Marshmallow’s reviews – Page 67

Marshmallow reviews In the Fifth at Malory Towers by Enid Blyton

Marshmallow has finally gotten into the Malory Towers series by Enid Blyton, which used to be a favorite of Sprinkles when she was a young bunny. In the review below Marshmallow reviews the fifth book of the series: In the Fifth at Malory Towers. As a change, this time Sprinkles is involved, too. Let us see how this one goes.

Sprinkles: So Marshmallow I have been seeing you reading the Malory Towers books over and over in these last few days.

Marshmallow: Yeah, I have been reading them, that’s true.

S: Can you tell our readers what these books are all about?

M: They are about some British girls going to a school called Malory Towers. Malory Towers is a boarding school for girls only.

S: The school is for six year and there is one book for each year, right?

M: Yes. Each year, there are multiple problems that come up and we see the girls grow up as they go through all that. Though some of them don’t seem to get more mature. They don’t seem to get nicer.

S: Yes, there is a specific mean character, you mean?

M: Yes. She’s spiteful, cunning, and sly. She’s also conceited; she thinks she’s great.

S: You’re talking about Gwendoline, right?

M: Yes, Gwendoline Mary Lacey. And she lies to her parents, too, telling them that she is good at everything.

S: Ok, let us talk about the more pleasant characters. Tell us about some of them.

M: Darrell Rivers is the main character. And her best friend is Sally Hope.

S: They are both good kids, right?

M: Well. Darrell has some anger issues. At least in the earlier books.

S: Then she should read Caramel’s review of Train Your Angry Dragon, right?

M: That might not be good enough. She needs to read the book! Anyways, Sally also is not perfect. She gets jealous sometimes. But overall they are, as you say, good kids. Actually most of the characters have some serious flaws.

S: But isn’t that quite natural? No bunny is perfect.

M: Yes I suppose that’s true. And maybe that makes the book more realistic.

S: Ok, now it is probably time that we start talking about the fifth book. Why did you want to talk about this one more specifically?

M: This one is my favorite. It’s interesting to see how all the talents and strengths of the girls come together to create something, the Christmas show.

S: You and your classmates often do school plays, right?

M: Yes we do at least one play every other year.

S: That does take a lot of group effort and practice.

M. Right. But in this book there are also other problems that the girls have to face. Moira and Alicia get really mad at each other for instance and Alicia quits. Then Alicia’s cousin June gets mad at Moira and starts writing poison pen letters.

S: That’s an interesting phrase Marshmallow. What does poison pen letter mean?

M: I had not heard of it before reading this book but Wikipedia has a brief description.

S: That’s really mean, right? To send spiteful and anonymous letters to people to hurt them?

M: Yes, that’s really mean. In the end June is punished for it. But let us not spoil the book for the readers. Maybe this is a good place to stop?

S: Yes, I think we gave them some good teasers so they can follow up with the threads themselves. Thanks for the chat Marshmallow.

M: Yay! I get to say it this time: Stay tuned for more reviews from the Book Bunnies!

Marshmallow enjoyed reading In the Fifth at Malory Towers by Enid Blyton. — Marshmallow enjoyed reading *In the Fifth at Malory Towers* by Enid Blyton.

Marshmallow reviews Animal Farm by George Orwell

Marshmallow reviews Animal Farm by George Orwell (1945).

Marshmallow found a copy of George Orwell’s classic Animal Farm during her summer break and chose it for her first review of August 2019.

Marshmallow’s quick take: If you like books that are about animals that act and talk like humans, then this might be the book for you.

Marshmallow’s Summary (with spoilers): The animals on Manor Farm gather to listen to the last speech made by Major, an old boar who is about to die. Major says in his speech that man is the real enemy and that if they overthrow the farmer then they can be free. He says that man does not produce anything like milk and eggs, but humans are still the top of the food chain. Three nights later Major passes away.

Soon after, three pigs named Napoleon, Snowball, and Squealer start a rebellion against humans, like Major said. They succeed and eventually overthrow the farmer Jones and his wife. The farmer runs away and leaves the farm to the animals. The animals rename the farm Animal Farm. But Jones does not want to give away the farm. He goes back to the farm to regain the farm. The humans lose and the animals remain the owners of the farm for the time being.

Before the fight, the animals establish a kind of law called The Seven Commandments.

The Seven Commandments
1. Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy.
2. Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend.
3. No animal shall wear clothes.
4. No animal shall sleep in a bed.
5. No animal shall drink alcohol.
6. No animal shall kill any other animal.
7. All animals are equal.

These rules will eventually change and change for the worst.

Marshmallow is pointing to the original seven commandments in George Orwell's Animal Farm. — Marshmallow is pointing to the original seven commandments in George Orwell’s *Animal Farm*.

