Inkheart: Interesting Premise, Poor Execution

I read a blurb about Inkheart somewhere online in which the writer said his daughter put down (one of the books in) the Lord of the Rings to read this book instead.

I was impressed.

I shouldn't have been.

The girl may have found Inkheart more interesting simply because it was easier for her to read. I've read both; LOTR does require more devotion.

That doesn't mean that Inkheart is all that good however. In fact, I'm surprised that a movie was made of it. I wonder how much they had to add to the movie to make it even moderately interesting. (Or maybe it isn't.)

I like the premise of this book. The main characters are able to read characters out of books, transferring them from their fictional world into ours. In exchange, someone from our world goes into theirs.

My main problem with the book is how slowly it moves. There are entire chapters - pages long - that could have been chopped down to a sentence or two with no loss of plot line or action. There's far too much description of what a character is thinking or wondering about. It adds nothing to the story.

The editor had one thing to do and failed to do it.

Another complaint is the lack of suitable explanations for important things that happen. For example, the "reading out" of characters is almost completely uncontrollable throughout most of the story. Yet near the end, it happens virtually on command. How come?

One of the main characters, a girl named Meggie, lost her mother years ago. Her father, Mortimer or Mo or Silvertongue - depending on who's talking, won't tell her was happened to her. Spoiler alert: She got "read into" a story by her husband. Meggie's mother appears in this book as "Resa" (real name, Theresa), but she can't talk. Why not? (There's sort of an explanation, but it's really lame.)

Meggie and Mo (as Meggie calls him...never "Dad") have an adult friend named Elinor whose characterization is extremely poorly done. Is she nice or mean? Why is she nice sometimes and mean at other times - to the same people? She is way too inconsistently presented.

At the end of the book, most of the evil characters who had been "read out" of another story - also called Inkheart - are sent away, apparently for good.

But not all of them. Why not? Other than so that there can be a sequel to this story, there's no real reason.

I'm not going to read the sequel to find out. I wish I would have stopped reading this many-hundreds-of-pages-long book before the end, but I kept going for your sake - so you won't have to make the same mistake as me.

You're welcome.

I Survived the Destruction of Pompeii, AD 79 - Even Though I Wasn't Really There

The I Survived series takes (young) readers back to some of the most famous and tragic events in history. Topics include hurricanes, tsunamis, sharks, Nazis, fires, the Titanic, 9/11, and more.

The book I chose to read tells about the explosion of Mount Vesuvius near Pompeii in AD 79. I picked this one primarily because we have a board game based on this disaster but also because I wanted to see if any detailed information would be included.

I was somewhat disappointed in the approach the author took with this story. Most of the plot involves a father and son who, as far as I can tell, are fictional. (If that's incorrect, I apologize to the author.) I was hoping for more specifics based on what archaeologists have found there.

That said, I suppose it would be difficult to make any sort of story out of the remains of the city themselves. I assume that the story the author created is a plausible account of what could have happened.

I don't plan to read any more in this series mainly because the topics don't interest me all that much. I already know all I care to know about them.

I imagine that teachers often use these books as part of a history class. Our library has a dozen or more of many of the titles in the series, and most of them were checked out the last time I looked.

You would be hard pressed to use these books for more than supplementary material, but they would work well as just that.

The World According to Humphrey: Finally, a Good Hamster Book

I started writing a book about a hamster once. It will probably never be finished or published.

But that's okay because Betty Birney has a series about Humphrey the hamster that is very likely better than anything I could produce.

The World According to Humphrey is about a hamster who is in the care of the class in Room 26. For the most part, the children love him and take good care of him.

He has a few tricks up his (non-existent) sleeve, such as being able to open his cage door even when it appears to be locked.

He never really gets into trouble, but some of his exploits do make the humans pause to wonder once in a while.

Humphrey can't really talk to the humans, but Birney's clever style makes it seem like he can.

I really appreciated the lack of nasty language and potty talk in this book. There are only a few brief, tactful references to Humphrey's poo corner and the cleaning of it.

The only quibble I have with the story is that Humphrey squeaks - apparently loud enough for humans to hear - much more often than a real hamster does. We owned hamsters when we were kids, and our daughter owned several while still at home. The only time any of them ever made a sound was when they were hurting. Even then, it was only a brief noise. All that said, there wouldn't be much of a story here if the hamster wasn't allowed to squeak to the humans as often as he does.

I assume that the other books in this series (and I would read more, if I didn't have so many other series I want to get to) are as well-written as this first one. I heartily recommend it to all youngsters. It would make a good series for parents to read to their children too.

How to Train Your Dragon: Written by a 6th Grader?

How to Train Your Dragon is a series of 12 books (or I wouldn't be reviewing it here) as well as series of movies. There's even a website dedicated to it. There are video games and much more.

I've only read the first book - and maybe this is the reason - but I just don't get it. Why all the fuss?

The first book seems to have been written by a 6th grader.

Granted, there are no spelling or grammatical errors, but that just means it was proofread properly before it went to press.

There is an overabundance of the use of CAPITAL LETTERS AS WHEN YOU WANT SOMEONE TO BE SHOUTING.

