Entries Categorized as 'Fiction'
Posted by Becca
Categories: Fiction, Older Readers, Review
Tags:Animals, Cats, Emily of New Moon, Funny, L. M. Montgomery, Long Read
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Our rating: 
Emily Starr’s father has just died and Emily has to get adopted by one of her many Murray relations. The Murrays are very prideful and consider it their duty to adopt Emily. Emily is taken to New Moon with her Aunt Laura, Aunt Elizabeth and Cousin Jimmy. Aunt Laura and Cousin Jimmy learn to love Emily, but Aunt Elizabeth is very stern and, as Emily thinks, unfair. Life is hard for Emily until Aunt Laura gives her some old “letter-bills” to write on. Then she can write away her free time. Emily also makes the acquaintance of Ilse, the doctor’s daughter, Perry, the New Moon hired boy and Teddy Kent.
Okay…This book is rather hard to sum up because there is so much to it. Emily’s logic can be rather funny sometimes as can her adventures. I like the descriptions of how Emily feels when she writes because I feel the same way when I write. Emily of New Moon is worth reading even if it is a long story.
Posted by Jordan
Categories: Adventure, All Ages, Fantasy, Fiction, Review
Tags:cars, Funny, Good Read Aloud, Ian Fleming, Quick Read
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Commander Potts is an explorer and inventor, but he doesn’t have much money. He wants to buy his family a car, so he invents some amazing whistling candies and sells them. Then, his whole family picks out a broken down old car, which Commander Potts fixes up in his workshop. When they take a ride to the seaside to try it out, the car, christened Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, has a few magical surprises up its, uh, radiator!
“Oho,” you say, “just like the movie!” Well, not exactly. No General Bomburst, no child-catcher, and Mr. Potts is already married. In fact, the book bears almost no resemblance to the movie. But give the book some credit, after all, it came first! (Am I here to review the book? Oh, yeah.) Anyway, I have only one problem with this book: It’s too short, and a bit too coincidental (okay, that was two problems). Lots of fun, absorbing, and it’s short (did I say that already?), so it only takes a couple hours to read.
Posted by Sarah
Categories: Fiction, Review, Younger Readers
Tags:Animals, Bears, Funny, Good Read Aloud, Michael Bond, Paddington
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Mr. and Mrs. Brown are at the Paddington train station when they spot a small bear with a hat and suitcase. He tells them that he’s a stowaway who lived on marmalade during his trip from South America, and the Browns decide to let the bear live with them. They name him Paddington and take him home with them. (After a sticky happening.) The book is full of Paddington’s adventures, most of them funny.
At some points I was a little confused as to whether something happened or not, and there are places where Paddington could have apologized, but he doesn’t. However, it’s a fun book and the start of a whole series. I like the part where Paddington goes to see a play.
Posted by Rebekah
Categories: Adventure, Fiction, Incredibook!, Older Readers, Review
Tags:Animals, Brian Jacques, Castaways of the Flying Dutchman, Dogs, Long Read, Sad, Seafaring, Snakes
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Our rating:
Ben and his black Labrador, Ned, becalmed in the Mediterranean Sea, are captured by Arabian slavers. Ned is thrown overboard and left to drown, but he tries to follow his master. Ben and three other young people are sold to Al Misurata, the most feared pirate on the Barbary Coast. Ben creates a strange fascination for Al Misurata, but when Ben speaks out against the pirate’s approval of slavery, he finds himself in very deep trouble. Meanwhile, the almost-drowned Ned is rescued by Herr Otto Kassel, the strongman in the traveling Rizzoli troupe. Fortunately, Al Misurata’s men capture the troupe, reuniting Ben and Ned. Al Misurata keeps up a pretense of just wanting to help the Rizzoli troupe, but Ned uncovers a plot to sell the troupe as slaves. Ben and his faithful hound determine to help the Rizzolis at whatever cost.
Hold onto your hats, friends, this is quite a tale. Like all Brian Jacques’ books, it is packed full of humor, memorable characters and rip-roaring, swashbuckling, edge-of-your-chair adventure. The review only tells about half of the story. So many things happen during Ben’s efforts to save the troupe! Pirates, smugglers, spies, raiders, a shark… This is a great addition to Castaways of the Flying Dutchman and The Angel’s Command.
Posted by Sarah
Categories: Adventure, All Ages, Fantasy, Fiction, Review
Tags:Edward Eager
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James and Laura, brother and sister moving to the country, meet a strange girl who mentions a wishing well. When James and Laura arrive at their new house, they find it has a well! Could it be the wishing well the girl mentioned? They meet a new friend named Kip and also become friends with the strange girl, whose name is Lydia. Together they go through adventure after adventure with the wishing well, but is the well really magic?
Lydia is probably my favorite character in this book. Magic or Not? has some bad language in it, but it’s still fun, though not a must-read in my opinion.
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