I lied...

I said I'd ease up on the book reviews but I'm sorry, I can't help myself. I've been so busy for months that I hadn't been able to read for pleasure as much as I'd like and now I'm completely binging on books. I'm sure it will have to come to an end soon but so far I've managed to keep my house relatively clean and kids relatively happy and I have three more books from the library just sitting there waiting for me :)

The Devlin Diary by Christi Phillips
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is Phillip's second book- the first was written in the same style following a present day historian and a past mystery. Ever since I'd read her first I've been anxious to read her next one. I had to wait a few years (mostly because I was waiting for the library to pick it up and then I got distracted and forgot I was waiting for it)but it was well worth the wait! I just finished reading this book in two days. It was written for adults (a deviation from my recent youth genre focus) so the vocabulary was a little more challenging but not at all intimidating- actually quite refreshing. It was so fantastic I did not want to put it down! An intricately woven plot, deep colorful characters reminiscent of Dickens', two intriguing murder mysteries going on at the same time- one in the present and one in the past, as well as two romances. It drove me a little crazy how the author would switch from the story of the present to the past and then back again just when things were getting super interesting or thrilling- I almost wanted to skip ahead a number of times- but it totally made the stories all the more engaging. I was worried in about the last 100 pages or so that the author was taking the story to a conclusion I didn't want- but it was just a trick- so I was very pleased. This could be an excellent movie! I also appreciated the author's note at the end clarifying what details in the book were based on historical fact and what was not- her list of research references was quite impressive. Now I'm anxious to read her next book which is planned to be set in France! Yay!


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Forest Born by Shannon Hale

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A fun, quick read in the same fashion as the other Bayern books. I enjoyed it but it was a little slow going at first and the surprises were not all that surprising. I do like how Hale has taken sub characters from the original book and turned them into the main characters of subsequent books. I can think of lots of books that I'd like to see that done with. Wouldn't it be fun to read a book that's a continuation of the Harry Potter series but all from Hermione Granger's perspective? Brilliant!

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Ode to Fablehaven

"How do I love thee? Let me count the ways..."
Just kidding, but I seriously am a HUGE fan of Fablehaven now. We're talking as big a fan as I am of the Harry Potter books! The last time I wrote about it was a little more than a year ago (4-22-10). I had just begun the first book and it was promising but not super fantastic yet. Well, honestly, the first two books are just OK. But they lay the foundation for the series so don't skip them. The third book is my favorite but the fourth and fifth books were super excellent too! There were fantastic twists and unexpected turns. I get frustrated with a lot of books because I feel like they are so predictable but these books totally caught me off guard and completely surprised me again and again. But the surprises made perfect sense so they felt right and I was left wondering why I hadn't thought of that. Totally loved them!


Fablehaven by Brandon Mull
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was a good introduction to an awesome series. A lot of fun fantasy, a little adventure, and some mystery. I read this book to my fourth grade class and they loved it!

Rise of the Evening Star by Brandon Mull

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was another pretty quick read with some more development of characters and lots of intrigue and surprises. 

Grip of the Shadow Plague by Brandon Mull

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The third book is my favorite because of the sweet, sweet, sweet love story. It was so perfect and the ending was exactly fitting. There are more fantastical creatures and objects introduced and this one is the first in the series that is a bit longer and really gets more intense, keeping me from wanting to put it down. 

Secrets of the Dragon Sanctuary by Brandon Mull

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Really exciting story with an unexpected twist that COMPLETELY caught me off guard! So fantastic!

Keys to the Demon Prison by Brandon Mull

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I loved this book! It was just the right amount of thrilling adventure and mystery. By this book I was beginning to feel so paranoid for Kendra; Who could she trust? A lot more surprises and a fantastic ending! Definitely felt satisfied but would still love to read more. Brandon Mull said that he may come back to the Fablehaven series in the future when he's finished with Beyonders and some other ideas for books. I'll be crossing my fingers :)

Brandon Mull is really tall- he's actually bending his knees in this picture to get down closer to my height. I'm thinking he's around 6'6. He was very friendly and his presentation to the kids was excellent; he was very funny and silly but also had a really good message about the importance of turning off the television/computer/video games and taking time to daydream and use your imagination. 

I had an amazing experience student teaching this past spring which I'll write more about soon. One of the things I loved was reading the first Fablehaven book to my class when they came in from lunch everyday. We all looked forward to the Read Aloud time and it was so much fun to see them get so excited about the series and hear their predictions about what might happen next. Many of them bought or checked out their own copies so they could follow along with me and then moved on to the other books on their own. At the end of my student teaching in April I gave all of my students a Fablehaven bookmark and a set of all the books in the series to my cooperating teacher. It worked out perfectly that the librarian (the mother of one of my favorite students) was able to schedule a visit from Brandon Mull at the school on my very last day of student teaching. I was able to meet him and get all of my Fablehaven books and the first Beyonders book signed. It couldn't have ended more perfectly!


A World Without Heroes by Brandon Mull
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a very imaginative beginning to a very promising three book series. The main character gets into these crazy predicaments again and again that seem impossible to get out of but the author pulls him out brilliantly every time and it makes for a very exciting read. It was a bit slow going in the beginning but by the time I read about the "displacer" -a person who can remove his body parts (like his head)without dieing- I was hooked. There is a HUGE surprise near the end followed by a big cliff hanger. Can't wait to read the next one.


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