Young Adult – Page 3 – Ryan's Book Blog

Bunnicula 1-7

September 20, 2021 by Ryan

Background

Bunnicula is a work of fiction originally thought up by the husband and wife team of James and Deborah Howe. The named character Bunnicula is a pet bunny who sleeps during the day and sucks the juices out of vegetables. However, the main characters are their pet cat Chester, who is convinced their is a conspiracy behind everything, and their dog Harold, who is thoroughly a dog. Harold is also set up as the semi-autobiographical author of the books. These books are billed as 3rd to 5th grade reading level.

1 Bunnicula: A Rabbit-Tale of Mystery (1979)
2 Howliday Inn (1982)
3 The Celery Stalks at Midnight (1983)
4 Nighty Nightmare (1987)
5 Return to Howliday Inn (1992)
6 Bunnicula Strikes Again! (1995)
7 Bunnicula Meets Edgar Allan Crow (2006)

Bunnicula Books 4 and 5 — The Bunnicula Collection

My Thoughts

This series was a fun read. I enjoyed the interplay between the pets and they tried to understand the world around them.

Recommendation

Worth the time to read.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

November 11, 2020 by Ryan

Background

Book 7 and last of the Harry Potter series. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is the culmination and climax of the epic struggle between good wizards and bad. We muggles just didn’t hear about it…

My Thoughts

I actually liked it better this time around. I’m not sure why, maybe I knew what was happening and was able to accept some of the more campy parts like when Voldemort had his snake kill Snape rather than by wand like everyone else or Harry’s self righteous rants and so on. I just let the story happen and allowed it to take me along.

Recommendation

A great read. I will likely read it again next year 🙂

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

September 18, 2020 by Ryan

Background

Snape, Snape, Severus Snap! We get some glimpses into the life of one of the most interesting characters in the Harry Potter world. Published in 2006, this book starts everything in motion for the last and final book of the Harry Potter series.

My Thoughts

Again Harry is forced to consider life is not as black and white as he thought and there are usually reasons why people do the things they do. However, that still doesn’t make them right…

Recommendation

Great read. Great book.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

September 15, 2020 by Ryan

Background

Published back in 2002, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire brings in wizards from all over Europe to compete in a wizard’s tournament. Yet, who is really behind it all?

My Thoughts

A much larger book than the one previous, this one I started with my youngest but he couldn’t keep up… So, I went ahead and finished the book.

This is my favorite of the Harry Potter series, it isn’t as dark as the later books yet it has some more serious parts to it. Harry is growing up but is still a kid in many ways.

Recommendation

Great read!

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

September 11, 2020 by Ryan

Background

Published in 2004, this book is the largest of the series by a good 130 pages. (Yet, was the 2nd shortest movie…) In this book, Harry and friends know “You-Know-Who” is back but the Ministry of Magic is suppressing that information. Things start going awry when they start interfering at Hogwarts.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

My Thoughts

Again, a great read. We are becoming a little bit older along with Harry as he starts having love interests and grappling with the subtleties of what is right and wrong.

My recommendation

Great book. Great read.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

September 2, 2020 by Ryan

Background

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was published back in 2001. The 3rd book in the Harry Potter series, it introduces the infamous Sirius Black, a man convicted of murder who broke out of the wizard prison Askaban. How will Harry and his friends make it this time?

My Thoughts

As with all Harry Potter books, I have read this book several times. This time around, I was reading it with my youngest son who is new to the series. Highly enjoyable.

Recommendation

A great read and worthy of the time.

The Death Cure

April 21, 2020 by Ryan

Background

This is the last book in the Maze Runner series (chronologically) published in 2011. There are two books which were written after which became prequels to the series.

This book picks up right after the last and the reader learns the final fate of Thomas and his friends along with WICKED.

My Thoughts

First off -Spoiler Alert- he killed off my favorite character. Newt shouldn’t have died. I’m not happy about that…

The book is overly harsh. It was entertaining but overly harsh. It was a rough read.

Recommendation

Honestly, if you need closure, I can understand why you would want to read it. However, I don’t know it gave me much closure, and they left it wide open for the next book. I can’t really recommend it.

The Scorch Trials

March 11, 2020 by Ryan

Background

Published in 2010, The Scorch Trials is the sequel to The Maze Runner. This book picks up right where the last left off taking Tomas and the other “Gladers” into their next series of events. They quickly learn they are not out of peril yet…

My Thoughts

Good book all and all. It was a pleasure to read a novel again after doing a lot of more technical material.

This book was very similar to the first in that it does a good job of getting into the mind of a teenager who is trying to cope with a world that doesn’t make sense. However, it has some of the downfalls as the first book as well. The kids get over the death of their friends remarkably quickly. This is somewhat explained by their involvement and being “chosen” to participate in the trials. However, it felt pretty unrealistic.

Recommendation

It was worth the time. I didn’t get bored and was interested throughout the book.

Freckle Juice

November 24, 2019 by Ryan Leave a Comment

Background

Judy Blume brings us back to 4th grade by teaching us how to make Freckle Juice and the simple joy of being the one picked to be in a play.

My Thoughts

Even in 4th grade I thought Judy Blume’s books were pretty spot on with the thinking of a 4th grader. Now, nearly 4 decades later, I was surprised how quickly I was brought back to that time. Enough time has passed that I had forgotten the plot and was able to enjoy discovering the story yet again. (Perhaps that will be one of the few blessings of going senile.)

Recommendation

Great book. Everyone should read it.

Fablehaven: Keys to the Demon Prison

October 20, 2019 by Ryan Leave a Comment

Background

Published in 2010, Keys to the Demon Prison is the final book in the Fablehaven series. The Society of the Evening Star has all the artifacts and holds all the cards. Will they open the demon prison and release them all into this world?

My Thoughts

This book is almost 600 pages and yet it flew by. I was excited to get to the end and to see what happened.

Recommendation

Great read!