Book Review: A Royal Guide to Monster Slaying by Kelley Armstrong

I was hoping to get this review up several weeks ago, but unfortunately, due to a lack of Internet and just an incredibly busy schedule it just didn't get done.  I have now started a new permanent position at my work with more hours, but no set schedule, so it will be more difficult to get these done.  Anyway...
I really enjoyed this book!  It was so well written and engaging I couldn't put it down.  The characters are very fleshed out and they have real motivations for doing things, rather than because the plot requires them to do so.
The plot is so well written that it will keep you on the edge of your seat.  I really liked that there was a good mix of action and regular life, if you will.  I'm already looking forward to the next book (although there is no hint of a date)!
This is a tween book.  It is a bit old for children around 10 (depending on maturity level, etc).  I certainly wouldn't read it to my 5 year old niece!

Suggested Reads
I couldn't think of any off the top of my head that I haven't suggested already, so I turned to Novelist for some assistance!
Here are the 9 titles that Novelist suggested with spunky female leads:

               

               

Book Review: Grilled Cheese and Dragons #1

Grilled Cheese and Dragons #1 by Nancy Krulik

This book was amazing! The Princess Serena, or as she prefers to be called, Princess Pulverizer wants to join Knight School. When she begs and pleads her father to allow her to attend, he instead sends her off on a Quest of Kindness in order to gain more knightly attributes. She must perform 8 acts of kindness and have proof of each one. However, her plans go a little awry when she meets some unexpected help.
I read it aloud to my niece and she absolutely adored it. She is 5 and understood the concepts quite well. However, I would say that the reading level is more around 8 or 9. There are also great illustrations and, thankfully for my voice, short chapters.
Read a likes include Princess in Black by Shannon Hale and Dealing with Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede.

Borrow or Buy: Lego City Undercover

I found out about this game from the Glove and Boot's Let's Play.  I miss them so much, but anyways, I started playing this game recently.  It is similar to all Lego games in that there is a story and then free play where you can run all over city getting your collectibles.  Like all of the Lego series, I suggest finishing the story first since that unlocks all of your abilities, so then you can go back and complete the story and get all the collectibles at your leisure.  It also makes running around the city way more fun since you don't get halfway through to getting a Super Build block, then having to stop, remember where it is and come back later.

Verdict:  Borrow.  It has been out for some time now, so there shouldn't be a crazy long wait list for it and even if there is a wait list, it is worth waiting.

Borrow or Buy: Megamind - The Ultimate Showdown

So, this is something that has been on my mind for a little while now.  I am an avid gamer, much to my mom's dismay.  I've always loved gaming!  When I was a kid, we used to go to my cousins house.  I've been borrowing games from the library for my consoles for YEARS.  I tend to treat it as a try before I buy.
I've been toying with the idea of reviewing games for a while now.  So, let's get started shall we?  Welcome to the first "episode" of Borrow or Buy!

I picked this up on a whim from the library last summer because I love the movie so much!  I was really hoping that it would be a continuation of the movie and it is, sort of.  You do play Megamind and you get all of the fun toys that were in the movie, as well on some   It was a short fun game which was perfect!  I also managed to get all the trophies without having to do anything which made the little completionist inside of me very happy.  Also, the problem is that there isn't any kind of replayability.  I think even kids who aren't super avid gamers would be able to finish this game in a week.  Also, it isn't all that popular, so renewals should be possible.

Verdict:  Borrow.  It isn't really worth buying given the short playtime and lack of replayability.

Picture Book Reviews from Inhabit Media

It was my niece's third birthday recently and I wanted to get her something special.  My sister told me that she was really getting into longer more involved stories like The Balloon Tree by Phoebe Gilman.  She also really enjoys A Promise Is A Promise by Robert Munsch.  I wanted to get her something that I didn't think she would get from anyone else.  I found out about this Canadian publishing company based in Iqaluit while at the OLA Super Conference.  I saw the vendor booth on the trade show, but Akilak's Adventure was also mentioned at the talk about Diverse Books.

I went to Chapters and it was kind of a pain to find these books since they are filed in different sections of 3 - 5 year old storytime books, but I persevered and the results were totally worth it!  Although I was tempted to get The Owl and the Lemming, I didn't think my niece would like that one as much.  The books that I eventually chose were The Caterpillar Woman and Akilak's Adventure.

This is a really interesting story about a girl who gives her jacket to a strange woman and takes on the appearance of a caterpillar.  When hunters come to her tent, she helps them and one of them takes her as his wife.  Eventually, she becomes her beautiful self again and her husband becomes young and handsome in this fairy tale ending.  There are a lot of words that are a little difficult to pronounce, but there is an Inuktitut pronunciation guide in the back.  In addition to the wonderful story, the pictures are done in very muted colours and have a very smooth texture, similar to watercolours.  My niece actually preferred this book and after we read it once, we read it several more times that evening until my voice started to get all croaky.

This is a fun story about Akilak who sets out on an adventure to her uncle's camp in order to get more food for her grandmother.  I thought this was going to take on a Red Riding Hood kind of twist, but it didn't.  It is a girl who goes on a physical journey, but also embarks on a journey of self-discovery.  I really liked the illustrations in this book as they struck me as being similar to Martchenko's drawings in Munsch's books.  Although I read this book to my niece, she preferred the other, at least at the time.

I really am looking forward to other books with which this publishing house will produce and am definitely keeping on eye on them for unique wonderful stories that are Canadian.

Missing Percy Jackson? Try these Books! Part 2

This is a continuation of my blog post from last week.  There were just so many suggestions that I couldn't fit them all into one post.  The person was seeking books for a 9 year old boy with an extensive reading history of fantasy.

Spirit Animals

 

Wings of Fire by Tui T. Sutherland

Tombquest by Michael Northrop

The Last Dragon Chronicles by Chris D'Lacey

Brotherband Chronicles by John Flanagan

 

Pendragon by D.J. MacHale

The Queen's Thief by Megan Whalen Turner

Leviathan by Scott Westerfield

Bone by Jeff Smith (Graphic Novel)

The last two suggestions are normally found in the teen section, but keep in mind that the teen section covers from 12/13 years of age to 18.  These books can be handled by those who have read through Harry Potter as it is pretty dark by the end.

Protector of the Small by Tamora Pierce (or if that doesn't appeal, try one of her others)

The Spiderwick Chronicles by Holly Black

Magisterium by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare

Any book by Diana Wynne Jones.  I liked Howl's Moving Castle.

Enchanted Forest Chronicles by Patricia C. Wrede (See my review for Dealing with Dragons to get a good feel for the series)

   

TimeRiders by Alex Scarrow

Earth Sea Cycle by Ursula K. Leguin

The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander

The Blood Guard by Carter Roy (more forthcoming?)

Seven Wonders by Peter Lerangis

The Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini

Beyonders Trilogy by Brandon Mull

Brian's Saga (Hatchet) by Gary Paulsen

Arthur Trilogy by Kevin Crossley-Holland

Of course, once everyone submitted their suggestions, my mind kept chugging away and came up with one more suggestion.  The first book of the Tales of Alderley series, The Weirdstone of Brisingamen is an excellent fantasy/adventure story set in Wales.  I haven't gotten around to reading the other two books in the trilogy, but I'm sure they're just as good!

I hope that those of you who are Percy Jackson fans found some great reading suggestions.  Please comment below if you have further suggestions or how how you liked on the books suggested in the post.

Missing Percy Jackson? Try these books!

I'm afraid I had a migraine yesterday which is why I posted a little later than usual.  One of the consequences is an inability to concentrate and another is screens make it worse.  So, let's discuss Percy Jackson.


Percy Jackson is a really great series that takes place in contemporary times and all the characters are offspring of Greek gods and mortals.  There is the original series, Percy Jackson and the Olympians and the sequel series, Heroes of Olympus.  What do you read now that the series is finished and Rick Riordan's next series isn't coming out until October?  This is a situation those of us who work with children are answering and some people have less experience with fantasy than others.  I received a system-wide e-mail looking for suggestions for an 8 -10 year lad who had read Percy Jackson, Harry Potter, Narnia, Tolkien, Farley Mowat, Ascendance Trilogy and Trouble Twisters.  Apparently the dad who was looking for suggestions did not like Trouble Twisters.  Here is what myself and my colleagues suggested for the bewildered dad.

His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman

 

The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper

Charlie Bone (The Children of the Red King) by Jenny Nimmo

The Snow Spider by Jenny Nimmo

Children of the Lamp by Philip Kerr

The Blackwell Pages by K. L. Armstrong and M.A. Marr

 Redwall by Brian Jacques (original trilogy is featured below)

Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer 

Edge Chronicles by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell 

Fablehaven by Brandon Mull 

Inkspell Trilogy (Inkworld) by Cornelia Funke 

Sea of Trolls Trilogy by Nancy Farmer 

Monster's Ring (Magic Shop) by Bruce Coville 

Ranger’s Apprentice by John Flanagan 

Septimus Heap by Angie Sage 

Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy 

Underland Chronicles by Suzanne Collins 

Young Heroes by Jane Yolen

Chrestomanci by Dianne Wynne Jones (author's suggested reading order)

Tiffany Aching, The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents by Terry Pratchett

 

Bartimaeus Sequence by Jonathan Stroud

The King in the Window by Adam Gopnik

The Sword in the Stone by T. H. White

Skellig by David Almond

New Policeman by Kate Thompson

We have many more to go, but that will have to wait until next week!  Hopefully you have found something new to read, whether for yourself or someone else.

Why Terry Pratchett Is One Of The Best Fantasy Authors

So I want to tell you all about one of my favorite authors.  As mentioned in my previous post, it was my cousin who introduced me to Terry Pratchett.  I read that first book (Guards!  Guards!) and absolutely fell in love with Terry Pratchett’s writing style.  It made fun of so many of the fantasy conventions that I loved.  When I was trying to describe him to my family, I said that he was like the Douglas Adams of fantasy.  Sadly, he passed away recently and fans reacted at once on social media, even to the extent of creating code so that he could live forever in the Internet!  In addition, The Economist wrote a wonderfully hilarious obituary for him.

Now, as mentioned, the first book I ever read by Terry Pratchett was Guards! Guards!  After that, I started reading as many of his books that I could get my hands on!  My other favorite series are Going Postal and the Tiffany Aching series, starting with Wee Free Men.

The original City Watch or Guards series is a trilogy.  The first book is Guards!  Guards!, the second book in the series is Men at Arms and the third book is Feet of Clay.  I highly suggest starting off with this series as events that happen in Feet of Clay are reflected in the Going Postal series.  The reason that I mention the original is that Terry Pratchett took one of the main characters from the books, Sam Vimes and gave him his own series which is centered on him rather than the City Watch. 

          

Going Postal is a hilarious book about Moist Von Lipwig, a con man who is "hired" by the government to run the Post Office on pain of death (again).  This seems fine until he finds out what happened to the previous Post Masters AND also has to contend with the Clacks company’s CEO.  This is the first book in what has been termed as the "Moist Von Lipwig" series or Moist for short.

          

The Tiffany Aching series is actually a teen series.  To get a good idea of what Wee Free Men is about, please check out this book trailer that I created.  It is a wonderful series based on Celt traditions.

   

   

As for standalone books (Discworld, but not a smaller series), Hogfather is one of the best!  It is hilarious and incorporates the origins of our Christmas.  I highly suggest making time around Christmas to watch the the mini-series.

And my husband highly suggests Good Omens so long as you can handle people making fun of the book of Revelations.  Also, this book is co-written with Neil Gaiman, who is also a great author.

If you have very young readers, I highly suggest The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents.  This is a Carnegie award-winning book based on the story of the Pied Piper of Hamlin, but with Terry Pratchett's usual twist.  He also wrote a number of short stories, then hid them in his closet.  These stories were collected into Dragons at Crumbling Castle and includes two stories about The Carpet People, the title of the first book he ever wrote, which was meant for children.