The Sisters Grimm: The Fairy-Tale Detectives by Michael Buckley

Overview from Barnes and Noble:

In paperback for the first time, the Sisters Grimm take readers to a world where fairy tales are fact and not everyone is who they seem!

In book one of this bestselling series, sisters Sabrina and Daphne are sent to live with their mysterious grandmother, Relda Grimm. The sisters learn they are descendants of the Brothers Grimm, whose famous book of fairy tales is actually a collection of case files. The girls are the latest in a long line of fairy-tale detectives, and their new hometown is filled with Everafters (as magical folks like to be called)-some good and some very, very bad. When a mysterious Everafter sets a giant loose on the town, it's up to the Sisters Grimm to save the day.

 

My thoughts:

I love discovering series that grab my children's attention and get them all involved and interested.  We are enjoying this series so far on audio.  I am behind on reviews so currently we are listening to book four.  Unfortunately we started out of order, so we listened to book 2 and 3 before going back to book 1, it depends on what we find on the shelf at the library!  I'd recommend starting in order, but know that they can be read out of order if you need to.

 

This book sets up how Sabrina and Daphne came to live with their grandmother in Ferryport Landing and who some of the Everafters who populate the town are.  It introduces the tensions that come into play in later books and gives some clues as to what became of their parents a year and a half ago when they disappeared, seemingly abandoning their two children.

 

Along with setting things up for the series there is the fun of encountering Jack and some Giants, Prince Charming, the Big, Bad Wolf, Puck and the Three Little Pigs.  I plan on using this series this summer as a springboard to learn more about some fairy tales and nursery rhymes for my children.  Some of the characters they have heard of, but not all, so I think it will be fun to learn more.

 

 

 

Product Details

• ISBN-13: 9780810993228
• Publisher: Abrams, Harry N., Inc.
• Publication date: 4/1/2007
• Series: Sisters Grimm Series , #1
• Pages: 312
• Age range: 8 - 12 Years

Meet the Author

More by this Author

• The Council of Mirrors (Sisters Grimm Series #9)
• The Unusual Suspects (Sisters Grimm Series #2)
• The Problem Child (Sisters Grimm Series #3)
• Once Upon a Crime (Sisters Grimm Series #4)

Michael Buckley's previous books include a New York Times bestseller, a Kirkus Best Fantasy Book, and two Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Platinum winners. He has written and developed television shows for several networks. He lives with his wife, Alison, in New York City.

Peter Ferguson is a comic book and editorial artist living in Montreal, Canada.

It's Monday, What are you reading?

After a bit of a blogging break I am back and trying to get myself back into the habit of posting again.  I have a whole bunch of books to think about reviewing, since my blogging break was not a reading break, I guess it will depend on how well I can remember them!  Here is my past week:

Books read:
A Perfect Blood by Kim Harrison
Good Night for Ghosts by Mary Pope Osborne

Still Reading:
Ever After by Kim Harrison
The Sisters Grim: Once Upon a Crime by Michael Buckley

Hope everyone else had a good reading and blogging week!

Saturday Snapshot- Color Me Rad!

A few weeks ago I did a Color Me Rad race with my children.  They had a great time and loved it and it was a really nice way to start getting them into thinking about running as fun.  We mostly walked with short bursts of running, but no one complained or asked if we were almost done and no one thought it was too long.  I love the fact that my children were unphased by a 3 mile walk, and realzie that we generally walk a lot in our daily lives.  I really hope this is instilling healthy habits in them for later in their lives.

Darth Paper Strikes Back by Tom Angleberger (An Origami Yoda Book)

Overview from Barnes and Noble:

The hilarious, clever, and much-anticipated follow-up to the breakout hit, The Strange Case of Origami Yoda!
It is a dark time at Ralph McQuarrie Middle School. After suffering several Origami Yoda–related humiliations, Harvey manages to get Dwight suspended from school for being a “troublemaker.” Origami Yoda pleads with Tommy and Kellen to save Dwight by making a new case file—one that will show how Dwight’s presence benefits McQuarrie. With the help of their friends, Tommy and Kellen record cases such as “Origami Yoda and the Pre-eaten Wiener,” “Origami Yoda and the Exploding Pizza Bagels,” and “Origami Yoda and Wonderland: The Musical.” But Harvey and his Darth Paper puppet have a secret plan that could make Dwight’s suspension permanent . . .

