{ Book Review } The good thieves

Love a good adventure story ? Then you might want to check out this quick review and give this beautiful book a try, I admit… it had me with it’s cover ❤ 

The good Thieves is a heartwarming novel that takes place in the early 1900s about a girl named Vita. She comes to New York to visit her grandpa after her grandma dies. When Vita learns that a rich businessman has bought her grandpa’s castle underneath his nose, she secretly devises a plan to get the castle back and retrieve her grandma’s necklace from a secret safe inside. She knows she can’t do it alone, so she goes out in the city by herself to recruit other children. She meets Arkady, a boy whose parents own a circus. He has a way with animals. His close friend Samuel wants to be an acrobat, but his parents want him to follow in their footsteps. Then she meets Silk, a girl who is an experienced pickpocket.

The four children devise a plan to get inside the castle and get back the necklace. They form a unique troupe: an animal whisperer, an acrobat, a pickpocket, and Vita, who is also an amazing knife thrower but never uses them to hurt anyone. Instead, her weapon is her cleverness and emotion.

I really enjoyed this novel. I especially liked how well the historic elements were written in. Historical fiction is one of my favorites. The drawings were very nice and showed the characters perfectly. The plot was quick-paced and exciting. When the book ended it was very satisfying. I would recommend this book to kids who like historical fiction and adventure books. Great book for ten and up.

Very Rich { kids book review }

This was such a beautiful book that we reviewed last year and haven’t had a chance to post about yet. It is the perfect winter read and also along with the Christmas time. If you enjoy Roald Dahl , or magical adventures don’t miss this one 🙂 

Very Rich is an entertaining book about ten-year-old Rupert who lives with his large but poor family. One morning on Christmas, he begins his walk to school only to realize it’s, of course, closed on Christmas. On his way home, he passes one of the largest mansions in his town. Not paying attention, he suddenly stumbles into the large gate of the house. He feels a jolt of electricity going through his body and he faints. When he wakes up, the Rivers, the richest family in town, invite him for Christmas dinner as an apology. Everything Rupert has ever dreamt of is nearly offered to him. The Rivers invite him for a day of family games, where he wins some amazing prizes, he hopes to share with his poor family. But instead of being able to keep the prizes they get taken away and he gets taken on some other crazy adventures.

The book reminded a bit of some Roald Dahl adventures. It was magical and adventurous and very fun to read. The story also reminds you of being thankful for the things you have. This would be a great book for kids ten years old and up.

Reading books in your second language, tips and tricks ..

Reading books in your second language can sometimes be tricky. For kids it can feel intimidating and less fun especially if they don’t know the story. When I was younger my favorite way of learning English, was to re-read the books I already knew. So after reading them in German I read them in English.

Tons of authors are known around the world and many classics can be found in any language ! Why don’t you give it a shot and find one of your favorites ?! I’m sharing some of my favorite German/ or well known around the world classics  and also how you can find them if you live abroad ! 

Astrid Lindgren  

Ronia the robbers daughter has always been one my favorite ! Many of Lindgrens books have been translated into 107 languages !! Maybe you haven’t heard of many others than Pipi Longstocking, but there are so many others by this fascinating author ! She was seriously one of the pioneers of modern children’s literature, with a wish for children to grow up loved, free and respected.  The children of the noisy village, Mio, my son, The brothers Lionheart   are all pieces of beautiful literature that are timeless and full of magic and deserved to be read by anyone all over the world !

 Otfried Preussler

has written some beautiful children’s book and are definitely great classics. The little ghost and the Little witch were also made into a few Tv series and great movies ! The little ghost movie is available on amazon prime   and the Little witch is as well !!

Most of his books were translated into 55 languages !

J.K Rowling

 

One of the latest language editions to Harry Potter is Scots  ! Which is spoken by 1.5 million people in Scotland and is a disappearing language. Harry Potter has been translated into more than 80 languages ! And of course audiobooks and the movies are available in lots of options too . You can find it in german , french, afrikaans and many other beautiful languages !!

