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In this article:
How to Be a Pirate by Cowell
On the Banks of the Bayou by MacBride
The Elephants of Style by Walsh
DNF: The Elusive Miss Ellison by Miller
How to Be a Pirate (How to Train Your Dragon #2) by Cressida Cowell
4 STARS, Kid Lit/Middle Grade Fantasy, My format: paperback
Goodreads Synopsis | Buy on BookShop
Reviews in Dragon series: #1 How to Train Your Dragon
Follow along with Hiccup and Fishlegs as their class on how to be a pirate takes a drastic and adventurous turn.
Personal Review:
Hiccup officially has my heart. I never thought I would become so fond of a young Viking but here we are.
The sarcasm and ridiculousness of the Vikings were wildly entertaining. Hiccup and Fishlegs and Toothless the dragon are the best group of characters. I love the way Hiccup handles being bullied and how he holds true to his personal values (albeit in some of the strangest ways).
The pirate adventure of this book was exciting. Alvin is a great villain and the mishaps and monsters help make the story what it is.
My only "issue" is that a lot of the story is just kind of gross (like in a green slime kind of way), which shouldn't be a problem for the intended audience of 12-year-old boys.
Content Warnings:
several encounters with monsters, bullying and name-calling (part of the Viking culture), slimy details
On the Banks of the Bayou (The Rose Years #7) by Roger Lea MacBride
4 STARS, Middle Grade Historical, My format: read-aloud to girls ages 9, 7, 5, and 3
Goodreads Synopsis | Buy on BookShop
Reviews in Rose series: #1 Rocky Ridge | #2 House in Ozarks | #3 Big Red Apple | #4 Other Side of the Hill | #5 Town in Ozarks | #6 New Dawn
Rose spends the year living with her aunt E.J. and attending high school in Louisiana.
Personal Review:
This was a very different perspective of Rose's life! Her experience living with her aunt E.J. in Louisiana was so different from her time growing up in and near Mansfield.
My kids and I enjoyed this book, but possibly not as much as when Rose was younger. It was interesting, though, how the topic of women's suffrage was so prevalent in their time. It really helped give us some perspective on the expectations of how women were supposed to act and what were acceptable ways for them to pass their time.
Rose was extremely clever and worked very hard to succeed in her own way in this book, even while dealing with some of the extras that come with being a teenage girl. We all admired how hard she worked and how she tried to balance her social life as well. We really loved spending time with Odile and her family - that provided yet another interesting perspective to the story!
Content Warnings:
none
The Elephants of Style by Bill Walsh
4 STARS, Nonfiction for Editors and Writers, My format: personal study
Goodreads Synopsis | Buy on BookShop
Subtitle: A Trunkload of Tips on the Big Issues and Gray Areas of Contemporary American English
Personal Review:
An entertaining and extremely helpful way to learn some tips for grammar and style. Some of it is a little outdated and I'd love an updated version.
I have read "The Elements of Style" and was slightly bored. The sarcasm and dramatic reactions to certain trends and common mistakes found in "The Elephants of Style" are sure to stick with me much longer.
Did Not Finish
I stopped reading The Elusive Miss Ellison by Carolyn Miller at 46 %. This book is just too heavy for me. So far it has been clean but simply not my cup of tea. You might like it if you like a very grumpy hero, a sunshine-y and stubborn heroine, descriptive death of a mother being a central part of the story, forced proximity through a near-death smallpox illness.
What have you been reading lately?