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The Whatever After Series by Sarah Mlynowski

The Whatever After Series by Sarah Mlynowski

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Title: Whatever After Series

Author: Sarah Mlynowski

Published By: Scholastic (2012)

Synopsis: 

Abby and Jonah thought their life was normal. Then they move to Smithville. And discover they have a magic mirror in their basement. A magic mirror that transports them into fairy tales! At first, they’re excited. Until they accidentally start messing up the fairy tales. And they don’t know how to get home. Will the characters—and Abby and Jonah—get a happy ending?

 

 

 

Review:

There is only one way to describe Sarah Mlynowksi’s Whatever After series and that is: Hilarious!

I found this series, which is now going on its 11th book, hilarious and lovable. Abby’s voice as a ten-year-old is convincing and extremely realistic. While the writing may not have been the best, the voice sold it for me. Abby sounds exactly like your average ten-year-old, which, in my opinion, makes it even better and even funnier.

The situations they find themselves in, the things they do to mess up fairy tales (accidentally, of course), made me laugh and laugh. I love rewritten fairy tales and so far this is the best series I’ve encountered! I mean, seriously: They go into Snow White and stop her from eating the apple. Cinderella breaks her foot so the slipper won’t fit. Rapunzel’s long hair gets cut off so the prince can’t climb up. Ooops!

Negative Content/Notes:

None.

Overall:

Hilarious! If you’re looking for a quick, fun, great read, Whatever After is for you. While definitely designed for younger readers, I still enjoyed them at 16. They’re just good books!

Rating: 4.5 / 5.0

Recommended to: Ages 8 and up!

The Cupcake Club by Sheryl & Carrie Berk

The Cupcake Club by Sheryl & Carrie Berk

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Title: The Cupcake Club Series

Authors: Sheryl & Carrie Berk

Published By: Sourcebooks (2012)

Synopsis from the first book:

Kylie will never survive fourth grade in her new school without friends. And starting a cupcake club seems the perfect way to meet other girls. But getting the club up and running is not easy- especially with trouble spelled M-e-r-e-d-i-t-h trying to ruin them. In taking on the class mean girl, Kylie and her new friends may have just bitten off more than they can chew. (Taken from Goodreads.)

 

Review:

The Cupcake Club Series by Sheryl Berk and Carrie Berk is a collection of short, sweet, and cute stories you won’t regret reading. I could easily hear Carrie’s nine-year-old voice in these stories, and yet it was written well enough that it could have been an sole adult work. Carrie and her mother have great talent and I’m glad I discovered their works.

The plots are structured, the characters are lovable, and the storylines fun and exciting. If I could use one word to describe this series, it would be “Fun!”  The problems that arise for these girls are problems, yes, but in the same sense just funny situations, as they are resolved easily and simply. Full of imagination and spunk, they were creative and funny, that even in non-baking crises, baked goods and treats were worked into it. I loved them when I first read them at age thirteen, so I can only imagine how much the six- to ten- age range must be all over these books!

Negative Content/Notes:

None.

Overall:

Sheryl Berk and Carrie Berk did a great job in creating this adorable, fun, sweet series and I’ll be looking forward to the next addition.

Rating: 4.5 / 5.0

Recommended to: Ages 6-12 will probably like it best, but I’d say all ages can appreciate the cuteness of these stories!

Below by Meg McKinlay

Below by Meg McKinlay

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Title: Below

Author: Meg McKinlay

Published By: Candlewick Press (2011)

Synopsis:

 On the day Cassie was born, they drowned her town. The mayor flipped a lever and everyone cheered as Old Lower Grange was submerged beneath five thousand swimming pools’ worth of water. Now, twelve years later, Cassie feels drawn to the manmade lake and the mysteries it hides — and she’s not the only one. Her classmate Liam, who wears oversized swim trunks to cover the scars on his legs, joins Cassie in her daily swims across the off-limits side of the lake. As the summer heats up, the water drops lower and lower, offering them glimpses of the ghostly town and uncovering secrets one prominent town figure seems anxious to keep submerged. But like a swimmer who ventures too far from shore, Cassie realizes she can’t turn back. Can she bring their suspicions to light before it’s too late — and does she dare? (Taken from Goodreads)

Review:

Fun-filled and mystery-loaded, Below was a interesting read. The summary and back cover were really intriguing, and the book definitely lived up to my expectations.

