War in the Heavens, on Earth, and in the Human Heart
Madeleine L’Engle’s Time Quintet offers readers a deeply engaging and refreshingly strange encounter with goodness and beauty, along with some potential problems.
An Uneven Magic Casserole with Some Healthy Ingredients
Populated by flat characters, predictable plots, and distressingly over-written and under-edited prose, the series possesses little of the charm and magic we saw in Fablehaven.
Land of Stories: The Wishing Spell
Good, not great, and harmless overall. Not a small thing in the world of modern literature.
A World of Wonder, Enchantment, and Danger
Brandon Mull’s Fablehaven is an absorbing, well-plotted, and enchanting series that offers young readers real goods, but sometimes wanders too close to real darkness.
How to Read Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
If it is approached as a unique new adventure in the paradigm of the original series, it is likely to disappoint.
The Unwanteds
This fictional, conflicted world provides little merit for readers of any age. I recommend passing on The Unwanteds series in favor of others.
The Prisoner of Alcatraz
If parents are looking for a story that will present a heroic role model for their boys to imitate, this is not the series for them.
A Post-Apocalyptic World of Dogs
This is the moral message of the book … don’t just think of yourself, don’t just let everyone do everything for you, combine self-reliance with care for others.
Die Hard, with Fairies (and Some Sketchy Elements)
In marketing terms, the books are brilliant, but like Artemis’s supposed wit, the brilliance is mostly superficial.
A Modern Morality Tale
For younger readers, the experience of wonder and contemplation that the book provokes is enough to award it a place on any recommended reading list.