Caramel’s reviews – Page 60

Caramel reviews Dolphins at Daybreak (Magic Tree House #9) by Mary Pope Osborne

Caramel has reviewed several Magic Tree House books already: Night of the Ninjas (Magic Tree House #5), Afternoon on the Amazon (Magic Tree House #6), Knights and Castles (Magic Tree House Fact Tracker #2), Sunset of the Sabertooth (Magic Tree House #7), and Midnight on the Moon (Magic Tree House #8). Today he wanted to talk about book #9: Dolphins at Daybreak. As usual, Sprinkles is taking notes and asking questions.

Sprinkles: It has been a while since you last reviewed a Magic Tree House book Caramel. Can you remind our readers the premise of these books?

Caramel: There are two kids called Jack and Annie. They find a magical tree house in the first book, and it takes them anywhere in a book if they say “I wish we could go there.”

S: And in each book, they go somewhere different, right?

C: Yes, and they can come back.

S: That is good. Where do they go in this book?

C: I think they go somewhere with a mini-sub.

S: What’s a mini-sub?

C: It’s a little submarine, a ship that goes under the sea. They go under the sea with it and they find out that it has a leak.

S: Hmm, that might be dangerous!

C: Oh no, they survive, don’t worry. But they get chased by a giant octopus and there is a dolphin and they see hammerhead sharks. Nothing too dangerous!

Caramel is reading Dolphins at Daybreak (Magic Tree House #9) by Mary Pope Osborne. — Caramel is reading *Dolphins at Daybreak* (Magic Tree House #9) by Mary Pope Osborne.

S: Alright, so they have an adventure in the ocean, and you get to learn about ocean life, right?

C: Yes.

S: You have read a lot of books about sea life, in particular you read a ton of books about narwhals, right?

C: Yep. I reviewed all of the Narwhal and Jelly books I read, too.

S: The Magic Tree House books are mainly fiction but accompanying them there are fact trackers. You even reviewed one of those, remember?

C: Yes, I reviewed Knights and Castles (Magic Tree House Fact Tracker #2).

S: There is a fact tracker book on dolphins and sharks, too. Did you read that one?

C: No. I do not think we have that book yet.

S: But maybe there were some new facts in this book too? Did you learn anything new by reading this book?

C: I never knew about mini-subs. They are cool!

S: Yes, they are! Apparently they are also called “midget submarines“!

C: I didn’t know that!

S: Okay, Caramel, this might be a good time to wrap up our review. As usual I will ask you for three words to describe this book. What do you say?

C: Fun, imaginative, fantasy.

S: Why do you say fantasy?

C: A magic tree house sounds fantastical, doesn’t it?

S: You’re right. It is quite fantastical! And it is also a great idea to explore a new topic in every book, right? Are you going to read and review for the blog any more Magic Tree House books?

C: Yep. But for now, stay tuned for more book bunny reviews!

Caramel enjoyed reading Dolphins at Daybreak (Magic Tree House #9) by Mary Pope Osborne and recommends it to all little bunnies who enjoyed reading about Jack and Annie's earlier adventures. — Caramel enjoyed reading *Dolphins at Daybreak* (Magic Tree House #9) by Mary Pope Osborne and recommends it to all little bunnies who enjoyed reading about Jack and Annie’s earlier adventures.

Caramel reviews The Boy with Square Eyes by Juliet Snape and Charles Snape

This week Caramel wanted to talk about a cute little book that was first published in 1987 and has been in the book bunnies library for a while now: The Boy With Square Eyes: A Tale of Televisionitis, by Juliet Snape and Charles Snape. Though the book itself is rather old, the issue of too much screen time has perhaps never been more relevant, as a large number of young people are moored to screens for hours on end during these days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Marshmallow kindly agreed to taking notes and asking followup questions.

Caramel reviews The Boy with Square Eyes by Juliet Snape and Charles Snape. — Caramel reviews *The Boy with Square Eyes* by Juliet Snape and Charles Snape.

Marshmallow: So Caramel, what do you want to say about this book?

Caramel: It’s a fun book! The drawings are good.

M: What is this book about?

C: It’s about a boy who watched television all day and his eyes turned into squares. It’s a good book; you should read it.

M: Thanks, I have already read it! So, what do you think about the pictures?

C: They’re good, but in a few they’re blocky.

M: I think that that’s because he has square eyes now. Do you think that this book has a moral or a lesson that the authors were trying to teach to the reader?

C: Yeah, probably, it’s: “do not watch TV all the time!”

M: What do you think about the story?

C: It’s good! Really, really good!

M: What’s the main character’s name?

C: Charlie.

M: So, why is Charlie watching so much TV?

C: Who knows?

Caramel is reading The Boy with Square Eyes by Juliet Snape and Charles Snape. He is on the page when Charlie tells his mom, "Everything looks square. The food does, too. Square plate, square hot dogs, square french fries, square peas, and square tomatoes." — Caramel is reading *The Boy with Square Eyes* by Juliet Snape and Charles Snape. He is on the page when Charlie tells his mom, “Everything looks square. The food does, too. Square plate, square hot dogs, square french fries, square peas, and square tomatoes.”

M: So here’s another question. Do you think that Televisionitis is a real thing?

C: No, it’s not.

M: I would think so. Anyways, tell me more about this book.

C: The Boy With Square Eyes is about a boy who watches too much TV.

M: So, do his eyes get fixed?

C: You’ll have to find out by yourself if you read the book.

M: Who is your favorite character?

C: In this book?

M: Yeah.

C: Well there are only three people who talk in the book: Charlie, his mom, and the doctor.

M: Okay then. Never mind. So then which picture is your favorite picture in the book?

C: They were all good. It’s going to be hard to choose.

M: Okay. Then what do you like about this book?

C: Everything.

M: Can you be a little more specific?

C: Yes.

M: So what do you like about this book?

C: The pictures, the story, and, etcetera.

M: Can you please be a little more specific than that?

C: The pictures, the story, and the plot.

M: What do you like about the story and the plot?

C: The plot is interesting, and the story is fun to read if you haven’t read it before.

M: Okay, what genre do you think this is?

C: I don’t know… Fiction!

M: Oh, yeah, that’s a good one. I was also thinking it could be a parable. So, how would you rate this book? With your three words?

C: Fun, colorful, and hilarious.

Caramel thinks The Boy with Square Eyes by Juliet Snape and Charles Snape is "fun, colorful, and hilarious". — Caramel thinks *The Boy with Square Eyes* by Juliet Snape and Charles Snape is “fun, colorful, and hilarious”.

Caramel reviews Star Trek: Ships of the Line by Doug Drexler, Margaret Clark, and Michael Okuda

Caramel and the rest of the book bunnies household have been watching Star Trek Voyager during these months of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Voyager is the third Star Trek series Caramel has watched, after The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine. In other words, he is a little Trekkie. One of his favorite things about the whole series is the star ships. As a result it was natural that he would fall in love with the book Star Trek: Ships of the Line, edited by Doug Drexler and Margaret Clark, with text from Michael Okuda. Below he shares his enthusiasm about this book, as Sprinkles takes notes and asks followup questions.

Sprinkles: So Caramel, what do you want to tell us about this book?

Caramel: It’s a good book if you like space ships and that kind of stuff.

S: Do you also need to like Star Trek?

C: Not exactly. As long as you like star ships, you are in luck. The book is packed with pictures of star ships.

S: All ships are from Star Trek, right?

C: No, not quite. There are some real ships too. There is a picture of the United States space shuttle Enterprise.

S: I see. I think that also fits in the Star Trek universe narrative though, right?

C: I guess.

S: Are the pictures photos or hand-drawn?

C: I think there are both kinds of pictures.

Caramel's favorite page of Star Trek: Ships of the Line, by Doug Drexler, Margaret Clark, and Michael Okuda, is the front cover, because it has all the ships all together all in one place. — Caramel’s favorite page of *Star Trek: Ships of the Line*, by Doug Drexler, Margaret Clark, and Michael Okuda, is the front cover, because it has all the ships all together all in one place.

S: What else can you tell us?

C: So on each two-page spread, there is a whole-page picture of a ship, and some writing.

S: What kind of writing?

C: There is a name for the photo or drawing and who it is by. Then there is a paragraph about the picture.

Caramel is checking out USS Voyager and the Delta Flyer in Star Trek: Ships of the Line, by Doug Drexler, Margaret Clark, and Michael Okuda. — Caramel is checking out USS Voyager and the Delta Flyer in *Star Trek: Ships of the Line*, by Doug Drexler, Margaret Clark, and Michael Okuda.

S: The content seems to be arranged in eight chapters (altogether in over 350 pages). Can you tell me a bit about that?

C: The chapter names are: “In the Beginning”, “The Creation of a Legend”, “Rebirth”, “The Finest in the Fleet”, “Of Gods and Men”, “There Will Always Be An Enterprise”, “Delta Voyager”, “Semper Exploro”.

