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1.59k reviews by:
samantha_randolph
Sixteen-year-old Nix is more traveled than most. For years, she has sailed with her father, a Navigator who can travel through time. Nix has seen both history and myth in action, and someday, she hopes to Navigate on her own. When a deal for a map puts everyone at risk, Nix will have to chart surprisingly familiar waters to find the answers she desperately needs.
What I Loved:
Though Nix’s story takes readers through a variety of times and places, Hawaii is a center point of the book, particularly the time of the Kingdom of Hawaii. Heilig gives lush descriptions of the land and the people, both native and foreign, who inhabit the islands. The explanations of history and the fictional elements in the author’s note is especially helpful for readers who want to know more.
Nix and her father’s relationship is a fascinating and complex element. Nix is determined and fierce, and she faces many difficult decisions when it comes to her father who is often distant with thoughts of Nix’s dead mother. Heilig skillfully shows Nix’s battle of her own wills as she struggles to understand her father and find her own place in the world.
What Left Me Wanting More:
The premise of a time-traveling Navigation skill is exciting and intriguing, but some may have a difficult time understanding the logistics of it, as only a little is fully explained. However, those who are as caught in the myth as well as the plot may enjoy the added mystery. With the confusion behind the Navigation and certain building blocks of the plot, I personally had a difficult time connecting to the story and being invested in the characters. However, the puzzle behind Nix’s family history and Hawaii kept me reading, as well as the beautiful writing.
Final Verdict:
Though I had difficulty connecting with the story, the lush descriptions and almost lyrical writing are sure to keep readers turning the pages for more to discover just where Nix’s journey will take her.
Originally posted at YABC: http://www.yabookscentral.com/yafiction/18299-the-girl-from-everywhere
What I Loved:
Though Nix’s story takes readers through a variety of times and places, Hawaii is a center point of the book, particularly the time of the Kingdom of Hawaii. Heilig gives lush descriptions of the land and the people, both native and foreign, who inhabit the islands. The explanations of history and the fictional elements in the author’s note is especially helpful for readers who want to know more.
Nix and her father’s relationship is a fascinating and complex element. Nix is determined and fierce, and she faces many difficult decisions when it comes to her father who is often distant with thoughts of Nix’s dead mother. Heilig skillfully shows Nix’s battle of her own wills as she struggles to understand her father and find her own place in the world.
What Left Me Wanting More:
The premise of a time-traveling Navigation skill is exciting and intriguing, but some may have a difficult time understanding the logistics of it, as only a little is fully explained. However, those who are as caught in the myth as well as the plot may enjoy the added mystery. With the confusion behind the Navigation and certain building blocks of the plot, I personally had a difficult time connecting to the story and being invested in the characters. However, the puzzle behind Nix’s family history and Hawaii kept me reading, as well as the beautiful writing.
Final Verdict:
Though I had difficulty connecting with the story, the lush descriptions and almost lyrical writing are sure to keep readers turning the pages for more to discover just where Nix’s journey will take her.
Originally posted at YABC: http://www.yabookscentral.com/yafiction/18299-the-girl-from-everywhere
What I Loved:
Samanthasaurus Rex is an adorable picture book featuring a family of T-rexes. Samanthasaurus doesn’t enjoy doing typical T-rex activities, such as chasing animals and gnawing on bones, like the rest of her family does. Instead, she prefers to get creative, invent, and discover.
This book is perfect for young kids who feel like they don’t fit in, or feel like they enjoy activities that no one else does. While Samanthasaurus’s family questions her ‘strange’ behavior, their family is clearly one of love and support, encouraging readers that being different is okay. Perhaps most importantly, Samanthasaurus’s happiness is clear throughout the entire story. She is confident about what she loves, and the illustrations highlight her joy.
What Left Me Wanting More:
While the story itself shows great support for young girls in terms of promoting positivity and equality, the color designs for the T-rexes enforce traditional gender norms as the female T-rexes, Samanthasaurus and her mom, are primarily pink and the male T-rexes, the father and brother, are primarily blue. However, the illustrations overall are still adorable and feature beautiful backgrounds and funny expressions.
Final Verdict:
While the colors of the T-rexes could have been a bit less traditional, Samanthasaurus Rex is an overall positive and fun story about a young T-rex who celebrates her uniqueness, even when others don’t understand it.
Originally posted at YABC: http://www.yabookscentral.com/kbc-home/latest-kids-indie?url=preview/id:19462:samanthasaurus-rex
Samanthasaurus Rex is an adorable picture book featuring a family of T-rexes. Samanthasaurus doesn’t enjoy doing typical T-rex activities, such as chasing animals and gnawing on bones, like the rest of her family does. Instead, she prefers to get creative, invent, and discover.
This book is perfect for young kids who feel like they don’t fit in, or feel like they enjoy activities that no one else does. While Samanthasaurus’s family questions her ‘strange’ behavior, their family is clearly one of love and support, encouraging readers that being different is okay. Perhaps most importantly, Samanthasaurus’s happiness is clear throughout the entire story. She is confident about what she loves, and the illustrations highlight her joy.
What Left Me Wanting More:
While the story itself shows great support for young girls in terms of promoting positivity and equality, the color designs for the T-rexes enforce traditional gender norms as the female T-rexes, Samanthasaurus and her mom, are primarily pink and the male T-rexes, the father and brother, are primarily blue. However, the illustrations overall are still adorable and feature beautiful backgrounds and funny expressions.
Final Verdict:
While the colors of the T-rexes could have been a bit less traditional, Samanthasaurus Rex is an overall positive and fun story about a young T-rex who celebrates her uniqueness, even when others don’t understand it.
Originally posted at YABC: http://www.yabookscentral.com/kbc-home/latest-kids-indie?url=preview/id:19462:samanthasaurus-rex
Katherine Bateson, her sister, her brother, and a family friend are forced to flee London as the bombings of World War II worsen. Their families send them to the mysterious Rookskill Castle, run by Lady Eleanor who is much stranger than she appears. As the mysteries and scares of the castle deepen, the children begin to suspect that Eleanor is harboring a Nazi spy…or more.
THE CHARMED CHILDREN OF ROOKSKILL CASTLE is an engrossing and powerful read. Janet Fox masters the setting of an eerie castle and crafts an even eerier head of the castle, Lady Eleanor. The descriptions of the castle are just enough to give excellent visuals while also leaving enough open for the reader to add their own imagination. The story toes the line between suspense and horror, and readers should be well prepared for some spine chilling moments. However, underneath the scary parts lies a truly sad and unexpected background of the castle that plucks at more than a few heart strings.
The cast of characters shines, especially Kat. Each child must face their own fears as they discover more clues about the castle, and readers will root for them the entire time. The other classmates that Kat meets are easily distinctive, and Fox does a fantastic job of not throwing too many characters at the reader at once. Though all the children have different (and often conflicting) personalities, teamwork emerges as a crucial method of survival while at the castle.
Readers looking for an atmospheric novel of intrigue, danger, and a haunting chill will devour THE CHARMED CHILDREN OF ROOKSKILL CASTLE.
Originally posted at YABC: http://www.yabookscentral.com/kbc-home/latest-kids-indie?url=preview/id:19464:the-charmed-children-of-rookskill-castle
THE CHARMED CHILDREN OF ROOKSKILL CASTLE is an engrossing and powerful read. Janet Fox masters the setting of an eerie castle and crafts an even eerier head of the castle, Lady Eleanor. The descriptions of the castle are just enough to give excellent visuals while also leaving enough open for the reader to add their own imagination. The story toes the line between suspense and horror, and readers should be well prepared for some spine chilling moments. However, underneath the scary parts lies a truly sad and unexpected background of the castle that plucks at more than a few heart strings.
The cast of characters shines, especially Kat. Each child must face their own fears as they discover more clues about the castle, and readers will root for them the entire time. The other classmates that Kat meets are easily distinctive, and Fox does a fantastic job of not throwing too many characters at the reader at once. Though all the children have different (and often conflicting) personalities, teamwork emerges as a crucial method of survival while at the castle.
Readers looking for an atmospheric novel of intrigue, danger, and a haunting chill will devour THE CHARMED CHILDREN OF ROOKSKILL CASTLE.
Originally posted at YABC: http://www.yabookscentral.com/kbc-home/latest-kids-indie?url=preview/id:19464:the-charmed-children-of-rookskill-castle
4.5 rounded up!
Short and Sweet:
Though I have a few small picky issues with it, I really, really loved this one. It's got loads of wonderful suspense and top notch world-building, and it's a must-read for any fairy tale lover.
To Elaborate...
Rowan has always dreamed about her mother, even though she died shortly after childbirth. Death hasn't come around much more since then until riders are discovered dead one morning near her village. Soon after, the deaths begin to multiply. The village is claiming it must be a wolf, but Roman and her friends suspect that something far darker may be occuring. With danger lurking around every dark night, Rowan will have to figure out how to save those she loves without getting killed in the process.
My fairy tale loving heart was so happy while reading this. The author does an absolutely astounding job of weaving together many different fairy tale elements, and it made the setting shine. It has a haunting, intense feel to it that makes it so hard to put down. I love all the twists put on the classic stories, and the plot unfolds perfectly leaving the very last puzzle piece hidden until the climax.
However, here are the small, extremely picky issues that I simply must mention: Rowan is a scholar, one who works on translations, and that is super, super cool. While the fact that she is a scholar is mentioned a lot, her actual practice of it only amounts to about one scene. She seems to be really passionate about it and it would have been so awesome to have seen more of her actively demonstrating that passion. The other issue I had was that towards the beginning several characters are introduced, but it seems to take a while for their relationships to be clear. I wasn't sure who actually liked who, which characters were just friends, etc. It got straightened out wonderfully later on, but it made for a somewhat confusing start.
In spite of those smaller issues, I without a doubt adored The Glass Casket. Rowan's character development is smooth and so touching in parts. I love how realistic her reactions and feelings are to what's happening around her. I especially enjoy her contrast with Tom and Fiona and how her story compares to theirs. I won't say too much about Jude, but he is super swoony, and I might be a little in love with him. :)
Originally posted at I Heart YA Fiction: http://iheartyafiction.blogspot.com/2014/06/review-glass-casket-by-mccormick.html
Short and Sweet:
Though I have a few small picky issues with it, I really, really loved this one. It's got loads of wonderful suspense and top notch world-building, and it's a must-read for any fairy tale lover.
To Elaborate...
Rowan has always dreamed about her mother, even though she died shortly after childbirth. Death hasn't come around much more since then until riders are discovered dead one morning near her village. Soon after, the deaths begin to multiply. The village is claiming it must be a wolf, but Roman and her friends suspect that something far darker may be occuring. With danger lurking around every dark night, Rowan will have to figure out how to save those she loves without getting killed in the process.
My fairy tale loving heart was so happy while reading this. The author does an absolutely astounding job of weaving together many different fairy tale elements, and it made the setting shine. It has a haunting, intense feel to it that makes it so hard to put down. I love all the twists put on the classic stories, and the plot unfolds perfectly leaving the very last puzzle piece hidden until the climax.
However, here are the small, extremely picky issues that I simply must mention: Rowan is a scholar, one who works on translations, and that is super, super cool. While the fact that she is a scholar is mentioned a lot, her actual practice of it only amounts to about one scene. She seems to be really passionate about it and it would have been so awesome to have seen more of her actively demonstrating that passion. The other issue I had was that towards the beginning several characters are introduced, but it seems to take a while for their relationships to be clear. I wasn't sure who actually liked who, which characters were just friends, etc. It got straightened out wonderfully later on, but it made for a somewhat confusing start.
In spite of those smaller issues, I without a doubt adored The Glass Casket. Rowan's character development is smooth and so touching in parts. I love how realistic her reactions and feelings are to what's happening around her. I especially enjoy her contrast with Tom and Fiona and how her story compares to theirs. I won't say too much about Jude, but he is super swoony, and I might be a little in love with him. :)
Originally posted at I Heart YA Fiction: http://iheartyafiction.blogspot.com/2014/06/review-glass-casket-by-mccormick.html