Hello There, Do You Still Know Me? By Laurie B. Arnold

Hello There, Do You Still Know Me?  by Laurie B. Arnold
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Prospecta Press
Number of Pages:  192
Published:  March 7th, 2016
Source: Review copy provided by the author in exchange for an honest review. 

Hello There, Do You Still Know Me is the second book in the Hello There series.  I didn't read the first book, Hello There, We’ve Been Waiting For You!, but it was easy enough to follow along. 


11-year-old Madison lives with her grandmother, Florida Brown, in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico.  At the moment, it's summer and Madison and her friends (Noah and Violet) are spending their vacation in Costa Rica with a family friend, Rosalie Claire.  It's a break Madison really needed as her relationship with her grandmother has been kind of rocky.  Florida has high expectations for Madison and can be very demanding.  Also, Florida really wants Madison to be more girly and not so tomboyish, which causes lots of friction between the two. 

When Florida suddenly shows up ill in Costa Rica with a mysterious illness, Madison's feelings about her grandmother turn completely around.  Suddenly, she is desperate to help find a cure so she won't lose her like her mother.   At times it was difficult to like grandma Florida for the way that she was treating her granddaughter, and how she treated her own daughter in the past.  I'd like to think that she'll change her ways for the next book in the series. 

 In order to save Florida, the trio must first find the remote for the MegaPix 6000, a television that will zap them to the past so they can find a Baltic amber to recharge Rosalie Claire's magical fanny pack and she can make the cure to save Florida.  Madison and her friends go on an adventure to the Amazon rainforest to track down the remote and then travel back in time to 1994 to talk to Rosalie Claire's Grandma Daisy.  The time travel was my favorite part of Hello There, Do You Still Know Me?  Time travel for me has to have certain rules, kind of like in Back to the Future, you aren't supposed to change any of the events because there could be consequences in the future. Which is even more challenging for Madison, because she really misses her mom.  I really liked the way in which Arnold gives Madison the opportunity to spend time with her mother as a teenager and share some fun heartfelt moments together.  Reminds me of when Marty McFly runs into his own father.  The story is full of magical fanny packs, a time-traveling television and lots of adventure making for an overall fun, quick read.  

If the Magic Fits (100 Dresses #1) by Susan Maupin Schmid, Lissy Marlin (illustrator)

If the Magic Fits (100 Dresses#1) by Susan Maupin Schmid, illustrations by Lissy Marlin
Format: Hardcover
Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers
Number of Pages:  304
Published:  October 25th, 2016
Source:  Library

Why I wanted to read this: That cover is gorgeous and I wanted to know more about the dresses.  

Opening lines:  "I wasn't born in a tower or in a golden chamber.  I wasn't born a princess or even a lady.  But I was born in a castle built by dragons."

Darling Dimple has lived with her adoptive mother Jane in the kingdom of Eliora ever since her own mother passed away shortly after she was born.   Jane works in the castle's kitchen slicing vegetables until an accident causes her to be transferred to picking flowers in the garden. With nowhere else to go, Darling soon finds that everyone who stays in the castle must perform some job, and her first one is scrubbing the pots and pans for the Supreme Scrubstress.  That is until Darling's storytelling and daydreaming cause her to splash dirty water all over the Supreme Scrubstress and lead to her getting reassigned to the upper attics ironing the princesses linens for the Wardrobe Mistress.  Darling's new position comes with an unusual task, removing Princess Mariposa's canary from her chambers and finding a safe place to keep it nearby.  When Darling chooses to put the canary into one of the many wardrobe closets, she inadvertently finds a room with one hundred dresses that once belonged to Princess Mariposa's grandmother.  The dresses become magical when the canary begins to sing and each dress Darling tries on disguises her as someone else.  While disguised, Darling is able to pass as the castle staff and is how she overhears Prince Baltazar plans to marry Princess Mariposa and wreck havoc on the kingdom by releasing the stone dragons being held in the castle spire.   With a little help from her friends and a white mouse, Darling will do everything she can to protect Princess Mariposa and keep the castle safe.  

