Entries Categorized as 'All Ages'
Posted by Ruth
Categories: All Ages, Fiction, Review
Tags:Arthur Ransome, Good Read Aloud, Seafaring, Swallows and Amazons
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When the Walker children, John, Susan, Titty, and Roger, receive permission to explore and camp for a full week on the island nearby where they’re vacationing, they are positively delighted. They set out in the sailboat, the Swallow, and the adventures begin. A few days after their arrival, they meet Nancy and Peggy Blackett, who are crusading as fearsome Amazon pirates. A friendship is struck up immediately and an offense-or-defense treaty is signed, so that they can war together or against each other as desired. But their one common cause is against Captain Flint (or rather, Nancy and Peggy’s Uncle Jim), living on a houseboat, whose terrible crime is a refusal to join in their fun this summer.
I really had a lot of fun reading this one. I’d never heard of it before until just a month or two ago, but even though it’s considered Juvenile Fiction, I’m convinced that readers of any age would enjoy Swallows and Amazons. After all, who hasn’t dreamed as a child of having adventures on a remote island? Being centered so much around boats, there is a lot of boat-related jargon that I found difficult to pick up on at first, but by the time I’d made it halfway through the book I was able to follow along without a problem.
Posted by Becca
Categories: Adventure, All Ages, Fantasy, Fiction, Review
Tags:Animals, George Macdonald
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About a year after the events in The Princess and the Goblin, Curdie is sent by the older princess Irene to the city of Gwyntystorm, where the king and his daughter are now living. The old princess gives Curdie two things to help him complete his unknown task: Lina, the frightening animal, and a way to tell the true character of any person. On his arrival at Gwyntystorm, Curdie finds that the whole city hates the king and is excessively evil. Even the king’s courtiers are planning to take over the kingdom by poisoning the king. With only three loyal people in the palace, not counting the young princess Irene, Curdie must administer justice to all the wrongdoers in the king’s household.
In case you skipped the first part of the review, The Princess and Curdie is the sequel to The Princess and the Goblin. Younger readers may enjoy the story, but older readers will most likely catch the more subtle facts that a younger reader would miss. The young princess doesn’t appear in the story until about halfway through the book. I may have enjoyed The Princess and Curdie a little more if she had been in the story longer. However, it is still a very good, memorable read and Lina helps to make up for the princess’ smaller part.
Posted by Sarah
Categories: All Ages, Fantasy, Fiction, Review
Tags:Dick King-Smith, Monsters, Quick Read
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After a storm hits the west coast of Scotland, eight-year-old Kirstie finds a strange thing on the beach. It looks like a giant mermaid’s purse. She and her younger brother Angus smuggle it home and into the bathtub, and soon it hatches into a strange creature. Their grandfather Grumble tells them it is a Water Horse and that this little creature eventually will grow to be fifty or sixty feet. And grow it does. Over three years it outgrows the goldfish pond and even the lochan nearby. Where will they put their beloved pet?
They name the Water Horse “Crusoe” and, especially when he’s younger, he’s a fun character, though he never says anything. A good book. The short, last chapter may give some of you a fun surprise when you read it. Kirstie is not always the kindest to her younger brother, but it’s not too bad.
Posted by Jordan
Categories: All Ages, Fiction, Picture Books, Review
Tags:Easy Read, Funny, Good Read Aloud, McBroom, Quick Read, Sid Fleischman
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Josh McBroom, his dear wife Melissa, and their eleven children, Willjillhesterchesterpeterpollytimtommarylarryandlittleclarinda, all head West to find better farm land. On arriving in Iowa, they meet scrawny Hector Jones, who sells them eighty acres of land, not a tree stump on it, for ten dollars. The catch? When the McBrooms reach their new farm, it turns out to be a one acre pond that is eighty acres deep. Things seem to be going poorly for them, until one extremely hot summer day, when the pond dries up, and they find out that the soil underneath is so rich, anything will grow in it within a few minutes! Of course, neighbor Jones is not happy and will stop at nothing to get the farm back.
The story contained within McBroom Tells the Truth is good enough to keep everybody turning the pages. It’s a sort of picture book, in that there are pictures on every page, but the book runs almost fifty pages and takes quite awhile to read aloud. As you may have guessed, McBroom Tells the Truth is full of silliness and is most definitely a tall tale. Fleischman must have loved writing these, since there are many, many more books about McBroom and his wonderful one acre farm.
Posted by Sarah
Categories: Adventure, All Ages, Fantasy, Fiction, Review
Tags:Animals, Funny, Jonathan Rogers, Wilderking Trilogy
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In the island of Corenwald, 12-year-old Aidan Errolson longs for some adventure and writes often to King Darrow, asking for some kind of quest. (None of his fifteen letters are answered, however.) One day he hears the bark of the bog owl and meets Dobro Turtlebane, one of the feechiefolk, tribes of people who warn each other never to go near “civilizers.” The same day, Bayard the Truthspeaker pays a visit and proclaims that Aidan will someday be the Wilderking, the prophesied king who will come out of the forests and swamps.
And so the Wilderking Trilogy begins. This book is a fantasy, but is only so because it takes place at an unreal island. It seemed a little slow to me, but it’s still good. The Bark of the Bog Owl is written well so that it has some adventure, but is not gory.
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