Marshmallow’s reviews – Page 70

Marshmallow reviews Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine

Marshmallow enjoys reading stories that take familiar fairy tales and twist them in various ways to see what will happen. See her reviews of School for Good and Evil: Quests for Glory and School for Good and Evil: A Crystal of Time by Soman Chainani, and A Tale Dark and Grimm by Adam Gidwitz. Below she reviews another such book: Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine, first published in 1997 and awarded a Newberry Honor in 1998.

Marshmallow’s quick take: If you like books that twist classic fairy tales like Cinderella and Snow White, then this might be the book for you.

Marshmallow’s Summary (with spoilers): Ella of Frell has a big secret. She has to do everything that everyone tells her to. Lucinda, the fairy, gave Ella the “gift” of obedience when she was a baby. The “gift” of obedience makes Ella do everything that anyone tells her to do. If someone told her to cut off her own head, she would have to do it.

Anyone could control me with an order. It had to be a direct command, such as “Put on a shawl,” or “You must go to bed now”. A wish or a request had no effect. I was free to ignore “I wish you would put on a shawl,” or “Why don’t you go to bed now?” but against an order, I was powerless. If someone told me to hop on one foot for a day and a half, I’d have to do it. And hopping on one foot wasn’t the worst order I could be given.

But soon her mother dies and she is left without a mother and with a father who she thoroughly dislikes. During her mother’s funeral, she meets a prince named Charmont. They become friends. Then Ella meets Dame Olga and her horrific daughters. And even worse her father marries Dame Olga whose two daughters, Hattie and Olive, start treating Ella badly. Hattie soon discovers that Ella needs to obey orders and so then Dame Olga, Olive, and Hattie start treating Ella like a slave. (Sounds like Cinder-Ella, with her evil stepmother and step-sisters, doesn’t it?)

The rest of the story intertwines parts of the standard Cinderella fairy tale (she does lose her slipper at a palace ball) with some new ideas (the fairy who “gifted” her with obedience, for example). In the end there is love and happiness, so there it is quite like a fairy tale. But I won’t tell you how things get resolved. You just might have to read the book (or watch the movie, I guess…)

Marshmallow’s Review: This is a very good book that makes you think about how we are so lucky to be able to say no. If a fairy had given me the “gift” of obedience, it would be very bad if I could not say no to an order such as to cut off my head. It must have been scary to be in constant danger. If someone found out that you had to listen to any thing that anybody tells you to do. (Now that I’m thinking about it, maybe Ella could have asked someone to order her to not listen to commands unless she wanted to. I wonder if that would have worked.)

Ella Enchanted is a great book that makes you think about how we can just say no. Ella is a fifteen year old who acts normally and is not as flawless as in the fairy tale Cinderella. The characters, Lucinda, Hattie, and Olive are really quite despicable and are easily disliked. (I really disliked Hattie and Lucinda sometimes.)

Marshmallow’s rating: 95%

Marshmallow rates Ella Enchanted 95%. — Marshmallow rates *Ella Enchanted* 95%.

Marshmallow reviews Funville Adventures by A.O. Fradkin and A.B. Bishop

Marshmallow reviews a recent book published by the good folks at Natural Math: Funville Adventures by A.O. Fradkin and A.B. Bishop.

Marhsmallow reviews Funville Adventures by by A.O. Fradkin and A.B. Bishop. — Marhsmallow reviews *Funville Adventures* by by A.O. Fradkin and A.B. Bishop.

Marshmallow’s quick take: If you like books that are secretly about math, then Funville Adventures might be the book for you. It is basically an adventure book about a sister and a brother, so that, too, might be of interest to some readers.

Marshmallow’s Summary (with spoilers): When an evil slide (yes, an evil slide) kidnaps the fourth grader Emmy and her five-year-old little brother Leo, they find themselves in a world full of what I will call Mathamagic.

The evil slide and Marshmallow stare at each other! Marshmallow is thinking of trying not to fall down the slide... — The evil slide and Marshmallow stare at each other! Marshmallow is thinking of trying not to fall down the slide…

In this world, called Funville, they first meet two people named Harvey and Doug. Together they play Hide-And-Go-Seek in a very unusual way. While playing, they find out that the people in this world have super powers. Harvey’s power is to halve objects in size and Doug’s power is to double objects in size. Then they go and eat lunch with Harvey and Doug’s friend Blake. Blake’s power is to erase and clean stuff. Blake applies his power on Emmy’s notebook and the outcome is not very good.

Emmy and Leo travel through Funville and come across problems. They make new friends and are invited to a birthday party. At the birthday party they recognize some familiar faces that they have met before in the time they have spent at Funville. At the birthday party, they have a good time playing Hot Potato and Musical Chairs, and eating ice cream. As you can expect the games are not the same as they are in our world. Musical Chairs needs a referee because everyone tries to cheat by using their powers. Hot Potato also is a game in which everyone attempts to cheat by either making the potato heavier or doubling the potato and ending up with two potatoes.

There is a lot more happening in Funville Adventures, but I don’t want to spoil it all for you. Why not just read it yourselves?

Marshmallow’s Review: Funville Adventures is an easy book that you can read quite quickly. It’s a chapter book, more or less, about one hundred pages long, and it is a fun book to read.

Marshmallow, intently reading Funville Adventures... — Marshmallow, intently reading *Funville Adventures*…

There are no big conflicts, no bad characters trying to hurt the people involved, and once Emmy and Leo find each other, the main story consists of the two of them exploring this new place. As the reader, it is also amusing to try and figure out the math going on.

Marshmallow’s rating: 90%

Marshmallow rates Funville Adventures by A.O. Fradkin and A.B. Bishop 90%. — Marshmallow rates *Funville Adventures* by A.O. Fradkin and A.B. Bishop 90%.

