Book Review: The Hop by Sharelle Byars Moranville

The Hop by Sharelle Byars Moranville and Niki Daly is a children's chapter book about nature, childhood, and a little magic. Tad is a small, tentative toad with a problem. He has started having dreams, marking him as the next Seer. However, the future that looms is far from bright. His home and family is danger from a huge earth eating machine which the toads call the Rumbler. The only way to save everything is for Tad to kiss a human, the Queen of the Hop. Taylor loves spending time with her grandmother and the land nearby. Gardening and enjoy the nearby pond are some of her favorite things. But the land next her grandmother's home has been sold, and the land and pond are going to be destroyed in order to build another strip mall. Taylor is willing to do anything to save the land, but her grandmother is undergoing cancer treatments and her normally distant parents suddenly want her to travel with them. Can Tad find and kiss the queen, and can Taylor save the land that is so precious to her? Their quests intersect in unexpected ways, but will they be able to succeed.

The Hop deals with a child facing big changes in life, and the problems to the environment caused by pollution and progress. Despite the commonly depressing topics, the story is fun and relatable. Taylor faces her grandmother's illness and realizing that her parents have more to them than what she normally sees. Readers can understand how she feels, and why she wants to fight change. Tad might be a toad, but his dilemmas are also relatable. He is timid, but has to step up and deal with things that scare him, just like we all have to do in order to move forward. The Hop offers lessons, but it is also a fun, and funny, read that does not get bogged down or lost in the messages it holds. Daly's illustrations are charming additions that make it easier to understand Tad's view of the world, and the humor in the story.

The Hop is great book for beginning discussions about dealing with change, nature, animals, and ecology. It is also a simply good read. While I knew from the beginning that Tad and Taylor would somehow come together for a common cause, it was done in ways that I did not see coming. I really like a little unpredictability, since it seems so rare to me lately. I highly recommend this read to independent readers, around seven and older.

Early Book Review: Alien Investigation by Kelly Milner Halls

Alien Investigation: Searching for the Truth about UFOs and Aliens by Kelly Milner Halls and Rick C. Spears is a children's non fiction book due to be released on April 1 2012. This book examines the testimony and encounters that people have claimed to have with Unidentified Flying Objects or Aliens. The book does not to prove or disprove the existence of alien life, instead it provides as much information as possible to readers in order to allow them to forge their own beliefs. There are interviews with a variety of experts, the details of several claimed encounters, possible explanations, and known hoaxes. There is a glossary and list of resources for more information included at the end of the book.

Alien Investigation is well researched, and includes illustrations and photographs that enhance the information. To keep the reader thinking, there are illustrations and a small story about alien astronaut on their own mission dispersed through the book. As someone who has watched just about every documentary and episode of Unexplained Mysteries available to me, there was no new information for me. However, I think it is a great collection of research and information to satisfy interested children.

I recommend Alien Investigation to independent readers that are interested in space, aliens, mysteries, and science. I enjoyed the book, and through my children are too young for it yet, I think my son will love it when he is ready.

Early Book Review: A Secret Keeps by Marsha Wilson Chall

A Secret Keeps, written by Marsha Wilson Chall and illustrated by Heather Solomon, is a picture book with charming watercolor style illustrations and often poetic phrasing. It is due to be released on April 1 2012. In the story a young boy talks to his grandfather on the phone before the family heads out for a weekend visit. His grandfather promises a secret, but refuses to give more information, saying only that a 'secret is for keeping' or 'finders keepers'. The boy wonders what the secret is and dreams up a few possibilities. When they get to the farm, no one will divulge the secret but instead encourages him to find it. When the boy discovers the secret, he is thrilled that a 'secret is for keeping'.

A Secret Keeps is a sweet story. The illustrations are wonderful. and well done. The story is nice, sweet, and simple. I appreciated that the grandfather talked to the parents before and after talking to the young boy, which as a parent finishing the book I take to be the adults discussing the details of the surprise and making sure that it will be a welcome addition to their household. Young readers or listeners would probably just think they were planning the surprise, not the long-term details. The only thing I did not like about the book is that every now and then the words gor to be a little to poetic and flowery, unlike the words a young boy excited by a surprise would use.

A Secret Keeps would make a good bedtime or storytime book. I do not suggest it for families with no pets, or intentions of adding one to the family. Although, it would make a good book to begin the discussion of pet ownership or springing your own surprise on your children.

Picturebook Review: Gilbert Goldfish Wants a Pet

Gilbert Goldfish Wants a Pet, written by Kelly DiPucchio and illustrated by Bob Shea, is a picturebook full of fishy fun. Gilbert the goldfish might look like a fish with everything. He has a cool tank, with clean water, a castle, and food that floats down from the sky. But Gilbert longs for something, he wants a pet to love. He imagines a slew of interesting pets. Animals come to visit his bowl, but nothing seems to work out. Then one day Gilbert gets a whiskered surprise. Could this be the pet of his dreams, and can goldfish even have pets?

