• The Necromancer

    Overall Rating: ★ Rating:68 Fullstar:3 Star Piece:0.4 Fraction:3.4★ Rating:68 Fullstar:3 Star Piece:0.4 Fraction:3.4★ Rating:68 Fullstar:3 Star Piece:0.4 Fraction:3.4½ Rating:68 Star Piece:0.4 Fraction:3.4☆ Rating:68 Fraction:3.468%
    The Necromancer (Book 4, Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel)
    Michael Scott
    Delacorte Books for Young Readers, 2010
    Fantasy
    ISBN: 0385735316
    416 pages

    Synopsis

    San Francisco

    After fleeing to Ojai, then Paris, and escaping to London, Josh and Sophie Newman are finally home. And after everything they’ve seen and learned in the past week, they’re both more confused than ever about their future. Neither of them has mastered the magics they’ll need to protect themselves from the Dark Elders, they’ve lost Scatty, and they’re still being pursued by Dr. John Dee. Most disturbing of all, however, is that now they must ask themselves, can they trust Nicholas Flamel? Can they trust anyone?
 


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    Rampant

    Overall Rating: ★ Rating:48 Fullstar:2 Star Piece:0.4 Fraction:2.4★ Rating:48 Fullstar:2 Star Piece:0.4 Fraction:2.4½ Rating:48 Star Piece:0.4 Fraction:2.4☆ Rating:48 Fraction:2.4☆ Rating:48 Fraction:2.448%
    Rampant
    Diana Peterfreund
    Harper Teen, 2009
    Fantasy
    ISBN: 0061490008
    416 Pages

    Synopsis

    Forget everything you ever knew about unicorns. Real unicorns are venomous, man-eating monsters with huge fangs and razor-sharp horns. Fortunately, they’ve been extinct for a hundred and fifty years. Or not.

    Astrid had always scoffed at her eccentric mother’s stories about killer unicorns. But when one of the monsters attacks her boyfriend—thereby ruining any chance of him taking her to the prom—Astrid finds herself headed to Rome to train as a unicorn hunter at the ancient cloisters the hunters have used for centuries.

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    The Sorceress

    Overall Rating: ★ Rating:68 Fullstar:3 Star Piece:0.4 Fraction:3.4★ Rating:68 Fullstar:3 Star Piece:0.4 Fraction:3.4★ Rating:68 Fullstar:3 Star Piece:0.4 Fraction:3.4½ Rating:68 Star Piece:0.4 Fraction:3.4☆ Rating:68 Fraction:3.468%
    The Sorceress (Book 3, The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel)
    Michael Scott
    Delacorte Books for Young Readers, 2009
    Fantasy Fiction
    ISBN: 0385735294
    512 pages

    Synopsis

    As the day of reckoning approaches where the Dark Elders are planning to bring their banished brethren into the world and end the world as we know it, Nicholas Flamel and the two recently awakened twins, Sophie and Josh Newman are in a race against time and all of the dark forces against them. The first book takes place in California and the second in Paris. This book, the third edition to the series so far, takes place in London and a new cast of characters is added to the mix including William Shakespearre, Billy the Kid, and Gilgamesh.

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    Posted in 2009, Best Of, Classroom, History/Period, Religious/Mythology, Reviews, Series | No Comments »

    The Graveyard Book

    Overall Rating: ★ Rating:90 Fullstar:4 Star Piece:0.5 Fraction:4.5★ Rating:90 Fullstar:4 Star Piece:0.5 Fraction:4.5★ Rating:90 Fullstar:4 Star Piece:0.5 Fraction:4.5★ Rating:90 Fullstar:4 Star Piece:0.5 Fraction:4.5½ Rating:90 Star Piece:0.5 Fraction:4.590%
    The Graveyard Book
    Neil Gaiman
    HarperCollins, 2008
    Fantasy Fiction
    ISBN-10: 0060530928
    320 pages
    Newbery Award Winner

    Synopsis

    Nobody Owens, known as Bod, is like any normal boy his age, except that he’s been raised by a graveyard full of ghosts. When he was just a baby, the man Jack was sent to murder him and his family, but Bod solely escaped. Largely taken care of by a guardian who exists neither within the living or the dead, Bod has to navigate a mysterious and different world than most people, and as a result, growing up can be difficult at times. As he hits his teenage years, he must decide what to do once the man Jack knows his whereabouts again.