Cornelia Funke

Cornelia Funke has written almost 50 books, which have been translated into 37 languages, selling more than 26 million copies worldwide. In 2005, Time Magazine even included Funke in their annual list of the top 100 influential people in the world. Her books are full of adventure and make believe, a joy to read for young and old ! Our favorites are dragon rider, the ghost hunter series, chix ( die wilden Hühner) , ink heart trilogy and so many more….

Eric Carle ( for the littles ) everyone knows the very hungry caterpillar! Indeed because it’s been translated into over 62 languages worldwide ! In fact quite a few of his books have, and they are a joy for little ones to read and look through ! Because we all know the beautiful art work that comes along with each one of his titles ! How about the hungry caterpillar in Russian  ?

Or rather Chinese

Roald Dahl

Another around the world known author from the UK with books translated into around 60 languages around the world ! Charly and the chocolate factory, Matilda, James and the giant peach ( spanish)… all beautiful books we all know and would make it easier to read in a second language !

Enid blyton

I’m always surprised when many Americans don’t know Enid Blytons books. With over 90 languages that her books have been translated to, you would figure she is known around the USA as well. A true classic of adventure stories, fantasy and make believe! Famous five, the faraway tree… seriously go google her and you will fall in love with her stories…

Michael Ende

Never ending story ranks at the top of the Bestsellers of all times ! 35 books sold a d over 49 languages you can find them in ! Jim Knopf und die Wilde 13 (Jim Button and the Wild 13) Momo, Der satanarchäolügenialkohöllische Wunschpunsch (Translated into English by Heike Schwarzbauer and Rick Takvorian as The Night of Wishes and many others

Erich Kästner

is one of the pioneers of children’s literature and has been given many awards and prizes because of it. Some of the most beautiful stories include

Emil und die Detektive, 1929 (Emil and the Detectives) ,Pünktchen und Anton 

Das fliegende Klassenzimmer, Das doppelte Lottchen or in the US known as Parent Trap

Usborne Books are often also available in different languages but only mainly available overseas. ( amazon.de)

Finding the titles in your language of preference can be tricky but not impossible. I always check on amazon first. That is in the US and Germany. They ship books from Germany relatively cheap and I bet you can find many other European languages in their selection. It’s the easiest and most uncomplicated way to find them, but maybe not the cheapest. You can find used book sites, like abebooks, book depository . I have gotten very lucky over the years there. Also check your local facebook market place or search for flea market groups on facebook. In your local communities of native speakers, someones children might have outgrown the books and are getting ready to let them go. Or you could arrange a switch.. and exchange books every so often with someone near you ! Also don’t be shy to ask your local library ! Many are opening up their doors and minds to multilingual books ! So make some suggestions and you might be surprised what they are willing to purchase for you !

There are amazing authors around the world and we are lucky that nowadays so many do get translated into other languages ! Reading books from another part of the world can teach us and our children so much ! It explains culture, history, way of life, empathy and more ! If it’s because you want to learn a second language and re-read some of your old time favorites or if you got curious what other authors from around the world have to offer, go find one of these classics ! Maybe talk to your library too and see if they can add some of they do t have any. Share the love and have fun reading !

{ Book review } Mr. Lemoncello’s All Star Breakout Game

The fourth book in this amazing series is finally out..

Mr. Lemoncello’s All Star Breakout Game is an enthralling novel about Kyle Keeley breaking out of Mr. Lemoncello’s Library once again.

This time Mr. Lemoncello has multiple teams competing for the prize, a chance to star in a kids game show. The teams are Kyle and his friends, Charles Chiltington and his book works and a team of kid celebrities from Mr. Lemoncello’s TV network.

At the Library, Kyle and his friends (the lemon heads) will play a VR roleplay invented by Lemonchello and his Imagineers. This will involve playing different genres of fiction, overcoming obstacles and of course many, many puzzles.

I agree with Mr. Lemoncello that books are the best role-playing games ever invented! I really enjoyed reading this novel and the puzzles throughout the book were fun and interactive.

Another thing I enjoyed was all the references to many different books and the list to see how many you have read (currently I have read twenty-three of them). I really enjoyed the entire series and I would recommend this book to ages ten and up.

Do you like fairy tales with a new twist and touch of darkness  ? You might want to keep reading ! Here’s what my 12 year old thought 🙂

I got to review and exciting new book, The Odd Sisters,  it’a thrilling and exciting novel. I have not read the other 5 books in the series, so if you have, I am sure the references to the other books will make more sense. Even without reading the others, I enjoyed this book a lot. This book tells about Circe, the daughter of the Odd Sisters. Her mothers have caused innocent people to turn on family and friends throughout the whole Villains series. In the last book, they were imprisoned in the land of dreams, so they wouldn’t wreak havoc on the kingdoms. But the Odd Sisters could still possibly escape; if they do Circe, Snow White, and their allies will have to come together to stop the three Odd sisters.

I absolutely enjoyed this book. The rich and complex plot was really fun to read. Also if you haven’t read the other books or haven’t read them in a while, the prologue will catch you up quickly. Another thing is that these books retell the stories of fairy tales. They are my favorite kind of novels, so I was overjoyed to read this. I loved the way it had multiple perspectives; it switched from Circe, Snow White, and even the Odd Sisters, so it showed different sides of the story. The theme of the novel was a bit dark, so I would recommend this book to ages 12 and up.

{ Book Review } Mary Poppins Picture Book

 

 

Are you all super excited for the new Mary Poppins Movie ? I sure am and I am trying to figure out a way to go see it. ( with baby and all a bit difficult these days lol ). Anyways, I was so excited when I saw this beautiful new edition, that I am about to introduce to you. My two older girls have watched the old movie of course, and read some of the stories as well, and now they are thrilled that they can share the story with their new baby sister.   I think this classic belongs into everyone’s library, big or small !

Okay here is what my daughter thought about the book 😉

Mary Poppins is a wonderful story, shortened into a picture book. This book tells the story of the magical Nanny, who arrives in the night by an umbrella and takes the children Jane, Michael and the twins on many adventures. Some of her whimsical adventures are: going to the zoo at night and hanging stars in the sky on ladders.
This picture book has very pretty illustrations. I can clearly see the expressions of the characters and Mary Poppins does “ look as neat as a pin”, with her heeled boots and lacy apron.
Mary Poppins is one of my favorite stories to read and this book got me really excited and I couldn’t wait to read this tale as a picture book version. I am excited to share this picture book with my younger sisters to read.
I really like the technique the illustrator uses to create the artistic pictures and you can really see when and where the story takes place.
This version did a wonderful job of recapturing the whimsical and fun story of Mary Poppins, everyone’s favorite Nanny. This book is wonderful for all ages and as a read aloud !

 

{ Book Review} INKLING by Kennteh Oppel

Inkling, by Kenneth Oppel, is a remarkable story I fell in love with,the moment I started reading it. You just can’t help but fall in love with the sweet little character ” Inkling” and the family he joins to help. We meet Ethan and his family at a difficult time, their mother has recently passed and everyone is struggling to keep going. Ethan has trouble at school, and Dad a famous comic artist, has lost all his imagination for his comic books.

Besides all the trouble Ethan has a project going on at school he is supposed to draw a comic with a group of his friends and he is struggling to make the art for it .Ethan does not think he’s as good and talented as his father, everyone teases him a little bit about it and Ethan has a really hard time dealing with it as father doesn’t have time to give him any lessons and isn’t inspired to work with him.  Ethan and his little sister feel quite lonely and wish they could get their Dad out of his funk.

Just when everything seems lost, Inling comes to life. Inkling is an ink spot that comes from his fathers sketch book and because of Inkling everything changes. Inkling is on a mission to find a special something, that’s been lost before their mother passed away and that will help them to keep going and find happiness once again.

The book is full of strong characters. Ethan is a wonderful boy that most kids can probably relate to, also his little sister is a great addition to the story, she has down syndrome and is just such a sweet little girl that lightens the mood of the book. Inkling is what everyone in the house needs, someone to listen to, someone to play with and someone to grief with. But just when you think their world has been flipped for the better things start going wrong and inkling is in big danger., so the story line really keeps you excited.

It’s been a while that i fell in love with a kids book.  The opening sentence was a winner by itself and after reading it, I was hooked and I found myself reading on chapter after chapter to see what would happen to Inking next. I think in the end we all would love to have our very own Inkling at home. I loved all the characters in the book from Inkling, Ethan’s family and their cat to the even ,rather mean Vika at school. The book had a heart warming tone throughout, with just the right amount of emotion and a mix of suspense and action. The added artwork throughout made inkling come alive even more in my imagination. A wonderful book with a great message for kids 8 and up ! A refreshing new book that will make bring joy to many children !

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Book review : Brick Who found herself in Architecture

What a cute, adorable book. My kids have always loved Legos since they were little. They  have played hours and hours long with all kinds of legos and other bricks through the years and often many amazing buildings have sprouted from their creativity. And that’s how I got curious about “Brick” .. it’s and easy tie in, while Littles are playing with certain bricks, or a fun quick book for older kids, who can understand the connections to real historic buildings….  But here is what my daughter thought of the book :

When Brick was small her mother would tell her “great things, start with small bricks”, so when Brick is an adult she sets out to find her place. At first, she visits many castles all around the world. Soon her travel takes her to many places of worship, including Saint Basils Cathedral, Malwaid Minaret, and others. She also visits ordinary apartments, the suburbs, and then the Great Wall of China until she finds her place.
This book was lovely because it teaches kids about finding your place in the world while reading about amazing places and buildings the world has to offer. I also thought the illustrations were adorable and beautifully done. Another great part is the detailed description of the buildings in the back. I would recommend this read aloud to kids 5 and up.

 

BOOK review : Charlie and Frog

I am going through some of our older reviews, and saw we never blogged this one yet. This was such a great, unique read. Stepping into the world of sign language, was really interesting for my kids and taught them even a few sings. They enjoyed the mystery the kids in the book had to solve as well… It was one of their favorite reads from earlier this year ! Here is her short review…

 

Charlie and Frog is an exciting mystery about a kid named Charlie, who is trying to escape boredom and adventures out to the Castle on the Hudson, and Frog, who desperately wants to solve a mystery.

Charlies parents once again left for an exciting adventure but left him at home. He quickly gets bored and eventually decides to visit the library, but he arrives a little early before it even opens. He sees an old woman sitting on the steps, and she looks really upset. He quickly figures out that she is deaf and that she is very worried because she told a secret to someone, and now terrible things could happen because of it. Miss Tweedy the Librarian tries to help and tells Charlie to go to her sign language teacher, Frog, to figure out some of the mystery signs the old woman made.

Charlie and Frog make a wonderful team and  race to solve the mystery at hand before anything bad happens.

I really loved this book because it was an exciting mystery, and it was a very fast-paced and a fun read. I don’t often see a lot of new mysteries on the shelves at stores, so it was great getting to read a new one. I also found it interesting to peek into the world of sign language. I would recommend this book for kids eight and up.

Reviewed By: Hannah – Age 11

Book review * The third mushroom *

Here is a the latest review from me, Hannah, 12 years old.

If you like Science and experiments “ The third mushroom”  book is for you! It’s the sequel to the 14th goldfish , which I have not read, but hope to do soon. The story was self-explanatory though and the story carries itself nicely without having read it.
Ellie comes home from school only to discover the house in complete chaos. She is totally worried at first but then realizes it is is only her crazy grandpa Melvin. If you have read the first book then you know all about Grandpa Melvin and how he became young again. Melvin tells Ellie about his latest science experiment, a jellyfish with unknown properties. When Ellie and “cousin Melvin” are at school the science teacher informs them about the county science fair and urges them to participate.

Ellie and Melvin start experimenting with the jellyfish and make some jaw-dropping discoveries.

The book didn’t exactly meet my expectations. I liked it because of the science references but it was lacking a bit more excitement for me. The book was more serious than I thought it would be. However, the book teaches a great lesson that not everything in life always turns out the way you hope for but often things will generally turn out to be okay. I was surprised to find an additional science guide in the back with short biographies of famous scientists.

I would recommend the book to anyone age 10 and up.