Josh LaceyReseñas

After the funeral of Tom Trelawney's grandfather, a man named Marko breaks in and threatens Tom, demanding the location of valuable documents hidden in his grandfather's home. Tom tricks Marko and finds the documents himself. They turn out to be letters from his great, great, great, etc... grandfather to his wife detailing his theft of a golden, jewel encrusted tiger he hid in India. Tom calls his Uncle Harvey, who he knows will help, and sneaks out to meet him. Together they head for India to find the tiger and embark on another exciting adventure together.

The Sultan's Tigers is a thrilling romp that should appeal to reluctant readers in the middle grades. Tom is an incorrigible character, in that he rarely considers the consequences of his actions and is very disrespectful to his parents, but these are the very traits that get him involved in so many dangerous, electrifying situations. Uncle Harvey is an older version of Tom with just a little bit less of a conscience. Together they make a formidable team as they search India for stolen treasure. Overall, The Sultan's Tigers is another enjoyable episode in the Tom Trelawney series.

Tom's parents are about to take their first trip alone since his older sister was born. Originally, Tom was going to spend the week with his friend, but once Tom burned down the shed in the backyard, none of Tom's neighbors want him to stay with them. Desperately, Tom's father calls his brother, Harvey to watch Tom for the week, even though Tom barely knows him. After his parents leave, Harvey takes Tom with him on an unannounced trip to Peru where he uses clues from a previous trip to look for buried pirate treasure. What starts out as a simple trip, turns very dangerous, very quickly.

The biggest strength of Island of Thieves is the search for clues and the puzzles those clues create. Although Tom does grow as a person through the story, his uncle and the other characters remain fairly static and seem rather one dimensional. Overall this is fast paced story with lots of action and adventure that would be an excellent choice for reluctant middle grade readers.

Mystery for middle-aged children

Grk, the dog, leads his owner to clues that further solve the case.

Boys enjoyed it.

The boy did not obey, disregarded his parents instructions, deceived his parents and excused his actions. Not actions that I would endorsed.

In this book, Eddie and his family take in his uncle's dragon while Uncle Morton is on vacation. They lose the instructions and the dragon is unruly and damages things. Eddie continues to try and contact Uncle Morton via email, and after many, many attempts, finally hears back. This book takes the format of emails. Each "chapter" is an email written by either Eddie or Uncle Morton.
This book is a good example of fantasy because there is a mythical creature present in the story. In this story, there is a dragon, and since dragons do not exist, this becomes an element of fantasy. This is the only element that makes the book a fantasy book. Of course, the dragon does things that are typically associated with dragons, but the dragon does not talk, keeping his presence similar to that of an animal. However, since this animal is mythical and does not exist, this book is a fantasy book.
Media: pencil
Age Appropriateness: 2nd-4th

This review is also available on my blog, Read Till Dawn.

This is such a cute book! I read it one night when I wasn't tired. Its short size made it perfect for this situation, because I could read the whole thing in one sitting without worrying about staying up all night with a book. I lent it to my middle-school-aged brother, and I think he liked it okay - he didn't really say anything about it, and I think he feels like it's a little too young for him. Even my elementary-school-aged brother thought it was too short, though he also fretted about the fact that it was told in e-mails. I think that disconcerted him.

I hadn't read a little-kid book like this in a very long time, but The Dragonsitter is a lot better than a lot of the rubbish I remember reading when I was younger. It's silly, but in a cute way that still carries a storyline and allows for some real plot. The only real worry I have about the content of the book is toward the beginning: the dragon eats Edward's little sister's rabbit. This rather violent act might completely pass by most people as just another one of the dragon's wild acts, but I could see some of the more tender-hearted kids getting pretty upset over the idea that a cute little bunny got eaten. In fact, I think I was one of those tender-hearted kids. The death of anyone, no matter what species, cut me deeply, to the point where I was literally traumatized by the death of a minor feline character in Lassie Come-Home (some consider that one of the more kid-friendly dog books; I spent years considering it one of the saddest books I'd ever read). My only real concern with The Dragonsitter is that some other poor little kid will be as sensitive as I was, and come away sad. You know the kids in your life better than I do, though - if they're part of the 99% of the kids who won't care about Jemima the rabbit, then I definitely suggest giving The Dragonsitter a try with them. It's a fun little story, and it's even got sequels for the kids who become particularly attached to Edward and the dragon!

Disclaimer: I got a complementary ARC of this book at KidLitCon (in preparation for the hardback release).

Twelve-year-old British schoolboy Tim Malt and his dog, Grk, set out on a new adventure while in New York City, where they seek to discover who stole the Golden Dachshund from the National Museum.

Delightful quick read about a young boy Eddie Smith-Pickle who is "dragonsitting" for his Uncle Milton. The story is told entirely through emails. Eddie details all the trials and tribulations he and his family are going through-- burnt curtains, poopy floors, etc Eddie keeps send the emails but doesn't get replies until Morton is due to return home. Seems an need way to reminds kids that pets come responsibilities. I am looking forward to reading more in the serie

This will be a good book to recommend to middle elementary boys in particular. Tom has to stay with his uncle for a week while his parents go on vacation. Tom is surprised to find out that Uncle Harvey plans to quickly go to Peru, and Tom convinces him to bring him along. Uncle Harvey, while a nice guy, is involved in some questionable activities but the guys he's dealing with are definitely not nice guys, and Tom and Harvey have lots of adventures being caught and escaping from these crooks. Harvey's plan is to search for pirate treasure -- long story, but without Tom's help they never would have found it. Tom enjoys the excitement and it turns out he's quite well suited for sleuthing and daring feats.

Tim is een doodgewone schooljongen die op een dag een hond vind. Spijtig genoeg mag hij die van zijn ouders niet houden. Dus gaat hij op zoek naar de eigenaars van het hondje, maar dat is makkelijker gezegd dan gedaan…

De hond Grrr is een echt avonturenverhaal met alles erop en eraan: een jonge held met zijn ‘sidekick’, een aantal héél spannende situaties, geheime organisaties met slechteriken die met duistere zaakjes bezig zijn, een paar onschuldige kinderen die gered moeten worden, enz.
Dit klinkt allemaal vrij ongeloofwaardig, maar daar denk je helemaal niet aan tijdens het lezen van het verhaal. Dan let je meer op de pittige dialogen, de leuke humor, de vriendschap tussen Tim en zijn nieuwe vriendje … Je beleeft gewoon het ganse verhaal mee, van begin tot einde.

Na het lezen van Grrr zullen heel wat kinderen zin krijgen in meer spannende avonturendetectives en dan is het maar een klein stapje naar Sam Smith en (nog later) Alex Rider.

Intussen zijn er al een heleboel boeken over Grrr geschreven, weliswaar allemaal in het Engels. In een Nederlandse vertaling verscheen er voorlopig slechts één vervolg: Grrr en de bende van Pelotti. En aan de korte inhoud te lezen wacht er ons ook daar weer een spannend kinderverhaal!

In some sort of post-collapse future world, people rarely travel. One old-technology enthusiast loves screening old films in a shed re-fitted as a cinema. His latest invitation to a screening is a flop so he innovates successfully. An attempted story twist at the end though falls flat.

William Mullins dies when his space rocket blows up. His dream passes onto his son, Joe Mullins, who builds the Mayflower, the first starship. Yet the cost of this dream continues to exact a toll. Both edifying and crushing in equal measure.

I like this book because it was fun to read and every chapter just got more and more interesting½

I was shelving books at the library when I ran across this one in the children's section. The name "Grk" caught my attention, so I pulled it out and began to read... several minutes later, I figured I'd better get back to work, but I was already hooked, so I checked it out to finish at home.

The adventure begins when twelve-year-old Timothy Malt finds a small black and white dog on his way home from school. Determined to return Grk to his owners, Tim sneaks off with the dog to Stanislavia, where he must rescue Grk's owners from the evil Colonel Zinfandel, who has just taken over the country in a military coup.

The story is a fast-paced political thriller, which doesn't shy away from the inevitable violence, but neither does it dwell on it. Possibly too intense for younger children, it was a breath of fresh air to this adult who loves thrillers, but occasionally finds them unnecessarily murky and unpleasant. The characters are nicely drawn, and Tim is an admirable reluctant hero, an ordinary schoolboy who does what he thinks is right, even when it's scary and dangerous.

I enjoyed this book a lot.

"Only boring people get bored#133;Interesting people can always find something to be interested in."

That#146;s what Tom Trelawney#146;s father says, anyway. Tom shouldn#146;t have been interested in playing with matches but he was...bored. Now the shed is in ashes and strange Uncle Harvey is the only one willing to have him stay while his parents vacation
Tom soon discovers Harvey is going to South America on a treasure hunt and though nephews aren#146;t invited, he manages to tag along. Before it#146;s over he#146;ll drive a car, fire a gun and run for his life. Tom realizes that life may be about following the rules, but survival may be about breaking them.

The book "Island of Thieves", is about a boy named Tom who had to stay with his uncle Harvey (who does want to be called uncle Harvey, just Harvey) because one, their parents are going on a vacation just only the two of them. And two, he would've stayed with his friends house if he had not played with the match and made it to start burning down their house in the first place. But then, he discovered that his uncle harvey was not really fliying to Peru not for urgent or what he says it "important" buisness, but really for finding a hidden treasure chest that is on a island that is of course is why it is called the Island of Theives. ( I no, it is like a treaesure hunt , but this one is more interesting)

the Grk series is really popular....i have never read it...but kids love it.