Georgia Byng

I quite enjoyed this. It's a refreshing fantasy-adventure tale in that our young, parent-less heroine isn't trying to save the world from the ultimate evil (aren't you getting a little sick of that worn-out plot?) but instead escaping an awful life and having her every wish fulfilled. Until, of course, she realizes that having your every wish fulfilled is never all it's cracked up to be. True, it's a little cheeseball with the moral, but, like I said, I enjoyed it, and I don't doubt that many kiddos will too.

Side note: I honestly thought for a long time that this was a book about a dog named Molly Moon because there's a dog on the cover, but the dog is actually a pug named Petula who (also refreshingly) is pretty much a normal-acting dog and not a talking one.

Additional side note: There's an ice cream shop in Seattle called Molly Moon's that has a dog in its logo. Coincidence? I don't know, but the ice cream there is bomb.… (altro)

Lovely story based on a false nose and spectacles in a London museum. Alice was born without a nose as as a result in teased and bullied and shunned as a child in Victorian England. A chance encounter with a clown at a circus causes her family to come up with the false nose that makes her life easier and eventually she grows up to be a secretary in an office. Her treatment though has made her alert to the plight of others and she uses her kind nature to help those less fortunate and the story has a beautiful "happy ever after" ending. Nice illustrations. One for students who are fans of Wonder.… (altro)