Anne of Green Gables
by Katherine Woodfine (adapter),Isabelle Follath (illustrator)
5 out of 5 stars
I loved this edited version of Anne of Green Gables! It is simplified for younger readers, but still captures all the charm of the original. It’s still all the same dialogue and basic story, but it has just been shortened and condensed.
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Sky Explorer: A Young Adventurer’s Guide to the Sky by Day and Night
by Elizabeth Jenner, Anja Susanj (Illustrator)
This book answers a lot of questions about the sky, and stars, and clouds. We learn why the sky looks blue as sunlight refracts when it hits particles in the atmosphere. We learn how clouds form and the different types of clouds. There are sections about solar and lunar eclipses, rainbows, mirages, stars, planets, the phases of the moon, and thunder and lightning. My favorite part was about the northern lights.
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Secret FACTopia!: Follow the trail of 400 hidden facts (FACTopia!, 7)
by Paige Towler
This book gives random facts about science, the earth, the universe, animals, trees, and the ocean. We can learn about astronauts, weird plants, and new technology. The illustrations and photos are eye-catching and colorful. Each factoid is short; just one sentence that tantalizes your brain to learn more! The factoids are arranged so that each fact leads into the next with one small thing in common.
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Aunt Dimity and the Wishing Well (Aunt Dimity Mystery, #19)
by Nancy Atherton
A young man from Australia inherits his uncle’s cottage in the village of Finch, and all the village gossips (including Lori) are determined to discover everything there is to know about him. They find an old wishing well in the tangle of the overgrown cottage garden, and the villagers jokingly make a few wishes. They are all amazed when their wishes start coming true! Only Aunt Dimity can help Lori to figure out whether the strange happenings in Finch are just coincidence or wishing well magic.
It was so fun to see the friendship between Bree and Lori in this book! They are both wild and weird and wacky! It was adorable to see how Bree looks up to Lori and seeks her advice, and how Lori feels responsible to take care of Bree. They have almost a mother-daughter type of connection in the way they care for each other.
I enjoyed this book so much! I especially loved the history that is unfolded in this plot, as we get a closer look at the deepest desires of the people in Finch. Their wishes really highlight how precarious their friendships are when people think of their own selfish wants instead of being kind and generous to their neighbors.
The plot has many little details that made it fun and engaging. I still think it’s hilarious that Aunt Dimity is a ghost who talks to Lori through a journal. I still love Lori’s delightfully stubborn character, and her relationships with everyone in her little town. I love seeing Lori meet new people in every book, making friends and enemies, and being her own wild self.
This book in particular has some really sweet scenes with Lori and her husband Bill. They are such a cute couple! I really love how their relationship is stable throughout the series. Bill is reliable and kind, and I love how he is so protective of Lori.
The writing is good, clear, and funny! The characters are adorable and complex. It’s not all fluff all the time with Aunt Dimity, but there are also some really hilarious scenes. There’s an excellent balance of serious subjects with more light-hearted scenes.
I love it all!
Quest of the Dragon’s Princess
by Lee Watts Th.D.
Princess Samantha is searching for true love, and she seems to have found it with Prince David, until he humiliates her at the grand ball. The heartbroken princess decides to take matters into her own hands, and she sets off on a quest through a magic portal to find true love, expecting that somehow she will find her way back to Prince David. When Prince David discovers that she is gone, he sends his best knight, Sir Zachary, to bring her back. But he’s not the only one searching for the missing princess. The royal family has their own dragon, Hubert Firetongue the Incomparable. The dragon teams up with Sir Zachary and they follow Samantha through the magic portal. But when they arrive on the other side of the portal, she is nowhere to be seen. Unbeknownst to any of them, they are all being pursued by a murderous dark knight.
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Od Magic
by Patricia A. McKillip
3.5 out of 5 stars
Brenden has always felt more comfortable with plants and animals rather than people. He meets a sorceress named Od, who invites him to be the gardener at her school for wizards. He discovers that the way he can wordlessly communicate with plants and animals might be a type of magic. The magic school has very strict rules about what types of magic can be used, and they are bound by the laws of the king. But the wizards aren’t sure what to make of Brenden’s type of magic.
A Wizard Alone (Young Wizards, #6)
by Diane Duane (Goodreads Author)
5 out of 5 stars
Kit and Nita are trying to find out why an initiate has been on Ordeal for over three months. They know something must be wrong, but they are having a hard time finding out what is going on. Darryl McAllister is not an ordinary wizard, and the fact that his Ordeal has continued for such a lengthy time shows that the Lone Power must be up to something.
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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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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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Sense and Sensibility (Modern Library)
by Jane Austen
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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