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 MullMy 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!
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
This was another pretty quick read with some more development of characters and lots of intrigue and surprises.
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.
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Really exciting story with an unexpected twist that COMPLETELY caught me off guard! So fantastic!
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 MullMy 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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Sweet, I started reading these after Liz suggested them on the ol fb. I've just started two and am looking more forward to the rest of them. Thanks for your reviews.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to have to try them now! Thanks for the hint.
ReplyDeleteSuper cool that you got to meet Brandon Mull! :) Does he live in AZ? My mother gave Leif the first four books and he absolutely loved them! He checked out the fifth book, read it, and then asked he we could purchase it to complete his collection because it was such a good series! :) I haven't read them yet, but maybe I could read the first one out loud to the other children this summer. I need to do more of that anyway.
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