Guest Reviewer

Toad Hill Reviewers love books and we know all of you do too. For a long time, we have had the same reviewers with the same views. It's time we had a geust reviewer. Eneter your review as a comment and one special person will have their's on the internet. Be sure to reveiw a tween book and give your toad a name and of course don't forget to rate your book. Remember, 5 toads is the best and 1 toad is the worst. Good luck!

Your's truly,
The Toads

Hey Readers! Us toads want you to know a little more about us. Here is our first toad-ally awesome autobiography by Boodle!

“Hi, I’m Boodledoo, and I’d like to introduce myself and some hobbies of mine. First of all, I love to read. I even have my special little reading place under Grandpa Toadsie’s big daisy in his backyard. I live on toad hill, and my house is right on the giant marsh. I recently began wearing big square glasses, and my favorite red sweater is now too small. L I am 11 toad years old, and I have a twin sister, Poppy D. Niggles. I got my nickname, Boodledoo, because whenever I am happy, I sing a little song. “Boodledeedoo, bedledoodee, boop, boop, BAH!” I always carry a thick book under my left arm, and I never let go of my makeshift umbrella. My umbrella is made of a big pencil with a piece of blue construction paper speared through on top. My favorite food is dragonfly eggs, and my best friend’s name is Noodle McDoodle. She’s obsessed with cheerleading at the Toad Hill Academy for Secure Female Toads. She’s also annoyingly popular, plus, with her millions of warts, all the boys are after her. I live with my grandparents and I still don’t know who my parents are. Rumor is that they were captured to be something humans call “pets” and are now prisoners in a giant cage with a bowl of dead beetles and a bowl of water, but I believe otherwise. I think they were chosen by an alien race as ambassadors to an alternate universe and are now conversing in the chosen planet’s native tongue with three eyed mutant cats. Anyway, my Grandma Toadsie built me a little cedar book shelf where I put my absolute favorite books. So far only a few have made it. I LOVE FROGGY WARTER!!! It’s a book series where Froggy Warter is chosen to go to a magical boarding school by a giant bullfrog and battles against the evil villain Voldewart. I’ll say more in my reviews. So long!”

A House Called Awful End

by Philip Ardagh

A House Called Awful End is a very funny, yet slightly grim at times, and wonderful book. Over a course of 117 pages, this book is filledwith many hilarious twists, mostly about 11 year old Eddie Dickens who is sent away for his own good. I think I like this book because for me it's easier to relate to Eddie in a lot of ways more than the other chareters. Plus if I was a boy, my name would have been Eddie. Eddie Dickens is sent away from his slightly crazy but super funny parents because they catch a horrible disease (I quietly weep) that makes them turn yellow, smell of hot water bottles, and "are a little crinkly around the edges". In the end surprisingly, they are cured by hot water bottles, kind of. So Eddie is sent to live with his mad Uncle Jack, and even madder Aunt Maud and her stuffed stoat, Malcolm (don't ask). He is going to their house, Awful End. The ride to Awful End is a long one, so most of the story including poor Eddie (you'll see why I said "poor" later) is in the carriage. Near the beginning of the story, Eddie, Mad Uncle Jack, Mad AuntMaud, the horse, and who could forget Malcolm stop over night to stay in a barn. Mad Uncle Jack, Mad Aunt Maud and Malcolm share a room, thehorse gets a room, and Eddie has to sleep in the trunk in the stable where he meets Mr. Pumblesnooks. Later, Eddie gets threatened with a PRETEND gun, and Mr.Pumblesnooks joins the ride. Mr. Pumblesnooks is an actor, and makes Eddie play the part of a little orphan boy in a play. And that's where his REAL trouble begins. Mr. Pumblesnooks forces Eddie to promise to stay in charecter, no matter what. A real orphan boy escaped from St. Horrid's Home forGrateful Orphans, and Eddie (poor, poor, Eddie) gets sent there,although he was NOT NOT NOT really an orphan. After not even a day being there, Eddie comes up with a genuis plan. He orginizes a mass breakout, all through the orphanage, and it oddly involves a huge cow. In the end, Eddie is reunited with his parents, and then I have no idea what happens after that because thereis still 2 more books left for me (and hopefully you) to read.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE this book, and I think that it is one of my favorite books in my eleven years of living, so I have to give this book 1,000,000 flies out of five. Seriously. Ok, 5 is my limit so 5out of 5 flies. Go Philip Ardagh!!!!!! YAY!!!!! :)

--Flying away, as usual, Lily Lou

FREE BASEBALL

By Sue Corbet
Take me out to the ball game… Young Felix of eleven is absolutely obsessed with baseball. His father was a famous Cuban player on a professional team. Obsessed as he is, he is at a baseball game, the Miracle against another team, (My little toad mind can’t remember the name of the other team, but you can read it to find out,) when a little incident happens. Well, more like an incident that makes the whole story a story. He runs away. None of my toad friends or I would ever do THAT, at least I wouldn’t, of course. He is mistaken inside the Miracle’s dugout as the new batboy. Follow Felix’s story in this wonderful book.

