Review: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Charlie Bucket #1), by Roald Dahl, Quentin Blake (Illustrator)

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Charlie Bucket #1)
By Roald Dahl, Quentin Blake (Illustrator)
Publication Date: June 1st, 1998 (first published 1964) (Puffin)
Paperback, 155 pages
Genre: Fantasy; Classics; Childrens
Source: Library

DESCRIPTION:

Willy Wonka's famous chocolate factory is opening at last!

But only five lucky children will be allowed inside. And the winners are: Augustus Goop, an enormously fat boy whose hobby is eating; Veruca Salt, a spoiled-rotten brat whose parents are wrapped around her little finger; Violet Beauregarde, a dim-witted gum-chewer with the fastest jaws around; Mike Teavee, a toy pistol-toting gangster-in-training who is obsessed with television; and Charlie Bucket, Our Hero, a boy who is honest and kind, brave and true, and good and ready for the wildest time of his life!

—from goodreads.com

REVEIW:

Everyone knows the story of Charlie Bucket's rag to riches and Willy Wonka's eccentric personality. Most of us have seen movie adaptations.

You'll be surprised to know that I've never read any Roald Dahl. No BFG, no Matilda (I do love the movie though!), no James and the Giant Peach (also an excellent movie).

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (which I always want to call "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory") was fantasically sweet. Things all throughout it made me smile, things about candy mostly, but I forget it unfortunately. It's in my memory, but barely at the edge of my memory. 

I'll read Matilda next. 

RATING:

Review: Daddy-Long-Legs, by Jean Webster

Daddy-Long-Legs
By Jean Webster
Publication Date: (first published 1912) June 11th, 2011 (Puffin) (first published 1912)
Paperback, 208 pages
Genre: Classics; Romance; Childrens
Source: purchased at an indie bookstore

DESCRIPTION:

A trustee of the John Grier orphanage has offered to send Judy Abbott to college. The only requirements are that she must write to him every month, and that she can never know who he is. Judy's life at college is a whirlwind of friends, classes, parties, and a growing friendship with the handsome Jervis Pendleton. With so much happening in her life, Judy can scarcely stop writing to the mysterious "Daddy-Long-Legs"!

—from goodreads.com

REVIEW:

Daddy-Long-Legs was okay, pretty uneventful. It's an epistolary story, meaning that it is completely made up by letters. Judy is seventeen at the beginning of the book, and twenty-one/twenty-two by the end, but her vocabulary was that of a ten-year-old. The excuse that she's an orphan can't be used because her orphanage made sure they educated her well past the grade level they normally educated orphans. 

However, I was completely infatuated by two of the elements in the book:

1) The little snippets of the 1900s given to you through Daddy-Long-Legs are utterly charming. Apparently, as decreed by English grammar, a person can't feel nostalgic about something they never knew (it's used incorrectly very often). I beg to differ! I may not know that "pie-plant" is rhubarb, that "junket" is a pudding-like dessert, or that "paper chase" (also called "hare and hound") was an "outdoor game in which certain players, the hares, start off in advance on a long run, scattering small pieces of paper, called the scent, with the other players, the hounds, following the trail so marked in an effort to catch the hares before they reach a designated point" (definition from dictionary.com) (I'm totally rounding up some friends and playing). I may not know any of those things, but I can be nostalgic about it, can't I? 

2) There are pictures in this book! Hand-drawn by main character, Jerusha Abbot. Quelle adorable! For example, here's one of my favorite ones:

It's cute, no? I don't know. I really like it and found it entertaining. There was another hand-drawn picture of what Judy called a "fish," but was really a picture of a turtle. I laughed out-loud at that one, and a good friend of mine who was also reading quirked an eyebrow at me. I showed her the picture and she didn't find it even remotely entertaining. :( Guess my sense of humor is a little off.

