Katie Comstock - Moonbeam

Moonbeam



By Katie Comstock



Kindle Version Available

Product Description (from Amazon)

Moonbeam lives in the magical land of Glaucio. She is the daughter of Fiona, lead mare of the main herd on in the land. When Fiona is brutally killed by Abaddon, Moonbeam is thrust into command of the herd. She must battle against Abaddon and his evil forces using her innocence and a gift from Stardust. Abaddon wishes to kill Stardust, the stallion in charge of all the land. Moonbeam and her friend, Comet, must fight together with mares and stallions of other herds to prevent this. If Abaddon succeeds, the land of Glaucio will be cast into 300 years of darkness, evilness and despair.

About the Author (from Amazon)

Ever since I was little, I've enjoyed anything to do with reading or writing. Any book I could get my hands on I devoured. Writing proved to be a wonderful way to temporarily get out of doing my math. I didn't write very much until my Mom bought me the One Year Adventure Novel (www.oneyearnovel.com) curriculum in the fall of 2009. This curriculum taught me how to come up with a compelling plot and characters. Through this curriculum, I've written two books, one of them in the process of being written and the other, Moonbeam. 
I have wonderful parents and four awesome younger siblings. When I'm not writing, I enjoy riding my horse, playing piano, ballet, reading and listening to music. I've been homeschooled since preschool and love the flexibility it gives me to be able to write more. 

O.Scarlett! REVIEW by Kendra

This is a book which I wish I could have liked more than I did. I first heard of it through an interview she had with Landry's Academy, and it sparked my interest. Unfortunately, I failed to bookmark the book, and while I remembered the title and the author's first name, I forgot her last name … and searching “Moonbeam” and “Katie” didn't come up with anything.

And then I was reading through the backposts on the Homeschooled Authors blog – and there she was. I didn't have the money to buy the book at the time, but as soon as I did, I snatched up a kindle copy. I read it in a day.

As I stated before, I wish I could have liked it more than I did. It's not that it was a bad book – it was delightfully unique, and for the most part the horses acted like horses (one of my pet peeves in animal books is when you could say that they're human and not change a word in the book – I've read such books before). Also it's a Christian allegory, one of my two favorite flavors of Fantasy.

Yet for all of its charm, it fell flat for me. I knew when I picked it up that the author was only sixteen – it was one of the reasons I wanted to read it – but it showed. There was a lack of maturity to the writing (especially the conversations, which is a biggie with me) and many of the characters. There was nothing to set it apart from other allegories (other than the fact that it was about horses, rather than regular people), indeed, I found it rather predicable, having already read many books in the genre.

The story begins shortly after Moonbeam, the titular character, finds that Abbadon, the leader of the bay horses, has killed her mother. There are two colors of horses in this world. White horses follow Stardust, the Jesus figure of the book, and bay horses are those who are in rebellion against Stardust.

While she is still trying to come to grips with her mothers death, a new horse shows up, Daryn, a messenger of Stardust to tell her that a great war was being set in motion and to ask her and Comet, the stallion of their herd, to join them. Since her mother was the leader of the herd, Moonbeam is to follow in her footsteps … of course going to help means that she has to find a substitute for a while, but her friend, Ellipse, is perfect for the job.

Then they go with Daryn, train for the battle, meet new friends (the stallions and lead mares of other herds), and have the battle.

After that, I found it rather predictable, since I already knew that it was an allegory.

I really, really wanted to love this book. I enjoyed it, definitely, and the author shows lots of promise, so I will continue to read her books (I follow her blog, and while she hasn't published anything else, some of the books she's working on sound very interesting), but this one fell flat.

Note: This would be a good story for younger girls, maybe eight to twelve, who love horses, but don't mind it if it gets a bit scary.

Genre/Theme: Fantasy, Christian, Animals

Reading Level: CHILD - children's literature 
Profanity: NONE - no offensive language 
Sexuality: NONE - not even hinted at 
Other: Fighting between horses, some death, but not much is described.

