Book Reviews

Peter Nimble And His Fantastic Eyes

By Jonathan Auxier

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Summary:

Peter Nimble And His Fantastic Eyes is about an orphan named Peter Nimble, who is blind. He is taken in by a man named Mr. Seamus, and he teaches Peter how to rob food stalls and houses. Mr. Seamus isn't kind to Peter though, and one day when Peter is pickpocketing a crowd, he meets the Haberdasher, who is selling rip-off hats to people. The Haberdasher sees Peter pickpocketing, and tells him to put all the stolen goods back in their rightful owners pockets. Peter is taken aback by this, and even more so when the Haberdasher tells Peter to guard his carriage. Peter has a very strong nose, and he soon sniffs out something much more valuable than gold inside of the carriage. Peter soon robs the carriage of the odd little box inside of the carriage producing the smell. He doesn't know what is inside the box until he is brought away on a quest by Professor Pound and Professor Cake, meeting his sidekick Sir Tode (part man, part cat and part horse) and he discovers that the 6 valuable ball-shaped items inside of the box are The Fantastic Eyes. Sir Tode and Peter find a message in a bottle, with a riddle on it, and they go on a long journey through sea and desert and end in The Perfect Palace. Peter finds out his true identity, and his past, and learns what the Fantastic Eyes can really do.

I would really recommend this book to anyone, and this is one of my favorite books ever. 

The Real Boy

By Anne Ursu

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Summary:

Oscar, a boy who is a hand to the famous magician, Master Caleb, mixes herbs and roots together underground in his small pantry, to make the remedies and magic that Caleb sells to the Shining People. But when Caleb goes away on a trip to the Continent, Wolf, Caleb's apprentice is ripped into pieces by an unknown force in the forest. The City children are falling severely ill, all of them missing something, and nobody knows how or why. They all need Caleb to help them, but seeing as Caleb is away, and Wolf is gone, Oscar is by himself. Using the help of his friend Callie, the healer's apprentice, they learn what may have caused it, until they see what Oscar finds in Caleb's workshop. Will Callie and Oscar be able to fight this mysterious force, and heal the City children?

I really enjoyed this book, and I recommend it to anybody who liked Peter Nimble or Breadcrumbs.

Breadcrumbs

By Anne Ursu

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Summary:

Hazel, a girl who never really fit in, loves fairy-tales and pretending to be on an adventure, with her best friend Jack. One day Jack doesn't want to play with Hazel anymore, and Hazel gets really mad. During recess she throws a snowball at him, not knowing that inside it is a magical mirror shard. The snowball hits Jack in the eye, and he has to go to the hospital. Hazel feels horrible, and tries to go and see him the next few days at his house, but then Jack's mom, who is depressed, tells her that Jack isn't home. Hazel soon realizes that jack has been taken into the forest. She goes on a long quest through the forest to find out where Jack is, and soon finds him at the ice queen's palace. But the ice queen's power mass Jack not want to go home. Will Hazel be able to persuade Jack to come home with her?

I loved this book until the end, when I was a bit disappointed by the ending, but it was really sweet and was very good quality writing. You really believe the character, and it is a nice twist of Hansel And Gretel and Narnia, and any fairytale.