THE DIAMOND OF DARKHOLD by Jeanne DuPrau

This croaking awesome book, The Diamond Of Darkhold, is the most recently published book in the Ember series. Be sure to read the first three books before this one. When Lina Mayfleet and Doon Harrow decide to visit the City of Ember (an underground city that they used to live in with a huge population of people) from the City of Sparks, (an aboveground city that was already populated and had no electriciry that the Emberities came across) disaster occurs. One day, a roamer comes to Sparks. The roamer really doesn't have very interesting things to trade with, but when Doon sees a book that the roamer uses to start fires, his passion for books kicks in and Lina helps him buy it. It is titled, Directions For Use. Its subtitle is, For The People Of Ember. This is why Lina and Doon set out for Ember. Lina and Doon are hoping to find supplies to help the City of Sparks through the winter and a jewel mentioned in the book. Join Lina and Doon in their exciting and dangerous adventure.

I enjoyed this book greatly. Doon's clever mind along with Lina's astonishing agility and speed added great suspense to the story line. Washton Trogg and his family are the perfect villains for this book. Washton thinks he knows everything and he and his family are funny and mildly evil. Oops! I won't say anymore, or else this review would be a spoiler. I must say though, that this book is strictly for 15 year olds and up. Just kidding! I think 8 year olds to 13 year olds would enjoy this fantastic read.

Hmmm, 4 out of five toads. Not quite qualified to sit on my cedar bookshelf of favorite books that Grandma Toadsie carved, but a good, entertaining read none-the-less.

Bye-dledeedoo for now!
Yours always,
Boodledoo

YAY! Interview with Katie Davis, author of THE CURSE OF ADDY MCMAHON

Boodle and Briar: Lollipops or gum?

Katie: Well, it depends on what day you ask me. Since you asked me today, however, I'd have to say lollipops. Because I'm a candy freak. But if you posed this question, say, last Thursday, a day upon which I was trying to quit candy and was therefore chomping on piece after piece of sugarless gum, I would've said…gum.

Boodle and Briar: There was a lot of talk about fairies in your book, and coincidentally, Toad Hill is thick with them. Have you ever seen fairies in real life, or anything that might be magic?

Katie: I know someone who saw the tooth fairy's blue sparkles as she left the room. I find that hard to believe though, because everyone knows the tooth fairy's boyfriend is the sandman, and he wouldn't let anyone stay awake if they're due for a tooth fairy visit.

Boodle and Briar: And as far as magic?

Katie: I think extreme acts of kindness are magical, as hokey as that sounds.

Boodle and Briar: Did you always want to be a writer? If not, what inspired you to become one?

Katie: I always loved to write. I kept journals and diaries (what is the difference, anyway?) from the age of 11 or so until I was in my twenties. Growing up there wasn't access to writers like there is now, thanks to the internet. I never knew writing for a living was even a job possibility. I knew I wanted to write for my work, and thought I'd be a journalist, or in advertising (both of which I tried, wasn't too good at and didn't like too much). It never occurred to me that I'd wind up writing books, even though I was writing and illustrating little book gifts for friends and families for years (some of them are on my website *– and they're really bad!)

Boodle and Briar: If a two foot, pink trouser clad elf hopped up to you a told you he could grant you the blessing of choosing one day in your life to relive, what would it be and why?

Katie: Actually, I'd rather experience every new day, and not go back. But If I could go back it'd be the day in fourth grade, when Harvey Neubart* started teasing me on a school trip to the local forest. I cried, and my reaction opened the door on a year of teasing that was brutal. If I could relive that day, I would stand up to Harvey, and that would change the course of the year.

On the other hand, being teased my entire fourth grade year made me a reader, and made me feel deeply for the characters I read about. If I'd been popular and happy, maybe I wouldn't have ended up being a writer.

Boodle and Briar: When you write, do you find yourself following the character's instinct instead of your own?

Katie: When I'm really deep into writing, I don't even have to try to follow the character's instinct. But upon re-reading my work, I'll usually find a word or phrase here and there that is not true to the character – that is why revision is so valuable!

Boodle and Briar: What do you think it would be like to be a character in a book?

Katie: Very flat.

Boodle and Briar: Aha! Now we come to the oh-so-popular, skillful hijacking of a 3 Evil Cousins question: the create-your-own–question question!

Katie: Can I give you $42,673,858,787?

Boodle and Briar: Frogs or toads?

Katie: No offense, but they both freak me out. However, I do have a picture book manuscript that begins:

If I were a bullfrog and you were a toad,
We could ribbit all day in amphibian code,
We could hop till we drop and hang out by the swamp
And stay on the lookout for insects to chomp.

Boodle and Briar: Here is a lovely writing prompt! Just continue the story if you wish! … A soothing feeling comes over you and you find yourself nodding. Yet, comfortable as you are, you start to regret asking the little red fairy with horns to sing to you. As you began to drift into a painless sleep, you wonder if you'll ever wake up again. A wave of panic washes over you until, suddenly…

Katie: …I remember that I made up the little red fairy with horns! So I make her disappear in a shower of candy, but not before I have her sing me to sleep with the voice of Aretha Franklin. But she's so good that I open my eyes, and there is Aretha, standing in my room! She says nothing, just keeps singing. And I am happy.

The End.

Boodledoo and Briar Kasvi want to thank our wonderful author, Katie Davis for answering our questions!

* To see Katie's childhood books, go to her site, click on "Info" then "Sketchbook" then "Childhood Books"

P.S. Did you know that besides THE CURSE OF ADDY MCMAHON Katie has written and illustrated several hilarious picture books including "WHO HOPS" and "KINDERGARTEN ROCKS"?

OTHERWISE KNOWN AS SHEILA THE GREAT by Judy Blume

Sheila was working hard in Tarrytown. She was making newspapers all by herself. Sheila was also having a lot of fun in Tarrytown but the only problem was, the house they were renting for the summer had a dog. Sheila did not hate dogs, but she certainly did not love dogs. I think Sheila was afraid of dogs. In Tarrytown Sheila also made a friend. Her friend's name was Mouse. Mouse had a lot of stuff in common with Sheila and a lot of things that were not in common. One of the things that that was not in common was Mouse loved dogs.
I thought Sheila was always acting like a showoff. Sheila never really realized that doing things by yourself is sometimes not as good as teamwork. Teamwork helps you out a lot. What I liked about Sheila was her personality. I thought Sheila was a tomboy and a scaredy cat at the same time.

I would rate this book 4 hills full of toads. I did not rate it a 5 because it was not the best story in the world and Sheila did not wear any fancy clothes, but it was good. So if you want a book with sense of humor and attitude, look for Sheila The Great.

by Isabella Laura Berry -- dog lover
Sheila the Great illustration by Isabella L. Berry

SABRIEL by Garth Nix

Sabriel is a student at Wyverly college. One day a strange ape-like figure enters her college to tell her the Abhorsen (her father) is missing. The strange figure left her with her father's sword and vanished. Shortly after Sabriel finds herself in search of her missing dad. On her journey Sabriel encounters some strange characters, Mogget, A strange white cat that speaks in a voice of the Abhorsen's servant yet holds a mysterious secret. Touchstone a man of royal blood frozen in the figurehead of a ship, becomes her best friend.

When she finds her dad frozen in one of the 9 gates of death, He tells her that a evil figure called Kerrigor has come back from the 7th gate. She must find and destroy his human body that is frozen in magic for if his spirit finds his body first he will gain unbeatable power.

I would rate this book 5 toads because this book had a great storyline and some pretty awesome creatures. One of the many creatures in this book are the gore crows. Gore crows are free magic spirits with just the outer crow as a shell. If you shot one it would burst in a spiral of rotting and stinking flesh and feathers....and that wouldn't be pretty. BLECK! Another of the creatures is a Mordicant. Mordicants are undead spirits that crossed the 7th gate. Mordicants can destroy you with their sharp claws and their smelly body odor. With the single ring of her bell, Sabriel can send them past the 9th gate. Sabriel's ancient weapons are worth 5 toads alone! My favorite of her weapons is the bell bandolier with seven magic bells. Each of the bells do something different such as, send you past the 7th gate along with all people around you that hear it. Once past the last gate you can't come back to the living world unless the evil Kerrigor catches you and turns you into a slave to do his bidding. Sabriel's sword is a weapon made from her ancestors forged with ancient metal and magic. The sword can cut through a spirit and destroy it because of the ancient charter marks etched on it because says it can. This is an awesome book. Sends you to the underworld and back. If you like Adventure-Fantasy novels, this is the book for you. It compares to the perfect snap and crunch when you divide a Kit Kat bar.




