Hardin’s Aurora of the Northern Lights follows Aurora on her quest to find a place to belong after loosing both of her parents to illness. Aurora, being half-human and half-Northern Elf, is subject to a cold reception when she approaches the nearby town after her parent’s death. She is instructed to find people of her own to live with. Amongst the Woodland fey she receives the same chilly reception before finally finding her way to the Northern Fey where she finds a home amongst her people. Along the way Aurora is helped out by kindly folk who even give her gifts to make her traveling easier.

There was one thing about this book that disappointed me slightly. Despite being billed as a tale for Christmas it lacked the feel of a holiday tale. There are holiday aspects woven into the tale, such as the name of Aurora’s mother, her mother’s kin, gift giving, and even the presence of Santa Claus himself. And yet, despite that, I felt the story’s emphasis was more on the journey that Aurora took to find the place she belonged. It felt misleading, to me, that the story is referred to as a Christmas tale and that the selected recommendations on the back cover also suggest this. That is not to say it detracted from the story, merely that I feel labeling this tale exclusively as a holiday tale is to do it a grave injustice.

Aurora of the Northern Lights is a lighthearted and warm tale that will delight children, no matter what season it is, and is also a joy for adults and parents to read as well. The illustrations are colorful and engaging and will make the tale that much more enjoyable. The story also succeeds in getting numerous messages out to readers, both young and adult, without coming across as overbearing which will make it an enjoyable read for children outside of the recommended age group of 9 to 12.

Joana’s Rating: (4 out of 5 stars)

Special thanks to author Holly Hardin for providing a copy for review.

At long last, fans of Rowling’s Harry Potter series, who aren’t extravagantly rich, are able to not only read, but also get their very own copy of the book of wizarding fairy tales that was willed to Hermione in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows entitled The Tales of Beedle the Bard. The book contains five short wizarding fairy tales that all have a lesson and moral to the story. The introduction is “penned” by J.K. Rowling and explains how this copy came into the hands of muggles. Following every tale is commentary that was written by Albus Dumbledore before his untimely demise. One can choose to believe that the commentary was written before Dumbledore knew the truth of the Deathly Hallows, or that he chose to refrain from revealing the truth of them.

Fans who have not yet had a chance to read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows do not have to worry greatly about spoilers in this book. Aside from some very minor details and hints dropped in the introduction, which you can easily skip, there are no real spoilers in the book that would ruin the 7th book for readers. Even with the presence of the last, and most important of Beedle Bard’s tales “The Three Brothers”.

The five tales contained in this collection each carry a message and, in a similar fashion to the Grimm fairy tales, do not worry so much about making the tales completely and utterly rated G. That is not to say that the tales are all gruesome and horrid things, merely that they are, in a sense, real to the readers. Rowling even takes the chance to poke gentle fun at the various writers and translators in real life who have gone to painstaking lengths to censor and doctor up the fairy tales we all know today. In the Dumbledore’s commentary following the first tale, “The Wizard and the Hopping Pot”, Dumbledore mentions a witch by the name of Beatrix Bloxam who rewrote a variety of old stories (including some of Bard’s) in a book of her own. The sugary-sweet drivel that Dumbledore quotes will give your gag-reflex a workout.

My favorite tale in the collection is, without a doubt, “Babbity Rabbity and Her Cackling Stump”. In this tale a muggle king, out of fear of the unknown, issues that all witches and wizards be hunted and he alone be the sole magic user. He then employs a “wizard” to teach him. Unfortunately for him, the wizard is a charlatan. To save his own neck, the charlatan bullies a real witch into aiding him before turning on her. Babbity, in the end, manages to not only convince the king to stop hunting wizards and witches, she also forces the charlatan to confess to his misdeeds, and she does so by using their own flaws against them. Pettiness, spite, and ignorance become their downfall.