RATING:

Review: The Apothecary, by Maile Meloy

The Apothecary
By Maile Meloy
Publication Date: August 29, 2011 (G.P. Putnam's Sons)
Hardcover, 362 pages
Genre: Fantasy; Adventure; Historical Fiction; Mystery; Childrens;  YA
Source: Library (but I loved the story so much that I bought it)

DESCRIPTION:

It's 1952 and the Scott family has moved unexpectedly from Los Angeles to London. Janie Scott feels uncertain in her strange new school until she meets Benjamin Burrows, the local apothecary's curious defiant son, who dreams of becoming a spy.

Benjamin's father promises Janie a cure for homesickness, and it seems to work. But Mr. Burows is no orindary apothecary, and he holds dangerous secrets. When he disappears, Benjamin and Janie find themselves entrusted with his sacred book, the Pharmacopoeia. And Russian spies are intent on getting their hands on it.

Discovering transformative elixirs they never imagined could exist, Janie and Benjamin embark on a dangerous quest to save the apothecary and prevent an impending nuclear disaster.

From award-winning author Maile Meloy comes a novel that sparkles with life and magic. Breathtakingly illustrated by Ian Schoenherr, this is a sotry that will delight kids and return not-so-young readers to a world in which the extraordinary is possible.

—from the book's dust jacket

REVIEW:

I love love love The Apothecary. It's classified as a childrens book, but I'd say it's boarderline young adult. Scratch that. The Apothecary is for anyone young at heart,  but I think female fans of Harry Potter will enjoy it the most.

Anyway, The Apothecary had a completely delightful cast of characters.

Janie was a real diamond in the rough in the world of weak-female-protagonists and male-hero-dominated-adventure-books: she was both a strong and determined main character, and a pleasant narrator (the book is written in first-person). As a reader, I found Janie easy to get along with. Benjamin, who I'd say was another protagonist, was admirably brave, and Pip, the street urchin was resourceful, funny, and intelligent. Pip wasn't my favorite, but he could easily be any reader's favorite.

My favorte character was Sergei. I completely adored Sergei. He reminded me of a more lonely version of Neville Longbottom, and I pitied him so much for it. I loved Jin Lo second best, because she acted tough and nonchalant on the outside, but harbored hidden sorrows inside. 

The plot rocked. It was fresh and ingenious. Even though the characters often brewed potions such as the Smell of Truth and the Invisibilty Elixar, I found none of it cheesy or unbelievable partially due to the way the author, Maile Meloy, and Janie presented it in the book. By "Chapter 7: The Message," which began on page 60 in my hardcover copy, the pace of the book picked up and I coudn't put it down. By the end, all the sub-plots and plots and conflicts were so tangled together that I didn't know how the end would turn out (and it seemed like the author didn't know either because one point of the conflict was lamely compromised), until I reached the ending.

The ending. Grrr. :( It took my breath away not in the way you may think. :(

The Apothecary, by Maile Meloy (funfact: Maile Meloy is the sister of Colin Meloy, lead singers in the band, The Decemberists) is a truely magical and ingenious book that I would read again and again and again and again and...

RATING:

Review: The Penderwicks on Gardam Street (The Penderwicks #2), by Jeanne Birdsall

The Penderwicks on Gardam Street (The Penderwicks #2)
By Jeanne Birdsall
Publication Date: April 8th, 2008 (Knopf Books for Young Readers)
Hardcover, 320 pages
Genre: Childrens; Realistic Fiction;
Source: Library

DESCRIPTION:

The Penderwick sisters are home on Gardam Street and ready for an adventure! But the adventure they get isn't quite what they had in mind. Mr. Penderwick's sister has decided it's time for him to start dating—and the girls know that can only mean one thing: disaster.

Enter the Save-Daddy-Plan—a plot so brilliant, so bold, so funny, that only the Penderwick girls could have come up with it. But in the meantime, they have some other problems to deal with. Rosalind can't seem to get the annoying Tommy Geiger out of her hair—and she can't stand him, really. Skye loses her temper on the soccer field in a most undignified manner. Jane's love of creative writing leads her into deep waters. And Batty's getting into mischief spying on the new next-door neighbor. As for Hound, he's always in trouble.

It's high jinks, big laughs, and loads of family warmth as the Penderwicks triumphantly return!

—from the book's dust jacket

REVEIW:

Jeanne Birdsall, one of my favorite authors.

The Penderwicks on Gardam Street is the sequel to the first book in The Penderwicks Series, The Penderwicks: A Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy, which won the National Book award for Young People's Literature in 2005.

You'll fall in love with main characters Rosalind, Skye, Jane, and Batty all over again, and I'm so speechless that I can't really say much else about this unique book.

The Penderwicks on Gardam Street had this utterly timeless feeling, just like the first one. In other words, even though I'm only seventeen, I know I'll be reading The Penderwicks to my children before they go to bed (and it will be accompanied with milk tea and a warm slice of honey lavender loaf). The Penderwicks: A Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy, the first Penderwick book, was better than The Penderwicks on Gardam Street, but not by a long shot.

Twice I've read a Penderwick book, and twice I've never wanted to leave the Penderwick dominion. I want to live for all and eternity in The Penderwick book. Once again, I was so upset when The Penderwicks on Gardam Street ended, and once again, I never wanted to finish it because it was so perfect, enchanting, and whimsical. 

Lovers of Anne of Green Gables, by Lucy Maud Montgomery, or Little Woman, by Louisa May Alcott will be delighted with any Penderwicks book.

RATING:

Review: The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy (The Penderwicks #1), by Jeanne Birdsall

The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy (The Penderwicks #1)
By Jeanne Birdsall
Publication Date: March 15th, 2004 (Yearling)
Hardcover, 262 pages
Genre: Childrens; Realistic Fiction;
Source: Library

DESCRIPTION:

This summer the Penderwick sisters have a wonderful surprise: a holiday on the grounds of a beautiful estate called Arundel. Soon they are busy discovering the summertime magic of Arundel's sprawling gardens, treasure-filled attic, tame rabbits, and the cook who makes the best gingerbread in Massachusetts. But the best discovery of all is Jeffrey Tifton, son of Arundel's owner, who quickly proves to be the perfect companion for their adventures.

The icy-hearted Mrs. Tifton is not as pleased with the Penderwicks as Jeffrey is, though, and warns the new friends to stay out of trouble. Which, of course, they will—won't they? One thing's for sure: it will be a summer the Penderwicks will never forget . 

Deliciously nostalgic and quaintly witty, this is a story as breezy and carefree as a summer day.

—from goodreads.com

REVIEW:

The Penderwicks is one of the best children's books you'll ever read in your entire life! Finishing it was so sad and I was sure to make the last chapter as slow as I possibly could, but another side of me wanted to know what would happen in the end, and that impatient side won. The ending of The Penderwicks was heartwarming and very filling.

Not only children, but any dreamy, sentimental reader can easily relate and sympathize with the five main characters. There's Rosalind, twelve-years-old and has a crush on the seventeen-year-old landscaper at Arundel Manor; Skye, who's bold (and perhaps a bit foolhardy) personality hungers for adventure, getting her into loads of trouble; Jane, an aspiring author who must find the confidence within to believe in herself; and Batty, the youngest of the Penderwicks who is painfully shy. 

And of course there's also Jeffrey Tifton (not a Penderwick), who wants to study music but who's mother wants him to persue a different study (like so many of teenager's parents). I found Jeffrey the most relatable out of all of the characters because of the heartbreaking situation with his unsupportive mother.

The action in The Penderwicks is few and shouldn't be called "action" necessarily; rather, it should be called "events," which include running from a bull and a loose-animal chasing.

There was a certain kind of whimsically magical feeling about the summer setting that was so appealing to me, and surely will be to other sentimental readers. The Penderwicks proves that a book doesn't have to include wizards, witches, vampires, or werewolves to be magical or compelling.

In fact, The Penderwicks was a break from all of that sometimes-junk.

The chapters were medium-sized and the print was big. The writing was fresh nostalgic of older children's classics. Also, at times the writing was witty, while serious at other times. The writer knew exactly what the characters should say and it flowed.

The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy was a heart-warming, adorable story about the bonds of friendship and the trials families go through.

RATING: