Max: H is for Hale

I read Big Bad Ironclad by Nathan Hale (the writer, not the spy). In this book E. Pluribus Hangman and the British Provost of the revolutionary war are back to hear one of Nathan Hale's new stories (last book Nathan Hale (the spy, not the writer) said his last words: I regret that I have but one life to give for my country. And then Nathan Hale got eaten by a history book! When he came out he knew all about our history!). In this book Nathan Hale tells them about the civil war! (He told them about the naval part of the war, okay?) Anyway, he told them about how the Norfolk shipyard was taken, how they burnt and sunk the Merrimack,how the south made the world's first ironclad,how John Ericsson built the Monitor,the part where the two ironclads fought and about Will Cushing and his encounter with the Albermale, and much, much, more!

I like this book because it is funny,and it has a cool prank at the end.

I do not like this book because it has a really scary part in the middle.

I would recommend this book to people who like the civil war and other big wars. I would also recommend this book to people who have read hazardous tales books because those people will get the jokes in this book.

Where things stand as of 5/18/15

Letter

Max

Brynnen

Fran

Ed

Author (Last, First)

Title

Author (Last, First)

Title

Author (Last, First)

Title

Author (Last, First)

Title

A

Adams, Douglas

The Restaurant at the End of the Universe

Aaronovich, Ben

Midnight Riot

B

Bacigalupi, Paolo

The Doubt Factory

C

Carlson, Caroline

VNHLP II: Terror of the Southlands

Cato, Beth

Clockwork Dagger

D

De Los Santos

Love Walked In

E

Egan, Tim

Dodsworth in Paris

F

Flanagan, John

Siege of Macindaw

G

Grabenstein, Chris

Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library

Grossman, Lev

The Magicians

H

Hale, Shannon

Forgotten Sisters

I

J

K

Kingfisher, T

Seven Brides

L

M

McDonald, Megan

Judy Moody Goes to College

Martinez, A. Lee

Helen and Troy's Epic Road Trip

Morrow, James

Galapagos Regained

N

O

Oliver, Lauren

Liesl and Po

P

Pastis, Stephan

Timmy Failure

Pakenham, Thomas

Remarkable Trees of the World

Pratchett, Terry

Rising Steam

Q

R

Reeve, Philip

Goblins

S

Scalzi, John

Lock-In

Scalzi, John

Lock-In

T

Tolkein, JRR

The Hobbit

U

V

Vernon, Ursula

Danny Dragonbreath: Knight-napped

Vernon, Ursula

Castle Hangnail

W

Ward, Matthew

The Fantastic Family Whipple

X

Y

Z

Fran: V is for Vernon

Ursula Vernon has had a bizarre career. 

She wrote the underground comic, Digger, which was a Hugo award winner.  Not too many epic comics about a wombat, a hyena, and Ganesha.  But this is a grown-ups book.

She wrote the novel Seven Brides, under the pseudonym T. Kingfisher. It's creepy.  About a miller's daughter.  And hedgehogs.  And ravens.  And scary supernatural Barons.

She wrote a BUNCH of kid's books, the Danny Dragonbreath series.  Max adores these.  They are silly and hit his 8 year old humor JUST right.  They are not for me.

I just finished Castle Hangnail.

It's on the same reading level as the Danny Dragonbreath but instead of the manga/ninja infused world of DD, Castle Hangnail is set against magic and minions.  The story of a castle and its minions in need of a Master else they will be decommissioned, Molly takes the place as Master.  Not an Evil Sorceress or Mad Scientist or Vampire Lord, etc., she's just a 12 year old girl learning to be a witch (possibly a Wicked Witch for standards of wickedness that are just this side of slightly naughty).

If you like Eva Ibbotsen's (Island of the Aunts, Which Witch, etc.) or Cornelia Funke's (Igraine the Brave) books for young readers, this is a good bet.  (Publisher recommends to also Roald Dahl fans but I think more those who liked the BFG than those who like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory).

Fran: O is for Oliver

We have a running joke in our family because when Brynnen was younger, the mere mention that a book was awarded a Nutmeg or a Nutmeg nomination (the CT book awards) was a guarantee that she would not read it.  I suspect it had something to do with books not in her desired subjects wheelhouse (improving stories of cultural exchange triumphing over bigotry, of families wrenched apart and how we learn from those things) combined with the pressure of teachers/librarians/parents to read these books.  So now we regularly browse the Nutmeg shelf in the library (and often, though not always, Brynnen now reads it, despite our mocking).

That's how I found Lauren Oliver's book, Liesl and Po.

I enjoyed this immensely.  The book is set in a universe where magic/alchemy exists but isn't terribly common and where there are wicked stepmothers in the best Grimm fashion but it is also a world close to our own with average little girls and boys and men doing jobs that pay the rent but aren't where their hearts lie and train travel.

Liesl and Po is a ghost story.  It's a story about loss and longing (Liesl's father has passed away).  It's a story about desire for closure (how do we say goodbye to those we love and lose).  It's about the desire for contact (how do we make new friends and new families).

It was sweet and sad and ultimately resolved in the best of real-life fairy-tale ways (with magic as a catalyst but not as an omnipotent force; with the power of wanting to go forward trumping the desire to stop all the clocks).

(Aimed at tweens, enjoyed by adults)

Max: F is for Ferris

I read Thrice Upon a Marigold by Jean Ferris.

This is the third book in a series. WARNING!!  You need to have read the first two to have it make sense!! WARNING!!

In this book, we find out that two evil villains, named Vlad and Boris, take the queen's baby.  It will require more than just the king and queen to get the baby back.  It might take the king and queen, the king's guards, a retired wizard, a librarian, a blacksmith, five dogs, an elephant, and a dragon to get her back.

I liked that the plot is really good--it was full of adventure.  It was full of jokes (like the other two books) (and the jokes are funny and awful at the same time).  There are fun arguments, just the right amount of magic, and fun remarks from the Town Crier.

I would recommend this book to people who like dragons and jokes.  The series is also good.

Fran: H is for Hale

I am a big fan of Shannon Hale, having read many of her books (though not the ghastly looking Ever After High series).  I've probably read a dozen, including the Bayern series, the comics, and here--the Princess Academy.

This is the third book in the Princess Academy series, The Forgotten Sisters.  I have really enjoyed the setting--Mount Eskel where the linder stone is quarried, versus the lowlands.  Hale draws a world where inequalities in economics and political power are nuanced and interesting, especially as the main character Miri discovers first her village's exploitation and then how to leverage the village's labor/product for advantage.

I like the character of Miri, the mountain girl who is clever and vibrant.  She loves learning, stories and history; I love how Hale writes her discovering how ideas work together (that economics and history and politics are different perspectives on a same idea).

This book is somewhat forced in its set-up (more than the others).  Miri, planning on returning to her village, is forced to go be a tutor to the "sisters" in order to prepare them for marriage to a king in order to stop a war.  Never mind that she's not qualified, we have to send her.  The wildness of the sisters, raised in the (Louisiana bayou-esque) swamp, is somewhat forced as well but what Hale wants to do is clear.  She wants to introduce another set of strong girls who have skills that serve them in their home, that become surprisingly useful in a new setting.  The idea of them being innately noble and smart is somewhat forced but I'd rather have that than girls who are vapid and silly.

My MAJOR complaint is not with Hale but with the publisher, Bloomsbury USA Childrens.  The covers have gotten increasingly Disney-fied as the series has gone through editions/hardback/paperback.  The strong girls are now drawn with their prettiest dresses, tiny waists, slightly too large heads.  Since there's a section where the silliness of this outfit in the swampy area is drawn attention to, I also feel like drawing attention to it.  These books stand beautifully on their own.  They do not need a Disney treatment, even for the tween girls they're aimed at.