BOOKS FOR CHILDREN: How do you know what's good?

While there are many places (especially on the internet) where you can read book reviews, how do you really know if it's a good book or not when a single book might receive anywhere from one to five stars?
The answer: read the reviews of a book-addicted teacher librarian.


NOTE:
** The age recommendations are guidelines only; whether or not a certain book is suitable for a particular child depends on multiple factors, including their maturity, reading level, interests, and in some cases their experiences.
** While the ratings are largely based on my own personal appreciation/enjoyment of the book, they are also influenced by my experiences as a teacher and the potential attraction for the target-aged child (acknowledging that what one child may love, another may find exceptionally boring). A rating of 5 indicates the book is likely to be popular with the majority.


Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Series: The Legion (YA Fic)

AUTHOR: Kami Garcia (USA)
PUBLISHED: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers ;c2014.
PAGES/ILL: 384 pages.
SERIES: The Legion
FIRST BOOK: Unbreakable

PLOT: (book 2: Unmarked)
Kennedy Waters has accidentally set free an extremely powerful demon. She thinks she is part of a group called the Legion, which hunt demons down. As they try to figure out how to capture this one, they discover secrets about Kennedy's family as well as the Legion.

REVIEW:
Overall, the plot and storyline weren't bad, but the writing itself wasn't fantastic. There was a lot of repetitive description, especially in regards to Kennedy's "eidetic memory". The book is filled with "my eidetic memory this" and "my eidetic memory that" "I used my eidetic memory..." "I flipped through images in my eidetic memory" "my eidetic memory made me remember..." "thanks to my eidetic memory..." "my eidetic memory filed it away..."

Yeah, I get it. You have an eidetic memory. You want to say it again? (Yes, she does. Over and over and over).

The themes centre around demonology, but there is a bit of a love interest in there, too. Sexual themes are only hinted at.

I can see the appeal to young teens who are getting into the demonology and paranormal fiction, but I wasn't that impressed. For my own rating, I would give it 2 stars, but for teen appeal, I'll give it 3 1/2. One or two teen girls may rate it 4 and maybe even 5 stars.

AGE: 13+.
GENRE: Paranormal romance
RATING: 3 1/2 stars.