Title: A Wind In The Door

Author: Madeleine L’Engle

Pages: 203/Paperback

What I Thought: A Wind In The Door is the sequel to A Wrinkle In Time.  In A Wind In The Door, Echthroi are destroying Charles Wallace’s farandolae, so Meg and Calvin travel to Charles Wallace’s mitochondria with Proginoskes (who is a cherub).  They also come across Blajeny and Louise the Larger (a snake)- both Blajeny and Louise are Teachers.  Good vs Evil is a prominent theme in A Wind In The Door, much like A Wrinkle In Time.  However, in this novel, it’s on a much smaller scale.  It also shows how even the smallest of things can have an impact on the universe. 

I loved how Meg looked past her initial thoughts about Mr. Jenkins, and started to care for him in order to name him.  I also loved how she went from resenting him and seeing him as a not-so-good guy to appreciating him.  That definitely goes with the whole looking beyond 1st impressions thing. 

I really liked the character of Proginoskes (who ends up being called Progo).  He insists on being called a cherubim (as opposed to the singular cherub) because he’s practically plural.  In the end, he ends up sacrificing himself after Meg is nearly Xed (or unnamed) and Mr. Jenkins is invaded by his Echthroi doubles. 

In the end, Charles Wallace is okay and the world is saved from the Black Thing that was ever present in A Wrinkle In Time.

Rating: 4 out of 5.  I liked it as much as I did A Wrinkle In Time, and it definitely had the spirit of A Wrinkle In Time, albeit on a much smaller scale.

Title: The Enchanted Castle

Author: Edith Nesbit

Pages: 304 pages (e-book)

What I Thought: This is a pretty good book.  For the most part, I seem to be on a children/YA kick, which is fine with me.  Anyway, The Enchanted Castle is about 3 children, Gerald, James and Katherine, who discover the castle while they are on a school break.  They came across a princess, who tells them the castle is full of magic.   

It started off a little slow, but I still found the beginning to be very enjoyable.  I got bored in the middle of the story, and wanted to stop reading, but I kept reading it in the hopes that it would get better.

I did like the part where the kids were trying to find the Ugly-Wuglies a place to stay and ended up at the Temple of Flora.  I also liked the magic in the novel.  It wasn’t very obvious, but it was mentioned.  Plus, there were mentioned of greek gods and goddess, who have a role towards the end of the book. 

I’d have to say that the beginning and the end were my favorite parts of the book, with the middle being the boring part of the book.  However, it was an easy read, and I loved that ring was the source of the magic. 

Rating: I give it a 3 out of 5.

Title: In The President’s Secret Service: Behind The Scenes With Agents In The Line Of Fire And The Presidents They Protect

Author: Ronald Kessler

Pages: 265, paperback

What I Thought: It was a pretty interesting read.  It alternated between stories about the different presidents and the background/history/culture of the Secret Service. 

The book delves into how the Secret Service is understaffed, and cutting corners in protecting the president, vice-president, and other VIP’s.  There are quite a few mentions of the Secret Service bowing down to the people they protect.  There’s a story of how Mary Cheney (one of Dick Cheney’s daughters) had one of her agents removed from her detail because he wouldn’t drive her friends to a restaurant. 

The whole cutting corners thing is a bit scary: there were several instances throughout the book where it’s mentioned that crowds were allowed into events without going through the magnetometers, which were shut off early in order to get the crowds through. 

There were a lot of stories from past and present agents, and it gave some insight onto what they thought of the presidents and the agency they work for.

I actually found the anecdotes really interesting: Jimmy Carter would go into the oval office early in the morning to make people think he went into work early…and then take a nap.  Or how Nancy Reagan didn’t like it when her California friends got their magazine subscriptions before she did. 

Rating: 3 out of 5.  It wasn’t organized well, and it was somewhat difficult to find the info I wanted.  It was also repetitive, especially in regards to how the secret service is cutting corners and how management treats the agents.  However, it did give insight into what it’s like to be a secret service agent (at least to a certain degree), and the timeline of the secret service was pretty useful.

I’m not sure how much of it I’ll end up using, but it was a pretty good read.

Title: Dicey’s Song

Author: Cynthia Voight

Pages: 211

What I Thought: This is the 2nd book in the Tillerman series by Cynthia Voight.  It picks up where Homecoming ended, with the Tillerman kids being adopted by their grandma, and their life in Crisfield. 

They make some new friends along the ways- Mina, who goes to school with Dicey; Mr. Lingerle, who teaches music at Maybeth and Sammy’s school; and Jeff, who plays the guitar.

I didn’t like it nearly is much as Homecoming, mostly because Homecoming was good as a stand-alone novel.  I wasn’t invested in the characters enough to like Dicey’s Song. 

Dicey still has trouble letting go of her siblings, and letting their grandma be the parent.  The family still has some financial issues, as Dicey takes on an after-school job at the local grocery store, and their grandmother (Abigail) gets Social Security to help care for the 4 children. 

I wasn’t even moved when Liza, Dicey’s mom, died.  It was sad, of course, but it was expected.  Besides, from the few recollections in the book, it sounded like she wasn’t the best mom, and as said by James, she had truly died during the summer, when she had abandoned them. 

Rating: 2 out of 5.  I felt like everything I had liked about Homecoming was gone in Dicey’s Song.

