Princess Pulverizer: Grilled Cheese and Dragons

Grilled Cheese and Dragons by Nancy E. Krulik
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A spoiled brat princess hates her teacher and her Royal School of Ladylike Manners. She wants to go to Knight School instead because that looks way more fun. Her father tells her she can go to Knight School on the condition that she will first go out into the world and do eight good deeds, bringing back proof of each. This proves harder than she imagined, since honor, kindness, and sacrifice are not her strong suits, but eventually she gets an ogre to capture her so she can try and retrieve the jewels he stole and return them to their rightful owner. Along the way, she grudgingly teams up with a Knight School dropout and his dragon friend who wants to be a chef. One down, seven more good deeds to go!

I bought this book for my daughter, and it's pretty cute. I like how the self-centered princess (very) slowly begins to think of others, which bodes well for the later books in the series. I do wish Lady Frump and the ogre weren't basically caricatures of stereotypes, but perhaps they might be given depth and nuance later on in the series? I won't hold my breath on that, though.

For readers' advisors: story doorway is primary, character secondary. Very fast-paced. Good for showing that not everyone fits neatly in predetermined gender (or species) roles, and even misfits have strengths to contribute.

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Bloom of the Flower Dragon

Bloom of the Flower Dragon: A Branches Book by Tracey West
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

My kids loved this book; I was bored out of my mind and annoyed to boot. These stories are quite formulaic, which bothers my kids not a whit. I wouldn't mind so much if the formula was better--I'm really not on board with the 8-year-olds-save-the-world-completely-without-grownup-supervision concept.

In this iteration of it, Drake and Worm transport Ana and Kepri to some mountains where there are tiny dragons living in a field of flowers near a village but somehow without the villagers knowing about it. The dragon stone chose a blond boy to be the dragon master for the tiny dragon who first came to Bracken to ask for help. The "twist" this time is that the blond boy is rude to this little dragon because he's not thrilled the dragon is small, and he doesn't want to help because he's determined to go search for his missing father instead. Lovely.

A seer has predicted the imminent arrival of a monster, so the children go off to the field and figure out that Kepri can use sunshine powers to charge up the tiny dragons so they can basically hypnotize & heal the monster, which turns out to be a werewolf-type creature--i.e. a human who ate the wrong berries & morphed into a murderous beast. Most adults will be able to guess this outcome of this story.

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Monsters and Mold

Monsters and Mold by Asia Citro
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Zoey and her pet cat Sassafras are back with their second magical creature to help. This time they meet Gorp, a monster who wants to attend the upcoming Monster Ball but cannot bear to go with his fur all moldy. Zoey and Sassafras have less than a week to figure out how to stop the mold from growing, and it's going to take some scientific experimentation to find a solution.

The second book in the series delighted my kids just as much as the first. I really appreciated how Zoey didn't give up when her first (and second) theories didn't solve the problem. She kept using the scientific method to figure out what went wrong and why, giving her a new direction to try the next time.

One thing that bugged me and kept this book from a 5-star rating was that Zoey focused on treating the effect (the mold) and not the cause. Figuring out why something is occurring in the first place and preventing *that* is so often a much more valuable use of time. I mean, she did think to have Gorp make sure he didn't go to bed with wet fur, so that was good, but when that didn't stop the mold growth, she didn't revisit to see what other factors might be in play. And yes, I realize this is a very adult, nitpicky thing to pay attention to in a book aimed at young elementary school children. But it's my review, and this is a science-based book!

I have no idea whether Gorp will make a return appearance in any future books in the series, but if he does, I hope we find out more about why Sassafras is so drawn to Gorp. I kept expecting it to somehow relate to the mold problem--like maybe because Gorp's fur was, I don't know, covered in catnip or something. But alas, no clue!

For readers' advisors: story doorway is primary. This is a great STEM title for kids ages 4 to 9 or so. Human characters are drawn as African American. Lots of illustrations to go with the story, and the main character is a strong female who loves science.

