Posted by Jordan
Categories: Adventure, All Ages, Fantasy, Fiction, Review
Tags:Animals, Cats, E. Nesbit, Funny, Good Read Aloud
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Anthea, Cyril, Robert, and Jane are back in a second book of adventures. This time, their mother buys a carpet, and when the children unroll it, an odd glowing egg falls out. Robert claims it and puts the egg on the mantle. Later, while the children are playing and waving tea-towels around, Robert’s knocks the egg into the fire and up from the flames rises the Phoenix! All the children are amazed, and even more so, when the Phoenix tells them that the carpet is a magic wishing carpet that will take them anywhere!
E. Nesbit is a great author. If you’ve read Five Children and It, you know that the children’s wishes never turn out the way they plan. It’s twelve chapters of wishes come true – but is that always a good thing?
Posted by Ruth
Categories: All Ages, Fiction, Review
Tags:Animals, Good Read Aloud, Horses, Marguerite Henry
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Misty, the well-known and beloved horse of Chincoteague, is expecting to foal any day now, but a raging storm starts flooding the island and destroying the herds of wild ponies. Paul and Maureen Bebee grow more and more worried for Misty every day as the evacuation process begins and the anguish of separation draws near.
This is a special story of how the islands were destroyed, and how love and hope helped to rebuild courage. The key downside with this book is that a large portion of the plot is in deciding what to name Misty’s foal. Well, judging from the title, that’s decidedly non-suspenseful.
You might also want to take a look at Misty of Chincoteague, the first Misty book.
Posted by Jordan
Categories: Adventure, All Ages, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Incredibook!, Review
Tags:Funny, Good Read Aloud, Seafaring, Sid Fleischman, Westerns
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Jack and his aunt’s butler Praiseworthy are stowaways on a ship headed for gold territory. They try to be honest stowaways and present themselves to the captain, who puts them to work tending the steam boiler. Captain Swain is not happy, as he is in a race with another steam ship, with heavy bets on both sides. And once they reach gold country, what will Praiseworthy do when he accidentally acquires a reputation as a fighter, and is challenged by The Mountain Ox, the roughest, toughest gold miner in California?
Sid Fleischman writes a good yarn, while making parts of it believable. Just about every page has some joke to it. Praiseworthy is a great mastermind, and Jack is always willing to go along. The ending may surprise you. There’s an interesting plot twist in there.
Posted by Jordan
Categories: All Ages, Fiction, Review
Tags:Award Winner, Elizabeth George Speare, Funny, Good Read Aloud, Indians, Pioneers
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After they finish their cabin in Maine, Matt’s father starts back for Massachusetts, leaving twelve year old Matt behind to guard the cabin. Matt has fun living by himself, until he tackles a nest of bees. An old Indian chief and his grandson Attean have been watching him and decide to help Matt out. In return, Matt agrees to teach Attean to read and speak English. The two boys resent the forced friendship at first, but end up doing everything together. What will Matt do when his father returns?
Well, this is a great book. I gave it four stars, because it’s a bit slow at the start, but it picks up later. You will learn a lot of interesting things about Pioneers and Indians. There was a TV movie of this book called Keeping the Promise, but I haven’t seen it.
Posted by Sarah
Categories: Adventure, All Ages, Fantasy, Fiction, Incredibook!, Review
Tags:Animals, Dogs, Funny, Good Read Aloud, L. Frank Baum, Mice, Oz
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Dorothy lives on a gray prairie in Kansas. When a cyclone hits, she and her little dog, Toto, are whirled into the air and eventually come down in the Land of Oz, where the good Witch of the North advises Dorothy to go the City of Emeralds and ask the great Wizard, Oz, to send her home again. On the dangerous journey there, Dorothy is joined by the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, and the Cowardly Lion.
I like this book a lot. The Wizard of Oz was made into a movie starring Judy Garland. It’s not very close to the book, but it’s still pretty good. It was nice going back and reading this book again.
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