What do you do when a childhood fear comes to life, why you fight in of course? When a little boy (whose name we never learn) is told stories by hos grandmamma about witch being real, he never quite believes her until he is trapped in a room with 100 witches plotting to destroy all of the children in England. Somehow, despite the fact that they find him and turn him into a mouse, he manages to escape, make a plan to stop their plan and succeed in becoming the hero.
Review by Leslie B.
Book Reviews
Book Review: The Magic Finger by Roald Dahl
The Magic Finger
By Roald Dahl
With great power comes great responsibility. Or so the young lady in this book found out when she got mad and turned her neighbors into tiny people with duck wings. The Greggs were hunters who loved to hunt for sport alone, and when they killed 16 ducks without a tear, the girl (she is given no other name), curses them and switches their lot with the parents of the ducks they killed. The ducks grew big, had people arms, and went hunting the Greggs. What happened next? Read the book and find out!
Review by Leslie B.
Book Review: Real Murders by Charlaine Harris
This book is the first in the Aurora Teagarden mysteries, a series about a small-town Southern librarian who is a member of a group that discusses true crimes: Real Murders. But what happens to the group when members start to be killed off, in the same manner as famous murders that they discuss in their meetings? I appreciate that the killer was not the obvious red herring. Though, I still had my money on someone else. Oh, well. That’s why I’m not a detective. Or a writer. On the whole, it was an entertaining book and a quick read, but I wasn’t swept away. Charlaine Harris’ approach to race was a bit problematic, and I’d be remiss in not mentioning it, mostly because she tended to sweep it under the rug herself. There was only one person of color in the story and most, if not all, of his dialog occurred “off-camera,” as though the author found writing a black man a little too complicated and decided to skip that bit. I come to this conclusion because there is a bit where Aurora talks about a local mayoral race and says that it’s a good thing that none of the candidates are black this year, since that always complicates matters. Yeahhhh. To give the author the benefit of the doubt, the book was written 26 years ago, and her more recent books, like the Southern Vampire series (TV’s True Blood), are far less problematic. She’s grown as a writer since Real Murders. While I probably won’t read another of Aurora’s adventures, I am reminded that I’m far behind in Harris’ vampire series, so I’ll be looking into that again soon.
P.S. There’s apparently a Hallmark movie adaptation of this book, so maybe have a look at that too.
Review by Jessica A.
Book Review: The Enormous Crocodile by Roald Dahl
Are children yummy to eat? That is what the Enormous Crocodile thinks and why he is hunting for some children. He is very hungry and he believes very clever and is going to use this cleverness to trick some children into his trap. As he is wondering through the forest to get to where the children are he makes the mistake of bragging his intent to all around him. They are appalled and block his cleverness at every turn, much to his ultimate destruction.
Review by Leslie B.
Book Review: Douglas Adams’s Starship Titanic by Terry Jones
This is a book based on a video game which is based on a throw-away side-note in a very silly science fiction book called Life, The Universe, and Everything by Douglas Adams. This book, however, is written by Terry Jones, best known for his work with Monty Python. The Starship Titanic suffered a Spontaneous Massive Existence Failure, and the novel tells us how and what happened after, since apparently it is possible to exist after suffering a SMEF. Good to know. In the course of this inaugural voyage of the Starship, she picks up three humans on Earth, is attacked by engineers, is nearly blown up by a bomb that easily loses concentration when counting down, and is home to some very rude service bots. Given the concept is Adams’ and the novel is by Jones, one can expect a certain level of humor and zaniness. True. However, it wasn’t as funny as I had hoped. I laughed here and there, but there were also tedious bits that did nothing for me. Your mileage may vary. The best thing to come out of the book, for me, was the introduction of a new swear word to my vocabulary: Pangalin!
Review by Jessica A.
Book Review: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
What a wonderful little book. I of course grew up with the movie, little Charlie Bucket with the heart of gold. It was fascinating to read the book and see all of the things that are different in the movie, since the fantasy of the book would not have been able to be recreated on film. There are no squirrels in the movie that open walnuts whole, but geese that lay golden eggs, not as funny but easier to replicate. Charlie is not given the factory because he doesn’t give Slugworth the ever-lasting-gobstopper, but just because he is a good boy, and does not steal Fizzy-lifting-drinks. And one of my favorite parts is when Willy Wonka lands the great glass elevator in the Buckets home, through the roof and carries off the bucket family. Even if you have seen the film, please read the book, it is a not miss!!
Review by Leslie B.
