My favorite sites

Here's a list of my favorite places to go on the net... when I'm supposed to be blogging here... heh heh...

www.thelionscall.com is a place for crazy, random, Narnia fans like me! If you want to get in touch with me there, my username is Fireflower. *waves to TLC buddies*

www.narniaweb.com I mostly use for their Image Gallery, and to find out the latest in Narnia movie news.

www.kidviewpoint.blogspot.com hey, y'know what that is, right? (Right?)

Coming up or our more Narnia-inclined readers, a review of "Believing in Narnia", a devotional based on the Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis.

INSIDE JOKE DISCLAIMER!!! My Family Reunion.

Hey, to all of you who weren't at my family reunion, just skip past this post. It's one big inside joke. Just a disclaimer.

Our family reunion was insanely great! We had crazy jokes, mint juleps, (not me. Too young, they say) and Katie Combos. Not to mention the $70 I won on Big Brown in the Kentucky Derby! Olivia bulked up on steak and cake and watched some boxing with our as-insane-as-us cousins. Uh, there's not much more for me to say... but I had a great time and caught up with some great family.

Okay, people, that's the end of the inside joke. Sorry for leaving y'all out but I had a special request for this review at the reunion. As you were!

Ever

The themes in this book are confusing at least. The first thing you see in the book is a bible verse (great), then a quote from some freaky Greek religion (horrible). This book, though well written, is not a book I would recommend, as it makes God seem like the bad guy.

For these reasons, Not only can I not recommend the book, but I desperately want to warn you away from it!





Zero stars

"Ever" by Gail Carson Levine

Gail Carson Levine (author of Newbery Honor book "Ella Enchanted" and New York Times bestseller "Fairest") Is preparing to release her newest book "Ever", scheduled to release May 6, 2008. "Ever" tells the story of Kezi and Olus, the starstruck couple from two different worlds. Olus is the god of the winds and of lonliness. When he decides to visit the mortals of Hyte, he falls in love with the beautiful Kezi. But when Kezi is doomed to die in but a month, she and Olus must face their worst nightmares to survive.

While "Ella Enchanted" and "Fairest" are set in the same world, sometimes intertwining, "Ever" is not. It is set in a mythology-type world where there is a god or godess for everything (including cleanliness and laundry). While the story was good to begin with, the characters fall in love a little too quickly for my taste. In "Ella Enchanted" and "Fairest" the heroines fall in love somewhere near the halfway point of the book. A night and a day is all Kezi and Olus seem to need. Even though the book was a decent 256 pages, it felt like a light read.

All in all, an adequate read for people looking for a light, easy read.

Enchanted? Enchanting!

I am truly disappointed to see the old fashioned fairy tale fade in today's society. Really the only fairy tales we get now feature wimpy guys getting in trouble, forcing a lady to save him ( and she usually marries him anyway). But Enchanted, the newest fairy tale from Disney, has helped to bring a little old fashioned fairy tale to our society of wimpy men and nosy ladies.

Enchanted tells the story o Giselle, a fairy tale girl from the kingdom of Andalasia. Giselle falls in love with a prince after a one day relationship, she's sent to our world by an evil queen. Giselle gets a huge reality check when she realizes true love can exist anywhere.

This DVD features some hilarious bloopers, deleted scenes, a short called "Pip's Predicament" telling a story about the adorable chipmunk that helps Prince Edward in the movie, and an easter egg showing just some of the similarities between Enchanted and the classic Disney Princess stories.

Despite some adult content that was a little unnecessary, I enjoyed Enchanted, a good old fashioned fairy tale.

Mind Like a Steel Trapp

Steel Trapp has the memory of a elephant. On the way to The National Science Challenge, a contest for teens like Steel, a woman leaves her briefcase on the train, and (wanting to do a good deed) Steel tries to give it

back, only to find himself tangled up in a terrorist plot.

This is a wonderful book, with even more wonderful characters (new and old).

Five Stars

I look forward to more Steel Trapp books, and more of Mr. Pearson's stories.

Framed; A True Masterpiece

I have to say, Framed by Frank Cottrell Boyce is my favorite book to listen to (as an audio book) on the road. Hands down!

Framed tells the story of Dylan Hughes and the small town of Manod, where he lives. When some paintings from the National Gallery are housed in Manod Mountain for safekeeping, things go, as Dylan would say, completely hectic! Everyone is changed in one way or another. Everyone from Daft Tom, the adult who's obsessed with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, to Dylan's sister Minnie, the criminal mastermind-in-training. But there are good and bad sides to these changes. For instance, why has Dylan's father suddenly vanished? Why is Dylan's other sister Marie so upset? And one huge change that could involve Dylan in the crime of the century...

This is a FANTASTIC book for families to read together. My whole family agrees that it desperately needs to be a movie (hint hint).