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!”

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!

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"?