Reviews written by Angela Blount

A refreshing, quality debut--meaningfully woven and beautifully engaging, from the first page to the last. Emilie Day's "normal" life ended one day in the middle of elementary school, when she suddenly had a seizure. The uncontrolled nature of her newly diagnosed epilepsy meant that homeschooling was...

Before Leia was introduced as a feisty captured courier for Death Star schematics, she was a well-loved adopted princess of Alderaan--a beautiful, arts-centric planet caught in the middle of a steadily corrupting galactic Empire. Ever out of place as a royal, Leia grew up preferring to spend her time learning...

An entertaining start to a graphic novel series fit for longtime fans of the Plants vs. Zombies game; appropriate for kids of all ages. All’s not well in the city of Neighborville. An eccentric zombie horde has been unleashed, and the only one’s seemingly able to...

Immersive, impactful and informative. This non-fiction account of World War 2 takes a somewhat more alternate angle than is usual—shedding light on those among the Danes, specifically, who resisted the Nazi invasion. Filled with black and white pictures of brave rebel Danes, newspaper pages, and historic...

An uncommon fairytale retelling, with an equally uncommon heroine—ideal for fans of Once Upon A Time. While tied to the first book in the Ravenspire series, The Wish Granter stands perfectly well on its own. It is told in a similar way--primarily dual POV in past-tense,...

A swift moving worlds-within-worlds urban fantasy, tinged with teenaged romance and insecurities aplenty. The tale is told from the first-person present-tense viewpoint of almost-18-year-old Eliyana. Eli is a New York City native (or so she thinks), who is reeling from the recent death of her mother… along...

An entertaining encyclopedic primer, ideal for knowledge-thirsty LEGO fans. Coming in at 175 pages, FACTASTIC is a sizeable, sturdy hardback with a unique and focus-engaging cover design. Topics lightly introduced have a huge range, and include: history and historical figures, geographical features, dinosaurs, ocean life, pirates,...

Once again LEGO and Star Wars team up to bring young fans a stellar activity book experience. Centering around The Force Awakens storyline, this 32-page book’s offerings include: comics, mazes, word puzzles, pattern matching, a comprehension quiz, and various visual and reasoning exercises. (And of course, the...

LEGO and Star Wars team up for a beginner chapter book experience that takes some cheeky and entertaining liberties with R2-D2 lore. This book is a playful, non-cannon collection of three droid-centric stories--taking place behind and between the scenes in episodes 4 and 5. It begins...

A collection of 14 middle-grade appropriate short stories, seasoned with varying whimsical degrees of the fantastical. The book in its entirety is a rapid, easy read with larger font, generous spacing, and some flavorful creative license taken with bits of standout typescript. The breakup suits the...

A quick read from the LEGO City realm, presented in introductory comic format using what looks like 3D cell shading. A trio of crooks have been planning their escape from Prison Island, and tonight is the big night. Driven by a longing for pizza, visiting grandma, and...

This LEGO/DC collaborative is a quick read with an introductory comicbook feel and a kid-friendly execution. Usually it’s the headline heroes who steal the spotlight… but in this story, someone’s stolen them! That leaves the sidekicks (Robin, Batgirl, and Supergirl) to battle it out against Harley...

A masterpiece of folded paper engineering, loaded with a wealth of interesting LEGO history and facts. From its humble beginnings in 1950’s Denmark, LEGO has grown and developed into an empire of unparalleled success. This book sets out to educate readers on the origins, evolution, and...

LEGO continues its tried and true tactic of combining real world pictures and period art with their cell-shaded cartoon figures, rendering an engaging blend of education and entertainment. Did you know that the winner of a joust was often allowed to take the loser’s horse? Or that...

Coming in at 128 pages, this chapter book is the 3rd in the LEGO Bionicle series—tacking lore and backstory onto the existing toys and webisodes. The action runs high, and the pacing is fairly steady throughout. The island ambiance is almost a character unto itself. Points...