Book review - Flunked

Hi friends! I'm pretty excited to be a stop on the virtual tour for Flunked. Here's my review.

Title: Flunked
Author: Jen Calonita
Genre: fantasy
Similar books: Goblins by Philip Reeve
                     The Wishing Spell by Chris Colfer
Rating: 

kind of wicked fun

Summary: (provided by the publisher)

Gilly wouldn’t call herself wicked exactly…but when you have five little brothers and sisters and live in a run- down boot, you have to get creative to make ends meet. Gilly’s a pretty good thief (if she does say so herself).

Until she gets caught.

Gilly’s sentenced to three months at Fairy Tale Reform School- where all of the teachers are former (super-scary) villains like the Big Bad Wolf, the Evil Queen, and Cinderella’s Wicked Stepmother. Harsh. But when she meets fellow students Jax and Kayla, she learns there’s more to this school than its heroic mission. There’s a battle brewing and Gilly has to wonder: can a villain really change?

My Opinion: This book will be a solid addition to your middle grade fiction collection. It has a nice assortment of characters, all of whom have a decent level of depth. The plot has enough complication to keep you guessing but not so many twists as to become confusing or hard to believe. Fractured fairy tales can be a lot of fun or really annoying. This one falls into the former category. It doesn't make excuses for familiar villains but makes them more than just evil. They are misguided or selfish, not pure evil. Plus it is, at times, pretty funny. The first in a series, there's a lot of room here for growth. I look forward to seeing how this series develops.
Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley. 



 
If this sounds like something you'd enjoy, check out the excerpt provided by the publisher below.

There’s a boy up there, standing on the crystal chandelier! He has slightly curly blond hair and is wearing a uniform—­a navy sweater vest over a white shirt with khaki pants—­but his boots are muddy. He’s stepping on priceless crystals with cruddy boots? Is he insane?

“Jax! What are you doing up there?” Kayla whispers heatedly.

“I’m cleaning the crystal for Flora,” Jax says and rolls his eyes. “What does it look like I’m doing? I’m making

a break for it.”

Kayla applauds. “Yay! This time I know you can do it.”

I shade my eyes from the light bursting through the stained-­glass window next to the chandelier Jax is perched on. “Busting out? Why?” I ask Kayla. “I thought you said this place was cool.”

Jax laughs loudly and looks at me. I feel slightly stunned. I’ve never seen violet eyes before. “FTRS was fun for a while, but strange things have started happening and I don’t want to be here when something bad goes down.”

Strange things? What kind of strange things? Why does Kayla suddenly look pale?

“He’s exaggerating,” Kayla tells me, but she doesn’t sound convincing.

Drip. Whatever Jax is holding is leaking. Kayla and I move out of the way so we don’t get wet. “Grease,” Jax explains to me. “It lubes the window.” He swings the chandelier, and as it nears the window, he uses a fork to try to pry the window open. “A few more tries and I’ll have it.”

“Then what are you going to do, genius?” I ask. “You’re two stories up.”

Jax’s eyes gleam. “I’ve jumped from higher spots before.”

“It’s true,” Kayla says to me. “Jax once jumped from the gym to the dining hall turret. That was three stories up. We call him the Escape Artist. One time he even managed to break into Azalea and Dahlia’s rooms and borrowed their keys to the indoor pool so the whole dorm could take a midnight swim.”

“Impressive,” I tell him. “And I thought I was good at tricking obnoxious royals.”

“She stole a dragon’s tooth clip from one this morning,” Kayla fills him in.

“Nice,” Jax says. “Your first pull?”

“No, I’ve been doing it for a while,” I brag.

“Me too,” Jax says. “My father is a farmer. You can only get so far trading vegetables. I needed to kick things up a notch.”

For some reason, I don’t think any of us are going to make the transformation Headmistress Flora is looking for. “Why do you want to break out so bad?”

“I’ve got places to see, and Enchantasia isn’t one of them.” Jax swings the chandelier so hard the crystals clang together. The window latch pops open, and I watch Jax leap from the chandelier to the tiny window ledge. I’m in awe. Jax looks down at us smugly before pushing open the window. “Are you sure you two don’t want to join me?”

“There’s no time for us,” Kayla says. “Get out of here. Wait!” Her eyes widen. “You deactivated the alarm on the window, right?”

“There isn’t one,” Jax insists. “If there was, I wouldn’t be able to do this.” But when Jax lifts the window, we hear:

EEEEEE! EEEE! EEEE! Unauthorized exit! Unauthorized exit!

The shrieking sound is so intense that Kayla and I cover our ears. Within seconds, Flora is out of her office and running toward us.

Swoosh!

I feel something brush past me and I whirl around. When I look up at Jax again, a large, muscular man with a long mane of hair is hanging on to the window ledge, his furry hands pulling Jax back by his shirt. How did the man get up there without a ladder?

“Mr. Jax,” the man says in a low growl, “we really must stop meeting like this.”

Fairy Tale Reform School Quiz Link: Fairy Tale Reform School Quiz

If you get sentenced to Fairy Tale Reform School, it will help to have an ally. Take the quiz and find out who your mentor would be.

Book review - Dead to Me

Title: Dead to Me
Author: Mary McCoy
Genre: mystery/historical fiction
Similar books: I'm Glad I Did by Cynthia Weil
                     What I Saw and How I Lied by Judy Blundell
Rating:

Pretty good detective story

Summary: Alice never knew what made her older sister Annie run away or where she might have gone. Their parents never talk about Annie. She'd hoped that Annie ended up somewhere nice. The reality is far worse. When Annie turns up comatose in a hospital, the victim of a savage beating, Alice sets out to figure out what happened to her sister with the help of a private investigator who claims to be her friend. She finds herself caught up in a side of Hollywood she'd never seen, filled with desperate young women and savage celebrities.

