of magic—both good and bad—the story does not explain how spells are made. The apprentice’s notebook reads, “Now, whenever it is worked, it does more than was meant, and it lives a life of its own. So never, never make magic just to make life easier, or to do something quicker. Always keep your magic for something that matters.”

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • A girl attending wizard school often gets into trouble. One day she loses her temper and floods the classroom. The teacher is unable to stop the flood. “The other pupils were thrashing about, trying to stay above the surface as the water filled the room. They made magic lifejackets and dinghies, they flailed about the swell. . . Just as they were about to lose the battle and drown, Tamrin released the spell.”
  • Ash has her creature kill a prisoner. “Bakkmann hurled itself at the dazed prisoner and stabbed into his heart, once, twice, then started to suck and bite noisily at the body.”
  • When Sam performs a burial ritual and opens the door to the Finished World, Ash tries to pull Sam into the Finished World. “Sam could sense that she was using the wild magic of the mines to keep hold of him.”
  • Ash reads a note on a moth, then kills it. She “held the moth over the flame, watching its wings scorch then flame for a moment before turning to ash. The fat, black body bubbled, dripped, and dissolved.”
  • Ash creates a spell. “The boy was on fire. Flames flowed over him. His hair was a fiery torch, his finger ends, candles. He rolled over and over in his frenzy to put the flames out. Nothing made any difference. . . Smedge shrieked in pain. Then, as though it had never been, the fire disappeared.” Later in the story, Ash again uses a spell to set Smedge on fire, so he feels pain but is unharmed.
  • Ash has a “clacking creature” that listens to her orders. One of the creatures, “pounced on Khazib, and jabbed a long, sharp tongue into his shoulder, drawing blood. Khazib screamed in pain and surprise. . . Khazib looked at the blood flowing from his wound. He panted with pain.”
  • A wizard causes beetles to attack Sam. “The huge beetle dived and flew straight into Sam’s face. The others followed, swarming all over him. Into his ears, his nose. . . he could feel them probing with their sharp legs. . . He was drowning in beetles, being eaten alive by them.” In order to save Sam, a dragon kills the wizard. “Its jaws seized on Caleb’s head and jerked it to one side. The boy heard bones snap. The dragon shook Caleb as a terrier shakes a rat. Caleb’s head lolled to the left, one side of his face burned away.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • The weavers “do not weave when twilight comes, but sit and drink beer and tell stories.”
  • While traveling with a roffle, Sam and the roffle sit down to eat. “There was lemonade for Sam and beer for the roffle as well.”
  • After a character is taken to the Finished World, the crowd has food and drink. The men and women “stood in small knots of friendship with mugs of beer and cider, beakers of wine.”

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • The story revolves around wizards who cast spells.
  • Ash is a creature whose limbs fall off and grow back, her eyes bleed, and she eats beetles. She picks up a beetle and “put it to her lips without thinking. She crunched it, sucked the soft pulp from inside, licked it clean, then dropped the empty husk into the remains of the fire.”
  • When Ash attempts to escape her prison, she goes to the doorway. “Her foot snapped off at the ankle and hung in the air outside. . . Her arms had gone through as far as the elbows, then stopped. Her weight sagged. She fell to her knees and her forearms snapped off. . .”
  • Sam looks at a book and concentrates on the letters when “green and blue smoke hovered for a second and then contracted, gathered together over the plate; and, in a moment, it formed itself into a tiny Green and Blue Dragon.”
  • Sam looks toward the stars for messages. “Sam tried to read them. They whispered to him, many voices, many words, many thoughts. He could not make out what they were saying.”
  • Hungry and dehydrated, Sam leaves his body. “. . . He was high above the crowd, looking down at them. He was a dragon again. Hunger gone, thirst forgotten, he soared above it all, rejoicing in the splendor of the air . . . Thinking of himself send him back not himself. . .”
  • One of the characters has a connection to a wolf. “When I need to see with the wolf’s eyes, I disappear into the wolf. I stop being Axestone until it’s over.”
  • Sam discovers that he is a dragon and a boy. “Being a dragon and a boy at the same time was like learning to swim . . . but soon enough he knew the difference between one and the other.”

Spiritual Content

  • When a person dies, someone must prepare the body. Then, someone must accompany the body and open the door to the Finished World. When the door is opened, the person moves into the Finished World.

 

 

Hercufleas

On the night of the new moon, Yuk comes to guzzle the townsfolk. In an effort to save her town, Greta travels to Avalon to find a giant-slaying hero. What she finds instead is Hercufleas. He may be small, but he is (mostly) convinced that he can help Greta.

