Susanna Davidson

This a brief, accessible, and attractive short biography of Anne Frank, evidently written for kids from about 10 to 13 years of age. Pages are mostly cheerful pastel colours and there are many photos. The text itself reads almost like a little novel. The focus is on Anne’s optimism and faith in humanity, which I’ve personally never completely bought into.

There are, however, problems. Dysentery is incorrectly spelled, and the author incorrectly states that Anne and her sister Margot’s show more scabies, contracted in a concentration camp, were due to lice. Scabies infestation is caused by mites, not lice.

When one sees errors of this kind, the tendency is to doubt the accuracy of other details in the book. I didn’t feel up to fact checking the rest of the book, but I think potential readers should be aware it may not be reliable. I believe the book would also have benefited from a glossary. At the very least, some information required more explanatory detail for the target audience.

Verdict: There are better books about Anne out there. show less

Holly is a young girl who is visiting her great-aunt during summer vacation. At some point earlier in the series, I'm guessing she must have gone exploring or something and figured out how to visit the magical world of Pony Island. In this book, she goes to Pony Island to meet Puck, her fairy pony friend. They're having a picnic together when they hear someone crying for help. It turns out it's a unicorn named Willow who's being attacked by several bad fairy ponies. Shadow, the ringleader, show more is preparing to do a spell that will give him unicorn powers and allow him to take over Pony Island. He stole the first few ingredients from Willow, and now he plans to trick the Unicorn Prince so that he can get the final ingredient.

I was told it wasn't necessary to read these books in any particular order. A bit of searching tells me that this is probably Book 5 in the Fairy Ponies series, although the only thing I felt I was missing out on was how Holly found Pony Island in the first place.

I bought this for my oldest niece, who has watched a show called Mia and Me on Netflix multiple times. Mia and Me includes elves (whose wings make them look more like fairies, but what do I know?), unicorns, dragons, and a winged unicorn named Onchao. The winged “Unicorn Prince” on the cover of this book immediately reminded me on Onchao.

This is definitely aimed at a younger audience than the stuff I normally read, but I always try to read the books I plan to give to my nieces and nephew. Unicorn Prince had exactly the appeal factors I expected: a girl who could travel to a magical fantasy land, fairy ponies (because a plain old pony or even a Pegasus wouldn't be magical enough), and impossibly beautiful unicorns. Although Holly isn't magical herself, her lack of magical ability actually turns out to be beneficial in this particular book.

I didn't notice any problems with the writing, and the story was easy to follow. I didn't always like the illustrations (Puck occasionally looked a bit odd), but they weren't necessarily bad. The text definitely fits my niece's reading level, and I'm crossing my fingers that she'll enjoy the fantasy aspects here the same way she enjoys them in Mia and Me. That said, from an adult perspective, Mia and Me appeals to a broader age range than this. I actually kind of enjoyed that show. Unicorn Prince, on the other hand, felt too simplistic and flat to me. There was no time to get to know the world and the characters at anything but the most basic level. If my niece ends up liking this and I get the other books for her, I'll read them, but otherwise I'm not interested.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.) show less

A fun retelling of The Princess and the Pea. This is a great chapter book for early readers. One of my favorite features are the speech and thought bubbles added to the watercolor illustrations. It adds a fun, modern twist that kids would enjoy.

The character traits and sequence of events in this book are very black and white, yet entertaining. This book would be great for studying character traits or sequence of events.

I gave it five-stars because it is well-written, entertaining, nice to show more look at, and would have high kid appeal. A down-side is that it is bright pink, which I imagine would scare away young boys and maybe some girls.

My copy did not have the CD included. show less

Mary, a young girl orphaned at an early age, is forced to move to England to live with her uncle, Mr. Craven. She does not like there and feels very alone. Mr. Craven spends most of his time away on business leaving Mary with the rule to not enter any other rooms of the house. As time goes on Mary begins to wander. She first finds a secret garden. Next, she decides to wander the house, discovering a young sick boy named Colin Craven. We learn that Colin is unable to walk and that his dad, show more Mr. Craven is ashamed of him, which is why he spends so much time away. As the story goes on, Mary finds the key to the garden and fixes it up with the company of Colin. When Mr. Craven returns, he is surprisingly pleased to see his garden blooming and his son's health improving.
This story taught me that disabilities should not be looked down upon. I immediately felt so terrible for Colin when I learned of his father's feelings towards him. All Colin wanted and eventually needed was for someone to actually enjoy his company and spend time with him. The story is a great way to show that everyone deserves to be treated and cared for with love no matter what their circumstance may be. show less