Rowling’s The Tales of Beedle the Bard is, without a doubt, a quick but enjoyable read that will allow all Harry Potter fans to gain a new insight into the “Wizarding World” while at the same time revisiting the old. Rowling expertly writes each tale with her usual flare, and that spark that was missing for the most part in HP: DH, is certainly back. Accompanying each fairy tales are illustrations drawn by Rowling herself, and while not the work of an artist extraordinaire, are certainly not poorly crafted stick figures either. Not to mention the fact that many a reader will, without a doubt, find great amusement in some of the more witty and bitting commentary that Dumbledore provides. His remarks regarding Lucius Malfoy’s request of a certain tale to be removed from Hogwarts’ shelves alone will have readers chuckling.

Joana’s Rating: (4 out of 5 stars)

Pst! Click here to find out how you can Win a Free Copy of J.K. Rowling’s The Tales of Beedle the Bard.

The Hodag is a creature with the head of an ox, feet of a bear, back of a dinosaur, and a tail of an alligator. He’s forty feet tall and his eyes glow like fire, but don’t be afraid, the Hodag has a preference for wild blueberries. Not to mention, he’s great friends with lumberjacks.

One day as the lumberjacks are heading home from a hard day’s work in the woods they come across a group of men setting up camp. The men reveal that they are animal catchers and are there to capture the Hodag in order to bring him to a zoo. What ensues is the amusing adventure of a group of lumberjacks, led by Olee Swenson, as they lead the animal catchers on a merry goose chase before eventually running them off.

The Terrible Hodag and the Animal Catchers is an original tale told by Caroline Arnold and is based off the legendary characters of Olee Swenson and the Hodag. Legends of the two have been told in logging camps for over a hundred years and made popular campfire tales at the summer camp in Wisconsin that Arnold attended. The book is intended for audiences between the ages of 9 through 12 (grades 2 through 4). Younger audiences though will enjoy having this tale read to them and perhaps even challenge themselves so that they may read it.

The Terrible Hodag and the Animal Catchers is an amusing and fun-filled fantastical adventure that teaches the importance of friends and teamwork. The mean animal catchers are thwarted in their plans to abduct the Hodag, who really isn’t terrible at all, only because the lumberjacks value their friend. And it is with the combined effort of the lumberjacks and the Hodag, that their traps and diversions succeed. Unlike other children’s stories I’ve seen, The Terrible Hodag and the Animal Catchers does not harp on the underlying themes nor does it try to pound the message into the audience’s brain either. Arnold subtly weaves these themes in with the story and the end result is a story that will captivate the minds and imaginations of the readers.

Joana’s Rating: (4 out of 5 stars)

The book starts off outside in a dark, dark moor and slowly makes its way to a dark, dark house. In the illustrations, the reader is greeted by a black cat who seemingly accompanies the reader on their adventure – one predictable sentence every other page at a time. This is a story that will have more impact on the audience if you read it to them in your scariest voice and then show them the pictures. The ending page is supposed to be a startling surprise but instead it comes off just cute.

Brown’s A Dark, Dark Tale is intended for readers, ages 4 through 8. As such, while I quickly got tired of the continuous repeating of the “dark, dark” phrase, it does serve as a good tool to build suspense in young readers without being over the top. Every sentence follows the pattern: “In the wood there was a dark, dark house. In the house there was a dark, dark…” and so on which allows the young reader to easily connect previous events, continue building suspense, and maintain the atmosphere. As a child, I remember reading this book and being very disappointed with it. At the same time though, as a child, I did like hearing it read to me and listening to it on audio tape. It holds much more mystique this way.

The illustrations were beautifully rendered with a touch of the macabre and gothic, but not over the top. I would recommend this book for a holiday read for your young children simply for the pictures. Simply beautiful.

Joana’s Rating: (3 out of 5 stars)

Rudy and Ralph are two roosters that live on the farm and who are the best of friends. Their noisy competitions and fights however, in conjunction with the rest of the noise stirred up by the other farm animals, grates on the nerves of Sophie the pig and Clarissa the cow. With Halloween fast approaching, the animals are getting ready for the annual Halloween Poultry Parade. That night, as everyone is in the barn getting their costumes ready, a tall and ghostly figure rises up at the back of the barn startling everyone. Within seconds all of the animals have fled the barn with Clarissa and Sophie bringing up the rear.

Once the animals are safely outside the barn Clarissa and Sophie explain that the ghostly figure they just saw was none other than the legendary Poultrygeist. The Poultrygeist had been sleeping for over a hundred years but apparently the animals’ ruckus has disturbed its slumber. The animals are understandably subdued after this announcement and spend the night outside the barn.

The book is intended for preschool through first grade readers, recommended ages are 4 through 8, so as you can imagine, the more mature readers will not find the mystery behind the “poultrygeist” very hard to figure out. Children however will definitely find the book amusing though and enjoy the unveiling of the poultrygeist, not to mention Sophie’s final method of silencing a pair of squabbling roosters.

Poultrygeist is also beautifully illustrated with lots of detail devoted to the characters and scenery equally. All of which, as the authors point out, was done in Adobe Photoshop. Definitely a fun Halloween read for young readers and their parents to snuggle up with.

Joana’s Rating: (3 out of 5 stars)

He is lauded as a master of mystery and suspense, but in this book Koontz uses his writing skills to travel a completely different and alien route than is his norm. But does he succeed?

It’s Christmas eve, but this year instead of a jolly fat man decked out in red swooping down chimneys to deliver gifts to good girls and boys a psychotic fat man decked out in red shall be breaking in and switching the gifts to things that no one, no matter how bad, deserve to be gifted with and causing random acts of vandalism. Santa’s twin brother is the complete polar (no pun intended) opposite of his brother and it’s going to be up to two brave little girls to stop this madman, free the real Santa Claus, and set Christmas right.

Like the famous story, The Night Before Christmas, Koontz’s Santa’s Twin is a narrative poem, and Koontz does an excellent job of keeping the rhyme scheme together without sacrificing the tale in the least.

The heroines of this tale, Charlotte and Emily, are snug in their beds on Christmas eve when they sense that something is wrong. They awaken from their slumber and head downstairs only to find an evil looking Santa Claus in their living room swapping out gifts. They attempt to apprehend him, and with some luck and Bob Claus’ complete lack of grace and balance, the girls succeed. With the help of the reindeer, who were forced to assist the bad Claus for fear of what he would do to their families, they set off for the North Pole to rescue Santa Claus and set things right before Christmas morning arrives.

The tale is clever, witty, and most importantly, highly amusing. Writing “Poo!” on a child’s art work? Indeed, quite the dastardly thing to do. And stuffing a microwave with ten pounds of popping corn? Those are just a few of the hilarious and clever prank’s Koontz’s evil Claus orchestrates. The story’s accompanying illustrations, by Phil Parks, are well done. They fit the story and add to the excitement of reading this holiday tale. In fact, upon completion of the story there is a note at the end of the book inviting readers to go back and take a second look at the images, because in each picture there is a snowman lurking around. Some are easy to see and some are so well blended in that had you not been invited to hunt for them, you likely would never have noticed them.

What I found to be the most amazing however was the fact that Koontz managed to write and tell this story in such a manner that readers of all ages would enjoy it. It’s a light and fun read, with just a hint of darkness, that will make it a suitable bedtime story the tykes, and at the same time it’s engaging and comical enough that older readers will find themselves amused and entertained rather than put off. Santa’s Twin more than deserves to be considered a holiday classic to be cherished and pulled out to be read annually alongside other timeless classics.

Joana’s rating: (5 out of 5 stars)

As a cat lover I always look forward to fiction that revolves around or is told from the point of view of cats. I’ve yet to find any that fall in the Children’s Literature genre that are of worthwhile interest though. Hopefully The Secret Diary of Adrian Cat will be different. I’lll be adding this book to my “To Be Read” (TBR) pile and you can expect a full, in-depth review on it soon.

Official Statement:

“The Secret Diary of Adrian Cat” – a hilarious account of one-year in the life of Stuart and Linda Macfarlane’s cat has just been published by DNA Press.

