Sunday, December 4, 2011

100 Cupboards

100 Cupboards 100 Cupboards by N.D. Wilson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed this book and I can't say that for some fantasy books I've read lately. Henry York is a very different child. His parents are so overprotective (Henry remembers being sent to boarding school with a helmet to wear during P.E.) that he doesn't quite miss them when they are kidnapped. When he goes to live with his aunt and uncle, Henry discovers 99 cupboards that have been covered in plaster in his attic bedroom. From the cryptic comments Henry has with his uncle it is apparent that the uncle knows what is going on. I was surprised that since Uncle Frank surely understood the ramifications of the plaster Henry is carrying outside that Frank didn't intervene sooner. Henry and his cousin Henrietta are soon whisked away on an adventure that I found to be interesting but slightly disappointing. Sure they encounter an evil villainess, and get trapped, and see ghosts but the adventure was so very brief! It is overly apparent that this book is only the first in the series and really just a world building book. My absolute favorite part of this book happened to be the descriptive language used by the author. Some sentences were so completely descriptive that they were as long as sentences in a Tolkien book. Despite my utter enjoyment with the language, I seriously doubt the age range suggested by the publishers to be at all accurate. Older teens and adults would have few difficulties with the over abundance of descriptiveness but 9 to 12 year olds are going to be lost.

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Pretty Little Liars is Mostly Entertaining

Pretty Little Liars (Pretty Little Liars, #1)Pretty Little Liars by Sara Shepard
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book is not for fourth graders. Just want to make that clear as one of my fourth grade students was walking around with it the other day. She thought it was pretty good and I wasn't sure she even understood what is going on. There is a lot of drugs and sex in this book. A lot. I thought it was a realistic portrayal of some of the antics teens pull but at the same time the parents don't seem to influence the girls as much as I think happens in reality. Kinda like those tv shows where the kids can go and do anything they like and the whole time I think...where are the parents? Mine would never have let me do that.

Plot: Five girls are best friends until Alison disappears during the seventh grade. The years go by and the girls are now in high school. Spencer, Aria, Hannah and Emily are upset by Alison's disappearance but at the same time are almost glad she is gone. Alison knew everyone's secrets and the girls are never really sure that she won't spill the beans. As time goes by the girls grow apart and their secrets become larger. Soon all four girls are receiving strange envelopes, texts, and emails from the mysterious 'A'. Is it Alison? Who else could it be? Who else but Alison knew their secrets?

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