The Ranger's Apprentice series by John Flanagan

The Ruins of Gorlan is the first book in The Ranger's Apprentice series. I had noticed it as I was shelving books at Kenwood and thought it looked like a good "boy" book. Well, it unequivocally is. Girls who like adventure will like it, too. It was very fast-paced. I couldn't put it down.

Will, Jenny, George, Horace, and Alyss are all wards of Castle Redmont under the supervision of Baron Arald. When they turn 15, they are eligible for Choosing Day. Each of the five have their choices made and hope to be accepted. Will wants to go to battleschool, but he is small in size. He becomes the apprentice to Ranger Halt instead, and is in for the ride of his life.

Topics for The Ruins of Gorlan: knights, rangers, intelligence officers, apprenticeship, boar hunt, bullying, integrity, hard work, training, learning a trade, swords, orphans, medieval-like setting, horses

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The Burning Bridge is more violent than The Ruins of Gorlan because of the battle scenes. It's also more intense. It also ends with a cliff-hanger, so you'll want to have book 3 at the ready. The language is a little more rough in this book as well.

Topics for The Burning Bridge: war, enemy, sword fighting, thieves, secret identity, allies, deception, miners, slaves, hostages, negotiations, emissary

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The Icebound Land finds Will and Evanlyn on board a ship sailing toward Skandia, an icy, snow-covered place. Evanlyn's true identity is still a secret. Will gets addicted to warmweed while working as a slave in the yards (The warmweed is given to him without his understanding of what it is.). Evanlyn works as a servant/slave inside the buildings, so she has a little warmth. Their story is built around an attempt to escape.

Meanwhile, Holt and Horace leave Araluen to seek out Will and Evanlyn. They encounter the nasty Lord Deparnieux who is unspeakably cruel and evil. I love reading about Holt. He's a very smart man who does a great job training Will (in earlier books) and Horace.

Once again, the book ends with you eager to get to the next book. Also, the amount of swearing increased in this book. For me, that's a bummer, but the story is really good, so I chose to ignore it.

Topics for The Icebound Land: sailing, capture, drug addiction, slavery, winter survival, escape, unexpected friends, evil rulers, lawless land, creating opportunity, plotting

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In The Battle for Skandia, we read the conclusion to the story started in book 3. Early in the book, the four get reunited and become allies of their former enemies, the Skandians, in order to defeat an even more fierce enemy...the Temujai. The Temujai remind me of what the warrior Mongolians of old may have been like. In fact, when I looked up Genghis Khan, I read that his real name was Temujin. Sound familiar?

Be prepared for a lot of battle scenes in this book. Once again, I came to the conclusion of the book wanting to get my hands on the next one. This series does a really good job of making you care about the characters. All of them are written and fleshed out so well that you think you know them. I love that. (Had a little less swearing than the previous two books.)

Topics for The Battle of Skandia: archers, battle, warriors, strategy, treaty, uneven odds, rescue, traitor, rulers, hand-to-hand combat

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Genre: fantasy (limited fantasy elements)

Mrs. Beckwith's Rating: 5 of 5

Amazon Reviews for The Ruins of Gorlan

Amazon Reviews for The Burning Bridge

Amazon Reviews for The Icebound Land

Amazon Reviews for The Battle for Skandia

Defiance by Valerie Hobbs

Valerie Hobbs does a wonderful job weaving this story about Toby, an eleven-year-old city boy with cancer, Pearl, a 94-year-old poet with macular degeneration (results in poor eyesight) living alone on a dilapidated farm, and Blossom, an aging milk cow. Toby is on vacation when he discovers Blossom, the cow. He's concerned about how skinny she is, so he heads to the nearby farm to confront the farmer who happens to be an old woman, Pearl.

Defiance is a rich story deep with meaning for people who have experienced cancer or other losses in life. Early in the book, Toby reads the sign posted on Pearl's house, "Whoever steals my freedom takes my life," which is one theme of the book. Toby feels like his parents are stealing his freedom. Pearl feels like her daughters are trying to steal her freedom. Pearl and Toby just want to be free to make the decisions they want to make. Pearl and Toby discover they are exactly what each other needs to help them make important decisions.

Audience: all (especially someone who is sometimes tired of fighting and needs hope to keep going)

Genre: realistic

Topics: cancer, death, dying, secrets, cows, being sick, chemotherapy, lying, telescope, stars, poetry, tired of fighting, tired of treatment, being in a dark place, hope, reincarnation (mentioned)

Mrs. Beckwith's rating: 5 of 5

Amazon Reviews

Lawn Boy by Gary Paulsen

Set in Eden Prairie, MN, this is a story about a twelve-year-old's amazing summer. It starts with him getting an old riding lawnmower from his grandma. What starts as a neighborhood lawn mowing business grows into much more. It's a short, fast, fun read.

Audience: great middle school boy book

Genre: realistic

Topics: summer, lawn mowing, making money, stock market, economics, boxer, employer, investments, bad guys, Eden Prairie, MN

Mrs. Beckwith's Rating: 3.5 of 5

Amazon Reviews

The Garden of Eve by K. L. Going

Evie (Eve) is an eleven-year-old whose Mom died from cancer. Her dad buys a seemingly dead apple orchard in New York, so Evie and her dad make the move to New York. Evie's not too happy about moving. She really misses her mom, and her dad seems so distant. This book is really about grief and coping with loss in a family. It's done in a really creative way. The summary in the front of the book says, "Eve gave up her belief in stories and magic after her mother's death, but a mysterious seed given her as an eleventh-birthday gift by someone she has never met takes her and a boy who claims to be a ghost on a strange journey, to where their supposedly cursed town of Beaumont, New York, flourishes."

Topics: mom has died, New York, apple orchard, magic seed, moving to a new place, superstitions, curses, ghosts, father/daughter relationships, Garden of Eden, choices, missing your mom, death, grief, loss

Genre: realistic with fantasy elements (technically fantasy, but so little of it is actually fantasy)

Audience: anyone who's dealt with loss; any middle schooler (wouldn't consider it a "girl" book only)

Mrs. Beckwith's rating: 5 of 5

Amazon Reviews

Regarding the Bees by Kate Klise

This book is really clever. The book is dependent on the fun illustrations done by M. Sarah Klise. It's not a standard book. It's made up of letters, entries to the Gazette, and other documents. It's a light read and enjoyable. In a way, it reminded me of the Amelia Bedelia books when I was a kid.

Audience: 6th, maybe 7th grade, though they'd have wide appeal just based on the cleverness

Topics: spelling bee, standardized tests (BEES), honey bees, 7th graders, substitute teacher, competition, play on words, double meanings, puns, relationships, dating, school dances, misunderstandings, miscommunication, letter writing, advice, cheating

Mrs. Beckwith's rating: 4 of 5

Amazon Reviews

100 Cupboards series by N.D. Wilson

This is a planned trilogy. Books 1 and 2 are currently out. Book 3 is expected in January 2010.

100 Cupboards is the title of the first book. Henry is sent to spend the summer at his aunt and uncle's farm in Kansas. While he's there, he discovers a set of 100 small cupboards built into the wall of his bedroom. These cupboards lead to different worlds in different times. Henry's cousin, Henrietta, is intrigued by the cupboards as well and seems to always be getting into mischief. Henry discovers a few mysteries about himself as he explores the cupboards. I really liked 100 Cupboards and would recommend it to anyone who likes fantasy.

Book 2 is named Dandelion Fire. This book was little more difficult to follow, but I persevered and read the whole thing in two days. I must confess, I cheated a little and took a few peeks at later parts of the book to help keep me going. What I read there motivated me to keep plugging away at portions of it. Most of the book takes place in the world on the other side of the cabinets. Plus, something really unusual happens to their house in Kansas, as well as to a few of their friends. It's darker than the first book, but it was good. I'm not really sure quite what it is about these books, but I feel compelled to continue reading. I can't wait to read book 3, The Chestnut King, but looks like I'll have to :-)

Genre: fantasy

Topics: family, magic, faeries, wizards, alternate worlds, bravery, family secrets, stealing, dishonesty, selfishness, dream walking

Mrs. Beckwith's ratings:
100 Cupboards: 4 of 5
Dandelion Fire: 3 of 5


Amazon Reviews for 100 Cupboards
Amazon Reviews for Dandelion Fire

The Extraordinary Adventures of Ordinary Boy series by William Boniface

Okay, I have to admit it. I really liked this book. Maybe it's because of all the Kim Possible episodes I've watched with my young son and movies like Bolt and The Impossibles. The Hero Revealed is book 1 in The Extraordinary Adventures of Ordinary Boy. The story starts by giving background information about the city of Superopolis and its inhabitants...all of them with special powers except for Ordinary Boy, the one who is telling the story. I found myself chuckling throughout the story. Drawings are included to enhance the story line

Ordinary Boy (OB) and his friends make up the Junior Leaguers. They are out to defeat Professor Brain-Drain.

The Return of Meteor Boy? is book 2. It takes place the week after book 1. We finally find out who Meteor Boy really is, and along the way, we meet a new set of villains. This book includes time travel. The Junior Leaguers and OB's dad's team are back again as well.

Audience: mid to upper elementary through 6th or 7th grade

Genre: fantasy

Topics: scarcity, villains, superheroes, intelligence, incompetence, mystery

Mrs. Beckwith's rating: 4 of 5

Amazon Reviews for The Hero Revealed

Amazon reviews for The Return of Meteor Boy?