My Opinion: This was pretty much the ideal teen mystery. McCoy does a great job of setting the scene, really hitting the nail on the head with the culture of the golden age of Hollywood. Even the role of women and the corruption among the police are present in this novel. It really has that classic noir feel, more cold and clinical than the constant pulse pounding of a modern thriller. I could easily imagine this as a movie or an episode of a period crime drama. Well worth the read.
Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley.

Picture books for everyone

Zen Shorts by Jon J. Muth

True to the title, this book holds three short, traditional tales of Zen Buddhism told in the framework of three children visiting Stillwater the panda. Each story gently leads the reader to a lesson in generosity, luck, and forgiveness. Adding to the text are Muth's fantastic, soft illustrations. Parents will enjoy this book for the moral lessons. Kids will enjoy the idea of hanging out with a giant panda. There are two other books about Stillwater and the children: Zen Ghosts and Zen Ties.

WWW Wednesday

What are you currently reading?
Catch You Later, Traitor by Avi
It's 1951 and Pete likes nothing more than reading and listening to detective stories. He soon finds himself mixed up in a very different sort of mystery when a rumor goes around that a member of his family is a Communist and his teacher and classmates, even his best friend Kat, turn against him. Pete searches for the truth, but he begins to wonder if finding it will fix his problems or make things even worse.
Avi is pretty much always a good read, especially when it comes to historical fiction. With solid characters and a situation that was reality for many back in the 50s this is, so far, a pretty fascinating read.  
 
What did you recently finish reading?
The Tragic Age by Stephen Metcalfe
Billy Kinsey is disillusioned with life. His parents are caught up in the new lifestyle that came along with winning library, trying to forget their grief after the death of Billy's twin sister Dorrie. Billy's philosophy is not to take part in life. Then he meets Twom Twomey who encourages him to "go a little outlaw" and Gretchen Quinn who thinks he needs to put good things into the world. Can Billy overcome his distrust of good things or is he doomed to travel down a path to disaster?
This novel asks some tough questions about modern society and the tendency of people to consistently make the wrong choices. It's not a comfortable read but one that encourages the reader to think.
 
What do you think you will read next?
The Imaginary by A.F. Harrold
I like the notion of imaginary friends having lives all their own. I look forward to seeing how this one plays out.

Book review - Doing Right

Title: Doing Right
Author: Patrick Jones
Genre: realistic fiction
Similar books: Juvie by Steve Watkins
                     Kindness for Weakness by Shawn Goodman
Rating:

Great...

...until it wasn't

Summary: DeQuin's father thinks he needs to be tougher. But being tough got his father a prison sentence. His uncle thinks he should just let everything go. That doesn't seem like much of a way to be a man to DeQuin. His grandfather is constantly lecturing him about the civil rights movement and standing up for your rights. When a night out with his friends goes very wrong, what will DeQuin choose? What kind of man will he be?

My opinion: (SPOILER ALERT, FRIENDS) At first, I loved this book. The characters have a decent amount of depth. The situations are complex, nothing easily solved. I really liked the interactions between DeQuin and his friends, especially his final confrontation with Martel. It encourages the reader to really think about issues of personal rights and how to make tough choices. What I didn't like was the ending. It's very sudden and leaves, I think, too many issues up in the air. I wanted more, a little sense of what might be down the road for DeQuin after his arrest.
Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley.

You can't take the sky from me

If you've been following my blog for a while you might remember the time I made Dr. Horrible action figures. While I was quite pleased with how Captain Hammer turned out I was never very happy with Dr. Horrible himself. I spent a lot of time thinking about how to make him look better. I eventually decided that he's simply the wrong fundamental shape to really resemble Dr. Horrible.

So, I decided to take this action figure in an entirely new direction. He struck me as more of a Malcolm Reynolds (from Firefly).

Liberal application of acrylic paint soon set him straight.

Barely looks like the same action figure, right?

Now, if you've ever seen Firefly you know Mal seldom travels without his crew. I dug through some old action figures and found this guy:

I believe this is Four Arms from Ben 10

He was missing and arm when I bought him in a bag of figures and has been tucked away ever since. I was able to take off his extra arm (and a half) with a Dremel tool and a razor knife made quick work of those spikes. The resulting figure was perfect for Jayne Cobb.

His feet are still forked but otherwise it's a decent resemblance

This is probably not the last you'll see of repainted action figures on this blog. I've been eyeing a couple for Firefly's Wash as well as Lord Ballister Blackheart and Sir Ambrosius Goldenloin from the webcomic Nimona.

Book review - Space Penguins Galaxy Race!

Title: Space Penguins Galaxy Race!
Author: Lucy Courtenay
Genre: humor
Similar books: Jedi Academy by Jeffrey Brown
                     The Yeti Files: Meet the Bigfeet by Kevin Sherry
Rating:

too much fun

Summary: Captain James T. Krill, Rocky Waddle, Fuzz Algrin, and Splash Gordon explore space in their ship, Tunafish. Pilot Rocky jumps at the chance to compete in the Superchase Space Race. With Emperor Anadin Skyporker determined to win no matter what sneaky tricks he must pull and the evil Dark Wader focused on stopping them, can the penguins work together and win the race?

My opinion: What could be cooler than penguins in space? How about penguins in space when all of the names (people, places, even ships) are pop culture and sci-fi puns? Apart from being a laugh riot for kids and parents alike, this book has a solid message, great action, and entertaining characters. Plus, the illustrations are a fantastic cartoony style. This is sure to go over well with the fun-loving kids in your life.

More information: Space Penguins Galaxy Race! is new to paperback March 1.
Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley