This book has one page entry for each day of the year, but it took me two years to read it! haha!
I loved how insightful and deep each devotional page is despite being short. There's a lot of spiritual information packed concisely into each page.

I liked that there is a quote from a famous Christian, apologist, missionary, saint, or preacher on each page that corespondents with the subject of the day.

Each paragraph really makes you think and reevaluate your beliefs, and at the end of each topic there is a call to apply the lesson to your life in a real and tangible way through prayer and action.

A wonderful devotional for those who don't want spiritual "fluff", but are ready for the "meat" of the Word!

Most of these I had already read on Pottermore, but I enjoyed re-reading them, and the new little tidbits about Hogwarts life that have been added.
I'm not sure why this is entitled "Short stories", because it reads more like encyclopedic entries, especially as there is not a definite story arc in any of the chapters.

I did not enjoy this collection as much as the first one because it deals with some of my least favorite characters, Umbridge, Slughorn, Quirrell, and Peeves. Hearing about the history of Azkaban was also very dark and sad.

Still I do love the depth of the Harry Potter world, and I truly appreciate the complexity and background of every single character.

Most of these were things about Hogwarts that I already knew from reading on Pottermore, but it's nice to go back and reread them in this format all together. I love how Hogwarts is such a diverse and interesting place with lots of history behind it and magic around every corner!

This book is full of practical and spiritual advice about how to know if you are called by God to become a missionary overseas. I really appreciated the way the book was organized, talking about the Biblical basis for missions, God's heart for missions, and then branching into the history of missions since the Early Church, and exploring different branches of thought and belief that are present about missions and the missionary call today.

My favorite part was the short biographical summaries of famous missionaries of past centuries, like Hudson Taylor, Lottie Moon, William Carey, David Brainerd, and Amy Carmichael. I grew up hearing about their ministries, and reading their biographies, but I love revisiting those inspiring stories!

This book focuses mostly on how to know you are called to missions, what does a "call" look like, feel like, sound like, and how to define what place, agency, or people group you are called to. The truth is, everyone's life is different, and God guides in many ways to call people to His work. There is no ONE definition, because you can't put God in a box or define Him. But this book does a good job of giving many examples of ways that God might work and how He has called people in the past, so that you can use that knowledge and apply wisdom to your own situation.

Some of this book did not apply to me, since it focuses almost exclusively on church-planting evangelical missions projects, while I'm interested in working in a care program for missionary kids, but the concepts still apply to any sort of full-time ministry involving mission work.

Excellent writing, but a little repetitive, repeating the same concepts again and again in various chapters.
This book is inspiring with clear wisdom based in the Bible, and I loved how many quotes there are from famous missionaries of the past!

Minerva McGonagall is my favorite of all the teachers at Hogwarts, and I loved reading about her backstory, her quiet heroism, and her moral fortitude. Even after having read most of it on Pottermore.com, I enjoyed reading it a second time!

Remus Lupin is my second favorite character in the Potterverse (right after Hermione, naturally). Reading his full story is so heartbreaking and beautiful! His internal struggles, his kindness to everyone despite the prejudice he encounters, and his strong sense of duty and loyalty all make him a supremely lovable person. I just love reading about his romance with Tonks! Those two are so perfect together.

And there are some very short descriptions of Trelawney and the previous Care of Magical Creatures professor before Hagrid, both of which I had already read on Pottermore as well.

I'm not sure why this is entitled "Short stories", because it reads more like encyclopedic entries, especially as there is not a definite story arc in any of the chapters.

All in all, I love getting any more information about these beloved characters and seeing more of the Wizarding World!

This is an adorable little book about some mice living in a movie theater, who watch a lot of films about bank robbers. When they decide their gang is going to rob a cheese store, they come up with one hilarious plan after another and have several daring escapes, but no cheese. It's up to their fearless leader to pull off the biggest cheese heist in mouse history!

I love stories about mice because they are the ultimate underdog characters! These little guys come up with some ingenious and hilarious projects, and I love the humor and silliness in the writing.

This would be the perfect book to read aloud to children, or for a child just starting to read chapter books. So cute!