Book review by P.E.N.

THE GOLDEN COMPASS by Philip Pullman

Lyra Belaqcua, a barbaric yet curious young girl, lives in another world, very different from our own. In her world, there are many creatures, good and bad. Every single human being has a daemon, a creature that is totally inseparable from their human. There are also gigantic armored bears, ruled by one of their own kin who wishes to be human. Gobblers are creatures that no one but there victims have ever seen. They snatch children and then do unknown things that have been fantasized about many times. During an incident in which Lyra is sent by her uncle to spy from inside of a wardrobe, Lyra finds out about a mysterious substance called Dust. Lyra, curious as she is, wants desperately to know what this "Dust" is, and when nobody tells her… well, let's just say, that's where the story begins.

I really liked this book because of the idea of the existence of a different world than the one that I have known all of my life. The novel is somewhat believable. I mean, you can tell that a lot of things can never happen, (except in Toad Hill maybe) but some things you can relate to objects and happenings that could exist in our world. I liked the idea of Lyra being a hero and savior at points, even though she is just a young child. This book planted many new seeds of imagination in my already very imaginative mind. I would recommend this fantastic novel to 12 year olds and up because, although the vocabulary is only mildly difficult, the concepts are advanced and there is more than a little violence. My mumsie and popsicle enjoyed it too, so it is not just for tweens. This book won't quite find its way into my special bookshelf, but it was a great read. It is 399 pages long, and I read it the whole way through, so I must have liked it a lot!

I would rate this book… hmmm, four out of five toads.





Bye-dledeedoo for now!
Always yours, Boodledoo

Back to School!

Alas, the long summer is over, no more hot lazy days sitting under a shady toadstool with a book and a swamp lemonade. We had to take a little break to get used to new teachers and homework assignments (dude, that new Geography teacher, Mr. Stickytongue is tough!) But now school is back in session and all the toads here on the hill have pretty much become used to waking up at the croak of dawn again. We hear the Toad Hill Library has a stack of new books arriving this fall!

So in honor of the start of a new school year, we'll be posting several reviews over the next few days.

Happy reading!

Uncle Montague's Tales of Terror by Chris Priestley

This BRILLIANT (so brilliant it's all in capital letters) book is both a collection of and IS a scary story itself. The book is the story of a boy named Edgar, who ventures off to his Uncle Montague's large house. Uncle Montague claims to live alone with only with his servant, Franz. But after being in the water closet and hearing rattling doors, Edgar wonders if that's true.

While at Uncle Montague's house, Edgar hears many frightening tales of ghosts, murderers, creatures, and worse. More and more, Edgar wonders how his uncle knows all these stories, and why he has some of the main objects of the story,(for example, "the gilt frame"), and if these stories have anything in common.

The stories include: Offerings, Jinn, The Path, The Demon Bench End, The Gilt Frame, and the scariest of all, Uncle Montague. I suggest you read this book only if you:

A. are very mature.
B. are at LEAST 12 years old and loved to be scared.
C. you have had your parents read it and OK it first (because it's pretty scary and has some bad language.)

Uncle Montague finishes his stories with one about himself, and explains to Edgar how he used to be a headmaster (a cruel headmaster) who had stolen from the boys, and how the children in the stories had come to live with him -- dead or alive -- and how they had given him the main objects in the stories they told him.

I think that this book is one of the few scary books that I can read over and over again and still be a little scared. After reading this book, in the future I am going to find more Chris Priestley books.

Overall this is a VERY good book, and I want you to read it, and I want to get Chris Priestley more famous because I think he is a fabulous author! I give this book 4 and a half out of five flies.

~Flying away as usual,
Lily Lou

P.S. Chris Priestley has a scary website for Tales of Terror. Take a look and tell us how you like it!