The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett

This was an unexpected adventure for me. I do not know what I checked out before wanting to read it, but whatever it was stood me in good stead. This fantasy world that we visit in this book is similar to a medieval version of ours, except with a form of magic (in scientific versions)…

The Snow Girl by Sophie Anderson

I have read one other book by the author and liked the style of writing and the kind of protagonist the story revolves around. This was also similar in that sense. Tasha is a lonely girl, scarred by previous events (mentally). She is finding it hard to trust and befriend people again. She has moved…

Spice Road by Maiya Ibrahim

Narrated by Krupa Pattani I had both a digital and audio version of this book available to me, and I am glad I worked my way through the audio version. The young adult protagonist shone through the narration, and I could feel and empathize with her inner conflict as she worked things out. It took…

Willodeen by Katherine Applegate

This was a brief but well-built world that was introduced to us that is perfect for a younger audience to step into the world of fantasy with interesting questions being raised.The time period that the book is set in is something like an old-timey world but with creatures that are a little more fantastical than…

The Book Bandit :A Phoebe Chen Mystery# 1 by Caron Pescatore

This book is fit to serve an even younger audience than the previous work I reviewed.I have contemplated how mysteries would best be introduced to young children. I might have jumped in the deep end when I was their age, but I missed a lot of subtle innuendos in the books I read because I…

Please Return to the Lands of Luxury by Jon Tilton

This is a short children's sci-fi focusing on a very real possible future with an abundance of trash and a separation of the unseemly from the eyes of regular people so that they can live in peace. This seems to be something I have come across a couple of times in the past two years…

The Boy Who Grew Dragons (The Boy Who Grew Dragons 1) by Andy Shepherd

This was another series that I considered buying for my nieces for their upcoming birthday, but the book falls a little between ages, and I went with a whole other series instead.My two favourite parts of this book were the illustrations and the narrative style. The book itself is too short of making a full…

The Gardens of Dorr by Paul Biegel

Translated by: Gillian Hume  I have read and reviewed one other translated work by the author: The King of the Copper Mountains. I may think that some of the underlying points in narratives like this might be for an older audience, but then I feel like children grasp just as much as is appropriate for their…