Dragonfable!

Dragonfable is like Adventure Quest, a on-line fantasy battle game (see my post on Adventure Quest). It's different because instead of just clicking buttons all over the place, your character walks around. You can buy weapons, battle monsters, and go on quest. Instead of going to Death when you lose a battle, it says "Defeat!" and you just go back to where you were. One of my friends played Dragonfable but somehow fell out of it.

The Stranger

The Stranger (written and illustrated by Chris Van Allsburg, 1986) didn't immediately grab me, but still I liked it because it gave me something to think about and puzzle on. In the book, Farmer Bailey was driving along in his pickup truck. Suddenly, he heard a thump! He thought he had hit a deer. But it wasn't a deer, it was a man. A man who had lost his memory, or so they thought. The doctor took his temperature, and said he would remember his name and where he lived. When he left, he had forgotten his thermometer. Farmer Bailey's wife said," You've forgotten your thermometer!"
"It's broken," said the doctor, "All the mercury is stuck at the bottom." This is the first clue to the stranger's identity. The author never tells us anything about him, only that he is a stranger. There are other clues. When he was helping in the fields gathering hay, unlike Mr. Bailey, who had to rest, he never stopped, never sweated, and never rested. A couple of weeks later he was staring at the trees. He thought the trees at the farm were green and ugly, but all the other trees were regular fall trees. He picked a leaf, and blew on it. He was amazed when it turned red. That evening, they saw him in his old leather clothes and he ran away. When they went out, all the green trees had changed color.

So who is this mysterious stranger? Try and guess!

Weslandia

Weslandia, by Paul Fleichman, illustrated by Kevin Hawke, (1999). This book has a lot of things to do with nature in it--how people and nature coexist. But this book is fantasy, not non-fiction. A kid called Wesley did not like anything that the other boys in his neighborhood like. He didn't like pizza and soda (like me!) and he refused to shave the hair off half his head, like the other boys in the neighborhood, even for five dollars. One day he decided for his summer project he would make his own civilization from a staple crop. This staple crop he called "swist." The seeds came by a strong west wind, and grew taller than his house, and attracted animals galore. This plant had amazingly delicious fruits, as well as tubers on its roots. Wesley invented his own machines, and made the fibers into clothes. The other children used to chase him, but now they went to work for him, ten minutes a day at the grinding stone, grinding the seeds to make oil, and buying the oil that was good sunscreen and bug repellent. He even made up sports.

When school started, he had no limit to friends. And he had succeeded in making his own civilization.

I like this book because of all the neat stuff he does with his wonderful plants.

Eco-Wolf!

Eco-Wolf and the Three Pigs, by Laurence Anholt is a very good book. This time the Wolf wins, and he is a good wolf. In the story, Eco-Wolf makes water powered machines, without polluting the water. He teaches animals how to not litter, and instead of a house he has a wigwam.

Then three big pigs come, and they're going to build houses, whatever it takes. The first house was a straw house. That night Eco-Wolf called the animals to his tent. He said the old oak trees the pigs had cut down were like his brothers and sisters. And Eco-Wolf gives the pigs the Bird Treatment (calling all the birds and the birds taking the straws). Then the pigs build a wood house, and the same thing happens but with burrowing animals making burrows. The next building the pigs made was a giant concrete shopping mall with a free way leading up to it. Will Eco-Wolf be able to stop them?

HOB.

Under the stairs in the house where Boy and Girl live there is Hob, a little helper. He always gets a gift each night, like an apple or an egg. And in return he drives away things that not supposed to be in the house, like Clockstop who stops clocks from going right, and eats time. Also he scares away Wump--who stomps down the stairs breaking them, tipping over bottles, denting the house, knocking out a brick, and making Hob's teeth rattle. In that episode he asks Budgie the pet bird to sing Baby to sleep. She sings, "Go to sleep, little egg." "The bird's an idiot," says Hob.

The Hob stories come in the red, yellow, green and blue books, or you can get all of them in one book, that is the book shown. Also you can get Hob and the Goblins as well as Hob and the Peddler. They are longer and have chapters.
HOB is by William Mayne, and illustrated by Patrick Benson. The pictures are so beautiful.

Adventure Quest

Adventure Quest is an online battle game where you fight monsters with weapons and armor and get gold, experience, and z tokens. You create your own character. You can buy new weapons and stronger armour with your gold. Also there are quests. Be careful! Some quests require greater experience before you can do them. Also the weapons and armour require a certain amount of gold and experience--if you don't have enough, you can't buy them.

BONE.

The Complete Bone Adventures by Jeff Smith is very creative and I like it! I really like how he uses false animals from his mind combined with real people and animals. In the book when Bone is running from the bad furry creatures, he meets some possums. One says, "Hey, look who's coming!" And another says, "It's Uncle Fone Bone!" Bone says, "Run, Kids! The rat creatures are after me!"Hope you enjoy

Dragonology!

Dragonology the Complete Book of Dragons by "Dr. Ernest Drake" is a great way to learn about dragons. It tells you all about them from what dragons eat to where they live and there are 10 types of dragon! Dragons might have colonised another planet! But are dragons realy out there?

STINKY.

Stinky, by Eleanor Davis (2008), is written very well and really grabbed my attention!

The illustrations are very good and they tell you the life you might find in a swamp. This book is part comic part chapter book and it's very easy to read. The problem is a boy, named Nick, comes into the swamp and Stinky Seymour, a monster who lives in the swamp, does not like kids. Solution: Stinky made friends with Nick and Stinky tried an apple and he offered Nick a pickled onion.

I recommend this for ages 5 and up.