Tag Archive for: Middle Grade

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Ella Enchanted

Ella EnchantedTitle: Ella Enchanted
Author: Gail Carson Levine
Series: Ella Enchanted #1
Genre: Fantasy, Middle Grade
Format: Paperback
Pages: 232
Reason Read: Just Because
Rating:

My Thoughts

Unfortunately, when Ella’s mom passed away in the beginning of the story, it made reading ELLA ENCHANTED a little hard for me since my mom passed away only two and a half weeks ago. I almost put the book down, but I decided to continue reading. I’m glad I stuck it out, though, because I ended up really liking the story. I didn’t realize it was a retelling of Cinderella. I loved discovering that and I especially loved this take on the classic fairytale. It was so interesting to see how it all played out, how it was the same, and how it was different. I loved both Ella and Char. I also loved their relationship. It made for a fun story.

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With A Name Like Love

With A Name Like LoveTitle: With a Name Like Love
Author: Tess Hilmo
Genre: Historical Fiction, Middle Grade, Mystery
Format: Hard Cover
Pages: 250
Reason Read: Just Because
Rating:

My Thoughts

I’m glad I was finally able to read WITH A NAME LIKE LOVE. It’s a very heart-warming story about love, family, and friendship. I really grew to love the characters. I loved Ollie and most of her family. I also really loved Jimmy and felt for him with the circumstances he and his mother were in. It was fun to watch the two develop a friendship, figure things out, and come up with a way to fix what was going on.

The story doesn’t focus on racism, which you might expect taking place in Arkansas in the 1950s. Racism was there a little bit, but most of all, the story showed all forms of bigotry and hate, especially associated with things or people that were different from the way people thought they should be. It showed how bigotry and hate clouded them from seeing or even wanting to see the truth.

What I loved most of all about the book was the message of love. I really enjoyed the religious undertones as well and I also loved that the religious message wasn’t in-your-face preachy. It was just used to help propel the story forward and illustrate that love can conquer anything if you let it into your heart.

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The Wednesday Wars

The Wednesday WarsTitle: The Wednesday Wars
Author: Gary D. Schmidt
Genre: Historical Fiction, Middle Grade
Format: Hard Cover
Pages: 264
Reason Read: Book Club
Rating:

My Thoughts

THE WEDNESDAY WARS was such a sweet, comedic story. There were many times I laughed out loud, wanted to chuck something at Holling’s father, and felt a warmth so great that I felt like Hallmark couldn’t have produced a better feeling with one of their happy-go-lucky cards.

Holling’s father made me so angry. He was a selfish, arrogant jerk and I really enjoyed seeing Holling come out from under his grasp and learn that he could be whatever he wanted to be not what his father wanted.

I’ve never been a fan of Shakespeare. I don’t really understand it. The only one of his plays I’ve read is OTHELLO. After reading this story, I really want to read more, especially the plays that Mrs. Baker had Holling read together. Holling learned a lot of valuable lessons from those plays, lessons I think I could help me as well.

I’m quite surprised at how much I enjoyed this heart-warming story. This is not usually my typical read, but I think I might actually want to read this one again.

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The Clockwork Three

The Clockwork ThreeTitle: The Clockwork Three
Author: Matthew J. Kirby
Genre: Fantasy, Middle Grade
Format: Hard Cover
Pages: 395
Reason Read: Received for Review
Rating:

My Thoughts

It took about 100 pages for me to get into THE CLOCKWORK THREE. While the story started really slow, I ended up enjoy it quite a bit. I rooted for each of the three main characters and wanted them to succeed in having a better life. I liked watching them become friends and struggle together. I also liked that the story doesn’t work out exactly how each of them plan but in a way that was good for them. Even though there are fantasy elements woven into the story, it felt and ended realistically.

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The Vampire’s Assistant

The Vampire’s AssistantTitle: The Vampire's Assistant
Author: Darren Shan
Series: Cirque Du Freak #2
Genre: Fantasy, Horror, Middle Grade
Format: Paperback
Pages: 256
Reason Read: Just Because
Rating:

Also in this series: A Living Nightmare
My Thoughts

When I read A LIVING NIGHTMARE, I thought The Vampire’s Assistant movie was an adaptation of the first two books in the series. I was wrong. It looks like the movie was actually an adaptation of the first three books so I wasn’t expecting anything that happened in this book at all.

The first book was almost exactly like the first half of the movie adaptation. However, the only thing this book had in common with its movie adaptation was that Darren and Mr. Crepsley joined the Cirque du Freak. Everything else was completely different and completely new to me. That wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. It was just unexpected.

I liked this book a lot better than the first one. The first one was slow because it was building up the characters and the layout of the story. This book was much faster paced and I read it in two days. As a whole, I’ve liked the story enough so the books held my interest, but I’m not sure I want to keep reading.