Book Review: The Girl Who Drank the Moon

The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill

The Girl Who Drank the Moon
by Kelly Barnhill(Goodreads Author)

4 out of 5 stars

The good witch Xan is confused when a neighboring town abandons a helpless baby in the wilderness at the same spot every year. She rescues the children and feeds them starlight until she can find adoptive families for them in other towns. But one time, Xan accidentally feeds the baby moonlight instead of starlight, and the child absorbs the magic. So Xan adopts the baby herself along with her Swamp Monster friend and a tiny Dragon, and together they name the baby Luna. When the child grows to be thirteen years old, her magic erupts in unpredictable ways.

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Book Review: Magic’s Most Wanted

Magic's Most Wanted by Tyler Whitesides

Magic’s Most Wanted
byTyler Whitesides

4.5 out of 5 stars

Mason is confused when he opens up an ordinary music box and his entire class and teacher are magically transported to Antarctica. Magix agents show up to arrest him for crimes involving magic, but Mason swears that he doesn’t know anything about magic.
He learns that the world is divided into Igs and Eds (people who are Ignorant or Educated about magic). The only way to access magical power is to be Educated and have the knowledge of what different magical items are capable of doing. If you are Ignorant, you could handle magical items (like a transportation music box) and be unable to use the magic within. But Mason was able to use the music box, therefore the court argues that he must be a criminal with knowledge of magic.

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Book Review: Museum of Thieves

Museum of Thieves by Lian Tanner

Museum of Thieves (The Keepers, #1)
by Lian Tanner(Goodreads Author)

3 out of 5 stars

Rebellious Goldie is tired of being chained to adults for her entire childhood. The law says all children under the age of 12 must be attached by a small chain to an adult for their own protection, but now Goldie is looking forward to being released from her chain on Separation Day. However, the Blessed Guardians of the City cancel the Separation Day ceremonies, and Goldie cuts herself loose and runs away. She hides in the mysterious Museum, where she learns that she has a unique talent for navigating the shifting rooms and the magic currents that run through the building. The City is in danger, and only a group of benevolent thieves can protect them from the evil within their walls.

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Book Review: The Unchosen One

The Unchosen One by Amy Sparkes

The Unchosen One
by Amy Sparkes(Goodreads Author)

4 out of 5 stars

Tassie is dismayed to find out that she is The Chosen One, who must recite an ancient spell to stop an evil sorceress named the Shadow from returning. But when she can’t read the ancient language on the ancient scroll, they begin to suspect that someone else must be the real Chosen One. Tassie and her friend Spin, a griffin, set off on a quest to find the real Chosen One and get them to recite the spell and save their island home.

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Book Review: The Lost Road

The Lost Road and Other Writings by J.R.R. Tolkien

The Lost Road and Other Writings (The History of Middle-Earth, #5)
byJ.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (Editor)

This book compiles some unfinished manuscripts and snippets of stories from Tolkien, along with earlier manuscripts of The Silmarillion, and etymologies of languages and names in Elvish.

The first snippet of a story is an outline of the Fall of Numenor, with three different versions, each slightly different and more evolved.

That dovetails perfectly into the second section which is the unfinished manuscript of The Lost Road, a story about a modern man and his son who have dreams of the ancient past that lead them to Atlantis/Numenor. There they witness the dark days of Numenor when Sauron was spreading his lies and the Numenorians were obsessed with defeating death. A Numenorian father and son much like themselves are debating what to do about the spread of Sauron’s power, and they are worried about spies reporting them to Sauron. But then the manuscript finishes right there, with some notes from Christopher Tolkien about his father’s plans to rework the story, which never came to fruition.

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Book Review: The Boy Behind the Wardrobe

The Boy Behind the Wardrobe by Suzanne Poulter Harris

The Boy Behind the Wardrobe: How C.S. Lewis Grew Up to Create Narnia
bySuzanne Poulter Harris, Mira Miroslavova(Illustrator)

2 out of 5 stars

This picture book gives an overview of Lewis’ childhood and young adulthood and tells about how he was inspired to write The Chronicles of Narnia. We learn about his childhood imagination that created Animal-Land stories along with his brother, Warnie. His mother took him to see ancient ruined castles in Ireland, and he was inspired by classic children’s books written by Beatrix Potter and Edith Nesbit. He would play in a big wardrobe at his grandfather’s house, along with his cousins. But when his mother died, Lewis was sent to boarding school where he was bullied, and his only escape was through stories. He befriended Arthur and finished his schooling with a wise tutor. When Lewis was grown up, he served in the war and wrote poetry in the trenches. But it was at Oxford that he found his true place of belonging and his best friend, Tolkien. All of these things inspired Lewis to write The Chronicles of Narnia.

