Marshmallow’s reviews – Page 55

Marshmallow reviews Percy Jackson’s Greek Gods by Rick Riordan

Marshmallow has already reviewed the first three books of Rick 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.) Today, instead of continuing with the series, which she strongly recommends readers to do, she wanted to talk about a different Percy Jackson book: Percy Jackson’s Greek Gods. Sprinkles has not read this one just yet, so she is asking Marshmallow questions and taking down her answers. Enjoy!

Sprinkles: So Marshmallow you have read this 400-page book rather quickly!

Marshmallow: Yes, it’s a pretty good book. It is also very funny.

S: So what is it about?

M: The book is about the Greek gods and goddesses, and the Greek myths. Percy Jackson adds his perspective on each of the stories.

S: So the book is narrated by Percy Jackson, the hero of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series?

M: Yes. You know what’s quite funny? Depending on whether he likes the particular god or goddess he is talking about, he inserts his opinions into the narrative. For example we know that Poseidon is his father, so he says that Poseidon is the coolest. He starts the chapter “Poseidon Gets Salty” by these words:

I’m biased. But if you’re going to have a Greek god for a parent, you couldn’t do better than Poseidon. Sure, I’ve had my problems with him. He’s not the most attentive dad. But, hey, none of the Greek gods is.
At least Poseidon has awesome powers and a laid-back attitude (most of the time).
He’s amazingly cool, considering how hard it was for him as a young god. He was the middle boy. He was always being compared to his brothers, like: Wow, you’re almost as handsome as Zeus! You’re almost as powerful as Zeus! Or sometimes: You’re not as much of a loser as Hades!
That can really grate a guy after a few centuries.

M: I don’t really understand why they are always so mean to Hades. But you get my point? Percy is a funny narrator.

S: I can see that! So it seems that you might need to know who Percy is when reading this book, Is that so?

M: I guess knowing who he is can be useful, but just having read the first of the series (The Lightning Thief) might be enough. He does mention Piper, a character from the Heroes of Olympus series, which I have not yet read.

S: But it still worked for you, right?

M: Yes.

S: So what else do you want to say about this book?

M: In the middle of the book there are eight pictures of the gods doing stuff. There is a picture each for Demeter, Hades, Poseidon, Zeus, Athena, Ares with Hephaestus, Apollo, and Dionysus.

S: Yes, that is a neat addition. They are full color and were drawn by John Rocco, the artist who illustrated the book covers of the five books of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series.

Marshmallow is reading Percy Jackson's Greek Gods by Rick Riordan. She is at the beginning of the full-color insert of artwork by John Rocco. — Marshmallow is reading *Percy Jackson’s Greek Gods* by Rick Riordan. She is at the beginning of the full-color insert of artwork by John Rocco.

S: It seems like this is a book I might like to read! You had said that the Percy Jackson books could be good reading for all ages. What about this one? Is this a good book for bunnies of all ages?

M: It is probably best for ages 9 and up because it has some scenes that might be scary.

S: Alright, that is definitely good to know. How abut the myths? Do you think this is a good source for people looking to learn about Greek mythology?

M: I am not a Greek mythology expert so I honestly don’t know.

S: But maybe at least you can say whether it is a good book to get started or get more curious to learn more about Greek mythology?

M: Yes, I think so.

S: This might be a good place to wrap up this review. Would you like to rate it?

M: Yes. I rate it 95%.

Marshmallow rates Percy Jackson's Greek Gods by Rick Riordan 95%. — Marshmallow rates *Percy Jackson’s Greek Gods* by Rick Riordan 95%.

Marshmallow reviews Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Titan’s Curse (Book 3 of the Percy Jackson Series) by Rick Riordan

Marshmallow has already reviewed books 1 and 2 in Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson and the Olympians series; you might like to check out her review of The Lightning Thief and her review of The Sea of Monsters before reading further.

Marshmallow’s Quick Take: If you liked some of Rick Riordan’s other books or if you just like Greek mythology, then this might be the book for you.

Marshmallow’s Summary: Fourteen-year old Percy Jackson is not a normal teenager. He is a demigod, or a half-blood, as they call themselves. In the summer, he attends Camp Half-Blood and trains to survive in the world. (Monsters intent on killing them try to attack the half-bloods so they have to watch out and know how to fight back.)

