Review - The Magic Pumpkin

The Magic Pumpkin
By Benji Alexander Palus
Publisher: iUniverse
Pub. Date: January 10, 2013
ISBN: 978-1475970487
ASIN: B00B0VJTM8
Pages: 316

Review:

Five-year-old Owen adores his younger brother Oliver and is saddened when Oliver becomes ill. Mysteriously, a magical portal appears and the brothers go through it, transporting them to a magical land. There in this land, Oliver is well and can play games with Owen.

They like to fly on the magical pumpkin and explore the land, but there is a dark force hiding there. Owen and Oliver use the magical pumpkin to protect them at night. They love to play in this land, but they miss their parents deeply. If they go back though the portal, Owen and Oliver may never get to play together again.

Review - Patalosh: The Time Travelers

Patalosh: The Time Travelers
By Z. Altug and Tracy Gensler
Publisher: CreateSpace
Pub. Date: February 29, 2012
ISBN: 978-1463521332
ASIN: B007KLJWL0
Pages: 360

Review: 

Authors Z. Altug  and Tracy Gensler have created an entirely new world in Patalosh: The Time Travelers. The ancient civilization of the Taloshians live on the island of Patalosh on the planet Lumina, where they built the HMS Exploricus airship that can time-travel through portals. They arrived at Earth and settle in Antarctica.

Ten-year-old Orion Spence lives aboard the airship. One day he wakes up to find that his dad (the captain) and his mother (science officer) have been kidnapped by the villain Emperor Daaggerd, who wants control of the HMS Exploricus and the Orion's family book titled Ancient Book of Spells.

Orion locates the first officer and the rest of the crew. He goes on a quest to rescue his parents from the evil Emperor's clutches.

Review: Hocus Pocus Hotel: The Return of Abracadabra

Hocus Pocus Hotel: The Return of Abracadabra
By Michael Dahl
Illustrator: Lisa K. Weber
Publisher: Stone Arch Books
Pub. Date: February 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1434247216
Pages: 208

Review:

Charlie Hitchcock is back to solve another mystery in Hocus Pocus Hotel: The Return of Abracadabra. Everything starts out with Charlie helping the school bully Tyler (who he is secretly friends with) pass out flyers to the upcoming magic show at the Hocus Pocus Hotel. The hotel was once owned by the legendary Abracadabra, who disappeared fifty years ago. He didn't exactly disappear as the boys know his other identity. Abracadabra is hosting a show for amateur magicians which will lead to his return and retirement from the magician business.

The mystery begins when a fellow classmate of the boys goes missing while on stage with the magician Theopolis, who claims he gets his magic powers from demons. Charlie knows this is a lie. Both Tyler and he are determined to find out the truth, no matter what the costs.

Review - Arkeepers: Episode 4: Guardians

Arkeepers: Episode 4: Guardians
By W.J. Madsen
Publisher: little m books
Pub. Date: January 26, 2012
ISBN: 978-0983048732
ASIN: B007AUJALI
Pages: 248

Review:

When there is a strange mystery to be solved, you can bet the Inspector Moustachio and Inspector Girl is there to solve the case. The brother and sister detective duo is actually an eleven-year-old Jake Moustachio and his eight-year-old sister, Alexa, along with their cat, Rex, and guinea pig, Sandy. They are the Keepers of the Universe, AKA the Arkeepers, who solve the mysteries of universe and battle the evil forces of the Deminion Darkeepers.

It is Halloween Night and there is chaos in the Moustachio's home. Jake and his friends are having an online Sphynx-3 video game marathon, while the doorbell keeps ringing with each new trick-or-treaters arriving for some candy.  Luckily, Grandma Moustachio is there to help their mother with the trick-or-treaters. Sounds like a great Halloween night, but Jake and Alexa are the Arkeepers, so they must drop everything they are doing to investigate a strange voice that comes from the other side of the magical magnifying glass. Of course, Rex and Sandy come along for the ride.

Review - Arkeepers: Episode 3: Darkeepers

Arkeepers: Episode 3: Darkeepers
By W.J. Madsen
Publisher: little m books
Pub. Date: January 26,2012
ISBN: 978-0983048725
ASIN: B007AUJDI8
Pages: 220

Review:

Jake Moustachio and his younger sister Alexa are not your typically kids as they are the Arkeepers, the Keepers of the Universe, just like their grandfather. They are the ones that investigate the mysteries of the universe and try to stop the evil Deminion Darkeepers from taking over.

