Fabulous Fablehaven

Ladies,

It's great to welcome two new members of Les Liseuses. I will look forward to the new perspectives. It was also fun to meet Amanda during the Christmas holidays.

I do have to apologize. . . . I was first on Persian Pickle, but I am late on Fablehaven, my own book! It just took me a while to get the new blog going. (KT . . . thanks for getting me into this!) Oh, well . . . I hope it is truly better late than never.

I recommended Fablehaven without having read it myself and I am glad that it lived up to expectations. (My friend, Holly Newton, reviews children's literature and she thought it was awesome.) I, too, got a kick out of the author's biography. I was trying to figure out exactly where he lived to have such a good view of the prison :) I appreciated his writing style and am looking forward to the sequal.

I agree with those of you who were frustrated with Seth. Once he understood how serious their situation was, I assumed he would follow his Grandfather's requests. Even my strong-willed sons would rise to expectations when I was really clear with them about the consequences. However, there is a place in the book where either the Grandfather or Grandmother talks about Seth's virtues. Unfortunately, I didn't underline in this book because I wanted to make it available to my students, so now I can't find the quote. But I remember being surprised that there were any redeeming features in the "knotheaded" boy! I guess his risk-taking will come in handy in the future.

I also enjoyed the development of the relationship between Kendra and her grandparents. It was neat to see them preparing the next generation to take over their responsibilities. I guess in a sense, that is what we all do with our children (and grandchildren). Kendra's willingness to overcome her own fears in order to save her family was very maternal. Her intuition seemed uniquely feminine and I appreciated her ingenuity. I was glad the "hero" was a girl.

That's all for now. It's getting late and I have school in the morning. I will pick up a copy of Second Glance this week and will start reading ASAP. Again, I'm glad you enjoyed the book.

--Karen