Category: Middle Grade

Title: A Royal Guide to Monster Slaying
Author: Kelley Armstrong
Genre: Middle Grade, Fantasy
Publisher: Puffin Canada
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: August 6, 2019
Rating: ★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

Monster hunting isn’t for the faint of heart—the first in a brand-new middle-grade series by NYT bestselling author, Kelley Armstrong.

Twelve-year-old Rowan is next in line to be Queen; her twin brother, Rhydd, to be Royal Monster Hunter. Rowan would give anything to switch places, but the rule is, the oldest child is next in line, even if she is only older by two minutes. She resigns herself to admiring her royal monster hunter aunt’s official sword and having tea with dignitaries with her mother, the queen. But a tragic event breaks up longstanding rules, and now Rowan finds herself in hunt of a dangerous gryphon.

Accompanied by a feisty and determined baby jackalope and a giant wolf that barely tolerates her, she sets off on a journey that will see her join forces with other unlikely allies: a boy who has ambitions of his own to hunt monsters, and a girl from a nearby clan with hidden motives for befriending Rowan. It will take all of Rowan’s skills, both physical and diplomatic, to keep this journey on track. The future of the kingdom depends on it.

Review:

This is a great adventure story!

I loved the character of Rowan. She is a strong girl who fought for what she believed in. Even though she was destined to become a queen, she wanted to be a monster hunter. She then had to prove that she was up to the job.

Some parts of this story were a little slow paced. There were long battles between Rowan and the monsters. She also met some monsters over and over again, but it was nice to be reminded of these different beasts.

I really enjoyed this middle grade story!

Thank you Penguin Random House Canada for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

What to read next:

Have you read A Royal Guide to Monster Slaying? What did you think of it?

Title: Changeling (The Oddmire #1)
Author: William Ritter
Genre: Middle Grade, Fantasy
Publisher: Algonquin Young Readers
Source: Thomas Allen and Son (book distributor)
Format: Paperback
Release Date: July 16, 2019
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

Magic is fading from the Wild Wood. To renew it, goblins must perform an ancient ritual involving the rarest of their kind—a newborn changeling. But when the fateful night arrives to trade a human baby for a goblin one, something goes terribly wrong. After laying the changeling in a human infant’s crib, the goblin Kull is briefly distracted from his task. By the time he turns back, the changeling has already perfectly mimicked the human child. Too perfectly: Kull cannot tell them apart. Not knowing which to bring back, he leaves both babies behind.

Tinn and Cole are raised as human twins, neither knowing what secrets may be buried deep inside one of them. Then when they are twelve years old, a mysterious message arrives, calling the brothers to be heroes and protectors of magic. The boys must leave behind their sleepy town of Endsborough and risk their lives in the Wild Wood, crossing the perilous Oddmire swamp and journeying through the Deep Dark to reach the goblin horde and discover who they truly are.

Review:

This was an exciting adventure story that alters the fairytale of the changeling.

A changeling is a baby that has been switched by a fairy or goblin for one of their babies. However, in this story, when a goblin goes to switch the babies, he gets distracted and forgets which baby he brought. He ends up leaving both babies, so the family is left with both their baby and a changeling that looks identical to the baby.

On their thirteenth birthday, the twin boys, Tinn and Cole, go on an adventure into a magical part of the forest called the Oddmire to find out which one of them is the changeling and which one is the human. They meet magical creatures along the way, such as goblins and hinkypunks.

The boys’ mother was an important part of the story. She raised the boys on her own because her husband left soon after the changeling arrived. Often in children’s fantasy stories, the parents are absent or absent minded. I liked seeing a very involved parent, who was willing to risk her life to save her children.

I loved this story!

Thank you Thomas Allen and Son for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

What to read next:

Have you read Changeling? What did you think of it?

Title: Titans (Titans #1)
Author: Kate O’Hearn
Genre: Middle Grade, Fantasy
Publisher: Simon and Schuster Canada
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: July 9, 2019
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

A group of kids must stop invaders before they take over Titus—and the rest of the universe—in this first book in a brand-new series from bestselling Pegasus author Kate O’Hearn, who masterfully blends mystery and mythology together.

Fifteen years ago, Olympus was destroyed and the Olympians were resettled on Titus. Since then Earth has been declared a quarantined world. Neither Titans nor Olympians are allowed to visit and under no circumstances are humans allowed on Titus. The Titans and Olympians are keeping the peace. But the deep-seated mistrust still lingers, so when a human ends up on Titus, he could be the spark that reignites the war…

Astraea is a Titan, granddaughter of Hyperion, and now a reluctant student at the brand-new school, Arcadia. She just knows that it’s going to be awful, and that there is no way that Titans and Olympians will ever get along! At least she’s got her best friend, a winged-horse named Zephyr, to keep her company. Then the night before the first day of school, Astraea hears her parents discussing something terrifying: a human has been spotted on Titus. But that’s not possible. All routes to Earth via the Solar Stream have been closed—no one can travel between the two worlds…or can they?

When Astraea and Zephyr get detention on their first day—for fighting with a centaur—they’re sent to the orchards to harvest nectar. There they discover a human boy named Jake. How he got to Titus is a mystery to him and to them. They have to get him home before anyone else discovers him.