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    Posted in 2008, Best Of, Fantasy/Science Fiction, Ignite Imagination, Recommended, Reviews | 1 Comment »

    The Underneath

    Overall Rating: ★ Rating:91 Fullstar:4 Star Piece:0.55 Fraction:4.55★ Rating:91 Fullstar:4 Star Piece:0.55 Fraction:4.55★ Rating:91 Fullstar:4 Star Piece:0.55 Fraction:4.55★ Rating:91 Fullstar:4 Star Piece:0.55 Fraction:4.55½ Rating:91 Star Piece:0.55 Fraction:4.5591%
    The Underneath
    Kathi Appelt
    Atheneum, 2008
    Fiction
    ISBN-10: 1416950583
    320 pages
    Newbery Award Nominee
    The National Book Awards Nominee

    Synopsis

    A pregnant calico cat is discarded to fend for herself, and as she is making a new home in the backwaters of the bayou, she hears the lonely howls of a hound dog. Compelled to act against her normal nature, she finds the dog and moves in with him in The Underneath, the space beneath the porch of the house of Gar Face.

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    Posted in 2008, Award Winners, Best Of, Classroom, English/Reading, Fiction (non-fantasy), History/Period, Nature/Biology, Recommended, Reviews | No Comments »

    The Magician

    Overall Rating: ★ Rating:57 Fullstar:2 Star Piece:0.85 Fraction:2.85★ Rating:57 Fullstar:2 Star Piece:0.85 Fraction:2.85½ Rating:57 Star Piece:0.85 Fraction:2.85☆ Rating:57 Fraction:2.85☆ Rating:57 Fraction:2.8557%
    The Magician (Book 2, The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel)
    Michael Scott
    Delacorte Books for Young Readers, 2008
    Fantasy Fiction
    ISBN: 0385733585
    496 pages

    Synopsis

    Continuing on from their first adventure, the twins Josh and Sophie Newman have now been transported to Paris through a ley-line, a magical portal that connects major parts of the world and can bring people from place to place instantaneously. Sophie’s powers have been awakened and she has all of the powers and memories of the Witch. They’ve escaped John Dee for now, but another powerful enemy is hot on their trail, the infamous Niccoló Machiavelli, a powerful, cold, and calculating adversary who has control over all of the Parisian police forces in addition to having magical abilities.

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    Posted in 2008, Best Of, Ignite Imagination, Reviews, Series | No Comments »

    The Battle Of The Labyrinth

    Overall Rating: ★ Rating:72 Fullstar:3 Star Piece:0.6 Fraction:3.6★ Rating:72 Fullstar:3 Star Piece:0.6 Fraction:3.6★ Rating:72 Fullstar:3 Star Piece:0.6 Fraction:3.6½ Rating:72 Star Piece:0.6 Fraction:3.6☆ Rating:72 Fraction:3.672%
    The Battle of the Labyrinth (Book 4, Percy Jackson & The Olympians)
    Rick Riordan
    Hyperion, 2008
    Fantasy Fiction
    ISBN-10: 1423101464
    368 pages

    Synopsis

    A little skeptical about his freshman orientation at a new school before heading off to camp, Percy literally starts off with a bang. Running into a pair of crafty demon cheerleaders, he sets off another explosion and fire just before fleeing with Annabeth to camp. There they find the dire need to go on another quest in order to stop Kronos from destroying the camp and taking over the world. This time, however, they must enter the Labyrinth, a deadly maze that shifts and changes, magically connecting everything in the entire Western world underground.

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