children’s fiction

Book Review: Beyond the Far Horizon

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Beyond the Far Horizon
The Restorationists #3
by Carolyn Leiloglou

My rating: 5 / 5
Genre: Christian middle grade fantasy

Spoiler notice: The following review may contain some spoilers for the previous books in the series, starting with Beneath the Swirling Sky.

Ravi may have chosen to side with the Restorationists, but that doesn’t mean he trusts them. All his life, he’s been used and had to look out for himself. So though he’s agreed to help Vincent, Georgia, and Ms. Arte take down the Distortionists, he has a secret escape plan in case things go bad. But the longer he works with them, the more he realizes that he might not want to be on his own anymore.

I am so sad to think about this being the last book in this wonderful, inventive world in which people can enter paintings and travel between them, interacting with the painted people, creatures, and other aspects within, and making changes that aren’t visible but affect the painting’s viewer, for good or for ill. Though I’m not much of an art lover, the author is clearly passionate about paintings, and I really enjoy the inclusion of different paintings and especially the various components within the paintings.

Each of these books spotlights a different teenager with the ability to Travel through paintings, and each one deals with some sort of baggage throughout the story. Vincent’s resulted in a moment that I will never forget. Georgia’s kind of paled in comparison. I felt this book brought back a lot of the sympathy and enjoyment I felt in the first book. I felt for Ravi so much, I just wanted to hug him through most of the story. 

The plot is exciting, and the ending is a satisfying conclusion to the 3-book arc. I didn’t like this book quite as much as the first, but it was still a 5-star read. I recommend this book (and series—and really, you should start at the beginning if you’re interested) to anyone, young or old, interested in fantasy fiction with a Christian worldview.

Thank you to Netgalley and WaterBrook & Multnomah for providing me a copy of this book to review.

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Book Review: Mandie and the Secret Tunnel

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Mandie and the Secret Tunnel
Book #1
by Lois Gladys Leppard

My rating: 4 / 5
Genre: Children’s Christian historical fiction

For complete transparency, I’ll say up front that I read a lot of this series when I was a kid/pre-teen, and I read some of them to my now-teen daughter when she was younger. Nostalgia will hugely affect my reviews for this series, and I have no plans to try to be objective.

Written in the 80s and set in 1900, the book begins with the death of 12-year-old Mandie’s father. Her mother clearly has no love for her and sends her away to work for an equally unkind family that needs help taking care of a baby. But through Uncle Ned, an old friend of her father’s and a Cherokee, Mandie learns of her father’s brother, who she’d never known existed, and with Uncle Ned’s help sets out to find a better life with her uncle (her real uncle, because “Uncle” Ned isn’t really her uncle).

This introduction to Mandie and her heritage is charming. There’s a mystery involving the will of a relative of Mandie’s, and it’s not exactly a deep mystery, but for the age group, I think it’s intriguing enough. Uncle Ned is a comforting presence for both Mandie and me, to be honest, as I seem to recall a feeling that when he’s involved, everything is going to be okay. I’m not a huge fan of Polly, a new friend of Mandie’s in this book, but overall, this is the kind of book where the good people are really good and the bad people are quite (sometimes over-the-top) bad. Not that they’re all villains, but their personalities are pretty sour.

I can’t pretend that this book holds up really well for me as an adult—Mandie’s friend Joe is domineering, and it’s super awkward when Joe and Polly meet and are attracted to each other (these kids are all 12-14, don’t forget). The Christianity presented in this book is shallow at best, maybe even somewhat works-based, which I couldn’t possibly have realized was incorrect as a kid. The preacher who talks at her dad’s funeral and visits her later only scares Mandie, rather than helping her through her difficult time. It’s unfortunate that Mandie doesn’t believe God cares about her until things end up working out well in the end, which is not a great message for kids.

My daughter read the entire series (which is more than I’ve read, but I plan to rectify that) when she was around 10 years old and loved them. Even now, at 15, she remembers them fondly and is planning to re-read them again some time soon. If that isn’t an endorsement, I don’t know what is.

