Book Review: House of Elephants

House of Elephants by Claribel A. Ortega

House of Elephants (Witchlings #3)
by Claribel A. Ortega 

2.5 out of 5 stars
Seven and Thorn are trying to find a magical cure for one of their friends who has been hexed. They begin to realize that the answers lie in the past history of all the Spares in the Twelve Towns. If they can uncover the secrets of the past, they will be able to restore the magical balance and save their friend from the hex.

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Book Review: The Dark Prophecy

The Dark Prophecy by Rick Riordan

The Dark Prophecy (The Trials of Apollo, #2)
by Rick Riordan

3 out of 5 stars

Zeus punishes Apollo by turning him into a mortal human. Apollo must complete various trials and serve a demigod named Meg, so that he can regain his godly status. But Meg has a complicated relationship with her stepfather, the evil emperor Nero. In this second book, they are travelling with Leo Valdez and Calypso to find the oracle of dark prophecy. Anyone who enters the dark caves will go insane when they are given a prophecy, unless they can sit in the throne of memory and expel the prophecy to regain their sanity. But the throne of memory is missing, and the caves of the oracle are heavily guarded.

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Book Review: The Accidental Stowaway

The Accidental Stowaway by Judith Eagle

The Accidental Stowaway
by Judith Eagle (Goodreads Author),Kim Geyer (Illustrations)

3.5 out of 5 stars
Patch is a little girl who is roller-skating around town with Arturo, when he steals candy from a shop. While they are running from the cops, Patch follows Arturo onto a steamship right before it sets sail, and she accidentally becomes a stowaway. She makes friends who help to hide her aboard the steamship so that she won’t be caught by the steward and forced to work for her passage across the Atlantic. Patch quickly realizes that some of the other passengers are not exactly who they seem to be either. She and her friends must unravel the mystery of RMS Glorious before they reach New York in five days, or some dangerous criminals could get away.

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Book Review: Ruby Holler

Ruby Holler by Sharon Creech

Ruby Holler
by Sharon Creech

4 out of 5 stars

Dallas and Florida are called the “trouble twins” at the orphanage. When an elderly couple takes them in for the summer, they find a loving home where they are allowed to run and yell and play, unlike the abusive foster homes they have had in the past. The twins were planning to run away on the next freight train, but they gradually settle into the rhythm of life at the old cabin in Ruby Holler and discover that they are truly home.

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Book Review: Reunited

Reunited by Colleen Houck

Reunited (Reawakened, #3)
by Colleen Houck

3.5 out of 5 stars
Lily has lost all memory of her Egyptian prince, Amon, and all the adventures she had in the netherworld with his brothers, Asten and Ahmose. But she still has supernatural abilities as a sphinx, and voices in her head that she doesn’t recognize. Seth, the god of chaos, has begun his final battle against the Egyptian gods and the battle is not going well. A goddess has hidden all three Egyptian princes away so that Seth can’t find them, and now only Lily has a heart connection that could trace them and bring them back. Lily sets off through the cosmos to find her beloved prince and her lost memories.

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Book Review: Recreated (Reawakened #2)

Recreated by Colleen Houck

Recreated (Reawakened, #2)
by Colleen Houck (Goodreads Author)

4 out of 5 stars

In this second book of the series, Lily must venture into the underworld to save her beloved Amon. She begs the ancient gods to help her, knowing they will use her strength for their own purposes to keep the god of chaos at bay. But Lily is willing to sacrifice anything to help Amon, even her own sanity.

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Picture Book Reviews: Our Marvelous Memory and Our Incredible Imagination

Our Marvelous Memory by Helena Haraštová

Our Marvelous Memory (How Your Brain Works)
by Helena Haraštová

5 out of 5 stars

Different parts of the brain work together to create our memories. Some memories are saved for the long-term, and some things we forget within minutes or days. Memories of physical motion are stored in the cerebellum, and the amygdala helps to store memories of emotions. There are explicit memories like facts and dates, and implicit memories like how to swim. The more often you recall a memory, the stronger it will be and easier to recall the next time.

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Picture Book Review: This Book is Too Quiet

This Book is Too Quiet! by Cristina Cubells

This Book is Too Quiet!: You add the noise…
by Cristina Cubells, Joana Casals (illustrator)

5 out of 5 stars

In this book about sounds, the reader has to add all the sound effects! We visit a busy kitchen where cooks are whisking and popping corks and slurping spaghetti. A plate breaks, the water faucet gushes, and the reader has to create all the sounds!
We make sounds for rainstorms, fireworks, insects, and animals. But some of the sounds have to come from our own imagination. What would a fantastical cloud factory sound like? What would sound be like in outer space?

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Book Review: The Fire-Breathing Duckling

The Fire-Breathing Duckling by Frank Cammuso

The Fire-Breathing Duckling
by Frank Cammuso (Goodreads Author)

5 out of 5 stars

A dragon egg ends up in the nest with the duck eggs. When the baby dragon hatches, the mother duck raises him along with all the other ducklings. But this odd duckling can’t swim. He wonders if he might be more of an “oinking” duckling, so he tries to wallow in the mud with some pigs. He wonders if he might be a “mooing” duckling or a “clucking” duckling, so he tries to do what cows and hens do. When a predator threatens his family, this little dragon discovers that he is actually a Fire-Breathing Duckling!

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Book Review: Dragon of Cripple Creek

The Dragon of Cripple Creek by Troy Howell

The Dragon of Cripple Creek
by Troy Howell

3 out of 5 stars

When Kat falls down a mine shaft during an Old West tour in Colorado, she discovered a hidden cavern where a dragon is living on a pile of gold. She pockets a nugget of gold, but feels guilty about stealing from the dragon when he was so kind to show her the way out of the caves. Her family have called the police and rescue workers to search for her in the mines, and when they find her safe and sound, she accidentally drops the golden nugget in front of all the reporters. The story gets blown out of proportion and a new Gold Rush begins. Kat is afraid that she has put the dragon in danger, now that everyone wants a piece of the gold.

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