Topic: Magic

The Unicorn Quest

Claire’s great-aunt Diana mysteriously disappeared. As her only family, Claire, Sophie, and her parents plan to spend the summer cleaning out Diana’s house, which is cluttered with her aunt’s collection of strange artifacts. When Claire and Sophie discover a ladder in the fireplace, Sophie leads the way up. . . and up. . . and up. They discover a fantastical land called Arden, filled with castles, magic, and dangerous creatures. Claire makes Sophie promise never to climb the stairs again.

When Sophie disappears, Claire knows she must be brave enough to search for her sister by going up the ladder. When Claire gets to Arden, she discovers a world full of danger. Four guilds of magic no longer trust each other. All of the unicorns have disappeared. Horrible wraiths roam at night. And Sophie is missing. Claire must find the courage to search for her sister, but first she must discover the secret of the unicorns.

Claire is fearful that her sister is in danger, which propels her to team up with two others—Netta and Sena—in order to find Sophie and a stolen unicorn relict. Because Arden’s war happened in the past, the action included in the book is not scary. Instead, readers will be enthralled with Arden’s strange creatures and magic.

The land of Arden is well developed, and the author uses beautiful descriptions to bring the setting to life. Even though the story contains some exciting scenes, the long descriptions slow down the pacing of the plot. The story follows a typical epic format—a girl is forced to go on a quest, teams up with others, and travels from place to place searching for answers. Readers expecting a story about sisters and unicorns will be disappointed, because there is little interaction between Claire and her sister, and the unicorn only appears for a brief flash at the end.

The Unicorn Quest will entertain strong readers who like reading about magical lands and characters going on a quest. Although the story is not unique, Claire is a believable character that overcomes her fear as she searches for her sister. The sweet ending has several surprises and will leave the reader wanting to pick up the next book in the series—Secret in the Stone. The Unicorn Quest will appeal to those who like stories such as The Last, by Katherine Applegate, and Podkin One-Ear, by Kieran Larwood.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • A wraith tries to attack Claire, but before it does Sophie, “had thrown herself onto the thing’s back and was desperately pounding at its shoulder blades, her fist sinking into the shifting, smoky blackness that hung around it. . . Claire scooted away from the creature, but then there was another shriek—from Sophie this time—and Claire watched in horror as the beast’s clawed hand reached behind and finally peeled Sophie off its back, throwing her to the ground.” With help, the girls are able to escape.
  • When Claire climbs up the ladder to get to Arden, she is attacked. “The air whooshed out of Claire as something—someone—tackled her from behind. She felt a knee land firmly on her lower back, pinning her to the ground. Pain ripped through her shoulders as her arms were yanked behind her. . .Claire coughed, spitting out the dirt that coated her mouth from the fall. Something cold and hard suddenly pressed at her throat: the edge of a knife.” Claire is then taken into the city, where she is put in jail.
  • While stuck in a cave a wyvern appears. Claire uses magic to put the wyvern in a cage. “The wyvern strained, its shoulders pounding against the rock-cage. To Claire’s dismay, the wyvern’s scales seemed to be chipping away at the bars, widening the space little by little.” Claire calms the wyvern, and the group gets out of the cave safely.
  • A man tries to club Claire, so she holds her sword as if it is a baseball bat and, “swung at the club, trying to keep it away from her. Sword and club met with a clang that reverberated through her.” Someone stops the man from hurting Claire.
  • When Sophie is shot with an arrow, “a scream burst out of Claire as her sister’s blood poured over her knees. . . Sophie’s pitiful whisper made Claire grab on to her tighter. . .” A man picks up Sophie and lays her, “at the foot of Queen Rock,” in order to perform a ceremony.
  • A wraith grabs Claire. “As its skeletal hand, smelling of rotten flesh, tightened around her neck, Claire knew, in that horrible way one always knows, that she had made an irrevocable mistake. She gasped for breath as the wraith dragged her slowly back. . . Dark thoughts wrapped around Claire’s mind as she felt herself drowning in the wraith’s cold.” Claire uses magic to save herself.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Claire is given Sinceri Tea, which is, “distilled from forget-me-not petals for recollection, sunflower seeds for openness, and a blade of hedgehog grass from the beaches of the Sunrise Isles. It will ensure you cannot lie when you answer.”

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • Claire and Sophie find a ladder in a fireplace. When they climb the ladder, they end up in Arden—a world where magic is real.
  • In Arden, there are four guilds of magic. Forgers work with metal, Gemmers work with rocks and gems, Spinners weave magic from thread, and Tillers work with all that grows from the earth. “Our magic, guild magic, only extends to what’s around us. . . The magic doesn’t come from within us, but from the things around us—plants, rocks, thread, metal. All we do is encourage the magic that naturally exists in those things, to make plants grow bigger and faster and stronger, for instance.”
  • Wraiths are dangerous creatures that kill humans. Claire describes a wraith as “big and dark and cold. It kind of looked like a skeleton wrapped in shadows.”
  • Nett uses Mile High Potion to turn a blade of grass into rope. Nett, “let a drop of something green tumble onto a blade of grass. With his thumb and forefinger, he pinched the blade and gave it a twist . . . The blade of grass was growing longer and larger, going from the length of some floss to shoelace size in a matter of seconds.”
  • While in a shop, Nett finds a revealer, which, “reflects a person’s greatest flaw. . . It’s a horrible thing to have the nastiest, most secret thoughts within you revealed to all.” He also finds an herb that will, “take away the eater’s ability to make decisions for an hour, or four years, depending on the amount consumed.”
  • Claire discovers that she is a Gemmer and can talk to wyverns.
  • A woman uses a magic threat to choke a man. “Francis dropped to his knees as though someone had set a bag of bricks on his shoulders. His arm flailed as he tried to push his Royalist cloak off, but as hard as he tried, he could not lift the garment from his shoulders. There were a few snaps as his ribs cracked.”

Spiritual Content

  • None

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

The ministry has fallen to He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, who is the new Minister of Magic in all but name. Wizards and witches across the nation whisper, too frightened to fight, unsure of who to trust. And elsewhere, the Hogwarts Express is on its way to school without three of its students – Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

Rather than return to school, the three friends set off on a quest to find He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named’s horcruxes—and destroy them. Only then can He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named be stripped of his immortality and defeated. But seemingly insurmountable obstacles pile up, leaving the trio of friends scared, confused, and frustrated with the world and with each other. Near-death experiences abound in the most harrowing, adventured-packed book of the series. While the first half of the story may drag for some readers, the payoff is spectacular and the novel ends in a whirlwind of revelations.

This epic conclusion to the Harry Potter series satiates readers with a deluge of their favorite characters from all seven books, woven together in a realistic and nostalgic masterpiece. With plenty of twists and turns, readers will be reeling by the time they finish and sad that this marvelous adventure has finally come to an ending that is heartbreaking and joyful at the same time.

Sexual Content

  • Ginny kisses Harry on his birthday. “Then she was kissing him as she had never kissed him before, and Harry was kissing her back, and it was blissful oblivion, better than firewhisky; she was the only real thing in the world, Ginny, the feel of her, one hand at her back and one in her long, sweet-smelling hair.”
  • Auntie Muriel comments that “Ginevra’s dress is far too low cut.”
  • In a hallucination, Harry and Hermione kiss. “Riddle-Hermione . . . stretched like a snake and entwined herself around Riddle-Harry, wrapping him in a close embrace: Their lips met.”
  • Ron and Hermione kiss. “Running at Ron, she flung them around his neck and kissed him full on the mouth. Ron threw away the fangs and broomstick he was holding and responded with such enthusiasm that he lifted Hermione off her feet.”

Violence

  • He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named kills a witch. “The flash of green light illuminated every corner of the room. Charity fell, with a resounding crash, onto the table below.”
  • Harry and Hagrid are chased by Death Eaters. The fight takes place over eight pages. “As he looked back again two jets of green light flew past his left ear: Four Death Eaters had broken away from the circle and were pursuing them, aiming for Hagrid’s broad back.”
  • George loses an ear. Harry isn’t there during the fight, but afterwards he sees, “George, who was unconscious and whose face was covered in blood . . . Harry’s stomach lurched: One of George’s ears was missing. The side of his head and neck were drenched in wet, shockingly scarlet blood.”
  • The Order of the Phoenix raises a toast to a dead comrade. “The firewhisky seared Harry’s throat. It seemed to burn feeling back into him, dispelling the numbness and sense of unreality, firing him with something that was like courage.”
  • During a heated argument, “Scrimgeour limped toward Harry and jabbed him hard in the chest with the point of his wand: It singed a hole in Harry’s T-shirt like a lit cigarette.”
  • Kreacher has to punish himself when he misbehaves. “The elf was already punishing himself: He fell to the ground and banged his forehead on the floor.”
  • Kreacher hits Mundungus “over the head with a saucepan.”
  • When escaping from the Ministry of Magic, Harry “raised an enormous fist and punched him, sending him flying through the air.”
  • Ron accidently splinches himself. “Hermione laid bare Ron’s upper arm, where a great chunk of flesh was missing, scooped cleanly away as though by a knife.”
  • A snake disguises itself as a woman. “She moved weirdly: He saw it out of the corner of his eye; panic made him turn and horror paralyzed him as he saw the old body collapsing and the great snake pouring from the place where her neck had been.” There is a fight that takes place over three pages. “There was a loud bang and a flash of red light, and the snake flew into the air, smacking Harry hard in the face as it went.”
  • After Ron runs away, “Hermione launched herself forward and started punching every inch of him that she could reach.”
  • Hermione is tortured. It is not shown, but Harry heard. “Hermione’s screams echoed off the walls upstairs.”
  • Wormtail tries to kill Harry. “Wormtail’s wand emitted sparks; his silver hand closed around Harry’s throat . . . Wandless, helpless, Pettigrew’s pupils dilated in terror. His eyes had slid from Harry’s face to something else. His own silver fingers were moving inexorably toward his own throat . . . Harry tried to pull the crusting metal fingers from around Wormtails’s throat, but it was no use. Pettigrew was turning blue . . . he gave a last twitch, and was still.”
  • He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named kills several people in a fit of rage. “Green light erupted through the room; the kneeling goblin rolled over, dead; the watching wizards scattered . . . again and again his wand fell, and those who were left were slain, all of them.”
  • Dobby is stabbed. “Harry looked down at the silver hilt of the knife protruding from the elf’s heaving chest.”
  • Harry uses an Unforgivable Curse. “The Death Eater was lifted off his feet. He writhed through the air like a drowning man, thrashing and howling in pain, and then, with a crunch and a shattering of glass, he smashed into the front of a bookcase and crumpled, insensible, to the floor.”
  • Professor McGonagall duels Snape. “She brandished her wand at a torch on the wall and it flew out of its bracket . . . the descending flames . . . became a ring of fire that filled the corridor and flew like a lasso at Snape – Then it was no longer fire, but a great black serpent that McGonagall blasted to smoke, which re-formed and solidified in seconds to become a swarm of pursuing daggers.”
  • The final battle at the end of the book spans five chapters, with a few calmer scenes in between. Several people die. At one point, “The world was rent apart. Harry felt himself flying through the air . . . He heard the screams and yells of his companions without a hope of knowing what had happened to them – And then the world resolved itself into pain and semidarkness: He was half buried in the wreckage of a corridor that had been subjected to a terrible attack . . . and Fred’s eyes stared without seeing, the ghost of his last laugh still etched upon his face.” Later on, “The house-elves of Hogwarts swarmed into the entrance hall, screaming and waving carving knives and cleavers . . . Harry saw Yaxley slammed to the floor by George and Lee Jordan, saw Dolohov fall with a scream at Flitwick’s hands, saw Walden Macnair thrown across the room by Hagrid, hit the stone wall opposite, and slide unconscious to the ground.”
  • He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named kills Snape. “The snake’s fangs pierced his neck . . . his knees gave way and he fell to the floor . . . [Snape] fell sideways onto the floor, blood gushing from the wounds in his neck.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • The adults often drink a glass of wine or brandy, either with dinner or during meetings.
  • After a fight, Hagrid asks if Mrs. Weasley has brandy “Fer medicinal purposes.”
  • Fred reminisces about an uncle. “Before he went loopy he was the life and soul of the party . . . He used to down an entire bottle of firewhisky, then run onto the dance floor, hoist up his robes, and start pulling bunches of flowers out of his –”
  • Champagne is served at a wedding.
  • Hermione gets catcalled by “a group of men . . . singing and weaving across the pavement.” They tell her to “ditch ginger and come and have a pint!”

Language

  • God is used as an exclamation once. Ron says “God, that’s revolting.”
  • Ron uses the word git several times.
  • Damn and hell are used a few times. Harry says, “Let’s get rid of the damn thing.”
  • Ron tells Malfoy, “That’s the second time we’ve saved your life tonight, you two-faced bastard!”
  • Neville tells He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, “I’ll join you when hell freezes over.”
  • When Bellatrix almost kills Ginny, Mrs. Weasley shouts, “NOT MY DAUGHTER, YOU BITCH!”

Supernatural

  • Harry Potter is a wizard and lives in a world full of magic. He went to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, where he studied charms, potions, and defense against the dark arts. He is fighting a dark wizard who split his soul into seven pieces in order to become immortal. He works together with dragons and goblins in order to save the wizarding world from dementors and violent giants. In short, Harry is surrounded by magic and supernatural occurrences every day of his life. As such, not all instances are listed here.
  • Although the series revolves around magic, the story does not encourage children to try magic on their own. To cast a spell, wizards simply say a word and wave their wand. For example, saying luminos casts light.
  • Professor Trelawney made a prophecy about the Dark Lord before Harry was born. She does not remember making the prophecy afterward, but it is stored in a secret Hall of Prophecies hidden in the Ministry of Magic.
  • Harry can see flashes of what He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is thinking and seeing, which causes his scar to burn.

