BookBunnies

Caramel reviews The Lost Heir (Book Two of Wings of Fire) by Tui Sutherland and Mike Holmes

Caramel reviews the graphic novel version of The Lost Heir (Book Two of Wings of Fire) by Tui Sutherland (with art work by Mike Holmes).

Last week Caramel reviewed the graphic novel version of The Dragonet Prophecy (Book One of Wings of Fire) by Tui Sutherland (adapted by Barry Deutsch, art work by Mike Holmes, color by Maarta Laiho). This week he wanted to talk about the second graphic novel in the series: The Lost Heir. As always Sprinkles is taking notes and asking followup questions.

Sprinkles: So how do you want to start this review Caramel?

Caramel: This book is good if you like graphic novels and if you like dragons, too. All of the Wings of Fire series is great for bunnies who like dragons.

S: I can see that! You haven’t dropped this book since you picked it up. Can you tell me a bit about what happens in this book?

C: Let me see. First let me tell you the characters.

S: Aren’t they the same characters as in the first book?

C: Yes, many are the same, but there are some new ones. I think there are four new characters actually.

S: But in your first review you did not really tell us much about the characters. We only heard about Oasis, Blaze, Burn, and Blister. And the five types of dragons: SandWings, MudWings, SeaWings, NightWings, and RainWings. So you can tell us about the characters a bit this time. For example do you have a favorite character?

C: Riptide is probably my favorite of the new characters. He is the nicest. He is a SeaWing. SeaWing dragons can see in the dark and breathe under water. And some of their scales can glow in the dark. But we learned all that in the first book.

Caramel has been reading and rereading the graphic novel version of The Lost Heir (Book Two of Wings of Fire) by Tui Sutherland (with art work by Mike Holmes). — Caramel has been reading and rereading the graphic novel version of *The Lost Heir* (Book Two of Wings of Fire) by Tui Sutherland (with art work by Mike Holmes).

S: So what happens in this second book?

C: Tsunami is a SeaWing dragon who returns home. She’s apparently a lost princess.

S: How does Riptide come into the picture?

C: They are in the same tribe. And he is one of the patrol guards. He and Tsunami become friends.

S: So the back of the book says:

Tsunami can’t believe that she’s finally returning to the SeaWing Kingdom after spending her life under a mountain. She’s desperate to feel the water on her scales and to be reunited with her mother, Queen Coral. The queen welcomes her long-lost daughter with open wings, but a vicious assassin has been killing the heirs to the throne and Tsunami may be next.

S: This sounds scary!

C: Yeah. But don’t worry Sprinkles, things do work out alright in the end. She survives.

S: Ooo, we should not give away too much Caramel.

C: Aw, but I wanted to tell you all about it. The whole entire book!

S: Maybe after we are done with the review… For now let us think about what more to say that won’t give away too much.

C: Alright. Can I rate the book at the end? Like Marshmallow does?

S: Sure. Why not?

C: Yay! My rating for this book would be 100%.

S: Wow! So you like it so much that you think it is almost perfect!

C: It is perfect! In fact it’s more than perfect. Awesome super duper perfect!

S: Why though? Why do you like it so much?

C: I love dragons. And I like the characters, and the story. It’s awesome! And now I can say the last words!

S: Yes, Caramel. Go for it!

C: Stay tuned for more book bunnies adventures!

Caramel rates the graphic novel version of The Lost Heir (Book Two of Wings of Fire) by Tui Sutherland (with art work by Mike Holmes) 100%. — Caramel rates the graphic novel version of *The Lost Heir* (Book Two of Wings of Fire) by Tui Sutherland (with art work by Mike Holmes) 100%.

Marshmallow reviews Upside-Down Magic by Sarah Mlynowski, Lauren Myracle, and Emily Jenkins

Marshmallow reviews Upside-Down Magic by Sarah Mlynowski, Lauren Myracle, and Emily Jenkins.

Marshmallow got a couple books from the Upside-Down Magic series at a book fair on her school campus and read them over and over for a while now. Below she reviews the first book in the series: Upside-Down Magic by Sarah Mlynowski, Lauren Myracle, and Emily Jenkins.

Marshmallow’s quick take: If you like books about people who are different from others, and if you like magic, then this might be the book for you.

Marshmallow’s summary (with spoilers): Nory Horace (Eleanor Horace) is the daughter of the schoolmaster of Sage Academy, so when she fails to get into the Academy, she and her father are very disappointed. Instead Nory goes to another school, Dunwiddle Magic School.

