A tale of delectable food, incredible friendship, and golden hearts from one of the world's most beloved storytellers! In truth, I didn't expect to like The Ickabog at all: of course, I was ecstatic when DOGO Books sent the novel to me, but I didn't think it could ever be up to par with the Harry Potter series, of which I had fallen in love with. And when I started reading, my thoughts didn't change much at first—a stereotypical glorious kingdom, materialistic king, et cetera, et cetera—until the plot thickened and I could not stop reading. Everything I considered flighty and unimportant in the beginning served as a runway for all the problems that began snowballing, and once again, J. K. Rowling's plot twists, multiple storylines, character development, and emotional scenes absolutely blew me away. I actually starting tearing up a bit halfway through, so relieved was I to see that familiar syntax and offhand humor of hers, and of course, I couldn't withhold the waterworks when the emotional scenes in the book rolled around. The Ickabog concerns itself with the struggle of orphanhood, the influence of manipulation, and how much power and fear one can really wield. The kingdom of Cornucopia fascinates me and I stayed up until one in the morning to finish reading this wonderful new world J. K. Rowling had created. One thing's for sure, this stunning author is not a one-trick pony, and Oliver Twist (Charles Dickens) meets The Darkdeep (Ally Condie, Brendon Reichs) in this new children's book, perfect for all ages.

A tale of delectable food, incredible friendship, and golden hearts from one of the world's most beloved storytellers! In truth, I didn't expect to like The Ickabog at all: of course, I was ecstatic when DOGO Books sent the novel to me, but I didn't think it could ever be up to par with the Harry Potter series, of which I had fallen in love with. And when I started reading, my thoughts didn't change much at first—a stereotypical glorious kingdom, materialistic king, et cetera, et cetera—until the plot thickened and I could not stop reading. Everything I considered flighty and unimportant in the beginning served as a runway for all the problems that began snowballing, and once again, J. K. Rowling's plot twists, multiple storylines, character development, and emotional scenes absolutely blew me away. I actually starting tearing up a bit halfway through, so relieved was I to see that familiar syntax and offhand humor of hers, and of course, I couldn't withhold the waterworks when the emotional scenes in the book rolled around. The Ickabog concerns itself with the struggle of orphanhood, the influence of manipulation, and how much power and fear one can really wield. The kingdom of Cornucopia fascinates me and I stayed up until one in the morning to finish reading this wonderful new world J. K. Rowling had created. One thing's for sure, this stunning author is not a one-trick pony, and Oliver Twist (Charles Dickens) meets The Darkdeep (Ally Condie, Brendon Reichs) in this new children's book, perfect for all ages.

Whoa, this is crazy! Love the progress in being able to explore our oceans.

I've wanted The Torchbearers for the longest time! I read the first two Darkdeep books and they were dazzling. Though I rarely read horror, the concept and friendliness of the Darkdeep series enticed me--as well as the authors; I love Ally Condie and Brandon Reichs' work. I hope I am able to read The Torchbearers and find out what happens to the Darkdeep characters. Thank you to DOGO News and Bloomsbury for this opportunity!

All Barbie movies have their own shimmer and charm that make them irresistible to all ages, and this movie is no exception. I actually read the picture book version of Barbie: The Pearl Princess before watching the movie, and I fell in love with both. The storyline, animation, and especially the art are amazing. All I would say is that this was a little immature, but that's completely understandable, seeing as it's a children's movie. Mattel has released yet another fabulous addition to the Barbie franchise.

I used to borrow Barbie movies at my local library all the time, and this film was by far my favorite. Barbie and the Diamond Castle follows two 19-year-old best friends, Liana and Alexa, who adore singing and are closer than sisters. But when they are given a magic mirror one day, housing a muse named Melody, they must return Melody to the Diamond Castle through the magic of music, even while being chased by the evil Third Muse, Lydia, and her dragon. I loved this movie because the artwork, animation, and themes involving friendship glittered as much as the diamond castle in the movie. I also enjoyed the fact that Alexa had a darker skin color; Barbie is always portrayed as a blond, "perfect-princess" girl, and she is Liana in this movie, but I liked that Alexa had brown hair and skin. It added diversity to the film and showed that strong, true friendships can occur even when the two main characters aren't blond and prissy.

I'm sorry, but I can't keep a straight face—or resist yawning—when I watch this movie. I used to watch Barbie of Swan Lake all the time when I was little even though I didn't really like it, and now those awful images of Barbie dancing and everyone singing like everything's fine and dandy (even though a dark fairy and her father are hunting Barbie down) are cemented in my brain. This movie honestly reminds me a little of Jim Henson's The Dark Crystal. Brilliant in theory, but boring on-screen. The concept of this movie appealed to my young self, but the two-minute-long, CONSECUTIVE clips of people ballroom dancing were enough to make me grab a barf bucket. It just wasn't interesting. Most of the movie consisted of dancing, mindless werifesteria, and/or princessy gasps of horror. I mean, there were entire SCENES where Odette just pranced around the forest, staring at rivers and odd wood logs. There was little to no dialogue and the only parts I liked were when the Fairy Queen and her dad plotted against Odette—they were evil, but at least they talked and made the plot keep moving. Odette (Barbie), the main character, mainly gamboled around and was somehow shocked when she nearly got killed by the Fairy Queen, even though she did absolutely nothing to stop the attacks. Then there's some "heroic" scene where the prince tries to save her, and it wasn't even enough for my seven-year-old self: the prince came off cowardly even though he was supposed to be the knight in shining armor; Odette was just squawking around as a swan, doing nothing to saving herself; and all the other "good" characters just gaped in terror, totally disarmed. And of course, we got the classic, lovey-dovey, happily-ever-after ending, but it wasn't much of a mollification. In my opinion, the movie would have been more interesting if Odette had a sad ending. Would give this zero popcorn if I could. It's a nice sentiment, but overall has no plot or subconscious/conscious theme.

Aww, this is so sweet!