Audiobook Review: The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett

Reading level: Ages 9-12
Mass Market Paperback: 400 pages
Publisher: HarperCollins (May 25, 2004)
Buy The Book: Paperback, Audio

Armed only with a frying pan and her common sense, Tiffany Aching, a young witch-to-be, is all that stands between the monsters of Fairyland and the warm, green Chalk country that is her home. Forced into Fairyland to seek her kidnaped brother, Tiffany allies herself with the Chalk's local Nac Mac Feegle -- aka the Wee Free Men -- a clan of sheep-stealing, sword-wielding, six-inch-high blue men who are as fierce as they are funny. Together they battle through an eerie and ever-shifting landscape, fighting brutal flying fairies, dream-spinning dromes, and grimhounds -- black dogs with eyes of fire and teeth of razors -- before ultimately confronting the Queen of the Elves, absolute ruler of a world in which reality intertwines with nightmare. And in the final showdown, Tiffany must face her cruel power alone....

In a riveting narrative that is equal parts suspense and humor, Carnegie Medalist Terry Pratchett returns to his internationally popular Discworld with a breathtaking tale certain to leave fans, new and old, enthralled.

So I liked Tiffany and the Wee Free Men the most cause the Wee Free Men are funny and Tiffany is brave and she is never surprised or sad or gives up. I only kind-of liked it cause in some points it is hard to understand what is going on. I liked it cause it was funny and the monsters and things.

'Crivens! Whut aboot us, ye daftie!' 

The Wee Free Men were always saying the funniest things, and they had crazy names like Rob Anybody and No'-As-Big-As-Medium-Jock-But-Bigger-Than-Wee-Jock-Jock.  They were brave and would fight anyone at any time, but they were scared to DEATH of lawyers!!!  They are also know as the Nac Mac Feegle and they are little blue pixies.  NO, NOT PIXIES.....PICTSIES!  Don't get that wrong.  They were thrown out of fairyland for being drunk and disorderly, and now they cause trouble by fighting, and stealing sheep.  But when the Queen of the Fairies kidnaps Tiffany's pesky little brother, the Wee Free Men do whatever they can to help her get him back (even if their ways do end up causing a whole lot of trouble).

I listened to this one on audiobook, and the reader was AWESOME!!  He did voices, but it was more the way he read the book that made him so good.  Especially when he had to do the Wee Free Men, because they used strange words and had a funny accent.  I'm glad I listened to it, because I don't think I would have been able to pronounce half of what they said if I read it.  I would definitely recommend this on audio!

P.S.  My brother and my mom really liked it too.  And sometimes my mom would laugh at things, and I'm not sure why......

Book Review Vlog: Matilda by Roald Dahl

Reading level: Ages 9-12
Paperback: 240 pages
Publisher: Puffin (June 1, 1998)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0141301066
ISBN-13: 978-0141301068
Buy the book: Amazon

For hundreds of kids, The Trunchbull is pure terror. For Matilda, she's a sitting duck. Roald Dahl is one of the most beloved storytellers of all time, and his books have been children's favorites for generations. Puffin is proud to offer a strong new look for nine of our classic Roald Dahl titles. The distinctive cover treatment, with new art by Quentin Blake, will make these books easily recognizable. In addition, Quentin Blake's funny, quirky illustrations now appear in all of the books. So turn the page and you'll be sure to have a Dahl-ectable summer!

Book Review: Mallory on the Move by Laurie Friedman

Reading level: Ages 8-10
Paperback: 158 pages
Publisher: First Avenue Editions (November 2004)Language: English
ISBN-10: 1575058316ISBN-13: 978-1575058313

• 
  

  When you move, everything changes: your house your neighborhood, your town, and, worst of all, your friends. I know. I'm Mallory McDonald, age 8 1/2 plus 1 month, and that's exactly what happened to me. She's leaving everything behind, including her best friend. And to make matters worse, she's going to be living next door to a boy. Why cant life be like it was before her parents ruined it? How will she make new friends? what will happen when she gets stuck in the middle of an old friend and make a new friend? Mallory knows just one thing for certain, she's going to find out!   

  
  

  My Review
  
• I loved this book! Yeah, I think I would read it again, and yes.... I loved the book! the character that I really liked had to be Mallory and her best friend, they would always have to have the same nail-polish on and everything! I liked them. I didn't really like her brother, he would make fun of Mallory and her friend, he would call her Bird-Brain! HAHA! But I kinda' thought it was funny! HEHE! :) I really liked the book and I liked the story line! there was nothing bad in it, only that Mallory's brother had a bad attitude! 
• 
  

Priscilla the Great by Sybil Nelson

Paperback: 276 pages
Publisher: WorldMaker Media 12-1410)
Language: English
Author's Website: http://priscillathegreat.com/
Buy the book: Amazon
If you think your middle school years are awkward and traumatic, try going through them with fire shooting out of your fingers!

Hey, I’m Priscilla and all I want is to be a normal seventh grader. That’s hard enough with an older brother annoyingly obsessed with Christina Aguilera, mischievous baby twin brothers who could scare the sin off of Satan, and parents more puzzling than a Rubik’s cube in the Bermuda triangle.

But when psycho, genetically enhanced assassins start trying to kill me and my family, being normal is downright impossible.

When I first heard about the book I thought it sounded pretty good. When I saw it, and there was fire coming out of a person's finger, I just had to see what that was all about! I just adore people who can shoot fire out of their fingers. Like Zuko from Avatar. [<3] So when I read the first few pages, and the girl was trapped in a room with a strange man saying she has to die, I was in!

I started reading about before that happened, like they do in movies when somebody's captured and then their voice in the background says, "that's me. I'm trapped, but let me tell you how I got there..." So I read about her, Priscilla Maxine Sumner, and her family and friends, and of course, her crush. You find out that her mother, Quindolyn, is never around because of work, and Priss resents her for that. Her father, Gregory, is paranoid and overprotective, he always has to know exactly what his children are doing, when they are doing it, why they are doing it, and how long it will take. Her parents are like that for a reason, discovered toward the middle of the book. It is a surprise so I won't tell you. Priss' best friend is a genius named Taiana. She is literally a genius, and is always competing against all these other smart people around the world. And then there's Josh, her 16 year old brother. He is obsessed with Christina Aguilera, and is always listening to her songs or singing them himself! Priss has a lot of other friends and family but it would take too long to explain them all.

My favorite character was probably Priss, closely followed by her five year old twin brothers. I liked Priss because I can kinda relate to her, being in seventh grade and all. She isn't into all the girly stuff and she can hang out with boys without crushing on them and all that. I liked the twins, Charlie and Chester, because they are really weird, and really cool, and they can, this will sound REALLY gross, but they can shoot snot ten feet straight out of their noses! Or was it twenty feet...? Anyway, this book was REALLY funny. I think it turned out to be one of my favorite books. But it did kinda have an ending that leaves you expecting more. So I really, really, REALLY hope the author writes another book about Priss.

[[ I think it's sort of more of a girl book, but if boys really wanted to they could get past the crushing, dating and other girl stuff so they can read about the fighting and video games and stuff that boys like.]]

Zac Efron and Taylor Swift in The Lorax by Dr. Seuss Movie!

Exciting News!  The Lorax by Dr. Seuss is going to be a 3D CGI animated movie!!  

Zac Efron will be the voice of Ted, the boy who searched for the Lorax, and Taylor Swift will be the voice of Audrey, his dream girl!  Also providing voices are Danny DeVito, who is the Lorax,  Ed Helms, the Once'ler, Rob Riggle, playing King O'Hare, and Betty White who will be Ted's Grammy Norma!  The Illumination Entertainment 3D CGI animated film is based on the Dr. Seuss tale.

 When Dr. Seuss gets serious, you know it must be important. Published in 1971, and perhaps inspired by the "save our planet" mindset of the 1960s, The Lorax is an ecological warning that still rings true today amidst the dangers of clear-cutting, pollution, and disregard for the earth's environment. In The Lorax, we find what we've come to expect from the illustrious doctor: brilliantly whimsical rhymes, delightfully original creatures, and weirdly undulating illustrations. But here there is also something more--a powerful message that Seuss implores both adults and children to heed. The now remorseful Once-ler--our faceless, bodiless narrator--tells the story himself. Long ago this enterprising villain chances upon a place filled with wondrous Truffula Trees, Swomee-Swans, Brown Bar-ba- loots, and Humming-Fishes. Bewitched by the beauty of the Truffula Tree tufts, he greedily chops them down to produce and mass-market Thneeds. ("It's a shirt. It's a sock. It's a glove. It's a hat.") As the trees swiftly disappear and the denizens leave for greener pastures, the fuzzy yellow Lorax (who speaks for the trees "for the trees have no tongues") repeatedly warns the Once-ler, but his words of wisdom are for naught. Finally the Lorax extricates himself from the scorched earth (by the seat of his own furry pants), leaving only a rock engraved "UNLESS." Thus, with his own colorful version of a compelling morality play, Dr. Seuss teaches readers not to fool with Mother Nature. But as you might expect from Seuss, all hope is not lost--the Once-ler has saved a single Truffula Tree seed! Our fate now rests in the hands of a caring child, who becomes our last chance for a clean, green future.

 Sounds like fun!  

Vlog Review: City of Fire by Laurence Yep

• Reading level: Ages 9-12
• Mass Market Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Starscape; First Edition edition (August 3, 2010)
• Buy the book:  Amazon

Reagan's Review:

Vlog Review: How to Be a Pirate (How to Train your Dragon #2) by Cressida Cowell

• Reading level: Ages 9-12
• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers; Reprint edition (February 1, 2010)
• Author's Website:
• Buy the book:  Paperback, Hardcover

Follows the further adventures and misadventures of Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III as his Viking training continues and his father leads a stranger and the Hairy Hooligans to the Isle of Skullions in search of a pirate's treasure.

Is Artemis Fowl the Richest Fictional Character?

So, Forbes Magazine has this cool thing where they highlight the richest Fictional characters!  And guess who was on the list in 2010?  That's right, the one and only Artemis Fowl.  At only twelve years old, Artemis Fowl is a genius criminal mastermind and is worth approximately $1.9 billion dollars.  Unfortunately, he was beat out by ten others, with Dr. Carlisle Cullen, worth a whopping $34.1 billion, taking the lead.

So, who will win out this year?  That may be up to you!!  Forbes magazine wants to know who YOU think is the richest fictional character.  If you go to this post and leave a comment, you have a chance to have your suggestion featured in Forbes magazine!

Go check it out!  And leave a comment telling us who you think is the richest fictional character!

~READING TWEEN

Diary of a Wimpy Kid Comic Contest, Do-It-Yourself Book, and New Movie

There's lots of exciting news for all you Diary of a Wimpy Kid fans!

From Shelf-Awareness.com

To kick off the new updated, expanded and revised Wimpy Kid
Do-It-Yourself Book by Jeff Kinney, which goes on sale May 10, Abrams's
Amulet Books is sponsoring a Wimpy Kid Do-It-Yourself Comics Contest.

Readers up to 16 years old may enter by mailing in an original cartoon. One lucky winner will receive $500; a signed library of Wimpy Kid books; and $1,000 for the school or public
library of his or her choice. Kinney will announce the winner at ALA in
New Orleans on June 25.

Check here tomorrow (March 10) for details about this contest!

And for those who didn't know, the next Diary of a Wimpy Kid movie (Rodrick Rules) comes out March 25!  You can bet the Reading Tween crew will be there to review it!  Have you seen the trailer?  Check it out!

Winner Announced: The Name of This Book is Secret by Pseudonymous Bosch

The Name of This Book is Secret by Pseudonymous Bosch

In enormous lettering the first page warns: "Do not read beyond this page!" The reason? The book contains a secret so nefarious as to be dangerous even to innocent page-turners daring enough to venture forth. The first few chapters present a tricky little exercise in metafiction in which the story about a secret is revealed as being itself too secret to tell, a ploy sure to tickle more puzzlesome readers. But then the intrusive narrator, who is equal parts snarky and delightful, strikes a deal and deigns to tell the story with fake names in Your Hometown, as long as you agree to "forget everything you read as soon as you read it." Then follows a not terribly shocking story wherein two intrepid kids uncover a mysterious society bent on immortality, which gets them in and out of all manner of trouble.

Deserae McGlothen

Congratulations! We will email you.

Book Review: A Cure For Chaos by Alan Tucker

Paperback: 348 pages
Publisher: MAD Design, Inc. (January 24, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0982686439
ISBN-13: 978-0982686430
Buy the book: Amazon
Visit the site: Mother Earth Series

Things are rarely what they seem ...


Especially when you're a shapeshifter.


Jenni Kershaw just wanted a chance at a normal life. Well, maybe something a little better than normal. But perfect physical features weren't translating into happiness for Jenni as a freshman in high school. Something was still missing.


Jenni never would have guessed that something might be her old nemesis from junior high, Alisha, who shows up out of the blue, bearing a flag of truce.

*Check HERE for the GIVEAWAY and INTERVIEW of The Mother Earth Series signed by author Alan Tucker!

My Review

Okay, so I went into this book with high hopes and expectations. Which is completely natural because of the impression that the first book of this series, A Measure of Disorder, gives you. And, I must say that this book, which I have waited for and highly anticipated is just about everything I hoped it would be, and more. This epic story continues in a way that I didn't expect and had me hanging on to every word. I flew through the pages, faster and faster until I suddenly realized that there were only about ten pages left in the book. And, as strange as it may seem, I paused in reading it. Not because I wanted to, but because I had realized that the book was about to be over. A thought that greatly saddened me. The reason for this being that I didn't want this book to end because it was just so good. Though, this pause only lasted for a few minutes because I couldn't stand not reading it. 

In this sequel to A Measure of Disorder, the characters that I grew to like so much in the first book really had a chance to grow more. Mr. Tucker did a great job of making the protagonists so lovable and the antagonists so... hateable. Not really sure if that's a word, but it's what comes to mind when I think of Mogritas, the main villain of the books. Now, a lot of great villains, such as Sauron or Voldemort, take what they want by force and strength. The genius of Mogritas is that he likes a more of a stay-in-the-shadows approach. Mogritas is a character that is comparable in both evil and deception to the powerful Sith Lord, Palpatine (AKA, Darth Sidious). In a way, I can see Mogritas being a champion chess player. He lets the pawns do all of his dirty work for him before he (the king) comes in and deals the killing blow. In fact, I'd like to see a chess match between Mogritas and Palpatine... It'd probably end with Palpatine unleashing an intense barrage of Force Lightning upon him and Mogritas transforming into some huge lightning-immune bear and they would proceed to have some huge battle... but I'm getting off topic here. What I'm trying to say is that this book has some pretty awesome bad guys and a bunch of pretty awesome good guys that you can't help but love. Mr. Tucker really put a lot of thought and effort into making these characters seem like real people who you can really relate to.

Throughout the book I was hugely impressed with Mr. Tucker's writing. The first time I read the Harry Potter Series I was in complete awe at how J.K. Rowling planned everything out. One little hint in the second book could turn out to be something hugely important in the seventh. And I can see these kind of things starting to play out in the Mother-Earth Series. So, either Alan Tucker is a master of just going along with things and they turn out to be awesome, or he really thought this whole thing out, something that really makes a fantasy series great. As I said in my review for A Measure of Disorder, the whole concept of this book is completely insane. And insanity can turn any good fantasy book into a great one. Any great fantasy author is maybe just a little bit insane to create such genius things. Do you think that there could be Nazguls or Lightsabers if Tolkien or Lucas weren't even a little insane? Of course not! And I really admire the genius of Mr. Tucker for creating this world that is so awesome and... well, believable. From my point of view, if a fantasy author can make you believe, even for the shortest second, that what they are writing about is real, they have done their job. Or, even if they make you want to believe it. 'Cause that's kinda the point of fantasy. My dictionary states that fantasy is "imagination, especially when extravagant and unrestrained." And that is exactly what the crazy awesomeness of the Mother-Earth series is.

To anyone who enjoys an insane fantasy book, I really recommend the Mother-Earth series. It is one of my favorites, and even more so since I've read this book. This is an incredible series and that will fully captivate you. 

And so we finally find out what happened to Atlantis....

Hey to all you people who read for fun.

YOU ARE COOL.

Book Review: The Midnight Tunnel: A Suzanna Snow Mystery by Angie Frazier

Hosted by:

Reading level: grades 4-8
Hardcover: 288 pages
Publisher: Scholastic Press (March 1, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0545208629
ISBN-13: 978-0545208628
Buy the book:Amazon 

A mysterious adventure of self-discovery that reveals shocking secrets!

It is 1905 and young Suzanna works at her family's inn in Loch Harbor, New Brunswick, where she is trained to be a well-mannered hostess and a charming lady. Suzanna has other ideas for her future--she wants to be a detective. When a young guest goes missing on a stormy summer night, Suzanna's famous detective uncle, and idol, comes to solve the case. But Suzanna learns that not everything is as it seems. With a little help from her friends, can she solve the mystery of the missing girl before her uncle gives up?

In this scene, Suzanna stumbles upon a mystery inside the underground tunnel running between her parents’ hotel and the servants’ house. It’s dark in the tunnel, thunder rumbles overhead, and Suzanna soon realizes she’s not alone in the tunnel…

My hands searched for the knob, a glass nub barely visible even in full light. My fingers found it and gave it a twist. A musty odor hit my nostrils and I wrinkled my nose. I descended the short flight of curving steps into the dark tunnel. The darkness was palpable, eerie. I could hear the muffled storm through the cement ceiling and few feet of earth, and when I came off the last step, my shoe landed in a puddle. The rain had seeped through thin cracks in the walls, pooling in spots along the uneven floor.
I walked briskly, running my hand along the damp wall to ground myself. It was raw and cold, and within a few moments the teeny hairs on the back of my neck perked. I slowed my pace, all my senses instantly alert.
I wasn’t alone.
The tunnel made me blind, but I still felt the presence of another person. Was that possible? Trust your intuition. One of Lucy’s tarot cards had said something along those lines. But those cards…tarot readings. They were for amusement and nothing to be taken seriously. I hadn’t even bothered to write in my notebook about the four cards she’d flipped. I pushed down my shoulders and went forward a few more steps until the oppressive weight of some invisible warning slowed me down.
I held my breath and listened to thunder, the drip of water as it trickled through a crack somewhere. A splashing of feet through puddles came from up ahead, close to the exit door leading into the servants’ house. Someone truly was in front of me in the tunnel and, like me, without a lamp or candle to light the way. I opened my mouth to call out to whoever was there.
The rattling of the wooden steps leading to the servants’ house interrupted me, and then the door swung wide. A flash of lightning flooded the tunnel, blinding me. Tears filled my eyes and I blinked away a school of white halos to regain my vision. As it started to return, I saw in the doorway the silhouette of two skinny legs and a scallop-trimmed nightdress, blacked out against another dazzling burst of lightning. Whoever it was, was jerked to the side, pulled hard by someone I couldn’t see, and then the door slammed.
Blackness soothed my eyes once more but did nothing to calm my nerves. The skinny legs…they’d belonged to a child.

Checkout this great mystery book!!!