Spiritual Content

  • There are ghosts in the castle that behave like regular (although transparent) people. One of Harry’s teachers is even a ghost.
  • He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named splits his soul and hides pieces of his soul in precious, hidden objects. His goal is to become immortal and unkillable. If he is killed, the pieces of his soul remain, and therefore he cannot truly die.
  • When visiting his parents’ gravestone, Harry asks about the inscription, “The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.” Hermione says, “It means . . . you know . . . living beyond death. Living after death.”
  • When He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named tries to kill him, Harry has an out-of-body experience, a vision of being in a train station. He speaks to Dumbledore who tells Harry that he can go back and continue to fight, or he can board a train. Harry asks, “‘Where would it take me?’ ‘On,’ said Dumbledore simply.”

by Morgan Lynn

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

The world finally believes that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is back. While the ministry is scrambling to respond, Dumbledore has called the Order of the Phoenix, a secret society that fought He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named last time, back into service. Harry, who is still reeling from the death of his godfather, is ready to join the Order and fight. But things prove more complicated. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is in hiding, and the adults in Harry’s life seem to think it is more important for him to return to school than to join the Order and fight.

Dumbledore is the only person who seems to think Harry can be of use. Dumbledore enlists Harry’s aid in exploring one of the most cloaked mysteries in the magical world – how He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named rose to power and achieved immortality. While He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named has returned, Dumbledore believes there is a way to make the Dark Lord mortal once more, and Harry is the only one who can solve this vital mystery.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince continues the theme of a longer page count, which can be found in books 4-7 of the Harry Potter series. Although this novel has a serious tone, there are lighter moments that keep the story from becoming too heavy. The original cast continues to develop in interesting ways, and Harry’s frequent trips into He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named’s past bring vivid new characters to life.

While still appropriate for most elementary readers, the end of this story does include Inferius, which are dead bodies bewitched to do a dark wizard’s bidding. This scene may frighten more timid readers. However, more mature elementary students and junior high students will love exploring the mysterious web that is the childhood of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, and will wait with bated breath to see where it leads.

Sexual Content

  • Fleur is a beautiful French woman who kisses people on the cheek as a form of greeting. Once she, “swoop[ed] to kiss [Harry] on each cheek; He felt the places where her mouth had touched him burn.”
  • In a fit of rage, Mr. Gaunt tries to strangle his daughter. “His hands closed around his daughter’s throat . . . with a roar of rage, Morfin leapt out of his chair and ran at Ogden, brandishing his bloody knife and firing hexes indiscriminately from his wand. Ogden ran for his life.”
  • When Harry realizes Mundungus has been stealing Sirius’ things, he “pinned Mundungus against the wall of the pub by the throat.”
  • The headmistress of an orphanage mentions a bullying problem. “Billy Stubbs’s rabbit . . . well, Tom said he didn’t do it, and I don’t see how he could have done, but even so, it didn’t hang itself from the rafters, did it.”
  • Harry sees “Dean and Ginny, who were locked in a close embrace and kissing fiercely as though glued together.”
  • Ron gets a girlfriend and kisses her frequently. “There, in full view of the whole room, stood Ron wrapped so closely around Lavender Brown it was hard to tell whose hands were whose.”
  • After winning the Quidditch Cup, “without thinking, without planning it, without worrying about the fact that fifty people were watching, Harry kissed her. After several long moments – or it might have been half an hour – or possibly several sunlit days – they broke apart.”

Violence

  • Malfoy freezes Harry with a charm and, “stomped, hard, on Harry’s face. Harry felt his nose break; blood spurted everywhere.”
  • Snape has posters on the wall in his classroom. One is a poster of what happens when someone is attacked by Inferius (corpses bewitched to do a dark wizard’s bidding). The poster merely shows, “a blood mass upon the ground.”
  • Ron gets attacked by birds. He, “helped and covered his face with his hands, but the birds attacked, pecking and clawing at every bit of flesh they could reach.”
  • Ron punches Harry while under the influence of a potion. “A crashing blow hit him on the right ear . . . Ron’s fist was drawn right back; his face was contorted with rage.”
  • Dobby and Kreacher get in a fight. “Dobby sank his knobbly little fist into Keacher’s mouth and knocked out half of his teeth. Harry and Ron both leapt out of their beds and wrenched the two elves apart, though they continued to try and kick and punch each other.”
  • Harry uses a spell without knowing what it does. “Blood spurted from Malfoy’s face and chest as though he had been slashed with an invisible sword. He staggered backward and collapsed onto the waterlogged floor with a great splash, his wand falling from his limp right hand.”
  • Snape kills Dumbledore. “A jet of green light shot from the end of Snape’s wand and hit Dumbledore squarely in the chest. Harry’s scream of horror never left him; silent and unmoving, he was forced to watch as Dumbledore was blasted into the air. For a split second, he seemed to hang suspended beneath the shining skull, and then he fell slowly backward, like a great rag doll, over the battlements and out of sight.”
  • Dumbledore and Harry are attacked by Inferius. “The surface of the lake was no longer mirror-smooth; it was churning, and everywhere Harry looked, white heads and hands were emerging from the dark water, mem and women and children with sunken, sightless eyes were moving toward the rock: an army of the dead rising from the black water.”
  • There is a fight when Death Eaters get into Hogwarts. It takes place over seven pages. “One of the fighters detached themselves from the fray and flew at him: It was the werewolf, Fenrir. He was on top of Harry before Harry could raise his wand: Harry fell backward, with filthy matted hair in his face, the stench of sweat and blood filling his nose and mouth.” Later, a Death Eater “slashed at the air: Harry felt a white-hot, whiplike something hit him across the face and was slammed backward into the ground. Spots of light burst in front of his eyes.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • The Minister of Magic offers the Prime Minister whisky during a meeting.
  • Snape serves wine to his visitors. “Snape poured out three glasses of bloodred wine and handed two of them to the sisters.”
  • When Dumbledore picks Harry up at the Dursleys, he conjures a glass of “Madam Rosmerta’s finest oak-matured mead” for everyone. The Dursleys don’t drink it, but Harry, “sipped. He had never tasted anything like it before, but enjoyed it immensely.”
  • The headmistress of an orphanage gets tipsy on gin during a meeting with Dumbledore. “It soon became clear that Mrs. Cole was no novice when it came to gin drinking. Pouring both of them a generous measure, she drained her own glass in one gulp.”
  • Professor Trelawny often leaves “a whiff of cooking sherry behind her.”
  • Harry is given Chocolate Cauldrons with firewhisky in them, but he does not eat them.
  • A professor has a “glass of mead in one hand” during a party.
  • After Christmas, the Fat Lady is hungover because she and her friend “drank their way through all the wine in that picture of drunk monks.”
  • Dumbledore “handed Voldemort a goblet of wine” when Tom Riddle applied to be a teacher at Hogwarts, many years ago.
  • Ron is poisoned by a glass of mead. “Ron had dropped his glass; he half-rose from his chair and then crumpled, his extremities jerking uncontrollably. Foam was dribbling from his mouth, and his eyes were bulging from their sockets.”
  • Professor Slughorn and Hagrid get drunk after a funeral. The scene takes place over seven pages. At one point, Hagrid and Slughorn were sitting side by side, arms around each other, singing a slow sad song about a dying wizard called Odo.”

Language

  • Damn and hell are used a few times. For example, Harry says Snape, “didn’t think my mother was worth a damn either.”
  • Mr. Dursley yells, “what the hell is that?” when he sees a house elf.
  • Ron calls his brothers gits.

Supernatural

  • Harry Potter goes to a school of wizards and is a part of an entire world of magic. His studies include divination, potions, and defense against the dark arts. He goes to school in a castle with magical rooms, house elves, and a potion master who can brew liquid luck. He encounters borrowed memories, the magical equivalent of zombies, and a prophecy. In short, Harry is surrounded by magic and supernatural occurrences every day of his life. As such, not all instances are listed here.
  • Although the series revolves around magic, the story does not encourage children to try magic on their own. To cast a spell, wizards simply say a word and wave their wand. For example, saying luminos casts light.
  • Professor Trelawney made a prophecy about the Dark Lord before Harry was born. She does not remember making the prophecy afterward, but it is stored in a secret Hall of Prophecies hidden in the Ministry of Magic.

Spiritual Content

  • There are ghosts in the castle that behave like regular (although transparent) people. One of Harry’s teachers is even a ghost.
  • He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named splits his soul and hides pieces of his soul in precious, hidden objects. His goal is to become immortal and unkillable. If he is killed, the pieces of his soul remain, and therefore he cannot truly die.

by Morgan Lynn

 

 

Showing Off

Nory and the other students who have upside down magic struggle with fitting in. Some people, including Nory’s father, don’t think upside magic should be used. But with the school’s big show coming up, each class must prepare a program.

Nory isn’t sure she should use her magic at all. She’s thinking about sitting on the sidelines. Her friend Pepper is worried that her talent—scaring animals—will cause problems. With the help of a talking rabbit and a caring teacher, can the kids in the upside magic classroom figure out how to use their wacky magic to show others their abilities?

Showing Off has relatable characters who struggle with learning to accept their differences. Many readers will relate to Nory, who wants her father’s love and acceptance. Even though Nory wants to use her upside down magic to impress her father, she is willing to put her friends’ needs above her own.

Nory and her classmates end up in hilarious situations because of their magic. Even though the story revolves around each character’s magical talents, the story does not contain spells or portray magic in a realistic way. Instead, the story focuses on how many of the characters feel like misfits. In the end, several of the characters realize that their magic can be used in positive ways.

The long passages of text and the lack of illustrations may discourage some readers. However, the story will engage readers with the unique characters, the hilarious mishaps, and the struggle to fit. Showing Off also uses fun made-up words such as zamboozle and zwingo. Readers will learn that friends don’t make friends feel stupid as well as the importance of apologizing.

Even though Showing Off is the third installment of the Upside Magic Series, readers do not have to read previous books. For proficient readers looking for a dose of magic and silly disasters, Showing Off would make a good addition to the reading list.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • When Pepper enters a room with teachers and students who have fluexed into animals, the animals get scared. “Chimp-Hamil threw a jar of paint at Pepper. He had lost his human mind, but he appeared to be trying to protect his students as best he could.” No one is injured.
  • In the past, one of the characters was mean. “Nory still has a burn scar from the flaming tennis balls you threw at her. You helped melt my bike tires. . . You let Lacey burn Andres’s leash.”
  • While using her powers, a character accidentally catches a piano on fire. “The piano burst into flames. Wood crackled. Wires popped. Black and white keys flew into the air like scattered decks of cards.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • Each person has some type of magical power, such as “turning into ordinary animals like cats, dogs, cows, and goats.” When Nori tries to change into an animal she, “lost all control of her human mind” and she turns into a combination of animals such as a cat and a dragon.
  • Some people can fly, talk to animals, or had other abilities like fire magic.
  • Pepper’s magic makes animals scared. When she uses her magic, Pepper, “felt scared and slippery inside. . . When her magic turned on, something shifted within her. Her stomach turned to Jell-O. Her skin felt slick. Her thoughts flew every which way.”
  • One of the characters has a power that “enables animals to speak our language.”
  • Because the entire book focuses on the characters’ magic, not all magical events are described.

Spiritual Content

  • None

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Harry cannot wait to return to Hogwarts for his second year of magical schooling. But a powerful force seems determined to keep him away. From a meddling house elf to a flying car, Harry’s fight to get to school nearly gets him expelled! When he finally gets to Hogwarts, it is with a warning that someone at the school wants Harry Potter dead.

Harry’s second year continues to go downhill, with a clueless Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher and a growing rivalry with Malfoy. Then, even worse, it is discovered that a monster is lurking in the castle. Students are being attacked, and Hogwarts is in danger of being closed—permanently. Can Harry discover what Slytherin’s monster is, with the help of Ron and Hermione? Or will Harry lose his new home and be forced to return to live the rest of his live with his horrible aunt and uncle?

The second installment of the Harry Potter series does not disappoint. The delightful cast from the first book is back, complemented by interesting new characters. The stakes have been raised, and the twisty plot will keep readers guessing at who—or what—is behind the mysterious attacks. Although the series revolves around magic, the story does not encourage children to try magic on their own. Spells involve simple words. For example, saying luminos creates light. The books advance throughout the series, becoming longer and slightly more mature, although still appropriate for elementary readers.

