Marshmallow’s reviews – Page 50

Marshmallow reviews The Secret Sheriff of Sixth Grade by Jordan Sonnenblick

Marshmallow and Caramel have reviewed several books about school life for this blog before. Today Marshmallow wanted to talk about another book about school life: The Secret Sheriff of Sixth Grade by Jordan Sonnenblick. Sprinkles is taking notes and asking questions.

Sprinkles: So Marshmallow let us start with a quick summary. Can you tell us what this book is about?

Marshmallow: This book is about a kid named Maverick. He is short and people mistreat him at school. He also has some family problems. But when he starts sixth grade, he decides to try and change things. He decides to protect others who are mistreated.

S: That sounds really nice. He is not being treated well himself so he knows it feels terrible. So he decides to stand up for others so they won’t feel so lonely.

M: Yes.

S: So how does it go for him? Can he actually help other people?

M: He ends up being able to help, but at the start, he is always getting in trouble. He tries to stand up for others, but usually those people are not very appreciative or grateful. And there is really a lot going on at home. His mom is single and keeps making poor choices for boyfriends. They hit her and she is not always able to stand up to them and Maverick sees this and feels terrible that he is unable to protect his mom.

S: Yes, Maverick’s life is really hard, right? His mom is also always either working very hard at an unstable job or is out of work. Mom and son love each other and are usually kind to one another, but the home is not safe or comfortable.

M: Maverick does not have too many adults to trust, but he does have his aunt, and then eventually he finds another trusted grownup at school. I’m not telling who because I don’t want to give away all the details.

S: I agree. I think this gives people a good sense of the type of book this is.

M: Yes. Except that the book is also really really funny.

S: Yes, I will agree with that too. I was really really sad at some point while reading and then the next sentence made me laugh out loud. Maverick is a sincere, modest, and hilarious narrator.

M: That is true. His voice reminds me a bit of Percy Jackson.

S: How so?

M: They have the same sense of humor I think.

S: I guess so. I think they both are good at self-deprecating humor. And Percy has a lot of difficulties to fit in at school before he figures out he is a demigod. So maybe there is that too. Both Percy and Maverick are kids who did not start out life with things going easy for them.

M: Yes. I think so.

Marshmallow is reading The Secret Sheriff of Sixth Grade by Jordan Sonnenblick. — Marshmallow is reading *The Secret Sheriff of Sixth Grade* by Jordan Sonnenblick.

S: So what else would you like to say about this book? Did you enjoy reading it?

M: I enjoyed reading it, but I do think it is for older bunnies. Maverick’s life is very hard, and some kids might not be mature enough to read about domestic abuse and alcoholism and such.

S: Of course there are a lot of kids who have to live with these things, so for those kids, there is no way to avoid learning about them at any age.

M: That is true. I think maybe for those kids the book might also be good. There are good things that happen in the book too, and some of the difficulties are overcome.

S: So maybe for kids whose lives are difficult in these ways and in other ways, too, this might be a good book because it shows them that other people also suffer, and maybe kindness, Maverick’s way of trying to handle life, is still an option.

M: Yes.

S: The assistant principal at Maverick’s school has a little reminder in his office, a sentence on his wall:

“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.”
page 67

I think it is a good summary of the main message of this book.

M: I think so too.

S: It seems that the author was inspired by a real person while writing this book. There are so many people who have really difficult lives, yet they never lose their kindness. It is hard but those people do it. This book is a good reminder.

M: Yes.

S: So let us wrap things up. How would you rate this book Marshmallow?

M: Hmm, let me see. It gets a bit hard to read sometimes, because it is so sad sometimes. But it is a good book overall. So I rate it 95%.

Marshmallow rates The Secret Sheriff of Sixth Grade by Jordan Sonnenblick 95%. — Marshmallow rates *The Secret Sheriff of Sixth Grade* by Jordan Sonnenblick 95%.

Marshmallow reviews Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling

Marshmallow began this blog with a review of J.K. Rowling’s The Cursed Child. Recently she began rereading the original Harry Potter series in their illustrated versions, and a couple weeks ago, she reviewed the illustrated edition of the first book in the series: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. Today she reviews the second volume, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, illustrated by Jim Kay.

Marshmallow reviews Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, written by J.K. Rowling and illustrated by Jim Kay. — Marshmallow reviews *Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets*, written by J.K. Rowling and illustrated by Jim Kay.

Marshmallow’s Quick Take: If you are reading the Harry Potter books for the first time, or you are rereading them and really like Harry Potter, then this illustrated edition might be the book for you.

Marshmallow’s Summary (with Spoilers): Harry Potter is spending the summer with his aunt, uncle, and cousin Dudley, which is not his idea of a good vacation. Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon adore Dudley and dislike Harry. The reason the Dursleys dislike Harry is because Harry is a most unusual boy, and the Dursleys dislike everything that is out of the ordinary. And sadly, there is not anywhere else for him to go, as he is an orphan.