Gilbert Goldfish Wants a Pet is fun and delightful. The illustrations by Bob Shea hold true to his consistent quality and style, he has yet to disappoint. Kelly DiPucchio's words are just as charming as the illustrations they are paired with. Gilbert's imagining of having an elephant as a pet will make any child giggle, I know it made me giggle. Gilbert's sadness with the visiting mouse did not return flooded his bowl, and then some. There is even a surprise as to what the whiskered pet at the end of the story is, and no I refuse to ruin it for you here.

I highly recommend Gilbert Goldfish Wants a Pet for home, school, and library collections. It would do well for reading aloud one on one, in small groups, or in a large storytime. The illustrations are vivid enough that no listener would miss a thing. It would also do well for those young readers that want to look at and try to read books on their own. I will have a hard time prying this one out of my kid's hands in order to return the book to the library in time. I think I just might need to buy my own copy, and the entire Bob Shea body of work as well.

Book Review: Ghoul Interrupted by Victoria Laurie

Ghoul Interrupted by Victoria Laurie was my TBR Challenge selection of the month. It is the sixth book in her Ghost Hunter series. In this book Mary Jane, or M.J. Holliday and her crew take an unexpected, and unwanted,break from their television show to help out when Heath's uncle is killed in New Mexico. M.J.'s spirit guide, and Heath's grandfather, Sam Whitefeather warns M.J. that there is a demon behind the death, and that all members of the Whitefeather clan are in danger. M.J., Heath, and Gilley go to pay their respects and try to overcome the demon. Gilley's skittishness and the closed nature of the Whitefeather clan only make everything more complicated.

Ghoul Interrupted was a good, fun read. I will admit that it has been so long since I indulged in reading a mystery from Laurie, that it took me awhile to remember the set up of the series, and where the last book had left readers. Since I have also read her Psychic Eye Mystery series novel, it was even harder to get back in the swing of things. However, I am glad I did. It was nice to get lost again in a cozy mystery, with no review deadline. Okay, so I am late for the suggested challenge review, but that is because I was trying to catch up on my NetGalley reviews.

I do not suggest jumping into either of Laurie's mystery series in the middle. But I do enjoy both, and think that anyone that enjoys cozy mysteries that have some psychic or mystic elements to them will enjoy her work. There is romance in the background, but in never interferes with the action of the story. In fact, I do not think M.J. and Heath ever get the chance to get a good love scene in this whole book, at least not uninterrupted.

Book Review: Croak by Gina Damico

Croak by Gina Damico is a young adult novel, released on March 20 2012. In this novel we meet sixteen-year-old Lexington, or Lex, Bartleby and her twin sister Concord, or Connie. The girls have never been separated, but have always been different from each other. Connie loves inventing while Lex has always had a little bit of a wild side. However, for the few years Lex's mood swings and temper have been spiraling out of control. One day she sucker punches another classmate, and her parents have reached the end of the rope. During vacation Lex is going to stay with her Uncle Mort and hopefully get her head straight. But Uncle Mort is not a farmer, like her parents imagine. Instead Mort is the Mayor of a town dedicated to the reaping of souls, and Lex is about to learn the trade. She acclimates to her new environment, with a few bumps along the way, until the discovery of unexplained deaths. Soon the very community that has accepted Lex is in danger, and so is she. Does she want to stop the killer, if she can, or does she want to join them in the apparent mission to cull the evil from society?

See my complete review here on Yahoo! Voices.

Book Review: Pack and Coven by Jody Wallace Page

Pack and Coven by Jody Wallace Page is a paranormal romance available on e-readers and as an audio book. Harry Smith is a lone wolf and is doing everything in his power to stay that way. However, he is also an alpha wolf and the local pack wants to bring him into the fold, whether he wants in or not. He does not want to leave, he has a favorite place to eat and a group of people he likes to spend time with. Now he is trying to stay free, with a little unexpected help. June has been a friend and admirer of Harry for years, but he has no idea who she is because she has been under magical disguise, hiding as the elderly woman Sadie who Harry loves for her cooking and spunk. Harry initially thinks June is Sadie's granddaughter. She tries to help him hide from the pack, but things quickly go from bad to insanely complicated. June is a witch willing to risk everything in order to help Harry. While Harry and June are drawn together, the complications are mounting along with the danger and everything and everyone is at risk.

I liked Pack and Coven, it kept me reading well past my bedtime. Which as an exhausted mother of two young children, says a lot. Alright, so maybe I just liked Harry, a lot. He is an alpha man who respects women. He likes hanging out with people for their cooking and their company, not to get into their pants. Alright, so once he discovered that June was young, attractive, and could cook there was some of that too, but when he first met her as Sadie he preferred to spend time with her and the 'grannies' rather than go out on dates. He is a little arrogant at times, but it is tempered with concern for others. We could use some real Harry's in the world, even if they did get furry.

June held much less of my affection than Harry. While she is clearly older than her appearance, I found her objections to cursing and cleanliness a little distracting. Much of it came with good reason, but I just did not connect with her. I liked her more in the beginning when she was the spunky, though elderly, Sadie than when she looked to be in her twenties but with the same personality. I really liked that the plot was not simple and contrived. There were many players, and not all of the characters that might have originally been seen as villains stayed firmly in their place. There are several layers of action and plot, which I really enjoyed.

