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!