"Little Red Writing" surpassed all of my expectations. I expected it to be a simple story about little red riding hood except the girl is now a pencil. I was very wrong. This book teaches while entertaining! It goes through the writing process, details many different parts of speech, and talks about punctuation. I would use this in an upper grade classroom by reading it aloud to the class before the students have to write a story or paper. It would remind them of grammar rules and sentence structure while letting their minds think about what they want to write. Just like in the book, I would give students 15 categorized words to use in their story. After reading the book aloud to the class, I would have the students come up with a 2 page story using those 15 words. 

Lexile: AD 740L

Guided Reading: O

Grade Level Equivalent: 3.5

As with all "Magic School Bus" books, this one is clever, educational, and funny. Students will be engaged when reading. The school bus shrinks down and enters Arnold's body. The class explores the digestive system, circulatory system, and other systems of the body. I would use this book to introduce (or re-introduce) the human body systems and their functions. For an activity, I would have the students split into human body system groups. They would trace their body on a piece of white butcher paper and draw their specific system with a decent amount of accuracy (those with the skeletal system would draw bones inside the outline). I would hang them up in the hall for everyone to see. :)

A.R.- 4.6

Guided Reading- P

Lexile- AD 520L

I can freely admit that I was just happy to have more Bigby and Snow, and that's a huge part of my generous rating. But this was genuinely good. It's very dark and noir. There is some bad language and sexual situations, and the killer is really depraved. Convincing as a murder mystery set in Fabletown can be. The examination of class distinctions and the vulnerabilities of certain groups in society is prescient and delivered in a way that is far from preachy.

I liked the flashback to when Bigby first goes 'straight' and ends up on a little village called Salem during a very important time of history. Sturges interjects content from The Crucible, including John Proctor, and gives a plausible look into the situation and someone who might have helped engineer the situation. Ichabod Crane is the temporary acting mayor. A nastier little bureaucrat couldn't be possible. His hands are dirty since way back. Unfortunately, Bigby has to take orders from him. Bigby's only friend and secret love Snow expects him to play nice, when 'nice' isn't really his thing, and certainly not 'politics'.

I love how this series takes popular and lesser-known fairy tales and integrates them into an ongoing story. The sad tale of Donkeyskin takes on an even deeper poignancy in this story when it's related to a missing persons case that Bigby takes a personal interest in. There's even Mister Toad from The Wind in the Willows and so involved in the mystery.

I am Team Snow/Bigby for reals, and so even though this is a prequel and it's not written as a romance, I can see the spark and the chemistry between them from a mile away. But also that they respect each other. Frankly, Snow seems more open and friendly with Bigby than she did in the first Fables episode, Fables, Vol. 1: Legends in Exile.

I'm absolutely thrilled my library had this, and I'm hoping they continue to get it! I should try to get a copy of the video game.

Overall rating: 4.5/5.0 stars.

Sigh ah romance. This was exactly what I needed this week, a well crafted famous-person-meets- small-town-girl book. Written on Her Heart was a delightful read full of great scenery and some interesting characters.

It is easy to write about friends that are great, that have your back at every turn and are there to support you. This is not that book. Andi's friends are complicated, selfish and some of them ultimately aren't friends at all. It was a nice break from a lot of the other romance books I've read lately. I hope that some of the next books in the series go into more detail about these characters because some of the issues seem to have been a little glossed over in this story.

Andi and Ford's chemistry jumps off of the page from the get go. I enjoyed the slow build of their relationship and the fact that she tried to salvage her current relationship despite her attraction to Ford. Not every relationship starts on the best of terms, but Andi needed to realize on her own terms that her boyfriend was not everything she deserved.

I really enjoyed reading this story and am looking forward to more from this author. Highly recommended.

*I received a copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. I was not monetarily compensated for my opinion.*