This is apparently a reboot, but I couldn't tell.   This integrated the old story so well that I didn't feel lost at all. 

Rathraq is back.   God, scarecrow thing, something new?   I'm not quite sure what he is, or if he's as good as he was before, but I'm very interested in finding out now!

Lucy's family get taken hostage by her mother's step-cousin's half-sister...
Wow, that was a mouthful!
Using her quick wit Lucy is in the middle of saving the day, but then something goes horribly wrong and she ends up somewhere unexpected.
Will she find her way back?
Will she save her family?
Will her mother's step-cousin's half-sister get her comeuppance?

Review 5*

This is a fantastic tale about a brave little girl called Lucy.

Lucy is a very smart eleven-year-old who, in an attempt to rescue her family from a crazy and greedy lady, finds herself going on a huge adventure when she accidentally falls through a portal and meets a bee-like creature called Dandelion. Whilst attempting to get home she faces many challenges, each one more dangerous or disgusting than she could ever have imagined. Will she ever get home in one piece?

As I said above, this is a fantastic chapter book that had me gasping in surprise or laughing at some of the scenes. I am not the intended age for this book, but the author's imagination seems to have no bounds. This is the third chapter book I've read from this author and each book is as different as chalk and cheese, though just as entertaining.

This story takes one brave little girl and throws her into some imaginative and creative problems. However, the one character I really felt sorry for was Dandelion. She is the keeper of a tunnel that lost souls find themselves in when they leave one world and get lost when travelling to the after-life. She is serving penance for a terrible mistake she made, but the author doesn't delve too deeply into this aspect, so the reader is not quite sure how serious the mistake was or when Dandelion's penance will end. What the author does do is use her vivid imagination to bring the tunnel that Dandelion calls home to life. The tunnel has several doors to different 'worlds' and each door is as different as the worlds they guard. I loved the nose door and I'm sure the children will too as the method of opening it is rather gross. *shudder*. The eye one brought a tear to my eye, and not in a good way either!

This book is ideal for children with short attention spans as it's only 47 pages long and would be ideal as a quick bedtime story. I must admit that I would have loved if the story was longer, but then it wouldn't be a chapter book. Nevertheless, I was sad to reach the end. The story ends satisfactorily and leaves the reader with an impression that there will be many more adventures for Lucy in the future. I can't wait!

J.S. Rumble has written an entertaining chapter book that I thoroughly enjoyed. I love her writing style, which is not particularly fast paced though easy enough for children to follow whether reading on their own, or being read to by their parents. The flow is wonderful too. I would definitely consider reading more of her books in the future.

I highly recommend this chapter book to young children aged 4-10, and to adults looking for a chapter book to keep their little ones entertained. - Lynn Worton

So the class (or whatever you call them) at this day care center is prepping for something called the Great ShakeOut (apparently a real thing -- I'm glad to hear that it exists), which is an Earthquake Preparedness activity. As part of that, they learn a bit about what causes earthquakes, what to do during one to say safe, and get some questions answered about the safety of others.

So you get a little bit of a narrative -- just enough to give the kids something to hang on to -- and you run it through some basic lessons that are given in a way to help the reader (or person being read to) remember and learn from them. I don't know if seismologists would use the comparison to a rumbling tummy, but how many of them write children's books? It's a comparison that'll stick.

My main -- really, only -- gripe with this is the song. There's no way to know how to sing this -- I'm sure it's best set to a familiar tune, but I have no idea what would work. I'd want to sing this to any kids I read this to/with -- and I have so little musical ability that there's no way I could even begin to guess what it should sound like. It's a great idea, and just the kind of thing that'd help cement the lessons in the mind of the target audience. But without a tune, it's just a little rhyme that isn't nearly as effective.

Sager's art does the job -- the colors are great and eye-catching. It's clearly drawn on a computer, but retains a hand-drawn feel. I can't say I was dazzled by it, but I can also say that I've seen worse. I can't imagine many children in the target audience wouldn't find the illustrations suitable and effective (but probably not in those words).

This book is such a great idea -- really. I like the concept, I think the execution is good, too. This is the kind of thing that'll implant itself in little brains and stay there for years. Parents, teachers, librarians, grandparents, and so on would really do well to pick this up and put it in front of young eyes.

Disclaimer: I received this book from the author in exchange for this post and my honest opinion.

Fred is one of those rare boys that actually likes going to school… well, he did until now. He started getting picked on for something he has no control over… being a zombie. 
Most people think of zombies as mindless creatures that roam the world searching for others to infect, in fact that couldn’t be further from the truth. All Fred wants to do is bake! 

He dreams of opening his very own cake shop one day, but pastry school is extremely expensive! Then an opportunity comes along that could help his dreams become reality.