With his proven knack for humorously exploring the intrigues, fads, and dramas of middle school, Tom Angleberger has crafted a worthy sequel to his breakout bestseller.

My thoughts:
This was another fun read that engaged my children while we listened to the audio book in the car.  Harvey makes his own origami character calling him Darth Paper and brings him to school to counteract Dwight's Origami Yoda.  The tone and content again reminded me of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series.

The chapters are short and easy to follow, even for younger listeners, and I love how the students are writing a book or as they call it, a case file, to prove that Origami Yoda and Dwight need to stay at school and not be suspended.  Harvey is always there to fight them on their facts and add his sarcasm.  It was nice to see the boys working towards helping a friend that they aren't even sure they really like.

I think this series is good for taping into the interests of all readers, but especially boys, who at times are less likely to want to sit down with a book.

Product Details

• ISBN-13: 9781419700279
• Publisher: Abrams, Harry N., Inc.
• Publication date: 8/23/2011
• Series: Origami Yoda Series , #2
• Pages: 176
• Age range: 8 - 12 Years

The People of Sparks by Jeanne Duprau

Overview from Barnes and Noble:

The People of Sparks picks up where The City of Ember leaves off. Lina and Doon have emerged from the underground city to the exciting new world above, and it isn’t long before they are followed by the other inhabitants of Ember. The Emberites soon come across a town where they are welcomed, fed, and given places to sleep. But the town’s resources are limited and it isn’t long before resentment begins to grow between the two groups. When anonymous acts of vandalism push them toward violence, it’s up to Lina and Doon to discover who’s behind the vandalism and why, before it’s too late.

 

My thoughts:
After a little break, my children were curious to find out what happened once Lina and Doon made it out of Ember following the builder's directions.  Where they able to get the rest of the town to follow them?  Where were they going to go and what were they going to find outside of the cave they had lived in for over two hundred years?

The note that the children sent down was found and many of the townspeople made it out alive.  After walking for three days they found the city of Sparks.  The townspeople have been working for years to get everything running smoothly and to have enough food and supplies for their inhabitants, so they are wary about more than doubling their population, but at the same time they are not near any other settlements to send these weak, pale people on to.  The three city leaders try to work out a plan together to help these new people, people many of them cannot believe actually came from living in a cave, and teaching them skills so that they can one day be independent and start their own settlement.  In Ember the people had electricity and plumbing, while Sparks has no electricity and pumps and wells to provide water.  They cook with fire while the Emberites are terrified of fire as it had the potential to kill them all back in their city.

Some relationships go well, others get hostile pretty quickly.  There is resentment from both sides about having to share food that the one group didn't work for and the other group does not feel they are getting enough of as they are always hungry.  The Emberites have to deal with sunburn and heat for the first time ever.  Some of the acts of vandalism are not what they seem.

When things get to a breaking point it is again Lina and Doon who step in to show children and grow ups alike how to move forward.

Product Details

• ISBN-13: 9780739331699
• Publisher: Random House Audio Publishing Group
• Publication date: 5/9/2006
• Series: Books of Ember Series , #2
• Format: CD
• Edition description: Unabridged, 6 CDs, 7 hrs. 55 min.
• Age range: 9 - 12 Years

The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau

Overview from Barnes and Noble:

In the year 241, twelve-year-old Lina trades jobs on Assignment Day to be a Messenger to run to new places in her decaying but beloved city, perhaps even to glimpse Unknown Regions. In this 

children's fantasy about two young heroes who attempt to solve an ancient mystery in time to prevent their underground city from being swallowed by darkness. The City of Ember was built over 200 year ago, deep below the earth, where the destruction of a mass-scale disaster couldn't reach it. Equipped with a massive generator and vast supplies, the people of Ember have thrived happily for generations -- but the city wasn't meant to be lived in forever. The generator is breaking down and the supplies are running out, but two centuries in isolation have robbed the Emberites of their knowledge -- nobody knows how the electric lights work anymore, and nobody understands that there's something beyond the city besides darkness. Nobody, that is, besides Lina  and Doon , two twelve-year-olds who still have the hope that everyone else has lost to ignorance and apathy -- not to mention a sheet of instructions left by the Builders themselves explaining how to leave the city. But the 200-year-old paper is falling apart, and pieces are missing. So with the lights threatening to flicker out for the last time and leave Ember in darkness forever, Lina and Doon set out on an adventure through the streets, sewers, and dark caverns of Ember to put the pieces back together. To solve the mystery, they'll have to get inside the Builders' heads, and avoid the grasp of corrupt Mayor Cole, who wants to keep Ember the way it is -- no matter what the cost.

