Tag: dragons

The Language of Spells

~ rachelbenzine ~ Leave a comment

Plot:

Grisha is a dragon, living in a world where most people have forgotten how to see magic. Maggie is a girl, living in a world that wants her to be ordinary, even though she’s extraordinary. They encounter one another in the hotel that Maggie lives in… and their friendship might mean that there’s hope to solve a great mystery.

What I loved most:

There are some books that are written to children – where adults write down to their audience… and then there are books written with love for children. It’s like the difference between talking to a little kid while you’re standing up, and they have to crane their neck to look up at you… and squatting down when you’re talking to a kid, so that you’re at their level. The Language of Spells is the second kid of book. The language Weyr uses feels like a big cozy sweater and like an invitation to go on a bold adventure, all at the same time. It gives me the same kind of vibes of K. E. Ormsbee, who y’all know I love. This is a book that I’d highly recommend to literally any kid that I know.

Read this book if you like:

The House in Poplar Wood by K. E. Ormsbee, friendships, adventure, finding magic in the ordinary

Book details:

  • Author: Garret Weyr
  • Publisher: Chronicle Books
  • Date of Publication: June 26, 2018
  • Interest Level: Mid-elementary to early middle schoolers

The Extremely Inconvenient Adventures of Bronte Mettlestone

~ rachelbenzine ~ 2 Comments

Review:

When she is ten years old, Bronte Mettlestone finds out that her parents were killed by pirates. This doesn’t upset her that much, as she has never met them. She was raised by her Aunt Isabelle and the Butler. However, her parents left a faery-cross-stitched will that binds her to go on a journey. She must deliver presents to each one of her father’s ten other sisters (since they left Aunt Isabelle her gift of cloudberry tea when they deposited Bronte on her doorstep as a baby). So begins her voyage, though which she will eat oranges from one aunt’s orchard, ride a dragon at another’s dragon hospital, encounter water sprites and elves, accidentally start an avalanche, and perhaps rescue a Kingdom from an evil King.

The Extremely Inconvenient Adventures of Bronte Mettlestone is eight-year-old-me’s dream book, and is one of twenty-six-year-old-me’s favorite books that I’ve read in the last year. There’s adventure and fun and friendships and magic, which creates an engrossing volume that will thrill middle-grade readers. I cannot recommend this book too highly. Go get it, right now.

Favorite Passage:

“Why did you come on the journey?” Sebastian asked suddenly. “I know the faery cross-stitch would destroy Gainsleigh if you didn’t come, so is that why? Is it because you love Gainsleigh?”
“Your question shows an extreme lack on insight,” I said. “Of course I love Gainsleigh. It’s my home! I love the harbor and the Botanical Gardens and the cobblestone streets lined with gardenia trees! Not lobelia, you see. But that is beside the point. Even if I did not know a town — even if I hated it! — I would not want to be the cause of its buildings and bridges crashing down!”
After a moment, Sebastian asked his parents what an extreme lack of insight meant.
“It means you asked a daft question,” Uncle Josh told him.
– Chapter 12

What I Loved Most:

Moriarty writes with this poetic, lovely, flowery language that is a spell in and of itself. She is truly an artist, crafting a splendid world that abounds in delight and cheer. It’s not that everything in the book is all sunshine and happiness — the very premise of the book is based on a child’s parents dying. But the way that Moriarty chooses to express herself is lavish and sumptuous while also remaining accessible to younger readers.

Read this book if you like:

Adventures, magic, feeling as if you’re close friends with book characters

Book Details: