Reviews – Page 67 – BookBunnies

Caramel reviews Sideways Stories from Wayside School by Louis Sachar

Today Caramel reviews Sideways Stories from Wayside School by Louis Sachar. The first of several Wayside School books written by Sachar, this book was published originally in 1978. As usual, Sprinkles is asking questions and taking notes.

Sprinkles: So Caramel, I heard a lot about these Wayside School books, but I have not read them myself. Can you tell me a bit about what they are all about?

Caramel: Well, at this point I only read this first book. So I can only talk about that.

S: That’s okay. Tell me about this book. What is it about?

C: It’s about these kids in this place called Wayside School. It is a weird school, and all the students and teachers are also weird, and very strange and interesting things keep happening.

S: How is the school weird?

C: First of all, it is thirty stories high, like a skyscraper. Because they built it sideways. It was supposed to be one story high and with thirty classrooms, but the builder messed up and put all classrooms on their own floors. I think it is a waste of space.

S: Hmm, I think on the contrary it saves space, it takes only the area of one classroom for the whole school. No?

C: I guess. Anyways the students are weird and the teachers, too, and there are some dead rats that seem to be alive.

S: Oh yes, I think I heard about a student made up of a rat or something like that?

C: Well, it was one dead rat, but I am not going to give away too much.

S: Okay, I can see that could be a spoiler. So what do you mean by weird when you say teachers and students are weird?

C: Some of the teachers have a strange way to discipline students. There is one who turns students into an apple when she is angry with them, and then she eats them!

S: What? That sounds pretty terrible and irreversible!

C: Yeah. I told you they are weird.

S: But wait, then there is magic in this book?

C: Not sure. It is not described as magic, but just that these people behave this way. Really weird.

S: I see. So it is kind of absurd then.

C: I think you could say that.

S: But is it also funny?

C: Yes. I think the stories are pretty hilarious. Except when they are kind of scary because I would not want to be eaten as an apple by my teacher. But on the bright side, she gets eaten too.

S: Wait, don’t tell me everything!

C: But I want to!

S: Alright, why don’t you tell me something else instead? Tell me more about the book.

C: There are thirty chapters, one for each story of the Wayside School. But I think everything is happening on the 30th floor actually. And also there is no nineteenth floor. In fact that is the nineteenth story. It is about Miss Zarves who is supposed to be the teacher of the classroom on the nineteenth floor, but since there is no floor, there is no classroom, and so there is no Miss Zarves.

S: That almost sounds like a logic riddle!

C: Kind of.

S: But it is also kind of like how a lot of building in the United States don’t have a thirteenth floor.

C: Wait, I did not know that. Why is that?

S: A lot of people think 13 is an unlucky number, so they don’t like to be on a floor labeled thirteenth.

C: But after the twelfth floor comes the thirteenth, no?

S: True, if you are counting from the bottom, but it is not labeled 13, it is labeled 14.

C: That is strange.

Caramel is reading Sideways Stories from Wayside School by Louis Sachar. — Caramel is reading *Sideways Stories from Wayside School* by Louis Sachar.

S: Everything you are telling me reminds me of my favorite series from childhood: Le Petit Nicolas, about a little kid and his classmates and all kinds of funny things happening to them. In that world, too, sometimes really weird things happened, but nothing quite like a teacher turning children into apples.

C: Yes, I think you read a couple of those books to us when we were little. But I don’t think we understood all the jokes.

S: Yes, I think they seem to have aged quite a bit. The childhood they were talking about is very familiar to me, but it seems quite far from your experiences somehow. Okay, let us get back to the book. Did you like the book overall?

C: Yep. They are really funny. So I want to read the other books about Wayside School.

S: Maybe you will then. Did you know that Marshmallow has already reviewed a book by Louis Sachar?

C: Yep. I know she reviewed Holes.

S: Did you read that too?

C: Yep, and I also watched the movie. And it says on the cover of the book that the author is the author of Holes.

S: But of course Holes was written after this one, and you read this one after Holes.

C: True.

S: Did you also know that the author used to teach in an elementary school named Hillside and some of the ideas in the book might be related?

C: I did not know that! But it makes sense actually. There is a teacher character in the book named Louis.

S: But according to Wikipedia, his teaching days were not too exciting, so he had to make up a lot of stuff.

