The Sisters Grimm: The Unusual Suspects

I loved the first one, but this one is even better (and I'm itching to read the third one). This book is creative and entertaining and just wonderful.

Summary: Sabrina and Daphne have enrolled at school, but their first day they find Sabrina's teacher.... dead in his classroom after school. The Grimms are on another case, and this time there are lots of deadly magical beasts. And as before, it's all wrapped up with the Red Hand, the infamous group responsible for the disappearance of the sister's parents. Will they be able to solve this mystery?

Other: I love that each story is individual and self-contained, but there is also a long story arc that carries on from book to book. However, this isn't too overwhelming. It reminds me of how television series are set up, and I think it really works in this series.

Favorite Parts:
1. Puck enrolls at school to be Sabrina's body guard.
2. The pipers son sets all the rabbits in the forest after them.
3. Granny Grimm drives a car!!!!!!!
4. Prince Charming helps Sabrina out.
5. The end which is amazing!!!!!! And sets up the next story. It completely took my by surprise. Also, I love Sabrina and Puck, their interaction is the most amusing of almost any characters I've ever read about.

One of Those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies

I loved this book! But not as much as What My Mother Doesn't Know. Still... fantastic. Although, I did set it down on a burner while I was cooking and almost burned my apartment down. Oops.

Summary: Ruby's mother has just died of cancer, so now she is in California living with her movie-star father... the one that never bothered to see her or speak to her ever, in her whole life. Her whole life is going down the toilet, especially when her boyfriend cheats on her with her best friend. Will she ever be able to forgive her father, get over her mother's death and get on with her life?

Other: This book is both sad and wonderfully happy. I loved the whole thing and I can't wait to read other novels of poetry by Sonya Sones.

Favorite Parts:
1. Ruby walks through the school sprinklers by accident... and she's not wearing a bra.
2. Ruby finds out the truth about her father, awww....
3. Ruby has a dream that saves her life.
4. Ruby writes e-mails to her mother (heart wrenching).
5. Ruby and her best friend make up.
6. Also, I like the poem about why Ruby is waiting to have sex. Amazing.

Sons of Destiny

This was a good conclusion, and I liked the way the books were wrapped up into how they became books (which is important because since the beginning Darren has been very conscious of the story being a book). However, even though it was good, I was disappointed. I loved this series, and I thought this book was the weakest. The last half of the book was one major twist, and even though the first half was the fast-paced, action-packed story telling I've grown to love in this series, the second half seemed to drag on.... and on... and on.

Summary: Darren ends up not killing Steve's son/Darren's nephew (go figure), but instead tells Annie the truth and turns his nephew into a half vampire instead of a half-vampaneze. Then he returns to the stadium to fight Steve for real. And it is a huge battle: Steve, along with the vampaneze, vampets, and local law enforcement, versus Darren, the hunters, the Cirque and the vampirites. Then dramatic reveal! The truth!!! Will Darren be able to find a way to cheat destiny and Des Tiny and prevent the rise of the Lord of the Shadows?..... Short answer, yes, and then we go into part two, which involves time travel and books and all other kinds of nonsense.

Other: The end of the book should have been much shorter and an epilogue instead of part two of the book. It kind of ruined the book for me, because the first half was utterly amazing.

Favorite Parts:
1. Darren and Annie reunite.
2. The cirque pretends to be timid and let the vamaneze round them up, but really they are just waiting for Darren, and are willing to fight to the death to help him. That battle scene is spectacular.
3. The reveal... why the fate of the world revolves around Darren and Steve. Fantastic stuff, really.

and favorite parts in part two...
1. Darren scares himself as a kid. Yup, that's it.

Lord of the Shadows

This is my favorite novel in the second half of the series. I truly enjoyed it. Even though the twist at the end was one I had been expecting since the very beginning, I still immensely enjoyed the reveal.

Summary: Darren travels with the Cirque to the town he grew up in. This is the first time he's been back since he became a half-vampire and things have changed. His sister has a son (she had him in high school, and guess who the father is... nobody knows!), his parents have moved away, and his friend from school is now a famous football (soccer) player! Steve has set an elaborate trap for Darren, which includes Steve's son, the death of his footballer/childhood friend, Debbie and Alice's army of hobos fighting on the vampire side, and the kidnapping of Shancus (Evra Von's snake boy son and Darren's namesake).

Other: Even though the whole book is about the Lord of Shadows, you still don't satisfactorily find out who it will be... Darren or Steve?

Favorite Parts:
1. RV is destroyed by guilt (finally!)
2. EVERYTHING ABOUT THE LAST SCENE OF THE BOOK!! It takes place in the old theater where the series started and it's unbelievable. "Dare accepted". Absolutely "killer". That's all I can say.
3. Darren goes to visit his sister.

The Cow who Clucked

Story: A cow wakes up one day and can no longer moo. Instead, she finds herself clucking. She undertakes a quest to find out who stole her moo.

Pictures: The pictures were amazing. They were colorful and expressionist and I loved them. I love this style of illustration and even without the story I would have truly enjoyed this book.

Thoughts: This story reminded me of "Are You My Mother?" (one of my favorites as a kid). I think it really stepped up the illustrations for books written for early readers.

June 29, 1999

Story: Holly Evans launches several plants into the sky as a science project. Then, on June 29, 1999, giant vegetables begin to fall from the sky. Holly is delighted with the outcome of her experiment, and follows the news developments obsessively. But then vegetables start appearing that weren't in her experiment. So where did they come from?

Picture: As always David Wiesner creates stunning pictures for an amazingly intriguing story. I really enjoyed everything about this book. He is probably my favorite author/illustrator of children's books.

Thoughts: The story was very creative and the ending is equally surprising and humorous and entertaining. I smiled the whole way through this book. It is one of my favorite picture books.

Becoming Naomi Leon

I enjoyed this book tremendously. It is of high literary quality, but is also quite an entertaining read. It's funny, yet deep, touching, and sad. It is easy to connect to the characters even if the reader is not in a similar situation.

Summary: Naomi Leon lives with her great-grandmother and her brother, an "FLK" (Funny Looking Kid). They don't have a lot of money, but they get by. Then one day the mother who abandoned them shows up and is ready to take Naomi with her when she leaves. Naomi and her real family must now go on a quest to find her father if they are to have any hope of staying together. And along the way, Naomi may just figure out who she is.

Other: Part of this story takes place in Mexico at a radish festival, so it's an interesting cross cultural experience of a novel.

Favorite Parts:
1. Naomi comes up with a radish carving idea, and her idea wins!!!
2. The title of every chapter has dual meanings, which it is fun to look for while reading.
3. The court scene where Naomi finally finds her voice.

The Story of Babar

Story: Babar is a baby elephant who, after his mother is killed by hunters, runs away to the city. Here he meets a wealthy old woman who takes care of him, and teaches him to love clothing. His cousins come to visit and she buys them close too. Then he returns with them in his little car (although, I'd like to see the LITTLE car that can fit an elephant), takes his cousin Celeste as his wife, and is crowned King of all the elephants.

Pictures: I expected more of the pictures. They weren't terrible. I would go so far as to say they were good, but they were not a style I enjoyed. However, if the story had been better, the pictures would have been more acceptable.

Thoughts: This book is a classic, with many sequels and it has been turned into a television program (that I liked as a child). However, this book did not appeal to me at all when I read it. It was boring, pretentious, and unrealistic. Besides the mother dying in the very beginning, nothing bad happens. Babar is just handed everything. And I think the old lady was taken advantage of by Babar.

Abel's Island

This book won a Newbery Honor. However, that doesn't mean I have to like it. It wasn't terrible (how could it, I mean it did get a Newbery Honor, and even if I don't always agree with their choices, they never pick books with no value). It was okay. As a survival story there are so many better ones (The Hatchet, Brian's Winter, My Side of the Mountain, etc). The main character is pompous and after spending a year in isolation on an island, you would think he would change more than he did at the end of the book.

Summary: After a freak storm, Abel's foolish decisions cause him to be stranded on an island in the middle of a river. As an upper class mouse who has never held any sort of job, will he be able to count on himself to survive the island?

Other: The main character was so annoying that if I hadn't been reading it for a class, I wouldn't have finished the book (and I almost never stop in the middle of a book).

Favorite Parts:
1. Abel almost gets eaten by an owl.
2. Abel almost gets eaten by an owl again.
3. Abel is so afraid of the owl he doesn't leave his hollow log home for most of winter.

Al Capone Does My Shirts

This type of book is one that I would have really enjoyed in middle school. I don't read books of literary quality much anymore, because I'd rather read something purely entertaining. This book however, is entertaining as well as of a high literary standard. The last line of the book is enough for me to want to read it even if it was awful.

Summary: Moose Flanagan and his family have moved to Alcatraz Island where his dad has taken two jobs. He spends his time trying to stay out of trouble (no thanks to the warden's scheming daughter) and taking care of his autistic sister, Natalie (this is set before anyone knew what autism is). He must deal with school, his sister, and the neglect he feels from his mother.

Other: It is strange. Al Capone is a clearly not a good guy (hence, ending up in Alcatraz) but he is seen as a hero in this story. Even though he does not have a physical presence, he is just as important as any of the characters.

Favorite Parts:
1. Moose and his friends meet Al Capone's mom.
2. Natalie's birthday party, where all of the kids come to celebrate with her, because they actually like her (the whole book, the mom is afraid the kids are taking advantage of her/making fun of her/etc.)
3. Moose tries to contact Al Capone and ask for a favor.
4. The last line of the book... brilliant!!!

Final note: I want to discuss something that will ruin the book if you haven't read it, so I will leave it as a comment. Don't check the comments if you don't want the story SPOILED!!!!