In this book everybody has magic. They can either have the ability to light fires (a Flare), the ability to make friends with animals (a Fluffy), the ability to transform into animals (a Fluxer), the ability to fly (a Flyer), or the ability to make oneself and other things invisible (a Flicker). You get your magic when you are ten. You don’t get to choose your magic. You find out what you are when you are ten.

Nory finds out that she has the ability to transform into animals, but unlike most people with that ability, she transforms into animals that are half and half, like a kitten that has dragon wings (a “dritten”) and a puppy that has squid legs. You get the idea.

Marshmallow is reading Upside-Down Magic by Sarah Mlynowski, Lauren Myracle, and Emily Jenkins. — Marshmallow is reading *Upside-Down Magic* by Sarah Mlynowski, Lauren Myracle, and Emily Jenkins.

Nory’s friend Elliot, instead of creating fire, freezes objects. Andres can fly much higher than an average kid who is a Flyer, but he can’t come down. Instead of transforming into live animals, Bax turns into inanimate objects like rocks or pianos. Pepper is the opposite of the type of person who makes friends with animals; instead she terrifies all animals, including humans transformed into animals. Marigold is like a type of Flicker; she makes things shrink. Willa can make it rain indoors. Sebastian can see sound waves.

This is the full class of the Upside-Down Magic class, for kids who do not have typical magic, or as they like to call it, kids who have upside-down magic.

In their classroom, lessons are unconventional, students are unpredictable, and magic has a tendency to turn wonky at the worst possible moments. Because it’s always amazing, the trouble a little wonky magic can cause . .
https://www.sarahm.com/upside-down-magic

Nory has an exciting time in this class.

Marshmallow’s review: This book is the first of a series of six, a hexalogy like Soman Chainani‘s School for Good and Evil series.(See my review of the fourth book here and the fifth here.) So far in the series I only read a couple, but I really enjoyed this first book. It shows how tough it is to be different from others, but how sometimes it can also be beautiful and unique and that you can enjoy being unique. For example, Nory eventually likes turning into a dritten. Being different can also be hard though. Elliot has some friends (Lacey, Zinnia, and Rune) that tease him because he freezes objects instead of burning them. They are very mean.

Marshmallow’s rating: 90%.

Marshmallow ranks Upside-Down Magic by Sarah Mlynowski, Lauren Myracle, and Emily Jenkins 90%. — Marshmallow ranks *Upside-Down Magic* by Sarah Mlynowski, Lauren Myracle, and Emily Jenkins 90%.

Caramel reviews The Dragonet Prophecy (Book One of Wings of Fire) by Tui Sutherland and Mike Holmes

Caramel reviews the graphic novel version of The Dragonet Prophesy (Book One of Wings of Fire) by Tui Sutherland (with art work by Mike Holmes).

Caramel has been eager to get his paws on this book series for ages! Today he reviews the graphic novel version of the first book of the Wings of Fire series by Tui Sutherland (adapted by Barry Deutsch, art work by Mike Holmes, color by Maarta Laiho). As usual, Sprinkles is taking notes and asking questions as needed.

Caramel reviews The Dragonet Prophecy (Book One of Wings of Fire) by Tui Sutherland and Mike Holmes. — Caramel reviews *The Dragonet Prophecy* (Book One of Wings of Fire) by Tui Sutherland and Mike Holmes.

Sprinkles: How do you want to start this review Caramel?

Caramel: If you are a person who likes dragons and graphic novels, this series might be good for you.

S: You must be channeling Marshmallow! That’s usually how she starts her reviews!

C: Good point! Maybe I should also start rating books!

S: We can think about that later. So what else do you want to tell us about this book?

C: Can I share a quote? Or a page?

S: Let’s stick with a quote. A whole page might be too much.

C: Hmm. Ok, maybe later. There is a Queen dragon named Oasis who gets killed, and then her daughters, three dragon princesses, Burn, Blaze, and Blister, are fighting for her throne.

S: Those names sound kind of scary. Do they all breathe fire?

C: No. I don’t think so. Oh, or maybe they can. I don’t know really.

S: And there is a prophecy, right? What is that about?

C: It’s about these five dragons who will stop the war and choose the next queen of the SandWings.

S: So Oasis is a SandWing. What other kinds of dragons are there in this world?

C: There are MudWings, SeaWings, NightWings, and RainWings. Apparently the NightWings were supposed to tell the future and read minds, but the NightWing dragonet Starflight cannot do any of that.

S: But still these five will somehow save the world, or stop the war, or something, right?

C: Right something like that.

S: So is a dragonet a baby dragon?

C: I think so.

S: So this sounds like a complicated storyline. Are there any humans on this world?

C: Yes, only a few, and they are not very good. They killed Oasis. The dragons call them Scavengers.

S: So the whole story is told from the viewpoint of the dragons, rights?

C: Or rather, the dragonets!

S: What do you think of the illustrations? This book is very orange.

C: The cover is but the inside is not! It is colorful though. And the drawings are really good.

Caramel is enjoying his first real graphic novel: The Dragonet Prophecy (Book One of Wings of Fire) by Tui Sutherland and Mike Holmes. — Caramel is enjoying his first real graphic novel: *The Dragonet Prophecy* (Book One of Wings of Fire) by Tui Sutherland and Mike Holmes.

S: According to Common Sense Media, this book is a bit too violent for some kids. What did you think?

C: Yeah, there were some parts I wanted to skip. And I did. So I think it is true that it has some violent parts. There are some deaths for example.

S: But also the review above is of the actual book, not the graphic novel version. So there may be some differences. Did you read the original book?

C: Nope.

S: Did you even know there was another version?

C: I did.

S: I think the graphic novels are newer and they are coming out one by one, but there are a lot more of the series that are in regular book format. Do you think you will want to read those too?

C: Nope, not really.

S: Really? I think the other books might also be interesting. Maybe once you are done with the graphic novels, you will want to know what happens next and you will end up wanting to read the other ones too. There are only two graphic novels so far and the series has over fifteen books…

C: We will see. Maybe Marshmallow will read them first.

S: That might be a good idea. They might be for older bunnies… But so far so good, right? You seem to love this book, you are almost inseparable from it!

C: Yes! But now it’s time for me to say: Stay tuned for more book bunnies adventures!

Caramel really enjoyed reading The Dragonet Prophecy (Book One of Wings of Fire) by Tui Sutherland and Mike Holmes. — Caramel really enjoyed reading *The Dragonet Prophecy* (Book One of Wings of Fire) by Tui Sutherland and Mike Holmes.

Marshmallow reviews Beezus and Ramona by Beverly Cleary

Marshmallow reviews Beezus and Ramona by Beverly Cleary.

Through the years, Marshmallow has enjoyed reading several books by Beverly Cleary, the prolific writer of children’s books. Below she writes about Beezus and Ramona, the first book of Cleary featuring Ramona Quimby written in 1955.

Marshmallow’s quick take: If you like books that are about siblings or have enjoyed reading some of Beverly Cleary’s other books before, then this book might be for you.

Marshmallow’s Summary (with spoilers): Beezus (or Beatrice really, but everyone calls her Beezus) and Ramona Quimby are two sisters who are sometimes nice to each other and sometimes not. Four-year-old Ramona annoys her big sister Beezus a lot. For example when Beezus’s friend comes over, Ramona knocks their checker game over. Then she sticks her doll into Beezus’s birthday cake while pretending to be Gretel. After Ramona writes her name on every page on a library book that Beezus checked out for Ramona, Beezus is really very annoyed. As you can see Ramona is not a very nice little sibling.

Marshmallow is pointing at the page where we see some of Ramona's scribbles. — Marshmallow is pointing at the page where we see some of Ramona’s scribbles.

Ramona is a very realistic annoying sibling. For example, when she finds a lot of apples in the basement, she takes one bite out of each apple and then starts another one. The Quimby family has some exciting times, like when Ramona invites her whole nursery school class to a party without asking her parents if she could.

The author, Beverly Cleary, wrote this book as part as a series featuring Ramona, Beezus, and her friends. In fact Ramona did not come to be a central character till about ten years later when she wrote Ramona the Pest, in 1968.

Marshmallow’s review: I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It is an old book, published even before my parents were born, but it is still a good read for readers who like books about sibling problems.

Beezus and Ramona is a classic like some other books that I have reviewed earlier, such as Half Magic and Five Children and It. It is also very funny and will make a lot of people laugh, like when Ramona powders her nose with marshmallows she calls “powder puffs”.

This is the first of a series of books by Beverly Cleary featuring Ramona Quimby. It is also one of my favorite books from the author. Ramona is very funny in this book. Some of my other favorite books by Beverly Cleary include Ramona the Pest, Ramona the Brave, The Mouse and the Motorcycle, Henry and Ribsy, Ellen Tebbits, Henry and Beezus, and Ramona’s World. I like these books because they are funny, well written, and realistic.

The drawings in the book add to the story’s description.

One thing I really enjoy about Beverly Cleary’s books is that they end well. In Beezus and Ramona the story ends… well I don’t want to spoil the end but let’s just say it ends well.

Marshmallow’s rating: 95%.

Marshmallow rates Beezus and Ramona by Beverly Cleary 95%. — Marshmallow rates *Beezus and Ramona* by Beverly Cleary 95%.