Artemis Fowl

Artemis Fowl

Eoin Colfer

©2001

280 Pages

Ages 9-12

Summary

Artemis Fowl is the story of a twelve-year-old criminal mastermind who has devised a way of gaining back his family's fortune. Artemis believes that he has discovered the existence of fairies and after considerable research has tracked down one of them. From her he obtains The Book of the People, the fairy holy book with all of their laws and codes. From this book he learns of the ransom that could be gained from kidnapping a fairy. He puts his plan into action by kidnapping a LEP officer named Holly. However, the LEP do not agree to the ransom right off and Artemis is faced with challenges he had not expected. He confronts an inept crack retrieval team, kleptomaniac gnome, and a troll. It is likely that his plan would not have succeeded had it not been for Artemis's body guard, Butler.

I absolutely adore these books. They are ingenious tales of a young boy who knows more than he should. Artemis is clever and quick witted. However, I think my absolute favorite character has got to be Butler. He is what every body guard should be--a weapons expert who could just as easily kill you with his bare hands.

Other books in the Series:

Artemis Fowl

Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident

Artemis Fowl: The Eternity Code

Artemis Fowl: The Opal Deception

Artemis Fowl: The Lost Colony

Artemis Fowl: The Time Paradox

Artemis Fowl: The Atlantis Complex

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The Number Devil

The Number Devil

Hans Magnus Enzensberger

©2000

264 Pages

Ages 9-12

Summary

The Number Devil is a charming tale of a little boy with nightmares. Robert dreaded going to sleep because every night he had dreams of the devil. However, these were not demonic dreams; rather, he dreamt that the devil would visit him at night and teach him a different mathematical procedure. In this mathematical adventure, the reader is taken step by step through everything from basic addition through exponential numbers with adorable examples that allows you to apply the math to real life.

This book helped me so much when I was younger. In fact, I had to read it in sections as I grew up mainly because there are things in there that can only be understood when you reach a certain level. For instance, you wouldn't expect a nine-year-old to understand about exponential growth, but the multiplication and division examples could be quite useful.

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The Reptile Room

A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Reptile Room

Lemony Snicket

©1999

190 Pages

Ages 9-12

Summary

Mr. Poe takes the children to live with their Uncle Monty, Dr. Montgomery Montgomery, who knew their parents more than the children are led to believe. Uncle Mony shows Violet, Klaus, and Sunny his pride and joy. The Reptile Room is a gigantic hall filled with all sorts of reptiles. His most recent addition to the room is a snake that he calls the incredibly deadly viper, a name that is a misnomer. Uncle Monty tells the children that they are to get ready for a trip to Peru as soon as his new assistant arrives. The children like Uncle Monty and are excited to go to Peru until they new assistant arrives. Though Uncle Monty introduces the children to his assistant, Stephano, the children recognize him for who he really is, Count Olaf. They try to warn Uncle Monty that it was really Count Olaf, but Olaf manages to divert the accusations and keep Monty in the dark. Later they find Monty dead in the Reptile Room with two puncture marks in his neck. When the doctor arrives, he declares that Monty died of a snake bite from the incredibly deadly viper. Violet, Klaus, and Sunny, however, know that the incredibly deadly viper is one of the least harmful creatures in the animal kingdom. Sunny finds the viper and starts playing with it, proving their assertion, and exposing Count Olaf and his theater group for who they are. The children are then taken to their new guardian.

Other books in the Series:

The Bad Beginning

The Reptile Room

The Wide Window

The Miserable Mill

The Austere Academy

The Ersatz Elevator

The Vile Village

The Hostile Hospital

The Carnivorous Carnival

The Slippery Slope

The Grim Grotto

The Penultimate Peril

The End

Other Books by the Author:

Horse Radish

The Unauthorized Autobiography

The Beatrice Letters

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The Bad Beginning

A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Bad Beginning

Lemony Snicket

©1999

162 Pages

Ages 9-12

Summary

When the Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire lose their parents to a mysterious fire, they suddenly find themselves orphans with no where to go. Mr. Poe takes them to live with their "closest" living relative, Count Olaf who sees them as nothing more than a way for him to get his hand on their parent's fortune. When he realizes that the only way for him to get any of the money is for him to marry one of the children, he contrives a plan. He and his theater group set out to put on a play. He plays the groom while Violet plays the bride. Olaf gets his neighbor, Justice Strauss, to play the judge and when she marries them on stage, Olaf breaks character and announces that his brilliant plan has succeeded. When everyone turns to Justice Strauss and expects her to tell them that the marriage was not legal, she says that everything was done right and that legally Violet was not married to the Count. However, Violet then pipes up and explained that the marriage document was not legal because she signed the marriage certificate with her left hand. Because she is right handed, the signature on the document was not her signature. Mr. Poe finally realizes what a mistake it was putting the children with Count Olaf and immediately sets out to find them another home.

