A blog of my running thoughts while reading. *Warning: Spoilers*
This was an interesting story, although I found it peculiar that the treasured book was Aristotle, rather than something more natively Persian (like the 1001 Nights Entertainments or something). The caliph was cool and I’m glad that the kids are catching on a little better now about Teddy and Kathleen. Still, they haven’t quite grasped the basic rules of time travel, have they?
So far I’m intrigued. I really have no idea what their quest is all about yet, but it sounds like it should be interesting! The kids are certainly likely to find something entertaining anyway!
I enjoyed this story, even if everything seemed rigged. It really felt like Merlin was guiding every single step of what happened. The plot was interesting and the purpose was really good (I liked that the city was the lady in peril). I hope the next one doesn’t feel quite so rigged, though!
Yay! It’s Venice during Carnival!
So who is the Grand Lady and what trouble is she in? The spells from Teddy and Kathleen are cool, so I look forward to seeing how they are used through this journey and the next three. And then what kind of magic will Jack and Annie learn to work themselves? This should certainly be interesting!
This was an interesting story. The pieces seemed primarily pulled from Norse mythology, but the strange bit of practicality with the frost giant contrasted sharply with everything else. The stories focusing on the four objects was a good idea, but I didn’t feel like that element came out as strongly as it could have. I’ll be interested to see where we go next.
Ok, so now we’re playing with Odin and the characters of Norse mythology. The swan maiden is more of an Eastern European fairy tale motif though. This is really just a weird mish-mash of stuff. The Norns vaguely reminded me of Orddu, Orwen and Orgoch and that made me very happy. I hope the rest of the book remains as interesting!
The story ended curiously. Apparently Excalibur is intended for peace, not for fighting, but I seem to remember Arthur using it in an awful lot of battles! The kids have to be getting quite a bit older by now too. Something like two or three years has passed since they found the tree house and yet there’s no hint of them having grown up at all. It’s kind of weird, actually! Oh well.
This was a fun, energetic story! There’s something about the way that Skippyjon Jones books are written that just begs to be read aloud. The illustrations are bright and fun and I loved that Skippyjon’s sisters got in on the fun this time too! I enjoyed this a lot and very much look forward to more from the series!
Abigail Iris is pretty cute. I really like her voice, although it’s not as infectious as I think that the authors want it to be. Her blended family is believable and enthusiastically drawn, although some of the details still feel like the authors are trying too hard. I’m looking forward to seeing what happens on the vacation to San Francisco, although I suspect that I may already have a pretty good idea of where the story is going.
This was a special school-themed issue of The Horn Book. It had a bunch of awesome little memory pieces from various authors. Shaun Tan’s was unquestionably my favorite! There was a wonderful article on what makes a good first-day-of-school book. There was an article that examined the three disciplines most focused on studying children’s literature and their relations with each other. The article about homeschoolers and their use of books was great. The issue also prompted me to send a letter in response to the article “CLAT Level III: Children’s Literature Application Test” because it unfairly singled out the boy playing a videogame as someone who “never reads”, a statement not made about any other child. The point of the article was to learn not to make assumptions about children’s reading habits and yet the test made this stereotypical and untrue assumption right off the bat! I was very disappointed. The rest of the issue was delightful, though, and I quite enjoyed it.
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