Percy and his friends, Annabeth Chase and Thalia Grace, go to a boarding school where their friend, Grover Underwood, told them that there were two half-bloods. The school is having a party and they see the two half-bloods, Nico and Bianca de Angelo. They need to take them to Camp Half Blood. They meet the school’s vice principal Dr. Thorn, but when they use the Mist on him (Mist is a magical fog that the half bloods use to fool mortals, humans), he seems like he is still suspicious. While Percy, Annabeth, Thalia, and Grover are trying to act normal, Percy notices that the other half-bloods are gone. He goes after them and finds that Dr. Thorn is trying to take them away. When Percy tries to stop him, Dr. Thorn reverts back to his original form, a manticore. He forces Percy and the di Angelos towards a cliff where Dr. Thorn’s allies are approaching with a helicopter to take them away. But then Annabeth attacks Dr. Thorn with the help of her hat, which makes her turn invisible when she puts it on. As they fight, Dr. Thorn jumps off the cliff with Annabeth on his back, because he knows that he will come back. (Monsters in the books always come back once they are killed, but not necessarily immediately.) As the helicopter draws nearer, Artemis’s Hunters come from the woods and attack it. Once the helicopter is driven away, Thalia is very upset that Percy went to stop Dr. Thorn on his own.

When the friends arrive at the Camp, the Oracle, a mummy of the last Oracle of Delphi, announces a new prophecy.

“Five shall go west, to the goddess in chains, 
One shall be lost in the land without rain, 
The bane of Olympus shows the trail, 
Campers and Hunters combined prevail, 
The Titan’s curse must one withstand, 
And one shall perish by a parent’s hand.”

When Percy is not picked to go on the mission, he sneaks out on his own to do it anyway, using Annabeth’s invisibility hat. What can go wrong?

Marshmallow is reading Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Titan's Curse (Book 3 of the Percy Jackson Series) by Rick Riordan. — Marshmallow is reading *Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Titan’s Curse* (Book 3 of the Percy Jackson Series) by Rick Riordan.

Marshmallow’s Review: This is a very good book but it probably could be sad and scary for younger children. Annabeth appears dead at the beginning of the book and a couple other deaths occur in the book. Otherwise, it is a great book for people who liked Rick Riordan’s other books or just people who like reading about Greek mythology.

I think that you can relate with many of the characters in the book. Percy’s sadness after he believes Annabeth is dead makes you feel compassionate towards him. I also felt a lot of sympathy towards Nico because I too have a little brother (hi Caramel!).

This book will not make much sense if you have not read the first two. But if you do go ahead and read all three, you won’t be disappointed. These books are good!

Marshmallow’s rating: 95%.

Marshmallow rates *Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Titan’s Curse* (Book 3 of the Percy Jackson Series) by Rick Riordan 95%.

Marshmallow reviews Kristy’s Great Idea (The Baby-Sitters Club Graphic Novels #1) by Ann M. Martin and Raina Telgemeier

Today Marshmallow reviews Kristy’s Great Idea, the first book in Ann M. Martin’s classic series, The Baby-Sitters Club, reimagined and rewritten as a graphic novel by Raina Telgemeier.

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

Marshmallow’s Summary: When her mother is unable to find a babysitter for her younger brother, Kristy Thomas comes up with a great idea: The Baby-Sitters Club. She decides that she will start a babysitting business together with her best friends Mary Ann Spier and Claudia Kishi.

The girls decide to meet at Claudia’s house and they talk about what they will do. They decide that they will meet regularly in Claudia’s room because she has a phone that they can use for clients’ calls. Claudia tells Kristy and Mary Ann that she knows whom they should invite to be in the club. They should ask Stacey McGill to join them. Claudia tells them that Stacey just moved from New York and that she used to babysit there. The rest of the girls meet Stacey in their next meeting and they decide that she can be in the club.

In the rest of the book the girls babysit multiple children and Kristy becomes closer to the children that might become her step-siblings.

Marshmallow is reading Kristy's Great Idea (The Baby-Sitters Club Graphic Novels #1) by Ann M. Martin and Raina Telgemeier. — Marshmallow is reading *Kristy’s Great Idea* (The Baby-Sitters Club Graphic Novels #1) by Ann M. Martin and Raina Telgemeier.

Marshmallow’s Review: This is a book about friendship. It is the first book of a very successful book series that was originally written in 1986 by Ann M. Martin, but was in 2006 made into a graphic novel, by Raina Telgemeier.

Kristy’s Great Idea is a good book for people who enjoyed Raina Telgemeier’s other books (see my review of her book Ghosts here). The book is one hundred eighty pages, so younger readers might take a longer time reading it and might find it a little hard to read. I think that this book is probably best for ages seven and up.

I think that my favorite character is Karen, one of the kids that might become Kristy’s stepsiblings. I think that she is funny because she thinks that her neighbor is a witch, and put a spell on their cat Boo Boo.

The characters are all well developed. They are also very different from each other. For example, Mary Anne is quiet and shy, while her best friend is a bit bossy and opinionated. Meanwhile, Claudia and Stacey are interested in fashion, but Claudia is a great artist (she is the one who draws the Baby-Sitters Club symbol), and Stacey is more into the styles that are popular. But they still are all great friends.

The book bunnies got into the Baby-Sitters Clubs series because of the new Netflix show The Baby-Sitters Club. Here is a trailer:

The Baby-Sitters Club trailer from YouTube.

There are a lot of differences between the Netflix show and the graphic novels. And I am guessing there are some differences between the original books and the graphic novels. But so far I have not yet read any of the originals. Maybe some day…

Marshmallow’s Rating: 95%.

Marshmallow rates Kristy's Great Idea (The Baby-Sitters Club Graphic Novels #1) by Ann M. Martin and Raina Telgemeier 95%. — Marshmallow rates *Kristy’s Great Idea* (The Baby-Sitters Club Graphic Novels #1) by Ann M. Martin and Raina Telgemeier 95%.

Marshmallow reviews A Wind in the Door by Madeleine L’Engle

Marshmallow reviewed A Wrinkle in Time, the first book in Madeleine L’Engle’s Time Quintet, a few weeks ago. Today, for her first post after the book bunnies’ 2020 summer break, she reviews the second book in this collection: A Wind in the Door.

Marshmallow’s Quick Take: If you like science fiction, or if you have enjoyed reading books by Madeleine L’Engle, then this might be the book for you.

Marshmallow’s Summary (with spoilers): One day when Meg Murry comes home from school, her brother Charles Wallace tells her that there are dragons in their garden. (This is not the first time that something unusual happens to the Murrys. In A Wrinkle in Time, the children rescued their father from an evil entity.) When Meg goes outside she sees her old school principal Mr. Jenkins is there. Then the pet snake of her twin brothers hisses at him, and Mr. Jenkins turns into a winged monster and rips the sky.

The Murry family discusses the fact that there is a strange sound that scientists are hearing and things in space are disappearing. They are vanishing, becoming nothingness. When Meg, Charles Wallace, and their friend, Calvin O’Keefe, see the “dragons” that Charles Wallace had mentioned, they see that it is a Cherubim, an extraterrestrial creature made up of wings and eyes. If not observed up closely, the Cherubim would look like a drive of dragons.

This also leads the three friends to learn that the Cherubim, Proginoskes, whom Meg nicknames Progo, is a Namer, a creature who names things, as opposed to an Echthroi, a creature that would unname things. Proginoskes apparently learned the names of all of the stars once.

Before all of this started, Meg and Charles Wallace’s mother started researching mitochondria and the mitochondria’s farandolae. (Mitochondria are real things: they are organelles in found in many cells. According to Wikipedia, the farandolae are “micro-organelles inside mitochondria that exist in the Time Quintet fantasy universe.”)

Meg eventually starts to notice that her brother has been tired and exhausted for a long time and that she had been ignoring his strange signs because she didn’t want to believe that he was sick. Meg gathers from her mother and from her brother, that their mother thinks that something is wrong with Charles Wallace’s mitochondria and his mitochondria’s farandolae. If his farandolae and mitochondria die, then Charles Wallace is in big danger.

Marshmallow is reading A Wind in the Door by Madeleine L’Engle. — Marshmallow is reading *A Wind in the Door* by Madeleine L’Engle.

Marshmallow’s Review: This is a good book that shows the bond between Meg and Charles Wallace. Meg is willing to risk her life for her little brother. To save him she even goes into one of his mitochondria and meets one of his mitochondria’s farandolae to save him.

It is very interesting that Madeliene L’Engle’s fantasy universe has some real parts and some created parts. I didn’t know what mitochondria were before I read this book. It is so cool that there are mitochondria in everyone, even in bunnies like me!

I think that this is a good book for all ages of bunnies, but it is on the longer side, and so younger bunnies might want to read it with older ones or have an older bunny read it to then. It might be scary for younger bunnies in some parts, so maybe older bunnies reading it with younger bunnies is a good idea.

Marshmallow’s Rating: 95%.

Marshmallow rates A Wind in the Door by Madeleine L’Engle 95%. — Marshmallow rates *A Wind in the Door* by Madeleine L’Engle 95%.