Pegasus: Olympus at War

Pegasus

Olympus at War*

By: Kate O’Hearn

Reviewed by Vardaan K.

This book is a sequel to Pegasus Flame of Olympus. This series is about the adventures of Emily and her flying horse Pegasus.

The characters in the book that are from earth are Emily (a twelve year old girl who lives in Olympus), Joel (Emily’s twelve year old friend), and Steve (Emily’s father and a policeman). The characters from Olympus are Cupid, Jupiter, Apollo, Diana, and Paelen. This story takes place in three places, the Nirad world, Olympus, and New York. A narrator tells this story from third person perspective.

In this story, Emily discovers her powers to shoot flames out her fingers in Olympus and takes lesson to control it. But her dad is still held captive by the CRU**. She, Palaen, and Joel fly on Pegasus and go to the CRU and rescue Emily’s father. Then Emily gets captured by Nirads (four armed, ugly creatures) and is taken to their world. But Emily realizes that the ones who are slaving the Nirads are the Gorgons (the sisters of Medusa). The Gorgons then try to force Emily to use her powers to kill Jupiter. Finally, a Nirad guardsman named Tange helps Emily escape and kill the Gorgons.

I like this book because it has adventure, fantasy and it keeps you turning the pages. If I were the author, I would make Pegasus have a more important role because he is the main character of the series.

I would absolutely recommend this book and the previous book in the series*.

*Read Pegasus the Flame of Olympus (the first book in the series)

** The CRU (Central Research Unit) is a government agency interested in peculiar stuff.

Fablehaven: Rise of the Evening Star

FABLEHAVEN

RISE OF THE EVENING STAR

By: Brandon Mull

Reviewed by: Sofia G.

I chose the book Fablehaven, Rise of the Evening Star by Brandon Mull for my fantasy book. The main characters are Seth and Kendra Sorenson. Kendra is two years older than Seth, and is going into ninth grade. She is one of the smartest people in her junior high school. She is supposedly fairystruck, which means the fairies have given her a few of their powers such as being able to speak the language of the fairies and to always be able to see and recognize mythical creatures. Seth is going into seventh grade and is very athletic. He isn’t fairystruck like Kendra, but later on in the series, he gets his own powers. The first part of the book takes place around Seth and Kendra’s neighborhood, but the majority takes place at their grandfather’s fairytale preserve which has fairies and golems and giants and all sorts of fantasy creatures. The story is told in the third person, but some chapters may specifically be about what Seth is feeling or doing, or it might be about what Kendra is feeling or doing.

It’s the end of the year at Kendra and Seth’s school. But something strange happens. In Kendra’s class, a new student turns out to be a goblin. Later that week, a mysterious man, who claims his name is Earl, walks up to Kendra and Seth, and says he is a friend. As if to prove he is a friend, he tells Kendra she is fairystruck, and it seems only a friend would know that. He says he is here to help them get rid of the goblin. He has Seth steal a frog statue that will make the goblin go away. Sure enough, the next day the goblin leaves. Later that day, they get an urgent message from their grandfather that they had to come to Fablehaven right away. He sends a friend, Vanessa, to pick them up and take them. When they arrive at Fablehaven, they hear the news. Fablehaven has a special artifact somewhere on the preserve. Their grandparents brought a potion master named Tanu, a magical creature manager, Vanessa, and one of their grandfather’s most trusted friends, Coulter, to help them find this artifact. The bad news is that a very powerful demon was stolen from Coulter; the exact same one Seth stole. Earl had tricked them, and now the demon will be after Seth.  The next day Kendra and Seth visit the Sphinx, a magical being who is helping them. He confirms that Kendra is fairy kind, not fairystruck. When you’re fairy kind, you inherit all of the fairies’ powers, except for flying. Afterwards, they keep this news a secret. They all work together to try and find the artifact, while trying to complete another mission: to cure Warren, another friend of their grandfather’s. Warren has been turned albino and mute by some sort of spell or spirit. He won’t do anything by himself, and nobody knows what caused this. They try to solve both mysteries at once. They’ve almost searched the whole preserve, except for one place, the Four Hills. All of this by itself is already more than a handful, but then they also discover there’s a traitor amongst them. The traitor has betrayed everyone and has taken over the preserve. Kendra and Seth are forced to deal with this by themselves, for they are the only ones who have escaped. Seth figures what caused Warren’s disease, and that it must be at the Four Hills. Against Kendra’s will, he embarks out and defeats the evil spirit that guarded the place where the artifact was and caused Warren to turn albino. Warren is cured, and he helps Kendra complete the tests and puzzles set up to guard the artifact. But the traitor is on their tail and as it turns out the traitor is working with Earl, and the artifact could end up on either side. But at the final test, Warren and Kendra prevail, and they capture the traitor. All is well.

The conflict in the story was finding the artifacts and keeping it out of the enemy hands. The artifacts are important because the yielder has mass power. This specific artifact heals every injury, magical or physical. If it’s placed in the enemy hands, they’d use it for evil. To solve the conflict, Kendra and Seth’s grandparents assign specific jobs to Vanessa, Coulter, and Tanu. Kendra and Seth were considered too young to help, but in the end they play the most important role in solving the conflict.

This story contains fairies, demons, goblins, giants, and spirits, making this book a fantasy/fiction book. This book does not have that much irony in it, but there are a couple of important examples of irony. I find it ironic that nobody lets Seth and Kendra do all the dangerous things, but in the end they are the only ones who can save Fablehaven. I also think it is very ironic that the person that helped Kendra and Seth the most in the beginning at Fablehaven turned out to be the traitor.

I really liked how in this story the two main characters are siblings, and in most books that is not the case. I loved how the whole fantasy-magic situation had a realistic background that tells you how everything came to be how it is. I find it cool that this fantasy business takes place everywhere, and I like how the situation is always a logical one, and the answer is never what you think it will be. I would change Seth and Kendra back stories, and I would make it more unusual. I would add some mystical events that happened when they were younger; like having Kendra see a Pegasus flying above her house when she was nine or something like that. Something that shows they have a magical before-story. That is the only thing I would change.

I would recommend Fablehaven to people who enjoy fantasy, magic, or action books. Fablehaven is like Harry Potter and Percy Jackson all at once. I would recommend it because it has a really nice story plot, and it has all the little details that you need to patch together such an advanced, complex story. Also, I love the characters, every single one has a distinct build, and none of them are similar in more than one way. I find it interesting how unlike a lot of fantasy books I’ve read; in Fablehaven fantasy creatures and magic are everywhere. In the Fablehaven series, they meet tons of people who know about the magic and the demons and the fairies and the imps and the dragons and all of it. I would recommend this book/series because of its catching story plot, the special characters and the unique adventures and conflicts in the Fablehaven books. 

Grimmtastic Girls: Red Riding Hood Gets Lost

Grimmtastic Girls: Red Riding Hood Gets Lost

By: Joan Holub and Suzanne Williams

Review by: Ruby S.

The main characters in Red Riding Hood Gets Lost are: Red, Cinda [Cinderella], Snow [Snow White], Rapunzel and Wolfgang. Red as in Red Riding Hood has black fuzzy hair, brown eyes and is always carrying a basket. She loves to act. Red receives a magic basket as her magic charm for having a good heart. 

Cinda is a blonde, blue eyed girl who loves anything that has to do with sports. Her charm is a pair of glass slippers that let her twirl and dance, and without them, she's really bad at dancing.

Snow is a shy girl with short black hair, brown eyes, and is always being insulted by her step-mom, Ms.Wicked. She is mainly gets insults about her appearance and does not have a charm yet.

Rapunzel has long black hair and blue eyes. She is afraid of heights and constantly has to cut her quickly growing hair. Rapunzel does not have a charm yet.

Wolfgang is a boy who can shape shift into a wolf and is always calling Red by synonyms of the color red. He loves to act  and did not get a charm because boys don't normally receive them.

The setting is in a realm called Grimmlandia. It was made by the Grimm brothers to protect all: fairytale characters, nursery rhymes, folk tales and poems from a world of evil characters called E.V.I.L. [exceptional villains in literature]

The story is told by Red Riding Hood, even though it sounds like someone else is telling the story.

In a far away land called Grimmlandia, Red trys out for a play but has stage fright. Red then decides to focus on helping her friends to save the school from a group called E.V.I.L. The group is trying to locate some artifacts to weaken the wall that separates Grimmlandia from the world of beasts and Dastardlies so Grimmlandia will no longer exist.

The problem in this story is the group stealing artifacts and charms. The problem does not get solved in this book they solve it in the last book called Rapunzel Cuts Loose. Which is the last book in the series. The problem is solved by Rapunzel being brave and going to one of their meetings in the tower that she grew up in as a little girl.

A magic charm is an object that could be anything and it just appears any time you need it most. Red has a magic basket so it can deliver stuff though it that you need but can’t get it at the moment. The one thing that is a twist to it is that it only works for those that it came for and there is always some kind of code.

This story is a fantasy book because it involves lots of magic and here are some examples:

~A basket comes to her and can deliver anything through it.

~The school is in different realm with all the fairy tale creatures we read about.

~Her drama teacher Mr. Thumb is no bigger than a thumb.

~The Grimmstone library moves around on its own and changes its size and there is also a magic mirror that you can check out dresses, fruit, hugs and lots of other stuff.

~The wisest woman in Grimmlandia who is a good witch Grandmother Enchantress transports inside a crystal ball.

Those are examples of what makes this a fantasy book. I did not find any irony in this book when I was reading it.

What I liked about this book was that there was always an adventure. What I also liked was it left you on a loose end for you to get some answers in the next one. I also like how they described it so detailed and with lots of feelings. If I could change anything, it would be to put more evil characters in the book and make more books for the series. I would also put more description of who Grandmother Enchantress is. I would recommend this book to people who like fairy tales and enjoy stories of princesses with a bit of mystery.

The Wizard of Oz

The Wizard of Oz
Author:  L. Frank Baum

Book review

By :Laynee R.

Characters: Dorothy is a Kansas girl how lives with her aunt and uncle, Aunt Em and Uncle Henry.

The scarecrow is a straw man who is very brilliant but wants brains.

The tin woodman is a tin man who was a real man but was cursed in a very disturbing way and survived, in the accident the tin woodman lost his heart and doesn’t have a heart now but is so passionate about everything and thinks even the tiniest lives matter to him.

The cowardly lion is an act tough look tough creature, on the outside he looks very mighty but inside he is a scared lion with no bravery.

Settings: There are four lands that Dorothy and friends visit, the land of the Munchkins, the beautiful blue land that the late Wicked Witch of the East ruled. The place of the beasts, were the lion kills the giant spider that has taken over the beasts land. Dorothy and everybody go to the Emerald city a “beautiful” green land. 

               In Kansas a girl named Dorothy lived with her aunt and uncle, they had a small farm house that fit no more than 2 beds, one stove, one table and three chairs. One day a cyclone came and uncle Henry yelled, “Get into the storm cellar!” So Dorothy and aunt Em went down to the storm cellar with Dorothy’s little dog Toto following behind. When the house blows away, Dorothy goes up the storm then walks over to her bed lays down takes Toto into her arms and falls asleep. Dorothy wakes up, she goes to look outside and there are three people as tall as she is dressed in blue, then  a women who was  dressed in white came up to the little girl and said, “you have killed the Wicked Witch of the East!” Dorothy act surprised, and didn’t mean to kill any one. The Wicked Witch of the east had taken over the land of Munchkins and now that the witch was dead they were free from the witch. The women dressed in white also explained that she was the Good Witch of The North and is the ruler of the Quadlings. The witch gave Dorothy a pair of silver slippers that the late witch had been wearing. Dorothy put the shoes on and before Dorothy left on her journey the witch gives her a kiss. The witch said that nobody would harm someone with this mark on their forehead. Although it didn’t seem that Dorothy wanted to go home or was sad it was quite the opposite, Dorothy had been very distracted by all the fuss that she forgot that she possibly millions of miles away from home. So the witch told Dorothy to go to the great Oz and follow the yellow brick road. Now Dorothy started on her journey and a little way outside the village Dorothy came to a fence on the side of the road and looked at the corn patch and saw a Scarecrow that slowly winked at her and then started to talk and eventually asked Dorothy to get him down from the pole he rested on, the scarecrow told Dorothy how he longed for brains so Dorothy invited him to go to Oz and see if he would give the Scarecrow brains. The Scarecrow agreed so Dorothy and the Scarecrow were on their way to Oz. they were on their way when they heard a groan coming from a bush they peered in and there a man completely made of tin with his axe in midair was frozen in this position he groaned to get his oil can and oil his joints. Once Dorothy oiled the Tinman’s joints they talked to the Tinman, and told how he longed for a heart so Dorothy asked if he would like to go with them on their journey to Oz the Tinman said yes so Dorothy, Scarecrow and the Tinman were now on their journey, after Dorothy had a night’s sleep. The friends fallowed the yellow brick road till they got into a scary part of the forest, then a lion jumped out and went straight for Toto till Dorothy slapped him on the nose and picked up Toto. The lion was hurt then Dorothy saw how cowardly the lion was and forgave him the friends talked to the lion and then he talked on about how he longed to have courage so Dorothy invited the lion to come to Oz with them and the lion agreed so they went on their way to Oz. They came to a big gate of emerald then Dorothy knocked on the gate and a little man appeared dressed in green garments asked them what they were doing there and they told him that they were there to see the great Oz and the man let them in immediately and escorted them to the palace where they were taken care of until Oz told them that they must kill the Wicked Witch of The West so when the friends got to the palace the witch saw them and sent wolfs, crows and bees but the tinman fought and beat them all then the witch sent the flying monkeys with a magic cap and the monkeys tore up the scarecrow, dropped the tinman and brought the lion, Dorothy, and Toto to the palace where the lion was kept captive and Dorothy living in the palace. The witch grew very fond of Dorothy’s shoes and one day the witch came up with a scheme to give her the shoes, she would place an invisible rode on the floor and hopefully a shoe would come off so Dorothy tripped over the rode and one shoe came off and the witch stole it without thinking Dorothy grabbed a bucket of water and killed the Wicked Witch, the witch had an odd disability, she would melt if touched water. All the friends returned thanks to the help of the people that lived in the land, but before Dorothy left she grabbed the magic golden cap. All friends returned to the emerald city and discovered Oz was no wizard just a tiny man behind a curtain Oz gave all the brains to the scarecrow he could ever want and the tinman a big heart and the lion a cup of courage. The Oz couldn’t figure out a way but then he said that they could fly away on a hot air balloon, so Dorothy made the hot air balloon and when the day came to fly out on the hot air balloon Toto was chasing a kitten and before Dorothy could get Toto and in the balloon it was too late Oz yelled from the balloon that the scarecrow was in charge. Dorothy still wanted to go home so she called the monkeys and asked to carry her to the witch of the south so they did and the witch told Dorothy that the shoes had the power to transport her back to Kansas so Dorothy grabbed Toto and and the witch told her to click her hells three times, so she clicked her heels together three times and Dorothy rolled on to the fields and saw the new house uncle Henry had built then Dorothy ran towards aunt Em and gave her the biggest hug ever.   

