James Clyde and the Diamonds of Orchestra Review

Title: James Clyde and the Diamonds of Orchestra
Author: Colm McElwain

James Clyde and the Diamonds of Orchestra is about a young boy named James who has been surrounded by mystery since he was born. One day, while he visits his grandfather's house, he is given the mysterious Diamond of Orchestra. The dimond changed his life and threw James and his friends Ben and Mary into a wild adventure. James ends up finding out about his mysterious birth and just what exactly it means for him.

This book is great for preteens (middle grade students) and young adults but given how fun the story is, I'm sure most people at any age would enjoy this book.

James' story and adventure was so fun to read. The story itself is a blend of fantasy and adventure. The writing is great and the author really succeeded at created a rich world and story for the book. The characterization of James, Ben and Mary was also well done in my opinion, The characters felt real and strong.

I just really enjoyed reading James Clyde and the Diamonds of Orchestra. I cannot really find anything bad to say about it especially as a middle grade reader.

Rating: 5 out of 5

Learn To Tie A Tie With The Rabbit And The Fox Review

Title: Learn To Tie A Tie With The Rabbit And The Fox
Author: Sybrina Durant (@Sybrina_spt)

What an adorable idea for a book! This book is to teach children how to tie a tie and uses a story of a rabbit and a fox to teach that. The story makes learning and remember how to tie a tie easy for a child. It is also a very cute and fun story.

The story is basically about a rabbit being chased by a fox. As you read the story and see how the rabbit runs away or evades the fox, you also learn how to tie a tie. Each page has the story part and the tie instruction part. The book is very cohesive though because the story is reflected and shown in the tie instruction part. This book does a great job connecting the story to the instructions.

I really love how the tie instructions are tied in (get it?! ha!) with the story. It is a very creative way of weaving the two functions of the book together. Whatever the rabbit does in the story relates to a step in the tie instructions. It is a very clever and great way to teach a child how to tie a tie! The story also helps a child remember the steps to tying their tie.

But it is not just the pictures and the instructions that make this book great and easy for a child to learn from. There is also a fun song that goes with the book! You can listen to the song for free here. Be careful though. The song might end up stuck in your head!

One of my favorite things about children's books is the art which is why I also write at least a little bit about it in my reviews. The art in Learn To Tie A Tie With The Rabbit And The Fox is so cute. But it is more than just cute. The illustrations also act as a visual guide for each step in tying the tie. This is very helpful to the more visual reader and learner.

If you need to teach your son (or daughter) how to tie a tie, this is a great book for just that! The story is fun and helps a child learn to and remember how to tie a tie. It can even help an adult. I mean, it did teach me how to tie a tie too!

Rating: 5 out of 5

Tale of Running Bear Review

Title: Tale of Running Bear, A Picture Book for Adult-Minded Young People
Author: Elaine J. Keller

A lot of people might pass up this book based on the cover but you really shouldn't. The artwork inside of the book is actually pretty beautiful. There were a few drawings that had me stop reading to look at the picture for a little bit. The art was not the only thing I liked about Tale of Running Bear. The story, while easy to read, was very thought provoking. The book has you reflecting on themes of the power of belief and how humans are harming wildlife and nature.

The actual text in the book is more geared towards an adult mind. There's actually something in it for adults to read this book. I actually like that the book is easy to read ans simple but also has a message for adults because we don't always have to read 300 pages of text (even wonderfully written text) to get something meaningful out of a story. In some places the text is not really suited for very little children though.

Children can read this book though. I would recommend that you read through the book first before letting your child read it because the book presents several themes that you might want to have a discussion with your child about. One such theme is the power of belief and how it can be used to create fear.

My favorite thing about this book, besides the art, is that it teaches about how nature is all around us and we should do more to respect and be kind to nature. Tale of Running Bear does not teach this in a condescending way though. Instead, this message of caring for nature is shared throughout the book in a very nice and meditative way. I also loved the message of universal love at the end. Overall, I really enjoyed this book.

For the price and the content I would easily give this a 5.

Room by Emma Donoghue The Movie

Room by Emma Donoghue is being made into a movie. The author, Donoghue, herself will be joining in on writing the script while Lenny Abrahamson will be the director. The book is very powerful with a disturbing plot based on real life events. Still no word on the actors yet because writing and everything else for the movie is still underway. You can read a little more information about the upcoming movie here.

The Iron Daughter Review

Title: The Iron Daughter (The Iron Fey #2)
Author: Julie Kagawa

The Iron Daughter is the second book in The Iron Fey series by Julie Kagawa. I absolutely loved the first book in this series so I was excited to finally get the second book and start reading it.

The first book ended with the defeat and death of the Iron King. So what else could go wrong? Well, it seems like that even thought the Iron King was defeated, the Iron Fey are still around and they have a new leader! Before the iron fey come back though, there is some court drama between Meghan and Mab, the Queen of the Winter court. The drama basically revolves around Winter-Summer fey drama and Meghan's feelings for Prince Ash. It is forbidden for a fey from the Winter Court to be with a fey from the Summer Court so this gives us a little tragic Romeo-Juliet esque story.

In this book, Meghan and the gang have to leave the fey world and make a trip to Earth. To be honest, while this was a nice break from fey world drama, I found myself skipping some parts here; namely the prom scene.

Really though, the fey court drama and the fight with the new foe, iron fey, are my favorite parts of this series. I don't care about Meghan's school drama. :p

Another interesting thing that happened in The Iron Daughter is that we learn about Puck's feelings and thus the love triangle is introduced! I have to say though, although the love triangle plot device is overused in YA literature, I think it works with the Iron Fey series. It makes sense and I do not feel like Puck's feelings are so out of place that they are completely unrealistic. They were friends for a while and he spent enough time around her to maybe develop feelings.

I am still not a fan of Ash and would much rather see Meghan with Puck or no one. Ash treated her like crap throughout the whole book until the end and even in the end he is not that nice and loving. He gets jealous over some guy at Meghan's high school trying to flirt with her. I just don't see the appeal in a guy who is a jerk to you then gets jealous at everything. He's not worth it, Meghan!

Ironhorse and Grim are still the best characters though. but I think Ironhorse needs to go to a day spa and learn to relax! He keeps yelling (ALL CAPS).

Over all, I loved this book and was not disappointed. The writing flows together nicely and there was no part in the book where I felt like things were dragging on so much that it made me want to put the book down. Also, the cover art is still so beautiful.

Rating: 5/5 Chocolate Bars