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Japanese Children’s Favorite Stories

Japanese Children’s Favorite StoriesTitle: Japanese Children's Favorite Stories
Author: Florence Sakade
Genre: Short Stories, Children's
Format: Hard Cover
Pages: 120
Reason Read: Play Book Tag
Rating:

My Thoughts

My parents gave me JAPANESE CHILDREN’S FAVORITE STORIES as a Christmas present when I was 10 years old. I read a few of the stories before now, but not all of them. I really wish I had read more of these as a child. The ones I had read were familiar and very fun to revisit. The ones I hadn’t read were also fun, but the lack of nostalgia had me nitpicking the writing style. While the stories are great, the writing was something to be desired, probably because of the “lost in translation” factor.

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The Tales Of Beedle The Bard

The Tales Of Beedle The BardTitle: The Tales of Beedle the Bard
Author: J.K. Rowling
Series: Hogwarts Library #3
Genre: Fantasy, Middle Grade, Short Stories
Format: Hard Cover
Pages: 111
Reason Read: Play Book Tag
Rating:

My Thoughts

Short stories aren’t my favorite. I feel like they could be great but are just too short to accomplish anything. However, being as huge of a Harry Potter fan as I am, I’ve been wanting to read THE TALES OF BEEDLE THE BARD for a long time. The tales were a lot of fun to read, but what I enjoyed the most was the “addition” of Dumbledore’s notes on the margins of the pages. Getting inside his head was a dream come true. It definitely gave me some new insight into the Wizarding World.

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Dark Matter

Dark MatterTitle: Dark Matter
Author: Blake Crouch
Genre: Science Fiction, Thriller
Format: Kindle
Pages: 343
Reason Read: Book Club
Rating:

My Thoughts

Wow! DARK MATTER completely consumed me. I couldn’t stop thinking about it in between reads. I wanted to get back to it as soon as I could. It was a such a mind-blowing, intense ride. I loved every minute of it. Even though a lot of the physics went over my head, I did understand quite a bit and now that I’m done with this book, I just keep thinking what if? Oh the possibilities! So exciting and scary at the same time!

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The One And Only Ivan

The One And Only IvanTitle: The One and Only Ivan
Author: Katherine Applegate
Series: One and Only Ivan #1
Genre: Contemporary, Middle Grade
Format: Hard Cover
Pages: 307
Reason Read: Play Book Tag
Rating:

My Thoughts

Even though THE ONE AND ONLY IVAN was a very easy read, being as passionate of an animal lover as I am, it was very difficult to read at times. It made my heart cry several times. I’m still glad I read it, though, and I thought it was very good. I loved Applegate’s writing style. It was very descriptive and painted a clear picture in my head. It was a joy to read, other than making me angry and sad about how animals are treated by some humans.