When Zora goes searching for the lost tribe of Peryton, she only finds one young warrior left, Broxo, but he has lost most of his memory. When the walking dead attack them and a local witch gets involved, there's no telling what legends or nightmares will be revealed in their adventures.

I'm not much of a fan of zombie stories, so this was just meh for me. But it is very well-written, with an interesting story, good characters, and attractive artwork.
Sometimes, I felt like there ought to have been more depth to the story, and I was somehow missing a crucial point that would have explained it in more detail.
I like that the characters are weird and dangerous and mysterious. There are plenty of fight-scenes, which were boring to me, but might interest some people.

This is a well-written graphic novel that fans of zombies or cavemen settings would like, but it wasn't my cup of tea.

This play is all froth and silliness! King Ferdinand and three lords of his court have vowed to study for three years, fasting, barely sleeping, and not keeping company with any women, in order to devote themselves exclusively to the pursuit of knowledge. But the Princess of France throws their plans and their vows into confusion when she arrives with the ladies of her court, seeking audience with the King on some political matters. King Ferdinand immediately falls in love with the Princess, and his lords fall in love with each of the Princess' ladies.

In the ensuing confusion, a knave or two is arrested, love letters go astray, fools and comics deliver a multitude of puns and wordplay, notable scholars with heads full of Latin are consulted, lots of weak sonnets to lady loves are declaimed and overheard to the embarrassment of the love-torn poets. Eventually, the King and his lords must find a way to justify their broken vows and win the hearts of the ladies, but can they do it without making complete fools of themselves?

I loved how sassy and witty all the ladies are, especially Rosaline. She has a sharp tongue and some great dialogue. The Princess exhibits a lot of wisdom and has a quick mind. Their conversations are hilarious! I thought the attending lord Boyet with the Princess' entourage was wonderfully sarcastic, and his banter always made me chuckle.

There is also a great B story with the strange Spaniard Armado and the simple Costard and the sensual wench Jaquenetta forming a weird love triangle and adding to the general confusion.
The ending is not what one expects from a comedy, but was definitely satisfying.

Swashbuckling action on ships in the 1700s Carribean, evil pirates, and some good pirates with ambiguous moral choices, a lightfooted hero, and a few sharks and storms at sea... this book has everything you need in a graphic novel about pirate adventure!

Crogan, a simple sailor with a good heart, is pressed into a pirate gang and has to keep his wits about him to stay on the winning side when pirates turn against each other.
I love the artwork (very comic style), and the action, but the characters and plot are what really pull this story forward.

Crogan is a wonderful character, because he is not the "perfect" hero, but has his own moral code of goodness and justice that he relies on to give him direction in some very sticky situations where right and wrong blend into gray. When you're dealing with pirates, who have their own laws and sense of fairness, the hero has some difficult choices to make, but Crogan is tough enough to handle anything they throw at him.

The plot rolls along with barely a stop, and every circumstance flows into the next with beautiful harmony, weaving a story of betrayal, murder, plunder, and ultimately "vengeance". But it's all clean pirate fun, so this book would be great for kids!

Lucinda and Tyler are back for the summer at their mysterious Uncle's farm. Lucinda is determined to become closer to the dragons, but with all the adventure and wild mystery going on, she barely has time to visit the dragons, until one of them reaches out to her in a surprising way.

Tyler continues his feud with the crusty Colin Needle, and both of them are snooping around the farm, spying on each other, desperate to find the secrets of the farm before the other.

This 2nd book lacks the structure of the 1st book, but still has a good plot and some imaginative turns. I was annoyed at Tyler for his stupid feud, and I was annoyed at Colin for being a jerk all the time. And I was annoyed at Lucinda for being scared and spineless all the time, but when it really counted she stepped up pretty well and showed some fortitude.

I was disappointed that there is even less about the actual dragons in this book than in the first one. When I read a book about dragons, I want at least 60% of the book to actually feature the dragons! They had maybe 3 scenes in the whole book. meh.

The writing is good and it draws you into the story. It's easy to sit down to read a few pages, and look up several chapters later, because you are so interested in the story.

I was very dissatisfied with the ending. They went through all that adventure and suffering and suspense, and in the end nothing really changed. Just more questions and mysteries and enigmas. I suppose if the series is ever continued, there will be a real ending.