Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.79k reviews by:
kailey_luminouslibro
A cute little short story told from the perspectives of four children ages 6-9. Each child makes up a story about being a sea captain, or living in a land without grownups, having a magic godmother, or simply playing with their friends. It's whimsical and cute, but has no story structure at all. The narrative is sweet, and the writing is a delight, but the characters are flat with no development.
A quick little read, but nothing special.
A quick little read, but nothing special.
.jpg)
I really enjoyed this book about a dragon under an enchantment and the little girl who gives up everything to save him and his fellow dragons!
Grisha is still a young dragon when an evil sorcerer freezes him into the shape of a small teapot. Trapped within the teapot for decades, Grisha dreams of being free once more, but as soon as a friend breaks the enchantment of the teapot, Grisha is trapped in another kind of prison. The cruel bureaucracy of Vienna keeps a close watch on the few dragons allowed to remain in the city, and every aspect of Grisha's life is locked between rigid rules and regulations, even restricting his thoughts and words.
Little Maggie is the daughter of a poet and painter, and sees the world differently than most people. When she befriends Grisha, the two embark on a quest to free Vienna's dragons from the cruel Department of Extinct Exotics. The DEE is run by merciless enchanted cats, who seem determined to stop Maggie and Grisha from overturning their authority over the dragons.
Grisha and Maggie discover that most of the dragons are missing, taken away by the DEE. In order to restore the missing dragons, they must give up everything they hold dear and stretch their friendship to the limit.
I loved the plot, once it finally got going. Way too much time was spent in Grisha's teapot-enchanted timeline, and we don't even meet Maggie until almost half-way into the story. It would have been much better to shorten the beginning, or gradually reveal Grisha's past through flashbacks or stories that he tells to Maggie.
I loved the magic and fairy-tale elements of the story! The "magic has a price" system is one that I've always enjoyed reading about, and I was intrigued by the enchanted cats and the various characteristics of the dragons.
I really adored Maggie! She's awkward and smart and compassionate. She's desperate to make friends, but doesn't seem to connect with other children. She finally meets Grisha and finds a friend that she can really understand and relate to. Maggie's special relationship with her father is very sweet and touching. They stick together as a family, and communicate very well.
Grisha is an interesting character. Being a dragon, he's quite different from what you would expect, and he often reacts in odd ways to various scenes and plot points. But that makes him a deeper character, and a lovable one! He's sometimes brave, sometimes cautious to the point of cowardice. A beautiful complex character in many ways!
The writing is whimsical and thoughtful, but the beginning is just too long, and then the ending is too short. At times the writing got a little bit boring, because it had some problems with pacing. The pace is slow and thoughtful, almost putting the reader into a calm, meditative state. This is part of it's charm, and I liked the pace most of the time, but every once in a while, I just wanted something to really happen! There isn't a ton of action, especially in the beginning. Then all the action is crowded into the end.
I really needed more explanation at the end, and more of a denouement. It IS a satisfactory ending in many ways, but I just needed one more little chapter, one more paragraph or two to really wrap things up nicely. Maybe it's left hanging on purpose, so that your imagination can fill in the gaps. It's certainly an artistic ending, but I'm a reader who likes lots of closure.
Overall, I really liked the characters and the plot, but the writing sometimes fell short.
Disclaimer: I received an ecopy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a free and honest review. All the opinions stated here are my own true thoughts and are not influenced by anyone.
Grisha is still a young dragon when an evil sorcerer freezes him into the shape of a small teapot. Trapped within the teapot for decades, Grisha dreams of being free once more, but as soon as a friend breaks the enchantment of the teapot, Grisha is trapped in another kind of prison. The cruel bureaucracy of Vienna keeps a close watch on the few dragons allowed to remain in the city, and every aspect of Grisha's life is locked between rigid rules and regulations, even restricting his thoughts and words.
Little Maggie is the daughter of a poet and painter, and sees the world differently than most people. When she befriends Grisha, the two embark on a quest to free Vienna's dragons from the cruel Department of Extinct Exotics. The DEE is run by merciless enchanted cats, who seem determined to stop Maggie and Grisha from overturning their authority over the dragons.
Grisha and Maggie discover that most of the dragons are missing, taken away by the DEE. In order to restore the missing dragons, they must give up everything they hold dear and stretch their friendship to the limit.
I loved the plot, once it finally got going. Way too much time was spent in Grisha's teapot-enchanted timeline, and we don't even meet Maggie until almost half-way into the story. It would have been much better to shorten the beginning, or gradually reveal Grisha's past through flashbacks or stories that he tells to Maggie.
I loved the magic and fairy-tale elements of the story! The "magic has a price" system is one that I've always enjoyed reading about, and I was intrigued by the enchanted cats and the various characteristics of the dragons.
I really adored Maggie! She's awkward and smart and compassionate. She's desperate to make friends, but doesn't seem to connect with other children. She finally meets Grisha and finds a friend that she can really understand and relate to. Maggie's special relationship with her father is very sweet and touching. They stick together as a family, and communicate very well.
