By Sharon Creech
The Castle Corona feels like poetry, though it’s typed like a book. One of the characters would like to be a poet one day, but right now I’m going to tell you about the book. Once there were 2 orphans who worked for a mean master who called work lying around and telling people what to do. Their master called them dirty beetles even when they were almost clean. When the orphans(whose names were Pia and Enzio) had spare time(which was almost none at all) They would daydream about a beautiful castle upstream from the village.
One day they found a pouch that had the kings symbol on it. they were told to take anything they found to the village’s wise woman. They were about to, but then they decided to wait a little bit and see what happened. A few days later they were coming back from town and some of the king’s men were waiting at the hut. The siblings were to be tasters for the king!
The king, well, he was a dopey king really, but he hoped that some day he would be noble. He was quite disturbed when he was told a thief was in town. Now, before I get carried away, let me go on to the king’s family. The queen was a woman who is indescribable to me. She loved to walk through a small tunnel of trees. This was her sanctuary. The eldest prince, Price Gianni, was quite like his father in some ways. The different thing about him was that he loved poetry and wanted to be a poet in the future. The second prince, Prince Vito, was just mainly focused on fighting and going for wild rides on his horse. He also despised being called the “Second Prince” or the “Spare Prince”. The princes’ sister, Princess Fabrizia, was thoroughly spoiled. she was extremely dainty and would scream at the littlest bug or the tiniest spot of dirt (you can imagine her reaction to Pia and Enzio).
Phew… you know, I could go on and on but if I did I would go ahead and tell you the whole story, but you really want to read it for yourself. (Just don’t read this at night, it somehow makes you sleepy even though its not boring.)
I thought it was interesting and would totally recommend this book to readers looking for a good book 
Recommended for ages 9 -12
Tags: castle, Confusion, once upon a time, orphan, story, thief
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By Meg Cabot
It all started when Allie came home from her play-date with her best friend Mary-Kay [well, it was more like she just walked across the street to her house]. Then, her parent told her they were moving. Plus, once Allie saw the house, she said there was no way that she was going to give up a nice room with pink wall-to-wall carpeting to creaky floorboards and creepy secret passageways. So Allie does everything she can think of to stop her parents from moving.
First, Allie took her whole geode collection and set it up so that during the open house, when they opened the door of her closet they would come spilling out all over the place, and so that they would dirty the professionally cleaned carpets. Her mom was not happy about that! Her next desperate attempt was to pry up the “For Sale” sign . That certainly didn’t work.
If I try to go on I will probably ruin the story, But I will say that I really love this book and this series, and that I think Allie can be really funny.
If you are interested in games and quizzes and plus funny e cards, Go see Allie’s website!
Recommended for ages 9 to 12.
Tags: accident waiting to happen, girls, Mischief, moving, rules, Series
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By Geronimo Stilton
The Geronimo Stilton series has always been one of my all-time faves. Did I mention he is a MOUSE?
Geronimo has used many funny phrases and fonts in all of his books. He is the Editor of the famouse New Mouse City newspaper;The Rodent’s Gazette. He has a cheese-hungry cousin named Trap, a pinkaholic sportsmouse sister named Thea, and the most wonderful, lovable, nicest nephew named Benjamin. He has many other relatives and friends who he goes on adventures with, and whose names I will leave it to you to find out!
It seems that in all the mysterys and jumbles he gets in, it’s usually by mistake! He’s run a marathon, searched for treasure, and he even has broke every bone in his body in a skiing trip. If you are looking for a weird or funny adventure, the Geronimo Stilton series is the thing to read!
This book is recommended for ages 7 and up.
PS – You can find the Geronimo Stilton Website HERE.
Tags: accident waiting to happen, Adventure, mouse, Series
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By Cornelia Funke
Igraine is the daughter of two very powerful magicians; the Fair Melisande and Sir Lamrorak the Wily [also called Sir Lamorak the Witty]. Her Older brother Albert is training to be a magician like his parents. Igraine, on the other hand, longs to be a knight. One day, their neighbor, the Baroness, has somewhat disappeared. In her place was her evil nephew; Osmund the Great. Only, the people in Pimpernel castle [ where Igraine lived] called him Osmund the Greedy. He said that his aunt had gone on a little vacation. But when Osmund tries to steal the books of magic, and Igraine’s parents have a little accident, it’s up to Igraine and the Baroness’s fave horse, Lancelot, to save the day.
I thought this book was fab because I adore books about fantasy. I have also read 2 other books by Cornelia Funke. She is the author of the 3 Inkheart books, plus Dragon Rider. I have read Inkheart and Dragon Rider and enjoyed them both. My favorite character is actually Igraine’s taking cat, Sisyphus.
Tags: Adventure, knights, magic
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By Jeanne Birdsall
The Penderwick family is made up of 4 girls, their father, and their dog. The sisters names are Rosalind, Skye, Jane, and the youngest is Batty. Their dog’s name is Hound, but they just call their dad Daddy. Hound is mostly Batty’s pet, considering he spends most of his time with her. Personally, I think I like Batty the best. She wears a pair of wings everywhere possible.
