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Princess Academy Review
I am on a roll here with yet another childhood staple (and Newbery Honor winner) I missed when I was young. I’ll admit I skipped it because I thought it was yet another Cinderella adaptation. Those are everywhere! But I was wrong and I’m glad I finally did read this.
Hale’s wholly original tale takes place on Mount Eskel where the priests of Danland have divined that the prince will find his bride. Of course, Mount Eskel is the least likely place as its not even a province of the kingdom but a territory and none of the girls are noble born. In fact, many don’t even know how to read because they spend their time working in the quarries, picking up the valuable lider stones. So a princess academy is formed where twenty eligible young ladies are schooled in reading, writing, poise, diplomacy and all that so they could be the prince’s big pick.
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Thoughts on Canterwood Crest
So after rereading the entire Canterwood Crest series for the first time in like 7 years, my biggest thoughts from it are….
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Book Highlight: The Tale of Despereaux
I finally read this Kate DiCamillo classic. I admit I vaguely knew the story since I had the graphic novel adaptation of the movie but we all know movie’s take artistic liberties so I was interested to see what changed and what stayed the same.
While I found the narrator addressing the readers a bit Lemony Snicket-like with telling them about the ridiculousness of love, hope and asking readers to look up words like perfidy (Deceitfulness/untrustworthiness), I also found it endearing because DiCamillio wrote this for a friend’s son in mind. It makes it perfect to read outloud for kids.
As such it was a breezy read of a classic adventure story of the adorable little Despereaux who defies mouse convention to fall in love with a princess. There’s a dastardly rat whose crooked heart is desperate for light and a sad serving girl who wants to be a princess.
I enjoyed the point DiCamillo made about everyone holding darkness and light in their hearts, and that even though love is ridiculous, it is also one of the most powerful things. Plus it has some dark undercurrents that will surely give kids chills like the labrinythian dungeon maze and the rats calling for mouse blood. Not to mention the evil Botticelli whose name is omnious in itself.
Also the illustrations by Timothy Basil Ering are very vivid with the ugly rats contrasting with the adorable little mice. Seriously, Despereaux is the cutest thing ever.
Theonly thing different from the movie was Roscuro’s origin and ending, as well as this whole magical vegetable person subplot in the movie that is a bit weird now that I think about it.
Overall, an exciting quest that kids would surely enjoy.
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Golden Age Biographies
So I already wrote a post about how I enjoy TCM books (and the channel in general) so of course, it inspired me to read biographies of some of Hollywood’s brightest stars. No reviews here since it’s been a while since I read them but here are some good biographies to begin with that give greater insight to the guy/girl behind the glamour.
Get Happy: The Life of Judy Garland by Gerald Clarke
Marulyn Monroe by Barbara Lemming
Ava Gardner: Love is Nothing by Lee Server
Frank: The Voice by James Kaplan
Elizabeth by J. Randy Taraborrelli
Brando’s Smile: His Life, Thought and Work by Susan L. Mizruchi
Enchantment: The Life of Audrey Hepburn by Donald Spoto
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Thoughts on new American Girl cover
So American Girl is releasing a new historical girl from the 1920s! Woo, I love that mainly because I love the 20s so it’ll be good for kids to have a new, admittedly more entertaining way to learn about the Harlem Renissance rather than just school books and lectures.
However, I do have one cavet concerning the artwork.
Now take my words with a grain of salt since I generally don’t like the whole 2016 Beforever update or whatever they’re calling it now. It looks too polished to me but this feels particularly eh.
I mean with the 1997 and other versions, there was so much historical detail in the illustration with the outfits and the background, like you could see the texture and movement in their clothes.
Even in the Beforever covers, you could see their full bodies so people can admire their period-appropriate outfits and glean a bit about the surroundings of the time like Maryellen’s cookie-cutter 50s suburbia and Melody’s covers are remiscent of Motown in the 60s plus her mini!
Cecila is just a headshot. She could be the Girl of the Year for all I know, the background is indistinct and, it’s just too too polished. None of the gritty, flashy busyness of 20s New York.
A good Harlem Renissance story would be American Girl’s History Mystery series- Mystery of the Dark Tower.
Look at the coche hat! And it has such prominant Harlem figures like A’leila Walker, and Langston Hughes. It has flappers, it has black Wall Street, it shows various African-American culture like voodoo, the more proper Christians from Barbados, etc. City life compared to rural and the rise of the black artistic movement. Now that’s the 20s!
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What’s this book?: Update
I posted a few months ago about a book series that I simply could not get remember the name of and was driving me crazy. No one from the internet void answered but my local library helped.
That lower school edutainment series was America’s National Mysteries Series by Carole Marsh.
Boasting Real Kids, Real Places, each story takeas a small group of kids to learn about a famous monument and stumble upon a mystery as lower school kids are wont to do in these books. That’s pretty much all I remembered from it, but it’s nice to finally put a name to the book. It would probably be very good for American history classes.
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Thoughts on Shadowhunter Anthologies
I’ve already discussed my thoughts on the Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy anthology so now I go onto The Magnus Bane Chronicles and Ghosts of the Shadowmarket.
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Summer YA
Debating Darcy by Sayantani DasGupta
While I’m usually iffy with Pride and Prejudice adaptations since they’re everywhere, there’s always one that manages a new spin to it that makes me enjoy the story all over again.
It helps that the protagonist, Elizabeth is a musical nerd so I immediately connect with her as she sings the infamous Hamilton lines to Darcy at their debate competition,
“Excuse me, sir, I know it’s not funny. But your perfume smells like your daddy’s got money.”The comment mortally offends private school Darcy and promptly snubs her as well as the rest of her school’s ragtag forensic/debate team.
All the usual players are here but DasGupta make it brand new by setting it during a debate competition. It allows her to explore racism and sexism as it relates to the forensic/debate circut that unfairly grades women over their dress, their shrillness, and their emotionality in arguments. Not that the students their age are much better.
So if you’re a fan of Jane Austen, read this. DasGupta taps into the spirit while making it her own.
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Top 5 Archie issues
Archie #600
Archie marries Veronica!
Obviously this is number one for being such a historic making issue, launching the two timelines of the marriages everyone has been waiting for. Can’t get much better than that.
Betty and Veronica #271
This is such a fun Riverdale lady reunion. I mean literally all the girls have some sort of cameo from classic friends like Midge and Nancy to Katy Keene who sets up the fashion show to Sabrina, Suzie and more. Not to mention the magic reveal that Alexandra Cabot and Sabrina know each other becaues of their witchy heritage.
Life with Archie #125
I’m pretty sure this is one of those more famous Archie issues and for good reason as it features Nightmare Nursery. The 60s of Archie comics were pretty wild and influenced by the horror movie craze liek Josie getting possessed Exorcist style or this case Betty almost throwing herself off a cliff by a haunted teddy bear. The illustrations perfectly depict the creepy gloomy area to best give the readers the screams.
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Top 5 Archie Digests
Tales from Riverdale #35
The Visit-Mysterious alien visitor named Bjordu comes to Riverdale to collect spiecemans and he has set his sights on Betty and Veronica! Not if Archie can stop it.
The return of Scarlet-I love Archie’s Weird Mysteries and this was the very first I read featuring the return of Scarlet Knight. If you saw the show you’d know that she rejected her evil vampire master and her ways to ultimately help the gang. But now she’s back and seems to have returned to the dark side dun dun dun. . .
The Persuader-On the road to a concert, the Archie’s van and drummer get kidnapped by roadside thieves. However, Jughead has a special method of persuasion.
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Rachel Reads & Reviews 