The Magic City (Paperback)
by Edith Nesbit
ISBN: 8132052773

Price: $1.20
6 used & new available from USD 1.20

Phillip is bored one day in his stepfather’s mansion, so he builds an enormous city out of anything that comes to hand. To his great surprise that night, he shrinks down (or the city gets bigger) and finds himself in a realm containing every city he’s ever built. Through various magical rules, his stepsister Lucy joins him in the city, and they set out on a quest to perform seven tasks and fulfill an ancient prophecy of a coming deliverer who will be king. But their progress is hindered at every turn by the Pretenderette, who wants to claim the throne for herself.

The Magic City is signature Nesbit. How else do you describe her delightful style and humor? The story world is cleverly put together in a way that leaves you guessing about what will come next, but it makes perfect sense once Nesbit explains. I only took off half a star because the main character is bratty enough in the first couple chapters to make you think it’s not going to be any good. Keep reading! This one has made it onto my list of favorite Nesbit books.

(And as a side note, The Magic City inspired Edward Eager’s Knight’s Castle, which makes it great fun to compare the two and see where Eager plays off of Nesbit in his unique take on this concept.)

No Jumping on the Bed! (Paperback)
by Tedd Arnold
ISBN: 014055839X

Price: USD 6.99
82 used & new available from USD 0.10

Walter has been warned about jumping on his bed, but he chooses to disobey. An extra hard bounce sends his bed crashing through the floor and into the room below where Miss Hattie is enjoying dinner. Though Walter would love to stay, he continues the descent through every floor of the apartment, taking the occupants and their possessions with him.

Quite the funny story. The list of people and objects gets longer with each page. The rhyming names of the occupants makes the list even more humorous. Make sure that you pay close attention to the illustrations, especially the dinosaur on the television. All in all, this book is much more fun to read out loud than for one person to read it by himself.

Anne of the Island (Anne of Green Gables, Book 3) (Mass Market Paperback)
by L.M. Montgomery
ISBN: 0553213172

Price: USD 5.99
791 used & new available from USD 0.10

Anne is off to college! There she meets many new friends and stays in touch with just as many old ones. In between exams, finding the perfect house to rent, various escapades, and college social life, Anne must accept that she has grown up. Which means entertaining a few suitors…

Anne of the Island follows a somewhat more condensed style as four years of college are condensed into a single book. This feels rather rushed to me, especially with the suitors bit of my synopsis going on. It’s no secret that Anne discovers somebody she loves by the end of the book, but with the time so squished together, I never felt like I got to know some of her options. That’s really my biggest complaint, though, and it’s certainly no reason to pass up this delightful third Anne book.

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever (Paperback)
by Barbara Robinson
ISBN: 0064402754

Price: USD 5.99
485 used & new available from USD 0.10

The Herdman kids are the most rotten children ever. They’re so rotten that when they come to church in the hopes of free dessert, nobody expects them to want to stay. But the biggest surprise comes when the six Herdmans decide they want to star in the Christmas Pageant — with hilarious and heartwarming results.

I’ve grown up with this short book. Every year, I revisit it and find it better than I remembered. Up until the last chapter, the laughs come fast and furious as the Herdmans get a crash course in the Christmas story, but the final chapter is the gem where the true meaning of Christmas shines through.

Cheaper by the Dozen (Perennial Classics) (Paperback)
by Frank B. Gilbreth, Ernestine Gilbreth Carey
ISBN: 006008460X

Price: USD 7.79
220 used & new available from USD 0.10

This is the story of motion-study pioneer Frank Gilbreth. He and his wife decide to have a dozen children and actually do it. Then hilarity ensues as Mr. Gilbreth applies his factory-efficiency job to raising a family.

Written by two of Frank Gilbreth’s children, Cheaper by the Dozen is meant to be the true story of the life of their father. I don’t know if they made anything up for the book, but it’s certainly a lot of fun to follow the Gilbreth family through life in America during the early 1900s.

C. S. Lewis’ Letters to Children (Paperback)
by
ISBN: 0684823721

Price: USD 9.77
74 used & new available from USD 4.40

Here on Incredibooks, we generally review fiction, rate the books we’re reviewing, and give summaries. In a first for me, I’m doing none of those. I felt that this one deserved a review, even if it doesn’t fit into our self-proclaimed rules.

This book is a delightful collection of letters that C. S. Lewis wrote to children. It starts with one of his early letters to his goddaughter and ends with a letter he wrote the day before he died. Rounding out the book is a short biography of Lewis’ childhood, an introduction by Douglas Gresham, and a child’s bibliography of C. S. Lewis.

Full of insights into the Narnia series that you may have wondered about, answered from Lewis’ own pen. And other little tidbits C. S. Lewis tells us about himself are fun as well, giving a feel of the time period and his thoughts on the events of the day. As a bonus, for you aspiring writers out there, many of the letters include some tips. A must-read for all Lewis fans.

101 Dalmatians (Puffin story books) (Paperback)
by Dodie Smith
ISBN: 0140340343

Price: USD 6.99
108 used & new available from USD 0.10

Dalmatians Pongo and Missis are the proud parents of fifteen puppies. When their pets, Mr. and Mrs. Dearly, invite college friend Cruella de Ville to dinner, Cruella, who loves fur coats, decides she needs a Dalmatian coat! The puppies are stolen soon after, but the humans have no idea who is responsible. It’s up to the dogs to track down the thieves and rescue the puppies.

Everybody knows the Disney movie story which is based on this book. What few people realize is that there is a book in the first place. And as is the general rule of thumb, the book is better. Although the plot is similar, there are several fun detours that didn’t quite make the film, which is also the case with much of the clever humor in the book. One caveat: Cruella is never specifically labelled human. In fact, Pongo and Missis often wonder if she is something quite a bit more evil, though this suspicion is never confirmed. Overlooking that, this one will be loved by all.

Peter Duck: A Treasure Hunt in the Caribbees (Godine Storyteller) (Paperback)
by Arthur Ransome
ISBN: 0879236604

Price: $0.01
37 used & new available from USD 0.10

The Swallows and Amazons, along with Captain Flint (the Amazons’ Uncle Jim) are preparing for a holiday in a small schooner, the Wild Cat. When they hire Peter Duck as an extra sailor, things begin to happen. The notorious Black Jake and his ship Viper begin following their every move. Why? Peter Duck was witness to a treasure burial many years ago and word has gotten to Black Jake. Captain Flint thinks a go at treasure would be a good vacation, so off they sail into an adventure.

Peter Duck is meant to be a story made up by the Swallows and Amazons during a winter holiday. However, this is never explained, so the book could be as real as you want it to be. Here we have a rollicking good time hunting for treasure, fighting pirates, and sailing on the open sea. I thought the story dragged a little at the beginning, but once Arthur Ransome hit his stride, I was carried along and reading at a furious rate. Guaranteed to make you wish you were sailing!

The Vanishing Sculptor: A Novel (Paperback)
by Donita K. Paul
ISBN: 1400073391

Price: $0.01
54 used & new available from USD 0.10

Tipper is a young emerlindian woman who has been running the family estate ever since her artist father disappeared long ago. With finances dwindling, she resorts to selling off everything from furniture to her father’s art. Then one day Verrin Schope himself returns, along with a wizard and a librarian from Amara—and with dire news. Complications with an experimental gateway have placed the foundations of the world in danger, and the only way to restore harmony is through three certain sculptures. Sculptures that are now long gone. Tipper, with the help of the parrot Beccaroon, a tunmanhofer named Bealomondore, and her father and his friends, must set off on a journey to regain the sculptures before it’s too late.

Donita K. Paul certainly knows how to write a good quest! I think The Vanishing Sculptor is a splendid start to a new series. Readers of the DragonKeeper Chronicles will enjoy returning to the same world, and among the cast of new characters, will delight in the familiarity of a certain two. Humorous and adventuresome, with morsels of truth woven throughout the story, this book is a must-read for all. I enjoyed it very thoroughly and will doubtless be rereading it often while I wait for the next installment.

Nightmare’s Edge (Echoes from the Edge) (Paperback)
by Bryan Davis
ISBN: 0310715563

Price: USD 10.39
68 used & new available from USD 0.93

Due to events that can only be understood by reading the first two books, Nathan Shepherd must travel to the dream world to find his father. Preventing Interfinity, a merging of the three Earths, is his goal. But events take a turn for the worst as previously-safe Earth Red heads back into a collision course. Nathan must decide between sacrificing the remaining supplicants (the strange powers behind dimensional mirror travel), playing the giant violin that previously almost killed him, or a third option which may be the most dangerous of all.

Hold onto your hat as you read this final installment! Themes of sacrifice, courage, and love are demonstrated over and over before your eyes as the story races to its conclusion. We finally learn the answers to most of the mysteries from the previous books. The ending is satisfying, yet things feel a bit rushed as the final chapter hurtles to a close. I was more emotionally involved in the previous two books than I was in Nightmare’s Edge, but with so much ground to cover it’s no wonder.