Even though I really don’t have quite a taste for baseball, I still enjoyed this lovable novel. This book inspired a new seed of imagination in my head, “In real life, you don’t have to be a grown up to have an adventure.” All people that live on Toad Hill absolutely love this saying made up by our first president of our hill, George Washingtoad, who was 6 toad years old when he became a president, “Just because though art’ young, doth not mean that thee shall not have a job.” I would recommend this book to nine year olds and up because of it’s sadness and realistic-ness, even though it is fiction. Have fun reading!

Three and a half warty, awesome toads!!!Bye-dledeedoo for now!

Always yours, Boodledoo

P.S. Sue Corbett's website http://www.suecorbett.com/ has a few of the other books she made.

THE TALES OF BEEDLE THE BARD By J.K. Rowling

Before I even start talking about how phenomenal this book was, I would like to say that J.K. Rowling is my all time favorite author ever because of her famous series of Harry Potter, the best books IN THE WORLD, and I am a Harry Potter fanatic. I worship the books. OK, now that that's settled, let's get on with the actual review. This amazing collection of wizard fairy tales is a pleasure to read. We (being toads) are familiar with, Snow White and the Seven Warty Toads, and Cinderella the Fly and her Two Toad Step-Sisters, but "the wizarding world children" are familiar with the stories in this book. The Warlock and his Hairy Heart is as well known as the nursery song, Three Blind Toads.

I enjoyed this remarkable collection greatly. In this brilliant read, Professor Albus Percival Wulfrick Brian Dumbledore gives a commentary on each of these amazing fables. His eccentric point of view on things and his unique explanations give each story a new light in my opinion. My personal favorite fairy tale was Babbity Rabbity and her Cackling Stump, because it shows an early example of an Animagus, (a human who is capable of a transformation from human to a certain animal at will) and because it teaches "young wizards" that once something is dead, you cannot bring it back to life. I would recommend this book to female and male toads alike of any age, and I strongly advise everybody who reads this review to check out the best series ever, Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling.

Let's see, five out of five toads! This one goes on my cedar bookshelf that Grandma Toadsie made for my favorites.

Bye-dledeedoo for now!
Always yours,
Boodledoo

CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF A THIRD WORLD KIND

Ok you toads; put those hands together and give this book a round of applause. Ladies and gents (and toads too), let’s give a hand to… Close Encounters of a Third World Kind! Now, this awesome novel is filled with suspenseful incidents. Annie is a young girl of twelve. Her father is a medical doctor, and when he is going to take the family on a business trip to Nepal, about the only thing that Annie thinks she won’t miss is school. Of course the readers know that Nepal is a small country in Asia, in between China and India. In Nepal, Annie and her younger sister, Chelsea, meet a ten year old girl named Nirmala, and together, the three of them go on many adventures, most of which are scary. My uncle, Toadsifer, used to live in Nepal. Right in a town similar to Toad Hill called Mount Amphibian.

If you like suspense, foreign countries, and learning about how lucky you are to have a nice place to live, then this is the right book for you. I enjoyed it thoroughly because of its pleasantly leveled vocabulary and its common fashion in which the main characters are taught just how lucky they are to live where they do. I would recommend this book to nine year olds and up, because the book has some mature concepts. This quick read should be a treat to both genders. Yes, that’s right, even though the main characters are all girls; you male toads might like it too.

Let’s see, three and a half toads out of five.

Bye-dledeedoo for now!

Always yours, Boodledoo

CORALINE By Neil Gaiman

This awesomely scary book is being turned into a stop motion movie, directed by the director of The Nightmare Before Christmas, so if you see it, expect it to be good.

When Coraline moves into her new house, she has to put up with some put-up-able stuff, such as some old ladies calling her Caroline. That soon changes to more serious problems.

Coraline is an explorer, so when her mother goes out shopping for groceries, Coraline grabs a ring of keys, and goes to a forbidden door. When Coraline steps through, she sees many strange things such as talking animals, singing rats, and worst, the Other Parents. The other parents are tall, skinny pale people with button eyes. They want Coraline to be THEIR little girl, which makes Coraline want to go home.

When Coraline does go home, she sees that her parents are not there. Then she realizes the other mother has stolen her true parents. She knows she has to get them back. She goes back to her other mother, who is rather furious at Coraline. As a punishment, she locks Coraline behind a mirror.

While Coraline is behind the mirror, she sees the ghosts of 3 children that other mother has killed. They tell her that she must find their souls, which actually look like marbles. So Coraline hallenges the other mother to a game. Coraline must find the three souls and her true parents. I'm not going to tell you what happens after that though, but I think you can probably guess.

This is a really good book, but a little too short and not scary enough for my style.
4 toads, is what I'll have to say.

Flying away, as usual,Lily Lou
*****

P.S. Did you know that Coraline has been made into a major motion picture? Check out the movie website . Be sure to visit Coraline's bedroom and click on her dresser drawer to see a cool video about the woman who knits Coraline's tiny sweaters!