Title: Homecoming

Author: Cynthia Voight

Pages: 372

What I Thought: This book is the 1st in the Tillerman series by Cynthia Voight.  It’s another young adult novel (like the 1st 2 books I reviewed).  It’s set in the 1980’s, according to Wikipedia, which I never would have figured out were it not for Wikipedia. 

The book follows the 4 Tillerman children, Dicey, James, Maybeth, and Sammy, and their journey to their aunt Cilla’s house in Bridgeport.  They were abandoned by their mother at a mall in Connecticut. 

There are strong themes of belonging and family throughout the book.  Family’s important to the Tillerman children, especially Dicey, as evidenced by the fact that she doesn’t want to split up herself and her siblings, and would do most anything to keep them together.  Their father left when their mother was pregnant with Sammy (who was 6 during the novel), and eventually their mother (Liza) loses her job.  Liza would disappear for hours, not talking to her kids, and like I mentioned before, just abandoning her kids at a mall.  This is strongly linked with belonging, because the family is presumed to be poor, setting them apart from the other kids at their school, resulting in them being bullied, having no friends (in the case of Dicey and James), and getting into fights (Sammy and Dicey).  They don’t really belong anywhere, so they learn to stick together, which makes their relationships with each other that much stronger. 

So they end up at their Aunt Cilla’s house, only to find that she has died, and are taken in by their cousin Eunice, who only does it because it’s the “right” thing to do.  Eunice doesn’t really care for the children, but will sacrifice her goal of becoming a nun in order to take them in.  However, they learn of their grandma in Crisfield, and they end up at her house, with all of the children and their grandmother realizing they care for each other.  Their grandmother ends up taking them in, even though she is resistant to the idea, setting aside her fears to take them in. 

Rating: I give it a 3 out of 5.  While a very enjoyable read, it was just average.  It wasn’t good, but it wasn’t bad either- just an average book.

Title: A Wrinkle In Time

Author: Madeleine L’Engle

Pages: 190

What I Thought: There is a reason why this book ended up on my top 24 book list, and it’s because this is a great book!  Even though I can’t remember the last time I read it, it was a book I loved reading when I was younger.  It was a quick read, but I did split it up over a few days because of another book that I’m currently reading. 

For me, it had the perfect amount of adventure and mystery.  However, I did notice that there were several references to biblical verses, which didn’t bother me, since it didn’t come across as preachy or anything.  It did fit in with the book really well, since the main focus was about trying to get Meg Murray’s dad off Camazotz, and later, trying to get Charles Wallace (Meg’s brother) away from IT.  Meg needed to remember that love was what she needed in oder to save Charles Wallace from IT. 

There were so many characters that I loved- Mrs. Who, Mrs. Whatsit and Mrs. Which, the Happy Medium and Aunt Beast.  I liked Meg, Charles Wallace, and Calvin as well, but not as much as the Mrs. W’s, the Happy Medium and Aunt Beast.  I found Meg to be a pretty believable and sympathetic character, but there wasn’t really anything that made her very memorable.  It was the same with both Calvin and Charles Wallace.  I was creeped out that Charles Wallace (as a 5-year-old) was able to read his mother and sister so well, and was fairly mature for his age. 

The Mrs. W’s were definitely protective, and on this reread, it was obvious that they were angelic beings…supernatural guardians…whatever you want to call it.  Plus, I liked that they were stars who died.   

I did like the quotes that were scattered throughout the book, courtesy of Mrs. Who (who found talking hard).  And the quotes, much like the references to biblical verses, fit very well with the plot.       

Rating: On a scale of 1 to 5, I give it a 4.  While not completely and totally amazing, it was still an amazing book.

I’ve read my 1st book for the 100-book challenge!

Title: Of Two Minds

Author: Carol Matas and Perry Nodelman

Pages: 200

What I Thought: It was a pretty quick read, and it took me about an hour or so.  I haven’t read it since 6th grade, so I was long overdue for a re-read.  Princess Lenora has the ability to make her imagination come to life, while Prince Coren has the ability to read minds.  For Lenora, the laws (not to mention her parents) prevent her from imagining things to reality; everyone can read Coren’s mind, which means his thoughts are rarely kept to himself.  The premise of the story is that Coren and Lenora are to be married, but during the wedding ceremony, Lenora imagines herself in a completely different world, and Coren is taken with her.  Together, they have to defeat Hevak, who’s an evil tyrant that can make people disappear.  Not have groups of people just disappeared, people have forgetten about them.  With Coren’s ability to read people’s minds, he can look for groups of people that have been made to disappear by Hevak (trolls, fairies and elves), and combined with Lenora’s ability to make them real, they are able to defeat Hevak. 

There were a few things that were interesting.  One, Hevak was trying to create a perfect world with no misfits.  I honestly have no idea if this was the authors intent (since the book is aimed at kids), but it did remind of me of Hitler.  Two, it turned out that Hevak was Lenora’s imagination!  Throughout the book (but mostly at the beginning), it was obvious that Lenora didn’t like the fact that no one used their ability, and all lived in the same boring world.  Hevak definitely was there to show Lenora what can happen when you mess with the balance of things.

Rating: On a scale of 1 to 5, I’d give it a 3.  It wasn’t good, but it wasn’t terrible either.  Just average.