Liz FlanaganReseñas

The story of Jowen Thornsen, from a privileged dragon riding family on the island of Arcosi, who desperately wants a dragon of his own to bond with him...

This book is fast paced and easy to read, and would suit readers in early secondary school. Jowen starts as a spoiled rich kid, who reacts very angrily to disappointment when he is not selected by the dragons. But he grows as a character, and learns how to use his anger more wisely without being controlled by it. Of course, this is helped by him discovering his own super-special Shadow Dragon, so the moral is less 'don't be disappointed when life doesn't act like you're the chosen one', and more 'don't be disappointed, you'll probably end up being an even-more-chosen one in the end.' But he works hard, openly asks for forgiveness, and manages to remember the humanity even of his enemies.

The plot with the Norlander Brotherhood is interesting. The book runs with quite a straight anti-fascist 'it is wrong of them to want to kick other people off their island, our strength is in our diversity, and we should unite people by celebrating our differences together.' But actually, as far as I could glean (I should read the first book in the series) it was historically their island, and then the immigrants with dragons came with vastly superior technology (dragons!) and took all the positions of power, and made lots of their industries and their men redundant. It was interesting to have sympathetic bad guys.

Winter is clearly the most interesting character - her dragon died in a plague when she was about 12, and since then she has been lurking in tunnels lost in her grief, but risks coming back to humanity to save Jowen and rebond with a shadow dragon of her own.

Also, dragons and volcanos are cool.

This is going to be pretty short, because unfortunately this was a bit of a let down. I was expecting deep emotional pain, an intriguing mystery, and a story of friendship and discovery. Unfortunately, everything got lost in unlikable characters and underdeveloped plot points.

Things I Liked:
Eden Summer is an emotionally packed story of grief, loss, friendship, and guilt. The emotions are there and genuine, if dramatized, but I just couldn't connect with any of the characters so I didn't really buy the emotions.

Things I Didn't Like:
I thought that Eden was pretty unlikable. I understand that she is dealing with a lot emotionally after her sister's death, but even before that she wasn't that nice of a person. I didn't care about her, so I never cared that she was missing - which was the entire point of the story.

I thought it took way too long to figure out the trauma that happened to Jess over the summer, and once we did figure it out I thought it was really stupid and unbelievable. I just didn't buy it.

One of my least favorite things, especially in YA is cheating. It's always unnecessary and makes the characters unlikeable.

While this wasn't really for me, I feel like a lot of people will really enjoy this story, so I would still recommend it. I skimmed a fair bit in the middle, but the end did have more emotional pull which was nice. This just didn't really do it for me.

I received a copy of the book from the publisher via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.

The beautiful, vibrant illustrations in this early/beginning reader are beguiling! I really loved that even though Clara was on her own quest, she took the time to be kind to the people she met along the way. A great lesson for our little ones, especially since her kindness was very rewarded!

After many years Leah and Ryan, give in to their attraction, but of course nothing is smooth sailing. Ryan has to pretend to be involved with another singer, to get them to sell lots of songs and become famous. Felicity that is the other singer, has to pretend because she is gay and the music exes will not allow that to come out. Then of course, Ryans ex Julie comes back into the picture stating she is pregnant. Leah steps back, but Ryan is going to fight for her, and the rest of the gang assist...I wont tell you everything that happens, but it is good.

Ten Shiny Snails is a counting book with rhyme and a bit of repetition. The story takes place in a forest where ten snails are playing at night. One by one each get distracted, leaving the group until one snail is left. This lone snail goes and looks for his friends and when they reunite there are ten snails at the end. The snails are tactile and protrude from the right side pages making it easier to count. There are also cut-out holes in the left pages that correspond with the number of snails that remain. However, the book's illustrations are bright and busy and at times compete with the colors of the snails. This could make if confusing for a child when counting. The book does count downwards making it a bit more challenging.

Age Appropriate: 2 to 6 years old

Galloway, R. (2010). Ten shiny snails. New York: Scholastic.

Ten Shiny Snails and Counting Butterflies in Cahuilla share the same purpose as a counting book, however these books have differences. First, the illustrations use different medias. Patienco uses soft lines and muted colors (in watercolors) to depict the butterflies making these 2-dimensional images uncluttered. Also, the images do not fully cover the pages. Galloway uses the full page and bright colors mixed with tactile snails. This books is eye catching, but filled with images. Counting Butterflies in Cahuilla counts up from 1, while Ten Shiny Snails is the reserve. Moreover, Ten Shiny Snails has a story line that rhymes, unlike the other picture book that is strictly counting with image association. Both books have number recognition and counting as a focus, yet the presentation of this theme is quite different.