Childrens

Review: Shark Night by R.L. Stine

~ megs14malloy

Shark NightShark Night by R. L. Stine
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

**3.5-stars rounded up**

Shark Night is a fast, fun and engaging scary story for kids, by legendary children’s author, R.L. Stine.

I listened to this audiobook, fabulously narrated by Ramon de Ocampo, and highly recommend that as a format. Told via 1st-person POV, de Ocampo truly brought MC, Liam, to life. It really felt like you were listening to Liam tell his story.

Liam’s Mom is a Documentary Filmmaker who specializes in Nature Docs. Her latest assignment involves making a film for the Danger Channel for Shark Week.

She comes up with a great idea to submerge a diver into a tank, along with a big shark, to see what happens. I mean, what could go wrong?

After the original diver is injured, Liam is forced to fill in, because Stine’s parental characters always make the worst decisions ever. We all know this.

On the day of filming, everything possible goes wrong and Liam founds himself swept out to sea, forced to fight for his life. Will he be able to figure out a way out of this?

This was a lot of fun. It gets wild. I was completely entertained. I laughed out loud, cringed, yelled at some of the characters and couldn’t believe how quickly it read.

This does feature a classic Stine ending, and another frequent feature of Stine books, a bratty younger sibling.

While, personally, I wish that the ending could have gone in a different direction, I still do appreciate the story as a whole. It works. Kids will love this.

Thank you so much to the publisher, Blackstone Publishing, for providing me with a copy of the audiobook. I love to keep up with Stine’s latest releases and this one delivered!

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Review: Charlie & the Great Glass Elevator (Charlie Bucket #2) by Roald Dahl

~ megs14malloy

Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator (Charlie Bucket, #2)Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator by Roald Dahl
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

**3.5-stars**

Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator is cute and so silly. A great, fun, wacky, witty and energetic read for children.

While I don’t feel the same pull, love, or nostalgia to this as I do to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, I can still appreciate Dahl’s imagination and ability to bring fiction to life.

I read this when I was a kid and I’m not sure I truly understood a lot of what was going on, as it does jump around quickly, and there’s a bit of a Cold War humor undertone to it that I’m sure escaped me.

However, I’m not sure I tracked much more this time around in my 40s, though not necessarily for the same reasons.

I did love the incorporation of Charlie’s family more, particularly when their ages were getting messed with towards the end by some of Wonka’s inventions.

I did definitely miss the magic and wonder of the Chocolate Factory. There’s something about the idea of those endless and impossible sweets that is sure to capture your heart. Also, I sort of missed the annoying other children.

Since Charlie is the best of the best though, it was nice to get to see him escape his previously tough life and go on a true adventure with his loved ones.

I love Charlie and Wonka. Classic characters for all time!

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Review: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Charlie Bucket #1) by Roald Dahl

~ megs14malloy

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Charlie Bucket, #1)Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

🍫💛💜💙💛💜💙💛💜💙💛💜💙💛🍫

You know what’s a great way to start a new year?

Re-reading a nostalgic childhood favorite. It’s a quick, fun way to add an extra dose of good cheer and inspiration into the start of your reading year.

I know this, because I actually did it. Today.

I loved Charlie and the Chocolate Factory as a child and even re-read it in high school, but it’s been over 25-years since I last visited this enchanting and mouth-watering tale.

Of course I have watched the movies numerous times since, but actually reading Charlie’s journey in Dahl’s own words has truly reinvigorated my love for this classic story.

In the beginning, when we meet the Buckets, I had forgotten so many of the details regarding the family and also just how tough things were for them.

The build-up as Charlie searches for his ticket, while not as edge-of-your-seat for me now as it was when I was a kid, I did still feel a little desperation, both for Charlie and myself. We needed to get into that factory!

This went so quickly. I had also forgotten how fast the story moves between each of the side characters and their experiences with the chocolate factory. Before you know it, you’re down to one.

I am planning to pick up Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator very soon. I’m excited to continue on, because I have only read that sequel once and having not been reminded of the content from movies, have less of a recollection of the story.

I love Charlie and Grandpa Joe so much. Wonka too. He’s such a great character. There’s many ways to picture him, but I’ve gotta go with Gene Wilder for the win.

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Review: Danger at Dead Man’s Pass (Adventures on Trains #4) by M.G. Leonard and Sam Sedgman

~ megs14malloy

Danger at Dead Man's Pass (Adventures on Trains, #4)Danger at Dead Man’s Pass by M.G. Leonard
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

**4.5-stars rounded up**

💞💜🖤💞💜🖤💞💜🖤💞💜🖤💞💜🖤💞

Danger at Dead Man’s Pass is the 4th-installment of my favorite Middle Grade series, Adventures on Trains.