Problem/solution: Dorothy is stuck in the Land of Oz but clicks her heels three times and is whisked back to Kansas 

Irony: The scarecrow in certain situations has very smart ideas but says that he has no brains, I think that instead of not having brains he doesn’t have common sense. The Tinman also in some situations is so compassionate but he has no heart, like in the book he kills a lot of things but he cares for thing.

The narrator explains things very well and gives not always pleasant imagery put give a very interesting one. This book has witches talking lions, scarecrow and tinman. The winged monkeys would be my favorite part, they are really funny. This book is very different then the movie I would recommend this book to anyone over eight. There is a lot of gruesome things in this book, a lot of murder.                

Curiosity Thrilled the Cat

Curiosity Thrilled the Cat

Book by Sophie Kelly

Reviewed by: Kyle M.

The story is a really good first- person murder mystery. It is set in a quaint town where our main character, Katharine, has just moved. She has chestnut brown, very short hair and blue eyes. She is also head librarian for the only library in town.

When she goes to the theater to get someone to help her assemble the new chairs in the computer lab. When she finds the dead body of Gregor Easton, a famous composer!

 One of her cats jumps into her bag on the way to work, she finds out that Hercules (her cat) can walk through walls! She soon discovers that her other cat, Owen, can turn invisible!

 On her next workday, she suffers a myriad of injuries from getting shocked by an electrical outlet to getting hit on the shoulder by falling plaster. Katherine and her friends, Violet and Maggie tail the building manager to find out that he is in love with the last head librarian.

 She contacts Gregor Easton’s ex-girlfriend and she sends Katharine the picture of the music class that she and Easton were both in.

 In the evening Will Redfern (the building manger) confronts her about his relationship with the ex-head librarian and threatens to kill her if she doesn’t leave. He hints about killing Easton.

 When the music class picture arrives, Violet is in the picture. Katharine confronts Violet and she confesses. It turns out Easton took inappropriate photos of all the girls in the music class except her and then ruined their reputations and he invited Violet to the theater and tried to convince her to pose and she pushed him and the floor was concrete so he died when his skull connected with the ground. Violet didn’t mean to kill him.

 Case closed. I really liked this book but it was a bit inappropriate so I recommend it to ages 15+.

 I really liked this book because it’s a mystery and also fantasy. Another reason I liked it is because it was very misleading and you can try theories but it’s best to just enjoy and keep your hands and feet inside the ride. The last reason I liked it is because there was no irony. Irony is confusing.   

