[I received an electronic review copy of this book from Netgalley and North Star Editions in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.]
Summary
Alexander is an nonathletic boy with big dreams. He wants to be a renowned hero. There’s even an oracle who says he will one day.
Then Alexander gets the chance to help Dracon who is travelling to the Olympics. Alexander is sure he can learn to do well in the various activities Dracon will do in the Pentathlon. But he’s just awful at all of them.
This is especially bad news when Dracon falls ill and can’t compete. What will Alexander do in a contest against skilled, adult men? And why did Dracon get sick at the worst possible time?
Review
There are several other books in this series, but this is the first I have read. The diary format for this means everything is told after the fact, so some of the action is lost in the retelling. But the advantages – getting Alexander’s take on events and his thoughts and feelings – outweigh the disadvantages.
The story is reasonably engaging, although possibly predictable for some readers. There’s a slow build up to the big action of the story, but the final contest and the resolution were enjoyable.
Kids who love the Olympics and are missing the games this year might enjoy this story and the extensive end notes on the Olympics. There are also mid-chapter notes, but they are placed in a way that they are informative instead of interrupting the flow of the story. I really appreciated that detail.
Hand this to fans of diary-format stories as well as fans of the Olympic games. (As Olympians competed in the nude, illustrations include some bare backsides.)
Rating: ♥♥½*
*♥♥½ = Mostly solid to solid
The Chestnut Challenge – [I received a review copy of this from the publisher. All opinions are my own.] This is book 4 in the Nocturnals series starring three friends – Tobin the pangolin, Bismark the sugar glider and Dawn the fox. In this story, the friends are playing a checkers-like game called Chestnuts when they meet a chinchilla named Chandler who says he is a Chestnuts champion. But is Chandler really that good at the game, or is he a cheater? This was a solid story about dealing with cheating among friends. I also liked learning a little about these different animals in the backmatter. Rating: ♥♥♥½
A Sea Otter to the Rescue – Part of the Tails from History series, this tells the story of Toola, a five-year-old sea otter rescued by a California aquarium in 2001. The aquarium also rescued a baby otter. The staff knew pups raised by humans don’t do as well when they are returned to the wild. They introduced the pup to Toola, and she treated him as if he was her own pup. She taught him to swim and eat and groom himself like otters do. And that pup did so well back in the wild, he had a family of his own. Toola ended up raising 12 rescued pups – and other aquariums used the same system to help rescue other pups. Kids can read all about Toola and the impact she had on orphan pups and other environmental issues for otters. This was a delight to read – cute illustrations and an engaging story! Rating: ♥♥♥♥½
