Entries Categorized as 'Fiction'
Posted by Jordan
Categories: Adventure, Fantasy, Fiction, Incredibook!, Older Readers, Review
Tags:Animals, Donita K. Paul, DragonKeeper, Dragons, Long Read
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Our rating: 
Now that the dragon population is on the rise, Kale has a myriad of dragon-keeping duties that consume her time. Bardon whisks her away on a quest with meech dragons Regidor and Gilda, who are searching for a lost meech colony. However, there is a subtle evil infiltrating Amara. A group calling themselves Followers claims that to truly follow Wulder, one must follow a strict set of rules. Kale, Bardon, and their friends must discern the truth, find the lost meech colony, and battle an ancient evil.
Folks, this book is deep! I don’t think I even scratched the surface with my summary. Donita K. Paul wraps up her amazing DragonKeeper Chronicles with a satisfying and delightful finale, answering many questions raised in the first four books, and opening the way for a few more. Of course, wonderful truths run through the entire book, making it more than just a story. I was so happy to find that characters absent from DragonFire reappeared here. The only problem I have is that this is the end of one of my favorite series. That aside (and it’s not much of a complaint!), DragonLight is certainly not to be missed.
Posted by Sarah
Categories: All Ages, Fiction, Review
Tags:Animals, Dogs, Good Read Aloud, Margaret Sidney
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Ever since her husband died, Mrs. Pepper has been trying to earn enough money to pay for the rent of the little brown house and feed her five children: Ben, Polly, Joel, David, and Phronsie. But when they meet a boy named Jasper and his rich father, could it be that good times are in store for the Peppers?
This book is like a good old friend to me. It’s fun to see how little Phronsie and Jasper’s father get along together.
Posted by Jordan
Categories: Adventure, All Ages, Fiction, Review
Tags:Book of Ember, Funny, Good Read Aloud, Jeanne DuPrau, light
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Ember stands as the only light in a literally dark world. The city is lighted by lamps, the sky is black, and nobody ever leaves. When Lina Mayfleet and Doon Harrow are assigned their jobs as citizens of Ember, they are excited at first, but soon become frightened as they discover that the city is running down, which is the worst possible thing that could ever happen. Then Lina’s granny remembers that something important was lost, which Lina finds, but not before her baby sister chews up the important piece of paper, leaving the writing on the paper in tatters. It’s labelled “Instructions for” something, so Lina and Doon try to figure out what it says before the city’s lights flicker out for the last time.
Here’s a delightful story that is both fun and deep at the same time. I’m still thinking about some of the implications of elements of the story, and still chuckling over others. The citizens of Ember have no concept of so many of the things that we take for granted, which is demonstrated time after time as they wonder about what words like “hogwash” and “treetop” mean. On the deep side of things, The City of Ember speaks profoundly about pride, greed, and the consequences of wrong choices. The only thing I really didn’t like was the slow beginning, but once that’s over, you have a book that deserves to be recognized as an excellent story for pretty much everybody. There’s a movie coming out on October 10th, which looks pretty good to me.
Posted by Ruth
Categories: Adventure, Fiction, Older Readers, Review
Tags:Award Winner, Lloyd Alexander, Westmark trilogy
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Being a printer’s apprentice could hardly be called dangerous work, but with the Chief Minister Cabbarus laying down laws left and right, Theo soon finds himself running for his life. For the sake of concealment, he falls in with the fraudulent Count Las Bombas, and through twists and turns, they are joined by Mickle, an orphan girl with a talented voice. Their journeys sweep them all over Westmark, involving a group of revolutionaries, a daring rescue mission, and an uncovered plot of the evil Cabbarus aspiring to take over the throne.
Overall, I don’t know that I can recommend this one as much as Lloyd Alexander’s Prydain Chronicles. This is supposed to be a book for children, but there were a couple of things that bothered me—moral issues of what is right and what is wrong often set Theo to wondering, but the other characters seem to shrug off his concerns. Also, there was a very small amount of swearing, which was completely unnecessary. Aside from these things, I was able to enjoy the story, and I may look into reading the second and third of the trilogy, but I can’t rank Westmark as one of Lloyd Alexander’s bests.
Posted by Jordan
Categories: Adventure, Fantasy, Fiction, Older Readers, Review
Tags:Animals, Dragons, Long Read, Scary, The Door Within, Unicorns, Wayne Thomas Batson
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Our rating:
The Realm is in grave danger as Paragor marches ever nearer with an immense army. Only the legendary three witnesses can save our friends from the previous books. Meanwhile, Aidan is still trying to get through to his friend Robby about the Realm and King Eliam. And Antoinette is still in the Realm, captured by Robby’s evil Glimpse. As Paragor’s army reaches Alleble, the three witnesses must be discovered, and everybody must choose whose side they are on.
This is an epic fantasy tale that moves quickly from page one all the way to the end. So quickly, in fact, that I almost feel like Wayne Thomas Batson could have split The Final Storm into two books and slowed down a little bit. However, that is my only major complaint with this one. The characters really come to life, there’s great humor, excitement, and a very satisfying ending.
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