A Dragon Used to Live Here
by Annette LeBlanc Cate
Thomas and Emily are the children of a knight and lady. They live in a castle, take archery lessons, and learn courtly manners and knightly conduct. They meet Meg, a scribe, who used to know their mother when she was a child. Meg tells them stories about the dragon who used to live in the castle and how their mother became involved in a terrifying adventure. But is Meg telling the truth? Or is she just weaving a tall tale?
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The Last Mapmaker
by Christina Soontornvat (Goodreads Author)
Sai pretends to be from a wealthy family in order to get an apprenticeship with a mapmaker. She hides that her father is a criminal, and uses her skills as a forger to help the mapmaker copy maps and documents. When the mapmaker goes on a sea voyage to explore new regions of the world, Sai is eager to leave her past behind and start a new life. There are tales of dragons and dangerous seas in the South, but the riches and rewards could be immense.
I loved this story! It’s so exciting as they travel further and further from Sai’s home, and the people on board the ship begin to divide into groups with very different goals. Both the adventure and the emotional journey have a lot of tension and suspense. There are so many great twists in the plot!
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The Orphan King (The Orphan King, #1)
by Tyler Chin-Tanner, James Boyle (Illustrator), Andrew Dalhouse (Color Artist), Pete Carlsson (Letterer)
This graphic novel follows Prince Kaidan, who travels to a faraway island for combat training with his aunt. When he returns, he finds the kingdom in ruins and his parents dead or missing. With a price on his head, Kaidan can trust no one, and he is being hunted wherever he goes.
I loved the legendary tropes in this book! Kaidan is like a young King Arthur, and there is also a Robin Hood type character, but the story isn’t really a retelling of either of those stories. There are elements from those legends, but this story stands on its own. I can’t wait to read the next volume in the series!
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The Monster in the Lake (The Dragon in the Library, #2)
by Louie Stowell, Davide Ortu (Illustrator)
Kit and her friends are flabbergasted by a recent surge of wild magic that is making random things happen. Kit’s magic spells are going haywire. Animals in the park are talking to humans, and something magical is bubbling up from the depths of the lake. This new adventure will take Kit all the way to Scotland to solve the mystery of the unpredictable wild magic.
I loved this book from start to finish! The characters, the plot, the world-building, the magic; everything is wonderful! The writing style is absolutely hilarious! There are so many cute bits of dialogue and funny scenes that had me laughing.
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The Patron Thief of Bread
by Lindsay Eagar (Goodreads Author)
Duck has always lived on the streets with a gang of urchins who call themselves the Crowns. They pick pockets and steal food to stay alive. Their leader, Gnat, comes up with the idea for one of them to masquerade as a baker’s apprentice to steal from the bakery, and Duck is chosen for the job. Duck uses forged apprenticeship papers to begin working at the bakery, and then passes stolen bread and coins to the rest of the street urchins. But the longer Duck works at the bakery, the more she begins to settle into her new life. The baker lady is kind to her, and they become a weird sort of family. Duck’s loyalties are divided. Will she choose the baker who loves her like a mother would, or her ragtag family of pickpockets?
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Secrets of the Last Merfolk
by Lindsay Littleson (Goodreads Author)
2 out of 5 stars
Finn and Sage begin to wonder if there might be merfolk living in the ocean off the Scottish coast. They have been seeing strange sights in the water, and hearing a weird song that echoes off the cliffs. Sage begins to investigate in her kayak, but when Finn does a dangerous solo swim in the freezing waves, the two discover that the merfolk are more mysterious and strange than any legend they have ever heard. The merfolk are in danger from an old enemy, and they need help from the human children to save their little underwater colony.
The plot is incredibly slow. This could have been a short story, but it drags on and on. Once something finally does happen, it’s not that amazing. Finn and Sage are completely obsolete to the plans of the merfolk. They make a big deal about “helping”, but they never do anything that the merfolk couldn’t have just done themselves with less effort. A lot of fuss over nothing.
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The Captain’s Daughters
by Doreen D. Berger (Goodreads Author)
3 out of 5 stars
Diane and Robin are kidnapped by an alien race to be sold as slaves on a far-away planet. Their father, a starship captain, is searching the galaxy for them, but he will have to travel farther than anyone thought possible in order to rescue his daughters. However, Diane and Robin are not sitting around waiting to be rescued. They take matters into their own hands, and try a daring escape.
I enjoyed this book! The plot is a fun adventure and has some interesting twists. There were a couple of times when lucky coincidences in the plot made it a little unbelievable. I feel like the plot could have been a bit tighter in a few places. But those were few and far between, so I still liked the story a lot!
The writing is really good! I immediately connected with the story and with the characters. The pacing is excellent, and the scenes have a lot of suspense. I laughed several times at some of the funny dialogue! Those girls are so sassy!
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The Coral Kingdom
by Linda Chapman, Mirelle Ortega (Illustrations)
5 out of 5 stars
Marina and her father have just moved to a new underwater neighborhood, and Marina makes some new friends at school while her father researches rare fish in the area. Marina has to put up with a snobby girl at school, but she happily joins the Save the Sea Creatures club with her friends. However, Marina and her friends are frightened by a strange creature that is evidently destroying the local coral reef caves. They find some weird clues, but no one has sighted the creature. Can they solve the mystery before the damage gets worse?
I loved this cute book! The mermaid culture is wonderfully imaginative, and I thought it was so fun to learn about Marina and her friends. We also get some real life facts about interesting fish and conservation in the ocean. The mystery had me in complete suspense! I was puzzling and wondering, What is this big sea monster creature that is destroying the coral?
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The Voyage of Barracks
by Stuart Petrie
5 out of 5 stars
The Gunn family love their beautiful country home, but when a nasty factory is built across the road, they decide to attach a balloon to their house and float around the world looking for a new peaceful place to live.
I adore this book. I’ve read it several times now, and it is delightful every time!
I love all the different places that they visit; a desert oasis, the top of the Acropolis, an island with cannibals, a small village in the Alps, and the beautiful beaches of the French Riviera.
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