Another great book that will suck readers in, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is great for reluctant readers who are still developing a love for reading. There is also an illustrated version of this novel that will further engage reluctant readers with beautiful, full-page illustrations. Through Harry Potter’s experiences, readers will learn the importance of not jumping to conclusions about other people.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • When Harry gets in trouble, “he still had to duck as she aimed a heavy blow at his head with the soapy frying pan.”
  • Dobby is a house elf and has to punish himself when he disobeys his master. On one occasion, “without warning, he leapt up and started banging his head furiously on the window, shouting, ‘Bad Dobby! Bad Dobby!’”
  • Ron’s father and another man get into a scuffle in a bookstore. “There was a thud of metal as Ginny’s cauldron went flying; Mr. Weasley had thrown himself at Mr. Malfoy, knocking him backward into a bookshelf. Dozens of heavy spellbooks came thundering down on all their heads; there was a yell of, ‘Get him, Dad!’ from Fred or George; Mrs. Weasley was shrieking, ’No, Arthur, no!’; the crowd stampeded backwards, knocking more shelves over.”
  • Ron and Harry crash a flying car. “With an earsplitting bang of metal on wood, they hit the thick tree trunk and dropped to the ground with a heavy jolt . . . a golf ball-size lump was throbbing on Harry’s head where he had hit the windshield; and to his right, Ron let out a low, despairing groan.”
  • Harry breaks his arm during a Quidditch match. “The Bludger had hit him at last, smashed into his elbow, and Harry felt his arm break.”
  • Things get out of hand during a dueling class. “Millicent had Hermione in a headlock, and Hermione was whimpering in pain; both their wands lay forgotten on the floor.”
  • Two boys get in a fight over a secret pet, which is a giant spider. “The thing bowled him over as it scuttled away, tearing up the corridor and out of sight. Riddle scrambled to his feet, looking after it; he raised his wand, but the huge boy leapt on him, seized his want, and threw him back down.”
  • There’s an explosion when a teacher tries to use a broken wand. “The wand exploded with the force of a small bomb. Harry flung his arms over his head and ran, slipping over the coils of snake skin, out of the way of great chunks of tunnel ceiling that were thundering to the floor. Next moment, he was standing alone, gazing at a solid wall of broken rock.”
  • Lucius Malfoy abuses his house elf. The house elf tells Harry about it, and we see it at the end of the book when Lucius, “wrenched open the door and as the elf came hurrying up to him, he kicked him right through it. They could hear Dobby squealing with pain all the way along the corridor. Harry stood for a moment, thinking hard.”
  • Harry comes face to face with the heir of Slytherin in a battle that takes place over five pages. “Harry tripped. He fell hard onto the stone and tasted blood – the serpent was barely feet from him, he could hear it coming – There was a loud, explosive spitting sound right above him, and then something heavy hit Harry so hard that he was smashed into the wall . . . both its great, bulbous yellow eyes had been punctured by the phoenix; blood was streaming to the floor, and the snake was spitting in agony.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • The defense against the dark arts teacher says “my ideal birthday gift would be harmony between all magic and non-magic peoples – though I wouldn’t say no to a large bottle of Ogden’s Old Firewhisky.”

Language

  • Malfoy calls Hermione a mudblood, which is a great insult. It means someone who is not a pureblood wizard, but was born of non-wizards.
  • The word git is used several times. For instance, Ron calls a professor a “brainless git” behind the professor’s back.
  • Percy’s brothers secretly “bewitched his prefect badge so that it now read ‘Pinhead.’“

Supernatural

  • Harry Potter goes to a school of wizards and is a part of an entire world of magic. His studies include potions, charms, and the care of magical creatures. His school is in a castle with ghosts, enchanted ceilings, and portraits that move and talk. He encounters giant spiders, a phoenix, and a basilisk. In short, Harry is surrounded by magic and supernatural occurrences every day of his life. As such, not all instances are listed here.
  • To cast a spell, wizards say a word and wave their wand. For example, saying luminos casts light. The book does not encourage readers to try to cast spells.

Spiritual Content

  • There are ghosts in the castle that behave like regular (although transparent) people. One of Harry’s teachers is even a ghost.

by Morgan Lynn

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

Harry can hardly believe his own ears when a giant man shows up on his eleventh birthday to tell him that he is a wizard. Yet it makes sense, as odd happenings have followed Harry all his life. Delighted to leave his unpleasant aunt and uncle behind, Harry goes to Hogwarts, the magical school that his parents both attended long before they were murdered by He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.

He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named tried to kill Harry as well, but the attempt backfired and destroyed him. Harry doesn’t remember any of this, as he was only a baby, but he is famous in the wizarding world for causing the downfall of the evilest wizard in history. People expect greatness from Harry Potter, but he knows nothing about the magical world. Will Harry be able to rise to the expectations of those around him? Or should he forge his own path?

The latter seems more likely when odd things start happening at Hogwarts. Trolls, a forbidden corridor, and a suspicious Potions teacher are at the heart of a mystery Harry finds himself entangled in. Can he find out what is hidden, and protect it from others who want it for more sinister purposes? Joined by his classmates Ron and Hermione, the young trio must rise to face incredible dangers, or else the wizarding world will be plunged back into a darkness that hasn’t been seen in eleven years, since He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named first vanished.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone is a wonderful read from cover to cover. J.K. Rowling has not only created a wide cast of well-developed, lovable characters, but an entire world of magic and wonder. Although the series revolves around magic, the story does not encourage children to try magic on their own. Spells involve simple words. For example, saying luminos creates light. The books advance throughout the series, becoming longer and slightly more mature, although still appropriate for elementary readers.

Readers will be sucked in from page one, drawn forward by an enticing mystery and delightful adventures. There is also an illustrated version of this novel that will further engage reluctant readers with beautiful, full-page illustrations. Be sure to have book two of the Harry Potter series close at hand, because readers will be clamoring for more upon finishing Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • It’s mentioned that growing up, Harry often was bullied by his cousin, Dudley. “Dudley’s favorite punching bag was Harry, but he couldn’t often catch him. Harry didn’t look it, but he was very fast.”
  • Dudley punches his cousin. “‘Out of the way, you’ he said, punching Harry in the ribs. Caught by surprise, Harry fell hard on the concrete floor.”
  • When a letter for Harry arrives at the house, “Uncle Vernon had to wrestle Dudley to the ground to get the letter from him, which was made difficult by the fact that Harry had grabbed Uncle Vernon around the neck from behind. After a minute of confused fighting, in which everyone got hit a lot by the Smelting stick . . . “
  • When one of Harry’s classmates is being mean, Ron’s rat bites him. “Scabbers the rat was hanging off his finger, sharp little teeth sunk deep into Goyle’s knuckle—Crabbe and Malfoy backed away as Goyle swung Scabbers round and round, howling, and when Scabbers finally flew off and hit the window, all three of them disappeared at once.”
  • Ron and Malfoy almost get in a fight after Malfoy insults Ron’s family. “Ron dived at Malfoy just as Snape came up the stairs. ‘WEASLEY!’ Ron let go of the front of Malfoy’s robes.”
  • The next time Malfoy insults his family, “Ron snapped. Before Malfoy knew what was happening, Ron was on top of him, wrestling him to the ground. Neville hesitated, then clambered over the back of his seat to help.”
  • Harry sees Snape injured. “Snape and Filch were inside, alone. Snape was holding his robes above his knees. One of his legs was bloody and mangled. Filch was handing Snape bandages.”
  • Harry and Ron rescue Hermione from a troll. “Harry then did something that was both very brave and very stupid: He took a great running jump and managed to fasten his arms around the troll’s neck from behind. The troll couldn’t feel Harry hanging there, but even a troll will notice if you stick a long bit of wood up its nose, and Harry’s wand had still been in his hand when he’d jumped.” The fight takes place over two pages.
  • Harry sees something horrible in the Forbidden Forest. “The cloaked figure reached the unicorn, lowered its head over the wound in the animal’s side, and began to drink its blood . . . The hooded figure raised its head and looked right at Harry – unicorn blood was dribbling down its front.”
  • When Harry finds the wizard searching for the Sorcerer’s Stone, he tries to escape but is attacked. “At once, a needle-sharp pain seared across Harry’s scar; his head felt as though it was about to split in two; he yelled, struggling with all his might . . . he looked around wildly to see where Quirrell had gone, and saw him hunched in pain, looking at his fingers—they were blistering before his eyes.” The fight takes place over two pages.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Uncle Vernon, “was so angry he could hardly speak. He managed to say, ‘Go – cupboard – stay – no meals,’ before he collapsed into a chair, and Aunt Petunia had to run and get him a large brandy.”
  • After a wild cart ride, Hagrid says, “Listen, Harry, would yeh mind if I slipped off fer a pick-me-up in the Leaky Cauldron? I hate them Gringotts carts.”
  • During the Christmas feast, Harry sees “Hagrid getting redder and redder in the face as he called for more wine, finally kissing Professor McGonagall on the cheek, who, to Harry’s amazement, giggled and blushed.”
  • Hagrid hatches a dragon egg. Baby dragons eat “a bucket o’ brandy mixed with chicken blood every half hour.”
  • Hagrid can’t remember what he told someone in a pub. “I can’ remember too well, ‘cause he kept buyin’ me drinks.”

Language

  • Codswallop is used once.
  • Ron calls a troll pea-brain.
  • The word idiot is used a few times.

Supernatural

  • Harry Potter goes to a school of wizards and is a part of an entire world of magic. His studies include potions, charms, and the care of magical creatures. His school is in a castle with ghosts, enchanted ceilings, and portraits that move and talk. He encounters a giant, three-headed dog, unicorns, and living chess pieces. In short, Harry is surrounded by magic and supernatural occurrences every day of his life. As such, not all instances are listed here.
  • To cast a spell, wizards say a word and wave their wand. For example, saying luminos casts light.

Spiritual Content

  • There are ghosts in the castle, that behave like regular (although transparent) people. One of Harry’s teachers is even a ghost.

by Morgan Lynn

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

The summer before his third year of school, Harry Potter accidentally uses magic on his aunt and has to run away from home. While he is worried about getting expelled, it turns out there is a much larger danger, one that no one wants Harry to know about. But, as usual, Harry knows more than he should. He learns that the convicted mass murderer Sirius Black has escaped from the wizard prison, Azkaban, and is coming for Harry Potter. Black was a follower of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, and some think Black believes that killing Harry will bring the Dark Lord back to life.

Extra security precautions are taken once Harry arrives at school, all with the goal of keeping Harry safe within Hogwarts. But Harry is much more eager to sneak out of Hogwarts, as he longs to go on the school trips to Hogsmeade, a nearby wizarding town. With the help of his father’s invisibility cloak and a magical map, Harry soon has free reign of the castle. But will this newfound freedom be his downfall with Sirius Black on the prowl?

The third installment of the Harry Potter series raises the bar yet again, with an exciting and slightly more complicated plot that is full of exciting twists and turns. Our favorite characters are back, and we have a new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor named Lupin. Lupin is an old friend of Harry’s father, but he may be hiding a secret of his own.

 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban will keep readers guessing until the very end. This story continues the theme of not leaping to conclusions based on someone’s appearance or background, and subtlety explores what true friendship looks like. The themes, plot, and language of this book are slightly more mature than the first two books, as the Harry Potter series gradually grows in complexity throughout the seven books. However, this novel will still be appropriate for most elementary-aged students. There is also an illustrated version of this novel that will further engage reluctant readers with beautiful, full-page illustrations.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • Malfoy insults a hippogriff, a magical creature that is half horse and half bird. The hippogriff scratches him in retaliation. “It happened in a flash of steely talons; Malfoy let out a high-pitched scream and next moment, Hagrid was wrestling Buckbeak back into his collar as he strained to get at Malfoy, who lay curled in the grass, blood blossoming over his robes.”
  • Malfoy bullies Ron and Harry. Eventually Ron “finally cracked and flung a large slippery crocodile heart at Malfoy, which hit him in the face.”
  • When Malfoy makes fun of Hagrid, Hermione slaps him. “Harry and Ron both made furious moves toward Malfoy, but Hermione got there first—SMACK! She had slapped Malfoy across the face with all the strength she could muster. Malfoy staggered.”
  • Ron is kidnapped and when they try to follow, Harry and Hermione are attacked by the Whomping Willow. “All they could see now was one of Ron’s legs, which he had hooked around a root in an effort to stop the dog from pulling him farther underground—but a horrible crack cut the air like a gunshot; Ron’s leg had broken . . . Hermione gasped; she was bleeding too; the Willow had cut her across the shoulder.”
  • When Harry comes face to face with the man responsible for his parent’s murder, “A boiling hate erupted in Harry’s chest, leaving no place for fear. For the first time in his life, he wanted his wand back in his hand, not to defend himself, but to attack . . . to kill.”
  • Harry, Ron, and Hermione fight with Sirius Black. “Hermione was screaming; Ron was yelling; there was a blinding flash as the wands in Black’s hand sent a jet of sparks into the air that missed Harry’s face by inches . . . But Black’s free hand had found Harry’s throat – “
  • Harry, Ron, and Hermione come face to face with a werewolf. “As the werewolf wrenched itself free of the manacle binding it, the dog seized it about the neck and pulled it backward . . . They were locked, jaw to jaw, claws ripping at each other – ”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Aunt Marge drinks wine with dinner. “Aunt Marge had already had quite a lot of wine. Her huge face was very red.” After dinner, “Uncle Vernon brought out a bottle of brandy.”
  • At a pub, the barman asks the Minister of Magic, “Will you be wanting anything? Beer? Brandy?” The minister opts for a pot of tea.
  • It’s stated that Hagrid “had been drinking a lot” when he thought he was going to be fired and that “he seemed to be having difficulty getting them into focus.” What he was drinking is not specified.
  • Professor Dumbledore tells Hagrid that he, “could do with a cup of tea. Or a large brandy.”
  • Hagrid gets drunk while celebrating, and Harry sees him, “weaving slightly as he walked. A large bottle was swinging from his hands.”

Language

  • Damn is used once. Harry’s Aunt Marge says, “It’s damn good of Vernon and Petunia to keep you. Wouldn’t have done it myself.”
  • Shut up and crap are said a few times. Ron says, “I’m not going to take any crap from Malfoy this year.”
  • Bitch is said once. Aunt Marge says, “You see it all the time with dogs. If there’s something wrong with the bitch, there’ll be something wrong with the pup.”
  • A magical piece of parchment calls Professor Snape an “ugly git.”
  • The commentator calls a player “cheating scum” at a Quidditch match.