Norm DaPloom - The Frog Who Would Be Prince

The Frog Who Would Be Prince



By Norm DaPloom


Kindle Edition Available



Product Description (from Amazon) 

Did you know that every 60 seconds another prince is turned into a frog? The Prince of Capitol City was in danger of becoming just another statistic when young Tom discovered him croaking on his bedroom windowsill. Now, with a little help from a cranky old dwarf, an overly optimistic dragon, and a wise-cracking library book, Tom must restore His Majesty to mammal-hood, and that’s not as easy as it sounds.

Along the way they’ll face witches, monstriches, the horrifying (but eminently literate) Bookwyrm, and the dastardly pirate captain Dirty Beard Daggert, with his notoriously bad hygiene and his chronically ill parrot, Admiral Petey. They’ll swim through the innards of a giant sea turtle, witness the unbridled ferocity of a traditional Dwarven meal, and explore the tranquil beaches of Insignifica, where the world’s tiniest armed forces don’t take kindly to trespassers. And – who knows? – they may even learn a thing or two about sniggling while they’re at it.

The Frog Who Would Be Prince is a 60,000 word novel designed for middle readers with an interest in humorous fantasy adventure, but its quirky, off-beat humor will inspire a laugh from readers of all ages.

About the Author (from Amazon)

No Author Information Available

O.Scarlett! REVIEW by Kendra


You see that description up there? This book managed to keep that humor throughout the whole book.

This book is another book that just showed up on my kindle for me to read. The title caught my eye, and made me think “FROG PRINCE RETELLING!” instantly. I was not incorrect in my assumption. This was a Frog Prince retelling – and probably the best Frog Prince retelling I have ever read.

The book starts out with Tom trying to find a dragon. He has a small problem, you see, and his grandfather had once told him that dragons are extremely smart and can solve such problems as the one he has.

His small problem, you see, is that the prince at the castle which he works at … is now the frog that he has in his pocket.

Yep, definitely a small problem.

Well, despite that no one he asks even believes that dragons exist, he has, at last found a dragon – and a dwarf as well to throw into the mix. However, while the description describes the dwarf as being cranky, I didn’t exactly remember him being so. It was the book that was cranky. The dwarf was just as optimistic as the dragon.

Unfortunately, the dragon doesn’t know what to do about the prince turning into a frog, and he can’t find anything about it in his collection of books, so they do the logical thing: go to the library.

They go through all sorts of adventures to get to the library, and then they have to get past the bookwyrm to get the book they want. The answer that the book gives is most disheartening: the prince frog must be kissed by a princess – but not just any princess! They must travel north to find a certain princess who is trapped under a spell of sleep.

I loved that part, too. Not only did the book have the Frog Prince – it also had Sleeping Beauty!

In order to find said princess, of course, they’ve got to go on all sorts of adventures, and they take the library book with them – it has a map, you see. When they go past the return date for the book, the book starts talking and complaining and pretty much ordering them to return it to the library.

The ending was magnificent and totally not what I was expecting. I can’t tell you what happened, as it’s the ending – but it totally threw me for a spin. It’s one of those stories that have a false ending. I’ve decided that I like false endings.

This was the sort of book that I spent half the time I was reading it in laughter. Good laugh out loud belly laughter. As soon as I finished it, I flew to my computer to see if he had any other works. Unfortunately, he has none, but if he were to write any more books, I’d read them in a heartbeat.

Let me say this one more time: This book was amazing. I never knew what could possibly happen next, and just when I thought that everything that could happen had, something new would happen and reduce me to a lump of laughter.


Note: This book would be great as a read aloud to children – especially boys.

Genre/Theme: fairy tale adaptation, humor

Reading Level:  CHILD - children's literature, but would be great for anyone who wants to laugh.
Profanity:  NONE - no offensive language
Sexuality:  NONE - not even hinted at. Nothing beyond the princess kissing the top of the frog’s head.
Other: They get captured by dirty pirates, ships get blown up, they almost get burned and poked to death, and they get eaten by a giant sea turtle. Nothing bad, but it can sometimes be a tad bit scary.

David Earl - Son of Hook

Son of Hook
The Adventures of Peter Pan



By David Earl


Kindle Edition Available


 Product Description (from Amazon) 

There is a new danger in Neverland, the son of Captain Hook! Out to destroy Neverland, and the only one who can stop him is over 80 years old and a world away. Is this the end for Neverland? Or is it the beginning of Pan's newest adventures?

About the Author (from Amazon)

As a child, David Earl of California enjoyed stories of Peter Pan and always wanted to elaborate on them, and here is his vision, The Adventures of Peter Pan series.'Son of Hook' is the first from his extravagant imagination of stories that take you back to where Pan had been and more. 'The Secret of Skeleton Bay' continutes where 'Son of Hook' left off; follow his mind through this series of books and you are sure to not be disapointed in this exciting journey.

O.Scarlett! REVIEW by Kendra

I always love a good classic rewritten. When I saw the description for this book, it intrigued me. A son of Captain Hook who can only stopped by an 80 year old Peter Pan. Sounded like my kind of book.

So I sent it to my Kindle and couldn’t wait to read it.

When I finally pulled it up and read it, I was disappointed. It was a 52 page book, but the author had upped the font size from the normal font size, so it wasn’t as long of a story as what I had expected. Now, the length by itself wouldn’t have been an issue, except that I found no depth. I felt like I was on the back of a frog hopping here and there and trying to hang on for dear life. At the end I had a feeling of, “great summary, now where’s the full book?”

However, the plot itself wasn’t bad. It twisted a bit, and even surprised me sometimes, though I was never at the edge of my seat. The problem was, some of the plot seemed forced, or didn’t quite make sense. For instance, when Wendy’s memory was wiped and she was sent back to normal England … where did she go? It doesn’t quite work out mathematically. And I never did figure out the boys who visited Pan in the beginning … and then showed up briefly a second time towards the end.

There is a sequel, which I have also sent to my Kindle, so maybe that will explain a few of my questions … when I get around to reading it … Somehow, I’m not as eager to read it as I was to read the first book. It’s not too long, however, so I should be able to squeak it in someday …



Note: This is aimed at younger boys, so maybe my 10-year-old boy cousin would have liked this much better than I did. Younger boys don’t care as much for deep character and plot development as much as seventeen-year-old girls. They like action, and this book did have quite a bit of that.

Genre/Theme: Classic rewrite/sequel, children, Kendra's Review

Reading Level: CHILD - children's literature
Profanity: NONE - no offensive language. Or, at least, I don’t remember any.
Sexuality:  NONE - not even hinted at
Other: There is Neverland magic, of course, as well as some sword fighting, but nothing any worse than the original play/story.

Ben and Annie Grimley - Andromeda's Moon

Andromeda's Moon

By Ben Grimley and Annie Grimley

Kindle Edition Available 


 Product Description (from Amazon)
While boldly sneaking aboard the final flight of the U.S.S. Explorer with her cat, Pickle, twelve-year-old Andromeda Starwell finds herself on an unexpected journey--to the Moon! Stranded on Apollo Research Base, the young stowaway barely has time to miss home when the lunar colony becomes the scene of a mysterious theft. The prized Lavalight Crystal has been whisked away under the very noses of Base Security without a trace--no clues, no suspect, no hope of solving the crime. Worse, in the wrong hands, the Crystal has the power to wreck the entire colony! With Inspector Ride's official investigation going nowhere, Andromeda teams up with her brilliant but flaky, daydreaming classmate, Pixie, and a double-dealing, four-armed robot, Rad. Together, they must thwart a diabolical plot to melt Apollo Base into a puddle of molten moondust. And, in between moondiving, rocketboarding, meteorite dodging, and low-gravity food fighting, Andromeda still has to figure out a way to get home...

About the Author (from Amazon)
Ben Grimley founded PBS KIDS Mobile at PBS, where his team received honors including a Parents' Choice Gold Award, Teachers' Choice Award and a Distinguished Achievement Award from the Association of Educational Publishers for work in educational media. He continues to work on educational apps for kids of all ages, with a particular passion for math and science games. He also has a penchant for writing poems about the moon and for sneaking midnight snacks. Andromeda's Moon is his first novel.

Annie Grimley is his 12 year old daughter.

O.Scarlett! REVIEW by Kendra

I have a love/hate relationship with the mystery genre. I love watching the logic of who done it, and trying to stay one step ahead of the mystery solvers. However, I hate it when the mystery solvers are sticking their noses where they don’t belong, especially if the mystery solvers are kids, and there is someone else supposed to be solving this mystery. If they make the person who is supposed to be solving the case look petty and incompetent, I like it even less.

This book fell firmly into that category. There were times when I put it down and I almost didn’t return. The only thing that kept me coming back was a desire to know if my suspicion about who the villain was was correct. I had had the guy picked out for the villain the moment they introduced him. I was correct, by the way, but I won’t tell you who it was. You can figure it out for yourself.

This book was advertised as being full of hilarious moments … and I suppose it is … if your idea of hilarious is getting laughs from someone else’s pain. There were moments I did laugh, but most of the time I just cringed or rolled my eyes. Mom says I talked to this book a lot.

I had no love for the main character, Andromeda, and very little sympathy for her plight. The reason for her getting stuck on the space ship was her own fault. She was being disrespectful of authority, especially of her father. She probably could have avoided getting trapped on that space ship by simply not taking her cat with her. That cat did NOTHING for the story, other than getting her trapped on the space ship, and I would frankly like to know how she zip-corded while carrying a cat cage. My mental image just falls short. I did finally figure out why the cat came though. You see, this was a co-write and one of the authors was a twelve year-old girl. Every twelve-year-old girl has her favorite animal, Annie’s just happens to be a cat, and obviously the cat just had to come along as a result,

Andromeda, or Andrie as she was often called, reminded me of a spoiled brat. She was manipulative, conniving, disrespectful and all around left me with an uncomfortable feeling in the pit of my stomach. The only thing that ever induced me to feel sorry for her was when it was revealed that her mother got lost on the far side of the moon. There was only one thing that she did that I at all applauded was when she stood up for a girl who was being teased.

This book is also advertised as being scientifically accurate, as it was reviewed by someone from NASA. I’m sure that, on all of those points it probably was. However, something I always wondered was why technology is so much more advanced on the moon than it is on earth. I can understand why the stuff that involves people not weighing as much would not be on earth, but I would have thought that the classrooms on earth would have much of the same technology as does the ones on earth, especially Andrie’s school, as she just struck me as someone who runs in high technology circles. I mean, her dad designed the rocket she rode on!

Now, this wasn’t a bad book, and I did eventually come back every time I put it down, and I probably would read a sequel if one came out, but there were a lot of things that left a bad taste in my mouth. Maybe a twelve-year-old who goes to a public schoool wouldn’t have a problem with it, but I, a homeschooled 17 year old, did.

Genre/Theme: Sci-fi, children’s, mystery
Reading Level:  CHILD - children's literature 
Profanity:  LOW - few mildly offensive words, all from one guy who only appears in the beginning and towards the end.
Sexuality:  NONE – except for when Andrie knees one guy where it counts, and some other s joke that if she prevented him from ever having kids, she had done the world a favor. Honestly, I think that should have been left out considering the intended audience.
Other: 
There were a lot of “Accidents” by one character, Harry. There was one kid who was the brunt of many practical jokes, which could have been left out. Andrie and her friends face quite a few near-death encounters. Andrie disobeys a LOT.

Daisy Griffin - Samantha Loses the Box Turtle

Samantha Loses the Box Turtle
by Daisy Griffin
Illustrations by Matthew Griffin

Kindle Edition Available



Product Description (from Amazon)
When Samantha's grandfather finds a box turtle on a busy street the only thing to do is bring him home. Sam's mom says that he has to be let go, but not before some zany drama ensues. You'll have to read to find out how Samantha Loses the Box Turtle!


Samantha Loses the Box Turtle is a children's chapter book filled with fun and adventure while teaching about the lovable critter, the Eastern Box Turtle. It is broken up into 11 chapters, which contain 15 wonderful illustrations by Matthew Gauvin.

Also included at the end of the book are Box Turtle Fun Facts and a Quiz to help further your child's reading enjoyment.

About the Author (from Amazon author page)
I am a mother of 3, aunt of 7. My degree is in zoology and my heart tends to love all things natural. I love animals and plants and gazing at the stars at night. I am an avid reader. I am married to a technophile who lovingly bestowed a Kindle upon me for my birthday one year. I love it. I love reading on it, and am now enjoying creating books for children to go on it.

This biography was provided by the author or their representative.

O.Scarlett! REVIEW by Kendra
Growing up with a younger sister who loved animals, we had a few turtles … or more like lots of turtles. Four of these turtles were box turtles, and three of those came from the wild. I really enjoyed this book, as it brought back so many memories from those days.

     The story starts with them finding the turtle on the way home from a trip to town one day. They bring it home in a plastic sack because they found it in an unsafe location, and when they get home, their mother tells them they could not keep the turtle as it was wild and would not survive properly in captivity, something I can attest to because we had to release all three of the box turtles we got from the wild rather soon after my sister acquired them. They decide to take the turtle to the local nature preserve.
     Samantha is also studying the Food Chain in school and, with permission from both her mother and teacher, brings the turtle to show her fellow students. While at school, the turtle gets out and they have to re-find him again, and after school they take the turtle to the Nature Preserve.
     It was a good story, and flowed pretty seamlessly. There were plenty of turtle facts peppered throughout, but they were never annoying. To my surprise, there was no mention of evolution. All facts were the hands-on type that you can prove. The pictures were naturally black and white, so that should not be an issue on the black and white Kindle.
     Samantha did not get along with her sister as well as I would have liked her to, and I found the baby’s speech a tad bit unrealistic, but not much.

All in all, this is a good book, one I’m sure my younger sister would have devoured back during her turtle days, and one I’m sure my younger brother will enjoy reading.

Genre/Theme: Chapter Reading Book, Animals, Children
Reading Level (by appropriateness): CHILD Children's Literature
Profanity: One Gray Area word
Sexuality: NONE - although some parents might ahve issues when, in explaining the difference between girl and boy turtles, it is mentions that tboy turtles get on top of girl turtles

Brenda Ponnay - Secret Spy Numbers

Super Agent Josephine's 
Secret Spy Numbers
by Brenda Ponnay

Available for Kindle

 and in Paperback


Product Description (from Amazon)

Secret Agent Josephine is willing to reveal the contents of her stealthy, super expanding spy bag -- but are you ready? In this fresh and funny book, Brenda Ponnay, aka Secret Agent Josephine, gets kids counting spy glasses, micro-cameras and more super-secret spy gear. Little ones will love the bright colors and big numbers, older children (and their parents) will delight in the detailed descriptions of the spy paraphernalia.

About the Author (from Amazon author page)

Mother by day, Secret Agent by night! Or at least that's what I've been telling everyone on the internet for the last five years. The reality is I juggle motherhood and a bustling graphic design and illustration business all day long and deep into the night. The lines are blurred and that is what makes me a Secret Agent or a super hero, either one.

My daughter is my muse and she creeps into my art in the most unexpected ways (sometimes literally).

This biography was provided by the author or their representative.

O.Scarlett! GUEST REVIEW by Kendra

I read a review for the print version of this series on a blog I follow, so when I noticed that my Mom had managed to get this one for our Kindle, I pulled it up at once.

The book itself was every bit as good as I had remembered the review saying it to be.  It gave a detailed inventory of all 55 items in her bag. Who would have guessed that she carried around a stick of lipstick that was really super glue?  Or a rubber computer?

Now I want a rubber computer …

However, this book is in color, and on a black and white Kindle, it just wasn’t as brilliant. In this book of the series, it wasn’t so bad, but one of the books in the series is about colors.  Also, a good deal of the charm of this book was in the descriptions of the objects, which was part of the image, and in super tiny print.  I could barely read it on the Kindle.

So I pulled it up on my laptop. It was some better. The colors were now there, but the print was still tiny. Pulling it up on my Mom’s larger computer was better, but still not much. Perhaps if I could get my hands on Josephine’s secret spy magnifying glass, I would be able to read it …

However, all in all, it was a great read, and I look forward to reading it to my younger brother and sister. I plan to suggest this series to my local library.

Genre/Theme:  Children, Educational (numbers), Spy/Mystery

Reading Level: CHILD 
Profanity:  NONE 
Sexuality:  NONE 

Other: None