This is the first book in a series for middle-grade readers who enjoy sci-fi, adventure and fantasy. Patrick and Trish are the male and female protagonists. They have been selected along with ten other children to travel to the planet Grimline-8..
All participants under the age of seventeen will spend the five year journey in cryogenic sleep. While in their pods, the children will be playing video games. That may sound like a dream come true for some middle-grade students. On the other hand, Patrick and Trish will be facing zombies, pirates, wolves, and the like in their virtual world. In theory, the skills they acquired would help them to cope in their new world.
The action moves quickly. Perhaps a little bit outlandish for some adults, but an enjoyable adventure read for its audience in grades three through six.
If you enjoyed reading this post, please subscribe by clicking on the word Follow or by hitting the orange RSS Feed button in the upper right-hand corner of this page.
Amy, Sarah, and Joe, along with their friend Joe are with their guide Uti. Because their parents suddenly had to cancel, Uti is taking them to Oxley, a remote island on the outskirts of the Bermuda Triangle to see the exotic native animals.
Shortly, after their arrival, a sudden storm sweeps them out to sea before Uti can return to the wheelhouse. Alone and scared, the children are terrified when a ship crashes right into them. To their dismay, Captain Red, a pirate, is in command. Will the children survive the storm and escape from the pirates?
That is just the beginning of their adventures. A white gorilla, slithering reptiles, scary Natives, Will’s disappearance, aircraft, tunnels, and vampire bats are among the things the intrepid children will need to face.
The characters are nicely developed, the settings intriguing, and the action is nonstop, providing the perfect backdrop for a middle-grade or young adult thriller adventure.
If you enjoyed reading this post, please subscribe by clicking on the word Follow or by hitting the orange RSS FEED button in the upper right-hand corner of this page.
Onward: The Search for the Dragon Gem: An InQuestigation
Written by Steve Behling
The book is based on the Disney movie. It is primarily a middle-grade read for fans of fantasy, magic, dragons, and coming-of-age novels.
Sadalia is a sophomore at Mushroomton High, Her passion is journalism. She constantly searches for that big story. When a red mist appears around the school one evening, her dream comes true. The high school is taken over by a dragon. The adventure of a lifetime begins.
Will things ever get back to normal? What part have her two schoolmates, Ian and Barley have in the mystery? Can Sadalia get her big scoop? Fans of the movie will want to check out the book. Recommended for grades three through seven.
If you enjoyed reading this post, please subscribe by clicking on the word Follow or by hitting the orange RSS FEED Button in the upper right-hand corner of this page.
Publisher’s Synopsis: A haunted mansion. A community at risk. A group of teens with mysterious abilities. Strange sightings at the Payne mansion and baffling incidents in the countryside place the community of Kingston on edge. Did opening the portal to Paragon draw evil entities to Kingston? In facing this new threat, Matt Monroe soon realizes he is not the only one who has secret talents. Many of his companions have hidden abilities that are exposed as Matt and his friends confront a terrifying, ethereal foe.
Ages 9-12 | Publisher: All Points Press, LLC | October 15, 2019 | ISBN-13: 978-0985082765
This book is the second in the middle-grade adventure series featuring the Monroe boys and their select group of friends known as The Brotherhood. Matt and his older brother, Josh, live in the town of Kingston located in rural Pennsylvania. In Book One of the series, the boys discover wooden tablets and a mysterious ring in the attic of the family home. Together with their five friends who all have special talents, they move through a portal to a magical dimension, Paragon. Here they battle the evil one, Damien. During the battle, Josh is wounded by a dragon and still suffers from the injury.
Book Two opens with Matt discovering two children, Annabelle
and Nathaniel, dressed in early twentieth century clothing, who a hiding from
their evil stepfather. Matt has been experiencing strange dreams and is
determined to save these children. At school, there are some curious new
additions to the faculty. As the story evolves, new friends are introduced,
each of which possesses a strange power. Rico Steele, the school bully, plagues
and conspires against Matt and the Brotherhood. The parents of the children
also have connections to Paragon.
The story contains magic, tarot readings, fantasy, and time
travel as well as the usual conflicts of peer and student relationships. When
Halloween arrives, they must all meet at the Payne house once again to confront
the evil forces of Paragon. Will the Monroe family and their friends be able to
overcome them?
There are many different story elements in this adventure that will appeal to a wide variety of preteen and teen readers. Many twists and turns keep the plot exciting and keep the reader in suspense. For me, the only con was it took a while to get up to speed on the characters because I did not read Book One.
If you enjoyed reading this post, please subscribe to my blog by clicking on the word Follow or by hitting the orange RSS FEED button in the upper-right hand corner of this page.
Familiar Shadows: A tale from The Federal Witch Series
Written by Taki Drake and T S Paul
This is the first book in an interesting series featuring
magic, fantasy, and witches. The narrator is a Russian blue cat named Dascha.
At the outset, Dascha has just had an argument with the members of her clowder.
She comes from a long line of magical cats, but Dascha just wants to live a
normal life. As she walks away, she is swept up by an eagle. Her vision is
blurred, her hip is pierced, and she senses imminent death.
Suddenly another larger steppe eagle comes along and
snatches Dascha away from her captor. When Dascha awakens, she finds herself in
the company of the eagle named Glenfry and his familiar, a witch named Henley.
These two live apart from a small village, which they try to protect. Dascha
learns to love and revere her protectors, who will entice her to embrace her
magical lineage. There will be an adventure, danger, and magic along the
perilous journey.
This book of fewer than one hundred pages contains interesting characters and plotlines. I would recommend it for readers ages eight and older.
If you enjoyed reading this post, please subscribe by clicking on the word Follow or by hitting the orange RSS FEED button in the upper right-hand corner of this page.
Scout is an inquisitive seven-year-old explorer who became
hooked on rock collecting when she found an orange rock in her backyard. She
searches everywhere for rocks to add to her collection. In this tale, Scout
crawls into a dragon’s den to find Azurite, she travels under the sea to
extract Fluorite from the bottom of the ocean floor, and then zooms into outer
space to grab Alexandrite floating around in one of Saturn’s rings. Finally,
she explores a collector’s canyon out West to come across a treasure trove of
crystals. Wilde describes different methods of removing the minerals and
provides details about each type of mineral, its place on the Mohs scale, and
the types of tools a geologist uses.
The illustrations are vibrant and seem to jump off the page. Scout is an adorable strong-female role model character. Rhymes are crisp, alliteration makes them fun to read out loud. I highly recommend this book to elementary grade children. This book combines a bit of fantasy, an adventure, and a nonfiction story about rocks with a cute narrator to entice readers to come along and learn with her.
If you enjoyed reading this post, please subscribe by clicking on the word Follow or by hitting the orange RSS FEED button in the upper right-hand corner of this page.
Hermione Granger’s Unofficial Life Lessons and Words of Wisdom: What
would Hermione (from the Harry Potter series) Say?
Written by Euphemia Pinkerton Noble
This is an interesting read for fans of the Harry Potter
series of all ages. The author presents questions written in a journal format.
Noble chooses situations that pop up in our everyday lives and then poses the
question of how Hermione would answer.
Hermione Granger is the smartest witch at Hogwarts. She is a
hard worker, who places a high value on loyalty, friendship and love. Hermione
often chooses the more difficult path because she knows it is the right, if not
easy, thing to do. At first, the boys ignore or resist her, but eventually come
to know she is the one who holds things together.
Noble urges her readers to first read through the book
quickly and make a few notes about the questions they find most relevant to
themselves. I particularly enjoyed the section on facing challenges and chasing
dreams in which so many middle-grade and teen readers will find much to think
about. The last section on believing in yourself probably sums up Hermione’s
philosophy on life best.
This book could become an asset for preteens and teens who are struggling to develop their own views. Parents, grandparents, and teachers might find this book a good way to open family discussions.
If you enjoyed reading this post, please subscribe by clicking on the word Follow or by hitting the orange RSS FEED button in the upper right-hand corner of this page.
This is a tale focusing on The Nobodies, a team of African-American B-17 flyers who were not supposed to exist. The story opens in the middle of the action, a crew is battling the enemy when a split-decision needs to be made. The language is a bit raw, laced with dialect. Readers need to pay close attention to grasp the meaning.
While I enjoyed the short read and thought the characters well developed for the length of the tale, I would have preferred to see the author embellish the story a bit more. If you enjoy wartime stories, you will be engrossed with this one that has an ending with a twist.
If you enjoyed reading this post, please subscribe by clicking on the word Follow or by hitting the orange RSS FEED button in the upper right-hand corner of this post.
I enjoyed reading this chapter book centering on Michaela and Sylvia, two ten and eight-year-old sisters who appear to have little in common. One day while playing in the backyard, they decide to take a walk and get lost. They encounter a ghostly, creepy house. Sylvia persuades her older sister to investigate and the adventure ensues.
While inside the girls discover a rocking horse. Upon riding it, a young ghost named Cindy taunts and threatens them. Michaela tries to calm her sister by spinning a tale, but both girls are afraid they will never see their parents and baby brother again. Throughout the ordeal, the sisters uncover little-known truths about themselves. Cindy reveals a compassionate side of herself and a lesson about strangers the girls will never forget.
This short chapter book of approximately one hundred pages has a powerful safety lesson for its young readers. It is most appropriate for children in the eight-to twelve-year-old age range but certainly an enjoyable read for any age.
If you enjoyed reading this post, please subscribe by clicking on the word Follow or by hitting the orange RSS FEED button in the upper right-hand corner of this page.
Sascha Martin is a second-grade genius. One day he brings a rocket ship to class and places it on a table with a sign that says, “Do not touch.” Well, you can guess what happens when one of the students pushes the button. It launches into space creating all manner of havoc in the school. The rocket tears holes in the walls, the roof, and damages the athletic fields. It carries a few teachers as well as Sascha into the atmosphere to the horror of the those watching from the ground. Will they successfully return to earth?
This book is part of a series about the exploits of Sascha. It is written in rhyme, which sometimes appeared a bit off, though these rhymes could be peculiar to Australia. Illustrations are delightfully clever and sharp. My rating was lowered in part because the book contains a few errors in punctuation and grammar, but many middle-grade students who enjoy science fiction, adventure, and humor will find it an easy and enjoyable read.
If you enjoyed reading this post, please subscribe by clicking on the word Follow or by hitting the orange RSS Feed button in the upper right-hand corner of this page.
October 25, 2020
bamauthor
Comments Off on Now I lay Me Down to Sleep
Barbara Ann Mojica's BLOG 
You must be logged in to post a comment.