Jake and Alexa are summoned through the magical magnifying glass (made of Egyptian Crystals) to solve another mystery. Their cat Rex and Alexa's guinea pig, Sandy, come along for the journey, where they can speak English in the other world.

Awaiting them is Captain Snappy, who needs their help as his ship is in danger. It seems a wicked sea witch named Jezebel has been released from her seashell. She has unleashed her wrath onto the Seven Seas by swallowing the ships and dragging them to the Shipwreck Bottom.

ARC Review - Night Buddies: Impostors and One Far-Out Flying Machine

Night Buddies: Impostors and One Far-Out Flying Machine
By Sands Hetherington
Publisher:Dune Buggy Press
Pub. Date: February 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-0984741724
Pages: 320

Review:

Earlier this year, I reviewed the delightful children's book titled Night Buddies and the Pineapple Cheesecake Scare for a book tour, and last month, Bostick Communications and Dune Buggy Press nicely sent me an advanced copy of the sequel in exchange for my honest review.

Crosley, the red crocodile in a yellow jacket and his young friend John Degraffenreidt are back in Night Buddies: Impostors and One Far-Out Flying Machine. Picking up where the first left off, Crosley returns to John's house for their second Night Buddies program. Once again, time is almost still inside the Degraffenredit home, making it easier for John to leave for his new mission along with Crosley as when he returns only a few seconds would have gone by.

Crosley is in shock when he checks into the Night Buddies Headquarters as it seems he had already checked in earlier that night. How could this be? Did he forget that he already checked in?

13 Days of Halloween: Tombstones: The Last Drop

Tombstones: The Last Drop
By John Peel
Publisher: Archway Publisher
ISBN: 978-0671535308
Pub. Date: December 1, 2005
Pages: 160

Review:

During the late 1980s to the middle 1990s, the horror genre was very popular in the middle grade and young adult market, many thanks to Point Horror, but there where other publishers that released horror books as well. Archway Paperbacks tried to release a new series titled "Tombstones", but only two books were brought out in 1995.

Jared Irving is determined to find out if the Full Moon Enterprises is dumping toxins into the local streams in Tombstones: The Last Drop. The Full Moon Enterprises is breaking federal laws by using deadly chemicals, but the town people seem to ignore it, or they just don't want to believe it as the company has brought in many new jobs for the area.

While getting samples at a nearby stream, Jared meets a creature of the night and it will be the last thing that he will ever see.

13 Days of Halloween: Review - Shockers: Grave Doubts by John Peel

Shockers: Grave Doubts 
By John Peel
Publisher: Grosset & Dunlap
ISBN: 978-0448405285
Pub. Date: June 23, 1993
Pages: 160

Review: 

Grave Doubts is simply one of my favorite books from my childhood as it has always stuck in my mind after almost twenty-years later. I recall ordering many books from the Scholastic flyers when I was an elementary student. I was in the sixth grade (aka - the year I got glasses) when I read Grave Doubts during study hall.

In book three of the Shockers series, Matt Howard had blocked out the murder of his older sister, Penny, for ten years, but now those unwanted memories have resurfaced. A family friend, Mr. Ciprelli or known as Uncle Joey, went to a mental hospital shortly after Penny's brutal murder, but he has now returned and is moving into the house next door. Matt finds the man to be very odd as he is always watching him.

Matt doesn't have many memories about his sister, except for what people have told him about her. It seems that Penny was the perfect daughter and student. Matt gets into trouble at home and at school. He is told constantly from his parents and teachers that he was nothing like Penny and that she shouldn't have been the one to die.

13 Days of Halloween: Review - Goosebumps Wanted: The Haunted Mask

Goosebumps Wanted: The Haunted Mask
By R. L. Stine
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
ISBN: 9780545417938
Pub. Date: July 1, 2012
Pages: 240

A few months ago R. L. Stine released a new book, Goosebumps Wanted: The Haunted Mask, in a rare hardback edition. The new sequel doesn't include the characters of Carly Beth and Sabrina, but focuses on two new kids, Lu-Ann Franklin and Devin O'Bannon.