In an epic adventure, Greta and Hercufleas set off to find the one weapon—the Black Death—that can slay Yuk. As they travel, Greta’s bitterness and despair threaten to overtake her. Can the two figure out a way to save the village? Or will their despair cause the end of Greta’s world?

Hercufleas is a fun-filled fantasy that shows that size doesn’t make a person mighty. Filled with outrageously unique villains, an uncertain hero, and a little girl who doesn’t believe in anything, Hercufleas takes the reader on an adventure that readers will not soon forget. In the end, the reader is left with the message that evil cannot destroy evil, only goodness can.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • A shopkeeper hires two villains to kill Greta. They try to kill her but want to make it look like an accident. One of the assassins dies when he falls from his flying bird. The assassin, “disappeared with a hideous shriek down into the fog.”
  • The shopkeeper finds Greta and plans on killing her. Instead, he is bitten by a rattleroot and dies. “Stickler screamed and kicked with his leg, trying to shake it off . . . the paralyzing poison was already starting to work.”
  • Yuk, an enormous monster, eats the townsfolk.
  • Hercufleas challenges Sir Klaus, a mouse, to a duel. They fight until one drop of blood is shed.
  • When Yuk comes to guzzle people, the townsfolk attack. “The Cossacks had thrown their iron nets over the giant. In seconds, they fixed them into the ground with stakes and hammers. During this time Yuk devours several people. “A terrible scream echoed from somewhere below. Perched above Yuk’s tonsils, Hercufleas saw a dim shape tumble down the giants’ throat and vanished with a faraway plop.
  • Hercufleas battles rattleroots.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • Miss Witz has a copper bell, and “a Gypsy had charmed the bell so lies make it ring.”
  • The fleas in the story were created (though alchemy) to be tall, talking fleas. “Alchemy is where you make up potions that can change you.”
  • The stone giant was “chiseled from granite and brought to life by alchemy.”
  • Hercufleas eats strands from Yuk’s brain, which allows him to see Yuk’s memories.

Spiritual Content

  • The fleas have a prayer that ends with, “we’ll all jump to fleaven/When our last jump comes.”  Fleaven is where “all great and good bugs of the world go.”
  • Greta passes the great salt lakes and explains that “it comes from the old prophecies. God adds one salty tear to the lakes for every new evil in the world.”

 

Fortune Falls

In Fortune Falls, if you step on a crack you really will hurt your mother’s back. And four-leaf clovers, lucky pennies, and rabbit’s feet really do bring good luck. But twelve-year-old Sadie is used to being on the bad side of luck. When a cat the color of ravens begins following her, Sadie fears that her bad luck is irreversible and may be deadly.

The cat, and bad luck, seemed to be stalking Sadie. Sadie no longer expects to have good luck, but she is still determined to outwit fate. She has too much to lose if she doesn’t.

In just five days, Sadie is going to take the Luck Test, which will determine if she will go to Flourish Academy or be sent away. Her friend Cooper is determined to help Sadie come up with a plan to overcome her bad luck. But when Sadie breaks a mirror, her dog goes missing in a graveyard, and a black cat keeps following her, Sadie isn’t sure she can outwit fate. Is it possible for her to survive her bad luck? And if she survives, will she be sent away from everything she loves?

Sadie is a smart, clumsy, lovable heroine, who uses her wits to overcome obstacles in her life. Throughout the story, Sadie cares for her younger brother. Although their father is dead, his positive influence is shown through Sadie’s thoughts.

Throughout the story, Sadie learns many valuable lessons, including how people (and cats) are often misjudged based on their appearances and that friendships are more important than luck. At one point Sadie thinks about capturing the black cat and trading it for something that would bring her good luck, but she decides, “I wasn’t sure if it was worth being Lucky if it meant betraying who I was.” Because the story is entertaining, full of suspense, and has interesting characters, the book teaches lessons without being preachy. And in the end, the reader sees that “Fortune has very little to do with the charm and everything to do with perception.”

The ending of Fortune Falls doesn’t change Sadie’s clumsy nature. She is still imperfect and messy, but she no longer thinks that she needs luck or perfection. One of the best parts of the book is that Sadie conquers the mean girl without being mean herself. In the process of trying to outwit fate, Sadie leaves the reader with positive lessons as well as a story that will make them smile long after the book is put down.

Sexual Content

  • Sadie goes to a school dance. As she dances with Cooper, she thinks, “My skin tingled where Cooper’s left hand rested on my shoulder, and mine on his side. It felt almost electric where the fingers of our hands joined together, forming their own little tower between us.”

Violence

  • When Sadie thinks about running away, she thinks about the Unluckies who had tried to leave Fortune Falls. “Unluckies gave up on trying long ago—tires always blew at the edge of town, people suffered strokes and heart attacks just as they were about to cross over the city limits—like bad luck, there was no escaping it.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • Sadie and Bessie go to a wishing well to drop in a coin, hoping for luck to help them pass the Luck Test. “Toss a coin into this well,/And the water spirit tell,/ Your deepest wish or favorite spell./ Fate favors those who luck befell.”
  • Sadie goes to the cemetery’s entrance, hoping to find her dog. While she is there she sees “to the left of the mausoleum and the black cat, and close to where I was standing by the fence, something was sticking out from the bushes. Slender, bony white fingers. A skeletal hand, reaching, stretching, grasping for the iron post. This was not the hand of someone who’d been buried in the cemetery. It was the boney remains of someone who’d thought they’d be able to dash in and out while holding their breath. Whoever it was had been wrong. Deadly wrong.
  • There is a field in Fortune Falls where a ghost appears at dusk or barely after dark. The ghost boy beckons people to follow him to the graveyard. “Almost everyone agreed that at some point they found themselves standing at the iron bars of the cemetery, not certain how they got there but feeling compelled to fetch the poor boy’s eternally resting parents. Perhaps that’s what happened to the person who had been reduced to an extending skeletal hand just inside the fence.”
  • Sadie’s brother has an encounter with the ghost, who wants him to go into the cemetery and look for his parents. Sadie’s brother tells the ghost that his father is dead. “Then he got a sad look on his face and ran off.”
  • Sadie scolds her brother for yawning and not covering his mouth. “Yawning without covering your mouth was like breathing inside the cemetery, only worse. Opening your mouth to yawn gave the Devil a gaping hole to slip into and, unlike with wraiths, his strength didn’t wane outside the parameters of the cemetery.” Sadie discovers that the black cat is really a Japanese bobtail and “one of the luckiest charms you could ever hope to encounter . . . no one will buy her for her luck, and she couldn’t hex something to save her life.”
  • Sadie considers buying a voodoo doll to hex a mean girl.

Spiritual Content

  • None

 

The Accused

Pete Duffy’s murder trial is about to begin; however, when Duffy disappears the night before his trial, the town wonders where Duffy went. Theo was hoping to follow Duffy’s trial, but when strange men begin following him and the police accuse him of robbery, Theo becomes consumed with finding out who has it in for him.

Because Theodore tells his own story, the reader has the opportunity to feel Theo’s confusion and fear, which helps to build suspense. As the story progresses, the suspense is created in a way that will allow younger readers to be interested but not frightened.

The Accused has surprises, humor, and positive adult-child relationships. The story is easy to read and the engaging mystery will appeal to both younger and older readers. Although this book is part of the Theodore Boone series, The Accused can be enjoyed without having read the previous books in the series.

The only downside is Theo’s Uncle Ike, who convinces Theo to steal the password to his parents’ case files. Afterward, Theo feels guilty and wants to tell his parents. However, Ike convinces him not to because it’s not dishonest to not tell. Ike continues rationalizing dishonesty by saying, “We all have our little secrets, and as long as they’re harmless, who really cares? With time, the secrets often go away and things don’t matter anymore.”

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • The plot discusses the trial of Pete Duffy who is accused of murder. Some boys in Theo’s class discuss the disappearance of Pete Duffy. “Another had Pete Duffy murdered by drug lords.”
  • Someone throws a rock through a window and almost hits Theo.
  • Several boys at school get into a fight, including Theo. “Woody lunged with a right hook that landed perfectly on Baxter’s face. Baxter, to his credit, managed to land a solid punch before both boys locked each other in death grips and tumbled to the floor.”
  • Ike tells a story about when he was younger and was being bullied. He filled his lunch pail with rocks. “He was about to punch me when I suddenly swung the lunch box and hit him in the face. Hard. I mean it was a nasty blow that cut a gash in his cheekbone. He screamed and fell down and I whacked him a few more times in the head.” At the end of the story, Ike says, “I should have used my fists and nothing else.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Theo’s uncle drinks beer. “Theo knew he drank too much . . . Two or three times he had picked up on comments that suggested Ike Boone struggled with the bottle, and Theo assumed this was true. However, he had never witnessed it.”
  • Theo thinks about “Spike Hock, a kid who lived one block away and was caught selling drugs in the ninth grade and spent eighteen very unpleasant months in a juvenile detention center. . .”
  • Theo thinks about a family because the sister was “arrested for drugs.”
  • A boy in the story “was caught with marijuana and went through Youth Court.”

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • At church, the pastor’s sermon expands on the eighth commandment. The pastor talks about how it is wrong to steal, including “stealing time away from God, family, friends. Stealing the gift of good health by pursuing bad habits. Stealing from the future by missing opportunities in the present.”

