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Summer vacation is a perfect time to read The Kingdom Keepers: Disney After Dark, by Ridley Pearson. It’s a fun, fast-paced adventure ride behind the scenes of DisneyWorld Park in Orlando Florida. 13-year old Finn is literally sucked into an after-hours mystery at DisneyWorld that he and 4 other kids must solve in order to save both the Park and the outside world from the rising tide of “dark magic” that has been dormant in the magical park since its inception.  Cleverly written, technologically savvy, and full of thrills, The Kingdom Keepers is a lot of fun and it definately keeps you on the edge ofRead More →

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I thoroughly enjoyed this book including Nicoletta Ceccoli’s beautiful illustrations throughout. The adventure begins when “rivery” magic gives Claire’s bullying cousin Duke a horn instead of a nose. Similar to Pinochio’s nose, whenever he bullies someone, his horn grows as he slowly transforms into a rhinocerous. Only an act of true kindness will return him to himself, but Duke is too mean and selfish to care. He runs away and gets involved with some mischievous trolls who turn his family into stone. Claire agrees to help the trolls so that she can save her stony relatives and attempt to save Duke from himself. It’s aRead More →

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 This book was fun! I don’t really understand how Quantum Physics works, but the author seems to do a good job of explaining it and integrating a challenging scientific topic into the basis of the story. This book introduces the main character, “Tick” Atticus Higginbottom, and his journey to become a “Realitant” who travels to different realities. I was pleasantly surprised by Tick’s close relationship with his father. In other children’s novels I am often frustrated when the main characters do not communicate with the adults. In The Journal of Curious Letters, Tick actually confides in his dad, and dad listens and supports him. It’sRead More →

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  I couldn’t put Savvy down until I was finished! It was fun and touching with great characters and a clever premise. When a Beaumont kid turns 13, they get their “savvy.”   Mib’s older brothers have powerful savvys: one can make storms and the other makes electricity. What will Mib’s savvy be? Right before Mib’s 13th birthday her father is hospitalized from a terrible car accident. She is determined to visit her father at the hospital 90 miles away because she is convinced that her savvy will allow her to save him. On the journey to her father Mib has a grand adventure where she gets toRead More →

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I finished Haddix’s Found earlier this week and loved it. Since I had already read Flanagan’s Battle for Skandia, equally satisfying, the next big book was Patterson’s Final Warning. (I’m a movie fanatic and waiting for Max Ride 4 after Ranger’s Apprentice 4 was the same feeling as waiting for Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and The Dark Knight.) Usually it’s my duty to hype books. I understand that sometimes it’s easier to just watch a TV show, so I understand the importance of finding a great book quickly. I especially understand a need for lots of action in a book. A few explosions neverRead More →

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This is the third book in the Grey Griffins series and they just keep getting better! Max, Ernie, Harley and Natalia are the Grey Griffins, four kids in the small town of Avalon, Minnesota who enjoy playing a card game called Round Table. In the first book, The Revenge of the Shadow King, the exciting adventures begin when the kids discover that the fantastic creatures and characters on their Round Table cards actually exist!  Max finds a magical book in his grandmother’s attic and is tricked into releasing an evil creature from it. Max becomes the new guardian of this important book, called the Codex.Read More →

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The Softwire: Virus on Orbis 1 is a fantastic sci-fi book for all ages.  Excellent for reluctant readers! Johnny Turnbull, aka JT, and his little sister Ketheria never knew their parents.  Years before they were born, their parents agreed to leave Earth to make a long trip through space to work on the far-off rings of Orbis.  After a malfunction killed all of the adults on the ship, the computer raised the embryos that the adults had brought on board.  When these children, no older than twelve, arrive on Orbis they discover that they must work off their parent’s debts by being virtual slaves for theRead More →

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The Alchemyst (The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel) tells the story of teen twins Sophie and Josh who discover that a San Francisco bookstore owner, Nick Flemming, is really Nicholas Flamel, a nearly 700 year old alchemist who created the elixir of life.  His enemy, Dr. John Dee, steals the Codex, an ancient book containing the secrets of magic, and a prophecy regarding the twins. As Flamel and the twins race to recover the book, they are pursued by Dee and the members of the Elder race who are the source of most of humanity’s ancient myths and legends.  Throughout this riveting book, Elders and other magical creatures line up onRead More →

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The Arrival, the newest book by Shaun Tan, tells the the familiar story of an immigrant in an intriguing new way.  Conveyed entirely in detailed drawings which look like sepia-toned, worn photographs, this book feels like paging through an old photo album without the aid of captions or notes.  We follow the immigrant as he packs a small bag, says a heartbreaking goodbye to his wife and small daughter, and boards a steamer ship along with hundreds of others to reach a new land.  The new city is at once recognizable and surreal and recalls the halls and images of Ellis Island and New York City.Read More →