Marshmallow’s reviews – Page 39

Marshmallow reviews The Prince of Steel Pier by Stacy Nockowitz

Today Marshmallow reviews The Prince of Steel Pier by Stacy Nockowitz, published just this past week.

The book bunnies received this book as a review copy.

Marshmallow’s Quick Take: If you like realistic fiction books about family and growing up into one’s own, then this might be the book for you.

Marshmallow’s Summary (with Spoilers): The year is 1975. Thirteen-year-old Joey Goodman is staying at his grandparents’ hotel, the St. Bonaventure, for the summer. The hotel, located by an Atlantic City boardwalk, is struggling to keep business.

Joey has a very large and busy Jewish family, and he feels often ignored or not taken seriously by them. He goes to the boardwalk sometimes to pass the time, and one of these times, he runs into some mobsters. Unfortunately, Joey doesn’t know or want to know that they are mobsters because he quickly becomes “one of the guys”.

The mobsters are led by a man named Artie Bishop, who Joey begins to view almost as a father. Becoming “one of the guys” makes Joey feel strong and valued, because at the hotel he feels that everyone thinks he is weak and scared. Additionally, they pay him well, first for being able to play Skee-Ball very well, and then later for chaperoning Artie Bishop’s almost sixteen year old daughter (Melanie) around the boardwalk. (Joey falls in love with her, despite their age difference and the fact that Melanie probably doesn’t view him in that way.)

Eventually, however, Artie learns that Joey’s family runs the St. Bonaventura, and he asks for a favor. Even in the beginning, hanging out with the “guys” meant that Joey had to conceal the truth from his family. Now Artie asks him to put a package in the hotel in a room no one ever looks at. But when the package disappears, Joey starts to see how bad the mobsters can get. He must find out what true strength means to him and whether might would triumph over right.

Marshmallow is reading The Prince of Steel Pier by Stacy Nockowitz. — Marshmallow is reading *The Prince of Steel Pier* by Stacy Nockowitz.

Marshmallow’s Review: I thought that The Prince of Steel Pier was an interesting book because it was set in a different time period from our own and the author made it feel believable. 1975 is a long time ago for little bunnies today, but when you read The Prince of Steel Pier, you see that growing up is always the same. You want to feel important and respected, but you also are still young and you can make a lot of mistakes and you need your family.

The story is narrated from Joey’s point of view, in first person and mostly in the present tense. The present tense made the story feel like it was happening just now and I was reading along. And the first person narration made me feel like I could understand Joey a lot better. I found it very interesting to read about his problems inside and out. Joey has a queasy stomach when he gets nervous or anxious, and that was a unique aspect of the character, but it also reminded me a bit of Raina Telgemeier’s Guts, which I have recently reviewed.

While reading, I kept wondering how the author would wrap things up; without spoiling things too much, I can say that, at the end, I was very happy about how she did it.

Marshmallow’s Rating: 95%.

Marshmallow rates The Prince of Steel Pier by Stacy Nockowitz 95%. — Marshmallow rates *The Prince of Steel Pier* by Stacy Nockowitz 95%.

Marshmallow reviews Glass Slippers by Leah Cypess

Almost exactly a year ago, Marshmallow reviewed Thornwood by Leah Cypess, a neat retelling of the story of Sleeping Beauty, which started the author’s Sisters Ever After series. Today she reviews the second book in this series, Glass Slippers, which adds some interesting twists to the well-known Cinderella story.

Marshmallow’s Quick Take: If you like books about sisters, magic, and mystery, or if you enjoy retellings of fairy tales, then this might be the book for you.

Marshmallow’s Summary (with Spoilers): Tirza is the youngest stepsister of Queen Ella or Cinderella. After Ella became the queen, she banished her two older and wicked stepsisters to a different country but kept Tirza with her because Tirza was only five when Cinderella went to the famous ball.

