Review! Sleeping Giants (The Themis Files #1)

Author: Sylvain Neuvel

336 Pages

Published by: Del Rey on April 26, 2016

Summary (from amazon.com):

A girl named Rose is riding her new bike near her home in Deadwood, South Dakota, when she falls through the earth. She wakes up at the bottom of a square hole, its walls glowing with intricate carvings. But the firemen who come to save her peer down upon something even stranger: a little girl in the palm of a giant metal hand.

Seventeen years later, the mystery of the bizarre artifact remains unsolved—its origins, architects, and purpose unknown. Its carbon dating defies belief; military reports are redacted; theories are floated, then rejected.

But some can never stop searching for answers.

Rose Franklin is now a highly trained physicist leading a top secret team to crack the hand’s code. And along with her colleagues, she is being interviewed by a nameless interrogator whose power and purview are as enigmatic as the provenance of the relic. What’s clear is that Rose and her compatriots are on the edge of unraveling history’s most perplexing discovery—and figuring out what it portends for humanity. But once the pieces of the puzzle are in place, will the result prove to be an instrument of lasting peace or a weapon of mass destruction?

Review! Wilma Tenderfoot and the Case of the Frozen Heart (Wilma Tenderfoot #1)

Author: Emma Kennedy

335 Pages--Ages 8-12

Published by: Dial Books by 15 September 2011

Summary (goodreads.com):

Wilma Tenderfoot, a tiny, brash, and determined ten-year-old orphan, dreams of becoming a worldfamous detective so she can find out who her parents are. Wilma discovers that her new next-door neighbor is the renowned detective Theodore P. Goodman, and he has a new case. Wilma is set on becoming Mr. Goodman's apprentice, so with the help of her beagle, Pickle, she makes deductions, follows leads, and scouts out suspects. She's sure she'll win the famous detective over and crack the case, as soon as Pickle stops eating the clues.

With wicked humor, dastardly villains, red herrings, and a setting that would make Sherlock Holmes proud, this mystery is just like Wilma-funny, feisty, cheeky, and charming.

Review! Howard Wallace PI (Howard Wallace #1)

Author: Casey Lyall

272 Pages--Ages 8-12

Published by: Sterling Children's Books on 06 September 2016

Summary (goodreads.com):

“What’s with the get-up? Is that the company uniform or something?”
“This? All P.I.s wear a trench coat.”
“Dude, that’s a brown bathrobe.”
I shrugged and straightened out my sleeves. “First rule of private investigation, Ivy: work with what you’ve got.”

Twelve-year-old Howard Wallace lives by his list of rules of private investigation. He knows more than anyone how to work with what he’s got: a bathrobe for a trench coat, a makeshift office behind the school equipment shed, and not much else—least of all, friends. So when a hot case of blackmail lands on his desk, he’s ready to take it on himself . . . until the new kid, Ivy Mason, convinces him to take her on as a junior partner. As they banter through stakeouts and narrow down their list of suspects, Howard starts to wonder if having Ivy as a sidekick—and a friend—is such a bad thing after all.

Review! Love, Ish

Author: Karen Rivers

288 Pages--Ages 9-13

Published by: Algonquin Young Readers on 14 March 2017

Summary (goodreads.com):

Things Mischa “Ish” Love will miss when she goes to Mars: lying on the living room floor watching TV, ice cream, her parrot Buzz Aldrin. Things Ish Love will not miss when she goes to Mars: mosquitoes, heat waves, missing her former best friend Tig.

Ish is convinced that she’ll be one of the first settlers on Mars. She’s applied to—and been rejected from—the Mars Now project forty-seven times, but the mission won’t leave for ten years and Ish hasn’t given up hope. She also hasn’t given up hope that Tig will be her best friend again (not that she’d ever admit that to anyone, least of all herself). When Ish collapses on the first day of seventh grade, she gets a diagnosis that threatens all her future plans. As Ish fights cancer, she dreams in vivid detail about the Martian adventures she’s always known she’d have—and makes unexpected discoveries about love, fate, and her place in the vast universe.

