Caramel’s reviews – Page 30

Caramel reviews The Wild Robot Protects by Peter Brown

Last year Caramel reviewed The Wild Robot and The Wild Robot Escapes by Peter Brown, and ended his review of the second book wishing that “maybe there will be more stories about Roz or other friendly robots”. His hopes have come true, and today Caramel talks about The Wild Robot Protects, the third book about the Wild Robot, Roz, and her friends, published just this past week. As usual, Sprinkles is asking questions and taking notes.

Sprinkles: So you were surprised when you got this book in the mail, right, Caramel?

Caramel: Yes. Very happily surprised. I did not know there would be a third book about Roz, but I definitely very much wanted there to be.

S: So it was a good surprise. I like those! So let us talk about it then. Can you tell us a bit about what this book is about?

C: This book is about Roz, the Wild Robot.

S: Why is she called that? Can you remind our readers?

C: Because she speaks with animals and is friends with them.

S: Does she communicate with humans too?

C: She can, but she tends to hang out with animals more than humans. Because the humans called her defective and wanted to destroy her.

S: So she ran away?

C: No. In the beginning, in The Wild Robot, she had been on a boat that crashed and the box she was in floated to an island. Otters activated her by mistake, and then she began to communicate and make friends with the animals on the island.

S: I see. I think I remember now. So what happens in this book?

C: A seal comes to land and warns them about a “poison tide”.

S: So a tide is coming that will be carrying poison?

C: That is what everyone ends up believing so all birds leave the island except the flock of geese, an owl, and a vulture.

S: Hmm, it sounds like we are going into a lot of detail here. So let us move up a bit in perspective. So the book is about the Wild Robot trying to protect her animal friends from this tide?

C: Yep.

Caramel is reading The Wild Robot Protects by Peter Brown. — Caramel is reading *The Wild Robot Protects* by Peter Brown.

S: I think you really liked the first two books about Roz and her friends, and it was not only because you love robots and animals but also because the books were happy, right?

C: Yup, and they made me happy.

S: So how about this one? Would you say that The Wild Robot Protects is a happy book? Did it also make you happy?

C: It made me happy, yes, but it is not a totally happy book actually. It makes a good point about climate change.

S: Hmm, So I am guessing the poison tide is related to climate change.

C: Not quite, but at some point, Roz says “Can you believe that I have to convince humans why their own environment is important?”

S: I see. So the book is not directly about climate change, but it makes the case that environment is important to our well-being.

C: Yes. I think I said that too.

S: Yes, I just rephrased what you said. So all in all, you loved the chance to read more about Roz and her friends, right?

C: Yes. And while we were looking up the publication date of the book, we saw that there might be an animated movie about Roz some day. I was very very excited! I said, this I gotta see!

S: Yes, I would like to see it too. So let us wrap things up. Can you describe the book in about three words?

C: Amazing robot friend.

S: I like that! Okay, thank you Caramel for sharing your thoughts on this book. What would you like to tell our readers as we end this review?

C: Stay tuned for more book bunny reviews!

Caramel loved reading The Wild Robot Protects by Peter Brown and hopes once more that there will be more adventures for Roz and her friends to come. — Caramel loved reading *The Wild Robot Protects* by Peter Brown and hopes once more that there will be more adventures for Roz and her friends to come.

Caramel reviews Star Wars: Complete Vehicles – New Edition

As it must be obvious by now, Caramel loves the Star Wars universe. And he has already reviewed a few related books for the book bunnies blog. (You might enjoy his reviews of Star Wars Encyclopedia of Starfighters and Other Vehicles by Landry Q. Walker, Ultimate Star Wars: New Edition, and 5-Minute Star Wars Stories by LucasFilm Press, if you have the time.) Today he reviews a 2021 book he received this week as a gift: Star Wars: Complete Vehicles, written by Kerrie Dougherty, Jason Fry, Pablo Hidalgo, David West Reynolds, Curtis Saxton, and Ryder Windham, and illustrated by Richard Chasemore, Hans Jenssen, John Mullaney, Kemp Remillard, and Jon Hall. As usual, Sprinkles is taking notes and asking questions.

Sprinkles: So Caramel, you seem to have found yet another book about Star Wars, and also about spaceships!

Caramel: Yep, I have. I am a lucky bunny!

S: I can see you are happy. So tell me a bit about this book.

C: Sure. It is a book about the ships in the Star Wars universe. So they have one or two pages about every single spaceship that appears in all the movies and each of the series, animated or not. Most of them are spread over two pages actually, and for each vehicle, there is a big cross sectional sketch of the inside of the vehicle, and then some text that gives a lot of facts about it, too.

S: I can see why you would love this book!

C: Yes, I guess I am a simple bunny with simple taste. I just like everything with Star Wars or spaceships or robots in it.

S: So tell me about your favorite ships then.

