Review 5 star

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In Unlegendary Dragon: The Magical Kids of Lore (Book One of the Unlegendary Dragon series) by R. L. Ullman, Connor Pendridge has just moved to the island of Lore with his mother. When he visits the local Renaissance Faire, he realizes magical beings lurk there, blended in with the Faire performers. It seems Avalon was a real place and Excalibur, the legendary sword, has a complicated history. The sword has been broken into three essences controlled by three amulets. One of them belongs to Connor, but he can’t get the hang of how to use it. When Connor’s mother is kidnapped by a sinister sorceress, Connor and his friends Gabby and Wade have to use their powers as a team and figure out how to defeat their enemy.
 
Unlegendary Dragon: The Magical Kids of Lore has a great sense of fun as well as some inspirational moments. R. L. Ullman has a really clever style of writing that spins familiar fantasy concepts such as Arthurian mythology and the reluctant hero archetype into a fresh and sparkling enjoyment that leaves you with the profound feeling you’ve never known any characters as cool as these. Banter between Connor and his friends, expertly woven recurring jokes, and lots of physical humor create scenes that are intricate and often flat-out funny. Connor is a strong hero with a well-depicted individuality to him. Being inside the mind of a boy who is learning to turn into a dragon is the ideal reading experience if you want a fun adventure that lets your imagination soar.

Review 5 star

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​The Order of Time and Odin’s Door (The Order of Time Series Book 2) is a children’s fantasy book by Scott P. Southall. It begins with 12-year-old twins Anastasia and Edward facing the council of the secretive Order of Time in London. The twins are outsiders who were not supposed to know about the Order, but learned about it when they had to help a friend. They are given a test to prove themselves, but instead, they head directly into a trap and end up locked in the cold, snowy winter of Denmark in the Viking past with no way to get back and a vicious dragon heading straight for the fortress they now live in. The Iron Blades, Odin’s favorite clan of Vikings, are its target—and the twins are caught smack in the middle.

A rollickingly entertaining novel, Scott P. Southall’s book is firmly rooted in the popular imagination and hits a bullseye with its mixture of classic action-adventure elements. The Order of Time and Odin’s Door has echoes of Night at the Museum, Marvel’s Thor, and Tolkien’s The Hobbit, creating an instant winning mix for those who have been yearning for another adventure in the same vein. But I also learned an amazing amount about Norse mythology from this story, more than I’d ever learned from any other source, and all presented in an astonishingly fun way. The idea of the museum curators who travel back in time is brilliant and if you have a kid who is struggling to care about history, this book is a must-have for opening their eyes to just how exciting long-ago civilizations and their legends can be.

Review 5 star

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Jimmy Crikey’s Adventures in the Sky Islands (and beyond) is a children’s novel by Wallace E. Briggs. Jimmy, also called Commander McGellan, is the son of travelers from a distant planet. He now lives in a fantasy version of Earth filled with different “worlds”—ecosystems with their own natural phenomena and creatures. When a malicious race called Zyrons invade the Sky Islands situated in the remote top of the atmosphere, the powerful Weatherman Lord Oron uses a risky magic spell to banish them. He returns home to find his portable dwelling, the Cloud, has been stolen. And when he tries to find it, he disappears along with the thieves. With no one to control Earth’s weather, Jimmy and his computer friend XRU must team up with the four witches of Earth, blending magic and science into harmony to travel the solar system and find the Weatherman before it’s too late.
 
Jimmy Crikey’s Adventures in the Sky Islands (and beyond) really lives up to its name as a gentle-paced, sprawling adventure tale that takes the characters and any lucky readers into one interesting world after another. There is a leisurely richness to the story and it introduces continually interesting new places as Earth becomes a fantasy land before the reader’s eyes. There is an unpretentious, sincere quality to the building of each invented place on Earth and the effortless combination of science fiction with fantasy and magic was beautifully managed. Wallace. E. Briggs’ book is natural to read and easy to enjoy, and children will find themselves transported into a wholesome storyline in which the qualities of friendship, hope, persistence, and courage are not only brought forward, but fully realized through characters that shine off the page. A real treat and a lot of fun, this book is a quiet delight.