If the Magic Fits has many of the fairy tale components that I enjoy, a beautiful princess, magical castle,  a helpful white mouse, and dragons.  Although in this case, the dragons have been encased in stone and are for the moment secure in the castle spire.  I really liked the premise of the magical dresses being able to disguise Darling, but somehow still have questions about the magic.  It's the canary that selects which of the hundred dresses that Darling tries on and then the dress transforms her into someone from the castle, but how and why she turns into that particular person I'm not sure.  It's also interesting how the dresses seem to have a mind of their own once Darling is wearing them, they grab at her ankles and "extend their sleeves to shake hands."  While Darling is wearing these dresses, she does retain her own personality and an eagerness to help the princess.  She also works really hard at trying to figure out what to do.  She's not perfect and makes mistakes, but her heart always seems to be in the right place.   At the beginning of each chapter,  there is a drawing of one of the dresses and I really enjoyed the detailed descriptions of each of the dresses designs.  I guess it speaks to the younger girl in me who enjoyed playing dress up with her Barbie's.  There's also somewhat of a mystery as to who is helping Prince Baltazar, with lingering questions about Darling's father who was lost at sea and a special family heirloom. The second book, Ghost of a Chance has a planned release for July and looks promising as well.  

MG Fantasy: The Crooked Sixpence (The Uncommoners #1) by Jennifer Bell

The Uncommoners by Jennifer Bell
Format: Hardcover
Publisher: Crown Books for Young Readers
Number of Pages:  320
Published:  January 31st, 2017
Source:  Library

Why I wanted to read this: That cover and Soman Chainani's description "Part Tim Burton, part J.K. Rowling!  A terrific debut-"

Opening line:  "Ivy rocked forward as the ambulance turned a corner. Everything inside rattled."

Following their Granma Sylvie's  fall at home,  Ivy Sparrow (11yo) and her brother Seb (14yo) are riding in an ambulance with her to the hospital.  Ivy is concerned for Granma because of a car accident Sylvie had on the Twelfth Night in 1969, that resulted in her having amnesia and a loss of memory for any of the events that occurred to her prior to the injury.  While Ivy and Seb wait in the ER for their parents, a suspicious man begins lurking in the hospital, so Ivy and Seb plan to return to their Granma's house just as their parents directed.  Once there, they find the house has been ransacked and a mysterious note has been scratched into the wall, "we can see you now."  Even stranger are the men who show up in a funeral coach, scaring them and chasing them until a boy (Valian) helps them to escape through a suitcase that sucks them into a secret London.  Once in Lundinor, Ivy and Seb are thrust into finding a mysterious item their Granma may have hidden from an ancient sinister guild called the Dirge or risk having their parents killed.   But what it is and where to find it are not the only challenges the siblings face.  

The first thing that really struck me while reading The Uncommoner's was the cover,  I really love the color scheme and how it alludes to some darkness.  It's also easy to notice the similarities it shares to the Harry Potter series, invisibility item, a manor that will reveal itself only to a member of the family and maps that show you the location of people to name a few. Yet, there are differences as well.  There's no Hogwarts School of Magic, and really no wands or magic per se.  There is a world of Uncommon objects that have certain abilities, like a button that can heal you, and bells that can speak and give directions.   I also like the premise that uncommon objects hold a piece of a person's soul and certain Uncommon people, Whisperers can sense these uncommon objects.  There's also a bit of a mystery to solve linked to Ivy and Seb's Granma's car accident and their families past in Lundinor.  Of all the characters, Scratch, the bicycle bell with his back-to-fronted speaking problem was one of my favorites, he adds much of the humor. I also really want to learn more about Valian, and about his scouting abilities and what other uncommon objects are out there in Lundinor.  There's even some delightfully creepy characters amongst the Dirge, and action that kept the story moving along nicely.    An excellent introduction to this new series.    

YA Science Fiction: Scythe by Neal Shusterman

Scythe by Neal Shusterman
Format: Ebook
Publisher: Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers
Number of Pages:  448
Published:  November 22nd, 2016
Source:  Library

Why I wanted to read this:  Scythe won a Printz honor and I've been looking for some more YA books my child might like to read.  The premise piqued my interest:   

 " Thou shalt kill.   

 A world with no hunger, no disease, no war, no misery. Humanity has conquered all those things, and has even conquered death. Now scythes are the only ones who can end life—and they are commanded to do so, in order to keep the size of the population under control.   

Citra and Rowan are chosen to apprentice to a scythe—a role that neither wants. These teens must master the “art” of taking life, knowing that the consequence of failure

 could mean losing their own."  (From Goodreads)

Excerpt at Simon and Schuster

Scythes have ten rules that they live by, rules that were designed to help control the population and guide them in the process of their "gleanings" (killing of others.)  The manner in which they choose to take someone's life defines what kind of Scythe they are. Scythes are supposed to be moral, just, and ethical, but not all follow the same rules.   Citra and Rowan are two teenagers who encounter Scythe Faraday as he is performing one of his gleanings, he becomes intrigued by the way they interact with him and see's potential for them to become scythes.  Enough to choose them both to be his apprentice, something that neither of them is interested in doing.   But, no one can refuse a scythe.  Faraday will train each of them, but only one of them can go on to be a scythe.  Shusterman creates this fascinating world where there is no aging or disease, and natural deaths don't occur anymore.  People have nanites which can heal you, you can wind back your age and even if you try to kill yourself (or "splat", which is a horrible image),  you get healed and are returned to your normal life.  Then there are the scythes, who are skilled in the art of killing.  They are supposed to randomly choose their targets, yet sometimes they make the choice of who and why they are going to kill someone. There's also a lot of power politics going on within the Scythedom, partial because Faraday should have never taken on two apprentices and because another scythe is scheming in the background.  Scythes also keep a daily journal, which Shusterman shares entries from between each chapter.  The entries pose some of the moral questions that scythes have about their work and give an insight to the various teachers of Rowan and Citra's thoughts about their work.  I really enjoyed Citra and Rowan's characters as they were navigating their way through their classes and training in the use of poisons, weapons etc.  Especially when the story takes a turn and the two are pitted against each other in a competition where the winner must glean the other. Way to raise the stakes. There's even this computer, algorithmic "conscious" mind called The Thunderhead that is sort of like the cloud and holds all sorts of information.  Quite an entertaining and unique read.    

Favorite Line:  "I feel bad for you,"  said Citra.  "Even when you're food shopping, death is hiding right behind the milk."  

Word of Mouse by James Patterson & Chris Grabenstein

Word of Mouse by James Patterson and Chris Grabenstein
Format: Ebook
Publisher: Jimmy Patterson Books
Number of Pages:  254
Published:  December 12th, 2016
Source:  Library

Why I wanted to read this:    Chris Grabenstein wrote the Escape From Mr. Lemoncello's Library and together with James Patterson writes the series I Funny, House of Robots and Treasure Hunters.   I was curious about Patterson's new book imprint, Jimmy Patterson Books.  According to his website, he is investing all his proceeds from the sales of his Jimmy books back into reading initiatives.   

Opening line:  "My story starts on the day I lost my entire family."

While escaping the "horrible place" (research laboratory), Isaiah somehow manages to get separated from his ninety-six siblings.  They all get recaptured by the "long coats," but Isaiah is able to make it to the "outside."  A strange and dangerous place for a small mouse, especially when there are rats and an evil cat lurking around. If Isaiah is to survive, he will need to find some food and shelter.  After some quick maneuvering to get past Lucifer, the neighborhood cat, Isaiah manages to find Mikayla (a mouse with a beautiful singing voice).  Mikayla takes him to her family and soon Isaiah is learning how to scavenge for food and making plans to rescue his own family from the "horrible place."    At first, Isaiah is very scared being in the "outside," he's even terrified just by the word "cat" being spoken aloud. His transition to leading a charge against the laboratory happens as he gains confidence in himself.  He uses his voice to stand up to Lucifer and begins to see that words hold weight.  Isaiah also gets help from Mikayla and her family, as well as Hailey, a girl that he meets in the house next door. The two are able to communicate because Isaiah can read and write, so he uses a keyboard to type messages to her.  I think you can probably figure out that the story ends on a happy note.      

Although not expressly mentioned, the mice from the laboratory seemed to have undergone some kind of experiments.  Isaiah's fur is blue, while his siblings are different colors. The whole story kinda reminded me of a gentler version of The Secret of NIMH.  Isaiah is also pretty intelligent, which comes from him reading books,  and he has quite the vocabulary. He uses words like "dulcet," "ominous," and "crepuscular."  Each chapter begins with a quote followed by five to six pages per chapter.  Patterson also includes little tidbits of information about mice, like who knew a mischief is the name for a group of mice?  Plus the illustrations by Joe Sutphin are gorgeous.   I think Word of Mouse would make a great book to read aloud to a seven to ten-year-old so some of these more difficult words could be explained.  There was one thing that did come off as a bit odd, like why make the statement that girl mice aren't allowed to sing and then never really counter those words?  Mikayla does lead a sort of charge by singing, but her siblings also seemed to put her down too much for my taste.  They even call her "artsy-fartsy" at one point.  I  would've been perfectly fine if Word of Mouse was a stand alone, but it also might be interesting to see what Isaiah does now that he finds out there is a Lab still out there committing worse acts and this time it's the cats that are in danger.  

MG Fantasy/Adventure/Mystery: The Lost Property Office by James R. Hannibal

The Lost Property Office by James R. Hannibal
Format: Hardcover
Publisher: Simon and Schuster books for Young Readers
Number of Pages:  390
Published:  November 8th, 2016
Source:  Library

Why I wanted to read this:    The beetle on the cover intrigued me and I was curious about who was looking for lost property, what kinds of things were lost? 

Opening Line:  "A pair of rather large, blue-green beetles buzzed north over the River Thames, weaving back and forth over the water's surface in that haphazard pattern that beetles fly."

When thirteen-year-old Jack Buckles' father goes missing in London, he travels with his mother and younger sister to try to find him.  Jack's mother tells them to stay put in the hotel while she searches the local hospitals, but Jack's sister wanders off after someone who looks just like their father. Jack and Sadie then stumble into the lost property office where they hope to get directions back to their hotel.  Instead, they find a secret society of detectives who track lost people and items and maybe they can help Jack and his sister.  What they do find is that Jack's father is being held by a man known only as the Clockmaker and unless Jack can find something called "the Ember,"  he plans to kill him.  

The Lost Property Office is an interesting place, home to a secret society of trackers able to see and hear things that others can't.  A skill that Jack inherited from a long line of  Buckles before him, but not one based on magic, instead is connected to neuroscience.  Jack has this ability that allows him to touch something made of wood, metal, or stone and in return receives information from the item.  A sort of "spark" or vision of something from the present or even past.   A pretty cool concept, but does have some dangers, like glass apparently being the most dangerous because it refracts things and can be overwhelming.   Jack isn't alone in his quest, he meets up with Gwen, an apprentice clerk who is a sort of guide around London and knowledgeable in the inner workings of the Lost Property Office.  Gwen does have her own reasons for wanting to help Jack, but the two do seem to make a great team.   There was also this mystery to solve and I liked how the history of the Great Fire of London in 1666 was included. Along the way, Jack finds out interesting facts about his families history, things his father has kept hidden from him including those talents Jack never knew he had.  A really nice introduction to a new series and I really hope Hannibal continues to incorporate historical places and people in the next book.         

Top Ten Tuesday: Favorite graphic novels, comics or picture books

Top Ten Tuesday is a Meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish  

This week's Top Ten is all about favorite graphic novels, comics or pictures books.  This isn't an area that I've read a lot of, well except for when my kiddo was really little and we read together at night, but there are quite a few books that we enjoyed.  So this is a list of picture books, graphic novels, and comics that I like to think sparked my child's love of reading and a few that I particularly enjoyed.  

Picture Books:

Graphic Novels/Comics: