Stan Swanson

This is not a book you read; it's a book you do. It's a great workbook for songwriters, with sections for every week of the year. It includes places to jot down ideas, word games to inspire lyrics, chord progressions and melody lines to play with, and space to write a whole song, plus lists of "power words," quotes from famous songwriters and information about songwriting resources. I just wrote my first week's song, and I'm having a hard time keeping myself from reading ahead to next week. show more In fact, if I didn't have other things to do, I could just cuddle up with this book for the winter and write one song after another. Or I could use it whenever I feel stuck. This book would work well for poets, too. It's so much fun. --Susan Lick show less

*Book source ~ A review copy was provided in exchange for an honest review.

Hobart Hucklebuck lives in Pennywhistle where basically everything is enchanted and doing regular ol’ magic is passé. Forget about doing things the old-fashioned way. Residents rely on enchanted items to do everything and when the enchantments suddenly start acting up or stop working altogether they have no idea what to do. Tie their own shoes? Put bread in a toaster and then butter it? Themselves?! How absurd! show more Complaints start to pile up and when Hobart’s grandfather, Wicksford Waxenbee, is charged with screwing up the enchantments, Hobart decides he needs to find the real person responsible. He and his friends play detective with mixed results. How will Hobart prove his grandpa’s innocence if he sucks at detective work?

I have to say this is a fairly cute Middle Grade story. It reminds me a lot of Harry Potter only much more whimsical. All of the characters have alliterative names, the enchanted items are quite creative as are the names of places and things to eat and drink, there’s old fashioned magic, a mystery, some peril, a bit of inept detective work and great characters. Plus, cats. Who doesn’t love cats? Well, besides Hobart. If you’re a fan of MG books then I highly recommend this one. It’s quite an enjoyable read. show less

Things are not as they should be in Pennywhistle. Enchanted toasters are not toasting, enchanted sprinklers are not sprinkling and Hobart Hucklebuck's origami messenger birds are suddenly attacking him. Someone seems to be draining the power from all of the enchanted items in the village. But who could it be and why have they implicated Hobart's grandfather? "The Misadventures of Hobart Hucklebuck" follows Hobart and his friends, Specks Spacklethack and Rosie Rumpleskirt, as they try to show more solve this mystery and free Hobart's grandfather from the Tower of Tribulation on Mumblemonk Mountain. The trio's investigation into the mysterious happenings on Druid Lane gets them into hot water more than once and ultimately brings them dangerously close to disaster not only for themselves, but the entire village of Pennywhistle. show less

My daughter is the one who actually read this book. She is eleven. She loved it. She immediately came to me asking me to find the sequel. Unfortunately, the sequel is not in existence yet. However, I strongly recommend this book. It is a short, easy read for tweens, and my daughter really enjoyed it! :) --Jennifer Word