Posted by Rebekah
Categories: Advanced Readers, Adventure, Fantasy, Fiction, Review
Tags:Animals, Bears, Binding of the Blade, Dragons, L. B. Graham, Long Read, Monsters, Tigers
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Once again, spoiler alert. With the by now familiar cliffhanger endings, this next-to-last book in the series is full of revelations and battles, all moving toward the final book, All My Holy Mountain, coming in April.
After his capture in Shadow in the Deep, Benjiah is still in the custody of his father’s murderer. The remaining Kirthanin army is fleeing before the unending pressure of Malek’s hosts. Aljeron and a few of his band have reached the base of Harak Andunin, despite terrible odds. A surprise awaits them in the form of Valzaan, the prophet. Yes, I said Valzaan. Alive. He joins them in their trek up the mountain and into the gyre of the Father of Dragons, Sulmandir. Thankfully, Sulmandir is alive and, after some debate, agrees to help them by awakening his children. Benjiah’s prophecy of the “four races” is on its way to fulfillment with the union of the Great Bear, Men, and Dragons. Aljeron prepares to lead his remaining followers across the Zaros mountains, where they will join the retreating army of Kirthanin in a final, desperate stand.
This book kept me on the edge of my chair. I kept wondering how the goodguys could possibly get into a worse predicament, and then a new disaster would take place. Wylla gets captured, Benjiah’s under a death sentence, a couple of goodguys get killed, (goodguys who have been with us since the first book), Malek has been revealed, and, trust me, who he’s been masquerading as is a bit of a shock, and on top of it all the goodguy armies are forced to surrender! Everything seems hopeless, then Aljeron finds the mysterious “fourth race,” Sulmandir arrives and . . . the end. Sorry, you’ll have to wait until April to find out.
Posted by Becca
Categories: All Ages, Historical Fiction, Review
Tags:Animals, Bears, Good Read Aloud, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Little House
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Laura Ingalls is a little girl who lives in the Big Woods of Wisconsin with her ma and pa and her sisters, Mary and baby Carrie. Laura has many fun adventures. She gets to go to a dance to celebrate sugaring time, see the new threshing machine, and, best of all, her pa tells stories in the evening.
This is a hard book to summarize because it doesn’t follow a plot line. It’s basically a story about life in the Big Woods in the late 1800’s. Little House in the Big Woods provides a good picture of this time period, as do the other books in the Little House series. Please note that while I marked this book for all ages, and all ages will enjoy it, it is written in a style best suited to younger readers. However, I think that I appreciate it more as an older reader.
Posted by Ruth
Categories: Adventure, All Ages, Fantasy, Fiction, Review
Tags:Animals, Bears, Geraldine McCaughrean, Lions
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Wendy and the Lost Boys, all grown up, begin having dreams about Neverland more and more. In fact, every time they dream about it, something from Neverland appears when they wake up. They eventually come to the conclusion that something is very, very wrong in Neverland. They must become young again and fly back to find Peter before it’s too late.
I’m not a huge fan of Peter Pan, but I don’t particularly dislike it either. I thought this, the first authorized sequel, was pretty good. Often, something would come up that seemed out of place, or unecessary, but it all fit together in the end.
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 Jordan
Categories: All Ages, Fiction, Older Readers, Review
Tags:Animals, Bears, Cats, Dogs, Donkeys, Elephants, Frogs, Funny, Good Read Aloud, Mark Twain, Out of Print
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This book is collection of several short stories by Mark Twain. The highlights include the title story, about a man who bets on a frog jumping race; and The Bad Little Boy, a cynical tale of a boy who is very bad, and yet has the best of luck.
If you like your humor a bit on the cynical side (I do), this one is for you. Otherwise, you’ll probably dislike these five stories. The link to Amazon is a different book, with several more stories in it. I don’t know what they are, but it was the only one I could find.