Marshmallow’s reviews – Page 40

Marshmallow reviews Dear Student by Elly Swartz

Today Marshmallow reviews Dear Student by Elly Swartz, published in February 2022.

The book bunnies received this book as a review copy.

Marshmallow’s Quick Take: If you like books about family, friendship, and school, then this might be the book for you.

Marshmallow’s Summary (with Spoilers): Autumn Blake’s father left her, her sister, and her mother to work in the Peace Corps. He wanted to “seize the day”, but Autumn doesn’t see why he has to go to Ecuador with the Peace Corps to do so. Now she, her sister Pickle, and her mother are living without her father.

Her father is not the only important person who has left Autumn. Her best friend Prisha has also just moved to California. So Autumn is starting middle school without a good friend.

The book starts on the first day of school. Autumn is starting sixth grade and neither her father nor her best friend will be there. But it turns out that the first day is still quite eventful.

On that first day of school, a boy runs over an iguana’s tail. Autumn and the boy, named Cooper, take the iguana to the veterinarian. Autumn’s mom is the vet, and she starts to try to save the iguana. Autumn then starts spending time with Cooper every day at lunch, and they become friends quickly. They decide to do a whoopie pie stand to raise money to take care of Cooper’s dog, Mr. Magoo.

On that first day of school, Autumn also makes friends with a girl named Logan. Logan’s mother is a famous human rights lawyer. Logan is nice, but Autumn feels that everything she does is forced: her smile, her words, her agreements.

Unfortunately, Logan dislikes Cooper. She thinks he is weird. Autumn starts to have trouble choosing between which friend she will spend time with.

On top of this, Autumn has become the writer of Dear Student, the famous advice column in the student paper, following the advice her dad gave on her first day to “do one thing”. Her job is to respond to questions sent anonymously by students, and her own identity is also to be kept secret. But one piece of advice she gives ends up forcing her to choose between her two friends. Will she be able to make it through with both her friends?

Marshmallow is reading Dear Student by Elly Swartz. — Marshmallow is reading *Dear Student* by Elly Swartz.

Marshmallow’s Review: Dear Student is a great book and a quick read. Written in fifty-four short chapters, it tells us a compelling story about friendship, family, and finding one’s voice.

The character Autumn is a nice person (her mom calls her “a gentle spirit”) and a great sister. She is relatable and she has a realistic personality. The other characters are also very realistic.

I think the author Ella Swartz did a great job of showing Autumn’s dilemma in the book and also her confusion and hurt about her father’s departure. The whole story is told through Autumn’s perspective (except for the student letters she reads and responds to, the postcards from her dad, and the messages from her friend Prisha), and in the present tense, and both these help make Autumn and her feelings come across as very real and almost urgent.

Ella Swartz’s Dear Student does not have a big mystery like Carl Hiaasen’s Hoot or Rebecca Stead’s When You Reach Me or any of the FunJungle books, but when I was reading it, I still wanted to read on to find out how things would turn out. The plot is not completely predictable and keeps you wanting to read further. The central dilemma of the book involves animal rights, just like in Hoot, but in Dear Student, we get a human dimension, too, complicating the issue further.

I thought that the questions addressed to the Dear Student column were sometimes related to how Autumn was feeling, which worked really well. And the column responses give the reader good advice on all types of topics. It was also neat to see a reference to a book Caramel read and reviewed before: Drawn Together by Minh Le and Dan Santat.

All in all I really enjoyed reading Dear Student. I look forward to trying the whoopie pie recipe at the end of the book…

Marshmallow’s Rating: 95%.

Marshmallow rates *Dear Student* by Ella Swartz

Marshmallow reviews Magnus Chase and the Sword of Summer by Rick Riordan

Marshmallow has read and reviewed a large number of books by Rick Riordan already. Most recently she began reading the Magnus Chase series. Today she shares her thoughts on the first book of this series: The Sword of Summer.

(Marshmallow reviewed three books from Riordan’s Percy Jackson and the Olympians series; check out her reviews of The Lightning Thief, The Sea of Monsters, and The Titan’s Curse. Caramel reviewed the graphic novel versions of the same three. See his reviews of The Lightning Thief, The Sea of Monsters, and The Titan’s Curse.

Marshmallow also reviewed all five books of Riordan’s Heroes of Olympus series: The Lost Hero, The Son of Neptune, The Mark of Athena, The House of Hades, and The Blood of Olympus.

She also reviewed all five books of the Trials of Apollo series: The Hidden Oracle, The Dark Prophecy, The Burning Maze, The Tyrant’s Tomb, and The Tower of Nero.

You might also like to check out Marshmallow’s reviews of Percy Jackson’s Greek Gods, Percy Jackson’s Greek Heroes, and The Demigod Diaries.)

Marshmallow reviews Magnus Chase and the Sword of Summer by Rick Riordan. — Marshmallow reviews *Magnus Chase and the Sword of Summer* by Rick Riordan.

Marshmallow’s Quick Take: If you like reading about mythology and/or have enjoyed some of Rick Riordan’s previous books, then this might be the book for you.

Marshmallow’s Summary (with Spoilers): Magnus Chase (the cousin of Annabeth Chase, one of my favorite characters from Riordan’s Percy Jackson and the Olympians series) finally goes to his uncle Randolph’s house. His whole life his mother told him not to. She tried to distance herself from Randolph.

The book starts two years after the death of Magnus Chase’s mother. Magnus has been living on the streets because he doesn’t want to go to his uncle. But then he sees his other uncle and his cousin Annabeth looking for him. They were sent by Randolph to look for Magnus. Magnus breaks into Randolph’s house to find the reason why. He meets Randolph, and this uncle his mother told him to avoid at all costs tells him remarkable things.

According to Randolph, the Norse gods are real, and Magnus is descended from one of them. (Sound familiar? Yes, so in the vein of the previous Riordan series, we are again thinking of ancient myths; this time, though, the mythology we are diving into is the Norse one.)

Marshmallow is reading Magnus Chase and the Sword of Summer by Rick Riordan. — Marshmallow is reading *Magnus Chase and the Sword of Summer* by Rick Riordan.

Randolph drives Magnus to Longfellow Bridge and tells him that he needs to retrieve a sword from the bottom of the bay, a sword that belonged to Magnus’s father. Magnus retrieves the sword, and just in time. A fire giant appears on the bridge and starts to destroy it. Magnus attacks the giant, whose name is Surt, and is mortally wounded. Big spoiler alert! Magnus dies, though he takes Surt down with him.

Magnus wakes up in a hotel: Hotel Valhalla. He learns that this is the place where the einherjar, the chosen warriors of Odin, wait for Ragnarök, the final battle in which the gods will die and all nine of the Norse worlds will end. Magnus is brought to the hotel by Samirah Al-Abbas, better known as Sam. Sam is a Valkyrie whose job is to bring the honorable dead to Valhalla.

However, Magnus cannot stay in Valhalla for long. His two friends, Blitzen and Hearthstone, who lived on the street with him appear and tell him that they are actually a dwarf and an elf, respectively. They convince him to leave Hotel Valhalla and they set out. Magnus and his friends must retrieve the sword he had found in the harbor. When he plummeted from the bridge with Surt, he had lost the sword.

When the trio retrieve the sword, they find out that there is a much larger problem going on. But I can’t tell what it is, you have to read the book!

Marshmallow’s Review: The Sword of Summer is a great book. It has the same humor and magic as Riordan’s other books. I thought that all of the characters are likable and maybe relatable at some level, though their lives are so different from the general population’s.

I thought the plot was well written. Also I found this book to be a great entry point into the nine worlds of Norse mythology. I had not read much about Norse mythology before so the whole context was new and it was quite exciting to learn.

