Review: Mighty Jack Graphic Novels
Mighty Jack
Thanks to the Kid Lit Exchange for the review copies of these books! All opinions are my own.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: I am very new to graphic novels. My kids love them, and they are very popular at the school library, so I’m doing more research on them than ever. When these Mighty Jack
In the first novel, Mighty Jack
The first novel ends with Maddy being taken by an ogre into that magical plant world. The second novel, Mighty Jack and the Goblin King
These graphic novels are so good! I think any middle grader who enjoys twisted fairy tales or graphic novels will love these. There are some heavy topics involved, so I would recommend them for ages 9 or 10 and up, but they’re also a lot of fun. The kids go on some big adventures, and they have to learn to work together, and around their differences, to survive.
I also love that while Maddy is a main character with a big role, and her autism simply highlights how she reacts differently to situations and how Jack and Lilly accommodate her, while still including her. She only speaks when something is really, really important to her, and she doesn’t let that disability stop her from having the same adventures.
Mighty Jack
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Review: A Fatal Grace
A Fatal Grace: A Chief Inspector Gamache Novel
Gamache was the best of them, the smartest and bravest and strongest because he was willing to go into his own head alone, and open all the doors there, and enter all the dark rooms. And make friends with what he found there.
A Fatal Grace
This book takes us back to Three Pines with another mysterious death. This time, CC de Poitiers has been electrocuted in plain site at a curling match. (Does it get any more Canadian than that?) Somehow, no one saw anything, and no one is too upset that CC is dead. Chief Inspector Armand Gamache is called in to investigate, and he soon realizes that something very strange is going on, and the people of Three Pines may know more than they’re letting on.
Where Still Life
Gamache is one of the best detective characters I’ve ever read, and I love him more with each book. In my review of Still Life (Read that review HERE) I said that I keep thinking I’ll run into him because he’s so well written he seems like a real person. I still feel that way, and I’m kind of disappointed that I’ll never be able to actually meet him.
A Fatal Grace
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
EXTRA!
As with Still Life, A Fatal Grace features the most delicious food, and I wish more than anything that I could sit down for a meal at the local bistro in Three Pines. During the off murdery season, of course. This is such a great series for a book club, especially if you want to tie food in to your meetings. Cozy mystery and great food? That’s all I want for Christmas.
[Top]What My Kids Are Reading: November 3, 2017
The Wizards of Once
Happy November! We are gearing up for the holidays (one down, two and a birthday to go), winding down fall sports, and finding lots of new books! It’s hard to get my kids to read anything but Harry Potter these days (as evidenced above), but we’re working on finding books that are just as worthy.
The 8-Year-Old
The Wizards of Once
We received this in our very first OwlCrateJr. subscription box, and I’m stealing it as soon as my son is finished with it. This is written by Cressida Cowell, author of the How to Train Your Dragon
The 6-Year-Old
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
Well, this is probably the millionth time I’ve talked about Harry Potter here, and it definitely won’t be the last. My 6-year-old is trying to read this on his own, but I’m mainly reading it to him because it’s a little difficult. He heard most of it when I read it to my 8-year-old, but he wants to start the series just for him now. And I’m ok with that!
What We’re Reading Together
The Magician’s Nephew
We’ve finally started the Narnia series! I’ve been dying to start this with my kids, and we’re reading about a chapter a night. My 8-year-old was a bit resistant, because he doesn’t want to read anything except Harry Potter right now, but he is loving it! My 6-year-old is too, and it’s tough to find a book that both of them love. I decided to read the series in chronological order, not publication order, and I THINK I’m ok with that. This book tells the story of the beginning of Narnia, and it makes me even more excited to read The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe to them next!
EXTRA!
Those bookmarks you see (Hermione Granger in Harry Potter and Lucy Pevensie in The Magician’s Nephew) are from Carrot Top Paper Shop. Y’all, she has the cutest female literary hero prints and bookmarks. I have a bunch, and I have a feeling my collection is only going to get bigger. (I’m not affiliated with her shop or sponsored or anything-I’m just a huge fan!)
[Top]
Review: Lies She Told
To be a writer is to be a life thief. Every day, I rob myself blind.
When I saw that my friend Stacey at Prose and Palate was a guest judge (AGAIN, because she’s amazing) for Book of the Month, I knew I would selecting whatever book she recommended. So there was no question that for September, my choice was Lies She Told
It’s only a story.
Liza is a novelist whose latest book sales aren’t fantastic. Her publisher is giving her one more chance to write a bestseller, and she doesn’t have time to do it. She and her husband are also trying to start a family, and her husband’s best friend and law partner has disappeared. To cope, Liza disappears into her novel, writing about her main character, Beth. Beth has a new baby and a cheating husband. Her plan of confronting him about it goes awry, and before she knows it, she’s pushing the mistress’s body into the East River. Before long, Liza’s and Beth’s lives intertwine, and Liza has to figure out what is the truth, what is fiction, and whose story she’s really in.
I was hooked on this book from the very beginning. The story is told in alternating chapters between Liza and Beth. Holahan expertly writes the Beth and Liza chapters so that they become entwined, and I kept forgetting which woman I was reading about. It wasn’t frustrating, though, and it added to the tension in a really good way. (The font used for each character’s chapter is different, so there’s always a reminder.) She puts just enough pressure on the characters, both real and fictional, that you feel the tension as they try to figure out what to do. The twist was great, and while I did figure it out before the ending, it really didn’t bother me because I was having such a good time reading and going along on the adventure with Liza and Beth.
There were a few editorial misses (a name changed mid-paragraph, some words were left out) that made the editor in me cringe, but I was ok with ignoring that because I had to keep reading!
Lies She Told