Reviews by emilyc-r
Book Review
Emily Corwin-Renner
Sandry’s Book
Tamora Pierce
Fantasy
Copyright 1997
Setting: Sandry’s Book takes place in a magical land. There are many countries in this land but most of the book takes place in Emelan. The four main characters all start out in different places in the beginning. They are all taken to Winding Circle a school for mages. In this book (and others by Tamora Pierce) the word mage means a person who has magical powers.
Author’s Style: Sandry’s Book is written in third person. In the beginning of Sandry’s Book, Tamora Pierce goes back and fourth between the four main characters. Once they are together this doesn’t happen as much. The book goes along at a steady pace. There is a focus on the character’s feelings. I liked that because unlike most fantasy books it wasn’t all action.
Characters:
Sandry is an orphan whose parent’s were nobility. She has magic connected with textiles.
Daja is also an orphan. Her parents were Traders who drown. Her magic is with metal.
Briar (Roach) is a former thief who has plant magic.
Tris is a girl who was sent away because her parents didn’t want her. She has weather
magic.
Niko is a great mage whose job is to find things that were hidden.
Lark and Rosethorn are the teachers and caretakers at the house where they stay.
Frostpine is Daja’s teacher.
Plot: Sandry, Daja, Briar, and Tris don’t fit in the main part or Winding Circle where they have just started school so they are taken to a small cottage near the school. There they live together along with Lark and Rosethorn. At first they find it hard to get along with each other but by the end of the book they care about each other in a way none of them could have imagined.
Recommendation: I would recommend this book to anyone who likes to read about friends and school even if fantasy is not usually their thing. I would not recommend this book to someone who wants a book full of magical creatures and action. I enjoyed the book a lot. Sandry’s Book is the first in a quartet called Circle of Magic so if you enjoy the book you will have more to look forward to. I haven’t read any of the other books yet but I plan to soon. There is also another quartet that has some of the same characters and comes after this one called The Circle Opens.
Emily Corwin-Renner
Sandry’s Book
Tamora Pierce
Fantasy
Copyright 1997
Setting: Sandry’s Book takes place in a magical land. There are many countries in this land but most of the book takes place in Emelan. The four main characters all start out in different places in the beginning. They are all taken to Winding Circle a school for mages. In this book (and others by Tamora Pierce) the word mage means a person who has magical powers.
Author’s Style: Sandry’s Book is written in third person. In the beginning of Sandry’s Book, Tamora Pierce goes back and fourth between the four main characters. Once they are together this doesn’t happen as much. The book goes along at a steady pace. There is a focus on the character’s feelings. I liked that because unlike most fantasy books it wasn’t all action.
Characters:
Sandry is an orphan whose parent’s were nobility. She has magic connected with textiles.
Daja is also an orphan. Her parents were Traders who drown. Her magic is with metal.
Briar (Roach) is a former thief who has plant magic.
Tris is a girl who was sent away because her parents didn’t want her. She has weather
magic.
Niko is a great mage whose job is to find things that were hidden.
Lark and Rosethorn are the teachers and caretakers at the house where they stay.
Frostpine is Daja’s teacher.
Plot: Sandry, Daja, Briar, and Tris don’t fit in the main part or Winding Circle where they have just started school so they are taken to a small cottage near the school. There they live together along with Lark and Rosethorn. At first they find it hard to get along with each other but by the end of the book they care about each other in a way none of them could have imagined.
Recommendation: I would recommend this book to anyone who likes to read about friends and school even if fantasy is not usually their thing. I would not recommend this book to someone who wants a book full of magical creatures and action. I enjoyed the book a lot. Sandry’s Book is the first in a quartet called Circle of Magic so if you enjoy the book you will have more to look forward to. I haven’t read any of the other books yet but I plan to soon. There is also another quartet that has some of the same characters and comes after this one called The Circle Opens.
Book Review
Emily C-R
Lion Boy
Zizou Corder
Adventure/Fantasy/Mystery
Copyright 2003
Setting: Lion Boy takes place in the future. Cars are rare due to lack of oil; only the government and huge corporations have enough money to own and use them. The book starts in London, England but early on in the book Charlie boards a circus ship headed for Paris, France.
Author’s Style: The first time I read Lion Boy, I read it in only one day. Lion Boy is a long book but the end of every chapter leaves you longing for more; even the last chapter because the last chapter isn’t really the last chapter. Lion Boy is the first book in a trilogy and the story doesn’t really slow down in between the books. It is almost as if it was just one book evenly split in three parts so it wouldn’t be to long. The titles of the other books are Lion boy the Chase and Lion Boy the Truth. Lion Boy goes back and fourth between Charlie’s parents and Charlie himself.
Characters:
Charlie Ashanti, the lion boy himself
Magdalen Start, Charlie’s mom
Aneba Ashanti, Charlie’s dad
The Lions, Charlie’s lion friends
The Cats, Charlie’s cat friends
Charlie’s friends from the circus
And many more.
Plot: Charlie comes home one day only to find that his parents have disappeared so he sets out on an adventure to find them. Along the way he takes advantage of the fact that he can speak Cat. He makes friends with stray cats in the streets to large lions in the circus. By the end of the book Charlie has a pretty good idea about where his parents are and enough friends to help him find them.
Recommendation: I would recommend Lion Boy to anyone who likes adventure, mystery, and a good sense of humor. The thing I like best about the book is that the characters really seem to come alive. The book is intriguing so even if you don’t normally like adventure once you pick it up you’re not likely to set it down again until you’ve finished the last chapter; then you’ll say where’s the next one? In other words if you are a teacher don’t let this book in your classroom if you don’t want your students to read while you’re talking.
Emily C-R
Lion Boy
Zizou Corder
Adventure/Fantasy/Mystery
Copyright 2003
Setting: Lion Boy takes place in the future. Cars are rare due to lack of oil; only the government and huge corporations have enough money to own and use them. The book starts in London, England but early on in the book Charlie boards a circus ship headed for Paris, France.
Author’s Style: The first time I read Lion Boy, I read it in only one day. Lion Boy is a long book but the end of every chapter leaves you longing for more; even the last chapter because the last chapter isn’t really the last chapter. Lion Boy is the first book in a trilogy and the story doesn’t really slow down in between the books. It is almost as if it was just one book evenly split in three parts so it wouldn’t be to long. The titles of the other books are Lion boy the Chase and Lion Boy the Truth. Lion Boy goes back and fourth between Charlie’s parents and Charlie himself.
Characters:
Charlie Ashanti, the lion boy himself
Magdalen Start, Charlie’s mom
Aneba Ashanti, Charlie’s dad
The Lions, Charlie’s lion friends
The Cats, Charlie’s cat friends
Charlie’s friends from the circus
And many more.
Plot: Charlie comes home one day only to find that his parents have disappeared so he sets out on an adventure to find them. Along the way he takes advantage of the fact that he can speak Cat. He makes friends with stray cats in the streets to large lions in the circus. By the end of the book Charlie has a pretty good idea about where his parents are and enough friends to help him find them.
Recommendation: I would recommend Lion Boy to anyone who likes adventure, mystery, and a good sense of humor. The thing I like best about the book is that the characters really seem to come alive. The book is intriguing so even if you don’t normally like adventure once you pick it up you’re not likely to set it down again until you’ve finished the last chapter; then you’ll say where’s the next one? In other words if you are a teacher don’t let this book in your classroom if you don’t want your students to read while you’re talking.
Book Review
Emily C-R
The Thief Lord
Cornelia Funke
Adventure/Fantasy/Mystery
Copyright 2000
Setting: The Thief Lord takes place during modern times in Venice, Italy. The main characters hide out in a rundown movie theater. Other places in the book include: a junk shop, two large mansions, a magical island, and the famous Saint Mark’s square, which is one of the few real places in the book.
Author’s Style: The Thief Lord was translated from German and I’m glad because I really enjoyed it. It is written in third person. One interesting thing about this book is that the reader always knows more than the characters in the book. Usually this bothers me, but in this case for every one thing you find out, several new mysteries start. Cornelia Funke does a good job describing things and feelings; making you understand what the characters are feeling without going on forever.
Characters:
Victor Getz, a detective who is very clever but not very fast.
Esther and Max Hartlieb are Victor’s clients who are missing their nephews Prosper and Bo.
Prosper, cares about his brother very much and is afraid of being separated; in a way Prosper is much more like a parent than a brother.
Bo is Prosper’s little brother who is eager to have adventures.
Hornet is a friend of Prosper and Bo’s who introduces them to her other friends.
The Theif Lord or Scipio is the leader of the group of friends.
Riccio, another friend, nicked named Hedgehog.
Mosca, another friend.
Barbarossa, the junk shop owner.
Ida Spavento is a kind young lady who is very rich.
The Conte
Plot: Prosper and Bo run away to Venice when their parents die because their aunt wants to adopt Bo but not Prosper. In Venice, they make friends and have adventures, while trying all the while not to be caught by Victor who has been hired to find them.
Recommendation: I would recommend this book to anyone but especially someone who likes adventure, fantasy, or mystery mixed with amazingly well written stories. This is one of the best books I’ve ever read. The story seemed very real to me. I could understand what it would be like to be Prosper, Scipio, or even Victor. If you like Harry Potter I think you will like The Thief Lord; it has a lot of the same qualities even though it has a very different plot.
Emily C-R
The Thief Lord
Cornelia Funke
Adventure/Fantasy/Mystery
Copyright 2000
Setting: The Thief Lord takes place during modern times in Venice, Italy. The main characters hide out in a rundown movie theater. Other places in the book include: a junk shop, two large mansions, a magical island, and the famous Saint Mark’s square, which is one of the few real places in the book.
Author’s Style: The Thief Lord was translated from German and I’m glad because I really enjoyed it. It is written in third person. One interesting thing about this book is that the reader always knows more than the characters in the book. Usually this bothers me, but in this case for every one thing you find out, several new mysteries start. Cornelia Funke does a good job describing things and feelings; making you understand what the characters are feeling without going on forever.
Characters:
Victor Getz, a detective who is very clever but not very fast.
Esther and Max Hartlieb are Victor’s clients who are missing their nephews Prosper and Bo.
Prosper, cares about his brother very much and is afraid of being separated; in a way Prosper is much more like a parent than a brother.
Bo is Prosper’s little brother who is eager to have adventures.
Hornet is a friend of Prosper and Bo’s who introduces them to her other friends.
The Theif Lord or Scipio is the leader of the group of friends.
Riccio, another friend, nicked named Hedgehog.
Mosca, another friend.
Barbarossa, the junk shop owner.
Ida Spavento is a kind young lady who is very rich.
The Conte
Plot: Prosper and Bo run away to Venice when their parents die because their aunt wants to adopt Bo but not Prosper. In Venice, they make friends and have adventures, while trying all the while not to be caught by Victor who has been hired to find them.
Recommendation: I would recommend this book to anyone but especially someone who likes adventure, fantasy, or mystery mixed with amazingly well written stories. This is one of the best books I’ve ever read. The story seemed very real to me. I could understand what it would be like to be Prosper, Scipio, or even Victor. If you like Harry Potter I think you will like The Thief Lord; it has a lot of the same qualities even though it has a very different plot.
This book is the shortened virsion of the book An Inconvient Truth by Al Gore. It is easier to read than the original and was intended for younger people. However I think it is informitive enough to be good for anyone. It says mostly the same things but as you may have noticed is not in near as high demand. I think this is a must read unless of course you have already seen the movie. I think golbal warming is the most important problem the world faces today. To find out things you, your friends, and your family can do to help go to www.climatecrisis.net
I really enjoyed Pulling Princes because it was writtern very well. Tyne O'Connell acuately describes what it is like to not fit in in a privet school full of super rich girls. Pulling Princes is a book about a girl who wants to fit in and how desperate she gets. As you may have guesed from the title boys are a big part of the story. This book is like real life well, most of it is anyway. If you start reading this book you will not be able to stop whether you like it or not!!!!There is a sequal called Stealing Princes if you like this book.