Last year, (in the first book of the series), Harry learned that his parents were both wizards, and that they were killed by an evil wizard named Lord Voldemort, who was so feared that even after his “death”, people still called him “you-know-who”. You-know-who killed Harry’s parents and then attempted to kill Harry. But somehow, Voldemort’s curse rebounded on himself, and he was weakened, and many wizards thought he was killed. Since Harry was only a baby when this terrible event occurred, he did not remember any of this. He did not even know that he was a wizard, that his parents were murdered, that he somehow “defeated” Lord Voldemort, and as a result, was famous and admired in a world that he didn’t even know existed. He thought that he was a poor orphan and that his aunt and uncle had to take him in and that his parents were killed in a car crash. However, as clueless as he was about his past, Harry did know that the Durleys certainly did not like him and simply tolerated him. They even kept him locked up in a cupboard under the stairs.

Luckily, events last year caused the Dursleys to move Harry to Dudley’s second bedroom. Now they want to lock Harry in his bedroom when Uncle Vernon’s guests arrive. But then, a house-elf named Dobby appears and warns/tells Harry that he can’t go back to Hogwarts, Harry’s school and favorite place in the world, because according to Dobby, terrible things are going to happen.

Harry basically ignores Dobby, even though Dobby makes it pretty hard to do that. When he returns to Hogwarts, which is more difficult than usual for a lot of reasons, he finds that listening to Dobby might have been a good idea.

Marshmallow is reading Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets written by J.K. Rowling and illustrated by Jim Kay. — Marshmallow is reading *Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets* written by J.K. Rowling and illustrated by Jim Kay.

Marshmallow’s Review: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is a really good sequel to the first book, Harry Potter and The Sorcerer’s Stone. The book itself is amazing, and with the illustrations, it makes a great choice for readers who are reading the Harry Potter series for the first time, or for readers who love the series and want to reread the books with some new features (like the pictures).

I don’t think that this is a shortened version or a longer version than the original. The whole thing is in here in all its details, and Jim Kay draws beautiful pictures that really bring the story to life. Even in pages that don’t have a ton of drawings, the corners are decorated with related pictures. I found it very interesting to see what Jim Kay thought each character looked like.

Talking about characters, J.K. Rowling is very good at creating characters that are lovable (Dobby), characters that are relatable (Harry), characters that are realistic (Ron, Harry’s friend), characters that are admirable (Hermione, Harry’s friend who is very smart), and characters that are VERY annoying (Lockhart, a professor who comes to teach at Hogwarts).

I think that this is also a great book to read before or after watching the movie version of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Here is the trailer for the movie, which I have watched several times already:

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002) Official Trailer.

Marshmallow’s Rating: 100%.

Marshmallow rates Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets written by J.K. Rowling and illustrated by Jim Kay 100%. — Marshmallow rates *Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets* written by J.K. Rowling and illustrated by Jim Kay 100%.

Marshmallow reviews Over Sea, Under Stone by Susan Cooper

Marshmallow recently read Over Sea, Under Stone written by Susan Cooper and first published in 1965. Today she is discussing it with Sprinkles.

Sprinkles: So Marshmallow, why don’t you start with a brief summary of what this book is about?

Marshmallow: Sure. Over Sea, Under Stone is about three kids, Barney, Simon and Jane. They are on vacation with their parents in Cornwall and are staying in an old house they rented together with an old family friend Great-Uncle Merry. Then they discover a mysterious map in a small room behind a wardrobe.

S: Oh, so like the kids in The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, the first book written in the Chronicles of Narnia series, who find a new world within a wardrobe?

M: It is similar, but not quite the same. They do not go and find a new world inside the wardrobe. They find a map which allows them to see their own world through a new perspective.

S: How so?

M: When they show Great-Uncle Merry the map, he tells them of an ongoing war between good and evil, and that the warriors on both sides still are fighting it to this day.

S: Yes, this is a good summary I think. But this good versus evil fight is not as tied in with Christianity as it was in Narnia. Here, the good side is tied back to the King Arthur legends instead. It seems more directly connected to English lore. But the way you talked about the main characters, I also thought of a few other books you have reviewed for this blog. For example you reviewed Five Children and It by E. Nesbit and there too there were a few siblings that find something interesting during a family vacation. You also reviewed Half Magic by Edward Eager which is similar.

M: Yes! And Half Magic by Edward Eager also involved the King Arthur legends in some ways.

S: So it seems like there is this genre of siblings, a handful of ordinary kids finding something extraordinary and then their lives change. Would you like that to happen to you and Caramel?

M: No!

S: Why not?

M: Possibly because they almost always get into real big trouble. Almost always there is a real big danger. And that’s not very appealing to me.

S: I see. But you seem to like reading about these kinds of things happening to other little bunnies. I guess you enjoy living vicariously through these characters’ adventures!

M: Yes! I will agree to that.

Marshmallow is reading Over Sea, Under Stone by Susan Cooper. — Marshmallow is reading *Over Sea, Under Stone* by Susan Cooper.