Supernatural

  • Harry Potter goes to a school of wizards and is a part of an entire world of magic. His studies include transfiguration, charms, and divination. His school is in a castle with ghosts, hidden passageways, and a Whomping Willow that attacks anyone who gets too close. He encounters hippogriffs, wizards that can shapeshift into animals, and time travel. In short, Harry is surrounded by magic and supernatural occurrences every day of his life. As such, not all instances are listed here.
  • Although the series revolves around magic, the story does not encourage children to try magic on their own. To cast a spell, wizards simply say a word and wave their wand. For example, saying luminos casts light.
  • Professor Trelawney makes a prophecy about the Dark Lord when Harry is the only one in the room. She does not remember making the prophecy afterward. “The Dark Lord will rise again with his servant’s aid, greater and more terrible than ever he was.”

Spiritual Content

  • There are ghosts in the castle that behave like regular (although transparent) people. One of Harry’s teachers is even a ghost.

by Morgan Lynn

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Harry is ecstatic to be attending the Quidditch World Cup with Ron and Hermione. While the match is spectacular, the appearance of Death Eaters casts a dark shadow over the event. While most people think that the old followers of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named were acting alone, Harry and a few others are concerned that odd happenings may mean something more sinister is coming.

If Harry thinks his troubles are over when he returns to Hogwarts for his fourth year, he is sorely mistaken. A magical tournament is taking place at Hogwarts with students from other magical schools coming to compete. Harry should have fun watching the tournament with Ron and Hermione—but someone secretly enters his name into the competition. Chosen as a school champion, Harry is forced to get past a dangerous myriad of monsters and challenges, all the while wondering who entered him into the tournament and if their goal is to make sure Harry ends up dead.

While Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is twice the length of the earlier books in the series, the book does not drag a bit! Fascinating new characters from other schools of magic, a once-in-a-lifetime tournament, and growing danger from He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named make this an absolute page-turner. The length, action sequences, and sinister climax of this novel make Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire a slightly more mature book than the last, as the series gradually grows in complexity throughout the seven books. While still appropriate for elementary readers in terms of content, the ending may scare more timid readers. It includes someone that Harry knows dying; he does not see the death, but he does see the body directly afterward.

A whirlwind of adventure and mystery, this is another must-read that will delight elementary to young adult readers so much that they will want to read it again and again.

Sexual Content

  • Ron says he will “go starkers” before wearing the dress robes that his mother bought him.
  • Ron says his brother, “wouldn’t recognize a joke if it danced naked in front of him.”
  • Fleur kisses Harry and Ron on the cheek after they rescue her sister.

Violence

  • A man is murdered by He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. “There was a flash of green light, a rushing sound, and Frank Bryce crumpled. He was dead before he hit the floor.”
  • Uncle Vernon panics and starts throwing things. “Uncle Vernon, who had lost control completely, seized a china figure from on top of the sideboard and threw it very hard at Mr. Weasley, who ducked, causing the ornament to shatter in the blasted fireplace.”
  • A group of Death Eaters, former followers of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, attack some muggles (non-magical people). “High above them, floating along in midair, four struggling figures were being contorted into grotesque shapes . . . the smallest Muggle child . . . had begun to spin like a top, sixty feet above the ground, his head flopping limply from side to side.”
  • As punishment, Professor Moody turns Malfoy into a ferret and bounces him up and down with his wand. “The ferret bounced higher and higher, squealing in pain.”
  • Harry and his class learn about the forbidden curses in their Defense Against the Dark Art class. One is the Cruciatus Curse, which causes pain. Another is Avada Kedavra, the killing curse. The professor demonstrates the curses on a spider.
  • During a verbal fight with Ron, Harry throws a badge at him. He “chucked it, as hard as he could, across the room. It hit Ron on the forehead and bounced off.”
  • Harry is attacked by grindylows. “He kicked out, hard; finally, he felt his foot connect with a horned skull, and looking back, saw the dazed grindylow floating away.”
  • After a shocking discovery, Hagrid receives hate mail. He says they included things like, “Yeh’re a monster an’ yeh should be put down.” And “Yer mother killed innocent people an’ if you had any decency you’d jump in a lake.” He says “They’re jus’ nutters” and says the best thing to do is to throw the letters away.
  • When Karkaroff spits at Dumbledore, “Hagrid seized the front of Karkaroff’s furs, lifted him into the air, and slammed him against a nearby tree.”
  • Harry hears Cedric being tortured, and then sees him, “jerking and twitching on the ground.”
  • Cedric and Harry battle a gigantic spider. “He was lifted into the air in its front legs; struggling madly, he tried to kick it; his leg connected with the pincers and next moment he was in excruciating pain.”
  • To revive He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, a spell of blood, bone, and flesh is used. “The surface of the grave at Harry’s feet cracked. Horrified, Harry watched as a fine trickle of dust rose into the air.” A Death Eater cuts off his own hand for the spell, though Harry closes his eyes during that part.
  • He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named tortures several people, including Harry, with a forbidden curse. “It was pain beyond anything Harry had ever experienced; his very bones were on fire; his head was surely splitting along his scar; his eyes were rolling madly in his head; he wanted it to end . . . to black out . . . to die . . .”
  • Cedric is killed. “A blast of green light blazed through Harry’s eyelids, and he heard something heavy fall to the ground beside him . . . he opened his stinging eyes. Cedric was lying spread-eagled on the ground beside him. He was dead. For a second that contained an eternity, Harry stared into Cedric’s face, at his open gray eyes, blank and expressionless as the windows of a deserted house.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Mrs. Weasley drinks a cup of tea with a “shot of Ogdens Old Firewhiskey” after an emotionally fraught day.
  • A team of giant, magical horses are said to only drink single-malt whiskey.
  • The fat lady, one of the magical portraits in the castle, drinks a box of chocolate liqueurs.
  • Winky, a house elf, starts drinking heavily after she is fired. “‘Winky is getting through six bottles a day now,’ Dobby whispered to Harry.”

Language

  • Damn and shut up are used a few times.
  • Ron tells Malfoy to “eat dung.”
  • During an event, Ron yells at a judge. “You lousy, biased scumbag!”
  • The word git is used twice. For example, Ron calls his owl a “feathery git.”

Supernatural

  • Harry Potter goes to a school of wizards and is a part of an entire world of magic. His studies include transfiguration, charms, and defense against the dark arts. He goes to school in a castle with talking portraits, singing coats of armor, and a poltergeist. He encounters dragons, merpeople, and Forbidden Curses. In short, Harry is surrounded by magic and supernatural occurrences every day of his life. As such, not all instances are listed here.
  • Although the series revolves around magic, the story does not encourage children to try magic on their own. To cast a spell, wizards simply say a word and wave their wand. For example, saying luminos casts light.

Spiritual Content

  • There are ghosts in the castle that behave like regular (although transparent) people. One of Harry’s teachers is even a ghost.
  • A spell causes He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named’s wand to produce echoes of its most recent spells. As he killed several people, shadowy ghosts of those people appear briefly. “The smoky shadow of a tall man with untidy hair fell to the ground as Bertha had done, straightened up, and looked at him . . . and Harry, his arms shaking madly now, looked back into the ghostly face of his father.”

by Morgan Lynn

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is back. Harry saw him with his own eyes. However, the ministry does not want to believe that the most powerful dark wizard in history has returned. In an effort to discredit Harry Potter’s story, they spend the entire summer publishing articles about how Harry is a troubled boy who lies for attention. By the time Harry returns to Hogwarts, it seems like everyone in school thinks he is a liar. Even worse, the Ministry has appointed the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, who is determined to bring every aspect of Hogwarts under her personal control.

While the world turns a blind eye, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is gaining strength. Connected by the strange bond that formed the night He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named tried to murder the Potters, Harry begins seeing flashes of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named’s thoughts and emotions. While he is fascinated by them, the adults surrounding him urge Harry to shut He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named out of his mind. Will Harry’s stubbornness be his downfall? Or can he use his unique connection with the Dark Lord to prevent more bloodshed?

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is a similar length to Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, continuing the trend of a longer page count. The tone of this book is slightly darker and more serious, with plenty of edge-of-your-seat moments to keep the pages turning. Readers will love seeing more of our favorite Goblet of Fire characters, including (the real) Professor Moody, Tonks, Lupin, Sirius, and more.

For the first time, Harry and his friends start to explore dating. Harry goes on a date with Cho and kisses her once, while Ron starts dating Lavender Brown, causing a rift in his relationship with Hermione. While these exploits do not become the main plot point, they do add interest to the story. Readers will relate to Harry as he muddles through his first date and will understand his frustration when adults insist on treating him like a child.

This book may not be a good fit for younger elementary readers due to the longer page count, darker tone, and slightly more mature content in terms of language and kissing. However, more mature elementary students and junior high students will thoroughly enjoy this next Harry Potter adventure.

Sexual Content

  • Hermione kisses Ron on the cheek before a Quidditch match. “‘Good luck, Ron,’ said Hermione, standing on tiptoe and kissing him on the cheek.”
  • Harry goes on a date with Cho. They go to a café, and he is uncomfortable that everyone is holding hands because “perhaps Cho would expect him to hold her hand.” Then another couple “started kissing over their sugar bowl.”
  • Cho “gave [Harry] a swift kiss on the cheek and hurried off.”

Violence

  • Uncle Vernon grabs Harry when he thinks he has been using magic. “Two large purple hands reached through the open window and closed tightly around his throat . . . for a few seconds they struggled, Harry pulling at his uncle’s sausage-like fingers with his left hand.”
  • When Dudley and Harry are attacked by dementors, Dudley panics and punches Harry. “WHAM! A fist made contact with the side of Harry’s head, lifting Harry off his feet. Small white lights popped in front of Harry’s eyes.”
  • Hagrid tells a story about a tribe of giants he visited. After a fight, “the sun came up [and] the snow was scarlet an’ his head was lyin’ at the bottom o’ the lake.”
  • Harry and Cho kiss, but the kiss is not described.
  • Mr. Weasley is attacked by a giant snake. “He reared high from the floor and struck once, twice, three times, plunging his fangs deeply into the man’s flesh, feeling his ribs splinter beneath his jaws, feeling the warm gush of blood.”
  • Harry sees a memory of his father at school when Snape and James got in a fight. “Snape had directed his wand straight at James; there was a flash of light, and a gash appeared on the side of James’ face, spattering his robes with blood.”
  • Hagrid is ambushed. “Hagrid took two massive swipes at his closest attackers; judging by their immediate collapse, they had been knocked cold.”
  • Harry is caught sneaking into Umbridge’s office. His friends are caught too, including “Neville, who was trapped in a stranglehold by Crabbe and looked in imminent danger of suffocation.”
  • A giant gets in a fight with a herd of centaurs. “Fifty arrows went soaring through the air at the giant, peppering his enormous face . . . pebble-sized droplets of Grawp’s blood showered Harry.” Harry then flees.
  • Harry and his friends are cornered by followers of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, and a fight ensues as they try to escape. It takes place over an entire chapter but is not graphic. “He turned in time to see her flying through the air. Five Death Eaters were surging into the room through the door she had not reached in time; Luna hit a desk, slid over its surface and onto the floor on the other side where she lay sprawled, as still as Hermione.”
  • Sirius is killed by a spell. “The second jet of light hit him squarely on the chest. The laughter had not quite died from his face, but his eyes widened in shock . . . ”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Harry knows that his cousin has been “smoking on street corners,” but the smoking is not shown.
  • At a dodgy bar, Ron says, “I bet that bloke would sell us anything, he wouldn’t care. I’ve always wanted to try firewhisky.”
  • Dobby says he has used the Room of Requirement, “when Winky has been very drunk . . . and he has found antidotes to butterbeer there, and a nice elf-sized bed to settle her on while she sleeps it off, sir.”
  • Harry catches a “whiff of stale drink” when he meets Sirius.
  • An eccentric teacher often gives “off a powerful smell of cooking sherry.”
  • Harry and his friends often hang out in a pub. The adults there sometimes drink mead or firewhisky, but students do not. Once, a journalist “jumped so badly that she slopped half her glass of firewhisky down herself.”
  • A student in passing asks Harry if he wants to “chip in a couple of Galleons? Harold Dingle reckons he could sell us some firewhisky,” but Harry isn’t listening.
  • Before their exams, a large trade in brain stimulants pops up, such as powdered dragon claw, which is supposed to make you clever. After finding out the dragon claw is “actually dried doxy droppings,” it “took the edge off Harry and Ron’s desire for brain stimulants.”

Language

  • ‘For God’s Sake’ and ‘Good Lord’ are used as exclamations a few times. “Good Lord, boy, they told me you were intelligent.”
  • The word ‘codswallop’ is used once.
  • ‘Damn’ and ‘git’ are used several times. Once, Uncle Vernon says they were “too damn soft for our own good.” Another time Fred calls Snape a “git” behind Snape’s back.
  • Fred calls Malfoy a scumbag.
  • Hell is used once. Hagrid asks, “who the ruddy hell are you.”
  • While at a planetarium, Ron says, “Harry, we saw Uranus up close! . . . Get it, Harry? We saw Uranus.”

