Review: Star in the Jar by Sam Hay

Goodreads Blurb

When a little boy stumbles across a lost star, he decides to take care of it, putting it in a jar and carrying it with him everywhere. But when the sky calls out for its missing star, can the little boy and his sister figure out a way to return the star to its friends in the sky…even if it means saying goodbye forever?

This warm-hearted and enchanting bedtime story celebrates the rewards of true friendship.

My Review: Rated 4 out of 5 stars

It is a heartwarming magical story that brings a new friendship. A little boy is always finding treasures, but one treasure we wouldn’t think of ever finding is a real star in the ground. The little boy and girl work together to find the owner of the star and also try to return it to the sky. They get a signal from the sky about the missing star, and they try their best to return the star back to where it belongs. It is a beautiful story that brings magic and friendship together.

Review: How to Catch a Yeti by Adam Wallace and Andy Elkerton

Goodreads Blurb

When our brilliant Catch Club Kids hear about the legendary Yeti, they head to the mountains to catch a glimpse and prove it really exists! Full of hilarious high jinks, bright illustrations, and clever STEM traps, this funny picture book for kids is a fun-filled ride you won’t want to miss! Will our Catch Club Kids prove the Yeti exists, or will he remain a mystery to the world? We’ve all heard unexplained tales of the Yeti, Bigfoot, Sasquatch, and more… do YOU have what it takes to catch one? Find out in this action-packed story for children, the perfect read aloud all winter, as a Christmas gift for kids, for classroom activities, and beyond!

My Review: Rated 4 out of 5 stars

Adventures await all the children who want to catch a Yeti. This book has some fun moments when a group of friends decide to go hunt for a Yeti. They come up with some fun ideas in hopes of catching a Yeti, but those Yeti are just way too fast and smart. Children are really going to love joining in this adventure and having a blast with all the tricks the group of friends have to capture the Yeti. The illustrations are so colorful and eye-catching. Very detailed illustrations. Everyone will enjoy this fun book. I think all of us would be super thrilled if we were able to see a real life Yeti.

Goodreads Author Biography

Adam Wallace is a New York Times, USA Today and Amazon Bestselling author of the How to Catch series!
Adam’s passion is to bring excitement and energy and humour and joy to children (of all ages!) through his books and videos.
He spends his non-writing time thinking about writing and going to as many live music shows as he can. He’s also teaching himself piano, and plays golf too.

Review: The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein

Goodreads Blurb

“Once there was a tree…and she loved a little boy.”

So begins a story of unforgettable perception, beautifully written and illustrated by the gifted and versatile Shel Silverstein.

Every day the boy would come to the tree to eat her apples, swing from her branches, or slide down her trunk…and the tree was happy. But as the boy grew older he began to want more from the tree, and the tree gave and gave and gave.

This is a tender story, touched with sadness, aglow with consolation. Shel Silverstein has created a moving parable for readers of all ages that offers an affecting interpretation of the gift of giving and a serene acceptance of another’s capacity to love in return.

My Review: Rated 5 out of 5 stars

It is such a captivating story that is still relevant today. Mother Nature gives, and we take and forget to give back. Our greed has got the best of us. We are destroying our environment with pollution and destroying our eco system. We will eventually be like the tree, nothing left to take and survive. This story is a classical childrens literature that will have us think how we can give back and preserve earth.

Goodreads Author Biography

Shel Silverstein was the author-artist of many beloved books of prose and poetry. He was a cartoonist, playwright, poet, performer, recording artist, and Grammy-winning, Oscar-nominated songwriter.

Shel Silverstein will perhaps always be best loved for his extraordinary books. Shel’s books are now published in more than 47 different languages. The last book that was published before his death in 1999 was Falling Up.

Review: Fulfilled: Prophecy of Light by R.J. Crayton

Goodreads Blurb

The final story in the Prophecy of Light series is here!

Kady has been told she is the child of light of the prophecy? But is she. Is her choice the key to everything, or is there more to the prophecy than she’s been told?

My Review: Rated 5 out of 5 stars

What a great ending to this series. I loved all the action and drama Kady went through to save her mom and uncle and unleash the light from darkness. Was happy that I was still the Master of Healing, Master Yaritza. Great turn of events, and the light always overpowers the darkness.

Goodreads Author Biography

RJ Crayton is the author of the three book series. The Prophecy of Light series includes Trapped, Unleashed and the soon to be released Foretold. The Virus series includes Concealed, Exposed, and Contained. The fast-paced dystopian Life First series include Life First, Second Life and Third Life:Taken. She’s also author of the paranormal novel Scented and the short-story collection Four Mothers. Prior to becoming an author, Crayton was a journalist. She reported for several publications, including The Kansas City Star and Education Technology News. Crayton lives in Maryland with her husband and two children. When she’s not writing, she enjoys eating cupcakes, walking, reading, sewing or watching TV (she’s partial to Star Trek, super hero flicks and gripping dramas).