C: I think my favorite is the vulture droid, no question. Wait, no that is my second favorite. My real very first favorite is the Treadspeeder. It is a First Order ship, and it is a speeder, which means it goes on land.

S: Hmm, I can see it has a tank-like appearance but is for individual use.

C: Yes. And so I posed with that page open, so our readers can see it too.

Caramel is reading Star Wars: Complete Vehicles - New Edition, written by Kerrie Dougherty, Jason Fry, Pablo Hidalgo, David West Reynolds, Curtis Saxton, and Ryder Windham, and illustrated by Richard Chasemore, Hans Jenssen, John Mullaney, Kemp Remillard, and Jon Hall. He is looking at the page on the treadspeeder, his favorite Star Wars vehicle. — Caramel is reading *Star Wars: Complete Vehicles – New Edition*, written by Kerrie Dougherty, Jason Fry, Pablo Hidalgo, David West Reynolds, Curtis Saxton, and Ryder Windham, and illustrated by Richard Chasemore, Hans Jenssen, John Mullaney, Kemp Remillard, and Jon Hall. He is looking at the page on the treadspeeder, his favorite Star Wars vehicle.

S: Hmm, so what about the vulture droid?

C: Well it is a flying object, but it is also a droid …

S: So more like a robot.

C: Yes.

S: And you love robots, so I can see why you would love a droid, but why this one?

C: It’s a ship and a walker, so essentially a two-in-one thing, and it is just cool, you know?

S: I can see that. Okay. So if you were to summarize this book in three words, what would you say?

C: Blueprint-full, Star Wars-y, hmm…

S: I think you are just making up words now.

C: Yes.

S: Okay, how about a phrase or something that describes the book?

C: Amazing! Cool space ships and cool speeders, and cool other Star Wars stuff.

S: I see. All around cool then.

C: Yep.

S: I can see you really enjoyed this book Caramel. I am glad. Okay, let us wrap up this review. What would you like to tell our readers?

C: Stay tuned for more book bunny reviews!

Caramel loves reading Star Wars: Complete Vehicles - New Edition, written by Kerrie Dougherty, Jason Fry, Pablo Hidalgo, David West Reynolds, Curtis Saxton, and Ryder Windham, and illustrated by Richard Chasemore, Hans Jenssen, John Mullaney, Kemp Remillard, and Jon Hall, and recommends it strongly to any other hard-core Star Wars fans, as well as any other bunnies who like to think about spaceships. — Caramel loves reading *Star Wars: Complete Vehicles – New Edition*, written by Kerrie Dougherty, Jason Fry, Pablo Hidalgo, David West Reynolds, Curtis Saxton, and Ryder Windham, and illustrated by Richard Chasemore, Hans Jenssen, John Mullaney, Kemp Remillard, and Jon Hall, and recommends it strongly to any other hard-core Star Wars fans, as well as any other bunnies who like to think about spaceships.

Caramel reviews The Great Texas Dragon Race by Kacy Ritter

Caramel loves dragons and has read and reviewed several books about them for the book bunnies blog through the years. Today he talks to Sprinkles about a new book about dragons: The Great Texas Dragon Race by Kacy Ritter, published in 2023. As usual Sprinkles is taking notes and asking questions.

The book bunnies received this book as a review copy.

Caramel reviews The Great Texas Dragon Race by Kacy Ritter. — Caramel reviews *The Great Texas Dragon Race* by Kacy Ritter.

Sprinkles: Can you start by telling us a bit about the book?

Caramel: This is a fiction book about a thirteen-year-old dragon rider named Cassidy Drake and her dragon Ranga.

S: I can see it is fiction! So this is a girl who is riding a dragon, and from the title, I am guessing that there is a race involved.

C: Yes. She wants to participate in the Great Texas Dragon Race and then she tries to win it.

S: I see. So the story is actually taking place in this continent, and there is still a place named Texas. But I don’t think there are dragons in our Texas.

C: No. I said it was fiction!

S: I see. Okay, I’ll be quiet. Go on.

C: So Cassidy’s family owns a dragon ranch, and Ranga is one of their dragons. It is like an animal shelter, except for dragons.

S: Kind of reminds me of The Menagerie.

C: Yeah, except that everyone knows about dragons in this book. In The Menagerie, the magical creatures were kind of a secret to most people.

S: Okay. So are the dragons magical here too?

C: Yes. They can breathe fire and they can fly. Of course. But they don’t talk. They are like giant dogs, like big friendly pets. Well, not all of them are friendly. But Ranga is.

S: I see. So tell me a bit more about the race. Is it common for young people like Cassidy to race in it?

C: No. I think she is the youngest. But she really wants to do it because her family needs the prize money. It is a lot of money.

S: I see. So does Cassidy face some obstacles trying to get into the race and then while in the race?

C: Yes, exactly.

Caramel is reading The Great Texas Dragon Race by Kacy Ritter. — Caramel is reading *The Great Texas Dragon Race* by Kacy Ritter.

S: So tell me a bit more about the book. Who is narrating the story?

C: Cassidy herself is narrating. So it is all in first person. And it is all in present tense.

S: Oh, that probably makes things sound more urgent and exciting, right?

C: Yes it is very exciting.

S: So would “exciting” be one of your words to describe the book?

C: Yes. So I’d describe it as “an exciting adventure with dragons”.

S: It sounds like this was just the right fit for you!

C: Yup. I wish the author would write more about Cassidy and Ranga.

S: I am sure you would read that book too.

C: Yup.

S: I think you really enjoyed this book. You grabbed it from my paws as soon as it arrived and then you did not put it down until you finished. So did you like Cassidy? Did you like Ranga? Would you have liked to fly with them?

C: I liked them, but I am not sure I’d fly with them. It can be dangerous for a little bunny. They also don’t seem to be the safest flyers in the world. But they are the fastest!

S: Hmm, are you telling me that they win the race?

C: No. I am not spoiling anything. Don’t push me!

S: Okay, I won’t. So maybe we should wrap things up. What would you like to tell our readers?

C: Stay tuned for more book bunny reviews!

Caramel loved reading The Great Texas Dragon Race by Kacy Ritter and hopes that there will be more books about these characters. — Caramel loved reading *The Great Texas Dragon Race* by Kacy Ritter and hopes that there will be more books about these characters.

Caramel reviews Easy Aircraft Origami by Jayson Merrill

Today Caramel reviews Easy Aircraft Origami, a book by Jayson Merrill first published in 2020. As usual, Sprinkles is taking notes and asking questions.

Sprinkles: So Caramel, tell us a bit about this book.

Caramel: So this book has fourteen different planes that you can make that are supposedly easier than some other possible origami.

S: I hear a “but” coming.

C: Yep, you do! So the book says the projects are easy and for “less experienced folders”, but some of them are actually hard. Marshmallow is the most experienced origamist in our home, but even she had difficulty with the Razorback, which looks really cool, but I don’t really know how it flies because I still have not been able to make one.

S: Hmm, I see. So some of them are really hard. But why are we reviewing this book then? Did you at least make some of the planes?

C: Well, I tried to make some of them. For example I tried to make Hex, but I failed several times on my own. Then we made it together, you and me, and then it worked!

S: Yes, we had to be a bit careful and so on, but we did make it in the end. And it flies really well, doesn’t it?

C: But it was hard to fold the paper that many times.

S: I think our paper was a bit thick. If we had used thinner paper, maybe it could have been easier.

C: I guess. But we used a pretty large paper, and it was thick, but it folded well. And the plane is big, too, so I am happy with the paper.

S: No problem then, as long as you are happy!

Caramel is reading Easy Aircraft Origami by Jayson Merrill. — Caramel is reading *Easy Aircraft Origami* by Jayson Merrill.

S: So it seems to me that even though some of the projects are hard, you are probably not giving up on the book any time soon.

C: No, I’m not. The Hex flies so well that I am thinking I want to make all of them. But I might need help.

S: I know. Marshmallow and I can help you if you want.

C: That would be good.

S: I saw that among the fourteen projects there are two which are circular; they do not look at all like paper planes.

C: Yes, they are called Stratus and Cirrus. They kind of look like frisbees.

S: I thought they looked like UFOs.

C: I guess that works too. If someone saw them flying and didn’t know what they were, they would really be UFOs. Unidentified Flying Objects, get it?

S: Yep. Do you know what Stratus and Cirrus are?

C: No.

S: They are types of clouds.

C: I did not know that.

S: This page describes the cirrus clouds as “wispy, feathery, and composed entirely of ice crystals”. Apparently they occur higher in the atmosphere and are often “the first sign of an approaching warm front or upper-level jet streak”.

C: That is interesting. What about stratus clouds?

S: The page says that stratus clouds show up in the lower levels of the atmosphere, closer to the ground, and they are “uniform and flat, producing a
gray layer of cloud cover which may be precipitation-free or may cause periods of light precipitation or drizzle”.

C: I knew that clouds looked different from one another but I did not know that the different kinds had names. That’s cool!

S: I agree! But so these two circular ones are named after clouds. Does that make sense to you?

C: Yes. Because maybe the names mean that they will go high as the clouds.

S: We can only hope! So it is about time to wrap up this review Caramel. What would you like to tell our readers?

C: Stay tuned for more book bunny reviews!

Caramel has enjoyed reading Easy Aircraft Origami by Jayson Merrill and is planning to make many of the aircraft projects in it in the coming weeks. — Caramel has enjoyed reading *Easy Aircraft Origami* by Jayson Merrill and is planning to make many of the aircraft projects in it in the coming weeks.