Phyllis Wong and the forgotten secrets of Mr Okyto

Phyllis Wong and the Forgotten Secrets of Mr Okyto by Geoffrey McSkimming
Reviewed by Tilly

This book is AMAZING! I am usually very fussy about what I like to read because I get bored easily, but the whole way through this book was brilliant and I can't wait for the second book to come out.

The Characters in this book are...

 * Phyllis Wong  {the main character, Phyllis loves magic she is very good at being a magician because her grandfather was one too}

* Clement {Phyllis's best  friend, Clement loves gadgets and his family own an appliance store}

*Daisy {Phyllis's dog and she would do anything for Phyllis]

*Chief Inspector  Barry Inglis {he is an officer and also one of Phyllis's friends}

*Harvey {Phyllis's dad}

*Minette {one of Phyllis's friends and Minette is a belly dancer}

*Mrs Lowerblast {owns the shop of the first stolen item and is one of Phyllis's friends}

All the characters are great in my opinon. Phyllis is the best character, but I love all of the characters because each character is unique. They all have their own traits and are quite funny. Phyllis is a very likable character, she has lots of friends!

This story is set in a big city. Phyllis lives in a huge apartment with it's own personal theatre, where she performs her magic tricks.

Phyllis is a good magician, but is there someone better? Someone using their skills to steal? A theif acomplishing the impossible, like making the famous Van Rockechild necklace just disapear or switching somthing right in front of sombody's eyes without them noticing. Phyllis decides to solve the mystery because the first crime happens in Mrs Lowerblast's antique store and she is another friend of Phyllis. The genre of this book is mystery--a crime, but also the mystery of magic.

I rate this book out of 5...

Phyllis Wong and the forgotten secrets of Mr Okyto is a great read and personally it is my favorite book.

The paper doll I chose today is x-mas themed a Santa paper doll:

Graceling

Gracling by Kristin Cashore

Reviewed by Milly 14yrs. old - Book Reviewer and Sometimes Baker

Graceling by Kristin Cashore is an exciting and enticing fantasy that starts with a girl in a fantasy realm called The Seven Kingdoms. Katsa is almost like every other girl, except for the fact that she has a talent for killing things. This is an interesting trait, but she is left with the notion that it's every person for themselves. She is a Gracling. Graclings are just people who have a special gift, some more useful then others. You can tell a graced person by their eyes, they are different colours. One day Katsa meets a boy with the most spectacular eyes, one silver and one gold. The day she meets Po? That's the day her life changes. 

Katsa has always been an obedient assassin and thug for her greedy uncle, the Kind of her realm, but Po makes Katsa start to question her role. When Katsa disobeys the King for the first time, she now finds herself an outlaw on the run. She may as well follow Po on his mission to stop an evil Gracling. 

I liked Katsa, she is brave, strong and willing to do anything to protect her friends. She is really inspiring. All the characters in this novel were well developed, like Bitterblue, even though she's a little kid and traumatised, she has moments of strength. Po seems to be a lighthearted character, but he will be tested.

This thrilling action is so fast paced, you won't want to put the book down (I know I didn't). The thing that stood out about it compared to other fantasy stories is it's written from the point of view of not only a girl, but a girl who is a warrior at heart. I love this amazing book and I give it out of 5 paper dolls:

I will definitely be reading Fire and Bitterblue in this series!

When You Reach Me

When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead

Reviewed by Tilly 10yrs. old - Tween Book Reviewer and Sometimes Writer

Book-bag pocket-shoe. These are the words of the laughing man. What can they mean?

When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead is a story about Miranda, who is in Yr 6 and best friend with Sal, the boy from her building. At least they were friends until the weird kid at school punched Sal for no reason. Now Sal won’t talk to Miranda and she doesn’t know why.

Then something strange happens. Miranda starts getting letters. She doesn’t know who is sending them. In this mystery, Miranda must figure out who is sending her letters, because it’s getting kind of creepy. In the first letter the writer claims her friend is in danger and he needs to save them.

Most of this story is in first person, from Miranda’s point of view. One unusual thing Rebecca Stead did with this novel was to also include the second person point of view. Second person is when a story uses ‘you’ as a pronoun. It feels like Miranda is speaking to you when you’re reading.

The characters in this story felt real. Sometimes they did things wrong and made mistakes but they were trying their best and this made me care about the characters. One of of my favourite characters was the laughing man, an old homeless guy who does strange things every day like murmuring ‘book-bag pocket-shoe’ or even practices kicking in the air. He also sleeps with his head under the mailbox. Miranda is another character I love because she tries really hard at things but sometimes they still don’t come out the way she wants. It makes me feel like she’s a normal person.

When You Reach Me is set in New York City. New York City is very populated which makes it a dangerous city for Miranda to just roam around. But by the end of the book I liked the city Miranda lived in, because I really got to know Miranda’s part of town.

I recommend this book for girls, no matter what age. It's a story about relationships and puzzles. I like solving mysteries and you can try and solve Miranda’s mystery before she does.

Can Miranda learn to trust a stranger enough to help save her friend or are there some things that cannot be changed? Read to find out!
Out of 5 paper dolls, I give it:

M~Malice

Malice by Chris Wooding

Reviewed by Milly, 12yrs. old - Teen Book Reviewer and Sometimes Baker

Here is an old favourite i decided to re-blog!

Malice by Chris Wooding, is a horrifying book about a world that exsits inside a scary comic book. To get there you have to do the ritual and call on 'Tall Jake'. Two kids called Kady and Seth do not believe these rumours about this strange land until their friend goes missing.

This is the scariest book I have ever read, especially the first chapter when a boy performs the ritual, the lights go out and you just know 'Tall Jake' is coming. Even though I had nightmares about it, my friends are still fighting over who will read it next.

What I like most about this book is it is a great book for kids that don't like to read much and for the classroom. Even though it looks like a thick book it is half comic/half novel and both boys and girls will enjoy it.

The other really cool thing about this book is it has a 3D front cover. It looks like Tall Jake is coming out of the book to get you!

You'd think I wouldn't want to read any other scary books after having nightmares after readingMalice, but no, I can't wait to read another scary book!

I rate this book out of five:

iI am putting this recipe back up for those who loved it and for those who haven't seen them before I call them 'Uglies':

For this recipe you just use your favourite chocolate cupcake recipe (or you can use a packet mix) and add pink and white mini-marshmellows and white chocolate chips. Top with chocolate icing. They don't look very pretty, but boy do they taste good!

Kasper Prince of Cats

Kasper Prince of Cats written by Michael Morpugo

Reviewed by Tilly 9yrs. old - Tween Book Reviewer and Sometimes Writer

I reposted this review, because I had no other book for K!

I got Kaspar Prince of Cats from Santa for Christmas. It's about a boy called Johnny Trott. Johnny meets Countess Kanasky and her Cat Kaspar. The Countess treats Johnny like his dream Mother. But one day the Countess dies and the Stanton's came to collect the Countess' stuff. That's when Johnny meets Lizziebeth fromAmerica and saves her life, then they become friends. The Stantons and Johnny go to America on the Titanic, the fastest and the biggest ship in the world. The story covers Johnny's friendship with Kaspar from the first time he met the cat to the trip on the Titanic. I liked Kaspar Prince of Cats a little. I liked Kaspar the character, but I found the story a bit slow. I rate this Book out of 5...

Today I have a cat Paper Doll.Hope you enjoy!

J~Jasper Jones

Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey

Reviewed by Milly 14 yrs. old - Book Reviewer and Sometimes Baker

Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey is about a Charlie who is startled in the middle of the night by rebel, Jasper Jones.

Charlie is a smart boy, but he doesn't have many friends, so when Jasper comes to his house he is surprised that he knows Charlie's name, let alone where he lives. Jasper takes him out of town and he starts to worry this is a bad idea. It's too late to leave now, Charlie doesn't know his way back. They go through a clearing and Charlie is horrified to see a girl from his class hanging from a rope, cold dead! He is even more shocked to see it is... Ha! You really think i'd tell who the girl is? I guess you will just have to read the book. It takes Jasper to point out the surroundings for him to realise it isn't a suicide. It was Murder!