Review: Batman: Vol 6 Bride or Burglar? By Tom King, Mike Janin and Joelle Jones

Goodreads Blurb

The path to the altar has never been so dangerous!

Not long after Batman announces his engagement to Catwoman, he and Wonder Woman are called to honor an old commitment requiring them to fight for Earth in a distant, magical realm. But time flows strangely in this new land, and an hour in our world could be years there. The storied friendship between two great heroes begins to unravel–while the universe itself does the same around them!

Next, the Bat and the Cat find themselves isolated as Poison Ivy seemingly takes over the rest of the world, including the Justice League! Can they nip Ivy’s plans in the bud before the whole world falls under her dominion? After all, there’s still a wedding to plan…

The big day approaches in these stories from Batman #38-44, from author Tom King (Mister Miracle) and artists Mikel Janín (Grayson), Joëlle Jones (Supergirl: Being Super) and Travis Moore (Fables: The Wolf Among Us).

My Review: Rated 4 out of 5 stars

Will we finally see a wedding between Batman and Catwomen? To be continued. Love the illustrations throughout the comic. The romance between Batman and Catwoman is romantic. Love how Superman is always fighting with Batman. Poisob Ivy illustrations are great. Her character grows through each scene. Comic has romance, fights, death, and flashes of the future. Will love catch the bats’ heart, or will he turn to the dark?

Review: The Language of Spells by Garret Weyr

Goodreads Blurb

Grisha is a dragon in a world that’s forgotten how to see him. Maggie is a unusual child who thinks she’s perfectly ordinary. They’re an unlikely duo—but magic, like friendship, is funny. Sometimes it chooses those who might not look so likely. And magic has chosen Grisha and Maggie to solve the darkest mystery in Vienna. Decades ago, when World War II broke out, someone decided that there were too many dragons for all of them to be free. As they investigate, Grisha and Maggie ask the question everyone’s forgotten: Where have the missing dragons gone? And is there a way to save them? At once richly magical and tragically historical, The Language of Spells is a novel full of adventure about remembering old stories, forging new ones, and the transformative power of friendship.

My Review: Rated 3 out of 5 stars

A magical story with dragons, sorcerers, and humans. A dragon named Grisha was turned into a tea pot and lived many years with no mobility but hearing and seeing. He was released from the spell, but after being free, other rules had to be obeyed. Dragons were divided and hidden with a sleeping spell. Grisha and Maggie work together to free the dragons, but by doing so, Maggie had to give up something she cherished. Garret is a good storyteller. It is an easy read for young readers. I loved the illustrations.

Goodreads Author Biography

Garret Freymann-Weyr (rhymes with ‘I’m on fire”) is a novelist and teacher whose seven books have been banned, translated into a multitude of languages, and included in college curricula. She is a Printz honor award recipient and her short stories have been published in the Greensboro Review, the now sadly missed Christopher Street, and the anthology Starry Eyed. Her next book will be published under the name Garret Weyr (Divorce. Painful. Don’t ask.)

She is a native of New York City and now lives with a large cat and a sweet dog. She reads too much, drinks too much tea, and loves listening to readers talk about their passions. She is studying Spanish. Has anyone else read “Buenas Noches, Luna?”

Review: Wicked Nix by Lena Coakley

Goodreads Blurb

Mischievous woodland fairy Nix is up to no good. His beloved fairy queen has gone away, leaving him with a very important job: He must protect the forest from a most dangerous enemy—humans.

When a determined invader trespasses on his territory, Nix’s skills are put to the test as he invents several wicked tricks to chase the sorry fellow away. But when his efforts don’t go quite according to plan, it becomes clear that this intruder—and this sprite—may not be at all what they seem.

My Review: Rated 4 out of 5 stars

Wicked Nix is a fairy full of tricks. The protector of the fairy forest will stop at nothing to rid himself of a human. Nix uses many tricks and spells to scare the human away. Halfway through the story, you are surprised to find out the human is family and the Nix is not a fairy. Nix and the human go to Fairy Meadow to see the fairy queen. Nix realizes she isn’t who he thought she was. Nix and the human work together to get Rose back to her mom. The cottage Nix was protecting was his past home and is reunited with his family. A fairy-tale full of tricks and courage.

Goodreads Author Biography

Lena Coakley is the Toronto Star and Globe & Mail bestselling author of Worlds of Ink and Shadow, a YA portal fantasy about the young Brontë siblings and the imaginary countries they wrote about in childhood. It made both the CBC and Quill & Quire’s Best Books of the Year lists.