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Book Review: Lava

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Lava
by E.B. Roshan

My rating: 4 / 5
Genre: Children’s sci-fi graphic novel

Lava is a short graphic novel the E.B. Roshan made with her kids in mind. It’s the story of a  medical doctor from a large organization trying to earn the trust of the locals on an out-of-the-way planet, but an unfortunate turn of events causes a rift. I have to admit, I wish the author delved a little more deeply into the background of the doctor or shown more of an ending. I don’t know if there will be a continuation for Kone or not, but I hope so. The interesting thing about the story is that, though there seems to be a villain and a victim, it’s not really that simple. And I might have wished for more in a reconciliation, but what is shown here is probably much more realistic. I do wonder if Roshan intends for kids to choose sides, and if so, which side. The graphics were well-done, especially when taking into account that this graphic novel is self-published. I appreciated the way that flashbacks were made clear with a sort of hazy look to the panels. It allowed the author to show more in a smaller space of time. I could definitely see this being a book that young readers (maybe around 8-10 years old?) would enjoy and a nice early delve into space-based sci-fi.

I received a copy of this book for free from the author in exchange for an honest review.

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Book Review: Mystery Ranch

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Mystery Ranch
The Boxcar Children #4
by Gertrude Chandler Warner
Read by Aimee Lilly

My rating: 2 / 5
Genre: Children’s classic

This one really left me scratching my head. The mean, old aunt is instantly won over by the too-perfect kids, and apparently minors were able to own property in the time this was written, without needing an adult to be the trustee or anything like that. When the aunt talked about some men trying to get her to sell her ranch to them, it started to feel like a Nancy Drew story, but it resolved far too quickly and easily. In fact, though I didn’t compare the length of this to the previous stories, it felt super short in general. Also, the narrator for this book was even less enjoyable than the previous, who I already didn’t care for. Maybe if I had a young child to read these with and discuss the good and bad, it would be worth continuing with the series, but I don’t really have any motivation to do so.

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Book Review: The Yellow House Mystery

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The Yellow House Mystery
The Boxcar Children #3
by Gertrude Chandler Warner
Read by Tim Gregory

My rating: 3 / 5
Genre: Children’s classic

I really think Warner needs to branch out from missing people being re-discovered in this series. Three books, and that’s been a theme in all of them. That and the repetition of the kids “roughing it” in one way or another. Overall, I did like the story here better than the previous book, but I had some issues with the plot. For example, if it’s important for a letter to not be seen by anyone but the recipient, why instruct the recipient to hide it? Wouldn’t destroying it be better? But of course, destroying it would have meant that no one could discover it decades later and start off an adventure. I know this was written for kids and written in a very different time, and I really can’t know what I would have thought of the story if I’d read it as a kid. I suppose most kids, even nowadays, wouldn’t take issue with the things I did, but that doesn’t make some of what happens in this book okay.

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Book Review: Surprise Island

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Surprise Island
The Boxcar Children #2
by Gertrude Chandler Warner
Read by Tim Gregory

My rating: 2 / 5
Genre: Children’s classic

I don’t have nostalgia to fall back on with this book (if I read more than the first book in the series as a kid, I don’t remember any of them), so I’m sure that plays a big part in my review. Maybe as a kid I would have enjoyed this story, but as an adult, I was too distracted by some strange choices by the author. First, the grandfather, who searched for a while for his grandkids after their parents’ death and finally found them and took them in, sends them off to an island (basically) by themselves for the summer. I don’t know how long it’s been since the boxcar days, but I’d think he’d want to spend the summer with them. Then, there is a strange man living on the island, which the grandfather owns, that he doesn’t even attempt to meet before he leaves his grandkids there, where they’ll live in a leaky barn. The island is apparently in the ocean, which I would think would make the shoreline dangerous, but these kids are basically left on their own. And even though I enjoyed the ingenuity the kids showed setting up their home in the first book, it seems less fun in this book, I think partly because it’s repeated so quickly after the first and partly because the lack of necessity somehow makes it less special. I also can’t help but wonder how many missing family members one old man can have…

I was not a fan of this narrator, which didn’t help. His way of voicing the younger kids grated on me. I don’t know how far into the series I’ll go, but I’m hoping the narrator changes soon. Maybe this book would be enjoyable by younger kids even today, but I am definitely too old for it.

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Book Review: Beauty in the Least

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Beauty in the Least
McGee and Me! #12
by Bill Myers & Robert West

My rating: 3 / 5
Genre: Children’s Christian fiction

This was my least favorite book in the series, which is a shame, since it’s also the last, leaving me on a not-so-high note. It just doesn’t have the same feel as the rest of the series. The entire family is so put out by these visiting foreigners, and I’m not really sure anyone learns much of a lesson in the end. The father and son duo provide the only real heart in the story, and it’s overall pretty brief. Considering all of the growing Nicholas has done throughout these books, I just think he should be beyond the petty, immature behavior he displays here—or at least that he should get past it a little more quickly. So sadly, I wouldn’t recommend this book on its own, but the rest of the series is still great. These books may not be easy to find anymore, but if you do have the chance to read any of them or procure them for an 8-10-year-old child, I recommend it.

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Book Review: Mary Anne Saves the Day

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Mary Anne Saves the Day
The Baby-Sitters Club #4
by Ann M. Martin

My rating: 5 / 5
Genre: Children’s classic

For complete transparency, I’ll say up front that I read a lot of this series when I was a kid/pre-teen. And at the time, my name was the same as the founder of the BSC (with the first name spelled slightly different). Nostalgia will hugely affect my reviews for this series, and I have no plans to try to be objective.

Mary Anne was the character I most identified with in this series. She’s quiet, shy, and doesn’t like conflict. And she makes a new friend by sort of falling into it, which is about the only way I ever made new friends in school too. Her character grows a lot in this one book, as she confronts not only her fighting friends but also her over-protective dad. The fight between the members of the BSC is unfortunately very realistic for the age they are. Of course, as an adult, I wanted to sit them all down and make them stop being stupid, but I’m sure when I read it originally, I sided with one or another of the characters. Also as an adult, I feel like it’s a bit of an overreaction to take a kid with a fever and no other symptoms to the emergency room unless the kid had some kind of pre-existing medical condition. Overall, though, this was a fun book to re-visit.

Whether or not this book will translate well to kids and pre-teens now, I couldn’t say. I wish I had thought to start reading this series to/with my daughter when she was around 8-10, because I think she would have enjoyed it, and we could have discussed the good and the bad of the books.

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Book Review: The Truth About Stacey

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The Truth About Stacey
The Baby-Sitters Club #3
by Ann M. Martin

My rating: 3 / 5
Genre: Children’s classic

For complete transparency, I’ll say up front that I read a lot of this series when I was a kid/pre-teen. And at the time, my name was the same as the founder of the BSC (with the first name spelled slightly different). Nostalgia will hugely affect my reviews for this series, and I have no plans to try to be objective.

I have to admit that the storyline of Stacey trying to break out from under her over-protective parents didn’t resonate much with me. That’s probably because I’ve never been in the same situation as either a child or a parent. I suppose some would say my mom was overprotective, but it was in a very different way and I didn’t feel particularly bothered by it at the time. The side plot about the competitive agency interested me a little more, especially since I knew that of course the BSC would come out on top. Their reactions may have been a bit immature, but hey, they’re 12-year-olds, after all! Sometimes they talk or act older than that, but it’s nice to have a reminder that they’re still…well, immature.

Whether or not this book will translate well to kids and pre-teens now, I couldn’t say. I wish I had thought to start reading this series to/with my daughter when she was around 8-10, because I think she would have enjoyed it, and we could have discussed the good and the bad of the books.

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Book Review: The Boxcar Children

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The Boxcar Children
Book #1
by Gertrude Chandler Warner
Read by Phyllis Newman

My rating: 4 / 5
Genre: Children’s classic

I know I read at least the first book in this series when I was younger, but I don’t remember much after that. Truth be told, apparently I didn’t remember the first one very well either, because…(spoiler alert, but hey, the book is about a century old) I really thought the kids would live in the boxcar for more than just one book. Clearly my memory is faulty, not that that’s a surprise to me. But I digress…the story is sweet, but boy was this a different time. Nowadays, if there was an older man who set up an event because he liked to watch teenage boys run…he’d probably be arrested. I don’t mean to say that the man in this book had any ill intent, but it’s certainly something no one would include in a book these days.

I liked all the different kinds of ingenuity the kids employed to set up their home and give it some semblance of normalcy, from their dishes to the “refrigerator.” And though at least one adult they meet is heinous, at least other adults are kind and compassionate, so it avoids that trope of “all adults are evil” some kids books have. I listened to the audiobook narrated by Phyllis Newman, and though I don’t know if I can accurately explain what I mean, I felt her voice worked really well for the time period this is set in. It reminded me of a record I listened to as a kid with a woman narrating some story. I could see this book being fun for younger kids nowadays to read or listen to (or have read to them), though they might have some questions about things that are very different from our world today.

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