Book Bunnies

Marshmallow reviews The One And Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate

This week Marshmallow writes about Katherine Applegate’s 2012 book The One and Only Ivan, written in 2012 and awarded the Newberry Medal in 2013.

Marshmallow’s Quick Take: If you like books about animals and their take on the world around us, then this might be the book for you.

Marshmallow’s Summary (with Spoilers): Ivan is a gorilla who, by his count, has lived in the Exit 8 Big Top Mall by the Video Arcade for 9,855 days (that is about 27 years). His friends include Stella, Bob, Ruby, Julia, and later Kinyani. Stella is an elephant who has a good memory and tells stories to Ivan. Bob is a stray dog who sneaks into Ivan’s “domain” (which is what he calls his display area) and enjoys sleeping on top of Ivan’s stomach. Julie is a girl whose father, George, works as the mall’s custodian. Ruby is a baby elephant who appears in about the middle of the book. She is “adopted” by Stella, who treats her like her own child. Kinyani shows up later in the book.

Sadly, Stella passes away due to an old injury that causes trouble. Before she passes away, she has Ivan promise to her that he will make sure that he takes her to a zoo, which she thinks is where humans “make amends”. As the book progresses, Ivan starts to change his mind about his “domain” and plans to take Ruby to a zoo.

Marshmallow is reading The One And Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate. — Marshmallow is reading *The One And Only Ivan* by Katherine Applegate.

Marshmallow’s Review: I think that this is a really sweet book because Ivan is a really kind character. His character is unique since he never gets angry. He also really likes to draw. He particularly enjoys drawing banana peels. Though people don’t understand what they are supposed to be, his drawings are sold at a shop.

This is a great book, also because it shows that animals think too. (LIKE BUNNIES!) People seem to forget this when they swat flies or hunt cute animals. (LIKE BUNNIES!) Ivan shows this when he writes about things that happened to him. It is sad, too, because poachers captured him along with his sister, and while they were in a truck, his sister died.

The One And Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate is based on the true story of the western lowland gorilla named Ivan, who lived through similar circumstances. He was captured by humans and brought to live with them. But he grew too big so they moved him to be on display. He spent twenty-seven years there but was finally moved to Zoo Atlanta.

The One And Only Ivan has recently been made into a movie. The Book Bunnies haven’t watched the movie yet, but here is the trailer:

The One and Only Ivan | Official Trailer: “An adaptation of the award-winning book about one very special gorilla, Disney’s “The One and Only Ivan” is an unforgettable tale about the beauty of friendship, the power of visualization and the significance of the place one calls home.”

The story, plot, and characters are well written. I really enjoyed reading The One And Only Ivan.

Marshmallow’s Rating: 100%.

Marshmallow rates The One And Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate 100%. — Marshmallow rates *The One And Only Ivan* by Katherine Applegate 100%.

Caramel reviews The Monster in My Basement by Dave Preston

Today Caramel talks about The Monster in My Basement, written by Dave Preston and illustrated by Heather Lynn Harris. As usual Sprinkles is taking notes and asking followup questions.

The book bunnies received this book from the publisher (CrissCross Applesauce, a City of Light Publishing imprint) as a review copy.

Caramel reviews The Monster in My Basement, written by Dave Preston and illustrated by Heather Lynn Harris. — Caramel reviews *The Monster in My Basement*, written by Dave Preston and illustrated by Heather Lynn Harris.

Sprinkles: So Caramel, what do you want to tell us about this book?

Caramel: It’s about the monster in the basement of Dave’s house.

S: Who is Dave?

C: Dave is a little boy. He is the main person in the story.

S: The author’s name is Dave, too. Maybe he is writing about a time when he was a little boy?

C: Oh yes. And maybe he believed that there was a monster in his basement!

S: That is possible! Remember that other book you reviewed about this other boy who had a monster in his closet?

C: Yes: How to Catch a Monster. That book was also fun.

S: So is this book fun to read?

C: Yep. In the very beginning, Dave puts on a blanket as a cape and puts a pot on his head as a helmet, and the top of the pot is his shield. He uses a wooden spoon as a sword.

S: So all ready to take on the monster in the basement?

C: I don’t know if he knows then there is a monster in the basement. But then he hears it groan and is really afraid.

S: But he still goes into the basement?

C: Yes. He is a bit too curious, I think.

S: So are you telling me you would not have gone to check?

C: Well, probably not. I am a scaredy bunny.

S: I am not so sure of that! But okay, this kid, his name is Dave, and he finds a monster in his basement. Then what?

C: We should not give away the entire story!

S: You’re right. We won’t. But I think you can say a little bit more.

C: The monster, his name is Howard, he says he is hungry and Dave thinks he is the dinner!

S: That does sound scary! And they meet Howard’s mom, and Dave is still pretty scared, right?

C: Yep. But I think I won’t say more about what happens next. Curious bunnies need to read the book to learn!