I admit that I hesitated a while before diving into the Magnus Chase series. I have really loved the stories of the Greek demigods in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series and the Roman demigods in the Heroes of Olympus series. I was not ready to let them go and dive into a new world and get immersed in the adventures of a totally new set of characters. I was skeptical that I could enjoy them as much. But The Sword of Summer was just as exciting and just as captivating as the other Riordan books, and I can’t wait to read and tell you about the rest of the books in the series.

I recommend this book highly to younger readers and older ones alike. I know for example that Sprinkles will love it.

Marshmallow’s Rating: 100%.

Marshmallow rates Magnus Chase and the Sword of Summer by Rick Riordan 100%. — Marshmallow rates *Magnus Chase and the Sword of Summer* by Rick Riordan 100%.

Marshmallow reviews Sheets by Brenna Thummler

Today Marshmallow reviews the 2018 graphic novel Sheets by Brenna Thummler.

Marshmallow’s Quick Take: If you like books about ghosts and friendship, then this might be the book for you.

Marshmallow’s Summary (with Spoilers): Marjorie Glatt has a lot of problems in her life. She has to run her deceased mother’s laundromat to support her brother and father, she has to deal with mean kids at school, and she has to battle Mr. Saubertuck, a rude man who is trying to take Marj’s laundromat and convert it into his yoga spa. Mr. Saubertuck sabotages her laundromat, making her lose her customers and their trust. And school isn’t much better. She doesn’t have any friends and one girl in particular, Tessi, is very mean to her.

However, her life is about to change when Wendell arrives. Wendell is a ghost who escaped from the land of the dead. For Wendell, the laundromat is a playground compared to the dreary Land of the Dead. However, Wendell gets a little carried away and starts to hurt Marj’s business. He makes a blanket fort with the sheets Marj just washed for her customers. They get dirty again and it makes Marj look both bad and like a liar when she tells her customers that it was the wind. At this point , Marj doesn’t know anything about ghosts, but she gets suspicious when Tessi’s dress for a recital gets dyed red. We learn that Mr. Saubertuck put red dye into the detergent to ruin Marj’s business. When Wendell tried to dispose of the dye, he spilled it accidentally on Tessi’s dress. Marj, understandably, gets upset at him.

Will Mr. Saubertuck drive Marj out of her mother’s business? And will Wendell and Marj ever be able to become friends? You need to read to find out!

Marshmallow is reading Sheets by Brenna Thummler. — Marshmallow is reading *Sheets* by Brenna Thummler.

Marshmallow’s Review: I think that Sheets is a very interesting book. The author Brenna Thummler has created a very unique book and it was definitely a fun read. I liked how the author created two very interesting worlds; both the Land of the Dead and the real world were both realistic but had a touch of fantasy and fiction.

Sheets is a graphic novel which made it very easy to read and also showed me what the characters and their world look like. I think that the author’s portrayal of Mr. Saubertuck made him a very dislikeable character. He is self-centered and presumptuous. I felt really sympathetic toward Marj when he kept saying stuff like, “I won’t be paying you. Your family will have a room in my extravagant five-star spa and yoga resort, remember?” (Keep in mind, his “extravagant five-star spa and yoga resort” hasn’t even been established yet.)

I felt really sad for Wendell because he is a small child who, we learn, died at the young age of eleven. He is immature, playful, and not ready to face death. He makes up stories about how he died which he tells to the other ghosts in the Land of the Dead. We don’t learn how he really died until Marj looks it up on the Internet. I felt sad that Wendell died, especially after we learned that Marj had met him before when she was lost in a corn maze.

There is another book from this author, Brenna Thummler, called Delicates, published in 2021, which explores the friendship of Marj and Wendell further. I haven’t read it yet; I just finished Sheets this week! However, I would enjoy the chance to read about Marj and Wendell once more.

Marshmallow’s Rating: 95%.

Marshmallow enjoyed reading Sheets by Brenna Thummler and rates it 95%. — Marshmallow enjoyed reading *Sheets* by Brenna Thummler and rates it 95%.

Marshmallow reviews Soof by Sarah Weeks

A few months ago Marshmallow reviewed Save Me A Seat, a 2016 novel by Sarah Weeks and Gita Varadarajan. Today she wanted to talk about Soof, a 2018 book by Sarah Weeks that she has read recently. As this was an exceptionally busy week for Marshmallow, Sprinkles is taking notes and asking questions.

Sprinkles: So Marshmallow, tell me a bit about this book.

Marshmallow: Soof is about a girl named Aurora. Aurora has grown up hearing about this girl named Heidi, who brought Aurora’s family a lot of good luck. Heidi was apparently the main character of another book Sarah Weeks wrote, and in Soof, Heidi is now a grownup and is pregnant. She’s going to come to visit Aurora’s parents, and so Aurora is feeling a bit weird about it all. She is excited to meet this Heidi. but she is also a bit jealous of how much her mom likes her. I think this is totally understandable, because her mom and her dad keep telling her about Heidi and how she seemed to bring good luck to the people around her. And Aurora, she doesn’t feel lucky at all. Especially when her house burns down and she loses her dog.

S: Hmm, that is quite a setup for a story. I did not know this book was a sequel. Did you read that other book?

M: No. But it does not seem necessary to have read that first book. (I think its name is So B. It.) I thought the story stood on its own.

S: Hmm, sometimes authors like a character in a story and then bring them back to life in different ways in other books. Maybe that was what happened here too. A girl who brings good luck would be a good plot device I’d say.

M: Well, I don’t want to say she brings good luck, and I don’t think it is magic or anything. It’s just that she is extremely lucky. But anyways, the story is mainly about Aurora and her life.

S: And Aurora is not very lucky and she is curious to meet Heidi but also slightly jealous. Okay, I think I get it. So now you have to tell me, what is the meaning of the word in the title?

M: Soof apparently means love. One of the main plot lines is for Aurora to learn what soof really means.

Marshmallow is reading Soof by Sarah Weeks. — Marshmallow is reading *Soof* by Sarah Weeks.

S: Looking it up online there seems to be some explanation of that in the first book too, so maybe it was good you had not read that one.

M: Yes, I actually found it interesting to meet Heidi from Aurora’s perspective. I’m intrigued by the other story too. Apparently they made a movie about it. Shall we put in the trailer here?

S: Sure.

Trailer for the 2017 movie So B. It, from YouTube.

M: I think we should tell our readers that there is a movie named Soof too but it is not the same Soof.

S: Yes, I think that is a good idea. Okay, let us get back to the book. Did you like the book?

M: Yes. I liked the characters, I thought they were very realistic. I too would be kind of jealous if my mom kept talking about this other person Heidi who was so awesome.

S: Okay, I will keep that in mind. So was the book also funny?

M: Not really. I think it was more emotional than funny. But I did like it.

S: You have read and reviewed Save Me A Seat, which the author of Soof cowrote with someone else. Do you see any similarities between the two books?

M: I think they are quite different. I think the author was able to create a totally different story with totally different characters.

S: That is a good thing! They are both aimed towards middle grade readers. but other than that, the author is versatile enough to create totally independent stories. That is neat.

M: Yes. I think she actually has several other books besides these two. Her website is an interesting place to visit.

S: What would you like to ask her if you could?

M: I’d ask her where she got the ideas for all of Aurora’s quirks. She likes tapping her nose and things like that. I think it is interesting.

S: That’s a good question Marshmallow. And it is clear you enjoyed reading this book. I’m assuming you’d recommend it to other readers?

M: Certainly. I rate it 95%, only because Aurora feels so different from me, so I have some difficulty completely understanding her.

S: Well that’s fair. After all you are a little bunny and she is …

M: Yes. That must be it.

S: Okay, so let us wrap up this review then. What would you like to tell our readers?

M: Stay tuned for more amazing reviews from the book bunnies!

Marshmallow loved reading Soof by Sarah Weeks and rated it 95%. — Marshmallow loved reading *Soof* by Sarah Weeks and rated it 95%.