C: Well, that makes sense too. I’m guessing the teachers in his school did not turn students into apples and eat them.

S: I agree. So how would you describe this book in three words?

C: Short, sideways, outrageous.

S: I see what you did there! Okay, then. I think we can wrap this up now. What do you want to say to our readers?

C: Stay tuned for more book bunny reviews!

Caramel enjoyed reading Sideways Stories from Wayside School by Louis Sachar and is planning to move immediately on to the next book in the series. — Caramel loved reading *Sideways Stories from Wayside School* by Louis Sachar and is planning to move immediately on to the next book in the series.

Marshmallow reviews Solimar: The Sword of the Monarchs by Pam Muñoz Ryan

Marshmallow first read Pam Muñoz Ryan’s Esperanza Rising (2000) for school and liked the book so much that she wanted to review it for the book bunnies blog. About a year ago, she enjoyed reading and reviewing her Paint the Wind (2007). Today she talks about her most recent book, Solimar: The Sword of the Monarchs, published in 2022.

Marshmallow’s Quick Take: If you like books about magic and fantastical events, then this might be the book for you.

Marshmallow’s Summary (with Spoilers): Solimar, daughter of the king of the land of San Gregorio, has watched the monarch migration since she was a little girl. However, in previous years, she would go to the oyamel forests and watch the monarch butterflies come in to hibernate from a distance. This year, before her quinceañera, she crosses the creek and sits among the butterflies when they come home. But then something mystical happens, and she finds herself with a peculiar gift.

Solimar discovers that she can correctly answer questions about the future, but she soon figures out that this ability only functions in the sunlight. Additionally, her rebozo (her silk shawl, see Wikipedia for more) gains a peculiar, shiny side. Solimar tries to tell her best friend about her new gift, but the friend, Maria, dismisses it as a combination of great intuition and clever guessing. Then Solimar tells her abuela (grandmother), who takes her to the curandera, whom Solimar believes is a witch. This woman tells Solimar that the ancestors appointed her as a guardian to protect the monarch butterflies on their way home. She must protect the young and weak butterflies with her magical rebozo.

Then Solimar’s father and brother leave on an expedition. Taking advantage of their absence, a neighboring king invades their kingdom and holds everybody hostage. This invader king plans to cut down the oyamel forest in which the butterflies live. Solimar escapes, but now she has a tough mission. Can she save her kingdom, her family, and the monarch butterflies?

Marshmallow is reading Solimar: The Sword of the Monarchs by Pam Muñoz Ryan. — Marshmallow is reading *Solimar: The Sword of the Monarchs* by Pam Muñoz Ryan.

Marshmallow’s Review: I’ve read several books written by Pam Muñoz Ryan before and really liked them. I like her poetic writing style and the mystical aspects of her books. This book displays the same lyrical style and magic is threaded neatly into the story line.

The mission Solimar must embark upon was exciting to read about, and the descriptions throughout the book were lovely. The characters were all interesting and unique. They all stood out as separate individuals. I also liked how Pam Muñoz Ryan wove some parts of Mexican culture into the book. Some examples would include the usage of Spanish words and Solimar’s quinceañera.

I would recommend this book for bunnies of any age. There isn’t really anything that would make this book scary or inappropriate for younger bunnies.

I did feel like the book was a little short. I would have liked it a little more if the adventure was a little longer or more complicated. Also I think that the main character could have used a little bit more depth. However, Solimar: The Sword of the Monarchs is a beautiful story overall, and I appreciated reading another book from an author whose writing I really enjoy.

Marshmallow’s Rating: 90%.

Marshmallow rates Solimar: The Sword of the Monarchs by Pam Muñoz Ryan 90%. — Marshmallow rates *Solimar: The Sword of the Monarchs* by Pam Muñoz Ryan 90%.

Caramel reviews The Big Book of Amazing LEGO Creations With Bricks You Already Have by Sarah Dees

Caramel, like a lot of other little bunnies, loves to play with LEGO bricks. He loves building all kinds of contraptions and improving on his previous designs. Today he talks about a neat book he has been using to get some new design ideas: The Big Book of Amazing LEGO Creations With Bricks You Already Have, written in 2021 by Sarah Dees. As usual, Sprinkles is taking notes and asking questions.

