Bruce Coville

Angus, a brownie, is bound to the McGonagall family by an old curse placed on them by the Queen of Shadows; when Sarah McGonagall dies, Angus must leave Scotland, journeying through the Enchanted Realm to America, where the next girl in the McGonagall line awaits: Alex, a determinedly messy red-headed eleven-year-old middle child. Just as Alex and Angus are getting to know each other and achieve a relatively stable relationship, things in Alex's family begin to fall apart: her father quits show more his job to write (awful) songs, and her brother quits soccer to focus on his (awful) poetry. It's the curse at work, and the only way to break it is for Angus and one of the McGonagall line to return what was taken from the Queen of Shadows - her daughter, the Princess of Sunshine. But where is she? Closer than they realize...

Full of Scottish lore, told in diary and journal entries as well as emails and texts, and narrated by a full cast, Diary of A Mad Brownie is great fun. show less

Hmm. I know I would have liked this a lot when I was a girl. For one weird reason - I would've appreciated learning that one needs to clean behind the refrigerator. And for all the expected reasons, such as the humor and the heart.

Now, I dunno, but I keep finding myself putting it down and doing something else. Like transcribing the quotations I already have bookdarted. (But hey, the fact that I am using bookdarts is a good sign. I will keep reading.)

I love the way Alex's teacher show more distinguishes between diary and journal (and not that Angus keeps a diary). "A diary is what you do, a journal is about what you think! About what you want to work on in your life. About figuring out who you are."

And I appreciate the reminder that pet cats should not be allowed outside. " I shudder to think how many poor little birds have uttered their last note... as a result of a fur-faced, carrot-colored demon being free to use this devil's doorway [cat flap] as it pleases."

And what about the distinction between terrifying and horrifying. "In the first, I was in fear of life and limb. In the second, though I was in no immediate danger, a surge of cold dread enveloped my heart."

And the little 'lessons' about poetry are fun.
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Ok. done. Well, as a jaded adult, I just don't quite get it. The solution seemed a little too easy, maybe? We didn't get to know the other characters enough? The epistolary style, which meant there was more telling and less showing? I'm not sure exactly what more I wanted, I admit. But, it gets the third star because I did like it enough to want to continue the trilogy.

Also, it's interesting that the Enchanted people know that Shakespeare was at least half Elven.
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Ok, now that I've read all three, I must say that I do recommend these first two. Because the third is just wonderful. show less

In Bruce Coville's Dragonslayers, there is a king with the misfortune of having a woman's name. Even the fact that Mildred means 'gentle strength,' hasn't made up for the problems his name gave him when he was growing up. He and his queen, Hortense, have a very wilful fourteen-year-old daughter named Wilhelmina. Instead of being called 'Mina,' as Wilhelmina Harker was in Dracula, she's called 'Willie'. Willie is what we used to call a tomboy. She wants to learn some knightly skills and have show more adventures. One thing Willie most definitely doesn't want to do is marry any of the three suitors her father has in mind. Willie is making her undying opposition forcefully known when a peasant woman brings the news there's a dragon on the loose.

King Mildred's three knights might as well be called the three stooges because they're about as competent as that famous comedy team was in their short and longer films. Rather than sally forth to slay the dragon, the knights come up with excuses. The job falls to Elizar, a bald graybeard, by far the oldest of the king's squires. There are four other squires, but only Brian, the shortest, volunteers to help Elizar.

The prize for slaying the dragon is half the kingdom and Willie's hand in marriage. Willie has no intention of marrying a man old enough to be her grandfather, so she sneaks out of the castle in disguise.

What none of them realize is that the dragon was magically created by a witch named Grizelda (with the help of another witch named Phrenella), to get revenge on King Mildred. If things go according to Grizelda's plan, Willie isn't going to have to worry about getting married -- or anything else.

Our would-be dragonslayers manage to save some talking animals who join their quest. Four spirits of the aptly-named Forest of Wonders get in on the action too, for a little while. Besides the dragon, Grizelda has some helper creatures called goons. The most helpful of those is Igbutton, who craves liver cookies the way Scooby-Doo craves Scooby snacks.

There's plenty of humor and characters showing what they're really made of. Even though I figured out the biggest revelation ahead of time, that didn't keep me from enjoying the story. In fact, I enjoyed anticipating it. I enjoyed the ending, too. Okay, one of the book's characters has a fate I didn't think deserved, but otherwise the book was fun. show less

Eins meiner Lieblingsbücher als Kind, hab es öfter gelesen.
Jetzt das erste Mal so semi erwachsen (22) wieder und hui, es ist alles, was es immer war: Eine wunderschöne warme Kindergeschichte, deren Hauptfigur (Jeremy, ein künstlerisch veranlagter, büchernärrischer Sechstklässler) empathisch und vorsichtig agieren muss, um ein Drachenbaby auszubrüten und großzuziehen (Herausforderungen kommen auch dadurch hinzu, dass ein Mädchen aus seiner Klasse in ihn verknallt ist, und sein Vater show more eine Tierarztpraxis inklusive gefühltem Privatzoo besitzt). Als Kind mochte ich Jeremy und irgendwie mochte ich die Bibliothekarin Frau Kreuz auch immer, die ja in einigen "Geschichte aus dem Zauberladen" vorkommt, aber wen ich jetzt erst richtig zu schätzen weiß: Jeremys Vater.
Alleine schon für die Stelle: Als Jeremy nicht in die Schule gehen möchte, entgegnet sein Vater: "Ich kann dich gut verstehen. Schulen sind repressive Institutionen, welche die Massen zur Anpassung erziehen. Trotzdem ist es bequemer für mich, dich dorthin zu schicken, als dass du hier die ganze Zeit im Weg stehst."

Ein tolles Buch, vor allem, aber nicht nur für Kinder empfehlenswert. show less