Caramel is reading The Monster in My Basement, written by Dave Preston and illustrated by Heather Lynn Harris. On these two pages, Dave meets Howard's mom. — Caramel is reading The Monster in My Basement, written by Dave Preston and illustrated by Heather Lynn Harris. On these two pages, Dave meets Howard’s mom.

S: Alright, that’s fair. Let us talk a bit more about the book in general terms then. What can you tell us about the pictures?

C: They’re very colorful. Mostly red, black, yellow. Howard is very colorful too. His hair is red and his eyes are yellow!

S: So he does look scary, right?

C: Yes, and so Dave is always scared. Till the end. But I won’t tell the end. A bunny must not tell his secrets.

S: Yes, we agreed that you won’t tell the end. But now I’m curious about what other secrets you’re keeping from me…

C: Oh nothing… Let’s talk more about the book!

S: Okay, I’ll let that slide. For now. Let us talk about the book. There are notes at the end for a song about the book, right?

C: Yes. And there is a web page where you can listen to the song too.

S: Yes, we did visit that site and listened to the song from the beginning to the end together. The author Dave Preston wrote the song, too. What did you think about it?

C: The song is fun, too. It goes through the entire book actually.

S: Yes, then you can hear for yourself the rhyme in the text, right?

C: Yes, there is the part “shake a little bit, shake a little bit, shake, shake, shake”, which they repeat all the time.

S: Yes, that is called a refrain. That part occurs several times in the book, and in the song, too, of course, to remind us that Dave is scared!

C: Yes, he’s scared of being Howard’s lunch. Or dinner. Not sure, who knows… And you know, one of my favorite parts is that when Howard’s mom says “It’s time to eat!” the clock is there, and instead of numbers, it has the letters of the word HUNGRY. Twice, circling around the clock!

S: Yes, that is a nice touch, and a very good observation for a little bunny like yourself!

C: Yep, I am a careful reader.

S: Okay, I think it is time for us to wrap up this review. What are your three words to describe this book?

C: Repetitive, colorful, and funny.

S: Repetitive in a good sense, though, I suppose, no?

C: Yep. It’s like a nursery rhyme, or a song with a repetition. It’s called a refrain, you tell me. Right?

S: Right. So what do you say when we’re wrapping up our review?

C: Stay tuned for more book bunny reviews!

Caramel has really enjoyed reading The Monster in My Basement, written by Dave Preston and illustrated by Heather Lynn Harris, and would recommend it to all other little bunnies. — Caramel has really enjoyed reading *The Monster in My Basement*, written by Dave Preston and illustrated by Heather Lynn Harris, and would recommend it to all other little bunnies.

Marshmallow reviews The House of Hades (Book 4 of the Heroes of Olympus Series) by Rick Riordan

Marshmallow has already reviewed the first three books of Rick Riordan’s Heroes of Olympus series: The Lost Hero, The Son of Neptune, and The Mark of Athena. Today she shares her thoughts on the fourth book: The House of Hades.

Marshmallow’s Quick Take: If you like books about Greek or Roman mythology and have liked some of Rick Riordan’s other books, then this might be the book for you. However you will definitely need to have read the first books in the Heroes of Olympus series to be able to dive into and get something out of this one.

Marshmallow’s Summary (with Spoilers): The Mark of Athena ended with Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase falling into Tartarus while trying to save the Athena Parthenos. Right before he fell, Percy had Nico promise that he would go to Greece and meet him and Annabeth when they escaped so they could all close the Doors of Death. Nico is a half-blood, a son of Hades, who is not part of the seven trying to fulfill the prophecy of seven, but he is also very important. We first meet him in The Titan’s Curse, the third book of Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, and he will play a very important role in this book.

The crew of the Argo II moves toward Greece. They face many challenges, but they overcome them. A lot of excitement is unleashed. In the meantime in Tartarus we also read about Percy and Annabeth’s adventures. Some old friends and enemies show up.

Hazel, one of the seven, meets Hecate, the goddess of magic, who tells her that she should start to learn how to control the Mist, a magical mist that blocks mortals from seeing gods and monsters. If controlled, it could give one the power to create images that would appear real but they are really fake. Hecate leaves her polecat with Hazel to oversee her test. As they travel towards Greece, Hazel knows that she will meet an enemy who can control the Mist to make it look like anything.

Marshmallow is reading The House of Hades (Book 4 of the Heroes of Olympus Series) by Rick Riordan. — Marshmallow is reading *The House of Hades* (Book 4 of the Heroes of Olympus Series) by Rick Riordan.

Marshmallow’s Review: The House of Hades is a great fourth book for a great series. And at over 580 pages and in 78 chapters, it is also a big book, in size!

Though it is a great book, The House of Hades should not be read unless you have read the previous books in the series. Reading the first series is a good idea too, since then you would know more about the characters.

I think that Rick Riordan does a great job of writing this book in multiple people’s views. He is also good at creating great characters, like Bob, or Iapetus. His character’s backstory was from a short story Rick Riordan wrote, Percy Jackson and the Sword of Hades from The Demigod Files.)

