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: 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.
Posted by Jordan
Categories: Adventure, Fantasy, Fiction, Older Readers, Review
Tags:Animals, Cats, Christopher Paolini, Dragons, Inheritance Trilogy, Long Read, Scary, Seafaring
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Spoiler alert! In order to review this book, I have to give away the ending of Eragon, the previous book in the series. If you haven’t read Eragon, I recommend that you move on to the next review.
Three days after the Varden’s battle with the Urgals, a small fight leaves the Varden leaderless. Ajihad’s daughter is chosen as the new leader, and Eragon leaves to continue his training with the Elves as a Dragon Rider. However, killing the Shade Durza has left Eragon with a wound that leaves him crippled, and he despairs of ever being strong enough to fight the evil king Galbatorix.
Meanwhile, Eragon’s cousin Roran is in a desperate battle against the Ra’zac for his village of Carvahall. Together with his friends, he must convince the village to do whatever it takes to stop the evil of Galbatorix.
First of all, let me say that I enjoyed reading Eldest. That being said, I must say that for being almost 200 pages longer than the previous volume, Eldest certainly takes a long time to tell a simple story. Eragon’s training reminded me of Luke’s in Star Wars Episode V, but it had some good parts. I found myself wishing that Roran get out of the story so I could get back to Eragon’s more exciting life, but he ended up having a reason to exist at the end, so I can forgive him. Also, I have to say that I didn’t agree with a lot of the different religions, although Paolini says they are mythology. On the plus side, the second book in the Inheritance trilogy has more action than the first one. All in all, this one is worth reading, it’s just a little slow.
Posted by Jordan
Categories: Adventure, All Ages, Fantasy, Fiction, Review
Tags:Animals, Cats, Edward Eager, Funny, Good Read Aloud, Turtles
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Jane, Mark, Katharine, and Martha of Half Magic fame are back. On vacation at a lake, Mark catches a turtle, and Jane dreamily wishes for a magic lake. The next thing the children know, the turtle tells them that they’ve gotten their wish, and they’ve made a huge mistake: A lake full of magic is way too much magic! After adding some rules about days when the magic will happen, the turtle leaves them to their fate – with hilarious results.
Next to Half Magic, Magic by the Lake is my favorite Eager book so far. It’s probably the most exciting Eager book I’ve read. Unfortunately, the ending is a bit predictable, but other than that, this book is a lot of fun.
Posted by Ruth
Categories: Adventure, Fantasy, Fiction, Older Readers, Review
Tags:Animals, Cats, Donkeys, Lloyd Alexander, Pigs
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Lidi is a skilled magician with fast-moving hands and long copper curls. She travels with her guardian/canvas master Jericho giving performances throughout the country. Lidi’s greatest hope is to find Ferramondo, one of the greatest magicians, to learn the one trick that no one else knows. The rope trick. On her journey, she is joined by a young girl named Daniella, who becomes the Added Attraction; and Julian, a mysterious young man who seems to have more to his story than he tells at first. Through it all, Lidi is constantly on the lookout for clues to Ferramondo’s whereabouts.
I’m afraid I didn’t do this book justice in my summary. It’s really very interesting, with sub-plots and all. I enjoy reading it very much. The ending takes an unusual twist that you probably won’t be expecting, but is still satisfactory.
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