The Magician''s Elephant by Kate DiCamillo

Liberty:
What a beautifully written book about a boy yearning for his lost family. The magic! The characters! – a magician, a beggar, a countess , a policeman, an orphan, a nun – The setting! The weather! The illustrations- dark and muted with patches of light and hope – reflect the story each step of the way. My favorite passage:
“…there is a carving of an elephant being led by a boy. The boy is carrying a girl, and one of his hands is resting on the elephant, while behind the elephant, there is a magician and a policeman, a nun and a noblewoman, a manservant, a beggar, a dog and finally, behind them all, at the end, a small bent man.
Each person has a hold of the other, each one is connected to the one before him, and each of them is looking forward, their heads held at such an angle that is seems as if they are looking into a bright light.”
This story shows how we are all connected, how one person can make a difference and how love is the force that can make that difference.

Tinker:
It’s a very good book but for my age it was hard vocabulary. I liked the part where Peter found Adele and the Elephant went home.

Taco:
This is a good book for families to read together. You will always want to read more! Each chapter is a cliffhanger. Check out “The Magician’s Elephant” by Kate DiCamillo.

The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan

This book is amazing! I loved it!!!!!! The only constructive criticism is I don’t understand what the Return was. I am so excited for sequels and movies to come out! I think they will be a big hit!!!!!!!!! The new Harry Potter maybe! Please read this book because you are sure to get hooked!!!!
Taco Bell

Bathroom Reader for Kids - Taco Belle's Review

Another book I recently read was Uncle John’s Top Secret Bathroom Reader for Kids Only by the Bathroom Readers Institute. This book has random facts at the bottom of each page. They are called running feet. I will tell you one. Did you know, Sir Isaac Newton spent years trying to figure out when the world would end? He guessed 1948! Another thing I like about this book is it covers random topics that are not commonly written about. Some of the things they wrote about were: Dumb Crooks, Mermaid Tales, and Captain Underpants. But my favorite was Dumb Wars. People fought over an ear and a bucket! Anyway, this book is sure to make you Laugh Out Loud! Don’t tell BRI (Bathroom Readers Institute) but even if you are a grownup, you can still read this book! Enjoy!
Taco Belle

Our First Blog

Hello! We are The 3 Belles, in honor of our love of books like Belle from Beauty and the Beast. We are a mom, "Liberty" Belle, and two daughters: a 12-yr-old, 6th grader, "Taco" Belle and a 7-yr-old, 1st grader,"Tinker" Belle. Liberty Belle, is ahem, over 21 (Liberty's own mother used to use the ole' "over 21" when asked her age).

We thought we would share what books we are reading and what we think about them. We would love to hear from other kids, parents, librarians, authors, etc. and get recommendations on good reads. We also thought authors might like to know what real kids and parents think about books. We like picture books, chapter books, middle grade, young adult, graphic novels, magazines, whatever we feel like. We read together and separately. (Tinker doesn't read young adult)!


Taco and Liberty belong to a Mother-Daughter Book Club for 4th to 6th graders run by our wonderful public library. We just gathered to discuss Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli last night.

Taco: I liked Stargirl because it is really funny and middle school kids can relate to the narrator's situation. I loved when Stargirl sang Happy Birthday to everyone and when she was on the "Hot Seat." Did you know, (according to one person in our book club) Jerry Spinelli based the Stargirl character, in part, on his wife?
Taco's Favorite lines: "When she came by our table, I got my first good look at her face. She wasn't gorgeous, wasn't ugly. A sprinkle of freckles crossed the bridge of her nose. Mostly, she looked like a hundred other girls in school, except for two things. She wore no makeup, and her eyes were the biggest I had ever seen, like deer's eyes caught in the headlights. She twirled as she went past, her flaring skirt brushing my pant leg, and then she marched out of the lunchroom."

Liberty: I loved this book! The moms in our book club gave Stargirl a 4 out of 4 stars, the girls gave it 3 1/2.
Favorite Lines: "And each night in bed I thought of her as the moon came through me window. I could have lowered my shade to make it darker and easier to sleep, but I never did. In that moonlit hour, I acquired a sense of the otherness of things. I liked the feeling the moonlight gave me, as if it wasn't the opposite of day, but its underside, its private side, when the fabulous purred on my snow-white sheet like some dark cat come in from the desert."


Tinker: Today I read The Surprise Family written and illustrated by Lynn Reiser. It was a "surprising" book because the chicks turned out to be ducklings. The author's name is Lynn like my teacher.
Favorite Sentence: "But every afternoon in the garden beside the pond, after walking and swimming and wading, there they all were, together, under the little hen's wings.

Liberty: The Surprise Family was a kind of twist on The Ugly Duckling. As a mom, I liked the message that a family can be made up of all kinds - a boy, a hen, ducklings - caring about each other and spending time together.

It's getting late - more tomorrow night!