Amulet:: Escape from Lucien by Kazu Kibuishi

Amulet, Vol. 6: Escape From Lucien by Kazu Kibuishi
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I've read and loved the first in this series, and I was surprised my young children did too! When I saw this was up, I grabbed it!

This can't be read as a stand-alone, and it can't be read out of order. It was really REALLY difficult to read if you aren't up to date on the series. My kids and I have read the first 2, and we grabbed the 4th from the library, but unfortunately unless you've read all the books, you will be completely confused.

Now, I've given it a 4 because I can gather from the first couple books that I like what's happened between books 2 and 6. That being said, my daughter didn't finish it because she was confused, and while my son did read it, he said the same, that he didn't know what was going on.

We're trying to track down the other books, and between the library and the book store, I'm sure we can catch up.



***ARC courtesy of the publisher via netgalley

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The Mutts Diaries by Patrick McDonnell

The Mutts Diaries by Patrick McDonnell
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

LOVED IT!

This is a comic book, like the Big Nate books. I liked this more than I thought I would. I think it deserves 5 stars because it made me laugh. I like the cat Mooch, and the dog Earl. I didn't want to read about Sourpuss at first, but he turned out to be funny too. He really hates Mondays. I don’t know why he hates Mondays, it’s not like he has to go to school or work, but it’s really funny.

The jokes about the Marvel heroes were funny. A squirrel dropped a hard nut on Iron Man on the head and he got knocked out. And then Spiderman fell for it too! The exact same thing! It was so funny! This was nice because I don’t see the Mutts in my Sunday comics in the newspaper anymore.

There’s another character who’s a little crab and he hates the sun and says bad words like this-> @#$%
He’s crabby. LOL

I would tell people to buy this book because it’s pretty funny.

***copy provided by the publisher via netgalley

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Batman The Joker's Dozen

What a fun idea! It's really for younger readers, but you might have to explain the choose your own aspect. My second grader thought the writing was too easy, but had trouble with choosing which direction to go. He kept wanting to turn the page directly and not understanding why he'd have to flip forward to another page.

There are about a dozen different choices here, which may be a bit much for this age group. Again, definitely for the younger crowd. I'd suggest first graders.

But it's still a neat and different type of book. If you have a Batman lover, or a graphic novel reader, this would be a great idea for you.


***ARC courtesy of the publisher via netgalley

Doll Bones by Holly Black

Doll Bones by Holly Black
My rating: 5 of 5 stars



This book was so cool! I checked it out from my school library and I loved it. The librarian told me it would be too hard for me, but I knew I could read it. I proved her wrong and I loved this book.

To begin with, Poppy, Zach, and Alice played with dolls together. One day, Zach told them, “I am too old to play with dolls.”Then his friends were stunned that he said that. That night Poppy woke up, but she thought that she was still dreaming. She wasn’t. Then Poppy saw a doll that told her if she didn’t bury it, she and her friends would be sorry.

Secondly, Poppy told them that she had the weirdest dream ever. Then Poppy told them that a doll told her to bury her. Zach and Alice told Poppy it must have been a dream. But Poppy told them it felt like the doll was trying to tell her something.

To end with, they went into the tree house and brought the doll with them. Poppy told Alice and Zach the tale of Eleanor Keacher .Then they take the doll’s head off and look inside the doll. They found a piece of paper saying, Liverville .That is when Poppy, Alice, and Zach take an adventure across the deep blue to get to the cemetery to bury the doll so Eleanor wouldn’t haunt them.

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Katfish by Obert Skye

Katfish by Obert Skye
My rating: 5 of 5 stars



 Rob Burnside’s life is in ruins. After his escapades with Pinocula and his resulting outrageous lies, everyone is fed up with him. In this Creature from My Closet book by Obert Skye, Rob needs help. And his science laboratory closet is there to give him a hand. Meet Katfish, a mashup of Katniss from the Hunger Games and the Little Mermaid. This girl is strong as nails and sports a tail. Everyone at Rob's school is excited about an upcoming riff on the Hunger Games created by Principal Smelt: the Fun-ger Games. Rob is less excited because the principal and his mom have roped him into participating. But Katfish is sticking around to help Rob out with girl advice, Fun-ger Games tips, and how to get people to stop hating him. What could go wrong?




I saw this at the library and the cover looked cool. This was funny. The pictures are more like comics, but there's a story too, not just like a graphic novel or comic book. It has paragraphs and a story, but with comics added in. I loved it.

It's really about this guy named Rob and the book is his diary. It kind of reminds me of Dork Diaries, but I think it's funnier. But I also think this is for younger kids than Dork Diaries is. It has more humor, and it's more 4th grade level.

This is his life. Every chapter is a day, and funny stuff happens to him. But Rob and his brother one time went to Rob's friend Rex's house, his mom made him put on homemade sunblock and then Rob's like "is it supposed to stink?" and so they jumped into the pool to wash it off. But it was yellow so it looked like they peed, and a girl was watching them and Rob said, "I bet this looks bad." She said, "You bet right." LOL

One day his dad got him a weird door at a garage sale. It had a brass doorknob with a bearded guy on it that Rob calls Beardy. He thinks Beardy is alive and is bringing to life all the characters from the books in his closet (he never reads, so he hides his books in his closet). That's how Katfish comes to life. I think Beardy invited her.

She helped Rob have a better life and went back into his closet at the end, and then Rob finished Catching Fire. Her advice to him was "Keep Reading."


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The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch

I like the paper bag princess, but it would be better if it was a chapter book. When I read it that is what I thought it was, but it’s a picture book meant for little kids. But I liked when the dragon burned off all her clothes and she could only find a paper bag to wear.

I like the fact that she’s smarter than the prince, and the dragon. She doesn’t need a prince to save her, especially a dumb prince like Ronald who only cares about being rich and having a “real” princess to marry.

Elizabeth calls him a bum. That’s the best part!

Girls don’t need a boy to save them. We save ourselves.

Then she runs off into the sunset in her paper bag.

***Review Copy courtesy of the publisher via netgalley

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Big Nate: The Crowd Goes Wild

Big Nate: The Crowd Goes Wild! by Lincoln Peirce
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Review from my 7 year old:

I like Big Nate, because it is funny and I like his friends. I like Big Nate. It made me laugh. You should read Big Nate.

Review from my 9 year old:

I like reading Big Nate books, because after school it's nice to have something fun that puts you in a better mood than reading school books. The drawings are really good and their expressions are so funny. I always like when Nate flips out, and I like the part where they make it look like Charlie Brown.


A couple of years ago, my daughter was having trouble finding things to read she liked, and my mother-in-law bought a couple Big Nate books. They sort of sat around until recently. This summer my son discovered the Big Nate books and he has read every single one we could get our hands on. I've bought them, borrowed from the library, borrowed from friends, you get the picture. We like Big Nate in our house.

I was really excited to share this with the kids.

***Thanks to Andrews McMeel Publishing for the ARC

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