S: Hmm, so I can guess that “Delta Voyager” is about the ships in Star Trek Voyager.

C: Yes, and “Of Gods and Men” is about Deep Space Nine.

S: And “In the Beginning” seems to be about the more recent Star Trek Enterprise. We have not yet watched that show. But so it seems that the book is telling us the stories of the star ships in the Star Trek universe in their chronological order.

C: Yes. Exactly.

S: Do you know who the people who put together this book are?

C: No, not really.

S: Apparently Drexler and Okuda both worked for the Star Trek shows, and Clark wrote many Star Trek books and novels.

C: Oh, I didn’t know that! But that is good. They must know what they are talking about!

S: Right! So Caramel, let us wrap up this review, but first give me your three words to describe this book:

C: Awesome star ships!

S: That works!

C: And stay tuned for more book bunny reviews!

It is clear that Caramel is not done with Star Trek: Ships of the Line, by Doug Drexler, Margaret Clark, and Michael Okuda. He expects that he will read and reread it many more times in the coming weeks and months. — It is clear that Caramel is not done with *Star Trek: Ships of the Line*, by Doug Drexler, Margaret Clark, and Michael Okuda. He expects that he will read and reread it many more times in the coming weeks and months.

Caramel reviews Happy Narwhalidays by Ben Clanton

Caramel loved reading and reviewing the quirky adventures of Narwhal and Jelly in Narwhal: The Unicorn of the Sea!, Super Narwhal and Jelly Jolt, Peanut Butter and Jelly, and Narwhal’s Otter Friend. Here he shares his thoughts on the fifth and most recent book in Ben Clanton’s Narwhal and Jelly series: Happy Narwhalidays. Sprinkles is taking notes and occasionally asking followup questions.

Sprinkles: I saw that you got your paws on another Narwhal and Jelly book Caramel!

Caramel: Yes! Its name is Happy Narwhalidays!

S: I guess it just came out right about in time for the holiday season. Do you think it would make a good book present for bunnies like you who love reading?

C: Yes. Especially if the bunny loves the other Narwhal and Jelly books.

S: They are fun to read, aren’t they? So what happens in this one?

C: They are fun to read, and I am rereading it again, right now.

Caramel is reading Happy Narwhalidays by Ben Clanton. He is looking at the pages where Narwhal is imagining all the different gifts his friend Jelly could be giving him in the gift box. — Caramel is reading *Happy Narwhalidays* by Ben Clanton. He is looking at the pages where Narwhal is imagining all the different gifts his friend Jelly could be giving him in the gift box.

S: Hmm, I see you are looking at the pages where Narwhal is dreaming up all the things Jelly could be gifting him.

C: Yes. The ideas he has are not really possible. He thinks that the gift might be a giant waffle or a big bouncy blow-up bubble castle! Or it could be a rocket ship to take him to the unicorn planet!

S: Narwhal sure has a big imagination!

C: He sure does!

S: So the book is about giving friends gifts then, right?

C: Yes, mostly.

S: I know these books always have a whole lot of facts about ocean life, and I know you love facts. So tell me the most interesting fact you learned reading this book.

C: Let me read it to you: “Tardigrades, commonly known as water bears, are water-dwelling micro-animals that can survive in temperatures as hot as 304F (151C) and as cold as absolute zero.”

S: That is one weird fact Caramel. Do you know what absolute zero is?

C: No. Is it like -100?

S: No, actually it is even colder than that. It is -273C, and it is -459F. Absolute zero is when it is so cold that nothing moves. Heat and temperature are about molecules moving about, and at absolute zero, nothing moves anymore. It is really fascinating that these water-bears can survive that temperature.

C: I didn’t know that.

S: I do like how these books bring up all sorts of interesting facts! Okay, so what else do you want to say about this book?

C: I love Jelly. He is the best character.

S: Why do you say that?

C: He is super funny.

S: I think Narwhal is also super funny.

C: Yes. He is a little goofier.

S: I know. Theyt are good friends though, right?

C: Yes.

S: So tell me three words that would describe this book Caramel.

C: Awesome, colorful, factful.

S: I am not sure factful is a word, but let us go with it. Shall we then wrap up this review so you can read the book one more time?

C: Okay! Stay tuned for more book bunnies reviews!

Caramel loved reading Happy Narwhalidays by Ben Clanton and reconnecting with old friends Narwhal and Jelly. — Caramel loved reading *Happy Narwhalidays* by Ben Clanton and reconnecting with old friends Narwhal and Jelly.