BookBunnies

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%.

Caramel reviews The One and Only Bob by Katherine Applegate

A few years ago, Marshmallow reviewed The One and Only Ivan, a beautiful book by Katherine Applegate. At that time the whole book bunny family watched the accompanying movie. A year or so later, Caramel was able to read the same book himself and enjoyed it a lot. This week, he was able to get his paws on the sequel, The One and Only Bob, published in 2020. As usual, Sprinkles is taking notes and asking questions.

Sprinkles: So Caramel, I know you liked The One and Only Ivan. If I recall correctly, that one ended with gorilla Ivan’s dog friend Bob all alone, because most of the other animal friends went to a new zoo. So does this book start there?

Caramel: More or less. We see Ivan and Ruby in this book too, because Bob keeps visiting the zoo they are living in, even though probably he is not supposed to. But apparently the zoo keepers don’t care, so he manages to sneak in whenever he wants, with Julia.

S: So he is still hanging out with Julia then? This was the girl who gave Ivan the crayons, right?

C: Yes and yes.

S: Oh then Bob is not that alone after all if he sees Julia all the time.

C: No he is not really alone. He is actually living with Julia and her dad.

S: I see. That is cool too. So what is the main problem in this book? Bob is not completely alone then. And Ivan and Ruby are safe and happy, right? And Ruby was the baby elephant, right?

C: Yup. They are happy, but Bob is not completely happy. Because he is not used to living with humans because he had gotten very used to being a stray. And because he wants to find his sister Boss.

S: We did not hear about Boss in the first book, did we?

C: I don’t think so, but she is Bob’s main goal in this book. And as he looks for her, he has a lot of adventures. A hurricane hits the town and the zoo that Ivan and Ruby were at is destroyed and Bob is separated from his humans. And a lot of other things happen too. It is a very adventure-full book.

S: I can see that.

Caramel is reading The One and Only Bob by Katherine Applegate. — Caramel is reading *The One and Only Bob* by Katherine Applegate.

S: So One and Only Ivan was written in first person, through the eyes of the gorilla Ivan. Is this written in Bob’s voice?

C: Yes. And Bob’s voice is very different from Ivan’s. I mean, he is a dog, but also he is not very trusting. He is different.

S: I see. It is neat that the author was able to create another fully alive animal voice. So overall, did you like the book?

C: Yes. I don’t think I could say it is better than the story of Ivan, but it is just as good, I think.

S: So maybe they should make a movie out of this one, too?

C: Yes! I loved the Ivan movie! That was cool. It would be good to have a Bob movie too!

S: Well, maybe there will be one. Did you know that the author has written a third book, about the elephant Ruby this time?

C: I didn’t know that! I have to read it too! And soon! Please!

S: Well, it won’t come out till May, it seems like, but sure, we can read it when it comes out.

C: Yes, that will be great! I really like Ruby too!

S: Okay, so let us start wrapping things up then. How would you describe this book in three words?

C: Adventurous Animal Fun, but it is not always fun, because sometimes sad things happen too.

S: Still, I think your description works well Caramel. Okay, what do you want to tell our readers as we wrap this up?

C: Stay tuned for more book bunny reviews!

Caramel enjoyed reading The One and Only Bob by Katherine Applegate and thinks it would make a good movie! — Caramel enjoyed reading *The One and Only Bob* by Katherine Applegate and thinks it would make a good movie!