My thoughts:
I listened to this audio book with my children.  I had never heard of it, but one of us picked it out at the library and we listened to it together in the car.  In writing this post I found out that not only is it a book, but there is also a graphic novel and a movie from 2008, which makes it seem like I should have heard of it.  Since reading it together it was also picked by the children's librarian at one of our local libraries for a summer discussion group.  Plus it is just the start of a series of books.  I love making new discoveries!

Lina and Doon were childhood friends who grew apart, but the mission of putting together a secret message found in a box but chewed up by Lina's little sister reminds them of why they became friends years ago.  The City of Ember has prescribed times of light and dark, at 9PM all the lights go out and at 6AM they come back on.  All citizens receive a job assignment when they are 12 by picking them from a hat.  Some work at the pipe works, some work with electricity, some go to the green house, others are messengers and some work in the store room and so on.  Lina longs to be a messenger, but gets a job below ground as a pipe worker, by trading with Doon they both start to get a new view of the city.  The shortages that are coming about in the storehouses, the flickering of the lights, the sicknesses and failed crops in the greenhouse start suspicion that the city is failing.  Then Lina finds a message in a box, a message her grandmother is looking for but unable to find with her failing memory, unfortunately Poppy, her two year old sister, finds it first and mangles it up.  Lina can't get anyone but Doon to take the message seriously.

The children work together to find a way to solve the riddle and save the city while dealing with some society members who have been hoarding supplies and want to keep the status quo.

Product Details

• ISBN-13: 9780375822742
• Publisher: Random House Children's Books
• Publication date: 5/25/2004
• Series: Books of Ember Series , #1
• Edition description: Reprint
• Pages: 288
• Age range: 9 - 12 Years

The Strange Case of Origami Yoda by Tom Angleberger

Overview from Barnes and Noble:

In this funny, uncannily wise portrait of the dynamics of a sixth-grade class and of the greatness that sometimes comes in unlikely packages, Dwight, a loser, talks to his classmates via an origami finger puppet of Yoda. If that weren’t strange enough, the puppet is uncannily wise and prescient. Origami Yoda predicts the date of a pop quiz, guesses who stole the classroom Shakespeare bust, and saves a classmate from popularity-crushing embarrassment with some well-timed advice. Dwight’s classmate Tommy wonders how Yoda can be so smart when Dwight himself is so clueless. With contributions from his puzzled classmates, he assembles the case file that forms this novel.

 

My thoughts:

This book was a fun, easy read that gets young readers engaged and laughing while showing social interactions.  Middle school can be a scary time, transitioning to being more independent and having more chances to embarrass yourself, like school dances, and can cause quite a bit anxiety.  I liked how these boys handle it with the help of a finger puppet that may, or may not, have magical powers.  Each chapter in this case file is written or recorded by different students in the same middle school and they each have their own, distinct voice.

 

I checked both the hardcover and the audio book out of the library, I read through the book on my own and then played the audio in the car for my children.  My older two have already read it on their own as well. It is fun to hear them laughing along with the story and repeating silly lines.  It reminds me a bit of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, but in a good way.  I think that it is great that it is mostly told from a male perspective as I've found it can sometimes be harder to keep boys interested in reading for fun.  It is amusing enough that adults aren't going to bored either!

Product Details

• ISBN-13: 9780810984257
• Publisher: Abrams, Harry N., Inc.
• Publication date: 3/1/2010
• Series: Origami Yoda Series , #1
• Pages: 141

Meet the Author

More by this Author

• Art2-D2's Guide to Folding and Doodling: An Origami Yoda Activity Book
• The Secret of the Fortune Wookiee (Origami Yoda Series #3)
• Darth Paper Strikes Back (Origami Yoda Series #2)
• Fake Mustache: Or, How Jodie o'Rodeo and Her Wonder Horse (And Some Nerdy Kid) Saved the U. S. Presidential Election from a Mad Genius

Applying for a job as a newspaper artist, Tom Angleberger was mistakenly assigned to cover local government meetings. Fifteen years and countless town council meetings later, he is still writing instead of drawing, currently as a columnist for the Roanoke Times in Roanoke, Virginia. He began work on his first book while in middle school. Tom is married to author-illustrator Cece Bell. They live in Christianburg, Virginia.