children’s book

Book Review: Bunns Rabbit

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Bunns Rabbit by Alan Barillaro

Bunns Rabbit
by Alan Barillaro

5 out of 5 stars

Bunns is a rabbit born with short ears. Her parents worry that the superstitious rabbits in the warren will reject her, and they are right. The entire family is going to be evicted from their burrow, because the other rabbits think that Bunns will bring bad luck on the whole meadow. Bunns runs away on her own, hoping that with her gone, her family will be allowed to stay safely in their home. She meets the Spirit Fox who sends Monarch butterflies to lead her through the forest, where she will be tested. If she is found worthy, the Spirit Fox may grant her a wish.

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Book Review: Esperanza Rising

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Esperanza Rising by Pam Muñoz Ryan

Esperanza Rising
by Pam Muñoz Ryan

5 out of 5 stars

Esperanza is used to living on a wealthy ranch in Mexico with her family. She has always had servants and beautiful clothes and pretty dolls. But when her father is murdered by bandits, they lose their home and all their wealth. Esperanza and her mother travel to California where they get work as harvest laborers. Now Esperanza lives in a tiny shack in a migrant camp, and she has to work hard and learn new skills to survive. Her mother teaches her to have hope, but Esperanza gets more and more discouraged as some of the other workers strike and there is sickness and poverty all around. Eventually, Esperanza has to find her own hope from within, and find the strength to embrace a new kind of happiness.

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Book Review: The Wheel on the School

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The Wheel on the School by Meindert De Jong

The Wheel on the School
by Meindert De Jong, Maurice Sendak (Illustrator)

5 out of 5 stars

Lina is the only girl at the village school. She starts asking why storks don’t come to nest in their seaside village, and all the other schoolchildren begin to wonder why as well. They notice that other villages have old wheels on their roofs, so that the storks have a place to build their nests. They start asking around to see if they can find an old wheel to put on the roof of the schoolhouse, but it’s more difficult than they imagined to get a wheel. Most wheels are being used on wagons, not sitting around to be bird nests. As the obstacles against them continue to grow, the children refuse to give up, and soon the whole village is helping them, hoping to attract the good luck that storks bring with them.

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Book Review: The Mystery of Black Hollow Lane

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The Mystery of Black Hollow Lane by Julia Nobel

The Mystery of Black Hollow Lane (Black Hollow Lane, #1)
by Julia Nobel

4 out of 5 stars

Emmy discovers that her dead father left behind a mysterious box of medallions with a note urging her to keep them safe. When her mother sends her to boarding school in England, Emmy thinks the medallions have some connection to the old school. Perhaps her father was a student there at some point and copied the odd symbols that are engraved on library books and wall carvings about the school. Emmy enlists the help of her new friends, Jack and Lola, and they investigate the existence of an underground society that will go to any lengths to hide their secrets. Now Emmy isn’t even sure if her father is really dead, or if the secret society is hiding something even more dastardly.

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Book Review: The Black Market

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The Black Market by Jed Alexander

The Black Market
by Jed Alexander

3 out of 5 stars

Martin’s aunt gives him a special pair of shoes made from the leather of an extinct animal. She tells him that she got them from the Black Market, a secret place where people come to trade in magical items. It constantly changes location, and is only open on Halloween. Martin and his friend, Jess, go searching for the Black Market, and Martin exchanges the shoes for a Bag of Dirty Tricks. He loves playing innocent pranks, but some of the tricks included in the bag are downright mean and dangerous. Martin and Jess get involved in more and more deceitful lies as they start to use the dirty tricks, and they are dismayed to see that their victims are genuinely suffering because of the pranks.

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Book Review: The Burning Maze

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The Burning Maze by Rick Riordan

The Burning Maze (The Trials of Apollo, #3)
by Rick Riordan (Goodreads Author)

4 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 third book, they are travelling with Grover the satyr to find the oracle imprisoned in the burning maze that is part of the Labyrinth. Anyone who enters the maze will fall into fire traps, but the fire is also burning aboveground in some places and causing wildfires throughout Southern California. The dryads and other nature spirits are suffering from drought and fire, and Grover vows to help them. They enlist Jason Grace and Piper McLean to help with their quest, but Jason and Piper have their own problems.

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Book Review: The Stolen Songbird

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The Stolen Songbird by Judith Eagle

The Stolen Songbird
by Judith Eagle (Goodreads Author), Jo Rioux  (illustrator)

3 out of 5 stars

Caro is forced to stay with her strict Great Aunt Mary, who does not allow pets at her house. Caro smuggles in her adorable pet rabbit, but doesn’t realize that she has also smuggled in a stolen painting hidden in her mother’s old suitcase. The news is full of a gang of thieves operating around London, and Caro begins to suspect they might be after the painting. Caro and her friends vow to keep the painting safe and try to return it to the rightful owners. Horace is obsessed with fashion design, and Albie can knit anything, even a rabbit hutch or a rope ladder. Together they hope to track down the thieves, but Great Aunt Mary won’t let them leave the house without adult supervision. Caro plans to run away and have her own adventures without Great Aunt Mary frowning over her shoulder. But Caro discovers that she will need the support of all her family and friends if she wants to outsmart the gang of thieves.

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Book Review: Lizard Boy 2

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The Most Perfect Summer Ever by Jonathan Hill

The Most Perfect Summer Ever (Lizard Boy #2)
by Jonathan Hill 

5 out of 5 stars

Tommy has a secret. His family are actually lizard people trying to blend in with the human world. Tommy has to wear a human skin over his green lizard face.
It’s difficult trying to fit in, but Tommy has other non-human friends who have the same struggles. One of his human friends, Dung, is a Vietnamese boy who is dealing with culture shock and trying to learn English. They bond over their differences, discovering that you don’t have to be the same species to find something in common.

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Book Review: The Accidental Stowaway

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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

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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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