Caramel’s reviews – BookBunnies

Caramel reviews Missile Mouse: Rescue on Tankium3 by Jake Parker

Last week Caramel reviewed Missile Mouse: The Star Crusher by Jake Parker. This week he reviews the second book in the series, Rescue on Tankium3, published in 2011. As usual Sprinkles is taking notes and asking questions.

Sprinkles: So Caramel, today we are talking about the second Missile Mouse book.

Caramel: Yes! I reviewed the first one last week and so this is just the perfect time to talk about the second one.

S: Yes, agreed. So tell us what our favorite space spy Missile Mouse is up to in this book.

C: It starts out with him chasing down a person, and he learns that the said person is being mind-controlled, which leads Missile Mouse to a planet called Tankium3. He learns there that all the men were kidnapped, and disappeared.

S: All the men from the planet disappeared?

C: At least all men from the species of people called Tankians.

S: Wow, that is weird. And quite scary. So what is the reason for this? Or is that the main mystery of the book then?

C: No, we learn that there’s an evil king, named Bognarsh, and he has taken all the Tankian men by mind control machines and is making them mine for fuel.

S: Fuel for spaceships and such?

C: Yeah, and with the fact that the RIP, which I mentioned before in my review of the first book, is fighting the galactic government, fuel is really important.

S: I guess it is kind of like how oil is still so strategically important to today’s world, at least for humans.

C: Yeah, logistics carry wars.

S: That is a powerful and very sophisticated thing to say for a little bunny like yourself, Caramel. But I do know you read a lot about history and know about many of the important wars of this planet. Where did you hear about this?

C: I think it must have been in a history textbook about the civil war, it was talking about how the railroads of the North led to victory.

S: Oh that is interesting. I can see what it means. Especially for long wars, you need to sustain your men in the frontier, you need to keep feeding them, trying to keep them healthy, providing them with sufficient ammunition and so on, and all of that involves a lot of logistics. I also found via Uncle Google, the quote “Infantry wins battles, logistics wins wars,” attributed to American general John J. Pershing. Kind of the same idea!

C: Great minds think alike! I mean I am assuming Pershing was a great military mind, given how he has a Wikipedia page. Then again a lot of awful people also have Wikipedia pages. Anyways.

Caramel is reading Missile Mouse: Rescue on Tankium3 by Jake Parker. — Caramel is reading *Missile Mouse: Rescue on Tankium3* by Jake Parker.

S: Yes, anyways, let us get back to the book. So I now know why the fuel is so important. Now tell me a bit about these mind control machines.

C: Well, there is a big central thing and then there are these little pod-like things that are controlled by that central thing. The pod-like units attach to your head and control you, at least that’s what I got.

S: Alright, that makes sense sort of. So then does the Missile Mouse figure out how to remove them from affected people? Or will he turn off the central thing? Or am I again getting too close to asking for spoilers?

C: Yeah, the last one. I am not at liberty to discuss that information at this point.

S: Hmm, okay. Then let us talk about the book in more general terms. Are these books funny? Or do you just like to see the spaceships? I know you really like Jake Parker’s spaceships.

C: There are not that many spaceships that I could study carefully in this book, but the tech is cool anyways, too. The illustrations look very techy and sci fi, and match the setting quite well.

S: So this was a win for you?

C: Yeah, very much so. if there’s more books in the series, I would greatly appreciate reading them.

S: Okay, we can look into that, Caramel. But for now, this seems to be a good time to wrap up your review.

C: Sure. Why not?

S: Okay, let’s do that then. What would you like to tell our readers?

C: Stay tuned for more book bunny reviews!

Caramel enjoyed reading Missile Mouse: Rescue on Tankium3 by Jake Parker and is hoping that there is (or will eventually be) a third book in this fun series. — Caramel enjoyed reading *Missile Mouse: Rescue on Tankium3* by Jake Parker and is hoping that there is (or will eventually be) a third book in this fun series.

Caramel reviews Missile Mouse: The Star Crusher by Jake Parker

Today Caramel reviews Missile Mouse: The Star Crusher, a fun graphic novel by Jake Parker first published in 2010. As usual, Sprinkles is taking notes and asking questions.

Sprinkles: So Caramel, I can see you have a new graphic novel to talk about today!

Caramel: Yep! I don’t know if you remember that I reviewed Kepler’s Intergalactic Guide to Spaceships? This book is in the same universe.

S: Oh that is interesting! I knew it was the same author / illustrator, but I did not expect the books would be related.

C: Yes, he also was the person who illustrated Darkstalker: The Graphic Novel.

S: So you definitely like his drawing style?

C: Yeah, no question.

S: I am glad you got to read another book by him then. So tell me a bit about it. Who is this Missile Mouse? I am guessing he is the main character.

C: Yeah, it’s sort of obvious as the book is called Missile Mouse, so yes, but this is the beginning of the series based on this guy.

S: The author describes him on his webpage as follows: “Missile Mouse is a James Bond meets Han Solo for the middle-grade crowd. The cocky, big-eared rodent is a secret agent for the Galactic Security Agency (GSA) who prefers to do things the quick and messy way.” So he is a secret agent for the galaxy and he is kind of arrogant like Han Solo of Star Wars.

C: Yeah, that’s about right, and it’s a good description of Missile Mouse. So in this story Missile Mouse gets a new partner, Hyde, and they go on a mission to find and rescue this scientist from his kidnappers, the RIP (Rogue Imperium of Planets), which are sort of the bad guys.

S: Hmm, so the Galactic Security Agency is an arm of a galactic empire, and this RIP is their enemy?

C: Yeah, they are. So the galactic government is a peaceful state, and the RIP are trying to take over the galaxy.

Caramel is reading Missile Mouse: The Star Crusher by Jake Parker. — Caramel is reading *Missile Mouse: The Star Crusher* by Jake Parker.

S: Do we know much about the government Missile Mouse is working for other than it is peaceful?

C: I believe that it’s a democracy, but not much else is really stated.

S: So if it is anything like Star Wars,maybe there is a senate and so on. Okay, tell us more.

C: Before Missile Mouse joined the GSA he was a bounty hunter or a mercenary.

S: Really sounds like the Star Wars universe. But the main character is a mouse. Are the other characters all mice too? Or are there other animals?

C: No, the beings in the universe are a multitude of other animals and aliens that don’t look like animals we know on Earth.

S: Any bunnies? Any humans? Any dragons?

C: None of those showed up in the book.

S: Alright, we are mature enough to enjoy books with no bunnies or dragons.

C: Sure, I’m totally mature.

S: Yes, for a bunny your age, you are definitely mature. But you reviewed other books about mice. Remember The Mouse and the Motorcycle?

C: I also reviewed several books about Babymouse. And don’t forget Ragweed and Poppy and the others? I read all those books, too.

S: Yes, true. Marshmallow reviewed Flowers for Algernon, which also had a major mouse character, who did not speak but still. She also reviewed Maus: A Survivor’s Tale.

C: Yeah. So mice are neat. Anyways Missile Mouse is cool, too, and he is funny and adventurous and brave. And the book is an adventure story and a spy story, and you know I like all those things.

S: That’s true. You read all the Spy School novels, too.

C: Yeah, so spies and secret agents are cool. Therefore this book is cool. And there is some cool space stuff, which I also like.

S: So it is clear you enjoyed reading this book. I think there is at least a second Missile Mouse book. I am assuming you will want to read that too.

C: Yes, I will. In fact I am planning to dive right in as soon as we are done here. Are we done here?

S: I suppose we are. Would you like to wrap it up with your usual ending statement?

C: Sure! Stay tuned for more book bunny reviews!

Caramel loved reading Missile Mouse: The Star Crusher by Jake Parker and can't wait to read the second book in the series! — Caramel loved reading *Missile Mouse: The Star Crusher* by Jake Parker and can’t wait to read the second book in the series!

Caramel reviews Winnie’s Pile of Pillows by Dana K. White and Sarah Jennings

Today Caramel reviews Winnie’s Pile of Pillows: Making Room for the Things You Love Most, written by Dana K. White and illustrated by Sarah Jennings. As usual Sprinkles is taking notes and asking questions.

Sprinkles: Today we are talking about another picture book!

Caramel: Yes, this one is about a walrus named Winnie. She loves pillows, and begins collecting them after her Aunt Becky gives her some. Then she gets some more from a neighbor. And then she has a lot of pillows. Then she decides in the end that she has too many pillows.

S: Does she? I mean, how can someone have too many pillows?

C: Apparently it is possible. Her pillows take over her room.

S: Oh, I see. I guess one could have too much of anything…

C: Yes, apparently. So she takes the extra pillows and tries putting them away, but they come back out, so she organizes everything to make room. She picks the ones that are her very favorites, and she donates the others, just like her Aunt Becky was going to do with her glass animals at the beginning of the book.

S: Hmm, I am sure there would be other people who need pillows.

C: Yeah, see, I knew you would get it. Everyone needs copious amounts of pillows!

S: Yes, you do have a lot of pillows in your bed. But this is about a pillow takeover of a whole room! Winnie must have had a lot of pillows!

C: Yeah, she had so many that they made a maze in her room, and she couldn’t get out. There were a lot of other things the pillows stopped her from doing. Also the book says that at first the pillows made her feel something that felt like a tickle and a giggle. But when she has too many pillows, she feels like a squeeze and a sigh. No idea what either of those mean.

S: To me they mean that first the pillows made her happy, almost giddy and bubbly excited. But then she felt unhappy. The pillows made a lot of clutter and she felt like suffocating and getting lost and sad. Does this make sense?

C: Yes, I guess so. It is an interesting way to describe those feelings.

Caramel is reading Winnie's Pile of Pillows: Making Room for the Things You Love Most, written by Dana K. White and illustrated by Sarah Jennings. — Caramel is reading *Winnie’s Pile of Pillows: Making Room for the Things You Love Most*, written by Dana K. White and illustrated by Sarah Jennings.

S: What did you think about the illustrations?

C: The book is really colorful. And they are happy colors, pink, blue, orange, yellow, purple and so on. And it is kind of funny to see a walrus walking.

S: Yes, that is true. Winnie is supposed to be a walrus!

C: And I was surprised to see she had tusks. I did not know female walruses could have tusks but apparently they do. Theirs are just a bit smaller than the male walruses’, but they do have them.

S: Yes, I learned that today, too, from you looking it up!

C: So this is also an informative book! Bunnies can learn about walruses, who are very interesting animals. Here is a website with fun walrus facts, from a zoo and aquarium in Tacoma, Washington.

S: Yes, that is a neat website, Caramel. So the book was interesting then?

C: Yes. I learned about walruses because I looked them up, and also pillows are cool but you can have too many.

S: I think that is a good summary of the book, Caramel. And just like Winnie, we realize that we can share if we have more than we need. We do not have to hoard things, even if we love them.

C: Yeah, I guess, we could say sharing is caring, and all that good stuff.

S: Yes, it is good stuff! Okay, this might be a good place to wrap up our review.

C: Why not?

S: What would you like to tell our readers?

C: Stay tuned for more book bunny reviews!

Caramel enjoyed reading Winnie's Pile of Pillows: Making Room for the Things You Love Most, written by Dana K. White and illustrated by Sarah Jennings and finding out that all walruses have tusks and other people love pillows too. — Caramel enjoyed reading *Winnie’s Pile of Pillows: Making Room for the Things You Love Most*, written by Dana K. White and illustrated by Sarah Jennings and finding out that all walruses have tusks and other people love pillows too.

Caramel reviews Redshirts by John Scalzi

Today Caramel reviews Redshirts, a book by John Scalzi first published in 2012. As usual Sprinkles is taking notes and asking questions.

Sprinkles: Today we are talking about a space story, right?

Caramel: Yes, today we are talking about Redshirts, which is a story that is in a Star Trek-like universe. The book never comes out and says Star Trek of course, but you know it.

S: True. Even the title is a throwback to Star Trek. Redshirts are the ensigns and other members of the crew who wear red uniforms, and if you watch enough Star Trek episodes, at some point it becomes clear that whenever a team goes down to a planet with some of the main characters and a few crew members wearing red, the dangers in the planet would kill off at least one of those redshirts.

C: Yes. The book is really about that. The main character is this guy named Andrew Dahl and he is himself a redshirt. He joins the Universal Union, which is like the Federation in Star Trek, and is serving on the flagship. He realizes at some point that his friends keep dying. But none of the main crew dies. So the redshirts start getting suspicious.

S: I think that is a really smart plotline.

C: Yes, I think so too. But it gets even better. They realize that they do not really have memories beyond the ship they are on and so on, and they eventually discover that there is a real weird reason for everything.

S: Yep!

C: But I am not telling. I think it would be a big spoiler.

Caramel is reading Redshirts by John Scalzi. — Caramel is reading *Redshirts* by John Scalzi.

S: Yes, you do have a point there. Okay, so let us stop talking about the plot then and begin to talk about other things about the book. Actually I read Redshirts first and could not stop myself from laughing all the time. I thought you would enjoy it, too. Was I right?

C: Yeah, it was pretty good. I laughed a lot, too.

S: I also found the plot twists pretty neat.

C: Yeah, me too. But again, no spoilers! And I kind of guessed some of them.

S: Good for you! I did not. But you and Marshmallow are getting pretty good at guessing narrative arcs.

C: Well, we do read a lot of books.

S: That’s true.

C: Yeah, so the book starts out with a guy on an away mission, for lack of a better term, and he is eaten by land worms, I have no idea what those could possibly be. But they sound just about right for the kind of weird monsters that appeared in the original Star Trek series. And so we immediately get some action and some weirdness, and it is all fun from that point on.

S: I mean, I guess a lot of redshirts did die, I think, and death is not really funny, if you think about it, but in the storyline they were all quite absurd, and you could not help but laugh.

C: Yeah, the setups of the away missions were all weirdly amusing, but the actual plot of the book was awesome. Kind of mind-boggling and mind-twisting, but also funny. And awesome!

S: I am so glad you enjoyed it. But I am wondering. Do you think someone would still enjoy this book if they did not watch any Star Trek?

C: Yes, yes, the plot can still stand alone, but knowing Star Trek sort of just makes it better.

S: I think I agree. For a Star Trek fan like me, there were a lot of inside jokes, but if you are not a Trekkie like me,,I think it is still a great read. Lots of fun and also some things to think about after you are done.

C: Yep.

S: Okay Caramel. I think this might be a good time to wrap up this review.

C: Sure. Let’s do that.

S: What do you want to tell our readers?

C: Stay tuned for more book bunny reviews!