39 Clues, Book 1 - The Maze of Bones

by Rick Riordan

The maze of bones is an awesome book with drama, action and suspense, not to mention poison finger nails and a dart gun loaded with poison. It starts out with two orphans, Amy and Dan Cahill, whose parents were killed in a fire. Then their grandmother, Grace dies, but when they go to the funeral, their calm peaceful life ends right there. Then they must make a choice; get $1,000,000 or have a chance to go on a clue hunt for the greatest source of power known to man.

What choice will they make? If they get the $1,000,000, their Aunt Beatrice will somehow find a way to steal it for herself. If they pick the hunt, they will have fierce competition like Ian and Natalie Kabra; deadly, rich and very secretive or Alistair Oh; smart and rich. They pick the hunt, but they have no clue how deadly it is. They are given two things, a clue "the fine print to guess, Seek out Rickard S_____", and a warning: "beware of the madrigals". Will they find the next clue? Will they survive the hunt? What are these Madrigals? Will they evade their evil aunt? Find out in this amazing tale by Rick Riordan, who is also the author of the Percy Jackson series.

Here's an Amazon link.

Eye of the Forest (Children of the Lamp)

by P.B. Kerr

This is the fifth book in the series. So many important things happen in this book, that I don't know where to start! There's a betrayal, but who is it? John and Philippa once again embark on an adventure to save the earth from certain destruction!

They venture to the Amazon to find the Eye of the Forest, which holds great power. They are sent by Faustina, the Djinn leader. On the way there, they meet many strange creatures, like jaguars, 20 foot long poisonous centipedes, and a poison dart frog. During their adventure, they were horrified to find that their father had been kidnapped by the evil Virgil Macreeby.

Will they reach the Eye in time, or will they be killed on the way? Read this exciting tale to find out. I'd say it's good for kids aged 9-13.

By the way, P.B. Kerr and a really cool web site. Check it out! As usual, here's the AMAZON link.

Among the Hidden - KINDLE VERSION

by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Don't know what a Kindle version is? Let me tell you. A kindle is something you can get from Amazon, that let's you download books, and read them on a screen. My dad bought one last week. It's really fast and easy, it stores a lot of books. You can download books without going to your computer and start reading them right away.

Here's a picture of the Kindle:

The first book I read on this was Among the Hidden, which is the first book in the Shadow Children series. It's about a young boy named Luke who is in hiding because he is a third child. In his country, you can't have three children due to the lack of food. They have population police who enforce the laws about how many kids you can have. One day as he's staring out the window, he sees a girl's face looking out the window of the Baron's house. He is surprised because he knows that they already have two sons. He suspects that she may be a third child as well.

One day, he sneaks into the Baron's house, to meet the girl, and he does. Over time, they become good friends. Her name is Jennifer, but she likes to be called Jen. She has a plan for all third children to be free. Will it work, or will it have devastating consequences? Find out in this amazing tale by Margaret Peterson Haddix.

Some parts of this book are pretty sad. I'd recommend it for kids 9 and up.

The Tales of Beedle the Bard, Collector's Edition

by J. K. Rowling


My parents got this book for me for Christmas. It's only available from Amazon.com, but they've sold out. It's disguised to look like a School Book from Hogwarts, as you can see. *Hat not included - it came from my Halloween costume.

When you open the book, you find that hidden inside is a small red velvet bag that contains the actual book. Also, in a pocket inside the front cover, there is a light orange envelope that contains large prints of all the artwork in the book.

As you can see, it has a hard leather cover that is decorated with fancy silver corners, a blue-eyed skull in the center, and a fancy clasp on the edge. There's also a green ribbon to use as a bookmark, as you can see in this picture:

The inside of the book has cool writing, and it has several nice illustrations. I think that J.K. Rowling illustrated it herself.

The Tales of Beedle the Bard is a collection of short stories that take place in the Wizarding world of Harry Potter. On page 5, it says that the book was translated from the original runes by Hermione Granger, and that Commentary is by Albus Dumbledore. Some of my favorite stories are The Fountain of Fair Fortune, and Babbitty Rabbitty and her Cackling Stump.

If you're interested in the story, you can pick up a paperback version at your local book store, or at Amazon. If you want the fancy one like I've got, you'll have to wait until more are made. Since it is so special, I think I'm going to keep this book in my family forever.

I'd recommend this book to any fan of the Harry Potter series.

Nightmare Academy: Monster Madness

by Dean Lorey

As promised, here is my review of Monster Madness. It is the second in the Nightmare Academy series. In this story, Charlie hopes to become a Level 2 Banisher and Nethermancer. In order to do so, he must complete a certain mission, which is to go out, and bring a girl named Dora back to the Nightmare Academy. Dora has the ability to portal monsters to earth, but she is not yet aware of her abilities. After the kids contact Dora, they encounter a Dangeroo, who ends up temporarily kidnapping Violet.

After returning to Nightmare Academy, the Headmaster tells them that there is someone named the Guardian, whose job it is to keep the Named (terrible monsters) from reaching earth. The Guardian is dying because a human touched him. To save him, they need to get get milk from the Mother Hydra, which will cure him.

The rest of the book has many unexpected twists and turns, and a lot of danger. I don't want to spoil the ending, but let's just say that all is not well at Nightmare Academy.

The next book will be called Monster War. I don't think it's on sale yet, though. I can't wait for it to come out. I'd recommend this book to kids aged 9 and up, who love book with a lot of adventure. Once again, here's a link to amazon.