Other books in the Series:

The Reptile Room

The Wide Window

The Miserable Mill

The Austere Academy

The Ersatz Elevator

The Vile Village

The Hostile Hospital

The Carnivorous Carnival

The Slippery Slope

The Grim Grotto

The Penultimate Peril

The End

Other Books by the Author:

Horse Radish

The Unauthorized Autobiography

The Beatrice Letters

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Where the Wild Things Are

Where the Wild Things Are

Maurice Sendak

©1991

37 Pages

Ages 4-8

Summary

Where the Wild Things Are is the story of Max, a little, trouble-making boy who was sent to bed without his dinner. As he paced his room, a jungle began to grow within his walls until he was standing under the moon light. There was a boat that had his name on it and he used it to set out on a year long voyage. He sailed to where the wild things are. There, he became the kings of the wild things for he was the scariest or them all. He stayed there until he longed for those who loved him. He sailed back to his bedroom where his dinner was still warm and waiting for him.

Other Books by the Author:

A Very Special House

In the Night Kitchen

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Wait til Helen Comes

Wait Til Helen Comes

Mary Downing Hahn

©2008

192 Pages

Ages 9-12

Summary

Molly and Michael have just been handed a five-year-old bratty stepsister who delights in making their lives miserable. On top of their mom's remarriage, they have been informed that they are moving into an old rundown church for the summer. Molly had never been fond of grave yards and is creeped out to find one in their new backyard. Even more disturbing is when Heather, Molly and Michael's stepsister, finds her initials carved into one of the headstones. Heather becomes a little too familiar with her new friend Helen, a ghost that mainly only appears to her, and understand Helen to be her only friend. Helen has similar feelings and wants nothing more than for Heather to stay with her forever. Molly and Michael arrive moments before Heather is drowned by her "friend" and convince her that they could be friends too if only they made a little effort.

The concept behind the story isn't that bad, but I felt that it could have been done a little better. he writing style was good. However, it was a predictable ghost story. You could practically guess everything that was about to happen before it did and there is little enjoyment in knowing things before they happy. Though the suggested age group is 9-12, I would put it more around 8-10. I don't see anyone older than 10 getting much enjoyment out of this.

Other Books by the Author

All the Lovely Bad Ones

Deep and Dark and Dangerous

The Doll in the Garden

Closed for the Season

The Dead Man in Indian Creek

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Tops and Bottoms

Tops and Bottoms

Janet Stevens

©2005

29 Pages

Ages 4-8

Summary

A Charming tale of a cunning rabbit and a lazy bear. Hair and his family have been starving while the Bear who owns all the land chooses to sleep through every harvest season. Hair comes up with a plan and approaches Bear with a business proposal. The rabbit would plant and care for the crops while the bear could sleep the time away on his porch and when the time came for harvest they would split the crop down the middle. Three times Hair fooled Bear and took the crop for him and his family, leaving the bear with nothing but leaves or roots. When the bear finally realized that no matter what he said the hair would always cheat him out of his fair share, he took to planting and harvesting the crops for himself.

Other Books by the Author:

Anansi and the Magic Stick

And the Dish Ran Away with the Spoon

From Pictures to Words : A Book about Making a Book

Shoe Town

Old Bag of Bones : A Coyote Tale

Illustrated by Janet Stevens

To Market, to Market by Anne Miranda

Tumbleweed Stew by Susan Stevens Crummel

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The Missing Piece Meets the Big O

The Missing Piece Meets the Big O

Shel Silverstein

©1981

104 Pages

Ages 9-12

Summary

In a world that consists of Os and missing pieces, one missing piece wishes to find to whom it belonged. It found many Os with missing pieces, but none of them fit. Some were too large; some were too small. Some were greedy (trying to fit more pieces than it had room for) and some had too many pieces missing. The missing Piece nearly gave up until it came across a big O. The Big O seemed perfect, but when the missing piece asked to be its missing piece, the Big O replied that it had no piece missing. The Missing Piece feared that it would never be able to roll. The big O then explained that the missing Piece didn't need another to allow it to roll. Even the sharpest edge can be warn down. So the Missing Piece began to flip itself over and over until its edges began to smooth and it could roll just as easily as if it were its own O.

I adore this story for it teaches seems to tell me that I don't need another to complete me. I can do anything I want to do if only I set my determination. If I wait around to have another complete my O then I could end up waiting forever.

Other Book by the Author:

Take Ten

Grab Your Socks!

Now Here's My Plan

Uncle Shelby's ABZ Book

A Playboy's Teevee Jeebies oh la la

(Uncle Shelby's story of) Lafcadio: The Lion Who Shot Back

A Giraffe and a Half

The Giving Tree

Who Wants a Cheap Rhinoceros?

Uncle Shelby's Zoo

More Playboy's Teevee Jeebies

Where the Sidewalk Ends

The Missing Piece

Different Dances

A Light in the Attic

Falling Up

Draw a Skinny Elephant

Runny Babbit

Don't Bump the Glump! and Other Fantasies

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Kid Tea

Kid Tea

Elizabeth Ficocelli

©2007

29 Pages

Ages 4-8

Summary

This is an adorable rhyming story about how messy children can be. Everyday a different activity turns the brother and sister a different color. When the kids are placed in the bathtub at the end of the day, the water turns the color the kids once were and becomes yet another “Kid Tea.”

Other Books By the Author:

Children's Books:

Child’s Guide to the Seven Sacraments

Child’s Guide to Reconciliation

Child’s Guide to First Holy Communion

Child's Guide to the Rosary

The Imitation of Christ for Children

Adult Books:

Lourdes: Font of Faith, Hope & Charity

The Fruits of Medjugorje: Stories of True and Lasting Conversion

Shower of Heavenly Roses - Stories of the intercession of St. Therese of Lisieux

Other Books By the Illustrator:

Don't Laugh at Me By Steve Seskin annd Allen Shamblin

The Stupendous Dodgeball Fiasco by Janice Repka

Lola Mazola's Happyland Adventure: My John 3:16 Book by Robert J. Morgan

Made for a Purpose by Dandi Daley Mackall and Rick Warren

The Truth About Horses, Friends, & My Life As a Coward by Sarah P. Gibson

Yes, Please! No, Thank You! by Valerie Wheeler

Tub-boo-boo by Margie Palatini

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Green Eggs and Ham

Green Eggs and Ham

Dr. Seuss

©1960

72 Pages

Ages 9-12

Summary

Green Eggs and Ham is a cute rhyming picture book about not wanting to try anything new and how persistent, stubborn some people can be.

True to most Dr. Seuss books, the rhymes are so absurd that it cannot help but be entertaining. This is a wonderful children's book.

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The Golden Compass

The Golden Compass

Philip Pullman

©1996

432 Pages

Ages 9-12

Summary

In Lyra's world, every person is accompanied by an animal manifestation of their soul. Lyra and her daemon, Pan, were raised in Jordan College at Oxford. It was there that they were introduced to their adventure. Lyra's uncle (who is actually her father) came to the college to request funding for an expedition to the north where he would conduct further experiments on Dust. Her mother had a similar goal by less conventional means. Lyra's mother, the magistrate, took to abducting children and cutting their daemons away from them. Lyra, a brave and adventurous little girl with the help of a symbol reader that told you the truth in things around you, took it upon herself to put a stop to this and save the children who had been abducted. However, when she finally caught up to her father, she could not prevent him from using dust tearing a hole in the sky that would transport him to different worlds. With only slight hesitation, Lyra followed him into the sky.

Other Books in the Series:

The Subtle Knife

The Amber Spyglass

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Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

Judi Barrett

©1978

29 Pages

Ages 4-8

Summary

In this story, we see a grandfather telling a bedtime story to a brother and sister. He tells them of a far away town where the people never have to worry about food. There were no grocery stores but the people never went hungry. You see, three times a day the weather brought food into town. Everything from spaghetti to orange juice to eggs and toast fell from the clouds. The people were happy until one day when the food started getting bigger and bigger. The food began wrecking the town and the citizens became concerned for their lives. The build boats out of the over-sized food and sailed to safety.

Other Books by the Author:

Old MacDonald Had an Apartment House

Animals Should Definitely Not Wear Clothing

An Apple a Day

Benjamin's 365 Birthdays

Peter's Pocket

I Hate to Take a Bath (illustrated by Charles B. Slackman)

I Hate to Go to Bed (illustrated by Ray Cruz), Four Winds Press

The Wind Thief (illustrated by Diane Dawson)

Animals Should Definitely Not Act Like People

I'm Too Small, You're Too Big

A Snake Is Totally Tail

What's Left?

Pickles Have Pimples, and Other Silly Statements

Pickles to Pittsburgh: The Sequel to Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs

Old MacDonald Had an Apartment House

The Things That Are Most in the World

I Know Two Who Said Moo: A Counting and Rhyming Book

Which Witch Is Which?

Never Take a Shark to the Dentist and Other Things Not To Do

The Marshmallow Incident

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