Entries Categorized as 'Review'
Posted by Becca
Categories: Adventure, Historical Fiction, Review, Younger Readers
Tags:Ethel C. Brill, french and indian war, Indians, mohawks
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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.
Posted by Rebekah
Categories: All Ages, Fantasy, Fiction, Incredibook!, Picture Books, Review
Tags:Animals, Dragons, Funny, Graeme Base
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A collection of letters (with illustrations) from various, obscure explorers who are credited with discovering several of the major types of Dragons. The letters have been compiled and illustrated by a Professor Rowland W. Greasebeam, B.Sc (Serp.), F.R.Aud.
This book is absolutely hysterical! I found the Eleventh Anniversary Edition at the library just the other day. I had read the original several years ago, (enough years ago that I forgot the title) and finally rediscovered it! Much to my enjoyment, there was an extra chapter of dragons. If you read it, read everything in it. The acknowledgements, the disclaimers in the back, the introductions to each chapter, everything. It is sooooo funny! (See? I resorted to a typical extention of a two letter word to fully express my enthusiasm, i.e. I really like it.) It would be good for all ages, as the younger ones can enjoy the illustrations and the older (but young at heart) can laugh themselves silly at the humor.
Posted by Jordan
Categories: Fiction, Older Readers, Review
Tags:Good Read Aloud, Natalie Babbitt
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Once, eighty-seven years ago, the Tuck family stopped to drink from a spring in the woods. Then they discovered that this spring granted them eternal life, so they have lived unchanging for eighty-seven years. But then, young Winnie Foster sees Jesse Tuck drinking from the spring. The Tucks believe it would be a disaster for the world to know about the spring, and so they are forced to kidnap Winnie and tell her the whole story. And then a man shows up, searching for the Tucks to learn their secret of eternal life.
Would it really be a great thing to live forever in this world, unchanged and unchanging? Tuck Everlasting may change your mind if you think so. This is my favorite of Natalie Babbitt’s books. All of the characters feel very real, and the question that the story revolves around is worth exploring. Every character thinks differently about the spring, some thinking that it’s a gift, others feeling that they have been cursed by the waters. Not to be missed.
Posted by Sarah
Categories: Adventure, Historical Fiction, Review, Younger Readers
Tags:Marie McSwigan
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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.
Posted by Rebekah
Categories: Adventure, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Older Readers, Review
Tags:Funny, Robert Louis Stevenson
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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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