Kids Books - Magic

Rowley Jefferson's Awesome Friendly Adventure (Diary of an Awesome Friendly Kid)

Rowley Jefferson's Awesome Friendly Adventure (Diary of an Awesome Friendly Kid)

By Jeff Kinney

I was required to read Rowley Jefferson’s Awesome Friendly Adventure for school, and I have to say that it wasn’t the best book I’ve ever read. Okay, it wasn’t bad—I liked how it involved a tiny bit more action and adventure than the normal Diary of a Wimpy Kid books—but some of the characters aren’t as well-developed as I expected. For example, take Garg. Instead of showing more of his backstory, the author just mentioned that he was a barbarian, which doesn’t tell us much information about him. Another problem was how the plot moved slowly. The story basically just starts out with Roland living an ordinary, boring life, and wishing he could go on an adventure, but the adventure doesn’t actually start until the fourth or fifth chapter. I’ve only read the first few chapters so far, so I hope the book gets better later on. However, there were some good things about this book that I enjoyed, like the humor. It wasn’t as humorous as the other Diary of a Wimpy Kid books, but still pretty funny. I liked how a debate between Rowley and Greg came after each chapter, with their thoughts on the book, even though Greg’s a character I didn’t particularly enjoy. Overall, I think Rowley Jefferson’s Awesome Friendly Adventure is a good book, just not the greatest in the series.

The Deadly Daylight

The Deadly Daylight

By Harrier, Ash

Set in a small town in Australia, The Deadly Daylight tells about how a 12-year-old named Alice England tries to solve the mystery of a man's puzzling death from sunlight. The main character works at her family's funeral parlor, and she has a very strange relationship with dead people. It goes like this. A mysterious hum resonates from an object of importance to the deceased, and then she is transported into a little snapshot of the person's life. This shall be important later on... She meets a person named Violet, who, like her, has little friends, but is different in many ways. Moreover, she has a dangerous sunlight allergy. Alice is invited to their house, but death occurs the day after. George, Violet's uncle, is dead, apparently killed by the family's sunlight allergy. Having a strange vision about George's last moments, Alice decides that something fishy is going on and decides to investigate with Violet. The clues keep piling up: a letter signed with a mysterious initial, a grumpy guard, and a strange phone charger owned by a secretive boy. What may seem a little not relevant now, might turn out to be relevant later. All in all, I enjoyed this book. The characters were cool. It is intriguing to see Alice England, the somewhat naive person, who is smart but does not know some very basic things. She is so naive and funny. She is confused by elements of society, such as boba, which she says is "gummy tea", and chokes on the little tiny pearls. She is mystified by the strange skill of tact but tries to do it anyway to please Violet, with interesting results. The dialogue, too, is good, and Alice talks in a formal, matter-of-fact tone that is much remarked upon and different from other people. The writing style is also much cleaner than most other middle-grade authors. With an engaging mystery, interesting characters, and great style, The Deadly Daylight is a good book to read. More than that, it is deliciously macabre and will leave readers wanting for more about Alice England. With such high standards, the next book in the series is sure to be good too... People who enjoy a cozy mystery with elements of the supernatural will appreciate this middle-grade novel.

The Hidden Kingdom (Wings of Fire, Book 3)

The Hidden Kingdom (Wings of Fire, Book 3)

By Tui T. Sutherland

Rainwings have the most powerful weapons on the whole Pyrrhia, however, they don’t like to use it on other dragons, instead, they enjoy sleeping. Therefore, everyone thought Rainwings are weak and lazy. Few days ago, Mom finally bought me the whole set of Wings of Fire, I immediately rip open and start reading. In this book, the five dragonets of prophecy decided to travel to Glory’s home, the Rainwing Kingdom. They found out all Rainwings have a secret weapon, that is to be able to spit out the poison venom. As the story developed more, evil came to the Rainwings. They need to fight against the hungry Nightwings to survive. Rainwings don’t like to fight, so they didn’t train for it, however, under Glory’s lead, they slowly figure out how to use their secret weapon. This is probably one of my favorite book, because it shows how brave Glory is, and the five dragonets never give up on saving the world, ending the war.

The Lost Heir (Wings of Fire, Book 2)

The Lost Heir (Wings of Fire, Book 2)

By Tui T. Sutherland

A great sequel to the first book, Tsunami journeys to the SeaWing kingdom which is very well hidden. She meets a SeaWing named Riptide and the pair become friends. After they arrive at the kingdom, Queen Coral is thrilled to see them and Tsunami meets her little sister, Anemone. Queen Coral says that someone or something is killing all the female heirs to the SeaWing throne. She is determined to solve the case and find the assassin. Meanwhile, she has to learn Aquatic, a language that SeaWings learn. They flash their bright scales at each other. Eventually Riptide begins teaching Tsunami Aquatic, and she really gets the hang of it! About the case, Tsunami eventually finds out that it is a statue of Orca, animus touched. If you’ve never read Wings of Fire, Animus Dragons are dragons who have power. Orca was Queen Coral’s first heir. She tried to kill her mother for the throne, but eventually lost. This book is very exciting and once you finish it, you’ll be begging for the third book :)!