Supernatural

  • Harry Potter goes to a school of wizards and is a part of an entire world of magic. His studies include divination, potions, and defense against the dark arts. He goes to school in a castle with magical rooms, hidden passageways, and a phoenix. He encounters a giant, nifflers, and house elves. In short, Harry is surrounded by magic and supernatural occurrences every day of his life. As such, not all instances are listed here.
  • Although the series revolves around magic, the story does not encourage children to try magic on their own. To cast a spell, wizards simply say a word and wave their wand. For example, saying luminos casts light.
  • Professor Trelawney made a prophecy about the Dark Lord before Harry was born. She does not remember making the prophecy afterward, but it is stored in a secret Hall of Prophecies hidden in the Ministry of Magic.

Spiritual Content

  • There are ghosts in the castle that behave like regular (although transparent) people. One of Harry’s teachers is even a ghost.
  • After his godfather dies, Harry asks a ghost if his godfather will come back. The ghost says no, because “He will have . . . gone on.” When Harry asks him what comes after death, the ghost says, “I know nothing of the secrets of death Harry, for I chose my feeble imitation of life instead.”

by Morgan Lynn

Stage Fright

Ed and his friends accidentally enter a writing contest. They do their best to create a wacky play that no one will like. Their wacky play is chosen to be performed on the night of a blue moon. Ed tries to keep his strangeness under control, but it’s difficult to watch every word he speaks. Can Ed keep the strangeness under control? Will the blue moon make even stranger events happen?

The fourth installment of the Loonivers Series keeps all of the same lovable characters from the previous books. Ed really wants to keep the strangeness at bay, so he is careful with every word he says. This conflict adds fun and suspense as Ed visualizes what would happen if he said the wrong thing. For example, he imagines saying “I laughed my head off.” He then imagines his head floating off his body.

Ed’s adventure teaches readers the meaning of idioms in a delightful way. The idioms often come to life in interesting ways with illustrations showing what the literal meaning of the idiom would look like. The black and white illustrations on every page will cause smiles and giggles. Besides teaching the meaning of idioms, the story also teaches the importance of thinking before you speak.

Easy-to-read text and fun illustrations make Stage Fright a good choice for beginning readers. The plot does not revolve around the previous books in the series. However, the story does make a few references to previous books. Stage Fright will delight younger readers with the outrageous events, the silly illustrations, and the reoccurring characters. If you’re looking for a silly series that teaches as well as entertains, Stage Fright will be an excellent addition to your child’s library.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • None

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • Ed finds a magic coin called the Silver Center. The coin “gave me the power to make strange things happen.”
  • Ed says, “Time flies when you’re having fun.” Then his “watchband had unbuckled itself. The ends started flapping like little leather bat wings,” and his watch flies away.
  • When Ed says a hamburger looks like a flying saucer, “it started to spin. Then it floated up until it was about a foot above her plate.”
  • Ed’s head turns into a horse’s head.
  • Because it is the night of a blue moon, strange things happen, including freezing people. Ed and his friends are pulled into the air. Ed and his friends, “were at least twenty feet off the ground. I wondered whether we’d get dragged all the way to the moon.” Ed comes up with an idiom that brings them back to Earth.

Spiritual Content

  • None

Dinosaur Disaster

Ed and his friends are excited to see the robotic dinosaurs at Dinosaur Discovery. After going to see the dinosaurs, a real-life dinosaur follows Ed home. Ed’s sister, Libby, wants to keep the dinosaur as a pet. Ed needs to figure out how to use his powers for strangeness to send the dinosaur home. With the help of his friends, can they come up with a plan or will the dinosaur cause a disaster?

The same lovable characters from the first two Looniverse books appear in Dinosaur Disaster. A dinosaur that acts like a dog is the main conflict of the book. Readers will enjoy the playful dinosaur and Ed’s silly antics. The story doesn’t teach any dino facts or have as many of the fun play on words as the previous books.

Ed’s little sister, Libby, takes a starring role in the book. The brother-sister relationship is portrayed in a positive light, and Ed treats his sister with care. Ed’s mother briefly appears in the story and trying to keep the dinosaur in the backyard a secret helps create suspense.

Dinosaur Disaster will appeal to those who like dinosaurs and outrageous, silly events. The large black-and-white illustrations bring the story to life and show the range of emotions that the characters feel. The easy-to-read text and fun illustrations make the story a good choice for younger readers. Readers do not need to read the previous books to enjoy the third installment of the Looniverse Series.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • Ed saw a robotic T-rex “chomping Derwin’s butt.
  • Ed falls in a pile of dinosaur poop. “Bluebird had left me a present. A big, stinky one.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • Ed has a coin that allows him to do strange things. “Mouse could do strange things I suggested, like lifting himself up in the air, even if they seemed impossible. And Derwin could make sayings come true. My power as the Stranger worked on both of them, but in different ways.”
  • Ed sends the dinosaur back to where it came from. “The air around her (the dinosaur) shimmered. Then it changed. All around her, like a movie was being shown, I could see a world of giant plants. A huge insect flew past. A warm gust of air washed over my face.”

Spiritual Content

  • None

Amber House

Sarah had never seen Amber House, the family estate until her family traveled to Maryland in order to sell it. The house has been in the family for three hundred years, but Sarah doesn’t care – that is, until she starts seeing visions of its past. It turns out the women of Amber House have the gift of seeing the home’s echoes, and not all of them are moments for which the family would like to be remembered.

Despite her fear, the lure of hidden diamonds keeps Sarah at Amber House, digging to uncover its secrets. As her family gets closer to selling the estate, Sarah becomes more attached, desperate to save her family’s heritage. But when her little brother gets trapped in the in-between world of spirits and memories, Sarah realizes her family heritage is darker than she had ever imagined.

Filled with beautiful imagery, Amber House is a delight from beginning to end. The constant unraveling of numerous mysteries is complemented by the troubles of a normal teenage girl—parental discord, family drama, and a sprinkle of romance that complements the story while not becoming overbearing. In a surprising feat, the main and supporting cast of characters are all well-developed, creating a story full of people to root and long for.

While this story has a fair amount of violence, it is not graphically described. For a young adult novel, the sexual content and language are also refreshingly mild. The book is a must-read because of the well-developed cast, beautiful imagery, and a delectably unique storyline. Also, the main character, Sarah, is extremely likable. Overall, Amber House is a joy to read and it leaves readers desperately hoping the sequel can live up to its predecessor’s impressive feat.

Sexual Content

  • Sarah’s dad cheated on her mother before the start of the book. “He’d gotten a little too close to Sammy’s overly friendly pediatrician back in Seattle.”
  • It’s mentioned in passing that the founder of John Hopkins Hospital “fell in love with his first cousin, Elizabeth” and that neither one “of this tragic pair ever got married.”
  • Sarah idly flips through a magazine and sees a Cosmo article titled, “Ten Spicy Ways to Do It in the Summer!”
  • At a party, Sarah follows Kathryn “up the carpeted steps, her nearly naked bottom exactly two steps up and directly in front of my face. No cellulite, I noted.”
  • Sarah and Richard kiss several times. “He leaned over, put his finger under my chin. He hesitated a moment, then gave me the softest kiss. I liked it. I liked it a lot.”
  • Richard’s friends go swimming in their underwear. Sarah sits on the side and watches. “Chad stopped undressing when he got down to his boxers. He took a running jump and cannonballed into the pool. Kathryn—now in nothing but a matching bra and panty set—followed.”
  • Sarah’s mom thinks the senator wants something from her. “He may be looking for a – companion. . . Or maybe he’s more ambitious. He’s single, I’m newly wealthy, and he doesn’t seem to like it much when your father is around.”
  • Sarah sees a man and woman kissing in a vision, but the woman seems to see Sarah too. “‘You’re watching, aren’t you?’ she said. ‘What, honey?’ the man said, not stopping, slipping the shoulder of Fiona’s dress down to reveal bare skin. ‘It’s all right,’ she said to the door—to me. ‘Sometimes I watch too.’”
  • Sarah sends her best friend an email. “You will not believe where I am. . .in the bedroom of the Abercrombie model…and no, we’re not doing anything except picking up some party clothes, you filthy-minded hussy.”
  • Sarah and Richard kiss in the garden. “He kissed me again, harder, more urgently, his hands folding my face, and I found myself kissing him hungrily, my fingers in his hair.”

Violence

  • Jackson tells the story of a “car accident when I was three. Burned me pretty bad all over my left side. . . got a head injury and a few broken ribs, but I survived. My parents didn’t.”
  • Sarah sees a young girl trying to drown a baby in a vision. “Oh, God. Two little fists flailing; the dark curls on the top of a small head submerged under roiling water. A black woman ran up, shoved the girl back, and snatched the baby from the tub.” The girl tells the woman, “You can’t save it, you know. The gypsy told Papa it has to die.”
  • Later Sarah sees the same black woman being whipped. “He stopped in front of a black woman, stripped naked to the waist, bound by her wrists to a low branch of the tree. ‘Where’s the child, you damned witch?’ She did not answer. . . and bleeding welts crisscrossed the white stripes of old scars on both sides of her spine. Dark drops sprayed from the blow, and I could see that the crop’s leather was stained wet brown.”
  • A woman and her husband get in a fight. The woman “screamed, turning and swinging the thing in her hand down in an arc. He saw her at the last second and parried the thing with his forearm. Then he swore, reaching for the gem-set handle suddenly protruding from his shoulder…’Lock her in the nursery,’ he said. ‘I never want to see her again.’”
  • Richard punches Jackson when he catches him dancing with Sarah. “I could smell the sour notes of champagne, and I could hear it in his voice…Richard turned and struck him in the face. ‘Shut up!’ Blood beaded on Jackson’s lip, purple-red in the half light.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Sarah overhears someone talking about her deceased grandmother. “I heard her liver failed, but with all poor Ida suffered, it was no wonder she drank.”
  • Sarah’s mother finds “a stash of medical supplies in a narrow cupboard that contained mostly liquor.” She then “came out with a bottle of vodka and poured herself an inch over ice.”
  • Sarah almost falls down after riding a horse for an hour. Richard says, “Woah, Parsons, you look like you’ve been hitting the sauce.”
  • Richard drinks at Sarah’s party. “I noticed a nearly empty champagne flute at his elbow and wondered if it was his. The dealer didn’t seem to question it.”

Language

  • God, hell, and Jesus are used as exclamations.
  • When Sarah bruises her forehead, her mother says, “Oh my God, what the Hell did you do to your face?”
  • Sarah’s mother says, “Jesus, I can’t take this today.”
  • Sarah says that “spending an evening with a hundred strangers is her idea of hell.”
  • A kid says Amber House has “got a damn cemetery right on the property.”
  • When Richard loses a race, Sarah hears him “choking out a few choice four-letter words.”
  • A friend says Sarah made “an ass out of Richard in front of all his friends. . . It was about time someone took him down a peg.”
  • Sarah’s mom says, “You think I’m some kind of conniving bitch because I want to use the senator’s connections?”

Supernatural

  • Sarah sees visions of Amber House’s pasts when she touches certain objects. Some are harmless and fun, but some are frightening. “A woman stood in the shaft of moonlight. . . She might have been carved of stone. A spider ran down a lock of her hair, and air escaped me in the smallest gasp. . . The voice rose almost to a scream. ‘You think you are safe? You think I can’t hurt you? I can. I can get you. I can find you in your dreams.’”
  • Sarah’s visions of Amber House are passed down among the woman of the family. Jackson says, “Ida saw things too. She called them echoes. When she touched certain things, little bits of the past came to life for her. She said they were the house’s memory.”
  • An old woman named Nanga can see visions of the future, allowing her and Sarah to interact on several occasions. “She can see the future. And because I can see the past, we could talk to each other.”
  • A woman in Sarah’s vision tries to stop her husband from burying their dead son. “’He’s not dead,’ she said, horror in her voice. ‘He’s sleeping. I’ve seen him in my dreams. His spirit comes to me. I won’t let you put him in the ground.”
  • Sarah gets her fortune told at her birthday party. She is told, “I have never seen a board that spoke so powerfully of change as this one.”
  • When Sammy goes into a coma, Sarah sees her brother’s face in a mirror. Jackson says, “There’s an old superstition that spirits can be trapped in mirrors.”

Spiritual Content

  • At her grandmother’s funeral, the housekeeper covers all mirrors with black cloths. The housekeeper says it is “just a southern superstition. . . to help the departed’s soul cross over and not get trapped in the looking-glass world. . . People used to believe you could see through to the other side in a mirror. To the place where souls go after death before they move on to their final destination.”
  • Sarah and her mother go to church to socialize. “It had been years since I’d been inside a church. My mother liked religion about as much as she liked anything else supernatural. But she led the way up the steps the next morning.”
  • “I fell asleep still thinking about people watching me, thinking that the eyes in Amber House were kind of like the eyes of God, knowing every failing. Except God could forgive.”

by Morgan Lynn

Dreaming Dangerous

Brassmere Academy is the only home Plum has ever known. Hidden deep in the woods, Brassmere is home to orphans who have extraordinary abilities. Each night when Plum lays down to sleep, she travels into dream worlds, where her best friends Vien, Gwendle, and Artem meet her. While dreaming, the friends go on exciting journeys and fight dangerous monsters.

During a dream, Artem tells Plum, “They’re coming for us. One by one, until they find the one they need.” When she wakes up, Artem is missing. No one knows where Artem has gone. Plum is convinced that the adults at the school cannot be trusted.

Plum, Vien, and Gwendle search for their friend. As they find clues in both the dreaming and waking worlds, they uncover many secrets. Plum has always considered the director, Dr. Abarrane, a trusted adult, but now she wonders what dark secrets he keeps. Brassmere has always kept the children safe from the outside world, but is the real danger inside Brassmere’s walls? Will Plum and her friends be the next to disappear?

Told from Plum’s point of view, Dreaming Dangerous quickly jumps into the mystery of Brassmere Academy. Right from the start, the reader understands the strong bonds of friendship between the four friends. The friends travel into the dream world, where they encounter imaginative worlds full of monsters. Plum spends an equal amount of time in the real world and the dream world, which adds drama but also may cause some confusion.

Dreaming Dangerous is a compelling story that has the perfect amount of suspense and scare factor for younger readers. Readers will be drawn into the story because of the interesting dream world, the children’s abilities, and the mystery surrounding Brassmere Academy. The ending of the story shows the violent death of Plum’s mother and the evil nature of Dr. Abarrane. However, the death is not described in gory detail. The only negative aspect of the story is the abrupt, confusing conclusion that leaves many questions unanswered.

Many readers will be drawn to Dreaming Dangerous because of the well-develop characters, monsters, and mystery. The fantasy story is at times creepy and frightening. For readers who like Gothic-style mysteries, Dreaming Dangerous is an easy-to-read, fast-paced story that will entertain until the very end.  

Violence

  • While in a dream, Plum falls. “Sword pointed downward, Plum leaned into the momentum of the drop, landing hard on the head of some giant, scaled creature. An alligator, she suspected. She jammed her sword between its eyes and it thrashed and roared. . . Blood stained her sword and her shoes. . . The giant alligator would not die quickly . . . a set of sharp teeth had snared her ankle and pulled her underwater.” Plum’s friend appears and saves her. The battle with the alligator happens over four pages.
  • While in a dream, Plum sees a monster. When she asked the monster a question, “its mouth became so wide that it was big enough to devour a girl like Plum in a single bite. And that’s what it did. . .” She falls down the monster’s throat and lands in a town.
  • The gargoyles that stood guard over Brassmere came to life. The gargoyles flew towards the school. “One of the gargoyles was barreling through the overarching glass window of the grand foyer. The other had scaled the side of the building that housed the dormitory, and its giant swinging tail was shattering the windows. . . All the birds and insects in the wallpaper had escaped and were buzzing and flapping at the ceiling and remaining windows, trying to find a way out.” No one was injured.
  • Plum wakes up Melinda, who was in a trance. When Plum touches her, “Melinda raised her head and looked at Plum, her mouth curled into a vicious snarl. And then, Plum was airborne, flying backward by the metal in her boot buckles and the buttons of her coat, until she hit a wall, hard, and everything went dark.”
  • In a dream, Plum sees the young Dr. Abarrane kill a woman and take her baby. When the woman tries to argue, “Dr. Abarrane didn’t bother to argue. He pulled the trigger . . . the woman had fallen to the ground. Dead. The baby screamed and fell into a fit of tears.”
  • Dr. Abarrane chases after Plum and Artem. He tried to inject Plum with a syringe, but “a metal tray hit him in the side of the head, hard. All it took was one blow and he was down.” The kids were able to escape.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Plum is given a “strange purple liquid” through an IV. The liquid makes her sleep, and she is unable to wake from her dream.
  • After Artem disappears, Plum finds him in a building that looks like a hospital. When she finds him, he has an IV “that dripped in a bag over his bed. Plum recognized that odd purple liquid; it was the same thing Dr. Abarrane had given to her that morning. . .”
  • Plum overhears a nurse talking about the death of a boy. The boy was given “three doses of blue. . . The immediate effects were an increase in physical strength and energy.” The fluid killed the boy.

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • The orphans who live at Brassmere Academy all have special abilities. The main characters share their dreams. Some “could bend and move metal if they concentrated.” Others could “charm animals” or “communicate with their thoughts.”
  • While in a dream, Artem “could always breathe underwater.”
  • While in a dream, Plum and the others travel to a town. Plum thinks what they saw “happened in the past, and somehow I was able to see it.”

Spiritual Content

  • None

Wizard for Hire

When Ozzy was six years old, men took his parents. Since then, he’s lived alone. When Ozzy finds Clark, a robotic talking raven, the two venture into town. All Ozzy wants is to find his parents, but he’s not sure how a fourteen-year-old boy can discover the secrets to his parents’ disappearance.

Then Ozzy sees an advertisement: wizard for hire. Ozzy isn’t sure if wizards are real, but he’s read enough about Harry Potter that he has hope that wizards do exist. When Labyrinth “Rin” appears in his bathrobe and high-top tennis shoes, Ozzy has his doubts. Can Rin cast any magic spells and help him find his parents?

Wizard for Hire will cast a spell over readers, making it hard to put the book down. From the very first page, the story begins with an engaging mystery and a unique character that is easy to love. After living alone for so long, Ozzy struggles with how to talk to others, which is a dilemma many readers will relate to. The surprising appearance of a magical raven brings humor and heart into the story. Clark gives Ozzy encouragement, advice, and a reason to leave his small cabin. Clark’s crushes on metal objects add a fun element to the story.

Once Rin enters the story, Ozzy (and the reader) are both left questioning Rin’s wizardly abilities. Rin could be using magic or modern technology to help Ozzy, but the reader is left guessing about Rin’s magical ability. Rin casts a spell to make Ozzy invisible, which only works because the man is blind. Even though Rin may or may not be a wizard, he embarks on a quest to find Ozzy’s parents. As Rin and Ozzy investigate to find Ozzy’s missing parents, they must avoid the police who are looking for Ozzy, which adds suspense to the story. One additional bonus is Rin’s occasional words of wisdom. For example, when Ozzy is worried about his future, Rin tells him, “Too many of you humans are scared by ghosts that haven’t yet formed.”

Humor, heart, and Harry Potter references make Wizard for Hire a must-read. This coming-of-age story shows the importance of being unique and true to yourself. Although the ending isn’t a happy-every-after, Ozzy does find the answers to his questions. Although there is very little violence, some sensitive readers may be upset by the idea that Ozzy’s uncle was responsible for his parents’ deaths and, in the end, desires to kill Ozzy for greed and personal gain.

Sexual Content

  • Clark, a metal bird, is attracted to metal objects. “Clark sort of gets funny crushes on anything bird-related—or made of metal.” Once he tells Ozzie that “your fork isn’t unattractive. Maybe you could bring it home.” Later in the story, Clark has a crush on a dumpster.

Violence

  • Men came and took Ozzy’s parents. “One of the men put a rag over Emmitt’s mouth. Another did the same to Mia. Ozzy’s parents thrashed and kicked, but their mouths were covered and they were no match for the hulking men who had them bound.” Ozzy hides from the men, who leave him, thinking he will die.
  • A man breaks into Ozzy’s home. Later, Ozzy discovers who the robber was and Clark follows him. “Something hit Ed in the back of the head, causing a good deal of pain and making his sunglasses fly off of his head. Ed swore. . . Something slammed into the right side of his face. Ed spun around twice before regaining his footing. . . Something slammed into and stung his lower back. It took everything he could do to keep the bike under control.” The man crashes the bike, but “he scrambled up screaming and swearing.”
  • There is a car chase. Trying to lose the men who were chasing them, Rin goes into a graveyard. “The SUV followed suit. They were considerably bigger than the white car and kept hitting gravestones on their right side. . .” The SUV crashes.
  • Ozzy finds out that his uncle took his parents “and brought them to a bunker in New Mexico, leaving Ozzy for dead.” When Ozzy’s parents wouldn’t tell his uncle the formula, his uncle ended “his parents’ lives.”
  • During another car chase, Clark “shot through the window” of the SUV. “The bird bounced around inside the vehicle like a possessed pinball. He knocked the driver’s glasses askew and broke a tooth of the large goon with the mean eyes.” The SUV “flipped onto its side and went skidding across the freeway.”
  • The bad guy, with a gun, confronts Ozzy. Clark saves his friend when he “slammed into the right side of Charles’s head. The evil half-uncle swore and waved his gun at the dark sky. . . Clark swooped in again and hit him from the left. Charles spun and shot into the air, hitting the bird and dropping him like a rock down onto the deck.”
  • Ozzy tackles Charles and “the gun flew from his hand and Charles’s head slammed against the railing. Ozzy began to punch him as if he were the root of all his sorrow ever. And since he was, Rin let it go for a few moments before he pulled the boy off.”
  • Charles grabs Rin’s wizard wand and “raised his fist, intending to thrust the wand into Ozzy’s chest, but at that moment, the dark sky opened up and a terrific bolt of lightning snaked down and made contact with the wand. . .” Charles is dead and “Ozzy saw, “his lifeless body smoldering.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • When the wizard first discovers that Ozzy lives deep in the words, he tells Ozzy, “Listen, if your family is out here doing something illegal, like making moonshine or fireworks, I want no part of it.”

Language

  • The bad guy yells, “The formula your parents came up with could have changed the world. No more idiots letting their free will ruin things for others.”

Supernatural

  • Ozzy’s dad makes a metal bird named Clark that is alive.
  • Rin said he went to Quarfelt, which is another dimension, where wizards live.
  • Ozzy’s parents thought they “discovered a formula that could help people have better control over their own free will. The formula had the potential to cure apathy and misunderstandings.” They tested the formulas on unsuspecting people. One man, under the influence of the formula, enters a polar bear enclosure and walks towards the bears. “Timsby stood up in the water and began to walk toward the bears. Before he could get to them, four zookeepers entered the enclosure from the door.”

Spiritual Content

  • None

Switch

Gypsy Beaumont used to love being a whirly-twirly girl who picked flowers and danced. She has been dreaming of her savvy—the extraordinary talent that strikes every Beaumont on their thirteenth birthday. Gypsy had imagined getting the wings of angels or being able to catch candy necklaces instead of fish, but when her thirteenth birthday arrives, Gypsy gets blurry vision and catches glimpses of the past and future.

Then in a strange turn of events, everyone’s savvy is switched and things become topsy-turvy. Gypsy must learn to use her new powers and try to stop the events of the last vision she saw. As she tries to change the future, Gypsy embarks on an adventure that will lead to new friendships and closer relationships with her family.

Right from the start, readers will want to turn the page to see what happens next in this entertaining story of adventure and magic. Switch shows the power of friendship and family in a heartwarming story. Being told from Gypsy’s point of view allows the reader to peek inside of her mind and understand her hopes, fears, and uncertainties. Gypsy’s personality comes to life and shows the difficulties of being different; however, the story goes on to show how being different should not be seen as an embarrassment, but as a gift.

Switch tackles several difficult issues including changing friendships and the effects of aging. Gypsy’s self-confidence takes a hit when her best friend stops talking to her because Gypsy acts like a “baby.” The story also focuses on Gypsy’s grandmother who is beginning to have difficulties remembering people and often lives her life in the past. Switch expertly weaves lessons about friendship, family, and accepting yourself into a beautifully written story with memorable characters.

Sexual Content

  • Two characters kiss twice. When it’s close to Valentine’s Day, Gypsy is reminded of the way, “Samson and Nola had secretly kiss-kiss-kissed behind Grandma’s house.”

Violence

  • Tucker throws a tantrum and grows “as tall as the house itself.” In his anger he uproots “trees in our front yard like they were daisies . . . tossed two leafless maples and a blue spruce into the field across the road.” He also “kicked over a tool shed.” Someone finally calms him down by offering him candy.
  • A bully tells B-Bug to punch someone. “B-Bug was already reaching over the counter. With an apologetic look, he grabbed the front of Del’s hoodie. Then he pulled back his arm, aiming his knuckles at the smaller boy’s face.” Before B-Bug can hit him, Gypsy stops time.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • Savvy family members have special powers. At the beginning of the book, Gypsy can see into the future and past.
  • Samson can make fire. When he first learns of the power, he “glanced down at his hands as each of his fingers lit up in licks of red-and-yellow flames. He looked like he was holding ten candles. A second later, there was a whoosh and a crackle, and Samson’s entire body became a bonfire.”
  • Tucker grows bigger (he can grow larger than a house) when he is angry.

Spiritual Content

  • Gypsy’s family attends church once and Gypsy prays. In one scene she “asked God and all the angels to make everything go back the way it was before Mrs. Kim called . . . before we learned that Grandma Pat was ill and had to live with us . . .”

Scumble

Ledger Kale has looked forward to his thirteenth birthday in anxious anticipation. That is the day when his savvy, a special magical talent that all members of his family receive, arrives. His excitement is short-lived, however, as everything falls apart . . . literally. Ledger’s savvy is worse than he could have imagined. Now he must struggle to regain control as things break all around him.

His family riskily decides to travel to Wyoming for a savvy-filled wedding, where his power is revealed in full force to his entire family and an outside witness: ambitious amateur reporter Sarah Jane Cabot. Due to Ledger’s newfound destructive nature, his parents decide that it is safer to leave him and his sister on the family ranch for the summer. They hope that when he and his sister return, Ledger won’t combust everything that surrounds him. Adventures ensue as Ledger must cope with his new capabilities, crazy cousins, and Sarah Jane’s nosy journalism.

Scumble is a delightful read for young audiences as Ingrid Law spins an enthralling tale of family, friendship, and finding yourself. Ledger’s journey to control his power brilliantly displays the struggles of growing up, no matter how extreme the circumstances. His initial disappointment and ultimate triumph are relatable to young readers trying to discover who they are. Fans of Savvy will love this new adventure because of the fresh faces that invigorate the story. Although not quite as entertaining as the first book, it is still a worthwhile, fun read.