In the story, the family is headed to a cottage called Arundel cottage. It was a sweet little cottage and the only thing that was surprising was that it was right next to Arundel Mansion and it’s gardens. both were a fair size larger than the little cottage. When they had arrived after being lost for what seemed like hours, Jane thought she saw something move in one of the windows of the giant mansion. Tomboy Skye said it was her imagination, considering that Jane had a flair for drama. Rosalind was trying to clean up Hound’s barf because he had eaten the map and paper didn’t react well with his stomach.
I will not say any more because if I do I will get too far and spoil this wonderful story that I have read many times. This book is a National Book Award winner. There is another book after this one that is called The Penderwicks on Gardam St.
Tags: friends, Mischief, Series, sisters
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By George Seldon
This fun book is about 4 friends who are frustrated about the humans taking shiny stones out of their beautiful sea just to lay them in lines on the grass and to admire them instead of use them. The 4 friends are Oscar Lobster, Hector Crab, Peter Starfish, and James Fish. Oscar is adventurous and wants revenge, to give those greedy humans a taste of their own medicine, Hector on the other hand, is just the opposite. Hector is kind of a wimp and he says his motto is; leave the ghosts alone. Peter is sort of calm, and he thinks it’s funny that Hector is the opposite of Oscar, and they are still really good friends. James Fish seems sort of happy for a fish who says he never thinks of himself. Truly, he’s a garden know-it-all. Not in a bad way though, because he turns out to be helpful in Oscar Lobster’s big plan of revenge; an underwater garden full of things that the humans leave around.
I really liked this book a lot and so does my mom. The copy we have is hers from when she was a kid. I know I have read it more than 4 times. This book isn’t being printed anymore, but you can find it used on Amazon or maybe in the library. I can guarantee you it is fun for kids and grown-ups too.
Tags: Adventure, animals, beach, lobster
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By L.M. Montgomery
11-year-old orphan Anne’s hopes soar when she hears that the Cuthberts have decided to let Anne stay with them. But why was Marilla Cuthbert confused with her? Did she really want to send Anne back to the asylum just because she was not a boy? But Marilla won’t make her go back so long as mean old Mrs. Blewett wants a girl just like Anne to take care of all her little children. Once Anne has been living with the Cuthberts for a few days, she has a little incident with Mrs. Lynde. But kind old Matthew shows Marilla that the girl isn’t too bad after all, and might be helpful around the little house on Prince Edward Island.
I really like this series because Anne sometimes gets into entertaining mischief. You can tell as she grows older that she starts to take more control and is more cautious to her surroundings. This is the first book in the series and once I read it I knew I was going to be reading the other books as well.
This book is recommended for ages 9-12
Tags: island, Mischief, orphan
Posted in Realistic Fiction | 4 Comments »
By Brian Selznick [a Caldecott book.]
The Invention of Hugo Cabret is about a boy who runs the clocks in Grand Central Station, in the 1930s. Suddenly, his uncle mysteriously disappears. All this time Hugo has been keeping an automaton that he found in the wreckage of a museum after a fire. Hugo starts stealing parts for the automaton from a toy stall. Will Hugo get caught? Will he fix the automaton? Read the book to find out!
This book is not a regular book because it has more pictures than pages with words on them. It is not a little kids book though, because you have to pay very close attention to the wonderful illustrations to understand the plot. I liked this book a lot because it inspired me, because after all Hugo had been through, he still worked toward fixing the automaton until it did what it was meant to do, with a little help from a friend.
This book is recommended for ages 9 -12
Tags: Inventions, Mischief
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By Eoin Colfer
Artemis Fowl is a criminal mastermind, not to mention a millionaire, and a boy genius, powerful enough suck to 100 years of alcohol straight out of a fairy’s body. In exchange for making the drunk fairy healthy again, Artemis was able to copy a small golden book, which carried all the secrets of the People. When Holly Short, a captain for the LEP Police Force, gets captured by Artemis, the little fairy only has one choice; to preform the Ritual.
I liked this book because I really enjoy reading fantasy novels, and books that talk about futuristic technology, which this book has a lot of.
This book is recommended for ages 9-12
Tags: Adventure, magic, Mischief, Series, Tech
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By Rick Riordan
Young Percy Jackson, age 12, is in school at Yancy academy. Percy has ADHD and Dyslexia.When a field trip turns toward Greek myths, things start to go wrong. Mrs.Dodds, Percy evil math teacher, unbelievably turns even more evil. When Percy’s other teacher, Mr.Brunner, throws him a sword, and he accidentally vaporizes his Pre-algebra teacher, 12-year-old Percy realizes he’s not your ordinary middle schooler. Then, when he fights the minotaur, sees that his best friend is a satyr, and Mr.Brunner turns out to be a centaur, Percy starts to realize some more that he is living in a world full of Greek Myths.
I really liked this book because the names of the chapters are really funny, and it makes me laugh when Percy realizes something that was obvious on a different page or in a different chapter. This is the first book in a really good series, and I’ve read it at least four times.
This book is recommended for ages 9-12
Tags: Adventure, magic, Mischief, Myths, Series
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