The Smuggler's Treasure

 The Smugglers Treasure is an American Girl: History Mystery written by Sarah Masters Buckley.

"Sent to live with relatives in New Orleans during the War of 1812, eleven-year-old Elisabet determines to find a smuggler's treasure to ransom her imprisoned father."

General Thoughts: I was given a set of History Mystery books when I was a preteen and enjoyed this one. I wasn't much into reading so I didn't read many of the other books in this American Girl Series, but one can always go back and find a good book. I enjoyed the adventure part of this book and the fact that I hadn't read much in the way of historical books before and I've found that it still holds up pretty well. 

Plot: Elisabet's adventure in a new city, with new people, doing a job at her families bakery with busy, noisy customers, and seeing the differences between what she was as a pampered little girl (like some that she serves) and the waitress that she's become was fun to watch. It's amazing what hard labor will do when you have choice. What getting up early to do the job your assigned can do to change people's attitudes. I enjoyed the growth that Elisabet had throughout the course of the story. She does gain a friend who helps her on her adventure with potential ghosts and thieves and pirates. The treasure hunt and figuring out the clues to find the map was fun and, when I was younger, thrilling. 

Setting: When it comes to history and fantasy books, the setting is extremely important. One should easily get lost in the new city where you can "feel" the cobblestones or mud underfoot. I think Smuggler's Treasure does just that. The smells of the bakery, the rain, the darkness, sets the tone for the suspenseful moments and really help pull it through. 

Characters: Elisabet, as I said, has great growth through the story. She learns that she can do hard and at times scary things in order to do what she thinks will help her father. I liked the others in the bakery as well, in front of as well as behind the counter. They were memorable characters that even a year after reading it, I still enjoy thinking about. 

Spicy: 0/5. It's a children's book. No. 

Writing Style: I think it was well done. American Girl is not going to get newbies to write their books and Sarah Masters Buckley did a good job at setting tones, making likable characters, and developing an interesting story that was simple enough for me to read at 10 and enjoyable enough for me to read after age 30. 

Overall: I would read it again. I ended up gifting my niece a copy and hopes she enjoys it as much as I did. 

The Invention of Hugo Cabret

 My son read this one to me and it was a great experience. 

Hugo Cabret is alone. He lost his dad in fire and was given to his uncle's care, but his uncle has been gone for months leaving Hugo by himself. Well, him and the clocks he winds every day at the Paris Train Station. No one knows he's there and he is scared of being taken to an orphanage or being put in the Stations Inspector's "cage" so he stays quiet, taking his uncles paychecks but not cashing them, and steals to survive. He recently rediscovered an automaton that his father found and keeps close to his heart the notebook his father left behind. But after getting caught stealing a small mechanical mouse from a toyshop in the station, the notebook gets taken away from him by the shop owner and the struggle to get it back ensues. However, there seems to be something strange about this old toyshop owner, there is far more that he is not telling Hugo as to why he took Hugo's father's notebook in the first place. The shop owner's goddaughter and Hugo join forces to find the notebook and its significance. 

I think the thing I loved most about this book was the fact that my son was able to read it to me. He struggles in reading and the pictures that were drawn and old photos of movies helped make this come alive for my son. It intrigued him and didn't make him feel like "it's too hard." The words were more difficult than things he's accustomed too, I was going for a challenge, and far larger of a book than I'd ever read on his own. But he did it and enjoyed the story. 

The second thing were the pictures. It brought life and vivation to the story along with clarity to the reader who's never seen any of the old movies before. We were able to see the "man in the moon with a rocket in his eye" and the fairy lands that were made in the old films because the still frame pictures were there. There were cartoon-ish drawing of Hugo and Isabelle, Georges and people of the station which brought the story to live as well. 

I think this is a good book to start kids out on when talking about historical fiction. There are many parts in history that could be talked about, but movies and shows are obviously topics that kids can get very passionate about--as my son shows me on many occasions--and this story gives a fictional account of the beginnings of moving pictures. It was fun to talk with him about one of the first films, "A Train Pulling Into A Station" and how it scared people in the audience because they thought the train was going to run them over. We talked about other inventions and how things were so different and how far they've come. It's opened up avenues of older movies that he's never seen before, but where important when it comes to making movies. 

It also is a good starting point for introductions to Steampunk books that are out there. It opens up a mechanical world with automatons and that fact that clocks had to be wound often to keep them running. Steampunk and that alternate reality is a fun one, in my opinion, to dive into. (A good series I'd recommend is The Rythmatist and Misborn Era 2 starting with Alloy of Law all by Brandon Sanderson. They are the only steampunk books I've been able to really get into as of yet, but there are many on the TBR list.) 

It was much more of an adventure story or mystery that I thought it would be. Not much in the way of character development happened to the main character or Isabelle, but for "Papa Georges" he grew a little. He softened over the course of the story and was able to confront hard things in the past that had happened. I don't entirely know how much of it was "based on true events" and how much of the story was creative liberties by the author though. 

We both enjoyed the book and we'll be watching the movie soon, which I'm excited to show my son. 

Dear Beast: The Pet Parade

 For summer reading, my son read this to me and we both rather liked it. 

In the neighborhood, children and their pets are going to have a pet parade. Andy normally goes with Simon his cat and Simon hates it. This year, Baxter (or Beast) is going to go with Andy, but Simon is kind of nosy and wants to know what Baxter and Andy are going to be dressing up as for the parade. Only Baxter won't tell and it's driving Simon nuts. 

It is a cute little chapter book, good for 2nd or 3rd graders. It was engaging enough for my son not be scream and throw a tantrum about reading with pictures to not be too intimidating for young readers--I know this was a thing for me when I was little and why I didn't read many books in the younger grades unless I was forced to. It's also written in letters from and to Simon which is different and fun altogether. 

I enjoyed the characters enough that (and the fact that the letters were delivered by a snail mailman, very punny--or how a crow's name was Edgar Allan Crow) that I would be interested to read (or have my son read) the rest of these books. 

One thing that kind of bothers me is that some of the characters (mainly Baxter) doesn't spell things accurately, which can throw young readers off a little in a similar way Junie B. Jones does--though they are different. I found that I need to tell him what some of the words meant, like "cuz," because he didn't know what it was. Most of the characters write accurately in their letters. 

Over all though, the story was cute and gave me a reason to explain things that had gone over my sons head. Like SnailMail, Edgar Allen Poe, and who Sherlock Holmes is, which got him a little more interested in what what/who those things/people were.