Sexual Content

  • One of Ledger’s friends, Josh, is a “ladies man.” He has “even locked lips with Misty Archuleta during a field trip to the planetarium once, after giving her a necklace with a big silver M on it.”
  • The Kale family goes to the wedding of Fisher Beaumont. Ledger describes the ceremony, including the beauty of the bride and their “just-kiss-the-bride-already smooch.”
  • In order to distract Sarah Jane from some savvy magic that is occurring, Ledger kisses her. She promptly punches him in the ribs.
  • Ledger’s mom tells his cousin that “a girl wants a cheerful, clean-cut beau, not a moody caveman.”
  • Uncle Autry thinks that Ledger has a crush on Sarah Jane and brings it up several times throughout the book. Many of their family members join in teasing the young man and at one point, he protests by saying, “She’s not my girlfriend! Not, not, not my girlfriend.”
  • Rocket loses control of his powers and confidence in himself when he “was showing off . . . for a girl.”
  • Ledger receives a letter from Sarah Jane. His twin cousins Marisol and Mesquite see him with the letter and they ask, “Did you get a love letter, Ledge? Ooh! Do you have a girlfriend now too, Sledgehammer?”
  • When Ledger contemplates the thought that he and Sarah Jane might be cousins, he, “stood up fast, riddled with heebie-jeebies. I’d locked lips with her! And I’d considered doing it again!” It is later revealed that they are not cousins.
  • Once Sarah Jane and Ledger are apart for the school year, she writes in a letter that she “planned to kiss me the very next time we met.”

Violence

  • Ledger trips, and his “mouth filled with the taste of panic, sharp and metallic.”
  • Ledger blows up his Dad’s watch using his savvy. “The parts flying like shrapnel… I covered my head to avoid getting razor-thin gears lodged in my brainpan.”
  • The realization of the true nature of Ledger’s savvy is quite shocking. “The understanding that I had a powerful savvy after all hit me like a hammer blow. It wasn’t just watches and windshield wipers that needed to look out. It was the whole, wide world.”
  • Ledger accidentally blows up the barn during his cousin’s wedding. The groom is injured as his, “cheek was bleeding, gouged by something sharp and airborne.”
  • Ledger’s mom references a time when her brother was young. “You broke your leg here, Autry. . . Your collarbone, too. You also fell in the river and nearly drowned before Cam Beacham fished you out. The two of you weren’t even dry before you wrestled him into a cactus patch and got nearly a thousand stickers in your–”
  • When Ledger comes to talk to Sarah Jane, she says, “Did you come for another right hook in the kisser?”
  • When his cousins continually attempt to help Ledger learn to scumble, they intentionally pelt him with shrapnel to see if he can control it.
  • Sarah Jane gets hit by a fence that Ledger is scumbling. “The scratch wasn’t deep. Not even bleeding.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • On many occasions, characters “cuss” but the words they say are not described.
  • When Ledger breaks the handle of a suitcase, he is “cussing as it broke loose.”
  • When Ledger loses his temper, he lets, “a loud barrage of barnyard language rip. After a full minute of noisy cussing, I looked up realizing that the rest of the world had gone much too quiet.”
  • A character yells “shut it” once.
  • A character exclaims, “What in John Brown’s britches is going on here?”
  • When a truck drives away from Rocket, he runs after it and Ledger could, “hear Rocket cuss as he tugged on the sticky door handle.”
  • The word “crud” is used once.

Supernatural

  • The majority of the characters have an inherited magical power called a savvy. The plot of the story revolves around the main character learning to control his power of manipulating metal.
  • Dinah Kale, Ledger’s mom, can control people’s actions through her words and facial expressions.
  • Ledger describes Wyoming as “still and silent as if the ghost of the Wild West outlaw the Sundance Kid had come back to haunt the place.”
  • One of Ledger’s cousins, Samson, is invisible.
  • A magical jar that captures music is played at the wedding.
  • At Grandpa Bomba’s funeral, the Earth drastically shifts in remembrance of his life and savvy, which was the manipulation of Earth.

Spiritual Content

  • Ledger questions his purpose and says, “Surely my Maker had had some plan when He put me together like this?
  • In another instance, he asks, “Dear God, what had I been built to do.”

by Morgan Filgas

Meltdown Madness

Ed wants to join the soccer team, but first, he has to sell chocolate bars. But when he tells his friend to run “as fast as possible,” his friend runs so fast that the chocolate bars melt. Ed must figure out how to get out of this gooey mess. Is there any way for him to earn the money he needs to join the team?

Meltdown Madness is a super silly story that beginning readers will enjoy. The humorous black-and-white illustrations that appear on every page help readers visualize the strange events that happen to Ed. Talking coins, miniature horses, and rows of corn all come to life through the illustrations. Ed’s mishaps show the importance of choosing words carefully and teach the meaning of various sayings such as “don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.”

Even though the storyline is silly and humorous, Ed demonstrates problem-solving skills as well as taking responsibility for his actions. When Ed is unsure how to solve his problem, he seeks out adult advice and continues to brainstorm ideas. After Ed accidentally breaks two windows, he doesn’t complain about having to earn the money to pay for them. Meltdown Madness is a straightforward story that is worth the read.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • When Ed’s sisters give their toy doll bangs, Ed grabs the doll’s head. “The hair over its forehead had started to sizzle, like lit fuses. . . I hurled it at the window. It smashed through the glass, landed on the lawn, rolled halfway to the street, and exploded.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • Ed finds a coin that gives him “the power to make strange things happen. Sometimes strange things even happen when I wasn’t trying to make them happen.”
  • Ed’s sisters have a toy doll head that allows them to try different hairstyles. When Ed’s sister makes three pigtails on the toy, “three pigs appeared out of nowhere.” As the sisters make various hairstyles, strange things happen.
  • Ed’s brother makes a thermostat that can change the weather. When his brother turns the dial to comfort zone, “the air grew cooler.” Ed’s brother is the only one that can make the thermostat work.
  • When Ed says, “money talks,” Ed and his friend can hear coins. Ed “held the coins near my ear. Lincoln and Washington were arguing about who was more honest.”

Spiritual Content

  • None

 

Polly Diamond and the Magic Book

Polly loves words. When a magic book arrives, she is excited to put her words on paper. Then Polly learns that the book is magic and can make everything she writes happen in real life. Polly begins writing, but she soon learns that it’s hard to write what you mean. Soon, her bedroom walls are turned into an aquarium, her sister is turned into a banana, and she is turned invisible. How is Polly ever going to fix everything before her parents get home?

Beginning readers will love Polly Diamond for many reasons. The text is broken up with cute black and white illustrations that appear on every page. Polly loves to write lists of words, which are scattered throughout the story. Polly and her magic book write back and forth to each other, which adds humor because the magic book often misinterprets what Polly wants it to create. The silly events that happen when Polly writes in her book come together to create a fun story. However, some readers will find the story a little too goofy. The plot jumps from topic to topic without clear transitions, which may make the story confusing.

Polly Diamond and the Magic Book has many positive attributes. Readers will learn new vocabulary, including how words can have multiple meanings. Through Polly’s narration, she teaches different types of figurative language such as similes and hyperboles. In the end, Polly learns the important lesson that she doesn’t need to change her home and family—Her home is perfect just the way it is. Polly Diamond and the Magic Book will entertain younger readers and teach vocabulary in a creative, fun way.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • None

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • Polly Diamond has a writing and spelling book that writes answers to her questions. Everything Polly writes in the book comes true. For example, when Polly writes that she wants a room that looks like an aquarium, the walls change so that, “fish flash past. Big ones. Yellow ones. Purple ones. A crab scuttles along the baseboard.”
  • Polly asks the book to do a series of funny things including turning her invisible and turning her sister into a banana.

Spiritual Content

  • None

Sunbeam’s Shine

Princess Sunbeam’s magical gem disappears when a wizard-lizard accidentally casts the wrong spell. Without her magic yellow sapphire, she loses her ability to create light and heat. Princess Sunbeam needs to find a human girl—one who believes in unicorns. A human girl is the only one who can help her reverse the spell and find her gemstone.

When Princess Sunbeam goes to the human world to search for a human girl, she finds Cressida. Cressida loves everything unicorns, and despite her parent’s disbelief, Cressida knows that unicorns are real. When Cressida meets a unicorn, Princess Sunbeam, she’s excited to travel to the Rainbow Realm.

Girls may want to pick up Sunbeam’s Shine because of the beautiful sparkly cover; however, the cover isn’t the only positive aspect of the book. As Cressida searches for the gem, she shows how to use problem-solving and communication skills. The addition of talking desert creatures adds interest to the story.

In the story, the sand dunes are upset with the cacti because of a misunderstanding. As Cressida helps the friends solve their problems, the reader learns the danger of keeping secrets.

Cressida is a smart, considerate character that uses good communication skills to help others. When she travels to the Rainbow Realm, she makes sure to leave a note for her parents so they do not worry. Sunbeam’s Shine hits the mark for its intended audience. Younger readers who want to add a little magic and sparkle to their lives will enjoy jumping into the Rainbow Realm.

Sunbeam’s Shine is the first in this series written for children who enjoy chapter books. Beginning readers may struggle with the amount of text on a page as well as the long descriptive passages. The pictures scattered throughout the book are adorably cute; however, they only appear about every three to seven pages. This chapter book would be a good story to read aloud to beginning readers.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • None

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • A wizard-lizard casts a spell on an ear of corn, “Alakazam! Alakazoop! Unicorn, unicorn! Alakaboop!” The spell was supposed to turn the corn bright pink, but instead it caused Princess Sunbeam’s magical gemstone to be “dropped into a shimmering, purple canyon.”
  • Sunbeam’s magical gemstone allows her to make the sun shine.
  • In order to reverse the spell, a human girl who believes in unicorns must be found. One must believe in unicorns in order to see them.
  • Sunbeam finds Cressida and the two use a magical key to enter the Rainbow Realm. When they enter the kingdom, Cressida “had the feeling the two of them were falling. It was like being in an elevator hurling downward without stopping on any floors.”
  • A flame-bite looks like a fox, but is made of flame. “. . . It looked just like red and orange candle flame with flailing arms, legs, and a tail.”
  • Cressida meets talking sand dunes and talking cacti.

Spiritual Content

  • None

The Wrath of Mulgarath

In the fifth and final installment of the Spiderwick Chronicles, the Grace children must battle Mulgarath’s goblin army to save their mother and reclaim the Field Guide. With the help of Thimbletack, Hogsqueal, and Byron, the Grace children attempt to sneak up on Mulgarath’s goblin army. Can the small group defeat a fierce army of goblins and Mulgarath? Are the children doomed to lose everything they hold dear?

All of the characters and creatures come together in a satisfying conclusion. The griffin, Thimbletack, and Hogsqueal unite to help the Grace children rescue their mother and defeat Mulgarath. Book five of the series is darker and has some potentially disturbing descriptions. Although the final battle ends with a satisfying surprise, reading descriptions of Mulgarath’s evil deeds may disturb younger readers. In an attempt to trick the children, Mulgarath shapeshifts to appear like their father. Jared is able to see through Mulgarath’s trick and, in the end, saves his family from Mulgarath’s wrath.

Like the previous books, the Grace Children work together and come to one another’s aid when needed. When Jared’s mother finally learns the truth about Jared’s strange behavior, there is a heartwarming apology. The ending doesn’t ignore the natural consequences of Jared’s bad behavior but ends with the hopeful possibility that life will be better. In the end, Aunt Lucinda moves in with the Grace family and there is peace between the children, Thimbletack, and the family cat. When the exciting series comes to an end, the readers will be left with a smile and characters that they will remember for a long time to come.

 Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • Mulgarath kidnaps the Grace children’s mother. When the children find her, she is in “one corner, bound, gagged, and unconscious.”
  • Goblins attacked Thimbletack. The fight is not described, but Jared finds Thimbletack, who “had a long, raw scratch on his shoulder and that his hat was missing.” He also had a black eye.
  • A griffin grabs a hobgoblin by the arm. “The griffin shook his head, whipping Hogsqueal back and forth.” Simon hit the griffin, “Hard on the beak with his hand,” hoping to get the griffin to let go of Hogsqueal.”
  • Thimbletack threatens a hobgoblin saying, “No. We’ll set rats to nibble off your toes, poke out your eyes, and put them up your nose. Your fingers we’ll remove with dull scissors, and we’ll wait until your confidence withers.”
  • Goblins attack the Grace children. The battle is described over three pages. During the fight, two goblins, “Grabbed hold of his (Jared’s) legs and toppled him into the dirt.” Mallory uses her swords to chase them away. One goblin “Jumped on her back, biting her shoulder.” The griffin appears and the children are able to escape.
  • While Simon is riding the griffin, a dragon attacks. “The dragon twisted, teeth sinking into Byron’s feathered and furred body. . .” Simon falls off the griffin, injuring his arm. In order to distract the dragon, Simon, “who had never killed anything. . . stepped on the head of one of the baby dragons, crushing in into a smear under his shoe. It squealed. Dragon blood stained the ground and melted the edge of Simon’s heel.” The fight ends with Byron, “Plunging his beak into the creature’s neck, he rent it wide. The dragon went limp in Byron’s claws.” The action is described over seven pages.
  • Mulgarath put fairies in honey. Simon tries to help, “but the honey was heavy and clung to their thick wings, tearing them. The sprites squealed as he set each one down on the table in a sticky, sodden heap. One was completely still and lay there limply, like a doll.”
  • Mulgarath kicks Thimbletack. “The ogre kicked the brownie, his giant foot tossing Thimbletack across the room, where Thimbletack landed like a crumpled glove beside Mrs. Grace.”
  • The story ends with an epic battle between the Grace children and Mulgarath, which is told over several chapters. At one point, Jared stabs Mulgarath in the foot with a sword. The battle ends with a funny surprise.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • When Simon hits the griffin, his sister yells, “Oh Crap, don’t do that!”
  • Hogsqueal calls the Grace names such as “beetle-guts”, “lump-meat,” and “chatter-basket.”
  • Jared says, “I want Dad to be less of a jerk . . .”
  • “Oh my god,” is used as an exclamation once.
  • Mallory calls Jared an “idiot.”