My Diary from the Edge of the World

Maddie’s world isn’t ordinary. She lives in a world where dragons, mermaids, and giants exist. In her world, Dark Clouds come for people when they die, and one is after Maddie’s little brother, Sam. In an effort to save Sam, Maddie’s family sets off to find the only place where Sam will be safe—the Extraordinary World. The only problem is that most people do not think it exists.

As Maddie and her family travel, they must learn to work together to avoid the dangers of the world.  And after traveling through many amazing places and facing many obstacles, Maddie learns that sometimes the biggest obstacle of all is to stop running from the inevitable.

My Diary from the Edge of the World is engaging because it is written in diary form from Maddie’s point of view. The world created is familiar because it contains many of the same places as the United States; however interest is added because witches are real (and Maddie’s grandmother is one), ghosts exist, and genies can grant wishes.

Even though the book has magic and mystery, the story has little action or suspense to keep the reader completely engaged. Maddie is a typical girl that has some interesting adventures, but her story lacks excitement. However, the ending does contain several scenes that will surprise the reader and give them hope.

Sexual Content

  • When Maddie’s parents stop talking to each other, Maddie wonders if her mother is going to run off with the ship’s captain. Maddie’s sister says, “They laugh together a lot . . . Mom and Dad never talk anymore, much less laugh together.”
  • When the ship’s captain asks Maddie’s mother to stay with him, he “reached up to touch her face, trying to raise his lips to hers.” She reminds him that she is a married woman and refuses to leave her family.
  • Virgil, an angel, has a crush on Maddie’s sister. In one scene, Maddie’s sister, “leaned up toward him and gave him a small kiss on the lips. A kiss that must have felt like a brush of air, but a kiss all the same.”

Violence

  • The ship’s captain tells Maddie about sea ghosts. “. . . Poor drowned sailors who never had a chance. They’re the most vicious ghosts on earth, I’d wager, intent on dragging sailors into the Underworld with them.”
  • Their ship is surrounded by a fleet of ghost ships. Virgil, an angel, uses his ability to create wind to outrace the ships and save everyone from certain death.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • While searching for a captain of a boat, Maddie’s mother goes into a tavern where men are drinking.

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • In Maddie’s world, Dark Clouds come for people when they die. “They wait outside people’s houses until it’s time, then they scoop up their soul and carry them away.” If a cloud does not come for a person, it will “drift around in Limbo.”
  • Ghosts use caves to come and go from the Underworld. “They have a tendency to try to snatch people into the Underworld.”
  • They find the Extraordinary World does exist. “I could see it was our planet, but a different version of it.”

Spiritual Content

  • Angels live on Earth and are, “hiding out from the gods.”
  • Maddie wonders about the angels that live on the Earth. “Animals are made to eat each other, and sometimes I wonder why. I wonder if that’s part of why the angels rebelled—because they thought the gods were mean in the way they made the world, and that they were making mistakes, and I have to admit that if I were an angel I think I might rebel too.”

 

Crenshaw

Jackson’s world is turned upside down when his parents move the family into a mini-van. His parents, his little sister, and their dog don’t have anywhere to live and sometimes they don’t have enough to eat.  Jackson tries not to complain. He tries to keep his confusion and fear to himself.

Then Crenshaw appears. He’s big. He’s outspoken. He’s an imaginary cat. Crenshaw is trying to help Jackson, but Jackson just wants him to go away.

Crenshaw is told from the point of view of Jackson, which allows younger readers to get a glimpse into the world of being homeless without going into too much detail. Through the story, the reader learns that homelessness can happen to anyone, even when they are trying their best.

Jackson’s life story has many lessons, including the importance of honesty. Jackson steals food for his sister because she was hungry. However the theft is not glamorized, and when his sister throws up on Jackson’s book, he figures that it was his punishment.

With the help of his imaginary friend Crenshaw, Jackson finds the courage to tell his friend and his parents the truth about his feelings, which is the most important lesson of all.

Crenshaw uses humor, a gigantic cat, and a realistic situation to teach about the struggles of financial difficulties and the importance of friendship. The author uses easy to understand language and dialogue to bring the characters to life.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • None

Drugs and Alcohol

  • When Jackson makes a box to sleep it, he wrote, “Keep out Jackson’s rum on the top. . . Dad said, if only it really was rum.”

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • When Jackson’s dad is getting ready to beg for money, Jackson’s mom said, “Write ‘God Bless,” at least. . . Everyone writes ‘God Bless.’” Jackson’s dad replies, “Nope. As it happens, I have no idea what God is up to.”
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