Book Review: The Golden Snare

The Golden Snare by James Oliver Curwood

The Golden Snare
by James Oliver Curwood

4.5 out of 5 stars

Phillip is an officer with the Royal Mounted in Canada, tracking down a rumor about a murderer named Bram who is hiding in the wilds. Bram is well known to be a madman, a murderer, and the owner of a pack of ferocious wolves. Phillip meets with an eyewitness who shows him a strange rabbit snare that Bram left behind. The snare is made from a woman’s golden hair. This propels Phillip to travel into the wild and barren wastelands of the north, searching for an answer to the mystery of the golden hair.

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Classic Book Review: Evelina

Evelina by Frances Burney

Evelina
by Frances Burney

4 out of 5 stars

Evelina is a naive young lady, entering society for the first time. She has been raised and carefully educated in the country by her affectionate guardian, but now her rich relations begin to show an interest in her. Evelina travels to London where she meets a wide variety of people, not all of them exactly nice. Evelina finds herself in a kind of culture shock as she tries to navigate the different manners of high society in London, but her sweetness and good nature will always win her friends no matter where she goes.

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Classic Book Review: Sense & Sensibility

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

Sense and Sensibility (Modern Library)
by Jane Austen

5 out of 5 stars

Elinor and Marianne are two sisters with very different personalities. Elinor is practical and reserved. Marianne is emotional and vivacious. They struggle to understand each other, but ultimately they learn from one another. Although the sisters find romance in unexpected places, it is their sisterly relationship that defines them.

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Book Review: Summer Wars

Summer Wars by Mamoru Hosoda

Summer Wars: Complete Edition
by Mamoru Hosoda, Iqura Sugimoto (Illustrator), Yoshiyuki Sadamoto (Designer)

4 out of 5 stars

Kenji is surprised when the most popular girl in school invites him to her family’s home for a weekend in the summer. He finds it awkward to fit in with her large and affluent family, especially since Natsuki is pretending that he is her fiancée! Kenji receives a work email from OZ, an online virtual world where he has some part-time work doing web maintenance. The email contains a code to be solved, and Kenji loves math puzzles. He solves the code and sends in the answer. The next morning, Kenji discovers that he has unwittingly unleashed a terrible danger into OZ.

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Book Review: Basil and the Royal Dar

Basil and the Royal Dare (7) by Cathy Hapka

Basil and the Royal Dare (7) (The Great Mouse Detective)
by Cathy Hapka, Catherine Hapka, David Mottram (Illustrations)

4 out of 5 stars

Basil and Dawson are called to the royal palace to track down a group of teen royal cousins who have gone missing. The teens have a habit of daring each other to dangerous feats, teasing a ferocious dog and barely escaping from its jaws. Now they have disappeared, and the royal parents call on Basil to find them. Could they have been eaten by the horrible dog, or is there something more nefarious at work?

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Book Review: The Garden Witch

The Garden Witch by Kyle Beaudette

The Garden Witch
by Kyle Beaudette

5 out of 5 stars

The Garden Witch is lonely. She only has three mean rats for company. They are so rude and horrible to her all the time, but she doesn’t have the courage to stand up to them. The magical garden hears the witch crying and decides to grow something new to help her – a magical turnip boy! Mickey Turnips is kind and helpful. He cooks and cleans and does the dishes. He helps the Garden Witch to sell her potions to the townsfolk. The rats hate him. They want to boil him up in a turnip stew. But the Garden Witch is now full of confidence and courage, inspired by Mickey Turnips. Those rats won’t get away with their rudeness again!

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Children’s Book Review: El Ratón Que Comía Cuentos

El ratón que comía cuentos (Somos8) by José Carlos Andrés

El ratón que comía cuentos (Somos8) (Spanish Edition)
by José Carlos Andrés, Katharina Sieg (Illustrator)

4 out of 5 stars

Simón es un ratoncito que tiene mucha hambre. No importa lo que coma, siente un vacío por dentro. Un día, visita la librería y se come un cuento sobre piratas y hadas. ¡Se siente lleno por primera vez! La librera le dice que no necesita comerse los libros. Ella le leerá todos los cuentos que quiera. Disfruta tanto de los libros que trama un plan especial para compartir las historias con todos en la ciudad.

( Keep Reading for Review in English! )

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Picture Book Review: The Hideaway

Hideaway by Melania Longo

Hideaway
by Melania Longo, Brenda Porster (Translator), Alessandro Sanna (illustrator)

4 out of 5 stars

A brother and sister play in a special secret hideaway surrounded by trees. They imagine that they are running through the grass with wild animals. They play with masks. They made shadow puppets. They draw and sketch and write secret notes. They collect leaves and stones. They gaze up at the stars and play in the snow. They drink mint tea in the summer. But when someone calls out to them, they are quiet as mice. Until their mother comes.

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Picture Book Review: The Grand Hotel of Feelings

The Grand Hotel of Feelings by Lidia Brankovic

The Grand Hotel of Feelings
by Lidia Brankovic

4 out of 5 stars

The manager of a hotel has to deal with some difficult guests – feelings. Some guests need a lot of room to express themselves, and some guests are quieter and more peaceful. No matter what feelings come to check in to the hotel, the manager knows that they are just temporary residents and they will come and go. But gratitude and contentment are always there when the manager needs some help.

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Picture Book Review: My Big Embarrassing Elephant

My Big Embarrassing Elephant by Angie Lucas

My Big Embarrassing Elephant
by Angie Lucas, Pierre Collet-Derby (Illustrator)

4 out of 5 stars

Maya is so embarrassed by the huge elephant in the room. Her parents ignore it, and her sister “dances around it”. Literally dances. In a tutu!
Maya is worried that the neighbors will find out and think the elephant is smelly and gross and horrible. When her new friend shows Maya that most families have an embarrassing elephant, Maya learns that there is nothing to be ashamed of. It’s better to just talk about the elephant in the room and work through it together.

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