BookBunnies

The Book Bunnies review the books of 2022

As this year’s last Saturday falls on December 31, New Year’s Eve, we thought we would try something new and New-Year-ish and talk about all the books we have read this year.

[2022 saw the bunnies read and review many books, both new and classic. You can find a full list here.]

The book bunnies review the books of 2022.

Sprinkles: So it is easiest for me to go over my posts for the year because I only wrote two. I wrote one on Children’s books about babies and where they come from on October 22, 2022, and another on Mathematical biographies for children (the Mathematical Lives series) by Robert Black on April 30, 2022.

I enjoyed all the mathematical biography I read. I’d recommend each and every one of the six books most strongly. And I have to say my favorite children’s book about babies and where they come from is still the first one I read myself when I was a young bunny: Where Did I Come From? The Facts of Life Without Any Nonsense and With Illustrations, written by Peter Mayle, illustrated by Arthur Robins, and designed by Paul Walter.

Sprinkles reviewed Where Did I Come From? The Facts of Life Without Any Nonsense and With Illustrations, written by Peter Mayle, illustrated by Arthur Robins, and designed by Paul Walter on October 22, 2022. — Sprinkles reviewed *Where Did I Come From? The Facts of Life Without Any Nonsense and With Illustrations*, written by Peter Mayle, illustrated by Arthur Robins, and designed by Paul Walter on October 22, 2022.

But that book was published in 1973 and does show its age. So if I were to pick something more recent, I’d go with What Makes A Baby? written by Cory Silverberg and illustrated by Fiona Smyth, or It’s NOT The Stork: A Book About Girls, Boys, Babies, Families, and Friends, written by Robie H. Harris and illustrated by Michael Emberley, for younger bunnies, and I’d pick It’s SO Amazing: A Book About Eggs, Sperm, Birth, Babies, and Families, written by Robie H. Harris and illustrated by Michael Emberley, for older ones.

Marshmallow: I reviewed a book by the team that created that What Makes a Baby? book you are talking about: You Know, Sex: Bodies, Gender, Puberty, and Other Thingsby Cory Silverberg and Fiona Smyth. That could also be a good option I think.

Sprinkles: I agree. I think that was one of the few nonfiction books you reviewed this year.

Marshmallow: I also reviewed Marley Dias Gets It Done And So Can You! by Marley Dias on April 9, 2022, The English GI by Jonathan Sandler and Brian Bicknell on November 26, 2022, and Hope in the Dark by Rebecca Solnit on December 17, 2022. Those three were also all nonfiction. but you are right that I mainly read and reviewed fiction this year.

Sprinkles: Caramel likes and reviews nonfiction a lot more I think. What were some of your nonfiction favorites this year Caramel?

Caramel: I reviewed so many! I reviewed Opposites Abstract by Mo Willems on March 16, 2022; Pangolins by Lisa Fanton on October 12, 2022; Robot by Roger Bridgman on November 2, 2022; Sea Bunnies by Kelly Hargrave on November 16, 2022; Hot Lava! Fiery Facts About Volcanoes by Alice Fewery on November 23, 2022; Glow Animals by K.C. Kelley on December 7, 2022; and 5000 Awesome Facts (About Animals) by National Geographic Kids on December 21, 2022.

Sprinkles: Yes, and there is clearly a pattern. You love animals and you read about animals; you like robots, and you read about robots. So I’d guess that Pangolins was your favorite animal book?

Caramel: Probably. As you know, they are my favorite animals. But 5000 Awesome Facts (About Animals) by National Geographic Kids was also pretty awesome because it had so many facts! Unfortunately they did not have too much about pangolins though…

Sprinkles: They did have a two-page spread on 100 Hard-Core Facts About Animals With Armor.

Caramel: Yes, true. And there are so many more animals in that book!

Sprinkles: And the Robot book: would you say that that was one of your favorites this year?

Caramel: Yep.

Some of Caramel’s favorite nonfiction books from 2022: from left to right: *5000 Awesome Facts (About Animals)* by National Geographic Kids, *Robot* by Roger Bridgman, and *Pangolins* by Lisa Fanton.

Caramel: And the Wild Robot books by Peter Brown, The Wild Robot and The Wild Robot Escapes were two of my favorite fiction books!

Sprinkles: You also read and reviewed most of the Wings of Fire books this year.

Caramel: Yes, I should not forget those. Wings of Fire is still my favorite book series.

Sprinkles: Having read all fifteen now, do you have a favorite among them?

Caramel: Well, I read the Legends books, too, so there are more than fifteen actually.

Sprinkles: Yes, true, you reviewed Darkstalker on September 14, and Dragonslayer on September 21. Do you have a favorite among those?

Caramel: Among the Legends I think I like the Darkstalker a bit more, but they are all pretty awesome. And among the original fifteen, I cannot choose one.

Sprinkles: So how about choosing one per five books? For the Dragonet Prophesy, which is your favorite?

Caramel: The fifth: The Brightest Night.

Sprinkles: For the Jade Mountain arc?

Caramel: The sixth: Moon Rising.

Sprinkles: How about the last arc?

Caramel: Probably the fourteenth: The Dangerous Gift. But I still read and reread all fifteen of them.

Sprinkles: I know. The books are still all over the house. I think you really like Tui Sutherland and her imaginary worlds. You and I both read and enjoyed Tui Sutherland’s shorter series, The Menagerie, that she wrote with her sister.

Caramel: Yes, that is true. I did not want to read them first, but after you finished them all, you sort of made me. I did not want to get out of the Wings of Fire world at first.

Sprinkles: But you did enjoy them in the end.

Caramel: Yep.

Sprinkles: That happens! So Marshmallow, let us talk about the fiction you have read this year.

Marshmallow: I reviewed a couple series this year. I read and reviewed the Magnus Chase books by Rick Riordan: The Sword of Summer, The Hammer of Thor, and The Ship of the Dead. I also began reading the Miss Peregrine books by Ransom Riggs. And it was fun to get back to Soman Chainani’s School for Good and Evil universe again: I first read and reviewed Rise of the School for Good and Evil and then went back and reread the book that started them all: School for Good and Evil. And I read and reviewed a new FunJungle book too: Bear Bottom by Stuart Gibbs. I loved each of these books.

Sprinkles: And you read a few classics this year, too.

Marshmallow: Yes. I read and reviewed Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes on October 1, 2022; Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell on October 8, 2022; and Great Expectations by Charles Dickens on October 29, 2022. Nineteen Eighty-Four was the one that affected me most.

Sprinkles: I remember reading that book and I felt the same way.

In 2022, Marshmallow read and reviewed three classics: from left to right, *Flowers for Algernon* by Daniel Keyes, *Nineteen Eighty-Four* by George Orwell, and *Great Expectations* by Charles Dickens.

Sprinkles: How about the other fiction you read? Can you share some of your highlights?

Marshmallow: I read and reviewed Esperanza Rising by Pam Muñoz Ryan on April 2, 2022; I think it is a really well-written book, though a bit sad.

Sprinkles: So this was overall a good year with lots of good books, right?

Caramel: Yes, I think so!

Marshmallow: I agree! And we are going to read and review a lot more next year!

Caramel: But we take January off.

Sprinkles: Yes, we should mention that. And what else do you all want to say to your readers?

Marshmallow: Happy new year!

Caramel: And see you in February 2023 for more book bunny reviews!

The book bunnies wish all bunnies around the world a happy new year and lots of good books in 2023!

Caramel reviews Ultimate Star Wars: New Edition

Caramel is a big Star Wars fan. In fact, he has already reviewed two books related to it (see his reviews of 5-Minute Star Wars Stories by LucasFilm Press and A Jedi You Will Be by Preeti Chhibber and Mike Deas). Today he revisits this imagined universe and talks about Ultimate Star Wars: New Edition, written by Adam Bray, Cole Horton, Patricia Barr, Daniel Wallace, Ryder Windham, and Matt Jones, and published in 2019. As usual, Sprinkles is taking notes and asking questions.

Sprinkles: So Caramel, I can see you are once again in one of your Star Wars stages.

Caramel: Yes. Actually I am always in that stage.

S: I guess you are right. You always liked anything Star Wars related. So this book, Ultimate Star Wars: New Edition, you have had this for a while, no?

C: Yes but I just realized we have not reviewed it. So we have to!

S: I understand. What Star Wars related show are you watching these days?

C: I just finished the first season of The Bad Batch. So I am not watching anything, just reading and rereading my book.

S: I guess that makes sense. You love that universe, so you want to be connected to it. So tell me a bit about this book. What is in it?

C: There are a lot of pictures, from the movies, all the way up to and including The Rise of Skywalker. That was the ninth movie. They also have a lot of photos from The Clone Wars, which is the series before The Bad Batch, but we have not seen it yet. Hint hint.

S: Well, I like the nine movies and I thought The Bad Batch looked interesting, but there are so many other Star Wars movies and series that I am losing track. Maybe we will take a look at The Clone Wars some day. But let us get back to the book. So there are lots of photos from the movies and so on, but I saw lots of text, too. What are those about?

C: Well, there are sections on characters–

S: And you know there are a lot of them–

C: Yes, of course. And many of them have a little bit about them. And then there are sections about all the different kinds of droids, all the different ships, and so on. There are specific pages for the places that you see in the movies and the series, and basically, it is the ultimate guide to Star Wars.

S: And thus the title, I suppose.

C: Yep.

Caramel is reading Ultimate Star Wars: New Edition, written by Adam Bray, Cole Horton, Patricia Barr, Daniel Wallace, Ryder Windham, and Matt Jones. — Caramel is reading *Ultimate Star Wars: New Edition*, written by Adam Bray, Cole Horton, Patricia Barr, Daniel Wallace, Ryder Windham, and Matt Jones.

S: So tell me about your favorite droids then.

C: I like ID9 Seeker Droid. It is on page 274.

S: What movie does it show up in?

C: It shows up in one of the series, called Rebels.

S: How about the classic guys? C3P-O? R2-D2?

C: Yes, they are all in here, and I like them a lot too.

S: Did you notice that the book has a foreword written by Anthony Daniels, who is the actor who was C3P-O?

C: Well, I immediately dove into the book but then looked at the foreword once you told me it was C3P-O. I did know it was a real person inside C3P-O but I had not learned his name before.

S: Apparently he is also a mime actor, which makes sense to be so expressive with his body.

C: Yes, I agree.

S: So let us talk more about the book. I’m guessing it is full of Star Wars facts and trivia. Can you tell me something interesting you learned from it?

C: There is so much! I could say “I learned everything I know about Star Wars from this book. It is my Qui-Gon Jinn, it is my Yoda.” But I won’t. I did know a lot about Star Wars before, or I could say “I was already as knowledgeable as Sith Palpatine”, but I won’t. Still I did know a lot.

S: Okay, I think I get the point. So you learned nothing?

C: No, that is not what I am saying. I learned a lot actually. It helped me learn the connections between all the series and the movies, and the universe makes more sense now.

S: That’s really cool. Because I am quite confused actually.

C: Well, you can read the book from the beginning to the end then. Or like me, you can simply keep skipping around and reading whatever appeals to you whenever you want.

S: I think that means you are giving this book a very strong endorsement. Is that correct?

C: Yes. I think it is a pretty awesome Star Wars book. Any bunny who loves Star Wars would love it, too.

S: I can see that! So describe it to me in three words then.

C: Star Wars facts. But that is not enough to describe all the awesomeness of the book.

S: Okay, how about “Star Wars awesomeness” then?

C: Sure, that works.

S: Okay Caramel, I think this is already a long enough review, and I can see you are itching to go back to reading your book, so let us wrap it up. What do you want to tell our readers?

C: Stay tuned for more book bunny reviews!

Caramel loves reading and rereading Ultimate Star Wars: New Edition, written by Adam Bray, Cole Horton, Patricia Barr, Daniel Wallace, Ryder Windham, and Matt Jones, and recommends it to all other Star Wars fans, young and young-at-heart. — Caramel loves reading and rereading *Ultimate Star Wars: New Edition*, written by Adam Bray, Cole Horton, Patricia Barr, Daniel Wallace, Ryder Windham, and Matt Jones, and recommends it to all other Star Wars fans, young and young-at-heart.

Marshmallow reviews Library of Souls: The Third Novel of Miss Peregrine’s Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

Marshmallow has reviewed the first two books of the Miss Peregrine’s Peculiar Children series by Ransom Riggs. (Her review of the first book is here: Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children, and here is her review of the second one: Hollow City.) Today she reviews the third book published in 2015: Library of Souls.

Marshmallow’s Quick Take: If you like books about magic and friendship, and if you enjoyed the first two books of the Miss Peregrine’s Peculiar Children series, then this might be the book for you.

Marshmallow’s Summary (with Spoilers): First off, let me say that the story in this book starts where the second book, Hollow City, ended. And that book was a direct continuation of the first book: Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children. So you need to have read those two books (or at least read my reviews of them) before reading any further. Once you are ready, please do read on.

Jacob Portman recently discovered that he can not only see the monsters that have been plaguing him and his peculiar friends, but also track, control, and talk to them. These evil monsters (called hollows) consume the souls of peculiar children to transform into wights who look human except that they have all-white eyeballs. Both hollows and wights have been working to steal the souls of peculiar children for a long time, to regain their own humanity which they lost in a failed experiment for immortality. Leading his friends on a quest to save the peculiar people from those trying to destroy them, Jacob must first rescue their caretaker Miss Peregrine.

With the help of his friend / love interest, Emma Bloom, Jacob learns that the monsters are trying to break into the legendary Library of Souls. This supposedly non-existent place was rumored to be where the souls of peculiars went after death. Rather like a library, a peculiar would “check out” a soul when they were born, and give it back when they died. But if someone entered this library, they could potentially take the souls and gain more power.

Clearly the stakes are much higher than they realized. Jacob must rescue his friends and reunite with allies if they wish to defeat these monsters.

Marshmallow is reading Library of Souls: The Third Novel of Miss Peregrine’s Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs. — Marshmallow is reading *Library of Souls: The Third Novel of Miss Peregrine’s Peculiar Children* by Ransom Riggs.

Marshmallow’s Review: Taking the peculiar world to a new level of weird, Ransom Riggs introduces new nuances in this book. I really liked how much Library of Souls added to the world of peculiardom. With these new details, the world of peculiar children felt much more realistic. The characters also developed more.

This seems to have been written as the final book of a trilogy, though I believe the author has written three more in this same world. I felt a little unsatisfied by the ending and felt that this wasn’t exactly an end. The main storyline resolves well, but in terms of character development, it did not feel completely finished. The relationship between the protagonist and Emma Bloom in particular is not settled, and there is still a need for continuation. So I wouldn’t say that this is a final end to the series, rather the end of a part of the story.

All in all, I really enjoyed reading Library of Souls and look forward to reading the next books in the series.

Marshmallow’s Rating: 96%.

Marshmallow rates Library of Souls: The Third Novel of Miss Peregrine’s Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs 96%. — Marshmallow rates *Library of Souls: The Third Novel of Miss Peregrine’s Peculiar Children* by Ransom Riggs 96%.

Caramel reviews 5000 Awesome Facts (About Animals) by National Geographic Kids

Caramel loves facts about robots, space ships, and science. He also loves facts about animals. Today he reviews a beautiful book published by National Geographic Kids: 5000 Awesome Facts (About Animals). As usual, Sprinkles is taking notes and asking questions.

Sprinkles: So Caramel, I see you are rereading 5000 Awesome Facts (About Animals).

Caramel: Yes. You know five thousand is a big number.

S: So are there really that many facts in the book?

C: Yes.

S: And have you really read them all already?

C: Yes.

S: So why are you rereading then?

C: Because I like rereading. These are all really cool facts.

S: Really? So tell me one from that page you are looking at now.

C: This page is called “75 Facts about Coral Reef Animals”. And here is a neat fact: Sea horses don’t have stomachs! It’s so weird!

S: How do they eat then?

C: I don’t know. The book doesn’t tell.

S: Well, let’s see. This National Geographic for Kids website says “Seahorses use their tube-shaped snouts like powerful vacuums to scoop up hundreds of tiny meals in a single day. These fish don’t have true stomachs, just a digestive tube, so they need to eat all day to get their nutrients.”

C: Oh, that explains it, very interesting!

S: So I guess the book tells you neat tidbits, but you might need to look elsewhere for more explanations.

C: Yes, but these are really cool tidbits. Here is another one: some moray eels have two sets of jaws. The second one is hidden inside their throats.

S: That is weird!

C: Yes. It’s kind of like they have a second mouth in their throats.

S: So it seems like the facts are organized into groups. And each two-page spread is about a particular group of animals. Right?

C: More or less. But the groups are not always types of animals. Sometimes it is about where they live, like those 75 facts about coral reef animals. And then there are 35 facts about gorillas, and you took my photo when I was looking at that page.

S: Yes, let me post that photo right here:

Caramel is reading 5000 Awesome Facts (About Animals) by National Geographic Kids. — Caramel is reading *5000 Awesome Facts (About Animals)* by National Geographic Kids.

C: There are fact collections about animals living in the Himalayas, about dogs, about animals in books and movies. And so on. It is all pretty awesome!

S: I guess the title makes sense then.

C: Yes.

S: Did you see on the back cover that there are a couple other volumes in this same series called 5000 Awesome Facts?

C: Yes, there is a book called 5000 Awesome Facts About Everything, another called 5000 Awesome Facts About Everything 2, and there is a third one: 5000 Awesome Facts About Everything 3.

S: Those sound neat too. But I know you really like animals and books about animal facts.

C: Yep. And I already reviewed many such books. Maybe you can put a link to some of them?

S: Sure. Here are some: The Magnificent Book of Animals by Val Walerczuk and Tom Jackson, The Magnificent Book of Ocean Creatures by Val Walerczuk and Tom Jackson, Pangolins by Lisa Fanton, Sea Bunnies by Kelly Hargrave, Glow Animals by K.C. Kelley. And then there are a couple books you reviewed about dinosaurs. But then you already know quite a lot about animals. I’m surprised you found new things in this book.

C: Yes. Actually almost all of them were things I did not know.

S: That makes sense Caramel. You know a lot, but the world is so much bigger, so there is always more to learn.

C: Yep.

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

C: Colorful, factful, animalful.

S: Hmm, not sure that last one is a real word, but I’ll let it be. What do you want to tell our readers as we wrap this review up?

C: Stay tuned for more book bunny reviews!

Caramel loves reading 5000 Awesome Facts (About Animals) by National Geographic Kids and will continue to enjoy this beautiful book for many years to come. — Caramel loves reading *5000 Awesome Facts (About Animals)* by National Geographic Kids and will continue to enjoy this beautiful book for many years to come.