This book was so much fun.  I was laughing.  The rhymes work, the cadence was spot on, and now I really want to hear santa Sing.  Plus the illustrations are masterful and make you feel like you're reading a Holiday Coke ad. 

 First off this book is overly long.  What happens in a family with multiple children where one believes in Santa and the other doesn’t?  Well Santa knows.  The idea is there, I’m just not a fan of the execution. 

 Once again an overly long book.  The idea is there.  A baby reindeer sneaks on board the sleigh and collects animals on the yearly trip.  But there was a way to put this story in a shorter format with a cadence.  The illustrations are lovely but don’t help shorten the wordiness of this story. 

 I don’t know what I expected from the start of this graphic novel series but I can easily say it blew my mind.  It was a high fantasy world that was dealing in many of the same things in our current earth world.  Lack of water, hot weather, climate change: check.  Class or racial divides: checks.  Overreaching of law enforcement, etc: check.  What kids are currently seeing and reading in the news is happening in this book and so well explained that it’s not confusing or daunting.   What these books are is adventure and a quest to right the wrongs.  In this case it’s igniting special beacons, but if you can look beyond the fantasy, you will see it’s a call to be the change, to try and never give up.  To expect and explore strang new things, and to never think things are evil or bad, without inspecting first.  These are a great story and I can not wait to continue the series.  However, I don’t want to be amiss and forget to mention the illustration.  It’s amazing.  It has a soft digital fell that wraps you like a warm blanket, at the same time being fierce and strong to handle the adventure. 

 I don’t know what I expected from the start of this graphic novel series but I can easily say it blew my mind.  It was a high fantasy world that was dealing in many of the same things in our current earth world.  Lack of water, hot weather, climate change: check.  Class or racial divides: checks.  Overreaching of law enforcement, etc: check.  What kids are currently seeing and reading in the news is happening in this book and so well explained that it’s not confusing or daunting.   What these books are is adventure and a quest to right the wrongs.  In this case it’s igniting special beacons, but if you can look beyond the fantasy, you will see it’s a call to be the change, to try and never give up.  To expect and explore strang new things, and to never think things are evil or bad, without inspecting first.  These are a great story and I can not wait to continue the series.  However, I don’t want to be amiss and forget to mention the illustration.  It’s amazing.  It has a soft digital fell that wraps you like a warm blanket, at the same time being fierce and strong to handle the adventure. 

 

Willow will do anything to make sure her family’s Haunted Hotel runs perfectly and that the ghosts DO NOT FADE.  But it’s a hard job.  Dad is depressed, mom’s floating around (and not in a good way), and a truant officer is coming to get her.  But she needs her family, and her famly of ghosts to keep the tradition and the hotel alive.   But bad news has moved in down the street: a Hauntery opens up next door, Willow has got to come up with some way to keep the Zagged guide star.

Evie, is a new resident of the Hauntery.  She is doomed to forever play scarly little girl in a pink dress and pigtails.  What she really wants to be is the star attraction of a haunted hotel, a scary Phantasm.  But she’s a ghost, and must play on people's fears to keep from fading.  When these two girls get together there is nothing they can’t do.

This book was charming.  It’s peppered with illustrations.  The way the ghosts interact and are a part of the story is not scary, but loving, and an everyday occurrence.  You feel for Willow who with little to no notice when from normal girl, to person in card over night.  You also fee for Evie, constantly being told she must forever remain one thing, a kid.  This book looks at loss in a very loving and moving way, while also being a comedy delight.  It was a thoroughly enjoyable read for 3rd grade and up (maybe even younger) and would probably be a great audiobook.  I can easily see it being snapped up for a movie or a series.

 

 There is not much I can tell you about this book.  A teen boy is moving in with his dad and step mom.  They live in a giant rooming house with other random people including a new girl who is about to become his new friend.  This is a very gothic story, and the description says it’s a fantasy, but I didn’t see any fantasy in the first 2 hours.  The only fantasy element was that a boy drowned in the middle of a forest where there was no water. I think for me this would be better as a read book than an audiobook.  I was bored and found myself spacing out on the audio.  I would be willing to give this book another chance, but it will be in print, not something I listen to. 

 I thought this would be a light fun rom com.  And to some it may be.  To me it was a family drama that I was just not interested in.  The family restaurant is going under and only one daughter can save.  But a former staff member, now world renowned chef is moving in and opening a restaurant down the street.  The set up is there, I just didn’t care.  They didn’t bring the characters together soon enough.  It was more about their difference or the wrongs going on in their lives as individuals.  I just found myself not caring if I finished the book, so I didn't. 

 

Holy cannoli.  When I first picked up this series, I was worried it might ruin my childhood.  And while it did not do that, it didn’t make it any better.  

This is a story within a story.  Most people picking up this read are children of Bowie who dreamed of joining him in the labyrinth as a goblin, or a Sarah to take their place beside Jareth as queen of the Underworld.  The books pick up as Sarah enters the labyrinth to rescue Toby.  One of the goblins who is tasked with caring for Toby decides to tell a story.  A story of the great owl Goblin King and quest for a successor.  

This story is quite different from the original Labyrinth story but feels very repetitive.  Plus, you get now and then pages, and the now pages paint Jareth as an a$$hole.  I don’t like him at all.  In the movie he seems sexy, mesmerizing.  Even to adult eyes 30 years later, I see the problems with the movie, but I fall under Jareth’s spell every time.  Magic Dance is my bad day song.  It can get me dancing and smiling every time.  But in the print story Jareth is mean.  You see some of it in how Jareth treats Hogle in the movie, but it is made 10x worse in the story for the goblin.  

A baby has been taken by the Goblin King because the rich aristocratic father is afraid of the grandfather taking away his easy lazy life.  But mom, a farmer barmaid will do anything for her son, including entering the labyrinth to bring back the stolen child.  Her adventures in the Labyrinth are completely different than Sarah’s which is nice.  And they are not as fun inducing.  There are som new characters I really like, and others that are not bad, but they will never be Hoggle, Sir Diddimus, and Luto.  

To be honest these stories were nice, but not great.  I was left feeling ehhhh.  Especially how book 3 ended.  It was just a “what the heck” moment that just didn’t sit well.  It didn’t retain the magic and the happy thoughts, and the realization of growing older and growing from a kid to an adult like the movie did.  I used to think the graphic novel Return the the Labyrinth was ehh, but I can honestly say I liked those more than I liked them.

 

 

Holy cannoli.  When I first picked up this series, I was worried it might ruin my childhood.  And while it did not do that, it didn’t make it any better.  

This is a story within a story.  Most people picking up this read are children of Bowie who dreamed of joining him in the labyrinth as a goblin, or a Sarah to take their place beside Jareth as queen of the Underworld.  The books pick up as Sarah enters the labyrinth to rescue Toby.  One of the goblins who is tasked with caring for Toby decides to tell a story.  A story of the great owl Goblin King and quest for a successor.  

This story is quite different from the original Labyrinth story but feels very repetitive.  Plus, you get now and then pages, and the now pages paint Jareth as an a$$hole.  I don’t like him at all.  In the movie he seems sexy, mesmerizing.  Even to adult eyes 30 years later, I see the problems with the movie, but I fall under Jareth’s spell every time.  Magic Dance is my bad day song.  It can get me dancing and smiling every time.  But in the print story Jareth is mean.  You see some of it in how Jareth treats Hogle in the movie, but it is made 10x worse in the story for the goblin.  

A baby has been taken by the Goblin King because the rich aristocratic father is afraid of the grandfather taking away his easy lazy life.  But mom, a farmer barmaid will do anything for her son, including entering the labyrinth to bring back the stolen child.  Her adventures in the Labyrinth are completely different than Sarah’s which is nice.  And they are not as fun inducing.  There are som new characters I really like, and others that are not bad, but they will never be Hoggle, Sir Diddimus, and Luto.  

To be honest these stories were nice, but not great.  I was left feeling ehhhh.  Especially how book 3 ended.  It was just a “what the heck” moment that just didn’t sit well.  It didn’t retain the magic and the happy thoughts, and the realization of growing older and growing from a kid to an adult like the movie did.  I used to think the graphic novel Return the the Labyrinth was ehh, but I can honestly say I liked those more than I liked them.