Marshmallow has been reviewing the illustrated editions of the Harry Potter books, and so far she reviewed Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, all written by J.K. Rowling and illustrated by Jim Kay. While waiting for the fifth book to come out in the illustrated version, she came upon another gem: Harry Potter: A Magical Year – The Illustrations of Jim Kay, just hot off the press (publication date is October 2021). As she occasionally does, Sprinkles is asking questions and taking notes.
Marshmallow reviews Harry Potter: A Magical Year – The Illustrations of Jim Kay by J.K. Rowling and Jim Kay.
Sprinkles:So Marshmallow, tell us a bit about this book.
Marshmallow: This is a book that has Harry Potter quotes for every day. Like the illustrated versions of the Harry Potter series that I have been reviewing for our blog, the drawings were created by Jim Kay. All of the pages are richly decorated with related images and backgrounds.
S: That sounds interesting! So every day, you could wonder what Harry or Hermione or some other person from Hogwarts might have been doing that day and the book would tell you?
M: Not quite. The quotes are placed on a date close to when they are supposed to have happened. But for example on the days before Harry’s birthday, there are several days where we get quotes from Harry’s birthday. But still, if you wanted to have some Harry Potter magic for each day of the year, this would work perfectly!
S: That sounds perfect for a Potterhead like yourself Marshmallow!
M: Yes, exactly.
S: So have you checked the entry for today?
M: Yep! Here is me looking precisely at that page!
Marshmallow is reading the entry for today, November 13, in Harry Potter: A Magical Year – The Illustrations of Jim Kay by J.K. Rowling and Jim Kay. The entry is a quote from Hermione Granger, taken from Chapter 19 of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire: “Why don’t we go and have a butterbeer in the Three Broomsticks, it’s a bit cold, isn’t it?”
S: How about your on birthday? Did you check that out?
M: Yes, and it is kind of a sad one, so I won’t tell you about it.
S: Okay, I understand. And we don’t want to give away personal information here anyways…
Marshmallow is reading the pages corresponding to May 24, May 25, and May 26, in Harry Potter: A Magical Year – The Illustrations of Jim Kay by J.K. Rowling and Jim Kay.
S: So would you recommend this book to our readers?
M: Yes, of course. Especially people who like Harry Potter and his world will definitely enjoy this book. It is really pretty, the illustrations are amazing!
S: That is a ringing endorsement, especially coming from you!
M: Well, I always like Harry Potter-related stuff.
S: That’s true of course. So would you like to rate this book then? I think I know what the rating will be…
M: Yes, and I would rate it 100%. It is a beautiful book, especially for bunnies who like Harry Potter…
S: So then we are about ready to wrap up this review I think.
M: Yes! I’ll again adapt Caramel’s famous closing line to myself and say: “Stay tuned for more amazing reviews from the book bunnies!”
Marshmallow really enjoyed reading and reviewing Harry Potter: A Magical Year – The Illustrations of Jim Kay by J.K. Rowling and Jim Kay, and is looking forward to reading more from this author-illustrator team, in particular the illustrated versions of the remaining Harry Potter books.
Today Marshmallow reviews The Inheritance Games, a 2020 novel by Jennifer Lynn Barnes.
Marshmallow reviews The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes.
Marshmallow’s Quick Take: If you like young adult novels with mystery, then this might be the book for you.
Marshmallow’s Summary (with Spoilers): High-schooler Avery Kylie Grambs has recently discovered that she has been included in the will of Tobias Hawthorne, a rich philanthropist who recently died. However, Avery has no idea why she is in the will. She is not related to him, as far as she knows, and has, in fact, never seen him in her life. She didn’t even know who he was until recently.
Eventually, she attends the reading of the will, which has been delayed until she can attend. Hawthorne’s two daughters and four grandsons are dismayed to learn that out of his forty-six point two billion dollars, they only receive a couple hundred thousand dollars each. Avery, on the other hand, receives the rest of his money, along with all of his possessions, including his house. The only term for this is that she must live in his house for a year. This clearly does not sit well with Hawthorne’s relatives, especially one of his daughters. Skye Hawthorne had hoped that her four sons would receive a majority of the money.