But what the trio uncovers is something much bigger than one human boy. It’s a scheme to take down the rulers of this world, conquer it, and then do the same across the galaxy. Can a group of kids stop the invaders? Or is Titus, like Olympus before it, doomed?

Review:

This book is an exciting start to a new series. It takes place after Kate O’Hearn’s series Pegasus. Some of the same characters are mentioned but it has a different storyline.

Titus is a planet filled with Titans and Olympians. They are the same familiar figures from Ancient Greece. I love stories about Ancient Greece, so I was excited to read this book.

The mix of ancient characters with space travel was interesting. It was a combination of ancient figures with futuristic abilities such as traveling to different planets.

I loved this adventure story. I’ll have to check out Kate O’Hearn’s other series next!

Thank you Simon and Schuster Canada for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

What to read next:

Have you read Titans? What did you think of it?

Title: Sugar and Spice (Whatever After #10)
Author: Sarah Mlynowski
Genre: Middle Grade, Fantasy
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Source: Library
Format: Ebook
Release Date: November 29, 2016
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

That’s the way the cookie crumbles!

Yum! Our magic mirror has dropped me and my brother, Jonah, into the story of Hansel and Gretel. If we’re lucky, we may even get to taste the cake-house…

But we didn’t count on accidentally getting trapped. The real Hansel and Gretel are on the run, and Jonah and I have taken their place. And the witch is making a kid casserole for dinner… 

Now we have to:

– Avoid being eaten 

– Pretend our dog is a cat

– Learn to make kale smoothies

– Befriend a talking duck 

Or we may never make it back to our home sweet home!

Review:

This story had different twists from the other books in the series. When Abby and Jonah arrive in the fairytale of Hansel and Gretel, they discover that they look exactly like them! That becomes a problem when Hansel and Gretel use the portal to get back home, leaving Abby and Jonah in the fairytale.

I loved these twists! They made the story exciting and fresh. It can get boring if every book in a series follows the same plot. I love how every book in the Whatever After series is completely different!

This is a great book and a great series!

What to read next:

Have you read Sugar and Spice? What did you think of it?

Title: Genie in a Bottle (Whatever After #9)
Author: Sarah Mlynowski
Genre: Middle Grade, Fantasy
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Source: Library
Format: Ebook
Release Date: April 26, 2016
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

Be careful what you wish for…

When my brother, Jonah, and I travel through our mirror into the story of Aladdin, we’re excited. There will be magic lamps and genies granting wishes. Right?

Wrong.

The genie we meet isn’t QUITE as helpful as we expected. And if Aladdin’s wishes don’t come true, he won’t get to marry the princess and live happily ever after!

Now we have to:

– Escape an enchanted cave

– Find forty buckets of jewels

– Plan a parade

– Learn to fly a magic carpet

Otherwise we’ll run out of wishes… and never get home!

Review:

There has been a renewed interest in the story of Aladdin since the live-action remake of the Disney movie came out, so it is the perfect time to read this story.

I love that there have been some fairytales featured in this story that have boys as the main characters. Many fairytales are geared towards girls because they are about little girls or princesses. There are some stories, like Aladdin, which are about boys.

I couldn’t figure out how this one would end while I was reading it. Abby and Jonah messed up the fairytale so many times, and I couldn’t guess how they would fix it this time. As always, it worked out in the end.

I loved this story! The next one is about Hansel and Gretel, and I’m excited to read it!

What to read next:

Have you read Genie in a Bottle? What did you think of it?

Title: Once Upon a Frog (Whatever After #8)
Author: Sarah Mlynowski
Genre: Middle Grade, Fantasy
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Source: Borrowed from a friend
Format: Paperback
Release Date: April 25, 2017
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

My brother, Jonah, and I just want to TALK to the magic mirror — we’re not planning on traveling into any fairytales today. Promise.

Except we do wind up going through the mirror, this time into the story of The Frog Prince. The princess, who’s supposed to transform the cute little frog back into a handsome prince, turns out to be super rude. Jonah and I decide we don’t want — or need — her help. We can take matters into our own hands and turn the frog into a prince ourselves! Can’t we?

Now we just have to:

– Climb out of a smelly well

– Canoe over a waterfall

– Sneak into a palace

– Kiss a frog (ack)!

And there’s no time to waste — let’s hop to it!

Review:

This story is a little different from the others in the series. In each book, Abby and Jonah travel to a fairy tale. They end up messing up the ending in some way, such as preventing Sleeping Beauty from falling asleep. However, in this one, they intentionally try to change the ending.

In the original story of the frog prince, the princess is so mean that she throws the frog against a wall which makes him turn back into a prince. Abby didn’t want this frog prince to have the same fate, so she stops the princess from rescuing him, and instead tries to change him back into a human. This doesn’t end as she planned, when it turns out that the prince is actually evil!

Abby was able to apply what she learned about the mean prince in the fairy tale to her real bully at school. This shows that kids can learn things from fairy tales, even if they aren’t set in real life.

I love this series! I can’t wait to read the next one which is based on Aladdin!

What to read next:

Have you read Once Upon a Frog? What did you think of it?