Marshmallow reviews A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein

Reading The Unscratchable Itch in Caramel’s review of The Itchy Book by LeUyen Pham from last week reminded Marshmallow of Shel Silverstein’s A Light in the Attic. Below she reviews this old favorite.

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

Marshmallow’s Overview: This is a book of poems written for children by the author of the famous The Giving Tree, Shel Silverstein. Silverstein also wrote another poetry book for children called Where The Sidewalk Ends. He also wrote The Missing Piece Meets the Big O, which Caramel wants to review some day. (Oh no, I told you what Caramel is going to review!)

Marshmallow’s Favorites: My personal favorites are Fancy Dive, Peckin’, Ladies First, and Almost Perfect. I even memorized Fancy Dive and Peckin’ already.

I like Fancy Dive because it is funny but also involves a few broken bones.

The fanciest dive that ever was dove
Was done by Melissa of Coconut Grove.
She bounced on the board and flew into the air
With a twist of her head and a twirl of her hair.
She did thirty-four jackknives, backflipped and spun,
Quadruple gainered, and reached for the sun,
And then somersaulted nine times and a quarter—
And looked down and saw that the pool had no water..
Shel Silverstein, A Light in the Attic

As you can tell from this example, many of the poems have an interesting twist in the end. There is a sense of Dr. Seuss in Shel Silverstein I think.

Peckin’ is very sad but humorous.

The saddest thing I ever did see
Was a woodpecker peckin’ at a plastic tree.
He looks at me and “Friend,” says he,
“Things ain’t as sweet as they used to be.
Shel Silverstein, A Light in the Attic.

This poem reminds me of the tragic story of Nigel, the lonely gannet. This was a bird in New Zealand that fell in love with a concrete bird and stayed with the concrete bird and eventually died. Poor Nigel was faithful to the very end.

Ladies First is a good poem and so is Almost Perfect. In both poems, the main character is an annoying person who goes through life saying the same annoying phrase over and over again. Both Mary Hume (Almost Perfect) and Pamela Purse (Ladies First) get precisely what they deserve in the end.

Marshmallow is reading Ladies First by Shel Silverstein in A Light in the Attic. — Marshmallow is reading *Ladies First* by Shel Silverstein in *A Light in the Attic*.

There are over a hundred more poems in the whole book. You should check them out yourself!

Marshmallow’s Review: Shel Silverstein’s poems are funny almost all the time — some are sad, like Cloony the Clown — but they are always well written. They all sound good; I enjoy reading many of the poems out loud to Caramel. Almost all poems in the book come with an illustration (drawn by Shel Silverstein himself) that adds to its effect.

This is overall a very good book. I am currently rereading the book for the fifth time, and I expect to be rereading it again and again in the future.

Marshmallow’s rating: 100%

Marshmallow rates A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein 100%. — Marshmallow rates *A Light in the Attic* by Shel Silverstein 100%.

Marshmallow reviews The Sorcerer’s Maze Collection by Blair Polly and DM Potter

Marshmallow has been reading a few “choose your own adventure” (CYOA) books in the last few weeks. Here she reviews the first book she read from the You Say Which Way series of Blair Polly and DM Potter: The Sorcerer’s Maze Collection.

Marshmallow’s quick take: If you like books that allow you to choose which way you go, then this might be the book for you.

Marshmallow’s summary (with spoilers): The Sorcerer’s Maze Collection is basically a collection of games. You are the main character in the book. There are multiple ways to get to the end, if you get to the end. (That sounded too scary. You will most likely get to the end. Eventually.)

The Sorcerer’s Maze Collection contains three different stories: Adventure Quiz, Jungle Trek, and Time Machine. In all of the stories there is a sorcerer’s apprentice present, and in the third story (Time Machine) there is a girl named Matilda. (She is an Australian foreign exchange student and she becomes your friend before the time machine adventure happens.)

Adventure Quiz (book #1): This story starts with you sinking into a marshmallow floor. (Hey, I’m not a floor!) Signs pose questions for you to answer. There is a Sorcerer’s apprentice who asks you questions that are like a quiz or a test. The questions are kind of hard. (At least for a rabbit!) There are questions about space, science, history, and math. (You go back to the beginning if you mess up.)

Jungle Trek (book #2): You start out reading a book, and then you get transported to the jungle, and there are two people in the jungle. They tell you that they are the Sorcerer’s apprentices and are there to take you to the Sorcerer. To get through the jungle you have to answer the many questions they ask you, like “Which is bigger? The mouse or the rabbit?” (The questions are harder than the one I wrote.) If you get the question right, then you continue, and if you don’t, then you go back to the beginning. The questions in this book were the most interesting in the whole collection.

Time Machine (book #3): This story begins in an empty laboratory with your friend, Matilda. You see some weird gadget and Matilda touches it. You and Matilda are transported back in time to the age of Ancient Egypt. Once again you are asked many questions. If you answer a question correctly, you go closer to your real time, and if you make a mistake, then you go farther away from your real time or the time that you started in. Of course there is, again, a Sorcerer’s apprentice who is asking most of the questions.

Marshmallow’s Review: I enjoyed the first two stories more than the third, because I felt like the Sorcerer was cruel in the third book. And the companion, Matilda, was not terribly helpful.

I liked most the questions that came up naturally in my path through the maze, rather than the questions posed by the Sorcerer’s apprentices.

These were my first “choose your own adventure” books. I enjoyed the experience. It was like a game. I liked that I could impact the story because I sometimes get very frustrated when characters in books make foolish choices. In this book I could make all the decisions. I think I will read more books like this in the future.

Marshmallow’s rating: 95%

Marshmallow rates The Sorcerer's Maze Collection 95%. — Marshmallow rates *The Sorcerer’s Maze Collection* 95%.