The books begins at William's Mask Emporium, in which the owner and his dog, Hansel, get a late night visitor - his brother, Randolph, who happens to brought along a few creepy masks that were made from human flesh. William recognizes that the masks are nothing but pure evil. He plans on destroying the masks, but the masks may get him first.

The plot jumps forty years into the future, where twelve-year-old Lu-Ann and her friend Devin are dreading the upcoming annual Halloween party that is being hosted by their classmate Polly Martin. Every year the party gets more boring and if Lu-Ann has to attend, she is going to make it a frightening evening by pulling some pranks with her best-friend Devin. Her plan changes when she learns that Devin can't come to the party. She attends the party anyway and talks two other friends, Marcus and Brad, into following her to Polly's Attic while the other kids played a silly balloon game. They hear an unknown voice coming from a closet - a half skeleton, half human corpse holding the green haunted mask falls out of the closet when Lu-Ann yanked it open. It was the ugliest mask that Lu-Ann had ever seen and it would make the perfect prank, but once she slips the mask on, the mask becomes part of her flesh.

Review - Life with Lily

The Adventures of Lily Lapp: Book One - Life with Lily
By Mary Ann Kinsinger and Suzanne Woods Fisher
Publisher: Revell
ISBN: 978-0800721329
Pub. Date: October 1, 2012
Pages: 288
Blog Tour Link:http://litfusegroup.com/campaigns/life-with-lily-kindlenook-giveaway-1016-author-chat-party-with-suzanne-woods-fisher-and-mary-ann-kinsinger-and-blog-tour
Buy Link: http://ow.ly/e60PH

Review: 

Set in New York on a small Amish Farm, six-year-old Lily Lapp and her younger brother, Joseph, eagerly welcomes their new baby brother, Dannie, into their lives, even though she actually wanted a baby sister.

While her father is busy building up the farm and her mother is busy with her brothers, young Lily is starting school at a one-room schoolhouse, where she meets new friends like the ornery Misty Mast, who is nothing but trouble for Lily.

Review - Troll Hunters

Troll Hunters
By Michael Dahl
Illustrated By Ben Kovar
Publisher: Stone Arch Books
ISBN: 978-1434245908
Pub. Date: August 1, 2012
Pages: 320
Buy Link: Troll Hunters

Review:  

Set in the outskirts of a small community, a group of teens, Pablo, Zak, Thora, and Bryce, head out to the quarry to watch the Draconid meteor shower, but something strange occurs as if something came out from the depths of the quarry's water. Giant troll creatures are unleashed.

The kids take refuge at Dr. Hoo's mansion that was hidden in the woods. He is one of the few people that have known that the trolls, whom are afraid of light, were going to take over the world. The bad trolls call themselves the Gathool, whereas the good trolls go by the name Drakhool.

Review - Echo and the Bat Pack: Treasure in the Graveyard

Echo and the Bat Pack: Treasure in the Graveyard
By Roberto Pavanello
Translated by Marco Zeni
Illustrated by Blasco Pisapia and Pamela Brugher
Publisher: Stone Arch Books
ISBN: 978-1434242488
Pub. Date: August 1, 2012
Pages: 128
Buy Links: Amazon.com 

Review: 

Set in the small town of Fogyville, a bat named Echo is a novelist living in a crypt at an abandoned cemetery with a little bit of writer's block. Late one night, Echo hears the cemetery gate opening. He investigates and catches a skull face man wearing a black cloak digging up a grave. Before he could say anything, a raven begins chasing him.

In a panic, Echo flees the cemetery into the open window of the Silver kids on 13 Friday Street, who closes the shutters before the raven can get in. The siblings are: Michael, age 12, aka - a book worm, Becca, age 11, aka - loves animals, and Tyler age 10, aka - computer nerd. The kids are shocked to find the talking bat, which was raised in a library. One of Echo's wings was injured when he landed in the room, so they kids let him stay in the house until he is healed.

