Emily the Strange: Stranger and Stranger

Emily is real strange. She's a girl who loves darkness, spying, cats, writing in her diary, coding, skateboarding, and playing her guitar. It's kind of strange combination of hobbies for a girl like Emilie. She is anything but boring. Maybe anti-social, but not boring. She doesn't like humans. Real strange for a human right? Emily is really clever for her age.  Maybe too clever for her age. To manage a cloning, duplication as the book worded, on her own and not to mention making her golem is something. Boy, she really can be dangerous and a handful. I found the character interesting and spunky especially for her age. At first, I was blown away with the character. I thought, "wow, what a girl. I kind of wish I was like her." Well not the black wearing, boring, skateboarding kind, but the keep away from humans kind, but then again life would be boring without people, right? Then when the duplication experiment succeeds, she finds her evil twin too much to handle. Then she starts living in a sewer in fear that her evil twin would kill her and that is the evil twins intention anyways, but that threw me off the rocker. I lost a little interest once she started to cower out of fear. I found that the real Emily should have come up with a clever plan to get herself out of this one instead of hiding. I understand that the hiding thing is important, but it lasted too long in the book. I was kind of expecting more, but in the end I was happy that she was able to get rid of the evil twin and move away since she had caused a lot of trouble in the new town already. Overall the character did bring everything to a good ending, so I'm happy.

I found the plot half way through the book boring because I wanted the real Emily to come up with a good plan instead of hiding from her evil twin. I expected more from this story since Emily was interesting. The beginning was great. I loved knowing everything about Emily and wished I could do some of the things she could do, but the plot became too boring for after she runs away from her evil twin. The hiding thing lasted way too long, and that made the plot slow down alittle, but then it picked up after Venus Fang Fang started to train so I wasn't too disinterested in the story. Nevertheless, the plot does need work in the book, but it ended well so I don't have too many complaints.

This book is worth reading because Emily, the real Emily, will leave you with more than just her evil twin. This book will leave you awestruck, laughing and pondering way after you are done with Emily the Strange Stranger and Stranger. Perhaps, you might walk away with wanting to be a skateboarding, black wearing, trap making, diary writing, and guitar playing Emily the Strange.

Isabel taking Wing

Isabel shows us that taking wing isn't always about stepping outside of the boundaries but taking responsibility especially when people need it the most. She reminds us that anyone can do anything. You don't have to worry about whether you're a boy or a girl. Freedom and adventure is something anyone can have whether you're a boy or a girl. 

Isabel grows up with an older sister, a younger sister, a couple of maids, and a father. Isabel did not like living the life of a girl. She did not like staying at home, sewing(forgot what term the book used), and doing the household choirs. Isabel dreamed of freedom and adventure. She wanted to go out and do the things boys do, so one day she goes to the Theatre with one of the maids she had befriended. Isabel becomes awestruck with acting and the Theatre. She daydreams about being on stage. But when her father hears about her late night adventures, he sends her off to live with her aunt, Aunt de Vere, who is her mother's sister. On her way, she gets robbed and the driver is killed. She's left alone in the forest. Then there in the forest she discovers the actors from the Theatre, so she travels with them. There she finds out that the life of acting is not her life, so she goes back home. The actors drop her off at her Aunt De Vere's mansion. And the surprising thing is that becomes very happy. There she learns about the uses of herbs and how a girls life doesn't have to about sewing and choirs. It can be more fulfilling and she also learns just how much strength female's can have.

Annie Dalton writes a splendid novel about a girl living in the late sixteenth century and how they lived their lives. She recreates the desire that the girls from that century might have had and puts all those desires into Isabel. A girl who wants a little bit more freedom and a desire to her life to the fullest without worrying about the fact that she is a girl. Annie Dalton creates a character that takes wing and brings everyone along for a ride.

Hush!

Rarely do I ever find a book where I enjoy it part of the way and get bored half way through, then get excited towards the end. Those excitement waves in books takes the readers on a roller coaster ride where the readers stops somewhere where in the middle and falls flat on their rears. The reader looks around and asks, what just happened? This is one of those books. The author takes the reader on an excitement roller coaster ride and she drops them off somewhere. That's how I felt when I finished the book.
This book starts out with Melkorka at her home in Eire. She is an Irish princess who thus far has lead a life of luxury and happiness. Her parents had given her and her sisters the happiness most children in her time didn't get. Then one day when her father hears that they are going to be attacked by Vikings, he sends Melkorka and her younger sister, Bridget, off to a place of safety but on their way the the sisters gets kidnapped. This begins Melkorka's life of silence and the ordeals she has to go through to survive on her own.
I found her writing enriching and wholesome. Some of the images and references she makes to her being pregnant was wonderful. She also makes nice references to how her being hush has actually gotten her far in life, and led her to leading a nice adventure in life where things could have been worse for her if she had talked, but since she remained quiet things turned out well for her. Her being quiet and beautiful lead her to being loved by a nice man who then, in the authors note, made her become his slave because his wife did not approve of their relationship. Things got worse for her when he heard her talking too, but I won't say too much since I don't know who has read this book, but the information is available online.
Melkorka's silence and obedience leads her to having a comfortable life as a slave. She also has a good heart and the ability to show her goodness through her good nature.We learn that there are times when we should be silent. It is not good to be silent all the time, but it should be incorporated in life. Donna Jo Napoli writes a book where she teaches the readers that 'Silence is Golden.'