Her previous novel, Witchlanders, was called “one stunning teen debut” by Kirkus Reviews, won the SCBWI Crystal Kite award and was a White Pine Award honouree.

Her first middle grade novel, Wicked Nix, will come out in October of this year from Abrams and Harper Collins Canada. She lives in Toronto.

Review: The Legend of Grimm’s Woods by Manuro Gorobei

Goodreads Blurb

Introducing a new series of interactive graphic novels–first published in France, and translated/transported to English language readers by Quirk Books.

Enter a world inspired by all of your favorite fairy tales–complete with gingerbread houses, a girl dressed in red, and seven children lost in the woods. Hocus & Pocus offers a new kind of reading experience–part game book, part graphic novel, and part Choose Your Own Adventure story. Readers can play as Hocus (a girl) or Pocus (a boy), choose a magic animal companion, and enter a colorful fairy tale forest of riddles, magical objects, and unusual characters. Succeed or fail, it’s all up to you!

My Review: Rated 3 out of 5 stars

I loved the idea that the book was written like a video game, but I was so confused with the numbers. I think young children will have issues with keeping scores. The illustrations were awesome. It was a great adventure filled with puzzles and different scenarios depending on character and animal used.

Review: Hocus Pocus & The All-New Sequel by A.W. Jantha

Goodreads Blurb

Hocus Pocus is beloved by Halloween enthusiasts all over the world. Diving once more into the world of witches, this electrifying two-part young adult novel, released on the twenty-fifth anniversary of the 1993 film, marks a new era of Hocus Pocus. Fans will be spellbound by a fresh retelling of the original film, followed by the all-new sequel that continues the story with the next generation of Salem teens.

Shortly after moving from California to Salem, Massachusetts, Max Dennison finds himself in hot water when he accidentally releases a coven of witches, the Sanderson sisters, from the afterlife. Max, his sister, and his new friends (human and otherwise) must find a way to stop the witches from carrying out their evil plan and remaining on earth to torment Salem for all eternity.

Twenty-five years later, Max and Allison’s seventeen-year-old daughter, Poppy, finds herself face-to-face with the Sanderson sisters in all their sinister glory. When Halloween celebrations don’t quite go as planned, it’s a race against time as Poppy and her friends fight to save her family and all of Salem from the witches’ latest vile scheme.

My Review: Rated 4 out of 5 stars

Let’s Hocus Pocus again!

It was so much fun to experience Hocus Pocus again. It’s truly one of my favorite Halloween movies that brings back wonderful memories. Loved that the first original story started this book off. The new sequel brings back the Dennison family 25 years later. The three main characters are teenagers, one of them being Max Dennison’s daughter Poppy. I loved that they kept the same characters and made all the characters connected with a great story. This time, the three Sanderson sisters are back with a vengeance. This time, hell was in person, and the witches came to take over. The new sequel is modern with LGBT romance. I was laughing my socks off with the ideas of the appliances used by the witches to fly. Overall, the story was well developed and modernized. I think I would have loved to have seen more scenes with the Sanderson sister’s experience in modern technology. I was shocked at the end. I wasn’t expecting that. It is to be continued.

Review: Gone Rogue: Wires and Nerve Volume 2 by Marissa Meyer

Goodreads Blurb

The world of the Lunar Chronicles comes alive in this thrilling continuation of Wires and Nerve. Iko–an audacious android and best friend to the Lunar Queen Cinder–has been tasked with hunting down Alpha Lysander Steele, the leader of a rogue band of bioengineered wolf-soldiers who threaten to undo the tenuous peace agreement between Earth and Luna. Unless Cinder can reverse the mutations that were forced on them years before, Steele and his soldiers plan to satisfy their monstrous appetites with a massacre of the innocent people of Earth.

And to show he’s serious, Steele is taking hostages.

Cinder and Kai, Scarlet and Wolf, Cress and Thorne, and Winter and Jacin all feature in this epic new battle. But it is Iko who must face her deepest fears when she uncovers the truth about her own unusual programming. Questions of love, friendship, and mortality take Iko on an emotional journey that will satisfy and delight fans of this bestselling series.

My Review: Rated 5 out of 5 stars

A beautifully written continuation to this series. Love how Kai fought to defend her friends from the wolf mutants. Kai might be a robot, but she feels just like everyone else. I loved the interactions with Kai and Kinney. They are truly made for each other. Another graphic novel filled with thrills and fights. It was a great ending to this series.

Goodreads Author Biography

I live in Tacoma, Washington, with my husband and beautiful twin daughters. Represented by Jill Grinberg.