S: Apparently Susan Cooper, the author, wrote four more books about the same conflict between good and evil after this one, starting about ten years after having published this book. Together the five books make up the Dark is Rising sequence. Are you curious about those books?

M: Well, I am curious about what Cooper does with the world, but honestly I am not always too keen to read about female characters written in the time these books were written. They are almost always too stereotypical. I was disappointed with the female characters in Narnia, and here, too, I was disappointed that Jane always worried about cleanliness and her brothers always picked on her for being a girl.

S: I know what you mean. But I thought Jane was not too terrible. She did sense something was wrong with the Withers from the start. And the boys did eventually treat her a bit better. So maybe the other books will be a bit better?

M: I did read an excerpt of the second book at the end of this book and it seemed like there are a whole lot of new characters in there.

S: Yes, I think that is the case. I also heard that many people like that second book a lot. So we might just have to read it to see for ourselves, don’t you think?

M: Yes.

S: So let us wrap this up then. How would you rate this book?

M: Let me see. There was not much humor and the kids were a little too serious for me, I could not relate to any of them, but the story was quite intriguing and kept me wondering till the end.

S: Yes, it was quite stressful for me at times. I did think the author kept up the suspense well till the end.

M: I was not stressed myself but the story did work well. So I rate the book 95% and recommend it to other bunnies. Stay tuned for more book bunnies reviews!

Marshmallow rates Over Sea, Under Stone by Susan Cooper 95%. — Marshmallow rates *Over Sea, Under Stone* by Susan Cooper 95%.

Marshmallow reviews Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling

Marshmallow’s first contribution to this blog was a review of J.K. Rowling’s The Cursed Child. Recently she began rereading the original Harry Potter series in their illustrated versions, and today she offers us a review of the book that started the whole enterprise, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, illustrated luminously by Jim Kay.

Marshmallow reviews Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, written by J.K. Rowling and illustrated by Jim Kay. — Marshmallow reviews *Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone*, written by J.K. Rowling and illustrated by Jim Kay.

Marshmallow’s Quick Take: If you like Harry Potter, or if you are new to his world and want to dive right in, then this illustrated version might be the book for you.

Marshmallow’s Summary (with Spoilers): When he was a baby and his parents were killed, Harry Potter was sent to live with his aunt and uncle Petunia and Vernon Dursley. The problem is that the Dursleys want to be ordinary and they don’t want anything to be out of the ordinary, which is bad because Harry Potter is anything but ordinary. Strange things happen when he gets scared or angry. For example, once when Dudley, his cousin who loves to punch him and hit him, was chasing him, he suddenly found himself on the roof of their school.

A little bit before his eleventh birthday, Harry receives a letter addressed directly to his “room”, a cupboard under the stairs, which his aunt and uncle, Petunia and Vernon, gave him out of the “goodness” of their hearts. Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia dispose of the letter, and then more of the same letters come, still addressed to Harry in the cupboard under the stairs, and when his aunt and uncle move him to Dudley’s second bedroom, the address for the letters switches to the second bedroom. When Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon see the letters, they freak out and go to any lengths to make sure that Harry and Dudley don’t see the contents of the letter. They even travel long distances to hide away at a house by the ocean in the hope that more letters don’t come. Meanwhile, Harry’s birthday has been forgotten, and like every other year, none of the Dursleys says or does anything for his birthday.

Then, in the house in the ocean, a giant man, Hagrid bangs open the door and tells Harry that he is a wizard and he has been invited to Hogwarts, a school for witchcraft and wizardry.

Marshmallow is reading Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, written by J.K. Rowling and illustrated by Jim Kay. — Marshmallow is reading *Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone*, written by J.K. Rowling and illustrated by Jim Kay.

But Harry also learns that his parents weren’t killed in a car crash, as Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon told him. They were killed by a wizard so feared that no one says his name, instead calling him You-Know-Who. You-Know-Who killed Harry’s parents but couldn’t kill Harry, and he himself got destroyed, but some people, like Hagrid believe that he is still out there, waiting to come back.

When Harry goes to Hogwarts, he makes friends and has a good time, except for one professor who seems to hate him and seems to be doing suspicious things. When Harry investigates, with his friends Ron and Hermione, they learn that the nameless horror is trying to return to power. (Dun dun dun!)

We would be amiss if we did not insert the Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (2001) Official Trailer. Enjoy!

Marshmallow’s Review: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone is a really good book. And the illustrations by Jim Kay really make it even better. The characters and the plot are amazing. The plot all fits together and the characters are all very realistic. The illustrations really add to the story. I especially liked the pictures of the different types of dragon eggs. The world of Harry Potter is magical and fascinating. The movies brought the magic into life with amazing visual effects. The illustrations do the same in this book format.

Marshmallow’s Rating: 100%.

Marshmallow rates Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, written by J.K. Rowling and illustrated by Jim Kay, 100%. — Marshmallow rates *Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone*, written by J.K. Rowling and illustrated by Jim Kay, 100%.