Entries Categorized as 'Adventure'

The Sea Fairies

Our rating:****

All Ages

The Sea Fairies (Paperback)
by L. Frank Baum
ISBN: 0486401820

Price: USD 9.95
30 used & new available from USD 1.51

Trot and Cap’n Bill meet some mermaids who invite them to visit their palace underwater. Trot and Cap’n Bill accept the invitation and, after the mermaids give Trot the form of a mermaid and Cap’n Bill the form of a merman, they all go to the palace, where Trot and Cap’n Bill meet Queen Aquareine of the mermaids. But Zog the Magician captures the queen, Trot, Cap’n Bill, and Princess Clia, and it’s a battle of magic to see who will come out victorious.

As a warning, in my copy of this book a few little sections have the lines of text switched around, so you have to read it out of order so it makes sense. Zog is pretty sinister. The battles of magic in his castle are neat. Most of the book is more of Trot and Cap’n Bill visiting the ocean, but it picks up somewhat at the end with Zog.

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Madeleine Takes Command

Our rating:***½

Younger Readers

Madeleine Takes Command (Living History Library) (Paperback)
by Ethel C. Brill
ISBN: 1883937175

Price: USD 11.16
42 used & new available from USD 6.50

Madeleine and her two brothers, Louis and Alexandre, are the only members of the Vecheres family in their seigneury. Their father is away fighting and their mother has just left on a business trip, leaving Madeleine in charge. Soon after, the fort is attacked by Mohawks. Madeleine must defend the fort with only six others, two of which cannot be trusted to hold their posts.

This book is set during the French and Indian war. It is based on a real event, as described in the epilogue. I found it to be a good story and true to historical details. Madeleine Take Command is definitely worthy of your time.

Why did I read it?Could have been betterAverageFantastic!Incredibook! (1 votes, average: 5 out of 5)
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Snow Treasure

Our rating:****

Younger Readers

Snow Treasure (Paperback)
by Marie McSwigan
ISBN: 0142402249

Price: USD 5.99
40 used & new available from USD 2.30

During the winter of 1940, Nazi troops take over the town of Riswyk, Norway. Riswyk’s gold, worth nine million dollars in the United States, is in danger of being discovered by the Nazis. The children of Riswyk take the gold, bit by bit, to a secret ship by hiding it on their sleds. But so many things could go wrong!

I enjoyed this book. It was interesting. In 1940, a Norwegian ship reached Baltimore with $9,000,000 aboard. The gold was reported to have been slipped past Nazi sentries by Norwegian children. The plot of this book is based off that legend.

Why did I read it?Could have been betterAverageFantastic!Incredibook! (1 votes, average: 5 out of 5)
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Kidnapped

Our rating:****

Older Readers

Kidnapped (Scholastic Classics) (Mass Market Paperback)
by Robert Louis Stevenson
ISBN: 0439295785

Price: USD 3.99
67 used & new available from USD 0.89

After the death of his father, sixteen-year-old David Balfour is preparing to leave the village he grew up in and seek his fortune. As he is leaving, an old friend of the family gives him a sealed letter, written by David’s father, with the instructions to take it to the House of Shaws. David wonders at this, because the Shaws are a wealthy family. Could he be related to them? When he reaches the tumbledown manor house he discovers that the man living there is his uncle. Despite his uncle’s apparent unwillingness to welcome him, David stays a couple of days and stumbles across a mystery. He had always supposed his father to be the younger of the two brothers, but circumstances point to his being the elder, and therefore rightful heir to the estate. When David presses his uncle for the truth in the matter, the cantankerous old man avoids the question, promising to tell David the truth the next day. During the night the uncle tries to kill David, who luckily survives, to the great surprise of his uncle. In one last, desperate attempt to conceal the truth, David’s uncle has him kidnapped and sent away to the Carolinas to be sold as a slave. However, during the early stages of the sea voyage, David falls into the company of a Scottish Rebel called Alan Breck, who helps him escape. Together they make their way through Scotland—Alan set upon his work for the King of France, (much to David’s dismay) and David seeking to return to the House of Shaws and discover the truth.

Great, great story. I enjoyed every page of it. It’s set in Scotland, in 1751, and it’s chock full of adventure. All of the things David goes through, running with Alan, ha ha! David is for King George of England and Alan is for the King of France and Scotland. Much to David’s chagrin, he ends up having to help Alan in his resistance work and gets pinned as a rebel for his pains!

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Grim Tuesday

Grim Tuesday (Keys to the Kingdom, Book 2) (Paperback)
by Garth Nix
ISBN: 0439436559

Price: USD 5.99
101 used & new available from USD 0.73

Picking up right where Mister Monday left off, Grim Tuesday calls Arthur Penhaligon back to the House. This time, Grim Tuesday is demanding that Arthur repay the debts of Mister Monday, to the point of sending his minions into Arthur’s world to take away his family’s money, house, jobs, and generally crash the stock market. The only thing Dame Primus can think to do is have Arthur return to the House, try to find part two of the Will, and depose the evil Grim Tuesday. But can Arthur survive another day in the house that almost killed him the day before?

I have hardly done the plot justice in that short summary, but I don’t want to ruin it for you! Grim Tuesday manages to be both scarily exciting and quite funny (in places) at the same time. Although a few places are a bit gross, the rest of the book manages to shine through brilliantly. As with the first book, this one ends right at the beginning of the next day, so have Drowned Wednesday handy.

Why did I read it?Could have been betterAverageFantastic!Incredibook! (2 votes, average: 4 out of 5)
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