Sprinkles: So Caramel, I know you love to play with LEGOs, but somehow I think this might be the first LEGO book you have read. Is that true?

Caramel: I think so.

S: So tell me about it.

C: It shows many many many things.

S: So there are different categories of things to build, right?

C: Yes. You can make a military humvee, a mouse, tiny vehicles, a semitruck, a trailer for the semi, and of course spaceships!

S: I somehow knew that there would be some of those!

C: Yep. There is also a dragon.

S: I see. So you can build all of your favorite things out of your own LEGO blocks.

C: Most of them do not need special bricks, so you can really build them from your own bricks. But some of them do need some special things, and we don’t have those.

S: Hmm, so it is not totally accurate to say “with bricks you already have” in the title then. Because you do have a large collection of LEGO bricks.

C: Yes, true. But it is still a pretty neat book. I could build a lot of the things I wanted to build.

S: Are the instructions clear? Can you follow them and build things easily?

C: Yep. There are fewer pictures than the ones that usually come in the LEGO boxes, but they are enough to build the things.

S: I can imagine if they tried to do the one-step-at-a-time thing like the LEGO instructions do, then the book would be much bigger.

C: Yep. There are a lot of things in the book.

S: How many?

C: Let me count. Hmm, I think there are at least seventy. The cover page says 75+, so there are a lot!

S: I see. And how many of them have you built so far?

C: Not many actually.

S: Well, you probably built most of the vehicles and the animals and the spaceships, right?

C: Pretty much.

S: Did you build the dragon?

C: No, unfortunately not. We don’t have all the pieces for it.

Caramel is reading The Big Book of Amazing LEGO Creations With Bricks You Already Have by Sarah Dees. — Caramel is reading *The Big Book of Amazing LEGO Creations With Bricks You Already Have* by Sarah Dees.

S: So do you think you are done with the book?

C: I read it all, but I will probably like to keep it near my LEGOs for a while.

S: Will you be building more of them, do you think?

C: Probably.

S: Is there any one that you built that was your favorite?

C: I really like the mini-spaceships.

S: I should have guessed! When you are building the things from this book, are you following all instructions precisely, or are you sometimes improvising, especially since sometimes you don’t have the parts?

C: Both.

S: And what are you planning to build next?

C: I don’t know. I’d like to try the dragon, but we don’t have the pieces for it. Other than that, there is a bunk bed and a desk that I might want to try to build.

S: That’s cool, Caramel! I’m glad you are enjoying reading the book and enjoying creating with it. How would you describe it in three words?

C: Instructional, doable, fun.

S: Those work! So let us wrap this up then so you can go back to building. What do you want to tell our readers?

C: Stay tuned for more book bunny reviews!

Caramel enjoyed reading The Big Book of Amazing LEGO Creations With Bricks You Already Have by Sarah Dees and has been having a ton of fun building the many many different things suggested in it. — Caramel enjoyed reading *The Big Book of Amazing LEGO Creations With Bricks You Already Have* by Sarah Dees and has been having a ton of fun building the many many different things suggested in it.

Marshmallow reviews Doctor Who: The Encyclopedia by Gary Russell

The book bunnies are all Whovians, that is, they are all fans of the British science fiction TV show Doctor Who. Having watched and enjoyed many episodes of the show from both its original run 1963-1989 and the reboot series 2005-present, they also have several books about the series on their bookshelves. Today Marshmallow talks about one of these books, Doctor Who: The Encyclopedia, written by Gary Russell in 2011. Sprinkles is taking notes and asking questions.

Sprinkles: So Marshmallow, tell me a bit about why you wanted to talk about this book today.

Marshmallow: We went to a Doctor Who convention recently, and I thought it would be fun to revisit this book.

S: Yes, makes sense to me. So tell me a bit about Doctor Who for readers who may not know who he is.

M: Well, that’s a tall order. But let me try. Doctor Who is an alien, from a planet named Gallifrey, and he travels through time and space. Realistically, I think he finds himself on Earth way too often, but through his travels, he makes friends and defends humanity and anything good in this universe against all sorts of evil villains.

S: I think that is a good summary. And I like how you said he finds himself on Earth too often. In fact he finds himself in the UK, almost all the time, right?

M: Of course. It is after all a BBC show!

S: Of course.

M: And he has a companion or two almost in every episode. He is usually the only Time Lord — that is what people from his planet are called — but he often travels with a human or two, finding them in one of his many trips on Earth and bringing them along with him through many adventures.

S: I’m guessing Time Lords call themselves Time Lords. Kind of pretentious, don’t you think?

M: Yes, but they kind of are lords of time. They have the technology to travel through time and space, and they kind of have the ability to even get out of time sometimes. Which is of course weird, and even incomprehensible, for bunnies like us, who are bound by time.

S: I see. Okay, maybe they can call themselves Time Lords then. So tell me about the book. What is it about?

M: Well, it is written like an encyclopedia, and hence the title. So there are many entries, all ordered alphabetically, about all sorts of things about the show and its main characters.

S: I see on the book cover the faces of three of the Doctors.

M: Oh, yes, I forgot to tell you that one of the features of being a Time Lord involves regenerating as a new face and body when your original body is worn out or poisoned or otherwise damaged extensively. So of course this makes it awfully convenient for the BBC to change the actor who is playing the Doctor more or less regularly. And yes, the cover of the book has the ninth Doctor, Christopher Eccleston, the tenth Doctor, David Tennant, and the eleventh, Matt Smith. These are the first three doctors from the reboot era.

S: I see. So the book was published in 2011 —

M: And the Doctor was still Matt Smith back then.

S: But he is no longer?

M: Yep. At some point Matt Smith regenerated, and became Peter Capaldi, who was the twelfth Doctor. Then Capaldi regenerated to become Jodie Whitaker, who is the thirteenth. Apparently she will regenerate, and they will bring back David Tennant for a couple more episodes before he regenerates into Ncuti Gatwa, who will be the fifteenth Doctor.

S: Do you think it could be a bit hard to keep track of all these doctors?

M: Not really. They all have their own personalities. Even though it is supposed to be the same person, and the show is really about the life story of one particular individual, each actor has their own interpretation, and each Doctor is totally different.

S: That is amazing, and it is one of the things that keep the show fresh, no?

M: Yes. I think so too.

Marshmallow is reading Doctor Who: The Encyclopedia by Gary Russell. — Marshmallow is reading *Doctor Who: The Encyclopedia* by Gary Russell.

S: Okay, back to The Encyclopedia. So this was published before the twelfth doctor, so it would not have anything about his adventures or companions or those of the thirteenth Doctor. Does it have information about the companions and adventures of the earlier doctors, or is it only about the three new doctors, nine to eleven?

M: I think it is mostly nine to eleven. But they have had a lot of adventures and so there is a lot to say. At the end of the book they list the episodes that the book covers, and they go from Episode 1 of the ninth Doctor to the end of the second year of the eleventh Doctor. And they also have some stuff about The Infinite Quest, which apparently was an animated series with the tenth Doctor and Martha, one of his companions. Somehow we must have missed that one.

S: I see. So there are a lot of details for about six years of the new show.

M: Yes, so you could learn so much! And the book has a lot of colorful pictures. It is really neat to read and look at. Though I must say, there are some scary pictures. And if you just see a picture like that when you turn a page, it could freak you out… It did to me.

S: What do you mean?

M: You know some of the episodes of Doctor Who are pretty scary, and so the pictures about those episodes remind me of the episodes and how scary they were. And even if I had not seen the full episodes, the pictures would still be very scary.

S: Hmm. So maybe this is not a great book for young bunnies.

M: No. But if a bunny likes Doctor Who and is not too scared of the scary episodes, I’m sure they would love this book. There are so many details on each of the episodes. It will be fun to re-watch the show after looking over this book. I think I will notice so much more.

S: So then you like the book, right?

M: Yes. If you are a Whovian, and especially if you like the new series, you have to read this book.

S: I see. Then how would you rate it?

M: I’d rate it 95%, only because of the scary pictures. But otherwise it is a pretty awesome book and would be appreciated by anyone who likes the show.

S: Thank you Marshmallow. I think that is fair. So what would you like to tell our readers as we wrap this up?

M: Stay tuned for more amazing book reviews from the book bunnies!

Marshmallow rates Doctor Who: The Encyclopedia by Gary Russell 95%. — Marshmallow rates *Doctor Who: The Encyclopedia* by Gary Russell 95%.