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Dragons and Marshmallows

Dragons and Marshmallows by Asia Citro
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Zoey's mom is packing for a work trip when Zoey stumbles across an old photograph of her mom as a child. But it's no ordinary photo--this one glows, and Zoey is the first person other than her mom to be able to see the glowing purple frog in the photo. Next thing she knows, Zoey is in charge of monitoring the secret doorbell on the barn, which magical creatures ring when they need help. At first nothing happens, but eventually the bell chimes. Zoey and her cat, Sassafras, must figure out how to nurse a tiny dragon back to health. Thinking Goggles and the scientific method to the rescue!

My kids LOVE this book and series. Every night they beg to read "just one more chapter, Mommy! No, TWO more chapters!" They love the magical creatures and the problem-solving skills Zoey uses. I love how the STEM concepts are woven into the story! For example, Zoey follows the rules of scientific experimentation to change Just One Thing At A Time, observes how that change affects the result and adjusts accordingly if it doesn't have the desired effect. Zoey makes science a delightful adventure.

For readers' advisors: story doorway is primary, character secondary. Zoey's skin color and hair indicate she is most likely African American, though it's not mentioned in the text of the book. In our household it's a read-aloud; the text itself is about a third-grade reading level.

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Ways to Make Sunshine

Ways to Make Sunshine by Renée Watson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Ryan Hart loves to cook and experiment with unusual flavor combinations. She has a real talent for the culinary arts (too bad that's hard to translate to a Talent Show stage). However, Ryan's love of ice cream takes a beating when her favorite treat is used to soften the blow that her family will be moving to a new (old) house. On the plus side, she'll be at the same school where she's in the 4th grade, it's closer to her friend KiKi's house, and she'll have her own room. On the minus side, the house is smaller and decidedly NOT the only home she's ever known, the center of her memories. But her father's new job pays less than his old one with the post office, so they can't stay where they are.

My daughter and I absolutely LOVED this book. My son got bored because there weren't enough illustrations (he's only 4), so my daughter (age 7 1/2) & I read it on the nights my son fell asleep early. Ryan is a delightful character, and we couldn't wait to find out how she navigated the ups and downs of moving house, a mysterious keepsake tin, Easter Sunday recitation disasters, the school talent show, friendships, and birthday parties with jealous girls. My daughter identified with so many universal aspects of the story, but the scenes related to Ryan's hair were a revelation to my blond, straight-haired daughter, and it was the perfect way to introduce the concept of different hair types and reactions to water. Most of the characters are African-American, and some secondary characters are bi-racial or white.

One thing we especially loved were all the local references. The book is firmly and accurately set in Portland, Oregon, with mentions of so many real places ("I've been there, Mommy!"), it really added to the story for us. Probably more so for me than for my daughter, who is young enough not to remember going to a few of the places, particularly since we haven't gone *anywhere* since the pandemic began. But I think the only place I haven't been from all those referenced in the story was the North Portland Library, although I've been to several other branches. I certainly understood the nuances of Amanda's family moving to Lake Oswego to a huge house with an indoor pool--my husband and I used to live near some of those, and more recently we used to drive past some of them on the way to LOHS for the kids' swimming lessons.

We are looking forward to reading book #2 in the series, Ways to Grow Love, which we immediately put on hold at the library as soon as we finished book #1 last night.

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Gimme Shelter: Misadventures and Misinformation

Gimme Shelter: Misadventures and Misinformation by Doreen Cronin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The squad is back, and this time they've got spoons. And brushes. And voluminous feathers. Soon their squabbles over digging a meteor-storm-prehistoric-unicorn-preserving shelter spread to the squirrels and the chipmunks, but all is forgiven and forgotten when a powerful wind starts blowing all of a sudden, and a mysterious furry-faced creature leads them to safety.

This book had my kids, especially my 7-year-old, shrieking with laughter. There were also plenty of opportunities to discuss what's real and what isn't, the dangers of jumping to conclusions based on inadequate information, what is and is not in the US Constitution, and how voting does and does not work, etc. We love this series!

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Ramona and Her Father

Ramona and Her Father by Beverly Cleary
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Ramona is just timeless. I'm so glad my daughter is old enough to fully appreciate these books now. She begged me to read her an extra chapter one afternoon, in addition to our regular bedtime chapters, and would have happily read the whole thing in one sitting if there had been time.

This book takes place as Ramona's father loses his job and struggles to find another one. Her mother has to increase her hours at her job to compensate, but money is very tight (because of the sexist pay gap, but that's not addressed in the book). After Beezus mentions how smoking turns your lungs black and makes you sick, Ramona begins a campaign to get their father to stop smoking. Given the current stresses and job losses of the pandemic, the themes in this book feel especially relevant right now, although the particulars aren't to my daughter, whose parents have never smoked and who remain employed. But the FEELINGS--those transcend time and place, a testament to Beverly Cleary's brilliant writing.

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Chill of the Ice Dragon

Chill of the Ice Dragon: A Branches Book by Tracey West
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Five stars for kids, 3 stars for adults.

My children LOVE these books, and they are very fast-paced and exciting (even to me). I have a hard time not commenting on some logical fallacies & oversimplifications, not to mention the absurdity of 8-year-olds being dragon "masters" or being sent to a far-away country to battle an ice giant that bested a powerful adult wizard and save a whole kingdom that has been frozen in magical ice with zero adult supervision. BUT...as I said, this book was very fast-paced and exciting and not only kept my 7-year-old and 3 1/2-year-old riveted, but also conned me into reading the entire book in one sitting, resulting in an absurdly late bedtime. So I will go with a 4-star rating for the enthusiasm it engendered in my kids and for the attempt to have a couple of non-white secondary characters.

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Waking the Rainbow Dragon

Waking the Rainbow Dragon: A Branches Book by Tracey West
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Five stars for kids, 3 stars for adults.

My children LOVE these books, and they are very fast-paced and exciting (even to me). I have a hard time not commenting on some logical fallacies & oversimplifications, not to mention the absurdity of 8-year-olds being dragon "masters" or being sent to a far-away country to battle a trickster giant spider's spell and save a whole country from drought with zero adult supervision. BUT...as I said, this book was very fast-paced and exciting and kept my 7-year-old and 3 1/2-year-old riveted and really mad when I only read 4 chapters at bedtime, then begging me to read the rest the next afternoon. So I will go with a 4-star rating for the enthusiasm it engendered in my kids and for the attempt to have a couple of non-white main characters, although the series clearly isn't OwnVoices.

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Secret of the Water Dragon

Secret of the Water Dragon by Tracey West
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Four stars for kids, more like 3 stars for adults. My daughter loves these books, and they are very fast-paced and exciting. I have a hard time not commenting on some logical fallacies & oversimplifications, not to mention the absurdity of 8-year-olds being dragon "masters" or being sent to a far-away kingdom to battle an evil wizard's spell and rescue one boy's family with zero adult supervision. BUT...as I said, this book was very fast-paced and exciting and kept my almost-7-year-old riveted and really mad when I only read 3 or 4 chapters at bedtime. So I will go with a 4-star rating for the enthusiasm it engendered in my daughter and for the attempt to have a couple of non-white main characters, although the series clearly isn't OwnVoices.

In this volume of the series, dragon master Bo gets a threatening note telling him his family has been imprisoned by the Emperor of his kingdom and to save them Bo has to steal the Dragon Stone. The evil wizard Maldred has put a spell on the Emperor, which Bo's water dragon, Shu, must undo. Bo and the Emperor are depicted as Asian, although it's not precisely our world, so the empire in question is vaguely Chinese or Japanese or some amalgamation thereof.

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Amelia Bedelia Unleashed

Amelia Bedelia Unleashed by Herman Parish
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Amelia Bedelia is back and anxious to adopt a dog, but she has no idea what kind she wants. Her attempts to figure out the answer to that question are full of hilarious mishaps, but in the end, she finds exactly the right kind of dog for her.

This second installment in the Amelia Bedelia chapter book series was just as entertaining as the first. My 6-year-old loved having me read it to her at bedtime. It's fun and silly and engaging.

My biggest quibble is that all the characters are white/presumed white. Seriously, would it have killed the illustrator to have drawn some of the characters with darker skin? There are so many illustrations, I'd almost characterize the book as an illustrated novel, yet not a one looked anything but white. That's what is keeping my rating at 3 stars instead of 4.

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Kenny and the Dragon

Kenny and the Dragon by Tony DiTerlizzi
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Kenny Rabbit is a bookish sort of a boy. He lives on a farm with his parents, and his best friend is the town's bookseller. Then Kenny's dad spies a dragon on their farm, and Kenny learns that not everything you read in books is true, certainly not when it comes to dragons. THIS dragon loves creme brulée and hasn't ever eaten a princess. Unfortunately, the townsfolk are fearful of having a dragon in their midst, and Kenny must come up with a daring plan to save his new friend.

I absolutely fell in love with this sweet story of friendship, loyalty, bravery, and ingenuity! I can see why it won Switzerland's Prix Chronos award, which, according to Tony DiTerlizzi's website is "an inter-generational book award with the ambition to encourage people to read and to bring together generations: children at the age of 10 to 12 and elderly people together read and review five nominated books."

For readers' advisors: It's got some great vocabulary words, so it might be a bit of a stretch for some 3rd and 4th graders, but it would make a great choice for reading with an adult at bedtime.

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Bad Kitty School Daze

Bad Kitty School Daze by Nick Bruel
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Kitty and Puppy fight like, well, cats and dogs! All that hissing and chasing has gotten them in trouble, though, so it's off to obedience school to learn how to play well with others. Can Puppy learn to control his drool? Can Kitty learn how to improve her attitude? The teacher, Miss Dee, sure has her work cut out for her.

The illustrations in this book are just superb! It's practically a graphic novel because so much of the story is conveyed wordlessly through the animals' expressions and body language. I'd not heard of this series before, but they were on a face-out display at Powell's Books and caught my eye, so I picked this one up and right away started cracking up. It's such a fast read, I almost read the whole thing while standing in the aisle, but eventually I decided to go ahead and purchase it for my nephew and read the rest when I got home. A couple of weeks later, a little girl I know had it with her, and we started talking about it--she loved it as much as I did, although for slightly different reasons, given our age & experience differences. We sure agreed about how funny it was, though!

For readers' advisors: fast-paced read, perhaps good for reluctant readers due to the prevalence of visual clues and relative lack of written words (for a chapter book). Perhaps a read-alike for the Captain Underpants series?? I haven't read those in a while, so please feel free to comment if you agree or disagree!

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Nancy Clancy, Super Sleuth

Fancy Nancy: Nancy Clancy, Super Sleuth by Jane O'Connor
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

It was cute. Nancy is rather more mature for her age than is quite believable, but fans who have outgrown the Fancy Nancy picture books will probably like this new series of short chapter books. The vocabulary is pretty advanced for easy chapter books, but O'Connor does continue the pattern of Nancy using big words and then explaining their meanings, which helps.

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Nancy Clancy, Secret Admirer

Nancy Clancy, Secret Admirer by Jane O'Connor
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The second book in the series is just as cute as the first. This time, love in is the air, and Nancy and her best friend, Bree, decide they simply MUST play matchmaker, pairing the babysitter with the guitar teacher. How can they pull it off? By playing Secret Admirer, of course! Many hijinks and big words later, their plan is about to come to fruition (a fancy word for getting to the end). Will it work?

For readers' advisors: early chapter book series aimed at grades 1-3. Fun for Fancy Nancy fans who've outgrown the picture books. Similar audience to Junie B Jones, although I personally like these much better, since Nancy & Bree are more like how I hope my daughter is in a few years. Junie B drives me nuts!

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Violet Mackerel's Brilliant Plot

Violet Mackerel's Brilliant Plot by Anna Branford
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Violet is a sweet little girl who wants a blue china bird and needs to think of a BRILLIANT plot to earn enough money to buy it. It takes her a few tries and a generous gift before she succeeds.

It's a very short chapter book. Easily read in a few bedtimes. Large font and frequent illustrations. I'm not sure how old Violet is supposed to be. 5 or 6? Perhaps a little older, since she writes her ideas down in notebooks. The level of the language makes me think it's aimed at older elementary students, however.

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