I enjoyed it; the one thing is, it was very vague and sometimes it took a long time to find out as the reader something Cassie discovered pages ago. However, all the mysteries are answered in the end—it just takes a bit of patience, to wait for the answers until the few last chapters.

Negative Content/Notes:

None I can remember.

Overall:

It was a good read. The writing was acceptable and I liked the author’s style. It wasn’t anything amazing, but was still enjoyable and entertaining.

Rating: 3.0 / 5.0

Recommended to: Eh…not sure how high I’d recommend it, but probably ages 10 and up.

 

Scenarios Series by Nicole O’Dell

Scenarios Series by Nicole O’Dell

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Title: The Scenarios Series (Truth or Dare, All That Glitters, Magna, Making Waves, High Stakes, Essence of Lilly)

 

Author: Nicole O’Dell

Published By: Barbour Books

Synopsis:

Decisions, decisions! How is a girl supposed to choose? Lessons of right and wrong are put to the test in the Scenarios series, where you can test your decision-making abilities in an eye-opening, but safe, way. Each book follows a character up to the point where she has to make an important, life-changing decision—then it’s your turn to choose. Will your choices lead to a happy ending? (Taken from Goodreads.)

Review: 

Nicole O’Dell’s Scenarios series are truly great books. Though it is one series, in each book there are new characters in new situations. The characters felt a little flat at times, but for the most part it wasn’t hard to love them.

One thing I really loved about the whole series was the Christian themes. It takes true talent to do a Christian book—if you do it wrong it can come off really cheesy—and I thought Nicole O’Dell did really well on this aspect. I really liked the way the main character always was (somewhat) willing to put church first, while still worrying about what their friends would think; they were true to the teenage Christian mindset/culture and I was able to relate to that. I enjoyed the way the main character was able to (in some situations) turn her friends to Christ and how praying was a regular thing for their families. I loved how the Christian message was written into the books as part of the story, but also as an outreach as well. And again like I’ve said, it’s hard to pull these kind of books off, but I think O’Dell did fine.

And, of course, I loved the two ending options. The scenarios the characters get themselves into are scary yet real and both endings are written naturally, as if there was no other ending. It was fun to read the two ways the character could have gone and see the results of both! Nobody can not like the ending because if a reader doesn’t like one ending there’s the other one 🙂

My personal favorite of these books was Truth or Dare, which was focused more around friendships and thereof was eaiser for me to relate to than the other stories about boyfriend drama. (Haha.) The other few books were really well done, too. Overall, the whole series is a definite 5-star rating and a series I’ll definitely reread again.

Negative Content:

No negative content. There is a lot of mature content though, as the author deals with real life teen struggles; however, it is all addressed in a wholesome way, and does not glorify the wrong things.

Overall: A clean, Christian read for girls, these books will have trouble reaching a secular audience, but I think they will and should do great among Christian readers as a story with characters with real struggles.

Rating: 5.0

Recommended to: 12 and up

Eight Keys by Suzanne LaFleur

Eight Keys by Suzanne LaFleur

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Title: Eight Keys

Author: Suzanne LaFleur

Published By: Wendy Lamb Books (2011)

Synopsis: Elise and Franklin have always been best friends. Elise has always lived in the big house with her loving Uncle and Aunt, because Elise’s parents died when she was too young to remember them.  There’s always been a barn behind the house with eight locked doors on the second floor.
When Elise and Franklin start middle school, things feel all wrong. Bullying. Not fitting in. Franklin suddenly seems babyish.  Then, soon after her 12th birthday, Elise receives a mysterious key left for her by her father. A key that unlocks one of the eight doors upstairs in the barn…(Taken from Goodreads.)