Jennifer Murdley's Toad

JENNIFER MURDLEY`S TOAD

By: BRUCE COVILLE

Reviewed by Kaj H.

     The main characters are Jennifer and her toad, Bufo. Jennifer is very ugly.

     All the characters are Bufo, Jennifer, the Witch, Mrs. Applegate and Ana.

     The narrator is third person. The setting is in Moody Hollow city in Texas.

     The thing that makes it a fantasy story is that there are talking animals, magic, transformation,

     If I could change anything it would be that there are mirrors everywhere in the hair salon.

     The problem in the story is when the witch wants Bufo’s jewel of happiness.

     The problem is solved when the witch is contained unconscious by Jennifer who is a giant toad at the moment.

     I didn’t find any irony in the book. The book starts out were Jenifer buys the frog Bufo.

     Then she notices Bufo talks and reacts by running away. Later she notices that Bufo can turn anyone into a toad by kissing them. Then they run into a witch who wants the jewel from Bufo`s head because the jewel is meant to make people`s lives happier and easier.  

     A few things I liked about the book were the name Bufo and that they chose a toad for the animal.

     I would recommend this book to a 4-5th grade level of reading and for people who like toads, kissing and magic.

The Spoon in the Bathroom WallBy Tony Johnston

Book review by Dylan F.

Martha Snapdragon is a bacon-loving nice person who stands up for other people.  She lives with her dad, Luther Snapdragon, at Horace E Bloggins School. Martha was poor and lived in the school boiler room along with her dad who was the school janitor and handyman.  Dr. Klunk was the principal at Horace E. Bloggins and was very mean to kids and teachers.  One day Martha gets bullied by Rufus, a spy kid for the evil Dr. Klunk.  Rufus has a little gang of kids that bully other good kids. Rufus especially likes to bully Martha a lot.  His gang calls and chants at Martha, “Marthur!  Marthur! Marthur!”   Martha runs to teacher Furlin for help. Furlin is nice and likes to help Martha.  Furlin is a magician. 

               The story is set at Horace E. Bloggins in modern times in an English speaking country.  The main character is Marthur and the novel is written in third character.

One day Furlin made potatoes float in the air and orbit around a pumpkin. Furlin opens and egg carton and grabs two eggs and puts them on a slanted table Martha tries to catch them but the eggs sprout little legs and start to dance. Furlin says, “Marthur is a fine name it’s not a name like Martholomew” then Martha says “I like my name Marthur better then Martholomew my name is know Marthur!” One of the eggs tries to get away and they shout,” catch that egg!” They catch the egg and Marthur hears someone on the door. Then she leaves and goes to her dad. The next day Marthur wakes up to Rufus yelling,” I want those dancing eggs so I can tell Dr. Klunk.”

One day she and Dr. Klunk and Luther find a spoon in a wall.  There is old writing on the wall that says “who pullith this spoon will be the king.” So Dr. Klunk tries to pull the spoon but is unable to and falls back. The next day a giant line of people are outside the bathroom and people try to pull the spoon but can’t get it out.  Once it is Marthur’s turn, she pulls the spoon out and then Dr. Klunk sees the freed spoon and he snatches the spoon from Marthur. As the spoon starts beating up Dr. Klunk and Marthur yells “stop.” The spoon obeyed Marthur then Marthur just noticed she was the new king.  She asked Furlin “why did I become the new king?”, and Furlin said “because you stood up to bully’s and you helped kids.

What’s the conflict and what is the resolution?

It’s a power struggle for who will become the new king.  The resolution is to be the new king.  Since Marthur can pull the spoon out she is the chosen one to be king     

Why it is a fantasy is because It has dancing eggs, a griffin, and dragons, flying potatoes and pumpkins, and writing on the chalk board with just using your mind.

There is no irony

I like this story because there are dragons that burn up Rufus’ pants and Dr. Klunk’s name is funny. I like how the some character’s names rhyme with names in King Arthur like Furlin and Merlin and Marthur and Arthur.

Are like King Arthur but Marthur. The names are weird and my favorite character is Furlin because she is supposed to be Merlin.    

Texas 

I enjoyed this book but would make it like Hogwarts and about teaching magic, Fairies, monsters, flying brooms, wands, and owls and potions and spells and more magic.  The story would be better, in my opinion, if it also had a big epic battle between good and evil.  Overall, it is a great story that talks about theme of bullying and being famous.

I think the kids who like King Arthur should read this book because it has a lot of magic it will make you want you finish the book. It has dragons and dancing eggs, and an Excalibur-like spoon.