Showing posts with label juvenile fiction. Show all posts
Showing posts with label juvenile fiction. Show all posts

The Dreamer (Ala Notable Children's Books. Older Readers) Review

The Dreamer (Ala Notable Children's Books. Older Readers)
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The Dreamer (Ala Notable Children's Books. Older Readers) ReviewENTER THE DREAM! Were you a dreamy kid? The type of kid that parents & teachers nagged to focus more? Do you have a child like that? If yes, you will love this book. Inspired by the life of a real poet in Chile, Pablo Neruda, the book's prose is dream-like and poetic. It is greatly enhanced by award-winning artist Peter Sís, whose delicate, drawings enhance the magical world. Finally a book that favors the right-brain people (in this left-brain culture).
The main character dreamily ponders the world while cowering from his domineering father. However, Neftali's beholding of nature, his sense of wonder and his limitless imagination cannot be bound. He persists in his dream-like approach to the world. INSPIRE YOUR DREAMY CHILD -- This book will inspire young readers, future poets and all right-brain people. It's courageous, unusual and unique.

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The Fallen (Nine Lives of Chloe King) Review

The Fallen (Nine Lives of Chloe King)
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The Fallen (Nine Lives of Chloe King) ReviewChloe King is a normal sixteen-year-old girl. She may have had extraordinary beginnings - as a Soviet baby adopted by her parents to come and live in San Francisco . . . but since that extraordinary start, Chloe has been thoroughly normal. She has her two best friends - Amy and Paul. She fights with her mum all the time. And she resents her father for walking out twelve years ago . . . she doesn't understand trig and she's desperate to work the cash register at the clothing store where she works. Totally normal.
And then Chloe fell from Coit Tower. A 210-foot drop and Chloe walked away . . . without a scratch.
Now Chloe's life is venturing into the utterly bizarre. Suddenly she has super speed and cat-like abilities - including retractable claws! Chloe's previously barren love life is also suddenly exploding - there's the cute guy, Brian, who she meets at work, not to mention her super-sexy ex-Soviet classmate called Alyec.
Oh, and she's receiving crazy notes from somebody claiming to be from `The Order of the Tenth Blade'. . . not to mention a crazy, knife-wielding stalker is on her trail.
Suddenly, Chloe's life is about as far from normal as you can get.
`The Fallen' is the first book in Celia Thomson's `The Nine Lives of Chloe King' young adult supernatural series.
`Fallen' was published back in 2004, but `Nine Lives' caught my attention because of its recent TV adaptation on ABC family. I watched the first two episodes and was thoroughly impressed - even more so when I discovered it was based on a YA book series. I went into `Fallen' with lofty expectations, considering how much I've been enjoying the supernaturally tween-cool show. So I was somewhat disappointed/gobsmacked to discover that `The Nine Lives of Chloe King' is actually one of those rare bookish phenomena where the adaptation is better than the novel.
The problem I had with `The Fallen' was a serious lack of action. Chloe falls from Coit Tower very early on in the book - and it's a wonderfully gory and dramatic scene that suckers you right into the story. But after that death-defying feat, Chloe shows little reaction to the changes in her. She defeats a violent bum on the street, starts leaping tall buildings and growing claws . . . but she's really more interested in the developing romance between her two besties, Paul and Amy, and what that means for her as their third wheel.
I was quite dismayed to read so much teen melodrama in this book, which is amped-up when Chloe starts seeing two guys at the same time - sweet but mysterious Bryan, and the sexy-confident Alyec. The supernatural/fantasy element (which is so prevalent in the TV series) really takes a back-seat to Chloe's changing friendship and romantic dramas. Much to my chagrin.
It's not that the relationships and romances weren't interesting. And I was pleasantly surprised to read that Thomson's novel is more hard-edged than the strictly-PG ABC family drama. The teenagers in `Fallen' swear, and Chloe's libido is kicking in, along with all her other unique new abilities. There is potential for a complicated love triangle between Chloe, Brian and Alyec. So I did like the romance . . . but it felt like the supernatural aspect of the book was an afterthought for Thomson, sloppily explored in the last few pages.
I'm actually really impressed by the way ABC's adaptation has jumped ahead in the book series - and made the action/drama more of a focus . . . while teasingly playing with Chloe's romance. I was yearning for more action and insight into Chloe's cat-like abilities, because I know from watching the show that that's where the real interest and plot-intricacy lies.
It's a real shame that Thomson didn't make her novel more of a stellar supernatural. There are paragraphs of action brilliance, in which Chloe shows promise as a Buffy-esque heroine. Like when she faces off against a mysterious bad guy and is admirably brazen and witty, despite her fear.
I am loving the ABC adaptation of Celia Thomson's `The Nine Lives of Chloe King' series. Unfortunately, everything that I love about the show is non-existent in the book. Though this is clearly a supernatural series with a superhero-bent, our catty heroine is more interested in her love life and fractured friendships than discovering the truth behind her transformation. I will definitely keep watching the TV series, but I have little interest in reading the based-on books.
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Aphrodite the Beauty (Goddess Girls) Review

Aphrodite the Beauty (Goddess Girls)
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Aphrodite the Beauty (Goddess Girls) ReviewBest goddess-girlfriends Aphrodite, Athena, Artemis, and Persephone were all busy cracking the scrolls at the illustrious MOA, Mount Olympus Academy. With the exception of Beauty-ology, Aphrodite had little interest in scrolls, but when it came to godboys and love she was all eyes and ears. If you counted the matchmaking, you could count her in as nose-y. She was pretty good at it except for the time one of her "fatally flawed" ideas for matching up Paris and Helen caused a war. She was the "goddessgirl of love and beauty," but she'd have to leave the brains to Athena. Naturally all the godboys went wild over her, so one little mistake wasn't that big of a deal. After a while all the attention Aphrodite was getting made her a bit "fed up with godboys," but braniac Athena looked like she would enjoy a bit of attention now and then. Mmmmmm
Aphrodite, or "Bubbles" as nasty Medusa nicknamed her, "loved stirring up romance for others." She pored over "Teen Scrollazine" getting new ideas for Athena's makeover, a makeover that was so successful even Poseidon, "Fishface," exclaimed, "Wow, Athena . . . you look really different." Unfortunately when blond haired, blue-eyed heartthrob, Ares began eying Athena and calling her "Theeny," Aphrodite felt twangs of jealousy. When the skinniest godboy wimp, Hephaestus, began crushing on her, she was totally humiliated. She really had to concentrate on matching up mortal Hippomenes with Atalanta and had to forget about the whole fiasco. If he didn't beat Atalanta in a race he would die, but this whole mess with Athena was going to kill her instead. These days she couldn't stir up a cosmetic recipe with a spoon, let alone stir up a romance for herself. How did she get into such a mess?
Aphrodite, MOA's irresistibly vain goddessgirl of love, will simply charm the reader with her matchmaking foibles. This marvelous series is a lot of fun and just as irresistibly charming as its main characters. The reader will roll her eyes when she learns that Aphrodite has an "automatic reflex" to peer inside every mirror she passes and contrarily, will feel sorry for her when "tears brimmed in her eyes" when she was humiliated. In addition to a bubbly tale, the reader will have a learning experience even without giving a thought to Greek mythology (or cracking a scroll). This series is proving to be a hit with all the goddessgirls, godboys, and mortals out there and with the introduction of each new character, it's getting harder to pick a favorite and soooo . . . I'll just have to say I love `em allAphrodite the Beauty (Goddess Girls) Overview

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