Supernatural

  • Goblins, Frey, griffins, and other creatures exist. These creatures have different magical abilities.
  • Mulgarath is raising dragons. The dragons have “hundreds of teeth, thin as needles.” When a person touches a dragon, their skin burns.”
  • Mulgarath is able to change shapes. In order to trick the children, he changes, making himself look like their father. “As Jared looked up into the familiar hazel eyes of his father, they started to turn pale yellow. His father’s body elongated, filling out, becoming a mammoth shape clad in the tattered remains of ancient finery. His hands became claws, and his dark hair twined together into branches.”
  • The children meet their great-great-uncle Arthur Spiderwick, who the elves kept captive. Arthur meets his aged daughter. When Arthur goes to hug his daughter, his “foot touched the ground, his body turned to dust and then smoke.”

Spiritual Content

  • None

The Ironwood Tree

The entire faerie world wants Spiderwick’s Guide. Even if the Grace Children wanted to give the book away, they couldn’t because Thimbletack has hidden the guide. When Mallory disappears, Simon and Jared go in search of their sister. When the boys search the old abandoned quarry, dwarves imprison them. Is there any way for them to escape and save their sister?

Thimbletack and the griffin do not appear in the story, but new creatures are added. Although the story is entertaining, and suspenseful, some readers may wish that the different faerie creatures were incorporated into all of the books. Humor is added when neither Jared nor Simon wish to enter the girls restroom to look for Mallory. The ending takes a dark turn, and the unexpected killing of dwarves may disturb younger readers.

In the fourth installment of The Spiderwick Chronicles, Jared continues to struggle with anger and his mother’s misperception of him. Although Jared is trying to protect his family, he often falls into trouble. Jared worries that his mother will try to send him to live with his father, but his father won’t want him.

One of the best aspects of the series is the relationship between Jared and his siblings. Their realistic sibling relationship shows how each one has unique talents that can be used to defeat the faerie creatures. Although readers will be entertained by the faerie creatures, they will continue to read because they want to know what happens to the Grace children. Is there any way they can survive when the next faerie creatures come after them? The only way to find out is to pick up the fifth and last installment of the series.

Sexual Content

  • Mallory has a crush on a boy. To tease her, Simon sings, “Chris and Mallory sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G.”

Violence

  • A shape-shifting creature appears looking like Jared. When the creature confronts Jared, Jared “pointed a knife at his double.”
  • Dwarfs kidnap Mallory and put her in a magical box that makes her like Sleeping Beauty. A dwarf tells the boys, “Out of this case she would be doomed to age, death, and decay—the curse of all mortals.”
  • Mechanical dogs chase the children. The children climb up a tree to avoid the dogs, but one of the dog’s “teeth caught hold of the end of her white dress and ripped it. The other dogs swarmed close, tearing the cloth.” Simon comes up with a way to get away from the dogs.
  • When Mulgarath discovers that the goblins do not have Spiderwick’s Guide, he orders the death of the dwarves. “The goblins bit, clawed, and slashed until not a single dwarf was left standing. Jared felt sick and numb. He had never seen anything be killed before. Looking down, he felt like he might throw up.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • Mallory says, “Oh crap,” once.

Supernatural

  • A shape-shifting creature appears in the story. The creature makes himself look like Jared and other people. The creature’s body, “shrank, its dark hair paled into a sandy brown, and its now blue eyes went wide with terror.”
  • Dwarves live in an abandoned quarry. They have “skin as gray as stone.” The dwarves carve trees and animals out of metal. The animals are alive but must be wound up with a key.
  • A creature appears and helps the children escape. Jared thinks it is a “nodder or a banger.” The creature listens to the stones, which allows him to help the children.
  • Mulgarath is an ogre, “a massive monster with dead branches for hair.” The goblins are serving Mulgarath.

Spiritual Content

  • None

 

Lucinda’s Secret

The Grace children are surrounded by problems. Thimbletack wants revenge. A hungry griffin is hiding in the carriage house. Creatures will stop at nothing to get Arthur’s Field Guide. Giving up the Field Guide isn’t an option, so the children go to see their Aunt Lucinda. But the more they learn about the fantastical world around them, the more they are convinced that the only way to stay safe is to discover more about the creatures who want to silence them.

Lucinda’s Secret takes the reader into the past and begins to answer the question: Why do the fairies want the Field Guide? The third installment of The Spiderwick Chronicles has several scenes that may scare younger readers. The children go to visit their Aunt Lucinda in an asylum, and they see several patients in straight jackets and a man “in a bathrobe giggled over an upside-down book.” Lucinda’s story of monsters that attacked her at night may also frighten readers.

Readers will be able to relate to the realistic sibling relationships. Even though the children work together and care about each other, they still squabble, fight, and disagree. Because the siblings often have conflict, the scenes when they work together are even more enjoyable. The story shows how relationships are always changing and that people can love each other and still disagree.

The introduction of new characters and new creatures adds interest to Lucinda’s Secret. Book three focuses on advancing the plot and giving important background information. However, this book also has less action than the first two books and readers will miss Thimbletack and the griffin, who do not appear in the story. The introduction of elves and a glimpse into the elves’ world adds a new, interesting element. Readers will want to continue the series to find out how the elves and Lucinda’s secret are connected.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • When Aunt Lucinda was younger, monsters came looking for her father’s book. She shows the children her scars and says, “Late one night the monsters came. Little green things with horrible teeth held me down, while a giant one questioned me. I struggled, and their claws scraped my arms and legs . . . Before that night, my back was straight. Ever since, I have walked hunched over.”
  • When Mallory touches a unicorn, she sees a vision of people hunting. As the unicorn runs, “arrows fly, burying themselves in white flesh. The unicorn bellows and goes down in a cloud of leaves. Dog teeth rip skin. A man with a knife hacks the horn from the head while the unicorn is still moving.”
  • Elves capture Jared. With the wave of an elf hand, “dirty, hairy roots climbed Jared’s legs and held him.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • “Crappy” is used once. “Crap” is used three times.
  • When Jared talks about his dad leaving to take a new job, Mallory says, “You can’t really believe that load of crap.”
  • The Phooka tells the children he is “an ass or perhaps merely a sprite.”

Supernatural

  • Sprites visit Aunt Lucinda. They are “creatures the size of walnuts, whirling in on iridescent wings. They alighted on the old woman, tangling in her white hair and crawling up the headboard.”
  • Sprites gave Aunt Lucinda fruit, and when she ate it, “it tasted better than any food I’d ever imagined. . . After that, human food—normal food—was like sawdust and ashes. I couldn’t make myself eat it.” She now must rely on the sprites to feed her.
  • The children learn that wearing their clothes inside out will allow them to find the elf world. The children meet the green-skinned elves.
  • The children meet a Phooka, who speaks in riddles. The Phooka “had the body of a monkey with short, blackish brown speckled fur and a long tail that curled around the branch on which it sat.” The Phooka has a face that looks like a rabbit “with long ears and whiskers.”
  • When Mallory touches a unicorn, she sees a vision.

Spiritual Content

  • None

 

The Seeing Stone

The mysterious field guide that their long-lost great-great-uncle Arthur Spiderwick wrote is wreaking havoc on the Grace children’s lives. In an attempt to get the book, goblins kidnap Simon and his cat.  It’s up to Jared and Mallory to track down the goblins, save Simon, and make it out of the woods alive. Can Jared and Mallory save Simon before it’s too late?

Full of suspense, The Seeing Stone is more intense than the first story in the series. At the beginning of the story, the goblins are invisible to the Grace children. The fact that invisible goblins are able to kidnap Simon, put him in a cage, and may possibly want to eat him may scare younger readers. Despite the danger, Jared and Mallory learn to work together as they search for their brother. They use creative problem-solving skills to rescue Simon.

In The Field Guide, Jared is angry and only concerned about himself, but in the second book, he shows growth and proves that he is more than a troublemaker. The children learn that they must trust and rely on each other in order to defeat the goblins. Readers will relate to the realistic siblings’ relationship and the children’s struggle to get along. Although the mother cares about her children, she clearly struggles in her new role as a single parent.

Even though the children realize danger still lurks outside their home, they choose to lie to their mother because they do not think she will believe that goblins, trolls, fairies, and other creatures exist. As the children learn more about the mythical world around them, they meet Hogsqueal, a hobgoblin, who has a hilarious vocabulary and proves that not every creature is evil. When readers finish The Seeing Stone, they will want to pick up the next book in the series. The fast-paced story will end all too quickly, so you will want to have Lucinda’s Secret waiting on the shelf.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • Goblins kidnap Simon and his cat; then the goblins attack Jared and Mallory. When a goblin grabs Jared by his shirt, “he went down on his stomach in the grass. . .” Mallory tries to help Jared and “he saw Mallory’s arm jerk and heard her cry out. Red lines appeared where nails scraped her.” Mallory is able to chase the goblins off when she hits them with her rapier. The attack scene takes place over six pages but is not told in gory detail.
  • A troll tries to grab Mallory, but he is burned by sunlight and she is able to escape.
  • The goblins attack a wounded griffin. When the goblins circle the griffin, “the animal couldn’t seem to raise itself very far off the ground, but it could snap at the goblins if they got too close. Then the creature’s hawk beak connected, scissoring off the goblin arm.” Simon and his siblings save the griffin.
  • When the goblins chase after the children, they make a deal with the troll to lead the goblins to him. The troll hides in the river, and when the goblins enter, “the troll grabbed them all, shaking and biting and dragging them down to his watery lair.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • A hobgoblin calls Jared a host of creative names. A few names he uses include candy butt, dribble-puss, and jinglebrains.

Supernatural

  • A brownie lives in the Grace house. When Jared grabs the brownie, “the little brownie squirmed in his grasp, abruptly changing shape into a lizard, a rat that bit Jared’s hand, then a slippery eel that flailed wetly.”
  • The Grace children encounter goblins, who eat small creatures such as cats. The goblins “are born without teeth and so find substitutes, such as the fangs of animals, sharp rocks, and pieces of glass.”
  • The Grace children put hobgoblin spit in their eyes so they will have “the Sight.”
  • A hobgoblin uses children’s teeth instead of glass and other items. When Jared asks if he steals children’s teeth, the hobgoblin replies, “Come on, Dumbellina, tell me you don’t believe in the tooth fairy!”

Spiritual Content

  • None

 

The Field Guide

Jared, his twin brother, Simon, and their older sister, Mallory, are not happy about moving to a new town and into their Aunt Lucy’s dilapidated mansion. When a series of pranks happen and strange bruises start appearing on Simon and Mallory, Jared is blamed.

Then Jared stumbles upon Arthur Spiderwick’s Field Guide to the Fantastical World Around You. He believes the creatures in the book are real and that a boggart is the one causing all of the problems. No one else in the family believes the boggart is real. How can Jared prove that he isn’t responsible for destroying the house and hurting his siblings?

The story focuses on issues that children will be able to relate to including having problems with parents and difficulty expressing emotions. The plot focuses on Jared, who is having difficulty containing his anger. As Jared learns about the boggart, Jared is able to think about the boggart’s perspective. Jared doesn’t want to help the boggart, but “he knew what it was like to be mad, and he knew how easy it was to get into a fight, even if you were really mad at someone else. And he thought that just maybe that was how the boggart felt.”

The Spiderwick Chronicles: The Field Guide is a fantastical story that will engage even the most reluctant readers. The easy-to-read story has a fast-paced plot that deals with the difficult topic of divorce in a child-friendly manner. Black and white pictures and maps are scattered throughout the story, which will help readers picture the events in the story. When the story ends, readers will be reaching for the next book in the series.

 The Spiderwick Chronicles is an excellent series; however, parents should read the reviews for all of the books before beginning the reading journey. Younger readers may not be ready for scary events that the Grace children face before their adventure comes to an end.

Sexual Content

  • None

Violence

  • While Mallory was sleeping, someone tied her hair to the bed. “Long pieces of her hair had been knotted to the brass headboard. Her face was red, but the worst part was the strange pattern of bruises that decorated her arms.”
  • The boggart steals Simon’s mice and tadpoles. “Each of Simon’s tadpoles was frozen into a single cube in the tray.” Later, they discover the boggart is keeping the mice as pets.
  • The book refers to a fight at school that Jared got into. His mother says, “I was shocked to learn that you broke a boy’s nose.”

Drugs and Alcohol

  • None

Language

  • When Mallory’s mother says the house is just like she remembered, Mallory replies, “Only crappier.”
  • “Crud” is said once.

Supernatural

  • The children learn that there is a boggart living in the house. Boggarts are “malicious. Hateful. Hard to get rid of. In their brownie form, they were helpful and nice.” The boggart causes havoc for the family.
  • The children meet the boggart. When they see him, he is standing on a desk in “worn overalls and a wide brimmed hat, was a little man about the size of a pencil. His eyes were as black as beetles, his nose was large and red . . .”

Spiritual Content

  • None

 

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