The Looking Glass Wars, by Frank Beddor (guest review)

Please welcome my hopefully semi-regular guest reviewer. He's 9 and he's mine and he goes by the name The Bookworm. Here's his review of The Looking Glass Wars, by Frank Beddor.



Alyss Heart has been abducted from her rightful place as the heir to the throne of Queen of Wonderland, and her murderous Aunt Redd has kicked her aside and stolen the throne for herself. Alyss escaped into the Pool of Tears, a place by Wondertropolis, the main city, and into the real world. She becomes lost in it and her bodyguard, Hatter Madigan, must find her on a long, fruitless search throughout the entire world, arriving in puddles where no puddles should be, through the Pool of Tears. Eventually she finds a family willing to adopt her. She tells the heartbreaking story of how she got into the world to a man named Lewis Carroll. But he gets the story all wrong. He even spells her name wrong! And so after thirteen long years and a near marriage, she is brought back and must battle her Aunt Redd to regain her rightful place as Queen of Hearts.

I liked this book because it's an unusual version of a popular story. It is the first in a trilogy and the other two books, in case you're interested in them, are called Seeing Redd and ArchEnemy. I'd recommend this book if you liked Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. This book is for anybody who is looking for a good story but I'd most prefer if people read it who were from ages 9-99.

Mudville, by Kurtis Scaletta

Okay, so today is a double review day. Hooray for books! 



It's been raining in Mudville (Moundville) for 20 years. Ever since the unfinished baseball game between Moundville and Sinister Bend, the game Roy's dad helped drag out to a draw--which is better than the usual result (SB's win over M).

Then one day, Roy's dad takes in a foster kid about Roy's age. And then the rain stops. Just like that.

Roy's a baseball player. And the foster kid, Sturgis, is an awesome pitcher himself. With the rain gone, it's time to reopen the town's favorite sport, and soon they've got a team together. And it's time to take on Sinister Bend once and for all. 

Mudville is about fathers and sons and friends and ancient curses and oh yeah, some baseball, too.

What I really liked about this book was the way the humor and warmth are so perfectly balanced. Oh, and some of the unexpected plot turns, too. Of course there are much bigger ones as the story goes on, but even at the very beginning, where Roy comes home to find that surprise! his dad's taken in this kid, you're totally not expecting it. And then there's this great conversation between him and his dad about it while they're making dinner. It's this ping pong game of deep questions about Sturgis (the kid), light commentary about dinner--just balanced enough to show that Roy and his dad have an easy, open relationship without getting bogged down into depressing detail. The humor and the more serious stuff is perfectly balanced so that the meaningful stuff means something.

I'd recommend this to any MG boy who likes humor and wants the good guys to win. It would be a great reading book for a school class because it's great writing, but kid-interesting, too.