My favorite character is still Reyna, as I already said in my review of The Son of Neptune. One reason I like her is because she is probably one of the strongest female characters, and she is good at fighting. Every character is well thought of, and they are developed in a consistent way, so you could guess what they would do in a given situation. You can also pity them too, since some of them have sad pasts: some of the characters have lost family members or people that they cared about.

Marshmallow’s Rating: 95%.

Marshmallow rates The House of Hades (Book 4 of the Heroes of Olympus Series) by Rick Riordan 95%. — Marshmallow rates *The House of Hades* (Book 4 of the Heroes of Olympus Series) by Rick Riordan 95%.

Caramel reviews Sea Monsters (Magic Tree House Fact Tracker #17) by Mary Pope Osborne and Natalie Pope Boyce

Caramel has reviewed several Magic Tree House books already: Night of the Ninjas (Magic Tree House #5), Afternoon on the Amazon (Magic Tree House #6), Knights and Castles (Magic Tree House Fact Tracker #2), Sunset of the Sabertooth (Magic Tree House #7), Midnight on the Moon (Magic Tree House #8), and Dolphins at Daybreak (Magic Tree House #9). This week he wanted to talk about another fact tracker book: Sea Monsters. As usual, Sprinkles is taking notes and asking questions.

Sprinkles: So Caramel, you found another book about real things, I see.

Caramel: Yes. This is a book about ocean “monsters”.

S: So who are these monsters? Can you tell me a few of them?

C: There is the angler fish, the giant squid, the goblin shark, the cookie cutter shark, the hairy angler fish, the vampire squid, the dragon fish, oar fish, …

S: Okay, I get the point.

C: … giant tube worms. There is also this dunkleosteus–

S: Hmm, I have never heard of most of these. But this last one does not sound familiar at all. What is a dunkleosteus?

C: It is a giant armored fish, I think it is about forty feet long. Its teeth are actually bone.

S: And it is extinct, right?

C: Yes. And there are other extinct species too. There is the liopleurodon, and the megalodon–

S: So I understand. The book talks about large sea creatures, then. Right?

C: Yes. And my favorite is the liopleurodon.

S: Why?

C: Because it is not armored but it has a giant head. I think it looks really interesting!

S: I’m not sure I’d like to face one under water any time soon!

C: You don’t have to worry about that. They are already extinct!

S: That’s good.

C: Not for them.

S: That is right Caramel. This does seem like an interesting book, with many different types of facts in it. So tell me how it is organized.

C: Chapter titles! Here you go: The first chapter is called Sea Monsters. Then the second is Exploring the Oceans. The third is Squids, Octopuses and Other Creatures. Then there is a chapter called Creatures of the Deep.

S: That’s where we learn about the angler fish!

C: Yes. then there is Prehistoric Seas. And there we learn about the liopleurodon, the megalodon and similar creatures. And then the last chapter is called Sea Monster Tales.

S: Which chapter was most interesting for you?

C: I think I liked the Prehistoric Seas chapter most.

S: I know you like prehistoric animals. You have reviewed a Magic Tree House book about the saber tooth before. And another book on dinosaurs. No wonder you chose the liopleurodon as your favorite sea monster.

Caramel is reading about the liopleurodon in Sea Monsters (Magic Tree House Fact Tracker #17) by Mary Pope Osborne and Natalie Pope Boyce. — Caramel is reading about the liopleurodon in *Sea Monsters* (Magic Tree House Fact Tracker #17) by Mary Pope Osborne and Natalie Pope Boyce.

S: So what else do you want to tell us about this book?

C: It has a lot of pictures and tons of facts! Jack and Annie from the Magic Tree House books tell us all sorts of things. There is also some facts about Steve Irwin and about Jacques Cousteau.

S: We watched a lot of episodes of Steve Irwin’s show together, right? It is sad he died of a sting ray sting. And Cousteau was a famous explorer who was one of the first to go deep into the oceans and to explore. That is great that you read a bit about both. So tell me the most interesting fact you learned from this book.

C: It’s about the largest jellyfish. So let me find it… Okay, here I will read it to you: “The longest animal in the world is not a whale. It is a special jellyfish called a siphonophore. Its tentacles can reach 131 feet long!”

S: Wow, that is long! Wikipedia tells us that “a siphonophore may appear to be an individual organism, each specimen is in fact a colonial organism composed of medusoid and polypoid zooids that are morphologically and functionally specialized.” That is really interesting! I had never heard of them before.

C: Me neither!

S: Okay Caramel, it is probably a good time to wrap up this review. Would you like to tell our readers your three words on this book?

C: Factful, curious because these are really curious animals, and black-and-white because all the illustrations are black and white.

S: Maybe instead of factful we can say “informative”?

C: Yes, that works too!

S: Great! I think then it is finally time for you to say your closing words!

C: Stay tuned for more book bunny reviews!