Moon Rising (Wings of Fire, Book 6)

Moon Rising (Wings of Fire, Book 6)

By Tui T. Sutherland

The previous dragonets of destiny have stopped the war, and have decided to build an academy to teach younger dragons to get along better than their ancestors, so another war like that won't happen again. The story is in the point of view of Moonwatcher, or Moon, for short. Moon is a very special Nightwing, and not just because she was raised in the forest away from the other Nightwings. Moon can read minds. Not only that, but she can see the future, at least a little bit. No Nightwing has had those powers, or any for that matter, for centuries, if they even had any at all. All Moon's mother has ever told her was to "Stay hidden, stay secret, stay safe". But when Moon goes to the Jade Mountain Academy, the school set up by the Dragonets of Destiny, there are more dragons there than she's seen in her entire life, so that means so many of others' thoughts swimming in her head she can barely take it. She sees the horrible memories of dragonets who fought and those of ones who lost loved ones. Then she overhears someone saying that they're planning a murder, and needs to find out how to stop it. Suddenly a mysterious voice appears in her head teaching her how to use her powers. Will Moon be able to keep her new friends and solve who the to-be murderer is, or will everyone find out about her secret and not trust her? One disappointment was the death of Carnelian, a Skywing dragon: I was excited at the possibility of finally getting a book in a Skywing's point of view, and there was a great deal of wasted potential I saw in the character (although I still do love the other characters dearly). Wings of Fire in general touches on some pretty mature themes for a slightly younger-audience series, and Moon Rising seemed to up the ante in this regard, touching on the many psychological traumas that can result from a long and grueling war fought partially by youths. Peril, Sora, and Flame especially struck me as very tragic characters, but pretty much all of the characters seemed to have some major issues involving the war and I hope that these theme threads will be continued in the future books of this series arc. Witnessing the healing the characters go through would be very rewarding, considering all of the pain and loss the war caused them. If you liked the previous books in the series then you will most certainly like this, maybe even better! I know I did.

The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 1)

The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 1)

By Rick Riordan

There are five books in the Percy Jackson series, and many more books in the series Heroes of Olympus, which is kind of the sequel series to Percy Jackson. Today I will be reviewing the first book. The first book is good, I guess, it's okay. But it didn't appeal to me that much. *SPOILERS BELOW So basically the story centers around a kid named Percy Jackson. Percy Jackson has been expelled from every school he's been to so far because of accidents, like landing the whole class in a shark tank in the aquarium. When his current school, Yancy Academy, goes on a field trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art with his class, including his nemesis, Nancy and his best friend, Grover. His teacher, Ms. Dodds, turns out to be one of the Furies. The Furies are demons, basically, in Greek Mythology. His other teacher, Mr. Brunner, gives him a sword that can be disguised as a pen, called Riptide. Percy defeats Ms. Dodds and sends her back to Tartarus, which is the ultimate-horrible-place-to-go-when-you-die- place. Percy and his mom drive to Montauk Beach, but is met by Grover, who gives them a warning to go back. However, while driving, they are attacked by a Minotaur (monster that is half-bull, half-man.) He takes Percy's mom and Percy kills the Minotaur, before falling with exhaustion. Later, he and Grover are rescued and taken to Camp Half-Blood. While at Camp-Half Blood, Percy discovers that he is a demigod, a son of a mortal and one of the gods/goddesses in Greek Mythology. He also learns that Grover is a satyr (a mythical creature with horse-like features) and that Mr. Brunner is a centaur (half-horse, half-man). He also meets other demigods, like Annabeth, who is a daughter of Athena, Luke, who is a son of Hermes, and Clarisse, who is a daughter of Ares. Since no one knows who his god parent is, they place him in the Hermes cabin. Later, when they play a game of Capture the Flag, a trident appears above Percy, revealing that he is the son of Poseidon. Percy learns that Zeus, the king of the gods, thinks Poseidon used Percy to steal Zeus' lightning bolt, Zeus' chief weapon. The Oracle (a fortune-teller) tells Percy to return the stolen lightning bolt to Zeus to prove that he didn't steal it. Percy then has to go on an odyssey to find the lightning bolt with Annabeth and Grover. Percy, Annabeth and Grover defeat several mythological creatures, including the demon Medusa, who has snakes for hair. Now here's where it gets super confusing - at least for me. The trio find Hades, god of the dead, who has taken Percy's mom because he thinks Percy stole the Helm of Darkness (Hades' most powerful weapon). He says if Percy returns the Helm, Hades will return his mother. Percy realizes that Ares has all the stolen items. The backstory behind that is that when the lightning bolt was stolen, Zeus sent four of the most agile, quick, young and smart gods out to search for it, Apollo, Artemis, Athena and Ares. Only Ares found the true thief, Luke (the son of Hermes) but didn't turn him in. Instead Ares took the lightning bolt and the Helm of Darkness to start a war between the gods (because Ares is the god of war.) Percy challenges Ares to a duel, and surprisingly, wins. After getting all the items and returning them to their rightful owners, (and freeing his mother), Percy, Annabeth and Grover return to Camp Half-Blood. At Camp-Half Blood, Percy doesn't know that Luke is the thief (because Ares left that detail out) but Percy gets it quick enough when Luke tries to kill him with a scorpion. It is also revealed that Luke is a servant of Kronos, the King of the Titans, the enemy of the Gods. After all that, Percy decides to not stay at Camp Half-Blood year-round, only in the summer and to spend the rest of the year with his mother. Okay, here it is. There's a lot of five-star reviews, and I like this book. But it isn't one of my favorites because for one, the characters seem a bit one-sided. Percy's brave, Annabeth's witty, Grover's loyal. That was pretty much everything interesting about the characters. That kicked it down one star. The imagery and world building - amazing. Up one star. Descriptions were pretty good. Up one star. Managed to make my emotions go up and down and all around. One star more. One star less because it was so confusing and generally, I couldn't understand it near the end even though I have a solid base of Greek Mythology. It is a good book, I just feel it could use some improvement. But let's just say this - it's a book that stuck with me through and through and basically, it's worthy of putting on a special shelf on my bookcase. ~FelicisOwl

The Trials of Apollo, Book 1: The Hidden Oracle

The Trials of Apollo, Book 1: The Hidden Oracle

By Rick Riordan

I LOVE this book. We start our journey with Apollo's (not-so-glorious) fall from glory. Literally. He falls from the SKY, and when the god of the sun rises, he is completely MORTAL (and also covered with coffee grinds). Not only is his immortality gone, but more importantly, his naturally beautiful face has ACNE! Just when he thinks things cannot possibly go worse, (they can't, right?) things get much worse. He is forced to serve a 12 year old demigod named Meg, who can uses peaches to attack you, and so, together, they set out to find Camp Half-Blood (with a little help from Percy Jackson). But this book isn't called "The Trials of Apollo" for nothing. Someone is hunting him, and will stop at nothing until Apollo is destroyed. Overall, this book was a great read, (just make sure that you've read the first 2 series) and I couldn't stop reading till I reached the last page. Apollo goes from selfish to (mostly) selfless. I recommend to all ages, especially if you love Greek mythology with a twist.

Trials of Apollo (4 Book Series)

Trials of Apollo (4 Book Series)

By Rick Riordan

I want to read this book because is looks like there will be some fighting sences in the book and lots of action, I think will get attached to the book when I read it for the first time. The book has a good series I heard from my teacher.

A Darkening of Dragons

A Darkening of Dragons

By Patrick, S.A.

i love it sofar. where i am at, wren is helping patch try to get out of jail. the reason patch is in jale is because he played a forbiddin song on his pipe. Sentances tooverr 100 years, what will he ever do

Warriors: Into the Wild

Warriors: Into the Wild

By Erin Hunter

Lo and behold. Warriors. The book series with lots of characters and 60 or so books. The first book, released 20 years ago, in 2003, tells us about a life form, Rusty, who escapes from the confines of his humans' nest and charges into the forest, never to be seen by the Twolegs again. Which is what those strange cats in the forest, warriors, call members of the Homo Sapiens species. So Rusty, who is only 6 moons old, begins to train as a warrior apprentice, who will catch a lot of tasty prey and fight enemy cats who live in other little tiny cat groups called clans. And he is now called FIREPAW after his brown coat. Then Firepaw meets an old cat who is very chubby; it is Yellowfang, whose teeth are not very well cared for. Oooh. But ShadowClan, a very scary clan, especially with a menacing leader called Brokenstar is demanding to hunt on ThunderClan territory because of FOOD. Unbeknownst to Firepaw, however, there is a prophecy from StarClan, where spirits of dead warriors live, that tells of fire saving the clan. Could he be the key to saving ThunderClan? So I liked this book a lot. I felt like it had better descriptions and more actions than the later mini-arcs. Very exciting and fun to read. Ok writing but not too good.

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