Now that everything is owned by Avery, the Hawthornes have different reactions. Nash Hawthorne, the eldest grandson of Tobias, doesn’t really show up too much. Grayson Hawthorne, the grandson that everyone thought would receive most of the inheritance, believes that Avery somehow conned Tobias into writing her into his will. Jameson, the second youngest, is intrigued by Avery. Xander, the youngest, doesn’t really have any grudges against Avery, as he never thought he was going to receive a large chunk of the money anyways. Skye, Tobias Hawthorne’s daughter and the mother of Nash, Grayson, Jameson, and Xander, is furious, and together with her sister Zara, she starts to try and figure out a way to “reclaim” the inheritance.
With all this money at stake, the Hawthornes may resort to violence to sort out “the Avery issue”. But Jameson and Avery believe that she was selected for a reason. Tobias Hawthorne was very into puzzles, and Avery and Jameson believe that she is part of the last puzzle of Tobias Hawthorne. But even so, who are the players, and who will win?
Marshmallow is reading the beginning of Chapter 57 in The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes.
Marshmallow’s Review: I think that The Inheritance Games is a good book, but it is part of a series, which I did not know when I started reading. It was a surprise when I realized that the story would continue into a second book, which I have not read yet. So the mystery is not yet fully solved (even though we do figure out eventually why Avery was in the will).
The plot is very well thought out and thought-provoking. Also, the author and Tobias Hawthorne are very fond of word games, especially with names. (Cough, Avery, cough.)
The Inheritance Games has 370 pages, spilt into 91 short chapters. Avery is the narrator, and we meet each character through her eyes. Events unfold through her perspective as well, meaning that puzzles are only resolved when she figures things out. I was able to figure out some things ahead of time, but mostly the mystery kept me guessing.
In short, I found The Inheritance Games intriguing and very interesting. However, I believe that it is intended for older children, certainly a young adult novel. The plot is pretty complicated. And as the first book in a series, The Inheritance Games sets the scene really well for the second one to come. I’m looking forward to reading that, too.
Marshmallow’s Rating: 95%.
Marshmallow rates The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes 95%.
Today Marshmallow reviews the 2019 novel The Other Half of Happy by Rebecca Balcárcel.
Marshmallow reviews The Other Half of Happy by Rebecca Balcárcel.
Marshmallow’s Quick Take: If you enjoy reading books about school, friendship, and family, then this might be the book for you.
Marshmallow’s Summary (with Spoilers): Quijana is one-half Guatemalan and one-half American. However, when her Guatemalan cousins move in to the town she lives in, she feels like she is not living up to her Guatemalan part. A main reason for this is because she can’t speak Spanish very well, whereas her cousins speak Spanish as a first language, and they speak English perfectly. But she has other issues too. Her parents have been “Spanish-izing” their house, and trying to introduce Guatemalans culture to their children. Quijana thinks that she is too abnormal as it is and doesn’t want to be “Spanish-ized”.
In the meantime, Quijana’s grandmother is diagnosed with cancer and has to undergo treatment. Quijana loves her grandmother very much and is very worried about what will happen to her. Quijana is also having issues at school. Spanish-speaking children are very dismissive of Quijana. They seem disappointed by her lack of fluency in Spanish, and tease her for it. Another issue that Quijana has to deal with is the fact that her little brother is becoming remote and harder to reach. (Quijana has other issues too, involving a boy, who is a good friend, but she wants him to be more than that.)
On top of all this, Quijana’s parents want to go to Guatemala on vacation, but Quijana desperately doesn’t want to. She comes up with an escape plan, selling a huipil sent to her by her other grandmother. She plans to board a bus to Florida to avoid having to go to Guatemala.
Marshmallow is reading The Other Half of Happy by Rebecca Balcárcel.
Marshmallow’s Review: The Other Half of Happy is a beautiful book that really shows its main character’s internal conflicts and concerns. The author, Rebecca Balcárcel, invites the reader into Quijana’s world. The book is narrated by Quijana and she is very open about her thoughts and feelings. Quijana feels like she has disappointed her father and her Guatemalan family, because she doesn’t know how to speak Spanish well.
I think that Rebecca Balcárcel writes in a very poetic way. Here is an excerpt, from page 1, to show you what I mean:
“I live in a tilted house. A bowling ball on our living room floor would roll past the couch, past the dining table, all the way to the kitchen sink. And if the sink wasn’t there and the wall wasn’t there and the bathroom behind that wasn’t there, the ball would roll all the way to my room at the end of the house. That’s what it’s like being twelve. Everything rolling toward you.”
Rebecca Balcárcel, The Other Half of Happy, page 1.
I think that Balcárcel does a good job of creating unique characters. The characters have unique characteristics or quirks, which make them a lot more realistic. By the end of the book, I felt like I knew Quijana very well.
Marshmallow’s Rating: 95%.
Marshmallow rates The Other Half of Happy by Rebecca Balcárcel 95%.
This year Marshmallow has reviewed the first four books of Susan Cooper’s classic The Dark Is Rising series. Today she is finally ready to discuss the fifth and last book, Silver on the Tree, for the book bunnies blog. Sprinkles, who has also read the series recently, is taking notes and asking questions.
Marshmallow reviews Silver on the Tree by Susan Cooper.
Sprinkles: So Marshmallow, tell me about this book.
Marshmallow: Silver on the Tree is the fifth and the last book in the series The Dark Is Rising. The series is about the ultimate battle between the Light and the Dark. The Light represents good and the Dark is evil.
S: So what happens in this fifth book?
M: Bran and Will, two of the characters we met in some of the earlier books, go to a different realm, the Lost Land, to obtain the last magic item the Light needs in its war against the Dark. The magical item is a sword made by the king of the Lost Land, and after some challenges, they manage to get it. Eventually though, the Dark does rise, and things look pretty bad for a while. There is an unexpected villain, someone we trust who turns out to be one of the Dark Lords. Pretty strange turn of events, and kind of confusing at times…
S: I know you had some difficulty following some of the plot at times, and you did not always enjoy the book.
M: Yes, I found it a little difficult sometimes, but overall the plot is actually quite interesting. One of the main issues I had with this book was that the style of writing felt unfamiliar to me.
S: What do you mean? Do you think the language was a bit old fashioned?
M: No, not that, but somehow the story-telling was very fluid, going from one location and time to another, and it was not always clear who was doing what. Some of the plot occasionally went over my head until a bit later, when something else happened and I had to go back to reread.
S: You are a very good and experienced reader, so this is interesting to hear. So I can say for myself that I really enjoyed reading each of the books in this series, but I can also see how sometimes things got a bit confusing. There were spots where the transitions between different times and actors were hinted at and not made very explicit, and the actual extent and implications of the threat of the Dark rising were vague, to say the least.
M: Yes, that is exactly what I think. It was not always clear what the Dark rising actually meant because the Dark was evil, but evil in humans was not always caused by the Dark. But I think it meant that once the Dark rose, there would be no more hope of good. Though they could never destroy the other side, so there would always be the Light, and some chance of good, but if the Dark did rise and win it all, humanity would be lost. They would be all slaves to evil. Which sounds kind of vague, honestly, but definitely also pretty terrifying.
S: But you were not really scared reading the books themselves right?
M: No, that was not what I meant. I was only really a bit scared while reading the first book Over Sea, Under Stone. But the Dark rising is a serious threat, I could get that.
S: I see.
Marshmallow is reading Silver on the Tree by Susan Cooper.
S: So overall, now that you are done with the whole series, what would you like to say to our readers about it?
M: I would recommend this book to people who like myths, because it blends Welsh mythology with King Arthur stories, and then adds some. There is magic, there is a big scary war between good and evil, and some quite ordinary kids having a role to play.
S: That sounds about right to me. If you could talk to the author, what would you say?
M: Well, I would say that the plots of all the books were very interesting though a bit confusing. I did love how she brought together different mythologies. But I really wished that she would have added some more female characters. The ones in the books were alright, I mean, Jane turned out to be useful in Greenwitch. And the Lady was one of the most powerful among those who fought for the Light, but more women and more girls could have made this story more captivating for me as a female bunny.
S: I cannot disagree with that! And I think you were quite disappointed by what happened to the main characters at the very end.
M: I think that is fair to say.
S: I know. But it also makes sense, no? That humans now have to make their own decisions, they cannot depend on the Light to save them nor can they blame the Dark for things that go wrong?
M: Hmm, I think you are now in spoiler territory!
S: You are right, I’m sorry. Let us stop here then. But in the end, I’d say that these are interesting books and this last one wraps things up in an overall satisfactory way…
M: Sure, I am happy to agree with that.
S: Okay, then how would you like to end the review?
M: I’ll adapt Caramel’s famous closing line to myself and say: “Stay tuned for more amazing reviews from the book bunnies!”
Marshmallow enjoyed reading Silver on the Tree by Susan Cooper, and though she found it a bit confusing at times, she is happy to recommend the books in the series to readers who enjoy stories that blend fantasy, magic, and ancient myths.
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