Grisha is an interesting character. Being a dragon, he's quite different from what you would expect, and he often reacts in odd ways to various scenes and plot points. But that makes him a deeper character, and a lovable one! He's sometimes brave, sometimes cautious to the point of cowardice. A beautiful complex character in many ways!
The writing is whimsical and thoughtful, but the beginning is just too long, and then the ending is too short. At times the writing got a little bit boring, because it had some problems with pacing. The pace is slow and thoughtful, almost putting the reader into a calm, meditative state. This is part of it's charm, and I liked the pace most of the time, but every once in a while, I just wanted something to really happen! There isn't a ton of action, especially in the beginning. Then all the action is crowded into the end.
I really needed more explanation at the end, and more of a denouement. It IS a satisfactory ending in many ways, but I just needed one more little chapter, one more paragraph or two to really wrap things up nicely. Maybe it's left hanging on purpose, so that your imagination can fill in the gaps. It's certainly an artistic ending, but I'm a reader who likes lots of closure.
Overall, I really liked the characters and the plot, but the writing sometimes fell short.
Disclaimer: I received an ecopy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a free and honest review. All the opinions stated here are my own true thoughts and are not influenced by anyone.
After ruining her oral presentation at school, Lucy has lost her confidence. She wishes that a Wise One would come to help her complete her newest school project, researching five great artists of the past. Wilbur, a little Corgi dog, whisks her away to the past to visit the artists themselves and see them paint. But Lucy is worried that Wilbur is getting sick during their journey, and the worse he gets, his connection to the Crystal Navigator causes them to veer off course. Unless Lucy can heal Wilbur and repair the Navigator, they could be lost in the past forever.
I liked the main ideas behind this story; the time travel, the artists, the mystical crystals, the way that Lucy's thoughts can create their own powerful magic. There is lots of potential in this story, but the writing style is very dry. There are numerous grammatical errors, punctuation and capitalization errors, and that made it difficult to read. The spelling is decent though, so I'm grateful for small blessings.
I would think that a book about time travel would take the trouble to be historically accurate, but this book barely even tries. One of the major plot points is that there is "banana pudding" in fifteenth-century Florence, Italy.
Seriously? What Americans think of as "pudding" (a type of custard dessert) wasn't even invented until about 1840. And you know they weren't serving the Southern-American classic Banana Pudding back in Renaissance Italy. Banana Pudding is practically sacred in the Deep South, so how do you think they managed to get Nilla Wafers in downtown Florence back in the old days? Because I KNOW you weren't trying to make it without the Nillas! That's just wrong! (I'm from Georgia, and I know what I'm talking about here.)
When Lucy and Wilbur travel back to old Italy, they can understand every person they meet, without needed to translate. That's fine, because I figured, it's the magic of the Crystal Navigator that causes them to understand languages. All part of the fantasy. All part of the magic.
But then, they meet Hannibal crossing the Alps, and suddenly Lucy can't understand what he is saying, and needs Wilbur to translate. Did I miss something here? Suddenly, the magic is gone? Then it comes back again in the next scene? Inconsistent magic systems are one of my pet peeves. If you're going to create a world with magic, make it consistent. It has to make sense in every scene.
There were many times when the writing was confusing, and did not explain things satisfactorily. For instance, at most places that Lucy and Wilbur visit, Wilbur sits down in a corner with a book to read. The books all have cutesy titles. But it is never explained WHERE he gets the book from. Did he get the book from the artist's library? Did he find it on the floor? Did he pull it out of his magic pockets? Why isn't that explained? Maybe it's supposed to be mysterious or something, I don't know.
One time when Wilbur is thrown into jail, Lucy comes to rescue him, and he says something like, "Can we wait a minute? I just ordered tea." Is that a joke? Did he actually order tea? He's a dog, so how did he order tea, when he has been pretending to be a normal pet? Who would take an order of tea from a talking dog in Renaissance Italy? I DON'T KNOW! This is idiotic. Why is this never explained?
The plot is really obvious. The characters are flat. I'm disappointed in this book. Lazy writing.
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher/author in exchange for a free and honest review. All the opinions stated here are my own true thoughts, and are not influenced by anyone.
I liked the main ideas behind this story; the time travel, the artists, the mystical crystals, the way that Lucy's thoughts can create their own powerful magic. There is lots of potential in this story, but the writing style is very dry. There are numerous grammatical errors, punctuation and capitalization errors, and that made it difficult to read. The spelling is decent though, so I'm grateful for small blessings.
I would think that a book about time travel would take the trouble to be historically accurate, but this book barely even tries. One of the major plot points is that there is "banana pudding" in fifteenth-century Florence, Italy.
Seriously? What Americans think of as "pudding" (a type of custard dessert) wasn't even invented until about 1840. And you know they weren't serving the Southern-American classic Banana Pudding back in Renaissance Italy. Banana Pudding is practically sacred in the Deep South, so how do you think they managed to get Nilla Wafers in downtown Florence back in the old days? Because I KNOW you weren't trying to make it without the Nillas! That's just wrong! (I'm from Georgia, and I know what I'm talking about here.)
