The Mysterious Howling

by Maryrose Wood
Part of a series, The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place

Rating: ****` (4.5 stars)
Age group: 9+
Type: fiction

Penelope Lumley just graduated from the Swanburne Academy for Poor Bright Females and is applying to be a governess at Ashton Place, a huge manor-type house. The young mistress of the house, Lady Constance is acting strangely--giving her the position without actually interviewing her, shutting all the windows on a beautiful day, making Penelope sign legal papers to stay on the job before hiring her. Then Penelope hears a mysterious howling from the barn and decides to see what's up. It turns out there are three wild, wolf-like children hiding in there--Alexander, the oldest, Beowulf, the middle, and Casseopeia, the youngest, who likes barking. Lord Frederick names the Incorrigibles. Penelope cleans them up in no time, and trains them out of most of their wolfish habits such as chasing squirrels and barking instead of talking. But when Lady Constance announces a fancy Christmas party and requires the Incorrigibles to learn many, many more things than reading and math, Penelope is hard-pressed to teach the children everything. And when the party arrives, it seems like someone is trying to sabotage everything... can Penelope solve the mystery and keep the Incorrigibles from taking the blame?
This is a really good book. I actually listened to it as an audiobook, narrated by Katherine Kellgren, and she makes it much better by doing all the voices perfectly!! This book has MANY humorous parts. The children are all very eccentric and wolfish and that makes this book all the funnier. There are also lots of strange happenings at Ashton Place that add to the storyline. It ends at a sort of cliffhanger so you might want to read the next few books, The Hidden Gallery and The Unseen Guest. 

PARENTAL SECTION
Sexual parts: no
Violence: no
Fighting: no
Kissing/romance: no
Pregnancy: no
Stealing: no
Vandalizing: no

The Cavendish Home for Boys and Girls

by Claire Legrand

Rating: ***` (3.5 stars)
Age group: 9.5+
Type: fantasy

Victoria Wright has a stubborn personality and strives for a perfect academic record, but she only has one friend--Lawrence. Even if Victoria criticizes him and thinks of him as an experiment, he's loyal to her. But soon Victoria notices children going missing in her town--all the imperfect ones. And then Lawrence disappears! Victoria has a feeling that the mysterious, sinister Cavendish Home for Boys and Girls, run by Mrs. Cavendish and Mr. Alice, is behind the kidnappings and she decides to investigate. But she always encounters strange ten-legged bugs that leave marks behind when they touch you. When she meets the only adult who will believe her, the bugs suddenly take him! Victoria digs deeper--too deep, apparently, because then Mrs. Cavendish takes her, too. Now she is trapped in a terrible prison with walls that alive and strange slaves to Mrs. Cavendish called gofers. Finally she knows what's happening to the missing children--but she has to get everyone out before their thirteenth birthdays or something terrible happens to them that nobody knows. Victoria finds out a dark secret--a dark, gross secret, and Lawrence's thirteenth birthday is coming up! Will she ever save the kids and destroy the Cavendish Home for Boys and Girls?

 This book is pretty good and it's interesting how Victoria's personality changes. The author does a really good job of making the Home feel creepily nightmarish and there's a lot of pressure put on Victoria to escape which makes parts of the book suspenseful. This book is very exciting but there are some really disgusting parts. Also it's a little bit scary. But overall it is okay.

PARENTAL SECTION
Sexual parts: no
Violence: not really
Fighting: not really
Kissing/romance: no
Pregnancy: no
Stealing: no
Vandalizing: no
SPOILER ALERT!!!




There is one really, really disgusting part where Victoria finds
out that on the kids' thirteenth birthdays they are turned into
gofers and eaten. This is also somewhat intense but not really.

Nerd Girls: A Catastrophe of Nerdish Proportions

by Alan Lawrence Sitomer

Rating: **** (4 stars)
Age group: 10+
Type: Realistic fiction

Maureen is a Nerd Girl. So are her friends Allergy Alice (who is, fittingly, incredibly allergic to many things) and Beanpole (who is clumsy but nice). The ThreePees are super-popular girls--Kiki, the leader of the three, Brittany-Brattany, the second in command, and Sofes, who is a total doofus. One day the ThreePees lock the Nerd Girls in the art storage room! Soon the principal finds out and all six girls get into trouble. Then the principal drops a bomb on them--they have to work together as a team to win the ACADEMIC SEPTATHLON!!!  And not only that, but Maureen is having big family troubles. Can Maureen get Logan Meyers as her boyfriend? Can she fix her family? Can Alice cure herself of her allergies?

This book is really great. It has LOTS of humor and excitement. Maureen's voice is slightly sarcastic, and other funny parts are that Sofes is really, really dumb (no offense) and the septathlon announcer, Bingo, is really, really funny. I recommend this book highly!!!!

PARENTAL SECTION
Sexual parts: no
Violence: no
Fighting: no
Kissing/romance: yes, but no kissing
Pregnancy: no
Stealing: no
Vandalizing: no

The Magic Cake Shop

by Meika Hashimoto

Rating: **** (4 stars)
Age group: 7+
Type: fiction

Mr. and Mrs. Burblee are perfect. No kidding. They look perfect, act perfect, even smell perfect. But their daughter, Emma, is not perfect in their eyes--she likes playing with their chauffeur, cooking, and HATES how her parents try to make her perfect. Her parents decide to send her to her Uncle Simon's. Uncle Simon is more horrible than anything Emma could have ever imagined--fat, piggish, and he makes her work all day, every day. What a relief it is that she befriends the owners of Mr. Crackle's Cake Shop! But one day a man named Maximus Beedy, who is Uncle Simon's friend and a professional poisoner, comes and tells Simon about the Elixir of Delight--a mixture that will make any food taste heavenly to anyone. And now they're threatening to take away Mr. Crackle's senses if he doesn't make it for them so they can get rich! But Mr. Crackle has a few secrets up his sleeve... can he keep his senses and stop Simon and Maximus?

This is a cool book. I like it a lot. It's very exciting. There is a lot of food descriptions in this book, but I will say that there could be more. It has a good plot. The bad guys are very bad. All in all, this is a yummy, delicious book that is also exciting!!!

PARENTAL SECTION
Sexual parts: no
Violence: no
Fighting: no
Kissing/romance: no
Pregnancy: no
Stealing: not really
Vandalizing: not really

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and the Race Against Time

by Frank Cottrell Boyce
sequel to Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Flies Again
SORRY BORROWED THIS IMAGE FROM amazon.co.uk YOU CANNOT REALLY CLICK TO LOOK INSIDE!!

Rating: ****` (4.5 stars)
Age group: 8+
Type: Fantasy-ish

The Tootings are back and this time they have discovered the Chronojuster--the lever that allows their car Chitty Chitty Bang Bang to go back in time!!!!!!! So they do. They meet the original owner of the car, Count Zborowski. But they also discover two hardened criminals and a little boy called Red who is obsessed with money. Red accidentally turns the Chronojuster and off they go, zooming through time! But Tiny Jack is back, and with even more evil to bring... what will happen?
This book is also funny, especially since Lucy (who was really goth in the first book) is actually turning into a giggly teenage girl (!!!). This book  is more complex and harder to understand than the first one, but at the end, all the loose ends caused by the first book are wrapped up, plus most of this book's loose ends, and again there is a cliffhanger ending making everybody want to read the next book. Some things in this book: lucky cufflinks, the year 1966, and the lost city El Dorado!!! This is a a great book. :)

PARENTAL SECTION
Sexual parts: no
Violence: not really
Fighting: yes
Kissing/romance: well, Lucy starts to possibly have a crush on Count Zborowski
Pregnancy: no
Stealing: yes
Vandalizing: sort of

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Flies Again

by Frank Cottrell Boyce

sequel to Chitty Chitty Bang Bang by Ian Fleming

Rating: ****` (4.5 stars)

Age group: 8+

Type: Fantasy-ish

This book is about the Tooting family, made up of Dad, Mum, Lucy, Jem, and Little Harry Tooting. They live in England. They have a great life, until Dad gets fired from his job at Small Parts for Big Machines and they lose their car. But then Mum brings home a camper van from her job at Unbeatable Motoring Bargains, and Dad fixes it--and incorporates a new airplane engine into it. They find out the hard way that the car has a mind of its own--and can fly! They name her Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and off they go to see the world. But a mysterious villain, Tiny Jack want Chitty and will stop at nothing to get her--so when the Tootings end up on his private boat, it's not good news. Will they manage to save Chitty and themselves? 

This is a great book. I like it mostly because of the humor, because it really is very funny. There are some more intense-ish parts but it's not super-dark. The Tootings go on really cool trips. Tiny Jack is a really evil antagonist. Plus at the end there's a really big cliffhanger that leads perfectly into the next book!!!

PARENTAL SECTION

Sexual parts: no
Violence: yes-ish
Fighting: not exactly
Kissing/romance: yes, Mum and Dad kiss hugely in Paris
Pregnancy: no
Stealing: no
Vandalizing: no
There are some intense moments like when Little Harry--wait, I won't tell you that! You just have to read the book!

Mr. Popper's Penguins

by Richard and Florence Atwater

Rating: **** (4 stars)
Age group: 7+
Type: Fiction-ish

Mr. Popper is a wall painter. But one day he gets a penguin shipped to him from the Antarctic. An aquarium donates another penguin, and they all have babies! Now there are 12 penguins, which is a lot. Mr. Popper adores his penguins, but feeding them and sheltering them (in the proper condition) costs a bit more than the Poppers would like to be paying. Their money is quickly running out. So... Mr. Popper decides to train his penguins for performance!
This is a good book that is good for both little kids and big kids. Fun fact: Richard Atwater began writing it, but then he got sick so Florence Atwater finished it! Something specific I like about this book is that there is lots of humor in it. The tricks the penguins can do are especially funny. I will not tell you what they are. You will just have to read this book! Recommended for but not limited to penguin-lovers. This is a great book. The only problem is that Mr. Popper calls Mrs. Popper "mamma" and Mrs. Popper calls Mr. Popper "pappa" which makes for some confusing sections. Warning! There was a movie made out of this book. The movie is not really like the book at all, though it is pretty funny still if you want to watch it. 

PARENTAL SECTION
Sexual parts: no
Violence: comic violence. It's funny! (Penguins hitting each other)
Fighting: comic fighting. It's funny! (Penguins hitting each other)
Kissing/romance: no
Pregnancy: the penguins have babies
Stealing: the penguins steal stuff to make a nest.
Vandalizing: nope.