 

Review:

Every time I read this book, I am reminded how beautiful of a story it is, how original, how sweet, how touching — then again, what book by Suzanne LaFleur isn’t?

Elise is such a real middle schooler. I know I’ve said this about LaFleur’s other characters, but that’s because it’s just so true. The author has such a talent for getting right in the mind of a young girl and exploring her deepest thoughts.  I feel like I am Elise when I read this book. Elise isn’t perfect, she isn’t super loveable, but she’s real, and you love her for that.

I was reading reviews for this book and it seemed to me like one thing people don’t like about this book was that it seemed to them the message being sent was “Telling an adult about a bully doesn’t help.”  However, I don’t see that message at all. When Elise tells her teacher, I can agree that her teacher doesn’t seem to care the first and second times; but when she tells her aunt and uncle, they do do something about it— they give her advice on how to handle it. Maybe some readers wanted Aunt Bessie and Uncle Hugh to go storm to the school and demand Elise be treated fairly. But in reality, maybe they wanted Elise to learn something from this, for her to have courage to stand up for herself. And that is a definite message that is sent.

Personally, I can not find anything I do not like about this book. Everything Elise endures—whether it’s good or bad—winds together and twists together to create one unforgettable story of mystery, friendships, and a few keys that happen to unlock secrets from the past.

Negative Content:

None.

Rating: 5.0

Recommended to: All ages!

 

 

Emmy and the Incredible Shrinking Rat by Lynne Jonell

Emmy and the Incredible Shrinking Rat by Lynne Jonell

Title: Emmy and the Incredible Shrinking Rat (Emmy and

the Rat, #1)

Author: Lynne Jonell

Published By: Henry Holt and Co. (2007)

Synopsis: Emmy was a good girl. At least she tried very hard to be good. She did her homework without being told. She ate all her vegetables, even the slimy ones. And she never talked back to her nanny, Miss Barmy, although it was almost impossible to keep quiet, some days.

She really was a little too good. Which is why she liked to sit by the Rat. The Rat was not good at all . . .(Taken from Goodreads.)

 

Review:

While this book may seem weird or strange at first because of the word “rat” in the title and the corresponding rodent aspect of the story, it was not strange or weird in the least (at least not to me). The rats are spoken about just as any other animal, not regarded differently for a creepy aspect or whatever. Personally, I found it was incredibly unique and fantastical.


Ten-year-old Emmy is our heroine, a rich girl living in a huge house with servants and a nanny but no parents, who are always off away on some trip or another. She tries very hard to be a good girl to get her parents to come back, but it goes nowhere. Emmy made the perfect role to lead this adventure. It was written almost as a fairy tale, focusing on the action more than the characters, which in this case I thought was fine. Same goes for the other characters too—except the Rat, who was easily the starring role in the plot, the most developed character, and the best, all in one.

Adventure, magic, evil nannies, a ten-year-old heroine—this story was right up my alley. Such a unique storyline with twists and turns you never see coming! Even though the main character is young, it is by no means limited to her age range; I think all ages can enjoy this story. It felt so original — because who else writes stories about talking rats with magical powers and the girl who helps save them?

There were a lot of typical middle-school themes in this book—trying to be a good girl, the temptations to “be bad”, family struggles, being good enough, and loyalty to friends—all of which were skillfully explored through a middle-grade lens. Present but not straightforward, I think readers will take a lot from this book, maybe without even realizing it.

Negative Content:

None.

Overall:

I loved this book as a middle-schooler and still have a great appreciation for it now in my high school years. While definitely aimed at younger grades, I think this lighthearted tale is something all ages can enjoy. To this day it remains one of my favorite books of all time.

Rating: 5.0 / 5.0

Recommended to: Enthusiastically recommended to all ages!