When Lucy and Wilbur travel back to old Italy, they can understand every person they meet, without needed to translate. That's fine, because I figured, it's the magic of the Crystal Navigator that causes them to understand languages. All part of the fantasy. All part of the magic.
But then, they meet Hannibal crossing the Alps, and suddenly Lucy can't understand what he is saying, and needs Wilbur to translate. Did I miss something here? Suddenly, the magic is gone? Then it comes back again in the next scene? Inconsistent magic systems are one of my pet peeves. If you're going to create a world with magic, make it consistent. It has to make sense in every scene.
There were many times when the writing was confusing, and did not explain things satisfactorily. For instance, at most places that Lucy and Wilbur visit, Wilbur sits down in a corner with a book to read. The books all have cutesy titles. But it is never explained WHERE he gets the book from. Did he get the book from the artist's library? Did he find it on the floor? Did he pull it out of his magic pockets? Why isn't that explained? Maybe it's supposed to be mysterious or something, I don't know.
One time when Wilbur is thrown into jail, Lucy comes to rescue him, and he says something like, "Can we wait a minute? I just ordered tea." Is that a joke? Did he actually order tea? He's a dog, so how did he order tea, when he has been pretending to be a normal pet? Who would take an order of tea from a talking dog in Renaissance Italy? I DON'T KNOW! This is idiotic. Why is this never explained?
The plot is really obvious. The characters are flat. I'm disappointed in this book. Lazy writing.
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher/author in exchange for a free and honest review. All the opinions stated here are my own true thoughts, and are not influenced by anyone.
This book has some interesting ideas and some stupid ideas. I enjoyed most of it, but found a lot of the psychology to be unreliable.
Freddy the Pig and the other barnyard animals decide to start an Animal Republic and elect a president to oversee the farm while Mr. Bean is away on vacation. But the scheming rat Simon has a plan to upset the election, and a group of meddling woodpeckers threaten to take over the farm. It's up to Freddy to come up with a plan to save the farm!
I love the old-fashioned charm of the Freddy books! It's reminiscent of Winnie the Pooh in some ways. The animal characters are all interesting and funny. The writing style is simple and charming.
Freddy is a really hilarious character who can be silly at times, although he's so much smarter than the other animals. He's dignified and ridiculous at the same time!
The election plot really kept me guessing, and I was delighted with the story!
I love the old-fashioned charm of the Freddy books! It's reminiscent of Winnie the Pooh in some ways. The animal characters are all interesting and funny. The writing style is simple and charming.
Freddy is a really hilarious character who can be silly at times, although he's so much smarter than the other animals. He's dignified and ridiculous at the same time!
The election plot really kept me guessing, and I was delighted with the story!
And the ridiculous drama continues in the 2nd volume. I didn't think things could get more insanely sensational and dramatic, but it just keeps getting crazier! Haha! I love it! It's so over-the-top emotional that it's actually really funny.
Justice League done in a manga style? Yes, please!
A young boy from Japan comes to Gotham City looking for his missing parents, and becomes the unwitting victim of a devious plot involving the Joker. Only Batman and the Justice League can solve the mysteries of the boy's missing parents, and the enigmatic power leaking from magical ley lines around the globe.
I enjoyed reading this manga of the Justice League!
However, I didn't like some of the characters. Batman has never been my favorite, and I HATE the Joker. I can't even look at his ugly face. But I liked the story and the other characters. I would enjoy reading it more if it focused more on Superman, who is a favorite superhero of mine.
The artwork is wonderful and full of interesting angles! The black and white panels do a good job of keeping things clear, but some of the action scenes were too busy for the eye to make sense of what was happening in each panel. I mostly skipped over the fight scenes.
The plot kept me interested, and I especially loved the mystery of the missing parents, because it was heart-wrenching and emotional. I would like to read the rest of the volumes to find out what happens with those magical ley lines too.
Disclaimer: I received an ecopy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a free and honest review. All the opinions stated here are my own true thoughts, and are not influenced by anyone.
A young boy from Japan comes to Gotham City looking for his missing parents, and becomes the unwitting victim of a devious plot involving the Joker. Only Batman and the Justice League can solve the mysteries of the boy's missing parents, and the enigmatic power leaking from magical ley lines around the globe.
I enjoyed reading this manga of the Justice League!
However, I didn't like some of the characters. Batman has never been my favorite, and I HATE the Joker. I can't even look at his ugly face. But I liked the story and the other characters. I would enjoy reading it more if it focused more on Superman, who is a favorite superhero of mine.
The artwork is wonderful and full of interesting angles! The black and white panels do a good job of keeping things clear, but some of the action scenes were too busy for the eye to make sense of what was happening in each panel. I mostly skipped over the fight scenes.
The plot kept me interested, and I especially loved the mystery of the missing parents, because it was heart-wrenching and emotional. I would like to read the rest of the volumes to find out what happens with those magical ley lines too.
Disclaimer: I received an ecopy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a free and honest review. All the opinions stated here are my own true thoughts, and are not influenced by anyone.
I love the story, but I really don’t like the strange artwork.
