The Legend of Hong Kil Dong

The Legend of Hong Kil Dong: The Robin Hood of Korea, by Anne Sibley O'Brien, is about courage, strength, and determination. It is about a boy who lived in Korea long ago. He was born into a wealthy family, and was favored by his father, even though his mother was a maid servant. Before Kil Dong's birth, his father had seen clouds, lightning, even a dragon! It was a good omen for the child. And he had a birth mark on his leg, proving that he was like no other.


But Kil Dong could not address his father as "father," and his brother would inherit everything (even though Kil Dong was smarter) so he went to train with the monks, where he could seek greater knowledge. Eventually he met an old sage (a mountain spirit?) who taught him magic and martial arts. Then he found the camp of bandits...and that is all I'm going tell you.

Begining a graphic novel, I could see what emotions went through Hong Kil Dong. This brought the story alive. I've read this book many times, and enjoy it in some deep way.

The Daring Adventures of Penhaligon Brush

The Daring Adventures of Penhaligon Brush, by S. Jones Rogan (2007), is a fabulous book.

Penhaligon Brush is a fox. He was abandoned by his parents, who went to find a better world, when he was young, so he stayed with a family of badgers. His favorite was his badger brother, Bancroft (the badger shown on the cover).

Penhaligon journeys from Ramble-on-the-Water to the town of Porthleven to meet his brother, but when he gets there he finds that the whole city has been over-run by a ferret army. It is up to him to defeat the spoiled nephew of Lady Furball Feline, to get back Furball Manor, who is leading the ferrets...

This book is both entertaining, has a lot of detail, and something I can't put my finger on, without opening the book....I loved it!

This Side of Magic, Keyholders Volume 1

This Side of Magic is a book about two ordinary kids, named Penny and Luke, who have a neighbor named Mr. Leery. Mr. Leery is a Keyholder, a regular human who defends the real world from the magical world. He is the last remaining Keyholder, and he takes Penny and Luke to be his apprentices. Mr. Leery has a cat named Mo, who is his "link." A link is a magical being bonded to a human by spirit and a bracelet with a crystal (in this case, it's purple amethyst). So Penny and Luke become the new Keyholders, but there's another new keyholder, Natalie...this part comes at the end of the book.




This is the book is about the beginning of an adventure that will take willpower, determination, and magical beings to keep the balance of the two worlds. I like this book because of the fast paced plot, with not much "blah blah blah,"said this person and "blah blah blah" said the other person. I would recommend it to an eight year who isn't ready for Harry Potter.



The next book, The Other Side of Magic, is next on my reading list.

The Prince of Irleand and the Three Magic Stallions

Prince of Ireland and the Three Magic Stallions by Bryce Milligan, illustrated by Preston McDaniels.

This book is about an Irish prince whose mother dies and time passes and the king, his father, marries another woman who bears the king two more sons. Wanting her sons to claim the throne, the queen puts a geis (pronounced gaysh, meaning a kind of magic spell or curse) on him. The geis is that he
cannot "sleep two nights under the same roof nor eat two meals from the same fire until you have brought [the queen] the three magic stallions that the young giant Sean O'Donal keeps at the edge of the western world."

But before he goes, he puts a geis on her...

Can he fulfill his task, and foil the wicked queen?

I liked this book very much because it is a different kind of fairy tale--it's Irish and that makes a nice change. I liked the illustrations a lot.

Nini Here and There

Nini here and there by Anita Lobel (2007) is a very touching book.

It is about a cat whose owners are moving to a new home. She gets zipped up in a black bag, and then falls asleep in it. There she dreams that she is in a hot air balloon, a boat, and a few other things.

When she wakes up, she gets unzipped and let out of the bag. At her new home, there is a field with butterflies, a white dog, and more nice things.

It's a bit like the last book I reviewed, about dreaming and the power of the mind to take you places.

The very last sentence is the most touching of all. But I'm not going to tell you what it is, so you gotta read the book!

Here's a link to it on Amazon:Nini Here and There

Willy the Dreamer

Willy the Dreamer, written and illustrated by Anthony Browne is a very elegant book. It is a about a chimpanzee named Willy (but I don't really think he really is a chimpanzee. Browne has another book about Willy and at the very end of that book there is actually a picture of a chimpanzee mask, and a person walking away, so Willy could be anyone of us, disguised).

In this book, Willy dreams he's a movie star, or a singer, or a sumo wrestler, a ballet dancer, a painter and more. The pictures are funny, in part because of the bananas hidden in them, and in part because of jokes like making the hammerhead shark's head look like a real hammer, and the famous writer part is a chimpanzee/banana Alice in Wonderland.

This is one of my all-time favorites. It has this deep something...I can't put it into words.

Julius, the Baby of the World

Julius, the Baby of the World, by Kevin Henkes, is about two opinions that do not meet. A little bit about Kevin Henkes--Kevin Henkes and his award winning books are famous throughout the United States. He's written many books about mice, like Chester's Way, and Lily's Purple Plastic Purse (If You Give a Mouse a Cookie? NO! Different author). I, and all my second grade classmates, had to write a book based on Chester's Way. Know what mine is called? Victor's Way! Now, on with the story.

Julius, the Baby of the World, is about Lily, her baby brother, and her parents. The parents think that Julius is the "baby of the world." Lily thinks the opposite. It takes a party for Julius where a cousin insults her brother (using the same words Lily had been using) to drive Lily to loving Julius. Because after all, he is her brother.

I recommend this book for ages four through seven, and the children's lucky parents. It is funny, smart, and sweet