This series follows Hal, a talented young artist with a talent for solving mysteries. Hal’s Uncle Nat is a travel writer, who specializes in trains and he takes Hal along with him on some of his journeys. Hence the name of the series.

In the first three books, Hal and Uncle Nat had adventures in their native-UK, in the United States and South Africa. This book takes them to Germany at the request of an old friend, Baron Essenbach.

The Kratzensteins are wealthy and powerful railway tycoons with a rich history and spooky mansion in the mountains. Essenbach’s wife is a Kratzenstein.

After the mysterious death of a family member, Uncle Nat and Hal are asked to travel to the funeral to investigate the death and an ominous witch’s curse.

Assuming fake identities in order to infiltrate the family’s funeral events, Hal and Uncle Nat immerse themselves in the world of the Kratzensteins.

With danger and warring motives at every junction, will Hal and Uncle Nat be able to crack the case before their time in Germany is up?

As always, I had an absolute blast with this story. I’ve grown quite attached to Hal and his Uncle Nat over the course of this series. I want our adventures to go on forever.

This was another successful mystery. There was a large cast of quirky characters, some believed Alexander died of natural causes, and others believed it was the curse rearing its ugly head. But could there be another answer?

This one is a bit different than the previous three in that, we aren’t on a train the whole time.

Uncle Nat and Hal do travel by train to get to Germany, and then the Kratzenstein’s do have a private funeral train that is used for Alexander’s services, but besides that, you are at the Kratzenstein’s gothic-feeling home.

I did miss being on the train the whole time, I feel like that always adds a nice closed circle, or even locked room element, to the mystery. However, I’m never one to turn down time at a creepy, gothic mansion, so this setting worked as well.

I also liked the exploration of the family curse, its history and whether or not it was real. It brought a nice is it supernatural, is it not supernatural twist to it.

Hal did make some new friends in this one as well, which is often the case for him. Everyone loves Hal. They helped him a bit in his investigation. I particularly enjoyed Hilda, who had a penchant for mystery stories.

The conclusion of this one was quite exciting. A bit of a nail-biter for young Hal. I’m seriously so excited to continue on with this series.

I definitely recommend this series to anyone who enjoys a solid, heart-warming, engaging Children’s Mystery.

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Review: Welcome to Dead House (Classic Goosebumps #1) by R.L. Stine

~ megs14malloy

Classic Goosebumps: Welcome to Dead HouseClassic Goosebumps: Welcome to Dead House by R.L. Stine
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Welcome to Dead House is the first installment in R.L. Stine’s Classic Goosebumps series. Originally published in 1992, this story channels all the vibes of the series.

We follow brother and sister, Josh and Amanda, who are moving into a new home in the town of Dark Falls with their parents and the family dog.

From the start, the kids aren’t having a good time. The dog keeps fleeing in terror, Amanda is seeing people who aren’t there and Josh is just grumpy about the move in general.

Their parents think the dog’s and kids’ reactions, are just due to the disruption of their regular life. They’re in a new, strange place and the house is old, it’s gonna have some creaks and groans. They’ll get over it.

They try to settle in the best they can. Josh and Amanda are even able to befriend some local kids, who although a little odd, seem nice overall.

Even with others in the neighborhood accepting their arrival, the siblings can’t quite shake the feeling that something is off. There’s too many eerie things happening and yeah, the other kids are saying weird things and continue acting strangely. What gives?

It turns out, Dark Falls has a dark history with dark secrets, but will Josh and Amanda succumb to its dark aims?!

I have been feeling nostalgic lately for the Middle Grade and YA Horror of my younger years. When I saw that my library had the 2015-audio version of this book available yesterday, on a whim I decided to listen to it.

It was so fun and I easily listened to it in a couple hours.

There’s an overall feeling of menace in this story that legitimately gave me the creeps. I would think that some kids would be scared by this one, but in a fun way. It’s not gory, or overly descriptive in the Horror aspects, but still very compelling.

I would recommend this one to Readers of all ages. It has Stine’s goofy-brand of Dad humor sprinkled throughout. A few times I rolled my eyes, but often I laughed out loud.

Overall, I am super glad I gave this one a listen and plan to pick up more of the Classic Goosebumps series very soon!

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