Review! The Ugly Princess and the Wise Fool

Author:  Margaret Gray, Randy Cecil (Illustartor)

176 Pages--5-10 years

Published by: Henry Holt and Co. on 01 October 2002

Summary (goodreads.com):

"A very long time ago, when all the countries you’ve ever heard of were in different places on the map, a princess was born who was not beautiful. She wasn’t even remotely pretty, and the whole kingdom was in deep shock about it."

Princess Rose doesn’t get any prettier as she grows up, but the kingdom does get over its shock. Everyone adores the skinny, buck-toothed princess, and she doesn’t mind her appearance—until the handsomest prince in the world comes looking for a bride. Despite warnings from her seafaring fairy godmother and a wise fool named Jasper, reckless Rose wishes for beauty. She gets her wish, and the prince, but finds neither is as nice as she had expected.

Summer 2018 Ending Thoughts

The summer officially ends in 2 days, on September 22, 2018 so I decided to post my Summer 2018 ending summary.

I ended up not being able to finish my 20 books this summer. The original list was:

1. The Wurst is Yet to Come


2. Engaging Father Christmas


3. Pippi Longstocking


4. Children of the Lamp: The Blue Djinn of Babylon


5. The Genius Files: Never Say Genius


6. Wilma Tenderfoot: The Case of the Frozen Hearts


7. It’s Raining Cupcakes


8. Murder on the Links


9. Class Dismissed


10. The Sinclair Mysteries: The Painted Dragon


11. Draw Blood


12. Blood Dawn


13. Airman


14. The Book Scavenger: The Alcatraz Escape


15. BOB


16. Fairy Tale Reform School: Charmed


17. Fairy Tale Reform School: Tricked


18. Fairy Tale Reform School: Switched


19. Descendants: Rise of the Isle of the Lost


20. Archie Greene and the Magician’s Secret

I only managed to finish 11 of these books. That's not to say I didn't read 20 books, there were just a couple I read that weren't originally on this list.

Oh, and my plan to clear out my bookshelf totally backfired. I ended up going to my library's summer sale where I bought like 4 books. Then my local used bookshop ended up having their end of the summer sale which was buy one get one free on everything! As you can imagine, I bought so so so SO many books. So now I had to clear out some space just to store all these new books.

The other books I ended up reading this summer were:

1. Hermes and the Horse with Wings (Heroes in Training #13)


2. Chocolate Fever


3. Perseus and the Monstrous Medusa (Heroes in Training #12)


4. Wild Card (Dresden Files Graphic Novels #6)


5. Dionysus and the Land of Beasts (Heroes in Training #14)


6. Samantha and the Missing Pearls (American Girls Short Stories #17)


7. Samantha's Short Story Collection


8. I am Mordred


9. The Report Card


10. Posted


11. The Arctic Incident (Artemis Fowl #2)


12. Murder in Retrospect (Hercule Poirot #25)


13. Sage and the Journey to Wishworld (Star Darlings #1)


14. The Princess Imposter


15. Restart


16. Schooled


17. Sugar and Spice (Confectionery Yours #3)


18. Flipped

So, while I didn't finish all of the 20 books I initially set out to read I ended up reading 29 books! Which, overall, is more than my initial goal of 20. So I'll take this as a half way win.

In the end I didn't really meet my goals, but I still think it was a fun try anyway.

Review! Restart

Author: Gordon Korman

256 Pages--Ages 8-12

Published by: 

Summary (goodreads.com):

Chase's memory just went out the window.

Chase doesn't remember falling off the roof. He doesn't remember hitting his head. He doesn't, in fact, remember anything. He wakes up in a hospital room and suddenly has to learn his whole life all over again . . . starting with his own name.

He knows he's Chase. But who is Chase? When he gets back to school, he sees that different kids have very different reactions to his return.

Some kids treat him like a hero. Some kids are clearly afraid of him.

One girl in particular is so angry with him that she pours her frozen yogurt on his head the first chance she gets.

Pretty soon, it's not only a question of who Chase is--it's a question of who he was . . . and who he's going to be.