Animal Farm is a happy place until the leaders start getting corrupted by greed for power and eventually turn against each other. Snowball proposes that they build a windmill to get electricity. Napoleon is against the idea. The two comrades turn against each other. Napoleon trains a few dogs to use as bodyguards and he frightens Snowball away with them. Then he eventually says that he had agreed with the windmill plan the whole time and that he was really just pretending to disagree. Napoleon also says that it turns out the Snowball was allies with the evil farmer Jones. They start to build the windmill. Once they finish the windmill, after a lot of tiresome work, the windmill breaks and Snowball is blamed for the destruction of the windmill.

This is only page 47; the book has 95 pages total. A lot more happens but I think this is enough to give you a taste of what is to come.

Marshmallow’s review: This book is an allegory about how people treat each other when they have too much power. It reminded me of Aesop’s fables where the main characters are animals acting like humans. But this is a much more political story than The Boy Who Cried Wolf.

“It is the history of a revolution that went wrong—and of the excellent excuses that were forthcoming at every step for the perversion of the original doctrine.”
wrote Orwell in the original blurb for the first edition of Animal Farm in 1945.
from the back cover.

As in fables you learn lessons from the story. It seems that pretty much anybody can be corrupted by power. Of course, the silence and cooperation of the farm animals who are all scared of being the next victim of Napoleon’s dogs allow his corruption to grow.

This book is quite pessimistic and does not have a happy end. But maybe we can learn from it some things. All in all I appreciated reading it and will likely read it again.

Marshmallow’s rating: 95%

Marshmallow rates George Orwell's Animal Farm 95%. — Marshmallow rates George Orwell’s *Animal Farm* 95%.

Marshmallow reviews Animal Friendship! Collection by National Geographic Kids

Marshmallow reviews Animal Friendship! Collection by National Geographic Kids, a collection of three books in one volume:

Book 1: Best Friends Forever! And More True Stories of Animal Friendships (by Amy Shields)

Book 2: The Whale Who Won Hearts! And More True Stories of Adventures with Animals (by Brian Skerry with Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld)

Book 3: Lucky Leopards! And More True Stories of Amazing Animal Rescues (by Aline Alexander Newman)

Marshmallow has been reading the Animal Friendship! Collection by National Geographic Kids on and off for a couple years now. Finally she is writing about it.

Marshmallow reviews Animal Friendship! Collection, Amazing Stories of Animal Friends and the Humans Who Love Them by National Geographic Kids. — Marshmallow reviews *Animal Friendship! Collection: Amazing Stories of Animal Friends and the Humans Who Love Them* by National Geographic Kids.

Marshmallow’s quick take: If you like nonfiction books about animals, then this might be the book for you.

Marshmallow’s Overview: This book has three books in one volume:

Book 1: Best Friends Forever! And More True Stories of Animal Friendships (by Amy Shields)
Book 2: The Whale Who Won Hearts! And More True Stories of Adventures with Animals (by Brian Skerry with Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld)
Book 3: Lucky Leopards! And More True Stories of Amazing Animal Rescues (by Aline Alexander Newman)

In the first two books, there are four stories each, each made up of three chapters. The third book has three stories, each made up of three chapters. That means that there are, in total, eleven stories (all told in a total of 33 chapters) in the collection.

Each story is three chapters long. The stories are all about different animals: there are stories about leopards, apes, dogs, whales, cats, sharks, and so on. In the stories of the first book, there is a friendship between two species of animals that are each unique in different ways. Most stories in the second book are about human interactions with special animals, and the stories in the third book are about people rescuing hurt animals. The stories are all real, and the book contains many colorful photos of the events happening.

Marshmallow is pointing towards an adorable baby harp seal, the protagonist of only one of the many sweet stories in Animal Friendship! Collection, Amazing Stories of Animal Friends and the Humans Who Love Them by National Geographic Kids. — Marshmallow is pointing towards an adorable baby harp seal, the protagonist of only one of the many sweet stories in *Animal Friendship! Collection: Amazing Stories of Animal Friends and the Humans Who Love Them by National Geographic Kids.*

Marshmallow’s Review: The book cover says that this book is about “Amazing Stories of Animal Friends and the Humans Who Love Them”. This description is accurate as these are really heartwarming and amazing stories.

This is a great read for people and rabbits who like nonfiction books about animals and people. It contains stories that have characters that are all loyal and kind to their friends or companions.

My favorite book in the collection is Book 1: Best Friends Forever! I like this book because it has my favorite stories. The stories in this book are about animal friendships. The animals are very loyal to their companions who are from a different species, which makes it even more impressive that they are friends. The very first story is about Roscoe the dog and Suryia the orangutan. The second one is about a gorilla named Koko who loves cats. The third story is about a greyhound named Jasmine and the many different animals she becomes friends with. The last story of Book 1 is about Owen the hippo and his friend Mzee the tortoise.

The fact that this book is nonfiction is almost unbelievable since the stories are so unlikely but very cute and adorable. In my opinion this is a very good and well written book.

Marshmallow’s rating: 100%

Marshmallow rates Animal Friendship! Collection, Amazing Stories of Animal Friends and the Humans Who Love Them by National Geographic Kids 100%. — Marshmallow rates *Animal Friendship! Collection: Amazing Stories of Animal Friends and the Humans Who Love Them by National Geographic Kids* 100%.

Marshmallow reviews The Mysterious Mannequin by Carolyn Keene (Book #47 of Nancy Drew Detective Stories)

Marshmallow has read about fifty of the classic Nancy Drew books by Carolyn Keene. Below she shares her thoughts about The Mysterious Mannequin, the forty-seventh volume in the series, first published in 1970.

Marshmallow’s quick take: If you like detective stories where the main character is a kid who solves crime mysteries, then this might be the book series for you.

Marshmallow’s Summary (with spoilers): Nancy Drew receives a mysterious package that contains a Turkish prayer rug that hides a message. Nancy’s friends, George, and Bess, help her figure out the message:

“Carson, find mannequin. I love her. Carry her to Constantinople.”

Nancy and her father Carson Drew decide that the sender is probably Farouk Tahmasp, a client of Mr. Drew who, after being charged for smuggling, disappeared mysteriously. But other people know about the rug that Farouk Tahmasp sent to the Drews: a man comes and attempts to steal the Turkish prayer rug. Luckily, Nancy’s dog Togo saves the day (and the rug). Nancy sees a man who looks exactly like the man who tried to rob the Drew house. He meets with a woman and shows her a note that is short but sad. She bursts into tears, and then when the man sees Nancy, he tells her to run. They flee and Nancy and her friends, George and Bess, run after them.

Nancy is an amateur detective and immediately starts to search for the mannequin that the sender, Farouk Tahmasp, is looking for. Nancy finds a clue while dining at a Greek/Turkish restaurant. Nancy describes the thief and the woman who he talked to. She asks if he knows anyone by the descriptions that she tells him. Another man, probably the “neighborhood boss”, gets up and asks them (not very nicely) why they are asking all these questions. Nancy asks him who he is and then he goes back and sits down again. The owner of the restaurant, Mr. Akurzal, leaves. Later one of the waiters drops a note in Nancy’s lap. It says:

“There are many young people who answer your description but you might look for two men, Cemal Aga and Tunay Arik, and girls, Alime Gursel and Aisha Hatun.”

Find the people that the owner, Mr. Akuzal, told them about in the note. They cross out two of the suspects, Cemal Aga and Alime Gursel. That means that the main suspects are Tunay Arik and Aisha Hatun. They can’t find them though. Nancy and her friend, Ned, look but they can’t find the man Tunay Arik. Nancy and Ned start looking for Tunay Arik in shops. They don’t find him, but they do meet the two girls who lead them to Tunay Arik. Sue and Kathy, the two girls, take them to Tunay Arik’s location. He is not there though. They find out who is the woman, Aisha Hatun. They learn that Aisha and Farouk were in love and then Farouk got involved in the smuggling issue. (Farouk was proven innocent.) Farouk left and then Tunay started annoying her. Nancy and her friends, George, Bess, Aisha, Ned, Burt, and Evan, all leave to Turkey. The problem is that they don’t know where the mannequin is. Where is the mannequin?

Marshmallow is reading The Mysterious Mannequin by Carolyn Keene (Book #47 of Nancy Drew Detective Stories). — Marshmallow is reading *The Mysterious Mannequin by Carolyn Keene (Book #47 of Nancy Drew Detective Stories).*

Marshmallow’s Review: This is one of my favorite Nancy Drew mysteries and I have read it over and over again, several times. The characters are interesting and the way that Nancy reveals the mannequin is intriguing.

It is also at the same time an old book and its age shows. I felt that occasionally it is not very culturally sensitive. But the book does try to give a flavor of Istanbul to the readers, and does mention some facts about Turkish history.

Nancy Drew is a little like Encyclopedia Brown (you can see my review of Encyclopedia Brown Books 1-4 here). Nancy Drew is not an encyclopedia of facts A to Z but is very intelligent. She has a very practical mind and has the ability to make connections that most of the time solve the mystery that she is working on. Her friends are not as intelligent but are helpful and supporting of her.

Marshmallow’s rating: 95%

Marshmallow rates The Mysterious Mannequin by Carolyn Keene (Book #47 of Nancy Drew Detective Stories) 95%. — *Marshmallow rates The Mysterious Mannequin by Carolyn Keene (Book #47 of Nancy Drew Detective Stories)* 95%.