The phrasing of sentences throughout the book just seems like it was not written by an adult.

One term that occurs multiple times is "Thors'day Thursday". It's as if the author didn't realize that Thursday IS NAMED FOR THOR. A 6th grader might not know that.

The more I think about it, the more I suspect I'm correct - at least, about the first book - because, as you can see on the cover, it says "AS TOLD TO Cressida Cowell".

I know that this COULD just be a gimmick used by the author, but is/was it? If anyone has a definitive answer to this question, I'd be interested in hearing it.

It's hard not to recommend a series that has had this much commercial success, but I just can't. Watch the movies (which may not resemble the book...I dunno) and play the games, if you like. Just don't bother to read the book.

Heidi, Herbie, and Horrible Harry: 3 for the Price of 1

Yesterday I read 3 books from 3 different kids' series because they were all quite short. So today I'm going to combine reviews of them all into this one post.

Heidi Heckelbeck

The first book is Heidi Heckelbeck Gets Glasses. This isn't the first book in the series, but the first several were already checked out, so I just went with the next available one.

For the most part, this is a normal book about a young student who thinks it's so cool that one of her classmates got glasses that she lies about her own eyesight so she can be cool too. Of course, it doesn't work out as well as she had hoped. She confesses her sin (the book doesn't call it that) to her grandma.

That's when things get weird.

Not having read any of the other books in this series, I'm not sure how seriously we're supposed to take this, but Heidi's grandma is supposedly a witch who can cast spells.

While wearing her glasses that she doesn't need, Heidi messes up a concoction that is supposed to help Grandma's parrot. Instead, it makes the bird grow to room size.

Grandma fixes things and all is right in the end, but I'm not sure about the witch thing. Was it supposed to be real or all in their imagination? Maybe I should check out one more book to see if I can figure it out. (I probably won't though.)

Herbie Jones

The second book is Herbie Jones Sails into Second Grade. This is a rather uneventful book about Herbie finding a new friend.

The most interesting thing for me was that the teacher allowed the students to call him "Mr. S."

Horrible Harry

The final book, which is by the same author - Suzy Kline - as the Herbie series, is Horrible Harry in Room 2B. Harry is only sorta the main character. The story is told by a classmate named Doug.

Harry is horrible sometimes, good sometimes, and a decent friend most of the time.

That's about it.

All of these books are easy reads (obviously). I would recommend any of them, as long as you're okay with the witch thing.

Gregor the Overlander: Ordinary Kid Turns Fantasy Hero and Lives to Tell about It

It isn't every day that you and your toddler sister get sucked down a ventilation shaft in the laundry room of your apartment building and land in a fantastical world of monstrous bats, rats, and cockroaches.

Yet that's what happened to Gregor and his little sister, Boots (aka Margaret, but she doesn't really know that), in Gregor the Overlander.

Oh, and that's also what happened to their father a couple of years ago.

That, in and of itself, isn't really too much to swallow, even though it probably should be. The hardest thing to believe in this story is that Gregor doesn't freak out upon discovering this secretive Underland. He becomes an unwilling leader and hero and the fulfillment of an Underland prophecy to boot.

Genius Files Series: Your Blatant Plug for Every US Attraction

The Genius Files series, written by Dan Gutman, is a blatantly obvious attempt at getting you interested in every out-of-the-way sideshow that America has to offer.

Interspersed among the attractions along the highways and byways is a story line about the starring family's two kids - Coke and Pep (Can you say, "Product placement"?) - who are in mortal danger at the hands of several bungling evildoers every time they leave their parents to go off and look at something interesting, which turns out to be a facade for a devilish plot created by said evildoers.

Galaxy Zack: Hello, Nebulon! - An Introduction

I'll make this quick because Galaxy Zack: Hello, Nebulon! is a very quick read. I read it in one sitting. It's that kind of book. Not that it was a "real page turner". It was really just an introduction to the series. Nothing of significance actually happened. It was a quick read because there weren't many words on the page. It was almost like a comic book.

None of that is bad, in and of itself, but if a youngster had bought this book for himself, or if someone bought this book for a youngster, I fear said youngster would be sorely disappointed.

My Last Best Friend: What 4th Grade Is Really All About

Ida is starting 4th grade. Her best friend (from 3rd grade and before) has moved away, so this year she has no best friend to play with or just to be with.

At first Ida takes a "once bitten, twice shy" attitude towards finding another friend. Then she meets the new girl, Stacey, who is pretty much irresistible.

They do eventually become best friends, despite the efforts of the mean girl, Jenna, who rules the roost in the class and elsewhere.

I, Freddy: The Hamster You've Always Wanted

I, Freddy is the first in a series of 5 books in the Golden Hamster Saga. Calling this series a "saga" is a bit of an over-qualification. I've only read the first book, but I can safely say it's not part of what you normally think of as a saga.

As further proof that this is a non-saga series, I offer Wikipedia's one-line summary of the fifth book: Freddy must fight off Crusaders from the past to return to his own time. That's not saga-worthy. It's just weird. And that's fine, if you like that kind of thing. I might like it myself.