Review - The Bucktail Brothers of the Fighting 149th

The Bucktail Brothers of the Fighting 149th
By: William P. Robertson & David Rimer
Publisher: Infinity Publishing
ISBN: 978-0741467300
Pub. Date: August 5, 2011
Pages: 212

Times were hard on families during the Civil War years. In The Bucktail Brothers of the Fighting 149th, the Cole family’s barn burns down to the ground. Money is tight and they don't know where they are going to get the money to rebuild the barn, until their sons Henry and Willie Cole decide to join the 149th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry lead by Lieutenant Colonel Walton Dwight. Their mother is distraught at the thought of her two teenage sons going off to war. Their father felt that way at first but the $100 cash for the boys joining would help raise a new barn and keep the farm going for awhile.

Henry and Willie say goodbye to their parents and head off with their infantry. They quickly learn the ways of being a solider, even though Henry is a little cocky at times and Willie is stubborn. The two brothers become part of the Pennsylvania Bucktails that fought on the fields of Gettysburg. Their fellow soldiers fell dead and others are wounded, but with great courage the boys fought forward.

Review - Hocus Pocus Hotel

Hocus Pocus Hotel
By Michael Dahl
Publisher: Stone Arch Books
Pub Date: August 1, 2012
ISBN-13: 978-1434242532
Pages: 216

Charlie Hitchcock was scared to death when he saw Ty standing in the alleyway behind the Abracadabra (aka, the Hocus Pocus Hotel). He had received a note from Ty during school hours to meet him at the hotel. Every student that has received a note from Ty has gotten beat up and now its Charlie's turn to face the bully.

To his surprise, Ty doesn't want to fight him, but instead Ty asks Charlie, or as Ty calls him - Hitch, for help. It seems that a magician has gone missing at the hotel, where Ty lives with his parents, whom also works there. The magician has mysteriously disappeared from his locked hotel room.

The missing magician is one of two cases that Ty needs help with. The other involves a ghost that is stealing items from the hotel. Now it’s up to young Charlie Hitchcock to solve the mysteries.

Review - Children of Angels

Children of Angels
By Kathryn Dahlstrom
Publisher: WinePressPublishing
ISBN: 978-1606152164
Pub Date: February 22, 2012
Pages: 224
Buy Link: http://ow.ly/dDUau
Blog Tour: http://litfusegroup.com/author/KDahlstrom 

Jeremy Lapoint is a victim of bulling at Anoka Middle School by a fellow student, Sid Lundah, and a couple of his friends. The bulling consist of naming, calling, dumping everything out of Jeremy's book bag, and even destroying his iPod that his grandmother gave to him. To make matter, worse, Jeremy's father is in prison for theft.

Things start to change for young Jeremy on the day he learned to fly. Yes, I said he could fly! 

An angel named Asiel appears to him explaining that Jeremy is a Nephilim, a half human/half angel, and that he is not the only one as there are two hundred-thirty kids spread across America, Europe, and Canada. Being what he is, Jeremy is one of the few that can see the demons that walk the Earth, therefore he must be trained to use his new powers, such as increased strength, invisibility, and how to mute himself so others can't hear him.

Author Kathryn Dahlstrom has written a creative plot for kids that doesn't involve vampires or werewolves, but instead focus on a world where there are half human/half angels while at the same time throwing in a superhero story. Kids will easily connect with the main character Jeremy as he is a bullied student who discovers the difference between angels and demons. I enjoyed reading the book and I recommend it to readers of all ages.

Disclaimer - I received this book free of charge from WinePressPublishing and the Litfuse Publicity Group.

About the Author:

When Kathryn Dahlstrom’s husband was transferred to Los Angeles, she traded Minnesota’s black-bear country for the inner-city and taught children at a Child Evangelism Fellowship Good News Club in Watts. She also began her writing career. In addition to writing six titles in the Good News Club children’s fiction series published by Child Evangelism Fellowship Press, the author is also a screenwriter and film producer. Currently, she and her husband, Tim, live on wooded acreage north of Minneapolis/St. Paul where they care for her mother. They also have an adult daughter, Kristina. Find out more about Kathryn at http://www.kathryndahlstrom.com

Review - Ravens Pass: Curses for Sale

Ravens Pass: Curses for Sale
By: Steve Brezenoff
Publisher: Stone Arch Books
ISBN: 978-1434242099
Pub Date: August 1, 2012
Pages: 96

To avoid the traffic, Jace Thomas's dad takes the exit to Ravens Pass, where they come upon a garage sale, and Jace's dad can never say no to a good bargain. His dad buys several LP records, a few coffee mugs and a rabbit's foot. His littler sister buys a couple of dolls, and Jace buys a battery operated red sports car for only five dollars. Yes, Jace is a few years too old for it, but just like his father, he couldn't pass up a bargain.

Jace squeezes himself into the car and drives to his best-friend Sam's house. He lets Sam take the car for a spin, but then a mysterious accident occurs. Or was it something else? As this toy car can drive by itself.

Review - Nate Rocks the Boat

Nate Rocks the Boat
Written by: Karen Pokras Toz
Published by: Grand Daisy Press
ASIN: B007WC1L9I
Pub Date: April 20, 2012
Pages: 142

    Nate is back in the sequel to Nate Rocks the World, in which he is not looking forward to spending the summer at Camp Spring Ridge, as Nate is more of dreamer than an outdoor kid, but he changes his mind when he finds out his best friend Tommy is going to camp too. He thinks that maybe this summer will be great, that is until he learns that his annoying older sister, Abby, is going to the camp too.

    He has big dreams about the camp, such as eating great food (well better than his mother’s cooking), and meeting new friends, but dreams are just dreams as he realizes that camp isn’t exactly what he hoped it would be.

Review - Giants in the Land

Giants in the Land
Written by: Clark Rich Burbidge
Illustrated by: Karl C. Hepworth
Publisher: WinePressPublishing
ISBN: 9781414122205
Pub Date: 2012
Pages: 126

    Ever since they could remember, the giants had always been there to help the villagers. Wolves and bears never dared to attack become they feared the giants. The giants carried heavy stones for foundations, dug canals for irrigation, built and took care of the levee that prevented flooding. The villagers depended on the giants for their everyday living, but when disaster strikes, the giants are nowhere to be found.

 A young farmer, Thomas, volunteers to leave his family, travel through the forest looking for the giants, and bring them back. Thomas accepts this dangerous journey, which will question his courage and faith as he learns the true meaning of what a giant really is.

Review - Cynthia's Attic: The Magic Medallion

CYNTHIA’S ATTIC: THE MAGIC MEDALLION
Written by: MARY CUNNINGHAM
Published by:  Echelon Press Publishing
ISBN: 978-1590804605
Pages: 160
Pub Date: 2006

    Picking up shortly after first book in the series (set in 1964), Augusta Lee, or as everyone calls her - Gus, and her best-friend Cynthia (both twelve-year-old) are eager to return to Cynthia’s magical attic that took them back in time, where they resembled and was mistaken for their grandmothers. Once again they climb up to the cobweb invested attic and open the mysterious trunk that throws them back to the year 1914, where they hope to go to the circus with Gus’s great-grandfather, Charles, but their plans drastically change as their grandmothers, Clara and Bess, hide inside a crate that is in the back of the wagon. They might be able to fool Gus’s great-grandfather in believing they are their grandmothers, but their grandmothers will probably hear their voices from the crate causing an awkward situation that they would probably want to avoid.

    Gus and Cynthia return to the attic where they find two clown costumes left there. They slip the costumes on and are magical transported to the circus, where they are mistaken to be new clowns by Blackie, the evil hobo clown and circus leader. They befriend a girl about their age named Annie. She was left as a baby at the circus and was raised the by an acrobat named Lilly.

Review - Isabella: Protector of the Last Dragon

Isabella: Protector of the Last Dragon
AUTHOR: M Anthony Phillips
PUBLISHED BY: Xlibris, Corps
ISBN: 978-1469133706
RELEASE DATE: 2011
PAGES: 296

    Recently, a scientist discovered a live 700-year-old male dragon in Asia and it is considered to be the world’s greatest discovery. Around the world everyone is at awe over the discovery. Even in Missouri, where Isabella Treehorn and her brother Kaelyn are struggling to get over the recent death of their mother, and dealing with their new life with Uncle Titus.

    Isabella starts to have strange dreams about talking dragons and the Lords of Death who want to kill her and the dragons. When she visits the Ming Dynasty Dragon Exhibit, she learns that she has the ability to talk to hear and talk to the dragon who calls himself Tianlong. Other dragons may exist, but there are others who want to hurt them. Tianlong’s mate, a female named Ling-L, is out there somewhere. Isabella along with her brother, uncle, and grandmother must find the last dragon before it is too late.