Wishtree - 8.66 stars

Wishtree by Katherine Applegate.  A beautiful book narrated by a two hundred year old tree named Red.  Once a year Red's neighbors tie their deepest desires to its boughs.  These wishes range from a homework robot, a friend, to someone to love.  Red has watched many human families move in, make wishes, grow old, or move out.  Red has also served as home to many critters, including currently a family of opossums, skunks, raccoons, owls and Red's best friend, a crow named Bongo.  Things change when a Muslim family, including a young girl named Samar, moves into the house across from Red.  The neighbors don't all welcome this new addition.  One boy even carves the word "Leave" into Red's bark.  Although Red knows it is against the rules for trees to interfere with human affairs, Red cannot stay silent and watch Samar suffer.  A wonderful reminder of how newcomers, be they Irish or Muslim, have not always been welcomed.  But when they are eventually embraced, the neighborhood is the better for it.

Recommended Age: 8-12

Lourdes - 8 stars.  I liked how Samar got  her wish to have a friend and her family stayed.  I also like the story that the tree tells about Maeve and her wish was to find someone to love with all her heart.  I didn't like how Maeve's great granddaughter, Francesca, wanted to chop down the tree.  I also didn't like when the boy wrote "Leave" on Red.

Sabine - I give this book 9 stars.  I think kids would like learning about wishing day, which is where you wish for something and tie the wish to a tree.  I liked how Samar and Stephen became friends in the end.  I liked how at the end all of the neighbors came together.  I didn't like how Francesca wanted to cut down Red.

Finn - 9 stars.  What I didn't like in the book was that Red hardly ever let Bongo make a deposit on anyone.  I think kids would like this book because Bongo is funny.  I liked this book because trees and animals talk and I like how Red has an opinion about everything.  I didn't like that they didn't catch the boy who wrote "Leave."

The Apothecary - 9 stars

The Apothecary by Maile Meloy.   Fourteen year old Janie Scott is happy with her life in post World War II Hollywood. That is, until her television writing parents are blacklisted and the family must move to London.  Once there, Janie befriends Benjamin, the son of the local apothecary.  When Benjamin's father is kidnapped, Janie and Benjamin use the apothecary's treasured book, the Pharmacopoeia, to find him.  The Pharmacopoeia contains recipes for potions Janie and Benjamin can use against their enemies.  They are helped along the way by Pip, a former pickpocket, they meet in juvenile detention.  Their journey turns dangerous as they discover Benjamin's father is a member of a group of scientists trying to stop the Russians from testing an atomic bomb.

Recommended for children 9-14.

Finn - I like this book because the author paints a clear picture of what's happening.  Kids would like it because it has a lot of exciting parts and parts that are really nerve racking.  My favorite part of the book is when Janie, Benjamin and Pip turn into birds for the first time.  They are trying to escape juvenile detention, but a Russian spy is on the roof and they have no choice but to drink the potion and turn into birds.  Spoiler alert:  The ending is a bit disappointing when Janie and Pip get brainwashed by Benjamin in order to protect them.  But I'm still excited to read the second book in the series.     

Little People Big Dreams: Frida Kahlo - 8.66 stars

Little People Big Dreams: Frida Kahlo by Isabel Sanchez Vegara.  This is part of a series of books featuring extraordinary women.  Other books in the series include Coco Chanel, Marie Curie, Maya Angelou, Audrey Hepburn, and Amelia Earhart.  These books are geared toward 4 to 7 year olds and give a brief summary of each woman's life and accomplishments.  In Frida Kahlo, we learned about her contracting polio as a child, the tragic bus accident she survived as a young woman, how she coped with her accident through painting and a little about her marriage to Diego Rivera.  It is a nice introduction to these amazing woman for younger children. 

Lourdes - 8 stars.  I don't like how Frida had polio and got into a car accident.  I like how she painted her pictures in bed by looking at her reflection in a mirror.  In some paintings she was sad and in some paintings she was happy.  A lot of them she was happy.

Finnegan - I give this 9 stars because I like how it explains Frida's life so that it doesn't get off topic and it doesn't dive too deep into the bad parts of her life because that wouldn't be appropriate for kids.  I didn't like how it didn't talk that much about her paintings.

Sabine - I give this 9 stars because I loved her paintings and how she got better and started painting more.  The bad part was that Frida got into a car accident, but I liked that she never gave up.  It would have been hard to walk around after she had polio.  I liked the painting where she painted herself standing by water.  I also liked the picture where she was sitting on a bench because I liked the background.

The Magic Misfits - 10 stars

The Magic Misfits by Neil Patrick Harris.  "If you know where to look, real magic is all around you too."  This is a cute story about Carter, an orphan with quick hands for card tricks, who escapes the clutches of his ruthless uncle and hops a train to Mineral Wells.   Once there, he befriends a few other magically inclined kids and together they help bring down B.B. Bosso, the owner of a traveling circus which is really a front for Bosso's group of thieves.  It is a nice story about friendship that is enhanced by the magic tricks and riddles that are interspersed amongst the chapters.  Perfect for the first through fifth grade crowd.  And if your children enjoy the book as much as my son Finn did, they are in luck as the end promises more books will follow.

Finn - I give this book 10 stars because it showed you how to do magic tricks and it had a lot of funny parts.  One of the funny parts that I liked was when the Pock Pickets were put in handcuffs by Carter and they were mourning through a song: "we're supposed to guard Bosso's treasure and now we'll be the source of his displeasure.  Let us gooooooo!"  Carter sings back: "how about noooooo?" My favorite magic trick they showed was how to read minds by doing math.  The trick on how to guess the color of the crayon was also pretty good.  Kids would like this book because it is cool how the Magic Misfits find out how Bosso does his "magic tricks" and stop him.

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The Secret of the Old Clock - 9.3 stars

The Secret of the Old Clock by Carolyn Keene.  This is the first book in the Nancy Drew mystery series.  We are introduced to Nancy Drew, an 18 year old sleuth.  By happenstance she is put on the trail of locating the lost second will of Josiah Crowley.  The first will leaves all of his estate to the greedy Topham family to the detriment of all of his less well off friends and relatives.  Nancy puts herself in harms way multiple times before finally solving the mystery to the detriment of the Tophams.  It was a fun family read.

Recommended Age: 7 and up  

Lourdes - 10 stars.  I like mysteries.  I also like that Nancy is always like - hey why don't I do this instead of doing a wrong choice and not getting the old clock.  She never gives up.  She's always up for anything.  She won't let anyone stand in her path because she is friends with the people who don't have as much money as her.  She wants them to have money.  So she gets the will.  And because Nancy never gave up on what she wanted to accomplish for her friends and other people.  Except not the Topham family because the Topham family was mean.  Like the Topham girls were all "oh no, now I have to get a job."    

Sabine - I give Nancy Drew 10 stars because I liked how she saves some people because they didn't have a lot of money.  And I also liked how she never gave up.  One of the funny parts was when she always wanted to go somewhere and see what the thieves were doing.  Also I liked how she found the will.  

Finn - I give this book 8 stars.  I didn't hear the whole story (because I was at hockey).  But I didn't like how Nancy was like - "Oh the Tophams are going to have to sell their home.  Yay, I made them do this!"  And she also asks her dad to listen to the reading of the will and see the Tophams cry.  It was funny when Nancy doesn't tell the police officers that she stole this clock and then one of the officers asked if he could drive to the police station with her and she's like "oh no, he's going to see the clock.  So she tells the truth but leaves parts out about stealing it."  I think kids would like this book because it has lots of different choices she has to make.  It would also be good as a choose your own adventure book.  I like those.    

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The Red Pyramid - 8 stars

The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan.  Reviewed by Finn .  The Red Pyramid is the first book in Riordan's Egyptian mythology series.  In this book, estranged brother and sister, Sadie and Carter, each tell the story from their own perspective.  Their mom is dead and their dad was trapped in a magical sarcophagus by Set a/k/a the Red Lord (god of the desert and chaos).  So Carter and Sadie set out on a mission to stop Set from starting the apocalypse.  They are helped on this journey by gods like Isis and Horace.  As a team they must fight Sobek (crocodile god) and magicians from the House of Life that just have the wrong view of things.

I like this book because it is interesting how Riordan uses places in the world and connects them to Egyptian mythology.  Like the Washington Monument and Cleopatra's Needle in London are obelisks.  Other kids will like this book because it is funny and informative (in a not boring way).  It was funny when Carter nicknames the Set animal (a dog like thing) Jeffrey.  It was also funny because there is this monkey named Khufu who belonged to their uncle and Khufu would only eat things that end in "o", like Doritos, Cheetos and Cheerios.  He also liked to play basketball and roots for the L.A. Lakers.  Why?  I don't know.  I mean they are terrible.  Look at their records.  They are not good.  Anyway, I've read almost all of Rick Riordan's books and this is one of my favorites.

Ages: 9-14

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Henry's Freedom Box: A True Story from the Underground Railroad - 8.3 stars

Henry's Freedom Box tells the amazing story of Henry "Box" Brown.  Henry was separated from his family as a child and forced to work in his master's tobacco factory.  He worked hard and when he fell in love with another slave, their masters allowed them to marry.  But then his wife and three children are taken from him and sold when her master falls into debt.  Losing his family was more than Henry could bear and so he reached out to an abolitionist who helped mail Henry in a wooden box from Richmond to Philadelphia.  Henry is stuffed in this box with few air holes and only a bit of food for 27 hours!  As a slave Henry never knew his birthday, but he considered his real birthday the day he obtained freedom.  

Suggested Age: 4-10

Finn - 9 stars.  My favorite part was when Henry mailed himself in the box all the way to a free state where there was no slavery.  And I liked how he managed to survive being upside down in his box for like 16 hours.  I think kids would like this book because Henry was really brave.  He even burned his hand with acid so he wouldn't have to go to work and could mail himself that day.

Sabine - I would give this book an 8 because I liked that Henry wanted to mail himself in a box.  And the part I didn't like was when his family got taken away from him.

Lourdes - 8 stars.  I liked that it told all about Henry's life and how he survived in that box.  What made me sad was that slaves didn't get to know their birthdays.

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