Month: August 2017

Posted in YA Book Reviews

Slumbering

Posted on by Little Bee

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Slumbering by C.S. Johnson

Rating 5 stars

I received a copy of Slumbering in exchange for an honest review.

Slumbering is an uniquely, original, YA epic fantasy about a teenage boy that learns he was once a warrior for a Star Prince and at some point was sent to earth where he became human until his powers unlocked. As such, this story is about his “acceptance ” of responsibility for his role to fight off evil demons and protect his friends and community (the latter more so out of obligation than desire).

Even though I have given the book 5 stars, I absolutely cannot stand Hamilton Dinger. He makes the story hard to get into because he is so narcissistic it makes the story as a whole almost unbearable. Dinger thinks he is God’s gift to humanity (even though he would not agree that he was God’s gift…just a gift to everyone through nature ). So why the 5 stars? Because I couldn’t put it down and I found myself secretly hoping he gets it together and stops being such an asshat.

The book is a fairly quick read and flows well. It is also a completely original epic fantasy YA, which is hard to come by these days. It offers a unique story that is intriguing and will spark curiosity for the rest of the series and intrigue as to how this war will ultimately go down.

As much as I can’t stand Dinger, I am hoping he has a lot of character development that makes him a more likable super hero. It is entirely unfortunate that a jerk like him gets something so awesome and he continues to be arrogant. We all know what happens to arrogant superheroes.

The bulk of this story is to set up the characters in the story line, introduce some of the demons and what their end game is, as well as, portray Dinger as a jerk. Honestly, I don’t feel sorry for anything that happens to Dinger.

If you are curious about this book and would be interested in reading it for yourself (which I recommend) you can check it out: Amazon

Keep posted as I am currently listening to the next installment of the story!

Posted in Children Books

Gerturde and Toby Save the Gingerbread Man

Posted on by Little Bee

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Gertrude and Toby Save the Gingerbread Man by Shari Tharp art by Jim Heath

Goodreads rating: 5 stars

 

I received this book through Goodreads Giveaway. This is my honest review.

Gertrude and Toby Save the Gingerbread Man  is a cute, short story, about Gertrude (goat) and Toby (turtle), two farm animals who like to go on adventures. This particular adventure starts off with the Farmer taking the prized pig to the fair. Gertrude and Toby decide to go off to town for an adventure. Along the way, they see a magic carpet flying in the woods. Shortly after, a young boy and girl running out of the woods away from a witch. The magic carpet flies underneath the children and brings them to safety by Gertrude and Toby. These two children are Hansel and Gretel. They tag along with Gertrude and Toby into town. Once there, they hear a scream and see a Gingerbread Man being carried by a beanstalk into the sky. The magic carpet took Gertrude and Toby up into the clouds to a cabin of a giant. Gertrude was able to rescue the Gingerbread Man and they escaped back to the town. The baker told Hansel and Gretel they could live with him, and Gertrude and Toby happily went back to their farm.

This was a cute story. This book is great for young children and is able to keep their interest. There are many pictures with a paragraph or few sentences on most pages. It is a great stepping stone book, or to be read to young children at bedtime. This is the second book, but you do not have to read the first book to follow along. Each book appears to be it’s own new adventure and is written in a way to keep kids interested.

I really liked the mixture of identifiable fairy tales such as Hansel and Gretel, Gingerbread Man, and Jack and the Beanstalk. I think that is an interesting concept to include them. This was probably my favorite part of the story. I liked how they all connected to each other.

The illustrations were great. Jim Heath is a great artist and each picture was interesting and helps visualize the story.