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Dealing with Dragons (Book 1 of The Enchanted Forest Chronicles)
By: Maya Lovria
11/15/2024

Cimorene is a princess who refuses to be proper. While her sisters are perfect princesses, Cimorene is easily bored with topics such as embroidery, dancing, and etiquette. She secretly took lessons in fencing (until her father found out), magic (until her father found out), cooking (until, you guessed it, her father found out), and more. But, when her parents try to make her marry a prince who she has absolutely nothing in common with, aside from the fact that neither wants to marry the other, she is fed up. She runs away and becomes a dragon’s princess. Dragons usually get their princesses by kidnapping them, so naturally this comes as rather a surprise to others. Cimorene is perfectly happy living with Kazul the dragon, but she quickly gets tired of all the princes and knights trying to be heroic and ‘rescue’ her. When she goes to put up a sign to keep them away, she meets her first wizard. Wizards, unlike dragons, are not born with their magic. Using their staffs, they soak up the magic from others. Naturally, dragons don’t like them much. Wizards are starting to pop up where they’re not allowed, stirring up trouble. They are going too far, and when Cimorene learns of a particularly troubling plot of theirs, it is up to her to stop them.

 

Dealing with Dragons is a very fun book. It is the first of the Enchanted Forest Chronicles series. Throughout the series, there are lots of funny spins on fairy tales. I would definitely recommend this book, especially to those who enjoy a fantasy read. One interesting fact about the series is that Dealing With Dragons and the next two books in the series are technically prequels. The author wrote the fourth book in the series, Talking to Dragons, as a stand alone novel. She later wrote a prequel, which is Dealing with Dragons, and then planned to write one more, to fill in the middle. However, while writing, she found that there was too much middle to have one book, and instead wrote two.

 

About the Author: Patricia C. Wrede


Patricia C. Wrede grew up surrounded by books. Her first novel, Shadow Magic, was published in

1982. In 1985 she quit her full time job (which was in finance) and turned to writing. She has made

her living as a fiction writer ever since. In addition to the Enchanted Forest Chronicles, she has

written and co-written numerous other books, including the Frontier Magic series.

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Sources:

 

The books, Dealing with Dragons, Searching for Dragons, Calling on Dragons, and Talking to

Dragons, and their introductions.

 

https://pcwrede.com/pcw-wp/about-patricia/

 

https://www.fantasticfiction.com/w/patricia-c-wrede/

 

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71LWKC7enML._SY466_.jpg 

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The Bookwanderers
By: Marguerite Underdown
11/15/2024

The Bookwanderers, written by Anna James, is a great book series that contains six books. This series is for people who like mystery, bookworms finding adventure, favorite books with a twist, and an intriguing story altogether.

I recommend this book for ages 8 and up. The main character is Matilda Pages, more commonly

known as Tilly. A few other characters are Oskar, Milo Bolt, and Alessia. The story starts in

Tilly’s family bookshop, Pages & Co. in London. Pages & Co. is the only home Tilly has ever

known. The bookshop is run by her grandparents, Elsie and Archie. When Tilly’s favorite

characters start coming out of books, she starts to get curious about her mother, who

mysteriously disappeared after her birth, and about her father, a man Tilly never knew. Her

grandparents won't tell her what’s happening, though they keep meeting mysterious people.

Anne of Green Gables (with an e), and Alice of Wonderland convince Tilly that magic is real.

The story kicks off after that, with Tilly grabbing her friend Oskar and traveling into stories.

The proper term for traveling into stories is bookwandering, hence the title. Bookwandering,

Tilly and Oskar travel into the books Treasure Island, Alice in Wonderland, Sherlock Holmes,

Anne of Green Gables, and A Little Princess. Along the way, Tilly finds clues to where her

mother is and what happened to her. But soon, in book two, the perfect ending to book one

backfires, and Tilly, accompanied by Oskar, must defeat all that stands in their way. In book

three, the bookwandering world is falling apart, and yet again, Tilly and Oskar must save the day. They travel into layers of Story to try to fix the damage, looking for the Archivists. In book four, Tilly and her friend Milo Bolt, who drives a magical train through Story, need to save Tilly’s grandpa and Milo’s uncle from a magical sleeping spell. The duo meet the evil Alchemist and their newest friend, his daughter Alessia. The story continues, and in book five, Milo and Alessia visit the Botanist, getting help from friends old and new, and travel into Robin Hood, The Jabberwocky, and The Secret Garden to save people from their enchanted sleep. Book six is coming out in April. This book series is wonderful, with adventure and peril at every turn! For bookworms, the Bookwanderers will feel like life as book characters, and if not, it will give off a sense of excitement. Overall, this book series is a favorite, with many stories combining into a beautiful series. 

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Keeper of the Lost Cities
By: Avira Karthik
10/18/2024

Are you looking for a world in a completely different land, filled with fantasy and adventure? Then you should read Keeper of the Lost Cities! This book series is an awesome adventure for anyone looking for a magical series to get

lost in. It is in the fantasy genre and is recommended for ages 9-16, as there is some violence.

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 I also decided to write this review because, on November 12, 2024, the hardcover version of a

new Keeper of the Lost Cities book is coming out! This book is told from a completely different

point of view than books 1-9. The other books were told from the main character, Sophie's, point

of view, but this book is told from the point of view of one of the most important characters in

the series: Keefe Sencen. This book tells the story of where Keefe was in book nine. While

everyone else was working together on an ancient mystery, Keefe was in ‘human land,'

experiencing funny incidents and discovering major secrets.

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For those who have never read this series, I recommend you read the other books and then read

the tenth, as the series is a story of mystery, survival, joy, and happiness. Reading each book

before the next is essential, as each has a great plot twist (seriously Shannon Messenger?)

and magnificent secrets. The uncovered stories and the secrets unlocked in this series will thrill

readers for ages to come. In this series, Sophie Foster discovers that she is an elf and belongs in a mythical world far beyond her imagination that, on the surface, is perfect in every way. But, Sophie discovers pretty soon that the perfectness is the wrapping. There are enormous secrets hidden in this world, along with problems that people pretend don’t exist. Can Sophie discover who she truly is and stop the problems before it is too late? This series is one of my favorites, and I hope you will try it too!

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Wings of Fire
By: Avira Karthik and Marguerite Underdown
10/04/2024

Many have wandered a library looking for a book to read and have yet to be satisfied. Wings of Fire, a magical book series written by Tui. T. Sutherland, can fix all of that! Wings of Fire is a world of magic, adventure, and friendship in a land of dragons, and this book series can whirl all readers away to Pyrrhia and Pantala. The Wings of Fire series is in the Griffins' Nest, Auburn Hills Public Library, Rochester Hills Public Library, and many other libraries. This series is in the fantasy genre, for people who love magic and faraway lands.

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There are 15 books, with three subseries: The Dragonet Prophecy, The Jade Mountain Prophecy, and the Lost Continent Prophecy. Additionally, there are also two legends, called Darkstalker and Dragonslayer. We recommend this book for ages eight and up, and we do not recommend this book for under eight-year-olds, because there is violence. 

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The first five books of Wings of Fire narrate a story about 5 dragonets that are unwillingly put into a prophecy and and forced into a life of literally living under a mountain. As the dragonets, Clay, Tsunami, Glory, Starflight, and Sunny, deal with stopping a long war and choosing a Sandwing Queen, they make friendships, memories, and adventures that last a lifetime.

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In books six through ten, Moon, Quibli, Winter, Kinkajou, Turtle, and Peril have to stop a dark evil, facing more than ever before, dealing with crucial decisions and experiences. They go to Jade Mountain Academy, which is the Dragonets of Destiny school for all tribes.

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In books 11-15, whole new types of dragonets come into play, and Blue, Swordtail, Luna, Cricket, and Sundew help unite all tribes before the dragon world is stopped forever: a matter of life, death, lies, love, and friends. 

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After the 15 books, the legends pop into view to give some backstory, as well as Winglets Quartet, and A Dragon's Guide to Pyrrhia and Pantala, from the point of view of fan-favorite characters. There are also graphic novels for books one through seven with wonderful pictures! This series has thrilling adventures, heart-stopping plot twists, and dragons that you can root for till the end of time. In conclusion, Wings of Fire is a series that has to be on every “To Read” list, one of our personal favorite series, and a thrilling read with fantasy, adventure, love, friendship, magic, and a wonderful story! 

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