SUMMARY: The secret lives and loves of cats are revealed in this adventure novel, entitled “The Secret Diary of Adrian Cat” that peeks into a year in the life of the mischievous feline Adrian Cat. Adrian is having trouble keeping his new year’s resolutions (especially “I will not be condescending to my humans”), and he’s also adjusting to the fact that his humans have a new baby, his best friend needs constant help, and he’s in love for the first time—with the angelic-seeming Snowball. But Snowball turns out to be less than perfect and tries to lead Adrian into organized crime. She forces him to join the evil cat Killer’s gang. After numerous misadventures he realizes that he does not love the beautiful but power-crazed Snowball and really loves the scruffy yet tender alley cat named Gypsy. After Killer’s gang runs Gypsy out of town, Adrian is forced to make some strange friends, fight the evil Killer and travel a rough road in order to convince Gypsy of his love.

PRESS RELEASE BODY: The DNA Press team is happy to announce the publication of “The Secret Diary of Adrian Cat”, by Stuart and Linda Macfarlane of Scotland.
“The Secret Diary of Adrian Cat” relates one year in the life of the extraordinary cat Adrian. At the start of the year Adrian makes his New Year Resolutions but soon finds that they are not easy to keep – especially the more testing ones like ‘I will not be condescending to my humans’ and ‘I will not maul the vet’.

The Adrian Cat book is modeled on “The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole – Aged 13 1/2″, the book that made its author Sue Townsend the best-selling novelist of the 1980s. “I have always been a great fan of Sue Townsend and have read many of her books,” said Stuart Macfarlane. ‘The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole’ provided the inspiration to write our book in a diary format. I loved the idea of a cat keeping a secret diary of all his adventures, worries and aspirations. ‘The Secret Diary of Adrian Cat’ started out as a working title for the book but Adrian took on such a powerful character that when the book was complete we could not bear to change his name. We spent hours trying other names, but none were right – Adrian was Adrian and refused to be called anything else.”

Added Linda Macfarlane, “The book is about all the things Adrian could be getting up to; trying to become famous, looking for the love of his life, promoting peace between dogs, cats and mice, getting involved with an evil gang, saving the life of a fox, treasure hunting with a pirate parrot and, of course, looking after his human family.”

When Adrian spots a beautiful white Persian walking through his garden he immediately falls head over paws in love. Her name is Snowball and though she appears angelic she turns out to be a power-crazed feline who will do anything to get what she wants.
In an attempt to win Snowball’s heart, Adrian is forced to become a member of the Cosa Nostra gang – run by the evil cat, Killer. As a member of the gang he becomes involved in many mischievous activities such as housebreaking and raiding the fish shop. As Adrian becomes more influential Snowball unexpectedly announces that they are soon to marry.
When Adrian finds an injured fox Snowball refuses to help saying, ‘The only good fox is a dead fox. When it dies, bring me its tail – I need a new cushion’. By good fortune a cat ‘of no fixed abode’, Gypsy, offers to help and through her knowledge of herbal medicines and tender care the fox is saved.
Being jealous of the amount of time Adrian is spending with Gypsy, Snowball gets Killer to run her out of town. It is only then that Adrian realizes that it is not the beautiful Snowball but the rather scruffy Gypsy that he loves. After days of searching he finds Gypsy and eventually persuades her to marry him.
Of course much more than this is happening in Adrian’s complex life, for he has a human family to support and a best friend, Lucky, who constantly needs help and advice. This ensures that there is not a day without crises, adventure, and of course lots of food to eat and as much sleep as Adrian can cram in. But the appearance of a noisy new human kitten in Adrian’s family makes it difficult for him to sleep and when an outbreak of ‘Nappy-Rash’ makes the noise unbearable, Adrian has no choice but to move in with an elderly human, Old-Grey-Fur. However, he discovers that she sleeps even more than he does and he soon moves back with his humans. On a day to day basis Adrian has the training of his young humans, Brat and Brat-2, to attend to in addition to fighting for a spot on his favorite chair, and of course attempting to fulfill his resolutions to, ‘become the world’s most famous cat’, and to ‘promote world peace between cats, dogs and mice’.
Summing up the year Adrian exclaims, ‘I’ve fallen in love for the first time and fallen out of love for the first time. I’ve married the best girl in the world. I’ve added a new human to my family. I’ve made friends with a robin, a fox and a pirate parrot. I’ve been the enemy of an evil gang leader, best friends with him and then his enemy again. My one regret is that there just hasn’t been enough time for sleeping.’

This post was sponsored by the Authors/Advertisers of the book.

In the present day magical creatures, referred to as “fabulous animals”, must hide away in order to avoid detection and subsequent extermination by humans. In a valley the last of the world’s dragons live, but their way of life is about to changed. One day news comes that the humans are planning to divert a river and build a dam, these plans will flood the current home of the dragons and force them to seek living arrangements elsewhere. In a world heavily populated by humans there seems no place for the dragons to go, except for the Rim of Heaven.

The Rim of Heaven, a mythical place to the dragons, believed to be located in the highest peaks of the world and complete inaccessible to humans. It seems the ideal place for them to go except that no one believes in this place anymore. No one but the oldest dragon, whose memory sometimes fails him, and a young dragon named Firedrake. With a few warnings and vague directions Firedrake, Sorrel the brownie girl, and a human named Ben set off on a course fraught with peril, adventure, and even a prophecy. Children will thrill at this tale and fantasy fans will smile while reading this delightful story.

This book is clearly geared towards a young audience despite it’s significant length (523 pages including illustrations) and it shows at some of the most inopportune times. There are certain catch phrases that get repeated over and over that become redundant and bothersome. I suppose children might find this cute or helpful but I believe it does detract a bit from the tale. Really, I doubt even the youngest of readers (or listeners) needs to hear “…in the language of fabulous animals, the language that everyone can understand” two or more times per chapter. I understood just fine the first five times that was said that anything any of the “fabulous animals” said in their language could be understood by all. I’m sure the majority of the readers did too. Little things like that detracted from the tale as it made the reader want to roll their eyes and flip to the next page.

Another thing I found odd is that the story is called Dragon Rider, yet despite the tale of the dragon rider and the fact that Sorrel and Ben are riding Firedrake, there really is no need for the title be such. In fact I found the title to be very misleading. It isn’t until more than halfway through the book does Ben begin to be addressed as a Dragon Rider and then it’s by other humans and not the fabulous animals them selves. As Sorrel the brownie so aptly says on page 319 “I’m a dragon rider too, you know! I’ve been a dragon rider ever since I can remember. But no one’s making a big fuss about me.” Indeed if it hadn’t have been for the fact that the book is called Dragon Rider I would have otherwise felt that the prophecy and addressing of Ben as a dragon rider was a bit left field. Indeed despite his assistance to the voyage Ben seems to have more of an impact and influence on Twigleg the homunculous rather than Firedrake himself.

In all honesty there isn’t much in interaction between Ben and Firedrake besides idle chitchat here and there. Ben has more interaction with Sorrel the brownie and Twigleg. Perhaps a more apt title would have be “Dragon Chariot”? Since for all the attention and characterization that is given to Firedrake he might as well be no more than a mode of transportation and a weapon. Sadly after finishing this story I could not describe to you the personality or thought process of Firedrake, a main character, of the story. Firedrake spends most of his time flying while Sorrel and Ben talk, sleeping, “gazing thoughtfully”, or occasionally admonishing Sorrel for her behavior. Very disapointing.

Over all I think young children will be able to enjoy and marvel at this tale while older readers might find it a bit more droll than your average fantasy read. Poor characterization of the main characters and significant development on their bonds leaves readers with a lot of loose ends they have to tie together themselves. While the story does have it’s high points, and the large cast of fantasy creatures will amaze and delight readers, the flaws previously mentioned will detract enough to keep readers from considering this as anything more than fun (but disposable) read. Dragon fans will no doubt be sadly disappointed.

Joana’s rating:

Scott O’Dell is well known for his contributions to the historical fiction genre. Though the books are written for a younger audience, readers of all ages will be moved by images and emotions that his writing provokes. Sing Down the Moon is no exception to this rule.

Sing Down the Moon follows the story of Bright Morning a young Navajo girl living in the Canyon de Chelly in Arizona during the mid 1860’s. During these times Native Americans faced many trials and tribulations from all fronts. From the Spanish slavers who captured any and all Indian girls they could find to sell into slavery, to the United States soldiers who were bound and determined to strip them of their land. Scott O’Dell does a marvelous job of capturing the feel of the era and drawing the readers into the story. The story is told from a first person narrative which only helps to draw the reader in deeper and gives the reader a sense of truly being there.

Scott O’Dell also took clear advantage of the abilities of a first person narrative by delving deeper into the culture of the Navajo. An example of this is the detail and attention that O’Dell, through Bright Morning, is able to pay to the coming of age ceremony known as a Kin-nadl-dah. Although I had, had this ceremony explained to me before I did not quite grasp all of the purposes and history behind each part of it. Reading and experiencing the Kin-nadl-dah through Bright Morning’s perspective allowed me to fully grasp the significance of the ceremony and to appreciate it better. This is something that woud have been much harder to do had the story not been told in the first person perspective.

Besides getting a feel for how the time and the way of life was for Bright Morning and her people, Scott O’Dell does a remarkable job of passing on a bit of history while at the same time bringing the characters to life. In most books and textbooks Native Americans, particularly the Navajo and Apache, are dehumanized and villianized. O’Dell’s style of writing, depiction of realistic events, and portrayal of characters and culture do a remarkable job weave a truthful tale that both moves and captivates the reader. As you see Bright Morning and her people forced to endure The Long Walk you will be hard pressed not to feel their pain and suffering and righteous anger at the atrocities dealt to these people.

History exists so that we may learn from it and the goal is not to repeat it. Scott O’Dell’s Sing Down the Moon is an excellent piece to read and learn from. A true gem to the Historical Fiction genre.

Joana’s review:

To be frank I was quite leery of purchasing this book. I have read several books that attempt to be “encyclopedias” of fantasy and fairy creatures and have been badly disappointed in the past. Dragonology is thankfully exceptionally amusing, entertaining, and a must-have/must-read for all dragon lovers. The book is purported to be the re-publication of an actual book written by a Dr. Ernest Drake in 1895, though whether such a individual so named Ernest Drake actually wrote the book or even existed is questionable. Regardless of this the book sets out to teach and educate the young in the science behind dragons and the studying of them, dragonology.

This hardback book is nicely designed and illustrated, with much loving and artistic detail given to the beautiful creatures depicted within. Readers will find the most commonly known dragons as well as those often confused with serpents and the like defined with their histories, characteristics, habits, and habitats laid out for the reader. Something that makes this book stand apart from others of its ilk are the beautifully drawn depictions of the dragon’s anatomy, bone structure, and even egg development.

Unique to this book are the existence of dragon’s language (runes), as well as a means to decipher it. Also included are: samples of a dragonologist’s record book; riddles to use when engaging a dragon in an intellectual challenge; dragon dust; spells to tame dragons; spells which utilize parts of a dragon; a fold out map depicting the dragons found around the world; samples of wing vertabrae and scales from Marsupial Dragons, Asian Lung, and a frost dragon. This book is full of the author’s explanations of the history surrounding dragons, are responsibilities to them, their treasure hoarding, dragonologists throughout the ages (even dragon slayers) as well as advertisements for equipment for studying dragons.

What I found most amusing is the authors mentioning of mythical people and talismans and what their real purpose is; such as Merlin and The Talisman of Master Merlin. I have actually only heard of this talisman a few times before and was pleasantly surprised to see it noted in Dragonology. I was however disappointed to see that the Ouroboros was not mentioned, which seemed rather odd as it is the symbol of eternal life and continuity usually featuring a Dragon eating its own tail.

Whether the reader is a young child or an older adult I see no reason why the person in question could not or would not enjoy reading this book. The book, like Rowling’s Harry Potter series, is written for a younger audience’s benefit but does not insult the inteligence nor ward off the older crowd. If you are looking for a good, but short fantasy read, or just something to tide you over until July 16th this is the book for you.

Joana’s Rating: