Book Review: George Goodwin Dragon Slayer

George Goodwin, Dragon Slayer by Candace Lee

George Goodwin, Dragon Slayer: A Scouting Legend (Order of the Dragon Slayer)
by Candace Lee, Eric Newman, Bear Grylls (Foreword)

George is determined to prove that there are diamonds in the old coal mine just as his father declared before his death down in the mine. George explores the mines looking for proof, and his Boy Scout friends follow him, but they all get into trouble when they realize that an ancient dragon has been awakened in the depths of the caves. They encounter a mysterious man who claims to have knowledge of dragons and the weapons to kill them. They will need all their Scouting survival training to escape the mines with a dragon hunting them.

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Graphic Novel Series Review: The Nightmare Brigade

The Nightmare Brigade: The Girl from Déjà Vu (The Nightmare Brigade, #1)
by Franck Thilliez, Yomgui Dumont (Illustrator)

4 out of 5 stars

Esteban and Tristan help their dad at his sleep clinic, entering the dreams of patients and helping them to fight the monsters in their nightmares. If the patients can understand the underlying issues behind their dreams, they can release their fears and find healing. When Sarah becomes a sleep patient, Esteban has a weird feeling that he has seen her before. They enter her dreams and find that things are much more complicated than they thought. Just like Esteban, Sarah has no memories of her life before a few years ago when she was adopted by her parents. Could their memory loss be connected in some way?

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Picture Book Review: Enough Elizabeths

Enough Elizabeths by Heather Harris Bergevin

Enough Elizabeths
by Heather Harris Bergevin (Goodreads Author), Lexi Hall (Illustrator)

4 out of 5 stars

Princess Elizabeth is too scared of heights to sleep in her tower room in the castle, but she is too embarrassed to admit that to her family. When a dragon moves into the tower room, the family assumes that the dragon must have eaten Elizabeth or is holding her captive! They beg the dragon to give them Elizabeth, but the dragon misunderstands with some hilarious results.

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Book Review: Charlie Bone and the Castle of Mirrors

Charlie Bone and the Castle of Mirrors by Jenny Nimmo

Charlie Bone and the Castle of Mirrors (Children of the Red King, #4)
by  Jenny Nimmo

5 out of 5 stars

Charlie’s friend Billy has finally been adopted, but Charlie worries that Billy’s new family are more like jailkeepers than loving parents. Billy is being held in a gloomy place called the Passing House, and it’s up to Charlie to break him out and find a safe place where Billy can hide. They think they can hide at the legendary Castle of Mirrors since it used to belong to Billy’s ancestor from hundreds of years ago, but they find something in the Castle of Mirrors that they didn’t expect and it changes everything for Charlie.

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Book Review: The Shadow Thieves

The Shadow Thieves by Anne Ursu

The Shadow Thieves (Cronus Chronicles, #1)
by Anne Ursu

2 out of 5 stars

Charlotte’s cousin Zee comes to visit from England, and he is terrified that a mysterious illness has followed him across the ocean to America. When their friends at school start getting sick, Charlotte and Zee are determined to find out what is wrong. Their search leads them to the evil plans of a demi-god from Hades who is stealing shadows to create an army and take over the underworld. Charlotte and Zee have to journey into the underworld and find a way to stop the shadow army before all their friends die!

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Book Review: Spice Box

Spice Box by Grace Livingston Hill

Spice Box
by Grace Livingston Hill

4 out of 5 stars

Janice runs away from her evil alcoholic brother-in-law and ends up stranded in the middle of a snowstorm. Dr. Sterling finds her half-dead in a snowdrift, and takes her back to his hospital and nurses her back to health. She is terrified that her brother-in-law will find her, so she stays at the hospital to train as a nurse under a false name.
In another city, Martha Spicer has just received a large inheritance that has made her financially independent, but she is lonely in her big new house until she befriends a mischievous neighbor boy who encourages her to help those less fortunate.

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Book Review: Singer of All Songs

The Singer of All Songs by Kate Constable

The Singer of All Songs (The Chanters of Tremaris #1)
by Kate Constable

5 out of 5 stars

Calwyn has lived all her life in the cloister with the priestesses of ice, learning to sing the magical ice songs. Darrow sneaks into the cloister hoping to hide from his enemy that pursues him, and he warns Calwyn about his enemy who wants to learn every type of magic song and become the most powerful sorcerer and take over the entire land. Darrow himself is an iron chanter, and he knows magic songs that can control earth and metals. When Darrow escapes into the mountains, Calwyn goes with him, beginning an adventure that will take her to the very edge of civilization.

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Book Review: The Last Ever After

The Last Ever After by Soman Chainani

The Last Ever After (The School for Good and Evil, #3)
by Soman Chainani

Sophie and Agatha seem to have found their happy endings, but they are both dissatisfied with their results, and the truth is… they miss each other. How can they find a happy ending when they are apart? Agatha and Tedros fight their way back into the School for Good and Evil, hoping to rescue Sophie and find a new happy ending together, but Sophie has other plans with the evil Schoolmaster.

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Book Review: The Colossus Rises

The Colossus Rises by Peter Lerangis

The Colossus Rises (Seven Wonders, #1)
by Peter Lerangis, Torstein Norstrand (Illustrator), Mike Reagan (Illustrator)

3 out of 5 stars

Jack is kidnapped by a secret institution of doctors and scientists that claim he has a rare genetic marker from the heirs of Atlantis royalty. This genetic anomaly will kill him within a year if he doesn’t get special treatments, and in return the institution asks that he help a team of other teens with the gene to track down powerful artifacts from Atlantis hidden around the world. But Jack doesn’t know who to trust. Are the doctors telling the truth, or just manipulating him and the other teens so they are forced to hunt for the artifacts and unlock their power?

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Book Review: Diary of a Marine Biologist

Diary of a Marine Biologist by Anita Thomas

Diary of a Marine Biologist
by Anita Thomas, Sarah Wilkins (Illustrator)

We follow Emma, a marine biologist, through her week studying whales, nurturing clownfish babies in a nursery, diving in the ocean with giant cuttlefish, looking for sea snakes, and checking on the progress of a new oyster reef. She finishes up her week surfing with a friend.

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