I recommend Pack and Coven to readers that enjoy paranormal romance and urban fantasy with a romance included. The story moves at a good pace, with the only slow portions inside June's head weighing the consequences of having a relationship with Harry. This is the perfect book for reading during a lazy weekend.

Book Review: What to Expect When You're Expecting Hatchlings by Bridget Hoes

What to Expect When You're Expecting Hatchlings: a Guide for Crocodilian Parents (and Curious Kids) written by Bridget Hoes and illustrated by Stephane Jorisch is a fun and entertaining look at young crocodiles and alligators and how their parents take care of them. It is appropriate and accessible for children around six years-old and up. The book gives a great deal of information, while still offering humor in both words and as part of the illustrations. Details that differ between different crocodilians; which include crocodiles, alligators, caiman, and gharial, are examined as are the similarities. Even differences between a couple different types of alligators and crocodiles are included. For your readers, and their parents, that want to explore he subject further there is a small glossary and sources that can be used to discover even more information.

I really enjoyed reading What to Expect When You're Expecting Hatchlings. The facts and illustrations were paired in a way that did not lessen the importance of the facts, but made learning fun. The illustrations were bright, colorful, and sometimes a little silly, like showing an alligator sitting in a nest. I highly recommend this book for home, school, and library collections. Children and adults interested in nature and reptiles in general, will particularly enjoy it. I am going to be looking for other books in the Expecting Animal Babies series, of which this is part. What to Expect When You're Expecting Joeys: A Guide for Marsupial Parents and What to Expect When You're Expecting Larvae: A Guide for Insect Parents are available now, and I am on the hunt.

Early Book Review: Spellcaster by Cara Lynn Shultz

Spellcaster by Cara Lynn Shultz is a young adult novel released on March 27 2012. This is the sequel to Spellbound, in which Emma and Brandon found out they were eternal soul mates, breaking a curse that would have doomed Emma to an early death, and managed to fend of scheming classmates that would have killed them. You would have thought that Spellcaster would be more about the happy ever after since they had conquered all the hard stuff, right? Wrong. Emma is working to channel and understand her innate powers of witchcraft and deal with the snobby class warfare that permeates the halls of Vincent Academy. Having the most sought after boy in town as her devoted boyfriend makes things easier, and harder. However, there is still someone out there that is not appreciating their sought after happiness, and is doing everything they can to destroy their love, and harness the power of true love for themselves. Can Emma, Brendan, and their close friends get through another close encounter with evil?

Spellcaster had the same feel as Spellbound; it was easy to read, fun, and I cared about the characters. The mistakes in Brendan's past are wrapped up in the individual behind the current danger, and his romantic appeal seems to be the cause of it all. Thankfully, we only get a minimum of Emma's wondering about her own self-worth, she is a strong-minded individual that seems to value her strength and independence. Angelika and the other supporting characters are more fleshed out in this novel, giving Emma a broader support system and more options. Although Aunt Christine and the family that should be take care of the intrepid teens seem to be a little distant, which is helpful for the plot line but not for my piece of mind. The ending was satisfying and seemed to wrap everything up pretty neatly.

I recommend Spellcaster for readers that enjoyed Spellbound. I do not recommend skipping Spellbound before diving into the sequel. See my review for Spellbound, which I really enjoyed, here. I enjoyed this read as well, but think I must have had my fill of sequels for a while. Couldn't the kids just live happily ever after, just once? If you enjoy young adult urban fantasy, it would be worth checking out both books from your local library and reading.

Book Review: Friends With Boys by Faith Erin Hicks

Friends With Boys by Faith Erin Hicks is a young adult graphic novel. In its black and white images we met Maggie McKay and her family. Maggie, her three older brothers, and her father who has recently been promoted to police chief are all struggling with their identities since Maggie's mother has left them. It is Maggie's first day at high school, after having been home schooled until then by her now absent mother. Now she needs to face the world, alone. Her brothers had already joined the realm of high school and left behind home schooling when they reached her age, and they each already have their own place in school. Maggie is adrift and literally haunted by a female ghost that she has been seeing for years in a local graveyard. As she tries to deal with the absence of her mother, and finding her place in school, Maggie forges the beginning of a friendship with siblings Lucy and Alistair.

Friends With Boys has artwork that perfectly captures the moods and emotions of the book. There is some classic comic feel to it, as well as a hint of anime or manga influence.  I loved the characters, and wish I had met Lucy and Alister when I was in school. Maggie's brothers and father were not simply accessories to her story, they each had their own dramas and conflicts within the story, some more evident than others. My only complaint is that there seemed to be too much packed into the story that some details seemed left hanging. Most of this has to do with the haunting, that left me with a good number of whys when I finished the story.

I recommend Friends With Boys to tweens, teens and adults alike. It will particularly appeal to readers that like a coming of age story told with some humor, rather than taking itself too seriously. Fans of Hicks's other work, such as The War at Ellsmere and Zombies Calling, will also enjoy this story. I enjoyed the read, and only wish it had gone on for a few more pages to add information about the ghost in the neighborhood graveyard.