Caramel’s reviews – Page 61

Caramel reviews Ragweed by Avi

This week Caramel wanted to talk about Ragweed, a book by Avi. As usual Sprinkles is asking questions and taking notes.

Sprinkles: So Caramel, this book seems to be a new favorite for you?

Caramel: Yes.

S: What is it about?

C: It’s about Ragweed, a mouse who leaves his home to explore the world.

S: That sounds interesting! And kind of like Ralph, in The Mouse and the Motorcycle.

C: Yes. But Ralph lived in a hotel and Ragweed lives next to a brook.

S: I see. So Ragweed decides to leave his home and travel. Where does he go?

C: He goes to Amperville, I believe. He gets on a train and gets off in a small town named Amperville. Amperville has a part called Mouse Town because that is where the mice live.

S: That sounds good. So Ragweed meets a lot of new mice in this town, right?

C: Yes. One of them is named Clutch.

S: Do you know what clutch means?

C: Nope.

S: Wikipedia tells us that it is a mechanical device connecting and disconnecting parts of a car engine. Did you notice that almost all the Amperville mice in the book had names that were related to cars?

C: Yes. And there is a mouse band called the B-Flat Tires. That’s also about cars.

S: Yes!

C: I think the reason is that they all live in cars.

S: And Ragweed on the other hand is a natural thing, it’s a type of plant, right? Not a car. So from their names you can tell …

C: where they are from! The mayor of Mouse Town is named Radiator for example. Cliutch’s mom is Foglight and her dad is Windshield. And then there is Blinker. I don’t think that is about cars.

S: But look, Wikipedia shows us there are also car blinkers! So even Blinker’s name is related to cars!

C: Yes, that’s interesting!

S: Did you know that Ragweed is part of a series of books but it is not the first book Avi wrote in that series?

C: Really?

S: Yes, apparently Avi, the author, first wrote a book named Poppy, about a mouse named Poppy. And then he wrote Ragweed as a prequel. Do you know what’s a prequel?

C: A book that comes before another?

S: Right. So there is apparently a Ragweed in Poppy, and the author wanted to tell his backstory. So I guess you should eventually read that Poppy book as well.

C: I might read it next then.

S: That sounds good to me.

Caramel is reading Ragweed by Avi and looking at the illustrations by Brian Floca. — Caramel is reading *Ragweed* by Avi and looking at the illustrations by Brian Floca.

S: What else do you want to tell our readers about this book?

C: Can I rate it then?

S: Yes, give me three words that describe the book.

C: Adventure, danger, cliffhangers.

S: What do you mean by cliffhangers?

C: Well, it ends in a cliffhanger. Sort of.

S: I guess you will just have to read Poppy then.

C: Exactly.

S: Then let us wrap this up so you can get started. What are your last words for this review Caramel?

C: Stay tuned for more book bunnies reviews!

Caramel enjoyed reading Ragweed, written by Avi and illustrated by Brian Floca. — Caramel enjoyed reading *Ragweed*, written by Avi and illustrated by Brian Floca.

Caramel reviews How Things Work by T. J. Resler

Caramel loves reading books about real things, and he especially loves learning about how things work. Today’s book, from National Geographic Kids, is just up his alley: How Things Work by T. J. Resler. As usual Sprinkles is asking questions and taking notes.

Sprinkles: So Caramel you got your nose into another big book about real things!

Caramel: Yes, exactly.

S: Tell me what this book is about.

C: It’s about how things work, as you can tell by the cover.

S: Yes. What kinds of things though?

C: Things like hoverbikes and hoverboards. Tablets, bionic arms, thermoses, and invisibility cloaks! Tractor beams…

S: Wait, invisibility cloaks? Tractor beams? Are those things real?

C: No, they are just theoretical. And they are not really invisibility cloaks but cloaking devices.

S: Hmm, so the book is about inventions, both real and fantastical, right?

C: Yes. They are really cool.

S: And I thought the chapter titles were quite fun. Can you tell us some of them?

C: There is one called “Beaming Up”. And another called “Home Where The Fridge Is”. There is “School of Cool”, and “Extreme Fun”, and some others.

S: Which is your favorite thing that you read about in this book?

C: My favorite is in the chapter called “Caught in the Tractor!” There is a picture of an alien ship in a section called “Think Big”.

Caramel is reading "Caught in the tractor!" in How Things Work by T. J. Resler. — Caramel is reading “Caught in the tractor!” in *How Things Work* by T. J. Resler.

S: Is that a real alien ship? I did not know we had alien visitors!

C: No it’s just a picture. An artist’s imagination.

S: Hmm, so what do you like about this particular page?

C: The picture of the alien ship is cool. But the section is about tractor beams, something we see a lot in Star Trek. Apparently a gigawatt in laser energy would totally vaporize a baseball. That’s basically a phaser, like in Star Trek.

S: Okay, how is that related to tractor beams?

C: It would be able to move the thing, but then it would also totally vaporize it too.

S: So there is a lot in this book about Star Trek science?

C: Not exactly, but I like Star Trek so I am telling you things about Star Trek in the book. There are also a lot of real things.

S: Like what?

C: Like fridges, space ships, microwave ovens, thermoses, and photocopy machines. And we learn about Elon Musk. He is an engineer and apparently he read a whole encyclopedia when he was a child.

S: Hmm, do you ever read an encyclopedia Caramel?

C: No, not really.

S: Well, we do often check out Wikipedia, and that is kind of like an encyclopedia, right?

C: I guess so. But I like reading real books with pictures, and learning about how things work.

S: And this book has a lot of pictures. Every one of its two hundred pages has at least one picture and there are pages which have only pictures. So it is a great book to read if you like to see what you are reading about.

C: Yes, there is a full-page picture of a dog drinking from the toilet bowl. The dog says “hmm, that’s the stuff!”

S: So the book is also quite funny, it sounds like.

C: Well kind of, but I like it more for the facts.

S: Okay, so tell me three words or phrases to describe this book.

C: Full of facts, colorful pictures, useful.

S: Great! This is a good place to wrap up this review. What do you want to tell our readers Caramel?

C: Stay tuned for more book bunny adventures!

Caramel loved reading and looking at the pictures in How Things Work by T. J. Resler. — Caramel loved reading and looking at the pictures in *How Things Work* by T. J. Resler.

Caramel reviews Survive! Inside the Human Body: The Nervous System by Hyun-Dong Han

In the past two weeks Caramel reviewed Survive: The Digestive System and Survive: The Circulatory System, the first two books in the Survive: Inside the Human Body series illustrated by Hyun-Dong Han. This week he is reviewing the third and last book in this series of graphic novels: Survive: The Nervous System. Sprinkles is taking notes and asking questions.

Sprinkles: So after traveling through their friend Phoebe’s digestive system and then her circulatory system, Geo and Doctor Brain are back again! And what are they doing this time?

Caramel: They are in her brain this time. They figure out that there is a tumor in her brain. In her optic nerves.

S: That is scary! But how do they get from the circulatory system to the brain?

C: They went into the ear through the blood system, and then they went to the brain.

S: Okay, I don’t quite get it; I guess I will have to read this book too…

Caramel is reading Survive! Inside the Human Body: The Nervous System by Hyun-Dong Han. — Caramel is reading *Survive! Inside the Human Body: The Nervous System* by Hyun-Dong Han.

S: Anyways, so Phoebe has a tumor, then?

C: Yes.

S: Is it malignant?

C: No it is benign. That means it is not cancerous and it does not spread fast. It grows slowly.

S: Good, so they have some time. Then do they try to get out or fight the tumor somehow?

C: They get out. They take a sample with them, and then they get out. That is how they find out that it is benign.

S: How do they get out?

C: They go to the eye, and then she cries, and they come out with her tears.

S: That is an adventure!

C: Really weird one!

S: So what did you learn in this book?

C: That there are two different types of tumors. And I learned about REM sleep. That is when you are having dreams and your eyes move. Rapidly. So Rapid Eye Movement = REM.

Caramel is reading about why we sleep in Survive! Inside the Human Body: The Nervous System by Hyun-Dong Han. — Caramel is reading about why we sleep in *Survive! Inside the Human Body: The Nervous System* by Hyun-Dong Han.

S: I see you read some of the fact pages! Did you read all of them? I know you like facts.

C: Yes but I did not read all of them this time. I wanted to read the story first.

S: I get that. Maybe you will go back and read the fact pages the next time.

C: Yes, probably.

S: So overall, did you enjoy reading this series?

C: Yes. I really enjoyed it. And I’m glad they got out!

S: Would you like to shrink and travel inside a living body?

C: I don’t think so. I don’t want to face parasites or tumors. And I also like being a normal-size bunny, and bouncing around is fun.

S: Maybe you could bounce around inside someone’s body.

C: Still, I don’t think I would like it.

S: I know. It can be scary. So let us wrap our review up with your three words for this book.

C: Funny, action, and color.

S: Those are good words to describe this book!

C: Yes! And stay tuned or more book bunny reviews!

Caramel has really enjoyed Survive! Inside the Human Body: The Nervous System by Hyun-Dong Han, and recommends the whole series to all little bunnies. — Caramel has really enjoyed *Survive! Inside the Human Body: The Nervous System* by Hyun-Dong Han, and recommends the whole series to all little bunnies.

Caramel reviews Survive! Inside the Human Body: The Circulatory System by Hyun-Dong Han

Last week Caramel reviewed Survive: The Digestive System, the first book in the Survive: Inside the Human Body series illustrated by Hyun-Dong Han. This week he wanted to continue talking about this series of graphic novels, so today he will tell us about the second book: Survive! The Circulatory System, once again illustrated by Hyun-Dong Han. As is often the case, Sprinkles is taking notes and asking questions.

Sprinkles: So Caramel, you have enjoyed these books so much that you wanted to talk about the second one today.

Caramel: Yep.

S: So tell us from the beginning. What is this book about?

C: It is about the circulatory system.

S: So what is the circulatory system?

C: The circulatory system is the system that moves blood around the body.

S: So in this book we learn about the human body and the blood circulating through it. But then is it all about facts? Or is there a story line too?

C: Yes, there is a story line.

S: Tell me about it.

C: It’s about Geo and Doctor Brain and they go into Phoebe’s body accidentally. She eats them.

S: Wait, these are the same characters from the first book, right?

C: Yes. Phoebe and Geo are two friends. Doctor Brain is a mad scientist who invented the S.S. Hippocrates.

S: Oh do you know who Hippocrates was?

C: Yes. He lived in ancient Greece and he was a healer, and he believed that people should look at diseases in a more scientific way.

S: Yes. People see him as “the father of medicine”. So what is S.S. Hippocrates?

C: It’s a big ship but can shrink and go inside a human body. But they were not trying to get into anybody’s body.

Caramel is reading Survive! Inside the Human Body: The Circulatory System by Hyun-Dong Han — Caramel is reading *Survive! Inside the Human Body: The Circulatory System* by Hyun-Dong Han

S: Hmm, so in the first book they somehow get trapped inside Phoebe’s digestive system, she somehow eats them. How do they get into her blood stream this time?

C: They are digested.

S: So they were not able to get out the last time, and from the digestive system they are transferred into the circulatory system. Is that correct?

C: Yes.

S: Oh that sounds exciting but also kind of scary.

C: It is. They are attacked by microphages, white blood cells, and Kupfer cells.

S: Wait, what are Kupfer cells?

C: Oh apparently they are a type of microphage!

S: So they are attacked by the immune system while in the blood stream? That makes sense. After all, they are not supposed to be there!

C: Yeah. Plus Doctor Brain apparently made S.S. Hippocrates look like a bacterium.

S: That makes even more sense, of course: then the body’s defense system would try to fight it. We learned all about white blood cells and microphages in Cells At Work, right?

C: Yes, but we did not learn about the Kupfer cells there. Hey, why don’t we put in the song for Cells At Work here?

S: Good idea! Here you go, but viewers should keep in mind the show is quite violent—the little bunnies in our household often covered their eyes while we were watching the show—so this introductory sequence is also kind of violent (in second 39, you meet the White Blood Cell and with him start the violence and the gore):

Here is the introductory sequence to Cells At Work in English (warning: there is significant violence and gore in the show and in this video too).

S: Let us get back to the book. So do they figure out how to get out of Phoebe’s body?

C: Nope, not yet. You need to read the third book for that.

S: Oh, so this one ends with a cliffhanger!

C: Yes! But it was not bad because I actually wanted to read the third book anyway.

S: That makes sense. You like graphic novels and you like learning about facts.

C: Yes I really like facts and there are a lot of them in this book.

Caramel is reading about the liver in Survive! Inside the Human Body: The Circulatory System by Hyun-Dong Han — Caramel is reading about the liver in *Survive! Inside the Human Body: The Circulatory System* by Hyun-Dong Han

S: So this was a good read, then?

C: Yes, it was!

S: Tell me three words to describe it.

C: Colorful, informative, and funny.

S: Those make a good endorsement for this book! So it is time to wrap up!

C: Stay tuned for more book bunny adventures!

Caramel enjoyed reading Survive! Inside the Human Body: The Circulatory System by Hyun-Dong Han, and recommends it to all bunnies interested in learning about the human body. — Caramel enjoyed reading *Survive! Inside the Human Body: The Circulatory System* by Hyun-Dong Han, and recommends it to all bunnies interested in learning about the human body.