Upside Down Magic ‘Sticks and Stones’

This book is about a girl who doesn’t have normal fluxing magic. Instead of normal animals, she turns into animals like a driten! A dragon kitten. Lately, things have been turning to stone. First, pennies the school had collected, and now school supplies. People are starting to suspect it’s Bax, who fluxes into a rock. The other UDM kids have to clear their names so they don’t get kicked out of the school by Lacey Clench, a sparky with attitude.

Two Roads#4

Cal and his Pop talk for a bit, before exiting the train and going into the forest to get away from the soldiers guarding the town. Cal sees a man who is asleep on the train car and wakes him so he won’t get in trouble. Cal and his dad sneak around in the forest for a while, until they come across a camp for bos.  They meet the mayor, who everyone calls Cap. He seems to know who Cal’s dad is, and says they are definitely welcome here. Cap tells them they are going to make some food for everyone, and they start to make a fire and some soup for all the rest of the bos in the camp. After they are done, Cal and his dad go to the river to clean the pot and cups. They sit down by the side of the river, and Pop starts to talk more to Cal about being Indian.

Two Roads #3

Cal and his Pop get onto a train. For a few seconds, they relax as they ride along. Cal’s dad then sees people he recognizes, Professor and Boney. He tells Cal that in the war Professor was just that. Cal’s dad and Professor worked together. Cal goes to sleep and wakes up to bacon and potatoes. After eating, his dad tells him he’s going to Washington and Cal is going ‘Indian School.’

Two Roads #2

Cal’s dad and he decline Red’s offer and Cal tells him they are what are called ‘hobos.’ They say they could instead do some work, and he agrees. He says to tell his wife to give Cal some cornbread. They go to his house, do the work, and take the cornbread. They find a house that Cal’s dad is looking for that was safe for them, but new signs say that the house owner became unfriendly, and has a gun. Cal’s dad still goes up, and apparently knows the house owner. He and the woman, whose name is Edith, knew each other from the war. He and her husband worked together. She lets them in and tells them she’s been unfriendly because her knife, cooking pot, and two chickens were stolen. Cal’s dad and he set off to find the rouge bo. They track him from the chicken coop.

Two Roads

New Book-Two Roads,  by Joseph Bruchac

There is a boy named Cal who is on a journey with his veteran father. They lost their farm due to their bank failing, and Cal’s school closed down. His father tells the story of the war he was into his son, and Cal’s imagination drifts off to what he believes happened. They set up camp and some snares for rabbits when an older gentleman rides up on a horse. He seems to recognize Cal’s dad as a veteran, and they speak about what division they were assigned. Cal’s dad explains where they were going, and the older man says that it is twenty miles from where they are. The man tells them where to go, but says in half a mile, is his place. His wife is there, and to tell her Red Campbell sent them, and she’d help them more than he could.

Aru Shah and the End of Time

Aru and Mini are finally ready to go against the Sleeper. But they have to go to the Pool of the Past to learn how to defeat him completely.

Once they get there, they tried to think of a way to safely look into the pools. Aru trips, and almost falls in. But she sees something that baffles her. She sees her mother, younger of course, with the Sleeper walking across the beach. She sees them pause while walking to kiss.

The pool changes, and shows her mother talking to her grandfather. Her grandfather tells her mom that now that she has stolen his heart, knows how to defeat him, and has his child, that she has to kill him. She doesn’t want to, saying that she can change his fate and maybe actually be the father to their daughter, which is Aru. The grandfather gives her a choice. Either save him or save their daughter. Her mom tells him she won’t kill the Sleeper, and they shouldn’t just be there to breed. The grandfather kicks her out of the house forever for disobeying.

The pool changes again and shows the Sleeper asleep with Aru in a crib. Her mother says, “One day you’ll understand that I’m doing what I must to free you. To free us all.” Her mother goes to the Hall of the Gods and traps the Sleeper in the Lamp. She says this, “I used your secrets not to destroy you, but to hold you. I bind you with my heart, the same heart I gave to you willingly. I bind you with something that is not made from metal, wood, or stone. I bind with something neither dry nor wet.”  Aru knows what they have to do, and the pair go back to Aru’s home.

 

Once at the museum, her home, she sets a trap. They call out to him, and he comes, taunting them on how they are failures and not worthy appointments. But he falls for the trap and is ambushed. They fight the fraction of the army he brought with him, and get ready to kill him. But he does something Aru didn’t expect. He knocks Boo and Mini unconscious and talks with Aru on how her mother is a liar and she only wanted to save herself.  The Sleeper explains he knows that she ignores her, and he felt it through the lamp for the 11 years he was locked away. He says he knows shes cursed, and shows her an image of her Pandava sisters, going against her.He tells her they could conquer the world together,  father and daughter. But she refuses and uses the gift she got from Indra. The glowing ball turns into a thunderbolt and goes to kill the Sleeper. But it stops just a few inches from his heart. She screams for the bolt to strike him, but he just says, “Oh Aru, Aru, Aru, one day, you’ll see it my way, and I will welcome you, my daughter.” He disappears right after.

 

Aru sinks to the floor. Vajra, the thunderbolt, goes back to her hand and turns into a regular ball. When Boo and Mini awake, they comfort her. Mini tells her she thinks it was the curse from The Bridge of Forgetting. Everyone soon comes back from their frozen state, and Aru sees her mother again. Mini goes back home to see her family too. After a few days, they start going to training for Pandavas with the gods. But after a few weeks, something gets stolen. They go home early, but not long after, something mind-blowing happens.

They see a wolf jump out of a stone elephants mouth, as it works as a teleporter, and turn into a girl. Before they can ask, she runs off. Boo then tells her, ‘She’s your sister.’  Now they have to find her and get the stolen object back.

Next book-Aru Shah and the Song of Death

 

Aru Shah and the End of Time

Aru and Mini are on an adventure to save the world after Aru let out a demon called the ‘Sleeper.’ They have to find 3 keys so they can get Celestial Weapons so they can defeat him.

They soon found them all, The sprig of youth, the bite of adulthood, and the sip of old age. They used these keys to get to the underworld. On the Bridge of Forgetting, Mini and Aru were told they had to lose all their memories to cross.

Shakua, the guardian, told them his story. When he was born, he was said to be ugly. He ruled his kingdom in the shadows. But when he was marrying, his wife loved him so much, that every day he grew more beautiful.

But he soon grew impatient that she was getting more beautiful than him and asked if she still loved him. She told him that she couldn’t love someone she didn’t know anymore, and he killed her. Aru had an idea to save her and Mini from losing all their memories. She threw the ball at the 5 mirrors that reminded him of his past, and the memory-stealing snow took them.

He placed a curse on Aru before they left. They are now in a demon whale’s mouth, trying to figure out how to escape and the weapons.

Aru Shah and the end of time

Aru lit a lamp that let out the ‘Sleeper.’ He is a god who is very dangerous and f he gets the godly weapons before Aru and Mini, her soul-sister, the world will end.

The Sleeper will let out the god of destruction, and destroy everything in the godly world and human world.

They followed Boo(Their tour guide and helper) to see who their godly parents were and if they were really Pandavas.

Their godly parents are Indra, the god of thunder, and Dharma, the god of death. They were given gifts, a compact, and a golden ping pong ball.

Now Aru, Mini, and Boo have to stop the Sleeper before he ends the world and the gods.

Comet Rising

Today I read Comet Rising. MarcyKate Connolly is the author. Lucas gets upset about something Dar said about him losing his parents. He storms off, leaving Emmeline with Dar. Dar tells Emmeline more about Lady Aisling, whose power is to eat magic. The Lady ate her magic years ago, which was shapeshifting. Dar turned into a lost soul, which means she’s not dead, but not quite alive either. Emmeline soon puts Dar back in her bag where she keeps her, thinking it’s a trick to get her to let Dar go. That night, Lucas walked away to get firewood. Dar complains that she is hungry and Emmeline gives a few pieces of food. Dar pretends to choke, and Emmeline takes her out of the cage to save her. Dar lets down her facade and runs away, leaving a crying Emmeline. Emmeline feels guilty and used, scared to tell Lucas. When Lucas comes back, he asks her what’s wrong. She explains what happened, expecting him to be mad. He forgives her, and this makes her more determined to stop Dar and Lady Aisling. They go to find the Rodens who have a magical son named Doyle and hope they help them.