Except… there is not one mention of the greatest influence and biggest inspiration of Lewis’ entire life – Christ!!! Even in a timeline of Lewis’ life at the back of the book, there is no mention of his conversion to Christianity, the most important event of his life. Ridiculous.

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Book Review: Kenny and the Dragon

Kenny & the Dragon by Tony DiTerlizzi

Kenny & the Dragon
by Tony DiTerlizzi

5 out of 5 stars

Kenny is dismayed to discover that there is a fire-breathing dragon in the back field of their sheep farm. But when he confronts the dragon, he finds that the dragon is kind and gentle. They become friends through talking about books and history and art. But the townsfolk have called for the king to send his best knight to kill the dragon! Can Kenny save his new friend when no one seems willing to listen?

I loved this book so much! The whole story is so charming and whimsical! I loved the adorable characters, and the writing is utterly enchanting in every chapter. 

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Book Reviews: Samantha Mysteries

The Curse of Ravenscourt by Sarah Masters Buckey

The Curse of Ravenscourt: A Samantha Mystery (American Girl Mysteries)
by Sarah Masters Buckey,\ Jean Paul Tibbles (Illustrator)

4 out of 5 stars

Samantha and her adopted sister Nelly go with Uncle Gard and Aunt Cornelia to live in an apartment in New York for a few weeks. The Ravenscourt Apartments are the height of luxury in the big city, but everything keeps going wrong in the building. The furnace breaks down, rats get into the walls, and a service elevator breaks and falls down the shaft. Some people think that the owner, Mr. Raven, must be cursed because he is such a harsh landlord to poor tenants in other buildings that he owns. Samantha and Nelly begin to investigate the strange occurrences around the building, determined to prove that the curse it not real, and someone must be targeting Mr. Raven.

Clue in the Castle Tower by Sarah Masters Buckey

Clue in the Castle Tower (American Girl Samantha Mysteries #4)
by Sarah Masters Buckey (Illustrator)

4 out of 5 stars

Samantha and Nelly are touring through England with Grandmary and the Admiral. They visit an old friend of the Admiral’s who lives in a grand manor house with a ruined castle on the grounds. There are rumors of a ghost in the manor, but Samantha and Nelly don’t believe in ghosts. However, when it’s discovered that some rare books have been stolen, they begin to wonder if someone has been using the ghost as a smokescreen for crime. The girls befriend two mischievous boys who live in the manor, and together they start to investigate the thefts.

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Book Reviews: The Postman from Space Series

The Postman from Space by Guillaume Perreault

The Postman from Space
by Guillaume Perreault (Goodreads Author), Françoise Bui (Translator)

4 out of 5 stars

Bob is just an ordinary postman delivering mail in space. He likes his boring routine. But one day his boss orders him to take a new mail route and he runs into trouble at every stop! Gone are his predictable days and safe routines, and Bob is thrown into every kind of wild situation and difficult delivery imaginable! He delivers a package to a planet inhabited by dogs and they chase him and take his lunch. One difficult customer refuses to sign for their package until Bob draws them a picture of a sheep. One little old lady has such a messy and chaotic planet that Bob is hit with flying debris caught in the gravitational field. Bob hates his new route, until he realizes that maybe he has just made some new friends.

The Postman from Space by Guillaume Perreault

The Postman from Space: Biker Bandits
by Guillaume Perreault (Goodreads Author), François Bui (Translator)

4 out of 5 stars

Bob is just an ordinary postman delivering mail in space. He likes his familiar routine. But one day his boss orders him to take on a new trainee, and they only have one letter to deliver… to a king! When they take a detour on their delivery route, the Biker Bandits get wind that the king is receiving an important letter and they track down Bob to steal the letter! Along the way, Bob and his trainee, Marcelle, pick up a hitchhiker who was stranded on an asteroid, but Bob doesn’t trust the hitchhiker. Could they be in even more trouble if the Biker Bandits catch up to them?!

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Book Review: The Sword and the Circle

The Sword and the Circle by Rosemary Sutcliff

The Sword and the Circle: King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table (King Arthur Trilogy #1)
by  Rosemary Sutcliff

This book chronicles King Arthur’s ascent to the throne by taking the Sword from the Stone and the creation of the Round Table of the Knights of Camelot. We hear the legends of famous sword fights and adventures and quests. Sir Lancelot arrives in Camelot, and Sir Gawain confronts the Green Knight. Beaumains serves in the kitchen before anyone knows his true royal lineage. Lancelot is tricked and seduced by Elaine, and Tristan tells his sad history with his uncle’s bride, Iseult. Sir Gawain marries the Loathely Lady, but breaks the magic spell that made her ugly. And this book finishes with the mysterious arrival of Percival, a knight who wanders in from the wild.
(To read more about Arthur, Lancelot, and Guinevere, and their tragic fate, you would have to read the rest of the series.)

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