Queen Ella is always very kind to Tirza, though it seems very artificial. Nobody else in the castle even tries to act kind; they all mistrust her and are cruel to her. Tirza is used to all this, but then she makes a bad mistake. One day, she finds the famous glass slippers out in Queen Ella’s room, and tries them on. Of course she puts them back where she found them, but this doesn’t matter because the slippers disappear and Tirza becomes the only suspect. Naturally nobody believes her when she says that she didn’t do it. Queen Ella nonetheless tries to continue to be nice to her.

Eventually the evidence against her becomes overwhelming and Tirza has to leave the kingdom. She decides to join her older sisters and plan a way to defeat and overthrow Cinderella. But the truth is much more complicated than it seems. Tirza must find out who is really evil: Cinderella or her real sisters or maybe someone else? Along the way, she must also come face to face with the fact that magic is not as nice as she had believed it to be.

Marshmallow is reading Glass Slippers by Leah Cypess. — Marshmallow is reading *Glass Slippers* by Leah Cypess.

Marshmallow’s Review: I think that Glass Slippers is a very interesting book. Readers of this blog know that I love retellings of fairy tales. But the plot here was so unpredictable! I had no idea that things were going to be so different from the original fairytale. It was also strange to see the fairies and the famous glass slippers of the original story become scarier and actually sort of bad as things evolved. I can’t say more than that because I don’t want to give away too much, but quite a few surprises are on the way for those bunnies who end up reading this book.

I also found it interesting that the characters were all realistic. In fairy tales some people are purely good and you know from the start. And others are really bad and you know from the beginning, too. In Glass Slippers, you don’t know who is good and who is evil until the end. Even so, the ending was quite different than I had expected.

Marshmallow’s Rating: 95%.

Marshmallow rates Glass Slippers by Leah Cypess 95%. — Marshmallow rates *Glass Slippers* by Leah Cypess 95%.

Marshmallow reviews Guts by Raina Telgemeier

Marshmallow has already reviewed several graphic novels by Raina Telgemeier for the book bunnies blog. (You can read her reviews of Ghost (2006), the graphic novel version of Ann N. Martin’s Kristy’s Great Idea (The Baby-Sitters Club Graphic Novels #1) (2006), Drama (2012), Smile (2010), and Sisters (2014) if you’d like.) Today she reviews Guts (2019).

Marshmallow’s Quick Take: If you like books about family, fears, and personal development, or if you have enjoyed graphic novels by Raina Telgemeier before, then this might be the book for you.

Marshmallow’s Summary (with Spoilers): Raina Telgemeier wakes up one night with a terrible stomachache and vomits. At first it seems like she has a stomach bug that was recently going around, as her mother is also throwing up. The two of them spend the rest of the night throwing up. Unfortunately for Raina, her fourth grade is a constant gross-out competition. Everyone seems fascinated by gross things. There is especially one girl named Michelle who is always mean to Raina. (But whenever Raina responds in kind, her teacher tells her to be nicer to Michelle and says that Raina doesn’t know everything about Michelle) The problem with all this grossness is that Raina seems more worried than everyone else. Eventually Raina becomes so concerned that she starts to monitor what she eats to make sure that she doesn’t become sick. Raina sometimes feels really sick, but there seems to be nothing really wrong; she seems perfectly healthy, at least physically. To get over her illness, Raina will have to face her fears with help from her family, her friends, and her therapist.

Marshmallow is reading Guts by Raina Telgemeier. — Marshmallow is reading *Guts* by Raina Telgemeier.

Marshmallow’s Review: Guts, if you didn’t know, is based off the life of the author, specifically her fourth and fifth grade experience. The best way to describe this book is authentic because it is not at all artificial. The characters are all funny and relatable. The people in this book might also remind you of your friends, family, or other relations.

I did not think anything discussed or depicted in the book was disgusting, but it was probably the first fiction book I read that dealt with human bodily functions like vomiting and bowel movements. (A while ago, Caramel did review The Science of Poop and Farts: The Smelly Truth About Digestion by Alex Woolf for our blog, but that was a science facts book; these types of things do not typically show up in most fiction books.)

This video of Raina Telgemeier talking about Guts summarizes and contextualizes the book really well:

“Raina Telgemeier: Guts — let’s just talk about it” – YouTube video.

I think that Guts is a good addition to Smile and Sisters. As far as I know, this is the last book Raina Telgemeier has written about her childhood, even though time-wise, it comes before the other two. I found it interesting to read about what had occurred before the first two books, and some characters in the first book who were mentioned were also in Guts, which definitely added to how real the books felt. I especially like how the author, Raina Telgemeier, doesn’t leave anything out and how original the books are.

Marshmallow’s Rating: 95%.

Marshmallow rates Guts by Raina Telgemeier 95%. — Marshmallow rates *Guts* by Raina Telgemeier 95%.

Marshmallow reviews Bear Bottom by Stuart Gibbs

Marshmallow has already read and reviewed all of Stuart Gibbs’s FunJungle books for the book bunnies blog. You can check out her review of the first book, Belly Up, here, while her review of the second book, Poached, is here. Her review of the third book Big Game is here, her review of the fourth book, Panda-monium, is available here, and her review of the fifth book in the series, Lion Down, is here. She reviewed the sixth book Tyrannosaurus Wrecks last, and you can find the review here. Today she reviews the seventh book of this series: Bear Bottom.

Marshmallow’s Quick Take: If you like realistic fiction books about animals and mystery, or if you have enjoyed any of Stuart Gibbs’s earlier books, then this might be the book for you.

Marshmallow’s Summary (with Spoilers): Teddy Fitzroy generally lives in FunJungle, in the mobile housing section for employees (his parents both work for FunJungle). FunJungle is the world’s largest zoo, described in the first book of the series as a combination of Disneyworld and the San Diego Zoo. The zoo was created by billionaire J.J. McCracken. During his time living in FunJungle, Teddy solved many crimes there and became friends with and eventually began to date J.J.’s daughter, Summer McCracken.

But in this book, Teddy is off to Montana with his parents to accompany J.J., Summer, and several other people. (Summer’s mother, Kandace, comes shortly after too.) This is because J.J. is planning on purchasing a ranch located close to Yellowstone (Oy Vey Corral) to create a FunJungle-approved safari park.

Teddy plans on having a relaxing trip. However, his plans go askew when a giant grizzly bear named Sasquatch breaks into the ranch house and Kandace’s very expensive necklace is stolen. Once again, Teddy finds himself stuck in complicated mysteries that have many suspects, lots of danger, and (so it seems) no answers.

Marshmallow is reading Bear Bottom by Stuart Gibbs. — Marshmallow is reading *Bear Bottom* by Stuart Gibbs.

Marshmallow’s Review: I really enjoyed reading this book. I loved all of the books in this series, and I think that this is a great addition. (And I hope it isn’t the last one!) I like that in all of the books there is always more than one mystery; as far I remember, there are almost always two mysteries and they intertwine in very interesting ways.

I liked how we see more than just FunJungle in this book, because it does seem like the series is getting more detached from FunJungle itself. The main setting is Yellowstone and it was a refreshing change. I also appreciated how we have been introduced to so many new characters.

All in all, the main storyline of Bear Bottom was not an easy mystery to solve; I never would have guessed the real culprits. (I already gave away enough spoilers, but I won’t spoil that for you!)

I did like however that the author, Stuart Gibbs, had information about animals and history slipped into the story. It also taught me a lot more about some parts of history not often spoken about. Also he touched on important issues, like how Native Americans are treated unfairly and unjustly for their lands.

Marshmallow’s Rating: 95%.

Marshmallow rates Bear Bottom by Stuart Gibbs 95%. — Marshmallow rates *Bear Bottom* by Stuart Gibbs 95%.