Junior Fiction

I loved the cover of this book and no matter the synopsis, wanted to give it a try. I realize how shallow that is, but I know I'm not alone in that initial grab of 'oooooh, what's this book about?'. This first novel by William Ritter has received a good amount of praise. It would have received more praise from me if it had been sold to a Young Adult audience as opposed to a Junior Fiction one. The plot surrounds some grisly murders; that alone should have

First let me say I don't do cartology. And I mean I REALLY don't do cartology. When I got my drivers license at 16 my parents and I realized something critical, I had no clue where I was. At all. I don't mean what continent I was living on, I mean I couldn't navigate my way around Simcoe County...or Barrie...or Midland...or even, sadly, Elmvale. I could see the destination in my mind be it EDHS, the IGA, the Co-op but I had absolutely no...

Oh.  My.  Goodness.  I was beyond thrilled when I saw that Sarah Prineas was writing a fourth book in this super series.  She had written the first three and then veered off for another four book series which, honestly, didn't grip me like The Magic Thief did.  Then, when I saw she was going back to her original series I pre-purchased, Home, right away.  And I'm so glad I did!  Since I'm chatting about her hiatus from Conn and his adventures, let me say Bravo to Sarah as a writer for making this fourth book a seamless continuation for us as readers.

If books were candy this one is a sweet treat. Intense, fun, sneaky and delightful all in one scoop, Renegade Magic is a charming and loveable novel. I happily admit that I stayed up late to finish this story - not often I can say that about a Junior Fiction book. Most adults turn their noses up at Junior Fiction in general but there are pockets of genius storytelling and Stephanie Burgis is an author that has proved golden for me in both books of her series, The Unladylike Adventures of Kat Stephenson. I love that our main gal, Kat, is fiercely...

In the words of the chicken from Robin Hood, Ooh Da La Lee! What a great book! Okay, she didn't say the book part but the sentiment is the same. My 12 year old daughter read this book first and told me it was really good and did we have the other books because she wanted them right away. A few months and an approved budget at the library later I finally had the trilogy in hand and decided to give it a go myself. And I'm so glad I did! While most adults turn...

I am partial to historical mysteries especially when those tall tales count females in the leading role. You can imagine my bliss when I found this junior fiction series about a much younger sister to Mycroft and Sherlock Holmes setting about to solve her own puzzles. With the resurgence of interest in Sherlock Holmes via feature films and TV series (the BBC TV version is top notch) we are a market of readers primed and ready for a London mystery. Overall I highly enjoyed...

Sometimes in a book you will have a mixed cast of characters that you love, or a certain relationship is written so well you read to see where they go and what happens with the people you hope always stay friends. The Shadow Throne is neither of these things to me. It is all Jaron. This one, singular character has pulled me through the entire trilogy. Though there is a whole stage of players, the spotlight is firmly hooked to our one main guy who entertains, perseveres and as usual, triumphs. I loved the intensity of this book and the gripping, non-stop action. Jaron, as I mentioned above, is a...

I knew this book would be good for two reasons. My 'reluctant reader' 10 year old daughter told me I 'had to, had to, HAD to' read it and it was rated in the top ten books of 2013 at Goodreads.com. Pun intended, the author's last name is a great one for his style of reading which 'grabs' you. This is an adventure novel with action that makes it hard to put down. In addition, there are mind-teaser puzzles you can pause reading to try and sleuth on your own before reading further and finding the answer. The other intelligent twist to it all is a...

I gave this book to my 10 year old daughter for Christmas and at first, she seemed to be doing well, and then a quarter of the way in, she stopped completely. Curious, I asked her not to tell me about the book (we normally talk shop on the books we are reading) and I dove in to see what the problem was. The first thing I noticed was that our main gal M who was 12 years old acted and thought much like a 30 year old. Sure, you can say she had a different type of upbringing and her maturity was far advanced, but why would you want to advance her so much that young readers around her own age cannot relate? The second thing...

Book one of the Time Snatchers was a favored first book by an author that's practically local to my own location. Both of these made me want to love book two and I hope for Richards sake there are many out there who do because I'm just not one of them. This book is a frenzy. Caleb is truly stressed, trapped, and out of time/ideas. He is frustrated, angry, afraid, and in a corner. None of this, from a reader's perspective, is a big problem if there is equal balance of something lighter - romance, minor characters that are comedic in nature - but there is no balance to the burdens of Caleb. Richard does a good job of making us...