Sunday, January 20, 2013

Girls Best Friend by Leslie Margolis

First of all, sorry for the gap in posting, I was on Christmas break and then I just kept forgetting to go to the library. Any here's my review. For Maggie, life isn't to bad. Until Ivy, her best friend until Ivy ditched her in middle school, has her dog stolen. Maggie, being a lover of animals, especially that dog and a dog walker, has to help. However, Maggie soon discovered that not only one dog had been stolen. Of course Maggie also must do this while secretly walking dogs. Oh, and the book takes place in Brooklyn. Anyway I loved this book and was very pleased with it fans of Nancy Drew should defiantly check this out but any girl age 10-14 might want to check this out. If you like this book, you should try Nancy Drew books, the Trixie Belden books, and the sequel to this book, Vanishing Acts (Vanishing Acts would also work as a stand alone book) Happy Reading, Little New Yorker!

Sunday, December 9, 2012

The Seven Tales of Trinket by Shelly Moore Thomas

The Seven Tales of Trinket was a delightful book.  It is divided into 7 parts, each telling a certain tale.  They all follow a girl named Trinket and her friend Thomas the pig boy as she embarks on an adventure after he mother dies to find her father and, in the process, become a bard like he is.  Following a map of her father's that he had left behind before he left when she was three, Trinket and Thomas befriend a fourteen-telling gypsy girl, seek a child stolen by selkies, confront a banshee, outwit the dangerous fairy queen, fight a ghostly highwayman, and save a baby prince from death.  However, it is the seventh tale that changes her future forever.  I really enjoyed TSTT and would recommend it to boys or girls ages 10-14.  It was 360 pages long, however, they were rather small pages, so the book isn't quite as long as it sound.  Anyway, Happy Reading!

Monday, November 26, 2012

Redwall by Brian Jaques

First off, sorry for the lack of reviews this past month. I could list off all of my excuses, but I really don't feel like it. Anyway, here's my review.
Recently, I had to read Redwall for an English class I'm taking. We read a couple chapters a week and then answered questions about them. Because of this, my only problem with the book was that I couldn't read it faster. The book follows young mouse hero Matthias as he and the peace loving creatures of Redwall abbey fight against the nefarious rat Cluny and his evil army. I loved it. Not only was it incredibly gripping, it also was very well written. In the course of reading the book, I learned several new words. I recommend Redwall to both boys and girls ages 10-14. It was 351 pages. Happy reading, NNY'er

Sunday, October 14, 2012

The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald

I read this book in a book club and there was one big thing I noticed.  Usually, people either really like this book or they loathe it (nobody in our group of girls ages 12-14 loved it).  The book follows the adventures of an 8 year old princess named Irene and a 12 year old miner boy named Curdie who both live on an imaginary mountain.  The mountain happens to also house goblins, in hollowed out caves inside of it.  While the princess and her nurse Lootie are out walking, they encounter one of the odd creatures and are saved by Curdie.  I can't tell you anymore without ruining the plot, but it involves goblins, stone clogs, an invisible thread, and Irene's grandmother.  From this description, one might wonder why not love the book, well, the plot isn't the whole picture.  You see Irene and Curdie, particularity Irene, aren't very believable characters.  Both of them are often too polite.  I have no objections to being polite, but Nobody is this polite.  Their politeness often gets annoying.  Also Irene, when not acting polite, often acts snotty and spoiled towards her nurse Lottie, who obviously loves her very much.  She also constantly cries.  That does get annoying.  But, if you can get over that, you will probably like this book.  I recommended The Princess and the Goblin for girls ages 6-12.  It is 262 pages long.  Happy Reading, NNY'er

Saturday, September 22, 2012

Daddy Long Legs by Jean Webster

The title of the book makes it sound like a book about bugs. DLL is not a book about bugs. The plot actually follow orphan Jeshua 'Judy' Abbot as she attends college. However, she's there by strange circumstances. When she graduated high school, Judy thought she was doomed to be sent off to a low paying, dead end job. Instead, a wealthy trustee of the orphanage in which she grew up agrees to send her through collage on two conditions.
1. She does not know his name
2. She sends him monthly letters
Judy readily agrees and soon gets caught up is college life; we learn about it through the letters she sends to the man she calls 'Daddy Long Legs', because although she doesn't know much about him, she knows he is tall. I personally loved getting caught of in Judy's world and I think many others would to. As learned when I bought the book, it is a classic, so a wide range of people would enjoy it, but I recommend it to girls 10+. Happy Reading, NNY'er