Broadway, my 11 year old daughter, finished this book last weekend.  She came bounding down the stairs proclaiming “this was the best book she has ever read.”  She continued to proclaim this for the next few days.

We checked this out on Friday evening and she finished it by the next morning.

She simply could not put it down.

It really was wonderful to hear her gushing about the story.

I sat down with Broadway today for an interview about the best book she has ever read.

As you will see, she does not go into great detail about the story as she did not want to give anything away.  She was very mysterious about this one, which makes me want to read it even more.  🙂

Here you go…..

Q. Describe this book in a few sentences

A.This is VERY well detailed, entertaining, and amusing.  The book is about a girl who lived in New York City and is getting these strange letters from this person she doesn’t know.  So, she tries thinking about who this person is that she doesn’t know.  She tries to solve the mystery and in the meantime, meets two new best friends.

I could read this book over and over and over and over and over AND over!!  I loved it soooooo much!!  I wish Rebecca Stead would write a sequel to this so I could continue reading!!  This is one of my  favorite books I have ever read!!  Everyone would love it!!

Q. Describe the main character

A.  The main character in the book is Miranda.  Miranda is in sixth grade, her mother is dating a man named Richard (aka Mr. Perfect) and her mom is practicing for a game show.  Miranda lives in New York and has two best friends, Annemarie and Colin.  Secretly, she has a crush on Colin.  Miranda is a great character in the book.

Q.  What is your most favorite scene in the book?

A.  I loved every single scene in the book.  It was just so wonderful.

Q.  What was the worst scene in the book?

A.  Truthfully, there was not a single scene that was bad.  I only have good things to say about this wonderful book!!

Q. Would you recommend this book to your friends?

A. Definitely!!  This is just so amazing I’m just speechless!!  I mean really, this book is just outstanding!!!!

I think she liked the book.  This is on my list to read very soon.

Thank you Broadway for sharing your thoughts on this special book.

Imagineer really loves stories about dogs.

She found Bandit at her school library a few weeks ago, and absolutely loved this sweet story.

Imagineer found time today out of her busy schedule to meet with me and answer a few questions about the book.

I will be curious how this compares to  A Dog’s Life and Smells Like Dog.  These are two recent books she enjoyed.

I’m guessing they were the impetus for her choosing Bandit, another dog story.  I am definitely sensing a pattern in story lines that she enjoys. 🙂

Q. Describe this book in a few sentences

A. It was happy.  It was nice. It was calm and it was a good book.  It was about a dog named Bandit who finds a home, but he needs heart surgery.  The owners couldn’t pay for it so they gave Bandit to a truck stop place.  These kids adopted him, and they made money through dog walking services for the heart surgery.  One of the kid’s uncles adopted him.  Since he is a trucker, he gets lonely on the road, so Bandit is good company.

Q. Describe the main characters

A.  The main characters are Bandit, a small shitzu, a girl and the girl’s friend.  I forget their names.  They are both really thoughtful and nice.  The girl makes stuff kind of into a competition even when they’re not.

Q.  What is your most favorite scene in the book?

A.  My favorite scene was near the beginning when the woman comes out holding the shitzu and the girls love him and fall for him and become really attached to him in the thirty seconds that they first saw him.

Q.  What was the worst scene in the book?

A. The worst scene was when the note next to Bandit said that he had to have heart surgery and they could not care for him.  The note was from the previous owners.

Q. What did you learn from this book?

A. I learned from this book that if you want something, you can work for it, and then you can get it.

Q. Would you recommend this book to your friends?

A.  Yes, especially the ones that love puppies.

Thank you so much to Imagineer for her review.

As a Mom, I have to say that I love her answer to what she learned from the book.

I love books that promote hard work, teamwork, thoughtfulness, and kindness.

This book sounds very heartwarming and the story earned high praises from Imagineer.

Once she picked this book up, she could not put it down.

My eleven year old daughter, Broadway, finished “City of the Beasts”, by Isabel Allende last week, and loved it.

Allende is a Chilean American, whose uncle was the former president of Chile, and whose father was a Chilean diplomat.

This particular book was Allende’s first young adult fiction novel.

Apparently it was met with mixed reviews from critics, but I will say, that for my daughter, her review was a strong thumbs up.  I found her curled up in the living room, kitchen. and her bedroom reading this book during every spare moment she could find.

The story takes place in the Amazon rain forest, and is about two teenagers fighting their fears and growing by leaps and bounds during their travels through this magical region.

Below is a short interview with Broadway regarding the book, in her own words.

Q. Describe this book in a few sentences

A. It is an adventurous journey through the Amazon.  A big group of people are on this journey to find a legendary or real creature called the “Beast”.

Q. Describe the main characters

A.  One of the main characters is Alex who was very shy and scared of things at the beginning, but came out in the end as a man who became very brave and willing.  Nadia is amazingly willing and conquered one of her only fears, which was heights.

Q.  What is your most favorite scene in the book?

A. My favorite scene in the book is one of the most descriptive parts of the book when they went into a city of gold. They saw many wonderful things like vegetation, mysterious creatures, and GOLD.

Q. Why would you recommend this book to your friends?

A.  Because it is wonderful, adventurous, descriptive, and takes you on a journey through the mystical Amazon.

Another book review by Broadway can be found at Hang a thousand trees with ribbons.

My eight year old daughter loved Smells Like Dog, by Suzanne Selfors.

I found her devouring this book in the living room, in her bed before falling asleep, and at the kitchen table.

She had this yellow covered book with her at all times in these past few days.

Below is an interview with my daughter  with responses in her own words.

Q. Describe this book in a few sentences

A. I mainly liked Smells Like Dog because its about a dog which is my favorite animal, who can smell only treasure.  Only treasure, not anything else.  He belongs to Homer W. Pudding.  Homer lives on a goat farm and has to do a lot of chores and goat farming . He loves reading about treasures and coins and stuff.

And one day at breakfast, his father told his brother, Drake H. Pudding, that he shouldn’t go to the city, and instead, stay on the goat farm with him.  But he didn’t listen, and nothing good happened in the city, and that’s how Drake H. Pudding ended up in a giant tortoise’s stomach.  They recently found out about his Uncle Drake’s death and recently got his will.  There’s a note from the Snooty’s, a law office, and a will.  They got overalls and some shoes and also a dog with a coin on it with the initials of L.O.S.T on it.

Homer knew there should have been more than overalls and shoes and the dog, but there wasn’t.  So Homer and his sister Gwendolyn ran away from home.  Madam is someone who owns a museum of natural history in the city.

He meets someone who owns a tomato soup stand, but soon finds out that he was being lied to when he meets these people named Agitbh and Zelda. They’re from a secret foundation called Legends or Special Treasures.

Q. Describe the main characters

A. The main characters are Homer W. Pudding.  Homer is a 12 year old boy who lives in Milkydale, the home of the goat farmers.  His dog named “Dog” who was the droopiest dog they ever saw, but it turns out he can actually smell treasure.

Q.  What is your most favorite scene in the book?

A.  I don’t have a favorite scene, because they are all very adventurous, and they are all very exciting, and they jump out at you like “boo”, really fast, and you don’t even know that that’s about to happen.

Q. Why would you recommend this book to your friends?

A. Why would I not?  Its the best book and I also recommend this to all dog lovers.  Even if you see the droopiest dog, it might be able to smell treasures.  And the whole book is adventurous and I loved it!

Thank you Imagineer for your review.

I would say this one earned an enthusiastic two thumbs up from Imagineer.  She just relished it.

For more reviews by my 8 year old daughter, Imagineer, check out A Dog’s Life.

Sideways Stories from Wayside School is a story about a kooky school that was built sideways, accidentally.

The school was supposed to be 30 classrooms wide, but instead was built 30 stories high.

The height of the building is not the only zany thing about this school.

Imagineer (my 8 year old) flew through this book, and loved the craziness of the school, and the characters.

While she was writing the review, she was smiling and laughing remembering the silliness of this story.

This is a keeper!

Below is my interview with Imagineer in her very own words…..

Q. Describe this book in a few sentences

A. “Wayside School” is about a school that was built sideways. The chapters are telling you about the kids from room 30.  Wayside school is different because all of the classrooms are built on top of each other instead of next to each other, because the person who built it, accidentally built it sideways.  Some of the teachers are too nice, some are too mean, some are witches, and some turn people into apples.

Q. Describe the main characters

A.Well all the kids and teachers in room 30 all have their own chapter so there is no main character.

Q.  What is your most favorite scene in the book?

A. I don’t really have a favorite scene because the’re all really funny.  I really liked the scene where it was raining at the end of the book and Louis, the yard teacher, comes into each classroom and tells them a story about regular schools, and how no one comes in dressed up as witches or other characters.  There’s no rats jumping all around, and nobody has tasted their flavor ice cream (at wayside school there is a flavor for every student).

Q.  Who is your favorite character and why?

A. I don’t really have a favorite character because I don’t not  like any. So every single person is my favorite.

Q. Why would you recommend this book to your friends?

A. I’d recommend this book because the book is funny and likable and I think all my friends would love this book.

For another review by Imagineer, check out Uncle Robert’s Secret here.