This scary murder mystery is a brilliant story but it is a little bit to crude for my taste. If you can overlook the constant bad language and rude bits, you'd enjoy it.

I rate it out of 5 paper dolls:

L~Looking Glass Wars

The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor

Reviewed by Milly 13 yrs. old - Book Reviewer and Sometimes Baker

I have decided to go back in time and ether remind you or show you for the first time an exiting read. Enjoy!

The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor is a book about a girl named Alice, who lives in Wonderland (Oh! I almost forgot, she isn't any ordinary girl, she's a princess!). But on her 7th birthday her aunt, Red, attacked the Queendom! In all the massacre, Red killed Alice's mum & dad and tried to kill Alice!

Luckily the Hatter got her safely to the pool of tears. She had been wishing for an adventure for her birthday, she certainly got what she wished for as she jumped into the pool of tears and came out to a whole new place called London. Meanwhile the Hatter was in a place called Paris. Not knowing were Alice was he searched the whole country for her and would search the hole world for her if he had to so she can fulfil her destiny and kill Red!

There are more problems - Alice is adopted and is told that what she says about Wonderland is nonsense, she finally believed her new family and forgot all about her aunt & Wonderland. Now she is 20 and going tho marry a prince! Will she remember who she is in time to go back and save Wonderland?

Sound slightly familiar? This story is like a reversal of Alice in Wonderland. But there are many differences - it's much darker. This excellent book is a book that was chosen by the book club I go to so I do have to thank them because otherwise I would have never read it!

This is a wonderful book and I give it out of 5 paper dolls :

This is a great book but a warning to my followers that are a bit squeamish this book has a lot of gore and is NOT a little kids book.

I~Imaginary Boys

Imaginary Boys by Carlos Lopez Bermudez

Reviewed by Milly 14 yrs. old - Book Reviewer and Sometimes Baker

Imaginary Boys by Carlos Lopez Bermudez is actually a comic that I bought of comiXology (an app for iPad or iPhone).

When you die, you go to a weird place called the Crossroads where you will find a guy who has been sentenced to write the directions to heaven and hell in his own blood.

When 9 year old Elise Dawn dies, she finds herself in another world. She is told she has a choice between Heaven and Hell, but, she decides to take a long dangerous road to another place all together. This is a hard road to take because it is full of demons who want to take her soul.

This is an awesome horror and i give it out of 5 paper dolls:

H~Hamlet

Reviewed by Tilly 10 yrs. old book reviewer.

 Hamlet written by Shakespeare and put into a graphic novel by Nicki Greenberg.

We all know the famous play writer William Shakespeare and the plays he wrote a long time ago like... Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, A Midsummers Night Dream, Julius Caesar and also Hamlet. Today I'm going to review Nicki Greenberg's graphic novel of Hamlet. 

Hamlet's done in pictures (as you know, graphic novels are like that) but these pictures are done differently than you would expect like the creatures in here aren't human and are some little black things {I have no way of explaining them - but I like them}. If you don't read much Shakespeare {like myself, I have only seen the movie of Romeo and Juliet} and want to read a graphic novel or just one Shakespeare play {or book}, this is a pretty easy read. It is a big book, but mostly pictures. Plus this is a long play, so you expect it to be big.

I recommend Hamlet because it's a quick read but a tiny bit hard because every Shakespeare book or play has different words like 'thou' and lots more other words not in our vocabulary. Also WARNING I DO NOT RECOMMEND FOR CHILDREN YOUNGER THAN MY AGE unless they don't mind death. It is a little gruesome. I loved it so much I watched the movie afterwards. That was good too. I also got my family to act out my favourite scene - the last one.

I rate this out of 5 paper dolls...

Todays Paper Doll is of Hamlet and colour it in yourself...