for kids | Reading Backwards book reviews

Ella Enchanted By Gail Carson Levine Read: Repeatedly since 1997. Most recently, April 2010 Rating: J’adore Some books are like old friends. It doesn’t matter where you left off, or how long it’s been, you fall right back into friendship as soon as you meet up. Ella Enchanted is one of my favorite books. I can still [...] Full Story	Rapunzel: The One With The Hair By Wendy Mass Read: April 2010 Rating: Sweet This is a really cute book, best for younger readers. Disney’s new Rapunzel movie, Tangled, is coming out in a year or so, making this a timely choice. It’s told in diary form, which allows the kids to speak like kids. Rapunzel has grown up with her [...] Full Story	Princess Academy By Shannon Hale Read: April 2010 Rating: Really sweet I’ve been wanting to read this for a long while, but never enough to get around to buying it. Luckily, my bestie had a copy she let me borrow. Very, very glad I got to read it at last. Miri lives with her family on top [...] Full Story
Beyond Safe Boundaries By Margaret Sacks Read: February 2010 Rating: Hmm I want to talk about this book in two capacities–as a story, and as a representation of South Africa. My bestie gave it to me for Xmas, and it looks like a pretty rare find to me. I had no idea there were kids books about SA [...] Full Story	Marrying Malcolm Murgatroyd By Mame Farrell Read: A long time ago?, June/July 2009 Rating: Good A really adorable book. Do not write it off because of the cutesy word, adorable. It’s a very serious book. I think I read it onceuponatimeago because it seemed quite familiar, but I think I was too young for it at the time. [...] Full Story	Thorn By Amy Mebberson Status: On Hiatus, Storylines Complete http://www.mimisgrotto.com/thorn It took a little while for me to notice that my RSS feed had stopped updating… and that Thorn really had gone on hiatus/retired. Thorn was a labor of love for its artist, an attempt to get syndicated, and I really wish it had. Now that [...] Full Story
Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfield Read: Eons ago, December 2008 Rating: Sweet You may know of Ballet Shoes because the BBC has turned it into a movie with Emma Watson (aka Hermione). Like Harry Potter, that movie is based on a book. Unlike Potter, Ballet Shoes is OLD. It dates back to the 1930s. My copy is [...] Full Story	The Golden Compass(es) By Philip Pullman Read: August 2008 Rating: Intense I totally missed the boat on this one. It’s a real shame, because I think I would have quite liked it at the time it was published, and I was just ten years old. At 22, I’m much more critical of some things, and less easy to [...] Full Story	Angel Moxie By Dan Hess Books at Lulu.com WWW: http://www.venisproductions.com/angelmoxie/ Read: February 2007 Rating: Qute Genre: Magical Girl, Parody, Humor Format: Four panels Style: Grayscale Published: In 3 volumes, or a compilation (link above) If you always thought Sailor Moon and Cardcaptor Sakura were too saccharine, look no further. AM is not your typical Magical Girl comic. [...] Full Story
Mini Reviews (2006, July-December) Welcome to another edition of “Mini-Reviews Clumped Together Because I Was Too Lazy To Dedicate a Full Page to Each One.” This one covers books read between July and December 2006. (#22-51 of the 50 Book Challenge) Included: The Invisible Ring (Anne Bishop, Black Jewels spin-off) The Seven Daughters of Eve (Non-Fiction) Rebel Angels (Libba [...] Full Story	Count Your Sheep Something occured to me a few weeks ago. I read an unholy amount of webcomics these days (I think I’m following over 30 right now), and I always read the whole archive first. Some of those archives are HUGE. …like, book-length. My procrastination = your review-reading pleasure. Count Your Sheep! By Adis! (Adrian Ramos) Archive [...] Full Story	The Enchanted Forest Chronicles By Patricia C. Wrede Read: When I was but a lass… and July 2006. Rating: Fun These were my very first proper fantasy novels. I’d recently made the graduation from the low paperback shelves to the (seemingly) giant big kids’ shelves, and had only been able to find books like Mrs. PigglyWiggly and brush up [...] Full Story
Princess Tutu By Ikuko Itoh Rating: Meh Read: March/April 2006 Maybe it’s just meant for younger kids, but I found it boring and predictable. I guess most shoujo romance/magical whatnot is predictable, but this was lamentably so. Ahiru (whose names means duck) goes to an arts high school where the focus is ballet. She loves it but [...] Full Story	Coraline By Neil Gaiman Rating: Lovely Read: July 2005 Coraline was recommended by a friend of mine who is still enamoured with childrens’ fiction, despite being a college sophomore. Because it’s a Neil Gaiman book, I decided to give it a shot. Full Story	A Series of Unfortunate Events (1-3) By “Lemony Snickett” Rating: Good Read: June/July 2005 These books are the way good childrens’ fiction SHOULD be. They don’t talk down, they are whimsical, clever, amusing, and honest. Full Story